Secrets are coming to light this week, one by one, with the biggest being our twins switching places. As people start getting wind of their secret swap, only time will tell if that is a blessing or a threat.
While some people are decent enough to let sleeping secrets lie, others might not be inclined to do the same.
Bunny S. watches Our Unwritten Seoul on Netflix
Our Unwritten Seoul Episodes 5 and 6 Highlights
“I didn’t have the courage to ask about what happened so I gave up on my life, running, and even Ho-su.”
Ho-su’s confession about Mi-ji being his first love gets her bemused. Tons of questions keep going through her head, and she even comes up with the absurd conclusion that maybe Ho-su is doing that to get Real Mi-rae jealous. You see, Real Mi-ji has been under the impression that Ho-su likes Real Mi-rae since she saw them “hugging” on the contest day.
Unable to figure out which one he likes between our twins, Ho-su drops by the village briefly to see “Mi-ji” and check if he still has feelings for her. However, the one Ho-su meets feels vastly different from the Mi-ji from his high school days or the one he met during his last visit to the village, getting him further frustrated.
At least the misunderstanding about the contest day is cleared up. As expected, nothing was going on between Ho-su and Mi-rae. She was so sick that day and fainted. So, Ho-su took her to the hospital. Worried she might miss the CSAT exam if her family learned about it and got her hospitalized, Mi-rae asked Ho-su to keep it a secret until the CSAT was over. So, he couldn’t tell Mi-ji the truth when she lashed at him the next day. They couldn’t tell her after the CSAT either, as Mi-ji refused to see anyone and locked herself up in his room.
Having learned the truth, Real Mi-ji laments how things turned out like this because of a misunderstanding. She chose to hide away instead of confronting things head-on and ended up losing it all: her love, life, and dream.
“Those rumors are fake. But those strawberries are real.”
Running away and not confronting things might be another trait our twins share. The latest rumor in town has it that Pretend Mi-ji likes Se-jin. Feeling uncomfortable, Pretend Mi-ji quits on the spot without a word of explanation to Se-jin. But he can’t accept it, so Se-jin badgers her until Pretend Mi-ji spills the truth.
To his credit, Se-jin tries to get Pretend Mi-ji to change her mind. Why would she quit because of a groundless rumor crafted by busybodies with nothing better to do? Yet nothing he says can get her to reconsider. So, Se-jin lets her go. He won’t hold on to someone who wavers over fake rumors. There are some snippets Real Mi-rae might have suffered from similar rumors at the company. Which explains her intense reaction to the rumors about her and Se-jin. But we are yet to get the full story.
Meanwhile, Ho-su attends the meeting with the company representatives and ensures they won’t hound Pretend Mi-rae anymore. If they want to contact Mrs. Kim, they should go through him. Instead of junior employees, Ho-su wants to be contacted by the one in charge of the project (one of the higher-ups who made Pretend Mi-rae do all the work and then took credit for her hard work).
Tasked with drafting a project report on short notice, Pretend Mi-rae feels lost. She barely knows the basics. How on earth will she do the report? Luckily, she comes across a good colleague who helps her out, claiming he owes her, or more precisely, Real Mi-rae, big time. But Real Mi-rae doesn’t seem to remember him.
After working day and night on the report, Pretend Mi-rae turns it in, wishing for a word of compliment. Instead, she gets a harsh scolding from her team leader, who orders her to hand over the documents, leaving her dejected. (Later, Pretend Mi-rae gets the praise she deserves after the team leader embarrasses himself during a presentation since he isn’t aware of the key details about the project. Way to go, Girl.)
“I thought about giving up and going back down several times. But I kept going up because I didn’t see Mi-ji among the people coming down.”
A drunk Pretend Mi-rae ends up outside Ho-su’s place. Calling him down, Pretend Mi-rae wants Ho-su to explain when and why he fell for her/Real Mi-ji. Ho-su argues it happened in high school during a hiking trip. The doctors had banned him from strenuous activities such as hiking. But Ho-su was determined to go up the mountain. Mi-ji tried to help him, but Ho-su turned her down and insisted on going alone.
On his way up, the other students were going down. But Mi-ji wasn’t among them. So, Ho-su realized she was waiting for him. He didn’t have faith in himself, but Mi-ji believed in him. Going up, Ho-su kept thinking about Mi-ji and started developing feelings for her. In the present-day timeline, Pretend Mi-rae/Real Mi-ji admits to liking Ho-su too. But the thing is, he believes the person before him is Mi-rae.
Pulling him tightly, Pretend Mi-rae wants an answer for her confession. And Ho-su tries to pull out of her grasp. Then, she blacks out and wakes up in Ho-su’s apartment without any idea what happened next. But Ho-su doesn’t say anything and keeps teasing her about it.
Further complicating things, the annoying classmate from last week, Park Ji-yoon (Yoo Yu-jin), has a crush on Ho-su. (It is also hinted that Ji-yoon resents Real Mi-rae for getting the things she desperately wished for without trying as much.) Assuming Ho-su likes Ji-yoon too, Real Mi-ji gets jealous. Instead of learning from her past mistakes and checking with Ho-su, she backs out after Ji-yoon calls dibs on Ho-su. (That was annoying. Ho-su is a person with agency and not an object.)
Adding another layer of complexity to Real Mi-ji and Ho-su’s relationship is Mrs. Kim’s case. Hearing Ho-su represents Mrs. Kim, Mr. Lee jumps at the opportunity to persecute his former junior and decides to oversee this case himself. Meeting Pretend Mi-rae, he puts on a friendly act, but we can tell that he is setting up a trap for her.
Looking through some confidential papers, Pretend Mi-rae learns that Mrs. Kim might be at a disadvantage if she sells her restaurant. She accidentally tells Ho-su about it, but he warns her not to notify Mrs. Kim about it, since the company might hold her responsible and sue her.
“Whatever it is, tell me when you are comfortable talking.”
To our delight, Ho-su already knows about the swap. He had his doubts, but on the night Real Mi-ji/Pretend Mi-rae slept over at his place, he became certain of it yet chose to play along until Real Mi-ji tells him herself. Ji-yoon realized it too, but she toys with Real Mi-ji and pushes her to a corner instead of openly saying she is onto the twin swap.
Visiting the high school days, we learn the love confession Mi-ji received from a random guy last week was a scam orchestrated by another sly classmate. Ho-su tried to stop the guy but couldn’t. So, he got into a big fight with the mastermind and kept giving the guy death stares until he told Mi-ji the truth. Long story short: Mi-ji never dated that guy, but they were just pretending to.
Real Mi-ji is shocked to learn Ho-su already knew the truth all along but never spoke a word about it. If he liked her and knew she was single, why didn’t Ho-su confess his feelings all those years? But as she muses, Ho-su always respected those around him and kept other people’s secrets, but it only resulted in him missing out on things and getting misunderstood. Unaware he is already onto her, Real Mi-ji tries to tell him the truth about the twin swap. But a considerate Ho-su puts it off until Real Mi-ji feels ready.
Simultaneously, Real Mi-rae hears about that incident from Real Mi-ji’s supposed ex-boyfriend and gets shocked. Neither Real Mi-ji nor Ho-su told her anything. So, she believed Real Mi-ji dated that guy. (Side note: The supposed ex-boyfriend learned of the twin swap and was pushed to come clean about what happened in high school.)
As we end this week, a flood hits Se-jin’s farm, getting him appalled. Just then, Pretend Mi-ji/Real Mi-rae shows up like a savior. But she doesn’t know what to do either. At least, Se-jin isn’t facing this crisis on his own. He even gives Pretend Mi-ji a low-key confession, arguing he liked the rumors about them, getting her speechless. Originally, Real Mi-rae planned to call the swap quits and resign from the company by next week. But we guess she might stick it out a bit longer in the village.
Our Unwritten Seoul Episodes 5 and 6 Musings
The drama continues hitting us in the feels and amping the emotional beats through its different themes. But we can’t help but worry about its packed story despite the slow pace. So much is going on with the work politics at the company, the reason Real Mi-rae got ostracized, Real Mi-ji’s inner struggles, and the flashbacks from their high school days. Perhaps, the drama could have gone with a 16-episode run time instead of lengthy 12 episodes to give us enough room to assimilate its themes.
Also, it might have been better to have burnout as the reason Real Mi-rae wanted to quit her job. The workplace politics are getting too much screen time and focus, while Real Mi-rae’s story at the farm is getting delegated to the background. Also, with things hectic enough as is, why is the drama dragging Mrs. Kim’s arc and even hinting she might be faking her identity?
This isn’t to say we don’t find the drama enjoyable. It retains its spot as our favorite drama for the week. But we are just concerned it is trying to do so much at the same time. Hopefully, things get better next week as we delve deeper into the romance territory.
Last but not least, the highlight was Real Mi-ji and Ho-su’s conversation about secrets. While Real Mi-ji’s curiosity might get the best of her and have her dig up other people’s secrets, Ho-su asserts each one of us has this question they don’t want other people to ask and a weak point they are scared other people might poke. So, we should respect those weaknesses and turn our heads away from them.
This might be the twins’ story, but Ho-su’s consideration and decency shone through these episodes. He might not speak much, but he is thoughtful of those around him. Being with Real Mi-ji brings some color into his otherwise monotonous life, and he gives her the peace and confidence she needs to express herself freely.
Photos and Videos: tvN Drama
Leave a Reply