As the second half of our story kicks off, we delve more into romance territory and get more on our characters’ backstories. One ship has sailed and the other one might need some more time.
Also, we get a shocking revelation regarding the culprit of the workplace sexual harassment, just as the higher-ups close in on uncovering our twins’ secret swap.
Bunny S. watches Our Unwritten Seoul on Netflix
Our Unwritten Seoul Episodes 7 and 8 Highlights
“My family has sacrificed so much for me. How can I just do whatever I want?”
Having been sick growing up, Real Mi-rae frequented the hospital and took many pills and injections. It would hurt, yet she would endure the pain and hold it in instead of complaining or expressing it openly. Hiding her emotions extended to other parts of Real Mi-rae’s life, and she kept quiet, enduring it all.
In the present-day timeline, Real Mi-rae/Pretend Mi-ji recognizes Se-jin as one of the prominent figures in finance. As someone interested in that field, Real Mi-rae followed Se-jin’s news and wrote a thesis on fund management. Se-jin wonders if she wishes to work in finance. But she claims she can’t do whatever she likes because of her family. They sacrificed a lot for her, so she should take responsibility and support them. But that sounds like an excuse to Se-jin.
Se-jin can see through Real Mi-rae because he experienced the same thing. He kept claiming he didn’t want to study abroad and prepared for the civil service exam under the pretext of repaying his grandfather. But Se-jin was scared of falling short of expectations and disappointing himself. Likewise, everyone expected Real Mi-rae to do well, but those expectations weighed her down.
“Mi-ji doesn’t know that I know.”
Meanwhile, Ho-su attends one last meeting to relay Mrs. Kim refuses to sell her restaurant. But Mr. Lee won’t take no for an answer, gloating about always getting his way and making snide comments about how Ho-su is passive and never crosses the line. Spurred into action, Ho-su heads to the village to see Real Mi-rae, revealing he knows about the swap and asking what happened to her at the company. Mi-rae snaps at him, yet they are interrupted by the news that their mothers landed in the hospital after fighting and falling off the stairs.
Real Mi-rae uses this accident as an excuse to call Real Mi-ji to the village. She wants to call off the swap and head back to Seoul. But Real Mi-ji is worried Ho-su might catch on if they switch back while he is around. So, Real Mi-rae reveals Ho-su is already on to them. Real Mi-ji is abashed and can’t bring herself to see Ho-su again. Just that morning, she bragged about helping Ho-su get together with “Mi-ji”, oblivious he knows everything. (Since the swap is almost disclosed, we will call our twins by their real names.)
Wrapping things up, Mi-rae thanks Se-jin for everything. He can tell she is bidding him farewell and even calls her “Mi-rae,” unlike how he used to call her by random names. Also, why do we think Se-jin caught on to the swap after spotting our twins together?
Anyway, Mi-rae is curious why Se-jin quit everything and gave up on a successful career. Absurd rumors spread back then, but she didn’t buy them. Se-jin was in the middle of a crucial meeting when he received a call from his grandfather. He overlooked the call, unaware it was his grandfather’s last call. His grandfather had collapsed from heatstroke and died on the farm. Hit by the news of his grandfather’s death, Se-jin felt like something inside him fell apart. He couldn’t bring himself to return to his normal life and stayed at the farm.
Mi-rae apologizes to Ho-su for snapping at him. He offers to help her or refer her to another lawyer. Yet Mi-rae needs time to think about what kind of help she needs. Asking Mi-ji for a few more days to wrap up things before they switch, Mi-rae opens up about her vulnerabilities. Despite being ostracized, she never considered quitting because she believed this company was the best she could achieve. Everyone deemed Mi-rae a bigshot, but she has always thought she was average.
It also doesn’t help matters when Mum says she is against Mi-rae quitting her job, as it is bad enough having one unemployed daughter. (Talk about pushing someone who is already on edge.) Luckily, Grandmother is on Mi-rae’s side, supporting her and assuring her it is okay to rely on others when one is down.
Speaking of which, while stargazing, Se-jin suggests Mi-rae slowly think about what to do next while watching the strawberries grow with him. She is swayed by the offer, but a rumor about Se-jin going abroad has her backing down. Those two are slowly catching feelings for each other, but they need to communicate more openly if they are to make any progress.
“Just when I finally made up my mind, she was in a really bad place.”
On a lighter note, Ho-su finally mustered up the courage to confess his feelings. He kept waiting for the perfect timing until he realized such a thing didn’t exist. The day before he went to Seoul for college, Ho-su waited for Mi-ji for hours in front of her house. But when she came out, he couldn’t utter the words. He wanted to support her like she did for him. But seeing her state, he lost courage. At long last, Ho-su tells Mi-ji that he likes her. And she feels the same.
Their relationship is adorably awkward with Mi-ji wondering if they are a couple now and Ho-su seeing her off with a handshake before she returns to Seoul instead of going for a hug like Mi-ji hoped thought. Unluckily, our newest couple’s first date goes wrong. And Ho-su gets mad when they run into some of his former work colleagues and Mi-ji lies about being an office worker instead of telling the truth.
Luckily, they talk things out. Mi-ji admits she lied because she was embarrassed. Everyone in the village knew she was unemployed, so she got flustered when asked about her job. Ho-su, too, says he was sick that day but kept it a secret to avoid burdening Mi-ji. They are back on good terms and share a tender hug. They might not be perfect, but they complete each other in a way no one else can.
Another touching arc is Ho-su and his mother’s backstory. Ho-su’s mother isn’t his biological mother, but his stepmother. Ho-su rebelled against the idea of having a stepmother and tried to keep it a secret. On his biological mother’s death anniversary, Ho-su insisted it would only be his father and him. But sadly, they got into an accident that day, and only Ho-su survived.
Ho-su’s mother’s family tried to talk her out of raising Ho-su, arguing they weren’t blood-related. But she stood up to them and insisted on raising Ho-su, even if it meant cutting ties with them. She has always felt like an oddball in her family and didn’t want Ho-su to feel alone. It is a pity Ho-su doesn’t understand his mother’s heart, misinterpreting her affection as pretending to be a family and trying hard. He thinks he is a burden and gradually tries to let her go so she can live freely. But his actions break her heart.
“We couldn’t even tell each other that we missed dad.”
The culprit from the sexual harassment case makes an appearance. Shockingly, he looks so much like our twins’ late father. It is ambiguous as to what happened between him and Mi-rae. But we guess he pretended to be nice and used the similarity to take advantage of Mi-rae and then threw her under the bus. Back then, rumors spread that the two of them had an affair, but that is ridiculous.
For now, he “volunteers” to take the lead in the project and convinces “Mi-rae” to back out. But behind her back, he schemes to transfer her to another branch and discloses to the higher-ups that Mi-rae had a twin when they mention she has been acting strangely. We end this week with the higher-ups pressuring “Mi-rae” to scan her fingerprint under the pretext of needing access to some documents. We have got a hunch that the one standing before them is the real Mi-rae, not Mi-ji. Yet, we have to wait until next week to see what happens next.
Our Unwritten Seoul Episodes 7 and 8 Musings
The focus has been mostly on Mi-ji, so we are glad Mi-rae was in the spotlight this week. Delving into Ho-su’s backstory was gratifying, too, and our heart goes out to Ho-su’s mother. She is such a selfless character, but people around her don’t seem to realize her kindness.
In a flashback, we see Ho-su’s mother prepare for Ho-su’s parents’ memorial service. But he lashes out, telling her to ignore him. She then gets a call about her mother being in critical condition and rushes to Seoul. But her so-called sisters refuse to tell her the hospital’s name. Ho-su’s mother tries to rush back to the village, but she misses the last bus. Even in this situation, she holds back her tears and worries about Ho-su. That day, Ho-su cried his eyes out, assuming his mother had abandoned him. But it only drove him into becoming more independent.
Lastly, we hope the office drama, including the sexual harassment case, concludes soon so we can focus on our twins’ self-discovery. We came in for our twins’ story, not to follow some corrupt employees scheming around or Mr. Lee low-key threatening Mrs. Kim into selling her restaurant, using her weaknesses as leverage. It seems the real Kim Ro-sa died, and she assumed her identity afterward. Yet, that arc feels utterly needless with everything going around. More on our quartet, please, show, and less on anything else.
Photos and Videos: tvN Drama
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