[KD] Best Love: Episode 7

So Jin totally wrecks the budding truce he has with Ae-jung by acting
like an ass and propositioning her, calling her “easy,” and sends her
straight into the arms of the good doctor.

He slaps his face away to avoid looking, and finds his body turning
back of its own accord, and grabs his sweater to whirl himself back
around. He staggers off like some kind of impaired robot, half of him
trying to turn back and the other half forcing him away. How can such a
poignant moment be so ridiculously wacky? Oh, right. We’re in a Hong
sisters drama!
At home, he’s confronted with the spilled potatoes, which Ae-jung had
been intending to turn into curry. Revenge is a dish best served alone?
Dad chides Ae-hwan for meddling about the music video and reminds
Ae-hwan about the actor Ae-jung had dated back in the day. That had led
to the scandal about her using the star as a launchpad for her own
acting career; what if history repeats?
Ae-hwan protests that this time it’s different — he’s sure Jin likes
Ae-jung, and that the Se-ri thing is over — but Dad barks at him to
remember the last time, when Other Dude also liked Ae-jung, but
backstabbed her in the end anyway and turned her into a man-stealer.

Ae-jung admits to Pil-joo that she was crying out of embarrassment.
She can usually handle being thought of as easy and dirty because she
knows she isn’t, “But today, I felt like I really did come off as easy
and dirty, which made me feel ashamed.”
Pil-joo reminds her of her initial outburst when she’d called herself a national treasure (kukbo)
that couldn’t be bought with 10 billion won, and says, “I couldn’t do
anything when our nation’s number 1 treasure was hurt, but when the
national treasure in front of me is hurt, I promised I’d heal her.” (He
refers to Sungnyemun, the Namdaemun gate listed as Korea’s top national
treasure that was destroyed by arson in 2008.)
Ae-jung jokes that she was actually Kukbo number 2, in terms of age,
which he turns into more punning: “Ah, you must’ve been the tahb.” She misinterprets, saying that they were popular so yes, they were at the top. He corrects her — he meant the Wongaksa Pagoda (stone pagoda = seok-tahb) that’s listed as treasure number 2.
Ae-jung: “Wasn’t that Dong…dae…mun?” Pil-joo: “You’ll have to study more.” Cute.

Jin eats his sad little curry at home alone, noting, “Curry without
potatoes is disgustingly untasty.” But he eats anyway, the potatoes
untouched beside him, which is pretty heart-tugging either way you
interpret it: Either he’s stubbornly convincing himself he doesn’t want
them, or he can’t bear to cut ‘em up and eat them alone.
The next day, Jin has lunch with President Moon, who asks if he’d
agreed to appear in Ae-jung’s music video. Jin barks that no, he hasn’t
made any agreements.

The mood turns strained when Ae-jung joins the party, having been
called so that they can clear out the air after the A-B-C fight, since
they’re all in the same management family. Jin retorts that she’s not
family, she’s a dependent (i.e., moocher), and says pointedly that she’s
so shameless that saying this to her face isn’t likely to embarrass
her.
Ae-jung agrees, saying that she won’t be embarrassed when she can
just blatantly ignore him — a prospect that alarms Jin. Like a little
boy with his pride nettled, he has to strike back, and when Ae-jung
declines to order the expensive A Course, he mocks her about picking
cheaply to please the president. (And then looks worried when she
doesn’t respond to the insult.)
President Moon steps out for a moment and is puzzled at the
atmosphere — she’d actually called this lunch to observe them together
and confirm her suspicions, and here they are being all chilly.

When Jin tries to excuse himself, Ae-jung tells him that he can’t —
not when he has to promote her album and appear in her video. Or is he
going to refuse, since he didn’t get the sex he so wanted last night?
While he gapes at her incredulously, she tells him she’d assumed he was
“writing an innocent novel” with all his blathering about Camellia, but given his recent behavior, she’s downgraded him to 뽕, the name of an adult movie. HAHAHA.
She says ominously that he’d better do her video: “You’ve got a
butthole for a mouth so when you open it, we know what comes out. But
I’ve got a bomb for a mouth: When I open it, things explode.” (Erm…just
as long as we’re not combining the two…) She continues: “So about last
night’s events — shall I open my mouth and write a book about it, or
shall I sell an album with you appearing in my music video?” She advises
him to choose the expensive route, “not the cheap one, if you want to
look good to me.”
She stalks out muttering to herself that she can ridicule him just as
much as he ridicules her — which is when he chases her down and
wrist-grabs her around the corner to ask what she’s doing. Is she
threatening him into doing her video, or lashing back from injured
pride? “Whichever it is, just pick one, instead of confusing a person.”

(Note: The word “confuse” refers to feelings, as though he doesn’t
know how to draw the lines to identify which emotions go where. In
dramas, we’re almost always talking about a person being confused with
romantic feelings.)
Ae-jung: “What’s there to confuse? Think whatever you want. You do
that anyway. I treated you like a person to use and mock, didn’t I? Then
consider yourself used and mocked by me.” He grabs her and says, “Fine,
I’ll become someone you can really laugh at, so use me. But do it
properly, so you don’t confuse me.”
With that, he tells President Moon that he’ll help with the album,
and wants all the best people assembled. When she presents the plans to
the Gu siblings, they’re stunned at the all-star lineup, who are so
beyond their level as to be burdensome.

At home, Jin regards his potatoes with the gravity of a general about
to leap into battle, telling them that their existence will be decided
based on Ae-jung’s actions: If she signs that contract, that means she
was just going to use him for her career and potatoes become
meaningless. With a sideways glance, we see the pot of water boiling on
the stove, awaiting use. LMAO.
Ae-jung, however, is feeling torn and knows that she’s being tested.
Her brother pleads with her to think carefully, because while he agrees
that it’s a difficult place for her to be in, if they can score a hit
with this one song, they can position themselves for a more successful
future.
She signs, and Jin takes his potatoes to meet their demise. In goes
one, then two, but curiously he’s got tears in his eyes and he can’t
drop the third, which sets off his heart monitor. Deciding that the
shock may do him in, he puts it back into its bowl, telling it,
“Consider yourself in prison.” HAHAHA. Oh, why so cute?

President Moon is shrewd enough to know that this is a pride battle
between her clients, and asks Ae-jung if signing has hurt hers: “If you
stuck to your pride and didn’t sign, you’d have lost your chance but
been able to capture his heart.” Ae-jung says she has no intention of
claiming his feelings, and is in no position to give up this
opportunity.
President Moon tells her she did the right thing — because if she’d stuck to her pride and continued to rattle Jin’s feelings, she would have cast Ae-jung aside: “You’re quite realistic. Maintain that.”

Trust the Hong sisters to draw the parallel before we can: Jenny says
that the president’s just like all those hard-nosed mothers-in-law in
dramas who refuse to give up their precious sons to the heroines.
Ae-jung points out that this makes her a non-heroine, because she
accepted the deal that heroines always reject. Jenny assures her she did
the right thing, and that she shouldn’t see Jin anymore anyway since
he’s treating her like a gold digger. Besides, she doesn’t like him
anyway, right?
Ae-jung agrees, consoling herself with that thought. Until she steps on Pororo accidentally, who chides her not to lie.

Se-ri visits Pil-joo to ask about the anti-bloating medicine he’d
given her earlier, asking if she could double up to lose more weight. He
advises against it, and assures her that she’s thin and beautiful
already. She fishes for a few more compliments, gratified when he calls
her one of the country’s most beautiful.
She demurely says, “I am called a national treasure.”
Remembering his kukbo conversation, Pil-joo calls her number 4 (keke),
which she takes the wrong way. Pil-joo clarifies that he meant by age,
but nods understandingly, “Ah, so were you also fourth in popularity?”
Se-ri happily notes that Pil-joo is very interested in national
treasures, and he replies that he’s developed quite the interest lately.
She drops the tidbit that she’ll be breaking up with Jin soon (which is
why she wants to slim down more, to elicit sympathy), yunno, just in
case that should interest him.
Ae-jung’s father has decided to end the ruse that he’s Se-ri’s father
and return the expensive Oriental medicine balls. He’s eaten three of
the ten, but figures it’s better late than never, right? Only, when he
calls Pil-joo’s mother to return the box, he finds her at a grand
opening for a barbecue restaurant, and can’t resist the pull of free,
high-quality meat. Oy! Talk about bringing new meaning to selling your
daughter for a cow.

Jae-seok notices that Jin’s feeling down because of Ae-jung, but
saying that aloud is his folly: Ominously, Jin motions Jae-seok close
and says in his best Mi-shil voice (accompanied by eerie Mi-shil theme
song!) that managers are human and can make mistakes, “But my manager
can’t.”
Jae-seok is invited along to celebrate Ae-jung’s album, which is a
conversation that draws Jin’s interest; he’s particularly gratified to
hear that they’re trying to lift Ae-jung’s depressed mood. He figures,
“At least she has a conscience.”
Jenny urges Ae-jung to perk up and sing a song, but when she stands,
she steps in a wad of gum, just as they notice a fly buzzing in the air.
So there she is, stomping awkwardly and flailing at the air — and this
weird “dance” is what Jin sees when he arrives with Jae-seok, which
stings his pride.

Miffed, he drops a cake box on the table and sulkily takes a seat.
Jae-seok makes the monumentally bad call of choosing G-Dragon’s
“Heartbreaker” to sing, because Jin chafes at the lyrics that (hee!) hit
too close to home:

“I don’t give in, I’ve still got uses
My body was wrecked because of you, dreams destroyed, heart burned
For you, I could fly, I’d run to where you are
But you said goodbye again and again
What’s the reason you don’t want me?
Your annoyed expressions tell me everything and make me sad
But I still like you, still ask for a chance
I hate your heart that’s turned away, your cold gaze”

Jin tries to contain his irritation, but finally jumps up with a roar…and joins in the chorus:

“Yo ma heart heart heart heart heart breaker
What did I do wrong?
You’re ma heart heart heart heart heart breaker
no way no way”

Oh my god. I’m dying. And with that, Jin clutches his heart (Get it? Heartbreaker emotionally AND literally?), overdoing it. He steps out for a break, and Ae-jung follows him to check on him.

He admits to saying some harsh things that day, and suggests that if she were to say that she didn’t come to his house just
to ask for a favor — if she intended to also make him curry — he’ll be
understanding. Oof, it’s so sweet when you’re grasping at straws.
She tells him, “You don’t have to understand,” mumbling that she’s
just thankful to him, and turns to leave. Jin grabs her shoulder, just
as her heart starts to thump.
Asking for a minute of her time, Jin takes off his heart monitor and
puts it on her wrist: “If for one minute you don’t go outside the safety
zone between 60 and 90, I’ll just keep being that person you’re
thankful to.” (Meaning: I’ll back off.)

They stand there watching as the numbers climb, hitting 90, then 100.
Unnerved, she breaks free and asks pleadingly for him to leave her be:
“If I want to continue earning my keep, I can’t let myself tremble
because of someone like you. Please leave me alone so I can live between
60 and 90.”
There’s a logic to that (his very own, in fact) and Jin accepts it
resignedly, taking back the monitor without looking. He pulls out the
pen and gives it to her, explaining that that’s why he’d gotten angry —
because he found the pen in the ball pit, but she’d lied to impress the
doctor.

Jin: “Are you embarrassed now that your lie has been exposed? But
I’ll understand you anyway, because you have your own circumstances.
It’s impressive, that a thing like you has turned Dokko Jin into a
laughingstock. Don’t go spreading rumors.” He starts to say something
about the cake, but stops himself and goes, looking pained.
When Ae-jung opens the cake box, she finds her lost shoe. The other
three in the party guess that Pil-joo bought the replacement so Ae-jung
wouldn’t worry, which makes Jenny ooh over his consideration. Ae-hwan
argues for Jin instead, while Jae-seok points out that while Jin has the
bad personality, women are always drawn to the bad guy.

Jenny retorts that she’s not like that, which perks both men up in
interest, who then scramble to offer her refreshment. She picks both
their beverages, saying, “I want both.”
Pil-joo apologizes for the lie, perceiving that he’s made Ae-jung
feel even worse, and wants to fix it. She admits that the pen caused a
“frustrating misunderstanding” but it doesn’t seem fixable — not when
she’s already taken the bite (the contract) and isn’t in a position to
give it back. Ruefully, she tells Pil-joo that the only thing to do in
response to the bite is to wake from the pain.

At home, Jin sighs — he wanted Ae-jung to try to explain her actions.
It’s sadly sweet that he’s looking for any excuse to forgive her, but
she feels so bad that she can’t even offer that up. Awww. So there he
goes fondling that potato again, deciding sadly, “However I torment or
grab or test her, there’s only one answer — I have to admit it. I’ve…
fallen into a shameful one-sided love.”
And then! He notices something on the potato — a sprout. And since
potato sprouts are poisonous, he declares that he must cut it out.

Except that… instead, Jin puts the potato into a wineglass with water. OH MY GOD that’s so silly and sweet.
Ae-jung contemplates her shoe, practicing a few lines: “Dokko
Jin-sshi, I didn’t lie to you. I came to cancel my words about never,
ever liking you.” Alas, she decides against actually saying them.
Next we see, Jin is dressing in a sharp suit, telling himself that to
keep from betraying that he’s fallen into a pathetic one-sided love, he
has to look even better than usual. He waters his potato, figuring,
“Whether it’s poisonous or not, it’s grown this much, might as well keep
raising it.”
Ae-jung readies for another TV appearance, and tells her brother that
she wants to talk to President Moon about cutting back their excessive
album production budget. Ae-hwan cheers her up with news of a star
auction for Couple Making, which will be including one of her personal items: her sneakers. That makes her hesitate, but she agrees to let them go.

Only, she has second thoughts and decides to retrieve the shoes —
except she runs right into Jin on her way, who’s at the station to
discuss a documentary special. After a brief greeting, Jin leaves
without attempting conversation.
Ae-jung’s disappointed but continues on her way, only to be rebuffed
by the automatic turnstile because of her frog suit padding. She decides
to hop (snerk) the barrier but struggles because of the unwieldy
costume — which is when she’s swept off her feet (literally) by Jin, who
reappears to carry her over.

They have a brief, polite conversation about her TV spot, and he’s
actually quite mellow and restrained, even wishing her well. When he
walks off, Ae-jung frets, “I wish he’d gotten angry instead — why’s he
acting so cool?”
She decides she’d better not retrieve the sneakers after all, because
she’d be tempted to keep wearing them: “And if I wear them, I’ll want
to run to him.”

Pil-joo asks Se-ri to clearly define her relationship with Jin, not
realizing how she (mis)interprets that question. She explains that a
celebrity breakup carries extra complications, and that they have to
take care of image and contract factors as well. Pil-joo guesses that if
one side finds a new love interest, that third party can end up hurt.
Se-ri warns him to be very careful, assuming he refers to himself,
because in her mind it’s all about her, her, her.
Jin and Jae-seok run into the youngest writer on the Couple Making
team, who explains that she’s readying the site for auction. Jin
recognizes the shoes she holds, and muses glumly that Ae-jung’s getting
rid of them after he returned them to her.

Pil-joo comes along and also sees the shoes, which the writer
accidentally drops. When he moves to pick up one, Jin steps in and
claims it. They have a silent showdown as Pil-joo says pleasantly, “I
think you should entrust that to me.” Ooh, fight! Fight! Fight! Jin
hands it back to the writer instead, advising her to be careful with it,
because “If you drop it, anybody can claim it’s his.” Pil-joo comes right back with: “Please entrust it to me. I’m not just anyone, am I?”
Both men check out the auction site, where Ae-jung’s sneakers have
the lowest bid by far. Jenny and Ae-jung are aware of the situation
(they’re at a mere 30,000 won, or about $25) and Jenny wants to put in a
bid herself, but is stopped by Ae-jung. Which is when they notice that
the price shoots up to 500,000 — Pil-joo’s bid.
Jin sees the update and refuses to let the shoes go to “just anybody”
— not when “the very special me found them.” Boom! 1 million won it is.

Pil-joo sees the price jump, suspects that Jin is behind it, and has a moment of manly pique. 2 million won!

Jin tells himself to butt out and not turn himself into a
laughingstock…but then has the fantasy of Pil-joo romantically returning
the sneakers to Ae-jung. 3 million won!
Pil-joo guesses, “He must really not want me to take them. Then…I’ll
have to take them!” The writers watch the climbing prices with shock — 7
million! 8 million! Oh lordy, I love these two grown men acting like
children. Mine’s bigger than yours, indeed! (Bank accounts, I mean! Naturally.)

Just as Pil-joo enters his bid of 10 million, a client enters the
office, whose child trips over the power strip, shutting his computer
off. So what does he do? Races to his receptionist’s computer for this
“emergency” — only to find the auction has ended.
Jin congratulates himself: “The special Dokko Jin has won over the just-anybody doctor. HAHAHA!”
And then he comes to his senses, and turns his victory fingers
accusingly against himself: “Why’d you do that?!” Jin pleads for
forgiveness with himself, just as his hand attacks his face. OMG. Giggle
fits all around.

Se-ri’s curious about the auction winner, who checks out to be some
guy in his mid-twenties. But the bigger problem, which the writer
confides to her, is that the other bidder was Pil-joo. Se-ri realizes,
“Then the Kukbo Sonyeo he was interested in…was Ae-jung unni?”
Pride wounded, Se-ri gets the idea for her petty little revenge when a
reporter comes by asking for info on the auction. She tells him that
nobody knows who the winner is, in this age of internet ID’s. Why, it
could have even been Ae-jung herself.
That’s the story that breaks, and suddenly Ae-jung is under suspicion
for boosting the auction to promote herself. She confirms with the
producers that she didn’t do it, and they worry that if the real buyer
doesn’t reveal himself before their shoot tomorrow, where reporters are
sure to crowd, it’ll be assumed she did it.

Jae-seok offers to step forward, since the shoes were bought with his
ID. Jin shoots that down, because it’ll still look bad — he’s a manager
from Ae-jung’s agency, so the effect will be just as bad.
Ae-jung tries to assure her family that it’ll be okay, and they
encourage her to ride out the false rumors, that she can hold her head
up because she knows she didn’t do it. But Hyung-kyu asks innocently,
“What’s a sponsor?” because people have been saying that Ae-jung bought
her own sneakers with her sponsor’s cash. And then, “Why do they call
Aunt a rag?”

Ouch. Ae-jung gently tells Hyung-kyu not to use those words, and also
reminds him not to tell people at school that she’s his aunt, which is
kinda heartbreaking. And when she washes out a rag that night, she looks
at it sadly with its frayed edges.
The next day, the broadcasting building is knee-deep in reporters.
Ae-jung apologizes to the producers for the disturbance, while fielding
nasty looks from the other cast members. The PD tells her to address the
mob before the shoot, which rather seems like throwing a lamb to the
wolves to spare himself, in an effort to tamp down the chaos.

Pil-joo arrives, having read the articles and seen the crowd, and
watches Ae-jung apologizing to everyone, feeling for her. On the other
hand, Se-ri pushes to have Ae-jung cut from the show, saying that
whenever other variety shows have issues with cast members, they cut
them before the matter is even settled. (Ouch, but true.) The writer
counters that they know Ae-jung didn’t do it, and says that they’ll
decide after seeing the press’s reaction.
It’s not bound to be pretty: As soon as Ae-jung steps out to address
them, she’s swarmed with cameras. Overwhelmed, all she can say is that
she doesn’t know, and tries to work her way out of the crowd.

In the jostling, she loses a shoe, and the reporters pounce to get
their shot. Pil-joo grows angry on her behalf and starts to step
forward, but Se-ri stops him by saying that his involvement will only
make things worse for Ae-jung.
Just as things hit their frenzied peak, another figure steps forward
and announces, “They’re here!” It’s Jin, holding up the sneakers, and
the reporters rush to get their photos.
Jin joins Ae-jung and poses with the shoes, declaring, “The person who bought Gu Ae-jung’s shoes is me, Dokko Jin!”

The audience oohs at this dramatic turn, and that’s before Jin actually kneels before her to put the shoe on her foot.
The reporters marvel, Ae-jung stares at him wide-eyed, and Jin…winks. Ahh, you sexy bastard!