[KD] Romance Town: Episode 1

It’s the summer of 1988, and a young Noh Soon Geum
(later played by Sung Yuri) is watching the Olympics with her mother and
grandmother. The Korean team wins the gold medal in ping pong, and it
gives the grandmother hope that perhaps Soon Geum can be a national
athlete too. (Like it’s so easy.)
Soon Geum is the third generation to a female household of maids, and
it’s a point of contention between mother and grandmother. Both are
bitter about their occupations and only want Soon Geum to work hard, go
to college, and marry rich. However, Soon Geum is kind of oblivious to
all this, as if she’s heard it all before and really doesn’t care. She
just mindlessly scratches her neck… until she notices that smoke is
coming out from their window.
As her family freaks out, Soon Geum calmly walks out on her own. She
knew it wasn’t a fire; she just wanted to alert them about the
strangeness of the smoke. Outside, there’s a pickup truck with a smoke
machine in the back. She decides to chase after it, thinking that if she
does, her body wouldn’t itch anymore, and that she won’t grow up to be a
maid.

Skip to 2003, and Soon Geum is now a high school student. (Fair
warning: in one episode, we get plenty of time jumps.) She’s a smart ass
student who is no stranger to getting yelled at by her teacher every so
often for her wisecracks.
No worries though – at night, she parties it up at a club with her best friend Yoon Shi Ah. At that same club is Kang Gun Woo (Jung Gyu Woon) – terribly chubby with nerdy glasses and crazy curly hair – and his buddy Kim Young Hee
(Kim Min Joon) – who looks more like the “rich boy” with his good looks
and sparkly jacket. He plays wing man to Gun Woo, trying to snag some
girls to dance with them. Suffice to say – the “hot girls” leave after
Gun Woo shows off his “moves.”
I gotta say though – Jung Gyu Woon can really shake his booty in a fat suit…

Soon Geum and Shi Ah collect money from the club owner – they’re
pretty much there to dance and entertain some of the guys – and then
leave, using studying as an excuse to bounce early. Shi Ah would rather
stay a little longer though for the boys, but Soon Geum knows that all
those boys just want a one-night stand, which will just lead to more
trouble.
Soon Geum leaves for her second part-time job as a waitress in a
restaurant. As she cleans up the tables, she spies a few leftover pieces
of meat and stuffs them in her mouth, taking a sip of soju while she’s
at it. A few tables behind her, Gun Woo is helping himself to a few
servings of barbecue.

It’s at that moment she races back to the club to find Shi Ah making
out with Young Hee in a private room. She barges in and dumps a bucket
of ice over the two of them, berating her friend for being in a room
with alcohol and a man. Suddenly the club owner rushes in, surprised
that they’re still around, and quickly rushes them to leave out the
back.
Too late, the police arrive doing their rounds of inspections.
They are all brought to the station, and Young Hee adamantly denies
knowing that they were underage. Gun Woo arrives to bail out his buddy,
while Soon Geum sullenly lies that she has no mother.

But you know how mothers just have impeccable timing? Soon Geum’s
mother arrives just in time and starts yelling, “You don’t have a
mother?!” She grabs a mop from another officer and starts chasing her
daughter around the station, ready to beat her. She goes after Young Hee
and Gun Woo – which one of them dragged Soon Geum to the club? At the
sight of the stick, Gun Woo falls weak at his knees, completely freaked,
which honestly befuddles the mother for a moment. I mean, he is twice her size…
Soon Geum’s mother hands her bank book to the teacher and asks that
he help Soon Geum into college. The teacher sheepishly says that no
student from this school has ever gone to college though. When they get
home, Soon Geum’s mother yells at her – why can’t she study hard? Why
won’t she just go to college? Soon Geum fires back: college is
worthless. She just wants to work. Or, she’ll just get married to a rich
boy. She can get married right now if she has to. But Mother thinks
that all those boys are worthless – they all will just end up being like
her dad.

Soon Geum has had enough – all she hears is her mother saying that
she has to work so hard as a maid just to send her daughter to college.
She’s tired of hearing her mother sound like a martyr and screams at
her. Mother slaps her square across the cheek.
That evening, Soon Geum is still smarting from the slap while her
mother is outside on the porch, drinking in the rain. Her mother quietly
says that Soon Geum’s father had told her she smelled like a
refrigerator. It was a moment where she was stripped of her identity as a
lady, and that resonates with Soon Geum. When they both fall asleep
that night, Soon Geum wraps her arm and leg around her mother’s body.
It’s also when her father takes their money and makes a run for it,
leaving only a note: “Honey, I’m sorry. I love you, Geum-ah.”
Now we’re in 2008. Soon Geum is standing outside of a bar with a baby
wrapped around her back in a blanket. She’s a single mother?!

A taxi drives Kang Tae Won (Lee Jae Yong) and his new wife Seo Yoon Joo
(Yang Jung Ah) to a rich fancy neighborhood. As they drive by the other
houses, they see the other maids of other houses, including Jung Da Kyum (Min Hyo Rin) washing a car and Oh Hyun Joo
(Park Ji Young) mowing the lawn. Yoon Joo is one spoiled woman, as she
doesn’t mind calling them “maids” rather than “housekeepers” since it’s
fewer syllables to say. The maids pause in their work to take in the new
girl in town, who even has a huge diamond as a toe ring.
In another taxi, an old grandmother comes out with a baby boy on her
back. She takes her time in getting out, annoying the two rich ladies in
the car behind her. The grandmother belatedly realizes that she’s left
something behind in the taxi and tries to call after it, but to no
avail. She raises a ruckus though, and the two rich ladies are so
annoyed that they honk at her.

Surprised, she drops her bag and falls backwards onto the baby. Good
thing the rich ladies are human enough to get out of the car and make
sure she’s alright. The other maids come rushing to her aid as well,
trying to figure out what was so important that was left behind in the
taxi.
Grandmother: “I had the father’s name written down.” Oof – important information indeed.
She was sent by the mother to deliver the baby here, but while she
has the right address, she forgot the name of the father! It becomes an
awkward guessing game as she tries to remember the last name… was it
Jang? or Kang? or Hwang? Da Kyum asks if it was a Kim – just to see if
she can eliminate her master from the list of candidates.

They come to another solution – present the baby to all the men in the neighborhood. A father is sure to recognize his son, no?

Hehe – it becomes an awesome line-up of veteran actors checking to see if the baby is theirs: Hwang Yong (Jo Sung Ha), Jang Chi Gook
(Lee Jung Gil with an awesomely bad mustache), Tae Won, and also Young
Hee. The grandmother thinks it’s Young Hee’s, because he’s the youngest.
Tae Won breaks up the group by inviting everyone else to come by their
home sometime. The two rich ladies turn out to be Chi Gook’s wife Kim
Soon Ok and mistress Oh Boon Ja. (Cohabitation?!) They are suspicious
it’s Chi Gook’s kid (no kidding), while Da Kyum warns Young Hee not to
drink so much lest he has an “accident” during one of his blackouts. She
openly admits she gets worried about him, since they are “living
together.”
Suddenly, grandma remembers the name! The child’s name is Kang San –
meaning, it’s Kang Tae Won’s son. Young Hee immediately jumps in – the
baby looks an awful lot like when Gun Woo was a baby!

Tae Won is having difficulty getting in contact with his son. He yells for his housekeeper, Yoo Choon Jak
(Ban Hyo Jung), looking every inch like Mrs. Doubtfire. Choon Jak knows
Gun Woo the best – better than Tae Won – and since Kang San is
definitely not Tae Won’s son (or so he says), Choon Jak will certainly
know what Gun Woo has been up to.

Meanwhile, Gun Woo is passed out in a karaoke room, having drunk only
half a glass of whiskey, while his friends are partying it up. Soon
Geum has also decided to enter that same karaoke bar with the baby. It’s
Shi Ah’s, who’s shocked to see Soon Geum bring her daughter to a “place
like this.” Soon Geum shames Shi Ah for not raising her daughter
properly.
As they fight, they don’t realize that Gun Woo is in their room. He
wakes up, and notices the crying baby. He tries playing peek-a-boo to
make her calm down, but Soon Geum smacks his face and pushes him back
down on the seats. She’s all, “Who the hell is this guy getting up all
over me with ‘Peek-a-boo’?!”
Soon Geum tells Shi Ah that baby Ji Min finally said “Mommy,” and
that’s enough to get Shi Ah to reclaim her role as a mother, and remind
Ji Min that Soon Geum is an “Auntie,” not a “Mommy.”

Unfortunately, just as Soon Geum is ready to leave, she realizes that
Gun Woo is sleeping on Ji Min’s blanket. She tries to pull it out under
his weight but to no avail. Instead, she falls on top of him, and it’s
in this compromising position that a waiter enters demanding that Gun
Woo pay the bill.
Soon Geum denies knowing Gun Woo, who’s hugging onto the blanket,
half-drunk, and without a wallet. A couple of men start searching Soon
Geum for cash. They find an envelope, full of her rent, and they take it
from her as payment. If she doesn’t know the guy, then she can get the
money back from him later.

Back at home, Choon Jak is ready to assume responsibility for the
child. Tae Won is frustrated and wants Gun Woo found immediately, and
Choon Jak invites the grandmother inside. Yoon Joo refuses to let the
grandmother in, trying to assert her position as mistress of the
household. Choon Jak: “Since when? and until when? He’s had numerous
wives, but only one maid.”

Gun Woo stumbles out of the club half asleep, and Soon Geum chases
after him – to a parking lot, where he takes off his shoes, places the
blanket under his head, and falls asleep in an empty lot. HAHA! Even
Soon Geum has to note that he took off his shoes neatly for a
half-drunk.

She tries to slap him awake, using his own hand, but he accidentally
slaps her instead. That’s enough to wake him up, and he starts pleading
“I’m sorry!” She hands him the bill instead, and he invites her into his
car, where he searches for extra cash. He’s found himself in this
situation before, so he usually has backup money. He moans about wanting
coffee – if he had a little bit of money for coffee, he could sober up,
drive her home, and then pay her back there. Soon Geum gets right up in
his face, and Gun Woo’s eyes widen. Yeah – I don’t think he’s had many
girls get that close to him before.
Soon Geum wants to smell his breath, but Gun Woo holds it in until
she backs off. She orders him to drive, but Gun Woo knows he’ll get
caught. He gets caught on half a bottle of beer. He compromises – at
least let him have a snack! He grabs two bags of chips: “Do you want the
sweet one? Or sweeter?” No response. “How about salty?”
Soon Geum grabs the sweeter one, just to get him to stop. She
struggles with opening her bag, so Gun Woo takes it, points at the tiny
arrow, and expertly tears off a corner. Yeah – he’s totally
done it before. Soon Geum eats one piece at a time; Gun Woo grabs it by
the handful. You see why they’re the size they are, right?
He then gives her a tip about eating chips: “You have to eat it this way so it’s tastier.”
Soon Geum is disgusted, but he doesn’t stop bugging her until she does it as well.
What a cute couple the two of them make.
They start driving, and Gun Woo feels worse about losing the picture
with him and his grandmother (he means Choon Jak). It was hard for him
to get a photo with her. Soon Geum doesn’t mind her dingy wallet was
taken from her too – it just made her feel worse that she barely any
money in it to begin with. She suddenly asks him to stop at a cafe.

Soon Geum hands Gun Woo a cup of coffee. The restaurant she worked
for always sent her on coffee errands, and so she was able to collect
enough stamps to get a free one. She wonders aloud why he’s in a car
full of snacks rather than girls, and he says defensively that she’s a
girl. Soon Geum refutes the point – she’s not a girl, just someone in
debt.
Gun Woo suddenly asks her if he should go to New York. He doesn’t
want to go – now that he’s kind of made a friend in her. He never really
wanted to go to begin with though… Soon Geum asks him – does he like
her? Gun Woo can’t answer – it’s so cute he’s so shy!
That’s when Soon Geum gets a call from Shi Ah about her father being
at their house. She has to go, so she gives Gun Woo her number and tells
him to please call her. She trusts him to – even though they don’t know
each other’s names. Poor Gun Woo though – when he gets up, the chair is
stuck around his butt. It would have been funny – if Jung Gyu Woon had
not played the scene so poignantly.

Turns out, Soon Geum’s father had gambled away all of their house
deposit. She calls him up and begs him to stop hurting her this way. She
says Mother will return from the grave – and that’s the first we hear
of her mother actually passing away. But her father heartlessly hangs
up, knowing that despite having caused trouble for his daughter, she’ll
find a way to survive anyways. Soon Geum arrives home, upset and
embarrassed to face her friend (since the house deposit was Shi Ah’s
money). Shi Ah comforts her – at least Soon Geum’s father comes back
looking for her. There are people in far worse situations than the Soon
Geum.
It’s the middle of the night and Da Kyum is fixing up a midnight
snack. Young Hee comes looking for a bottle opener, and even though she
tells him it’s right in front of him, he refuses to “see” it. Da Kyum
has to come over and pick it out for him. When he grabs it from her
hand, his arm brushes her chest, and they freeze in the moment – he
completely aware of what he’s done, and she refusing to move away until
he moves his arm first.

She is called away to her room, and there she brings in the food for
the other maids in the area – Hyun Joo, Soo Jung, and Zar Lin (Hwang
Yong’s maid). They’re all playing Go Stop while Zar Lin announces
they’ve won the lottery! They matched six numbers, and the ladies freak
out. Da Kyum grabs the slip to check – and reveals they haven’t won – they didn’t win all six numbers in one row. They all beat Zar Lin for giving them such high hopes.

Gun Woo finally arrives home. His father is outside, waiting for him.
He begs his son to let him enjoy his post-wedded bliss, and that it’ll
all be OK since Gun Woo is leaving for New York tomorrow. Choon Jak, the
grandmother, and Yoon Joo come out, and they show the baby to Gun Woo.
In just a matter of looks and sighs, Gun Woo knows he has to take the
fall of being the baby daddy.

The next day, Young Hee assaults Gun Woo – who the hell would have
thought Gun Woo would be a father?! But Young Hee is smart – he knows
the kid resembles Tae Won more, and wonders if Gun Woo was just forced
to take the fall. Gun Woo pays more attention to the number Soon Geum
left for him on a napkin, and so Young Hee takes the non-answer to mean a
“yes.”
Meanwhile, Yoon Joo is fretting. Who will take care of the baby if
Gun Woo leaves, and is she already a (God forbid) grandmother!? Tae Won
tells her not to worry about it – they can hire someone else to take
care of “Gun Woo’s mistake.” Yoon Joo goes to Gun Woo’s room, and
notices the baby blanket and number on the napkin. Hmm…
Choon Jak takes Gun Woo to the airport to see him off, and Yoon Joo
is highly annoyed that the maid gets to do anything she wants.
Meanwhile, Soon Geum is nervously waiting for Gun Woo’s call. She needs
his money to pay her rent. Suddenly, the phone rings.

Yoon Joo called Soon Geum over thinking that she’s the baby mama. She
waits for Soon Geum outside the house, carrying the baby in such an
insecure way that I seriously feel like she’s going to drop the baby.
Thankfully, Soon Geum arrives in time to take the baby away from her,
and soothes him. Kang San stops crying, and all the maids notice Soon
Geum’s calming presence. Yoon Joo is impressed; if Soon Geum is not the
mother, she will offer double the amount Soon Geum wants as long as she
becomes a maid in the household and takes care in raising the baby.

We’re now in 2011. Kang San is a cute, perky three-year old who runs
to Soon Geum’s room in his pajamas. He pinches her cheek, trying to wake
her up.
Soon Geum is dreaming of her father. He’s telling her to come home
with him instead of working as a maid. He asks her to just follow for
ten minutes, and drives the pickup truck with the smoke machine. Soon
Geum finds herself chasing after the smoke like in her youth. Then, the
smoke turns into money, and she cheerfully runs after him, watching
money floating from the heavens.
That’s when Yoon Joo yells, “The rice is burning!” Woops.

Later that day, she stops by a quick mart to drop off all her change –
winnings from playing go-stop. She uses it to buy a game ticket from
the guy behind the counter, Choi Gun. When she steps outside, standing
next to GUN-WOO-LOOKING-MIGHTY-FINE-WHILE-SIPPING-A-SODA, she decides to
take another chance. She purchases another ticket – this time with her
cash. This second ticket is solely for her, and the first ticket is the
one she’ll share with the other maids.
Outside, Gun Woo muses that the neighborhood hasn’t changed very much from three years ago.
Comments:
JUNG GYU WOON I LOVE YOU!!!
He’s really the motivating factor in why I decided to recap this drama (and also because I asked javabeans and girlfriday
and they kindly let me do so). This drama is so unexpected. I honestly
did not think I would like it, but since I have been recapping (read:
rewatching) Sign, I kept thinking I should give Jung Gyu Woon a
chance. And by extension, I would be giving the entire cast a chance.
I’m glad I did though, because this drama is so interesting. It’s
similar to Pasta where not much seems to happen, and yet a lot is
happening. The beginning was quite enjoyable because Gun Woo keeps
popping up in Soon Geum’s vicinity, and you just keep wondering when
they are going to formally meet each other. Even when they finally do
talk, they still don’t know each other’s names. It’s so nice to see
that this is a couple who have been around each other for years and
don’t even realize it – one of those happy coincidences.
I have to say, Min Hyo Rin and Kim Min Joon’s storyline is strong.
For a first episode to have that much tension between the two of them? I
am really rooting for this couple-dom.
This is my first Sung Yuri drama, and I like her – so far. Mind you,
I’m watching her without the bias of her previous dramas. Her scene with
her mother was well played in that I could feel her hatred and
frustration for her mother, as well as her mother’s frustration at not
being able to raise a smarter daughter. I have hopes for her chemistry
with Jung Gyu Woon, although at this point, I think Jung could force
chemistry with anyone. Kim So Yeon was not that comfortable with him in Dr. Champ but he sold the relationship to me. Him and Uhm Ji Won was cuter.
I’m fastening my seat belt – I think it’s gonna be a bumpy ride…