by: Raine

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Is she contemplating jumping him? She should be…

Thanks for your patience with this one. I decided to take my first stab at recapping a currently airing show and then ended up recapping two, Fashion King and Rooftop Prince. My “retrocaps” as I like to call them, have gone on the back burner. I will try to get one out a week, but that depends on my sanity and RL work load.

As for this episode, it really foreshadowed the kind of relationship Yoon-hee is going to have with Joon-suk. ‘Cause let’s face it, we know they’s gettin’ togetha. She’s going to be bashed for being a nobody and he’s going to have to fight the powers that be (mother, Hye-mi, Director Go, his own upbringing) to keep loving her.

“Find a Beautiful World” – Connexion, Punk Rock featuring Beige (from the How to Be a Perfect Neighbor OST)

episode 9 recap

After Joon-suk wonders what he will do without her, Yoon-hee is so flustered that she walks past Soo-chan without even noticing him. He stops her for some attention and she asks why it feels like something passed into it even thought all she did was look into someone’s eyes. He wonders if she has heart problems.

Oh Soo-chan, you may be a jebi, but first, you are still a man. A clueless, clueless man. It’s Park Shi-hoo. Everyone has heart problems around him. *clutches chest*

Yoon-hee, meanwhile, stares in the mirror and thinks she’s a total nutter who was fooled by Soo-chan’s story about his first love.

You’re a nutter alright, but we all are when it comes to love.

At the police station, Fluffy (Detective Kim…I like this nickname, can you tell?) is questioning a kid who jacked a watch from a noona who hasn’t been home for a few days. Turns out it’s an expensive watch, which intrigued the kid because she was poor. Detective Kang is uninterested in the kid until he spots the noona’s address. Suddenly excited, Kang shoves an upside down photo of Yeon Soo-yeon in the kid’s face and he confirms it’s the same woman, but she went by Park Mi-soo.

Since I saw The Princess’ Man before I watched this, it’s weird to see Kim Roe-ha in such a goofy role. But this is where Park Shi-hoo started his working relationship with him. Not that that has anything to do with anything, but I just thought I’d mention it.

The detectives take the kid and search the home, which is completely bare of fingerprints and trace evidence save for one photo of Yeon Soo-yeon holding a baby and another woman standing beside them. A bit of research shows that the watch is worth a year’s salary.

O_O I could pay off my student loans…can I have that watch? And Park Shi-hoo?

Song Young-ja, the poor woman who birthed Go Hye-mi the Evil, is venting about Sun Woo hosting Yoo Joon-suk at her home after complimenting Young-ja’s preparation for his visit. The neighbors will think that she didn’t prepare enough. How will she be able to hold her head up? Evil seems equally upset.

I’m laughing because both women are so delusional. They’re twisting the truth into something twistier than a pretzel and more convoluted than Fashion King‘s plot.

Yang Duk-gil presents his unimpressive resume to Mi-hee who decides that he’s a hopeless cause and hands him a card instead. Go there this afternoon, she orders. It’s her travel agency where Detective Kang is waiting to woo the oblivious Mi-hee. The two men are seen together (why?) and Mi-hee offers Duk-gil a job.

Now we all knows he’s a total ahjumma so he bows deeply to her, on the verge of tears at the job offer and thanks her formally, which embarrasses her silly.

I’d say she’s warming to him, don’t you think? I think these two men are love rivals. OooOooh. Ahjumma versus Detective.

Detective Kang happily declares that the two men will see each other often because he is planning a very large trip that requires many discussion with the president who wonders why has doesn’t have any proposal at all. Duk-gil, however, is concerned about Yeon Soo-yeon’s murder case because she was like a sister to him.

A phone rings and it’s the department calling to give Kang some information about J Construction, which Mi-hee immediately recognizes as the place that her sister works. She’s as curious as Duk-gil about the developing case. The expensive watch had a serial number and ten of them were sold. Mi-hee wonders if all ten were sold to J Construction and Kang looks a bit surprised that she made the connection. Probably ’cause she made it before him…hehe.

Did Mi-hee’s revelation remind anyone of Elle’s revelation in Legally Blond? Both are fashion obsessed and that obsession leads to key insights. For Elle, it’s all in the ammonium thioglycolic. If you don’t get that reference, immediately stop reading and check out the film. Now.

Duk-gil runs home to gossip about the information to Soo-chan. The case is vague and he feels uneasy to have the murderer on the loose. Soo-chan pretends to have not one iota of interest in the case, but Duk-gil knows, as do we, that it’s a load of crap.

Armed with this new bit of evidence, Detective Kang heads over to J Construction and questions Young-jae who doesn’t know anything. Hee-sup approaches with Wee Dae-han…heehee. Weeeee Dae-han. That man is anything but wee…

OKAY! Back on track. They join the conversation and are asked about ten expensive watches that were sold to the company ten years back – they are part of a murder investigation. Hee-sup suspiciously says that he isn’t sure if they have records from that “long” ago and makes everyone head to a meeting.

Um, the company I work for has record dating back fifteen years…jus’ sayin’.

Hee-sup heads straight to Director Go who is really turning out to be the Evil Daddy. Go tells Hee-sup to lie bout the records and we now know why Hee-sup got promoted over Young-jae.

The people of Yoon-hee’s household gather around the telephone as Yoon-hee calls for Soo-chan’s interview results. She hangs her head when she hears the news and Soo-chan quickly rises to leave, probably to go cry again. Then mischievous Yoon-hee calls, “Remember to buy me clothes with your first month’s pay!” They’re all so happy they forgive her the fake-out. Duk-gil ahjumma is crying, Sun Woo thinks all of Soo-chan’s problems are solved and Mi-hee tries to keep Yoon-hee from joining in on Duk-gil and Soo-chan’s celebratory hug.

All is right with the world.

It is lunch time and Joon-suk waits for Yoon-hee to join him, but he gets Evil instead. If he can’t have Yoon-hee, at least he can have a memory of her, so he takes Evil to the potato stew place, which rather disgusts Evil. But that’s okay, I want Evil as miserable as possible.

Joon-suk drags Yoon-hee with him to go see the president but they are intercepted by Lee Mi-ran, Joon-suk’s actress ex-girlfriend. Her appearance shakes Joon-suk greatly and her attitude leaves much to be desired.

(Ack, so hot when he’s looking all tender. And Bae Doo-na is so adorable when she looks clueless.)

Afterwards, they sit on a bench outside while Joon-suk recovers from the emotional blow. “Am I useless?” he asks Yoon-hee who tactlessly responds, “Yes.” Her blunt response makes him smile as she tells him she understands a little. There was news about his scandal with the actress.

Yoon-hee’s guileless sympathy allows Joon-suk to open up to her. His family said that if he married Mi-ran, he would have to give up his assets, which he was willing to do. But Mi-ran said that his love wasn’t great enough to run away with him and give up everything. Now he doesn’t believe in love. Does Yoon-hee?

She’s never been in love, so she doesn’t know. But she understands why he doesn’t believe in it after being hurt so badly. Life is more interesting, however, if people believe in love. A funny man told her about his first love and Yoon-hee was moved. At the time the funny man was playing a game, but they became friends after she beat the hell after him.

Joon-suk observes that she isn’t a person who thinks much and she agrees. But she wouldn’t be any other way. She is constantly told she’s not smart, a busy-body and not down to earth. Her mother beats her for the smallest thing. However, she’s happy as she is as long as she doesn’t do anything wrong. How could she live otherwise? Only then will she sleep well at night.

With a slight smile, Joon-suk mentions he was an alcoholic back in the States. In order to sleep, he’d drink. Lately, he’s been feeling the need to drink because there is a woman who he always thinks of. Yoon-hee thinks he means Evil, but he says that she is someone who would slap him to kill a mosquito. Someone who is so lazy, she doesn’t seen the sun unless it’s summer vacation. He’ll smile thinking of her and be unable to sleep.

Yoon-hee is floored and unable to handle this revelation, quickly mutters that she’ll take a taxi and that he should rest – it sounds like he has heatstroke. He grabs her wrists for a moment then let’s her go, realizing her need to absorb this information.

On the bus, Yoon-hee’s heart is beating hard and she contemplates the hand he held.

Or maybe she’s contemplating the fact that she should’ve jumped Park Shi-hoo Yoo Joon-suk.

She is so dazed that she walks past Soo-chan who wonders what is wrong. Yoon-hee mentions that someone can’t sleep ’cause of someone else and Soo-chan is immediately suspicious. “Whoever said it is an amateur,” Soo-chan scoffs. “This man only intends to seduce her for money.” Of course, as Joon-suk is a chaebol, she gets pissed and storms off. “Don’t follow me!” “We live in the same house.” Pfffft. They fight like siblings.

Unable to sleep, Yoon-hee keeps Ye-seul awake with her tossing and turning. Her mother thinks she’s done something wrong again. No one has faith in her. And she thinks she’s just suffered heatstroke for having been affected by Joon-suk’s words and actions.

Honey, that ain’t heatstroke. That’s having the hots. You have them BAD. I can’t blame you. It’s Park Shi-hoo Yoo Joon-suk.

The next day, Yoon-hee can barely look Joon-suk in the eye and Bae Doo-na is absolutely hysterical as she hides behind her appointment book and looks everywhere but at him. He asks her for coffee and she scuttles out to make it, but gets stopped by Evil Go Hye-mi who wants tea.

She’s there to ask Joon-suk for an interview, but he doesn’t want to give it. Of course, she’s evil, so she’s not taking “no” for an answer. He gets a moment’s respite when Yoon-hee comes in with the refreshments. However, she can’t take one instant of looking into his ridiculously handsome face and drops the teacup.

Hehehehe.

Joon-suk jumps up and tells her to be more careful. He cuts himself and she frets over the bitty cut until she catches Evil’s deathglare. Evil calls for a janitor and orders Yoon-hee to get the first aid kit, which Evil then administers.

When Yoon-hee apologizes, Evil tells her to be more careful and then assumes that Joon-suk will do the interview, and he will. He knows he’s in deep doo doo after fussing over Yoon-hee.

In the bathroom, it’s a showdown over hand washing. Dun dun dun! Yoon-hee assures Evil that Joon-suk’s worry was his normal response. Evil knows the truth but she is in some serious denial so she says that Yoon-hee isn’t worthy to be her rival.

Say wha’? WHAT? I will beat you with a blunt object!

But Evil doesn’t stop there. She assumes that Yoon-hee is jealous that she can’t get everything that she wants.

Projecting much?

But then Yoon-hee, bless her little heart, tells Evil that she just wants the people she knows to be happy and she wants Joon-suk to be happy, too. The way that Evil looks at him is so cold.

Amen!

(We all know what Evil looks like. We need to study Joon-suk’s reactions…in minute detail so we’ll put a big picture in and forgo Evil’s.)

At dinner, Evil has just finished interviewing a reticent Joon-suk who doesn’t want to rush into their marriage.

Say it, boy. Say it: I don’t want to marry your evil ass. Get out of my life!

At J Construction, Detective Kang asks Hee-sup to help him with the murder investigation and Hee-sup suspiciously replies that he has no records. Kang is no idiot and is very skeptical.

Kang’s next stop is, you guessed it, Mi-hee’s travel agency! He encounters Duk-gil in the road who wonders about how often Kang shows up.

Haha. Are you all really that dumb? He’s crushing so big time it’s ridiculous. Worse than a 12-year-old.

Luckily, Mi-hee’s secretary isn’t so dumb and is the frank sort and sets Mi-hee straight. Mi-hee declares that Kang has high expectations.

In her office, Duk-gil asks about the progress of the investigation and Kang shows off…with nothing. There aren’t any more clues. Mi-hee wants them to take their investigation outside of her office. Kang immediately asks about a plane big enough for all of his men.

Nice moves. Nice moves.

In the office, Young-jae quietly approaches Hee-sup with the files that Detective Kang was looking for. The “oh shit” look on Hee-sup’s face is hysterical. HAHAHA! He hurries to Go and worries about drawing suspicions if they try and cover it up.

The ahjummas are looking at kitchenware that Sun Woo bought for Yoon-hee’s future marriage. When Soo-chan wonders who’d marry Yoon-hee, they start bickering and the ahjummas decide they should marry.  Sun Woo brushes the suggestion off – they’re like tiffing siblings.

In the storage room bachelor pad, Duk-gil is forgoing rice until he gets paid, but Soo-chan thinks Go-ni should eat better. He also discovers that Duk-gil doesn’t have the money to get Go-ni books for school. Off he goes to Yoon-hee who agrees to lend it to him once she realizes that he’s not just mooching off of her, but doing a real life good deed! Soo-chan smiles as she leaves to grab her wallet. Uh-oh…is that a crush I see?

Soo-chan later runs into Jung-suk and greets her in banmal for which he gets sharply reprimanded. No casual terms. Only formal greetings. And we all know why. Hubby’s watching and being a psycho wife stalker.

Yoon-hee is staring in the mirror and wondering if she’s pretty. Aw, she’s becoming a real-live girl! But Ye-seul is weirded out by this behavior and expresses her concern to Sun Woo who believes Yoon-hee got sunstroke.

Wow guys. Have a little faith.

Viper mommy walks into Joon-suk’s room and wants to schedule an engagement even for the beginning of the next month. Even though Joon-suk protests, unwilling to turn out like his unhappily married parents, his mother ignores his wishes. She thinks he’s too old to use such antics for parental attention.

Say wha’? He says he doesn’t want to marry a girl and you assume he wants you to give him a hug? WTF lady?

Mom threatens to use force like she did in the past (with the actress Mi-ran.) After the conversation, a frustrated Joon-suk goes to the resort and imagines Yoon-hee.

Yoon-hee, Hee-sup and Soo-chan ride the train to work. Hee-sup takes the train because his wife takes the kids to school and to extra classes. He thinks its more important for them to get an education and be cared for than for him to have an easier time getting to work. It’s the way men have to live, sacrificing themselves for their children.

The words stun Soo-chan.

When Yoon-hee arrives at the office, Mi-na tells her that Joon-suk hasn’t yet arrived so Yoon-hee goes in to tidy up. However, Joon-suk is sleeping at his desk, collar open and both Yoon-hee and I check him out. Unlike her, however, I have a pause AND a rewind button. MWAHAHAHA! *pause* *rewind* *pause* *rewind* *pause* *rewind* *pause* *rewind* *pause* *rewind* *pause* *rewind*

Yoon-hee, however, gets to cover him with his jacket (not fair!!!!), but he opens his eyes and startles her. Turns out he had nothing to do at the home or at the resort and surfing the web was boring, so he fell asleep.

That says a lot that he’s uncomfortable at home. You always want to have a safe haven, and it shouldn’t be your office.

Anywho, Yoon-hee fusses over his back – even kids’ backs would hurt if they slept in a chair. She wants to bring him PAS (patches for aching muscles) but he is annoyed by her pestering and says he’s in perfect health.

Haha, he’s so defensive. He has no idea how to receive genuine affection or any kind of mothering. Viper mommy wasn’t exactly the caring type and his house was more of a museum than a home – look but don’t touch. As a result, he takes her concern literally rather than as a gesture of affection. He gets annoyed at her fussing over a perfectly good back *drool*. She gets annoyed that he doesn’t receive her concern.

(Only one thing need be said about this. *SQUEE*)

But Yoon-hee is more stubborn than his social idiocy and she succeeds in dragging him to the rooftop to do the national workout. He continues to say his back is perfectly healthy, but she bowls right over him – “You’re too sensitive.” They banter and he finally laughs and joins her.

I’m so stoked that she is breaking down his defenses. At first he was genuinely annoyed by her pestering. But once he realized it was done out of a place of kindness rather than criticism, he cut right to the cute bickering. *squee*

Soo-chan runs into Evil at the elevator and they overhear two secretaries gossiping about Yoon-hee and Joon-suk doing morning exercises and laughing together. They notice Evil and quickly clamber onto an elevator. Soo-chan quickly tries to console Evil by saying that Joon-suk isn’t the type to fall for Yoon-hee. “Do I look bothered? I’m not that petty,” Evil snaps.

I don’t think you’re petty either. You’re just evil.

Wee Dae-han (who isn’t so wee…that will never get old…heehee) looks up Baek Soo-chan’s employee profile and discovers that Soo-chan and Jung-suk were in the same major together.

Ruh-roh…

On the way home, Soo-chan confronts Yoon-hee about all the rumors. He says that she could hurt Joon-suk and Hye-mi’s reputation. If Hye-mi’s fiancé is with an inferior person like Yoon-hee…

SLAP!!!!!!!!!
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‬Yoon-hee: I know I’m worthless, but do you have to say that to your friend?

Go Yoon-hee!

As for what he says about inferiority, it’s completely untrue. What the hell is it about status? If you don’t want to marry between statuses, fine. But someone of a lower socioeconomic status isn’t a lesser person. Yoon-hee is NOT worse than Hye-mi. Hye-mi is pure evil in polished trappings.

I do understand that he’s trying to point out how society views this situation, but damn boy, can’t you go a little easy on a girl? He’s obviously got a little status bias himself.

So Soo-chan’s in the dog house and he knows it so he takes her drinking, pouring all of her drinks with two hands. HA! That’s right, GROVEL! He tells her he’s just worried for her because society frowns upon scandals and unmarried women, both of which describe her situation.

Yoon-hee knows she doesn’t have the qualities to be with him and from that Soo-chan deduces that Joon-suk is the person who has beeen occupying her thoughts as of late. He tells her that her boss is a professional at playing women. He played the actress Mi-ran who got angry and ran off with a wealthy man. He doesn’t like Yoon-hee for herself, but because she is a novelty to him.

Understandably, Yoon-hee gets annoyed. Is she really that worthless? Soo-chan realizes that she’s already fallen for Joon-suk as she explains that every time she sees Joon-suk, it feels as though something passed into her heart. Even though she knows Hye-mi is one hundred times better than her, when she looks into Joon-suk’s eyes, she’s moved. Soo-chan tells her not to be someone else’s toy.

Although he was douche-y about it, I think Soo-chan is right. The situation doesn’t favor Yoon-hee. The man she is falling for is stuck in a world where social status is EVERYTHING. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Wee Dae-han confronts Jung-suk about Soo-chan and she has a break down. She can’t stand living under such scrutiny. Dae-han demands to know if she has a back up plan. Does Soo-chan want her to divorce Dae-han and live with him?

At her wits’ end, Jung-suk runs out barefoot and sobbing. She stumbles across the sobbing teenage daughter of Byun Hee-sup. I’ll call her Teenage Byun for now ’til I get her name.

Inside the house, Hee-sup and his nagging wife are fighting. He’s trying to tell his wife to lessen up the pressure on the kids, but she gets even more shrieky and snaps at her son who hadn’t done anything wrong. This woman is insane.

Jung-suk has ice-cream with Teenage Byun and quietly commiserate. As they part ways, Jung-suk says they should acknowledge their mistakes and hopes they won’t meet this way in the future.

Isn’t it sad they think they can’t do anything about their shoddy situations? I think Hee-sup needs to grow a pair and put his wife in her place.

When Teenage Byun goes inside, she gets attacked by her mother and Hee-sup tries to defend her. Mom tells Hee-sup it’s his fault their children are failures.

O_O

Like I said, Hee-sup, grow some cojones…

At Jung-suk’s place, Dae-han is drinking. She says she has no where to go – parents are dead and doesn’t want to face her sister. He declares that he loves her and that’s why he does this. She wants to go to the hospital but he says he doesn’t have a mental illness, it’s all because of love. She knows, that’s why she can’t end it.

No, because you’re terrified and alone.

Duk-gil and Soo-chan are dressing bears (for money) while Go-ni hangs with Ye-seul. When he hears that Soo-chan was drinking with Yoon-hee, Duk-gil wonders how they could be friends. She is an angel and Soo-chan is a devil, so he should stop circling her. Soo-chan tells him that Yoon-hee isn’t meant for him. Haha. Back in your face, you judgmental man ahjumma!

Yoon-hee comes home late and is drunk. Sun Woo rags on her that men don’t like women who drink. In the bathroom, Yoon-hee washes her face, clearly conflicted.
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‬Yoon-hee: Jung Yoon-hee. Don’t end up being someone else’s toy.

 Comments:

Poor Soo-chan. He’s the scapegoat of this show. When shit hits the fan, it lands on him first.

Let’s just take this systematically:

1) Soo-chan: This guy could be totally bitter, but he isn’t. Things went south, but he found some support, stuck it through and is now building his life again. He’s taking things as they come and I appreciate that. He could’ve been this totally nasty, embittered man bent of revenge. But perhaps Go Hye-mi sucked it all from him for her own evil purposes. I like how he’s gradually learning to deeply care for other people, starting with his “son” Go-ni. And, of course, his new “chingu”.

2) Wee Dae-han: A character used as a plot tool if I ever saw one. He’s there to make Soo-chan fall again. How? Make up some rumors, dig up some dirt, hire a hit man, strangle him personally, whatever. Ha. But for real, he’ll probably hit him at work, because that’s pretty much the one good thing Soo-chan has going for him. I don’t see Dae-han going after Yoon-hee to get to Soo-chan.

Also, he seriously has the very, very obvious makings of a physically abusive spouse. He’s already an extreme emotional and verbal abuser. If Soo-chan get’s involved, there are alllllll sorts of ways things can go wrong.

3) Director Go and Byun Hee-sup: They definitely know what went down with the watches. The question is: why are they hiding the fact that they know? It definitely has something to do with Yeon Soo-yeon’s murder. Why? Not ’cause I’m a great detective, but because this is K-drama and the murder would be too random if it didn’t have something to do with Daddy Evil or someone like him. Heehee.

4) Yoon-hee: She is totally going to get caught in the social trap. I don’t know much about the show because I tried not to read anything on it before I started. I only knew Park Shi-hoo usurped. So this is my totally random guess. (Please let me be right and get to marry PSH as a prize!) He’ll date her in secret while pretending to be engaged to Evil. Then Evil will do something evil to poor Yoon-hee who will be too in love to be able to wrench herself away from the whole hot mess.

If any of you have been in love, which I’m sure many of you have been, you’ll know how incredibly susceptible to idiocy you are. This is Yoon-hee’s first love and she’s going to be especially idiotic and agree to basically be Joon-suk’s “plaything” of sorts.

5) Joon-suk: He’s a goner for Yoon-hee. I bet Mi-ran wasn’t that loving towards him and it was more a torrid affair than a solid relationship. It seems he and Yoon-hee have mutual respect for each other’s quirks and abilities and understanding of each other’s faults. She treats him like he’s worthwhile and not a social chess piece. Of course he’s going to fall for her. Plus, she’s bubbly, cute, has legs-for-days and isn’t ruffled by his foul moods.

Stay tuned for episode 10, the halfway mark! 😀

For the recaps of episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 check out my recaps.

Character introductions.

How to Be a Perfect Neighbor Episode 9 Screencaps.