Our drama gets freakin’ flirty this week as our heroine’s quest for a fairy-tale encounter continues. Not only is our new-to-love male lead having spicy dreams about his starry-eyed employee, but said employee is pursuing her Cinderella story with a rich suitor who’s just too good to be true. I was already living on the quirky and catty comedic tone, and adding some piquancy to this tale has only made it funnier.
EPISODES 3-4
Antagonists are in full force this week as we jump right back into the scene we left last time. Cha-min’s fiancé, BAN DAN-AH (Song Ji-woo), had just crashed the potty party between our leads, making Jae-rim question Cha-min’s integrity. If he doesn’t want to marry, why the heck does he have a fiancé?
Well as we know, in the world of the chaebol, everything is about strategic moves. We learn that Cha-min and Dan-ah have an agreement to stay engaged forever so that neither has to marry anyone else, and each can enjoy their freedom. The problem is, it’s pretty clear that Dan-ah actually has the hots for Cha-min — or, at least, she’s an uber jealous creature that can’t stand to see him with anyone else. She threatens him physical harm if he doesn’t pick up his phone next time, and that’s before she even sees him assisting Jae-rim with tasks at work. Uh boy.
Meanwhile, our leads are developing desirous feelings for each other and can’t keep their thoughts from skewing toward the sexy. Jae-rim is thinking back on Cha-min carrying her to the toilet (and how fit his body felt as he did) and Cha-min is thinking about the same thing — only her comment to “hurry up” is repeating in his head as “go faster” (and her tone and face just get more bawdy as his thoughts go on).
Still, the next time they see each other, they’re back to their jokey and adversarial manner, and both deny they’d ever fall for the other. He thinks her Cinderella dreams mean she’s after his money, and she says she’d never date a psycho who lies about their position on love. Even though it’s clear they’re already getting close, they keep up this faux distance as Cha-min doles out menial tasks for Jae-rim at Chungdam Heaven.
And speaking of Chungdam Heaven, this week we learn a little more about what it actually is. Essentially, it’s a VIP social club for the wealthy with one side that’s all upscale drinks and socializing, and another side that’s like a kids’ café for adults (we’re talking trampolines, sandboxes, and ball pits — which Cha-min takes full advantage of during his workdays to “promote the business”). Jae-rim is the newest server in this establishment, which is how it fits into her plan to meet a rich dude and climb the social ladder.
As Jae-rim goes about handwashing and hanging lace curtains as her first assignment on the job, she takes it in stride, throwing on her headphones and getting to work. Cha-min stumbles on her and finds her happy manner endearing — so much so that he walks over and takes one headphone and puts it to his ear. Only, it’s not long before the music switches tracks and they’re listening to audio porn. (Hahahaha.) As Jae-rim later tries to explain to Cha-min, her bestie is doing voice acting to earn some extra cash and she sent a sample of her most realistic moaning to show off her talents.
But there’s no time for explanations now. Instead, their sunlit faces contort in embarrassment and horror as the thing goes on, and Jae-rim reaches for her headphone back before toppling onto Cha-min on the ground. As a lace curtain covers her head like a veil, Cha-min looks up at her with awe — but then cuts it short and hops up so they can get right back to bickering. He’s trying to act cool, but every time she smiles, he smiles back.
But all the while that our hero is fighting his newly forming feelings, our heroine is really focused on achieving her goal of marrying up. Sure, Cha-min might have a fit frame, but her sights are not set on him (yet). And what she needs is some universal intervention to get her moving in the right direction. With the help of Dan-ah — who wants Jae-rim to hurry up and find a man so she’ll get away from Cha-min — Jae-rim decides to see a shaman who’s known for making wishes come true.
Jae-rim says she wants to be loved, and the shaman tells her to write down her wish in detail in order to manifest her fate. So, she writes a list of all the qualities she’s looking for (tall, six-pack abs, face that looks like it’s sculpted by Michealangelo — all the stuff that makes a relationship last) and then concentrates hard on her list while she’s at work. Just then, a wind blows as a man walks through the door, and her list flies right onto his chest, where she pins it in place with her hand.
Let us meet BAEK DO-HONG (Kim Hyun-jin) — the man that fits all her criteria. Aside from the physical attributes on her list, he’s also a filmmaker who gained success by working hard (and a hard worker is what she wants). Plus, after she accidentally pops the button off his dress shirt, he rolls up his sleeves, pulls a sewing kit from his attaché, and threads the button back in place like a pro. Jae-rim can’t believe a man like this exists and starts going gaga.
As this takes place, Cha-min is watching and fuming — and now we have a real conflict. The dynamic that develops has Jae-rim following Do-hong around the club like a puppy, and Dan-ah trying to get the two together, while Cha-min acts like a jealous teenager trying to block Do-hong from Jae-rim. But, you know, then he accidentally pushes Jae-rim right into Do-hong’s arms during a bratty attempt at keeping his cool.
And Do-hong is a real charmer. He says she smells nice and removes a few strands of hair from her face, before handing her a lollipop and adding, “This isn’t candy. It’s love.” (Lol. The humor is so on point in this show.) In brief, Jae-rim is walking on air every time she’s around Do-hong (“Does he also sense we’re meant for each other?” haha) and Cha-min’s heart is truly fluttering for Jae-rim. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say we have a good old-fashioned love triangle with a choice between Prince Charming and Prince Cha-min.
But as with any good fairy tale, appearances can be deceiving. After having a spicy dream about his crush (where Jae-rim rips open his shirt and we can see that our chaebol has been hitting the gym), Cha-min isn’t sure how to approach her since he has no experience with women. The best he can do is give her some real work at Chungdam Heaven, which leads to Jae-rim organizing a party on the theme of weird food.
Do-hong is there, of course, and Jae-rim sees this as her chance to woo him. Unfortunately, the place is full of rich snobs who treat Jae-rim like she’s beneath them, making her question her “unrealistic expectations.” When a bitchy girl tells Jae-rim to get her a drink, Jae-rim returns with a milkshake that the girl says she doesn’t want — then swats Jae-rim’s hand and spills the drink all over her. Jae-rim begins to fall backward, grabbing the girl’s arm and accidentally pulling her down with her.
With the two women on the floor, Do-hong reaches down and offers his handkerchief and then his hand to the rich bitch. It hurts. But it’s even worse when he makes a remark about Jae-rim needing to clean up the mess. The wealthy woman then shames her further by saying, “You’re living like a loser because you make mistakes like this.” And Jae-rim realizes that her real mistake was thinking that Do-hong was meant for her.
Finally, Do-hong offers a hand to Jae-rim, but Cha-min smacks it out of the way and squats down face-to-face with her. He says he likes the milkshake that just got spilled all over the floor, and then gives her his hand to help her up. The narrator tells us it’s a confession — but one that came at the wrong time. Which is why the next thing we see is Dan-ah slapping him across the face.
Yikes! That’s it for this week and I’ll be waiting with bated breath to see how this shitshow develops. Honestly, I love it and can’t turn away. I find Cha-min really likable and funny as this character that’s made to epitomize (or satirize) the male leads of yore with their bratty attitudes and pull-your-pigtails behavior. It works here with a female lead that somehow seems like she’s got the upper hand, even though he’s the rich one. And I love when they make low-brow jokes to each other and give the appearance that they’re on the same level. Also, he can’t control his thoughts about her, so we know he’s not in the power position.
I’m starting to wonder how our female lead’s arc will shape up, though. We learned that she has a background in painting, and it’s something she’d really like to get back to, but she was forced to quit when she was young because she couldn’t afford to study. Her dreams have now shifted to marrying rich to find her happiness, and I’m anxious to see if we’ll be happily surprised at what her fairy tale ending turns out to be. But no matter where the story heads, if the drama keeps up its successfully sardonic sense of humor, I’ll pretty much follow it anywhere.