It’s a good day to be deceived! This week, our vengeful mountain spirit plays a cruel trick on our OTP that forces them apart. Hello, angst. We spin around in circles as usual, but at least, a new relationship is born.
EPISODE 12
Dramaland’s favorite trope, amnesia, strikes this week. But not for Seo-won — as was Bo-gyeom’s deal with Hae-na. You see, our petty mountain spirit was not a fan of Seo-won’s confident “I will fall in love with Hae-na even if my memories are wiped” statement, so he decided to wipe Hae-na’s memories instead. It’s a good thing our OTP already knew that Bo-gyeom is unpredictable as weather, and they prepared for the possibility that she might be the one to lose her memories.
Our OTP’s grand plan is for the one whose memories remain to seduce the other. But seduction is not as easy as it sounds, because Hae-na deflects all Seo-won’s attempts to win her heart — just like he did to her when she initially chased him around to break her curse. And you know, Seo-won’s attempt at mirroring everything Hae-na did for him back then would have been funnier if I wasn’t so disinterested in the show, and if Bo-gyeom wasn’t milking this entire situation for his amusement.
Bo-gyeom did not just wipe Hae-na’s memories, he also reset that of her family. So when the dog uncle transforms back to human again, the whole family acts like it’s the first time his transformation ever happened — even though Yoo-ra can’t shake off the feeling that something feels familiar about the scenario. Hae-na has similar conflicting feelings about Seo-won, and some things just don’t add up for her. Why does he have a dog keychain that looks familiar? Why is a date on his desk calendar at work marked with “Seo-hae” the same way hers is at home?
Hae-na is further thrust into confusion when Seo-won straight up confesses his feelings to her since seduction doesn’t seem to be working. But since Hae-na’s memories have been reset, she’s back in her crush on Bo-gyeom phase, so she turns Seo-won down. Even though she can’t get his confession out of her head.
Bo-gyeom gleefully informs Seo-won that he did not earn Hae-na’s love all on his own because he (Bo-gyeom) plotted everything right from the curse-activating kiss. “I threw her your way,” Bo-gyeom jests, and a pissed off Seo-won throws a punch Bo-gyeom’s way. Seo-won now looks like the bad guy when Hae-na catches them in the brawl, and of course, she sides with Bo-gyeom.
To further rub it in Seo-won’s face, Bo-gyeom asks Hae-na out. She asks for time to think about it because she still believes that her family is cursed, but I’m done. Like I’m actually done with the show at this point because WTF!? For the sake of viewing the drama as separate from the webtoon, I’ve been trying to gloss over all the changes made to the original story, but I don’t think I can get over this particular one. Even as a joke, why is Bo-gyeom asking Hae-na out? This is no longer revenge, this is a childish tantrum, and I’m so over this guy.
Thinking about it, what did Bo-gyeom expect Mak-soon to do back then? Sacrifice the man she loved to protect her mistress? Bo-gyeom is the mountain spirit. He could have used his oh-so-powerful amnesia spell to wipe off the memories of the soldiers chasing Cho-young, and everybody lives happily ever after. The end. And if it is against mountain spirit ethics to meddle in human affairs, he should at least use his powers to amass wealth and be awesome like his fellow dramaland immortals, instead of messing around with helpless humans. What a colossal waste of powers. Tsk.
On the bright side, Yul is back! And as always he’s the best part of the week. Yul has no recollection of Hae-na beyond her status as his teacher at school, so he has no idea of what Ji-ah is talking about when she mentions that Seo-won and Hae-na are in a relationship. That’s right, Ji-ah’s memories are still intact, so she confronts Bo-gyeom because she doesn’t understand why he’d go as far as wiping Hae-na’s memories and breaking up her relationship with Seo-won.
Ji-ah guesses that it has something to do with how she died in the past, and she asks if Seo-won and Hae-na were the ones who killed her. Bo-gyeom doesn’t reply, so Ji-ah does the next best thing: ambush the vice principal into spilling. She manages to extract the location of the mountain where Cho-young died from the vice principal, and it’s road trip time for Ji-ah and Yul — who ropes himself into coming along.
As they hike up the mountain, Ji-ah brings Yul up to speed on his forgotten memories. Yul immediately calls Hae-na to come over to his house for an “emergency,” and lets his uncle in on the plan to rekindle their romance. And while Yul congratulates himself for playing Cupid, Ji-ah finally reaches the cliff where Cho-young fell off from, and her memories of dying in the past return. Hmmm.
When Hae-na arrives at Yul’s house, she re-learns that Seo-won and Yul are uncle and nephew. Being in Seo-won’s space, Hae-na can’t help feeling like she has been here before, and she voices out the conflicting emotions in her head and heart. To clear her confusion, Seo-won leans in to kiss her, and she has flashbacks of all their previous kisses. But what is supposed to be a romantic moment turns sour as Hae-na pushes Seo-won away and rushes out of the house. Oops!
By the way, Yoo-na and Woo-taek have become an official couple, so at least one of the Han sisters is having a blissful relationship — although I won’t put it past Bo-gyeom to try to ruin it for them with his misery loves company mantra.
I am slightly curious about how Ji-ah will react to Hae-na and Seo-won’s plight now that she has recovered her memories about dying at their hands. Will she take the Bo-gyeom route of vengeance? Or will we get a different perspective of the incident from her? We’ve got two episodes to go, and for me, those two weeks can’t come fast enough!