Now that our leads have found their way back to each other, they’re determined not to be separated again. The goddess isn’t ready to let them reunite that easily, though, and continues trying to find ways to keep them apart. But our heroine isn’t about to let anyone tell her what to do with her limited time. Her impending death looming, she begins thinking about those she’ll leave behind and comes up with a new idea for her wish.
EPISODE 8
As Myeol-mang walks toward Dong-kyung at the hospital, he isn’t sure exactly what he’s feeling but knows he can’t hold it in anymore. Dong-kyung smiles as they hug, but then Myeol-mang pushes away and calls her crazy for taking off the bracelet.
She fires back, angry at his disappearing act and how he snuck in and placed that pillow for her. Even as they argue, they’re both smiling. When Myeol-mang remarks that he was intending to keep holding back, Dong-kyung reminds him that her time is limited. Myeol-mang sobers and agrees to tell her everything.
While the goddess watches her plant sprout, Myeol-mang confesses to Dong-kyung that all her misfortunes are due to his existence. Dong-kyung thinks he’s being ridiculous and believes his existence also paves the way for fortune. Her happiness is because of him, too. He’s the pain and the medicine.
Dong-kyung tells him to go tell whoever chased him out that her life’s misfortunes aren’t his fault. Seeing his expression, she guesses she said the right thing. He smiles. Dong-kyung starts to say something, but a look comes over her. Wide-eyed, she grabs his sleeve, and then she’s gone.
Myeol-mang rushes over to her apartment, but a young guy is now living there with no idea who Dong-kyung is. Meanwhile, Dong-kyung finds herself in an ethereal flower field where the goddess awaits.
Outside, Myeol-mang approaches Sun-kyung who doesn’t recognize him. He has no idea who Dong-kyung is either and insists he doesn’t have a sister. The same happens with her colleagues. Dong-kyung has been erased from existence.
In the otherworldly field, the goddess says she “stole” Dong-kyung temporarily. She says that the plant in her flowerpot has been feeding off Dong-kyung’s misfortunes. It’s grown thanks to the fact that Myeol-mang pitied someone more than he did himself.
Myeol-mang marches to the goddess’s hospital room and spots a book she left open on the table. In the passage, Pinocchio is tired of being a puppet and asks a fairy how to grow up. She instructs him to always strive to be good so that he’ll be worthy of becoming an adult.
Dong-kyung confronts the goddess, surmising she’s the one who told Myeol-mang he was responsible for ruining her life. The goddess claims she did it for Dong-kyung. Whichever she chooses – dooming the world or dooming the person she loves most – will make her miserable.
The goddess says she loves Myeol-mang and had to step in. Dong-kyung argues the goddess can just make it so they can be happy, but the goddess says happiness gained so easily would hold no meaning. (I wouldn’t call their paths to happiness easy so far, but okay.)
Dong-kyung asks what she wants from her, but the goddess instead plucks the marble she gifted Dong-kyung out of her pocket and says the fate of “everything in here” depends on Dong-kyung’s love. She encourages Dong-kyung not to be miserable because of Myeol-mang anymore.
When Dong-kyung firmly states she’ll never be miserable because of Myeol-mang and tells the goddess to stop talking like this, the goddess chuckles appreciatively at her directness. Having issued her threat to Myeol-mang, the goddess sends Dong-kyung back to him.
Dong-kyung reaches a door in the field and knocks as the goddess told her to do. Myeol-mang hears a knock on his door and opens it to find Dong-kyung standing there. She looks around in amazement, having just been in the field moments ago. Myeol-mang hugs her in relief.
Inside, Dong-kyung is shocked to find out the identity of the goddess. She repeats what she told the goddess and scoffs that “the little thing” laughed. Myeol-mang calls Dong-kyung fearless, but she argues she was truly afraid, wondering if she was in heaven or hell.
Myeol-mang admits he was scared too after finding no one remembered Dong-kyung. Their moment is interrupted by Sun-kyung barging into Dong-kyung’s apartment … which is currently connected to Myeol-mang’s house.
They sit him down to explain, but Sun-kyung understandably thinks they’re pulling his leg. Myeol-mang busts out his mind-reading skills to prove he’s really a supernatural being. Sun-kyung now thinks he’s going crazy, and Myeol-mang chides Dong-kyung when she starts messing with Sun-kyung and almost makes him cry.
Sun-kyung starts to believe them but then worries that Myeol-mang has come to take Dong-kyung away. “No, I came to save her.” Both siblings turn to stare, and Sun-kyung is elated. Then, Myeol-mang does as Dong-kyung wants and hypnotizes her brother, putting Sun-kyung to sleep and making him forget their conversation.
When Sun-kyung wakes, all three of them are back at the hospital. He sees Dong-kyung awake and immediately starts crying and throws his arms around her. Myeol-mang dodges Sun-kyung’s attempts to hug him.
Sun-kyung throws a fit when Dong-kyung says she’s going home since she’s supposed to stay for tests. He only calms when Myeol-mang lies that he’s a doctor.
Ji-na comes barging in, but instead of being angry at Dong-kyung for hiding her illness, she vows to ensure Dong-kyung has everything she wants. Cut to the four of them in Myeol-mang’s car headed home. Ji-na sobs in the backseat, upset that Dong-kyung isn’t staying in the hospital.
Once Ji-na hears that Dong-kyung only has about two months left, she demands they return to the hospital at once. Dong-kyung explains that surgery wouldn’t necessarily cure her, and she could just as likely die in surgery anyway. “I’ll save her,” Myeol-mang cuts in confidently.
Ji-na is shocked to hear he’s Dong-kyung’s boyfriend and puts together that he’s the one Dong-kyung talked about wanting to love. When Ji-na and Sun-kyung start bickering, Dong-kyung tells them to leave. Ji-na worries about her being alone and gets another shock when Dong-kyung says she and Myeol-mang live together.
Outside, Sun-kyung assures Ji-na that everything is fine – Myeol-mang has known about Dong-kyung’s illness from the start and still wanted to be with her. Ji-na observes that Sun-kyung has changed and compliments him on growing up well. He’s like a brother to her, and they need to stick together through all this.
At home, Dong-kyung again scolds Myeol-mang for taking off like he did. He never thought she’d go so far as to hold herself hostage (that makes two of us) or that a tactic like that would work on him. Myeol-mang calls her over and places his hand on her wrist, creating a new bracelet for her.
That night, they’re back to sleeping on the couches in their connected living room. Dong-kyung wakes after Myeol-mang heads out in the middle of the night. Holding the marble, she thinks of the goddess’s words that Dong-kyung’s love determines the fate of everything.
In the yard, Myeol-mang confronts the goddess and tells her not to touch Dong-kyung. The goddess clarifies it was him she was messing with, not Dong-kyung. She admits to being wrong; Dong-kyung really does love him and even scolded her. The goddess wants the two of them to be right, but Myeol-mang knows that’s wishful thinking. “Futile hope is still hope. Futile love is still love,” the goddess argues.
Meanwhile, the mood at LifeStory is somber. They’re all worried about Dong-kyung, but Joo-ik suggests they all take some time to process. In contrast, Dong-kyung is happily watching TV and snacking while Myeol-mang reads. She gets a call from Dalgona, the writer with cancer, and goes to meet her.
Dalgona heard about Dong-kyung’s fight with the sleazy writer and that she quit her job. If Dong-kyung isn’t there, then Dalgona doesn’t plan on renewing her contract. She wants to keep writing, so she’ll try to get through surgery and chemo well.
Dong-kyung is surprised to realize Dalgona’s inspiration for her male lead is bratty writer and aspiring actor Young. She even has mugs with his face on them. Dalgona promises to show Dong-kyung her finished story in the spring after they’ve both recovered from surgery. She advises Dong-kyung to love and laugh a lot so she’ll hold on more tightly to life.
Outside, Myeol-mang is waiting for Dong-kyung. They walk holding hands, and Dong-kyung laments not coming to the beautiful spot more when she had the chance; the cherry blossoms are beautiful in the spring. She gasps to see the trees suddenly in the full bloom of spring thanks to Myeol-mang rewinding time.
Dong-kyung shares that spring is a time full of good memories for her. Before her parents died, her family would ride the Ferris wheel and take photos every year. Now, she feels the same happiness.
“I like you,” Dong-kyung confesses with a smile. Myeol-mang is speechless, and they’re abruptly back in the current time. She flounces off with a cheery wave, informing him that she’ll be sleeping at Ji-na’s tonight.
When Dong-kyung shows up, Ji-na worries that something is wrong. Dong-kyung insists she just wanted to see her. Ji-na said she’d do anything for her, and what Dong-kyung wants most is to be treated normally. They settle in for a girls’ night.
Elsewhere, while Joo-ik and Hyun-kyu grocery shop, Hyun-kyu asks about the mystery girl he glimpsed outside the café. He couldn’t see her face, but he saw Joo-ik’s and doesn’t believe she’s just a writer colleague.
Hyun-kyu runs off when Sun-kyung calls him sobbing from a noraebang. He’s a drunken mess, and Hyun-kyu gets to experience his usual crying and hugging routine. Sun-kyung starts rambling about the perils of always saying “later” rather than living in the now and how you’ll regret it forever. His words strike a chord with Hyun-kyu.
While Ji-na sleeps, Dong-kyung hears a knock on the door and goes to open it. She and Joo-ik stare at each other in surprise. Joo-ik and Ji-na fess up about their secret contract which Joo-ik assures Dong-kyung is strictly profit-driven.
Satisfied that nothing nefarious is going on, Dong-kyung leaves them to it. Joo-ik informs her that he signed her up for leave – Dong-kyung can take it up with CEO Park if she wants to quit officially. (I’ve never seen someone try to quit or get herself fired so many times and fail.)
Joo-ik comments that Dong-kyung is doing better than he expected, but Ji-na worries Dong-kyung is just faking it. When Ji-na asks if he came because he was worried about her, Joo-ik defensively asserts he’s only worried about her writing progress.
Ji-na notes how Joo-ik always sees her at her lowest. He declares himself a nice person who can’t turn away from someone who’s crying, but then turns serious. He has something to tell her. Right then, her doorbell rings. And, of course, it’s Hyun-kyu.
Myeol-mang appears at the crosswalk and takes Dong-kyung’s hand. He apologizes for not coming to her that day she called him and threatened to jump off her roof, but he just irritates her further by revealing he heard her and still didn’t show.
They take a step, and it’s suddenly spring again; they’re at the amusement park she used to frequent with her family. As they ride the Ferris wheel, Myeol-mang stares at her happy face while she watches the activity below.
Dong-kyung hopes that when she dies, her loved ones will forget her like they did when she disappeared earlier. She doesn’t want them to stay sad. Struck with an idea, Dong-kyung starts to ask if that could be her wish. Myeol-mang leans forward and kisses her before she can finish.
As they walk through the park, Myeol-mang tells her not to use her wish on others. He promises to do whatever he can, so she should focus on a wish for herself. Dong-kyung points out she already tried that, but he turned her wish down.
Thinking of her wish that he love her, Myeol-mang smiles and says she doesn’t need to use a wish for that. As she rushes to catch up to him, she bumps into a woman. Dong-kyung freezes to see her mother. Dong-kyung watches her parents, her younger self, and Sun-kyung on their happy family outing.
Myeol-mang takes them back to their time. He thought she’d like to see, but he can only alter time briefly. Seeing her face, he worries he messed up. Dong-kyung assures him she’s happy she got to see her family.
“Go ahead and like me,” Myeol-mang says. “Now I don’t care about anything else but you.” He reiterates that she doesn’t need to use her wish on him. Myeol-mang’s next sentence is interrupted by someone calling out Dong-kyung’s name.
Soo-ja stands with a suitcase in the middle of the street. As Dong-kyung turns and stares in shock at her aunt, Myeol-mang continues behind her, “So choose: the world or you.”
COMMENTS
I’m glad everyone knows about Dong-kyung’s illness now, both for her sake and theirs. Ji-na and Soo-ja especially deserved to know given how much they care about Dong-kyung and have always been there for her. I had a feeling Sun-kyung wouldn’t keep it a secret from their aunt for long. From the bits we’ve seen of Soo-ja, I’m looking forward to getting to know her more. It’s great that Dong-kyung has a loving support system, but I do wish that Ji-na and Sun-kyung would allow Dong-kyung to bring up her death. I know it’s hard for them to hear, but it’s something Dong-kyung needs to process. Making it taboo isn’t helpful since Dong-kyung then has to hold everything in and tiptoe around her loved ones. As it stands, Myeol-mang is the only person she can talk to openly about it.
Now that Myeol-mang has decided to be true to his feelings, he’s a lot happier, despite believing the goddess that it won’t end well. Myeol-mang said multiple times this episode that he’s going to save Dong-kyung, so I’m guessing that means he’ll try to arrange for someone to die in her place. If so, that could bring to fruition the goddess’s prophecy or whatever it was about him reneging on the contract and leaving her to choose someone to die in Dong-kyung’s stead. Whatever his or Dong-kyung’s plans, I’m sure the goddess will involve herself and mess with them. At this point, I feel like the goddess is just interfering because she’s bored. All she appears to do all day is look at her flowerpot which can’t be very exciting. Speaking of her flowerpot, did she mean it literally when she said it feeds off Dong-kyung’s misfortunes? Because that is strange and disturbing. She really needs some friends. And maybe some non-human-related hobbies.
The tie-in with Pinocchio – I’m assuming that was Pinocchio in the picture book, although it wasn’t explicitly stated – was unexpected. Was that text suggesting that Myeol-mang can become a real boy if he’s good enough? If he becomes “good,” will he still be Doom? There’s no official way for him to get out of his duties, but maybe there’s a way for him to stop being Doom altogether. If he ends up becoming the sacrifice for Dong-kyung, perhaps his “death” could actually mean becoming mortal rather than becoming nonexistent. The goddess created him and could likely demote him to human and create someone else for his role. Or I could be reading way too much into all of this.
The saga of Ji-na and the roommates is threatening to be more dramatic than our main love story. Joo-ik seemed ready to reveal his connection with Hyun-kyu, but I’m not quite sure why. For now, at least, Joo-ik and Ji-na’s relationship is professional more than personal, so you’d think he’d prioritize telling his long-time friend and roommate if he’s feeling guilty. With Hyun-kyu’s surprise appearance at Ji-na’s, it might not matter anyway. I honestly hope everything comes out now and we don’t get a near-miss situation. I’d rather focus on everyone’s reactions and explore the dynamics of their relationships as opposed to dragging this out for dramatic effect.