MaryMeKpop

So I promised one of my readers that I would do a recap on ‘Hot Young Bloods’ or ‘Hot Boiling Youth’ starring Park Bo Young and Lee Jong Suk a few months back once I got the time to do it and since I’m on summer vacation and I’m not doing much right now, I thought I would stop being lazy and stop procrastinating and actually fulfill my promise. I had done a review of my thoughts and opinion on this movie, so if you would like you can go read that before reading this recap. I can’t promise you that I understand the movie wholeheartedly because there are still things I’m confused about myself, but I’ll try my best to make this recap fun and understanding. It’s my second time watching this movie, so hopefully I’ll get a better understanding of it though. Also, I hope you guys don’t mind if this recap is uninteresting and disorganized. This movie isn’t the most interesting and addicting movie ever, but I wanted to finish it for you guys who have been wanting one so yeah. Thank you~~~

Here is a little quick summary for you guys before I go ahead and start on the recap. It’s a version of my own summary for the movie since I’ve watched it before. Hehe. So I apologize if it sounds really funny and weird. ‘Hot Blooded Youth’ takes place in the early 1980′s and showcases the lives of our four main characters: Young-sook (played by Park Bo Young), Joong-chil (played by Lee Jong Suk), So-hee (played by Lee Se Young), and Gwang-sik (played by Kim Young-kwang). To put it into simpler terms, the movie revolves around a love square. Gwang-sik likes Young-sook who likes Joong-chil who likes So-hee. Young-sook is the jjang or iljin of her high school. She’s basically like the bad-ass leader that most of the girls obey out of fear. She’s tough, bad-ass, and can drop kick a guy twice her height. Yeah, I would be scared of her too. Joong-chil is this really witty guy who uses his own method to capture the fluttering hearts of girls. He’s suave and smooth when it comes to girls, but not so much when it comes to fighting as many times in this movie, he always comes home with a bruised face. So-hee is that new student who transferred from Seoul that many of the guys spazz over, including Joong-chil. So he tries his own tactics to get at her and almost succeeds. Last but not least, Gwang-sik is the iljin or leader of his mob and he harbors this crush (but more like possession) over Young-sook, claiming her to be his and when he discovers that there might be someone else interfering in their relationship, he gets super angry and scary. Sooo basically you don’t want to mess with him either. The movie ultimately showcases the complex relationships between all our four lead characters and the journey that they embark on together.

One last thing! The quality to these screen caps will not be the best so I apologize ahead of time! But I hope this doesn’t discourage you from reading the recap (:

The movie begins by following two high students riding on a bicycle. They continue to ride through the fields with the male student continually looking back at the female student in concern, but smiling when he finds her happy and content. The ride comes to an abrupt stop though when the couple notices Young-sook (Park Bo Young), the bad-ass and frightening leader that harbors a crush on our male student. Young-sook also notices the couple and grows annoyed at the sight of her crush with another woman, but she goes on to mind her own business.

We then find Young-sook approaching another group of girls from another school as if they’re going to get ready to beat one another up anytime soon. The leaders of each group come to the front of their own groups to confront each other and so you have Young-sook marching towards the front and the leader from the other group standing in the front as well. Soon they’re face to face with each other but are distracted by the bicycle couple who are still riding away on the bicycle. Annoyed, Young-sook criticizes the male student’s face which angers the leader from the other group who then throws a punch at Young-sook’s face as a consequence for her harsh comment. But Young-sook isn’t the leader of her crew for nothing for she attacks the girl back and knocks her out cold just like that (there goes my Park Bo Young! Keke). The two groups end up fighting one another and war breaks out.

Our male lead, Choong-gil (Lee Jong Suk) and his classmates are all on a train returning from a field trip. While on the train to their school, he watches as his friend gets slapped in the face for being a “pervert.” Pitiful, Choong-gil advises his friend on how to prevent a girl from slapping you: you place the back of your hand on her face then turn it around so that the palm of your face is touching her hand. Then she will slowly fall for you with just one simple but intense touch (my reaction: omg this is so lame. Haha).

Of course, Choong-gil’s friends quickly believe his method to capture a girl’s heart and plans to use it some time. Choong-gil then decides to have a bet with his two friends. He grabs an eggplant and after doing rock, paper, scissors, the loser has to fulfill the bet. The end of the scene shows all three friends doing rock, paper, and scissors before we enter the next scene which is quite peculiar, weird, and a bit disgusting I might warn.

The loser to the bet turns out to be the same friend that got slapped in the face for being a “pervert.” Because he lost the rock, paper, scissors game, he has to walk to the end of the train with a cucumber in his pants. Of course, this grabs the attention of all the students in the train who has to witness this gross and embarrassing event (the guys seem to enjoy it, the girls? Not so much).

When the three friends finish walking to the end of the train, the losing friend shows everyone the cucumber that he stuck inside of his pants. He wags it around only to accidentally throw it to the teacher sitting near where the three friends are standing. Alarmed and frightened to find a cucumber on her, she starts panicking and yelling which arouses the curiosity of one of the teachers from next door. When he opens the door to find out what’s going on, Choong-gil gets pushed out of the way and lands on the screaming teacher. The guy teacher of course gets mad and infuriated at the sight of a student on a teacher and punishes the three friends as a result. (Choong-gil, this was all your fault to begin with. Haha).

All the students exiting off the train walks past the three friends, including the girl teacher that Choong-gil landed on as well as Young-sook and her sidekick.

In the classroom, Choong-gil and his classmates listen to their teacher complain about a girl that keeps on running on their school track. He then goes on to lecture about a student at their school that got in trouble and warns his students to stay out of trouble as well. The teacher’s lesson for the day is about sex education which garners the interest and fascination of the class (that unsurprisingly only consists of males. Haha).

Meanwhile, Young-sook and her classmates are also receiving a lesson on sex-ed. But Young-sook herself doesn’t seem to care as she falls asleep during the lesson.

In the next scene, we see Choong-gil being the flirt and gentlemen that he is and helping a female student on a job she was responsible for. When he finishes with her job which included pouring water out of a teapot, we learn that he invited her to have dinner with him at a specific hotel and at a specific time. Ooh la la *raises eyebrows*

Her two classmates approach the female student asking for details on what Choong-gil just did, but she quickly avoids it. They then warn her to not fall for Choong-gi’s tactics because it can be very risky falling for him. Damn, it’s a hard thing girl. Don’t know if you’ll be able to do it though. I mean, it is Lee Jong Suk we’re talking about.

Later on that night, the female student meets up with Choong-gil at the hotel that Choong-gil invited her to go to. She quickly states that she’s not an easy girl and Choong-gil adds to this by recalling his memories of her back when they were younger and had the same class together. The female student starts to get shaken up by the small details he remembers about her and slowly starts to break down her walls when Choong-gil shows interest in her. She blushes as a response and grows so shy she starts to have a head ache. The date comes to an end as the couple exits out of the hotel room, but Choong-gil isn’t too happy for too long. He frets once he sees his scary enemy and bully Gwang-sik (Kim Young-kwang) who hits him repeatedly because they’ve seen each other again. But the beating comes to a stop when Gwang-sik is notified that his crush Young-sook wishes to see him. (Gwang-sik and a few of his friend are joining Young-sook and her friends at the same hotel that Choong-gil was staying in a few minutes ago. That’s how Choong-gil ran across Gwang-sik).

When Gwang-sik returns to the hotel room that Young-sook is in, he sits across the same table as her. She asks him why he keeps on bothering Choong-gil to which Gwang-sik confesses that Choong-gil had caused Gwang-sik’s sister to run away from home and disappear ever since he broke up with her which explains why he hates Choong-gil.

Choong-gil reunites with the same girl from earlier outside and lies that Gwang-sik was just looking after him, that there wasn’t anything serious going on between them (LOL which is totally not true). They then go watch a movie together, but the whole time there Choong-gil flirts with the female student. He places his hand on her thigh and gently touches her face with his hand which causes the girl to be uneasy and really nervous (I would be nervous too shoot).

After eating at the hotel with her friends, Young-sook returns home only to find visitors/customers there (she sleeps at her restaurant). She waits for a while until they leave and then enters her house. Young-sook cooks a small meal for a frequent customer even though it’s late at night without saying a single word to him then leaves afterwards to enter her bedroom.

In her bedroom, Young-sook studies a small but cherished geometry compass that she’s kept to this day. She caresses it while she holds it, reminded of all the memories that the compass encompasses.

Meanwhile, Choong-gil is in his bedroom and pulls out a hidden photo in his drawer of Young-sook and her classmates. On the backside of the pictures are silhouettes of each girl and their names written on it. Choong-gil fills out the silhouette of the girl he went on a date with that day with her name since he got to know her. HAHA. A true player at heart he is. Lol.

The next morning, Choong-gi’s family is greeted by their kind and warm neighbor who brings them some fruits in exchange for Choong-gil’s father’s involvement in helping their farm. It’s obvious that this lady neighbor admires and has a crush on Choong-gil’s father by the way she blushes when Father notices the new hair pin she’s wearing. Hehe. Too cute. (kind of reminds me of how I would act if I was around Yoseob or Jimin, lol).

(you’re welcome ladies. You’re welcome. Hahaha).

Choong-gil is in his bedroom dancing around with no panties on and just cannot get over how good-looking he is until he hears his father talking with the mailman outside over a package. He runs outside, barely being able to put his pants on, to get his package.

When he arrives at school, he shows off to his two friends all the things that are in the package (including snacks and newspaper). It turns out the package is from his uncle who is residing in Brazil so his two friends are amazed and fascinated by the items. Suddenly at that very moment, a male student barges in exclaiming to everyone about the new transfer student from Seoul that he claims is more beautiful than the two most beautiful girls at their school. When the students hear this, they all run out the classroom to get a glimpse of this transfer student. Everyone…except for Choong-gil who stays behind to read the postcard sent from his uncle. (Because he knows he’ll get his chance later on to impress her).

Unlike the other male students, Choong-gil’s in no rush. He walks slowly and suavely to the other classroom where the transfer student is staying in and finds her sitting by herself eating her lunch. Choong-gil smiles once he sees her, but continues to walk through the hallway. (He’s looking at her like she’s his prey or something. Hahaha). We then catch Young-sook, who’s in the same class as the new transfer student, glaring at her from behind while she takes a bite of her meal. She doesn’t seem to like the new transfer student too much.

In the next scene, Young-sook walks like the badass she is (seriously I think it’s so adorable how she’s the leader of the group when she’s like the shortest of them all. I love it!) past all of her friends (I think this scene really highlights just how much power and authority she has). All the girls bow their heads when she walks by them and greets her fearfully. Every corner she turns, she’s greeted by a bow by all the girls that approaches her. Talk about respect. Haha.

She enters a small restaurant only to meet up with Choong-gil, her crush. But unlike her, he doesn’t seem too happy to see her. He nags the very second his eyes lay upon her it’s obvious he doesn’t want to be with her at that moment. Young-sook brings up the gossip about he was able to seduce a girl to his “base” which is basically an abandoned room in a warehouse. Choong-gil acts a little cocky when he hears this from Young-sook (because he knows he is good at seducing girls), but is suddenly hesitant when Young-sook asks him why he isn’t seducing her. To end the conversation, she stands up and leans forward Choong-gil (while bending the fork that is in her hand) and demands that they meet at his base at 8 P.M.

Later on that night, Young-sook dresses up really nicely (she’s wearing a dress! How cute!) and checks her make-up in the mirror while waiting at Choong-gil’s ‘base.’ Young-sook grows happy at the sound of footsteps but becomes disappointed when it’s not the person that she wants. It turns out that Choong-gil had an emergency so he sent his friend instead to go to the base to relay the message. Disappointed, she walks towards the door but is interrupted by Choong-gil’s friend who has other plans instead. He places his hand on Young-sook’s behind and puts on a creepy smile which infuriates Young-sook and causes her to beat Choong-gil’s friend up pretty bad. (Yeah dude, you’re messing with the wrong person. But it’s okay Choong-gil’s friend! I would have you anytime!).

Choong-gil’s friend returns the next day to school with a bruised face and an injured head. But all Choong-gil can ask about is the new transfer student from Seoul. HAHA. So much for being a friend. He asks his friend to help him out on getting the girl, but is interrupted by the teacher who punishes Choong-gil in front of the class for his failing grades.

Choong-gil and Young-sook’s school have just returned from another trip and is heading back to school. While on the train, Choong-gil’s friends expose to him details they’ve obtained of the new transfer student from Seoul (creepy much eh?). Her name is So-hee (Lee Se Young) which means ‘rain’ in Korean, so upon hearing this, Choong-gil’s friend asks if it’s raining and looks outside the window. HAHAHA.

Gwang-sik ends up fighting Choong-gil’s classmate once the train lands as they are known for being enemies. When the fight ends, Choong-gil is about to leave but turns around to find Young-sook behind him. He explains to Young-sook that he didn’t meet her the night before because he doesn’t have any interest in her like that and because he fears Gwang-sik who claims Young-sook as his. “This thing between us is not love. It’s a threat, “ Choong-gil voices, offending Young-sook who clenches her fists.

However, they are interrupted by an enraged and jealous Gwang-sik who witnesses Choong-gil talking with his lady. He punches Choong-gil in the stomach as a warning to not mess with his lady. Poor Choong-gil.

At school, Choong-gil cannot stop focusing on So-hee who he notices is sitting alone during her physical education class. While her classroom is outside, he makes his friend go to So-hee’s classroom to sneak inside her desk an invitation to the same hotel that Choong-gil stayed in earlier in the movie with the previous girl he played with. He plans to meet with So-hee that night and get to know her. Oh ho ho.

So-hee receives and reads the invitation, but doesn’t seem to care too much about it while Young-sook peeks at the invitation from behind So-hee and grows mad that So-hee got invited by Choong-gil, but she didn’t.

Later on that evening, Young-sook ends up joining Choong-gil instead of So-hee, causing Choong-gil to of course be disappointed. When he reveals that he likes So-hee because she’s beautiful (implying that he thinks Young-sook isn’t), she leaves Choong-gil at the hotel mad and furious. (Don’t worry Young-sook, you’re beautiful to me!).

The next morning at school, Choong-gil and his two friends observe the girl that continually runs on their school track run the school track. They take turns guessing why she keeps running and focuses on the runner until they notice a lonely So-hee sitting at a bench across the field. Choong-gil takes this chance to approach her so he uses his smooth tactics on So-hee, hoping it would work on her like how it worked on the other girls, but she walks away disturbed, annoyed, and creeped out. Better luck next time Choong-gil. Haha.

The school all go on a field trip to a nearby camp site. So-hee has also come along and spends some time alone doing what she does best – painting. Dramatic music plays while she fiercely and passionately paints on the paper, making the viewers assume she’s painting a masterpiece, but we come to finding out that her painting isn’t all that…impressive.

In the next scene, the school is putting on a small talent show at the camp site where students can perform on the stage to showcase their talents and abilities. The students pressure their two teachers that came along with them on the trip to sing in front of everyone (since it’s kind of obvious they have something for each other too) so they sing a duet on the stage. When they finish performing, the students chant for them to kiss which they don’t do (although I’m pretty sure they themselves want to, haha).

The next person up to go on stage is So-hee who entertains the audience by singing. Choong-gil spices up her bland and dull performance though by adding in some random notes and walking back and forth behind So-hee to show her his support. Young-sook grows irritated at the sight of this so she shows everyone else what she’s capable of by having her and her group perform on stage. They end up dancing to a song that Soo Young sings along to which doesn’t necessarily receive the type of reaction and response that she had originally expected.  Out of all the people in the audience who are unimpressed, Choong-gil seems to be the most disturbed and affected by her performance. HAHA.

(I LOVE THIS SCENE. It’s hilarious).

Choong-gil returns home that evening to find his brother home who his Grandmother and Dad give all their attention to. They throw him a party the next day for his return, but Choong-gil hangs out with his two friends at the party instead of celebrating with his brother. His father gets mad at him for not celebrating with his brother and for talking back after he yells at Choong-gil, but Choong-gil walks away. Meanwhile, Young-sook who has come to the party to deliver some things witnesses the argument between Choong-gil and his father.

The next day at school, Choong-gil’s friend Hwang-kyu (played by Park Jung Min) is forced to share with Young-sook what type of things Choong-gil likes and has interest in. She ends up getting Choong-gil a pair of new sneakers which he doesn’t approve of and want. When Choong-gil confronts Young-sook about the shoes, he pretends to act like he doesn’t want it, but when Young-sook threatens to take it back, he makes up an excuse to Young-sook so that he can keep it. Haha. And Young-sook knows that Choong-gil likes her gift, smirking after he leaves the classroom. Hehe.

The sneakers aren’t Choong-gil’s for long though for Gwang-sik ends up stealing them from him and walking away in them. Lol, OTL.

When school ends that day, the students finds themselves running back home to escape from the pouring rain. Choong-gil finds So-hee alone so he’s prepared everything in advance and pulls out his umbrella thinking that she’s walking home, but watches her as she gets inside a car that picks her up at school. LOL. He’s devastated and this is evident when he hands Young-sook, who joins him a few seconds later after So-hee’s left, his umbrella and walks away in the rain, leaving Young-sook behind.

His efforts to capture So-hee’s heart goes to waste though for Young-sook always ends up ruining his plans and stealing the gifts he got for So-hee. LOL.  Just acknowledge and accept Young-sook’s feelings already Choong-gil! Haha. When he finds So-hee feeding some rabbits that she seems to like, he ends up getting her those rabbits without her knowing who got it for her and why, but she accepts it regardless. Meanwhile, Young-sook notices the sneakers that she originally bought for Choong-gil being worn by Gwang-sik and grows angry because she didn’t buy it for Gwang-sik in the first place.

The next day at school, Young-sook, Choong-gil, and So-hee’s classrooms all head to a farm to farm. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, So-hee starts to yell and scream in panic, alarming the other students including Choong-gil who runs to check up on her. It turns out that So-hee was freaking out over a leech that was stuck on her leg so Choong-gil throws it away and sucks So-hee’s blood that he believes is poisonous. He literally sucks the blood on her feet in front of everyone, including the students who are all witnessing this and the teachers as well.

Everyone is surprised and taken aback, but the one person that is probably the most infuriated at this point is Young-sook who watches all of this unfold right in front of her eyes.

So-hee heads to the clinic in the town to receive some medicine and aid for her injury. It’s grown dark when she leaves the clinic so she becomes cautious and wary about her walk back home. She’s relieved when she finds Choong-gil approach her from behind with a bicycle, but declines his invitation to ride with him back home. With that, he rides his bicycle which also has a flashlight in the front past her, but little does she know that he’s actually helping her out.

Since So-hee refuses to ride with Choong-gil on the bicycle, he stops every few minutes to shine his flashlight that serves as a signal for So-hee so she will know which direction to walk to get home. (I have to admit, this method is more thought-out and smoother than the other tactics he’s tried to capture her interest and attention. I was actually kind of falling in love with Choong-gil during this scene surprisingly). She eventually makes it to the bus stop safely thanks to Choong-gil’s bicycle and heads back home.

Young-sook’s female teacher and Choong-gil’s male teacher secretly meet up in her bedroom. She acknowledges Choong-gil’s boldness and courage for sucking the blood out of So-hee’s foot, unlike someone who wouldn’t even think of doing that. They then talk about their secret relationship which they have to hide because of the students, but Young-sook’s teacher grows tired of having to hide their relationship from everyone. She wishes she could just simply explicitly show her affections and love towards her lover which is evident when she tries to kiss him.

The next day, Choong-gil and So-hee meet up at a restaurant. She gives him a harmonica as a gift for helping her out the night before. As a response, Choong-gil is flattered and appears to like the “trend item in Seoul.” He then starts to give suggestions on places they can visit and things they can go do, but So-hee disapproves on all of them. When she suggests roller skating, Choong-gil is welcomed to the idea and takes her to a large empty pool with no water since the floor’s slippery enough for their roller skates. HAHAHA.

So-hee is dissatisfied at first, but roller skating with Choong-gil turns out to be a great time for her. She gets to witness clumsy Choong-gil make a fool out of himself by continually falling and trying to impress her by pretending like he knows how to roller skate when really he doesn’t. Their date continues when they visit the town to get something to eat. While walking and talking casually, they come across Young-sook’s who working at her mom’s restaurant. Young-sook notices Choong-gil and So-hee together, but doesn’t say a word. The hurt and sorrowful look in her eyes already conveys enough. (Aw, poor Young-sook).

(LOOK AT THIS. LOOK AT THOSE EYES. LOOK AT THAT FACE EXPRESSION. MY PARK BO YOUNG).

So-hee confirms with Choong-gil whether what she heard about Young-sook liking Choong-gil is true or not to which he responds, “Don’t say something so scary like that.” LOL. He adds that someone just made it up and that it holds no truth. Ugh, really Choong-gil?! You’re just going to ignore Young-sook like that? Tsk tsk tsk. Meanwhile, Young-sook finally lets her feelings out as she cries over the sight of Choong-gil and So-hee together back at the restaurant.

Choong-gil and So-hee end up eating at the hotel that provides the black bean noodles that Choong-gil always orders for the girls he tries to impress. After they finish eating the meal, Choong-gil decides it’s time to get his game on so he places his hand on So-hee’s thighs (which is his method of capturing a girl’s heart. he believes it’ll work on her like how it worked on the other girls), but she accuses him of being a pervert and walks away disappointed after finally realizing his true intentions. You can’t impress everybody Choong-gil. Before leaving him, she also criticizes his “tacky” pants. Hahaha.

Choong-gil throws away the pants that So-hee hates, but his father seems to like them so he keeps it. Choong-gil isn’t in such a good mood for he is still bummed out over what happened the night before. He ends up crying in class which suspicions his friends and gets ignored by So-hee at school.

Meanwhile, Gwang-sik and Young-sook are hanging out with each other at a bonfire. Gwang-sik pushes forth the idea that maybe he and Young-sook can start making some progress in their friendship, but she doesn’t seem to like it. He assumes it’s because of another guy who he is willing to hurt so that Young-sook will only be his. Possessive much?

In the classroom, Young-sook confronts So-hee on the pack of cigarettes she found in one of So-hee’s pouches. The fact that she smokes even though she has asthma makes Young-sook laugh in disbelief. Annoyed and angry, So-hee invites Young-sook for a talk so they head to the girl’s restroom (OOH. STUFF IS GONNA GO DOWN). While So-hee’s all by herself, Young-sook’s group of friends ends up following them (LOL), but Young-sook makes them leave, reassuring them that she can handle So-hee all by herself.

So-hee confronts Young-sook on how troublesome she is and they end up fighting each other. Although the crowd that has formed outside of the girl’s restroom just watches them fight in amazement, Choong-gil comes to stop them from continuing on any further. He accuses Young-sook of stripping So-hee’s clothes off of her when he comes to rescue So-hee (who feigns weakness and fear) and takes her out of the restroom.

The principal meets up with So-hee’s father and Young-sook’s mother so that they can talk about the fight and reach a consensus, but they themselves end up arguing. Fed up and exhausted, Young-sook runs out of the office to get her belongings in her classroom and walks out of the school campus. While she walks out, Choong-gil watches her from inside his classroom and ponders over her attitude plus behavior.

Young-sook escapes to her village and recalls memories of the past between her and Choong-gil. They were childhood friends and classmates when they were younger so that’s how they know each other. Young-sook remembers the one time when Choong-gil gave her his compass so that she wouldn’t get in trouble for not having hers. He ends up getting in trouble for not having his compass later on at school that day, but he remains strong and reassures Young-sook that he is fine.

Young-sook still has Choong-gil’s compass to this day which she looks at from time to time (she also pulled it out at the beginning of the movie). She ends up going to Choong-gil’s base (the warehouse) since she doesn’t have anywhere else to run to. Choong-gil’s two friends find her in there so they warn Choong-gil that it’s best he doesn’t go there, but Choong-gil still does in the end.

He goes to talk and chill with Young-sook in hopes of maybe cheering her up. He takes notice of her injured and pale face, but she tells him to not worry. Choong-gil allows her to sleep at his base for the night since Young-sook doesn’t want to return home, especially since her mom knows that she got into a fight. They discuss about graduation and college which then leads them to their next conversation which is about their childhood memories. We learn that Choong-gil wasn’t always ladies’s man when he was younger and actually had good grades while our Young-sook hasn’t changed much. She would always copy Choong-gil’s homework and had bad grades. Haha, too cute. Young-sook encourages Choong-gil to go home while she gets ready to sleep. He leaves her alone in his base, but goes back to bring her a bag of medicine since he’s worried about her.

(Poor Jong Suk. His back must be killing him, haha).

While he’s there, he replaces the stacked books Young-sook’s laying her head on with an actual pillow, eventually waking her up. Young-sook and Choong-gil exchange an intense glance at each other before he bends down towards her to give her a kiss. However, they stop when they hear one of the windows crack and a harmonica lying on the ground. Choong-gil realizes that it’s So-hee that threw it inside the warehouse and runs outside to chase after her. But So-hee pushes Choong-gil away from her and walks off infuriated because of what she saw.

Young-sook can’t stand to stay in the warehouse any longer so she walks back home. While on her walk home, she meets Gwang-sik who questions her on where she’s going and whether or not she met up with Choong-gil. Young-sook answers that yes, they met up and actually did something together too which pisses Gwang-sik off even more. She walks away unaffected by his anger though.

The next morning at school, Gwang-sik and his crew visit Choong-gil’s school to confront Choong-gil. The male representative or leader of Choong-gil’s school talks to Gwang-sik, but Gwang-sik can care less about what he has to say. He asks for Choong-gil who he claims touched his girl (Young-sook) and this is supported by the girl that Choong-gil played around with earlier in the movie who claims that she saw it herself. The leader can’t do much about this since the issue doesn’t concern him and he orders his team to go back inside the school. Choong-gil ends up alone, without even his best friends there to support him.

His two friends does relay to Young-sook though that Choong-gil’s in danger because of Gwang-sik so she goes to rescue him. Choong-gil is able to leave Gwang-sik with just a few injuries on his face because of Young-sook who stops and threatens Gwang-sik. She meets up with Choong-gil f a few minutes later and they walk together back home, but Choong-gil doesn’t want Young-sook’s help or for her to be around him. He walks ahead of her to avoid her presence, but stops when she pulls out the compass asking him if he remembers it.

She reminds him of the memories that the compass holds which Choong-gil admits that he hasn’t forgotten. Young-sook apologizes for what happened that day with Gwang-sik and turns around to head back home, but stops when Choong-gil asks her why she likes him. She answers that she only realized those reasons after she started liking him to which Choong-gil confesses, “Me too…my heart used to beat for you. But my dad liked to hang out at your house so I thought he had something with your mother. That’s why I gave up.” Oof, why is this so sad. Young-sook grows disappointed on Choong-gil for  giving up so easily, because unlike him, she continued to fight for him and their relationship.

Choong-gil thinks back upon the time when he met his father for the first time since he was born. He was only an elementary student at that time and had been raised by his grandma while his parents were gone. On that day that he met his father, he also found out by his grandmother that his mother would not be returning. Enraged and confused, Choong-gil distances himself away from Young-sook for her own sake. Fast forward to the present and Choong-gil’s relationship with his father still doesn’t seem to have improved.

While Choong-gil waits for So-hee in front of her house, So-hee gets kidnapped by Gwang-sik’s group of men. He explains that since Choong-gil touched his girl, it’s only right that he do the same to Choong-gil’s girlfriend. Ugh. Really?!

Meanwhile, teacher couple have just finished watching a movie together at the movie theater and quickly hide in an alleyway to prevent being seen by any students.  They have a short make-out session that is interrupted when they hear the screams of a girl nearby. They go in the direction they hear the screams coming from and find So-hee being surrounded by Gwang-sik and his friends. They leave the scene upon seeing the teachers while the teachers care for So-hee and take her home. Choong-gil hides when he sees his teachers take So-hee home, but goes to talk to his girlfriend when they leave.

So-hee slaps Choong-gil so hard his nose starts to bleed when he approaches her and strictly states that if he still wants to date her, he has to kill Gwang-sik first. Damn.

So that night, Choong-gil carries a small pocketknife with him to go kill Gwang-sik like how So-hee had asked. Choong-gil follows Gwang-sik and tries to sneak up on him, but he eventually gets caught and discovered by Gwang-sik. Choong-gil can’t bring himself to stab Gwang-sik, so Gwang-sik takes the chance to beat Choong-gil up. Choong-gil comes home that night with a bruised and injured face, but Gwang-sik’s beating motivates him to work even harder. Choong-gil teaches himself a few martial art poses (not moves but poses haha) and randomly kicks and punches a punching bag pretending that it’s Gwang-sik to prepare himself when he fights Gwang-sik again.

Young-sook stares at a train ticket that will allow her to travel to Seoul, but is interrupted by Gwang-sik who has come to visit. When he asks her if she ever liked him even if it was just for a brief moment, Young-sook confesses that she never had any feelings for him. Gwang-sik walks away disappointed and meets up with Young-sook’s sidekick who had told Gwang-sik that Young-sook never liked him. He declares them allies, leaving Young-sook’s used-to-be-friend-now-enemy to attack Young-sook for what she put Gwang-sik through. She, who is now the leader, drags her group with her to batter Young-sook up, but Young-sook isn’t even disturbed one bit. “Let’s finish this quickly,” she even adds. Haha. Gotta love Young-sook.

Choong-gil visits the pool place that Gwang-sik and his friends always hang out at to call Gwang-sik out for a fight. But Gwang-sik surprisingly doesn’t budge and even refuses the offer. He explains that he and Choong-gil won’t have to fight as long as he doesn’t touch So-hee in which he never did again after that one night. What Choong-gil isn’t aware of is though is that Gwang-sik gave up on hurting So-hee for Young-sook to complete getting his revenge on Choong-gil. YIKES.

Choong-gil returns home that night beatened up and injured once again for offending Gwang-sik by talking about his sister. His father yells at him for always coming home late and always getting injured. He also talks bad about the photo of Choong-gil’s mother that Choong-gil still has up in his room which enrages Choong-gil. He blames his father for the disappearance of his mother and states that if it wasn’t for his father always being away from home, then she would have never ran away. However, Choong-gil’s brother explains to Choong-gil that their mother had chose to run away on her own free will and not because of Father. She chose to cheat on her husband and as a result, abandoned the family to pursue her own life. (Wow, this is some pretty interesting and deep stuff).

On the train to school, Choong-gil’s two friends inform him about the fight that Young-sook was in and how she didn’t even put in any effort to fight back because she was trying to protect Choong-gil. Choong-gil doesn’t give too much thought into it, but it’s only when Gwang-sik meets Choong-gil on the train afterwards and asks, “What does she like about you to make her step down from her throne?” that he starts to realize the sacrifice that Young-sook took just for him. It all makes sense to Choong-gil now why Gwang-sik didn’t beat him up when he called Gwang-sik out for a fight the night before. As long as Gwang-sik didn’t touch So-hee, Choong-gil would be fine with it, but Choong-gil never said anything about hurting Young-sook so Gwang-sik decided to aim at her.

Upon this realization, Choong-gil goes to beat Gwang-sik up for what he did to Young-sook. They fight and fight until Gwang-sik threatens to push Choong-gil out of the fast-moving train and into the river below them. Choong-gil provokes Gwang-sik to do it so Gwang-sik lets go of Choong-gil, but Choong-gil reacts quickly by pulling onto Gwang-sik so that they’ll both enter the river.

The two men eventually float to the shore passed out, but Choong-gil wakes up first to go search for Young-sook. He walks back to the town to look for Young-sook while crying hysterically, but it’s too late for she had already left to Seoul. He suffers a mental breakdown upon learning this and continue to bawl at the disappearance of Young-sook.

Meanwhile, Young-sook waits at the bus station to travel to Seoul. In a voice-over, Young-sook explains herself saying, “Choong-gil, it’s not that I’m running away. That day when we were talking about our past, I realized except for you, I’ve never wanted to be anything. So even though I just started I want to find it. Because of that, you have to realize your dreams too. Don’t just say that you want to sail. Use these books and study hard. You can do it, I really believe it. Okay?” Young-sook writes all of this in the letter that she specifically wrote just for Choong-gil. When he finishes reading it, he continues to sob knowing that she’s gone.

It’s another day of school. Choong-gil’s teacher invites his students to his wedding (OMG. I WISH MY TEACHERS WOULD HAVE DONE THAT) before leaving the classroom to let the kids do whatever they want. That’s when Choong-gil notices an invitation from So-hee asking to meet up at the same hotel that they met earlier in the movie, but Choong-gil declines the invitation and ends up not going. He also returns to So-hee the harmonica she gave him. REJECTED.

Choong-gil’s uncle that had been living in Brazil finally returns home. He’s also brought along with him his soon-to-be-wife, who’s a bit on the chubby side. Choong-gil doesn’t seem to be too impressed with her, but his uncle gives him a few lessons and advices on women, saying that you can’t always tell what kind of person a woman is by their looks and that you have to get to know their heart. *sigh* Oh Uncle, if only you were here earlier.

The movie finally focuses on Young-sook who we find out works in a factory in Seoul. As she’s just casually doing her work and minding her own business, she receives a surprise visit from Choong-gil who has come to see her. Dressed up in a dandy suit looking mighty fine and carrying some flowers with him, he walks through the factory and steals the attention of all the factory workers. When he finds Young-sook, he hands her the flowers and also shows her the compass that he managed to retrieve after she threw it in the river out of anger.

They walk out of the factory together at first, but Choong-gil, being the gentlemen he is, carries Young-sook out of the factory. The movie ends with our charming and attractive couple slowly leaning towards each other to give each other a warm and sweet kiss.

My Thoughts:

And so the movie ends up on a happy note with our main leads Young-sook and Choong-gil eventually becoming a lovely and very good-looking couple. I’m happy that they acknowledged each other’s feelings in the end and got together, because we did spend the whole entire movie watching Young-sook chase after her childhood friend and crush. If she still didn’t get him in the end, I would have really questioned myself and the director of this movie what the purpose of this movie was (I still am, but you get what I mean).

I don’t know if you can tell by the recap, but this movie didn’t have a lot going on. The story line is really simple in that there’s just a love square where we’re watching Gwang-sik try to impress Young-sook who’s trying to impress Choong-gil who is trying to impress So-hee who is trying to impress…herself (?). Because there wasn’t a whole lot going on, I found it difficult to recap this movie. I could barely keep myself to watch it the first time around, I didn’t think that watching it again would be worse, but boy was I wrong! Haha. But then I thought of you guys and I reminded myself that I must finish it for those who asked for a recap of this movie, so I stayed persistent until the end and luckily finished it! Yay!

I definitely enjoyed the more serious, dramatic, and emotional scenes in this movie, with most of them revolving around the childhood memories and the past. It was only then that we were able to get a better understanding of our characters. The Young-sook that was an elementary kid was not the same Young-sook that was in high school. The same can be applied to Choong-gil and their relationship which was not the same when they were in elementary school and when they were in high school. A lot of things changed between Choong-gil and Young-sook and I wished the film could have shown us on how they drifted apart instead of forcing us to watch Choong-gil flirt and play around with girls (which I understand is his main feature and characteristic, but it got really boring and tiring). I enjoyed watching young Young-sook and Choong-gil interact with each other as friends, because it proves that they were close at one point, but what I think the film should have done was show us how they became distant.

I’m not sure how others feel about our second leads, but I really disliked them. So-hee was pretty two-faced which was evident in the bathroom scene where she was fighting Young-sook. Young-sook didn’t strip So-hee’s clothes off; So-hee took off her own clothes so that she could prepare to fight Young-sook. Then when Choong-gil came inside the restroom, So-hee pretended to act like she was all innocent and faultless and like she was getting beatened up by Young-sook when she herself was the person who initiated the fight. Like seriously?! I mean Young-sook isn’t all that good either, but at least she doesn’t pretend to act all cute and innocent and stays tough and bossy throughout the whole movie, displaying a consistent image and role. As for Gwang-sik, he was just waaayyyy too obsessive over Young-sook and way too possessive. It’s funny how he didn’t realize that Young-sook never liked him until the end of the movie. He was too blind and delusional to realize that Young-sook never cared for him. And plus, the majority of the scenes that we saw him in was of him either fighting or beating Choong-gil up. The movie didn’t really offer to introduce their background stories either which is why they seem hateful to me. We don’t really know much about our second leads other than that So-hee moved to the countryside because of her health and that Gwang-sik claimed Young-sook who was never his to begin with. If the movie had given some background information on our second leads and the obstacles or problems they faced to become the tough and rugged person they are, maybe I would pity them a little, but because the movie didn’t, I just ended the movie feeling bitter and hateful towards them, lol.

I don’t want to be too redundant, so I’m just gonna say that I think this movie could have done a lot better in many ways, but it’s not to say that this movie is the worst movie ever. There were many funny and hilarious scenes that made me laugh out loud. There were quite a few heart-warming and touching scenes in here that made me feel all fuzzy and happy inside, primarily the ones where Young-sook and Choong-gil were speaking about their past. There were heart-breaking scenes in here that made me want to cry, such as when Choong-gil goes back to town to find Young-sook who has already left for Seoul. His reaction to realizing the sacrifice Young-sook made for him and realizing that she’s gone got me feeling a bit emotional and choked up. Lee Jong Suk did a phenomenal job acting out his crying and sobbing scenes.

This was my first time recapping a movie (so far, all my recaps have been on dramas) so I wasn’t sure as to how long it would take me to recap the movie and how I would feel recapping a film that was longer than the usual hour I’m used to, but recapping the movie wasn’t that bad. I think it depends on the movie that I’m recapping that determines whether I enjoyed recapping it or not, but my first experience on recapping a movie ended up being pretty neutral. I actually plan to recap a few more movies, so you can expect a couple of more recaps from me in the future. As to which movies I’m recapping, I would be revealing a bit too much to you guys there, so you guys are gonna have to wait in the future to see which movie I picked out to recap. And also, if there’s a movie you don’t have the time to watch but would like me to recap, just tell me and I’ll try to recap it! You just have to ask nicely~

If you would like to read my other thoughts on this movie, I wrote a ‘What Mary Thinks’ edition on this movie a few months ago so you can read that here. But all in all, although ‘Hot Blooded Youth’ did provide me with laughter, smiles, and tears, I honestly admit that I wouldn’t want to watch it a third time around. I think watching it two times is good enough for me.