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“Life is all about fighting through your struggles.” – Mi-rae’s Mom ❤

Each of our character have struggles of their own that they’re fighting through. Mi-rae’s doubts and concerns about her face is one of the biggest struggles she’s always faced since young. However, with people like her friends and Kyung-seok who genuinely care for her, maybe she won’t have to overcome this struggle all by herself like she used to do in the past.

My I.D. is Gangnam Beauty Episode 3 Recap: You Don’t Even Know

Mi-rae storms off after confronting Chan-woo for his rude and derogatory remarks about her being a plastic monster. She sits herself on the stairs in front of a store and keeps to herself quietly. She’s then approached by Woo-young, the teacher assistant for her chemistry lab class. He treats her nicely and tries to create small talk with her, but the two are soon interrupted by a suspicious and angry Kyung-seok. He grabs her wrist and tries to drag her away from Woo-young, but Woo-young too grabs her wrist to stop the both of them from leaving. Mi-rae isn’t having any of it and expresses for the two of them to let go of her and to stop. She walks away from both guys in the end by herself. OOOOH.

After the dinner party, Soo-Ah is dropped off in front of her apartment complex by four different guys, two upperclassmen and two first year’s just like her. They assume she must be from a rich family considering where she lives.

While waiting for Hyun-jung at a restaurant, Mi-rae is approached by this man who mistakens her for another lady he had met at the club the other night. Mi-rae is taken aback by the sudden greeting and informs the man that he got the wrong person. Once Hyun-jung arrives, Mi-rae quickly bursts into tears upon relaying the types of comments that she got from Chan-woo about her face. She’s still clearly hurt from those remarks.

Soo-Ah hides in a dark corner of the apartment complex until the guys leave. She then walks back out and waits at the bus stop. She actually doesn’t live at the huge, luxurious apartment complex like they thought.

Mi-rae informs Hyun-jung about all the other things that occurred at the dinner party. She also grows uncertain and doubtful as to how to publicly talk about her plastic surgery. Plus, with or without plastic surgery, she’s still looked down upon and teased by others. Hyun-jung gives Mi-rae some advice and then encourages her to still be confident. She’s pretty regardless of what others say.

Kyung-seok’s mom has returned to Korea without notice. Meanwhile, Kyung-seok’s Dad, Congressman Do, is in his office discussing with his staff strategies on how to best recruit young voters to vote for him. Maybe dancing to some Wanna One’s ‘Pick Me’ will be helpful. Asdkjfd. Just then, Kyung-seok’s Dad receives a phone call from Mom who are both clearly not on good terms. She expresses her desire to visit both Kyung-seok and his sister Kyung-hee.

Won-ho is still hurt and sad from the rejection he received from Soo-Ah the night before. Best friend Sung-woon tries to talk him out of it, but it’s of no use. It’s not until Soo-Ah approaches the two and greets them nicely that Won-ho snaps out of his mood. She also compliments his long legs which makes him even happier. She leaves for class first and is followed by the two shortly after.

As Kyung-seok walks to class, the same lady who’s been pestering him – Ye-na – gossips about Mi-rae to him. Isn’t Kyung-seok curious like everyone else is about Mi-rae’s old face and how she used to look like? Kyung-seok remains silent though and the two are interrupted by Soo-Ah who wishes to have a talk with Kyung-seok about their group project.

Soo-Ah clarifies misunderstandings about asking Mi-rae if she underwent plastic surgery at the night of the dinner party. She had no ill intentions when she asked Mi-rae and she was genuinely curious. However, Kyung-seok isn’t buying any of it and is aware of what Soo-Ah is trying to do (aka she’s a snaaaaake). Kyung-seok leaves when Soo-Ah’s friend approaches the two.

All the comments and questions about Mi-rae’s plastic surgery is starting to get to her. Mi-rae can’t walk around campus without feeling like everyone is gossiping about her. When seated in class, she’s approached by Kyung-seok who sits at the same table as her. He asks her if she’s the overly-conscious type which she doesn’t respond to, but her body language says otherwise.

Mi-rae has a talk with Kyung-seok. She doesn’t appreciate him butting into her issues and concerns. She reveals to him that she did get plastic surgery, but it was because she felt like she needed it. He knows it too. Her face was below average. Kyung-seok can’t seem to wrap his head around why she got plastic surgery. It seems like what needed plastic surgery wasn’t her face, but her unhealthy and toxic mindset. AHHHH. Mi-rae gets upset and walks away. Kyung-seok doesn’t know anything about her or the way she thinks.

Chan-woo wants all the first year’s to assemble and convene. When he meets them on the track field, he’s angry and upset at how small the group is. He brings them inside a building to avoid being seen and demands them to do push-ups. However, he excuses all the females from punishment except for Mi-rae. She has to stay. NOOO. Soo-Ah threatens to stay as well if Mi-rae has to stay, but Mi-rae advocates for herself. What did she do wrong? What did anyone else in the room do wrong?

Chan-woo then instructs everyone to leave the room. They watch a few feet away as Chan-woo yells at Mi-rae and resumes his derogatory and harsh remarks at her. Just as he’s taunting her, a heroic Kyung-seok appears and drop kicks Chan-woo on the floor. ASKJFD. THIS IS TOO FUNNY. Kyung-seok drags Chan-woo into a bathroom stall and teaches him a few good lessons. He then leaves afterwards.

Freshmen representative Yoo-Eun has a talk with TA Woo-young to discuss about the bathroom incident. She hesitates to talk, but she eventually speaks.

Mi-rae heads home that night. She’s informed by Mom that Dad is out at his friend’s dad’s funeral. He’s not as angry and upset anymore over Mi-rae’s plastic surgery so she should be fine.

It’s true that Dad is out, but he’s out with his friends drinking and eating instead of at a funeral. His friends continually beam over Mi-rae and are just as excited that she’s attending one of the most prestigious universities in the nation. Maybe she can take them on a campus tour! Dad doesn’t say much and instead just encourages them to drink.

Mom and Mi-rae get ready for bed. Mom checks in on Mi-rae and asks her how she feels about college. Mi-rae pretends like everything’s fine and doesn’t reveal to Mom what she’s been going through lately in fear that Mom will worry. Mom shares with Mi-rae stories of when Mi-rae was younger and adds that life is all about overcoming struggles. People might seem like they’re living carefree without a worry in the world, but in reality everyone is just trying to live the best they can. The mother and daughter pair fall asleep that night together.

Meanwhile, Dad wanders around and finally rests in his taxi. He listens to Mom’s voice mail that she had recorded that night urging him to return home. In the voice mail, he also overhears the moment Mi-rae came back home and greeted Mom. He sighs and takes a look at the picture of Mi-rae hanging in his car.

News and rumors of the bathroom incident spread around school. Kyung-seok is labeled as a hero while everyone teases Chan-woo for getting beaten up by a freshmen. Mi-rae’s friends worry when she doesn’t show up to school and Mi-rae herself worries that Kyung-seok will get in to trouble because of her. Mi-rae finally arrives to school and she has a talk with her friends about the incident. They apologize to the other and blame themselves for the incident. They also get angry over Chan-woo and his ridiculous and harmful actions. Listening to her friends apologize and worry about Mi-rae makes her reflect on how she truly feels about them. She graded their faces when she first saw them and didn’t think they were all that pretty, but that’s not what mattered. They’re so kind and caring to Mi-rae. Mi-rae apologizes to them and also thanks them. She feels apologetic.

Mi-rae also meets with Soo-Ah to clear any misunderstandings stemming from the incident. Soo-Ah apologizes and hopes Chan-woo didn’t target Mi-rae because Soo-Ah rejected him. The two girls end the conversation about the bathroom incident on a good note by acknowledging and teasing Chan-woo for his new nickname: mop.

Won-ho and Sung-woon are playing games at the internet cafe alongside Kyung-seok. They’re amazed at how quickly Mi-rae returned to school despite what happened to her with the bathroom incident. Kyung-seok overhears the two talk about Mi-rae and listens in on them.

Soo-Ah brings attention to the fact that Kyung-seok has been especially protective of Mi-rae. Looking back, he’s done many things for her and has looked out for her. Is he and Mi-rae dating? Does he have a one-sided crush on her? Maybe they’re talking, but just not dating yet? Mi-rae denies all accusations and claims that she and Kyung-seok are just friends. They went to the same middle school which is how they know each other. Mi-rae spills one of her secrets to Soo-Ah without thinking about it and grows worried.

Woo-young has a talk with Chan-woo and warns him to be more careful with his actions and behaviors or else he’ll get into more trouble. Even if Woo-young and Chan-woo are friends, Woo-young can still hurt his future and make his life hard.

Mi-rae and Kyung-seok encounter each other while walking through campus. The two stop each other at the same time and decide to get lunch together. Mi-rae treats Kyung-seok and volunteers to pay for his food. He’s a bit surprised, but he accepts the offer.

Soo-Ah, Won-ho, Sung-woon, and other peers discuss how Mi-rae and Kyung-seok used to go to middle school together. Maybe that could explain for why Kyung-seok seems so protective of her. However, it’s not like the two are that close either. Everyone remains a bit confused on Mi-rae and Kyung-seok’s relationship with each other.

While eating, Mi-rae confirms with Kyung-seok what she had already been feeling all along. She dislikes how she judges people based on their looks, but this habit isn’t something that cool people like Kyung-seok would understand or ever have to do. He then apologizes for his harsh comment about her toxic mindset. The two clarifies any misunderstandings they had of each other.

Kyung-seok’s friend Woo-jin is hiring part-timers at his bar. He’s uninterested in an applicant if their looks are not to his standards; instead, he’s only interested in Soo-Ah. But Soo-Ah has already applied for another part-time job at a cafe.

Mi-rae takes a short break from studying by talking with Hyun-jung. They both question how kind and nice Kyung-seok has become after being so mean back in middle school. It’s a good thing he apologized to Mi-rae first though as that must be a sign that he cares for Mi-rae. As the two prepare to head back inside the library, Mi-rae receives a notice that she’s won a ticket to a perfume sampling event that’s often difficult to earn. Hyun-jung isn’t interested in going with Mi-rae at first, but volunteers herself after learning that rapper Junoflo will be doing a special performance. Askjdfk. That’s totally me!

Won-ho and Sung-woon are at the campus store buying a bunch of food items for both themselves and Chan-woo. However, just when they’re about to pay neither of them have any money on them. Thankfully, Woo-young is also there at the store and pays for them as well. Chan-woo – who waits outside of the store – grows irritated and annoyed at Woo-young.

At school that day, Kyung-seok discovers that others know about him and Mi-rae attending the same middle school together. He voices his disappointment with Mi-rae in class since she specifically told him not to tell anyone. Mi-rae feigns ignorance and also wonders how the news about them got out. Meanwhile, Woo-young urges all the female students to tie their hair up since they’ll be working with lab chemicals. Everyone stares at Soo-Ah in astonishment and awe as she ties her hair up into a ponytail. Mi-rae herself can’t look away either.

Kyung-seok and Soo-Ah present their group findings to the rest of the class as the group representatives. Sung-woon can’t help but think that the two would make a good-looking couple. Askdjfkd.

The class resumes to doing some lab work. Mi-rae slightly burns her hand as she touches the heated flask and is reminded by Woo-young to be more careful. Everyone watches as this unfolds in front of them, including Kyung-seok. When lab is over, Woo-young instructs the class to put the equipment and lab materials away properly. Soo-Ah volunteers to help Mi-rae put away the materials so Mi-rae hands her the flask.

At that moment, Soo-Ah purposely drops the flask onto the ground where it then cracks and breaks into little pieces. Woo-young rushes over to the scene and urges Soo-Ah to wash herself and then head to the dispensary afterwards. As Soo-Ah prepares to leave, Mi-rae reaches for a piece of glass in fear that Soo-Ah will step on it, but Woo-young once again holds Mi-rae back. She might injure herself again if she touches the piece of glass.

Kyung-seok watches as Woo-young holds onto Mi-rae’s wrist and stays tight-knit next to her side. He doesn’t seem too happy with what he’s seeing.

My Thoughts:

OOHHH HOO HOO, someone’s jealous! Just kidding. I don’t want to jump to conclusions and claim that Kyung-seok’s jealous that he couldn’t save Mi-rae this time around like how he’s done all the other times, but it does seem like he’s not too happy with what he’s seeing. It pains me to see how naive and caring Mi-rae still feels towards Soo-Ah despite it being obvious to us (and Kyung-seok) that Soo-Ah is not the person she seems. They say that looks can be deceiving and that is exactly what Soo-Ah is doing to Mi-rae and everyone else at the school. She totally know what she’s doing and what she wants and she’ll do whatever it is she can to fulfill her wishes. She’s tricky, manipulative, and slimy. In other words, get away from her!

A part of me does feel sympathetic for Soo-Ah. She’s clearly aware of how powerful her looks are and how beneficial it is to her in almost all aspects, but watching her hide at the apartment complex and then leave just so others aren’t aware of her financial situation did make me a bit sad. Here she is, putting on this image (that she herself maintains and perpetuates to fool others) and causing everyone to think that she comes from a good, rich family background only to actually not be all that well off. We don’t know too much about her family or really about her at this moment, but what we do know is that she too is going through her own struggles in life and it’ll be interesting to see how much longer she fools everyone with her looks.

Now that I think about it, we haven’t really gotten any context on any of our characters. We’ve made a few jumps back to when Mi-rae and Kyung-seok were middle school classmates but that was about it. We don’t know too much about the lives of our characters which is why it might be difficult to relate to them or feel anything for them. I’m curious to know more about Kyung-seok and Soo-Ah’s family or just more about them in general. Hopefully the drama will give us a few more details on our characters and how they became who they are now. I especially want to know how Kyung-seok changed like Mi-rae and Hyun-jung claimed or if he had just been nice all along but was misunderstood and misinterpreted by Mi-rae.

I know this might sound mean of me, but I just can’t buy that Kwak Dong-yeon is playing a teacher assistant. It’s just not believable to me. Asdkfjd. He’s doing a fine job so far, but he looks so young and all the teacher assistants I’ve had in college were and looked a few years older. Woo-young looks like he can blend right in with the rest of the students and you wouldn’t be able to tell that he was a teacher assistant. This is one of those moments where you find the casting of the characters a little questionable. Lim Soo-hyang obviously looks a little bit older than the rest of the cast and too old to be playing a first year in college while Kwak Dong-yeon looks like he should be playing one of the college students. While it is a bit distracting, the drama is still enjoyable and they don’t take too much away from the drama.

I’m glad that there were so many misunderstandings cleared in this episode. Most of our characters apologized to one another over the bathroom incident or just in general and it was so nice to see everyone want to be on good terms with one another. Even if Soo-Ah is still the devious and cunning lady that she is, she’s doing a good job in masking her real personality with apologies. It’s thanks to these apologies and meetings that Mi-rae has finally come to realize her mistake in judging others for their looks. She shouldn’t have graded people based on their faces and I’m glad she acknowledged that. It’s not healthy of her and it’s also a wrong habit to do. It’s a habit because she’s self-conscious about her looks and has low self-esteem, but that doesn’t justify her actions or thoughts.

Kyung-seok has been helping Mi-rae grow and learn in new ways. Other than protecting her from Chan-woo or Soo-Ah, he’s also been able to help her think differently. I’m glad he got it to her that judging others based on their face wasn’t good at all. Yes, the way he went about doing that was a little harsh, but he ultimately gave her a good wake-up call. Now that Mi-rae is aware and understands the consequences of her habits, hopefully she’ll stop doing them. Cheers to Kyung-seok for not only being a hero but also being a good man with righteous values and beliefs.

I’m a little bit more persuaded that Kyung-seok has feelings for Mi-rae, but being the tsundere and cold man he is, we’ll probably have to wait for a bold confession by him to confirm everything first. I don’t want to reach any conclusions and claim that he likes her when really he had feelings for Soo-Ah or something. Aksdjfd. Regardless, it’s so entertaining and cute watching the two establish their relationship and too try to determine what their relationship with each other is. The next few months will be a fun and cool ride with little bumps along the way as there has already been. Almost everyone at the school are dangerous and sly and I would have major trust issues with everyone I meet there at that school, but with Kyung-seok and Mi-rae at each other’s side, everything should be fine. Hopefully.