Hong-jo has managed to keep his identities a secret so far, but for how much longer will he able to keep this up? Hong-jo struggles to keep things under wraps as suspicions about him begin to rise.
Meow, the Secret Boy: Episode 6 Recap
Jae-sun questions Hong-jo’s identity while holding a drunk and unconscious Sol-Ah in his arms. However, Sol-Ah’s random demands interrupts the serious conversation and Jae-sun brings her to her room to rest. Once finished, Jae-sun demands for answers once again from Hong-jo. Who is he? Jae-sun met the real Guk-bong earlier at his cafe so who is he if he’s not Guk-bong? Hong-jo finally reveals his real name to Jae-sun and returns to his bedroom after Jae-sun takes care of Sol-Ah. Jae-sun chases Hong-jo to his bedroom, but finds a cat staring at him instead of a human being once he barges into the bedroom. He sneezes of course upon standing closely to the cat. Jae-sun reasons that Hong-jo must have escaped through the window which is why he wasn’t in his bedroom earlier, but he can’t help notice that he sneezes every time he’s around Hong-jo.
“A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution.” – Hazel Nicholson
Jae-sun ends up staying the night at Sol-Ah’s house. When she wakes up, she’s greeted by a concerned and worried Jae-sun. After making her some breakfast, he warns her to keep her distance from Guk-bong and to be careful around the house. Though Sol-Ah doesn’t think anything of Guk-bong, Jae-sun expresses his concern for Sol-Ah. He’ll take care of the cat in the meantime while she’s at work and he demands to see her after work later on that day. There’s something he needs to tell her.
While walking to work, Sol-Ah comes across Ji-eun so the two have a quick chat before entering the office. Sol-Ah shares with Ji-eun on the latest and greatest that Jae-sun did for her which she feels conflicted about. She’s not too sure how to process his concern for her; she’s afraid of falling for him again. At that moment, Doo-sik pops up so Ji-eun nervously rushes inside the office first. Sol-Ah keeps her promise with Ji-eun and refrains from telling Doo-sik any details even as suspicious as he is. With how friendly Ji-eun and Sol-Ah is to each other, everyone else in the office begin to question how they even became friends. When rumors of Ji-eun using her connections to get her job begins to swirl in the office again, Sol-Ah defends Ji-eun and claims that there aren’t any connections. Ji-eun rightfully earned her spot to work at their company.
Jae-sun spends some time with cat Hong-jo, but he still remains suspicious of Guk-bong. What are his intentions? Jae-sun is distracted when he notices a man outside of Sol-Ah’s house. He approaches the man cautiously for answers, but doesn’t get much out of the interaction. The man just wanted to meet the owner of the house, but walks away since there’s no one home. Jae-sun sneezes while standing across the man and grows confused. Eventually, he returns to his cafe, but can’t find cat Hong-jo anywhere. While resuming his his search outside, he discovers human Hong-jo instead and chases after him once human Hong-jo begins to run. The chase comes to an end when Jae-sun is unable to locate Hong-jo. What’s even more odd was that Hong-jo was able to disappear even after running into a dead end. Where did he go and how was he able to escape? It turns out human Hong-jo transformed into a cat and hid in a box nearby.
Ji-eun ends up bringing cat Hong-jo home after assuming that it was abandoned. However, she notices the collar on cat Hong-jo after only a few minutes of keeping him so she returns the cat to its rightful owner: Sol-Ah. They meet up at Jae-sun’s cafe where Sol-Ah reunites with her cat. YAAAY! Ji-eun leaves shortly afterwards to let Sol-Ah be alone with Jae-sun and to give them some time together. Once gone, Jae-sun sits with Sol-Ah and cat Hong-jo, but it’s obvious that things are a little awkward. After sitting for a few seconds in silence, Jae-sun is finally reminded about the important revelation he was going to inform Sol-Ah about.
He prepares to tell the truth to Sol-Ah about her red scarf and why they had a misunderstanding between them, but his nervousness gets to him and he gets up to get himself some water. At that moment, some long pieces of wood that is located behind Sol-Ah’s chair begins to wobble and is close to falling on her. Cat Hong-jo attempts to grab Sol-Ah’s attention, but when that doesn’t work, he transforms into a human to protect her from the falling wood. Jae-sun witnesses everything in front of his eyes and receives confirmation on what he had been suspicious about all along: Hong-jo is both a cat and a human being.
Back at the house, Sol-Ah thanks Hong-jo for saving her even though it did seem a bit weird that he suddenly showed up from out of no where. She reminds him to not leave or disappear from her again. And if he does, he is to give her a heads up. However, Hong-jo doesn’t plan on going anywhere. He plans to stay by her side.
Jae-sun confronts Hong-jo that night at his cafe. He notices that Hong-jo’s necklace is the same collar that he had made for cat Hong-jo. How is it that human Hong-jo is wearing the same exact thing? Hong-jo finally admits to Jae-sun that yes, he is cat Hong-jo. He can transform from a cat to a human being when around Sol-Ah or when he has her belongings with him. Jae-sun threatens to reveal everything to Sol-Ah, but Hong-jo pleads to let him stay with Sol-Ah, even if that means living in the form of a cat. All he’s asking for is to be able to be with Sol-Ah.
Sol-Ah arrives shortly afterwards at the cafe to grab cat Hong-jo. Jae-sun compromises with Hong-jo and keeps things a secret from Sol-Ah. He apologizes to her for what he did in the past and remains hesitant in being just friends with Sol-Ah. He’s not sure he can be just her friend and nothing more given their history with each other. Maybe when Sol-Ah finally does fall in love with someone else will he be able to be her friend.
The next morning, Jae-sun makes Hong-jo work to keep his real identity a secret from Sol-Ah. If he wants to stay by Sol-Ah’s side, he needs to work for it – literally. Hong-jo is hired as an employee at Jae-sun’s cafe. Haha. At the office, Doo-sik grows frustrated at what he assumes is Ji-eun’s dislike towards him. From getting coffee to fixing the printer to opening the door for her, Doo-sik tries various things to get Ji-eun to like him. Just when he seems to lose all hope, Ji-eun gives in and confesses her feelings to him out of peer pressure. Not only does she literally comment the words “I like you” to him, but she also accidentally drops his eraser from high school in front of him that she’s had this entire time. Doo-sik notices the eraser and grows confused at the sight of it. EEEEEK!
Work doesn’t seem to be so fun for Hong-jo. Instead of doing the cool stuff like making coffee, he’s responsible for washing dishes instead. Lol. When Sol-Ah arrives at the cafe in search of her cat, both Jae-sun and Hong-jo panic. Cat Hong-jo? He must be at the house! There’s no way he’s at the cafe! They barely manage to escape Sol-Ah’s suspicions. Hong-jo takes the opportunity to also escape the cafe and walk out the door with Sol-Ah. However, Jae-sun notices the same strange man from the other day wandering outside of Sol-Ah’s house again so the three confront the man outside.
Jae-sun and Hong-jo grow suspicious and protective when they assume that the man must be coming by because he wants to spend time with Sol-Ah. However, it’s not until the man clarifies that he wanted to spend time with the cat that they both calm down. He’s witnessed Sol-Ah with her cat a few times at the veterinary hospital so he was just worried about the cat and wanted to check up on it. Hong-jo steps up to inform the man that the cat (aka him) is well and happy so the man leaves. Sol-Ah stays up late that night reflecting on that moment. She remembers how both Jae-sun and Hong-jo were so protective of her and how Hong-jo even held her hand.
After feeding cat Hong-jo that night, Sol-Ah receives a phone call from Dad. To commemorate Mom’s death anniversary, Dad plans on holding the ancestral rite ceremony with Bang-shil so Sol-Ah won’t need to help or do anything this year. The emptiness eats Sol-Ah up and she begins to clean the entire house. Human Hong-jo notices her eagerness to be busy so he assists her in cleaning as well. However, he points out her odd behavior so Sol-Ah finally gives in and reveals to him her true feelings. Ever since she was young, she always helped clean, cook, and take care of Dad. Now that he’s not around at the time of her mom’s death anniversary, she feels weird not being busy which is why she felt like she needed to occupy herself with something. To cheer Sol-Ah up, Hong-jo proposes that they visit the river that Sol-Ah used to visit with her mother when she was younger. They can go together the next day. Aww, I’m loving this.
Hong-jo works diligently at Jae-sun’s cafe to help pass time before his trip with Sol-Ah. While at the cafe, Jae-sun opens up to Hong-jo about his fear of abandonment. Jae-sun ended up taking in kitten Hong-jo because he knows what it feels like to be abandoned and didn’t want the same thing to happen to kitten Hong-jo. This was the real reason as to why Jae-sun didn’t show up that night to meet up with Sol-Ah like they should have. When asked why he didn’t reveal this to Sol-Ah, Jae-sun reasons that it would have just sounded like an excuse anyways. The two eventually end their conversation after a group of customers enter the cafe.
Ji-eun takes the day off of work which makes everyone curious. Sol-Ah encourages Doo-sik to get in contact with her. Meanwhile, Sol-Ah waits patiently to meet up with Hong-jo so they can continue on with their plans. After a long and busy day of work, Hong-jo finally gets to leave to meet up with Sol-Ah. However, before heading to their meet-up location, he travels from store to store in search of peaches since it was Sol-Ah’s Mom’s favorite. Sol-Ah patiently waits for Hong-jo even late into the night. However, she grows disappointed when Jae-sun and not Hong-jo shows up to meet with her. She has Jae-sun next to her and she should be enjoying this moment, but she doesn’t. Sol-Ah’s not content with Jae-sun’s company. The person she wants to meet is Hong-jo, not Jae-sun. At that moment, she finally understands how she feels about Jae-sun and communicates her true feelings to him: she’s okay with just being friends with him.
Hong-jo is determined to meet up with Sol-Ah, but his exhaustion catches up to him and he transforms back into a cat upon falling asleep. He is then picked up by a stranger. The person who picked up a sleeping cat Hong-jo is none other than the same exact man who was waiting outside of Sol-Ah’s house. When the man visits Jae-sun’s cafe the next morning, Jae-sun can’t help but feel suspicious about him. Jae-sun keeps sneezing around the man so he becomes curious as to whether the man too is a cat. Although Hong-jo isn’t completely certain, he does point out that the man smells like a cat.
My Thoughts:
WOOOOOAH, ANOTHER PERSON WHO CAN TRANSFORM FROM CAT TO HUMAN AND VICE VERSA?! I did not see this one coming!
Once again, the drama continues to surprise viewers by implementing new sub-plots into the series making it a refreshing and fluffy watch every time. It’s amazing just how much is going on in the drama given the very simple and easy premise that it centers itself around which is Hong-jo’s ability to transform from a cat to a human being and vice versa. I wasn’t so sure how entertaining the show was going to be and if it was going to drag things out, but it’s rather moving at a good pace which I’m glad about.
I should have expected it, but I also didn’t think someone was going to find out about Hong-jo’s special power so soon into the show. I’m glad that it’s Jae-sun who was the first to find out and that someone in general found out about Hong-jo’s real identity. I was scared that the drama was going to drag things out and make things even more ridiculous with how easily Hong-jo was transforming without anyone getting suspicious (there were already a few times where Hong-jo transformed and no one bat an eye or noticed anything). Now that the cat is out of the bag, Jae-sun and Hong-jo are working together to keep things a secret. That’s what I loved about it all even more in this episode. You would think that once Jae-sun found out about Hong-jo that things would end, but then the drama goes to show both guys working together to cover Hong-jo’s identity. I love seeing the two work with each other to care about someone who they both love and appreciate.
Of course, Jae-sun and Hong-jo has two very different reasons as to why they’re keeping things under wraps. Jae-sun is keeping things a secret because he realizes that Hong-jo’s presence does bring Sol-Ah with some sense of comfort that he himself necessarily cannot provide her. Since Jae-sun cares for Sol-Ah, he’s willing to let Hong-jo be there for her even if that means pushing aside his own pride and watching things unfold at a distance. Hong-jo, of course, wants to stay with Sol-Ah because he acknowledges the strong and great connection that they’ve built with each other over the months and wants to keep providing her with his presence to eliminate her loneliness. It’s not so much that Hong-jo enjoys the ability to transform that he wants to be around her, but it does help that he’s around Sol-Ah so that he can continue being that source of support for her.
It seems like the drama is slowly wrapping up Jae-sun and Sol-Ah’s storyline which I’m actually glad about. Now that they’ve confronted their past and the misunderstandings that came about, they now get to decide whether they move on as friends or try to continue from where they left off. And as we saw in this episode, while Jae-sun isn’t so ready to let go of any chances to be with Sol-Ah, Sol-Ah is ready to move forward with her life. She no longer has any feelings for Jae-sun and that’s a decision that she felt confidently about. Being with Hong-jo has improved her life immensely and he’s done things for her that Jae-sun wasn’t necessarily capable of doing. Though Hong-jo and Jae-sun both care for Sol-Ah, their actions contrast drastically which is why Sol-Ah feels so much more comfortable with Hong-jo. She doesn’t need to doubt herself or Hong-jo’s feelings for her when they’re together; she knows that he enjoys being around her as much as she enjoys being around him.
Another aspect in this episode that I really enjoyed was the backstory of Sol-Ah’s life and her complicated relationship with her dad. It’s obvious that now that Dad is sort of starting anew, he no longer feels the need to involve Sol-Ah as much in his life anymore. He’s learning how to live a life without relying on her so much which I think is both a learning experience for both him and Sol-Ah. My heart broke for Sol-Ah when she cleaned around the house and tried to find something busy to do after the heartbreaking call with her dad. She was always so used to taking care of her dad and filling in that role of motherhood that she wasn’t so sure what to do once that role was stripped from her. Who is she when she’s no longer a caregiver? What is left when she no longer is responsible for the things she had to do growing up? It was so sad to see her struggle and come to terms with her new reality because it’s something she’s definitely not used to. However, it was so satisfying to see Hong-jo (once again) be there to comfort her in times of struggle and offer her the support that she needed. I not only loved how he noticed her odd behavior and got her to feel comfortable enough to share with him her feelings, but how he even proposed they commemorate Sol-Ah’s mom in their own way. When looking at things from this perspective, you can’t help but understand why Sol-Ah wants to keep Hong-jo around so much.
It’ll be interesting to see where the drama goes by looping in this new man who can also transform into a cat. I hope he doesn’t turn out to be a villain or someone dangerous or threatening, but I’m also not ruling anything out. At this point, what I’m more curious about is how Sol-Ah will react to the truth about Hong-jo. Regardless of how she finds out, I’m positive what will matter to Sol-Ah more is simply just being with Hong-jo regardless of whether he’s a cat, human, Guk-bong, or all of the above.
Extra screenshots from the episode~
MaryMeKpop 