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Things happen for a reason. But do they or is it just purely a coincidence? Upon being rescued, Mok-ha is set on resuming her dream of meeting Ran-joo. Along the way, she meets brothers Woo-hak and Bo-geol and she also searches for Ki-ho who helped jumpstart this journey of hers in the first place. Mok-ha realizes that maybe, just maybe, there was a plan for everything. Maybe, just maybe, everything that happened in the past led her to where she was eventually meant to be.

Castaway Diva Episode 2: Coincidence vs. Fate

Kang Bo-geol hangs up a banner on the rooftop of his parent’s house to promote the rooftop room that is available for rent. But he’s called to have breakfast by his mom so he hurries down to the kitchen where his dad and brother, Kang Woo-hak, also join in. Woo-hak is a little too clingy for Bo-geol’s liking which he claims is due to separation anxiety. This clinginess leads to Woo-hak always wanting to stay with Bo-geol so he’s also interested in going on the volunteer trip to the island with Bo-geol. And so the two brothers set asail on a boat to the deserted island to pick up trash. While Bo-geol joins the rest of the group members in doing their volunteer tasks, Woo-hak is occupied with his fun little drone instead. And it is this drone that discovers Mok-ha on the island and it is also this drone that leads Woo-hak directly to Mok-ha. When Mok-ha accidentally breaks the drone, Woo-hak directly confronts her but he’s the one who is thrown off by Mok-ha’s reaction. She’s relieved to finally be in contact with another human being after 15 years. This is what she’s finally waited for and she can’t help but cry and express her gratitude for being found. Bo-geol arrives shortly afterwards and he discovers his brother being hugged by a grateful and emotional Mok-ha. It’s finally over.

On the boat ride back home, Mok-ha enjoys a roll of gimbap (Park Eun-bin is channeling her inner Woo Young-woo in this scene haha) while the rest of the members chat about Mok-ha. Woo-hak also records Mok-ha munching on the gimbap using his cell phone. When the group gets back to land, Bo-geol gets Mok-ha a pair of new shoes which reminds her of the same exact thing that Ki-ho vowed he would do when they originally planned to escape. Bo-geol also attempts to stop his brother from recording videos of Mok-ha but it’s to no avail. Woo-hak eventually covers a story on Mok-ha’s survival on the island for his job as a reporter but it isn’t enough. He’s told to do a follow-up story on the reasons as to why Mok-ha left the island in the first place. And so the coverage on Mok-ha’s life and story continues. As for Bo-geol, he returns to the producer room at his workplace with his hoobae, Ahn Dong-min, and they get back to work.

Woo-hak goes to pick up Mok-ha who’s staying at a shelter and brings her back to her hometown island. On the way to the island, Mok-ha discovers a banner with Ran-joo’s name on it which immediately grabs her attention. She also shares with Woo-hak her reasoning behind leaving the island in the first place: to follow her dreams of meeting Ran-joo. Woo-hak’s bosses don’t buy into the story and they want him to investigate the story a little more. He’s also reminded by Mok-ha to respect Ran-joo, her favorite celebrity.

When the two arrive back on the island, Mok-ha heads straight to her house located in the same building as the seafood restaurant that her father owned. There, she reunites with Yong-gu and Jae-sik but they aren’t so thrilled upon seeing her. They assume she’s back to take her father’s restaurant that they’re now operating but Woo-hak advocates for her. And the truth is.. Mok-ha can care less about the family restaurant. She’s curious as to what happened to Ki-ho so Yong-gu and Jae-sik sit her and Woo-hak down to catch her up. Ki-ho too has gone missing; he escaped to Seoul and has never been seen ever since. His dad also moved to Seoul to search after him so their house on the island is abandoned and broken down. Mok-ha and Woo-hak stop by their abandoned house and she discovers a sticky note plastered on Ki-ho’s bedroom wall with the hopeful quote that he shared with her. She still strongly believes Ki-ho’s alive. He helped her run away from her abusive father; if it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t have been alive. In Mok-ha’s heart, there’s no resentment for Ki-ho. He clearly had a positive impact on her life and it’s evident in the way that she still carries his rundown and torn shoes with her everywhere she goes.

Woo-hak prepares to go back to Seoul but Mok-ha wants to join along. She doesn’t want to stay at the island that’s only left her with bad and hurtful memories of her childhood. She’s adamant and determined to meet Ran-joo because if she doesn’t, then everything that she’s suffered and endured the past 15 years would have been for nothing. So Mok-ha heads back to Seoul with Woo-hak and moves into the rooftop room in Woo-hak’s parents’ house without them knowing. Woo-hak welcomes her with some food and Mok-ha shares with him some lessons that she’s learned over the years. Instead of worrying about the future and the ‘and then?’s and the ‘what’s next?’, she’s going to live in the present. She’s going to do whatever it is that she wants to do. She regretted not taking Seo-joon up on his offer the first time he called her to talk about meeting Ran-joo and it was the only thing she could think about when she was stuck on the deserted island. So now, she’s going to live in the moment. She also notices some similarities between Ki-ho and Woo-hak and points it out to Woo-hak. They remind her of each other which gets Woo-hak thinking.

Woo-hak brings up the possibility of being Ki-ho to Bo-geol. Maybe he is Ki-ho. They’re the same age and have the same personality. And maybe Woo-hak just doesn’t remember anything because he’s lost his memories. But Bo-geol doesn’t buy into the conspiracy theory and he encourages Woo-hak to stop the shenanigans. He’s always been Woo-hak and will always be Woo-hak. Someone clearly has watched too many dramas. Haha.

The next day at work, Bo-geol meets with his team to discuss their next guest for their variety show ‘Heyday Again.’ The guest who they had previously booked got involved in a DUI accident so now they have to find someone new: someone who’s past their heyday, is scandal-free, and is available. So Bo-geol pitches Ran-joo’s name and the main PD, Hong Yeon-kyeong, agrees with the suggestion. It helps that Ran-joo is a performer at the Deodeok Village Festival that day so they have a chance to go watch her.

Speaking of Ran-joo, she panics when she learns that she’ll have to sing live for her performance at the village festival. It wasn’t what they initially agreed upon and her vocals aren’t the same as it was over the years. So she purposely drinks some of the wine that the sponsor gifted her as a present before her performance as an excuse to not sing live. Her manager, Park Yong-gwan, desperately attempts to get the event organizer to change his mind about the live performance but it doesn’t work. However, not all hope is lost! Mok-ha and Woo-hak are also present at the festival and they team up to hand out some lemon green balloons to all the attendees in support of Ran-joo. Mok-ha overhears Manager Park’s conversation and volunteers to be Ran-joo’s back-up singer.

When it’s time for Ran-joo’s performance, she’s a bit tipsy after having drank a whole bottle of alcohol but she manages to get on stage after Manager Park’s quick rundown. She doesn’t expect much, fully aware that her popularity and fame has drastically died down over the years. Which is why when she steps onto the stage, she’s surprised and shocked at the amount of shouting and cheering coming from the audience. There’s a ton of lemon green balloons, people are shouting her name, and everyone is excited for her performance. Ran-joo is reminded of a similar moment back at the height of her career so she soaks in every single second in this present moment. She makes eye contact with her nervous and excited backup singer who stands behind the stage. Just like Mok-ha stated 15 years ago, she freezes on the spot upon seeing Ran-joo. But she also focuses and gets ready to sing. So Mok-ha does just exactly that and she sings her heart out when Ran-joo’s song begins to play.

At first, Ran-joo is a bit hesitant and uncertain as to how things are going to shake out. But she leans into it and trusts Mok-ha to sing her song for her. And Ran-joo fully embraces the moment the longer the song goes on. It’s as if she’s traveled back in time; the only difference now is that Mok-ha is singing for her favorite celebrity. Woo-hak watches in silence while Bo-geol and Dong-min, who are also in attendance, are impressed by Ran-joo’s singing. The song eventually ends and Ran-joo is met with a huge applause by the crowd. Mok-ha can’t help but get emotional upon watching everyone’s reactions. In a message to Ki-ho, she expresses,

Ki-ho, I don’t know what the future holds. But one thing I know for sure is that I will never regret this moment.

Ran-joo bursts into tears upon finishing her performance and she walks over to Mok-ha to thank her. They exchange names and Mok-ha bursts into tears while hugging Ran-joo. It was all worth it. As Mok-ha describes it,

The 15 years that seemed so futile finally found meaning.

Epilogue

In the same scene where Woo-hak discusses with Bo-geol the possibility of being Ki-ho, Woo-hak questions whether his encounter with Mok-ha was all fate or just a coincidence. He refers back to the sticky note that he and Mok-ha discovered in Ki-ho’s bedroom stating,

If you wish for something with all your heart, one way or another, it’ll come true one day. And it’ll happen in an unexpected way.

Similar to how Ki-ho’s mom used to say this to Ki-ho, the statement is also something that their mom often says to them. So even though Bo-geol reminds Woo-hak once again that he is not Ki-ho, Woo-hak feels otherwise. He is Ki-ho and he’s going to do what Ki-ho would do for Mok-ha: help her achieve her dreams of meeting Ran-joo. And that is why he brought Mok-ha to the village festival to meet Ran-joo.