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We’ve been watching Ji-yoon hustle at work and manage her clients and candidates but this time, we learn more about the employees who work for her. It hasn’t always been peaceful when it came to her candidates and now Ji-yoon finds a few of her employees in the same situation. What happens when there’s conflict within Peoplez and how will they resolve these internal issues?

Love Scout: Episode 4 Recap

Eun-ho and Ji-yoon hurry into a convenience store to protect themselves from the rain. While there, Ji-yoon notices a group of students slurping on ramen noodles so Eun-ho quickly gets the hint and cooks up some yummy (and spicy) ramen noodles for him and Ji-yoon (and it actually looks so good! This makes me want to eat some ramen noodles now, haha). Eun-ho is a good cook and it’s no surprise that the ramyeon is delicious. He even brought one of Byeol’s hair ties with him to give to Ji-yoon so she can tie her hair to properly eat her food. Ji-yoon watches as Eun-ho cleans up after them and she waits patiently for him to go grab their car. She stands outside under Byeol’s umbrella to wait for his return. Someone’s in a good mood. Hehe.

But the good mood doesn’t last for long when Ji-yoon encounters Hye-jin at a photoshoot. She’s going to be included in a magazine focused on female CEO’s and Hye-jin is also a part of the photoshoot. The two ladies sit down afterwards to chat and Ji-yoon expresses interest in attending the headhunters academy that Hye-jin has organized as part of the Chair for the Headhunters Association. The academy is named after their former CEO Lee Yong-hoon. Hye-jin once again blames Ji-yoon for CEO Lee’s death but it’s not like Hye-jin is all that innocent either. There’s a few things that Ji-yoon herself knows about Hye-jin. Their intense conversation concludes with Hye-jin inviting Ji-yoon to have some dinner with her and CEO Lee’s daughter that weekend.

Eun-ho notices the change in Ji-yoon’s behavior so he suggests that they go on a walk to get some fresh air and a change of scenery. He’s even packed her walking shoes in her car trunk to prepare for the occasion (he is always so prepared! I love it!). Though he might not be the best at eating spicy rice cakes, he is good at going on walks. So the two embark on a stroll at a park with cherry blossom petals falling all around them. They walk in silence for 30 minutes and Ji-yoon’s curious as to why Eun-ho hasn’t asked her about Hye-jin. But Eun-ho respects Ji-yoon’s boundaries and he doesn’t want to probe. She doesn’t have to explain herself. Their special (and silent) walk leads them to a basketball court with a group of 4 kids. It turns out that Ji-yoon enjoys playing basketball and the two play a game against each other. In the end,  Ji-yoon scores a game-winning shot and it seems like she had more fun playing basketball than the little ones, haha. Ji-yoon and Eun-ho conclude the eventful game by eating some yummy ice cream on a bench and admiring the beautiful scenery. Eun-ho will let Ji-yoon easily win the next time they play another game, haha.

Eun-ho learns more about Ji-yoon’s complex relationship with Hye-jin thanks to Mi-ae. Back when Ji-yoon and Hye-jin used to both work at Career Way, the company was heavily impacted by working with a shell company who closed down due to investment fraud. Though Career Way argued that they had no idea about the investment fraud, Ji-yoon received a tip that one of their employees was involved in it so she pushed for an investigation. Before any action could be launched, CEO Lee committed suicide and Ji-yoon was blamed for the CEO’s death. She was kicked out of the company and worked tirelessly to form her own headhunting company. That’s how she was able to become the successful CEO that she is now. There’s another employee at Peoplez who aims to be successful and it’s consultant Gyeong-hwa. She stays late to get some work done for one of her big projects. She hopes to be able to succeed with this project to prove her worth as a consultant. She can’t stay in a support role forever. So Eun-ho gives her some words of encouragement and Gyeong-hwa resumes with her work.

But Gyeong-hwa’s hard work comes to a halt when she discovers that the candidate who she had been in contact with, Deputy Park, was the same candidate who Manager Young-soo was also talking to. They both ended up working with the same candidate and Young-soo ultimately got Deputy Park a new job. Gyeong-hwa is upset with Young-soo’s actions; she feels that it was unfair for him to “steal” her candidate. The two create a scene in the office so Ji-yoon has to reel them in. She orders them to consult with the team to figure out which one of them would be the best person to work with Deputy Park. Young-soo was the only one out of the group who had no idea that Gyeong-hwa was in contact with Deputy Park. If he had, he wouldn’t have done what he did. He vents to Eun-ho while gathering some fresh air outside and Eun-ho listens to him thoughtfully. Young-soo admits his wrongdoings and asks that Eun-ho update Gyeong-hwa on his decision. She can work with Deputy Park. The company she recommended for him was better anyways. Eun-ho makes sure to also check in with Gyeong-hwa and he reassures her that everything will be fine. Young-soo cares for her and she shouldn’t be intimidated by him. He also reminds her to eat some dinner since she’s going to work late. EUN-HOOOOO, you are amazing. I simply have no words!

In a team meeting the next day, the issue is addressed and resolved. Gyeong-hwa will resume working with Deputy Park and Young-soo will find a new candidate for the vacant position. Eun-ho notices that things are still awkward between the two and brings this up to Ji-yoon but Ji-yoon isn’t too concerned. She’s awkward with all her employees too, including Eun-ho. It’s not like they’re close, right? Eun-ho takes a few seconds to process her comments and expresses his disappointment in her before leaving her office. He’s so cute!

Soo-hyun and Eun-ho catch up with each other over lunch. Soo-hyun has two new book deals coming! Woo-hoo! They stop by at a bakery afterwards to buy some pastry and Eun-ho grabs a whole bunch for Ji-yoon. Since she doesn’t eat much, he buys her food as a way to get her to eat. Sometimes, she seems like even more work than Byeol. Haha. Speaking of Ji-yoon, Eun-ho catches sight of her walking across the street so he quickly bids farewell to Soo-hyun to join his CEO (it’s okay Soo-hyun. You still have Jung-hoon).

While taking the elevator back to the office, Ji-yoon munches on the bread that Eun-ho bought for her. Eun-ho is quite the popular guy in the office but not everything is good for everyone. Gyeong-hwa and Young-soo still aren’t talking to each other so Eun-ho, Jung-hoon, and Mi-ae come up with an idea to resolve the issue: they’ll throw a welcome party for Eun-ho. LOL. The trio pitches the wonderful idea to Ji-yoon and she approves of the party under one condition: as long as she doesn’t have to attend. Though Eun-ho wishes for her to be there, Mi-ae is just happy that the party has been approved and she’s okay with the terms and conditions.

Soo-hyun and her mom go to visit her late sister and brother-in-law who unfortunately passed away. That explains why Soo-hyun now takes care of Seo-joon. Soo-hyun is grateful for Seo-joon and she loves being his mother. Meanwhile, Ji-yoon has some dinner with Jung-hoon and his dad who’s an investor in Peoplez. She agreed many years ago to take Jung-hoon under her wings as his mentor. Jung-hoon’s dad wishes that something romantic would blossom between his son and Ji-yoon but Ji-yoon remains silent on the topic. It’s obvious she doesn’t see him that way and she confirms it to Jung-hoon herself when they bid farewell. To her, Jung-hoon will always be like a little brother.

Ji-yoon finds herself slowly changing thanks to Eun-ho. She discovers from one of the employees who frequently interacts with Eun-ho that he often brags about her to everyone. Ji-yoon even starts drinking more green juice which Eun-ho commends her for. She’s starting to take care of herself more. It’s also the small things like Eun-ho fixing the collar on her blouse that gets her all nervous. She can barely focus on work when he’s right there in front of her (same gurl same!). Ji-yoon’s not the only one interested in Eun-ho. Other employees in her company are also interested in him and use any opportunity to interact with him (I GET IT! I really do).

It’s time for Eun-ho’s welcome party and Peoplez staff gather at the restaurant. To loosen up, Eun-ho requests for Young-soo to give a little message to everyone in attendance so Young-soo unleashes a joke that no one really finds funny.. Everyone except for Gyeong-hwa. She’s the only one to laugh at his joke which brightens up the mood and gets everyone else to join in. Gyeong-hwa and Young-soo eventually make up with each other by apologizing. The awkward tension between the two is resolved and everyone can now finally have some fun without worrying about them. But Eun-ho is worried; he’s worried about Ji-yoon and he sends her a few text messages to check in on her. He reminds her to eat some dinner since she’s working late and also sends the address of the restaurant that they’re at just in case she wants to join. So Ji-yoon does the unexpected and she shows up to the restaurant. But Eun-ho doesn’t notice her at first because he’s distracted with something else. While on a phone call outside with Byeol, he overhears firetruck sirens which reminds him of a memory from when he was younger. He’s trapped in his apartment that’s on fire and other tenants in the building are rushing downstairs to escape. Eun-ho jumps out of his trance after hearing Ji-yoon call out his name multiple times and they’re quickly joined by the rest of the group. Jung-hoon was the only one to leave early because he assumed that Ji-yoon was still working at the office. But by the time he arrives at the office he discovers that he’s the only one there. Of course, she’s with the rest of the group.

It’s round 2 of the welcome party but Ji-yoon isn’t having a great time. So Mi-ae invites everyone to have some drinks with Ji-yoon which they all gladly accept. Ji-yoon ends up drinking a lot more than she expected so Eun-ho swoops in to drink one of her cups filled with alcohol (wooow, look at you Eun-ho!). Eun-ho pays extra attention to Ji-yoon throughout the night and takes care of her when the group disperses for the night. He leaves her alone for a bit to go pick up their car. Gyeong-hwa and Young-soo also bid farewell to each other and Young-soo takes this chance to address their conflict one more time. He reassures Gyeong-hwa that she wasn’t at fault. He wants her to succeed with the project and get it done. She shouldn’t blame herself or feel bad for what she did. When Eun-ho returns with the car, he finds that Ji-yoon is gone. The only person near the spot where he last saw her is Mi-ae so he asks her about Ji-yoon’s whereabouts. Mi-ae’s pretty sure Ji-yoon’s back at the office. That’s usually the place she goes to when she’s intoxicated so Eun-ho makes his way over to her office.

And sure enough, Ji-yoon is there. She’s knocked out on the couch. Eun-ho attempts to wake Ji-yoon up by calling her name but she’s enjoying her sleep a little too much so he stays quiet. Though he wants to take her home, he doesn’t want to disrupt her sleep so he closes the windows in her office and fills the empty spot next to her. When Ji-yoon finally wakes up, she finds Eun-ho sleeping upright next to her. She’s still a bit buzzed so she scoots closer to him and carefully studies his (handsome) face. Ji-yoon lightly brushes her finger on his nose and lips which wakes Eun-ho up shortly afterwards. Ji-yoon whispers how handsome Eun-ho is and slowly leans in towards him. The gap between their faces close.

My Thoughts:

And nowwww kiss! Just kidding. It’s still a little too early for that and Ji-yoon isn’t in her right mind so we’ll wait for that to happen later. As for the episode itself, I liked that it switched things up this time by focusing on the employees at Peoplez. We’ve seen glimpses of Young-soo, Gyeong-hwa, Gyu-rim, and Kwang-hee so far but we didn’t really know too much about them. It was nice to see Young-soo and Gyeong-hwa be placed in the spotlight and to watch their conflict in the workplace be the theme of this episode.

Conflict in the workplace can be challenging to navigate and resolve and the issues that we saw in this episode sort of went hand in hand with what we saw in episode one. When there’s conflict in the workplace, you can either be dismissed and easily replaced or you can try to work things out. Though the culture within Peoplez may not directly promote such thoughts and ideas, it’s obvious that every employee wants to succeed and prove their worth. They want to achieve results that will contribute to the company’s missions and goals. They want to do so well that they’re irreplaceable. That was the case with Gyeong-hwa and Young-soo. Gyeong-hwa felt like she didn’t belong at Peoplez or as if she wasn’t as good as everyone else. She was hoping to really prove herself through this project with Deputy Park and these plans were interrupted by Young-soo who was also just doing his job. I understood where they each were coming from but I do have to admit that I felt for Gyeong-hwa a little bit more because I think we’ve all sort of been in her position before. You’re newer to the workplace, everyone else has been there at the company longer than you have, or you still feel a bit insecure despite being qualified and having the experience. I definitely saw bits of myself in Gyeong-hwa and was rooting for her to succeed. Eventually, she and Young-soo handled things properly and were able to honestly talk to each other in order to drop the issue and move forward. As awkward and intense and competitive as things can get, you can’t hide from it or pretend like the issue doesn’t exist. You have to confront it head on and that’s what Young-soo and Gyeong-hwa did.

It’s just so lovely to watch all the various ways that Eun-ho positively impacts his colleagues and the Peoplez company. Everyone loves him and gets along with him because he’s just genuinely a good person. During the conflict between Young-soo and Gyeong-hwa, he didn’t pick any sides. He comforted both colleagues and facilitated a strategy to get the two to make amends. He’s someone who sees everything that happens in the office but also someone who sees everyone. He’s aware of the issues and conflicts that people have with each other but he’s also in tune with how the employees feel about themselves or their work and he utilizes this information to help them. It’s as if he’s a guardian angel, carefully observing everyone and making sure that they feel good and safe. He makes sure that things are peaceful, that issues are resolved, and that everything goes well within the company. His addition to the team and contributions to the company has been instrumental in shaping the culture and promoting a healthier work environment. It’s why Ji-yoon joined the rest of the group for Eun-ho’s welcome party – something that she had never done before. It’s why Gyeong-hwa and Young-soo were able to make amends. It’s why everyone in Peoplez feel comfortable with him and try to flirt with him at any chance they can get. 

This episode was also about Ji-yoon’s relationships with her staff. Who are these people who work at Peoplez? How do they perceive Ji-yoon and what is their relationship with her like? As we saw, Ji-yoon is quite distant with her staff. Other than Mi-ae who she’s known for years, she isn’t particularly close with anyone else. I do think it can be a bit tricky in balancing friendly relationships with your employees but at the same time not being too comfortable with them so that they don’t start to lose respect for you. For Ji-yoon, I think this is just who she is and what her personality is like. It takes her a while to get close to people and to feel comfortable around them which there’s nothing wrong with. She’s close to Mi-ae because they’ve been friends since they were in high school. For Ji-yoon, she’s serious about work and all about work and that’s all there is to it. Eun-ho was able to get her to slowly come out of her shell in this episode and I think he can get more out of Ji-yoon in the future. I would love to see Ji-yoon bond more with her staff in later episodes.

Ji-yoon and Eun-ho’s relationship just feels so natural and seamless and it doesn’t feel forced. I loved the moment when they went on a walk where Eun-ho respected Ji-yoon’s boundaries and then they had some fun playing a random game of basketball with some kids. Eun-ho is there as Ji-yoon’s secretary to provide structure and organization: he prepares her weekly schedule and reports and updates her with any information that she needs. But as we saw in this episode, it’s also the unexpected and spontaneous moments that can provide a spark in one’s life and relationship. The walk and the basketball game served as a reminder that it’s healthy to take a much-needed break from work. These moments also allowed Eun-ho and Ji-yoon to see a new side of each other outside of work.

The drama has been taking its sweet time with building up their relationship and I love it. It allows us to enjoy the small things and the little moments. The slow relationship development is also consistent with their characterization: Ji-yoon is on CEO mode at all times which can make it a little challenging to get to know her while Eun-ho continues to do what he does best, which is take care of her and respect her boundaries. I would like to see Ji-yoon eventually take more initiative in reciprocating these actions and feelings back towards Eun-ho. It’s clear she has some sort of interest in him. She continually watches him and sneaks glances at him and even got jealous seeing his friendly interactions with other staff members in the office. Small but meaningful gestures like making him a cup of coffee on a late work night was a welcoming and great first step. Thanking Eun-ho for his help and work has also been nice to see. And maybe this is just how Ji-yoon is and how she will continue to express her feelings towards Eun-ho. But I do wonder if there’s another side to Ji-yoon that we haven’t seen yet where she’s not as shy and she feels comfortable enough to let down some of her walls around him. Here’s to hoping it happens sooner than later. Don’t wait too long Ji-yoon. There’s plenty of people waiting in line for Eun-ho including me.