MaryMeKpop

Ji-yoon and Eun-ho’s relationship takes an unexpected turn and Ji-yoon learns things the hard way. She realizes that in order to move forward and get to where she wants to be in life and romance, she has to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. She’ll have to do things she didn’t want to do and confront feelings and emotions she had been suppressing the entire time.

Love Scout: Episode 10 Recap

Eun-ho shares with Ji-yoon what his connection to her father was: he was the child who her father saved in a fire. Ji-yoon’s at a loss for words. She struggles to process the truth and all she can do is cry. She bursts into tears. How can he be the one who her dad saved? She resented her dad so much. Eun-ho stays silent. Though he wants to comfort her, he too isn’t sure what to say or do. The next morning, Ji-yoon wakes up to find a note by Eun-ho sitting at her kitchen counter. It reads,

“I’ll wait for you until you’ve processed things.”

When Ji-yoon arrives at the office, she wears sunglasses to hide her red puffy eyes. She doesn’t acknowledge Eun-ho though Eun-ho still does his routine of greeting her with a bow. Mi-ae has a private talk with Eun-ho to remind him of their initial agreement: there’s only one more month until his six month contract ends. He is to talk things over with Ji-yoon and see what he should do next.  Ji-yoon continues to avoid Eun-ho. Whether it’s in a group meeting or alone at night at the office, she doesn’t acknowledge him directly and isn’t ready to talk to him just yet.

Young-soo meets with his former Peoplez colleague, Jeong-nam. Young-soo assumes it’s just a friendly meet-up to catch up but Jeong-nam has other intentions with the meeting. He asks Young-soo for information about Peoplez’ hiring process for the Next CEO position. Young-soo shares a bit too much intel and Jeong-nam immediately reports the information to Hye-jin afterwards. Ji-yoon meets with a new potential client: the CEO of Econic Bio, Park Yeong-min. He’s interested in working with Peoplez to find some new researchers for his company.

Mi-ae checks in with Ji-yoon about Eun-ho’s contract. Have they talked yet? That’s when she notices that something’s clearly not right between the couple and she talks things through with Ji-yoon. Though Ji-yoon feels discouraged, Mi-ae suggests that she and Eun-ho keep dating. It’s not Eun-ho’s fault that her father saved him. She also wishes that Ji-yoon would stop hating and resenting her late father. After Mi-ae leaves, Ji-yoon sits outside on a bench alone and unexpectedly reunites with Eun-ho. Mi-ae was the mastermind behind the reunion and Ji-yoon has no choice but to address the situation with Eun-ho. She’s curious as to who Eun-ho was referring to when he meant that there were two people in his life who helped shape him to be who he is today. Was one of those people her father? And sure enough, Ji-yoon’s dad was. He had told Eun-ho the day he saved him to not give up and to survive no matter what. When Ji-yoon gets home that night, she can’t go to sleep. She reminisces about her father. She misses him.

Ji-yoon’s not the only one frustrated with Eun-ho. Byeol unleashes her anger out on her father for not paying enough attention to her. Byeol is teased at school for not having a dress to wear for classmate Ji-young’s birthday party. Just like all the other times, she heads to Dodam Bookstore and reunites with Ji-yoon there. The duo have a girl talk and Byeol explains her situation to Ji-yoon. So Ji-yoon takes Byeol out on a shopping spree and dresses Byeol up like the princess she is. They make a grand entrance at Ji-young’s birthday party along with a nice birthday gift. Byeol not only gets to spend valuable time with her friends but she also gets to spend some time having fun with Ji-yoon. Aww.

Afterwards, Ji-yoon and Byeol sit on a bench outside and chat. Byeol grows apologetic towards her father after hearing Ji-yoon talk about how her dad couldn’t even do the basics such as tying her hair correctly. So Byeol calls Eun-ho using Ji-yoon’s phone and the father and daughter pair meet a few minutes later. Ji-yoon watches as Eun-ho and Byeol warmly greet each other but before Eun-ho can say anything to her, Ji-yoon’s gone. She heads out to visit her father’s memorial site and she first notices the bouquet of flowers that Eun-ho had placed there during his visit. She then expresses herself to her dad, crying,

“I’m here, Dad. It took me so long to get here. Dad, it’s been so hard for me. After you left like that, I didn’t know what to do. I hated you so much. That felt like the only way I could survive. I think I just wanted to resent someone. I’m sorry, Dad. I’ve never smiled for you, not even once. I miss you. I miss you, Dad.” 

The next morning, Eun-ho comes across Ji-yoon on the elevators. He assumes she’s still upset with him so he expects that she’ll go up without him. But Ji-yoon invites him to join her and the two make their way up to the Peoplez office. She musters up the courage to express her gratitude. She thanks him for becoming a great person. With tears in her eyes, she places her hand out and Eun-ho tightly grabs it (omg I’m going to cryyyy). Ji-yoon vows to never let go of his hand so she hopes he won’t ever let go either. And Ji-yoon takes this vow literally when she grabs his hand and walks with him into the office together. As they make their way into her office holding hands, everyone can’t help but stare and grow shocked at the sight. Yes, it’s true. What they’re seeing is the truth. Eun-ho warns Ji-yoon that there’s no going back and Ji-yoon is well aware of that. This is what she wanted.

Young-soo, Gyu-rim, Gyeong-hwa, and Kwang-hee chat about the surprise romance during their break. Buttttt Gyu-rim isn’t that surprised. Turns out she knew all along. She figured Ji-yoon and Eun-ho were dating when she found them “hiding” in one of the conference rooms by themselves one night at the office. This causes Gyeong-hwa and Kwang-hee to get nervous because they’re totally not dating or anything (/sarcasm). Seems like there’s quite a few work romances going on at Peoplez, haha.

Soo-hyun’s Mom arrives at Seo-joon’s school to pick him up. She overhears two moms gossiping about Seo-joon and she grows upset. So Grandma urges Soo-hyun to tell the truth about his parents to Seo-joon. He’s growing up and sooner or later, he’s going to hear the truth from the other kids at school. Before that happens, it’s only right that he hears it from Soo-hyun first. So Soo-hyun sits Seo-joon down that night before bed to have a talk. She explains to him the truth about his parents and how they’re now in Heaven after suffering from an accident. So that Soo-hyun wouldn’t be lonely, she was left with the gift that is Seo-joon. Soo-hyun even shows a video of baby Seo-joon with her, his parents, and Grandma. So Seo-joon understands that he has two moms and a dad and he’s grateful to Mommy Soo-hyun for raising him. Soo-hyun tears up while hugging Seo-joon to pieces (here I go again with tears in my eyes..).

Jung-hoon stops by the daycare to visit his sister-in-law. While there, he learns what happened to Grandma earlier that day and he grows concerned for Soo-hyun. All the rumors and comments about Seo-joon floating around must be hurtful. So just when he’s about to text Soo-hyun, she ends up contacting him first and he meets up with her at the playground near her apartment. She’s still teary-eyed and emotional over all that transpired earlier that night. Though Jung-hoon attempts to cheer her up using his humor, Soo-hyun is overcome with grief and sadness. She bursts into tears at the thought of her sister and Jung-hoon wraps his arms around her to console her. Everything will be okay (here I go with tears in my eyes…AGAIN!! Good thing I have my tissue box right next to me).

The contract between Peoplez and Econic Bio is finalized and CEO Yeong-min is happy. He even pitches the idea of teaming up with Peoplez to handle the hirings for his company exclusively. Ji-yoon is thankful for the offer and will consider it. But there seems to be something that doesn’t feel right for Young-soo and he ends up sharing some intel with Eun-ho. It started when he went out to grab some coffee with our Peoplez quartet and saw Jeong-nam with another Peoplez employee. As if that wasn’t strange enough, Jeong-nam has continually been texting Young-soo to inquire about the Next CEO position hiring. Young-soo assumes that someone has to be behind all the times when Career Way’s candidates overlapped with Peoplez’ candidates. Young-soo grows worried over the information he shared with Jeong-nam during their meet-up. He gave away valuable information.

And sure enough, our Peoplez team confirms that Jeong-nam is hired by Career Way and has been the person leaking Peoplez’ candidate information. So they compile a list of fake candidates and Young-soo takes this with him during a follow-up meeting with Jeong-nam. Jeong-nam thinks he’s onto something but he’s actually not. It’s our Peoplez team who starts all over with their Next CEO candidates list. They all work together in hearing from the Next employees themselves to learn about the conflicts and issues within the company. They use the testimonials as a guidance to find the best candidates for the CEO position. After working all day and all night, our two lovebirds decide to go out to the balcony to get some fresh air while everyone else naps. They chat about potential places they could go for a trip. The beach would be nice. A visit to the mountains doesn’t sound so bad. Eun-ho jokes that it’s even possible to go to outer space (hmm I’m not so sure about that one buddy. You might want to ask the crew of “When the Stars Gossip” what their experience was like out in space, haha). But Eun-ho and Ji-yoon’s alone time doesn’t last too long. Ji-yoon has to pretend to Gyu-rim that she’s alone by herself on the balcony but Gyu-rim already knows that Ji-yoon was with Eun-ho the entire time, haha.

And so we finally reach the countdown to the Next CEO position search that we’ve been waiting for. Hye-jin assumes she has the upper hand on Ji-yoon but she quickly learns that she’s way off. Ji-yoon presents her list of final candidates to the Next Chairman and board of directors and it’s not what anyone was expecting. Ji-yoon’s list of candidates is completely different and involves resolving internal issues and conflicts to improve the work culture. Ultimately, it’s our Peoplez team that reigns as the winner and their candidate is hired to be the next CEO of Next. Woohoo! So to celebrate, our Peoplez team goes out for dinner and Ji-yoon is happy to treat. Ji-yoon is asked to give a speech since this is her first time attending a staff dinner voluntarily and she has a bit of practicing to do. But she ultimately thanks her team for all their hard work and she’s grateful for each and every single one of them. When the dinner ends, Ji-yoon and Eun-ho walk hand in hand and discuss his future with Peoplez. Though Ji-yoon feels as if she’s selfish for keeping him and all his great talents to herself, she respects his wishes and hopes that he’ll make a decision for himself.

The peace never lasts for too long though because it turns out that the Econic Bio company that Peoplez partnered up with turns out to be an investment fraud and the CEO has disappeared. Ji-yoon panics upon seeing the group of reporters and journalists when she arrives outside of Peoplez headquarters and she’s reminded of all the similar memories from her time back with Career Way. But just like all the times before, Eun-ho is there for Ji-yoon and he appears at the scene to help her. He’s always by her side.

My Thoughts:

This episode was soooo good! It was a well-rounded episode that gave us plenty of progress and updates on various sub-plots. It wrapped up the Next CEO position hiring but also showed us Soo-hyun telling the truth to Seo-joon, Ji-yoon’s confrontation with her own feelings and emotions towards her father, and Ji-yoon’s growing relationship with her staff. This was the first episode where I was teary-eyed multiple times throughout the hour run as it was an episode dedicated to dealing with grief and mourning the loss of a loved one.

On the topic of grief and losing a loved one, I have to start off first with Ji-yoon and her process of accepting the connection between her father and Eun-ho as well as her processing her conflicting emotions towards her father. This entire time, she had suppressed all her memories of her father as much as she could and all she felt towards him was resentment. She hated that he left her behind to save Eun-ho in the fire which caused her immense pain, heartbreak, and hurt. She was young and didn’t know how else to process these emotions so she blamed her father. Because of Eun-ho’s revelation, she was forced to confront these feelings once again but in a completely different way this time. It was something that she couldn’t avoid or just simply ignore. Ji-yoon had to fight it straight on. Though she was hesitant to do it at first and she struggled, she eventually came around to it for two reasons.

One reason was because of Eun-ho who showed her another side to her father. All that Ji-yoon knew was her side of the story – the one where she resented him and hated him. But Eun-ho showed her that there was more to her father. Though she might have hated him, he was a good person who saved Eun-ho’s life and made a huge impact on him. Previously, Ji-yoon mentioned to Mi-ae that she admired Eun-ho for living a great life with integrity. In this episode, Ji-yoon accepted that Eun-ho was able to live such a great life because of her father. He not only literally saved Eun-ho but also gave him encouraging words. It was crucial for Ji-yoon to hear a new side of her father that she didn’t know about before; it was even more important to hear it from Eun-ho specifically who she loves and wants to be with. The scene in the elevator that showed her acceptance towards the truth and a commitment to a brighter future with Eun-ho was so well-done and bittersweet. She lost her father and still misses him but his legacy will always live on through Eun-ho. She will always have a piece of her father with her because of Eun-ho. There was so much growth from Ji-yoon in this episode and her personal journey of processing her father’s passing and the drama did a wonderful job in executing this.

The second person that helped Ji-yoon come around to forgiving her father was Byeol. The foundation to Byeol and Ji-yoon’s strong bond with each other is based on the fact that they both were raised with single fathers. Once Ji-yoon saw how sorry Byeol felt for Eun-ho and, therefore, wanted to apologize to him, it caused Ji-yoon to also do the same. Byeol was upset at Eun-ho but eventually felt bad and wanted to say sorry to him. This gave Ji-yoon the courage to do the same by visiting her father and finally feeling vulnerable and comfortable enough to say what had truly been on her mind and in her heart. Ji-yoon resented her father after his death but he was still a good father who loved her. That’s why it hurt Ji-yoon so much to lose him. She resented him for leaving her so soon because he was a great and loving father who she needed and wanted in her life.

I’m glad that the drama also didn’t forget about Soo-hyun’s journey and her bittersweet conversation in telling the truth to Seo-joon about his parents. It’s something that the drama previously hinted at a few times and this episode delivered it in such a heartwarming way. She was so emotional through it all and I felt for her so much. There’s the process of revealing the truth to Seo-joon and the situation they’re in as a family but it’s also about doing so in a way where he understands (at least for now and then when he grows older and becomes more curious, he can ask for more details). But it was also about protecting Seo-joon so that he wouldn’t get hurt by his classmates. It was also about Soo-hyun’s grief and her mourning the loss of her sister and brother-in-law. When you lose a loved one, it doesn’t get easier. You adjust to the reality that your loved ones are gone and that you can still miss them but also have to move forward with your life. Soo-hyun had done a wonderful job in raising Seo-joon and taking care of him but she still misses his parents.

My heart broke for her when she mentioned to Jung-hoon that she had no one to talk to about this stuff. Maybe it was true in the sense that she didn’t have many friends but I felt like it’s also because she didn’t have many people around her who could understand what she was going through or feeling except for Jung-hoon. He lost his brother so he could empathize with Soo-hyun and understand what it’s like to lose a loved one. Soo-hyun needed someone to go to and rely on and Jung-hoon was that person for her. I also appreciated that Jung-hoon showed up and cared for her so gently and genuinely. Not that he wasn’t genuine about their friendship before but he uses humor as his coping mechanism and he attempted to do this during his conversation with Soo-hyun. But he realized that things were serious and that she was incredibly sad so he stopped with the jokes and comforted her as best as he could. It unveiled a new layer to their friendship and also showed a new side of Jung-hoon’s maturity and personality. There’s more to both Soo-hyun and Jung-hoon than what they show on the outside. They’re both battling their own internal struggles and battles everyday that only the other person gets to see and know. That’s why it’s so easy to root for both of them.

Along with the themes of grief and mourning, this episode covered the topic of teamwork and I just loved seeing Ji-yoon get more involved with her staff. Whereas before she was distant and careful around them, she was a little bit more relaxed this time. I loved that we got to see her growth and development from the stern, intimidating, and strict CEO who didn’t attend staff dinners to now the clumsy, humorous, and relaxed CEO who voluntarily shows up to the staff dinner and treats them out. Eun-ho is a big reason for this change in her attitude and I’m glad that Ji-yoon felt much more comfortable to open up and get closer to her staff. The hiring for the Next CEO position was due to conflicts and issues from within the company that caused a huge divide between employees. Thankfully, this isn’t something that Peoplez has to deal with as the employees take care of each other. We saw this in the way that they worked together cohesively and successfully on the Next CEO position case. Even when they don’t get along, they find ways to resolve the issue rather than letting things linger and boil over.

Lastly, I really have to commend the drama for the way that it revealed Eun-ho and Ji-yoon’s romance to the Peoplez staff. I was afraid the drama was going to go the cliche route and have one of the employees secretly find them out and about together or find them embracing each other on a late night at the office and though technically that did happen (because of Gyu-rim), I was so relieved that the reveal came on Ji-yoon and Eun-ho’s own terms. No one revealed their romance nor did anyone coincidentally find them holding hands out on the streets on a random weekday. Instead, it was Ji-yoon (and Eun-ho) who decided that they were going to take initiative and be proactive in revealing their romantic relationship to the rest of the staff. I was cheering for them when Ji-yoon stepped out of the elevator holding Eun-ho’s hands and walked through the office hand-in-hand. That’s just so Ji-yoon and I loved it so much. Eun-ho was so considerate of Ji-yoon that he wasn’t sure if this was what she wanted and I’m glad that Ji-yoon reassured him that she did this confidently. She was ready to tell the world about their relationship (rightfully so) and demonstrated her commitment to Eun-ho by doing so.

Initially, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending to this episode but after some more thinking, I realized that the drama plans to address most of the lingering struggles in Ji-yoon’s past that still somewhat haunts her. In this episode, it was Ji-yoon’s journey of processing her father’s death. Up next, it’ll be her confronting the trauma she experienced back when she worked at Career Way. And then ultimately, the drama will wrap things up by showing us Eun-ho’s big decision that will determine if he chooses to stay with Ji-yoon and Peoplez or leave elsewhere. No matter what it is that he decides to do, Ji-yoon and Eun-ho will always have each other.