Episode 7 of Our Unwritten Seoul certainly feels a little bit like a curveball, because not only has the narrative changed to incorporate more of Mi-Rae’s story, but there’s now another person who instinctively knows the difference between the twins, and he didn’t even know them before. This show is definitely one of the best of the year because it’s got subtle messaging about identity, while allowing us to have fun with the material and enjoy some romance and laughs in the middle of all the sad stuff. Episode 7 gives us a little bit more of Mi-Rae’s side of the story. In it, we see how the pressure of being perfect is also terrifying and can lead to a person withering away. We also learn a little bit more about the twins’ mom, who occasionally comes across as too mean, but such is the reality of motherhood, especially if you’re not the affectionate kind. Anyway, with that said, let’s jump straight into everything that happens in episode 7.
Spoiler Alert
Why Do The Mums Fight?
Our Unwritten Seoul episode 7 begins with a flashback to Mi-Rae taking medication and getting her shots because she was always sick when the girls were younger. She always felt like a burden because she made their parents and grandmother sad. I suppose this is where she started putting pressure on herself, but this pressure made her performance worse. When Mi-Ji got hurt and locked herself in her room for months, Mi-Rae pretended to be her and attended school in her stead, just so she could graduate. However, in the end, she couldn’t pass the exam she needed to, and years later, she didn’t crack the civil exam either. I guess Mi-Rae never did what she really wanted to do growing up; she only did what was expected of her. That’s why she’s always so…well, sad.
In the present day, Mi-Rae (as Mi-Ji) goes to Se-Jin’s because it’s raining. He tells her he’s happy to hear about the rumors and likes them even. I’m sure this makes Mi-Rae’s heart do a flip, because clearly these two people get along so well, but she’s afraid in this situation as well. Anyway, Mi-Rae finds a piece of paper with Se-Jin’s full name on it and realizes he used to be a big name in finance, but he quit out of the blue and disappeared from the scene entirely. Se-Jin is surprised to see how much Mi-Ji knows about this world, and Mi-Rae even lets it slip that she read some stuff for her thesis, but she corrects herself, claiming she read the papers for fun. She really wants to know why he decided to start working on a strawberry farm instead of sticking to his fancy job, and he promises to tell her in two days.
Meanwhile, Ho-Su tells his ex-boss that Ro-Sa doesn’t plan on selling her plot to the company. His ex-boss tells him that Ho-Su doesn’t know a certain secret because Ro-Sa doesn’t trust him. We learn in this episode that Ro-Sa’s husband was killed by her friend, but that friend is also currently deceased. However, what if Ro-Sa is actually that friend, and something happened that made them switch places too? Later, Mi-Ji (as Mi-Rae) is meant to meet with her friend, Ji-Yun, but a random woman decides to sit across from her and starts to harass her. When Ji-Yun arrives, she tells the woman to apologize because she’s talking to the wrong person. Mi-Ji’s stunned to realize Ji-Yun knows who she really is. Ji-Yun tells Mi-Ji that her sister went through some crazy stuff before they switched. She even filed a sexual harassment case against a man named Park Sang-Yeong. It was his wife threatening Mi-Rae for still working at the same company. Now it all makes sense to Mi-Ji. At the same time, Ho-Su goes to their hometown to talk to the real Mi-Rae about the case and tells her he’ll help in any way possible. She refuses to take any help and says she’d rather put the whole thing behind her. The twins’ mom sees Ho-Su visiting to speak to Mi-Ji and tells his mom. Ho-Su’s mom thinks it doesn’t make sense that he would hang with Mi-Ji, because she clearly likes the smarter and more “well-kept” Mi-Rae. But they get into an argument, and Mi-Ji’s mom tells Ho-Su’s mom that she doesn’t want her daughter to marry a man who needs to be served. This touches a nerve for Ho-Su’s mom, who thinks the woman is coming for her son’s physical ability. She pulls her by the hair, and they both end up injured and in the hospital. Mi-Rae immediately calls Mi-Ji over because it’s time they switch back.
It’s only near the end of the episode that the moms actually talk to each other properly, and the girls’ mom clears up the misunderstanding by telling Ho-Su’s mom that she’s also the mother of a child who was hurt. Ho-Su’s mom just overreacted. She’s a softie at heart, really. Later at night, Mi-Ji and Mi-Rae’s grandmother calls her daughter because she worries about her. The woman simply says she’s doing okay and hangs up.
How Does Se-Jin Know?
When Mi-Ji returns from Seoul, Se-Jin is also at the hospital, and Ho-Su too, because he’s there to see his own mom. Se-Jin offers to buy them all dinner. The dinner is awkward, but Mi-Ji and Se-Jin are good at making things comfortable. I suppose this is the moment he realizes which of the sisters is the one he was meant to be working with. In the meantime, Mi-Ji and Ho-Su are playing some sort of game at this point, because Mi-Ji knows that Ho-Su knows which of the twins she really is, but she can’t get herself to stop pretending. Mi-Rae decides to quit her job officially after listening to Se-Jin’s story. He tells her that he quit when his grandfather died of a heat stroke in the middle of a workday, and he didn’t answer the phone. Back then, Se-Jin thought that his work was life and death, but really, it was his granddad’s call that was more important. Se-Jin calls Mi-Rae by her real name in this conversation, and she doesn’t even react to it. I wonder if they had a secret conversation that we didn’t get to see. Also, I really hope it’s not goodbye for them, because they should continue to work on the strawberry field.
On the other hand, Mi-Ji meets Gyeong-Gu, and he yells at her for not telling him she switched places. He shows her the tattoo of his hamster, and she gives him the proper reaction it deserves. Finally, she admits to him that she may have feelings for Ho-Su and that she’s just learned that she was his first love. Gyeong-Gu is not surprised, of course, because of the whole incident that happened back in school before he confessed to her. Later, Gyeong-Gu visits Ho-Su and thanks him for defending him at the wedding, but he’s there to tell Ho-Su to stop thinking about perfect timing and just admit to Mi-Ji how he truly feels, because nothing’s perfect in this world. Honestly, this is the kind of friend we need to see more often, especially in the K-drama world.
At the end of Our Unwritten Seoul episode 7, Mi-Rae finally writes the resignation letter, marking a new beginning, unafraid. It seems the break and switch definitely helped her, but I hope she does take Ho-Su’s help with the sexual harassment case as well. On the other hand, Ho-Su finally confesses his feelings for Mi-Ji and tells her he didn’t have the courage to help her heal back when she hurt herself and became a recluse. It looks like everybody is finally free of the burden of hiding their true feelings, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
