The ending of Our Unwritten Seoul episode 4 gets us excited for what’s to come next. I’m just here wondering how long it’s going to take for Mi-Ji to tell Ho-Su who she really is. In episodes 3 and 4, Mi-Rae (actually Mi-Ji) is still trying to convince the grandma, Miss Ro-Sa, to sell her shop to her company. Since she managed to get in a word with her, Mi-Rae is forced to stay on the job and get her to sell. But of course, Ro-Sa doesn’t actually plan on selling; she simply took the document because this poor girl was after her for days on end. On the other hand, Mi-Ji (actually Mi-Rae) is finally getting along with Se-Jin, the strawberry guy. Of course, he’s going to become a romantic interest, but we’ll just have to wait for a bit. I suppose you could say the whole point of this show is that no matter how jovial, successful, or happy a person appears to be, there’s always a chance they’re dying on the inside. We see this not only with Mi-Ji and Mi-Rae, but also with Ho-Su, the mothers, and maybe even Se-Jin. But with that said, let’s jump straight into episodes 3 and 4.
Spoiler Alert
Why Does Ho-Su Quit?
In Our Unwritten Seoul, everyone lives by the phrase “work is worship.” In the 3rd episode, Ho-Su finds himself in quite a dilemma. Well, he’s been feeling like he’s in one for a while now, but it’s especially strong after his boss introduces him to a wealthy TV personality, specifically so that he’d switch to the other guy’s team. This leaves Ho-Su dumbstruck: “Why is my boss trying to kick me out all of a sudden?” It turns out that Ho-Su’s boss found out that he had told the opposite side, a working-class man, about the rules, essentially helping him slyly in a way that keeps him from being caught. But Ho-Su’s boss found out about it, and this made him think about how Ho-Su works with him, probably because he has a savior complex around his disability. Ho-Su wants to use his boss’ weakness as a tool. But Ho-Su tells him that this is not what it is at all. He tells his boss that his vulnerability, the thing that he believes is his weakness, is actually his strength, and the thing that Ho-Su was drawn to right from the start. Ho-Su apologizes for overstepping and making a mess of things without talking to his boss first, but his boss asks him to join in another meal with that same client. This makes him a little bit upset, because he’s being forced into doing things he’s never going to enjoy. Finally, we see that Ho-Su doesn’t attend the dinner, and instead goes to meet Ro-Sa.
Mi-Rae and Se-Jin harvest the strawberry fruit, and Se-Jin gives a bunch to her, telling her she should send some to her sister in Seoul. Mi-Rae tells him that she’s too obsessed with herself to have anybody else in her life to share strawberries with. They’ve just fought because she wanted Mi-Ji to come over on Friday, but she said she had some work. But Mi-Rae doesn’t know what to do with all these strawberries, so when Ho-Su’s mom offers to make jam together, she agrees. I wonder if they’ll try to sell it. Se-Jin also tells her that the broken chair belonged to his dad, and he never switched to a better one, which is why he keeps it as a reminder.
What Is Ro-Sa and Ho-Su’s Connection?
In episode 3, Mi-Ji tries to find out more about Ro-Sa so that she can convince her somehow by turning her knobs. She follows her to a poetry class and learns that Ro-Sa is actually a famous poet. She realizes the poem is something that she can make a connection with, but she also mentions to Ro-Sa that Ro-Sa sponsored her friend during college, who is now a lawyer. Ro-Sa’s eyes light up when she hears that he wants to come and say thank you. But he can’t come just then anyway, so she feels bad and tells Mi-Ji (well, Mi-Rae to her) that nobody ever came to say thanks. Mi-Ji then overhears that Ro-Sa needs cleaning staff, and nobody is showing up. Mi-Ji thinks this is a perfect opportunity for her to help out, but she doesn’t tell the old woman; she just starts doing the cleaning. This makes Ro-Sa furious, asking her why she would do something that neither the company nor she asked her to do. At this time, Mi-Ji starts squeezing the space between her thumb and index finger with her other hand. This makes Ro-Sa realize she’s anxious. Mi-Ji tells her that she didn’t know what else to do. Ro-Sa agrees to meet with the company. Later, Mi-Ji is sent to bring the restroom key back, and Ho-Su shows up. Also, I think Ro-Sa actually likes Mi-Ji now, but of course, Ho-Su is like a memento of pride for her, so she immediately drowns him with affection.
What Happened At Mi-Ji’s Race?
In flashbacks through the two episodes, we see that Mi-Ji and Ho-Su had become very close, and Mi-Ji had basically made him open up, but she worried she’d lose him to someone else. The problem really came to a head when everybody put it in Mi-Ji’s head that Mi-Rae and Ho-Su were dating. This made her very upset, kind of jealous because he opened up his heart to her, but why was he hanging out with the other sister? But to make matters worse, he started distancing himself from her in the last few days before the race. So, when he didn’t show up on time, and then while she was running, she saw Mi-Rae hugging him, she thought something was going on there. Obviously, we know that there wasn’t, but we’ll have to wait to find out for real. So this is why she fell, and she might’ve blamed the two of them for ruining her life, but she never actually did. On the other hand, there was a girl named Ji-Yun who wanted to be friends with Mi-Ji, but when she realized Mi-Rae was the smarter one, she chose her over Mi-Ji, so it’s just betrayals all around.
What Happens At The Reunion?
Obviously, Ji-Yun has a massive crush on Ho-Su, so she tries to talk to him as much as possible. She calls him and tells him about a reunion while he’s with Mi-Ji (Mi-Rae to him). Mi-Ji feels annoyed that the person who claims to be Mi-Rae’s best friend isn’t inviting her to the reunion because she thinks she’ll be insecure. Mi-Ji tells her she’ll be there with Ho-Su. At the reunion, everybody starts to act up because they think it’s Mi-Rae there, so they start mocking Mi-Ji. While this makes her upset, there’s nothing she can say or do about it, but Ho-Su tells them to stop talking about someone who isn’t even around to defend herself. Pathetic, the parameters people compare each other through.
What Happens to Ro-Sa?
One fine day, Mi-Ji learns that Ro-Sa isn’t responding on call, not to her or Ho-Su. This frightens her, and her gut instinct says there’s something wrong. She ends up at Ro-Sa’s house to find her fallen on the floor, unable to move. But Mi-Ji isn’t able to help her because she starts to hyperventilate. This incident reminds her of her grandmother’s accident. When Mi-Ji didn’t manage to finish the race, she gave up on life entirely. For 3 years, she didn’t go anywhere, meet anybody, or do anything. But Mi-Rae somehow graduated for both of them, it seems like. Anyway, Mi-Ji blames her mom for always loving Mi-Rae more than her. This makes her mom furious, and she starts to beat her up, but Mi-Ji’s grandma saves her. Mi-Ji’s mother blames the grandma for coddling the girl all these years. But Mi-Ji’s grandma understands how she feels. The girl feels like a failure; she’s afraid to go back to the world where everyone will look at her like she’s worthless. Her grandma pushes her to go back. But, one fine day, when Mi-Ji got out of her room, she found her grandma unconscious on the floor. She didn’t know what to do then and took too long to go out and ask for help. In the present day, fortunately, Ho-Su shows up at the same time as Mi-Ji, and Ro-Sa tells him how to help Mi-Ji immediately before he gets her to the hospital too.
At the end of Our Unwritten Seoul episode 4, Mi-Ji can’t control herself and tells Ho-Su that she was the reason her grandma is in the state that she is, because if anybody else were in the house, they’d have found her sooner and been able to help immediately. She’s blamed herself this whole time. But Ho-Su then opens up about his accident and tells her that it was a car accident on a day that he forced his dad to take him out by himself. It was a drunk driving case, and Ho-Su’s dad died, leaving him the only survivor. So by Mi-Rae’s logic (well, Mi-Ji’s herself), Ho-Su should be blamed for it. The episode ends with Ho-Su reminding Mi-Rae that Mi-Ji was his first love. Of course, he doesn’t know he’s talking to her. Again, the parallels between how Mi-Ji and Mi-Rae think are very similar. They both feel hurt by how the other gets treated, and if only everyone would open up about their feelings, maybe, just maybe, they’d be happy.
