The Nice Guy: Episodes 7-8
by starrygazer
Our hero leans into what makes him happy – our heroine – and his apathy for the gang life grows stronger. But will the men he worked with and called brothers really let him leave the life behind, or is this the calm before the storm?
EPISODES 7-8
Tae-hoon’s pursuit of Mi-young continues even at her cafe job. He asks Mi-young outright if she quit working at the club because of him. She admits that she did. He apologises for being too aggressive and tells her he’s never met a woman like her before. She’s unmoved by his apology, and when she goes to leave, he tries casual conversation instead – and immediately reveals that he knows her mother is in a nursing home.
Mi-young is shocked and upset that he knows details about her private life, but he’s unperturbed, telling her outright that finding things out about the person he likes is his thing. She firmly tells him she doesn’t want his help or his money, and to never come back. As if the stalker vibes weren’t strong enough before, Tae-hoon says she should accept his help before he takes out his anger on Seok-chul.
He leaves her with that warning, so when Seok-chul arrives, (observed by Tae-hoon creepily hanging out in his car outside the cafe) he finds a visibly upset Mi-young. She passes it off as having had a rough day at work and tells him nothing of her conversation with Tae-hoon.
When he drops her off at home, neither one of them wants to be the first to walk away. (The whole “you hang up first” thing, but in person.) Seok-chul wins but Mi-young makes a beeline right back to him for a hug. As he holds her, she asks him if he meant what he said, about protecting her if someone hurt her. He replies, “Of course. Always.” At that, Mi-young pulls back and asks him to stay the night.
We see Mi-young take initiative in her life in other ways as well. The next day, after Seok-chul has left for work, she calls up Tae-hoon. He’s happy to hear from her, until she tells him to take back all the rude things he said to her yesterday. She tells him not to expect anything from her, because nothing he expects will happen. She gives him a warning of her own: If anything happens to Seok-chul, she won’t just sit back. At that, Tae-hoon simply hangs up on her.
Mi-young heads off to work on new songs at the entertainment company that scouted her. As she records one of the songs, the company’s CEO drops in…followed by Tae-hoon. Of course, Tae-hoon was behind her getting this opportunity. When they’re alone, he’s pleased with himself, whereas Mi-young just wants to know what’s going on. He tells her the world doesn’t run on hard work, and that he’s just helping her. He’ll focus on the contacts while she can focus on singing.
He even has the nerve to suggest they grab coffee together but Mi-young is over it. She’s not grateful or happy that someone wants to mess around with her life. She tells him to go away since she’s not willing to cater to his mood, so Tae-hoon grabs her arm to stop her from leaving. He practically begs her not to push him away saying, “I also have a heart that breaks.”
Thankfully, Seok-chul arrives just then and forces Tae-hoon’s hands off of Mi-young. Tae-hoon has the gall to tell him that Seok-chul shouldn’t get the wrong idea, he’s just trying to help Mi-young with her career because Seok-chul can’t. Seok-chul doesn’t quite buy that excuse and he says outright that their friendship will become uncomfortable if Tae-hoon doesn’t stop.
Tae-hoon may be trying to get between our couple, and if anything they’re only growing closer. Right after the confrontation, Seok-chul gives Mi-young a gift. It’s a yellow dress that reminds him of a painting at Mi-young’s place. The painting is of a beautiful young woman playing piano in a forest. Seok-chul had thought the woman and Mi-young looked alike and Mi-young had playfully told him he was like the tree next to the woman. Not just any tree though, like a sturdy giving tree, he is always giving her good things and a place to rest. She had sweetly promised to do the same for him.
She’s touched by the gift and she suggests that they go far away – right now. For their spontaneous trip, they buy bus tickets to the ocean. Mi-young changes into her new dress, and they arrive in time to see the sunrise on the beach. At the beach, they tell each other for the first time that they love each other, and promise to keep loving one another in the future.
The next night, they stargaze together and Mi-young admits that she’d always believed they’d meet again someday. She was so happy when they met again because her wish came true. Seok-chul says it wasn’t just her wish, his prayer to be reunited was answered too. Seok-chul asks that they never part ways again, no matter what happens. They seal that wish and prayer with a kiss.
Though Seok-chul’s love life is going from strength to strength, his work life is a ticking time bomb. Though Sang-yeol had persuaded Du-sik to be a hitman and kill off Tae-hoon, Du-shik is both fickle and in the throes of a gambling addiction.
In the time it takes for Sang-yeol to give Chairman Kim a debrief of Du-shik stepping up to be the hitman, Du-shik manages to gamble away the entire advance he received AND run away from Sang-yeol so he doesn’t have to kill anyone. The whole gang is mobilized to hunt down Du-shik, but the men are only told that he had taken some of Chairman Kim’s money and then went on the run. Seok-chul eventually finds an apology note left to him by Du-shik and Chairman Kim’s killing knife. Seok-chul puts two and two together and he blasts into Sang-yeol’s office, slamming the knife down and saying Du-shik can’t even kill a bug.
Sang-yeol hides behind the fact that it was Chairman Kim’s orders, and that they need to find Du-shik to escape the chairman’s wrath. Sang-yeol offers to give Seok-chul that 100 million won advance he wanted if he can just find Du-shik. But Seok-chul is done with this and storms out to go to Mi-young. Seok-chul’s car won’t start though, and when he can’t hail a taxi, he begins to walk. That walk turns into a jog and then a run — figuratively running away from his gangster life.
With Du-shik still AWOL, Chairman Kim calls Sang-yeol in for his punishment. Sang-yeol gets the privilege of choosing between a golf club and a metal bat as the tool in his beatdown punishment (he goes with the bat). While Chairman Kim beats Sang-yeol with the bat, he has a funny turn, and he appears to go dizzy. This does not go unnoticed by Sang-yeol.
Tae-hoon is making his own moves, and we learn that he’s managed to turn a member of Chairman Kim’s gang, YOUNG-GI (Lee Jung-hyun). Young-gi is both an informant and has been the one following and photographing our lovebirds for Tae-hoon. Young-gi spills that Chairman Kim is now targeting Tae-hoon directly and that Seok-chul was given the order to kill him. Shame Young-gi didn’t hear Seok-chul refuse.
In light of this, Tae-hoon asks Cheon-ho to gather some men who can keep their mouths shut and almost calls Seok-chul but decides against it. We next see him at his sister’s columbarium where he tells her about problems and it’s pretty sad that the only person he has to talk to is his dead sister. Back when Tae-hoon had attempted to leave the gang, Sang-yeol had tied him up and given him a terrible beating instead. And it was Seok-chul that stopped this assault, even getting on his knees to beg that Sang-yeol let Tae-hoon go. His entreaties worked and Seok-chul untied Tae-hoon and started to walk him out.
Tae-hoon told Seok-chul to go and that he had to walk out alone since they weren’t in the same gang anymore. At the time, Tae-hoon had been rueful of the fact that he couldn’t look after Seok-chul as his hyung, and he had ended up owing him one instead. Outside of the columbarium, Cheon-ho approaches and informs Tae-hoon that the men are ready. He asks if “he” should be killed, and in response Tae-hoon grabs him by the collar and tells him to just follow orders. (But does that “he” refer to Seok-chul?!)
Turmoil is a theme in the sisters’ lives as well, though with less deadly stakes involved. Seok-hee’s love life is causing her misery. Despite giving Ki-hong the chance to come clean about his date, when he sticks with his fake story about a college reunion she tells him she saw him at the piano hall with another woman. It’s only then that Ki-hong comes clean and tells her that he went out of politeness and to tell her he was engaged to Seok-hee. It’s too little too late and she breaks up with him (temporarily).
Ki-hong seeks her out and this time they have a heart-to-heart. Seok-hee admits she is still half-angry – at herself. She used to be focused on becoming a nurse and then her goal was to be a good nurse. But now, she doesn’t have a dream, and she can’t see what her future holds. Ki-hong listens to her and says he thinks she’s burnt out and offers to take her out somewhere for some rest and relaxation. Cue cute date montage where the couple bond.
Seok-kyung’s turmoil centers on her family. Though she no longer has her gambling debt to worry about, the larger debt on the family home and being away from her son keeps weighing on her. Her solution? Run away and take Hyung-geun with her. Sigh.
Before Seok-kyung can make any moves, Mum shows up (care of Seok-hee’s machinations) and Seok-kyung finally has to face her mum. After a scolding and a meal together, Mum tells Seok-kyung she’s coming back to the family home and that she has until the next day to pack up and get ready.
Seok-kyung seems resolved about facing her dad and going home. She may be terrified of the consequences, but she’ll be able to live with Hyung-geun again. That resolve is shaken when Jung-nim drops by and tries to persuade her to go back to the gambling world, this time as a pawnbroker. Jung-nim plays on Seok-kyung’s insecurities about money and going home, and tells her she can just work hard for a year and earn money to give to her family.
Seok-kyung packs up her bags – and heads straight to the bus station where she gets a ticket to the last bus out to where Jung-nim is. She texts everyone goodbye, breaking her mum’s heart in the process. But with Seok-chul, she gives him a goodbye call. She knows how he’s had to work harder to pay off her debts and her guilt wouldn’t let her say goodbye in a text.
Seok-chul is honest and sincere when he tells her to go if she wants to. But if she ever gets the urge to come home, to not ignore it because it means someone in the family is missing her. She begins to cry at that, and says that she feels bad for Hyung-geun because he got stuck with a mom like her. Seok-kyung dries her tears and gets on the bus. But when they get to a rest stop, a gust of wind sends blossoms whirling, and it makes her think of Hyung-geun. Hyung-geun had told the family that he had been praying for the lilacs to bloom because he thought that would mean his mum would come back home.
The bus leaves but Seok-kyung isn’t on it. She’s standing outside of the family home, in the middle of the night, bellowing out the names of each family member as she announces that she has returned.
Seok-kyung knows how to make an entrance, and it was nice to see her make the decision to go back home for herself. If she had just been forced back home (either by Mum or Seok-chul) It wouldn’t really feel like she was taking responsibility for her mistakes and Hyung-geun. Maybe this is the start of some growth for her?
Two moments made me laugh this week: when Seok-kyung bought tofu to mark her release from the prison that was Seok-hee’s place, and Mum teaching Hyung-geun how to do the signature family fighting headbutt. In contrast to these lighter moments though, it’s about to get very dark for Seok-chul and Tae-hoon. With Tae-hoon under the mistaken belief that Seok-chul is gearing up to kill him, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Tae-hoon strike first. It has been nice to see Seok-chul finding some happiness, and his sincerity and kind heart really shine through in every aspect of his life. It’s also been nice to see how Mi-young is working on building up her courage and standing up for herself. The two of them were so in love and happy this week that it feels we might need to brace ourselves for what may come now for our lovebirds.
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