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The Midnight Romance in Hagwon: Episodes 7-8 » Dramabeans

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The Midnight Romance in Hagwon: Episodes 7-8

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Post-kiss, some secret office dating is afoot as our leads gush over their long-pent-up feelings. But how long will it last before our heroine makes her final decision about which hagwon to work for? With acting and directing that keep this story stapled to the ground, these episodes are my favorites yet.

 
EPISODES 7-8

We land right back in that clandestine kiss and confession scene — and Hye-jin pushes Jun-ho away! I mean, I saw that coming but youch. It’s almost comical afterward, the way she shifts tone and rambles, saying she doesn’t want him to catch a cold. He’s really not worried about catching a cold at all right now. In fact, he states the obvious, just in case it flew over her head somehow: “You know I just confessed, right?”

Hye-jin avoids what he’s saying and then she turns around and covers her mouth in disbelief. Behind her, Jun-ho changes his shirt (in the first of at least three shots this week of Jun-ho without his full attire). Afterward, Hye-jin needs some time to think, which includes replaying the kiss in her head and feeling like she must have lost her mind.

Even though it’s late, Chung-mi arrives at the office and “catches them” with Jun-ho’s shirt drying on a fan. Hye-jin is overzealous in her explanation that nothing is going on, pretty much assuring Chung-mi that something is indeed going on. Jun-ho, for his part, keeps trying to get Hye-jin alone to finish their conversation, but she’s having trouble looking him in the face or being in the same room.

They go to their respective abodes, with Chung-mi crashing at Hye-jin’s that night, assuring that our leads will not finish their discussion just yet. At home, Jun-ho finally changes out of his drenched clothing (and there he is in his skivvies), before deciding to text Hye-jin that they’ll have plenty of time ahead of them to talk. It’s pretty clear he’s planning to pursue her, even if she changes hagwon.

And Hye-jin has in fact decided to accept the Choisun offer — even after Director Kim gives her another apology the next day, during his too-brutal-to-work hangover. She gives Jun-ho the news, telling him not to listen to all the trash talk that’s about to start about her once she leaves. And in the same matter-of-fact manner, she adds, “And we’ll stay like we were before.”

He’s stunned. But she tells him to just focus on his goals. He says his feelings for her are sincere, and asks if she’s playing hard to get (the man is in serious denial at the moment). The more she tells him to focus, the more desperation sets in. “You doing this makes it harder for me to focus,” he says (and I really feel for him).

Their conversation is cut short when Shi-woo arrives and needs to speak to Jun-ho. In the hall, Shi-woo sees Hye-jin and admits that her class was the best he’s ever heard — he’d like to hear another lecture like that. She seems genuinely touched, and we can see already that she’s reconsidering her move to Choisun.

As Jun-ho keeps trying to corner Hye-jin at the office for the rest of the day (with little success), Hye-jin keeps getting distracted by what Shi-woo said. He commented that he’d remember her class for a long time, and yet, she had already forgotten it. She’s feeling some moral responsibility for the fact that they lured this high school kid over for their own economic gain.

By the time she lets Jun-ho drive her home that night, she’s decided to stay at Daechi Chase. Jun-ho still thinks she should seize her opportunity, but she wants to teach Shi-woo until he graduates. Staying for the student is the sentimental choice and it makes her feel better about herself.

She declines the offer at Choisun in person and the Gray Witch looks like she’s got something up her sleeve, but I can’t tell what just yet. It’s clear she’s not happy about being rejected, no matter how nicely Hye-jin states that the contract terms were the best she ever received, she just wants to stay where she is. Hye-jin walks out the door floating, and definitely the happiest we’ve seen her.

But all that happiness turns to crying when she and her friend get drunk after work and discuss why Hye-jin never had a decent boyfriend. Her friend thinks that Hye-jin thought too little of love. When you provide yourself with all the material things that people work for, it’s easy to deceive yourself that you don’t need love. Hye-jin asks, “What if you try to deceive yourself and you don’t fall for it anymore?”

Then she gushes like a teenager about how much she likes Jun-ho. He’s cheerful, sweet, and responsible, but she knows she should pump the breaks because she was his teacher. Her friend asks how she honestly feels and Hye-jin says, “You saw him right? How can you not fall for Jun-ho?” (Awwww. Truthfully, when I saw him smile at his students I wondered the same. How do they manage to study anything but his face?)

Just then, Jun-ho texts Hye-jin a picture of all the sticky notes she gave him when she was his instructor. He’s saved them all and remembers the occasions she gave him each one. Hye-jin breaks into real serious sobs, covering her face and then putting her head down on her arms. She says she’s not a great teacher, she only did those things for Jun-ho.

Her life was so hard in college — while everyone else was dating and going on field trips, she was teaching and cleaning offices for extra pay. But Jun-ho always put her in a good mood. “When my life felt dark and hopeless, I got through it because he was there.” She’s stammering out the words as she cries and blows her nose, and this is, hands down, the most natural and realistic crying scene I’ve ever seen in a K-drama. It’s enough to wrench the heart right out of your chest (with credit to the combo of Jung Ryeo-won and PD Ahn Pan-seok. Wow).

Right in that tender moment, Jun-ho calls. Hye-jin obviously can’t answer, so her friend drunkenly does — and invites him over. She’s hoping for a fantasy couple to form right before her eyes when he arrives. But actually, by the time he gets there, the two ladies are asleep and Jun-ho has to help the wobbling Hye-jin into the car.

When they get to her door, she has to tell him the passcode because he’s the only one that can see straight enough to input the number. And then she invites him in. (How this moment is fraught with so much tension as he stands outside a door ajar is beyond me, but it works.) As soon as he’s inside, she moves toward him with intention and wraps him in a hug. “Could you see all my lies?” she asks. He wants to kiss her but before he does, she goes to the bedroom — where he waits for her to fall asleep and then moves to the couch. (But don’t worry about congratulating him for being such a gentleman because he does that himself. Haha.)

The next morning, Hye-jin finds Jun-ho coming back into her apartment (using the passcode she doesn’t seem to remember giving him) with soup and hangover meds. He wants to take her on a date later, after he covers her classes of course. Facing each other on the couch, he says, “My patience is completely gone. Don’t turn away.” Then he kisses her forehead, her cheek, and her lips, before she grips him in a tight hug and they continue to kiss. And I guess the date is sealed!

At the office, Chung-mi (who has become buddies with Jun-ho and Hye-jin by now) says she’ll cover Hye-jin’s classes, and Jun-ho should go be with her. (Ohhh, this is so sweet.) Jun-ho does as told and once Hye-jin has an IV and feels better, they hold hands and explore the streets, talking about old times, and making references to possible new ones. “I’ll probably be awkward and mess things up occasionally,” she tells him.

In the car, they’ve got their hands locked again, but she tells Jun-ho to keep what they’re doing a secret. She doesn’t want people to talk about her seducing a former student. And even though Jun-ho jokes that the former student seduced her, she doesn’t find it funny. The gossip will affect their reputations.

Once they park at her place, he wants to come upstairs, but she turns him down. So, they’ll have to make out in the car instead (because Jun-ho literally cannot keep himself away from her and it’s so potently captured on camera). Even when they go back to work, they’re sneaking time together after their new joint-teaching class. And by the end, he walks her home, she makes excuses to keep going back outside with him, and finally, she invites him up. What happens when they arrive will be a question for next week.

Oh, this is so cute. They’re adorably head over heels for each other and that new-romance excitement comes across so naturally and authentically that it almost feels wrong to be watching. Like, are we eavesdropping on real people? The scene where Hye-jin lets her tears out as she recounts her difficult past is like that too. It’s shot with brutal honesty. And the kissing isn’t exactly standard drama fare either. There’s a bit of awkward realism, with not-totally-graceful movements and jerky intensity.

I’m excited but also worried about where this is headed. I want to see more of all we’re witnessing, but with only half the drama behind us, I fear we may be moving toward an office scandal. Twice already, we’ve heard mention of a hagwon that was forced to close because two teachers got involved with each other and the rumor mill got ahold of it. Yikes. Welp, if something similar is going to happen to our OTP, I hope they can at least get a few more make-out sessions in beforehand (*waves flag and cheers*).

 
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