The Break-Up
We begin episode 15 of Record Of Youth with Jeong-Ha ignoring Hye-Jun’s call and speaking to Su-Man in a nearby diner. Before they get down to business, she comments on how good her make-up is. Not long after, Jeong-Ha sticks up for herself and records their conversation, commenting how she and Hye-Jun are not dating but in fact he’s her celebrity client. Only, she brings up the YouTube video she did live as proof that she was about to confess up about her relationship. While Min-Jae tries dealing with the various scandals online, Gyeong-Jun rings and admits that he’s filled out the apology letter requested. When he hangs up, Tae-Su phones and asks why she hasn’t filled out a rebuttal yet. He even goes on to admit that Hye-Jun will eventually sign with him. Hye-Jun bumps into Do-Ha on the back of the scandal and brings up the moment when they first met. He scoffs, telling him that they moved fast on the article and that he should speak to his manager about what’s going on. With Min-Jae trying to do damage control, Hye-Jun fails to get through to her. This is only made worse by Tae-Su propositioning Min-Jae and offering to bring her back on the team again. Eventually, Hye-Jun meets Min-Jae in person where they discuss whether she took Jeong-Ha’s feelings into consideration after releasing the article so quickly. Jeong-Ha unfortunately sees all the comments online regarding this and begins doubting herself. After ignoring a call from her Mother, knowing she’s coming over, Hae-Hyo rings and the duo discuss what’s going on. She calls him a good friend and berates Hye-Jun for saying sorry – breaking his promise to her in the past. Back home, Min-Ki heads to the academy where he’s given a proposition surrounding working exclusively for them. However this would mean they have to asign him his own manager. Min-Ki doesn’t want that though, telling him than Yeong-Nam will stay by his side. Hye-Jun heads home with his pairs of shoes and tries to ring Jeong-Ha. He wants to head over but she’s having none of it, telling him it’s not a good time. That’s especially problematic given Jeong-Ha’s Mum has shown up to stay. Meanwhile, Hye-Jun spends his evening painting his white shoes with moments from his relationship with Jeong-Ha. The next day Hye-Jun’s family gather to discuss Min-Ki’s future business propositions. Specifically, they talk about Yeong-Nam acting as Min-Ki’s agent. Afterward, Yeong-Nam and Hye-Jun talk outside, with the latter telling him he crushed his pride in the past and hasn’t forgiven his Father for that yet. Hae-Hyo has an equally frosty reception toward his Mother. I-Young still doesn’t understand what her actions have caused and he reminds her that they’re two different people. He vehemently declines to be anything like her and walks away. Unfortunately she blames Tae-Kyeong rather than taking responsibility for herself. Hae-Na and Ji-Woon head out together to eat dinner. Only, the place she chooses happens to be the one her Mother always picks up. The prices are pretty steep too and the duo end up awkwardly discussing what to do next. Hye-Jun continues to try and get through to Jeong-Ha, eventually heading up to meet her in person at her house. He drops off the shoes and his letter but Jeong-Ha’s Mother picks it up first and realizes that she’s dating him. Excitedly she mentions how this is financially beneficial for her and asks for money. Min-Jae meanwhile receives the written apology from Gyeong-Jun who asks whether she can do something about the articles online or not. While some agencies have managed to block their agents from being written about, Min-Jae has not. Instead, this spreads to the recent drama Hye-Jun is filming as everyone there believes he’s the root cause for it failing. Back at the office, Su-Man receives the official complaint from Hye-Jun and speaks to her boss about getting the legal team involved. He wants no part of this though, causing her to visit the police sergeant and try to bribe him over Hye-Jun’s text messages. Hye-Jun heads out for dinner with Min-Jae who suggests they try and get the upper-hand first and release the text messages. Hye-Jun tells her he’s not that desperate yet. When he leaves, she receives a call from Jeong-Ha asking to meet Hye-Jun when he has some free time. This catches us up to the moments at the end of the last episode as Jeong-Ha breaks up with Hye-Jun. Hye-Jun does his best to hold back tears and asks why. She brings up the apology promise again and specifically how often he’s apologized to her in the past. Ironically he does so again. She doesn’t want to be his emotional outlet anymore and wants to go back to the time when she fell in love with him. Hye-Jun does his best to hide behind his smiles while talking to Min-Ki. He mentions rescheduling their dinner and heads back to his apartment, upset and wanting to forget everything. Meanwhile, Min-Jae receives the Charlie Jung texts from Hye-Jun which confirm that Hye-Jun was not having an affair. She makes a bold decision and forwards this on in an email to free Hye-Jun from incrimination. When Su-Man sees the article go live, her jaw drops. On the back of this, Su-Man confronts Tae-Su and decides to go after him instead, promising to take down his company. This comes in the form of releasing an article directly targeting Do-Ha about his military service. Unaware of this, Do-Ha speaks to Hae-Hyo and pokes fun at Hye-Jun’s new drama. Hae-Hyo continues to stick up for his friend though and tells him it’s because of the plot. As he invites him out for the evening, two girls show up prompting Hae-Hyo to immediately leave. When he does, Hae-Hyo starts looking through the military website regarding his enlistment. Meanwhile, Hae-Na tries gobbling down mountains of ice cream in a bid to get back at her Mother. Thankfully Ae-Suk is there to lend some helpful tips and encourages her to actually speak to I-Young instead. Min-Jae visits Hye-Jun’s apartment and reveals the text messages she’s released to save him from the scandals. The reports have soon changed to show Hye-Jun in a more positive light but he’s disappointed Min-Jae didn’t take his advice and wait. Later on, Ji-A shows up and reveals that Su-Man has agreed to settle. He agrees to let the whole situation dissipate, prompting him and Ji-A to talk afterward about their past. She confirms to meeting Jeong-Ha and wants to be friends with her, regardless of what’s happening between him and her. On the way home, Hye-Jun can’t help but think over all those times he said sorry to Jeong-Ha and eventually pulls over at the side of the road, sobbing. That evening, Hye-Jun shows up at the studio and confronts Jeong-Ha. He tells her he’s unable to break up with her as the pair stare one another down.
The Episode Review
This drama has been a melodramatic rollercoaster and with one episode to go, anything could happen next. There’s so many unresolved situations here though that I can’t see it being wrapped up in a way that doesn’t feel rushed. Hae-Hyo and Hye-Jun’s on/off rivalry is still here, the whole Jeong-Ha/Hye-Jun romance is very volatile and I-Young’s selfish behaviour still hasn’t had any come-uppance either. The preview for tomorrow seems to hint that she may feel some agony but I’m not sure whether she’ll fully learn her lesson or not. That’s before mentioning the various other threads here, including Min-Ki’s modeling career, Ae-Suk and I-Young’s constant back and forth dialogue (sorely lacking from these past few episodes!) and Jin-U and Hae-Na’s filler-scenes that add nothing to the drama. While the melodrama and romance elements have been good, it’s also been held back by some strange plotting choices. It’s not gone completely off the rails like When I was the Most Beautiful but this one hasn’t quite had the smoothest of rides either. Quite what the finale has in store for us next though, remains to be seen.
