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REWATCH: Personal Taste - Ep 8 - Part 1 of 2
When running isn’t enough
JinHo drives recklessly through the streets of Gangnam (my best guess anyway) while replaying in his mind the confrontation with ChangYul, seeing in his mind’s eye the devastated look on GaeIn’s face when he announced to the world that he was gay.
Back at the scene of the exploding fireworks, GaeIn has slapped ChangYul hard against the face for calling JinHo a dirty bastard, this being the most straightforward and blunt reaction she’s had for anything ChangYul has done so far. He’s considerably stunned that mousy GaeIn actually found the guts to hit him. “You—seem to have decided to align yourself with that jerk, but you need to get a grip on reality! That guy is a dirty sneak who knew Director Choi was gay and is using him to win the Dam Art Gallery project!” GaeIn doesn’t hesitate in her defense of JinHo, “You may be the type of person who thinks love is something to be toyed with, but not JinHo. He’s not the kind of person who uses others for his own gain.” ChangYul challenges, “How would you know that?” GaeIn doesn’t tell ChangYul she’s been living with JinHo for weeks now, but she tells him firmly that she knows JinHo better than ChangYul ever did and warns him of talking crap about JinHo ever again.
She leaves as ChangYul puts his hands on his hips and looks after her in disbelief. InHee, who has heard the entire exchange, steps beside ChangYul, “Director Choi is what?” ChangYul snits nastily, “How could you not know? Aren’t you supposed to be his right-hand?” InHee, naturally, only calculates the new information as it applies to her own needs. “So Director Choi and JinHo are…” Well, that puts a cramp into her JinHo-seduction plans.
GaeIn leaves a voicemail for JinHo asking him to pull over to the side of the road because driving in his highly-charged emotional condition is dangerous. “Just breath deeply, in and out,” she advises into the phone worriedly. She pleads into the phone, “You’ll do that, won’t you?”
It’s night time now and JinHo finds himself back at water’s edge, staring at the city lights, contemplating the crappy direction of his life. It’s amazing how the harder someone tries to stay in control, the faster it slips away. JinHo isn’t able to enjoy the quiet for very long as he gets a text message reminding him of the day’s significance and not to be late.
Next thing we know, JinHo has temporarily pushed aside the day’s stress to go home (his real home) for his father’s jehsa, the memorial offering held on the anniversary of someone’s death. He’s at his desk carefully writing the prayer for the service. SangJoon walks into the room, having been invited to dinner by JinHo’s mother. “Oh, you scamp,” he chides as he peers at the caligraphy, “how is even your handwriting so pretty? Huh? Only someone like me would stick by your side the way I do. Honestly, you’re exactly the type of guy that would be ostracized by other men.” JinHo doesn’t say anything, just stares off at nothing. “Hey, are you upset? Did something bad happen while you were at the Dam Art Gallery?” JinHo denies it but SangJoon says he smells a lie, something strange and stinky. He proceeds to take deep inhales of the supposed perfume of JinHo’s secrets…
...and get’s caught intimately sniffing his boss by HyeMi. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demands. “Why were you doing that to my JinHo? Do you know how strange that looks? SangJoon-oppa, do you like men?” That gets JinHo’s attention and he looks up to fix HyeMi with a stare. Why is everyone asking if we’re gay? his tired expression almost reads. SangJoon gets saved from answering when JinHo’s mother calls for HyeMi’s help. When she’s gone, SangJoon worries, “You know, what if I really am in love with you?! Even HyeMi, who has no perception whatsoever, senses something strange between us. Without realizing it, could I have fallen in love with you?” JinHo’s not remotely in the neighborhood of being amused. “Go wait outside,” he says dully. SangJoon whispers, “Whoa, you’re so sexy when you’re being cold.” JinHo snaps, “I said go outside.” With a smirk, SangJoon takes his leave, all the while calling to JinHo’s mother to set him up with a woman because he has so much pent up male virility that it’s now manifesting in everything he says, too.
During the ceremony, as JinHo does the requisite bows, we see the nuclear family that is JinHo’s world: SangJoon, his mother and HyeMi. And the memory of his father. This is what has always driven him up until now. But lately, his once small and orderly universe, including his singular drive to succeed on his father’s behalf, is being rocked with the introduction of another possibility, that love could also be a part of his life. Just as he had never loved HyeMi but felt no real need to make any real effort to discourage her, he’d been blindly running on a road at full speed without really taking the time to look around. Now that he has been forced to stop, things have become complicated.
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