Romance Town Episode 3

Spotting him, she asks, “Who are you?” He replies, “I’m the spirit of the mountain.” He reveals himself though, catching her off guard. Sticking a pink flower in his hair, he informs her that she’s bowing to his grandfather Kim Yuk and father Kim Han, and the reason he’s around is because he needs to pluck off the weeds. So what’s her deal? Soon Geum plucks the flower from his hair and tucks it behind her ear. She says that she’s gone crazy after being kicked out by Gun Woo. She felt that she was so crazy she just had to share it with the rest of the deceased elders too. Hyun Joo returns to the neighborhood lugging two heavy bags of groceries. and then one of the bags breaks in the middle of the road. Her day couldn’t get worse. Meanwhile, Yoon Joo doesn’t know what to do with the dirty dishes and with a kid calling her, “Grandma, I’m hungry.” She storms out of the house angrily. As Hyun Joo gathers the fallen vegetables in her skirt, she sees Yoon Joo and asks her for help in picking up the eggs. Out of spite, Yoon Joo steps on it instead and walks off. Hyun Joo mutters curses under her breath, and that’s enough for Yoon Joo to turn around and slap her in the face. The two of them hurl insults at each other: Yoon Joo warns Hyun Joo to watch her mouth and know her place, going so far as cracking an egg over Hyun Joo’s head. The maid returns the favor, saying that even though she’s only a maid, at least people won’t call her a money-grubbing bitch. Hair tugging and pushing ensues, and the rest of the maids gather around to pull the ladies apart. Hwang Yong and Jang Chi Gook notice the ruckus and help the women up. Yoon Jo requests Hwang Yong to forget the incident ever happened, and he promises: “Everyone has something that they want to hide or can’t admit.” He hands her his handkerchief, and his kind manner touches Yoon Joo. Soon Geum heads over to the company that hand out the winning lottery. Her dad’s friend, Choi Bong Yi, spots her. He wonders if she’s there to see him, and Soon Geum cringes. Now she can’t collect her winnings – especially in front of her dad’s buddy! He thinks that she’s there to borrow money because of her father, who just left, and that sets her off running after him. Soon Geum is annoyed with her father’s inability to stop gambling (all in the name of needing to pay her back a drink for him. The guy wonders if Soon Geum is a young miss or is an old maid, and that’s when Sang Hoon kicks the guy off his chair, defending his daughter’s honor. It would have been a heroic act – if only he weren’t so beaten easily by the young drunks and kicked on the floor. He ends up in the hospital with a broken nose and in need of surgery. As for Gun Woo, he’s having a civilized dinner of sorts with his father and Young Hee. Tae Won pours the boys a drink and tells them to take it one shot. Of course, Gun Woo does it – even though he can’t drink for his life – his father is not someone who cares enough about him to remember these sorts of details. Tae Won informs Gun Woo that if he so badly wants to be like his father, tomorrow he can start living exactly in the way Tae Won had lived when he was thirty. Soon Geum heads over to a nearby convenience store, reasoning that perhaps the other maids will lend her money. She’ll be able to pay them back anyways since she’s got the lottery money.
Young Hee drives up to the same convenience store – he’s madly hopping to go to the bathroom! Gun Woo goes inside to grab a drink and that’s when he gets a call from a friend who found Choon Jak’s phone number. He has bad memory though, and can’t memorize the number. Soon Geum takes out her lottery ticket, musing over the winning numbers, when it’s suddenly snatched out of her hands. Gun Woo flips it around and writes down the phone number. She tries to grab it back, but he raises it above his head. He enjoys tormenting her, and asks her to give him the ticket. UHHHHH – I don’t think so, fella. She jams her heel on his foot, and he bends over in pain. Snatch! – and out she runs. Gun Woo hobbles after her and yells for Young Hee to go catch her. Confused because he just came out of the bathroom, Young Hee runs after her without knowing why. He grabs her vest easily, and she pleads with “the spirit of the mountain” to just let her go. She tries to continue her crazy act, saying that she’s a rabbit and will give her liver to him if he lets her go. Young Hee makes her promise before letting go. Soon Geum visits each house, hoping that one of the maids will lend her money. All of them say they don’t have cash to spare. Zar Lin takes pity on her and hands her card to a loan shark company; she found the business card on her master’s desk. Soon Geum makes her way to the office, which is completely empty. The banners and signs about money lending freak her out a bit, and when she steps on an ID card with the face cut in half, she decides she’s had enough and runs out the door – slamming it against none other than Hwang Yong.
They’re shocked to see each other, and Soon Geum immediately assumes that Hwang Yong might want to borrow money too. When he starts bleeding from the bruise on his head, Soon Geum thinks he got beaten up by the loan sharks; ha! I love she’s so oblivious to the possibility that she did this to him. As she helps stop the bleeding, Hwang Yong tries to get her to leave by saying that these loan sharks have high interest rates. But that’s when the loan sharks arrive and say, “President!” In the office, Soon Geum sits uncomfortably, sneaking peeks at the ominous-looking men behind Hwang Yong. Noticing this, he hands his men some candy, telling them to smile and get back to work. He then breaks the ice: if she’s scared, well, he’s scared too that his neighbors will find out about his line of work. He suggests she go to the bank and borrow money instead, but she has no collateral. That’s when she notices a sign stating he accepts lottery tickets as collateral – if they’re first place though. 14.2 billion Won that reduces to 9.5 billion after taxes. Soon Geum gives him a sly smile. Hwang Yong says he’ll give her an additional 500 million, which confuses her – why is he giving her additional money? She’s afraid he’s going to use it against her in the future or use it as a bribe to keep her mouth shut in front of the neighbors. Soon Geum is so hesitant that Hwang Yong is ready to break off the deal…when she finally relents. They go to a storage facility where Hwang Yong uses his thumbprint and key to open the storage room. He hands Soon Geum a piece of gum, saying it’ll help her later, but she refuses. OK then – in they go. Inside are sealed boxes full of 50,000 Won bills. Soon Geum is beyond shocked – she’s never seen so much money in her life! She becomes light-headed, and Hwang Yong stuffs the gum in her mouth: “Chew! See, this is why you should have accepted it when I tried to give it to you before.” As Soon Geum becomes rich, Gun Woo is being stripped of his belongings. Tae Won wants all of Gun Woo’s credit cards. The gas in his car will run out by the end of the night. If Gun Woo wants to be just like his father, he will become penniless, and has to fight his way to the top. Though Tae Won acts like he’s doing Gun Woo a favor, Gun Woo knows his father doesn’t really care if Gun Woo succeeds or not. He will “disappoint” Tae Won by truly succeeding. Soon Geum informs her father that he’ll be staying in the hospital for a while. As soon as she leaves to get some food, he rifles through her bag for the lottery ticket. It’s gone, but he’s putting two and two together.