God Of Study Recaps (source: dramabeans.com)

CHARACTERS

First, let’s assemble our cast, starting with the leader of the five friends at Byungmoon High School:

HWANG BAEK-HYUN (Yoo Seung-ho) is too busy trying to make a living for himself and his grandmother to worry about school. He works a part-time job delivering Chinese food while Granny toils as a janitor, and together they barely get by.

However, they find out they’re being kicked out of their tiny home, which is disastrous for them. The landlord has foreclosed and the building is being put up for auction, meaning that they won’t even get their deposit back. Granny tries to keep this information from Baek-hyun and has been looking for a new place, but the moment he hears about it, he has to figure out a way to find a new home, too.

KIL PUL-IP (Go Ah-sung) lives with her mother, who runs a shabby bar. She’s not a good student but seems to want to do better; it’s just that she has no resources. She lives above the noisy bar and can’t even afford all her school materials.

Pul-ip is an uncommon but rather pretty name meaning “blade of grass.” I actually wish they hadn’t chosen that name because it draws that unwanted connection to Boys Before Flowers, where the name Jan-di (“grass lawn”) was a key point of the character.

OH BONG-GU (Lee Chan-ho) is another kid who actually tries to study, but to little avail. His parents don’t expect much of him since he’ll inherit their barbecue restaurant, so he only squeezes in bits of study time in between helping them out. He’s a good-natured kid who dislikes conflict.

Less is known about NA HYUN-JUNG (Ji-yeon), who’s often with HONG CHAN-DOO (Lee Hyun-woo) although they’re not dating. Rather, she dotes on Baek-hyun, for whom her nickname is “husband.” It doesn’t seem like she and Baek-hyun are exactly dating, but rather that he tolerates her clingy behavior (barely). It’s telling that he regularly ignores her phone calls when he’s busy, but will pick up for Pul-ip.

Of the five, Chan-doo has the most well-off family, and spends all his time practicing dancing in his room, wanting to become a pop star. This makes him a disappointment to his stern father.


EPISODE 1 RECAP

The plot gets going when KANG SEOK-HO (Kim Su-ro), a poor lawyer with his own shabby office, gets called in to Byungmoon High School, a school with such a poor record and lackluster students that it’s often referred to as a “craphole.” The school’s parent company, Byungmoon Construction, has just been bought out by another company, Wangbong Construction, and the new owners are looking to get their acquisitions in order.

With the school’s awful reputation and its student body of rabble-rousers, even the local residents are looking forward to the school either being moved or closed. Seok-ho is brought in to handle the administrative details. It seems like an easy job and his brief flashbacks of a tormented high school experience at Byungmoon indicate that he’s ready to see the place closed.

Once there, Seok-ho announces to the teachers that the prospect of shutting the place down will be presented at the school board meeting tomorrow (and likely pass).

The only teacher who is gravely upset by this news is HAN SOO-JUNG (Bae Doo-na), who cares for the kids and tries to engage them in class, usually with no effect. She pleads with Seok-ho, saying that the kids can’t be left to scatter to other places where they’ll only fall further. Coldly, he says that this isn’t his concern.

However, the more he walks through the halls and sees things for himself, the more dismayed he grows. He also hears from his lawyer colleague that Wangbong Group is going to move into the neighborhood once Byungmoon High School is gone — they’re going to develop luxury apartments and change up the whole place. He urges Seok-ho to wrap things up fast, but this news solidifies Seok-ho’s resolve the other way. (His friend later suggests that he’s only doing this to stick it to Wangbong Group, though for what reason we are not yet sure.)

The school has a new director, JANG MARI, whose father is the former headmaster and now corporate director of Byungmoon Construction. However, he’s also in a coma. Mari wants to settle matters quickly — she has no interest in education or academics. So when Seok-ho asks for a year’s time to manage everything, Mari balks. She doesn’t want to stay another year! This job is hard!

Seok-ho makes his case methodically, laying down all the work required to shut down the school. It’s a huge headache — she’ll need to handle documents, balance sheets, contracts, and an evaluation team consisting of lawyers, auditors, tax accountants. Plus, she’ll be deemed a failure as administrator. Instead of that, he proposes that if she gives him one year, he will revive the school. Mari laughs in his face when he declares that he will turn the school around by sending students to the top school in the country, Chun Ha University. (Every time someone says Chun Ha University in this drama, you can mentally substitute “Harvard” and you’ll get the idea.)

Of the five friends, Baek-hyun is the one most often missing from classes. It’s telling that when the teachers see that he’s gone again, they just sigh, knowing his difficult circumstances. Other schools might discipline truancy strictly, but here it’s just a fact of life. Today, Baek-hyun is late because he has been busy looking for new places to live, although he tells his friends he merely overslept.

Seok-ho picks one student to help him out at the meeting with the board, and gets Pul-ip to come along for 50,000 won. The directors are just as incredulous as Mari was, laughing at Seok-ho’s ludicrous proposal. The kids at this school aren’t smart! Hoping for a Chun Ha student isn’t only wishful thinking, it’s downright foolish.

Seok-ho counters that rich kids aren’t any smarter. It’s not their money that makes them better students — it’s that they have different opportunities. Technique, not inherent talent, yields results. Furthermore, since sending one kid to Chun Ha can be seen as a fluke, he promises to send five. They ask who he’ll send, and he presents Pul-ip (just for show): she may not have good grades now, but he’ll put her through training.

Teacher Soo-jung can’t bear to hear his ridiculous claims and butts in, but he sticks to his assurance that he will achieve his goal. After the meeting, he tries to convince Pul-ip to join him. She thinks he’s crazy, but he argues that if she continues her life like this, she’ll be miserable: “It’s not like you don’t want to go [to Chun Ha]. You just can’t dream because you’re skills aren’t up to par. I’ll help you dream that dream.”

Mari makes Seok-ho promise to two conditions. First, he has three days to gather his five students. Second, he has to raise their scores in the June exams. If he fails, he must leave the school.

Seok-ho signs the contract, although he asks to keep the second condition a secret for now — it’ll just add pressure to the kids. Mari then calls an assembly to introduce the new teacher for the special class. And so, Seok-ho takes the podium to address the rowdy, skeptical crowd. When he speaks, his words startle them into silence.

First, he calls the kids dumb fools, voice dripping with derision. That raises their hackles, but he just yells at them to shut up and listen:

Seok-ho: “If you guys continue this way, you’re going to live your entire lives being cheated by others until you die. In this society, there’s such a thing as rules. You have to live by them. Who do you think made these rules? Smart guys. Laws, the educational system, the estate system, taxes, finance, the wage system — smart guys made them up to suit their tastes, to make their lives comfortable. But they made it difficult for those less fortunate and less smart than them to even understand them. Smart guys use these rules to live the good life. For idiots like you, for fools who think using your brains is a hassle, you’ll live your entire lives conned or endlessly injured by those smart guys, and in the end, you’ll be defeated.”

The students are offended, but listen nonetheless. One kid bursts out, “So what are you saying then?!”

Seok-ho’s tough-love speech has gotten everyone’s attention, but his answer breaks the nice effect it achieved: “If guys like you don’t want to be the victims of those smart guys — if you don’t want to be scammed or hurt by them! — there’s only one way. Study!”

Hearing that the magic answer is to study hard and go to Chun Ha, the students break into jeers. A basketball is hurled at the podium and hits the board behind Seok-ho’s head, and the crowd parts as Seok-ho faces his challenger.

It’s Baek-hyun, who scoffs, “Then did you come from Chun Ha University? Does Chun Ha feed you? Do you love Chun Ha University that much?”

Seok-ho answers matter-of-factly that no, he didn’t go to Chun Ha (*ahem*, Harvard). He doesn’t even like Chun Ha (Harvard). He hates guys who act cocky because they came from Chun Ha (Harvard). But the students have this opportunity, and going to Chun Ha is their answer to rising above their current pitiful lives.

Baek-hyun is still unimpressed — does he think the kids don’t know that? He delivers a reality check: More than half the kids that go to Byungmoon come from broken homes. They have to earn their own spending money, and they’re busy just surviving. Baek-hyun tells him to get lost, and storms out. The students cheer him on, impressed.

Undeterred, Seok-ho gets to work, cleaning out an old classroom he’s given. Mari and the other teachers are sure he’s going to fail to collect five willing students, and smirk at his insistence that he will succeed.

Soo-jung is reluctantly roped into helping him, and even she’s skeptical. He goads her into making a bet that he won’t succeed, and he gets her to promise (sarcastically) that if he does, she’ll help by being the class’s secondary teacher. Despite her distrust of his abilities, Soo-jung is the one teacher who actually would like for him to succeed, because if Seok-ho is actually right, it would be best for the school and the students.

Seok-ho begins his recruitment process, which targets several students aggressively. For instance, he sets his sights on Baek-hyun after realizing that his grandmother is his weak spot. He visits Grandma to tell her that Baek-hyun is joining a special class and studying extra-hard. He also hears about the housing problem from a worried Granny, and goes online to look up possible solutions to the problem.

When she calls her grandson up to express her pride in him, Baek-hyun realizes with anger that Seok-ho is meddling in his life.

Both Bong-gu and Chan-doo had scoffed at Seok-ho’s idea, but his speech has planted tiny seeds of doubt in their minds. They think the idea is crazy, of course, but on the other hand, it’s not like they’re happy with their current lives.

For instance, Bong-gu’s former grade-school classmate comes by the restaurant with his family, who are treating him out for doing well on his school exams. Bong-gu’s parents aren’t embarrassed to say that Bong-gu is still going to Byungmoon — the other kid left for a better school — but Bong-gu sees how the other parents react. It makes him aware that he’s in an embarrassing situation.

Chan-doo takes a break from his dancing and finds that his parents have guests over. While the other couples all brag about their children, Chan-doo’s parents look uncomfortable and stay silent, and he feels their shame.

Pul-ip comes home to find the bar in a shambles — the wife of her mother’s boyfriend’s came by and caused a ruckus. Pul-ip feels sorry for her sad, lovelorn mother, but on the other hand she can’t condone that she’s carrying on with a married man, either.

When Seok-ho drops by, he repeats his earlier sentiments — that Pul-ip has to turn her life’s direction around now, otherwise she’ll regret it in the future.

Last, Seok-ho finds Baek-hyun that night to urge him again to join his class, adding an intriguing comment: there are ways for Baek-hyun to prevent getting kicked out of his home. He can take over his landlord’s defaulted loan and become the new owner. Baek-hyun scoffs — he knows that. It’s the part where he needs money that’s the problem.

Seok-ho counters that he’s a lawyer — he knows how he can do it. He will help, but not for nothing — Baek-hyun must join his class. He dangles that over his head like a tantalizing piece of bait, but Baek-hyun rejects him again, angrily. He doesn’t want help from a guy like him anyway.

Left with little choice, Baek-hyun has decided to quit school to work full-time. That night he broods over Seok-ho’s words, but in the next morning he heads out to his new job at an auto mechanic shop.

He almost confides the truth to his grandmother, but can’t — especially not when she hands him the lunch box she made him. Seok-ho had told her that his special class will run late, and her precious grandson can’t go hungry.

At lunchtime, he unwraps his food to find a note tucked inside. It reads, in big block letters that are childish but written with love:

Granny: “My grandson Baek-hyun. Other young mothers would make you a better, prettier lunch, I’m sorry. Rice is like tonic — eat up so you stay healthy. Grandma loves her grandson.”

Choking down his food tearfully, Baek-hyun thinks back to his childhood, with his grandmother always by his side.

Lunch is interrupted by a call from Seok-ho, who tells him to come by and help Grandma. When Baek-hyun gets home, he’s shocked to see her lugging their belongings up a hill all by herself. He starts to run after her, but Seok-ho jerks him back — he can’t show up like this, in mechanic’s clothes and having ditched school.

Granny hadn’t told her grandson that they had to move out today, not wanting to upset him. She planned to move everything first, then tell him later. She had told Seok-won that they would live in a gosiwon, which is a sort of super-stripped-down dormitory that is often occupied by poor students. It’s a shabby living arrangement, but Granny had told Seok-ho happily that at least the gosiwon has a kitchen so she could continue making her grandson lunches.

Hearing about his grandmother’s troubles makes Baek-hyun seethe in helplessness, and when he grabs Seok-ho angrily, his tone is desperate: “Then what can I do? What am I supposed to do?”

Seok-ho answers that it’s not too late for him. Forget his pride — he’s not in a position that requires him to put pride above his future. He hands him a change of clothing and leaves him with that thought.

A short while later, Baek-hyun surprises Granny by taking over her cart, now dressed in normal street clothes. She’s bewildered — and sorry for not telling him the truth — but he speaks to her gently. Hoisting her up, he tells her to sit back while he pulls the cart, and turns it around. He’s heading back home, and they don’t have to move anymore.

She can’t see his conflicted expression as he assures her, “You’re grandson figured it all out. So don’t of me as a young kid anymore.”

Both Bong-gu and Chan-doo mull over their growing desire to change their lives — should they trust in the teacher’s words and try for the special class? Bong-gu thinks fondly that it would be nice just to say he’s in the Chun Ha class — that would be enough of a source of pride when talking to old buddies.

Chan-doo thinks of his father and wonders if the class would make them smarter. Can it actually change things around for them?

Today is the last day for Seok-ho to gather his students, and he waits in his empty classroom as time winds down. The other teachers gleefully anticipate his failure and announce that nobody in any of their classes has volunteered.

When Soo-jung asks her homeroom class for interested students, nobody speaks. Chan-doo and Bong-gu exchange worried looks, wanting to join but chickening out at the last minute.

Pul-ip also wrestles with the last-minute dilemma: She looks around at the students goofing off, thinking of her sad mother, and how Seok-ho told her that her life was headed the same way. Finally, she stands up and shocks everyone by stating her intention to switch classes.

Her move gives the boys courage; immediately, they trade looks and stand up together. They follow Pul-ip to the other classroom.

Mari and the other teachers are startled, but still, it looks like Seok-ho has lost. With only a minute left, he only has three students, and the deal requires five.

The kids worry that this was all for nothing, and Seok-ho starts to apologize to them, saying, “The special Chun Ha University class won’t be happening…” Which is, of course, when a fourth voice chimes in:

Baek-hyun: “Says who?”

Just as the teachers are about to point out that four is still not five, another head pops through the doorway and clings to Baek-hyun’s arm. It’s Hyun-jung, always ready to stick to his side no matter what.

Mari leads the disappointed teachers away. She’s been bested here, but still has that second promise on her side.

Seok-ho mutters quietly to Baek-hyun that he’ll take care of his house problem. Baek-hyun answers (without attitude for once), “I promise I’ll pay you back.” But he can’t concede too much, and adds that he’s only here because he has no choice; it’s not because he actually believes the teacher will succeed.

Seok-ho answers, “Either way, fine. In any case, in a year you’ll definitely be headed to Chun Ha University.”

He welcomes the students to his class, and lays down his rules: First, they have to follow what he says. Second, until the day they’re accepted to Chun Ha University, they cannot leave. Thus begins their new class.


COMMENTS

I have two main complaints, one which is fixable and one which is less so.

First, the fixable one: The first two episodes of God of Study really dragged. This drama takes a LONG time to get things set up. There are some nice bits of character development and there are a lot of people to introduce, but frankly we’ve all seen this before and some shorthand wouldn’t have been so bad. The very premise tells us that these five kids join a special class so we know right away how this ends, and spending two hours getting there felt needlessly long. I’d rather that the end of Episode 2 were the end of Episode 1. This made the drama feel a little labored. On the upside, we’re done with the setup so I’m expecting pacing to improve starting next week. If it doesn’t, I’ll be inclined to drop the series.

Second, the less-fixable problem: I really, really don’t like Seok-ho. I didn’t like him in Episode 1, but I kept holding out hope that he would show some inner depth in Episode 2, that his reason for saving this school would make sense. His change of heart is explained, but it happens pretty quickly and I found that I had to tell myself to let that go and accept it in order to get on with the plot. What’s worse, though, is that there’s no real reason to believe that he can do what he promises, or that getting these kids into Chun Ha University is the answer to all these problems. It feels like a not-quite-logical plot point we’re supposed to swallow in order to get the story moving.

Even so, that’s all stuff I could close an eye to — but I’m really having a hard time with Kim Su-ro here. I usually like him, but I think he was terribly miscast. Even without comparing him to the great Abe Hiroshi, he feels so abrasive, but without a likable counter to his sternness. He’s stiff and hard to understand — he plays Seok-ho as a rigid, rule-loving blowhard whose motives aren’t quite clear. There are ample opportunities for the actor to show a connection to these kids (and he doesn’t even have to show it to them directly, just to us), but Kim Su-ro didn’t do that. I get that the character is difficult to like, but it’s the actor’s job to show us some spark of humanity to let us relate to him. I didn’t feel it, not even a little. I kept wishing we could have gotten another actor instead — someone like Eom Ki-joon.

Fortunately, I did like all the kids, a lot. They’re well-cast and well-acted, and I love that for once in a high school drama, the students are age-appropriate.

I’m sensing a bit of Yoo Seung-ho backlash, but honestly, I’ve got to stick to my guns because this kid is fantastic. He made me cry in Episode 2 when he ate that lunch, and he does a great job of conveying Baek-hyun’s desperation. His character is on the cusp of adulthood but he isn’t yet a man, and Baek-hyun’s caught in between the two worlds, unable to provide for his family in the way that he wishes he could. As hard as it is to accept, he really is best off concentrating on his education.

Go Ah-sung plays her character very naturally, and in keeping with the realistic tone of the drama, her relationship with her mother isn’t simplified into an easy formula. She loves her mother and feels sorry for her, while also resenting her for her own lack of choices.

Lee Hyun-woo is another budding child actor who has been in a lot of sageuks (Cha-dol!), so I had a feeling he’d be one to keep an eye on. Lee Chan-ho is sweet and likable as the gentle Bong-gu who wishes he could study better, while Ji-yeon is the least known so far, but is holding her own with her simple, happy spirit. Most of all, I like the friendship between these five and want to see that develop.
EPISODES 3-4

The special Chun Ha University prep class gets off to a dubious start: Seok-ho leaves the students to self-study time, giving them grade-school math books to work on. Other students come by to jeer at them, which is embarrassing for the five friends; Baek-hyun’s temper kicks in and he asserts himself with the ringleader, warning the guys not to lurk anymore. (Note that while all five friends find the taunting irritating, Baek-hyun is spurred into action when they pick on Pul-ip.)

The other teachers find this whole Chun Ha special class business annoying, and complain to principal Jang Mari. They barge in on the class and ask why they’re doing grade-school work. Soo-jung (who’s presiding as the secondary teacher) explains that they were tested and found lacking, so they’re supposed to work on the basics.

Seok-ho instructs Soo-jung not to let the Chun Ha class go home until they’ve finished solving the numerous math workbooks he assigned, so they grumble through the work that takes them late into the night. A little surprisingly, it’s Baek-hyun who urges his complaining friends to buckle down so they can finish quickly.

Despite Baek-hyun’s outer rebellious image, he feels indebted to Seok-ho for helping him with his housing problem, since he promised to stay in the class in exchange for his assistance. What he doesn’t know is that Seok-ho gave up his law office to come up with the money to pay for the house.

Seok-ho is out trying to recruit a teacher to his cause, and visits the cranky eccentric, Cha Ki-bong, to plead his case. He had once taught high school math, but turns down Seok-ho’s request and turns him away. Seok-ho persists, going back to remind him how he turned hopeless kids around with his stern teaching methods: “You saved countless children and made people out of them. I was one of them.”

Teacher Cha says that kids these days don’t respond to his tactics, but Seok-ho promises to abide by them. Won’t he help these kids who desperately need him?

Therefore, Seok-ho brings Teacher Cha to the school, their entrance greeted by lots of curious eyes. Teacher Cha addresses the class about their attitudes regarding math — he guesses that once they started to fall behind, math lots its appeal and now they hate it, considering it studying.

However, he tells them to change the way they view the subject — it’s more like a game. Don’t overthink the process, just throw your body into it. Math is like sports.


To get his point across, he tosses out a problem: the square root of six times the square root of three! The kids fumble as they trip over their thoughts, so Teacher Cha orders them to assume their positions as though playing a game of ping-pong. Math should be instantaneous, automatic, mechanical!

With that, they rally back and forth, throwing math problems at each other, faltering when thinking too hard and doing better when they relax enough to come up with the correct answer.

Seok-ho shakes things up further by telling the teachers that he, acting for the board of directors, will be testing them as well to judge whether they should remain as teachers. This hiring exam will take place in ten days. The teachers naturally protest and complain, including Soo-jung, who thinks he’s taking this way too lightly. Seok-ho counters that testing may seem arbitrary, but there are other very important things in life that are judged on the value of one test score, as students know. These teachers have been slacking off, considering it lucky if their students merely manage to graduate, not batting an eye when the kids don’t come to class or goof off during lessons.

Furthermore, he asks Jang Mari to take over Soo-jung’s English class to free her up for the special class. She’s the teacher with the most free time.

Seok-ho declares that over the next ten days, they will embark on an intensive “Sparta-like” training course, requiring them to eat and sleep at school. He sends them home to gather their belongings, and instructs them to return in the evening.

Over dinner, Grandma tells Baek-hyun that a lawyer (Seok-ho’s friend) came by to handle the special school loan that’ll help them keep their home. Baek-hyun looks suspicious at this, but keeps his thoughts to himself.

When Chan-doo starts to announce the ten-day training to his parents, they interrupt with news of their own: he’s being shipped off to America. His father has worked to get him into a good school in the States, and there’s no reason he should stay. Despite Chan-doo’s insistence that he doesn’t want to move to the U.S., his father is firm.

Chan-doo tells his dance troupe buddies, who are practicing for an upcoming competition, that his time will be short for the next week. He assures them that they can continue using their practice space, but they soon find that they are kicked out.

Pul-ip doesn’t even have the opportunity to tell her mother she’s going, since Mom’s too busy hanging out with her (married) boyfriend. (When her mother calls her the next morning to ask where she was, Pul-ip is mollified at the thought that her mother had worried. But instead, Mom gets on the phone and announces excitedly to her boyfriend that she’s free for the next ten days.)

Bong-gu gets wrapped up in working for his parents during the dinner rush, and doesn’t make it back to school. Seok-ho drops by to talk to his parents, who are surprised about the class. They say amiably that they’ve never pressured Bong-gu about school or studying; he’s not like other kids and they don’t need him to be good at schoolwork.

On the contrary, Seok-ho shows them Bong-gu’s books and points out that their son enjoys studying, but he’s not very good at it and hasn’t had the chance to do much of it. Mom and Dad say that they’ve never yelled at him for his bad grades, but Seok-ho counters that they should. Neglecting their son’s passion for studying is worse than punishing him. He tells Bong-gu that he can always work at the restaurant next year, but this may be his last time to cultivate his interest in studying.

And so, the class is assembled. They agree to take turns preparing meals, and the five friends (argh, I think I’m just gonna call them F5, heh) settle in for the night.

Baek-hyun, still bothered about the loan issue, gets up and walks out for some air, where he finds Pul-ip sitting by herself listening to music.

He joins her on the steps, and when she says she couldn’t sleep, he asks if she’s worried about something. Pul-ip answers that she’s not sure whether it was the right decision to join the class.

Half-joking that it was a bad decision, he grabs her mp3 player and makes fun of her old-fashioned taste in music. Pul-ip makes a playful grab for it, but their laughing camaraderie is cut short by the grumpy appearance of Hyun-jung. A little jealously, she asks what they’re doing here — did they purposely make plans to meet without her?

Hyun-jung and Baek-hyun aren’t dating, and it doesn’t even look like Baek-hyun likes her back; he seems to tolerate her clinginess since they’re all friends. But Pul-ip knows that her friend has staked her claim, so to ease the potential awkwardness, she hastily excuses herself to leave them together. She does, however, look at them wistfully at a distance, suggesting that she would feel freer to like Baek-hyun if not for her friend.

Baek-hyun defuses Hyun-jung’s displeasure by giving her his jacket, which is more to keep her from growing upset than a gesture of affection.

Seok-ho wakes up the crew early the next morning, putting them through laps around the athletic field and outlining their strict study schedule. He’s portioned out their day into blocks of time, with studying amounting to a total of 14 hours daily, for the duration of their training week. They’ll eat, sleep, and study together.

Teacher Cha’s strenuous teaching methods wear on the kids’ nerves. Baek-hyun is the first to talk back, retorting, “Are we calculators?” How can they just spout out math problem after math problem? But rather than finding his impertinence upsetting, Teacher Cha announces, yes! They have to get used to doing these computations in order for them to become automatic, as though they are, in fact, human calculators.

However, class is interrupted by the arrival of Chan-doo’s father, who is accompanied by a police officer. The officer charges Seok-ho with a complaint for fraud, but Chan-doo knows what this is all about. He stands up and tells his father, “I’ll go, all right? I’ll go to America.”

Chan-doo starts to pack his things, but Seok-ho orders him back to his seat — who told him he could leave? He repeats that until they’re accepted to Chun Ha, they can’t leave. He then sits down with Chan-doo’s father to discuss the matter, saying that Chan-doo’s math grades are abysmal — the highest he has ever scored on an exam is 52. He promises to ensure an 80 or above on his next test — and in that event, Chan-doo gets to stay.

Chan-doo protests, not having confidence that he can pull this off, but Seok-ho challenges him: “Do you want to go to America like this, like a cow to slaughter, with no care for your significance? You’ve never been able to have a proper dream, or stand up boldly. Do you want to run away like this? Are you going to disappoint these friends who care for you and walk out so irresponsibly?”

After some hesitation, Chan-doo tells his father he wants to give it a try — just see where the next ten days lead.

Seok-ho offers to sign a contract that states that if he can’t keep his promise to have Chan-doo score a 80% or above, he’ll take responsibility for whatever legal ramifications arise.

The pressure weighs on all the students, who start to bicker amongst themselves. Baek-hyun gripes that it’s a lost cause, and Chan-doo, overhearing, tells them he’s sorry to be the cause of trouble. That’s why he intended to leave quietly, but at the last moment he felt he wanted to at least try. He asks Baek-hyun to cut him some slack.

At lunchtime, Pul-ip finds Chan-doo on the roof, wanting to cheer him up. She brings him some food and says reassuringly, “Don’t be sorry. Even if not for you, Kang Seok-ho and Cha Ki-bong would have worked us really hard. For ten days, let’s give it our all.”

Baek-hyun has also come up to talk to Chan-doo — perhaps to strike a truce or apologize? He has been the most pessimistic of the bunch, but I think it’s because he is the most afraid to hope, like he would lose something of himself if he dared to hope and then lost. But he stops short when he sees his two friends being chummy. Love triangle alert!

For example, as the F5 group cook lunch together, Chan-doo reminds Pul-ip of how he had asked her out in first grade, and says he really meant it. When she jokes about him bringing it up now, he sighs that he’ll be leaving soon anyway, indicating that he’s not at all confident in being able to score that 80.

That night, Pul-ip overhears Baek-hyun on the phone with his grandmother, having a teasing but affectionate conversation. (Naturally, this is to show her that there’s more to Baek-hyun than meets the eye, although he wouldn’t show that side of himself willingly.)

Over the next few days, Seok-ho and Teacher Cha keep the kids on their training regimen, and the scores gradually climb, with the kids pulling in marks in the 70s, 80s, then 90s. Except for Chan-doo — his scores remain firmly stuck in the 55-60 range. Better, but just barely.

Teacher Cha sighs that their situation is dire, and they fear that Chan-doo isn’t making enough progress. It’s time to resort to the heavy guns.

That night, he takes Chan-doo to the gym, where he sits him down with a stack of tests. Until he can manage a perfect score, he will be stuck here. After all, calculations are all about concentration and focus, and Chan-doo isn’t doing that.

Everyone watches from the sidelines, anxious and feeling sorry the longer Chan-doo is stuck in that chair, bringing in imperfect scores. They’re there for hours, deep into the night. Still Teacher Cha doesn’t let up.

Baek-hyun leaves the room first, seemingly in frustration. But to his friends’ surprise, he returns with a desk and chair, and joins Chan-doo. He asks for a test, and soon, the other three join in.

It still takes some time, but at least Chan-doo is reinvigorated with this show of solidarity, and his scores start to rise — 92, 96, 98… and finally, he gets his perfect score.

At this point this lesson isn’t to teach him math, but more to prove that he can do it — and now, he knows that he can. Afterward, Chan-doo finds Baek-hyun outside, and thanks him for helping. (In characteristic Baek-hyun fashion, he’s uncomfortable with that and brushes it aside.)

In the following days, Chan-doo studies with new energy, solving math problems at all opportunities, even during mealtimes or in the bathroom. He even mutters math problems in his sleep. The teachers are impressed with his efforts, but worry that he may be up against his limit.

On the last night before the testing day, Pul-ip gets up from bed in the middle of the night and slips out. Baek-hyun, who is also awake, follows her out, quietly trailing behind as she leaves school grounds and goes home. She rummages through her things until she finds an old video tape, and then heads back to school.

Baek-hyun remains out of sight until they’re back at the gate — which is, unfortunately, now locked. Without a way to open the gate, he assists her over (with some difficulty), then climbs over himself.

In the morning, the other teachers all gather round to watch the testing session. They have been worried about Seok-ho’s hiring exam, and have been clinging to the hope that Chan-doo will fail to meet his 80% requirement. If he leaves for America, the class will automatically have to disband, and then Seok-ho won’t test the teachers either.

Chan-doo’s parents also sit in on the hour-long exam, watching as he sweats through the first part. All five students are taking the exam, but everyone’s focus is on Chan-doo, and they watch his anxious face nervously.

After a few moments of initial panic, he calms himself down by reminding himself of his lessons. Everything is part of a basic formula, and all he has to do is recognize that formula in order to solve the problem. With that realization, he approaches the exam with a relieved spirit.

After time is called, Chan-doo’s exam is scored, while everyone watches with bated breath. And when the score is revealed, he has merited a…. 79.

Seok-ho is disappointed, but he fully intends to honor his promise, which he assures Chan-doo’s father. The kids burst out that this is unfair, but Seok-ho is a man of rigid principles and he points out that however small the point difference, a test is a test and the results stand.

Just as the parents get up to leave, Pul-ip asks for a moment, and requests that they sit down to watch something. She puts a tape into the VCR to show a video of a day in kindergarten when the kids had performed for their parents, and Chan-doo’s father had stood up before the others to read him a letter. (Pul-ip’s conversation with Chan-doo earlier had jogged her memory about Chan-doo’s father.)

Chan-doo’s father, on camera: “My beloved youngest son Chan-doo. Maybe it’s because you were born late, but compared to your brother and sister, we feel a bit more affectionate with you. In particular, it always worried us that you were often sick since the time you were a baby. So when I hear your healthy laughter, I am content. I have nothing more to wish for in this world. They say these days that studying well is the best way to be a good son, but we only hope to see you be healthy. Thank you for being with us. We love you, Chan-doo.”

Pul-ip explains that she grew up without knowing the love of a father, and points out that Chan-doo grew up as they had wished — he has a really bright laugh. He’s been studying so hard — can’t they give him one more chance? The other kids all chime in, pleading for Dad to change his mind.

Chan-doo’s father isn’t wholly unmoved, but he keeps a stoic face. He tells them all they’ve worked hard, but walks out anyway. Chan-doo follows his parents out with a heavy heart.

The friends watch the family leaving the school, and Baek-hyun can’t contain his frustration. He yells after them angrily:

Baek-hyun: “Hey, Hong Chan-doo! Are you leaving? Are you a robot? Are you brainless? Fine, go then! Go and have a nice life in America!”

At that, Chan-doo’s father stops, and turns back to tell Chan-doo something. Walking off, he leaves Chan-doo behind, who faces his friends with slumped shoulders and a solemn face…

…which breaks out into a smile as he announces that his father told him to stay. He doesn’t have to go to America after all.

In excitement, the F5 group hug each other, welcoming him back.

Last of all, Seok-ho administers the teachers’ exam. He presents them with a blank piece of paper and instructs them to write on the topic of “school.” This is a much lighter test than they’d expected, and gives them the impression that Seok-ho isn’t really going to follow through on the exam. So they duly write their essays in a half-assed sort of way, then get up afterward to go out for a celebratory dinner together.

Only, Seok-ho stops them. Flipping through the essays, he has come to his conclusion: They’re all fired.


COMMENTS

There are some things that really work for this drama, such as the students’ interactions outside of the classroom settings. (Ironic, given that this is a drama all about school?) Even though the love triangle (or rectangle) is pretty predictable, it’s drawn with some subtlety that I appreciate. This isn’t a romance drama, so angst isn’t going to be the backbone of the developments. They’re also young, so the stakes are (refreshingly) low, and they may not even be completely aware of their feelings yet on a conscious level. For instance, it’s pretty clear that Baek-hyun is starting to like (or likes) Pul-ip, but I doubt we’d get him to admit it. And Pul-ip’s not going to admit her feelings because of Hyun-jung. So while the feelings are there, they’re sorta latent at the moment, and we get to watch the characters suss them out for themselves. I look forward to that.

That kind of low-key development really works in a drama like this, because the plot is generally slice-of-life and the kids are so young. God of Study actually really benefits from the fact that these actors look young and helpless; it’s not like in shows where a 25-year-old plays 16, and acts 12 to overcompensate. (Ahem: Geum Jan-di.) Sometimes looks are a pivotal element of the acting, as they are here in lending the kids a sense of instability, that they really do need this class to find themselves and come into their own. (It’s also why I’m a little unsettled at how strict and hard Seok-ho treats them, like he’s manipulating their weaknesses to get them to psychologically bend to his will. Kim Su-ro plays him like a harsh disciplinarian in a way that makes me uneasy.)

Episode 4 was all about Chan-doo, which sets us up for the pattern of having each kid featured in turn. All five are so endearing that I look forward to seeing their attitudes change. This rotating plot machine is probably a good thing since I can’t see this drama having enough plot to fill up its running time otherwise, which is one of my big stumbling blocks with it. Everything is SO predictable that the only fun parts are the parts that don’t have to do with the special class, and unfortunately, most of the plot revolves around the special class. Will he test well? Will they learn their lessons? These are pretty simple conflicts — are we going to have a repeat of this every time they move from subject to subject? I really hope not.

There’s talk about this drama having a strong ajumma fanbase as though that’s surprising, but I think it’s only to be expected. This drama’s whole basis is predicated on the idea that success in life isn’t only about talent, it’s about effort. You may not be the smartest kid in class, but if you study, you too can go to the top university in the country. Also, it posits that studying holds the key to all future happiness. Moms must love it.

I mean, its message is practically ripped from mamas’ hearts the world over: Don’t complain that we’re pushing you, because that’s just an expression of our love! Don’t you know how many kids there are who would die to have parents who cared how they did in school? Look at these kids in the drama — look at Yoo Seung-ho! You don’t see HIM trying to get out of piano lessons and academy cram classes! He should be so lucky! Now shut up, clean your room, and study. You’ll thank me when you get into Harvard/Seoul University/blahblahblah.

I’m not convinced that this is a must-watch for me — it may fall into fast-forward territory. Because while I’m watching for the kids, the plots are tired and there’s really very little suspense — which would be fine if they didn’t then try to play UP the suspense. Example: it’s obvious that Chan-doo’s not going to leave the class, so the drama would be better served developing his relationship with his father or exploring his insecurities, etc., rather than hyping up a conflict that has no punch.

So we start back where Kang Seok-ho declares that all the teachers at Byung Moon High School are fired. Naturally, none of them are too ecstatic about hearing that.

Teacher Kwi-nam points out how Seok-ho barely glanced at each paper. How could he decide everyone was fired? So Seok-ho reads the fist sentences of some of the papers. “This is a strange school”, “What could the teachers live for here?”, “It’s like doing 30 pull-ups.”. While they didn’t receive diplomas in the Korean language, “the context of their answers belong in the bottom of a pit.” Haha. But he can give them a second chance. If they agree to follow his plan, they will not be fired. This doesn’t go along with them well.

Soo-jung follows him out and chastises him for being too harsh. Even with their violent reaction, he knows they have to calm down eventually. And when they do, he’ll be ready to help. As for Soo- jung, he has a glimmering ray of hope for her. For the time being, as the assistant home-room teacher, she is free from any threats of firing. She sarcastically graciously thanks him. Rather than responding to her thanks, he simply tells her to do a good job and leaves her.

Cha Ki-bong is next to question Seok-ho’s methods. Teacher Ki-bong advises him to stray from being too rough and to be wise, saying Seok-ho “is not there yet”. This ties in with Seok-ho’s rough childhood background when dealt with problems with his fists rather than his heart. They move on to talk about the upcoming English teacher. Seok-ho has already mentioned an idea to Ki-bong, who is adamantly against it. So adamant that if this new person was brought to the special class, Ki-bong would leave it. No!

Soo-jung enters the classroom ready to review for English while Seok-ho is twiddling with a camcorder. Today is the final day of boot camp, and Seok-ho has let the kids go home to eat with their families. He warns against the kids losing momentum in their studies, and she responds with her usual, amusing facial expressions. Seok-ho finds her unnaturally calm about the other teachers rioting, thinking she would be the leader of them. He secretly hits the record button while she says,

Soo-jung: “I know now that getting angry only hurts myself. Plus, I have learned some wisdom spending time with you. “
Seok-ho: “Wisdom?”
Soo-jung: “Puppy, go ahead and bark, the train is leaving anyways.”

He purposefully closes the camcorder instructing her to record tonight’s class. And then he’s off on another mission.

As for Seok-ho’s mission, he walks into what looks like a sauna/indoor paradise room. A man is sitting on a pool chair with an extremely leathered lady standing next to him. Pool chair-man instantly recognizes Seok-ho, refusing for a second time to do what he was asked. Pool man clearly is not happy. However, his attitude takes a 180 when Seok-ho says the magic words. “Cha Ki-bong teacher’s request.” Now Pool man is interested.

Finally! The kids are here!

Soo-jung is reviewing English with the special class, and its obvious they’re having trouble concentrating. She warily stares at the camcorder, knowing everything is being set in stone. Baek-hyun (it feels so good to finally type a kid’s name!) is fighting fatigue, trying to actively participate. But…he doesn’t know what page they’re on. Cute. And Chan-doo suddenly falls out of his chair.

After class, Soo-jung rewards the tired students with some delish Chinese food, proudly given by Baek-hyun’s boss. When she asks them if they really like her English class, they’re quick to say a little white lie to not hurt her feelings.

As they leave, they quietly say how they really feel about the class and feign innocence while waving good-bye. Soo-Jung, on the other hand laughs at them for being afraid to tell the truth. But through all this, it’s easy to see that both sides, teacher and students, genuinely care for each other.

Seok-ho’s back in his new office, a tiny literally one-room place. A friend comes in bearing a USB, *secret information hidden? And Seok-ho opens it, saying it was exactly what he needed. Something about the Wong Bong Group? Suspicious…

The kids head back to school, and we see the Chan-doo/Pul-ip one-way love relationship. Hyun-jung gets onto Chan-doo for messing with Pul-ip too much, but Pul-ip assures her that there are no feelings between the since-kindergarden friends. While he reluctantly agrees, a girl pops up out of nowhere and nearly tackles him in a hug. Her name is Ye-ji, and she just got back from a foreign language course. She greets Chan-doo warmly but turns on the brat for Pul-ip, eyeing her with distaste. I do not have good feelings about her in the future. Ye-ji whisks him away, leaving the other two girls dumbfounded. But soon after, Hyun-jung spots her “Sobah” and runs towards him. He however, is looking somewhere else. At someone else.

It looks like Pool man has accepted the teaching offer as he runs into Soo-jung in the school, who immediately says, “Omoniem!” (mother) with a smile. No, he’s not a mother. Nor is he a father. He is simply…solo. Seok-ho told her another teacher was coming, and Soo-jung assumes he is there to teach Korean, as Cha Ki-bong is the math teacher and she is the English teacher.

But to clarify, he states HE is the English teacher. Seok-ho nods confirmingly and Pool man introduces himself as Anthony Yang. Ki-bong sees Anthony, glares, and walks off. Soo-jung is noticeably confused and hurt.

Anthony begins his lesson and the kids are wary, wondering where Teacher Soo-jung went. He starts by explaining that English is not something to be afraid of, and not something to be ashamed of if you only know a little. The answer to their English problems -no it’s not ping-pong- is….dancing?!

He takes no time slowing down as he gets in the groove, startling the watcher the students. What a strange man. Perhaps I spoke too soon about him being fully dressed.

The atmosphere dramatically changes when we find Soo-jung crying by herself. She tells Seok-ho she followed him only because of the school’s situation. But he never intended for her to be the class’s teacher. She was asked to be their homeroom teacher. He hands her the camcorder and she watches the review session they had. The recording clearly showed bored students and a weak teacher. She is angry at his attempt to humiliate her and she storms out while he tries to console her. She escapes in the bathroom and he states the truth. She is not good enough. She may be ready in the future, but the class does not have time to wait for her. Just to satisfy him, she grimly agrees to everything he said. Her heart obviously shows otherwise as she continues to think about what he said.

She watches the class, and sighs in disbelief at Anthony’s methods. Baek-hyun’s eyes catch hers and he’s obviously not having fun. She continues to think Anthony is ridiculous, but Seok-ho believes in his methods. She disagrees with Seok-ho now, and challenges Anthony’s methods. Anthony may be the more fun teacher, but he isn’t teaching properly.

Baek-hyun was suspicious all along, but he abruptly exits the classroom and states that he refuses to learn without Teacher Soo-jung. He angrily leaves and the other kids reluctantly follow him.

They brood in the gym, clearly torn about their feelings. While Pul-ip and Hyun-jung say they enjoyed the class, Baek-hyun shoots them a dirty glare. Teacher Soo-jung finds them and is not happy. She scolds them for their rudeness and tells them to go back to class. She has a plan.

Back in the classroom, she confronts Seok-ho and suggests a competition. She will select two kids, and Anthony select two kids to have a duel between them. While Soo-jung at first asks to take the special class, Anthony instead insists he take them. Even though the kids argue that the rules are not fair, she has no choice but to agree with them.

The kids resume class, rebel Baek-hyun still angry. Hyun-jung doesn’t understand why Teacher Soo-jung can’t just let Anthony take over. Baek-hyun shoots her another dirty glare. As self-proclaimed ringleader, he tells them, “let’s make this turn out right. You know what I mean?” Even if they tried their hardest, Bong-goo didn’t think they would win anyways. Baek-hyun chuckles at that statement, but Pul-ip looks uncomfortable with the idea.

The test will be formatted as so; each student starts out with 100 possible points. For each mistake that is made, one point will be deducted. Soo-jung will select her two students, while Anthony will select his.

Later, without Seok-ho and Anthony around, Teacher Soo-jung shares her real feelings about the competition. She assures them she can win. She has worked hard in the past to be a good teacher and she believes in herself. All she asks is that they believe in her too.

She fondly reads the student’s personal notebooks, interrupted by the annoying Teacher Jung-hee who assumes that Teacher Soo-jung was already cut from the special class. But Soo-jung shouldn’t feel bad about it, as the other teachers formed the Kang Choo Wee Group, the official Let’s-get-rid-of-Seok-ho protest group. She has a petition going around the teachers, and there’s even a spot for Soo-jung to sign. Seok-ho suddenly enters and Soo-jung hides the petition.

On a lighter note, Hyun-jung and her “Sobah” are in a shopping center and Hyun-jung wants to show off her noraebang (karaoke) skills to Baek-hyun. He fakes seeing his grandma, (at which she immediately jumps off his arm) and he takes off. Haha. She desperately searches for him and sees a boy walking off with a familiar haircut and bag, and she runs to catch him. But that was not her Sobah. Her Sobah was hiding behind a mannequin and he grinned in delight at seeing her tricked. Success.

Oh, but what’s this? Baek-hyun himself spots someone on his way out. It’s Pul-ip, trying on some cute headbands. She shyly asks where his owner is, and he tells Pul-ip that she went home. She plays with Baek-hyun, calling him and Hyun-jung wads of gum stuck together. He tries to disagree, his face showing how he doesn’t like her talking about it. She finds a headband she likes, but it’s too expensive so she puts it down. After she leaves, Baek-hyun eyes it.

Hyun-jung is still lost in Sobah-land frustrated at herself for losing him. But she sees something. Pul-ip is running and Baek-hyun is playfully chasing after her and they’re laughing. Baek-hyun is laughing. Something Hyun-jung hadn’t seen when he was with her. Uh-oh. Hmmm. Teenage love triangles.


Doesn’t Chan-doo’s smile just make you want to bake brownies for him?

The next school day, Chan-doo runs up to Pul-ip. He pretends a bug is stuck in her hair, and reaches to grab it. He adorably shows off what he “found”. It’s a cute little hair clip! Ooooh… the irony. Right as he’s putting it in her hair, the little Brat spies them. Pul-ip is pleased with his gesture, and while she obviously thinks of him as a brother, little Brat is suspicious. She finds Pul-ip in the bathroom and warns her to stay away from Chan-doo. Pul-ip is astounded and tries to assert her seniority over Brat. But Brat doesn’t budge. And Pul-ip is left bewildered.

As the kids wait for class to start, Hyun-jung carefully asks Baek-hyun where he went after he ran away left her. What did she expect? He simply went home. Knowing this may only be half true; Hyun-jung doesn’t press the situation any harder.

Pul-ip enters, and Bong-goo immediately notices the new hair clip. Chan-doo announces that he gave it to her and Bong-goo playfully teases them. Hyun-jung pulls out a notebook she bought for Baek-hyun, and she immediately goes down to put it in his bag. He panics all of a sudden and tries to stop her, but to no avail. She finds something. The headband Pul-ip saw at the mall. Baek-hyun uncomfortably exchanges glances with a surprised Pul-ip, and Hyun-jung asks him if he bought it for her. To avoid any more awkward situations, Baek-hyun lets her believe it was for her. Bong-goo thinks having two couples in the class is so cute, but Pul-ip is quick to deny any relationship of that sort with Chan-doo. Poor guy. Pul-ip obviously recognizes the headband, but doesn’t say anything about it.

As for the English competition, Teacher Soo-jung is having difficulties finding students to compete for her. Ma-ri sees this, and has an answer. She agrees to help Soo-jung to better represent the school. Here are her choices:

Student A) Kim Sang-hoon. A transfer from a foreign high school, a kid who transferred just to improve his rank.
Student B) Yi Ye-ji. Brat girl? Ha. She is an aspiring actress and has dreams to become a celebrity. She is working to go to Chun-ha herself to become more known before pursuing her acting.

These students are obviously at the top of their class, but one problem exists. They’re juniors. Is this legal? But Ma-ri asks, did the requirement say they had to be seniors? It didn’t. So Seok-ho lets Soo-jung have them. Soo-jung is ready to win.

Now that she has her two students, its time for Anthony to pick his. The kids will randomly draw papers to get picked. First chosen is Baek-hyun, then Pul-ip. Hmm. Love triangle teenagers put together. Baek-hyun immediately refuses, implying that he wants Pul-ip to pull out too.

Anthony asks to see them separately for a moment to tell the two how moved he was by their loyalty to Teacher Soo-jung. He asks them to believe in him too and to try their best at the competition. Baek-hyun starts to get defensive, -“lelax, lelax”, (really, couldn’t they have chosen an English teacher that didn’t have such a bad accent?)- but Anthony decides to make a pact with them. After this competition, even if they win, he will leave. Pul-ip agrees while Baek-hyun is still suspicious.

As they walk out, Pul-ip is excited about the class, completely believing Anthony. Baek-hyun is still cautious, and his stare goes to the clip in her hair. He arrogantly walks off. But in the background…

Seok-ho called for a teachers meeting, and all show up. But as it’s about the start, someone shouts, “HOLD ON.” Teacher Kwi-Nam stands. He looks at the Gym teacher and Teacher Jung-hee, and they pull out…headbands…bearing their name “Kang Choo Wee” Soo-jung didn’t get the memo, and she is in shock at their actions. They boldly state their purpose and demand he leave.

While the teachers are gathering, Principle and Diector hear that their school has become the first school listed for overhaul by the Wong Bong Group. If that is the case, the removal meeting is unnecessary. They race to tell the other teachers.

Teacher Jung-hee hands the petition to Seok-ho and he briefly looks through it, but there is a blank next to one name. Han Soo-jung. She didn’t sign it! He sees it, but doesn’t say anything about it. The leaders of the meeting state their claims, and are ready to send their claims to the Department of Education. No matter what, they will work to remove him. The Gym teacher holds up a laptop ready to hit the send key; Seok-ho as solid as a rock.

Episode 6 Recap

The story resumes with the ultimate face-off between Seok-ho and the Kang Choo Wee. Principle and Director suddenly barge into the room as soon as the Gym teacher’s finger is about the press the enter key. The Principle hastily shouts for them to pause, and tries to give something of a code signal -an awkward wink- to Teacher Kwi-nam. But before the Principle has time to say anything, Seok-ho takes his spotlight.

It turns out Seok-ho already knew about the Wong Bong Group’s intentions to do an overhaul of the school. The other teachers are in shock, and Seok-ho proceeds to show them the mysterious USB he received in the last episode.

While Seok-ho begins to explain the Wong Bong Group’s (I’m just going to use WBG from now on) methods, some of the protestors quietly sit down and remove their headbands. What is Seok-ho’s point in all of this? If they protest now instead of letting the WBG take over, the school will look ridiculous to the rest of the board of education.

Meanwhile, in the classroom the kids are having a math session with Teacher Ki-bong. Teacher Ki-bong hands them each a blank sheet of paper. The F5 is confused, but Ki-bong accounces they’re going to practice a new method today; coming up with their own math questions. After the bout of usual complaining, they buckle down and get to work.

At first the F5 (heh, I took this from Dramabeans!) struggle with their questions, but Ki-bong reminds them that all questions are made for a person to be able to answer. The question should lead the answerer to the right path. Pul-ip thinks a little deeper about this, and you can see the gears grinding in her head.


In case you were wondering what that said: SpeedXTime=Distance. A very basic physics equation.

After all the questions are written, each student proceeds to pass them to a potential answerer. Hyun-jung writes about buying new shoes, Bong-goo about weights of meat, and Chan-doo about Pul-ip using her money to buy him a present. She looks at him with surprised and he gives an adorable wink.

In the teachers’ office, the shot-down faculty sits around wondering what would happen if the WBG took over the school. If they are allowed to, they might be able to turn Byung Moon High School into an elite private school like the they have done in the past. But what would happen to the current students? Soo-jung is astounded when the Gym teacher simply says, “We’ll let them graduate, and after that it’ll be great!”

Seok-ho is hard at work in the office-classroom, and Soo-jung hands the manual back to him. She is clearly worried about the condition of the school, but he tells her to be more concerned with her upcoming competition with Anthony. He stops her though, on her way out to ask why she didn’t sign the petition. She pauses to think, but then simply states, “I didn’t get the chance to sign it. I was too busy.”

Ki-bong leaves his class happily, but his mood sours when he runs into Anthony in the hallway. However Anthony enters the classroom happily and bears presents. Each of the F5 excitedly open them, but Baek-hyun stuffs his gift back in the bag and scoffs at Anthony.

Soo-jung and Ki-bong watch from the outside, and Ki-bong tells her not to look so sad. He warns her against losing from that ridiculous Anthony. “Lose to him and see what happens.” Hah. From then on, she becomes even more determined to win.

Soo-jung needed this encouragement. Even though she asked the F5 to believe in her earlier, Seok-ho’s invitation for Anthony made her distraught. Ki-bong was the first teacher not to discourage her per se, but not to..not encourage her. With this newfound purpose, she works hard into the night determined to take Anthony down.

Pul-ip comes home only to see her mom and her mom’s beau giggling around. How can her mom -something of an old spinster- have a new boyfriend who is much younger that her? Pul-ip thoroughly embarrasses her mother by accusing the man of mooching, and her mother throws punches right back mocking Pul-ip for trying to get into a top university. Pul-ip fights tears as she tells her mother, “I know it too. What kind of person I am, with a home and a mother like this. I am very clear about this, even if you hadn’t said so.”

While this drama doesn’t have obvious, traffic siren angst and emotional depth constantly smacking you in the face, it has its moments where it digs a little deeper past the surface story of study-and-get-into-Chun ha, to more of the characters themselves. This moment is sort of a flash of reality to Pul-ip. She has all the credentials of a failing future: her family is broken, her mother runs a shady bar, and her grades before the special class were abysmal. Out of all the students in the special class, Pul-ip seems to be the most sincere about her efforts and the most hopeful about a promising future.

She storms out fighting tears, and Baek-hyun conveniently comes up to her on his moped on one of his deliveries. To lift her spirits he offers her a ride on his bike, and Pul-ip -needing a little escape from reality- happily agrees. He takes off and she gives a little yelp, quickly wrapping her arms around his waist. His little smile gives everything away.

He finishes a delivery in a familiar building, and he recognizes it as Seok-ho’s old office. But the building has a new user, and Baek-hyun wonders what happened to Seok-ho.

After the delivery, the two sit in a park and Pul-ip begins to open up to him. Her past with her mom was anything but extraordinary and she’s ready to leave the house and go to college. She knows Chun ha is a bit of a stretch for her, but she is thankful for the special class, and she believes there is still hope in her working hard.

Baek-hyun knows they all need help, but he still can’t accept that Seok-ho is the one who is helping them to stand on their own to achieve something like getting accepted into a university. He blatantly tells Pul-ip to stop being so trusting of Seok-ho. She’s been tricked into thinking she has a chance; a chance to change her life by just studying hard. This proves to be too much for Pul-ip, so she stands up and angrily leaves.

Hope has been Pul-ip’s main struggle throughout the drama so far, and will be into the future. She wants to believe that just studying will help her become a successful person, and she wants to believe that she can escape the life she lives now. Her mother probably never encouraged her as a child, but to have someone close to her like Baek-hyun to dash her dreams with reality, it hurts.

T-3 days until battle time. Soo-jung and Anthony prepare for the competition, Soo-jung buckling down in books with her kids while Anthony continues teaching all the kids the way he was already doing. But today he brought his secret weapon, a magical USB. He opens it to reveal 100 magical English phrases. If they memorize these, they’ll be set for life. “There’s always loud music…Come from the room upstairs..” Hahaha…


B-boy Chan-doo…ahhahaha. cute.

In Soo-jung’s class the atmosphere is different. She carefully teaches how she thinks it should be done, and the kids appear to be listening. But at a closer glance, Sang-hoon is working on his math homework. She asks him to focus on English, but he arrogantly announces he already knows everything she is teaching. Instead of wasting her time with him, she ought to focus her attention on Ye-ji.

Outside, Ye-ji finds Pul-ip hard at work trying to memorize the magical phrases. The Brat knows Pul-ip’s efforts are worthless so she might as well give up. Pul-ip’s past has shown a series of failures, so why should anything else be new? Jerk. The reoccurring junior-senior lack of respect ruffles Pul-ip’s feathers, but Chan-doo’s timely appearance causes Ye-ji to excitedly scamper off with her Oppa. Pul-ip watches them go, and her eyes meet with Baek-hyun’s who witnessed the entire event. She glares at him and leaves.

Seok-ho had called for another teachers’ meeting, and here he reveals the students’ real feelings about their school. Each student wishes to have better academic results, but because of the lack of resources and skills their scores are poor. As a result, they have just accepted their bleak futures. This is what Seok-ho needs to change. Byung Moon High School is to have a real education program with each teacher giving his or her own heart. Director Ma-ri is clearly touched by his efforts but the other teachers show little emotion.

We move to Chan-doo’s house after school, and the telephone is ringing. He’s about the answer it, but his mother pushes him out of the way and tells him to be quiet. It seems to be no one important to Chan-doo so he walks off, but abruptly stops when his mom tells the person on the phone that he is studying abroad in Boston with his brother and sister. Chan-doo can’t believe his mom just lied to her friend, but his dad responds by telling him not to answer the phones, and not to wander listlessly through the streets where he might be seen. He has become an invisible person.

In the Korean culture, saving face is incredibly important. It appears that Chan-doo’s family is well-off by the size and arrangement of their house, their clothing, and two siblings studying in America. His parents’ friends most likely have children in famous universities, and expect nothing less for Chan-doo’s family. As it was revealed in an earlier episode, Chan-doo’s parents seemed embarrassed about him, so Chan-doo joined the special class to save them from that embarrassment. But even though this may seem devastating for Chan-doo, he seems to accept it without much of a fight. He knows why they are hiding him, and respects his parents’ wishes like a dutiful son, even though he doesn’t like it.

Next we go to a nearly opposite living situation. Baek-hyun is cleaning up by himself; Grandma still at work. He stops to think of his bike ride with Pul-ip and he smiles, but immediately recounts the conversation at the park with her, and he’s left feeling uncomfortable. Before he can think too long about it, Hyun-jung pops up behind him and presents a good luck box of chocolates. She attempts to feed him one, but Grandma sticks her head in the window and catches her. She chastises Hyun-jung for coming to a boy’s house at night, and sends her home. Hyun-jung starts to walk out with the chocolates, but Grandma tells her to leave them. I love his Grandma.

Meanwhile at a bar Seok-ho is meeting with a mysterious lady. She is a potential teacher that Seok-ho is trying to recruit; she agrees to do it. Welcome to the party, Teacher Lee Eun Yoo.

It is finally the day of the big competition, and Pul-ip is clearly worried. (Rerax). The non-participating portion of the class prepared a cute little song for them. “I have a dream…A song to sing…” They put a little T-ARA “Bo Peep Bo Peep” spin to it, which makes even Baek-hyun smile.

It’s now time for the kids who are not taking the test to go into the hallway, and they try to send good vibes Pul-ip and Baek-hyun’s way. The test papers are handed out and the test begins. The students are to write the Korean folktale of “Hung-bu” in English according to the pictures. Brat and Sang-hoon start writing right away while Baek-hyun and Pul-ip begin to struggle.

Right when Pul-ip is about to give up, she imagines Anthony’s voice telling her she already knows everything she needs to. Just remember the magical phrases Pul-ip! *Cue inspirational music. With that, she begins to confidently write.

Sang-hoon quickly finishes his story and begins to edit it, replacing simple elementary level words for more complex higher-level vocabulary. He thinks with a smirk on his face, “I need to squash these idiots.” Brat girl, singling out Pul-ip, does the same.

The papers are turned in, and the four students nervously watch the two teachers grade each other’s student’s papers. Both Soo-jung and Anthony make corrections, and whichever has the least number of mistakes will win. After they finish grading, the total number wrong for Ye-ji and Sang-hoon is only eight. So they get a 92.

Soo-jung grades Baek-hyun and Pul-ip’s papers, and realizes how much improvement is possible. She’s put in her place as she proudly announces their score: 93. Pul-ip and Baek-hyun are in disbelief, as are Ye-ji and Sang-hoon. Sang-hoon angrily storms off and Ye-ji pathetically gives her congrats.

Ye-ji angrily tells Soo-jung in the hallway how ridiculous the test was. They truly go to a toilet school. A school that can’t recognize true talent. Chan-doo, Hyun-jung, and Bong-goo watch this, and they see Teacher Soo-jung hurt by the stinging truth of Ye-ji’s comment. But now Soo-jung knows now that she will have to leave the Special Class, and even though she is immensely proud of the kids, her eyes start to water.

Anthony speaks to Soo-jung after the contest, and he reveals to her that the kids asked him to leave. But even though they asked, can she not see how much they improved with him? Anthony knows the kids can’t focus on their studies with her around, so he kindly implies that he wants her to leave. Ouch.

Ma-ri is acting as her usual self as she enters her office, and she spots a white envelope on her desk. It is Soo-jung’s resignation letter.

Ma-ri rushes to Ki-bong and Seok-ho barely spitting out the news. Anthony playfully says that he was intending to leave, but now that the situation has changed, he’ll teach until she comes back. If she does. Ki-bong angrily storms out and Seok-ho gives Anthony a cold, long stare warning him not to try and pull any more tricks. Anthony is left alone, and he answers his cell phone telling the other person on the line to put a new math teacher on standby, and to start the “thing” they had discussed earlier. Suspicious!

For the time being, Seok-ho asks Ma-ri to act as the substitute homeroom teacher. She clearly has no idea what she’s dong as she tells them to start working before she handed out the worksheets. They still are hard at work, oblivious to all the drama that is happening.

Soo-jung is wandering around on the street with no purpose anymore. She reminisces about when she first became a teacher and how happy she was. A few clips show her past, and she smiles about her memories while sitting by herself outside a convenience store sipping coffee. Seok-ho goes out to look for Ki-bong and Soo-jung. A lady answers Soo-jung’s phone and Seok-ho finds her, drunk.

Ma-ri exits the classroom and angrily calls Soo-jung after seeing her tired eyes. Soo-jung doesn’t answer her phone so Ma-ri leaves a message demanding how she could so easily resign.

And of course, as soon as she says that, someone walks out the door. “Teacher Soo-jung…resigned?!?!” The other kids step outside to see what all the commotion is about, and Baek-hyun’s insides begin to boil with his all-too-familiar anger issues.

Soo-jung wakes up the next morning to a nurse telling her to go home and stop drinking alcohol. Seok-ho left a bag with her, and she opens it to find a camcorder. She turns it on, and her message plays. “Puppy, go ahead and bark. The train will leave anyway.” Whatever decision he makes, she said she would just do whatever task she is assigned. Attached to the camcorder is a note.

“Why isn’t the train moving? Was the train this pathetic?”

Another notes says, ”It’s your responsibility to bring Cha Ki-bong back. Because of you, he quit.”

Seok-ho steps into the classroom the next day to find a message for him: “Special Class disbanded”.

Principle comes in and tells him the kids quit the class. Oh dear…

Comments

Like I said before, I thought his episode had more substance than previous ones. We dive deeper into the character’s backgrounds, first with Baek-hyun and Chan-doo, and now with Pul-ip.

I’m glad the kids are aware that their chances of achieving Chun ha are actually quite small. (The watcher, however knows that some positive outcome HAS to come out, I mean, it is called God of Study for a reason.) Pul-ip didn’t join to simply get accepted to Chun ha. She joined to change the way she was living; living with constant failures.

Last week Teacher Anthony was introduced with grand pomp and circumstance. Now a new teacher was introdiced with a slightly less colorful show. She looks interesting, no? Actually, my first thought was that she REALLY reminds of singing group MBLAQ’s Mir. Haha.

Episode 7 Recap

We pick up with Seok-ho storming down a hallway. He briskly opens classroom doors looking for the delinquent special class students. However, they are no where to be found.

Ma-ri gets news of this and displays her own state of panic. He abruptly stops (me thinking he’s going to smack Ma-ri upside the head) but he pulls out his cell phone and calls Chan-doo. Any particular reason as to why he waited so long to simply call them?

The kids –hiding in what looks like a storage room-are frightened when they see Seok-ho calling. Chan-doo wills his phone to stop ringing (I’m liking the Big Bang ringtone, haha) and it actually stops.

But Hyun-jung’s Yiruma ringtone starts up, and its Seok-ho. She quickly asks her suhbang what to do, and he remains silent and stoic, much to Pul-ip’s amusement.

Pul-ip gets up to leave saying she doesn’t like what they’re doing. Baek-hyun asks if she’s leaving alone, and asks the rest of the class if he forced them to come with him. Point of argument: Seok-ho is completely fooling them, and they all need to realize it.

Pul-ip, annoyed with their childish acts, proceeds to call Seok-ho and she tells him where they are. Hyun-jung accuses her of being disloyal, but Pul-ip has made up her mind. Baek-hyun keeps saying that they’re being fooled by Seok-ho, but they’re not that stupid. All she wants to do is study. What’s so wrong with that? If he’s so adamantly against Seok-ho, he should just quit alone.

Baek-hyun is not changing his mind. He’s tired off seeing Pul-ip believing Seok-ho’s wild claims telling them they can be accepted in Chun ha. His voice begins to rise against Pul-ip, but Chan-doo steps in her defense, at which Baek-hyun looks at him and says, “You, stay out of it.”

This gets to Chan-doo so he grabs Baek-hyun collar. “Hey, Hwang Baek-hyun, what are you about? Just because we let you do whatever you want, are you taking us for your followers?” With that, Baek-hyun knocks him down with one hit. Just as Chan-doo is about to fight back, Seok-ho appears at the door.

“Everyone! Back to the classroom!”

Pul-ip, Bong-goo, Chan-doo immediately leave. Baek-hyun and Hyun-jung linger behind.

As the trio walks back to the classroom, Pul-ip is concerned about Chan-doo’s mouth. Bong-goo and Pul-ip make sure any teeth aren’t loose, and Chan-doo reaches in and seems to find something wrong. Pul-ip and Bong-goo begin to freak out, but Chan-doo was only playing with them. The boys walk off playfully, but Pul-ip looks back thinking of what may be going on with Baek-hyun and Seok-ho.

Still in the hiding place, Seok-ho begins to question Baek-hyun. Even though Seok-ho is questioning the culprit, Baek-hyun throws a curve ball at Seok-ho.

Baek-hyun: “Helping me…was it with your office deposit money? Did you want to smear crap on my pride that badly? You just wanted to make me your pupil?”
Seok-ho: “You still have pride left that I can smear crap on? You have nothing, you’re a lousy student yet you still what to sit high and mighty on your pride? What a fool.”

With this, Seok-ho tells him to leave. Leave for the sake of those who actually want to study. Baek-hyun gruffly agrees. If Seok-ho wants to continue deceiving kids, fine, he’ll go. As he starts to walk out, someone stops him. Teacher Soo-jung. She turns and bows to Seok-ho telling him that she will return to the special class. She also asks that he forgive Baek-hyun this one time. When Baek-hyun begins to protest, she firmly puts him in his place.

The rest of the kids are waiting outside the classroom, and Seok-ho tells them to go in; Baek-hyun is currently talking to Teacher Soo-jung and will be gone for a while. Hyun-jung shoots Pul-ip a dirty look as she walks in, but is suddenly surprised to see a new lady erasing the board. Teacher Yi Eun-yoo.

She seems calm about the small incident, and asks about the culprit. Seok-ho responds saying he’ll be there shortly.

Soo-jung and Baek-hyun are alone in a room and she has no idea what to do with him. She wants to smack him, but she knows she can’t do that. So she decides to punish herself by holding a student’s punishment position telling Baek-hyun it is her fault; she was the one who ran away, she was the one that was stupid. He tells her to get up, and but she asks him to go back to the class. If he doesn’t go back, she’s leave. He responds by joining her on their ground. He tells her to stop, but she tells him again to go back to the classroom. He roughly stands up and grabs his bag. When she asks him where he’s going, he responds, “Didn’t you tell me to go back to the classroom?”

In the classroom, Teacher Eun-yoo is going over their current Korean Levels. Kil Pul-ip 6th grade level. Na Hyun-jung. 7th. She doesn’t even bother to announce Bong-goo’s or Chan-doo’s. She finds Baek-hyun’s grades. Hwang Baek-hyun? He enters, on the way to his seat and responds: “Yes?”

Even though their grades are ridiculously low, it doesn’t matter. All they have to do now is learn. Electric guitar music in the background accompanied by confused looks by the kids? I like this teacher.

Meanwhile, Seok-ho sends Soo-jung on her next mission before her return: bring back Teacher Cha Ki-bong.

Teacher Eun-yoo begins her lesson much the same way the other teachers did: asking the kids if they think ______ is a boring subject. And as usual, all the kids agree it is.

For Pul-ip the textbooks are too boring. Teacher Eun-yoo agrees. For too many people, the language is too sacred. (Hence the book basking in the light and the cathedral organ music playing). You are to have fun with it, but not fall into the traps. The feelings that make your heart move, its poisonous. (And hence the cute mini-skit the kids act out in their minds). So in order to enjoy what they have to read, the kids have to be pumped with some of this poison. She plops a pink suitcase onto the podium, and opens it.

During the class period, Soo-jung visits Ki-bong. She sees hoards of little kids running out and crying. As soon as he sees her, he goes back inside. She follows him and is kicked out; he’s in the middle of a lesson. So she goes outside and knocks over a metal bowl, (“Be quiet out there!) and she waits.

Back in the classroom, the kids are reading very sensuous pieces of literature. The kids seem to be easily soaking it in and picture the stories in their minds. Baek-hyun giggles seeing the beautiful Pul-ip in a sageuk setting as she reminds him “of the moon and the stars. If it ever…(“suhbaaaaaaannngg”) eh? suhbang?” He snaps out of his daydream to have Hyun-jung recite just what he was thinking about Pul-ip. “Whenever I see you suhbang, I see the moon and the stars.” The kids were never exposed to such an emotional piece of work, so their studies in Korean were always boring to them. When you carefully read without any forced pressure, you can really discover how beautiful the literature is.

Soo-jung is getting tired of waiting outside so she moves inside and plops herself smack dab in the middle of his room, much to the amusement of the students. Until he goes back, she’s not leaving.

During break time, Pul-ip accidently drops a piece of paper and Baek-hyun, following close behind, picks it up and looks at it. It’s the study guide she used for the English competition. He’s about to hand it back, but when she sees him, he hurridly hides it. They sit to eat lunch together, but Pul-ip still won’t acknowledge Baek-hyun.

Hyun-jung prepared a fruit feast for Baek-hyun (his complexion wasn’t looking good lately) but he won’t eat it. Chan-doo pretends his food is fruit: this is apple, this is kiwi… He asks Pul-ip what she likes. Strawberries! Oh how she misses strawberries. Baek-hyun’s listening! Chan-doo attempts to feed her the kimchi strawberry and she’s embarrassed. But she takes it and plays along. Hyun-jung looks at them with annoyance, but Baek-hyun-out of spite-begins to stuff his mouth with the fruit Hyun-jung brought. Haha.

Meanwhile back at Ki-bong Academy, he begins to eat his own lunch. But the sound of Soo-jung’s sleeping growling stomach makes him put down his food, and next thing you know, he’s happily walking out with a very excited Teacher Soo-jung.

After lunch Bong-goo and Chan-doo are reading the tasty lit. that Eun-yoo gave them, and Teacher Young-sook spots them. She takes it away from them and is shocked to see what they are reading. She confiscates the papers and angrily walks off. However the Gym teacher asks if they have any more. (Haha). And yes, they have a lot more.

Teacher Young-sook confronts Eun-yoo and Seok-ho about the readings the kids had. And as a twist of characters, Eun-yoo is actually Young-sook’s sunbae, (older peer=more respect). So…“Don’t get in my way.” HAHA. O.M.G. I LOVE THIS LADY.

Seok-ho confronts Eun-yoo and tells her there is not enough time for them to be reading those things. She easily tells him to trust her, and tells him off too, “expecting people to do the things your way all the time is not a good thing.” “She is right.” In walks Ki-bong with a successful Soo-jung. The teachers have a faculty meeting and plan their strategy. The midterms are in two weeks. And their only goal: to receive a perfect score on the exams. It’s time to floor it.

But before they do that, some special guests were invited to join them.

It’s cute how Hyun-jung greets Grandma, and how Chan-doo greets Pul-ip’s mother.

Soo-jung is shocked to see Chan-doo’s father step in, and in the background, we see Anthony’s assistant looking very sneaky with a camera. Foreshadowing?

Seok-ho leads the parents through a tour of the sleeping quarters and Chan-doo’s mother can’t believe the condition of the sleeping arrangements. Soo-jung assures her the kids love it, and Grandma even tells his mom, “And there has to be pain to gain something.”

While still in the room, Seok-ho has an announcement to make. “Please do not expect your child to get into Chun ha.” The parents look around confused and he goes on to further explain his reasoning. “This is the chance you have to love your child.” Their duty as a parent is to encourage and love their child despite whatever may happen. He even leads them through a chant: “It doesn’t matter whether you pass or fail!”

Meanwhile, Ma-ri keeps thinking of her awkward interactions with Seok-ho, and she’s fighting them. Haha. She’s interrupted by the principle who tells her that the WBG’s acquisition team is here! She is at first happy to hear that, and then her feelings about it change.

Back in the classroom, Seok-ho is straightening out the desks, and Chan-doo’s mother hands him an envelope telling him to use its contents for the class or for himself. He accepts it, and Tina watches in the background, seeing all of this.

Soo-jung runs into Anthony outside and he tells her to stay quiet about him telling her to leave. Hahaha. She playfully disregards all negative feelings and hurries into the classroom. Here she sees Grandma, scrubbing away at a desk. Grandma saw all the other parents bring nice things for the class, but all she has to offer is her cleaning skills. Soo-jung offers to help her and they work together to finish the classroom. Seok-ho sees this kind gesture.

Seok-ho arrives home to a dark room and carefully turns on the light. Baek-hyun broke into his room and was waiting for him to come home. Baek-hyun questions him about losing his office and why he came to live in such a shabby room. Baek-hyun thinks he’s using any method possible to keep him tied down, and Baek-hyun is fighting to pay him pack. Fighting to retain his pride. Seok-ho has one way Baek-hyun can pay him back. Get a perfect score on him midterm. If Baek-hyun succeeds, Seok-ho will kneel in front of him for the whole school to see. “Just get ready to kneel in front of me.” With that, Baek-hyun leaves.

Chan-doo’s home, and his loving mom placed a bowl of strawberries on his desk. And he immediately thinks of Pul-ip and her desire for strawberries. At Baek-hyun’s work, his co-workers are eating strawberries. And next thing we know, Chan-doo’s riding a bike to Pul-ip, strawberries in tow.

Pul-ip gets a call. She steps outside and we see it’s from Baek-hyun. He hands her her studying paper, and she crumples it in front of her face in shame. He apologizes to her and she’s touched. He realizes now he shouldn’t have said those things to someone working so hard. It made him angry how Pul-ip was so obedient to Seok-ho. Just Pul-ip. She asks him why he was so annoyed about her, and he responds with an “I don’t know.” YEAH RIGHT YOU DON’T KNOW.

All Pul-ip asks for is that he doesn’t mind Seok-ho and he just tries his best. He tells her he’s going to study hard for the mid-terms, and she records this moment in history on an imaginary computer. He stands up to leave, but he reaches in his pocket and hands her something. But before he leaves, she asks him to make up with Chan-doo. She opens to package to find the strawberries.

And in the background watching everything, we see..

And then we see…

It’s gametime. The kids bring their belongings and their game faces. Everything is on these mid-terms. Seok-ho gives them their journals, and they’re to write what they want to get as their grade. Baek-hyun pulls his usual bad boy, and writes, “Aimed Score: 100”.

During another math session, Ki-bong scolds them for doing poorly on their last test. But Baek-hyun’s is the worst. Ki-bong angrily shows him his messy chicken-scratch handwriting and Baek-hyun almost jumps out of his chair. He restrains himself and to everyone’s surprise he simply says, “I’ll fix it.” He swallows his temper and agrees to work.

Ki-bong has written down 45 different formulas on past tests, and he has arranged the students to do 300 problems on each formula. Chan-doo shyly notices the small(er) stack of papers on the podium, but Ki-bong calls in Soo-jung, who brings in a grocery cart full of math problems. She’s about to leave, but he tells her to grab a test and join them (much to the their amusement). He walks to the back to see how she’s doing, and she’s simply translating the problems to English! Haha.

During a break, Baek-hyun comes up to Chan-doo and gives a half-attempted apology. Chan-doo scoffs at him, but Baek-hyun was being serious. Chan-doo is surprised at Baek-hyun, but then remembers Pul-ip asking him to make up. Chan-doo smiles.

Soo-jung is reading the student’s journals, and Seok-ho asks her why Hyun-jung’s parents didn’t come. She told him that she will tell him later, and he demands to know now. She hurriedly leaves announcing the day is over, and Bong-goo nearly face-plants into the door.

But Hyun-jung runs away and Pul-ip catches her. She’s off to a store to pickup new season things; if she doesn’t do it now, they’ll sell out. Oh the horrors. Pul-ip surprises her by saying she’ll go with her. It’s too dangerous for Hyun-jung to go out by herself, so Hyun-jung agrees.

They find the store, and a group of girls walk out. They recognize Hyun-jung, and she takes off running, them following close behind. She runs into a fence, unable to get past. They gang around her and start to pick on her. They tell her how much they suffered because of her transferring out. One of them winds up to deliver a punch, and Pul-ip stands in the background, not knowing what to do.

Comments

I didn’t really like how long after Baek-hyun’s bad boy this episode kept going. I thought writing down the “Aimed Score:100″ was pretty raw, but we were kind of tossed around and splashed in the face with T-ARA. Out of all the members, Hyun-jung seemed the most legit at the moment. Haha. Maybe after this episode Baek-hyun won’t have anymore reoccuring, (and honestly it was getting tiring) rebel-like moments. Rebel-like moments that don’t get him anywhere.