Episode 7 Cheerful dog

Kang-tae takes care of  Moon-young all night and sleeps near her. Moon-young wakes up, Kang-tae leaves. He asks her to stay put as he will buy medicine for her and drops Sang-tae at work.

In the hospital, director and the entire staff watch the video of Eun-ja fainting in the garden. Even though she is feeling better, the nurses want to take action on Moon-young as weird things happen since she started to come here. The director decide to put her fairy tale class on hold till they find what had happened.Then he asks about Kang-tae. The head nurse informs he has taken leave today.

Kang-tae asks Sang-tae to quit working in the pizza restaurant as overworking can cause illness. Sang-tae replies he likes keeping himself busy. And he quietly reminds the one who overworks will whimper like a dog in night. Kang-tae laughs he doesn’t do like a dog as he is not overworking. The body will feel the pain when it is hurt, but heart is a liar as it hides the pain.

Kang-tae drops Sang-tae at pizza restaurant and he gets a call from Moon manager. Jae-su is unhappy about their move and he thought they will finally settle down in this city. He also wanted him as a friend seeing the way Kang-tae took care of his brother.

He explains about her symptoms and asks him not to worry about her. Manager is still concerned as his calls are not picked by her and he starts the car to visit Moon-young. Meanwhile Kang-tae buys medicine for Moon-young.

Moon-young thinks about her mom. Her mom asks Moon-young long-hair is just like her and asks her not to cut it and listen to her always. Moon-young doesn’t like long hair but nods to her mother seeing how angry she is. Present day, she tries to cut her hair but instead breaks the mirror in the dressing table.

Manager comes just in time and asks about her sleep paralysis during those hallucinations (nightmares). Moon-young replies she has been getting those nightmares ever since she has been in the house. Manager starts packing all her dresses and asks her to leave with him. He drags all her to the hallway and she pushes him in the stairs. Kang-tae saves the Manager from the fall and asks him to leave the place. Manager is too stubborn and he asks every one to leave the house. Finally, Kang-tae drags him and locks him out of the house.

Kang-tae asks her to keep the door house locked and gives her medicine. She replies she will be a junkie whenever she takes medicine if she has the symptoms. Then he takes her out to have some fresh air. He takes her for a drive and to a restaurant. Moon-young asks why he is suppressing his feelings and he looks apathateic. She asks him how he will feel if he lets all emotions out of control. Kang -tae stars at her.

Meanwhile, art director meets up Sang-tae at pizza place. Jae-su is concerned and informs Ju-ri about this meet. Art director tries to show her illustration to Sang-tae . But Sang-tae replies they will discuss it later and in another workplace and gets off work.

Moon-young and Kang-tae takes a walk. When Kang-tae gets a call from Ju-ri Moon-young answers it. Ju-ri is worried about him as he did not come to work. Moon-young replies he took care of care all day so he couldn’t make it to work. Moon-young asks Kang-tae for date. He is tired of hearing the words from her and he  finally found the meaning of ‘Get lost’ as she begged him not to run away from her. He will not do it as he did in his childhood.

Ju-ri and Manager are drinking alone outside supermarket in separate tables. Manager is so angry about Moon-young siding with caretaker after all he took care of her for 10 years. Ju-ri shouts that he is loud and is heartbroken about her unrequited love. Manager tries to introduce himself as the CEO of the publishing house. She slaps him hard and he should have made Moon-young not to move back here and she passes out. Manager remembers her voice from his phone call and recognises her as Nam Ju-ri.

When returning back in the car, Moon-young explains she will have nightmares about her mother. Seeing the notice of her class suspension, the patient has mixed feelings towards it. Kang-tae visits the director of the hospital. He asks about the encounter of Moon-young and Eun-ja. We see the mother of Moon-young is Do Hui-jae, who disappeared without a trace for 20 years. Director thinks she may have died and Moon-young must miss her. Kang-tae replies she may be afraid of her mom.

Director checks his counselling notes of Dae-Hwan and finds her mother loved her daughter a lot. She used to song ‘Oh my Darling, Clementine’ as lullaby. Director feels that something is quite fishy.

Eun-ja is exhibiting conversion symptoms. She has started to accept the fact her daughter died. She bought the expensive fur coat for her mom by using her entire paycheck. They had an argument over the price and her daughter leaves and she shouts she doesn’t need an immature daughter like her. She regrets that her last words to her daughter was so harsh. Kang-tae hears her and he thinks about his mom.

Kang-tae buys drinks and meets Jae-su. Kang-tae asks Jae-su if his mother will also feel sorry for him the way she treated him. Seeing Kang-tae in tears, Jae-su shouts to the sky and asks Kang-tae mother that she should have given more affection to Kang-tae as well. Ju-ri mother joins them and asks them to cut some slack to his mother. She is a single mother and successfully raised both kids.

Kang-tae is so drunk and he walks to Moon-young house as he couldn’t find any cab at night. Moon-young waits for him ain the stairs and asks if he had a drink with Ju-ri. He says ‘No’ and asks her to close her eyes. He surprises her by giving her nightmare doll named ‘Mang-tae’. He adds it is handmade and the doll collects the nightmare for her and eats it for her. She says it is cute and likes it. Kang-tae visits his brother in the room and hugs him. Sang-tae  reminds him their mom took them to the Chinese restaurant mom as he liked it. He cries saying he misses his mom a lot.

Moon-young is happy and she hugs the doll to sleep. Next day at hospital, Moon-young finds her class is suspended from the notice. She is angry and goes in search of the director. Kang-tae goes in search for her. Director asks Eun-ja to take some break in her life. He spots Moon-young angry and he runs far away from her.

Eun-ja apologizes to Moon-young for her behaviour. Moon-young asks her to take responsible for her actions. She takes the fur coat as the compensation and leaves . Kang-tae tries to stop her, but Eun-ja says it is time for her to let it go.

Moon-young and Kang-tae stand before Sang-tae painting. Kang-tae says his brother is immersed in her book Cheerful dog. We see Sang-tae voiceover of the story,

“Once upon a time, there lived a dog who is good at hiding his emotions. The dog was tied beneath a shade tree. He always wagged his tail and acted cute. So he got the name ‘Cheerful dog’ because he was cheerful as spring time. The dog always had fun with village kids during the day. But every night he’d whine and moan when no one is around. That’s because he wanted to cut off the leash and freely run around in the spring field.However he couldn’t , that’s why he cries every night.One day a voice inside him asked the Cheerful dog. Hey, why don’t you just cut off the leash and run away.And this is what the cheerful dog replies ‘I have been tied up way too long, so I forgot to cut myself free.'”

Kang-tae appreciates her as she has done a good job as she helped Eun-ja free from her sorrows. Dae-Hwan see her daughter and says she will end up just like her mother. Moon-young rejects the thought since she is different. In the house, Moon-young cuts her hair short.

She happily says to Kang-tae she cut off her leash. Kang-tae trims her hair properly. Meanwhile in the hospital, Dae-Hwan faints in the hallway after hearing a melody.

COMMENTS

I cut off my leash, that’s a nice way to end this episode. We see how Kang-tae presence in her life transforms her to a much confident person. The emotional bonding between Kang-tae and his mother is so memorable. Even though he is trying to suppress his emotions, Moon-young pushes him little by little to make him feel his desires. Sometimes accepting our flaws is a biggest step we can do for a better way for living our lives. Their emotional wounds are slowly healing up. Meanwhile Ju-ri tries her best to move on, and looks like the Manager may fall for her as they both end up having drinks at same place. The mystery of Moon-young is getting deeper and we still haven’t seen her face, so she may have faked her death. But at this point we can’t be sure and let me catch you in the next recap.