SYNOPSIS HEARTSTRINGS EPISODE 7

You hear that shattering of glass into tiny little pieces? That’s Kyu-won’s heart, and she walks home in a daze, letting herself get soaked to the bone. Kyu-won is angry at herself for feeling this way, and at Shin. It’s not like she ever wanted to comfort him!! (Well then girlie, you shouldn’t have fallen for him!)
Kyu-won and Shin arrive at home completely drenched. At least Grandpa doesn’t give her too much crap about wetting the floorboards or something. As for Shin, his mother’s tiptoeing around him, afraid of how he must feel about his father’s death. Shin wants to know what she must have seen in his father for her to leave her boyfriend. “He disappeared once he picked up his guitar,” she notes. So… you liked your ex-hubby for his music, nothing else? She adds that Shin is exactly the same as his father. She has no regrets though, because that short lived relationship produced Shin.

The next day at school, Shin brings an umbrella over to Yoon-su’s office. Seok-hyun catches him there, but he has no harsh words – he’s heard about Shin’s father’s passing. Instead of wanting to give the umbrella face to face, he hands it off to Seok-hyun: “Take care of her well, please.” YAY! Shin is over Mopey Ballerina Girl!

Kyu-won’s friends catch up with Shin, wondering if he saw Kyu-won last night. He didn’t, but he finds out that she’s home sick because of the rain. He overhears them walking away, talking about “the necklace.” Before he can do anything, he’s called away by one of the professors in charge of the musical as well.
Professor Hong wants Shin to help remix a song to perform with the Windflowers. She has faith that he can remix songs well, and it would help him for his portfolio. Of course he rises to the challenge.
When he gets home at night, his sister wants to make Kyu-won make some food for them. He tells her to stop treating Kyu-won like a slave, since their deal is over. Aww – he’s defending her.

Kyu-won goes back to school feeling better but not completely 100%. Her friends think that the necklace she found was hers, but she doesn’t reveal who it belongs to. Rather, she catches Shin in the park and hands the necklace back to him.

Kyu-won: I’ve decided to do what you told me to do. I won’t care about who you like, or how much your heart hurts because of it. I’ll stop liking you from now on.

Whoa, WHAT!? How did we get to the point of confession?! I wasn’t even aware that Shin really knew her feelings. She ends with sending her condolences for his father, and then leaves – probably hoping to not have to interact with him in the future again.

She walks away, bumping into Seok-hyun in the process. He invites her to coffee (in which she pours tons of liquid sugar) to ask if she’s interested in auditioning for the main actress role. He doesn’t have much faith in her since she’ll be going up against Hee-joo, but since she’s here, might as well go for it? He uses really weird reverse psychology, but hey – it works! The theme for the songs in the audition is “love.”
Tae-joon isn’t too thrilled about having an audition for the main actress, but he’s determined to make sure that Hee-joo wins. If she does so, then when he steals her away for his show, Seok-hyun’s will collapse. Meanwhile, Hee-joo warns Ki-young outside of school that he better not run away and ruin her performance again. Ki-young: “You being such a brat looked good, once upon a time.” That’s right – Hee-joo, you’re not five anymore. Cutely enough, Jun-hee appears behind her, afraid that she’s cheating on him.

Kyu-won is called over to meet with Professor Hong. Shin is having some trouble putting in the right emotions as he isn’t familiar with traditional music, so she called Kyu-won over to help tutor him. Heh – more forced situations to be together!
She tells Shin that she’s OK being near him – after all they do have practices together for the play – and warns him that she’s all serious when it comes to traditional music. Yeah, sure – if only she could go in the right direction to the library.
She hands Shin a pile of books that keep getting higher and higher, noting that every book she picks up is “essential” to learning about the right emotions and traditional music. Shin grumbles that she must be exacting revenge upon him right now.

The other Windflowers are super excited at the prospect of working closely with The Stupid, and they dab on some makeup before heading to practice. It’s a nice fusion of electric guitars and gayageum, and at one point, Kyu-won pauses to look at Shin. He catches her looking, and she gives him a smile before continuing. But Shin can’t help but look at her every so often. Sparks! Sparks!

Kyu-won meets her father outside of school, as he’s come for a visit, and she confesses that she really wants to audition for the role of lead actress. Her father’s all for it, and even guides her on what songs she could pick. Love isn’t just about sounding nice, but could also be pain, or hatred, or heartbreak. He does tell her to beware of Grandpa though.
As Shin practices next door, Kyu-won searches for the right song for her audition. She also hides all materials relating to the musical around her room in case Grandpa comes into her room.

After the next practice between The Stupid and Windflowers, Jun-hee suggests they all grab a bite to eat. Kyu-won initially declines, saying that she needs to take care of her grandfather, and Shin immediately says he has to leave. However with much prodding from her friends, Kyu-won is convinced to go. They all pass by Shin unlocking his bike, and he pouts – he thought Kyu-won wasn’t going!
So he tags along. Kid – you’re so subtle about who you like!

They all head over to a barbecue place for some grilled meat and beer. Shin just watches as Kyu-won drinks and stuffs her mouth with food. Her excuse is that because she was sick, she feels even hungrier. He warns her to eat carefully, and even steals the piece of meat she was going to grab. Dude – stop getting in between a girl and her meat! Jun-hee even offers her a wrap, which stuns his bandmates; Jun-hee never gives his food away!
Hee – my Kang Min Hyuk is just too sweet.

Karaoke time! All of them have a thrilling time, singing and dancing, while Shin just grumpily watches on. Really – no one is asking you to stay… He then sees Kyu-won turn green, and she rushes to the bathroom to throw up. All that eating and then dancing has made her feel queasy. Shin comes into her stall and starts patting her back, gloating a little bit in that “I told you so!” moment. He tells her to stop pretending that she’s OK if she’s really not, and Kyu-won sheepishly nods.

He walks her to the bus stop, as the fresh air helps her. He wishes her luck for the audition tomorrow, but Kyu-won is OK if she doesn’t win the main role. For her, just being a part of this performance has reinvigorated her love for music and the gayageum, which she was already getting quite sick of. It’s the opportunity to do something that excites her, not necessarily the role.
The bus arrives, and Kyu-won bids him farewell. But rather than taking his bike, he joins her on the bus as well, saying that he just “wants to take a bus once in a while.” Pfft.

Back at home, Grandpa is doing the laundry, since Kyu-won was sick. As he brings her clothes to her room, he looks around her room, going over to her numerous plaques. He knocks one aside, and a program for the performance drops out from behind. He starts fishing through her room and discovers all these papers and music sheets associated with that performance. UH-OH.
Kyu-won arrives home begging for forgiveness. He had thrown all of her music and programs out the front door, which Shin picks up. He overhears Grandpa yelling at his granddaughter for betraying him, and Kyu-won insisting that she wants to do the musical no matter what.

The next morning, the board president has Seok-hyun do an impromptu interview with the reporters. Tae-joon is none too pleased about the attention Seok-hyun is getting, and becomes more adamant than ever that he get Hee Joo for his performance. Seok-hyun announces to the reporters that they will be holding auditions for the lead actress, and that all of them are invited to come and watch.
Unfortunately, it looks to be a one-woman performance as Kyu-won is currently locked into her room. Grandpa is not going to let her out at all, and he took her phone already. Her absence actually worries her friends, who called but only heard Grandpa on the other end. A bunch of people are placing bets, and the Three Angry Girls who bullies Kyu-won actually want her to win. But when they hear that she might not be coming, they switch their bets to Hee-joo.

One of the bandmembers from The Stupid overhears this problem and reports back to everyone else, which of course sends Shin running for his bike. At the same time, Soo-myung informs Seok-hyun that Kyu-won is trapped at home. He too runs for his car. Now we have two men chasing after Kyu-won!
Seok-hyun gets their first, but he can’t even reason with Grandpa to get through the front door. Shut out, he dejectedly heads back to the school. Shin arrives just in time – just twenty minutes before the time of the audition – and gets his sister to do a little something for him…

Jung-hyun heads inside the house to ask for Grandpa’s help in explaining some rules of baduk. She keeps asking questions, so Grandpa goes to get the set from another room. Immediately, Jung-hyun unlocks the door and tells Kyu-won to run. She gets on Shin’s bike – surprised to see him there – and they race to school. Grandpa is all angry that she actually escaped, while Jung-hyun is happy she’s now 10 bucks richer. Kyu-won is super thankful towards Shin, but this act of kindness isn’t going to help her forget him anytime sooner.

Hee-joo performs spectacularly well for her audition, although it’s a little bland for my taste. Tae-joon is ready to leave after Hee-joo’s performance when suddenly Kyu-won bursts through the doors. Seok-hyun smiles proudly at seeing her show up.

And of all songs to sing, Kyu-won chooses C.N. Blue’s “I Will Forget You” as her audition song. (English version is “Teardrops in the Rain.”) Wow… Kyu-won evokes such emotion that she even cries during her performance, and she moves everyone in the room. It’s not technically good, but it’s moving. Shin even comes in, watching her in wonder. Yeap – he’s fallen for her.
The votes are cast in a ballot, and Seok-hyun counts them out. Out of all 8 judges, the winner won 6-2. It’s Hee-joo.
URGH.

Tae-joon gives her a standing applause as the reporters flash their cameras. But despite Hee-joo’s gleeful moment, all of the students watching from behind rush up to Kyu-won and congratulate her. The difference between the two is so disparate, where Hee-joo has no friends to congratulate her, whereas the “loser” Kyu-won has the support of all her friends. Even Three Angry Girls don’t feel good about winning their bets placed on Hee-joo.
Seok-hyun is disappointed, but he concedes to Yoon-su that Kyu-won’s singing wasn’t as good as Hee-joo’s. Yoon-su reminds him that they have a date, and he promises to meet her there.

Outside of school, the friends all want to go celebrate. Seok-hyun comes out and stops Kyu-won for a moment. He’s glad she showed up for the audition, but… she lost him $10!! Kyu-won: “But you said I was going to lose anyways!” He ruffles her hair in frustration: “But I didn’t think you really would!”
Shin arrives at that moment to remind her to go home – she has Grandpa to deal with. Seok-hyun smiles wryly – who’s Shin all of a sudden? Kyu-won’s manager? Shin offers to give Kyu-won a ride, but she rejects it. After all, being in more close proximity to him isn’t going to help at all. Seok-hyun offers to drive her home instead; as the director of the performance he might be able to smooth things over with the grandfather better. Kyu-won accepts the offer.
Shin stares moodily. Once again, he’s lost another girl to Seok-hyun.

SYNOPSIS HEARTSTRINGS EPISODE 6

EPISODE 6: “With the feeling that it must be” [Also "…that I/you must be here." It's intentionally pronoun-less.]

Reeling from the sight of Yoon-su and Seok-hyun reuniting, Shin lashes out at Kyu-won, calling out her crush on him. She fights back angry tears, calling him an idiot.
The teachers walk out, blissfully unaware of all the heartache they’ve left in their wake.
Shin rides home in the rain, full of tears and angry shouts. Kyu-won cries too, sitting alone on the bus. It’s like a chain of heartbreak.

Shin goes to see Dad, who senses right away that it’s been a bad day for Shin, probably because of his lady troubles. He picks up his guitar and plays a melody that he’s written for the song Shin played for him, and it lifts his spirits.
He comes home in a funk, and Mom asks if he’s still going to guitar lessons, fishing to see if his teacher has said anything out of the ordinary. He tells her the story of him loving his friend’s girlfriend and stealing her away… which incenses Mom.
She tells him to stop going there, and he flatly refuses her. She hesitates… “Do you… know who he is?” He tells her that he knows, and that he’s going to keep going there, no matter what she says. Mom trembles, tears flooding her eyes. I honestly don’t know what you thought was going to happen when you introduced them, lady. Your son’s not an idiot.

He arrives at school just in time to see Seok-hyun dropping Yoon-su off, and then goes to confront her about it. He tosses out bitterly, “So you found one—an adult man.” You are such a punk sometimes.
He asks her what she likes so much about Seok-hyun, and Yoon-su tries to walk away from the conversation. But Shin is a dog with a bone, so she finally asks what he likes so much about her.
He says “Everything.” So she says that’s what she likes about Seok-hyun. “Everything. Being with him makes me happy. Him, not you.” Damn. I do admit that although she’s a downer, her set-downs are refreshingly direct and clear—the perfect thing to force the kid to move the hell on.

He tells her that he’ll do it then—he’ll give up and forget her. He says it defiantly, as if challenging her not to regret it. I love the realism of his youthful crush, because to him it’s life and death, and he can’t see beyond what he feels. It’s not his fault either, because he simply lacks the perspective to look beyond himself. It’s sweet and endearing.
Kyu-won comes to school coffee in hand, searching for Shin. She waits by his bike all morning, and ends up leaving his coffee there, unable to see him and clear the air.
He’s busy angsting it out on the field, and finally decides to toss the necklace away. Well at least he’s trying to actually move on.

Ki-young officially joins musical practice, and he gets a half-hearted welcome from everyone except Jun-hee, who bounces up and down and squees. He quickly points out Hee-joo as his Natasha, adding that she’s very shy but really pretty.
Ki-young gets filled in on the fact that Jun-hee is a few marbles short, so not to take anything he says very seriously. Well that’s a character in a nutshell.
Seok-hyun gets warned by his sunbae that trusting Ki-young is risky, and adds that Hee-joo needs to get the lead spot over Kyu-won, to keep the university president happy. That riles him up plenty, and then he comes to practice to find that Kyu-won and Shin are playing hooky.

Oooh, bad timing. He’s just gotten through defending your ass, and then you skip practice to chase Shin? He calls her in front of everyone, yelling into the phone that she’d better get to practice or she’ll be cut from the musical.
She’s too busy following Shin to listen, and just gives him an excuse over the phone. It starts pouring rain and finally Kyu-won shouts at Shin, wondering how long he’s going to keep being like this.
She tells him that he’s being pathetic and petty. I know he’s being a big mope, but I don’t see why it should matter so much to you. I mean, let the guy work through his feelings. It’s only been half a day.

He yells back that it’s over now, and that he’s decided to give it up. He starts to stalk off, but then turns around to take the gayageum out of her hands, to carry it for her. Aw.
They stand outside a music store, waiting out the rain under an awning. It’s a nice silent moment shared between them, as they stick their hands out to catch raindrops. They say nothing, but it’s the first moment of real connection between them.
It’s moving day for Shin’s family, and Kyu-won finds out when his bratty sister comes by asking for a hammer, with no manners whatsoever. Seriously, I’m beginning to think this family was raised badly, based on both kids’ demeanor towards adults. Makes me want to yell at their mom.

She breaks a vase and makes a run for it, so Grandpa chases her all the way to their house, and Kyu-won follows suit, trying to hide her face. Shin is shocked to see her, and now his brat sister recognizes her too: “Hey, it’s that Pumpkin Girl!”
Mom finally comes out and introduces herself to Gramps, and then we flash back to when they first met. Kyu-won’s dad had brought her home as the girl he was going to marry, and Grandpa had called her the band singer who seduced his son with that devil’s music.
Shin’s dad calls Kyu-won’s dad to ask him to visit, because there’s something he wants to tell him before he dies. Kyu-won’s dad isn’t keen on the idea, and makes excuses.

Kyu-won can’t believe that she’s neighbors with Shin now, and greatly regrets her wardrobe choice for the day. The next morning she peeks at Shin’s front door, only to have him come out to find her standing there, looking as if she waited to see him all morning.
She makes up an excuse about trash day, and I die in embarrassment for her, as she tries to leave nonchalantly, but then realizes she went the wrong way. Hee. I love that they’re neighbors now.
Seok-hyun’s sunbae has had enough of watching the musical go down the tubes, and decides to form his own separate musical, to debut a month before Seok-hyun’s. HA. Oh that’s not petty or anything. It’s hilariously transparent, but whatever—it just means we’ll get some Dream High misfit/cool kids action, which is fine by me.

Kyu-won gets chewed out for missing practice, but Seok-hyun has such a soft spot for her that he lets it go once he sees how sorry she is. But she’s warned that one more missed practice really means that she’s out.
He says the same to Shin when he and Yoon-su pass him in the halls, and Shin just gives a half-hearted okay as he watches them walk off, happily in love.
Kyu-won’s dad finally goes to see Shin’s father, and flips his lid at his request for him to look out for Shin and his mom. Oh that’s a low blow. So you’re gonna steal your best friend’s girl, ruin both their lives, and then swoop in right before dying and pretend to be the noble one? Blech.

Kyu-won’s dad basically has an outburst for good reason, although he’s not exempt from being a martyr and an idiot either, so whatever.
He walks out just as Shin walks in, and his father has a seizure. He waits all day to try and see him, to no avail. So he leaves a music notebook for the nurse, to ask him to take a look at it when he’s awake.
The Brat decides she’s hungry and abuses Shin’s slave privileges to get Kyu-won to cook for her, and of course Kyu-won falls for it, thinking that she’s cooking for Shin. Oy. Mom comes home just in time to see Kyu-won get a call from her dad and run out to meet him.

Shin takes out one of his dad’s old albums that he discovered while unpacking Mom’s stuff, and remembers his short time with Dad wistfully.
The next day at school, Kyu-won reminds Shin that it’s the last day of her slave contract. He almost lets it slide, and then asks if she can find a necklace that he lost in the field. No! Don’t do that!
He rethinks it and tells her not to find it and walks off. But of course, Kyu-won doesn’t let it rest, and gets her friends to help her search the whole field. Problem is, she doesn’t know what it looks like.

Shin gets a call from Mom and then attends a funeral with her… only to find once he’s there that it’s for his father. What, you didn’t even tell him whose funeral he was going to? You are the suckiest mom ever.
They pay their respects, and Dad’s wife hands Shin his music notebook and Dad’s guitar, insisting that he take it. At home Shin asks Mom if those people know who they are, and she nods. He asks if alcoholism is hereditary, and she tells him tearfully that he’s not the same.

He caresses Dad’s album and asks his sister if he looks like him. She asks if that means it’s his father, and wonders what’s going on with him and Mom. He skips school for a few days, and slowly word spreads of the news.
Shin finally cries, looking at the song that he had given to Dad, looking at the changes had made to help him fix it. He pictures Dad’s shaking hand as he added notes and fixed his song, just before dying.

He goes to the club and plays the song, crying and thinking of Dad as he sends him off in his own way. (The song is posted above).
Kyu-won searches again for the necklace and finally finds it. She’s disappointed to discover that it’s a woman’s. She hears that Shin came to the club and rushes over there, but he’s already played and left.
She runs out to the street to find him.

He’s sitting in the rain in the same spot they were before. Only Yoon-su finds him first and hands him an umbrella and turns to go. He stops her and puts his arms around, not in a I-want-you way, but in a really vulnerable I-need-a-shoulder-to-cry-on way.
It still infuriates me that she’s even there, but it breaks my heart to see him finally cry like a little boy on her shoulder.

Kyu-won runs up clutching the necklace, only she’s too late.

Kyu-won: Shin is crying. I wanted to run and tell him before anyone else… “Are you okay? It’ll be okay.” Right now Shin is in someone else’s arms. Not mine… someone else’s.