We start off with Jiwook throwing down the gauntlet and informing Daehyun that he’s in love with Saetbyul. The object of said interest interrupts and informs them that shooting’s starting soon so the trio head off to the store where Jiwook’s primped and powdered within an inch of his life.
Saetbyul says he is a celebrity after all and Daehyun runs off to the back of the store and applies a ton of foundation much lighter than his skin tone lol. And thus begins episode 12!
Jiwook’s shift as a convenience store employee is a major hit. The same schoolgirls who used to fawn over Daehyun fawn over him, must to Daehyun’s annoyance. Daehyun also accidentally drops some products the girls slides over and they joke that Jiwook seems more like a store manager than Daehyun. He’s left embarrassed at the public gaffe and gets even more awkward.
The worst part is that the girls race off without paying because Jiwook promises them a picture. Saetbyul sees Daehyun’s nervousness and passes him an herbal tonic while berating him for the slip-up. She notices his makeup and giggles at how cute he is while Daehyun insists that he’s just naturally pale. But he runs off and checks himself in the mirror and panicks even more when he sees how much lighter the foundation was.
At the same time, Saetbyul chews out Jiwook for making Daehyun look bad.
Daehyun looks pretty pleased when Saetbyul goes on and on about how he’s different from Jiwook who’s spent his life in front of a camera. She says Daehyun’s nervous and to stop making him look bad. She says Daehyun’s turning 30 soon. 
Daehyun scowls turns away, while Saetbyul continues to tell Jiwook to be more considerate lol.
In the meantime, Dalshik and Geumbi have respective breakdowns after finding out each other’s identities. Geumbi cries in bed all day and ignores her dad while and Dalshik performs some impressive handstands and ignores his editor.
Back at the store, Daehyun’s attempted to gel his hair up and scowls to see Saetbyul and Jiwook having ice-cream together. Little does he know that Saetbyul made sure that Jiwook paid for the ice-cream from the store and asked after Daehyun because she wanted to share it with him. To outsiders, Saetbyul and Jiwook seem buddy-buddy, but all she talks about is Daehyun. She’s convinced that Daehyun’s into her (and that may not be far from the truth!) and Jiwook’s certain she’s delusional (or rather he hopes!).
To separate the two, Daehyun sends her on an errand and the two communicate using hand signals the way they usually do. Jiwook’s flabbergasted and convinced Saetbyul’s lying to him when she says they understand each other perfectly. It’s more proof of how close the two are.
Daehyun’s parents decide to drop by the convenience store to support Daehyun as well. Boonhee’s worried that Yeonjoo might cause trouble but Yeongpil says it’s their store and they should support their son.
And looks like that support might be necessary. At the store, Daehyun and Saetbyul preview the Shinsadong noodles recipe tey came up with that includes tripe from another restaurant. The restaurant sells tripe for $1.50 that Saetbyul and Daehyun mix into noodles from the convenience store. But one of the managers, Manager Bae (the one that harassed Yeonjoo and now sucks up to her) pauses the filming and yells at Daehyun for not promoting the convenience store’s own tripe products and using another establishment’s products. Daehyun points out that their store products are 4 times more expensive at $6, and it’s better to support fellow restaurant owners who can, in turn, drive business to the convenience store. (Daehyun’s pretty correct about this. Using another store’s products creates collaboration and boosts sales because the owners and workers will recommend the convenience store as it sells their products. Selling your own expensively-priced version of another store’s products just makes them your competitors and that helps no one).
Manager Bae fires that Daehyun should focus on selling his own products and for once Daehyun doesn’t sit back and take it.
Manager Bae laughs and turns to the camera and tells them to stop shooting right now. And Saetbyul loses her temper and gets to her feet with an annoyed snort. She tells the manager (whom she calls Mr. Out-of-breath due to their first encounter when he was jogging and begged for water) and tells him he’s out of line. She yells at him for spraying saliva all over their noodles and asks if his mouth is a spray bottle lol.
Manager Bae’s embarrassed enough to call a 10-minute break, but immediately informs Yeonjoo (who’s having a swanky lunch with Seungjoon, I swear rich execs never work, they just show up for 5 seconds to look pretty and then waltz off to fool around all day but get paid millions. Once again, I HATE rich people.)
Saetbyul thinks that Daehyun’s going to tell her off but he surprises her. 
She gleefully relates everything to Jiwook who was already there but hears it anyway lol. She sighs at how cool Daehyun is and Jiwook says that, to him, she was more impressive. Saetbyul says she’s pretty cool but can never measure up to Daehyun.
Right then a customer comes in but it’s a little kid who looks a little uncomfortable. He almost bursts into tears when Saetbyul says that Daehyun isn’t there at the moment but she and Jiwook can check his things out. Judging by his clothes, she surmises that he’s one of the DreamingTree card members (where customers don’t have to pay due to poverty). But the kid tears up and Saetbyul and Jiwook panick not knowing what to do. Luckily, Daehyun shows up and faux-scans the kid’s items. He treats it as a transaction not charity, and throws in some milk for the kid, who smiles again.
Saetbyul watches the entire thing, lovestruck and Jiwook watches her, equally lovestruck.
Yeonjoo shows up and apologizes for Manager Bae’s behaviour and makes Manager Bae apologize too. Daehyun says he wasn’t right either and tries to apologize but Saetbyul looks him back and levels a flat stare on Yeonjoo.
She shepherds Daehyun into the back of the store and Yeonjoo watches looking…idk what that expression is but it isn’t happy. At the back of the store, Saetbyul tells Daehyun to stop caving in and accepting fake apologies like that. She says that from now she’s not going to let anyone step on him. She’s appointed herself his guardian angel and they need to stick super close for her to work her magic. Daehyun looks embarrassed but says she is pretty reliable and they smile at each other.
Outside the store, Yeonjoo leaves and tells Seungjoon on the phone that she just apologized and smoothed things over. She says ‘I guess this neighbourhood doesn’t suit me. I don’t like anything about it” right as she’s walking by Boonhee and Yeongpil. Yeonjoo wasn’t aware they were there but Boonhee loudly laughs Yeonjoo must’ve said for her to hear. Yeonjoo notices them and insists she didn’t see them, but Boonhee’s past believing that.
She says that she gets that Yeonjoo doesn’t like this neighbourhood but it’s because she judges things by their looks. Yes, they live in a poor neighbourhood but so what?
OH YES MAMA CHOI OH YES, TELL THEIR RICH BITCH WHERE TO SHOVE IT.
Boonhee disgustedly walks off, leaving Yeonjoo unsure of what to do.
Saetbyul finds that one of the highschool girls from earlier accidentally left their English textbook at the store. She tries to read it but can’t fluently get through. She’s so focused that Daehyun startles her when he sneaks up on her.
He asks if she has no plans on returning to school. She has wants to take the GED, but doesn’t have the time right now so she’ll take it when she has the time. Daehyun presses her on a date but she just says “whenever”, and he sighs at her lack of ambition. She says she wants to be a convenience store manager, that’s what she’ll aim for. Daehyun asks her why on earth she’d want to do that when her dream was of becoming a florist. Saetbyul moved that he remembered that.
She says she’s changed her dream after seeing how Daehyun was with the kid today. She wants to be just as cool as he is (but having your own dreams is a good thing!). She says that she’s enjoyed working at the store and at becoming a ‘needed person’ to many people. She said she made up her mind for certain today. Daehyun watches her with some sort of deep emotion written all over his face.
They joke around and Saetbyul looks positively smitten. Daehyun jokes that once she’s fallen for his charms, there’s no way out. Jiwook watches the entire exchange, sighing that Saetbyul only smiles like that for Daehyun.
Saetbyul and Daehyun debate on who should go home and who should stay at the store. She volunteers to stay and Daehyun takes her up on in grousing that he’s turning 30 soon after all and everyday makes it harder to move. Saetbyul laughs that’s he’s so pretty for overhearing that and stewing on it for so long. She asks if that’s why he parted his hair to show his forehead and Daehyun insists that it isn’t and he just wanted to show that he had no wrinkles lol.
He leaves and runs into Jiwook, who comments on how similar his hairstyle is to Daehyun’s. Daehyun insists he came up with it first way back when lol. He’s about to tell Jiwook that he’s clocking off when Jiwook perks up and says he’ll get more time with Saetbyul now. Daehyun immediately says that he meant Jiwook should clock off. They argue over who should go home and Jiwook even brings age into it, saying he’s too young to get tired lol. They finally race back into the store and Saetbyul wonders what’s going on.
They both insist that they are staying at the store tonight and Saetbyul agrees they can do that, and happily takes off to take a nap LOL. Both guys look like they’re really regretting their decisions.
The end of Jiwook’s shift dawns after 25 hours and everything wraps up. Yeonjoo formally thanks Daehyun for use of the store and Daehyun responds in kind. He returns to the store to find Saetbyul and Jiwook happily chatting away despite filming being done.
Jiwook offers to accompany her to Eunbyul’s showcase and Saetbyul asks Daehyun for a half a day off. He agrees but wants to come. Saetbyul says it’s probably best if he doesn’t and is about to head off with Jiwook much to Daehyun’s displeasure. But right then, Jiwok’s manager shows up with a gig for him. Jiwook wants to prioritize the showcase but Saetbyul tells him it’s fine and Daehyun’s more than happy to see him go lol.
She heads to Eunbyul’s showcase by herself and sees her sister looking all dolled up and beautiful. For a second the two sisters stare at each other, Saetbyul looks moved and proud of her little sister and Eunbyul looks like she has something to prove and something to fight for.
Then the moment breaks as Eunbyul is ushered in.
Half way through the showcase, Eunbyul slips and falls, getting a nosebleed. She continues dancing with a smile and soon the internet’s flooded with articles praising her persistence. Saetbyul returns to the store looking morose. Daehyun asks if she watched the showcase but Saetbyul’s evasive saying she was too nervous to watch it after all.
Eunjo sends her the video of Eunbyul falling. Saetbyul watches it but is proud of her sister for making it all the way through. (I wonder why she didn’t watch the showcase though, she was right there). Eunbyul tears up over the phone saying Saetbyul was the first person she thought of when she was done. To her, Saetbyul is both mother and father.
She tells Saetbyul to hang in their a little longer and she’ll give Saetbyul a good life. Saetbyul tears up, and tells Eunbyul that she’s still along way from success and to do her best. 
Turns out Daehyun was trying to eavesdrop the entire time lol. But he notices that Saetbyul’s been crying. He jokes that she’s too human after all to even cry. Saetbyul says Eunbyul was a pain in the butt half the time and caused more trouble than she could fix but she’s proud of her regardless. Daehyun says he’s certain Eunbyul knows that, and he’s sure that everything will go well.
Saetbyul gives him the bouquet she got for Eunbyul in the same way he gave her flowers lol. They even filmed it at the same angle.
Daehyun says no one’s ever given him flowers before but deflates when Saetbyul lets him to put in a vase make it look good for the store lol.
Meanwhile, Eunbyul’s past has finally caught up to her. She’s accosted by the three iljin girls she hung around with at school who’re determined to make her life hard. They take a picture of his and save in their ‘Eunbyul folder’. Eunbyul asks what that is and is horrified to find pictures of her underage drinking and bullying. She remembers their agency head telling her and the other girls that one picture can ruin their life and to be especially careful. It’s a shame she didn’t heed that advice. Jiwook makes the mistake of calling Eunbyul then to congratulate her, and the iljin girls hatch a scheme that involves Eunbyul asking Jiwook for money to pay them.
On the other hand, Daehyun notices Saetbyul throwing out some of Dalshik’s favourite expired foods because he hasn’t been to the store in a while. He races off and finds Dalshik near comatose lol. He feeds him but Dalshik just looks at Saetbyul and wails that she keeps making life harder for him. Saetbyul wonders what’s going on and Daehyun says that Dalshik is hard to understand and they need to just accept him.
Meanwhile, Eunbyul begs Jiwook for money, telling him about her situation. Jiwook looks worried because he knows how bad this could be for him and for her.
Eunbyul insists that she wasn’t an iljin herself (Uhhh….doubt it) and that the other kids kept making fun of her for being a poor orphan so she hung out with iljins to appear strong. She says the girls promised to delete all those picture as long as he meets them. Jiwok thinks back to Saetbyul calling him Eunbyul’s guardian angel and agrees.
He goes to the pub the iljins propose and meets with them but tells them to support Eunbyul and stop calling her out to a bar when she’s underage. He gives them his autograph and they leave.
Jiwook warns Eunbyul not to stay close to those girls. Eunbyul says she won’t and asks him to keep this a secret from Saetbyul. She hates asking people for favours and she’d kill Eunbyul if she heard about this. Eunbyul starts to cry and Jiwook gently pats her on the back, but the iljin girls are lurking and snap a picture of it, vowing to make Jiwook for pay for…not paying attention to them??? [Sometimes I hate being a woman because women like this exist.]
Saetbyul and Daehyun continue working at the store and selling their new kind of noodles, while Eunbyul makes her format debut. The debut stage goes well and Eunbyul drops by the see Saetbyul. She gets a notification on her phone and pauses for a second but Saetbyul’s so eager to all the details that Eunbyul forgets about it.
When she finally remembers, the iljin girls have sent her the pictures and are now actively blackmailing her. Some are even photoshopped. Daehyun chooses right them to come out with a cake.
Eunbyul looks worried but blows out the candle when Saetbyul asks her to. Saetbyul then grabs her and leads her outside the store asking what’s going on. Eunbyul gets another message for the iljins asking her to call them in 10 seconds or else. Saetbyul sees her sister jump to attention and knows exactly what’s happened. The girls demand money from Eunbyul by tomorrow or else and hang up.
Saetbyul tells Eunbyul to call back and put her on the phone. She yells saying she warned Eunbyul not to hang out with girls like that, but of course Eunbyul didn’t listen and had to cause this mess. Eunbyul tells her to tell her what to do instead of yelling (Entitled much, as if Saetbyul doesn’t have enough on her plate). She stalks away leaving a very worried Saetbyul.
Saetbyul doesnt get much sleep that night and grouses when Daehyun asks her to come to work early. He has something for her, he says, and leads her into the back, where…he’s set up a GED study desk complete with textbooks, highlighters and notes. AWWWWWW.
He says she should start now if she wants to become a manager. Saetbyul looks moved to tears, while Daehyun says she’s super lucky to be working with a boss who cares this much about his employees lol. He jokes about what she would do without him. Saetbyul doesn’t respond so he wonders if she’s okay and that’s right when she goes in for a hug.
Daehyun breaks the hug looking awkward and Saetbyul shuffles from foot to foot wondering what to say then but when Daehyun breaks the gap and hugs her, saying he actually wanted…
Saetbyul giggles and blushes and swoons when he tells her to work hard. Daehyun’s super impressed with himself too haha. Saetbyul resolves to work hard and make him proud.
Meanwhile, at the head office, Manager Bae, Yeonjoo and the other staff note that Shinsadong noodles have become a hit. Manager Bae attributes the success to Jiwook not Daehyun and grouses that Daehyun always wants to look cool even when he quit. Yeonjoo asks him what he means by that and Manager Bae waves it off saying Daehyun’s just pretentious. Yeonjoo frowns and flashes back to when Daehyun quit.
She’s tried to convince him not to but he’d already handed in his resignation letter. She’d said he wasn’t right but he said it was the right thing to do.
She goes through company records and finds a record of a ‘Voice Phishing Prevention Campaign” that showed Daehyun as the head of the team. Her brow furrows and she confronts Manager Bae. She says she knows about the campaign because she was in charge. The campaign didn’t go well due to friction with the cops and was even submitted to the disciplinary committee. But the records show that Daehyun was in charge. Why?
Manager Bae tries to lie but Yeonjoo forces the truth out of him. Seungjoon forced Daehyun to take the blame for Yeonjoo, because he knew that Daehyun loved her and was soft enough to do so for her.
In return Daehyun asked Seungjoon not to tell Yeongjoo anything, and Manager Bae says that Seungjoon knew Daehyun was going to ask for that anyway. Yeonjoo cries in her office after hearing that.
Meanwhile, Saetbyul pretties herself up at the store knowing that Daehyun’s going to be dropping by soon for shift change. Daehyun wonders how Saetbyul’s studying is going as well. They’re both just about to meet when Yeonjoo darts into the picture.
She asks why Daehyun didn’t tell her and why he lied to her (why is this ALWAYS about HER and not Daehyun?? Why?) She says she’s sorry and hugs him promising to change everything back to normal.
Only Daehyun doesn’t seem that interested.
And Saetbyul? She doesn’t seem happy at all.
The Quill and Screen 