Backstreet Rookie Ep 14 Recap (and confession time)

Yeonjoo thinks back to Daehyun refusing her help and telling her that atoning for the past won’t change anything now. She says she’d no idea what an amazing man he was when she had him [sounds like your problem lol] so now she’s going to get him back [of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less of someone as selfish]. 

She pulls up outside the convenience store just as Daehyun presents the tulips to Saetbyul. Seeing that she turns away and leaves.

Meanwhile, Saetbyul’s delighted. And thus begins episode 14!

We get a little more context this time as Daehyun says he’s given them to her because she only has 3 days until she takes the GED [well that was fast lol]. He asks her to take good care of the store while he works at the headquarters. Saetbyul asks if he knows what red tulips mean. Daehyun seems to know but insists that they represent the Netherlands lol.

But then he takes it back saying there’s a real reason he’s giving her the flowers. He leans in close saying “I…” and of course, Daesoon has to come in at that point. Daehyun couldn’t look more upset at his sister’s timing.

His sister putters around the store and tells Daehyun to go on as he was. Poor Daehyun literally can’t go “as he was” with her there and just gives up on trying right now.

Meanwhile, Yeonjoo meets with her mothers at a fancy restaurant and informs her of what Daehyun did for her years ago by taking the hit for her. Her mother’s aghast when Yeonjoo says she’s going to get him back. She yells that no parent would let their child jump into a pit of fire [is that what Daehyun is now? This is hilarious]. And Yeonjoo finally stands up to her, but it’s really too little too late.

[I just wish she’d done this sooner. And by that, I mean years ago]

The next day, a suited-up Daehyun passes by the store on the way to work. Of course, Saetbyul has to give him the perfume-check to make sure he isn’t trying to impress Yeonjoo. She feels like his cologne smells like Yeonjoo’s and insists that he’s sick and should take the day off. Daehyun sees right through her.

[I love how he’s being so obviously cheeky]

He tells her to do all her homework and he’ll mark it when she gets back.

Saetbyul gets to work on the store but is suddenly visited by the head of Eunbyul’s agency, Ms. Yoo. She calls Eunbyul who was making friends with Daehyun’s dad, and she runs over to the store. Ms. Yoo gruffly tells her to get back to the team, and the rest of the girls on Eunbyul’s team, who’re now buddy-buddy with her I guess, show up and hug and cry over her [this is one arc I’m definitely quite uninterested in].

Yeongpil gets in trouble again when his wife finds that he’s bought yet another new massage chair. He says it’s because all his friends were going on that trip to China and she yells that she gave him the chance to go and he chose not to go and now he’s asking for stuff in return for not going [Fair point there, Boonhee]. She yells asking if he has a secret lover their or something. [Uhhh, it’s really best if she doesn’t know.]

Meanwhile, Seungjoon makes sure to assign the most onerous tasks to Daehyun. His first job: convince a franchisee who’s been with the company for 30 years from switching to a rival company at the end of his contract. Daehyun’s not sure he can pull it off but Seungjoon’s catty remarks on giving up if he can’t handle it, have him heading to the other owner’s store to make a good shot of it.

And who should he meet their but Yeonjoo who says she’s her, in place of another employee, to help out.

[Yes, sure] Daehyun thanks her for the help and they attempt to talk to the owner who’s done talking with the headquarters. He shoves them out and Yeonjoo trips on her extremely-impractical heels and bumps into Daehyun, sending him tumbling down the entryway stairs. He looks hurt but bounces back with a smile. The owner says that’s what he deserved and refuses to talk to them.

Yeonjoo drags him to the hospital with Daehyun insists that he’s fine and that she doesn’t have to feel responsible for his fall. He realizes that he left his bag at the store and runs off to get it, hopefully getting to talk with the old man as well.

Meanwhile, Saetbyul’s having trouble with Daesoon, who’s pretending that the credit card machine isn’t working so she can steal money from the cash register. It’s pretty obvious to Saetbyul as to what’s going on but she doesn’t know how to call Daesoon out on theft. At the end of the day, Daesoon steals a ton of stuff from the store and doesn’t pay for it. She calls makes off with every $50 in the cash register and there’s nothing Saetbyul can do about it.

Yeongpil sends off his friends to the airport, looking sad that he can’t join them on the trip. Only they’ve done to the wrong airport lol  and race to the right one, bumping into a lady on the way. Said lady calls Yeongpil and turns out, she’s Jangmi, come to visit Korea. [Oh Boonhee is NOT going to like this at all]. She asks if he has time to meet tomorrow and Yeongpil eagerly agrees.

Daehyun finds his bag at the store and the owner gruffly asks if he’s okay. Daehyun insists that he’s fine and hears that the owner’s about to head to the hospital. Daehyun asks what’s going to happen with the store and the owner says he’ll just lock it up. Daehyun offers to watch over the store. The owner is skeptical but has nothing to lose and agrees.

Saetbyul calls Daehyun to see if he can mark her answers. Turns out Daehyun’s been carrying around the answer key to her question book, awwwww. While she reads out her answers, he tells her if she was right or wrong. She does well sometimes, and Daehyun’s effusive with his praise. And she does quite poorly at other times and Daehyun grouses that even an elementary school child could get this right. Saetbyul ends up getting almost half the questions wrong and Daehyun’s pretty skeptical that this is going to work.

[She’s got a point there!] Daehyun warmly tells her to keep at it and that they’ll have dinner tomorrow. He can’t make it today because he has to watch over another store, he tells her, but she understands and they both end the call looking pretty happy.

The next day, Yeongpil meets with Jangmi, who appears just as pretty as she was when she was young. She asks if he’s married and Yeongpil admits he is. She says she’s divorced and in Korea because her daughter’s getting married. She reached out to him because, as it turns out, she owes him money.

Turns out Yeongpil stole $1000 from his father to give to her many years ago and she vanished right after she got the money. She apologizes and says sh’s paid him back ten-fold. Yeongpil wasn’t going to take the money but after hearing that it’s $10,000 not $1,000, he jumps at the chance. Jangmi says there’s someone she really wants to meet though: Boonhee, her former best friend.

Yeongpil jumps to Boonhee nagging him the previous night telling him she never wants to see Jangmi as long as she lives and insists that he doesn’t know what’s happened to Boonhee. Only, Boonhee calls right then.

As Yeongpil tries to explain where he is, he runs right into Boonhee who’s at the same restaurant because [uh oh] Yeonjoo’s mother has made an appointment with her to ‘discuss something’. Boonhee buys Yeongpil’s excuses that he was meeting a friend from the army and tells him to hide so that Yeonjoo’s mom (whom Yeongpil infamously sprayed with water) doesn’t see him.

This is excellent new to Yeongpil, while hiding, he ushers Jangmi out and the crisis seems averted for now.

But a new crisis looms. Yeonjoo’s mother cancels her previously-bought annuity plan much to Boonhee’s dismay and tells her that Yeonjoo was the one who made Daehyun’s promotion happen. She says that if Daehyun’s family’s finally gotten a chance at getting somewhere in life, they should abandon all that’s useless, like the convenience store. Boonhee looks worried as she thinks this over.

Meanwhile, Daesoon saunters her way to the store. Saetbyul sees her coming and blocks the doors.

Daesoon tries to brush her way past but Saetbyul stands her ground. Daesoon asks what right Saetbyul even has to stop her, and Saetbyul retorts that she’s an employee of the store. Daesoon yells back that she’s a shareholder and Saetbyul says she shouldn’t run the store to the ground then. Daehyun works so hard and Saetbyul’s trying for them to open up a second location but all Daesoon does is…

She says that Daehyun and his family may let it slide but she won’t. If Daesoon isn’t actually going to work, she should get lost. Daesoon tries to force her way in again but loses to Saetbyul’s strength haha.

Meanwhile, Dalshik’s hit a writer’s slump. He also keeps seeing Geumbi everywhere. He’s surprised when one of his hallucinations turns out to actually be Geumbi in the flesh. They try maintain their annoyance at seeing each other but that quickly fades when Dalshik admits he’s in a writing slump and Geumbi offers to help him, saying she has a writing notebook full of idea for possible chapters that she’s put a lot more effort into than her schoolwork lol.

That evening, Yeongpil and Boonhee discuss the day. Boonhee brief him on what Yeonjoo’s mom said and wonders if they should get rid of the store. Yeong makes the mistake of letting it slip that the person he met was a girl and she “paid him back”. Boonhee forgets everything in her fury that Yeongpil lent money to a woman and Yeongpil hurriedly escapes.

Meanwhile, a tired Daehyun gets to the store but brightens up immediately upon seeing Saetbyul. She sprays him down with disinfectant the second she sees him to get “rid of the virus”. Daehyun’s all “what virus?”

Daehyun laughs and lets her spray away at him. He hands her some rice cake to help her pass tomorrow’s exam and tells her to go home and get some rest. Saetbyul notices that he has a cough and tells him to take care of himself and asks if he’s sure. Daehyun insists and Saetbyul heads back.

Geumbi and Dalshik get along quite well once everything’s put aside. She dreams up some scenario that involves the lead characters in the webtoon (played by Geumbi and Dalshik of course) having to pass by each other on a narrow set of stairs at the club. Sparks fly of course, and Dalshik delightedly writes away with Geumbi excitedly along for the ride.

Meanwhile, Saetbyul’s home but puts on lipstick and sneaks out with a gift she’s gotten for Daehyun: cologne that doesn’t smell like Yeonjoo’s lol. She heads to the store to give it to him, the biggest smile on her face, but finds him passed out, quit ill.

He’s rushed to the hospital where it turns out that it’s overwork. Boonhee and Yeongpil mention in front of Saetbyul that it’s probably a good idea to close the store, with how hard it is for Daehyun to manage everything. They ask Saetbyul to head home and focus on her exam because that’s what Daehyun would want, but Saetbyul can’t stop worrying about him.

Right then, Daehyun calls and asks how she’s doing. He thanks her for having come by the store and found him and asks what made her come by. Saetbyul says she just missed him and he smiles to hear it. He notes that she’s call grown up and can take care of herself, almost as a note to himself. He says he’s something important to tell her but can’t bring himself to do so and tells her to just pick c) if she doesn’t know the answer to a question. They joke around a bit and he tells her to get some rest.

The next day dawns and Saetbyul writes the exam, remembering everything Daehyun taught her. Questions he predicted would be on the exam, show up and she smiles to see it. Afterwards, she runs to the hospital and finds Yeonjoo talking to Boonhee.

Yeonjoo assures her that the company will pay all expenses and asks her to consider letting the company run the store while Daehyun works as a consultant at the headquarters. The family can opt out as they wish. [It sounds too good to be true.] Boonhee says her mother said something similar. For the first time, Yeonjoo shows some manners.

Boonhee gruffly says that her mother wasn’t wrong and they can relate to each other as parents of kids who work at the same place. Right then, Bonhee sees Saetbyul and fusses over her and how the exam went. She tells Saetbyul to take care of Daehyun and leaves.

Yeonjoo stiffly tells Saetbyul that she wishes her all the best on her GED results. She also reiterates that they’re planning on making Daehyun’s store company-operated as opposed to family-operated. Saetbyul says the store is everything to Daehyun though. Yeonjoo says this is Daehyun’s chance to get wealthy and work his way out of the lower middle-class.

[Okay, this is bs for several reasons. Daehyun may have quit the head office because of Yeonjoo, but he didn’t like working there anyway. His memories were full of being berated for the smallest things, even things he hadn’t done, because his specs weren’t as good as anyone else. He took this job because it was a good opportunity but not due to any real affection for the head office. This is Yeonjoo forcing her beliefs on Daehyun. She thinks he wants to become rich, without understanding that Daehyun wants, above all, to be HAPPY. This isn’t about what’s best for Daehyun right now. Everyone’s only considering what’s best for themselves FINANCIALLY. And believe me, money is nice. But tearing your mental health to pieces for money hurts in a way that can never be described.]

Yeonjoo rushes to Daehyun’s side after that and tries to hold his hand. Saetbyul knocks her hand away and Yeonjoo says she was just worried. She adds “I guess you didn’t know but he fell because of me.” Saetbyul looks worried hearing that. Daehyun awakes and asks Saetbyul how the exam went. He acknowledges Yeonjoo who awkwardly leaves after seeing he’s doing well, but pauses when she hears Daehyun try to make plans for dinner with Saetbyul.

Meanwhile, Geumbi and Dalshik finally put their differences aside and after having a long heart to heart, decide that they’ll date once his webtoon is finished.

Daehyun’s discharged and eats his fill at home. He’s surprised to hear of his parents’ plans and acts as expected.

But his parents continue to pressure him on what they want and Daehyun sighs, unable to get any peace. That night, Saetbyul also thinks back to Yeonjoo saying that anyone can own a store but not anyone can become a consultant.

The next day, Daehyun confronts Yeonjoo.

He reiterates if he had to choose between the store, he would, without hesitation pick the store over the consulting job. Yeonjoo says that the old store owner (whom Daehyun was helping out) called the head office to thank him for everything he’s done. She says his work is meaninful to store beyond his own. Daehyun understands but says his first responsibility is to his store. Yeonjoo says she knows that and he’s probably worried about Saetbyul’s future, which is why she’d like to make an offer….

The next thing we know, Daehyun’s treating a delighted Saetbyul to sashimi. She asks if he’s doing this because he won’t be around for a while and he disagrees, saying he’s quitting his job. Saetbyul asks which job, and he answers that it’s the consulting job. He frames it as the head office giving him a choice between being a consultant or a store owner, and since the store is his first responsibility, he’s going to quit. He says the alternative is for Saetbyul to be promoted to assistant manager and for him to be a consultant but that would be too hard because they’d send someone down from the head office to be her manager.

Saetbyul thinks back to her assertion to Daehyun that she wants to run her own store in the future and Yeonjoo’s remarks on doing what’s best for Daehyun and she tells him to keep the consulting job and let her run the store.

Daehyun looks worried saying they don’t know who might be sent down from the head office to be her manager. But Saetbyul insists it’ll be fine. At the same time, Yeonjoo instructs Manager Bae [uh oh] to run the store. He’s hesitant but she points out that it’ll get him in her good books. She orders him to do everything to get rid of Saetbyul. [Oh that bich, just when I was hoping she’d gotten rational]

Meanwhile, Daehyun takes Saetbyul to the rooftop of her former house. He’s gotten it all decked out and tells her he knows how important this place is to her, that’s why he wants to tell her something really important here and now.

He pulls out another bouquet of red tulips and tells her

Saetbyul thinks to herself that red tulips symbolize a confession of love.

Daehyun says: “I thought I had to fall in love at first sight to be in love. But when I met you three years ago and again as an employee, you changed my mind. I started thinking that destiny is
something gradual, something you make with memories. And I felt that every day I spent with you. You’re so special to me”

Saetbyul looks like her dreams are coming true.

“Saetbyul, I would like to be someone special to you too. Will you accept my red tulips.”

Saetbyul just stares at him like she can’t believe her eyes. And thus ends episode 14!

Thoughts:

Wow, that was a pretty meaningful speech. I like how he emphasized that it wasn’t love at first sight and that he grew into this. It might seem like he’s jumping into his but his relationship with Yeonjoo died so so horribly that there are no residual feelings, nothing he needs to get over. He works with her just fine. He feels nothing anymore, rather she’s the one with residual feelings. So this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise really!

Two more episodes and a decent amount of conflict left. Will Manager Bae drive Saetbyul away from the store? Will Yeonjoo finally learn her lesson? Will we see Jiwook again And will Boonhee ever find out that Jangmi’s back in Korea?

Next week will tell!