Mr. Helpful
Episode 8 of Hometown Cha Cha Cha begins with chief gossiper Nam-Sook spreading rumours that Hye-Jin has been hooking up with both Du-Sik and Seong-Hyeon. Mi-Seon arrives to break this party up though, calling her out for gossiping and forcing them all to leave. Mi-Soen feeds this back to Hye-Jin though but she’s not exactly bothered. She just chalks it up to Nam-Sook being her usual self. In the wake of all this drama, Du-Sik and Seong-Hyeon eventually end up heading out for food with Hye-Jin. Only, she chooses to sit next to Du-Sik, setting up this love triangle. The two guys continue to bicker, with spilt water, stolen dumplings and traded verbal sparring all on their lunch menu. Away from the restaurant, Seong-Hyeon continues to help out around town, including buying cakes for the old ladies. Du-Sik has been the top dog for such a long time that seeing Seong-Hyeon in this position certainly puts him on edge. However, it does make him look at Hye-Jin in a different light too, smitten when she takes off her neck brace in the shop later on. Yeong-Suk meets up with Hwa-Jeong after seeing the orthopedic. He speaks openly about his feelings, telling her that he still feels things for Cho-Hui and intends to tell her this later on. Hwa-Jeong refuses to hear him out, telling the man that she’s off-limits. Cho-Hui heads over to see Hwa-Jeong later that day and hands over a gift. She’s got some anti-wrinkle cream for her but Hwa-Jeong is not having this. She openly admits she doesn’t want to be friends and certainly not use the same cosmetics. She tells Cho-hui not to come by unannounced again, stamping down her authority. Down on her luck and feeling sorry for herself, she ends up drunk – and it falls to Hwa-Jeong to take her in to hospital. When she leaves, Yeong-Suk hurries in and begins fussing over her, making sure the girl is okay. Nam-Sook decides to skip out on treatment midway through, deciding to take up a cheaper dentist to finish her inlays. Well, she’s not the first to refuse it though, and it sends Hye-Jin out to confront Nam-Sook. She’s been recommending a dental technician that’s cheaper. Hye-Jin tries to encourage her to see reason but the woman is stubborn, to say the least. She even refuses to apologize for the rumour spreading too. Well, as fate would have it Seong-Hyeon and Hye-Jin end up walking together, thanks in part to Mi-Seon pushing them to spend time together. While they do, Du-Sik goes on patrol with Eun-Cheol. While rain hammers down, he ends up seeing the pair together. Du-Sik tentatively hands over a bag for Hye-Jin, claiming he meant to just throw it away, but it’s actually something to help her herniated disks. Given how long he was out in the rain without an umbrella, in the morning Du-Sik ends up with a pretty nasty cough. Meanwhile, Hye-Jin notices Nam-Sook out with a whole envelope full of cash meeting a shady fellow. Apparently her consultant is Kim Mi-Yeong and this guy is a bank employee. As Hye-Jin pokes holes in this story, the man suddenly snatches up the money and runs. Only, Seong-Hyeon and Du-Sik both notice and see it as an opportunity to gain brownie points with Hye-Jin. Well, eventually the pair bring the money back but Seong-Hyeon does the noble thing and claims it was all Du-Sik. Well, Du-Sik is not in a good way and eventually calls it quits, heading home and deciding to lay low for the time being. It doesn’t take long for Hye-Jin to head over and help out. She patches up his cut arm and encourages Chief Hong to open up over what he’s craving. He wants tangerines. Hye-Jin eventually heads out to find them, but not before making him some porridge and deliberating about kissing him. She also leaves a massive mess in his kitchen too. Hye-Jin though, ends up talking to Hwa-Jeong about Nam-Sook later that day. She admits that the woman used to have a daughter that’s around Ju-Ri’s age called A-Ram. She was sick and after losing A-Ram, wasn’t herself for a year until she started making donations. As Hwa-Jeong puts it, Nam-Sook being a gossip and a pain is better than wallowing in grief. Hearing this is enough for Hye-Jin to make amends, telling Nam-Sook to come by the clinic so she can check out her inlays. As day turns to night, Hye-Jin leaves the dental clinic and begins heading home. Only, as she does she ends up down a street with the lights out. Her phone is dead as well. As she begins panicking, Hye-Jin rushes forward and throws her arms around Du-Sik, who shows up to check on her. As we soon learn, it turns out Du-Sik was actually awake when Hye-Jin tried to kiss him before!
The Episode Review
Hometown Cha Cha Cha turns its attention to Nam-Sook this time around, shedding light on her past and just why she’s such a gossip. It’s clear that she’s using this as a crux to try and paper over the grief she’s feeling about A-Ram. Of course, this also comes at the expense of making Hye-Jin annoyed and being a nosy gossip. Thankfully the pair do patch up their differences by the end of the episode. Beyond that though, this chapter essentially works to develop the love triangle between our trio. Although its clear by now that Du-Sik is going to end up with Hye-Jin while Seong-Hyeon is just there to stir up some drama. It’s a typical trope in k-dramas and the second-lead obstacle is just that – an obstacle. Still, this show definitely knows how to pile on the laughs and the comedy throughout this series has been excellent and really well written. The characters are what make this such an enjoyable show though and if the ending is anything to go by, it looks like we’re on course for more romance in the upcoming episodes!
