Worshipping
Episode 6 of My Liberation Notes starts with Mi-Jeong and Gi-Jeong both heading home together. The latter continues to look at her sister, contemplating what her relationship with Mr Gu is. For now, they continue to keep things secret, although ironically Mi-Jeong passes that billboard (“something good will happen to you today”) and snaps a photo of it on her way to work. She sends it to Mr Gu for inspiration. At work, Mi-Jeong notices plane tickets have been printed out using the company printer by the women she’s supposed to be friends with. They’re all going to Guam but none of them have even bothered to ask Mi-Jeong. This obviously causes awkwardness in the office, something that these cliquey girls eventually leave and discuss in the hallway. Mi-Jeong shrugs it off though, even making a quip to another colleague at lunch that they wouldn’t invite her because “she doesn’t own a bikini.” This also puts their chat several episodes ago about swimwear into context. Elsewhere, Chang-Hee continuds to experience issues at work. Chang-Hee is desperate to try and get in his boss’ good graces. Now, Alpha Retail offer rental assistance to stores with high sales. Chang-Hee is tasked with getting this store owner to agree to sign on with them before other chains make better offers. It’s a 5 year contract and the man is looking to retire soon. He’s made more than enough money and isn’t interested in being tied down to a contract. However, he suggests Chang-Hee do it. Chang-Hee laments that none of his friends have much money, given he would need a 300 million won deposit to get the ball rolling and they don’t have that lying around spare. When Chang-Hee stops by Mr Gu’s place and drops off some bottles of soju, he finds a whole room full of empty bottles. So he starts recycling them. When Mr Gu heads home and notices Chang-Hee clearing them out, he demands he stop and leave the bottles where they are. They’re obviously only trying to do the right thing but his hostile attitude is enough for Chang-Hee and Du-Hwan to walk away and leave everything as it is. At dinner, Chang-Hee broaches the subject of the store deposit (300 million won) to his parents. He talks to them about the pros and cons, including how the store makes a lot of profit, and the owner is turning 80 and leaving. Chang-Hee tries to encourage his father to invest, pointing out this is a great opportunity for him. He refuses, instead telling Chang-Hee that if he wants to do this then he can come up with the money himself; he won’t object. Unfortunately, A-Reum is the one who jumps in before Chang-Hee and her father signs the lease. Chang-Hee bemoans his luck, given he wishes his parents were more like A-Reum’s. While at the bank, Chang-Hee can feel he anger welling up as people take forever in front of him. When a man asks to go before him because of his bus, Chang-Hee grits his teeth and allows him. The man is clearly in a rush though and leaves his account up, where it shows he’s unable to withdraw 50,000 won. This inadvertently makes Chang-Hee feel better as he realizes that others have issues just like he does. Gi-Jeong heads into the barbecue shop and runs into Tae-Hoon. The pair discuss the power of apologies and how they seem to have lost their effectiveness nowadays. In fact, now seems like a good time for Gi-Jeong to sincerely apologize for badmouthing him that day, and he graciously accepts it. The pair both bow to one another, before Tae-Hun returns to work and Gi-Jeong gets back to drinking with the girls. Mi-Jeong is there too but she’s preoccupied with texting Gu, telling him that she loves worshipping him and that talking to him makes her feel good. Heading back in her drunken stupor, she even takes a picture of his house. Mi-Jeong visits Mr Gu, who continues to drink. He admits that he hates the sight of people moving around and talking in front of him. He’s sick of listening to their gibberish and reveals it’s taxing to think of what to say next. Funnily enough, this is how Mi-Jeong feels too, which we know given what she wrote in her diary. In the middle of their chat, Mr Gu stands up and gets Mi-Jeong an ice cream from the freezer. He actually bought this for her while he was drunk, admitting that he acts more human when he’s drunk than he does when he’s sober. In the morning, Mr Gu actually starts cleaning the place up himself. He ends up selling the empty bottles…and buying more alcohol of course. However, he also sees Du-Hwan on the way back and throws over a couple of cans over as a thank you. Back home he receives a message from Mi-Jeong; the picture of his house she snapped the night before. Mr Gu sends a few messages, prompting Mi-Jeong to admit she’s as happy messaging him as she is when she gets her pay check. Mr Gu cleans up his house and even messages Mi-Jeong to let her know. “What do you think I’ll do in my clean house?” He says. “Drink” is Mi-Jeong’s reply. Off the back of this, Mr Gu makes more of an effort while Mi-Jeong actually compliments her colleagues too. After a big day of change, the pair reconvene over a drink. Mr Gu admits that during the winter he actually locked himself in the room and slept around all the bottles of soju. He couldn’t be bothered to move them or throw them out, he just incubated like an egg. As the pair lightly flirt, pointing out they’re worshipping one another, we end things on a positive note. The next day, Chang-Hee is confident he can make the same jump Gu did at the end of episode 4. Mi-Jeong pleads with him to stop while Gu points out he needs to do 100m in under 11 seconds (alright Usain Bolt, chill out!). Change-Hee doesn’t make the jump, naturally, but we do see a bit more about Gu and what he may be hiding. Back home, he receives a message from someone telling him to pick his phone up. It’s time for them to move, they need to go and they don’t need to hide anymore. Hide from what? Move where?
The Episode Review
My Liberation Notes bows out with another good episode, slowing down a little as we’re drip-fed more information about Gu and his past. It would appear that he’s actually hiding from someone or something in his past. However, the drama here mostly gravitates toward Chang-Hee and his problems at work. He’s desperate to try and make more money while at the same time, laments that his parents aren’t more ambitious and want to try and better their financial situation. It’s a tricky position for Chang-Hee to be in, and one that encapsulates most of this episode. We don’t see an awful lot of Gi-Jeong here, though we instead focus on Mi-Jeong and her growing ties with Mr Gu. Seeing the pair slowly push through their own insecurities and issues is great to see and it makes for a really wholesome journey as these two slowly start to grow past their issues and depression through worshipping each another. The character writing in this show is fantastic and easily one of the big highlights here. For that alone, My Liberation Notes is solidifying itself as one of the better dramas this year and it’ll be interesting to see where this one goes next. Unfortunately now comes the excruciating wait for next week’s double-bill!
