The Scandal
The shocking news about Charlie Jung’s suicide ends shockwaves through all of our characters in episode 11 of Record of Youth. Hye-Jun heads up to the police station to find out what’s happening. While driving, Hae-Hyo rings through and catches up with his friend. For now, Hye-Jun agrees to keep him posted as he tries to learn more. Elsewhere, Ae-Suk heads out shopping but gasps at the price of the clothes she’s looking at. As we see from a flashback, Hye-Jun approached her at home and asked how in debt they are, presumably offering to help them out financially. At the same time, Yeong-Nam is pressured by his work friends to mooch off Hye-Jun’s success. Specifically, they believe he should be entitled to some of his money. Back home, I-Young checks social media feeds and finds comments from fans believing that Hae-Hyo and Hye-Jun aren’t close. As Hae-Hyo arrives, she tells her son that she needs to think of Hye-Jun as a rival and competitor rather than a friend. As thing starts getting heated between them, I-Young mentions how hard she’s worked and what’s happening with Hae-Hyo’s followers. Before she can spill the truth though, Hae-Na shows up and breaks off the conversation from reaching its inevitably devastating ending. At the police station, Hye-Jun gives his statement after phoning Min-Jae and keeping her in the loop. After their statements, Hye-Jun intend to go to Charlie Jung’s funeral. Only, Min-Jae collects him from the police station and reveals he could be blowing a big opportunity. Given his fame, Hye-Jun has the opportunity to meet a big-time Hollywood director. Hye-Jun does not want to be known for being selfish and tells her that Charlie Jung’s memory is more important and he wants to pay his respects. Although she’s just looking out for him, Min-Jae makes Hye-Jun realize things could turn out badly if the press catch wind of this and spin it into a big scandal. Unfortunately this happens to be a nasty bit of foreshadowing here. Jeong-Ha meets Hae-Hyo who’s pretty forward and asks to go out for dinner. She smiles politely and reveals that she doesn’t have many clients right now for her make-up clinic. Instead, she’s trying to drum up potential clients by tutoring girls surrounding make-up artists. At work, Gyeong-Jun is called into a meeting with the big bosses who ask him to convince Hye-Jun to model for them. Given he’s being overshadowed by his brother, Gyeong-Jun smiles through this and calls a family meeting. Yeong-Nam also gets this message but a work accident brings him into hospital first. It turns out he has a weak tendon and it may well rupture. The doctor prescribes him some medicine but it’s obvious he’s getting older and can’t do the same work he once could. Although Jang-Man convinces him to mooch off Hye-Jun’s wealth, Yeong-Nam refuses to entertain this notion. With his team meeting coming up, Hye-Jun bails on Jeong-Ha for now. Jeong-Ha tells Hae-Hyo she’ll head straight home but on the way, gets dropped off by him. As she arrives home to greet him (with Hye-Jun asleep on the sofa), Hae-Hyo realizes Jeong-Ha’s left her books in his car. When he rings to give it back, she instead tells him to come back later. Inside though, Hye-Jun speaks to Jeong-Ha about her make-up studio and how he helped get it all set up for her. Cutting back (presumably!) we see Jeong-Ha’s father’s paintings up on the wall an the studio really starting to come together. In the present, Hye-Jun heads home for his family meeting. Meanwhile, Jin-U and Hae-Na head out for a bike ride together and discuss their future. That future seems to be marriage, which Hae-Na teases him with. At home, Hye-Jun sits with the others as Gyeong-Nam speaks his piece. He mentions the bank and the family’s debt, which Hye-Jun suddenly agrees to pay off. Ae-Suk refuses to accept her son’s offer though and instead tells him to buy a house and move out. Only, Hye-Jun decides to do both – pay off the debt and also get a place of his own. It’s a really selfless act but his parents are in two minds over him agreeing to do this. Cutting forward in time, Hye-Jun prepares for a big meeting. He speaks to an America director who decides they should work together. Only, this work is tarnished slightly by rumours circulating about Charlie Jung and Hye-Jun’s alleged affair. I-Young uses this to her advantage, stirring the pot with Ae-Suk and telling her about Charlie Jung. Even worse, this article has far-reaching consequences as YouTube videos jump on the bandwagon and start agreeing with Hye-Jun is homosexual. Back home, the family gather and decide they need to try and tackle this head-on. That sees them contemplate whether Hye-Jun should go with a big agency rather than sticking with Min-Jae. Meanwhile, I-Young finds a call from Jin-U on Hae-Na’s phone. Putting him on speakerphone, she overhears Jin-U mention marriage and how he and Hae-Na are together. Oh my gosh how awkward is this?! When a panicked Hae-Na returns, I-Young tries to compose herself and leaves the room. Hae-Hyo by comparison wails that he’s going to hurt Jin-U. On the back of this scandal, Tae-Su meets Min-Jae and reveals how she can deal with this situation. He suggests Hye-Jun should just sign with him instead. Min-Jae wants no part of this though and walks away from his deal. The only other alternative is to go public with his relationship with Jeong-Ha – which Hye-Jun is not prepared to do. Instead, everything crescendos into a big ending featuring three separate story strands left dangling. Ji-A has spoken to reporters and an article is due to go live shortly. Jeong-Ha is about to confess the truth about her relationship on her YouTube channel. And Hye-Jun is approached by Hae-Hyo who admits that he met with Ji-A earlier in the day. What could this mean? We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!
The Episode Review
Within this episode, Record Of Youth touches on the fickle nature of popularity and how rumours can destroy a celebrity’s life. It’s something that’s pretty big in Korea, especially looking at the suicide rate there, and this show explores these ideas in a respectful and dramatic way. The familial drama is decent and each of the characters are well written too. It’s a bit of a shame Min-Ki is kept to the back-burner for almost all of this episode though. It would have been nice to see more of him, especially his reaction to those awful rumours. On a side note though, why did Jeong-Ha tell Hae-Hyo to go home? That’s really sneaky and makes it seem like she’s doing something she shouldn’t. This is, of course, ridiculous as he’s said to him multiple times that she and Hye-Jun are dating. It all feeds into that misunderstanding trope that this one appears to be shifting toward, leading to Hae-Hyo betraying his friend. This could be what’s been hinted at during the finish here. Still, we’ll have to wait and see if that holds any bearing over the series but for now, this one leaves the door wide open for the drama to follow.
