High Kick 3 / Counterattack of the Short Legs: Episode 3

So in this episode, the story progresses along to show how the worlds of these different characters will soon collide so that they will all live in close proximity to each other.

EPISODE 3 RECAP

The Ahn family drives across the country until they run out of gas and can drive no more. They eventually end up in Gyeongju, a city in North Gyeongsang province. Sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, hungry and broke, Nae-sang finally concedes to calling Kye-sang for help.

Just then, Kang Seung-yoon passes by and asks in a Gyeongsangdo accent, “Are you beggars?” He genuinely seems curious and there is no hint of mockery in his tone. But Jong-seok doesn’t take it well, shouting back, “Who are you calling beggars? You wanna die?!”

Nae-sang: We’re not beggars. We just don’t have any energy left.
Seung-yoon: If you’re not beggars, why are you blocking the sidewalk?
Nae-sang: Go away!

Yoo-sun agrees they’re beggars. If they’re not, who is? Then she turns to Seung-yoon again. “Yeah, we’re beggars. So, what you gonna do about it?!”

Well, Seung-yoon does do something about it. He buys them pizza and fried chicken. He is just a student himself, but he explains that his father taught him to help out those in need. His dad is a doctor of Oriental medicine and runs the largest Oriental medical clinic in Gyeongju.

Nae-sang: Then you much be very rich. To inherit your father’s clinic, you’d have to study very hard.
Seung-yoon: I have to, but I’m not interested in becoming a doctor. Was it when I was in junior high? I accidentally came across ballet on TV, and I felt excitement run through my body. That’s when I knew this was it!
Yoo-sun:  So your dream is to become a ballerino?
Seung-yoon: No. My dream is to become the president.

Seung-yoon explains that he’s debating whether to move to Seoul now, or to move there after finishing high school in Gyeongju, because presidents all live in Seoul. The Ahn family looks at him with wonder, and Yoo-sun whispers into her husband’s ear that the kid seems a little cuckoo.

Jong-seok’s pride won’t allow him to eat any of the free food, or so thinks everyone else until they realize that he’s stuffing himself silly with his back turned to them.

Meanwhile, Ha-seon is on her way to work when a strange man asks her for directions. Being the friendly one that she is, she tells him to follow her for she can guide him to where he wants to go. But in fact, the stranger is an exhibitionist and the very next moment, he opens his trench coat to flash himself.

Ha-seon just collapses to the ground, covers her eyes, and cries for him to stop. (Seriously, woman?! I already foresee that I’m not going to like Ha-seon very much. I absolutely hate helpless damsel in distress. Even if you’re going to be helpless, at least make an attempt to do… something… about it!)

Well, Ji-seok passes by on his way to school and seeing Ha-seon in trouble, he runs over to chase the perverted man away. As Ha-seon is still on the ground crying, she doesn’t realize that the pervert is gone and only Ji-seok remains. When Ji-seoks taps her shoulders to ask if she is okay, that is when Ha-seon finally gets up and starts hitting who she assumes is the exhibitionist with her purse.

But she finally stops when she realizes that the man she is hitting is her fellow teacher colleague, Ji-seok, just as blood drips down his nose.

They finally learn that they live in the same neighborhood. Ha-seon thanks Ji-seok for helping her out, whereas Ji-seok laments that Ha-seon is too nice. For instance, he tells her that she should have attacked back or run away earlier, instead of crying there. (Thank you, Ji-seok!)

Ha-seon explains that she was afraid the man earlier might have had a weapon on him (okay, valid point… but if so, you run!). Ji-seok insists on teaching her self-defense for a situation where an attacker has a weapon. He tells her to pretend to be an attacker and attempt to stab him with a pen, and he’ll teach her how to respond.

She remains timid, afraid that she’ll hurt him. But he reassures her that he won’t get hurt, so she can try stabbing him with all her might. And stab she does, right on his head. In fact, so strong is she that the pen pierces his head and gets stuck there. As the ambulance transports him to the hospital, Ha-seon apologizes profusely. Ji-seok says he’s fine, but he asks her if she works out for her strength is incredible. It turns out that she enjoys rock climbing in her spare time.

At the gosiwon, Young-wook believes Jin-hee’s story that she stole his food while sleepwalking and forgives her. But to protect his food, he installs a lock on all of them.

Just then, Jin-hee receives an unexpected phone call from Samjin Products informing her that she has passed the initial application process and is granted an interview for an internship position that she had applied for. It turns out the announcement was made earlier (although she never received the notice) and this was just a reminder call for the interview scheduled for… today.

When Jin-hee shows up for the interview, it doesn’t go too well. One of the interviewers asks her a question on the stock market index from yesterday, which she is unable to answer. Another interviewer notes that there is a stain on her suit, as she is left to explain that she received a last minute notice about the interview and didn’t get a chance to dry clean the one suit that she has. And besides, the other applicants boast a far more impressive job experiences than Jin-hee.

The interview ends, with no further questions asked to Jin-hee. Just then, the president of Samjin Products stops by the room to see how the interview is proceeding. In a cameo appearance by Kim Hak Chul reviving his character Park Kyu from Once Upon a Time in Saengchori, he tells the applicants about what an impatient person he is and that whoever gets hired should be prepared to work fast. He gives an example of how he used to finish jajangmyeon in 10 seconds when he first started working.

He turns to leave, when Jin-hee suddenly raises her arm and announces that she can finish jajangmyeon in less than 10 seconds. Park Kyu applauds her attitude and orders the panel to hire Jin-hee if she can really finish her jajangmyeon within 10 seconds, not a 0.1 second too late.

Jin-hee takes to the challenge, repeating in her head, “Faster, faster, faster!” She passes the challenge, clocking in at 9.73 seconds. She gets hired and is told to start work the very next day.

Ha-seon goes to see a real estate agent as she has been asked by Ji-sun to search for Julien’s apartment, a task that the vice principal originally asked Ji-sun to do. But before going into the agent’s office, she runs into a man outside claiming to be here to put his apartment out on the rental market. He turns to leave, noting that the wait to see the agent looks long. But he turns back around and asks Ha-seon if she’d like to follow him to see his apartment herself. After all, why bother going through an agent and paying commission?

Ha-seon sees the apartment and finds it satisfactory. The man explains that it’d be difficult to find such a nice apartment. He is only moving out himself because his wife was diagnosed with late-stage cancer and they decided to move to the countryside to help her recuperate. He tells her that if she likes the apartment, they should just proceed to sign the contract right now. After some hesitation, Ha-seon signs and promises to wire transfer the money for the deposit.

She asks the man what kind of cancer his wife has, and when she learns that it is stomach cancer, tears well up in her eyes as she explains that her grandmother also passed away from stomach cancer. Ha-seon tells the man to stay strong.

Later that evening, Ha-seon transfers over the money. But when her cousin, Ji-won, hears the story, she thinks something does not sound right. (Yes, something that even a high schooler could suspect…)

Ji-won looks online and asks Ha-seon whether she checked the deed to ensure that the apartment really belonged to him, which of course, Ha-seon did not do. She immediately calls the man, but of course, he doesn’t answer. She runs over to the apartment and finds it empty but a woman cleaning it. The woman explains that she’s just hired help to clean the apartment, and the man who Ha-seon met earlier was likely the previous tenant and not the landlord. He had failed to move out even though his lease had expired, and had only moved out today.

Ha-seon continues to call the man, leaving him messages that she still trusts him and will pray for his wife’s surgery. She waits for his response to no avail. Finally convinced that she has indeed been conned, Ha-seon starts to text the man, “You son of a…”  But she stops herself and instead texts once again that she will trust him until the end.

Somewhere in a dark basement, the man gambles the money away.

Back in Gyeongju, the Ahn family continues to wait into the night for Kye-sang to pick them up. Yoo-sun asks her husband what his future plans are, and he tells her that he’ll wait for his friend, Woo Hyun, for the time being. Woo Hyun is not someone to betray him like this.

This provokes Yoo-sun once again, and she calls him an idiot for continuing to believe in his friend. They fight and the kids try to stop them, which is how Kye-sang finds them. The four continue to speak all at once, and Kye-sang stops them and tells them to speak one at a time. Grabbing the wig that Soo-jung is holding, he sets up the rule that only the person wearing the wig can speak at a time.

Nae-sang is the first to wear the wig. His view is that since there’s nothing he can do at this time, he’ll wait for Woo Hyun just a while longer, and if he still does not return after that time, then he’ll give up and work hard at whatever he can to earn a living.

Yoo-sun takes the wig next. She is frustrated that Nae-sang still wants to wait for that con man, and would much rather that they start planning right away to get back on their feet again.

Jong-seok wears the wig next. His view is that if he won’t be able to afford college anyway, then he would much rather move to Nepal where his maternal grandfather lives.

And finally, Soo-jung. “Send me to L.A. I’ll make money in L.A. and send it back. That’s all I have to say. That’s it!”

Kye-sang announces that he understands where everyone is coming from, but for now, they should first head over to his house and think things through there.

That night, Jin-hee has a difficult time falling asleep as she imagines herself as a successful career woman at her new company. After tossing and turning, she finally falls asleep.

But in the middle of the night, she gets up, puts on her suit jacket, and walks out.

Jin-hee continues to walk to a parking lot, where some big bad boys (who look like gangsters) are clearly in the middle of some illegal dealings. Seeing Jin-hee walk towards them, they run towards her. Meanwhile, Jin-hee trips and falls, and finally wakes up from her slumber. She had been sleepwalking.

She looks up to see a group of men running towards her. Not knowing what’s going on or why they’re after her, she quickly gets up and runs away.