The Heirs

Chapter 19

Tan drops by Young-do’s place to take care of some loose ends. Young-do sees what he’s driving at and suggests that they be neither sorry nor grateful to each other (particularly regarding each other’s mothers), in his characteristic if-we-don’t-talk-about-it-maybe-we-won’t-feel-it way (I never thought I’d say it, but avoidance does seem to be Young-do’s fatal flaw). But Tan says that while Young-do isn’t obligated to feel either way, he wants to tell him that he is both, and leaves it at that.

Young-do stops Tan’s exit to say that he knows his mother’s departure wasn’t Tan’s fault, but that he needed to hate him for it. Tan understands this and accepts it in his calm, composed way. Acknowledgment, not reconciliation.

Young-do sees a stack of photos of Tan and Eun-sang from the party, and Myung-soo tries too late to cover them up. Playing the part of supportive buddy, he shows Young-do the poster he made, which states that there are no Tans, Eun-sangs, or dogs allowed here. Young-do scoffs, “What crime has the dog committed?” Heh.

Over drinks, Mom cutely nags Madam Han for leaving the house when she has no skills with which to strike out on her own. Madam Han is feeling rather glum, owning that she is where she is because she wanted the home and life that belonged to another woman, and as a result she never was able to be a proper wife or mother.

Overcome with emotion, Madam Han steps out to sob on the beach. Mom quietly joins her, doing nothing but offering her silent support.

Tan and Eun-sang are surprised to arrive in the same cafe coincidentally, only to find that they’ve both been called by Won. The brothers want Eun-sang to move into that apartment, but she’s already decided to return to her old neighborhood with her mother.

Half-teasing and half-serious, she tells Tan that they could always break up and that would be mighty messy if she were living in a place he supplied, which leads to a round of bickering wherein they both ignore Won. She’s all, Sure we’re mad for each other NOW… and Tan’s all, We’re gonna be together forever!

Next, it’s time to win Mom’s approval for the relationship, and Tan kneels before her and asks for her to accept them. Mom takes a curiously long time to respond, and at that Madam Han bursts into the room (having eavesdropped, lol) and gets indignant at Mom’s hesitation. This leads to both women bragging about their kids being too good for the other, and Mom snappishly Eun-sang on curfew.

In the heated arguing that ensues, Mom raises a fist to hit Eun-sang in the arm, and Tan darts in front to take the hit instead, which makes all four freeze in surprise. So Eun-sang hisses at Tan to go with it and he drops to the ground, yelling in exaggerated pain, adding feebly, “But if she were to approve, I think I’d feel better.” HA.

Mom ain’t no fool, though, and hits Tan a second time, glaring. But they understand that she’s grudgingly onboard, and the kids thank her.

Eun-sang moves again, and to her surprise Tan is already there when she arrives. He’s prepared a surprise for her and leads her in with eyes covered, revealing a slideshow of sorts—it’s a compilation of videos featuring Eun-sang, cobbled together from handheld camera clips and, omg, his stalker security footage. Way to overtly romanticize the creepy.

He complains at her reaction, which isn’t nearly gooey enough for his liking. She reminds him that she prefers horror to romance, though she does sneak in a peck on the cheek. Not content with that, Tan mock-threatens more romance on her and ends up chasing her around the apartment.

At school, the mean girls are back to picking on the one who’s down, and today it’s Rachel. Armed with the gossip of her mother’s broken engagement, the girls snipe about people only tolerated her due to her connection with Tan. Leading the charge is Yi-sol, because nobody ever learns.