Link to Part 1: Our Beloved Summer: Ep 6 Pride and Prejudice, Part 1

Where was I?

Oh! Pemberley. I finished comparing Ung’s symbolic Pemberley to Darcy’s Pemberley so let me bring up this second point.

Back in my First Impressions, I pointed out that Yeonsu would have recognized the real identity of Go-Oh.

a. Back in high school, when he sat beside her, he unfurled a big pouch of colored pencils. He might have liked drawing even back then.

b. If she dated him for five years, she would’ve known about his hobby. Mastery in drawing just doesn’t happen overnight. He would’ve started early.

c. While waiting for the pop star, he drew on a napkin. I could imagine him doodling on similar napkins while he and YeonSu were out on dates or just passing time.

d. She looked pensive as she shifted through Go-Oh’s sketches on the internet. Some of his drawings would have been familiar to her if they took trips together while they were dating or when she visited his family’s house and restaurant.

Like the Seoul Hardware Store. He biked past that place on his way home from his father’s restaurant. She would have seen this had she spent time in Ung’s family restaurant.

e. She read the article on him. When he was asked why he didn’t include people in his sketches, he replied, “I love things that don’t change but people change or disappear over time. That’s why there’s no people nor time in my works.” This kind of insight about his art wasn’t something he could have thought of in the spur of the moment. He would’ve pondered about this for a long time to make it his philosophy in life.

I wonder if she was the reason he said this.

I high-fived myself when I watching Episode 2 because I saw that I was correct.

Now, in Episode 6, we get a clearer understanding of how he formed his art philosophy.

Back in college, he’d already shown great talent in his illustrations that he was sent to a 6-month study-abroad program. But when his professor recommended him for another art program, a multi-year scholarship this time, he refused. His two-fold argument was that studying abroad for six months was different from residing abroad for a few years, and that he didn’t want to go abroad by himself.

The professor couldn’t believe his reasons for declining the offer. He tried to convince Ung that he could draw all the buildings he loved and learn so much more if he went. Exasperated, he asked pointedly if Ung had no ambitions at all. Ung simply smiled and said he wasn’t “interested in striving for success.” Then, he told his professor to offer it someone who needed it more than him.

In the Epilogue, we’re shown Ung talking about his after-college plans with Yeonsu.

Yeonsu: What about you? What’ll you do?
Ung: Me? I don’t really have a plan.
Yeonsu: You’re good at drawing and enjoy doing it. You could do that for a living.
Ung: Drawing is just going to be a hobby. You know my dream. It’s to bask in the sun during the day and to lie underneath a lamp at night. A stressful life is not for me.

Yeonsu then excused herself and left the room. While she was gone, Ung wondered if his answer had sounded “too pathetic.”

By pathetic, I think he meant unmotivated, ambitionless, slacking off. He didn’t want to appear like a bum to his hardworking girlfriend, so he took her laptop and googled, “Jobs for Design Majors,” “How easy is it to get a job?” “Making money through drawing.”

Then, we see him at his desk, brooding. It’s been four months after their break-up. He finally came to a decision.

He stood up to lock his door.

This is when he began to isolate himself.

He took a blank sheet of paper and sharpened pencil. He paused for a second, probably to think of his composition.

This is when his eyes acquired that “look” — those serious, “soulful” look that Yeonsu noticed at the drawing exhibition.

Then, in a single, unbroken line, he committed himself to his art.

To me, his mother is partly wrong to think that Ung had been drawing *all alone* since he was little.

In the beginning, drawing was just a hobby for him, like he said. But his breakup with Yeonsu precipitated the change in his outlook. That single unbroken line he drew across the paper represented the schism between his nonchalant self and this new, driven, focused, and motivated self.

He determined that he was going to succeed.

I also think this moment is when the idea crystallized in his head that he would strictly only draw things that didn’t “change or disappear over time.” He had Yeonsu to thank for that.

If the celebrity NJ hadn’t gatecrashed his press conference, he would’ve walked up to her and told her (thanked her??) that she was his inspiration…no…the catalyst for the change in him. Because of their breakup, he was transformed into this man in front of her.

Thus, in a sense, it is true that she “ruined” him and created a havoc. He’d been quite content drawing for leisure, for pleasure, and for fun.

But her rejection spurred him to draw for work, for success, and, in time, for her attention.

That’s the other reason I said this is his symbolic Pemberley.

As you see in the passage that I previously quoted about Elizabeth Bennet, she had second thoughts about Darcy as she walked through his Pemberley.

The 100-hour project was Ung’s Pemberley because he made Yeonsu take a second look at him as he labored on his art.

6. “She was humbled, she was grieved; she repented, though she hardly knew of what. She became jealous of his esteem, when she could no longer hope to be benefited by it. She wanted to hear of him, when there seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence. She was convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they should meet.”

To me, this quotation perfectly described Yeonsu’s confusion as she watched Ung draw. All at once, she felt humbled, aggrieved, repentant, jealous, intrigued, and regretful. In fact, I could sense her mixed emotions as she spoke her mantra of the day, “I’ve never seen that side of him before.”

She first expressed it when his video went up on screen. Wonderingly, she thought, “I’ve never seen that side of him before.”

When JiUng joined her as she was quietly observing Ung, she repeated it.

JiUng: You’ve never seen him working, right?
Yeonsu: Yes. I’ve never seen this side of him before. I barely recognize him.
JiUng: He looked like a total stranger the first time I saw him drawing.
Yeonsu: You’re right.

She couldn’t stop talking about this new side of Ung. She mentioned it again while taping the interview for the documentary, “I’ve never seen him like that before. It feels as if he has changed. I thought he’d never change.”

I’m sure, if she was given the chance, she would have told Ung about this herself. But the opportunity never came because NJ gatecrashed the press conference.

Like a diva that she was, NJ glided in the event and took center stage. She offered Ung a bouquet of flowers. She congratulated him then spoke the very words that had been running in Yeonsu’s mind the past five hours.

NJ: This is a side of you I haven’t seen.

Do you see that? NJ stole her thunder. lol.

With NJ’s surprise appearance, the media had a field day. Although Ung didn’t give NJ the time of day, Ung’s manager Eunho was enjoying the red-letter day on his own. The PR team had a successful day on Soen’s opening day.

Only Yeonsu had a terrible, horrible, no-good day.

Despite the event going without a hitch, she was feeling glum. She went to her bestie’s restaurant to air her discontent. Her bestie was surprised to see her there.

Bestie: Aren’t you ecstatic that your hard work paid off?
Yeonsu: Not really. It’s just work. Not that we’re done, we’ll begin another project.
Bestie: Is work very tough?
Yeonsu: No. Compared to my previous job, it’s actually easier. It’s fine.
Bestie: Then what’s the problem?
Yeonsu: (pausing) It’s neither demanding nor fun. It’s just work.

Ordinarily, I’d call this a malaise. But we all know what’s causing this discontent, this dissatisfaction in her life. As I said in Part 1, since seeing Ung in his element, she realized that there was yet again a great distance between them.

This time, however, it wasn’t just about their wealth disparity, but it was also their difference in achievements. She saw that Ung had accomplished a lot since they broke up. If he was a part of NJ’s exclusive circle, then he’d become out of her league again.

She got drunk at her bestie’s bar and required JiUng to keep her company while she sobered up.

Note: I thought it was interesting that Yeonsu thought it was Ung who came to pick her up. She saw the jacket, didn’t she? Surely, she remembered that it was JiUng who was wearing that brown jacket. She was with him practically that whole afternoon doing the documentary.

But I guess Ung’s similar-looking brown jacket made more of an impact on her that JiUng’s jacket. Lol. She remembered that Ung was wearing it a week earlier.

Anyway, she and JiUng ended up outside a convenience store.

Yeonsu: By the way, how is the documentary going?
JiUng: It’s going okay.
Yeonsu: I don’t think I should have agreed to do it. Back in high school we were at least young and cute. But all you can film now is me working. Of course, it’ll be boring. I’m afraid this documentary is going to be a flop.
JiUng: Maybe you want it to fail.
Yeonsu: I actually do. I’ll make sure no one watches it. You know how good I am with PR. I’m going to spread a rumor.
JiUng: (laughing)
Yeonsu: But I’ll think twice if you agree to let me watch it first.

It was obvious that this was her objective all along. She was buttering JiUng up so she could get inside information on Ung.

JiUng: Watch it first?
Yeonsu: I may have looked ugly or blurted out obscenities accidentally. And I’m certain Ung bad-mouthed me. Anyway, I’m curious.

To borrow Jane Austen’s words, she was “jealous of his esteem.” Meaning, she wanted Ung to think highly of her. She didn’t want him bad-mouthing her. She wanted to sift through the raw film, because any chance of “gaining intelligence” or insights into Ung’s current impression of her, would put her at ease.

Yeonsu: By the way, what did Ung say about me? I mean…did he bad-mouth —
JiUng: Do you still like Ung?
Yeonsu: (in a voiceover) That’s impossible….There’s no way that can be true.

Lol. In vino veritas. But here, we know that it was her pride speaking, not alcohol.

7. “Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride – where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.”

We can see who’s who here.

And there’s this quote, too.

“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

Nu-A represents vanity. As we can see in his introduction, he knew how to perform for the crowd in order to get their approval.

Ung aka Go-Oh represents pride. Even before he walked to his table, he’d already put in 95 hours of work on his illustration. That was his “introduction.” He was going to let his work (and his proud parents) speak for him.

In contrast to Nu-Ah, he was self-deprecating when he told the audience that he had a little more time left since he didn’t use the full 100 hours.

He sounded almost apologetic because he didn’t fulfill his promise to work 100 hours.

8. “Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly.”

We got a better idea of Yeonsu’s perspective, that is, her SHIFTING perspective, by way of her voiceovers in this episode. So let me write down voiceovers.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: I hate being poor because I can’t be generous to others. Our family’s been poor since I was born. It made hanging out with my friends more and more uncomfortable. As a young girl, I was quite hurt. But it was okay. It was okay because I had something precious to protect. That’s why I decided to act nonchalantly and be self-centered. That made things much easier.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: That is, until I met Choi Ung. The only person that allowed me to escape from reality was Ung. At times, I was desperate for some comfort away from reality. And that made me forget about reality.

In other words, being with Ung allowed her to escape from the harsh realities, and to dream of bigger things.

Flashback to the time she was doing job applications. Ung was reading a comic book on the bed.

Ung: Do you have to get a job right away?
Yeonsu: What do you mean?
Ung: I mean, instead of getting a regular 9-to-5 job, you could study more and land a better job.
Yeonsu: I have no time for that. I need to get a job and become a full-time employee.
Ung: And then?
Yeonsu: Well, I’m going to save up enough money so that my grandma won’t have to work anymore.
Ung: That’s it?
Yeonsu: What?
Ung: I know how you worked part-time, received scholarships, and studied diligently. So I thought you’d eye for a bigger success than that.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: I’ve always thought that my dream was to live an average, normal life.

Yeonsu: (defensive) I consider that a success.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: Maybe this wasn’t what I wanted.

Here, she was tempted by what he said. She was tempted to aspire for something more than an average, normal life. She had to curb her ambitions because her circumstances demanded that she attended to their basic needs first. Her poverty cast a pall over her dreams. When even day-to-day living was already exhausting for her, acquiring an “average, normal life” would seem like a remote and ambitious end goal.

Yeonsu: What about you? What’ll you do?
Ung: Me? I don’t really have a plan.
Yeonsu: You’re good at drawing and enjoy doing it. You could do that for a living.
Ung: Drawing is just going to be a hobby. You know my dream. It’s to bask in the sun during the day and to lie underneath a lamp at night. A stressful life is not for me.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: Maybe I never had a choice to begin with.

Here, she noticed the difference in hers and Ung’s lifestyle. Ung could choose to take up drawing as a hobby. She, in contrast, had no choice but to work after college. Her choices for the future were limited by her poverty.

Ung: (continuing) I like my life as it is. Next to you and my family. (beaming at her)

Note: Just a minor detail. In the epilogue, Ung didn’t mention wanting to stay “next to you and my family.” Maybe this was an accidental omission.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: But when I opened my eyes again, reality struck me harder than ever before…as if to mock me for having dared to dream.

She was forced to pay the debts of an unfamiliar uncle by debt collectors. She told her grandma, “I wish that I could only be poor to the point where I could handle it.” Meaning, she was at her breaking point. She didn’t think she could endure or handle the stress of more financial hardship. They had to move out of their home.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: Before I knew it, reality had me in its grasp.

But moving out of their home was not the last of her problems. Her grandma suffered a heart attack, and now she had a hospital bill to pay.

I don’t know whether she had the chance to tell Ung about her grandma’s hospitalization. It seemed like she didn’t have a chance to because, when she met Ung at school, she overheard his conversation with his profession and his decision to reject the study-abroad offer.

She might have decided not to discuss her grandma’s situation, because it would have made Ung more determined to stay beside her, instead of going abroad.

Ung was surprised to see her outside the door. He said, “What? When did you get here? It’s not like you to wait for me.” She stared at him.

I thought his remark was very interesting. Why did he always feel like she was about to leave him behind? Lol. Is he psychic? Did he have a premonition of their breakup?

Then, Ung continued blithely, “Should we have lunch? What do you want? Should we go out?”

And they walked out together holding in hands.

Nice shot. Who would’ve thought that they’d end up breaking not long after this?

Now, that’s Yeonsu’s shifting mindset prior to the breakup. Here’s her mindset during the breakup. She couldn’t her make up mind.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: Therefore, the reason why we had to break up was because we live in two very different realities. Rather, it was because my reality was pathetic. Actually, it’s because life alone was too much of a burden for me. To be honest, I was afraid you’d eventually notice my inferiority complex.

Here’s the dialogue again during the breakup.

Ung: Why would we break up? I’m always the first thing you abandon when things get tough. Am I easiest thing you have that you can throw away?
Yeonsu: No. You’re the only thing that I can throw away.
Ung: Why are you doing this? What reason do you have? Why do we have to break up?

On Netflix, the subber depicted Ung asking three different questions, which all meant the same thing:

“Why are you doing this?”
“What reason do you have?”
“Why do we have to break up?”

But if you actually listened to what Ung said, he repeated the same thing twice, “Iyuga mwonde?” (or “What’s the reason?”) then varied it a bit on the third question. Like this:

“What’s the reason?”
“What’s the reason?”
“What’s the reason we’re breaking up?”

If you aren’t particularly sensitive, then you won’t find anything wrong with the Netflix translation. However, for me, I prefer the original better.

Why?

Because when you add her voiceovers while he was asking the question, you’ll realize that she was coming up with DIFFERENT answers to the SAME question.

Like this:

Ung: Why are we breaking up?
Her first reason, said in a voiceover: Because we live in two very different realities.

Ung: I’m always the first thing you abandon when things get tough.
Her second reason, in a voiceover: Or rather, it was because my reality was pathetic.

Ung: Am I easiest thing you have that you can throw away?
Her third reason, which she actually voiced out loud: No, you’re the only thing I can throw away.

She said this aloud to hurt him. Then, she walked away.

Ung: (calling after her) What’s the reason?
Her fourth reason, again in a voiceover: Actually, it’s because life alone was too much of a burden for me.

Ung: (louder) What’s the reason?
Her fifth, in a voiceover: To be honest… (she was interrupted by Ung yelling)

Ung: (yelling) What’s the reason we have to part?
Her fifth reason, in a voiceover: To be completely honest, I was afraid you’d eventually notice my inferiority complex.

Do you see what I’m getting at?

She was giving him excuses. Although she wasn’t outright lying to him, she was giving him a false impression (aka prejudices. Remember the title now.) by NOT telling him the truth.

Even at the end of Episode 6, she still didn’t want to tell him the true reason she broke up with him. It was her pride.

Yeonsu’s voiceover: The reason we broke up was because of my pride. It was my pride that told me that I could live without you.

Conversely, it was her pride that was stopping her from telling him that she had been doing badly all these years without him.

Ung: About last night. Well, I saw a Thermos bottle at my house. Is that yours?
Yeonsu: (thinking he doesn’t remember) Yes. You seemed out of it, so I left it there.
Ung: Really?
Yeonsu: Yes. You have taken some pills. You were in a daze.
Ung: Did I fall asleep after you left?
Yeonsu: (nodding) I think so.
Ung: Oh, I see.

Meaning, he knew that she was pretending that nothing happened.

Yeonsu: Did you come here to ask me that? You could’ve just called.
Ung: (looking away)

I think he looked guilty because there was another reason that he came. Somebody called him up and gave him Yeonsu’s address. That person must have told him to go there and meet her.

Meanwhile, Yeonsu decided to keep the memory of the night she stayed over at his place to herself.

Yeonsu: I should head inside. Bye.
Ung: Then you can pretend like you don’t remember tomorrow. It wasn’t a dream.

I like Ung for taking the bull by the horns. He was tired of it.

Me, too. +100

Ung: (continuing) Why are you acting as if it was? Why are you lying? Yeonsu. Yeonsu.

I like that he was waiting for her to turn around. He didn’t want to address her back. And talking to the back is really no way to have an honest conversation.

Yeonsu: (turning around)
Ung: Is this right? Is it right for us to be like this?

Ung: (approaching her) It’s us of all people. Our love wasn’t just lukewarm. And neither was our breakup. Now, that we’re reunited, we can say, “Have you been well?” “How have you been?” “Was it tough for you?” “It was tough for me.” Can’t we tell each other these things?

Then, Ung asked her.

Ung: How have you been? Answer me. How have you been?
Yeonsu: (bowing her head)

9. BONUS: “She wanted to hear of him, when there seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence.”

Who called Ung when he was about to fall asleep? Who gave him “intel” or update on Yeonsu?

It couldn’t have been his manager. He just left. He couldn’t have gone far.

I doubt it was JiUng. Why call up Ung when he was with her? Or did he have a change of heart after he realized that Yeonsu still liked Ung?

So that leaves me with Yeonsu’s bestie. Yes, she had called up JiUng to pick Yeonsu. But it’s *possible* that she heard Yeonsu call out Ung’s name.

She realized then that Yeonsu was expecting Ung to come and get her. All along, it was Ung she wanted to see. So her bestie called up Ung and gave him Yeonsu’s address to meet her there.

I think that’s how he ended up waiting outside her house. It wasn’t by accident. He was already in bed, right? He got up and dressed up to see her.

He showed up outside her gate because he heard that she was drunk and feeling miserable about her life. He was upset that he had to hear this bit of news from somebody else.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Moving on to Episode 7. I’ll try to watch it tonight, and write up something before we head out to the ski resort tomorrow. See ya.