I like it when the kdrama has titles per episode. It tells me where the screenwriter is going with the story, and what to write about in my review.

1. “Only You”

For GuWon, it refers to DoHee.

Like in any typical kdrama, the title underscores the shift in feelings of our hero Jung Gu Won for Do DoHee. As he was dancing tango with her, he realized that he had broken the cardinal rules for bodyguards.

“Rule #1 for bodyguards. Never let her out of your sight.” Well, after they had one of their verbal sparrings, he left her to walk on his own.

“Rule #2. Never stray far from her.” If he had stuck to her side, he wouldn’t have been powerless to fight off the thugs that the Eczema Man (aka the “Enforcer”) had sent to go after him.

“Rule #3. Never fall in love with her.” This was the most important tenet of all, and he violated it.

So, he went through the usual stages of guilt which are rather similar to the stages of grief.

a. First, he denied his attraction for her.

He quickly dropped her at her apartment. But in the elevator, he clutched his chest.

GW: What in the world…

He was experiencing what’s known as a “heartbeat” in the medical world, but as a “heart’s throbbing” – or “dugeun-dugeun” – in kdrama world.

Back in his building, he blamed it on his missing tattoo.

GW: Something’s wrong with me. Falling for a worthless human being? Could it be (looking at his tattoo-less wrist) because of the tattoo?

Meaning, without the tattoo, he’s become vulnerable to human feelings. He can feel human feelings.

So, he took a shower. Lol. This shower scene had to be written in for his fangirls. It was a fan service. And the justification? He was “washing away” his stress and his disbelief.  After his shower, he regained rationality.

On a sidenote: This stone wall in the shower is one of the dumbest modern designs I’ve ever seen. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ Cleaning this stone wall is a pain, and those jagged edges? Just your imagination, will you? They’re a big pain if you accidentally slip and fall in the shower or you decide to have a lovey-dovey moment with your partner in the shower.

GW: (concluding) There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s just a side effect of losing my powers.

Unfortunately, DoHee visited him at his residence.

Note 1: Notice his building? I thought it was a well-chosen site. The spiraling staircase reminded me of Dante’s “Inferno” and the nine circles of hell.

Note 2: The same artwork that caught GuWon’s attention in Ep 1 also caught DoHee’s eye. She stopped at the drawing of two women dueling with the swords.

From Episode 1

From Episode 5

No need to speculate on what this all means. It shall be revealed in future episodes.

Note 3: GuWon’s book was glowing. Again, let’s not waste our brain cells in speculations. We’ll find out in future episodes what this signifies.

Note 4: He wore a cross.

Like the red rose, artwork, book, and the cross will be revealed in the later episodes. For now, let’s just take note of them.

b. After denial came anger.

GW: Did you show up here alone at his hour to pry into my personal life?
DH: No. It’s just…you took off so abruptly. I was worried.
GW: I just didn’t want to be with you. And yet here you are. Bothering me again.

He was angry with himself for feeling attracted to her, so he was taking his anger out on her. This defensive move is called displaced aggression.

DH: Did I do something wrong?
GW: No.
DH: Then, what’s with the attitude?
GW: I don’t see why I should be nice to you. Anything you want to say?

He was deliberately being offensive to push her away. So she left. Of course, as soon as she stepped out of the room, he ordered his assistant, Park BogGyu, to see that she got home safely.

That night, he couldn’t concentrate on Star Jin’s performance. The following morning, the cold war continued between him and DoHee.

c. Next he blamed his feelings on others.

His assistant was so concerned about him that he disguised himself as a deliveryman to check up on him. His disguise was so suspect however that DoHee’s assistant thought he was there to kill DoHee.

BokGyu: I was just worried because you seemed down. I wanted to sneak in to see how you were doing.

But GuWon heaped all the blame on him for the emotional mess that he was in.

GW: Why would you do such a useless thing? I’d been keeping a proper distance, but you ruined it all.
BG: “A proper distance”?
GW: Right! Come to think of it, all of this happened because of you. Ever since you showed me that weird movie, “The Bodyguard” or whatever it’s called, something’s been wrong with me.
BG: How exactly?
GW: My heart…(stopping himself)

d. Then, he grew depressed.

Depression for GuWon came in the form of jealousy. The realization that he wasn’t special for DoHee made him insecure of other men in her life.

For instance, when SeokHoon introduced himself to GuWon, Guwon was offensive.

SH: Ah. Mr. Jeong GuWon, right? DoHee tells me you saved her many times. Thank you for being there for “uri Dohee.” Please keep taking good care of “uri Dohee.”
GW: I didn’t do it for you. And you don’t need to tell me what to do.

To be fair, SeokHoon’s simple words were carefully delivered to assert his “prior” claim to DoHee. First, he gave the appearance that DoHee never kept secrets from him because he and DoHee were so close to each other.

Second, he twice said “uri DoHee” to emphasize his familiarity with her. Although the possessive pronoun “uri” is translated as “our,” it’s used here to emphasize SeokHoon’s personal relationship with her, and not a collective connection. In other words, SeokHoon was declaring that DoHee was “his” DoHee, instead of the communal “our” DoHee.

He was putting GuWon in his place. And GuWon quickly caught on to SeokHoon’s veiled message since he wasn’t dense. When SeokHoon extended a handshake, he slipped a business card, SuAhn’s business card, instead.

DoHee stepped in to put an end to his rudeness. Touching SeokHoon’s elbow, she led him away from GuWon.

GW: Where are you going?
DH: The two of us need to talk.
GW: (to himself) “The two of us”? “Uri Dohee”?

So, if SeokHoon failed to put GuWon in his place, DoHee made sure that GuWon didn’t overstep his boundaries. She wanted him to stick to their professional relationship.

It was in a professional capacity that she complimented him after their meeting with the detectives.

GW: You really are reckless.
DH: I’m that desperate. Also, I hate to admit this, but you’re an excellent bodyguard.

Her approval of his job pleased him. He couldn’t help but beam as if she gave him a high praise.

He was encouraged to look this way and that, acting like a proper bodyguard, as he followed her out into the parking lot.

But the most insecure behavior that GuWon displayed was at DoHee’s blind date with the prosecutor. I had to laugh when the lobster’s claw nipped the prosecutor on the lip. That was funny but immature.

DoHee made sure to let him know that she was marrying the prosecutor because she had no choice. She had been counting on GuWon to be her “savior” — as his name implied. Since he refused to be the “chosen one,” she had no alternative but to look for his replacement.

e. That’s when he became angry again.

GW: I can’t stand it anymore. Marry or divorce whoever you want for all I care. Just don’t make that face in front of me.

This means that he was getting emotionally attuned to her feelings. He was feeling whatever she was feeling. And he didn’t like it.

DH: Who are you to tell me what face to make?
GW: You look as if you’re being dragged to a slaughterhouse.
DH: Then just don’t look at me.
GW: You’re right. Then I won’t.

Then, DoHee rested her head on her hand. She looked defeated. Exasperated, he suddenly stepped on the brakes. He turned around and grabbed her wrist.

DH: What are you doing?
GW: I won’t have to be with you once we catch the culprit.
DH: What?
GW: Let’s catch the bastard.

What he wasn’t saying was that he hated to see DoHee like this. He didn’t like the idea of DoHee putting herself out there as bait for the evil guy. He didn’t like the idea of DoHee getting married to that weirdo, two-hand handshake prosecutor just so she could have an ally in her fight.

He didn’t like the idea of DoHee feeling oppressed and hopeless.

But he didn’t tell her all those.

Instead, he just brought her to the Bad Thug to threaten the man to go find the Eczema Man for them. When DoHee refused GuWon’s method of enlisting the Bad Thug’s help, he turned on her.

GW: I said stop getting in the way.
DH: Why are you so upset? Pull yourself together and tell me what your problem is.
GW: You want to know what my problem is. You. You’re my problem. My life was perfect until I met you. But it’s become a mess since you came into my life. (sighig) If it weren’t for you, I’d be just fine.
DH: (tearing up) Let’s stop this. I’ll let you go. You’re no longer my bodyguard.
GW: Fine. Let’s stop with this bodyguard crap.

He threw away his earpiece and stalked out of the room.

Note here: His speech is obviously a reference to the title, “Only You.” She’s the only one who has disrupted his life and he hated it.

f. Acceptance only came at the end when he flew, both figuratively and literally, to reach DoHee in time.

When he jumped off the rail to grab her before it was too late, he accepted – mentally, at least – that DoHee was the only one who mattered to him, and the only one he would have risked his life for.

gifs: mezbeleyer’s tumblr

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Let’s not forget what “Only You” meant for the other characters.

2. For Star Jin, it meant GuWon.

I don’t know what their connection was in the past. We’ll find out in good time so I don’t want to waste my time dwelling on this.

3. For SeokHoon, it meant DoHee.

Only DoHee was his real rival to the leadership of MiRae Group.

Noteworthy: both DoGyeong and SeokHoon noticed the tattoo on DoHee’s wrist.

DG: Nice tattoo. It looked good on you.

Hmmm…I wonder what he meant by that.

For non-Christians and uninformed Christians, an upside down is a symbol of satanic worship. DoGyeong could be admiring the cross on her because as far as he was concerned, she was a “spawn of the devil,” i.e., she was Madam Ju’s favorite.

But for Christians and Catholics who know their roots, the upside-down cross is a sign of martyrdom. Why? Because St Peter was crucified upside-down at his request. He didn’t think he was “worthy” of death on the cross like Jesus Christ.

SH: You got a tattoo? When?
DH: Well…recently.
SH: Ah. I see.

Noteworthy: Despite SeokHoon’s attempts to be close to DoHee as her oppa and guardian, DoHee isn’t forthcoming with SeokHoon. She puts up a veritable wall to keep him out. If you notice, she didn’t cover her tattoo when DoGyeong commented about it, but she immediately covered it up when SeokHoon asked her about it.

There was something about SeokHoon that made her uncomfortable.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

That’s it for this episode. I’ll try to get Episode 6 done as soon as possible because “Moon in the Day” is finishing this week.