Bermuda Love Triangle
Episode 7 of Hometown Cha Cha Cha begins sends us back to Gongjin with Seong-Hyeon meeting Du-Sik and Hye-Jin. It also turns out that woman Du-Sik has been hanging around with is called Ji-Won, and she’s a writer. Now, Song-Hyeon and Hye-Jin have known each other for around 10 years, given they went to college together. As the trio all sit at the town meeting, Nam-Sook teases Hye-Jin, claiming there’s a spark between her and Seong-Hyeon. As things start to grow uncomfortable, the trio take their leave and head back to Du-Sik’s place. Of course, Seong-Hyeon’s lack of direction continues to be a big sticking point, as Du-Sik teases him about this. Anyway, the gang eventually start with drinking as Seong-Hyeon gushes over Hye-Jin’s caring nature. After all, opening up a clinic in the countryside is such a caring thing to do…right? Du-Sik is pretty incredulous and asks amusingly whether this is the same Hye-Jin, receiving a swift kick to the leg for his troubles. As the drinks continue flowing, Du-Sik and Seong-Hyeon continue to play games until they’re in a drunken stupor together. They clearly want to try and outdo the other, but it eventually leads to all three of them asleep together on the floor. In the morning Hye-Jin looks to leave but Seong-Hyeon follows after, asking for Hye-Jin’s number. Only, it turns out Nam-Sook is listening in from around the corner. As Du-Sik heads out too, her mind is in the gutter, suspecting that there’s some sort of threesome going on here. Well, she certainly puts it more eloquently than me, calling it a love triangle and claiming that it’s spreading around town. Of course, the other triangle here comes from Yeong-Guk. For him, it was love at first sight when he first laid eyes on Cho-Hui. Or, as Nam-Soo calls it, the Bermuda Love Triangle given Hwa-Jeong’s inclusion in this. And in the present, the trio all agree to go for dinner together. Anyway, while Hye-Jin heads to work it leaves Du-Sik and Seong-Hyeon to spend the day together. Ji-Won shows up too, along with a whole bunch of other visitors. Chief Hong is a guide for the day, and begins showing people around Gongjin. As the day draws on, it turns out Ji-Won looks up to Seong-Hyeon. Hye-Jin is also unusually nice to him, setting off pangs of jealousy with Du-Sik. Seong-Hyeon is quite the charmer too, heading over to Gam-Ri’s place and helping her out with chores and sweetening her up with a new hat he found at the market. Meanwhile, Mi-Seon learns what the third mystery around Gongjin actually is. It turns out 3 years back someone won the lottery there. However, their identity is a secret. Still, it doesn’t stop Mi-Seon buying 2 lottery tickets, one for herself and the other for Eun-Cheol. Du-Sik and Hye-Jin head over to Gam-Ri’s place, helping her out with chores. As they both stand in the tub, washing her clothes, the pair end up splashing each another. They hang her washing after and everything looks good… until Seong-Hyeon shows up with cake. He’s bought it from a famous bakery, eventually bringing JUNE in to see them too, given how good friends the pair are. Anyway, it inevitably doesn’t take long for little Ju-Ri to show up too, but she ends up getting a bad case of the hiccups thanks to her nervousness. While they get along well, Yeong-Suk slips in the bath before his big date. As he struggles to move, having clearly sprained his back, Cho-Hui and Hwa-Jeong show up and see him sprawled out on the floor. Together, they move him to the bed. However, Yeong-Suk is still paranoid over I-Jun’s comments earlier in the episode about his house smelling funny. When the girls leave, Cho-Hui admits that she wants them to go back to how they were before, hanging out just like old times. In the morning, Hye-Jin receives a basket from Seong-Hyeon, treating her. In fact, Eun-Seol gets Mi-Seon a present too, claiming he won on the lottery and handing over some food. Only, the price of this is 7000 but the winnings were 5000 so he clearly put some of his own money into this, which Mi-Seon really appreciates. Now, it’s clear that Seong-Hyeon has more on his mind than friendship. As he speaks to Du-Sik, he asks whether Hye-Jin is seeing anyone. When he learns that she’s not, a big grin crosses his face. Du-Sik though finds it hard to hide his disappointment.
The Episode Review
It’s love triangle time! As expected, Hometown Cha Cha Cha ramps up the angst between Du-Si and Seong-Hyeon, with a chapter that shows off Seong-Hyeon’s best traits. Just like Du-Sik he’s caring and takes the time to help out Gam-Ri and the others around town. Hye0Jin and Seong-Hyeon clearly have a lot of history together too and this only compounds the feelings of being left behind – which we see during the flashback right at the death of the episode. In terms of plot development, there’s not very much of it but the characters are so lovable and enjoyable to see develop that it doesn’t matter too much. However, the ending does leave the door wide open for where this one may go next. Either way, Hometown Cha Cha Cha has been a thoroughly enjoyable watch and the ending hints that we’ve got plenty of angst on the horizon.
