Recap Korean Drama "Crash Course in Romance 2023" Episode 6

Episode 6 of Crash Course in Romance begins right where we left off, with that huge misunderstanding. Yeong-ju and Dong-hui are both shocked by what they see. It’s all soon cleared up though, but Yeong-ju in particular – once she learns the truth about the tutoring – is shocked that her best friend has kept this from her.

Haeng-seon is aware that she’s going to sulk for a while and wonders how to handle this. She even offers to make her her favourite pancakes and smothers her in kisses too, which does the trick as she starts laughing “Betray me again and I’m cutting ties.” Yeong-ju eventually says.

With the air cleared, Yeong-ju teases Haeng-seon, asking about the belt and suggesting that more could have occured between them had Hae-e not been home.

Meanwhile, Dong-hui points out how huge this whole tutoring gig is but there’s actually bigger problems once Chi-yeol gets to the academy. On the Skymom forum, fellow private tutor Jin Yi-sang (whom was revealed to be Chiyeolsucks last episode) has put up a post titled “The Curse of Choi Chi-yeol” which breaks down everything that’s taken place.

He scathingly assesses Chi-yeol, claiming the Trillion Won man has destroyed families. Dong-hui encourages Chi-yeol to forget it but it’s clear Chi-yeol is affected greatly.

Chi-yeol eventually meets with Jeon Jong-ryeol, the man affected by the death that occurred in the past. He brings up Su-hyeon’s death and how her mother went insane and started obsessing over her younger brother even more. Asa result, she jumped off a building with her son next to her.

The police arrested Su-hyeon’s brother for murdering his mum but thankfully the guy was acquitted and let go. His whereabouts are unknown right now but Chi-yeol wasn’t aware of any of this given he was in the countryside. If he was, Chi-yeol wouldn’t have phoned and brought any of this up. Jong-ryeol eventually scoffs and tells him not to contact again.

Flashbacks reveal more of the past as Su-hyeon is tutored by Chi-yeol. However, Su-heyon is horrified t learn the test is identical to worksheets her mum gave several weeks prior to the test. She’s scared and although she turned in the test, Chi-yeol goes on a crusade to try and rectify this with the education director.

While confronting him, Chi-yeol is fired and stuck in a difficult position, told that if this scandal is made public, it would cause Su-hyeon to finish the test with a zero.

Su-hyeon continues to message Chi-yeol, with the final one telling him that life is hard and she’s going to “find peace” now. She thanks him for allowing her to breathe a little in such a difficult life.

Unfortunately, she passes away and when Chi-yeol shows up at the funeral, he notices Su-hyeon’s mother immediately turning to her brother and doubling down on him picking up the slack.

In the present, Chi-yeol heads for his study session with Hae-e but he’s not feeling so good and rejects Jae-woo’s waffles… which is probably for the best given how awful it tastes.

Haeng-seon heads over to drop off some food but Chi-yeol clearly doesn’t feel great and ends up passing out on her shoulder when she attempts to leave. Haeng-seon looks after her but when she eventually leaves, Su-hui pulls up at the parking lot and notices Haeng-seon leave.

Meanwhile the detectives investigate the shiny ball showing up on the cameras. Although his superior decides to write it off as nothing, the junior investigator is much more driven and believes there’s something else at play here.

A call comes in from a woman who claims that metal balls have been used to hurt cats out in the alleyway. While he initially wanted to write this off as a disturbance, our detective starts to realize that this is linked to the inicdent at the academy.

At school, things take a turn for the worst when Su-a gets nosy and begins to sift through everything in Hae-e’s desk. There, she notices the mock test for the All Care program she’s been taking with Chi-yeol.

Su-a is not happy but Sun-jae covers for her so she doesn’t get in more trouble, claiming that it’s actually his test.

In the faculty lounge, Yi-sang continues to badmouth Chi-yeol, even away from the desk but our protagonist overhears and knows exactly who has been badmouthing him online. After this, he decides to cancel the tutoring for the day.

Despite cancelling the tutoring, Chi-yeol happens to be out fishing right where Haeng-seon and the family are heading. So naturally, they set up their tent and gear right next to where he’s trying to relax.

Haeng-seon is her usual fussy self. Hae-e messages Sun-jae, who bemoans himself for being jealous. However, he’s distracted by a smash in the hallway. It’s his brother Hui-jae. He’s knocked a glass down and happens to be fishing for coins. Sun-jae hands over some notes instead and his brother wordlessly leaves.

Meanwhile, Haeng-seon and Chi-yeol get talking. It’s a really nice moment between them, as they trade some banter and discuss their past more Haeng-seon admits that her mother was always nosy, explaining where she gets it from.

However, her desire to help Chi-yeol out starts to break down his boundaries, or his “line” as he calls it. He points out that his life is not like a math formula with an easy answer but Haeng-seon sticks with the math analogies and points out that he just needs to find a difficult approach to his issues – including insomnia.

Haeng-seon has experience with sleep problems, since she used to compete at a national level and suffered from the same thing. She encourages him to loosen up and do some exercises with her. When he tries to loosen up her shoulders, Chi-yeol suddenly knocks her down and she ends up soaking wet from a spilled bowl of water.

After an evening of them all together, Chi-yeol agrees to drive the family back home again, but everyone falls asleep in the car. After dropping them off, Chi-yeol tries to stop a big smile crossing his face.

While Haeng-seon heads back to her shop, Sun-jae sits with Hae-e and admits what happened with Su-a and the test. They head out to blow some steam by doing karaoke.

After, they run into Hui-jae who happens to be sniffing around the alleyway where all those ball bearings were found. He’s chased up the road by the young detective but he manages to avoid detection.  Whether he’s actually the real culprit here remains to be seen.

Anyway, Sunj-ae reveals that Hui-jae is a shut-in and he’s taken to their mother’s punishing ways badly, especially as she’s so strict and desperate to help them pass their test. After revealing more of his past, Hae-e unveils her secret to Sun-jae about the tutoring, who promises to keep this a secret.

One person who isn’t prepared to keep secrets is Su-a, who reveals to her mum about the leaked All Care material. She whinges that it’s bothering her but as they talk, the pair notice Chi-yeol’s car drive past and head straight for Haeng-seon’s place.

Unbeknownst to him, Su-a and her mother are watching from afar as he heads for Haeng-seon’s shop.

---

The Episode Review

Whether the secret about He-e’s tutoring is going to be made public or not remains to be seen but it’s cler that everything is going to come out sooner rather than later and when it does, it’s going to cause a world of problems

The most notable issue here comes from Su-a and her mother, who are both meddling and very clearly manipulative. Seeing the way Su-a has her mum wrapped around her finger, while Su-a’s mum is the perfect definition of a nosy “Karen”, indicative of the pair’s antagonistic ways.

There’s some nice moments here between Chi-yeol and Haeng-seon though and the dialogue between the pair, slowly opening up to one another as Haeng-seon crosses Chi-yeol’s “line” is beautifully explored, especially with those math analogies too.

It remains to be seen if Hui-jae is really the ball bearing man as I have a feeling he could be a red herring for someone else in the wings who’s the real culprit.

This subplot is nicely worked into the bigger picture but it’s ultimately the bubbling romance between the pairs that’s the real winner here.