Recap Korean Drama "Once Upon a Small Town" Episode 9

Sep 27, 2022

Once Upon a Small Town episode 9 starts with Ji-yul’s confession to Ja-young. She, however, asks him why he’s telling her this right then and he makes up a random reason to not look insistent. Sang-hyeon, however, asks him who Min is, if not his girlfriend and Ji-yul answers truthfully to which Sang-hyeon mentions that she doesn’t seem to think so. When the back and forth continues, Ja-young gets frustrated and leaves the men to bicker at each other.

Back at home, Ja-young and Min have an awkward conversation about Ji-yul, wherein Min mentions that she misses Ji-yul and that she’s made a big mistake by breaking up with him. She asks for Ja-young’s support to get back together with him and Ja-young uncomfortably agrees to do so. Meanwhile, Ji-yul wonders why he moved to Huidong while Sang-hyeon looks at the earring that he got for Ja-young, that he never got to give her.

Still From Once Upon a Small Town Episode 9

Anyway, Min is really friendly with Ja-young and even goes as far as to do her makeup for her. It’s actually sweet watching Min, she’s a nice person for a change. They later go to Sang-hyeon’s peach farm to get coffee where he tells Min to get together with Ji-yul as soon as possible. Unfortunately for Min, when she gets to the vet clinic, Seon-dong lets her know that Ji-yul definitely likes Ja-young and that he’s always staring at her.

As Ja-young answers questions about the makeup, Ji-yul gets called to take care of a calf who’s not suckling and he sends Yun-hyeong to check out a goat with a hernia. At the cowshed, Min helps Ji-yul out, and Ja-young looks heartbroken seeing the scene from afar. Ji-yul catches her looking just in time to see that she has smudged her own makeup.

She washes it off finally and as the three of them get to talking, Min realises that something’s going on between Ji-yul and Ja-young. She looks rather sad when Ji-yul volunteers to help Ja-young out on a matter and realises that her ex really does like Ja-young, just as Seon-dong had told her.

The three of them go off to pack peach wine where Min catches Ji-yul eyeing Ja-young and immediately mentions how Sang-hyeon is really talented and he might just be Ja-young’s last love. A jealous Ji-yul tells her that if that’s the case then he too is a good candidate for being her last love. Realising what he just said, Ji-yul starts to stutter and an awkward Ja-young sends him away to store two boxes of wine.

As Ji-yul gets super jealous of Sang-hyeon, Min gets called inside to taste something, leaving Ji-yul with Ja-young. However, she refuses to make eye contact with him and he follows her to the storage area to have a chat which invariably results in them standing in very close proximity extremely awkwardly. Ji-yul asks her whether she answered Sang-hyeon’s questions and Ja-young mentions that Min is a really good person.

Still From Once Upon a Small Town Episode 9

Ji-yul clears the air that he has no interest in Min and that things with her in the past. Ja-young says the same about Sang-hyeon. She mentions that it’d be nice to date someone who makes her heart race and Ji-yul goes straight to whether Sang-hyeon has the same effect on her. Just as they are about to cross that boundary and finally say what’s on their minds, one of the aunties calls them for snacks, effectively breaking that moment.

Ja-young, now flustered, runs off from the house while Min finds Ji-yul in the storage area looking sad and sort of lost.

Once Upon a Small Town Episode 9 Ending

They do get to have a conversation later on, wherein she asks him whether he is moving to Seoul and that she has taken up a job right beside his hospital. Once he moves and they meet each other often, he will change his mind about them. Just as Ji-yul is about to tell her the truth, however, she kisses him out of the blue taking him by surprise.

Unfortunately for him, Ja-young sees this as well and looks heartbroken as Ji-yul looks horrified at the turn of events.

Once Upon a Small Town Episode 9 Review

Still From Once Upon a Small Town Episode 9

Guys, I really like Min – I think she isn’t the conniving and heartless ex trope but man does it make my blood boil when people surprise kiss others. It’s harassment on another level – it’s one thing to try to make things work (which in itself is problematic in this situation), and it is another to forcefully kiss someone when you have been repeatedly told that they are not interested. It’s just a different kind of ick.

Anyway, as per usual, this has been a rather interesting and fun episode with tons of awkwardness between our primary characters. It’s great watching Ji-yul and Ja-young search for words the moment they are with each other.

Once Upon a Small Town has been nothing but predictable, but it’s nice to watch the predictability sometimes, you know? A good old-fashioned and light-hearted romantic K-drama is sometimes all we need to refresh our minds!