Recap Korean Drama "The Interest of Love (2022)" Episode 9

Episode 9 of The Interest of Love starts with Sang-su returning home after a night out. He’s cold toward Mi-Gyeong, who’s starting to realize he has feelings for someone else. Before we get to this point though, we cut back in time to the wedding where we left off last week.

Sang-su and Su-yeong look desperately for the groom, Seok-kyung, who happens to be upstairs on the roof. Despite getting married he’s worried and having last-minute hitters. Thankfully Sang-su and Su-yeong manage to talk him around and the ceremony goes ahead as scheduled.

During the photos, Sang-su is told to switch places so he’s next to Su-yeong in the row back given how tall he is. It’s a surprising turn of events but one that immediately sows the seeds of doubt about to flow.

Jong-hyeon is here too and he’s a little reserved. He heads out for a bite to eat, deciding to say yes to everything Su-yeong suggests. She knows there’s something up but he simply says he wants to spend time with her and make her happy.

Mi-gyeong is picked up by Sang-su after catching the bouquet at the ceremony. She decides to invite herself over to Sang-su’s for ramyeon, claiming she has an upset stomach. Despite him making a whole load of food for her, she flakes out at the last second and decides to go home.

In her absence, Sang-su’s mother shows up. She discusses how upper-class and wealthy Mi-gyeong’s family are but decides to support her son no matter what. Well, that relationship may be coming to an end soon. Mi-gyeong actually went home earlier because she discovered Su-yeong’s journal over at Sang-su’s place.

An entry discussing the blind date she had with Jong-hyeon solidfies her suspicions, which all add up to her realizing Sang-su’s heart isn’t completely in this relationship. But then, she kinda knew that already given he told her he’s not 100% ready.

Meanwhile, Jong-hyeon decides she’s disrupting Su-yeong’s life and it’s too much for him and for her. “Do you regret moving in with me?” Su-yeong asks. Jong-hyeon flakes out and discusses how she moved the stuff off the veranda, given how important it was to her. He refuses to answer her, simply staring blankly like a mannequin. In fact, you might get more out of a mannequin actually.

Things aren’t great, especially when Su-yeong heads out for a drink with Mi-gyeong. She brings up Su-yeong and Sang-su’s past ties and tries to broach the subject of the pair having a connection. Su-yeong smiles and admits she really doesn’t know so Mi-gyeong replies that Sang-su really likes her…right?

It certainly gets Su-yeong thinking, but that night she heads back to see Jong-hyeon who apologizes and admits he likes her a lot. That’s the reason he’s going to stay with her, and at that the pair end up kissing together.

Su-yeong can’t stop thinking about Sang-su, clearly, and at work the pair get talking about possible transfer positions. Sang-su hands over a book to help with her in-house test and admits he’s just doing this to pay her back for helping all those times with the notes. As the pair trade compliments, Mi–gyeong arrives and the whole atmosphere turns frosty.

The pair head into the break room for a cup of coffee but Mi-gyeong notices that Su-yeng already has a cup of coffee. As for Su-yeong, Ms Seo gives her some solid advice, telling her that whatever she does, she should be happy.

CEO Park, an old friend of Sang-su’s, shows up at the bank for a loan. Sang-su is surprised to see him and the pair head off for a drink together. Whilst there, Sang-su brings up Gyeong-pil and Mi-gyeong, revealing how they’re both at the same bank firm.

He reveals that they dated a while back but broke up because Gyeong-pil slept around with all her friends. Mi-gyeong made a huge scene as a result of this, so everyone ended up knowing.

With this hanging over Sang-su’s head, Mi-gyeong suggests he come and meet her friends. However, she leaves a gift behind in his lockers… a 5 million won suit (that’s the equivalent of about £3200. Wow!) Sang-su is understandably uncomfortable but he wears it all the same.

Now we catch up to where we left off last week, as Su-yeong is at her hotel room and answers the door… but it’s not Sang-su. It’s just room-service. As for Sang-su, he’s invited in to meet Mi-gyeong and all her friends.

After the big night with Mi-gyeong’s friends, who all approve of him, Sang-su decides to pay for room service but he decides to split it across 3 instalments. It’s all too much for Sang-su though, especially when she wheels in a brand new car.

Alone, Sang-su brings up the money situation but Mi-gyeong shrugs it off, claiming it’s okay because she’s lucky and the money doesn’t compare to her feelings for him. Sang-su scoffs at all this and walks away, deciding to take the long way back.

Funnily enough, he stops by the restaurant he and Su-yeong almost went for a date at. And who should show up round the corner? Of course it’s Su-yeong! The pair both talk at the same time and cross paths, going their separate ways.

Seasons pass and Jong-hyeong prepares for his exam. Su-yeong gets him a watch to help, while Sang-su’s feelings for Su-yeong continue to grow. The pair of them both fail their interviews for moving departments, while Mi-gyeong continues to believe money is the way forward to buying one’s affection.

Jong-hyeon decides to move out after failing his test again, heading to the internet cafe. He’s been gone for days and when he returns, he’s quiet and claims he went to go and see a friend in Gangneung. He didn’t even phone or anything, and Su-yeong is understandably annoyed. Their past issues start to come through, especially when Su-yeong realizes that he’s lying given her partner has 48 hour receipts for the internet cafe.

When Jong-hyeong comes out the shower, Su-yeong decides they need to talk. Sporting a busted lip, Jong-hyeong admits he and his friend ended up in an argument after he failed the police test and he didn’t know how to tell her, so he ended up at the internet cafe.

Su-yeong is determined not to let this go, despite him doing worse this time, but he’s had enough. In fact, he admits he never should have moved in with her in the first place.

Mi-gyeong moves more of her stuff over to Sang-su’s, claiming that it’s practice for the real thing. She tries to pressure Sang-su into meeting her mother, but he’s been deliberating over this, especially as his heart isn’t fully into this.

At work, things are made worse when Sang-su and Su-yeong are pulled away by Mr Ma. He brings up Kim Seong-hun and admits that he passed away. The pair are sent off to pay their respects given he was a long-time VIP client.

While they’re out, Mi-gyeong learns about what Sang-su did for Su-yeong and tries to convince herself that everything is fine. Given they’re heading out together, Gyeong-pil stirs the pot and claims that all guys are the same and starts to make her doubt him.

Sang-su speaks to Su-yeong at the funeral, admitting that he lost his father when he was young so he knows how hard loss can be. The expression “the living Must go on” used to scared him, in other words saying things are going to be difficult and scary but he needs to bear them and keep going.

In return, Su-yeong shares details about her brother dying, bringing up how he was always so bright and full of energy and now he’s gone she feels his loss. The experience is completely cathartic, as Sang-su admits he regrets not making it to HQ but would have regretted it more if he didn’t help her out. Su-yeong is going to keep going and never give up – a stark contrast to Jong-hyeon’s ethos in life.

After eating steamed silkworms by the beach together (Beondegi) the pair wait for the train back. Su-yeong admits she had a laugh for the first time in ages. “Are you happy?” Sang-su asks. He knows that she’s “trying her best” but it’s clear she’s not happy. As the train pulls up, Su-yeong asks whether she should break up with Jong-hyeon.

The Episode Review

The Interest of Love is delivering some interesting character drama and waiting for the inevitable explosion of messiness to engulf everyone is partly why this show is so watchable. There’s not really any particularly lovable characters but there’s definitely some relatability with the various players in this one.

One in particular that really grates on me though is Jong-hyeon. He walks around with this victim mentality and refuses to see any positives in his life. Not only that, but he goes completely missing for days on end, worrying Su-yeong and not showing her an ounce of respect.

He’s also a compulsive liar too, as evidenced by the internet cafe slips. Su-yeong definitely doesn’t deserve that.

Meanwhile, it’s clear that Mi-gyeong and Sang-su are not compatible in the slightest, with Mi-gyeong believing that money is the root cause of happiness and trying to “buy” Sang-su’s love. Not only that but she’s also making specific comments about how being rich is “lucky”.