Summary
So far, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is sailing smoothly through the calm sea of Gongjin. The healing message of Episode 2 is to have the courage to confront your mistakes to grow. Everyone has their own stories, dreams, and regrets, and the best way to reach people’s hearts is through sincerity.
This recap of the Netflix K-Drama series Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 2 recap contains spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
What is the thing your regret the most?
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 2 starts with a sentimental mood. The lady from the seafood restaurant is looking shallowly at her divorce paper. Oh Chun Jae is holding his 2nd album demo track which he never releases, a mother that cries over her late daughter’s favorite toys, Doo-sik who is looking at an expensive jacket and intends to throw it away, the sequence ends with Hye-jin watching the beautiful sea of Gongjin on her very own dental clinic. The narration ends with, “We can never go back to the past.”
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 2 recap
After quitting her job, Hye-jin made up her mind to move to Gongjin, leaving Seoul behind. Doo-Sik helps her with almost everything. From renting her house, her clinics, to renovations and all. Of course, he ain’t doing it for free; Hye-jin must pay all of his works with minimum wage per hour. He later offers himself on doing the renovation for her, yet she hesitates. Later, he shows her a long list of licenses, from a certified plumber to home decoration, leaving her speechless.
As we know already, Hye-jin is not easy to please. She asks for a modern, European-style interior for her house. Well, our Chief Hong never fails to do his job. After all the renovation is done as she requested, she begins to pack her things and start a new life in Gongjin. The neighborhood is surely excited and curious about the new pretty woman next door. Doo-Sik later visits her at night to check on her things and to inform her about the village rules. He also hands out her doorlock number that he makes using his birthday number which leaves her cringing.
After all hustles on moving in, adjusting life from a big city to the countryside takes time for our Yoon Hye-jin as she remains with her uptown girl lifestyle. From not being familiar with engaging the neighboring communities to how she dresses. She wears legging and a crop top during the morning run which surprises the elder women. While jogging, she stops by to look at a photo of grandfather and a little boy who is smiling through the old photoshops. She smiles and refers to his smile as “the mischievous one.”
Later, the landlord invites Hye-hin to the elder’s party at the community town hall. She hesitates at first but is convinced when she tells her to announce her upcoming grand-opening dental clinic to the neighborhood. She comes to the town hall where she encounters Dong-sik who is busy taking pictures for free. She warns her to not snap her camera on her because she respects her photo’s rights but Doo-sik secretly takes a photo of her from behind.
Gam-ri offers Hye-jin a bite of delicious meat wraps in kimchi, she accepts it using a spoon but refuses to eat it due to hygiene preferences. After the neighbors gather to approach her, she starts her unintentional rants about how she does not go the maker since they do not provide the high-end shampoo brand with a nice scent, she also complains about the mosquitos and the little crack on her house that is unpleasing to the eye.
The worst scenario is yet to come. While everyone is having the time of their life, Hye-jin excuses himself to take a phone call from Mi-seong. She accidentally caught of guard bluntly badmouthing about Oh Chun-Jae, or should I say, Oh Yeon’s music and how he is wasting time on pursuing it even though she has not yet listened to the whole album he gives her. She is not aware that she talks near to the microphone and it happens to be on. The neighbors are all bewildered by her words. Oh Chun-Jae goes to clear his mind in the harbor where Doo-sik comforts him. “She’s right, though,” he said. Right before she opens her clinic, everything just went downhill for her.
Feeling guilty and humiliated, Hye-jin is thinking about going back to Seoul. Later, Doo-Sik comes to deliver Hye-jin’s overseas packages and also words to confront her actions today. He warns her to be respectful and not act almighty. Not even catching a breath, Mi-seon suddenly appears in front of her house while crying. She later asks Mi-seon to move in with her.
The next morning, Hye-jin goes for a walk with Mi-seon. It turns out, rumors spread faster than the speed of light. Hye-jin faces the consequences of being outcasted by the local communities. The neighbors throw shade and avoid her. She helplessly cries in the street while Doo-sik watches her from afar. The misfortunes continue. During the opening day of her dental clinics, nobody from the town comes.
Meanwhile, Doo-sik is practicing making coffee while guarding at Oh Chun Jae’s cafe. When he comes back, he murmurs to himself why is his customer never his coffee. His daughter bluntly says that his coffee isn’t good in the first place. A double kill for Oh Chun-jae in just a day. After being slapped by reality, he self-loathingly says that he is good for nothing and helplessly laughs at himself. Doo-sik nags his daughter and later finds the recorded tapes of Oh Chun-Jae’s demo tracks that he threw away, possibly after Hye-jin’s words affected him. He transfers all the tracks to his computer instead, saying that is the way people listen to music nowadays. But Oh Chun-jae refuses to play the tracks, saying that he’s just out of age and talent for his dream.
At night, Hye-jin opens up to Mi-seon about her ongoing feud with the neighbors. Mi-seon advises her to give out rice cakes to the neighbors. Hye-jin runs her problem away with late-night jogging instead. Again, using leggings and a crop-top. Doo-Sik happens to pass by while riding a bike. He approaches her and offers her some advice on changing the way she dresses since the town is different from Seoul. Older popularity dominates the town. Hye-jin finds it exhausting but Doo-sik knocks some sense that it’s her choice in the first place to open a clinic here, in the other words, she should be the one who adjusts herself. Doo-sik asks her whether or not she has handed the rice cakes to the neighbors, which she hasn’t, which leaves him bewildered.
To win the heart of the people for her dental clinics, Hye-jin listens to his guidance and starts handing rice out to all of her neighbors. Everyone awkwardly accepts the rice cakes, including the children she meets on her first day at Gongjin. In return, they ask her help to keep a cute little hedgehog for them but she refuses it at first because she has not intended on having a pet. Later, one of the children badmouthed her behind her back saying that rumor has it that she is a cold-hearted lady. Hearing that, she forcefully accepts the hedgehog but ends up pet it anyway.
After handing out the rice cakes, the clinic is still running out of customers. She begins to lose hope. Doo-sik comes to visit her clinic. “Giving out rice cakes is not enough because you’re insincere,” he mumbles. He later asks her to follow him if she wants to regain the community’s trust and build her clinics in the town. She later follows him to the neighbors meeting. Not having any courage to face them, Hye-jin plans to go back but Doo-sik insists on her because the only way to win their heart is to confront them, rather than avoiding them. Meanwhile, the neighbor squads are busy badmouthing her here and there inside. Hye-jin awkwardly comes to the room. After they notice her, the atmosphere is uncomfortable enough that it makes you want to go home. “We’re sorry that the neighbor meeting hall does not meet your standard,” said one of the neighbors. But later Doo-sik comes to the rescue with bags of snacks to support the meeting. He claims that Hye-jin is the one who buys everything for them. And just like that, the atmosphere turns brighter.
After the meeting ends, Hye-jin thanks him for his help. She later asks him to stretch her hand. She does it and… well, what to expect. He gives a long list of receipts. “You know where to put the paycheck, right?” he said. Yup, Doo-sik is kindhearted, but the man knows what he is doing. Everything that comes from the heart also has minimum wages.
The next day, Hye-jin and Mi-seon boringly wait for their first-ever customer until… someone enters the door. Both of them are bewildered, so is their first-ever customer from the town. “Is the clinic open?” By hearing it, both of them are thrilled. Meanwhile, Doo-sik is practicing his barista skill at Oh Chun-Jae’s cafe. He receives a call from Hye-jin’s first-ever customer, saying that the dental clinics are great and praises her competencies. Also, the price is reasonable. He thanked his recommendation. After that one happy customer, the clinics begin to be loaded by the customer until there’s no time to rest for our pretty dentist! On the other side of the shore, Doo-sik calmly reads a novel by Henry W. The highlight of the book is mesmerizing and immersive within Doo-sik’s characters, “What I desire is the fruit and flower of people.”
After serving her patients with dental care, Hye-jin reflects on Doo-sik’s words, “Life is not easy for all of us. Some spend their whole lives on unpaved words, while some run at full speed only to reach the edge of a cliff.” She finally understands his words and gives time to listen to the effort of Oh Chun-jae’s album.
The next day, Hye-jin passes by the cafe and awkwardly encounters Oh Chun-jae who happens to be coming out from the building to smoke. She gathers her courage to approach him. At first, Oh Chun-jae is not interested. Her words still affect him. Later, she tells him that she finally listened to his album. She sincerely says that she did not really enjoy listening to the title tracks that he mentions but she really enjoys listening to “Blue Scar on the Heart” because the melody fits her style and she can relate to the lyrics. She apologizes for what she said back then. And that’s where she successfully enters his heart. After their encounter, Oh Yeon finally gains the courage back to play his demo tracks. Yup, sincere words and appreciation matter.
The ending
Hye-jin finds Doo-sik is resting at the top of the rocks in the harbor. She finds it hard to reach him due to her shoes. She comes to thank you for your words and guidance. Due to the tides of waves, Doo-sik can’t hear her clearly so she asks her to climb to the top. Hye-jin hesitates because of her shoes. “Your shoes always cause problems,” Doo-sik mumbles. He later reaches out his hand to her. After hesitating, she grabs her hand to climb up but unfortunately, she slips. Doo-sik grabs her tight so she won’t fall and the two caught up in each other as the waves crash to the shore. Yup, her shoes always cause a problem, also the ones that brought their fated encounters.
Remember the pictures of a grandfather and a smiling child that Hye-jin sees during her morning run? It turns out to be no other than Hong Doo-sik himself. The epilogue brings us back to the day where the young Hye-jin is feeling down because her mother looks ill. Hye-jin’s father stops a grandfather and out little Doo-sik to ask for help in taking pictures of his family. After noticing that Hye-jin does not smile, Doo-sik begins to act silly to put a smile on her face. After their encounters, his grandfather suggests that they should take photographs of them too. The young Doo-sik happily agrees.
The episode ends with Doo-sik choosing the same novel he reads by the shore and smilingly looks at the photography of him and his grandfather.
What did you think of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 2? Comment below.
