Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 10 recap – Hye-Jin can’t fight this feeling anymore…

This recap of the Netflix K-Drama series Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 10 contains spoilers.

Read the recap of the previous episode.

So for this episode, I encourage you to listen to REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling” because it is all about confession. But before that, make sure the environment of your place provides a security system and civilians patrol to minimize the possibility of criminal activities. Also, remind yourself or your children to keep their phones off during a walk outside. Especially if it’s the middle of the night to keep your awareness to prevent an unfortunate event like what Hye-Jin’s experiencing from happening.

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 10 starts in the most Cha-Cha-Cha way. So in the previous episode, Hye-Jin is walking to her house while taking a call from Sung-Hyun while admiring the fixed streetlamp. Upon arriving at her house, she is startled by a mysterious man that follows her right into the house. He shuts her up by instantly pointing the knife at her. Hye-jin is terrified because the men turn out to be the perverted men that people have been looking for! Hye-Jin tries to call the police but he quickly dodges her phone. The tension is rising but does not worry, folks! Because our Du-Sik always comes at the right time.

He quickly smashes the pervert and anxiously checks on Hye-Jin, who is in shock. While Du-Sik makes a phone call to the police station, the perverted man unexpectedly throws his knife towards Hye-Jin. Du-Sik fearlessly takes the stab for her. But it does not stop the knight with many licenses to protect his lovely dentist. The two men get into an intense fight. But of course, the bad guy got knocked out to the floor. The police arrest him once and for all. Justice is served. Meanwhile, Sung-Hyun arrives at Hye-Jin’s house–almost running out of breath — and is confused about what’s happening. 

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 10 recap

After everything is sorted out, Du-Sik receives treatment for his wound. He notices that Hye-jin’s hand got swollen because of the perverted man’s grip. He starts to nag her about not treating her wound. That’s when Hye-Jin breaks down in tears remembering how he jumped into the knives for her. “I’m scared that he will hurt you,” says Du-Sik to calm her down. Well, isn’t it obvious already at this rate, Du-Sik? Sung-Hyun interrupts their momentum. Being a director himself, he sure knows very well how to analyze the situation. After checking Hye-Jin’s condition, Sung-Hyun starts to make excuses here and there to explains the reason why he comes back to Gongjin. The doctor comes in the right moment to ends the awkward situation. Sung-Hyun quickly excuses himself. At this rate, Sung-Hyun already knows very well that he is too late. 

Sung-Hyun is taking a lonely walk nearby the shore. He starts to reminisce about the days where he keeps on hiding his feeling towards Hye-Jin. It’s ironic how other than chemistry, all you need is timing to make it work. He misses the second part when he got all the chances for the past ten years. It turns out, Sung-Hyun used to be Hye-Jin’s knight in shining armor. Treating her wounds with band-aids, purposely sliding her ex-boyfriend who mocks her appearances, basically, he always tries his best to help her with everything. Yet, he misses his perfect pitch… But if you never try then you will never know, right? 

“Who’s the first person?”

Due to her house being under investigation, Hye-Jin accepts Du-Sik’s offer to spend the night at his house. The entire scene is giving us major married couple behavior already. Other than sharing clothes, the two of them share a heartfelt conversation about Du-Sik’s grandfather since tomorrow is his death anniversary. It is one of the breakthroughs for their relationship because Du-Sik finally opens up about himself. In the previous episode, we witnessed Du-Sik blaming himself for the death of the people that he loves. We are finally going to unravel the meaning behind it one step at a time. 

Du-Sik begins to reminisce about every little thing about his late grandfather. From his gaze, the touch of his hand, his nose, and his presence slowly fading away. Kim Seon-Ho nails the part because his gaze is enough to show you the wavering emotions. He also shares his excitement over playing soccer when he’s younger where there’s a pair of soccers shoes which he likes because it is a gift from his late grandfather. But, he gives up soccer after seeing his grandpa laying unconscious on the ground, not breathing, due to the heart attack right after he comes back from watching World Cup. 

“If only I didn’t go to watch World Cup that day,” says Du-Sik, tearing up. Hye-Jin is affected by his emotion, and cooly nags over his mindset. I love what she says because it lingers, “There are too many variables in life that are beyond our control. It’s not your fault,” says Hye-Jin. “Your grandpa must have been fuming in his grave.” [Because Du-Sik keeps blaming himself.] Du-Sik smiles upon hearing her cool response where he says that Hye-Jin is the second person he ever opens up to about his personal stories. 

Alright! After the heartfelt moment let’s go to the swoon-worthy ones. Hye-Jin is still traumatized by the bargaining so she asks Du-Sik to accompany him until she falls asleep in the living room. He starts to read an enchanting poem to put her to sleep. The title of the poetry is “Doorkeeper”

“You can’t be here. Saying that is my job // It is my job to deny your purpose // It is also my job to deny you the next day again // And waiting for your the next day to deny you is also my job // it is my job to fall in love with you while waiting for you the next day // Thus, denying my love…” And that’s where he stops. If you look deeply, the poetry is mimicking his feelings towards her. 

Hye-Jin is subconsciously sleeptalking asking for the first person he tells about his grandfather’s stories. Du-Sik teases her saying that there’s a person who is very warmhearted which annoys Hye-Jin in her sleep. Du-Sik laughs as the two fall asleep together sharing the same blanket. 

“It takes a lot of love to peel a crab for someone”

Hye-Jin buys vegetable pancakes from the market for Du-Sik’s grandfather’s memorial service day since he is unable to cook due to his injury. When she arrives at his house, the Gongjin squad also comes to gives him their pack of delicious food and snacks. Hye-Jin is feeling insecure over her ordinary meal and in the end, she didn’t tell him what she brings.

Who would have thought our individualist queen is helping Du-Sik to prepare for the memorial service without any command? She purposely skips her vegetable pancakes due to the amount of food and snacks he receives but Du-Sik notices what she brings and puts it on the plate instead. “It’s my grandpa’s favorite food from the market,” which put a smile on her face. After all the preparation is done, Hye-Jin excuses herself but Du-Sik intentionally asks her to stay if she wants. Another breakthrough for their relationship. Hye-Jin chooses to stay with him and Du-Sik lets her introduce herself to his late grandpa.

Here comes another swoon-worthy moment. After the memorial service, the two enjoy the grand festivities together. Among all the delicious meals, they also eat snow crab. Hye-Jin is surprised that he likes it because when they eat far from the town, Du-Sik refuses to order snow crab. Du-Sik explains the reason is that peeling the crab is a hassle. Guess what? Hye-Jin starts to peel the crab for him which surprises him because no one peels crab for him other than his grandpa. Hye-Jin wittily annoys him with the peeling. That’s when Hye-Jin starts to babble, “Of course because it takes a lot of love to peel a crab for someone,” which later results in an adorable awkward atmosphere.

“It feels empty without her around.”

Okay, so.. let’s go back to another pitcher, Sung-Hyun. He waits all night for Hye-Jin to come outside his house. Over a bowl of cold ramyeon, Sung-Hyun nervously prepares himself to confess. He even calls her name three times due to his nervousness which I find adorable. He later asks Hye-Jin to say the word, “Cue!” to him to lessen the tension. Hye-Jin, giggly, plays along. Sung-Hyun starts to blurts his feeling, “Hye-Jin, there’s something I regret the most in this life.” But he stumbles and struggles to continue. Hye-Jin, out of nowhere, guesses that what he is about to say is about the financial crisis. Ouch.

And that’s when he let everything slip out from his mouth even though deep down, he already knows the possibility of her answer. Hye-Jin is bewildered by the confession even though he is one of her long-term crushes. Sung-Hyun tries to lighten up the tension by distracting with eating his cold ramyeon. On the other side, Du-Sik is having a moment with his late grandpa where he talks about Hye-Jin. He smilingly describes her as a loud person who loves to giggle. “But, it feels empty without her around,” says Du-Sik.

“Life may seem long, but it isn’t. Throw away unnecessary thoughts.”

After the confession, Hye-Jin is confused about her feeling. Well, birds of a feather flock together. Mi-Seon is also in a state of distress after putting aside his love for Eun-Cheol when things are slowly progressing between them. I already mentioned it before that Mi-Seon’s sensitivity is one of her biggest strengths because she always sees through people correctly, but not herself. She knows that her bestie is hesitating to accept her long-time crush because our Chief Hong is already creeping into her heart. So to break the tension, the two girlfriends decide to spend their girls-day-out in Seoul and shake all the worries away!

The next day, while the girl is out of town, Du-Sik applies a window gate lock at Hye-Jin’s room so there are no more bargainers into her house. If that isn’t love then I’ll take it as “an over-caring gesture” for a friend. Also, let’s all take a moment and thank Gam-Ri for giving some sense to Du-Sik. She purposely presses down his injury. “You have a feeling for Ms. Dentist, don’t you? Why don’t you realize it when you take the knives for her?” nags Gam-Ri. She reminds him that life seems like a long journey when it is not, so he better takes the shot while he can rather than denying his feeling and running inside useless thoughts. Which not only successfully got Du-Sik thinking but myself included.

All roads lead to Gongjin.

Anyway, they say that once you fall in love with someone, they’ll start to grow into you. Well that is exactly what happens to Hye-Jin. Upon their time in Seoul, Hye-Jin can’t help herself by looking at men’s clothing rather than spending money on clothes like she used to. When they enjoy an expensive five-star cuisine at Han river, all Hye-Jin talks about is the fresh and raw snow crab she eats with Du-Sik, even though there’s no sauce, fancy plates, and dressing.

Mi-Seon notices that Hye-Jin is not being herself lately. “All you talk about is Gongjin, Gongjin… As if all roads lead to it,” says Mi-Seon. Hye-Jin tries to break the ice by planning to go on Spa. Unfortunately on their way out of the restaurant, it is starting to rain. Mi-Seon is asking if Hye-Jin brings her umbrella, but Hye-Jin suggests just walking through the rain and enjoying it. Mi-Seon, once again, finds it strange because Hye-Jin hates feeling dumped and drenched in rain the most. Suddenly, she starts to walk through the rain and the memory of her and Du-Sik starts to play. From the moment their eyes met, her first drunken kiss, to the moment Du-Sik comes to save her from the perverted man. And that’s where Hye-Jin comes to her realization.

She tells Mi-Seon that she needs to go to Gongjin now. “She finally comes to her realization. Way to go, my friend!” says Mi-Seon, encouraging her bestie from afar.

The ending of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 10 – “I can’t deny the feeling anymore.”

Hye-Jin starts to look for Du-Sik at his house but he’s not here. She tries to reach him but he leaves his phone. She tries to look around when she finally spots him, sitting alone at the shore, contemplating his feelings. She immediately runs towards him with excitement which surprises him. And, here comes the moment we’re all been waiting for. She confesses her feelings to him.

“I like you,” says Hye-Jin. She realizes how different they are, once again, using penguin and polar bear as her comparison. Even though they come from the same climate situation — which means grief and loneliness — but eat and live life in the opposite ways. Du-sik is bewildered and before he even answers, Hye-Jin stops him with her little fingers covering his mouth. She is afraid of what’s coming for her. “Don’t say anything, I’m not asking anything from you,” she says. Our Hye-Jin can’t help her feelings anymore… And that’s when SikHye’s supporters start losing their minds.

Our Du-Sik finally gives in and replies with the most anticipated thing in the Gongjin universe. A kiss. Yes. He finally faces his fear and crosses the line to kiss her. Not just once, but twice. In between their first kiss, he pauses with longing eyes and a smile that gives a thousand meanings, “Me too, I can’t deny this feeling anymore,” says Du-Sik while going in for another kiss. YES! That marks the start of a new wave of biological crisis for our dimple couple. 

Besides their swoon-worthy moments that we’d be getting next week, I’m curious about how their story will unfold after this. Especially since Du-Sik still has some secrets he is yet to reveal. But, let’s just enjoy the start of a hot summer full of love at Gongjin for now! 

The epilogue

The epilogue gives us a fragment of Du-Sik’s memories with his grandfather on his birthday, where he receives his favorite pair of blue soccer shoes. Before he blows the candle, he shouted his wish for his grandfather to live a long, healthy life with him. While his grandfather secretly wishes that when Du-Sik ends up all alone in this world, life will send him a good person to be by his side so he won’t be lonely. The same wishes that Hye-Jin’s father wants for his daughter. Then, the scene moves into Du-Sik finding out about Hye-Jin’s childhood photos, the ones that his grandfather captured for them. He realizes that Hye-Jin is the little girl that he met at the beach that day. Well, fate and timing does work most mysteriously, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, grandpa. 

What did you think of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha season 1, episode 10? Comment below.