Lovely Runner – K-drama Episode 6 Recap & Review

 We Can’t Be Lovers 

Episode 6 of Lovely Runner takes us back to the future, where Im Sol listens to the radio. The guest for the radio show is Sun-jae, who talks about how he met his first love during a summer rain shower. However, he never mentions who his first love was.

The scene returns to the past, where Sun-Jae is hurrying to save Im Sol from Ga-yhun’s bullying. However, there is nothing for him to worry about. Im Sol just found out about Tae-sung’s motive to date her. She not only gives him a piece of her mind, but she beats him up before breaking up with him. As expected, the break-up saddens Taesung, but Sun-jae is ecstatic when he overhears this. Sun-jae leaves In-hyuk behind and rushes to find Im-sol.

Later, Sun-jae runs into Im Sol and confesses to her. (This is where we left things in episode 5) Im Sol is too flustered and hurriedly gets into the bus, leaving Sun-jae wondering what is wrong with her. For the rest of the day, Im Sol can’t stop thinking why Sun-jae likes her. It makes her sad, and she keeps crying as she peels onions. Her grandma sends her to the shop to buy makgeolli.

On her way out of the store, she runs into Sun-jae, who is surprised that she is crying. He thinks she is sad after her break-up and wants to get drunk. While they bicker about this misunderstanding, Im-geum sees them and misunderstands Sun-jae’s intention. He gives him a flying kick and the bottle accidentally opens. The contents pour all over Sun-jae, and he mistakenly drinks the alcohol. He then passes out. It turns out Sun-jae is not good at drinking, especially makgeolli.

The siblings take Sun-jae to their house and lay him on Im-geum’s bed. As the night draws by, Im Sol wonders if Sun-jae must be feeling hot and takes a fan to him. One thing leads to another, and she hides under the bed as Sun-jae wakes up. At the same time, Im Geum wakes up from the sofa and heads to bed. To hide, the two grab a blanket and pretend to sleep on the floor. It doesn’t take long for Im-geum to realise what is happening. Im Sol tries to pretend she is sleepwalking, but Im-geum doesn’t buy it. 

The next day, Im Sol talks to Hyun-woo about Sun-jae’s feelings. Hyun-woo says she is to blame, as she has been following Sun-jae all over and giving him signals, so it is only fair that Sun-jae fell into her trap. However, Im Sol still insists that was not her intention. On the other hand, Sun-jae tries to play it cool, as advised by In-hyuk. He subtly stalks Im Sol at the library.

Later that night, Tae-sung drops by Im Sol’s place to apologise. Even though it is hard for him, Sun-jae acts cool and gives them privacy. However, his mind runs wild, imagining Im Sol getting back with Tae-sung. He even accidentally ruins his dad’s garden as he anxiously awaits Im Sol’s return. Thankfully, Im Sol has no such plans. She says goodbye to Tea-sung and asks him to take care of himself. On his way back home, Tae-sung gets into an accident.

The following day, Im Sol says goodbye to her mom. Im Sol believes Bok-soon is going on a vacation with her new lover. She is happy for her mom and promises to take good care of everything. Later, Im Sol drops by the station to explain she is in danger, but the cops don’t believe her. Meanwhile, the bad guy calls Im Sol’s house. He pretends he wants to return the phone, and Grandma asks him to mail it as a package.

Once again at the library, Sun-jae continues to secretly flirt with Im Sol. He stares as she sleeps and smiles to himself. Im Sol wakes up to him trying to fix her hair. She is flustered but plays it cool. Sun-jae invites her to a street cheering event later that weekend. He thinks she has been sad lately and assumes it is because of Tae-sung. He promises to memorise his studies if she goes out with him.

At the cheering event, Im Sol continues to get flustered with Sun-jae’s considerate actions. They watch the Olympic baseball game and are excited when South Korea wins. They hug and hold hands. The media captures them as part of the celebrating crowd, and Tae-sung is jealous. He is at the hospital, nursing his wounds after the accident. He spots Bok-soon getting treatment as well.

On the other hand, Hyun-woo drops by to share chicken with Im Sol as they watch the game. Sadly, Im Sol is not there, so Im-geum invites her to join him instead. Against her will, Hyun-woo continues to fall for Im-geum until his girlfriend calls. She is pissed to learn that he is taken and angrily rushes out of the house while crying.

Back to our yellow umbrella couple, Sun-jae once again confesses his feelings to Im Sol. He says he used to hate rain, but that changed the day he met her for the first time. Im Sol is about to answer when Sun-jae’s phone keeps ringing. At first, he ignores the call, but it keeps ringing. Im Sol suggests he picks the call as it could be an emergency. It turns out to be Tae-sung, and he asks Sun-jae to bring Im Sol to the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Im Sol learns that her mom is sick and needs surgery. Bok-soon was not dating; the man was her doctor and old friend. Im Sol feels sad as she said they would be fine without Bok-soon. She didn’t mean she wanted her to die, though; she just wanted to encourage her to find happiness. Im Sol thanks Tae-sung and reminds him to change his ways. She also talks with Sun-jae and tells him not to have feelings for her anymore. In retrospect, we see she is scared of leaving him. She only has a short time in the past and she can’t give him hope only to crush it later. 

Soon, the day of the accident arrives, Im Sol remains determined to stay indoors. She even refuses to bring a charger to Im-geum in the hospital. However, she changes her mind when Sun-jae texts her. She tells him she can’t make it, but he doesn’t see the message in time. Im Sol spots him leaving the house and heading to the park. It starts raining, and out of guilt, se leaves the house to find him. On the way, she recalls what Sung-jae said about his first love mistaking him for a delivery guy. She realises he was talking about her. Unfortunately, she never makes it to the park. She runs into the weird cab driver, and we only see Sun-jae finding her umbrella in the middle of the road. Which begs the question, what happened to Im Sol?

The Episode Review

The ending took a dark turn that we didn’t anticipate. Im Sol has been trying her best to save Sung-jae and avoid the accident. It is a pity that more memories about her attack only come after she runs into the culprit in the dark alley. Will Sun-jae realise that she is in trouble and save her?

We also understand why she turned him down, but we can’t help but wonder how all these things will affect the future. With 10 more episodes to go, Lovely Runner continues to engage us through the storyline. The writers give us enough room to theorise what will happen and simultaneously shock us with a new twist. 

Our hearts also go out to Bok-soon. She is a strong single- mother, and it must have been hard for her to deal with her illness all alone. Thankfully, her family is no longer in the dark and has shown nothing but support after learning about the situation.

As for Im-geum and Hyun-woo, it ended even before it started, but we still have hopes for these two. Speaking of hope, we also wish Tae-sung the best. He struggles at home, and it would be nice to see what he is going through. It will help viewers understand him better.