Romance in the House – K-drama Episode 7 Recap & Review

Our Home Ground

Episode 7 of Romance in the House starts with Hyeon-jae gossiping with his aunt as he realizes their parents have stayed out all night. However, he’s surprised when he finds out Mi-rae isn’t home either. This nicely brings us along to the events following the big reveal, as Tae-pyeong goes for a jog to try and clear his mind.

Mi-rae is all packed up and ready to leave. She’s not living at home but she’s kinda lost and isn’t sure where to go. On her day off, she runs into Tae-pyeong while out in the street.

As they talk together, he calls her stubborn and after a bit of a tussle, decides she should come back to his place for the time being. He’s going to take care of her now but they run into a hitch when Tae-pyeng’s taekwondo friends show up. They’re pretty over the top and Mi-rae is a bit shy. The gang have a barbecue up on the rooftop, and Tae-pyeong is a proper gentleman when he gets her a jumper.

Meanwhile, Ae-yeon is shocked when she sees a message from Mi-rae, warning that if she gets back with her father, then she’ll leave the house for good. This puts Ae-yeon in quite the predicament, especially as Moo-jin is caring for her and they seem to be getting on well.

There’s extra drama with Jae-geol nestled in the midst of this too. He’s got two daughters and their mum messages and asks for child support. He’s struggling financially and logs in as Moo-jin on the computer, contemplating whether to take out a loan in his name. He doesn’t, but Moo-jin seems to know what’s going on and pings some money over to him, telling the guy that in the future, he just needs to ask if he wants extra money.

That night, Ae-yeon leaves a message for her daughter. She knows Mi-rae feels let down but she wants to talk face to face to straighten things out. She reads the message but doesn’t reply. Instead, she carries on drinking, but this time just Tae-pyeong and Mi-rae.

Mi-rae laments to him that Ae-yeon never should have met and got with Moo-jin. As they talk, and Tae-pyeong discusses how his grandfather doted on him and his family life, the pair bond. However, they look like they’re going to kiss… until a car honks outside and Mi-rae takes her leave.

At a funeral, Moo-jin overhears Jae-geol badmouthing him to their old classmates. All these guys have nothing but bad things to say about Moo-jin, especially given his past and how he begged for money. However, in his irate state, Jae-geol kicks off and Moo-jin overhears. It turns out that this outburst is due to him transferring money and Jae-geol feels embarrassed as a result.

Moo-jin is disappointed and refuses to have the money back, brushing off his embarrassing outburst and telling him he should just continue to be his tax accountant and be done with it.

Outside, he runs into someone called Cheol-hong, who’s here for another funeral. This one for their former baseball coach, Mr Park. We heard rumours that Moo-jin used to be a pro baseball player and here we see the truth of it. Moo-jin used to be a really good hitter but he’s uneasy when the team lavish praise on him.

Moo-jin is pretty uneasy about the whole thing, but who should come to the rescue though? None other than Ae-yeon. She comes charging out the doors and decides to make a big spectacle, making it out that they’re rich and have tons of money.

As they walk away, Ae-yeon hits out and questions why he’s just standing there and taking it. Moo-jin though, reprimands her for speaking up. She evevetually gets a taxi out of there, but reminds him that he only thinks of himself as he’s not the only one who had to sacrifice.

A lot of this stems from Ae-yeon’s pregnancy. You see, Moo-jin used to be a really promising player but he had to get a manual labour job to pay for his child. He slipped into a drunken stupor when he couldn’t play baseball anymore, throwing away his dream. Mi-rae overhears his friend echo Moo-jin’s own sentiments – that having Mi-rae hampered his career and held him back. She’s crushed.

When Ae-yeon heads back, Mi-rae is outside. The pair go inside again and they talk plainly and iron out the misunderstanding. Mi-rae apologizes for making her worry but just a things are about to sort themselves out, Mi-rae sees two cups on the table though and immediately suspects she’s with Moo-jin and dating. As a result, she storms into her room and remains tight-lipped about her night with Tae-pyeong.

Ae-yeon does everything she can to try and get through to her daughter, but it’s no good. It’s awkward the next day too when she leaves the apartment and runs into Moo-jin, who happens to be up in the rooftop sorting out the villa. Mi-rae lashes out, calling him useless, in a roundabout way, and tells him he’s made a proper mess of their family.

Mi-rae continues to rely on her taekwondo to get her frustrations out, but when she shows up to meet Tae-pyeong that day, he has a new lesson for her. Specifically, how to ride a bike. This is supposed to be something a father teaches a daughter of course, but Tae-yepong thinks this will be a fun thing for them to do together.

As they ride around the park together, Moo-jin happens to spy them and watches. This brings up memories of the past, especially as we saw an earlier flashback of her with her bike and Moo-jin wasn’t there for him.

Funnily enough, Mi-rae notices her father in a daze and a scooter about to run her down. Mi-rae rides her bike over to her pa, loses control and ends up in the bushes.

Moo-jin and Tae-pyeong rush her to hospital but there’s no ligament damage thankfully, and Moo-jin takes her outside. He reprimands her for doing something so dangerous. He also explains how much he cares for the family and apologizes for not keeping his promise in the past. Moo-jin explains that it’s not her as he hated himself back then for not being able to do anything right.

“The best thing I did in my life is having you guys,” He says, and Mi-rae begins crying. She claims she’s only doing so because her arm hurts, but of course in reality this is precisely what she needed to hear. And for Moo-jin to begin taking responsibility for his actions of course.

Back home, Ae-yeon sifts through Mi-rae’s things and finds the agreement, she’s shocked and finally understands.

The Episode Review

Oh dear, Mi-rae and Moo-jin are in big trouble now! It’s clear that Mi-rae’s motivations are kinda two-fold really. On the one hand, she doesn’t want to see her mum get hurt and fall for Moo-jin only for him to leave again, and also she wants to win this bet too.

As for Moo-jin, he finally starts to take responsibility and understands why Mi-rae is so livid and angry about the past. It’s heartbreaking to see this play out, and as someone who has two children, post-natal depression is absolutely awful and it appears this may be what Moo-jin suffered from.

It would explain his excessive drinking and inability to do right, along with his life spiralling out of control. In the present however, he’s a very different man and it appears he’s got his act together. The final scene with Mi-rae is really powerful and a great inclusion, especially as we see Mi-rae open up and be vulnerable in front of her pa.

The episode itself is nicely paced and although it’s the longest of the whole season thus far, it’s no less entertaining and full of memorable moments. The blend of comedy and drama has been a good fit, and everything is left open for tomorrow’s follow-up!