Serendipity’s Embrace — K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3 Recap

The recap of episode 3 of Serendipity’s Embrace (i.e. Is It Fate) starts where we left off as Hong-ju joins Hu-yeong’s lie and walks hand-in-hand with him. Jun-ho watches the two leave and the duo hides nearby until he leaves in his car.

After Jun-ho has left, Hong-ju thanks Hu-yeong for his help and asks him to pretend to be ignorant when the latter asks about her relationship with Jun-ho. Hong-ju pries her hand out of Hu-yeong’s and leaves to get back to work.

There, CEO Bae, her boss asks Hong-ju to work on a presentation for the upcoming project with Jun-ho. Hong-ju refuses to work on it but CEO Bae asks her to toughen up. She tells Hong-ju that the circumstances won’t always be favourable for her and asks her to find a way to alienate her personal issues from her professional life.

Meanwhile, at Rock Asset, Hu-yeong is shocked to learn that Hong-ju’s ex-boyfriend was Bang Jun-ho, the author she admired so much in high school.

On the drive back, Jun-ho talks to his agent who scolds him for signing up for an animation of his incomplete novel. The agent tell Jun-ho that he was messing with Hong-ju’s feelings all over again considering how much she cried after he left to go overseas. Jun-ho tells his agent that he was sure Hong-ju would come around as his stories were something that she could never resist.

At the same time, Hong-ju picks up Jun-ho’s new novel and starts reading it. Hu-yeong, on the other hand, laughs at his situation remembering an incident from high school.

A flashback shows Hu-yeong running into Hong-ju who was bunking school while he left for his Math Olympiad interview. The teachers and school staff cheer Hu-yeong on, asking him to make their school proud.

Instead of going to his interview at Seoul National University, Hu-yeong follows after Hong-ju who is on her way to meet Jun-ho at his military base camp. Hong-ju asks why Hu-yeong is following her and he tells her he is unsure why.

The two arrive at the military base camp and Hong-ju tells Hu-yeong that she is going to confess her feelings to Jun-ho. Present-day Hu-yeong is embarrassed recalling the incident.

CEO Baek is shocked to learn that his nephew has a crush on his neighbour. CEO Baek throws a fit about Hu-yeong staying in South Korea because of Hong-ju and tries to convince him to take his flight back to the USA the following day.

Mr Sohn, a colleague of Hye-ji as well as the guy who went on a blind date with Hong-ju is sitting in the staff room. Hye-ji calls him outside for a chat and asks Mr Sohn to ask Hong-ju out on a date again.

Mr Sohn is about to confess his feelings for Hye-ji when the bell rings and Hye-ji has to leave him alone. That evening, CEO Baek gets upset when he notices that Hong-ju’s boss – CEO Bae has parked in his parking spot.

He then goes to the office and tells Hu-yeong that he is being promoted, adding that he was asked to return to the USA immediately. Hu-yeong refuses and gets out for a walk where he runs into Hong-ju who asks him to have fried chicken with her.

To Hu-yeong’s dismay, Hye-ji joins the two and the trio chat. Hyeong is about to tell Hye-ji how he saved Hong-ju from Jun-ho when Hong-ju stops him. Hu-yeong calls Hong-ju dumb and clueless like she used to be in high school.

This makes Hong-ju upset and she yells at Hu-yeong, leaving him to have the chicken with Hye-ji. Hye-ji realises that Hu-yeong likes Hong-ju and asks him if her friend knows the truth about his feelings. Hong-ju watches from outside as her best friend finally talks to her crush.

Meanwhile, Hye-ji drinks alcohol to come to terms with the fact that her crush is in love with her best friend. Hye-ji points out that Hu-yeong and Hong-ju kept running into each other in a series of serendipities and wonders how so many coincidences were possible between the duo.

Hong-ju goes to spend some time at Sang-pil’s restaurant. At the chicken place, Hye-ji asks Hu-yeong if he is staying back in South Korea for Hong-ju. When Hu-yeong does not answer, Hye-ji gets protective of her friend and asks him to return to the states before breaking her best friend’s heart.

At Sang-pil’s restaurant, he gives Hong-ju an earful when he learns that she will be working on the project with Jun-ho. Later that night, Hu-yeong is at his house, wondering what he is doing staying back in South Korea.

Meanwhile, Hong-ju comes back home and wonders if Hu-yeong is back after his date with Hye-ji. She decides to mind her business and goes upstairs to her house. At home, Hong-ju finds the box full of her animations of Jun-ho’s novels from when she first applied for the job at Peter’s Pen.

Despite her lack of experience, CEO Bae agrees to give Hong-ju the job based on her determination. The next day, Hong-ju goes in to work and tells CEO Bae that she is willing to work on the 10th Anniversary animation project with Jun-ho.

On the other hand, Hu-yeong gets ready to take the flight back to the USA. He decides to leave without saying goodbye to Hong-ju. At school, Hye-ji avoids texting Hong-ju about her date with Hu-yeong. Mr Sohn is on the ground training students. He approaches Hye-ji and the two chat about Hye-ji’s new conundrum.

Hye-ji seeks advice from Mr Sohn and asks what she should do about her crush being in love with her best friend. Mr Sohn advises Hye-ji to let her first love unite with her best friend because they both sound like good people. Mr Sohn’s way of giving advice makes Hye-ji laugh. She promises to arrange a better blind date for him in the future.

As Hu-yeong is on his way to the airport, he recalls the incident from when they were younger. After Hong-ju is not able to give her love letter to Jun-ho, she gets upset. Hu-yeong takes Hong-ju to have some ramen which turns out to be too spicy for her.

Hong-ju starts crying even more and tells Hu-yeong that she has decided to stay back and confess her feelings to Jun-ho. Hu-yeong threatens to report Hong-ju for dating a legal-aged soldier while still being a minor in high school. The two start bickering again and Hong-ju cries her heart out.

Hu-yeong agrees to go to the army base camp with Hong-ju that night which calms her down. That night, Hu-yeong convinces the guard to tell him where Jun-ho is posted. Hong-ju gets further upset when she learns that Jun-ho was posted in the mountains and would only return after six months.

They walk back to the bus stop but start running when they spot the bus. Hong-ju trips and Hu-yeong checks on her instead of running to get the bus. The episode moves back to the present day when Hye-ji calls Hu-yeong to tell her that Hong-ju had gotten into a car accident.

Without giving it a second thought, Hu-yeong rushes to the hospital, to check up on Hong-ju who is injured on her left arm. Hu-yeong tells the doctor that he is Hong-ju’s guardian.

A flashback shows a young Hong-ju overhearing the conversation between her aunt and uncle. Her uncle asks his wife to put Hong-ju in an orphanage now that they are pregnant with their own child. Hong-ju goes back to watching the TV, trying to put up a brave face.

Another flashback shows Hong-ju avoiding a hospital visit when her high school doctor claims she is too sick to be treated by her. A fellow student gives Hong-ju a glass of water when she is thirsty.

The episode moves back to the present day as Hu-yeong tends to Hong-ju as she wakes up in the hospital. Hong-ju belittles the accident and apologises for causing trouble for Hu-yeong.

This makes Hu-yeong angry and he brings her hand to his chest to show her how worried her was for her as the episode comes to an end. Now that we are done with the recap of Episode 3 of Serendipity’s Embrace, let’s head on to the review.

The Episode Review

While the flashbacks try to give us an insight into Hong-ju and Hu-yeong’s relationship from when they were younger, it gives us all the more reason to get mad at Hong-ju for not seeing all the signs that Hu-yeong had been in love with her. Considering the things that he did for her like following her to a different town where she can give her love letter to her crush, Hu-yeong is in his loser boyfriend era and we are seated for it.

I am sure the end of this episode will set their romance into motion. Considering how Mr Sohn is a PE Teacher and Hye-ji is an English Teacher, this makes them a part of the classic rumour that every high schooler believed to be true. It would be so fun to see them together.

From the look of it, CEO Baek and CEO Bae seem to be having their own enemies-to-lovers romance considering their shared parking spot was causing them to have arguments. It makes me sad that the only person left behind in all this is Sang-pil who only makes delicious meals for his friends. Our boy, Lee Won-jung came all this way after Hierarchy only to be the mom of the group!