The Midnight Romance in Hagwon – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of The Midnight Romance in Hagwon starts with Seo Hye-jin training a junior teacher on how to deal with the parents of the students who attend the teaching institute – Daechi Chase Academy. Hye-jin gives her input to the junior teacher and tries to train her in a way that will make her confident to deal with difficult parents.

Following that, Hye-jin is asked to meet the mothers of a few students. The mothers claim that their children are struggling with their studies and ask Hye-jin to help them with some extra classes. Hye-jin tells the parents that she has trained the students for any unfamiliar questions that could appear in the exam and asks the parents to let the kids handle pre-exam stress on their own.

Hyo-im and Ji-eun, two other teachers at Daechi Chase talk about how Hye-jin was able to resolve the issues with the parents so quickly. The Director of Daechi Chase – Kim Hyun-tak discusses business marketing strategies with Woo Seung-hee and wonders what else they could do to bring in a new pool of teachers to the training academy.

Meanwhile, on his way back from work, Lee Jun-ho sees an advertisement for teaching vacancies at Daechi Chase. The next day, Hye-jin and the rest of the teachers at Daechi Chase gather together for a meeting with Hyun-tak. Hyun-tak asks the teachers to find ways to bring more students to their academy as the teaching industry is becoming fiercely competitive.

He tries to push the teachers to bring out new ideas but Hye-jin is called out to console a student who is crying. Hye-jin meets the student – Ha-yul and learns that she was upset over a question that was asked in the CSAT Exam. She looks at the question and realises that this is dated but also realises that it has more than one answer. She asks Ha-yul to talk to her high school teacher but the latter is worried.

Ha-yul goes back home and tells her mom about the incident, who in turn calls Hye-jin and asks her if the question really had multiple correct answers. The next day, Ha-yul’s mother and her friends show up at Daechi Chase to discuss the test question. Ha-yul talks to the teacher who directly dismisses her appeal and scolds her. Ha-yul texts her mother that she is going to be blacklisted by the teacher for calling him out.

Ha-yul’s mother causes a scene at Daechi Chase and Hye-jin calls the school teacher – Professor Pyo. Professor Pyo asks Hye-jin to meet him in person and the latter goes to Ha-yul’s school. Her colleagues try to stop her but Hye-ji still goes. There, Hye-jin asks to talk to Professor Pyo privately but he insists on talking to Hye-jin in front of the rest of the teaching staff.

The discussion about the question ends up in a heated argument with Professor Pyo calling Hye-jin less qualified than him. Professor Pyo refuses to accept Hye-jin’s argument about the question having more than one answer. He gets aggressive and grabs Hye-jin by the shoulder, bruising her in the process.

Before leaving, Hye-jin claimed that the question was dated and was not a part of the CSAT curriculum anymore. She leaves the staff room and tries to calm herself down. Hye-jin goes back to Daechi Chase and applies a bandage on her bruise. She composes herself and takes her next class. Meanwhile, Jun-ho is having drinks with his work friends. One of Jun-ho’s friends states that he is moving back to the countryside.

The group discusses the perks of living in the city as opposed to moving back to their hometowns. As they walk back, Jun-ho remembers Hye-jin and goes to meet her at Daechi Chase. He finds Hye-jin talking and having a drink by herself. The two catch up and Hye-jin calls Jun-ho her pride. She claims that tutoring Jun-ho was the best moment of her life and hopes he was living his best life.

On their walk to the taxi, Jun-ho asks Hye-jin if she is satisfied with her job. Hye-jin tells Jun-ho she indeed was happy and takes a cab back home. Jun-ho sees another advertisement about teaching vacancies at Daechi Classes as he takes the bus back home. The next morning, Jun-ho is having a meal with his parents when his father mentions that he needs a career change.

At the same time, Professor Pyo calls Hye-jin and asks to see her outside school. The two meet at a restaurant and Professor Pyo comes clean about adding a dated question to the test. He claims that Hye-jin embarrassed him in front of his colleagues and adds that he did not want to accept defeat. He interrupts Hye-jin and refuses to let her speak.

Professor Pyo tells Hye-jin that he is a school teacher and would not refer to Hye-jin as a real tutor. He claims that he would not apologise to her or back down as he was a “real” teacher with a “real” teaching degree. Hye-jin makes it back to Daechi Chase and learns that the teaching academy is getting a lot of new student enquiries with the recent advertisements featuring Hye-jin.

The next day, a bunch of aspiring teachers gather together for an initial test as they apply for a teaching position at Daechi Chase. Hye-jin is shocked to see Jun-ho there and waits to meet him after his test.

Jun-ho asks her to hang out after work and the two meet at a restaurant close to the training academy. Hye-jin is shocked at Jun-ho’s decision to quit his corporate job and scolds him for being influenced by her.

Hye-jin asks Jun-ho to think about his family and his love life but he jokes, stating that it is none of her business. The two make it out of the restaurant in the pouring rain under one umbrella. The episode ends with Jun-ho asking Hye-jin to address him as “Instructor” because it feels nice.

The Episode Review

The show looks like a slow-burn romance set in the backdrop of the teaching industry. Jun-ho will get a teaching job at Dae-chi Chase. I am very excited to see how this story unfolds as teaching as a profession is very close to my heart. The fact that school teachers all around the world are the same is not shocking with the way Professor Pyo treats Hye-jin.

Just because she does not have the same qualifications as him, he belittles and manhandles her. I wish Hye-jin would not let his actions go but I’m sure she was thinking about Ha-yul. With Professor Pyo challenging Hye-jin to a “battle”, it is clear that they will have more clashes in the future and I wonder if she will need Jun-ho’s help in clashing with the school teacher.