The Midnight Romance in Hagwon – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Episode 2

Episode 2 of The Midnight Romance in Hagwon starts with a flashback of Hye-jin as a young student teacher tutoring Jun-ho who was still in high school. Seeing that Hye-jin was not much older than him, Jun-ho asks to address Hye-jin as “noona” but she asks him to address her as “Instructor”.

The episode jumps back to the present day where Jun-ho asks Hye-jin to address him as “Instructor” wondering how good that would sound. Hye-jin goes home and is still thinking about her conversation with Jun-ho. The next day, she goes to Daechi Chase and asks Chae-yoon to give her Jun-ho’s application. Chae-yoon prints it out for Hye-jin, who leaves the room with the documents.

Hyo-im notices that Hye-jin is in a good mood and asks to see the applicant Hye-jin was curious about. She is shocked when she sees Jun-ho. Outside work, Hye-jin meets Yoon Ji-suk from the Daechi Chase hiring committee and tries to convince him not to hire Jun-ho. Ji-suk argues that Jun-ho has qualifications that could get him hired anywhere.

He asks Hye-jin to wait till he delivers a demo lecture which would actually solidify his chance as a teacher at Daechi Chase. Jun-ho meets his friend who is a school teacher and uses his help to film a practice teaching video. Meanwhile, at Daechi Chase, Seung-hee shares the test results of the aspiring teachers with the Director of the teaching academy – Hyun-tak.

Hyun-tak notices Jun-ho’s application and is amused to see he scored full marks on the Korean test. As the days go by, Jun-ho finds it hard to go to work at his normal corporate job. He finally resigns from the job and bids his colleagues farewell. He gets a haircut and goes on a jog, still practising his upcoming demo class material.

A few days later, the staff at Daechi Chase prepare for the teacher auditions where the selected candidates have their demo classes in front of a panel. Hye-jin gets curious and goes out looking for Jun-ho. Jun-ho spots Hye-jin peaking inside the waiting room but she leaves without saying a word to him. Jun-ho waits inside the class and meets a fellow applicant – Chung-mi.

The two wish each other the best while the teachers at Daechi Chase get briefed before the teaching audition. Hye-jin is a panel member and the audition starts with Chung-mi teaching Korean poetry as part of her demo class. Chung-mi’s audition impresses the teachers on the panel. On her way out, Chung-mi runs into Dae-baek who is here for his English class demo lecture. She wishes him good luck before leaving.

At the same time, Jun-ho gets called in to start his demo lecture. He starts by calling Hye-jin out for being distracted during his lecture and causes a scene. Hye-jin tells Jun-ho that he only had 10 minutes for his demo lecture and asks him to get back to it. Jun-ho starts his demo class and ends up impressing all the panellists. He sneaks in a few lines that Hye-jin told him when he was a student which leaves Hye-jin shocked.

At the same time, Hyo-im is at home when her son and Jun-ho’s friend  – Seung-kyu get back home. Hyo-im is concerned about Jun-ho quitting his job for a teaching job and is worried about his parents. Later that day, the teachers at Daechi Chase and the panel members discussed the candidates and talked about Jun-ho’s lecture.

Hye-jin tries to convince Hyun-tak against hiring Jun-ho and claims that he would not be a valuable asset to Daechi Chase. Hyun-tak refuses to accept Hye-jin’s decision and asks him to think about his choice. That night, Jun-ho goes home and tells his parents that he quit his corporate job to become a teacher at Daechi Chase.

His father is infuriated by the decision and his mother is shocked but Jun-ho tries to make his parents see how he did not enjoy his job. Jun-ho tells his father that the life of a teacher is much better for him in the long run. Jun-ho’s mother is sick and he tries to tend to her but she pushes him away, upset with Jun-ho for quitting his job without a thought.

Hye-jin watches Jun-ho’s demo class again and texts him, asking him to meet her. The next day, Jun-ho and Hye-jin meet and she tells him that he was not hired. Jun-ho is surprised and wonders why he didn’t make it after his successful demo class. Jun-ho tells Hye-jin that he will apply to different teaching institutes and she tries to convince him to drop the idea of working as a teacher.

Hye-jin lies to Jun-ho, telling him that the teaching job does not pay well and that she hates it. Jun-ho stops Hye-jin and asks her to stop trying to change his mind and leaves. Hye-jin gets in her car is upset that her plan failed and leaves. At the same time, Professor Pyo at Chan Young High School tells his students about the new changes in the upcoming exams. He offers to help the students with supplementary lectures to prepare for the exam.

Ha-yul and her friends discuss what they could do in such a situation. Hyun-tak calls Hye-jin to meet him and talks about Professor Pyo’s new announcement which has left the students worried. Hye-jin tries to find a solution to this problem but Hyun-tak stands by her. That night, Jun-ho and his father go out for drinks and he tries to convince

Jun-ho to keep the corporate job. Jun-ho tells his father that he found corporate life very hard. The old man gets up and leaves without a word. That night, Hye-jin is working late when Hyun-tak shows up with drinks. The two talk about work among other things and Hyun-tak asks her why she was so adamant about not hiring Jun-ho. He recalls how it was Hye-jin’s idea to have an achievement panel at Daechi Chase with the best-scoring students’ names displayed there.

That night, Hye-jin thinks about what Hyun-tak, Professor Pyo and Jun-ho told her and wonders if she really is a good teacher. The next day, Hye-jin tells her colleagues that she has agreed to let Jun-ho join Daechi Chase. She meets Ji-suk and tells him that she might have gone overboard in trying to stop him from being hired.

That evening, she meets Jun-ho at the restaurant and apologises to him for overstepping her boundaries. She tells him that he was hired and gives him a debriefing about how difficult his next few months as a teacher with no teaching experience would be. She tells Jun-ho all about how competitive the teaching profession is and asks him to muster up the courage for it.

After Jun-ho leaves, Hye-jin talks to her friend and the restaurant owner’s wife about Jun-ho. The next day, Hye-jin introduces Chang-mi and Jun-ho to the rest of the teaching staff. On their way around, Jun-ho meets Ji-suk who is showing the new English teachers around. Chang-mi notices that Dae-baek was also hired.

Meanwhile, Jun-ho and Chang-mi are made to sit at their respective desks when Hyun-tak calls Jun-ho into his cabin for a chat. The two catch up and Hyun-tak tells Jun-ho that his story of being a student at Daechi Chase and turning into a teacher there would be an inspiration to many students. He asks to use Jun-ho as Daechi Chase’s new brand ambassador.

Jun-ho is shocked and wonders what will happen to Hye-jin’s role as the ambassador. The episode ends with Jun-ho telling Hyun-tak that he should include the fact that Hye-jin was his tutor and asks to be Daechi Chase’s joint brand ambassador along with Hye-jin.


The Episode Review

The episode was cute and I am looking forward to Wi Ha-joon’s first romantic drama as the main lead. The way Jun-ho looks at Hye-jin, it is clear that he already has feelings for her. I wonder if Hye-jin wanted Jun-ho to not switch to being a teacher because she herself regrets being a teacher at Daechi Chase.

It is shocking how Hyun-tak hired Jun-ho because of his success story as a way to promote the teaching academy. The way things ended in this episode, we can be sure that Jun-ho will never betray his “noona” as they will eventually turn from teacher-pupil to friends to lovers.

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Expect a full-season review once the season ends!

  • Episode Rating
    (3.5)
3.5

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