Wonderful World – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Wonderful World starts with Soo-hyun at the graveyard where she visits her son, Gun-woo’s grave, 7 years after being freed from prison. At the same time, Seon-yul is also there, visiting his parents’ grave. When it starts raining, Seon-yul offers his umbrella to Soo-hyun and tells her that Gun-woo would not like to see her getting drenched in the rain.

Soo-hyun takes the umbrella and makes it back home where she meets her mother. The two share a moment after which Go-eun tells Soo-hyun that Yoo-ri has made it big and is now working for a leading brand – Cheongdam Select Shop, as their representative. Go-eun tries to make sure that Soo-hyun won’t take any drastic measures to end her life and makes sure her daughter is safe.

At the same time, Yoo-ri oversees a brand shoot for the shop’s upcoming jewellery collection. Soo-hyun shows up at the shop and meets Yoo-ri there. The two have a meaningful chat and Yoo-ri recalls how when she lost her parents, Go-eun took care of her as her child and Soo-hyun treated her as a real sister.

Yoo-ri asks Soo-hyun to take a chance and start over as she did in the past. Soo-hyun goes around looking for the boy that Hyung-ja had told her about. After looking around the city in which the burned building was located, Soo-hyun learns that the boy was in contact with a therapist after the fire incident. Soo-hyun goes around looking for the therapist who had transitioned into being a college professor.

Outside Professor Kim Si-ra’s class, Soo-hyun recalls her memories from when she was a professor at a college. She recalls how her students loved her and how they celebrated the fact that she was their teacher. Back to the present day, Soo-hyun talks to Professor Kim about the young boy and learns that she had last been in touch with him about 10 years ago.

Professor Kim promises to help Soo-hyun and asks her to give her some time to go through the records so she can find a way for her to contact the boy. Soo-hyun meets Yoo-ri over dinner and learns that Soo-ho is going to return to South Korea from the United States. Soo-hyun recalls asking Yoo-ri to send her signed divorce papers to Soo-ho back when he had recently moved to the USA.

Soo-hyun tells Yoo-ri how she did not want to hold Soo-ho back from starting a new life for himself because she loves him dearly. In the present day, Soo-hyun decides to pay a visit to the house she shared with Soo-ho. Once she enters the house, all her happy memories with Gun-woo and Soo-ho are brought back.

Soo-hyun enters Gun-woo’s old room and finds all of his clothes and toys still in their place, even after 7 years. She spends the night crying herself to sleep on the floor of Gun-woo’s bedroom.

The next morning, Soo-hyun wakes up and goes out looking for the boy. On closing the door to the house behind her, Soo-hyun remembers hearing the door locking sound from the night when Gun-woo had died. Soo-hyun does not dwell on the thought but goes out looking for the boy. Professor Kim calls Soo-hyun and tells her that she knows where the boy works and Soo-hyun arrives at the place.

At the same time, Kim Joon’s secretary asks Seon-yul to follow a congressman named Choi Ju-seok to see what he is up to. Seon-yul follows the politician to a remote farmhouse where the politician and his entourage of two other men and scantily dressed women are. Seon-yul observes the party from outside the house and sees the politician – Ju-seok and his friends get high on drugs and alcohol.

He captures photos of Ju-seok and his friends getting high as well as of them getting intimate with the girls. Just as Seon-yul is about to leave with the evidence, the guards stop him. Seon-yul fights off the guards and flees from there. He goes back to the junkyard and tries to dress his wounds from the fight with the guards.

All of a sudden, Soo-hyun shows up at the junkyard and realises that she had already met Seon-yul at the graveyard a few days prior. Seon-yul continues eating his dinner before discussing the matter Soo-hyun is meeting him about. After he has had his meal, Soo-hyun tells Seon-yu that she is meeting him on behalf of someone else and hands over Hyung-ja’s diary.

Seon-yul gets furious upon learning that the diary belongs to the woman that killed his parents and accuses Soo-hyun of bringing out the pain he has been trying to avoid for years. Soo-hyun realises her mistake and tries to apologise to Seon-yul but he leaves. Over the next few days, Soo-hyun tries to chat with Seon-yul by waiting outside his house but he ignores her and goes about his day.

One night, when Seon-yul does not get back home when he regularly should, Soo-hyun decides to go home. On her way back, she notices a roadside accident and finds Seon-yul there. She sees him trying to look for a chain with his late mother’s photograph. The police take Seon-yul for questioning in connection with the accident.

However, when he returns, he learns that Soo-hyun has entered the marshy land to look for his chain. Soo-hyun apologises for not being considerate of Seon-yul’s feelings and agrees to give him the space he needs. She tells Seong-ul that she too had met the person who caused her a significant loss and had reacted very harshly.

Soo-hyun asks Seon-yul to try and cope with his pain on his terms and leaves her contact details attached to the chain for him. At the same time, Soo-ho is invited to an awards ceremony as he is awarded for representing their channel in the USA. Soo-ho receives the award but later dumps it when he sees the channel supporting Kim Joon, the man behind his son’s death.

Meanwhile, Soo-hyun gets back to her mother’s house but is shocked to run into Soo-ho. Soo-ho apologises to Soo-hyun and asks her to take him back because he still loves her dearly. Soo-hyun tries to push him away but Soo-ho holds onto her, asking her to allow them a second chance. He states that he does not blame her for what happened to Gun-woo and asks her to start afresh with him. Soo-hyun agrees to go home with him.

The next day, Soo-ho invites his mother – Myeong-hee and his brother – Tae-ho for lunch. Tae-ho, who was a former student of Soo-hyun is now a practicing doctor. At lunch, Myeong-hee makes it seem as though she has forgiven Soo-hyun. However, in private, she tells Soo-hyun how she horrified him and accuses her of causing Gun-woo’s death.

She asks Soo-hyun to stop messing with Soo-ho’s career with her criminal record of being a killer and asks her to keep up appearances in front of Soo-ho. Soo-hyun is shocked to learn that her mother-in-law harbours such negative feelings for her. Later that night, Soo-ho takes Soo-hyun away for a private chat and gifts her a watch, thanking her for giving him a second chance.

He promises to be there for her always as they restart their life together. At the same time, the episode cuts to a boy sending a parcel to Soo-ho’s company with some information on Soo-hyun. The boy enters a darkroom and processes some photos, most of which are connected to Soo-hyun and her family.

On the other hand, Soo-hyun goes back home with Soo-ho and runs into their neighbour’s son – Hee-jae who is all grown up now. She greets the boy who recalls playing soccer with Gun-woo, bringing back painful memories of the past. Seon-yul thinks about Soo-hyun’s words to him and contemplates having a chat with her.

At his office, Soo-ho’s boss asks him to bring Soo-hyun as a guest to have a sit-down interview with her post her release from prison. Soo-ho refuses to have the interview but his boss calls Soo-hyun directly, asking her if she would help Soo-ho out. Yoo-ri asks Soo-hyun to be wary of the negative comments that will start pouring in once she agrees to the interview.

Soo-hyun tells Soo-ho that his boss has contacted her and tells him she is okay with interviewing for his sake. The couple sit down for an interview with the channel and the interviewer begins by asking invasive questions about Gun-woo’s death. Soo-ho answers the question bravely but Soo-hyun breaks down, stating how hard it was for her as a mother to deal with the fact that she had lost her son overnight.

The parcel that Min-hyeok had sent arrives at Soo-hyun’s green room in Soo-ho’s office. The interview ends with Soo-ho putting up a brave front on behalf of the couple. Soo-hyun goes to her green room and finds that she has a missed call from Seon-yul. She calls him back and Seon-yul tells her that he is not ready to forgive his parents’ killer but he will try to read the diary.

Soo-hyun asks Seon-yul to meet her later that afternoon so that she can hand over the diary. However, Soo-hyun finds the envelope sent by Min-hyeok which contains a photograph of Soo-ho being intimate with an unknown woman. The episode ends with the revelation that Min-hyeok is the son of Kwon Ji-woong, the man who caused Gun-woo’s death!

The Episode Review

I wonder how Soo-hyun already had Seon-yul’s number saved in her phone but that is a plot hole we will discuss another day. For now, we know that Soo-hyun is shocked to learn that Soo-ho was having an affair but the photo could be from the time when she was in jail and they were divorced. However, if this assumption is wrong, it is very likely that Soo-ho was having an affair with someone before Gun-woo’s death.

There is some reason to believe that Yoo-ri is the woman that Soo-ho hooked up with but I hope this theory is proven to be false. Yoori is like a real sister to Soo-hyun, it would be terrible for her to be betrayed by her. To make matters worse, it could be possible that Hee-jae is actually Soo-ho’s son from Hye-geum, their neighbour.

Hye-geum had behaved suspiciously in Episode 1 and it is also possible that she unlocked the door after Soo-hyun had returned. This could also mean that she wanted Gun-woo to die so that Hee-jae would get Soo-ho’s undivided love as a father. While this is all speculation, I am keen on looking forward to Seon-yul and Soo-hyun’s bond. 

It will be fun seeing Cha Eunwoo in such a masculine role in this drama as he delivered a very well-choreographed and natural-looking fight scene. Moreover, the episode ends with a glimpse into Min-hyeok’s life who is also grieving the loss of his father at Soo-hyun’s hands. I can’t wait to see how this show progresses in the episodes to come.