Hometown ChaChaCha: Ep 1

Intro:

The episode starts with our main character jogging. She returns to her apartment complex and meets a chatty woman on the elevator. The older woman is visiting her daughter, who stays on the same floor as our main character. They get off the elevator, and the woman asks if she should make a meal for our main character because it seems she orders delivery often. Our main character is super lovely, obviously trying to end the conversation with her and telling her not to worry.

Shortly after, we see our girl switch out of her workout clothes and into a fancier outfit and enter a dental office. She’s a dentist named Dr. Yoon. Dr.Yoon’s first client of the day is the chatty woman she met on the elevator. The visit goes very well, and they say their goodbyes.

An assistant/hygienist unwrapped the new magazines for the waiting room. Dr. Yoon goes over to help her and points to a pair of shoes on the magazine cover that she is waiting for a sale as she prefers discounted things.

In the following few scenes, Dr. Yoon gets into an altercation with the head dentist. The head dentist says she should’ve performed a treatment on the elevator woman that would’ve cost more. Dr. Yoon accuses the head dentist of ripping off patients and tells her not to interfere with how she treats her patients. This argument leads to Dr. Yoon storming out and quitting.

Dr. Yoon meets up with a friend over dinner to drink and talk about the next steps. It appears Dr. Yoon bought the shoes as a retirement present to herself. Dr. Yoon then wakes up hungover on her couch. The head dentist texts her and says she will regret what she did. In her drunken state, HyeJin (Dr. Yoon) posted on a Korean Dentist Community board that the head dentist is doing overtreatments and ripping off patients. HyeJin can’t delete the post because she doesn’t remember her password. She then gets a bank notification that 6 million won ($4000 USD) will be withdrawn from her account soon.

12min in:

About 2 weeks have gone by. HyeJin’s home is a disaster, and she works on job applications. We see that multiple dentist offices have rejected her applications. Her friend is also in the dental industry and says that the head doctor is spreading rumors as her Chief Dentist knew who she was and immediately rejected her.

HyeJin gets a notification that it’s her mom’s birthday, and she looks at a family picture of them at a beach.

Scene change to the beach location, and we see our main character on a working boat. His name is DuSik. DuSik vouches for a friend he recruited as his boss is upset that he got sick on the boat. DuSik asks him to be patient with the new worker and goes and checks on his friend, who speaks Russian. DuSik gives him peppermint tea to help with his nausea and another device to help with his seasickness. DuSik has a great relationship with everyone.

HyeJin arrives at the beach, stepping out in the car in her new shoes. She takes her shoes off and sits in the sand. Coincidentally DuSik is surfing at the same time in the water. HyeJin has a flashback to her family at the beach. Her mom appears to be very sick. HyeJin calls her dad, and it turns out that they don't talk much anymore. The conversation is very short, as he is dismissive. After the call, he wonders what date it is and seems to remember something.

HyeJin returns from her walk on the beach and sees her expensive shoes are gone. DuSik comes out of the water with just one shoe. She thanks him and asks him if he can look for the other one since she fears the water. He doesn’t appreciate this request. He tells her that he didn’t purposefully go looking for the shoe but that it floated out to him on his surfboard. She then asks if she can carry him to her car. He says no but gives her his sandals. The sandals are labeled as Raw fish restaurant toilet shoes. So the shoes you wear when you have to go to the bathroom at a restaurant.

On her walk, HyeJin passes by a little boy next to a little girl who is crying. The little girl is holding a bloody tooth in her hand and screaming. The boy is actually the one who lost his tooth but the little girl hit him with her backpack and freaked her out. HyeJina ask where the closest dentist is and they tell her it’s about 30 minutes away. In a cut scene, we are introduced to new characters. A man and woman who are divorced and the wife owns a raw fish restaurant. While they are talking, the little boy missing a tooth greets his parents. They ask him about his missing tooth and who gave him the gauze. HyeJin then appears and they notice she’s wearing their restaurant toilet shoes.

HyeJin is talking to the owner of a raw fish restaurant, wondering who gave her the shoes. She offers HyeJin a meal for taking care of her son. She tells HyeJin that she should come to the island more often as it is a great place to be, except that no dental office is nearby.

30min in:

DuSik washes off and checks his phone to see that he has received messages requesting help from people on the island. He replies okay. HyeJin walks by a building with a rental sign. She considers whether or not she should open a clinic.

In her car, she is still upset about her shoe and decides to head home. But….her car won't start. She finds the car insurance card but realizes her phone isn’t getting a signal. As she walks around looking for a signal, her stomach starts hurting. She runs into a cafe, orders a latte, and then runs to the bathroom.

The cafe owner brings her iced coffee and asks if she recognizes the posters on the wall, which are just his album covers. He wondered if she had heard his songs, and she said no. She asks to use the phone, but that’s not working either. She wants to pay to leave, but the card reader doesn’t work either. At this time, the cafe owner’s daughter walks in, and she is complaining about her phone not working. HyeJin says she will run to the bank to get cash. She says she’ll leave her bag as collateral for her return, but the daughter says her bag is fake. HyeJin is offended by this and says okay, she’ll leave her phone. The little girl inspects the phone, surprised it’s the latest model. They tell her she can go.

HyeJin goes to different banks and sees that all the ATMs are down. She returns to the cafe, and they stare at her, disappointed she didn’t come back with cash. She gives them her business card, and the dad is surprised she’s a dentist, but the little girl says it could be fake.

DuSik walks into the cafe, and they ask if he knows HyeJin. He says he doesn’t know how to answer that question. They tell him she is trying to leave without paying for her coffee. She tells them she is trying to, but her card and phone aren’t working. DuSik confirms that most of the technology is down on the island. The Telecom in the area caught on fire. The cafe owner and his daughter run out to go see the fire. HyeJin asked DuSik if she could borrow the money to pay for the coffee. He tells her to follow him.

He tells her she has to earn the cash. They walk a ways away. DuSik makes stops on the way to tell the elderly to stay home and not to worry about the fire. One of the elderly is deaf, and he signs to her. She goes in to bring DuSik and HyeJin something to drink. HyeJin looks smitten by him. HyeJin asks why people call DuSik “Chief Hong.” He tells her an outsider wouldn’t understand. They finally arrive at their destination.

DuSik wants her to help the women wash squids at the dock. She is nervous as she has never touched squid before. She starts going off about how she is a dentist. He yells to the grandmas that she is there to help and walks off. The grandmas show her how to properly clean the squid. They tell her that their job is important because it feeds the country. The grandmas nosily ask how she knows Chief Hong, and HyeJin says she just met him that same day. All the grandmas give each other a look and groan.

DuSik comes back with her money. She looks disappointed, and he asks her doesn’t it feel good to work hard. She tells him that she has always been a hard worker. She gives him the money and asks if he can pay for the coffee. He starts to walk off, but then she remembers that her car isn’t working. She asks him for a ride.

Next scene, DuSik fixes her car and sees that she also has a nail in her tire. He tells her that she’ll have to fix it in the morning. HyeJin is upset as she has no spare clothes and smells like fish. DuSik sniffs her, points her toward a sauna, and verbally confirms that she smells.

At the sauna, HyeJin is fresh and clean but hungry. She starts calculating the money to decide what she wants. She goes up to the register to order and is greeted by DuSik. She is surprised and asks him what he’s doing, and he simply says he is working. HyeJin then asks why he speaks informally. He tells her that being global is the trend and that it’s okay to relax. HyeJin goes to lie down on her mat, and a cricket lands near her. She screams and runs away while everyone else stares at her.

While DuSik is leaving, he runs into an elderly lady named Ms.Park. Ms. Park tells him that another grandma is hurt. The other grandma sprained her ankle. DuSik tells her she should go to the hospital, but she doesn’t want to go. DuSik sits with her and ices her ankle. She complains that she needs to go to the senior center to watch the soap opera. DuSik puts her on his back and carries her there. They have a really sweet, heartwarming talk while walking.

HyeJin is on the top of the roof, still freaked out by the bug. She says happy birthday to her mom.

1hr in:

DuSik is at the dock doing an auction for fish the following day, and HyeJin sees him and giggles. Afterward, HyeJin goes to talk to him and asks where the mechanic is. Her phone rings, and the elderly next-door neighbor (the phone lines are working again) is calling to thank her for not letting the other people overcharge her for dental treatments. HyeJin is moved by this.

HyeJin calls for a mechanic to fix her car and checks all the missed messages. The little boy and girl who had the tooth incident come up to greet her. The little boy’s name is IJun. The little girl’s name is Bora. She takes a look at his tooth to see how it’s healing. IJun says he wants to repay her one day. HyeJin is taken aback and tells them both that all they have to do to repay her is take care of their teeth. They say bye and says they wish she would come back to visit.

DuSik is seen opening up the coffee shop when the cafe owner comes in. DuSik tells him the money is on the table. The cafe owner, ChunJae, asks what the money is for. DuSik reminds him it’s for HyeJin's coffee from the day before. ChunJae jokes that she is probably a scammer. DuSik smiles and says that she’s not. ChunJae teases him and says that he’s blushing.

HyeJin is driving home when the head dentist calls her. She calls to tease her that nobody will hire her. She then tells her that she is willing to return her position to her if she kneels and begs for forgiveness. HyeJin calls her a quack and says she will open her own clinic. She angrily hangs up and heads back to the island. She goes to the raw fish owner and asks her for help finding a building. The rawfish owner is happy and says she’ll call the realtor. She then changes her mind and says another way will be faster.

They start heading up a hill, and the rawfish owner says she heard HyeJin stayed at the sauna last night and told her to stay at her home next time. HyeJin asked if the realtor lived the way they were walking. Ms. Rawfish says they aren't going to see a realtor. She then gets a call, and there is an emergency. Ms. Rawfish tells HyeJin to keep walking until she sees a boat, and the guy will wait for her.

HyeJin continues to walk the path and sees a boat on land. Well, the top of a hill. DuSik is fixing the boat and greets her. She is shocked and asks what he really does for a living. DuSik pulls out his real estate badge and says he is qualified. She asks him why he thinks he is so important. He smiles and says because he is Chief Hong.

In the rolling end credits, we see all the times DuSik saw HyeJin when she didn’t notice. It’s so cute!

Omg, I loved this. Great first episode. From the trailer, I thought DuSik would be dense, but he is very smart and playful.