'Backstreet Rookie' Episode 11: Ji-wook tells Dae-hyun to not mislead Saet-byul, confesses his feelings for her
The 'Backstreet Rookie' Episode 11 sees Yeon-joo (Han Sun-hwa) face the consequences of breaking up with Dae-hyun (Ji Chang-wook) for not suiting her lifestyle. On the other hand, Saet-byul (Kim Yoo-jung) is on cloud nine about finally getting a chance to build something romantic with Dae-hyun. At the end of last episode, we saw how Saet-byul had been crushing on Dae-hyun for years now after he saved her when she was really young. They coincidentally met again when she was in high school, and now the two are working together. From the moment that Dae-hyun broke it off with Yeon-joo, Dae-hyun has not shown any romantic interest in Saet-byul at all. It is all that Saet-byul hopes for, and this episode centers on that hope.
The biggest development in this episode is how Saet-byul's childhood friend Kang Ji-wook (Kim Min-kyu), who has romantic feelings for her, changes from being passive to actively pursuing her. First, he sees her spend more time with Dae-hyun and he sees how she seems more interested in him than before, if that was possible at all. So then, as the model for the convenience store brand that Dae-hyun owns, Ji-wook gets the head office to change the location of their advertisement shoot to the store that Saet-byul works at so that he can spend more time with her.
At this time, Ji-wook learns that Dae-hyun has broken up with Yeon-joo, leading to the two reacting in an awkward manner around each other. He also notices that Dae-hyun now seems closer to Saet-byul than before as well; and Ji-wook believes that Dae-hyun is using Saet-byul to make Yeon-joo jealous and regret her decision for wanting to break up with him. It is so unlike Ji-wook, but yet, we see him lose his temper enough to have a confrontation with Dae-hyun about how he shouldn't mislead Saet-byul with his actions.
This moment is tension-filled because for the first time Dae-hyun is being spoken to like this, and this despite not having done anything. He even attempts to clarify his stand to Ji-wook initially, but when the actor-model doesn't listen, Dae-hyun also loses his temper and asks him why he is telling him off over his behavior with Saet-byul. That's when Ji-wook drops it that he like Saet-byul and would hence not want to see her be put in a situation where she is being used by someone. Ji-wook tells Dae-hyun that this makes him uncomfortable and hopes that Dae-hyun would stop faking his close bond with Saet-byul. Will Dae-hyun back off from Saet-byul at this point or will he rebel against Ji-wook's idea and end up harboring feeling for Saet-byul himself? We will see that in the next episode.
'Backstreet Rookie' originally airs on SBS on Fridays an Saturdays at 10 pm KST.
