'Itaewon Class' Episode 13 hints at Park Sae-ro-yi falling for Yi-seo despite denying any feelings for her
'Itaewon Class' Episode 13 picks right where we left off so Ma Hyun-yi gets ready to face the world as a trans person. She participates in the competition while everyone expected her to back out of shame. She even goes as far as to announce on record that she "is a transgender". She also makes her colleagues very proud by standing tall with confidence. She also wins the competition third time in a row and secures DanBam and IC's future by doing so despite all the obstacles.
While Park Sae-ro-yi and Hyun-yi are celebrating their victory, Jo Yi-seo confronts Jang Geun-soo about leaking Hyun-yi's probate affairs to the press. She slaps him hard and tried to shake some sense into him. She tells him that his easygoing attitude suits him the best and that he should be himself. Geun-soo, however, is not ready to give up on his feelings for Yi-seo despite her refusal to accept him and it seems as if he is traveling the same path as his brother Geun-won. Will this lead to his destruction just as it led to his brother's?
At this point, it seems highly likely that he is treading a dangerous path in attempting to win against Sae-ro-yi because of Yi-seo. However, people at DanBam seem to think of Geun-soo as a friend still because Yi-seo revealed the truth to them. They even try to invite him to a celebration party, but he doesn't respond. The chasm between himself and the DanBam people is growing every day. This is just part of it all. His betrayal had served him well though because he is named Jang Dae-hee's heir.
After successfully launching franchisees across the city in Seoul, Yi-seo wants to use the rest of the money in expanding across the country but Sae-ro-yi has a higher aim. He wants to take his business to China and in the years to come, he succeeds in doing so as well. In the meanwhile, Geun-soo has become more adept as a businessman and even has a great idea to expand Jang Corp's business further. Within this time (a period of four years), we also see Geun-won get released from prison. Dae-hee's health has deteriorated in the last four years and it seems he has only six months left to live because he has got cancer. Geun-soo had become a businessman so completely that even his father's death doesn't affect him. He looks at everything from the perspective of the well-being of the corporation. There are no feelings left in their relationship and it becomes quite clearly pretty early in after the time jump. Geun-won, on the other hand, had his own ideas and is a lot more emotionally influenced than his brother.
We also see Sae-ro-yi learn from his friends Lee-jin that Geun-won is out and he also learns that Dae-hee has cancer with just months left to live. This shocks Sae-ro-yi more than anything because he wants Dae-hee to be punished by him and not die so easily. Dae-hee is also surprised that the only person who wants him to live is Sae-ro-yi.
In the four years since winning the Best Pub restaurant, a lot has changed but the one constant in Sae-ro-yi's life is Yi-seo. She is still in love with him and she constantly expresses her feelings to him without inhibitions about being rejected. Instead, she seems to be completely fine with being in love with him while he has no intention of reciprocating her feelings. However, in this episode, we also see a Sae-ro-yi feel more than friendship. He seems disconcerted each time she says "I love you" and yet he seems unable to let go of her. It also seems as if Sae-ro-yi hasn't had time to spend with Soo-ah over the years and their relationship definitely seems a lot more distant than before.
'Itaewon Class' episodes can be streamed on Netflix.