'It's Okay to Not be Okay' Episode 6: Mun-yeong needs a savior from her traumatic past and Kang-tae volunteers
'It's Okay to Not be Okay' Episode 6 begins with Kang-tae (Kim Soo-Hyun) arriving at Mun-yeong's (Seo Yea-Ji) home after he is informed that his brother is at her home. She had signed a contract with him to be the illustrator of her next book and in return, she will buy Sang-tae (Oh Jung-Se) a camper vehicle. The contract also mentions that the employee would begin to live at the employer's residence to work together. Initially, Kang-tae cannot accept that his brother would take on something like this. He is also worried about Sang-tae's continued presence in Mun-yeong's company, especially since he had always known that the little girl who had saved him when he was a kid was none other than Mun-yeong.
She has Antisocial Personality Disorder and Kang-tae is worried that she would not be sensitive towards his brother's needs. So far, Kang-tae has shouldered the responsibility of taking care of his brother. But now that Sang-tae wants to take up an exciting opportunity with his favorite author, with or without Kang-tae's permission; Mun-yeong gives him the opportunity to abandon his brother. It is at this point in the show that we see what really happened in the past between Mun-yeong and Kang-tae.
When the two were kids, Mun-yeong had saved Kang-tae from drowning in ice-cold water. He had jumped in to save his brother who had fallen into a frozen lake after the top layer was broken. He succeeds, but Sang-tae, who is shocked, leaves his brother behind and walks away. That's when Mun-yeong, as a child had stepped in to save Kang-tae. Of course, she had pondered over the decision after having watched the entire incident unfold. She had also hoped that Kang-tae would abandon his brother and run after seeing him almost drown in the frozen lake, but he doesn't and the past reflects the decisions that Kang-tae makes in the present.
After Sang-tae refuses to leave Mun-yeong's home and even beats up Kang-tae for tearing the contract that he had signed up, Mun-yeong wonders if the two brothers will end up getting alienated. She had witnessed first hand how Kang-tae takes his responsibility seriously. However, Sang-tae, who is not used to anger from his brother is not sure. He had fought with his brother repeatedly saying "Sang-tae belongs to himself and no one else" and ironically enough, this is exactly what Kang-tae had said when the two of them were children and their mother had doted on Sang-tae but mostly ignored Kang-tae unless it was to ensure Sang-tae's safety.
Kang-tae is hurt that his brother would act the way he did and he is also devastated about the life that he had led until that moment. In fact, when Mun-yeong tries hard to convince him to stay with her, as a gift born of gratitude because she had saved his life as a child, Kang-tae says that he wished he had died on that day because right now, he is living a life that is completely screwed up. Despite how devastated he sounds, Mun-yeong is certain that he wouldn't go to the extent of abandoning his brother and she tells a worried Sang-tae the same.
Kang-tae's landlady and his colleague Nam Joo-ri's (Park Gyu-Young) mother also tells him that two things in anyone's life should not be forced -- the person they love and the work that they choose. This inspires Kang-tae to not only let his brother follow his dreams and become an illustrator but he also seems more open to the idea of being in love with Mun-yeong. He negotiates terms and conditions for his brother, tells her that the two of them will only stay with her during weekdays and return home during weekends. He also tells Mun-yeong that at no point is she allowed to treat his brother with disrespect and the deal is done.
It is once the two brothers begin staying with Mun-yeong that we wonder if the show is also a horror-thriller because what we thought was Mun-yeong's nightmares could be more. For instance, the door to the basement at Mun-yeong's home automatically opens right when Sang-tae passes by and being the curious man that he is, he ends up going down the stairs. At this moment, we see flashes from Mun-yeong's past that have a woman's corpse lying on the floor in a strange angle and there is blood everywhere.
Before Sang-tae could go down the stairs and arrive at the room though, Mun-yeong stops him and tells him the tale of 'Blue Beard' made famous by author Charles Perrault. The tale is reportedly based on the 15th century Breton nobleman and serial killer, Gilles de Rais and in the show, Mun-yeong sees herself as the one fo the wives who gets killed for not listening to the orders of the man with the blue beard. Sang-tae is scared and he retires to bed, where he asks his brother why poeple in town were afraid of the man with the blue beard. To this, Kang-tae responds that it was because this man was different from others.
Sang-tae, who is different from others himself, asks with a worried tone if people who are different deserve to be hated. Kang-tae responds that it is not true and he even tells Sang-tae that he believes that the man with the blue beard would find someone who understands him and the two would get their happy ending. Mun-yeong, who is different herself, overhears this conversation and is soothed by Kang-tae's take. Just for a moment, Mun-yeong forgets the horrors of her past, but they don't stay behind for too long.
She remembers how her mother had said that she would kill the prince who comes to save her from the evil castle. It was this warning that had forced Mun-yeong to act mean towards Kang-tae when they were young and she hears the same warming from her mother in her nightmares in the present. This affects her so much so, that her screams are heard by Kang-tae who is in the room on the opposite end.
For the first time since Kang-tae met her, he sees her vulnerable and scared because of the nightmare. She is worried sick that her dead mother would hurt Kang-tae and so tells him to run away while holding on to him tightly and this is what really sways the man into promising that he won't leave her.
'It's Okay to Not Be Okay' originally airs on tvN on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 pm KST in South Korea and can be streamed on Netflix.