'Record of Youth' Episode 12 Promo: Will Jeong-ah leave Hye-jun after news of Ji-ah breaks?
At the end of episode 11 of 'Record of Youth', we saw Hye-jun (Park Bo-gum) receiving a call from Ji-ah, who said that she had met a reporter and warned him about news of their relationship in the media. He is taken aback, and it is clear that it was not something that he expected. At the same time, we saw how Hae-hyo (Byeon Woo-seok) didn't seem surprised at all, and also informed Hye-jun that Ji-ah had gotten in touch with him. Turns out, the two of them came up with a plan - to save both Jeong-ah and Hye-jun. Yet, this might be the very reason why Hye-jun drifts apart from Jeong-ah. The promo released at the end of the episode, at least, indicates as much.
We see Jeong-ah (Park So-dam) regret worrying about Hye-jun's struggle all by herself when he hadn't even thought of sharing it with her. While he might have his own reasons for doing so, he left Jeong-ah in the dark and that led to her making the decision of coming out to all her followers and everyone that she knows with a video titled 'Confession'. For now, we are not sure if she posts it, but she definitely recorded it and all of this because Min-jae tried to see if Jeong-ah would be open to helping her out.
With Ji-ah's interview about to be published, however, it is clear that Jeong-ah would be in for a lot of pain as she would see her boyfriend's name splashed across the media along with another woman's name. Sure, this might clear Hye-jun's name and put him in the clear, however, something seems to have gone wrong because for some reason, the media begins to tag Hye-jun as a lover boy and Min-jae also worries about Hye-jun's reputation going to the dogs over something getting published. Is she speaking of Jeong-ah's video?
Is that why Jeong-ah decides to pack up and leave? We see a scene of Jeong-ah stuck in the rain again, but this time, it seems to remind her of all the times that she was left alone with no one to support her as a child. This is despite all the time Hye-jun spent with her, despite all the times Hye-jun attempted to make her feel comfortable enough to depend on him. Does this mean Jeong-ah and Hye-jun will decide to take a break until things settle down in Hye-jun's life? If it does, Hye-jun will be no different than all the other actors who decide to choose their image and work opportunities over the people they love. We do see him hug Jeong-ah, but this seems more like a tearful goodbye than an attempt at holding her back.
'Record of Youth' originally airs on tvN on Mondays and Tuesdays in South Korea and can be streamed on Netflix in the US.