'Start-Up' Episode 14: Do-san feels terrible around Dal-mi, tells her he is done with her
At the end of 'Start-Up' Episode 13, we saw how Ji-pyeong had stopped Do-san (Nam Joo-hyuk) from meeting Dal-mi (Bae Suzy) when he had returned for his court. He had asked Do-san for a moment so that the two of them could speak because Ji-pyeong (Kim Seon-ho) is back to feeling insecure around Do-san. Similarly, Do-san also feels insecure around Ji-pyeong because of how close Dal-mi must have gotten to him in Do-san's absence. As the two of them torture themselves over Dal-mi and who she will reciprocate feelings to, we had said that neither of them should end up with Dal-mi considering how complicated things have gotten.
Now that Do-san has decided to stay behind in Seoul with his friend Yong-san and Chul-san, this complex situation is only going to become more chaotic and the promo of the upcoming episode is proof. We see Do-san attempt to move on from Dal-mi in the episode and he even wonders why it is so hard to forget the days that he had spent with her when all of it amounted to just three months. It has been three years since those three months and yet he is unable to give up on her.
We also see Ji-pyeong struggle with an important decision and that is if he should confess his feelings once again to Dal-mi. He had bought her a gift to help him with his confession but before he could speak to her, Do-san had arrived at Sandbox and things had become unexpectedly convoluted. It also looks like Dal-mi is being forced by her sister In-jae to bring Do-san and his friends onboard their company because the developers who had worked with her had quit. This happened right after Do-san had taken over the operation to get rid of the ransom malware.
Somehow, the siblings who had been working with In-jae as developers seemed suspicious from the beginning of Episode 13. They had always been interested in the money and it was money that had interested them when it came to 2STO as well. So to see the two of them meet someone strange for lunch, which is something that Dal-mi had witnessed right before a ransom malware attack definitely reeks of setting up so the fact that they quit is not surprising. So now, with testing of the self-drive car set to take place in just a few days, In-jae has no choice but to get Dal-mi to use her contacts.
If Dal-mi fails, the company would lose 2 billion won and that is not chump change that they can recover from. However, this time around Dal-mi may not succeed. At this stage, Ji-pyeong tells her that he should be the one to guide her here but because he is too close to this situation; meaning both he and Do-san have feelings for her, he tells her that he wouldn't be able to give her objective guidance. As usual, Ji-pyeong is straight forward!
At the end of the promo, we see Dal-mi tell Do-san that the story that he had told about Tarzan at the very beginning of the show, to explain what his work was to Dal-mi had excited her. It looks like she is about to tell him that she likes him as well, but Do-san tells her that he is not ready to be confused by her any longer and he also tells her that he doesn't want to see her again. Is this the end for the two of them?
'Start-Up' will air on tvN on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 pm KST, and can be streamed on Netflix in the US.