'When I was the Most Beautiful' Episode 8: Hwan is left only with heartbreak as Jin is found, hurt and angry
Three years have changed Hwan (Ji Soo) a lot. His brother's disappearance, being cut off from Ye-ji (Lim Soo-hyang), the only woman he has loved and all the while having to search for his brother. He looked at dead people, met with witnesses and even scammers, but no one has even attempted to understand the kind of effort Hwan had to put in when it came to finding Jin (Ha Seok-jin). The caring man who was capable of empathizing with people is no longer capable of even spending a minute with Ye-ji while she spends her time waiting for someone who doesn't seem interested in returning to her, even if he was alive. Which is what we learn later on in 'When I was the Most Beautiful' episode 8.
At the moment Hwan is more troubled than anyone because he hasn't even been able to grieve the loss of his brother. He hasn't been able to attempt moving on after a loss as everyone around him continues to force him to think and believe in Jin's return. He is holding in all the pain and agony over not being able to find his brother and all of this is finding a release during Hwan's interaction with her. From being a confidante who Ye-ji looked forward to spending time with, Hwan has now become a mean man who strikes where it hurts most to get her to move in the direction that he wants her to.
Interestingly, all the excitement that Hwan had shown in his personal life before is completely focussed on his work now. The part of Hwan that felt the need to stand up against anything unfair, or anyone being treated unfairly is still present, but he has buried it so deep that it is not visible to Ye-ji, because he believes what she needs most at the moment is to accept that her husband is dead.
After Hwan made a move three years ago at the beach, Ye-ji totally cut off from him and it was the right thing to do. However, from Hwan's perspective, he has begun to understand that things between him and Ye-ji will not progress, not unless she begins to believe that Jin really is gone. It is this that he attempts to make possible, but repeatedly he gets his heartbroken as Ye-ji repeatedly draws her guard up when she is around him. She doesn't want what happened three years ago to repeat, but all that Hwan wants, as he explains in a frustrating moment, is to have her accept his sincerity. Not act on it, not reciprocate his feelings for her, but just to accept the fact that his feelings and thoughts for her are genuine.
As the two have begun to live in the same house after seven long years, they struggle to be around each other without feeling conflicted. At this time, the neighborhood that Hwan and Ye-ji live in turns lively with trash gossip which speaks ill of Hwan and Ye-ji's relationship. One of Hwan's former classmates posts a video of Hwan and Ye-ji online. This more than Hwan's attempts forces Ye-ji to move out of the house she lives in with Hwan and his father. Initially, she did not want to move because she felt at home and loved in the house, but now -- with the pressure that Hwan is putting on her, things have changed.
And after seven years of searching for him, after seven years of being in pain over the confusion of if he is dead or alive, Jin's mother manages to find him admitted in a hospital in Monterey, California. It seems Jin has been injured and after having watched his father go through the pain and effort of what it meant to even get back to his feet, Jin is extremely reticent about meeting his family again. The only one who Jin's mother allows to go meet him is Ye-ji but Jin doesn't want to see her. Despite being paralyzed from the waist down, he locks himself up in the room and doesn't even speak to her. Not until she begs him to open the door.
She is shocked, she also understands why he wouldn't return to them and yet it doesn't take away the pain that she had lived with for seven years. As all of this plays out the only thing we can think about is, what happens to Hwan now.
'When I was Most Beautiful' will air on MBC on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9.30 pm KST. It will be available on Viu outside South Korea.