Episode 5

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Turns out Seung-jo’s fake-out kiss maneuver (I almost wrote “meaneuver,” which should totally be a word) is just another prank. He lets it go far enough that Ha-ni thinks he’s being serious and nervously suggests they date first. Oh, Ha-ni. Half the time I want to be you with your adorable facial expressions and ten million hairdos, but then you are so sweetly gullible that I cringe for you so hard it hurts a little.

Seung-jo bursts out laughing at her choice of words, and Ha-ni dashes out of the room, mortified. She leaves behind the reason she went there in the first place — her workbook covered in “I ♥ Seung-jo” doodles, which he smiles to read. You act all cold, Mr. Genius Robot Boy, but you sure don’t hate her adoration, do you?

Tearily, Ha-ni wonders if she really is stupid for liking him even after he treats her like this. But she can’t control her feelings.

On to the Topic of the Day: university admissions. As third-year students, Ha-ni and her crew are worried that with their grades and limited smarts, there may not be any schools that will accept them. With the help of her teacher, Ha-ni tries to find an angle that will bolster her case for admission, asking her father about notable relatives in their family history.

After exhausting the list, they find one spark of hope to cling to: Blood donations, which Ha-ni makes regularly, count as community service. This gives them a school to target: Parang University, with its social sciences department, which is also Min-ah’s school of choice because of its animation department.

That university fervor doesn’t extend to Seung-jo, however. While the other kids study madly and pin their hopes on particular schools, he zones out dully.

When Ha-ni’s computer goes on the fritz, deleting the school application she’d been working on just as the deadline looms, Seung-jo is called upon to restore it. (Thankfully he succeeds.)

Ha-ni knows that Parang University is a long shot, which makes Seung-jo wonder why she flipped out so much to get her application in. Her answer pretty much sums up the dynamic between them and shows why we love her: “I still have to try my hardest.” For her, college is about finding out what she’s good at and what she likes.

Seung-jo asks how you know when you like something, and there’s something sad about the way he says it with genuine curiosity, as though he truly doesn’t understand this thing called human emotion. Ha-ni answers, “When you find something you like, your heart races.”

At that, Seung-jo raises a hand to his chest but sighs when he doesn’t feel anything. Looks like the Tin Man still needs a heart. He says, “I’d like to feel that too.”

Teacher Kang-yi exults to prove her detractors wrong when two of her students — Ha-ni and Min-ah — pass the preliminary round for admission to Parang. They still have a rigorous interview to undergo, as well as entrance exams to take, but this is a promising sign.

A sudden typhoon hits on interview day, however, which is enough to cancel school and keep most people indoors. Ha-ni braves the weather, determined to make her interview come hell or high water. (Literally.)

In fact, most of the intervewees have decided not to risk the storm and don’t show up. One interviewer is sympathetic to their plight, but the snappish lady (and head interviewer, it seems) is not pleased. So a storm hits and these kids just decide to put life on hold until it’s over?

Ha-ni faces the panel nervously, stumbling a little when she’s asked what she’s most interested in and blurts automatically, “Baek Seung-jo!” (Cringe cringe cringe.) But the nice interviewer takes her explanation with an open mind as she amends that she’s most interested in people. With Seung-jo in mind, Ha-ni launches into philosophical musings about how she’s been wondering how and if we are truly able to understand people.

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