After witnessing the uncomfortable mother-son scene, Mi-nyeo remains out of sight, figuring that she’d better not let on that she knows. Tae-kyung broods alone in the studio, working on music but feeling the weight of his unpleasant encounter.
Mi-nyeo laments her inability to help, thinking, “Is he okay? It’s his birthday, and he must be feeling hurt. I’m really useless.” She sees him drinking his water and setting aside an empty bottle, then seizes on one thing she can do — get him more water!
Mi-nyeo dashes to a convenience store to buy more water, then races back. And yes, that is a completely random, unexplained cameo from budding movie star Yoo Seung-ho!
Remaining out of sight, Mi-nyeo swaps in the new water, then notices Tae-kyung’s annoyance at a flickering light. She rushes out to buy new fluorescent bulbs, and by the time Tae-kyung comes back with a replacement light, it’s already been fixed. This is odd, and he now registers that water has also been replaced. Testing out his suspicions, he says loudly, “Ah, I feel like drinking really hot coffee all of a sudden.”
Once again, Mi-nyeo seizes upon her task and runs out to buy some. Tae-kyung watches as she returns carrying coffee and confronts her. So was she the one who’s been lurking around all night?
A thought occurs to him, and he asks suspiciously, “Did you see something?” thinking of his conversation with Hwa-ran. Mi-nyeo takes a moment to think of a good answer before admitting, “I saw your present!” She begs forgiveness for Aunt Mi-ja opening the package, and with relief, he takes that to mean she didn’t witness the scene with Hwa-ran.
She says hesitantly, “I’m not sure if this will make you angry, but happy birthday.” She’s sorry for causing yet more trouble, and invites him to treat her as badly as he wishes until he’s over his anger.
Her understanding attitude makes him furrow his brow: “If you say it like that, it makes me sound like someone who enjoys abusing you.” (She can’t exactly contradict him, so it’s funny to see her keeping her opinion to herself when he seems to expect her to answer that no, of course that’s not true.) Amused now, Tae-kyung comments that Mi-nyeo has “grown up,” even resorting to flattery and bribery to get what she wants.
Aunt Mi-ja finds it curious that Shin-woo and Jeremy’s current images seem nothing like the “legends” she’d heard from the fangirls. Thinking of Shin-woo’s reputation, she asks if he used to fight in school. He answers vaguely, “Well, all boys fight once or twice in their school days.”
Jeremy’s messy eating habits seem at odds with his aristocratic backstory, so she asks about the princess. To her surprise, Jeremy says that he still keeps in contact with her. Guessing that the legends must not be entirely groundless, she wonders if that means Tae-kyung’s birth secret is true after all.
Tae-kyung doesn’t need anything to celebrate his birthday, but Mi-nyeo insists, so he tells her to decide what to do. She reminds him that he always decides things and dislikes her interference. He answers, “This time, I’ve decided that you should decide.”
She offers to re-create the celebration from his “fake birthday,” so Tae-kyung instructs her to borrow a gym large enough to accommodate 15,000 people and invite 15 famous singers and actors as special guests. She should also call the Asian media outlets to cover it.
She hadn’t realized he’d gone to such lengths for his birthday, but she’s not daunted — all birthdays should start with seaweed soup! (Koreans traditionally eat seaweed soup on birthdays.)
Of course, at this hour, the only way to get any is the instant kind at a convenience store. Furthermore, Tae-kyung asks her (with his usual know-it-all air) whether seaweed soup contains sesame oil. It does. He follows that with the question of what sesame oil is made of, and Mi-nyeo answers, “Sesame seeds,” which makes her recall that he’s allergic. He says dryly, “Thanks to you, I would have died on my birthday.”
