The Interest of Love (Season 1), Episodes 3 & 4: While giving us a sense of the setting, the first two episodes of The Interest of Love introduced us to the characters and their primary conflicts. The new episodes take the complicated romance even further to make us root for these two lovers, who seem to have been distant due to the fears rooted in their past traumas. While keeping its charming appeal intact, the episodes are delving deeper into the aspects of their personalities that make you root for their romance.
The Interest of Love (Season 1) Episodes 3 & 4 Recap
Through the third episode, we see the signs of a blooming romance between Park Mi-gyeong & Ha Sang-su (Yoo Yeon-Seok), where Park Mi-gyeong is infatuated with this old college friend of hers. We also see the time when Ahn Su-Yeong (Moon Ga-young) was introduced to Jeong Jong-hyun and got charmed by his simplicity soon enough. This first encounter occurs between them due to an elderly man bringing her food, which she keeps rejecting. This is her father, who she does not stay in touch with because of a traumatic incident from the past.
Su-Yeong blames her father for the death of her beloved brother – who promised her a promising future. She now lives her life the way her brother had pictured it for her. As a result of her anger, she does not want her father to deliver food or be in touch with her in any way. You sense this over-protective side of her, where she holds a grudge and does not let people in due to a feeling that she might get hurt in the future if she does so. Her interactions with Sang-su seem to stem from the same fear.
The previous episode ends with Sang-su standing outside Sy-yeong’s doorstep and getting ignored while she goes on to hug Jong-hyun. It results in awkward encounters in the office between them. However, Mi-gyeong is delighted to be connected with him in any way. She praises his work on the new project and tries to make him feel special about himself. Meanwhile, she sees one of the seniors, Mr. Yuk, being inappropriate with Su-Yeong and walks into the room to startle him and stop it. She notes that Su-Yeong should not feel like she is alone in the office.
Su-yeong senses effortless confidence in Mi-gyeong’s attitude that she admires and wishes to imbibe. Meanwhile, she takes Sang-su to a fancy restaurant and, like their other work dinners, makes him feel that it is another casual meeting between them. You sense him feeling out of place at the restaurant. The next morning, after a night full of work, they go to a small and cozy place coincidently owned by Su-yeong’s parents. During this, Mi-gyeong senses his comfort and dives into the food despite her mild discomfort. They further bond during an ice-skating session, where he gives her some basic lessons.
Despite Mi-gyeong’s inclination, Sang-su does not seem interested in her, more so because of her privileged background, which he cannot resonate with. He also is still infatuated with Su-Yeong. Later, they learn about the success of the project they worked on together, and all the office employees go out to celebrate. Su-yeong sees Mi-gyeong being closer to Sang-su, inviting him to sing karaoke with him, which results in their colleagues teasing that the two should start dating. She recalls being teased similarly and feels betrayed that Sang-su is playing with her emotions.
She expresses the same concern to him about her discomfort. She asks why he is using Mi-gyeong as a toy to make her feel bad. The conversation returns to the restaurant date, about which he is still apologetic for not being there on time. She then reveals having seen him coming outside, despite the delay, and reconsidering whether he should enter or not. At the end of their previous date, she mentioned that she did not like any undefined relationships, which is why she might have found it hard to see any future with him. He then confesses walking back for a brief moment, reconsidering going in, and then the very next moment, running toward her. But by then, she had left the place.
He is unsure why he hesitated and makes it clear to her that it has nothing to do with his feelings toward her. He even mentions that he had plans to marry her. However, his answer does not satisfy him, and the emotional distance remains. The next episode shows the employees rolling the new year calendars together, and during this time, Sang-su and Su-Yeong started bonding together. He then mentioned that he wanted to appear average – to blend in with the new work environment, and she felt a genuine connection with him. But his indecision during that date night still makes it harder for her to forgive him.
Meanwhile, she works hard to earn the Winner’s round promotion by pitching interesting investment offers to different houses. She meets her quotas, and unlike the other let-downs from the office, she takes their branch collectively to a higher rank in the eyes of Mr. Yuk. She gets applause for this during a common meeting where Sang-su and Mi-gyeong also get one for their successful project about the bank app. The clashes between them continue and turn into being unnecessarily competitive.
He points out her minor mistake, and the very next moment, she tries to one-up him with something else. He had mentioned earlier that he considers her an equal even if she is only a teller since she had helped him a lot during his probation months. So, she uses that logic to make him feel bad about himself. Since it happens openly in the office, other employees start gossiping about them.
Later, he goes to his father’s memorial service and meets his mother, who tells him not to take things so seriously and to be happy with his life. He considers himself to be the reason for his father’s death by accident, even if it was ruled to be a suicide. After that, he kept second-guessing his decisions. The same reason might be behind his momentary hesitation before going to the restaurant.
Meanwhile, Mi-gyeong goes out with Su-Yeong and directly asks her about her feelings for Sang-su. While she mentions that she does not feel that way about him, Mi-gyeong is interested in him and finds him a reliable, goodhearted man who is always cautious about how he treats others. She keeps taking him out on dinners. On one of these nights, she tells him that she likes him, and he seems uncomfortable by her revelation.
The Interest of Love (Season 1) Episode 4 Ending Explained
Back in the office, Su-Yeong is told that she needs to hand over her files from Winner’s round promotion to Mi-gyeong, and she feels like all her efforts have gone to waste. While she dreamt of getting beyond her current work role, she is now stuck with the same responsibilities and is dismayed. Jong-hyun tries to comfort her by noting that despite being a contractual security guard himself, he is always optimistic about his future. He notes that he envies her intelligence and that she must not worry about her future.
Later, Sang-su and Su-Yeong go together for a work conference, where she keeps giving him the cold shoulder. During one of the meetings with employees from other branches, she drinks too much despite (or because) Sang-su tells her not to. We see him revealing to another bank employee that he likes her because of her hard-working attitude and her nonchalance during stressful situations, which reminds him of himself. Meanwhile, in the present, after the drinks incident, he follows her calmly to their place, and they have a conversation.
She stops him and asks him the reason for coming to the conference instead of going out with Mrs. Ahn as he had planned. She does not want him to oscillate between them according to his whims. She senses that he still has feelings for her. She asks whether he thought she never had those feelings for him. That’s when she gets a call from Jong-hyun, and before she can pick it up, he goes toward her and gives her a hug. She seems conflicted about whom to choose and does not want to play with their feelings. During her tender moment of contemplation, he gives her a warm embrace. It is yet to be seen how their arc of romance further develops.
