The Interest of Love (Season 1), Episodes 15 & 16: Recap

The Interest of Love (Season 1), Episodes 15 & 16: The writers of ‘The Interest of Love’ have made us obsessed with the romance between Sang-su and Su-yeong. It presented their tumultuous relationship in 16 episodes, almost like a long-winded saga. While its previous episode showed Su-yeong leaving the bank job for a life in her hometown, the new episode shows how Sang-su deals with this news and how he chooses to lead his life.

It does not seem a coincidence that this K-drama’s finale is released on Netflix on Valentine’s week. The show’s timely conclusion to their love story allows the couples to enjoy an endearing conclusion to the relationship between these two adored characters.

The Interest of Love (Season 1), Episodes 15 & 16 Recap:

After all the ordeal that Ha Sang-su (Yoo Yeon-seok) and Ahn Soo-yeong (Mun Ka-young) went through, one would crave to see them together somehow. However, she suddenly disappears, leaving Sang-su distressed and unsure of how he should cope. While other employees resume their duties, pretending nothing strange happened, his mind is still occupied with thoughts about her. Mi-gyeong (Keum Sae-rok) is also affected by Su-yeong’s resignation, which she perhaps considers her personal fault, and decides to shift her duties to their Washington branch office.

Since she is going to work abroad, her colleagues congratulate her. The news of her breakup with Sang-su is also disclosed during their dinner together, where he sees her masking her awkwardness with confidence. Unlike others, he finds her decision abrupt and also related to Su-yeong’s disappearance. Mi-gyeong mentions it as a chance to start afresh and has nothing to do with Su-yeong. So, this couple ends their now-platonic relationship on an amicable note, and she moves to a foreign land. Meanwhile, their mothers mend their friendship and decide to stick together as friends no matter what.

Meanwhile, Su-yeong takes time to adjust to the sudden change in her surroundings. She realizes that she won’t be able to move on with her life if she cannot make peace with her past traumas. So, she goes to meet the woman she suspected had an affair with her father (which she thought led to her brother’s death). But upon meeting her, Su-yeong learns that it was her mother who had an affair with that woman’s husband. To help their family from defamation, Su-yeong’s father decided to urge the woman not to press any charges against them. Since that’s what Su-yeong saw back then, she kept believing a lie where her father kept antagonizing himself.

That makes Su-yeong overwhelmed with a sense of pity for her father, who chose that role so that she can have someone to express her anger on. It also changes how she looks at her mother, but she decides to make peace with that past. Meanwhile, she reminisces about her time with Sang-su and how she adored it. She goes to a native beach, which they both spoke about while making a sandcastle. While she looks at another sandcastle made on this beach, Sang-su surprisingly shows up there. He confronts her for running away suddenly and not informing him of any detail about her plan. His argument, however, reflects his desire to spend time with her rather than his anger.

While she is hesitant to return to work at the bank, he attempts to convince her to return to work. So, even when she throws out her new ID card in the ocean, he retrieves it as a gesture to show that he wants her back in Seoul. Su-yeong and Sang-su again start speaking freely and playfully, as if no time has passed between them. They spend the day together in her native town of Tongyeong and walk around while cherishing each other’s company. They bare their soul during their conversation and, in the end, end up embracing each other.

While having drinks together at night, they speak about their past regrets and open up about what they truly felt at the time. Sang-su’s hesitation to enter the restaurant for their first date was due to his fear of responsibility. She fears bad for not acting on her impulses before. With growing openness, they finally kiss each other and commemorate their innocent bond. The next morning, he takes a bus ticket back to Seoul. She gives him a specialty from her town as a gift before leaving. After their brief dialogue, they part ways, and Sang-su mentions that it was the last time he saw Su-yeong.

Then, in the 16th episode, the narrative shows Sang-su slowly rising up the corporate ladder to become an associate director in the span of four years. While all the employees have drifted apart, they come together for the marriage between Ma Du-sik and Bae Eun-jeong. They recount their time at their old Yongpo branch and where they have reached. There is a sense of informality in their conversation that wasn’t present before, and they seem to be more than acquaintances now. Mi-gyeong, who now works at HQ, also shows up a little later but chooses not to meet Sang-su, since she considers him just an ex of hers.

Meanwhile, one of their employees, Min-hee goes to meet Su-yeong at the place where she now works. They speak about their present lives and about her work as a painter. For the same place, Su-yeong needs to take a loan. Min-hee guesses that she will go to the Yeomnam branch for that since it is closer to her new workplace. However, she does not disclose that Sang-su is about to get transferred there with a promotion. Su-yeong applies for a loan in that branch and is patient with a new, young employee who reminds her of her early days at the bank.

Since this employee does not understand some details, Su-yeong’s file is forwarded to Sang-su. When he stumbles upon her name and learns that she is now back in the city, it makes him want to visit her new place. By then, he had often gone back to the places they frequently visited together to rekindle his memories with her. He had already visited her studio before learning about her business and saw how she still does landscapes of places they had visited together, where they had long walks or long-winded conversations.

Now that they meet after being apart for years, they cannot control what they feel for each other. She mentions that it is a cafe where she also draws quite often. He tries to keep their interaction brief and leaves immediately after handing her the loan approval document. But she makes him stay back longer by offering him a cup of coffee. They quickly return to their playful selves and have a brief, albeit awkward, conversation. When they part ways again, she sees Jong-hyeon again and feels happy that he stayed the course, gave the police exam (which was his ambition), and has finally achieved his dream.

On the other hand, Mi-geyong and Sang-su see each other once again. While she has moved on for good, it makes her feel reassured that her feelings for him are just a part of the past now. While that relationship has run its course, he meets Su-yeong to give her the final approval document. But neither of them wants to leave right after their interaction. Sensing that, Sang-su asks if he can paint at her café for a while. She agrees. She sees his great skill at painting the beach they held dear as a couple.

The Interest of Love (Season 1), Episode 16 Ending Explained:

Later at night, Sang-su goes to a road where he often stumbled upon Su-yeong four years ago. They go to have a coffee where they used to. She recalls him going there only when things got tough since it reassured him that everything would eventually pass. They start their conversation pretending that they can just resume again from where they parted back then. But they slowly end up opening up about their past and recounting events where they could have made different decisions, which might have led them to be together.

What if he had not hesitated outside the restaurant? What if he had asked her to come with him back to Seoul from her native town? And what if she had stayed back in the restaurant despite his hesitation? Or what if she also had given their relationship a chance? They ruminate over these thoughts with honesty, bringing them emotionally closer.

They try to envision a future where those things would have happened. Would they have lived happily ever after? They speak about their imaginations and philosophize on what ‘love’ is. They look at the way they are standing on a Hill of Oblivion after recounting the events where they felt the closest. Then Su-yeong and Sang-su walk together again, just as unsure about their future together as before. Was it just their interest in each other or a genuine feeling of love? Neither of them can confirm, but they certainly seem to want to spend their time together.