Love Next Door, episode 3, recap and spoilers
Popular K-Drama Love next door broadcast Episode 3 on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at 9:20 p.m. KST on tvN. The series tells the story of two childhood friends, Choi Seung-Hyo (Jung Hae-In) and Bae Seok-Ryu (Jung So-Min).
In episode 3 of Love Next Door, both Choi Seung-Hyo and Bae Seok-Ryu had to deal with their past. While the former reflected on his life as a swimmer, Seok-Ryu tried to find her identity. The two struggled to keep up with their traumatic memories. They even attended their high school for different reasons, but found a way to connect when they found the time capsule they buried years ago. It turns out that Seung-Hyo has had feelings for Seok-Ryu since their high school days.
Spoilers for episode 3 of Love Next Door
The latest episode of Love Next Door began with a flashback to the 2007 National Swimming Championships in Seoul. Although Choi Seung-Hyo’s parents couldn’t attend, he found Bae Seok-Ryu to support him from the stands. He eventually finished in first place and qualified for the Olympics. Seung-Hyo dreamed about the competition and was woken up by Seok-Ryu in the middle of the night. The two argued when he moved into his house next to theirs.
Choi Seung-Hyo starts a new project
The next day, Seung-Hyo had breakfast with his parents. His mother tried to start a conversation, but Seung-Hyo and his father went to work, indicating tension in the family and Seung-Hyo’s distance from his mother. At the office, he received good news about a client who had asked his company to take over the management of a nursing home. Seung-Hyo, however, was focused on remodeling his high school’s swimming pool as part of a new project.
Meanwhile, Seok-Ryu’s parents talked about how they let their daughter find her own way and didn’t pressure her. Seok-Ryu rested for the day and met up with her friends Seung-Hyo and Jeong Mo-Eum (Kim Ji-Eun) at a comic book store. The next day, Seok-Ryu offered to help her parents at the store when she met her high school teacher. She accompanied the teacher to school and found Seung-Hyo there.
Bae Seok-Ryu deals with unemployment and a stagnant life
Bae Seok-Ryu made the teacher believe that she was still working at the US company Greip. Seung-Hyo was aware of this but said nothing. Meanwhile, the teacher asked Seok-Ryu to share her experience with the existing students. While talking to the students, Seok-Ryu told them about her work at the company. When one of them asked if this was her dream job, she said no and left them to think about their lives.
On the way home, Seok-Ryu met Seung-Hyo, who demanded that they find the time capsule they had buried in school years ago. The friends had promised to look at it in 10 years, but time had long passed. They were close to finding it before Seok-Ryu offered to go. Inside the capsule, they had written letters to their future selves.
Seok-Ryu came home and realized that she was stuck in her life and others needed to move on. Meanwhile, Seung-Hyo prepared for the swimming pool renovation and the senior living project. The next day, Mo-Eum took care of an emergency patient but got caught in a traffic jam on the way to the hospital. She saw a man helping to clear the traffic for the ambulance, but she couldn’t see his face. She later called him her “ideal type.” Back at work, she saw that Kang Dan-Oh (Yoon Ji-On) had sent her rice cakes to express his gratitude.
Seung-Hyo and Seok-Ryu struggle with their past
Seung-Hyo attended the senior residence meeting with his co-founder Yoon Myung-Woo. However, his values did not match those of his clients, who asked him to plagiarize the ideas of foreign designers. This led to a dispute between the two founders.
However, Myung-Woo argued that Seung-Hyo was still stuck in the past and had failed in his swimming career. This made the latter become emotional as he left the venue. Meanwhile, Seok-Ryu met with a recruiter who offered her several positions in prestigious companies. On the way back, Seung-Hyo saw Seok-Ryu as she told him about the meeting. Seung-Hyo noted that it had taken a lot of effort for her to return and advised her not to go back to the grueling job and follow her dreams. This only frustrated Seok-Ryu even more as she felt that it was a privilege to get back on her feet and succeed.
Seung-Hyo realized that he too had once gone through a difficult time. He looked back at his past when he had an accident shortly before participating in the Beijing Olympics. Doctors determined that he could no longer swim. The next day, Seung-Hyo clarified his problems with Myung-Woo and also understood Seok-Ryu’s position.
At the end of the episode, Seok-Ryu told her teacher how she quit her job. The teacher thought that Seok-Ryu would soon find a way and told her to visit the swimming pool where Seung-Hyo was. Seok-Ryu spotted Seung-Hyo opening the time capsule and reading her letter out loud. He jumped into the swimming pool and reminded Seok-Ryu how persistent and helpful she had been in getting him out of his previous slump. He wanted her to return to her chipper self.
When Seung-Hyo helped her, Seok-Ryu jumped into the pool without knowing how to swim. He asked if she could return to her job abroad and not break off the engagement. However, Seok-Ryu said no, which relieved Seung-Hyo. The episode ended with the discovery that Seung-Hyo had decided to confess his feelings to her in the letter.
Don’t forget to tune in to Love Next Door episode 4 on Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 9:20 p.m. KST on tvN and later on Netflix.
