3 Elements We’re Waiting To See Play Out After Episodes 7-8 Of “Our Universe”
The bumpy journey of accidental co-parents figuring out adulthood (and maybe love) continues for Tae Hyung (Bae In Hyuk) and Hyun Jin (Roh Jeong Eui) in “Our Universe,” and the drama of this K-drama has definitely been turned up a notch.
A long-awaited confession, another health scare with baby Woo Joo (Park Yu Ho), and a surprise guest with suspicious intentions aren’t making it any easier for them, but they’ve gotten this far.
Here are the three biggest questions on our minds after episodes 7 and 8:
Warning: episodes 7-8 spoilers ahead!
1. Who will Hyun Jin choose?
The stage for a love triangle between Hyun Jin, Tae Hyung, and her manager, Yoon Seong (Park Seo Ham), has already been set.
While Tae Hyung has made his feelings clear with a simple and sweet confession, Yoon Seong has been more openly pursuing Hyun Jin ever since he stumbled upon the secret of her living with another guy.
In last week’s episodes, Yoon Seong finally makes a confession after years of liking Hyun Jin in secret. Since college, there’s always been something more than friends between them, but they never got the timing right. Now, as a superior and subordinate at work, the timing isn’t exactly better, but Yoon Seong takes a leap anyway.
Tae Hyung certainly beat Yoon Seong to it though, and he and Hyun Jin have been steadily growing closer and sharing more moments together since. However, they haven’t talked about being something more than platonic co-parents yet, so their moments are stuck in that awkward, undefined middle ground.
Everyone’s feelings have been put out in the open; it’s only Hyun Jin who hasn’t responded to her two confessions. It’s only a matter of time before she’ll have to make things clear and choose.
2. Is Hyun Jin going to keep her job?
Another big thing on the line outside of Hyun Jin’s love life is her job. This is arguably more important at the moment, given she has to provide for a child now. Nonetheless, Hyun Jin has both a win and a setback at work, either of which could determine whether she is kept on as a full-time employee.
The setback comes when someone leaks company information about an upcoming project. It’s suspected to be someone on her team, so the blame falls on her since she is the newest hire and a temporary employee.
Rumors quickly circulate around the office, and she’s getting side eyes and glares from coworkers who believe it was her. It’s also being said that she’s getting special treatment from her manager because they’re from the same school.
At the same time this is all going on, Hyun Jin is asked by Yoon Seong to prepare the pitch presentation for a project that their team has been working on, which has now become the company’s main project.
This too comes with a snag though, because the higher-ups say they want someone with more seniority and experience to present, so they come up with a solution: have Hyun Jin and a senior employee compete with their presentations. The higher-ups will choose which is better, fair and square.
As hardworking and good at her job as she is (and with a little help from Tae Hyung), Hyun Jin easily succeeds. And the good news comes: her best friend (Choi Gyu Ri), who also works at the company, hears from an HR connection that Hyun Jin is in the running for a full-time position, and her name is at the top of the list.
As it is now, it looks like it could go either way for Hyun Jin, but to take care of Woo Joo in the long run, she really needs this full-time job.
3. What is Tae Hyung’s father up to?
In episodes 7 and 8, Tae Hyung’s father appears, and there’s a lot to unpack.
When Hyun Jin returns to the apartment and finds the door ajar and all the lights off, she fears it might be the perpetrator who has been targeting women in the neighborhood, but it ends up being Tae Hyung’s estranged father.
His father claims that after seeing someone lurking outside their door for some time, he just went in because the door was already unlocked. He says all he was doing was looking for his son.
Initially, Tae Hyung wants nothing to do with him. After all, he was abandoned as a child while his father got into trouble chasing money. But his father says he is done with all that and wants nothing but to be able to see his son.
Tae Hyung tells him to leave them alone, but his father doesn’t give up. He continues to show up outside his apartment, he becomes friends with the neighbors, and he even offers to babysit Woo Joo.
It’s during another Woo Joo health scare that he saves the day, quickly recognizing and treating Woo Joo’s allergic reaction because his oldest son had the same allergy.
He’s checking off all the right boxes for a rehabilitated dad who wants to do good.
Tae Hyung slowly starts warming up to him after he helps during Woo Joo’s allergic reaction, despite being the only one in the beginning who is suspicious of his father’s intentions. Hyun Jin and their neighbors even end up encouraging him to forgive and reconnect.
But things start getting weird.
It’s actually the co-parent’s goofy neighbor Bae Du Sik (Kim In Kwon) from the heater fiasco in a previous episode that picks up on it first.
He has a chat with some police officer friends and finds out that though the neighborhood perpetrator has been caught, he denied ever having touched Hyun Jin and Tae Hyung’s apartment to the very end. Du Sik puts together that something is off about the father and his story about the night he showed up.
At about the same time Tae Hyung’s father shows up, Hyun Jin happens to be dealing with her sister’s and brother-in-law’s life insurance policy. It’s clearly hard revisiting their passing, but it’s time to handle the death benefit payout.
When Hyun Jin is doing the insurance paperwork, she learns that another “guardian” has been inquiring about the policy, but the insurance worker describes him as a middle-aged man.
While the father’s return seemed innocent enough at first, the tone shifts to something sinister by the end of episode 8. All signs point to his father being up to something, but what? Only this week will tell!
Catch up on “Our Universe” now:
Asya’s a BL-biased Soompi writer with a love of K-pop and all types of Asian dramas. Some of her favorite shows are “Psychopath Diary,” “Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss!,” “Light On Me,” “The Untamed,” “Go Go Squid!,” and “Cherry Magic!”
Currently watching: “Our Universe,” “Undercover Miss Hong,” “Positively Yours,” “Dare You to Death,” “Peach Lover,” and “Duang with You.”
Looking forward to: “Don’t Be Too Emotional,” “Magic Lover,” “Mr. Fanboy,” “The Love Matter,” and “Be My Player Two.”