Gongjin becomes haggard after Du-Sik’s absences. From Geom-Cheol’s hardware shop, Bora’s supermarket, Ms. Cho’s restaurant, to Chun-Jae’s coffee shop. Nobody comes to help everything running like usual. Du-Sik has become a nail that holds the whole town together. Meanwhile, Hwa-Jeong and Yeong-Guk decide to rebuild their married life. While being all lovey-dovey towards each other, Yi-Joon appears. Both of them awkwardly try to explain their decision of remarrying. Yi-Joon does not show any expression nor shocking reply. All he says is asking permission to play at Bo-Ra’s house when in fact, he is not.
One of the most heartbreaking scenes happens. Yi-Joon appears to be missing and the whole family is searching for him, including Bo-Ra. She finally finds him at the park crying all alone. Bo-Ra tries to persuade him to come home but Yi-Joon is hesitant. Suddenly, Hwa-Jeong and Yeong-Guk find both of them. They immediately hug Yi-Joon and show concern towards him. That is when our genius kid in town breaks down in tears and conveys his feeling that he is so happy over their plans on remarrying. He chooses to cry alone because he doesn’t want to be a burden to them. He always hid everything behind his obedient and outstanding performance at school. It is heartwarming when he finally lets everything out from his little chest. Yi-Joon confesses that he wants to eat and lives under the same rooftop. Hwa-Jeong and Yeong-Guk hug him tightly. Dear parents, please never abandon your children’s feelings.
After all the fuss, Gam-Ri is seen patiently bringing a delicious meal for Du-Sik every day but he leaves it untouched. Meanwhile, Sung-Hyun finally knows Du-Sik’s boss who died in the accident is Jeong-Woo, his brother in-law. His memories travel back to the day where he rushed to the hospital and found Seon-Ah starring at Jeong-Woo’s dead body. Seon-Ah cries in pain while Sung-Hyun’s tears start to fall over the realization of the loss of family. It’s saddening how one stroke of bad luck can cause lots of heartache. Ironically, the people that affected is seen regaining peace within their past except for Du-Sik.
“Fund manager gives ordinary people hope to become rich”
After dwelling with neverending assumption and confusion, Hye-Jin finally musters her courage to visit Du-Sik and brings the corn that Gam-Ri prepared for him inside. Du-Sik is sitting alone, staring blankly into the space. He is surprised at Hye-Jin’s presence. She holds her tears and reassures herself that she’ll wait for him. She promises that she only came to cook for him and leave afterward. But Du-Sik asks her to stay to hear his story. Du-Sik finally opens his wounded soul to Hye-Jin. He begins to reminisce about his brotherhood with Jeong-Woo and how he successfully convinced Du-Sik to work as a fund manager. Du-Sik is known as a talented fund manager where he successfully manages the company’s fund. His career path leads him to meet new people and one of them is Do-Ha’s father, Kim Gi-Hoon.
As a man that comes from the countryside, Du-Sik takes care of Do-Ha’s father like the people of Gongjin like him. The two bond over a simple act of kindness: sharing buy one get one drink. After Du-Sik successfully manages a fund with high returns, Kim Go-Hoon is adamant about trying to subscribe to his fund. At first, Du-Sik dissuaded his request due to its high risk. Gi-Hoon is so adamant about it so Du-Sik finally gives in and fulfills his request. He warns him to not be reckless about the investment. Keep in mind that Do-Ha’s father is naive and only a high school graduate.
Things got out of control during the fallout of Benjamin Collins that affected Korea’s stock markets and soars the exchange rates. At the same time, Gi-Hoon is naive and doesn’t have much knowledge about funding. He confesses to Du-Sik that he subscribes to another fund after an employee persuades him. The critical part is Gi-Hoon uses his house as a security deposit and takes out a loan. His family doesn’t know anything about it. It’s heartbreaking how all Gu-Hoo’s father wants is to buy Do-Ha a nice suit for a job interview and his wife a warm house. Du-Sik reassures him to trust him and wait for his call.
“What a stroke of bad luck for everyone”
We’re diving deeper into Du-Sik’s wounds as the dissonance strings fill the air. Gi-Hoon tries to reach out to Du-Sik but because of his intense workload due to the crisis, Du-Sik ignores his call. After pulling an all-nighter, Jeong-Woo offers Du-Sik a cup of coffee. One of the company staff suddenly comes with a piece of bad news: Gi-Hoon tried to attempt suicide which hit Du-Sik like a thunderstorm. He rushes himself to the car. His whole body is trembling. Jeong-Woo stops him from driving and offers to drive him to Gi-Hoon’s place instead. That’s when the fatal accident happens.
Jeong-Woo reassures Du-Sik that keeps on blaming himself over what happened. He holds Du-Sik’s hand while driving the car. A car comes from the front but they manage to avoid it and pull the car to the other side of the road. The two are still in shock over what happens. But no matter how we try to avoid it, we can never run from our destiny, right? A truck driver races towards their car and hits it roughly. Jeong-Woo instantly dies in his seat, covered in blood and badly injured while Du-Sik, regaining his consciousness while still being in a state of shock, desperately calls his name and reaches to his dead body. Imagine witnessing the last moment of everything on the verge of breaking down. Du-Sik cries and shouts in vain but his voice is weak and trembling while the ambulance sirens start coming over their wrecked car. The story pauses there. Hye-Jin is seen bawling her eyes out and hugs Du-Sik. “It’s okay, you can cry to me. You can show me your pain,” says Hye-Jin. Du-Sik immediately cries in her embrace.
It’s one of the most heartbreaking scenes in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha. Du-Sik is a victim and also a survivor. All this time people always put words in his mouth and blame him without hearing his side of the story. Sadly, that is what happens to most of the victims. They’re being silenced and neglected. You just need the heart to listen. Kim Seon-Ho gives a splendid performance and pulls you into the pain with him. I am so immersed in the traumatic story that he experiences and feel the suffocating sensation too.
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