3 Painful Moments in Episodes 5-6 of “Dear Hyeri”

According to Google, Dear Hyeri is classified as a romantic comedy, but where is the comedy of the romantic comedy? Every time something good happens to our main characters, a traumatic scene quickly follows, and episodes 5 and 6 are no exception.

From Hyun Oh’s traumatic childhood to Joo Yeon’s growing bond with Hye Ri, here are the three most painful moments from Episodes 5 and 6 of Dear Hyeri that brought tears to our eyes.

Warning: Spoilers for episodes 5-6 follow!

Hyun Oh’s traumatic childhood

Since the premiere week episodes, viewers have been debating whether to love or hate Hyun Oh. On the one hand, he is Eun Ho’s main supporter – he gives her his own projects to advance her career, he runs after her when she is in need, and he even stays at Eun Ho’s house for days just to take care of her Health. On the other hand, despite all this obvious love, he doesn’t want to marry her.

This striking contrast between his actions has made the character difficult to judge. However, episodes 5 and 6 finally show the audience why Hyun Oh does what he does, leaving the audience to decide his fate.

Hyun Oh’s childhood was not much different from Eun Ho’s as both lost their parents when they were young. However, Eun Ho and Hye Ri were immediately adopted by a distant relative who treated them like their own granddaughters. Meanwhile, Hyun Oh’s story is a little more complex.

His father was addicted to gambling, which caused Hyun Oh’s mother to leave him and Hyun Oh. He also had a habit of taking out loans only to squander them. One day, he died in a house fire, leaving Hyun Oh to repay his debts. The loan shark, an older woman, made a deal with Hyun Oh – she would look after him as her own child and pay his college tuition if he promised to look after her and several other older women in old age – and Hyun Oh agreed.

As one learns about Hyun Oh’s past, one thing becomes clear: the reason why he doesn’t want to marry Eun Ho is not because he doesn’t love her, but quite the opposite. He loves Eun Ho so much that he doesn’t want to burden her with his responsibilities.

From the audience’s perspective, it might still be difficult to understand Hyun Oh’s thought process behind his decision. Because what do you mean you can’t marry Eun Ho because of your grandmothers? They clearly want you to be married and live a happy life.

However, trauma manifests itself differently in different people. On the surface, Hyun Oh claims his rejection is due to his grandmothers, but what if his fear of marriage is due to his parents’ failed marriage? He’s clearly been through too much pain to even see the reason for his own actions.

Eun Ho’s attempt to find happiness

The initial assumption viewers had about Eun Ho’s DID was that she lost her sister in childhood and developed the disorder. However, the reality is even more painful than these assumptions.

When Eun Ho was a child, she lost her parents in a car accident. As the older sister, she sat in the funeral home and comforted her younger sister Hye Ri. While she tried to convince her sister that the world hadn’t ended yet and that they would be okay, her uncle and aunt left the responsibility to each other , caring for them – an unwanted burden.

But like a gift from heaven, an older, distant relative came and took the girls under her wing. Despite giving them as much love as she could, Hye Ri grew up somewhat distant, withdrawn, and attached to Eun Ho. Then the incident happened: Eun Ho forced Hye Ri to go on the trip where she went missing. Eun Ho found comfort and love again with Hyun Oh, but he broke her heart when he ended their eight-year relationship like it meant nothing. As if this pain wasn’t enough, Eun Ho’s adoptive grandmother also passed away, leaving her alone in the world.

However, all of this pain and trauma wasn’t directly the cause of Eun Ho’s DID (dissociative identity disorder). In order to find happiness and fulfill her sister’s wish of working in a parking lot, Eun Ho started pretending to be Hye Ri. At first she was aware of her double life, but after three years her consciousness began to split and she developed a different personality: Hye Ri.

What makes Eun Ho’s situation so painful is that she developed DID not because of her trauma, but because she wanted to be happy. Her real life was running out of luck, so her brain decided to give her a break and turn off her consciousness for 12 hours a day.

In the end, Eun Ho found happiness as Hye Ri. But even then, the person Hye Ri fell in love with was just another version of Hyun Oh – an announcer who acts cold in front of everyone but shows his love to Eun Ho. Even as Hye Ri, Eun Ho didn’t want anyone but Hyun Oh.

Joo Yeon’s growing love for Hye Ri

Joo Yeon is the type of second male lead that will trigger second lead actor syndrome in many. He’s been kind to Hye Ri since the beginning, which makes his and Hye Ri’s arc all the more painful.

Since Hyun Oh took care of Eun Ho in the last two episodes, she didn’t distance herself and didn’t go to Hye Ri’s parking lot job. This worried Joo Yeon so much that he went to Hye Ri’s residence in the middle of the night and found Hye Ri, whose real name is Eun Ho, walking hand in hand with Hyun Oh.

Although Hye Ri returns to her job at the end of Episode 6, it is not Eun Ho’s second identity, Hye Ri, but Eun Ho pretending to be Hye Ri. Even if Joo Yeon spends time with Hye Ri, it won’t be the person he really likes – the person he felt comfortable enough to show his vulnerability to, the person he shared his painful past with, and the person he allowed meets his mother.

With each episode, it becomes clearer how much pain not only Eun Ho, but also Hyun Oh and Joo Yeon have gone through in their lives. For Joo Yeon, his trauma has made it easier for him to bond with Hye Ri, who seems like a soulmate to him. But Hyun Oh’s trauma manifests itself in him refusing to let Eun Ho get too close to him as he is sure it will hurt her. While Joo Yeon’s openness about love makes it easier for the audience to appreciate him more, given Hyun Oh’s past, it’s hard not to get excited about Hyun Oh and Eun Ho getting together.

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Javeria is a binge-watching specialist who loves devouring entire K-dramas in one go. Good script, beautiful cinematography and lack of clichés are the way to her heart. As a music fanatic, she listens to numerous artists of different genres and is the star of the self-producing idol group SEVENTEEN. You can talk to her on Instagram @javeriayousufs.

I’m currently looking: “Dear Hyeri,” “Love Next Door,” and “What Comes After Love.”
I’m looking forward to: “Squid Game Season 2,” “Good Boy,” and “Reborn.”