Ma Boy Episode 1 Recap

It’s full of fluff, bright colors and light but it’s cute, it’s fun to watch and although I know what to expect at every turn-it’s the story I’ve read and reread in many a mangas and manhwas but it’s still got that element of keeping you invested. It’s not surprising me, but it’s definitely keeping me entertained and that’s what I’m enjoying most!

Episode 1 – Who are you?

A concert is underway and Gu Rim is performing alongside her dream idol Tae Jun while the crowd goes wild cheering for them. As soon as the performance end and both stand there side by side yet facing each other, Gu Rim perks up at the chance and moves in for a kiss, just as a voice sounds out, “Hey student! Student!”

And she is awakened from her dream to realize the bus she was travelling on is back at its stop and the driver was trying to wake her up, hence the ‘hey student’ voice! Grabbing her stuff, she gets off the bus and heads off, muttering, “Just wait, Tae Jun!”

On a street, some students are dancing away to a song while onlookers watch, impressed. One of the performers covers his face with his handkerchief as a mask. Passing by, Gu Rim sees their performance, amazed at their talent but her observation is cut short by her mother’s phone call and assures her mother she’s fine and not to worry.

And it’s morning at the school. Gu Rim arrives and looks around at everyone, going from cheerful to full of dismay wondering, “Will I be able to do well?” In a span of a breath, she tells herself to cheer up, “I’ll do well!” Cue music in the background and Gu Rim turns to see a trio of girls walking up with quite an identical gait. They identify themselves as the members of ‘Taeku’-we love Tae Jun Club. Gu Rim mistakenly resembles them to a fanclub and gets a verbal thrashing for having put them in the same category as a fanclub. The middle one decides not to bother with Gu Rim and all three pass by her then, making sure to hit her squarely in the shoulder. Gu Rim is left wondering, “What kind of school is this?”

Gu Rim enters class followed by a teacher but with a dejected face which immediately lights up like a sunflower as soon as she sees a specific inhabitant of the class at the back. It’s Tae Jun. And then she tells herself, “I feel like I’m going to totally love this school!” Haha! Smiling, she walks ahead until she bumps into the teacher, only then regaining her sense of surrounding and stands back, turning to look at Tae Jun again. The teacher asks her to introduce herself. She introduces herself-Jan Gu Rim. Her intro is met immediately with jokes and that outs her mood off a bit, especially since that is when Tae Jun comes back from dreamland and sees everyone laughing at her. The teacher tells the class to cut out the jokes and before becoming stars, they should try to become people!

She is directed to a seat in the back and immediately, she turns to look at Tae Jun who is surrounded by the trio. Just then, a boy calls out- “It’s Ai Rin!” Commence petals falling from the sky as every male student runs up to stand in the doorway and Ai Rin enters. Some take a whiff of her perfume and fall at her feet while others play instruments, mesmerized by her beauty.

And Tae Jun approaches Ai Rin just as she sits down, handing her a gift and telling her it will definitely look good with her. Haha, buddy, I’d love to see your face when you realize just who she is! Ai Rin doesn’t even bat an eyelash at his attentions and just smiles politely while Gu Rim is warned by the student sitting in front of her to stop dreaming-Tae Jun’s never gonna notice her, he’s totally nuts over Ai Rin. She wonders how the girl knew. The answer-she’s too transparent! The girl introduces herself as Ji Su and both hit it off as friends immediately!

At that very moment, two men are arguing with the principal against Ai Rin being given a room to share with another girl. They are Ai Rin’s manager and his uncle while the other is a support member or something and it’s fun watching them get so frustrated over her sharing the room with another girl yet cannot give an excuse for it to not happen. One of the teacher pipes up-is there a special reason they can’t have a roommate with Ai Rin and that gets the two to quiet down, lest they end up too obvious.

Uncle/Manager sits huddled in a blanket while Ai Rin argues with him and uncle pretends to be sick so he doesn’t get the harsher end of the beating by him. Ai Rin argues-he said it was a bad idea from the very beginning and his uncle reminds him that if he gives up now and things get out-he’ll be finished. Besides, attending this school and debuting are all his dreams. Does he wanna give them up? Hehe, way to blackmail, uncle! He turns to the other guy for support (damn, I need names!) who tells Ai Rin to look at the bright side-there’ll probably be *love love* if he stays together with a girl. That gets both uncle and Ai Rin ranting at him!

And so she/he comes back to his room that day to find Gu Rim all settled in-her luggage lying open and wildly around her bed and he scoffs, “What kind of girl is she?” Spying a photo of Tae Jun in a frame, he muses she must be a Tae Jun ppa! Opening his own backpack, he finds Tae Jun’s gift and throws it out just as Gu Rim walks in. Gu Rim’s surprised to see her here and she’s ecstatic to realize they’re roommates. Ai Rin just wonders, “There were so many pretty ones. Why this girl?” haha. Gu Rim mutters it feels unbelievable and holds out her hand for a formal shake and intro but Ai Rin blows her off and leaves. Gu Rim laughs and tells herself, “No, no! She didn’t ignore me, she just didn’t see my hand!” But she knows its not true and starts cursing Ai Rin up.

Spying the gift on the floor, she picks it up and remembers it and wonders why Ai Rin threw it.

Currently Ai Rin is at a photoshoot while Super Junior’s Neorago plays in the background and a reporter sneaks in. The photoshoot is a hit and the manager tells his lackey he’s got a good eye for people. Flashback toa  year ago when Ai Rin was still a guy-that is, in guy mode- name: Hyun Woo, and frustrated during a dance practice when uncle and lackey show up with food.

As they enjoy their food, uncle tells him to buck up-it’s not the first or second time he failed an audition after all! As they sit discussing stuff, uncle’s phone rings-it’s regarding some girl Su Jin who isn’t showing up or something so uncle tells whoever is on the line to find her-they’ve already accepted the money. They wonder if they can use someone to replace her and lackey points to Hyun Woo. At first uncle’s like, “Stop joking!” but then they both realize what an idea it is and turn around for a really good look at Hyun Woo.  He’s like- WHAT?

So commences operation Hyun-Woo-transformation-to-Ai-Rin. Uncle pays a stylist to style him/her up and asks her to keep it a secret. He tells Ai Rin he looks really pretty and Hyun Woo’s like-I’m never doing this again! Uncle agrees but lackey just bursts in with the news that the phone’s ringing off the hook-they’ve already got offers coming in. Except, they’re for Ai Rin. Commence nightmare for Hyun Woo aka Ai Rin.

Back in the present, Ai Rin’s photoshoot finished and uncle tells lackey to escort her out quickly. As they’re leaving, reporter snaps pictures and uncle catches him, taking his camera in the name of checking and the reporter just hands it over, telling him to return the last one with this too. Once they’re gone, the guy takes out another camera-I think he stashed the photos away there too.

At the dorm, Hyun Woo/Ai Rin mutters to himself, “Just bear it for a little more! Just until your real appearance comes out…” He’s just putting up his hair when Gu Rim bursts in, she needs to use the bathroom urgently! Before he can react more than-isn’t she crazy?-she heads to use the toilet there and then. Freaked out, Hyun Woo runs out. As he’s heading to sleep, he bumps into Tae Jun’s present, back on his bed. He shoves it off again, only to be reprimanded by Gu Rim-can’t he care for the other person’s feelings? Followed by, “Are you really going to throw it away? If you are, then throw it to me!” Hyun Woo motions at her to take it. Inside is a Tae Jun T shirt.

Gu Rim wears it to sleep that night and promptly wakes up Hyun Woo with her snoring.  He tries his best to ignore it until he can take it no longer and throws his pillow at her but she barely moves at that. Hyun Woo quietly sneaks out the window, donning a cap. He goes to see his buddies with whom he was dancing in the street.

Next day at school, the Taeku trio add one more reason to their hate-Gu-Rim list. She’s sharing a room with Ai Rin, the girl they hate the most! Meanwhile, Ji Su asks Gu Rim what her reality is-is she a chaebol’s granddaughter? Or the daughter of the school President? What’s peculiar is that she shifted to this school and got to share the same room with Ai Rin-Ji Su points out. Gu Rim wonders if that’s why everyone’s avoiding her and asks why Ai Rin doesn’t talk-is she looking down on others? Ji Su says no one’s actually heard Ai Rin ever speak. Rumor is-her voice is totally strange. Gu Rim imagines what that means-Ai Rin with a totally mature guy’s voice and Ai Rin with a cracked womanish voice. The latter makes her laugh out louder. Her fun is cut short however when Ji Su tells her Tae Jun is coming.

Without a second thought, Gu Rim gets up and turns back, only to run into him squarely, causing him to drop his plate and food all over himself. Gu Rim drops down on top of him to try and protect him from the dropping food, haha! She apologizes to him for the accident and he samples a bit of the rice on his face before telling her casually that it’s alright. And so Gu Rim gets into trouble with Taeku again as the girls corner her behind the school walls.

They blame her for being a sasaeng-fan who has no respect for privacy but she throws the charges back at them and warns them she won’t hold back the next time they mess with her. Just then, they realize she’s wearing the Tae Jun shirt and hurry forward to rip it off. They’re stopped in time by Tae Jun-here for the rescue. Tae Jun warns them off and turns the wall to face her-whom he thinks was Ai Rin because he heard she was wearing his shirt. He’s not too surprised to find out Ai Rin threw his gift away, telling Gu Rim it isn’t the first or second time it’s happened when she tries to explain and takes it quite calmly.

Meanwhile, Ai Rin is sitting in a slump elsewhere worried over what his friend told him last night. A group of Ai Rin’s admirers watch from the back and wonder what made her so sad. The verdict-Jan Gu Rim. Commence operation Confront-Jan-Gu-Rim! They corner her that night and call themselves ‘Aku’. Gu Rim’s like-now what the hell is that? But then answers it herself-TaeKu is Tae Jun lovers, these guys must be Ai Rin lovers as Aku! They’re like-Oh, how’d you know?! They tell her Ai Rin is uncomfortable because of her and she’s like-I’m more uncomfortable!

They’re really a trio of idiots as they smile at that-Great, move out of the room then! Where she goes next, that’s her trouble, she’d just better get out of the room!  That does it and Gu Rim’s temper snaps. She wanted to deal with it quietly but, she says as the winds around them start speeding up. Taking off a boot, she whacks it at them and all three go down one by one.

Next morning, she confronts Ai Rin and asks her if she mentioned disliking sharing the room with her? Ai Rin turns to leave but Gu Rim stops her-she’s also uncomfortable here but the situation is for the best and she’ll try to not make things uncomfortable for Ai Rin. As Ai Rin walks out, she doesn’t even notice the ardent admirer standing there until she passes him and he actually falls, causing a noise. Yet, when she turns back, he’s in an epic pose! Gosh, I’m loving the silliness here. When he approaches Hyun Woo/Ai Rin, Hyun Woo can only curse at him in his mind (Think: Arang fun guys!)  Tae Jun invites her to a musical and Hyun Woo mutters, “Am I crazy I’d go?” Undaunted, Tae Jun asks her to think sloooooowly and they part ways… under the watchful camera of the reporter who buzzes that Ai Rin and Tae Jun together is indeed news!

It’s song class and every girl swoons as Tae Jun sings the song that gives him strength. Once his turn is over, he nominates Gu Rim who describes her song as the song which like ‘vitamins’ to her.  As she’s singing, Tae Jun wonders-it’s the song he likes… After class, Gu Rim turns to find Tae Jun staring at her. He makes an appointment with her to meet after school.

She imagines them both sitting together after school and him asking for a favor-for her to be his girlfriend. She asks-what of Ai Rin and he replies that it doesn’t matter anymore, as soon as he heard her sing, he just totally fell for her. She agrees, clutching his hand and nodding with a large smile. And her glass bubble bursts. She’s actually sitting there alone, waiting for Tae Jun to show up. He does show up and asks for  favor-can she find out what Ai Rin likes?

She sits in her room that night, still looking at the drink Tae Jun gave her during the day. She tells herself it’s not something bad anyway and it’s not like she can ignore Tae Jun’s request. Commence exploring Ai Rin’s stuff. Outside, Hyun Woo/Ai Rin arrives, dropped off by her manager who reminds him of his schedule tomorrow. Inside, Gu Rim stumbles across a picture of Hyun Woo and mutters, “Whoa! It’s totally a flower boy! Resembles Ai Rin… Is it an Oppa?” Just then, Ai Rin enters and she hurriedly shoves the picture back in, except it falls to the ground and Ai Rin sees it. Gu Rim apologizes but Ai Rin angrily grabs the photo and leaves.

Hyun Woo’s at the studio, practicing dancing when uncle arrives-won’t he fall sick if he continues like this but Hyun Woo just demands that Gu Rim be moved out now-she already saw his picture. His uncle argues she won’t put things together so easily and asks Hyun Woo to rest and hold on for just a bit longer.

Gu Rim waits outside the dorm, wondering where Ai Rin went and curses herself for not asking her phone number. She;s about to head inside with an idea when she’s stopped by two ahjusshi’s who ask her to go out and play with them. She turns to leave but they hold on. She shouts at them to let her go and then suddenly realizes her hand is free. Turning back, she sees both men beaten down by a guy who then turns to leave. It’s Hyun Woo. She thanks him and he mutters she’s out without any fear but she says she’s waiting for a friend.  He wonders to himself if she’s waiting for him.

At school, everyone’s playing volleyball and its like a match between Taeku and Aku while Tae Jun stares at Ai Rin like a lost puppy and Gu Rim waves at Tae Gun with glassy eyes. Taeku catches her at it and enraged, send the ball hitting her straight in the head. As retaliation, she sends the ball sailing and it hits all three. Vowing revenge, they throw it back but Gu Rim moves out of the way, the ball headed straight for Ai Rin. At the last moment before it would hit, Tae Jun intervenes, jumping in to save Ai Rin and gets himself a bloody nose as Taeku frets over him. Haha.

In the hospital bed, Tae Jun mutters to himself, “Ai Rin must see me as a cool person now! She’ll even come to say thanks, no?” and goes straight into pose as soon as he hears the door open. Only, it’s Gu Rim. She apologizes and he says it’s okay, asking her if she found out what Ai Rin likes and at her answer, thanks her “Jang Ju Rim!” She smiles, “It’s Jan Gu Rim”.

At practice, Hyun Woo isn’t better but doing his best and lackey tells him to take it easy. Hyun Woo mutters, “What am I if not Ai Rin?”

He sneaks back into his room that night, dropping his wig when taking off the cap but it doesn’t awaken Gu Rim and he puts it back into place before going to sleep. Gu Rim wakes that night to his coughing. She turns on the light and sees him sweating from a fever. Deciding to call a teacher, she turns to go but Ai Rin grabs her hand, and shakes her head at her.

Gu Rim shakes off her hand-she’s sick and heads to call the teacher. However, Ai Rin falls down from her bed and Gu Rim hurries back to help her up. Except, whenhe’s up, Gu Rim points to his hair and Hyun Woo realizes the wig has fallen off.

But he’s too weak to do anything and simply stumbles so Gu Rim rushes to help him up, except-her hands fall on his flat chest. As she helps him straighten up, the pieces start falling together in her mind-the picture, the wig and his flat chest. Hyun Woo watches her as her eyes go wide and all she can mutter is, “You… You’re…”

Weak, Hyun Woo stumbles back and they both end up sitting on her bed, him leaning and resting his head on her shoulder. For a few moments, she simply stares at him, eyes widened and slowly, starts to scream out but he covers her mouth with his hand.

Comments:

The characters are cute, they’re fun and they’re not annoying or boring. I even like tae Jun and his interactions with Gu Rim-he’s not horrible or even conceited, he’s just ignorant outside of his liking Ai Rin cycle and even then, he’s adorably so, not intentionally so. There are no serious undertones to the story, it’s all on the surface and like any normal teenage love story without serious elements distracting its funny sentiment. I don’t doubt it was meant that way and I’m actually happy it was-we can enjoy the hijinks and the hilarity without worrying when and how things might take a downturn! Can’t wait to see what happens now that Gu Rim is in on Hyun Woo’s secret and how he gets her to keep it that way!