The Interest of Love Episode 4 Recap and Review: A Heartbreaking 180

The Interest of Love (사랑의 이해) is a Korean romantic-drama series directed by Jo Yeong-min and stars Yoo Yeon-seok, Mun Ka-young, Keum Sae-rok and Jung Ga-ram in lead roles. The series is based on the novel by Sarangui Ihae by Lee Hyuk-jin. The series takes over JTBC’s Wednesday-Thursday 10.30 PM KST timeslot previously occupied by Insider starring Kang Ha-neul.

The Interest of Love episode 4 has a runtime of 69 minutes.

Netflix’s description reads:

FOUR MEN AND WOMEN WORKING AT THE SAME BANK GET ENTANGLED IN A COMPLICATED ROMANCE AS THEY DISCOVER HOW FAR THEY’RE WILLING TO GO FOR LOVE.

– The Interest of Love Episode 4 Recap Contains Spoilers –

The Interest of Love episode 4 starts with Sang-su, Su-yeong and the team rolling calendars to give out to people. It’s frustrating work, and they almost give up after a while. Sang-su only remains with Su-yeong, and when he gets a paper cut, she gives him a band-aid to help. After a job well done, Sang-su hands a wrapped calendar to Su-yeong.

She enquires whether he also wants to be rich, and when she is surprised to learn that he wants to be average, she enquires whether it’s because he came from a rich background. He opens up to her about her struggles when he was a child and the hardships he went through. It’s a nice moment that the two share, and he later walks home with her.

In the present, we are back to Su-yeong questioning Sang-su about the date night and reminding him that he didn’t show up not because he was busy at the bank but for something else – and she saw everything.

That night, Sang-su simply just walked away from the date after standing around looking lost for a minute. She tells him all the thoughts that went through her head, whether he couldn’t come because of something she said or did. A thousand thoughts and questions went through her head afterwards when he continued to lie, and she infers that he probably didn’t want her to know that he hesitated before coming.

She asks him why he dated her, if he thought lowly of her, if her background made him uncomfortable. Her questions push Sang-su to correct her train of thought – he hesitated for the opposite reason. She was a serious matter to him, and thus he didn’t want to date her on a whim. He says he ran to her after hesitating only for a minute, but she was already gone by then.

Thus, if she had only waited for him and asked him these same questions and confronted him at that moment, they could’ve talked it out and solved their issues. Su-yeong doesn’t relent, though, and frustrated, he simply asks him whether she has any feelings for him or whether he is imagining things. She breaks his heart and tells him that they are simply similar and there is nothing else going on there.

She even tells him that she won’t regret breaking it off with him.

Also Read: The Interest of Love Episode 3 Recap and Review: How Utterly Strange

The next day at work, after a dismal first quarter, the employees wonder how to meet their KPI targets. But, in a bad quarter, too, Su-yeong managed to sell every Winner’s Plan for season one. Sang-su and Mi-gyeong also receive applause for doing a great job at the presentation. It’s an awkward moment between Su-yeong and Sang-su as they size each other up.

The awkwardness continues throughout the work day as they try to ignore each other but also constantly step on each other’s toes. Regardless, a pat on the back for a job well done and Jong-hyeon giving her chocolate lights up Su-yeong’s mood until her colleagues mention going to her family’s restaurant. Unfortunately, they find it closed, and she remembers screaming at her father the other night.

Later on, Mi-gyeong invites Su-yeong for drinks after work while Sang-su goes to his father’s memorial service. He spends some mother-son time wherein she implores him to make mistakes and have fun for once. He agrees to listen to her but stops in his tracks when she asks him whether he is happy. He thinks back to what happened to his father and regrets not stopping him from making mistakes that he saw him making.

After going through this turmoil, he wonders how people who go through these situations always hesitate at every point in life, just like how he hesitated before that date. Unfortunately, none of these hesitations ever made him happy.

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Meanwhile, Su-yeong goes to Mi-gyeong’s place, and her lavish lifestyle leaves Su-yeong surprised. But when she sees her art projects, she jumps at the opportunity of taking care of a bag that, according to Mi-gyeong, is a lost cause.

As she works on it, Mi-gyeong asks her what’s happening between her and Sang-su. In turn, she asks her whether she likes him. Mi-gyeong agrees and tells her why she likes him so much, detailing all of his little traits and innate talents. In the end, Su-yeong tells her that the two of them look good together.

Receiving a bag from her friend, she goes to the grocery store, where she comes across Jong-hyeon. The two of them share an easy relationship, and he leaves her smiling most of the time. She also relates to his struggles and appreciates his kind thoughts. However, his mention of how children resemble their parents the more they grow old strikes a chord with Su-yeong bitterly.

Jong-hyeon, interstingly, reminds Su-yeong of Su-hyeok, who also, much like him, used to eat discounted food from stores. The pain of losing him like this makes her stop him from eating these things, and she asks him to go with her to have something good instead.

The next day is a whole lot of awkward encounters, with Sang-su’s mother lying to Mi-gyeong’s mother about her son working at some other branch of KCU. Mi-gyeong and Su-yeong go to a spa together with Sang-su’s mother tending to them, without her knowing that they work at the same branch as her son and Su-yeong in an environment that is absolutely foreign to her.

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After the spa, Mi-gyeong and Sang-su go out to dinner, wherein she confesses her feelings for him. Sang-su is awkward, but he asks him why she likes him, and she tells him that he is someone she wants because he is different from the others. Sang-su, however, can’t think of anything other than Su-yeong’s words to him, leaving him a wreck afterwards.

The next day, Mi-gyeong and Sang-su manage to win the competition, and she goes straight to hand-holding in the elevator. After congratulations and demands for a year-ender wedding, Shi-kyung calls Su-yeong to his office. Expecting good news, she is devasted when she learns that he wants her to hand over the Winner’s Plan project to Mi-gyeong.

A heartbroken Su-yeong hands over the materials to Mi-gyeong, who also looks sad about what is happening. She goes to the roof to drink soju to remedy her broken heart, and Jong-hyeon brings over a sweet and asks her to stop drinking whenever she is sad.

Su-yeong opens her heart up to him and tells him that she feels like a fool for having hope. He, however, assures her that despite the mistreatment that he faces every day, he never feels like a fool. In fact, having a dream is what keeps him going. He gives her hope – that in 5 years, she will shine, just like how he is, 5 years after he almost became a farmer.

Somewhere behind them, Sang-su stands hiding, with two cups of coffee in his hand.

At home, Su-yeong gets a text from Mi-gyeong thanking her and apologising and informing her that she gave her a necklace that morning without her knowing. When she enquires, she finds the same necklace that she complimented a few days ago.

At the AI Finance training, Su-yeong is left shocked to find Sang-su going with them when he had initially turned down the offer. However, throughout the training, they act as if they do not know each other in spite of sitting beside each other on the bus and during training. That night, people openly flirt with the Goddess of Youngpo and the others honestly just take it to a disgusting level.

Taking Su-yeong’s cue, Sang-su gets out of a rather toxic drinking group and follows her on her walk. He remembers telling Gyeong-pil why he likes Su-yeong – her fighting spirit, no matter the adversity, is what draws him to her. She reminds him of how he was back in the day, how he would also become nonchalant when things got tough. She makes him want to root for her.

The Interest of Love Episode 4 Ending

In the present, Su-yeong asks him why he is following her and, most importantly, why did he come on the trip? Does he still like her? Why does he like her? They finally ask each other the real questions, and it’s pretty clear that they are just dying to tell each other how much they like each other.

However, their conversation is cut short when Jong-hyeon calls her. As she starts to walk away to pick up the phone, Sang-su finally makes the move and pulls her into a sudden hug.

The Interest of Love Episode 4 Review

Well, what a turn this series took all of a sudden.

The class distinctions were already there, but this episode takes it all to an uncomfortable level. You can’t help but sit there watching and waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to fall suddenly, leaving everyone uncomfortable. It’s interesting watching these different people come together to share a part of their lives. Their interactions and the smallest of reactions define their lives so well.

Meanwhile, the story also goes forward with the explanations behind why some things are happening. Although everyone is wrong somewhere or the other, their backstories make them so tough to completely hate. As in, you know some people are wrong, but when their pasts are factored in, you get it. It makes sense.

All of them are the greyest of people (except Jong-hyeon, he’s too good to be stuck here). There’s nothing black or white about them. They are fighting their own demons and trying to get by, desperately trying to find a semblance of normalcy and happiness. You want them to succeed, for Su-yeong to finally get that big break, and Sang-su come out of his shell. But that’s just not how it works, does it?

Life is just so difficult, and things are simply never handed over, especially when you don’t come from money. It’s heartbreaking watching the characters suffer for something that has no hand in. You just wait and wish for them to catch a break finally.

The Interest of Love is streaming on Netflix.

Also Read: All of Our The Interest of Love Reviews