Romance is a Bonus Book Episode 15
Mini Recap
In the attic, Kang Dan Yi (Lee Na Young) reads Writer Kang’s notes that detail his diagnosis of Alzheimer and Eun Ho’s steadfast devotion. She cries knowing that Eun Ho carried the burden of this secret commitment alone.
Cha Eun Ho (Lee Jong Suk) returns home and finds Dan Yi reading Writer Kang’s notes with tears in her eyes. Dan Yi wishes that she had known so she could have supported him.
Song Hae Rin (Jung Eugene) can’t believe her eyes when Oh Ji Yool (Park Gyu Young) gives her a manuscript with the same title as Writer Kang’s reported last book.
Bong Ji Hong (Jo Han Chul) is shocked to find his ex-wife Seo Young A (Kim Sun Young) at the home of one of the publishing house writers. As she walks to her car, she reminds her ex-husband that she told him she was seeing another man. Ji Hong demands to know if Young A slept with the writer. She confirms this and drives away. Ji Hong is stunned and sad.
Hae Rin calls Eun Ho about the novel. When they meet Hae Rin gives Eun Ho a copy of the novel. He tells her to keep this quiet while he investigates the person that sent the novel. Hae Rin indicates the phone number and address are bogus.
At home Eun Ho emails the sender of the novel. Ji Seo Joon (Wi Ha Joon) is the person associated with the email address. He reads Eun Ho’s email and responds that email is the only communication mechanism he wants to use. Seo Joon tells Eun Ho he wants a decision on publishing the novel soon. Seo Joon realizes Eun Ho doesn’t believe that Writer Kang wrote the novel. He wonders where Writer Kang is. He’s sure that Eun Ho knows.
Dan Yi’s new job isn’t satisfying. The owner and his wife don’t pay contractors, and don’t care about shoddy editing and translations. When she presents a marketing plan, they complain about the cost.
Eun Ho invites Dan Yi to help him research. This leads to cute kisses in the library.
Park Hoon (Kang Ki Doong) swipes left in front of Ji Yool and arranges to meet a woman. He exits the bus for the meeting and Ji Yool can’t believe that he’s turning away from her for another woman. Jealous she follows him and when he leaves the table, tells the woman that she and Park Hoon live together. She warns the woman not to poach. Ji Yoon leaves. When Park Hoon returns to the table, he’s stunned to learn that Ji Yool was there and what she said. When he returns to his apartment, Ji Yool can’t believe that her heart beats quickly for Park Hoon. She wonders if she’s falling for him.
Park Hoon, Ji Yool and other hopefuls wait for the announcement of the idea contest. Executive Kim Jae Min (Kim Tae Woo) tries to get an opinion from Director Ko Yoo Sun (Kim Yu Mi) about the applicants but she reminds him each of the founding members (Executive Kim, Director Ko, Eun Ho, Ji Hong and Young A) individually evaluate the submissions and they only reveal their opinions at the tally meeting.
At the tally meeting, the founding members all pick the same submission. Because the submissions are anonymous, they have to enter the submission number to learn who the winner is. They can’t believe it…the winner is Dan Yi! Eun Ho secretly rejoices. His woman won…she went out with a bang. Executive Kim is beside himself, what can he do? Dan Yi no longer works there. Director Ko reminds him there is a special recruiting policy he could invoke to hire Dan Yi back. That puts a smiles on his face.
Dan Yi realizes she can’t work for a publishing company that has shoddy work practices and subpar ethics. She resigns. On the street, unemployed yet again, Dan Yi chides herself to control her temper next time.
Executive Kim appears and offers to rehire her. They negotiate on the spot and both are happy with the salary and marketing team position they agree to.
Seo Joon eats with his mother. She confirms his father wasn’t aware she was pregnant with him. She admits she’d like to see his father one more time, but after all these years, knows that won’t happen.
Hae Rin realizes where she read a passage from the book previously. She remembers the shredded document she reconstructed at Seo Joon’s house. She calls Eun Ho to tell him that Seo Joon is the writer, but he doesn’t answer.
The employee that claimed she asked Dan Yi to send a contract termination agreement (which wasn’t sent), finds the contract termination in her stack of papers. She realizes that the mistake was hers not Dan Yi’s. She goes to the shredder to get rid of the evidence. Director Ko finds her struggling with the jammed shredder. Director Ko sees the partially shredded contract termination. She realizes the employee lied that Dan Yi made the mistake. She yells at the employee. Hae Rin asks what is wrong. Director Ko hands over the partial contract termination. Hae Rin realizes that Dan Yi was falsely accused of making the mistake.
Hae Rin goes to Eun Ho’s house. Dan Yi wants to hide but Eun Ho tells her Hae Rin knows they live together. Hae Rin shares that Seo Joon is the writer of the submitted novel. Dan Yi and Eun Ho look at each other and silently communicate. Hae Rin wants to know what they aren’t telling her.
Eun Ho calls Seo Joon and asks to meet. Seo Joon recalls visiting his father and asking that he take care of his mother.
Eun Ho and Seo Joon meet. Eun Ho states no fan would write a full length novel. He tells Seo Joon he knows he submitted the novel. Seo Joon is surprised. Eun Ho asks if Seo Joon wants to know the secret behind the book titled “April 23”. Recall April 23 is Seo Joon’s birthday.
My Thoughts
The mystery of Seo Joon and Writer Kang is explored. Seo Joon’s connection to Writer Kang appears to be that of son to father. The flashback showed Seo Joon visiting his father and making the single request that his mother be taken care of. If Writer Kang was suffering form Alzheimer during that visit, perhaps nothing was ever done for Seo Joon’s mother leading Seo Joon to understandably upset about Writer Kang’s actions (or lack there of).
Kang Dan Yi (Lee Na Young) quit working for the new publishing house. Dan Yi pointed out the irregularities but the owner and his wife didn’t care. Dan Yi realized she couldn’t work for a company with subpar ethics and business practices. She resigned. She was stunned when Executive Kim appears moments later and asked her to return as a full time employee. I was pleased to see Dan Yi negotiate on the spot and garner a better offer.
Cha Eun Ho (Lee Jong Suk) confronted Seo Joon. Eun Ho shared the truth about Writer Kang with Dan Yi once she found Writer Kang’s notes discussing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Finally Eun Ho had the support he’d craved from Dan Yi. I can’t imagine how Eun Ho would have managed without Executive Kim’s support over the years. When Hae Rin figured out that Seo Joon submitted the manuscript, Eun Ho knew that he had to meet with Seo Joon and confront him. I LOVED Eun Ho’s happiness when Dan Yi won the idea contest. He was thrilled for her and proud of her.
What’s my Wish List for the final episode?
* Writer Kang’s mystery is fully explained. The assumption is that Seo Joon is Writer Kang’s son but doesn’t know about his father’s diagnosis of Alzheimer. This needs to be resolved. Writer Kang must be allowed to keep his secret which Eun Ho has faithfully kept for years.
* Eun Ho and Dan Yi go public with their relationship. Secret relationships at work never stay secret. The vibe a couple gives off can’t be hidden forever. Now that Dan Yi has a returning job offer, this is the perfect time to reveal they are dating.
* The team at the publishing house ends up the upswing. Dan Yi will return. I’m a bit ambivalent about Park Hoon and Ji Yool as a couple. She’s not my favorite character but I have to concede she’s been slowly maturing. I don’t see Ji Hong and Young A reuniting. She was right when she told her ex their married crumbled over time and they can’t sweep their unresolved issues under the rug to reunite. Hae Rin and Seo Joon have potential. Maybe we’ll get an indication if they will ever have a spark. And what about Executive Kim and Director Ko? Will their relationship stay strictly professional or will their building awareness of each other lead them into romantic waters?
* Dan Yi’s daughter is mentioned. Yes, she has a daughter but Writer Jung doesn’t have Dan Yi mention her. I was surprised when Dan Yi was fired she didn’t fret over the school costs she couldn’t cover without an income.
I rank this episode (on a scale from 1-10) as terrific. My rating chart is below:
The tenth song of the OST is titled “Walking on Sunshine” sung by SAya:
Asian drama fan. I watch and blog dramas on https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/.
amusings 
The writer Kang flashbacks 📸 were informative of the writer, his illness (I thought it MIGHT BE Alzheimer’s disease) and the struggles Eun Ho 🖋️👨💼 has gone through to keep his promise to writer Kang.
I am curious to find out if The Heros transcript was fully written by Seo Joon 🎨👨🎨 or if his father, writer Kang started the manuscript and Seo Joon 🎨👨🎨 finished it. Is it possible the writer gave the manuscript to his son, when Seo Joon 🎨👨🎨 asked for help for his mother❓⁉️ I hope Eun Ho 🖋️👨💼 will take Seo Joon 🎨👨🎨 to see his father before he passes away.
I laughed my butt off 😂 when the founders unanimously selected Dan Yi’s 👠👩💼 idea as the contest winner and Dan Yi 👠👩💼 was vindicated when Hae Rin 👙 and Director Ko 🐞💢 caught the employee shredding the evidence of her incompetance that was blamed on Dan Yi 👠👩💼. I was glad to see the employee really did think she asked Dan Yi 👠👩💼 and didn’t just try to pass the buck. I was glad to the softer side of Director Ko 🐞💢 when she reminded CEO Kim about their special recruiting policy. I also relished in Eun Ho’s 🖋️👨💼 joy at Dan Yi 👠👩💼 winning the contest.
I was proud of Dan Yi 👠👩💼 for quitting the sketchy publishing company when she realized that many translations were plagiarized. What a relief CEO Kim caught Dan Yi 👠👩💼 outside the sketchy publishing company to scout her for a better position. I 💗 Dan Yi’s 👠👩💼 moxy when she negotiated a higher salary.
I concur that as Ji Yul has matured, she has become palatable 😣😑😏. The Ji Yul/Park Hoon story hasn’t piqued my interest until this episode. I chuckled 🤣 when Ji Yul threatened the female marketer and was then in denial of her feelings.
I concur with your wish list for the final episode. Full disclosure of writer Kang’s mystery and his Alzheimer’s disease kept a secret 🤐 are important. I also hope 🙏 Dan Yi 👠👩💼 and Eun Ho 🖋️👨💼 will disclose their relationship 💞. I appreciate your mention of Dan Yi’s 👠👩💼 daughter … I had forgotten about her and the stinky cheating ex 💩💫. I figure any one else having a happy ending will be icing on the cake 🎂❣️ I’m not terribly optimistic about Ji Hong and Young Ah 🗣️👠 reuniting, but it could happen…
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I was glad to see the employee really did think she asked Dan Yi 👠👩💼 and didn’t just try to pass the buck. I was glad to the softer side of Director Ko 🐞💢 when she reminded CEO Kim about their special recruiting policy. I also relished in Eun Ho’s 🖋️👨💼 joy at Dan Yi 👠👩💼 winning the contest.
In the end the entire publishing team were positives.
I 💗 Dan Yi’s 👠👩💼 moxy when she negotiated a higher salary.
I was proud of her too.
I chuckled 🤣 when Ji Yul threatened the female marketer and was then in denial of her feelings.
Nothing prickles like jealousy.
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