The young ones take their final bows and it’s the time for their adult counterparts to take over the stage. Time flies, almost unnoticed by some people, but quite slow for others. If someone could turn back the time, what would they do? Stay the same, or try to change what they’ve done? Although we can plan and do whatever it takes for our future, the future still holds many great surprises for us and at times, the regret is going to get us for whatever we have done in the past.

[EPISODE 4]

  

As Jang-Il picks up the wood he used to knock Sun-Woo and the envelope containing all the evidence, he an’t help but to shout out his guilt. He walks away from the place, leaving Sun-Woo in the water. He stops for a moment, contemplating his decision just now, but he continues to leave. He goes to a warehouse and starts to burn all the documents containing the evidence before clearing out the ashes.

On his way out, Jang-Il runs into Soo-Mi. He tries to walk away but gets stopped by her question, asking about Sun-Woo’s whereabouts. He says he doesn’t know anything about him and wonders why she’s looking for him. Soo-Mi refuses to tell him anything as it’s not his business.

  

His guilt starts to get to him and he tries to shoo the fear away but fails as he can’t even stay still. He throws his clothes and books into his bag while all his betrayal sequence keep replaying in his head. He starts to feel nauseated and runs for the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Soo-Mi goes to Sun-Woo’s house and starts knocking on his door. However, no one answers her. As she’s wondering where he’s gone to, Jang-Il dashes to the railway station to return to Seoul.

  

On the train, Geum-Jool greets Jang-Il, much to his surprise. It’s logic for him to freak out as the person who’s close to Sun-Woo is around him! Geum-Jool asks about Sun-Woo and starts wondering why Jang-Il doesn’t help Sun-Woo about the police matters, but he manages to change the topic. Geum-Jool tells him to treat Sun-Woo nicely as he almost got killed for Jang-Il’s sake. He freezes in his seat, too scared to do anything.

  

Jang-Il arrives at his apartment and rushes in to quench his growing thirst. He then throws the bottle away, realizing that it’s his conscience that’s growing on him. He wails alone in the dark, thinking about what he has done.

Yong-Bae returns home to find it empty and Jang-Il’s room in a complete mess. His son leaves a note saying that he’s returning to Seoul and tells his father not to worry about him as Sun-Woo won’t submit the report.

  

It’s already dark but Sun-Woo hasn’t returned to his house yet. Soo-Mi keeps knocking on the door and the house owner to tell her that he didn’t come home yet. Soo-Mi gets to know Jang-Il was the last person who was together with him and weighing the possiblity of Sun-Woo following Jang-Il to Seoul. Yong-Bae, who has came over to check on Sun-Woo, overhears their conversation but he quickly returns home.

  

Geum-Jool starts looking for Sun-Woo and he finds out that Sun-Woo didn’t submit the report to the police. He finds it strange as he couldn’t contact or find him anywhere. As for Yong-Bae, he’s worried about Jang-Il as he remembers what his son said to him the night before he left. His son, still feeling nervous because of his crime, cannot concentrate on his studies and freaks out when someone calls him.

Soo-Mi is painting alone, but she soon stops as she keeps worrying about Sun-Woo. The boy is now stranded on the rocky seaside and he starts to regain his consciousness although he’s too weak to move.

  

Jang-Il goes out for a drink with his seniors and he drinks endlessly to forget all his problems. He stops by a street vendor for another bottle of soju, and Ji-Won is also there. He doesn’t realize she’s there and suddenly, a news about a drown man found near the seaside is aired on the radio. Jang-Il turns pale and he quickly leaves his payment before running away to vomit.

Ji-Won follows behind him and overhears him talking about his deed that will bring him to hell as he cries. She offers him some water but he’s too drunk to think properly. He shouts at her, telling her not to meddle in with his business. He falls asleep on the bench, but Ji-Won isn’t going to let him sleep on the street like that. She splashes some water on him, waking him up and he recovers from his drinks. She tells him to go back and rest as the problems won’t get solved by drinks.

  

She says her goodbye, but Jang-Il asks her to stay with him for a while. He falls asleep as Ji-Won stays beside him. Some time later, the shops are starting the business and the noise wakes him up. Jang-Il finds himself alone, but Ji-Won left her scarf with him.

Jang-Il finds Ji-Won at the library, where she’s working part-time there. He gives her a new scarf as he lost hers. She refuses to accept the expensive gift, but Jang-Il is just thankful for her deed. She tells him not to blame his father as parents always do their best for their children. Ji-Won wants him not to whine about his life anymore and he promises to do that.

  

Sun-Woo is found by someone on the shore and everyone gets to know about it. Geum-Jool comes running to the place where he was found to check on him. Jang-Il gets paged but he chooses to ignore it. His father also knows about it from someone. Gwang-Chun and Soo-Mi are the first to come to the hospital after finding out about Sun-Woo. Geum-Jool is also there and Soo-Mi asks him what happened but he doesn’t know anything about it.

  

Gwang-Chun finds it weird to have someone like Sun-Woo to fall off the cliff because he slipped. He thinks it wasn’t an accident. He decides to tell the police everything if Sun-Woo dies, much to Soo-Mi’s surprise. She’s sure he will wake up. They are just about to leave when they see Yong-Bae entering the hospital to visit Sun-Woo. Gwang-Chun suspects he might try to kill Sun-Woo by pulling off his respiratory aid (oh, the possibilities..) but Soo-Mi assures him that there are people watching him before dragging him home.

Yong-Bae makes a call to inform Sun-Woo’s condition to Jang-Il. He thinks Sun-Woo isn’t going to survive and tells Jang-Il to forget about the boy and don’t come home for the time being. Jang-Il starts to panic and goes to wash his face to calm his nerves. But the calmness he seeks for doesn’t last for a time as someone comes knocking on his door.

  

He starts to imagine that it’s the police who are coming to ask about Sun-Woo. In front of the bathroom mirror, he starts to plan his words carefully and rehearsing his reactions to what the police officer might say. He gains his confidence and walks towards the door, the knock growing louder. He opens the door to find the security guard bearing a package for him. he remembers that Sun-Woo sent something to him. He sits in the corner, crying for Sun-Woo while asking for his forgiveness.

Yong-Bae gets a call from Chairman Jin to meet him. Chairman Jin wants to know about Sun-Woo’s report and Yong-Bae gladly informs him that he won’t be able to submit it as he met with an accident. He doesn’t think it’s a mere accident but he tells Yong-Bae to take care of Sun-Woo’s funeral. Gosh.

At the hospital, Sun-Woo gets visited by Yong-Bae. He asks the unconscious boy whether he’s the one who made his son a murderer. He leaves him alone, and Sun-Woo’s memories starts to come back to him, from the moment he first helped Jang-Il until the time he had spent with his father.

  

The father and son sat over some grilled meat and bottles of soju. They happily fed each other with the lettuce wraps and soon rested with the full stomach. Kyung-Pil felt he’s not a real man to have such a small dream: living happily with Sun-Woo’s wife and children while grilling meat like that time. Sun-Woo sighed, saying that wasn’t fun at all. He, on the other hand, wanted to travel around the world with his father before going to the equator. He wanted to go to the place as it seemed so much like him: hot and passionate with the sun.

  

Sun-Woo wonders why his father went to the orphanage to adopt him as he knew his real parents were dead and he’s praying to be able to meet them every night. Kyung-Pil joked, saying that he came looking for him because he heard his praying. Sun-Woo felt so happy to have his father coming for him at the age of 9, and he’s glad to have him as his father. Suddenly, Kyung-Pil left him alone in the room. Sun-Woo tried to follow him, but he told him to stay.

The scene fades, and the grown up Sun-Woo (Uhm Tae-Woong) starts to show slight movement on the hospital bed. The nurse sees him moving and calls for the doctor. Sun-Woo responses to what the doctor says but he can’t move that much, let alone open his eyes.

  

It’s been quite a while and Chairman Jin is now becoming more successful after taking over President Han’s Boo Kyung Chemicals company. He’s being interviewed by some reporters and happily shares his dream. Moon Tae-Joo is shown to have drawn another contract with some foreign business partners. Mrs Ma holds a home concert over at the villa as Chairman Jin looks at her daughter, Park Yun-Joo (Kim Hye-Eun) singing with his mother.

They greet the guests and Chairman Jin proceeds to talk with Yun-Joo. She apologizes because her brother, Yun-Seok can’t make it for the party. She shares about her dream to study abroad and then work under him, but Mrs Ma cuts the conversation ,saying that it’s better for her to indulge herself in arts before getting married. She even admits that’s the reason why she got married twice. So…Yun-Joo and Yun-Seok is just Chairman Jin’s step children? Interesting.

  

Yun-Joo leaves them and Chairman Jin feels it’s better for Yun-Joo to learn more about business. Mrs Ma suspects Chairman Jin is just nervous that she will take what belongs to him, and Chairman Jin sighs, wondering when they can be a true family at heart. They escort the guests out and one of them starts talking about a promising investment with Chairman Jin. It ticks him off that the investment is under someone no other than Moon Tae-Joo. His location remains a mystery even to the man who’s interested in investing for Tae-Joo’s futures.

That surely leaves Chairman Jin in a bad mood as he stands in the living room alone, cracking the glass when his anger overtakes his mind.

  

Everyone is informed about Sun-Woo finally waking up from his coma. Geum-Jool tells Jang-Il (Lee Joon-Hyuk) not to be alarmed about it, while he’s clearly surprised at the unforeseen turn of event. Same with his father, who finds out about it from the hospital. Gwang-Chun and Soo-Mi (Im Jung-Eun) come running to the hospital to visit Sun-Woo, but he’s acting weird: he doesn’t respond when Gwang-Chun asks whether he can see them or not.

  

Jang-Il tries to call everyone who can give him any updates about Sun-Woo but fails, causing him to throw away all the things on the table. Looks like his temper is worse. Chairman Jin, on the other hand, still cannot find Tae-Joo’s whereabouts as he keeps moving from one place to another. He knows that the man is probably planning something. He then tells Yong-Bae to get ready for midnight fishing but the news about Sun-Woo makes him change his plan.

And finally, Tae-Joo decides to return to Korea to find his son. Nice move, especially when Sun-Woo really needs someone to help him.

  

Chairman Jin then goes to the hospital and takes a look at the sleeping Sun-Woo inside the ICU. He is amazed at the fact that someone who betrayed him is still alive. On his way out, he overhears Soo-Mi and her father talking about Sun-Woo. Both of them try to talk with Sun-Woo but soon gets tired of his lack of response. They are just about to go back when he suddenly says that he’s waiting for his father. They are worried, but the doctor says it’s normal for patients recovering from the coma to ramble.

  

Knowing about Sun-Woo isn’t giving Jang-Il any comfort, so he decides to go somewhere early in the morning. Sun-Woo starts to regain his memories and as he recalls what happened before he’s injured, he knows that it was Jang-Il who did that to him. He  keeps asking why Jang-Il did that, but the pressure is too much for him to handle. He keeps screaming and shaking on the bed as Yong-Bae looks at him with horror.

  

It turns out that Jang-Il takes the earliest train to Busan. While he’s alone on the train, he’s nervous about what’s waiting for him back in his hometown. Soo-Mi goes to meet Sun-Woo and he’s able to remember her clearly. However, he still thinks his father is still around, but Soo-Mi doesn’t say anything that might give him pressure. He says that he doesn’t remember anything about the accident. Sun-Woo asks her the time, which she replies it’s already 12. He tells her to go back as it’s already late, but she says it’s 12 p.m.

He realizes it’s dark and tells Soo-Mi to turn on all the lights, but they are all turned on. He blinks for several times but he can’t see anything. Sun-Woo then goes for an eye check-up and heads back to his room, accompanied by Soo-Mi.

  

Jang-Il arrives safe and sound at the hospital and Soo-Mi manages to recognize him. He freezes when she calls his name and asks the reason he’s there. She tells him that Sun-Woo might not be able to recognize him because of the accident. She’s about to tell Jang-Il about Sun-Woo’s condition but soon decides against it and wants him to go see his friend himself.

  

Sun-Woo sits alone on his bed, still thinking about what the doctor said about his damaged cornea earlier. He thinks that this is a mere joke and starts shouting for people to turn on the lights. He ambles through the hallway, calling for the doctor. Jang-Il looks at him and Sun-Woo approaches him. He walks past him and Jang-Il sighs in relief.

Just as he’s relieved, Sun-Woo hugs him from the back, thinking that he’s the doctor. Hang-Il doesn’t even dare to breathe but Sun-Woo soon breaks the hug, screaming for the doctor. And he keeps asking someone to turn on the lights, along with this question:

Who turned off the lights?

[END of EPISODE 4]

Who do you think it was?

 Although the question is probably the technical description of what is happening to Sun-Woo, but I think it’s Jang-Il who literally made his life dark at once. He does feel some remorse on the back of his mind, and it sometimes crawl back into his life, like what he used to fell when he first hurt Sun-Woo and now, when the person is back into his life. I don’t know whether I can truly love or hate him as he keeps swaying back and forth, between a good and a ruthless person.

He doesn’t change at all as the transition begins, still in his ‘calm outside but shaken inside’ attitude. He does become more expressive in some ways, probably because it’s Lee Joon-Hyuk? I’m really excited to see him on the screen (yeayy!!) but yeah, I’ll miss the young Jang-Il. Siwan might be a newbie in acting, but his performance deserves some praises. It’s not easy to be as complex as Jang-Il and I think he did a good job although there are comments about him here and there. We must now move on…

Forgive my excessive spazzing today. Jang-Il~

Not that I’ve decided to put more attention to Jang-Il’s character, but the dynamics of the character of Sun-Woo is not that visible. At least for the time being.

I wish for him to have even the slightest idea of revenge towards the people who made his life miserable, especially Chairman Jin. He’s too kind at times, almost like an angel, non-human for his kindness. Maybe he was too naive to realize the cruel world around him, but I really want him to remember what Jang-Il did to him and makes him pay for his sins. Pretty harsh, but Jang-Il can’t escape his wrongdoings by just living in guilt, right? on a side note: Uhm Tae-Woong has pretty eyes 🙂

I nearly cried during the scene where Sun-Woo dreamed of his father. Their exchange of thoughts are simple but sweet. He even knew that Kyung-Pil wasn’t his real father!  And that scene also explains why the title is The Equator Man…because Sun-Woo is as hot and passionate as the equator. A cheesy description of his attitude but I like it. A tough cookie on the outside,but a total softie at heart.

Soo-Mi..she’s too faithful to Jang-Il (or can it be considered obsession?). Is he going to ignore her again for the rest of her life? We’ll see. It’s nice to see someone taking care of Sun-Woo, although she’s doing it because of her guilt. The same goes for her father, but it’s better than having no one beside him.

We’re not moving into the love lines yet, but I don’t like how Ji-Won is being so close with Jang-Il. I hope it’s all pity and a friend’s concern that he has for him. Don’t fall for the wrong guy..

As we’re now moving on with the adult counterpart, so we should expect the story to be developed better, but probably with slower pace and more angst to come. Be still, my heart!

I’m going to miss them 🙂