How do you start the day on a good note? Yumi (Kim Go-eun) of Yumi’s Cells starts hers by reading through the compliment-filled comment page of her web novel, My Love Muse. Little does she know that this flurry of praise is all thanks to CEO Goo Woong (Ahn Bo-hyun), who has happily changed his morning routine to write these encouraging words – using multiple accounts.
Not long after, Yumi gets a phone call from Yi-da (Mi Ram), who updates her on Bobby’s (Park Jin-young of GOT7) return to the Daehan Noodles HQ and his move back into his previous apartment. “Which means he’s back in your neighbourhood!” her friend helpfully points out. “If we meet, we meet,” Yumi mutters to herself resignedly after the call, her mood dipping.
“Nothing good would come from running into him,” she acknowledges, leading her to establish a number of ‘restricted areas’ within the neighbourhood, such as the bakery and grocery shop Bobby frequents. Though she initially takes great care to avoid them, her Reason Cell (voiced by Shim Gyu-hyuk) rationalises that Bobby would probably choose to do the same. Eventually, Yumi continues to visit these places as usual.
One Thursday morning, Yumi decides to grab a coffee at a particular ‘high-risk’ cafe, thinking that Bobby couldn’t possibly come through at that time – but does. Emotion (voiced by Park Ji-yoon) laments at how Yumi just has to be “dressed like a bum” at the exact time she runs into her ex-boyfriend. Bobby is greeted cheerily by the cafe barista, who’s delighted to see her two regular customers together again and oblivious to their current estrangement.
As Yumi and Bobby make pleasant but awkward conversation, Reason cautions Emotion to not be swayed by Bobby’s honeyed words, simply because they “have no meaning”; this is just what he’s usually like. “I know, but it’s sweet,” the cell replies, as she excitedly licks a drop of honey from her fingers. After Yumi ends their conversation and takes her leave, Bobby runs out of the cafe and catches up with her. “I’ve missed you terribly,” he admits, holding her gaze.
Bobby hasn’t been quite the same either since their break-up, following a lengthy, massive earthquake that wrecked his entire village. He went through stages of grief: staring blankly into space, angrily tearing down Yumi’s tree decorations, and even deciding to not acknowledge her if they ever came across each other again. Through it all, one question remained in his mind: “What would have happened if Yumi trusted me as I had trusted her?”
When ex-intern Da-eun (Shin Ye-eun) paid Bobby a courtesy house visit, he kept interactions to a minimum. As she tried to explain herself, he curtly wished her a safe journey back to Busan. Following this, Bobby’s Jeju branch superior informed him that the main headquarters has requested his return, which he agreed to. “If I had stayed in Seoul, I probably wouldn’t have broken up with Yumi,” Bobby says in hindsight.
After settling back in Seoul, Bobby plucked up the courage to read Yumi’s web novel, and was heartened to see how much her writing has improved. His Love Cell decided that he should let Yumi know that he’s enjoying the read, but Reason and Emotion advised against it. As Yumi’s Reason Cell had rightly deduced, Bobby decided to avoid Yumi’s favourite places, so as to not run into her. But what if he does? What would Bobby say to her? These questions circled his mind – until he decided to tell her how he feels.
Back in the present, Yumi coldly dismisses Bobby’s confession, though his words still cause an undeniable shake-up within her cell village. This momentarily sends Reason through a wormhole, leaving Emotion with free reign. Eventually, Yumi’s walls come crumbling down, and she sobs in Bobby’s arms, releasing all the pain and hurt she had kept stowed away.
When Reason finally returns to the village, he finds that he’s a step too late – Yumi and Bobby have already decided to give their relationship a second chance. This development worries him, particularly after a brief meet-up with the banished Love Cell (voiced by Ahn So-mi) while floating in space. She cautioned against Yumi getting back with Bobby, fearing that things wouldn’t be the same again when reuniting with her ex. Yumi realises this too when she and Bobby go on their first dinner date after getting back together. “Am I under a spell, or has the spell been broken?” she wonders to herself while watching Bobby enjoy his glass of wine. “Or is it just awkward since it’s been a long time?”
After getting back with Bobby, Yumi begins to put more care into her appearance again, ditching the sweatshirt and pants for more presentable outfits. This is something that doesn’t go unnoticed by web novel illustrator Control-Z/Con-Z (Pyo Ji-hoon, or P.O), who surmises that Yumi might be dating again. “Don’t tell me you’d dressed up because you knew who we’d be meeting today,” he cryptically says, piquing Yumi’s curiosity.
Both Yumi and Con-Z head out of the cafe just as a car arrives at the entrance. Out steps Woong, who had come by to pick up the illustrator on the premise of giving him a ride to his office, “not knowing” that Yumi was there too. Yumi sees through her ex-boyfriend’s bad acting, and tries to turn down his offer for a ride, but eventually accepts it.
While en route to Yumi’s location, Yumi asks Woong if he has time for a quick chat, to which he agrees. “There’s no need to let everyone around me know that I’m dating Bobby again,” she reasons, “but I feel that I should let Woong know.” Over coffee at a cafe, Woong learns that Yumi doesn’t write at night, and tries his luck to arrange for a meet-up with her – to which she replies that she had already “made plans to meet with her boyfriend”.
This new piece of information doesn’t add up in Woong’s brain, until Yumi makes it clear that it’s Bobby she’s seeing again. The CEO goes off on a sudden tangent, babbling about how it didn’t end well for those he knew had gotten back together with their exes. Realising that he should stop while he’s ahead, Woong finally musters up the will to congratulate his ex-girlfriend in his own way. He is dismayed, however, when Yumi turns down his suggestion to hang out, saying that Bobby might be uncomfortable with it. “You’ve become a little more old-fashioned!” Woong points out a little too loudly, an attempt to cover up his true feelings. To this, Yumi evenly responds, “You know I’ve always been that way.”
A defeated Woong leaves the cafe with Yumi, and offers to give her a ride to her next destination. However, he injures his hand on the car door, and ends up getting sent to the hospital. Over at the hospital, Yumi reaches out to Bobby to update him on her whereabouts, and on Woong’s situation. Though slightly surprised, Bobby doesn’t say anything further, only telling her to let him know when she’s done.
Just as Yumi’s about to leave, Woong’s torn shirt catches her eye. This brings back memories of how he had once taken care of her when she was warded at the same hospital, even buying her a change of clothes. She decides to return the favour, but only realises while she was out that she’d left her phone at the hospital, and has no way to contact Bobby.
Spotting Yumi’s phone on the hospital bed next to his, Woong picks it up and heads out of the ward in search of Yumi. He runs into Bobby at the lobby, and they exchange guarded greetings. Woong hands the phone over to her (once ex-)boyfriend, explaining that she’d left it behind after stepping out. “Yumi will be back soon, don’t worry,” assures the (still) ex-boyfriend, who adds, “She doesn’t get swayed easily, unlike some other person.” This pointed comment sparks a back-and-forth between both men: the eloquent Bobby states that Yumi’s business is no longer Woong’s; Woong, on the other hand, flexes his CEO status before Team Leader Bobby.
Within the villages, both Woong and Bobby’s cells go on the offensive to defend their respective honour; but Yumi returns to the hospital just as the men are about to get up in each other’s faces. They continue to bicker in front of her and she eventually puts a stop to it by calling Woong out – the way he did when she once went off at his college friend Sae-yi (Park Ji-hyun). “I was upset back then, but now I understand how Woong must have felt,” reflects Yumi.
Bobby and Yumi both take their leave when Woong’s employee arrives to help him out, leaving the dejected (and injured) CEO to wallow in his own misery. In the car on the way to dinner, Yumi notices that Bobby’s put his couple ring back on his finger. Sensing her discomfort, Bobby assures her that she can wear her ring again when she feels more comfortable.
On a different day, Yumi brings Con-Z to the Daehan Noodles HQ for an introductory meeting with the Marketing team. Prior to that, she introduces him to a marketing manager, along with Yi-da and Ruby (Lee Yoo-bi); the latter promptly assesses he is not her type. However, her casual, unintentionally flirty approach makes Con-Z feel somewhat uncomfortable and sends him the wrong signals. Later, they both separately reach out to Yumi, who is both confused yet amused by the impression they seem to have of being liked by the opposite party.
Ruby decides to test Con-Z by asking him out to an exhibition over the weekend, which he declines, much to her surprise – until he asks if she’s free to go the following night instead. Yumi is also surprised to hear about this development, but Con-Z casually shrugs it off, saying how it just seemed like she “really wants to go” to the exhibition. Slowly but surely, both sides start to develop positive feels towards each other, leading to Con-Z asking Ruby to be his girlfriend, after only meeting for the second time.
Following this, Yumi gets asked a random question by Ruby one day: “Z oppa said that he’s got a lot of corn at his house and told me to take some. What does this mean?” To Yumi, it simply meant that they should share the corn – that is, until her Naughty Cell (voiced by Ahn Young-mi) steps in to enlighten the cells about the ‘signal’, or a subtle invitation to come over for something more.
When Bobby asks Yumi about “bringing over some extra potatoes” his sister had given to him, she gets hopeful about this ‘signal’. To her disappointment, however, he just really has a box to bring over. This – along with how Bobby had taken off his couple ring when she finally put hers on, saying he “didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable” – prompts Yumi to wonder if something has really changed in their rekindled relationship. “Is this how we slowly grow apart?” she thinks to herself.
Bobby’s birthday week comes round, but he unfortunately has to be in the United States on a rescheduled work trip. Yumi keeps in close touch with her boyfriend during that week, but can’t help but notice how distant he seems over text and calls. These still make her think: does Bobby really regret getting back together with her?
While out alone one evening, Yumi thinks she spots Bobby in a taxi. Without hesitation, she flags down another cab and follows it – all the way back to his apartment complex. Yumi’s mind runs wild as the cells try to figure out the situation, as Anxiety Cell further fuels the fire by mentioning Da-eun and the possibility of Bobby being together with the ex-intern to celebrate his birthday.
Entering the apartment after punching in the security code, Yumi finds Bobby standing behind the kitchen counter. She immediately goes off at him, until he emerges from behind it, limping towards her on a crutch. It turns out that he’d gotten into an accident on the way to the airport, and had been warded in the hospital with a fractured leg. “I’m sorry I lied,” he says to a shocked Yumi, “I didn’t want you to worry.”
Yumi is unable to comprehend why Bobby didn’t tell her about something as important as this, and neither can he explain why he chose not to tell her. “Is it because you regret getting back together with me?” she asks, a twinge of hurt in her voice. Bobby’s voice quivers as he replies, “It’s because I thought you regretted getting back together with me.”
As Yumi breaks down in tears, Bobby pulls her in for a passionate kiss, their first in a long time. In between each other’s tears and kisses, it is then that Bobby pops an unexpected question to Yumi: “Shall we get married?” Before she can respond, tears well up in Bobby’s own eyes as he says, this time with more certainty: “Let’s get married.”
Two new episodes of ‘Yumi’s Cells 2’ will be released on South Korean streaming platform TVING every Friday at 4pm KST.