At an introductory meeting with web novel illustrator Control-Z/Con-Z (Pyo Ji-hoon, or P.O), Yumi (Kim Go-eun) is unable to wrap her head around this “unusual” individual. Not only does he appear to lack certain social graces, he also has no qualms telling Yumi how “far too unrealistic” her story is.
Throughout the conversation, Yumi’s cells hold her back from expressing her true feelings – until Emotion (voiced by Park Ji-yoon) gets the better of her. Gritting her teeth and forcing a smile, Yumi asks which part of the story seems “unrealistic” to him, to which Con-Z responds: “I was merely stating my opinion, was it uncomfortable for you?” What follows is a further exchange of opinions, with carefully chosen phrases masking their true intent.
Still seething from the earlier encounter, Yumi returns home with much on her mind. Though she respects Con-Z’s opinion, she’s unable to accept his prejudiced way of thinking. “You haven’t experienced everything that others may have. Just because you haven’t experienced something, it doesn’t mean I have not,” she thinks to herself, feeling too indignant about the situation to rest.
Over in Jeju, Bobby (Park Jin-young of GOT7) returns home to find a basket of tangerines at his doorstep. This is a gift from ex-intern Da-eun’s (Shin Ye-eun) mother to thank him for “looking after Da-eun”. Bobby sighs after reading the note, appearing slightly uncomfortable and deep in thought. Video-calling Yumi shortly after, he notices her defeated appearance. “It looks like you’ve been through hell,” Bobby says, prompting his girlfriend to rant about her afternoon.
A surprise cake delivery from Bobby awaits Yumi when she gets home, and he sweetly instructs her “not to share it with anybody”. However, her fuzzy feelings dissipate when Con-Z randomly comments on her social media post with a few ‘hahas’, which the cells interpret as him laughing at her. After letting out a few choice words (attributed to Swearing Cell), Yumi calms down and reminds herself that she still needs to work with the illustrator, no matter how much she dislikes him. Thanks (or no thanks) to Con-Z, her Hate Cell, who had been on a sabbatical, is finally back with a vengeance.
Yumi returns to Jeju Island on Christmas Eve to spend the year-end holidays and her second Christmas with Bobby. Arriving at his house, she is taken by surprise when a realtor walks out into the lawn with a couple, following a house viewing. Yumi finds out then that Bobby had put his home up for sale and is considering moving into an apartment closer to the office. She finds it a waste for him to give up a house he likes, but agrees that it would be better for him in the long run. A suspicion crosses Yumi’s mind – as Detective Cell (voiced by Jung Jae-heon) deduces that this might have something to do with Da-eun – but she does her best to shake it off.
After sprucing up the barren tree on Bobby’s lawn with festive decorations, Yumi heads over to a cafe to pick up a cake. She comes back to find Da-eun – who had returned from Busan – in front of the house. During their brief catch-up, Yumi notices something different about the usually-assured Da-eun: this time, the younger lady seems unable to meet her gaze.
Da-eun brightens up slightly when talking about how she enjoys reading Yumi’s web novel, but her smile turns upside down when Yumi mentions that Bobby will be moving out. “Is it because of me?” Da-eun asks through her tears, then apologises to Yumi for “having those kinds of thoughts” towards Bobby. “Does it make sense for him to move just because you confessed your feelings to him? That’s a really absurd misunderstanding,” Yumi replies calmly, “You’re really too young to understand things.” She then wishes Da-eun well, adding how it would be difficult for them to meet after this.
Though Yumi has had many relationship pet peeves in the past, Love (voiced by Ahn So-mi) rationally chooses to let some of them go. However, she tells Hate to frame and display one that’s absolutely non-negotiable: a man who gets swayed by other women, even if just a little bit.
Bobby returns home with flowers and a gift in hand, but is unable to find Yumi around the house. He gets increasingly concerned when she doesn’t answer her cell phone, and drives out in search of her. When passing a cafe, Bobby makes an abrupt stop when he spots a dazed-looking Yumi through the window. He rushes in and heads to her table – and sees her luggage right next to it. Confused and still concerned, Bobby asks Yumi why she hadn’t been answering his calls. In response, she tells Bobby to answer a question of hers seriously, and not “brush it off with a smile”: “Why did you choose to move so suddenly? Is it because of Da-eun?”
In truth, Bobby had been taking mental notes of Da-eun, though just as he would with acquaintances around him. There were also more opportunities for them to interact – such as their daily carpool rides – particularly since they live so close to each other. One encounter that made Bobby feel that “[Da-eun] was cute for the moment” was her bright and cheerful expression even after an unceremonious fall in front of him.
This, however, causes an uproar in Bobby’s village, especially between his Reason and Love Cells. Bobby’s Reason takes issue with how Love’s fleeting thought single-handedly caused an earthquake on their village grounds. Love, on the other hand, rationalises that there’s no need for Yumi to know about that fleeting feeling, as she’s the one he still feels most for and wants to be with. “Just pretend you don’t know,” he insists.
Bobby manages to firmly hold his ground in responding to Yumi’s query about his move, but his girlfriend still has one question left: “Did you not feel swayed when Da-eun confessed to you?” Unfortunately, she gets her answer when he takes a little too long to respond. After a few moments of silent disbelief, and with tears welling up in her eyes, Yumi only has three words for Bobby: “Let’s break up.”
As an equally tearful Bobby pleads with Yumi to stay, her cell village begins to experience tremors due to her wavering. Love appears inclined to forgive Bobby, singling out his honesty and sincere apology as reasons to do so. But something alarming begins to happen as Love makes her petition before the other cells: horns start growing from her head, and a skull replaces the heart on her antenna.
“Even if we keep dating like we are now, I don’t think I can treat you the way I used to, as if nothing happened.” With these painful words, Yumi walks away from Bobby, “someone [she had always] dreamed of”, and the man who “made [her] heart flutter”.
Rage fills up within Love and she transforms into a vengeful firebrand, going on a frenzied rampage on the cell village. Reason rushes to consult Detective Cell, who determines that the only way to stop Love is for her Prime Cell position to be transferred to the cell with the “second highest order of current priorities” – in this case, Writer Cell.
Consumed by her fury, Love refuses to do so – until the request comes from Yumi herself, in a rare appearance on village grounds. “Love, I know you’ve been working hard,” she gently tells the Prime Cell, “But I don’t want to live in a blazing rage.” She eventually convinces Love to relinquish her Prime Cell status, which causes the cell to revert to her normal, but now-heartbroken self. “Who cares if I’m not in a relationship?” Yumi says, putting on a brave face, “I’ve always just wanted the same thing. I just want to be happy.”
The break-up with Bobby affects Yumi in more ways than one. Aside from Love’s “incarnation of rage”, selected cells also transform “into the complete opposite of themselves”. With Fashion becoming a ‘fashion terrorist’, Yumi no longer cares much about how she dresses, opting for the ‘writer look’ of comfy clothes. Cheapskate transforms into a tree in full leaf, and Yumi becomes more generous with her money, since she has no one else to spend it on.
As for Writer, the newly-crowned Prime Cell, she rises to the very top of the cell chain. With writing as her key priority, Yumi channels all her energy into producing her web novel ‘My Love Muse’, and declines well-meaning offers from Ruby (Lee Yoo-bi) to go on blind dates. This leads to an improvement in her writing, which even gets the thumbs up from Con-Z.
Yumi’s not the only one who’s gone through a significant life change. Once at his lowest, Goo Woong (Ahn Bo-hyun) has become a very successful game developer, heading his own eponymous game production company as its CEO. Asked by a reporter about what drove him to succeed in just two years, Woong struggles to find the right answer. Eventually, he says that love is what keeps him going, adding that it’s his “love for games”.
However, Reason and Emotion cells (quite literally) get to what’s been hidden in the depths of his heart: photographs of a happy memory spent with Yumi, and of the moment his heart broke when Yumi walked away from him on Christmas Eve. It was also that very night that Woong vowed to turn his situation around, especially after finding out that Bobby was who Yumi was dating at the time.
Good friend and now-company director Louis (Joo Jong-hyun) mentions to Woong that Yumi’s debut novel has been all the rage lately, and that he should reach out to also let her know how successful they’ve become. Woong brushes his suggestion aside – but then finds himself at a bookstore later that evening, with a copy of ‘My Love Muse’ in hand. “You’re pretty impressive, Kim Yumi,” the CEO says under his breath, with a faint smile.
When Yumi secretly visits the same bookstore to check out customers’ reactions, she is first shocked to discover that her books were no longer on display, and next to learn that her books had sold out – thanks to Woong, who had bought up every available copy.
Despite being generally well-received, ‘My Love Muse’ naturally has its detractors. One comment, in particular, bothers Yumi so much that it starts to linger in her mind (i.e. the cell village). It gradually loses its power as the cells pay it no heed, but a passing comment from Con-Z riles Yumi again. At their usual cafe meet-up, Con-Z asks to be excused early to attend a very important meeting, and pulls out a magazine to show Yumi whom he’s meeting. Her eyes widen as she sees the interview featuring a suited-up Woong, but she manages a genuine smile as she tells Con-Z that her ‘ex-ex-boyfriend’ has done very well for himself.
Con-Z’s first meeting with Woong and the Bow Wow Time team goes off without a hitch, though those present end up getting turned off by the illustrator so blatantly sucking up to their CEO. Con-Z, however, is proud of his “social” approach, even bridging the gap by addressing Woong as an older brother, or ‘hyung’. Later, he manages to catch Woong at the company building’s driveway and (shamelessly) asks for a ride to the subway station. While in the car, Con-Z happens to notice the stacks of ‘My Love Muse’ still on his backseat, and a lightbulb goes off in his head. “Hyung,” he says to a quizzical Woong, “Do you believe in fate? I think it’s your destiny to meet me.”
Pretending to have a stomachache, he directs Woong to drop him off in front of a big bookstore. Woong starts to get impatient as Con-Z disappears for a while, until he hears a knock at the car window. Winding it down to see who it is, Woong freezes in shock as he comes face-to-face with Yumi for the first time in two years. Reason affirms that he’s “no longer the pathetic Woong from the past”, so he should “calmly, coolly and confidently” greet Yumi – which is exactly what he does. He also makes a mental note that Yumi had become much prettier, to the cells’ exasperation.
What follows next is the ‘bragging combo’ as instructed by Reason: to subtly, yet very obviously show off “Woong’s dazzling success”. However, this power move isn’t complete without a business card – which Woong doesn’t have on him. “Even without it, I know how amazing you are. You’re so cool,” says Yumi as she sincerely congratulates Woong, adding how she’d also seen his magazine interview. Briefly floored by her words, Woong musters up some congratulatory words in return about her debut as a writer.
Later, as Woong drives away from Yumi and Con-Z (who had finished his ‘business’), he marvels at the way they crossed paths again – and then realised that his heart was beating in double time. Over in Woong’s cell village, Reason finds out from Pride that Conscience had been secretly hoarding an incredible amount of lingering feelings for Yumi, which he had planned to deliver to Love. Reason continues to help Love fend off the cells that try to convince him about fate and destiny, gathering all his strength to kick them into oblivion.
Woong does his best to bury those lingering feels deeply by focusing on work. He also decides that he has to get Con-Z replaced, so as to not be distracted by thoughts of Yumi. Woong changes his mind, however, when he finds out from the illustrator about Yumi’s now-single status, and even shyly admits that he would like to date her again. This revelation also rejuvenates the previously-injured Love, whose wounds would have taken years to heal.
As Woong considers whether he may have another chance with Yumi, Yumi herself is thrown a curveball when she finds out from Yi-da (Mi Ram) that she had run into Bobby at the company headquarters in Seoul – returning as the Team Leader of the Daehan Noodles Marketing department.
Memorable Moments
- It was scary, yet heartwrenching to witness the drastic transformation of Yumi’s Love Cell following the break-up with Bobby: first as a fiery incendiary, and then back to her original self – now vulnerable and heartbroken.
Food For Thought
- Bobby’s actions towards Da-eun may have given her the wrong idea, but do they constitute him cheating on Yumi? Since episode 9 aired in Korea, it has sparked much debate among netizens.
Cast Connections
- Jinyoung and P.O had a short stint as ‘housemates’ back in 2018 for the MBC variety series My Unexpected Housemate. P.O is currently serving his mandatory military service in the Marine Corps.
Two new episodes of ‘Yumi’s Cells 2’ will be released on South Korean streaming platform TVING every Friday at 4pm KST.