'Because there is no next life' Kim Hee-seon was enjoying the joy of passing the second interview when a 'shockingly dramatic ending' unfolded suggesting her husband Yoon Park's suspicious affair.
The second episode of TV CHOSUN's Monday-Tuesday miniseries 'Because there is no next life' (writer Shin I-won, director Kim Jeong-min, produced by TM E Group, First Man Studio, Megaphone), which aired at 10 p.m. on the 11th, showed Jo Na-jung (Kim Hee-seon) signing a jeonse lease with Yang Mi-sook (Han Ji-hye), a longtime rival from school who turned out to be the landlord. When Yang Mi-sook asked, "You let a newcomer take paid leave?" and questioned the company, Jo Na-jung flinched and hurriedly left. Jo Na-jung tried to find work even offering unpaid positions but had little success and eventually showed interest in Sweet Home Shopping's re-employment program for people returning to work after career breaks. She expressed her intent to her husband Noh Won-bin (Yoon Park), but Noh Won-bin strongly opposed it, raising questions.
Koo Joo-young (Han Hye-jin) planned a 007-style operation, hiding under a yellow raincoat to avoid art center staff, to meet her husband Oh Sang-min (Jang In-seob) at a motel near the office during lunch for a night intended to help them conceive after failing the previous day, and finally made it to the motel. But when Oh Sang-min said he had an upset stomach and didn't show up, Koo Joo-young erupted in a tirade of angry curses. Later she confessed she wanted to strengthen their bond, saying, "Why don't we just not have a child? If it's hard, let's quit," but Oh Sang-min avoided answering and left Koo Joo-young in despair.
Lee Il-ri (Jin Seo-yeon) snapped when her younger boyfriend Eom Jong-do (Moon Yoo-kang), who hadn't contacted her for three weeks, suddenly called asking to borrow a laptop; she packed his things, handed them over without looking, and declared firmly, "Let's break up." Yet the once-confident Lee Il-ri later lamented to Jo Na-jung and Koo Joo-young about Eom Jong-do's pathetic side, saying, "Among men, he was actually the best," expressing a sense of loss. She then tried to undo the breakup by texting Eom Jong-do first, "Okay. I'm sorry," but he left saying, "Even if it ends, let's be cool about it. Don't be clingy," and shocked her by being seen kissing another woman.
Meanwhile, with support from Koo Joo-young and Lee Il-ri, Jo Na-jung applied for Sweet Home Shopping's re-employment program for those who left work, and after passing the first round she received a text inviting her to the second interview and was ecstatic. But her husband Noh Won-bin, upon learning of her acceptance, hurled a bitter remark: "You became a mother, so you can't hold out for one or two years for the child?" Jo Na-jung confronted him at home, asking, "Am I selfish? Am I unfit as a mother?" and saying, "I studied just like you did," and, "Do you know the misery of falling behind day by day?" Noh Won-bin retorted, "Work may be a hollow form of self-realization for you, but for me it's our family's livelihood," bringing Jo Na-jung to tears. The next day, on her way to the second interview, Jo Na-jung received a call from the kindergarten saying her son was sick; she gave up the interview, embraced her sick child and headed to the hospital, stayed by the child's side through the night and broke down in quiet sobs in a corner of the room.
Later, after meeting neighborhood friend Hwang Jin-hee (Lim Yoon-bi) and bingeing on tteokbokki and sundae to vent her frustrations, Jo Na-jung belatedly discovered a text saying the second interview had been postponed. She borrowed Hwang Jin-hee's homely outfit instead of the t-shirt stained with tteokbokki sauce and headed to the interview. At the interview venue she encountered Yang Mi-sook, whom she had once tried to impress, and faced a setback when Executive Director Seo Kyung-sun (Kim Young-a) — the person who had been the cause of her leaving work over child-related issues — turned out to be a judge. Worse, when Jo Na-jung entered the interview alongside Yang Mi-sook and was asked to sell a '700,000-won Sweet Hotel accommodation package' as if live on air, she became so nervous she went blank.
Yang Mi-sook, a successful mobile host, progressed smoothly with eloquent speech, while Jo Na-jung moved the room by mentioning her father, a welder who died young. Seo Kyung-sun praised Yang Mi-sook for her quick thinking and noted Jo Na-jung's excellence in storytelling, ultimately granting Jo Na-jung a pass, making her happy. Seo Kyung-sun also told Jo Na-jung, "Your skills aren't dead yet? Emotional marketing…" boosting expectations for her re-employment. But at the moment Jo Na-jung, elated, was about to call her husband Noh Won-bin to tell him the good news, a scene showed Noh Won-bin across the café sitting uneasily with a woman who was crying, suggesting Noh Won-bin's 'suspicious affair' and escalating tension with a cliffhanger ending.
The final epilogue showed Jo Na-jung, Koo Joo-young and Lee Il-ri 20 years earlier, united by youthful audacity as they discussed the perfect life for women. They said, "Marriage for a woman is a grave and a hell," "Let's not live frustratingly; let's live freely," and "What I can't understand most are women who are dragged along by men." The irony that the three who said these things now live lives that are completely opposite drew attention.
Meanwhile, episode 3 of TV CHOSUN's Monday-Tuesday miniseries 'Because there is no next life' will air at 10 p.m. on the 17th.
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