What Comes After Love episodes 1-2 recap: Hong moves on with life while Jungo regrets his past

What Comes After Love, starring Lee Se-young and Sakaguchi Kentaro, aired episodes 1 and 2 on Coupang Play on September 28, 2024. What Comes After Love is a South Korean drama that follows Choi Hong, (played by Lee Se-young) who meets Aoki Jungo (played by Sakaguchi Kentaro) while studying in Japan. Hong and the Japanese man (Jungo) fall in love but later go through a painful breakup.

Hong and Jungo reunite in South Korea after five years of their separation, but Hong has moved on while Jungo is still full of regrets. What Comes After Love is a meloromance drama based on the renowned joint Korean-Japanese novel Things that Come After Love (Korean title: 사랑 후에 오는 것들) penned by Gong Ji-Yeong from South Korea and Hitonari Tsuji from Japan.

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What Comes After Love ep 1-2 recap: Jungo reunites with Hong after five years but she has lost her spark

Episode 1 of What Come After Love began with Hong leaving a letter for someone in a dimly lit room and leaving the house, finding herself crying outside a department store. The drama shows Hong and Jungo’s first encounter at a metro station in Tokyo, in 2019, where he helped her with the language.

They met again for the second time at a part-time job interview at a restaurant. The two stayed for the tryouts, and Hong was selected for the job. Jungo was rejected because he argued with a customer who was unnecessarily rude to Hong.

Jungo worked at a food truck holding a business right outside the restaurant where Hong worked. Later, Hong was asked to go as a representative from the restaurant for the street cleaning drive, where she met Jungo once again. There, Jungo overheard Hong's conversation with her mother on a call who did not want her to move to Japan, but he couldn't understand it as he did not speak Korean.

Jungo asked Hong to have a drink after the drive, and they finally had a proper introduction. They talked about their dreams and struggles while encouraging each other. Hong was full of bright energy, which drew Jungo close to her.

After dinner, Hong and Jungo visited an arcade, where she tried to draw her favorite cartoon character keychains from the claw machine. She was successful in getting Dai Nee and tried to get her boyfriend, Pippo, from the machine but failed.

On their way home, Hong asked Jungo if he believed in everlasting love or fate. He replied that he was not sure but that it existed somewhere in the world. The next day, Jungo brought her Pippo’s keychain, which took him multiple attempts, but he lied to her that he got it in the first try. That's when she realized that fate did exist even though she didn't believe in it before.

The next scene in What Comes After Love shows Hong in South Korea five years later after their breakup. She now worked at a book publishing company but seemed more serious than she used to be. One day after work, Hong’s best friend, Min-jun (Hong Jong-hyun), got her a cake and reminded her of her mother's birthday.

They went to her house for a family dinner with her mother Youngsuk (Lee Il-Hwa), her father Han (Jo Seung-Yeon), and her sister Rok (Lee So-hee). Min-jun was addressed as future son-in-law and brother-in-law, hinting at their relationship.

By the end of What Comes After Love episode 1, Han asked Hong to be an interpreter for a Japanese writer’s interview in Korean, just for a day. She agreed, following which she went to the airport to receive author Sasae Hikari and found Jungo there instead.

The second episode of What Comes After Love began with Jungo reading the letter Hong had left at his house five years ago, conveying their breakup. Jungo immediately looked for her everywhere in the neighborhood but was unsuccessful. Five years later, Jungo realized that Beni (Hong) had changed significantly; she appeared cold-hearted and spoke to him in a formal tone.

Jungo remembered the time he asked her out and told her that he would be able to find everlasting love with her. He also remembered that they could not stay away from each other when they were together, so much so that Hong moved into his house. Jungo gave her the Japanese meaning of her name, Beni, and Hong gave him the Korean name Yun-o.

In the present, after a photoshoot, Hong interpreted Jungo’s words into Korean for the interview, where he revealed that the person who taught him Korean phrases was the muse of his book. He was asked to elaborate about the person but he politely refused and Hong also requested to stick to the novel.

He was asked why the book was set in Kyoto to which he replied that there was no specific reason behind it. However, Jungo was reminded of the time when he and Hong took their first trip to Kyoto and spent a night there.

The interviewer also asked Jungo if he still loved that person, and he stated that he regretted leaving the person and that, for the past five years, there hadn't been a moment when he did not think about her. Hong was stunned to hear this and asked to take a break before moving on.

By the end of What Comes After Love episode 2, Hong bid farewell to Jungo, informing him that another professional interpreter would join him for the rest of his stay. Hong left the hotel and Jungo went to his room, where he regretted the time Hong fought with him and he did not say a word.

He also could not stop her after their breakup so he decided to go back to her. Jungo saw her driving the car outside the hotel and jumped in front of it to stop her. What happens next in What Comes After Love is yet to be seen.

What Comes After Love episode 3 will air on Coupang Play on Friday, October 4 at 8 pm KST and later on Viu and Rakuten Viki in selected regions.