When it comes to private tutoring, discretion is what matters the most. One wrong move and our top instructor will be doomed. 

But it doesn’t help the situation when our hero gets caught, most embarrassingly. 

Also, it looks like our kind-hearted heroine in Crash Course in Romance has managed to melt the ice in the heart of our cold on the outside, warm on the inside trillion won star.

Crash Course in Romance episode 5: Sealing the deal

We open the episode with our leads sitting at the negotiation table. Chi-Yeol is dead worried about Haeng-soon making any slip of the tongue. 

Hence, exposing the private tutoring thing. While Haeng-soon is nervous, too, about the tutoring fees. You know, one should be wary of the clever but sly people who may suck you dry before you realize it.

Little does Haeng-soon know that what Chi-Yeol wants are her lunch boxes. A brunch box getting delivered to his house, and a dinner box, which he will pick up on the way home. 

And he will pay for both lunch boxes as well. That’s how much he values Haeng-soon’s food, which is almost as precious as his time.

The fees problem aside, let’s shift our focus to timing. Since Chi-Yeol is fully booked on the weekends, we will tutor Hae-Yi for 30 minutes whenever he has one evening class. 

Since secrecy is crucial, he will come over to Haeng-soon’s house, but she should keep it under wraps. 

Though she might not realize it yet, our star instructor has a more powerful influence than she can ever imagine.

Now that they have it over, a famished Chi-Yeol asks Haeng-soon for some leftover food, which he heartily eats. 

At home, Chi-Yeol is ready to sleep like a baby without even taking his pills, but a phone call interrupts this much-needed sleep. 

Young-min was found dead in front of the academy, and now everything is turned upside down.

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Crash Course in Romance episode 5: A new murder case

The police interrogate Chi-Yeol as the instructor of Young-min’s last lesson at the academy, but it is just a formality. We also learn that the detective in charge of Young-min’s case, detective Song, took the lead in the dead student’s brother’s case. 

Back then, he tried his best to indict the brother, but he was found not guilty in court. Since then, detective Song has lost his passion, or at least pretends to, and sweeps the cases under the rug whenever the higher-ups pressure them to do so.

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Crash Course in Romance episode 5: Case in point

While his partner insists on digging more into Young-min’s case, detective Song goes along with the higher up’s orders and closes the case as suicide, but on the inside, detective Song knows something is off. It isn’t a coincidence that he took out the brother’s case files as soon as his partner left the room.

Although I am wary of including a murder subplot in a romcom (looking at you, Summer Strike and Cheer up), I hope that doesn’t ruin the show or go sideways. 

If addressed well, it may explain Chi-Yeol’s cold exterior, even though he cares the best about his students. Please, writer-nim, don’t give us a dull 1D villain or stalking issues.

The murder aside, the helicopter mothers’ group is unsettled about the classes getting canceled. You know, it is okay if the students feel scared or shocked that Min-young died, but having no tutoring sessions to go to isn’t something they can tolerate. 

What if the kids need clarification if they skip classes for one day? Instead, they must pretend nothing has happened and get back to class. Logic is crying somewhere near out of frustration.

Under the unanimous pressure of the helicopter mums, the academy resumes the classes. While Chi-Yeol tries to pretend he is fine, deep down, he feels hurt over his student dying overnight (tossing and turning all night and taking sleeping pills). 

Knowing that Haeng-soon sends a message to check on him, it is okay to hold off on Hae-Yi’s tutoring session (the difference between Haeng-soon and the other mothers). 

However, Chi-Yeol insists on going on with the plan as it is.

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Crash Course in Romance episode 5: The first tutoring session

In the morning, our leads prepare for Hae-Yi’s first session, with Haeng-soon shopping for the best quality ingredients and spring cleaning; and Chi-Yeol printing tutoring materials in secret. 

We now have our energetic instructor again who keeps motivating his students and making studying maths awesome.

Instead of an ordinary tutoring session, Hae-Yi gets a unique one with Haeng-soon trying to show Chi Yeol around the house and bombarding him with questions and jokes in her light-hearted manner, and Chi-Yeol being his fastidious self. 

With his nickname as Mr. trillion won star, wasting as much time as 5 minutes isn’t something Chi-Yeol will slide.

It happens to be “chicken day” when Haeng-soon’s family orders chicken and watches Jae-woo’s favorite program for perhaps the fifth time. 

Hearing that, Chi-Yeol nags Haeng-soon about not taking care of Hae-Yi’s education better and letting her waste her time. Pondering on Chi-Yeol’s words, Haeng-soon asks Hae-Yi if the chicken day gets in the way of her studies, but Hae-Yi reassures Haeng-soon that it helps her relieve her stress. 

If having fun gets in the way, she will stop. Thus, no worries.

Both Chi-Yeol and Haeng-soon have valid points of view. As someone involved somewhat firsthand in the SAT and college admissions, Chi-Yeol feels concerned when he spots Hae-Yi’s different attitude from other students who only study all the time. 

Still, Haeng-soon wants her daughter’s life to revolve around something other than studying. She might lack knowledge about the cutthroat SAT battle, but she cares the most about Hae-Yi.

I like Hae-Yi’s attitude. I will do it, but I will stop if it gets in the way. Better than refraining from anything fun and stressing about studying all the time. 

Balance is the keyword here. Catching up with one’s studies while also trying to enjoy life and spending time with friends.

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Crash Course in Romance episode 5: Jae-woo getting into trouble

We get more of Jae-woo this time. Every morning he loves having a waffle from a particular coffee shop made by a specific part-timer since it tastes the best. 

The problem is the part-timer mistook Jae-woo for a stalker and changed her shift to the evening. 

The misunderstanding gets worse when Jae-woo stops by for a waffle in the evening and tries to help the part-timer wipe the sauce that got on her hands.

Unfortunately, the part-timer’s boyfriend believes Jae-woo is sexually assaulting his girlfriend, so they end up at the police station. Haeng-soon gets a call and rushes over “with mismatched shoes.” 

As luck would have it, her motorcycle is broken, so she asks Chi-Yeol, who happens to be there, for a ride.

Although he doesn’t show it explicitly, Chi-Yeol is worried about Haeng-soon that he took leaving her mobile phone behind as an excuse to follow her to the police station. 

Haeng-soon apologized to the part-timer and explained the situation. Luckily, the part-timer understood the situation and agreed to drop the charges in return for Jae-woo not stopping by the coffee shop again. 

Jae-woo gets out, and it is all good, with the family promising to go camping and buy a waffle maker. 

Although she doesn’t show it, Haeng-soon is hurt by the boyfriend’s rudeness and how he treats both Jae-woo as a fool, so she goes out to drink alone. 

As you know, it is drama land where the male lead can’t go home after spotting the leading lady drinking alone while suspicious men are lurking around. 

Haeng-soon might be a former athlete, but Chi-Yeol can’t bring himself to leave.

The night ends with Chi-Yeol being too drunk to go home on his own and Haeng-soon having no choice but to carry him to her home. 

And when Chi-Yeol opens his eyes, he is lying on the couch with pink pants, which I think are Jae-woo’s, and everyone is staring at him. Chi-Yeol is too shocked and embarrassed to utter a word, so he changes his clothes and leaves hurriedly.

However, he forgets his belt, and when Haeng-soon follows after him, they are double caught by Young-Joo and Dong-hee. 

The situation is such a total mess that I am laughing again while writing this. I hope we get more of those hilarious scenes and a microscopic take on the murder case.

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