Korean drama "Hot and Sweet": part two of three recaps

 Air Dates: October 20 to November 1, 2016 on Naver-TV

Eight episodes for a total running time of 128 minutes

Main Cast:

Choi Min-Hwan as Min-Joon

Seo Yuna as Joon Young

That main cast is it as this show has the smallest one in history though there were a high school couple who popped up here and there played by Lee Kang-Jae and Lee Bit-Na. 
For this episode there was a guest appearance by Seo Hye-Jin who played the role of 
Kim Yoo-Jin, Min-Joo's ex-flame?

 Ex-flame? That's what was mentioned above and as you can see that's exactly what Yoo-Jin was to Min-Joon. She appeared in the final ten seconds of the previous show but didn't make any sense mentioning her as we had no clue who she was. As you can also see above Yoo-Jin is opening a new restaurant, the main reason she came around to see her ex-boyfriend was to see if she would join forces with her once again.
 An emphatic NO! was said by Min-Joon, his ex-girlfriend was the last person he wanted to see in the world as he acted extremely rudely towards her for the brief amount of time she was there. Seems as though the pair were also partners though it was never explained if it was working at the same restaurant or perhaps at a cooking school. Joon-Young stood in the background listening to them but there was nothing she could add in, she had no clue who this newcomer was. Didn't matter too much as after about five minutes of screen time Yoo-Jin took her leave and we were never to see her again! That made no sense as having her around would have set up a few different twists to the plot such as making Joon-Young insanely jealous.

 That Yoo-Jin visit made Min-Joon quite upset and by the next morning he still hadn't calmed down. Once again Joon-Young was first to arise and began to set up the food truck for that day's business which has slowly picked up due to her canvassing the neighborhood plus putting comments on some internet sites about the place. But this morning none of that mattered to Min-Joon who certainly woke on the wrong side of bed and began to rip into his new worker for being so incompetent.
 Joon-Young may not be that adept at cooking but her spunkiness has attracted new customers and had pulled Min-Joon out of his minor funk. But the way he tore into Joon-Young was really uncalled for and she just couldn't take it any more, can't blame her at all for feeling that way. She said a few choice words in return, threw down her apron and stormed away in a huff. Didn't happen to him at first but eventually Min-Joon knew he was entirely to blame for the confrontation and even began missing her a bit.
 So didn't the new group of customers who kept asking what happened to Joon-Young? Min-Joon didn't realize it until the customers told him but he had no clue to what extent Joon-Young had been going to internet sites and telling the world what a fabulous chef he was. It wasn't only his new customers that relayed him that info but also a food writer from a local magazine.

 Kang was the name of the writer who worked for the local magazine 'The Dinner'. He goes around the area interviewing up and coming talent to feature in the magazine, his selection for the next interview was Min-Joon who had never heard of the mag. With a good write up it's a mag that could really make an eatery successful and Min-Joon certainly could use a bit of success. Kang was impressed with the food that was prepared and especially the 'Hot and Sweet' burger which has become the most popular item at the food truck.
 Just before departing Kang asked about the upcoming 'Chef of Local Cooking' competition which is open to young and unknown chefs such as Min-Joon. He knew about the competition but was unsure whether to enter it, he's realized that there's something more important on his menu which is finding out what's happened to Joon-Young. The pair have only spent a few days together and all of the time has mainly been preparing food at the truck. There's been zero romance between them to date but for some odd reason seems both know they were made for each other. Min-Joon's explosion that sent Young-Joon fleeing in tears didn't help his cause out in the least, now his main mission is to find out where she's disappeared to.

 Coming down to the final bit as there's only a few minutes left in this episode. For the final time we met the pair of high school students who remained nameless, they're a quirky duo who may or may not be going out with each other. They couldn't believe Min-Joon didn't know how much he had been helped out by Joon-Young's entries on the SNS site promoting the food truck. Min-Joon is 27 but appears to be shut out a bit from the outside world, he knows so little about modern tech and it also seems he has zero interest in anything outside of food.
 The students looked at one of Joon-Young's posts and though they don't know the exact location it could be where Joon-Young has disappeared to. The photo was of a small lighthouse which means it's along a beach and from what they told Min-Joon it's not too far from where they are. It's a bit too late in the evening so the following morning Min-Joon packs up his truck and heads off to find the woman who could be the love of his life, will he ever return to this location?
 With that we've hit the 40+ minute mark and will stop at that event. Next post has the final recap which will cover the last 2 1/2 episodes. Know this may be among the most drab recaps I've ever written but it's impossible to put some excitement into something where's there's none, what a slow moving show. But that doesn't mean it's been bad as it actually has been a bit enjoyable, it's one of those series which is much better to view than to read about.