Aahana Swrup
The Kim Ro Woon and Jo Bo-ah South Korean Netflix romance show ‘Destined With You’ tells a story about two people with entangled fates who find each other again in contemporary times. While trying for a cure for a generational illness through unconventional methods, hotshot lawyer Jang Shin-yu crosses paths with civil servant Lee Hong-jo, the apparent rightful owner of an ancient spellbook. As their stories entangle with the others, it paves the way for a slow and reluctant romance born from a magical misunderstanding.
As the story progresses, the plot takes a thrilling detour through a menacing stalker and a cursed doll targeting Shin-yu and Hong-jo. However, with episodes 9 and 10, the narrative brings the focus back to the couple’s love story and divulges details about their pasts.
Destined With You Episodes 9 and 10 Recap
The previous episode leaves both Shin-yu and Hong-jo in dangerous places, with threatening figures looming over both characters. The threats resolve themselves quickly as Jae-kyung’s interference saves Hong-jo from the hooded shadow. Likewise, Shin-yu, though unconscious, remains safe inside a hospital with his family fretting over his disease, which allegedly brought on a long bout of unconsciousness. During this time, Hong-jo continues to worry for the man, with nightmares about the cursed doll plaguing her nights.
Therefore, when Shin-yu awakes after two days, he’s pleasantly surprised to see an avalanche of missed calls and texts from his favorite civil servant. During their meeting at the hospital, Hong-jo expresses her anxieties about the curse, worried it played a part in Shin-yu’s health’s sudden decline, and asks to have the spellbook back. However, as we learn about Na-Yeon’s alliance with Joong-Beom, it suggests an alternative explanation for Shin-yu’s predicament. Solidifying this further, Joong-Beom prepares for some ritual with Na-yeon’s help as Hong-jo learns that the doll is a conduit for the Love Destruction Curse someone cast on her and Shin-yu.
Eventually, as the Onju Firework Festival rolls around, Hong-jo and Shin-yu reunite among the fireworks, starkly reminding Shin-yu of his past life when he and Hong-jo fell in love with each other as kids. Finally understanding the meaning of his dreams, Shin-yu confesses his love for Hong-jo on the bridge and asks her to wait for him while he sorts out his situation with Na-yeon.
Although Shin-yu tries to break up with Na-yeon before Christmas, Hong-jo witnesses the couple still together in the office following the holiday break. Worse yet, Na-yeon invites Hong-jo out for drinks only to rub her relationship with Shin-yu in the latter’s face. After getting drunk, Na-yeon makes Hong-jo call Shin-yu to pick her up, and much to the civil servant’s chagrin, the man shows up.
As such, when Hong-jo returns home and has an unfortunate accident with her downstairs neighbor, Jae-kyung, she agrees to attend a couple’s gathering as his plus-one. Nevertheless, after the two carpools to work together, Shin-yu and Hong-jo have an argument fueled by each party’s jealousy of the other’s relationship with Na-yeon and Jae-kyung.
Destined With You Episode 10 Ending: Does Jae-kyung Confess His Feelings For Hong-jo?
Even though Jae-kyung had turned Hong-jo’s affections down in an earlier episode, as he’d gotten to know the latter better, he’d started to fall for her. Despite the fact that Jae-kyung is Shin-yu’s close co-worker and Hong-jo’s neighbor, he remains a mysterious character. Still, his loneliness, likely caused by complicated relationships, remains apparent. As such, once Jae-kyung becomes better acquainted with Hong-jo, he starts relating to her own brand of loneliness and yearns to earn her affection.
Still, where Hong-jo was head over heels in love with him in the start, the love potion mix-up forced her to develop an actual friendship with Shin-yu, leaving her attracted to the man now. Therefore, she is no longer sure of her feelings for Jae-kyung, and Shin-yu’s constant confirmation of his love and affection for her only confuses her further. Hong-jo wants to be with Shin-yu but only finds herself hurt by his mixed signals.
In the end, Hong-jo accompanies Jae-kyung to the couple’s gathering as promised. However, after the event conveniently gets called off, Jae-kyung takes Hong-jo out on a car picnic date overlooking the Han River. During their impromptu date, Hong-jo unsubtly brings Shin-yu up, worried about how his two-year-long relationship with Na-yeon affects the likelihood of her having a future with him.
The conversation prompts Jae-kyung to confess his feelings for Hong-jo as he urges her to forget about Shin-yu and be with him. Hong-jo promised Shin-yu she would wait for him, but his actions have made it difficult for her to believe the authenticity of his words. Nonetheless, she lets Jae-kyung’s confession go unanswered, hopeful that Shin-yu will keep his word and break up with Na-yeon.
Does Shin-yu Break Up With Na-yeon?
After Shin-yu recalls fragments of his decades-old life with Hong-jo, he becomes entirely sure of his feelings for the woman. Throughout the story, Shin-yu tries to rationalize his alarmingly deep love for Hong-jo by hiding behind love potions and health side effects. Nevertheless, he can no longer run away from his feelings for Hong-jo, finally understanding their destinies were always meant to entangle due to their past romance.
Therefore, Shin-yu steadfastly confesses his love to Hong-jo at the Fireworks Festival, ready to face the unpleasant near future. Shortly after, Shin-yu visits Na-yeon to end things with her. The conversation is as unpleasant as he expected, with Na-yeon breaking down after her negotiations fail. Na-yeon’s desperation to have Shin-yu in her life presents a perplexing scenario considering the woman’s secret affair with Shin-yu’s corporate rival, Lee.
Nonetheless, Na-yeon seems to crave different things from the two men and wants to have Shin-yu’s love in her life while continuing to have a sexual relationship with Lee on the side. As a result, she successfully bargains for more time by claiming that their break up would be too humiliating for her at the moment since everyone at City Hall knows about their relationship. Consequently, Na-yeon convinces Shin-yu to promise her he’ll pretend to be in a relationship at work until her renovation work is completed in a few weeks.
Eventually, the promise leads to misunderstandings between Hong-jo and Shin-yu. Nevertheless, after Shin-yu realizes Hong-jo went out on a date with Jae-kyung, he tries to have a conversation with her at work but gets caught by Na-yeon. As such, the woman claims Shin-yu is humiliating her and breaking his promise by trying to talk to Hong-jo at work, parades into her father, the Mayor’s office, and asks her to relocate Hong-jo.
Once the news travels to Jae-kyung, he confronts Shin-yu, angry that his misbehavior has ruined Hong-jo’s reputation. After learning about Na-yeon’s actions, Shin-yu takes Hong-jo away from the office at once to the beach, where he first realizes his destiny will forever cross with the woman’s. At the beach, Shin-yu explains everything to Hong-jo, clearing up that he had to play-pretend with Na-yeon at the office and wanted to take things slow with Hong-jo to ensure people didn’t gossip about her behind her back.
However, since people are bound to talk now, Shin-yu needs to know how Hong-jo feels about him so the couple can confidently face the future together. Hong-jo admits her feelings for Shin-yu have a strange timelessness to them, which confirms to Shin-yu that the former can feel their decades-old connection even if she doesn’t remember her past life.
Nonetheless, as the couple kiss, edging toward their happy ending, the bloodied red hand returns to Shin-yu, replacing Hong-jo’s hold on his face. The cursed symptom’s return falls suspiciously in line with Joong-Beom’s ritual and only promises future trouble for Shin-yu and Hong-jo.
Read More: Destined with You Episodes 7 and 8 Recap and Ending, Explained
