Crushology 101: Episodes 3-4 » Dramabeans

KDramaHQ AdminApril 20, 2025

Crushology 101: Episodes 3-4

by Unit

The love square of our heroine continues, as her suitors move up and down the rankings. Two rival love interests temporarily call truce in order to expose their other rival with an ulterior motive, and our heroine is forced to reconsider her interest in matters of the heart.

EPISODES 3-4

The week resumes with Jae-yeol declaring his intention to keep seeing Hee-jin. When she asks why, he stutters and says she hasn’t returned a shirt he gave her a few days ago. Smh. Hee-jin promptly returns the shirt and reiterates that they should never see each other again. But guess which duo is stuck together in a student council meeting for all department reps? Hehe. Hee-jin is tasked with casting Ah-rang for an alumni interview, but the famous sculptor is also famous for turning down interview requests.

Ah-rang drops by the campus to see Hee-jin, and he immediately agrees when she brings up the interview. He’s his usual flirty self with her, and of course, Jae-yeol witnesses this interaction. It’s a small world, but it did not have to be this small! Now Jae-yeol feels more insecure than ever. Ah-rang is famous. Ji-won is a chaebol heir. And then there’s him, an ordinary college student with no extra qualifications — except for his sad backstory that comes with the K-drama male lead territory. Jae-yeol’s mom has a history of putting her boyfriends ahead of him, and she lacks the self-awareness to see that her actions are hurting her son.

The student council visits Ah-rang’s studio for the alumni interview, and he uses the opportunity to drop hints that he’s interested in Hee-jin. He also invites her to visit him again separately. Hee-jin and Jae-yeol get locked inside the storage room when they stay behind to clean up, and their phones have no signal to call for help. To make matters worse, Hee-jin’s stomach starts acting up, and Jae-yeol is forced to break the lock with a hammer. Phew! Hee-jin is grateful for his help, and they become somewhat friendly again.

Ji-won asks to hang out with Hee-jin and she invites him for a pajama party with her friends. This is the second time he’s hanging out with the girls, and I believe he has been put in the sister-zone. Over the expensive chaebol-provided dinner, Hee-jin and her friends speculate on the nature of her relationship with Ah-rang, in the light of her invitation to his studio. They ask for Ji-won unnie — sorry — Ji-won oppa’s opinion, and he replies that Hee-jin will find out Ah-rang’s intentions when she gets to the studio. At this point, I don’t think Ji-won knows that he likes Hee-jin because he’s being way too cool about her upcoming date with another man. The second male lead energy is very strong with him. He’s very respectful, very reasonable, very refuses-to-make-the-female-lead-uncomfortable-with-his-feelings, and very will-definitely-lose-her-if-he-doesn’t-act-fast.

Meanwhile, Jae-yeol is on pins and needles the whole time Hee-jin is in Ah-rang’s studio. Jealousy aside, when he went to un-mic Ah-rang after the alumni interview, he saw him in a compromising position with Hee-jin’s colleague. Jae-yeol plays the audio while editing the interview clip, and whatever it is that he hears makes him crash Hee-jin and Ah-rang’s date. He drags Hee-jin away, but rather than tell her what he heard, he scolds her for not learning anything from her last relationship with a jerk. Hee-jin is hurt and she tells him to mind his own business. She’s sensible enough to pose the “what are we?” question to Ah-rang. But Ah-rang is skilled enough to sidestep the question and make her feel special without a formal commitment.

Jae-yeol figures Hee-jin will at least listen to Ji-won, so he puts his one-sided beef with his rival aside to give him the update on their joint rival, Ah-rang. Apparently, Ah-rang manipulated Hee-jin’s colleague into thinking they’re in a relationship, meanwhile he’s only in it for the sex. Ji-won puts his chaebol resources to good use and hires a private investigator to dig into Ah-rang. It turns out that Ah-rang’s fav pastime is preying on college girls, and he has over 10 of them on his roster. Whoa! He’s worse than I thought. Now that they’ve got solid proof, the guys decide to warn Hee-jin. But in the time they spent bromancing to Ah-rang’s exhibition on a scooter, Hee-jin already caught Ah-rang kissing her colleague. Yikes!

Hee-jin confronts Ah-rang and he replies that his private life is none of her business. After all, it’s not like they are dating. Ouch! But if the conclusion of Hee-jin’s relationship with her ex taught us anything, it’s that she can handle guys who toy with her heart. Hee-jin publicly dumps a bucket of ice on Ah-rang’s head, and tells him to become a decent human being before becoming an artist. So satisfying! Afterwards, she feels a little pathetic for being a pushover in relationships. But Jae-yeol assures her that she’s not pathetic and Ah-rang is the bad one. Thanks to Ji-won’s connections, Ah-rang gets media exposure as a predator, his studio kicks him out, and he is dropped by the chaebol foundation — Ji-won’s family — sponsoring him. The end.

Hee-jin is now down to two potential boyfriends. But after two back to back heartbreaks, she decides to put relationships on hold. Plus her romance radar is dead, anyway, and she hasn’t picked up on Jae-yeol and Ji-won’s interest in her. Speaking of the guys, now that their anti-Ah-rang collaboration is over, they try to gauge each other’s interest in Hee-jin. While Ji-won notes that Hee-jin has started seeing Jae-yeol in a new light, Jae-yeol assumes Hee-jin and Ji-won have something going on. Smh.

Jae-yeol’s jealous ass gets drunk and he runs into Hee-jin on his way home. We get a few flashbacks showing that he noticed Hee-jin long before she even knew of his existence, and it is a case of “he fell first — and obviously harder.” In the present, Jae-yeol tells Hee-jin to stop occupying his head space. She thinks he’s up to his usual BS, but he clarifies by telling her that he likes her. Ouuu. A confession in the second week? I like it! In the meantime, Ji-won has realized he might like Hee-jin more than just as a friend, and he had better step up his game otherwise…

Delulu 101 continues to be a relaxing nothing burger, although there was some meat with Ah-rang’s arc. Stories of powerful/famous people using their influence to lure unsuspecting common folks into inappropriate relationships is not uncommon, and I appreciate the show for highlighting this. Now that we’ve moved on from the character, I’m going to miss the actor a little because he’s one of the three reasons I tuned into this show. But in the meantime, I’m loving the presence of sunlight and cherry blossoms as paid actors, and I’m still waiting for Hong Min-ki’s appearance.