When he arrives at Huidong village, Ji-yul is outside their house peeking in, as he tries to enter the locked house. Female Police Officer Ja-young assumes he is a thief and tackles him.
She eventually asks Ji-yul for identification, and is shocked to learn who he is. Ja-young tells him that the house is empty without his grandparents and he is worried. His colleague misunderstands their interaction and knocks Ji-yul unconscious.
Ji-yul wakes up to find out that his grandfather had gone on a cruise trip with his wife the previous morning. The nurse at the vet clinic tells him that she was instructed to make him rush there so she lied about his grandfather’s condition. ..
Ji-yul is shocked to learn that his grandfather lied to him about his health to get him to return to the village. He gets a call from his grandfather who instructs him to look after the veterinary clinic until he returns as he too was a vet like his grandfather.
Just as Ji-yul is trying to process all that happened to him, a patient arrives seeking help. Ja-young, the nurse who had been helping Ji-yul, apologizes to the patient and asks him to join her for another emergency. ..
“I was in the city for a few days last time, and my colleague from the city convinced me to stay and let my grandparents enjoy their trip,” Ja-young says. “I’m asking him about his last visit to the village.”
A woman accidentally startled a fellow villager, Sang-yeon, who fell head first into the rice paddies and dirtied his clothes. He yelled at her asking the officer to be careful as she apologised to him.
Ji-yul and Ja-young arrive at the farm of a villager who called the vet for an emergency. The vet reveals that it was a false alarm and that his chicken did not need medical assistance. ..
Ji-yul is angry when he finds out that the villager had captured a dog who was eating his chickens. The dog was injured and Ji-yul tells the villager that setting a rat trap for a dog is illegal and punishable by law. ..
The villager tries to lie his way out of the situation. Ji-yul is trying to find a way to help the dog. Ja-young tries to talk Ji-yul to take it easy on the villager and asks him to focus on rescuing the dog instead.
The two people argue because their ideologies clash and he reprimands Ja-young for not being mindful of the life of an animal who is clearly in pain. She eventually drives him back to the clinic with the injured dog.
Ji-yul performs an X-ray over the dog’s injured leg and is relieved to learn that the dog will be okay. He dresses his wound while Ja-young looks at Ji-yul in fury. He asks if everything is okay but she refuses to tell him.
Ja-young gets a call from work and Nurse Yeong-suk (from the animal hospital) tasks Ji-yul to visit the patient with Officer Ja-young. Ji-yul wonders why the locals call the cop about animal issues instead of the animal hospital directly.
The female officer tells Ja-young it is what it is and they go about their way to the distressed goat. The said goat is in heat causing trouble and Ja-young takes Ji-yul with him.
Ji-yul slips and falls into a paddy field while using a shortcut. He is met with an angry goat in heat, and initially is scared. However, he seemingly is able to overpower the animal eventually. ..
Ji-yul is home all by himself and the villagers come to his house to eat. Ji-yul is unhappy with the way the villagers impose themselves and bluntly lets the women know his feelings but they don’t take him seriously.
Ja-young politely apologises to him for all their behalves and asks the women to leave him be. When its just the two of them, she warns him about keeping the doors to his house locked well since the village does not have smart locks yet.
Ja-young asks him to eat well but he tries to bicker with her. Ji-yul is instantly flummoxed when she checks to see the band-aid on his forehead before she leaves. Once he is alone, he reads a letter from his grandfather who apologises for worrying him.
Ji-yul goes to the animal hospital to inspect it. He spots the dog from earlier that day and redresses his wounded leg. Ji-yul then locks the hospital up and arrives at a pond only to shockingly find Ja-young swimming inside.
The Episode Review
Red Velvet’s Joy is a police officer in a small town and the show is setting itself up as a refreshing healing drama centred around animals. It will be fun to see how it progresses into a cute romance between Ji-yul and Ja-young. ..
Sang-yeon is not able to see Ja-young’s car from a distance, which is evident by the way he looks at the police officer. It seems that he has a crush on the officer but can’t seem to get over Ja-young’s brooding and hot vet look.
Ji-yul probably had a close relationship with her as a child, which is why she immediately recognised him. Being a typical K-drama male, he has no memory of it. The two characters are poles apart in their ideologies but they still have insane chemistry that I will definitely be looking forward to in the episodes to come.
