The finale of “Yumi’s Cells 3” is only two episodes away, and our male lead, Shin Soon Rok (Kim Jae Won), is finally utterly in love with Yumi (Kim Go Eun), to the point where Mr. Calm and Professional is losing both his calm and professionalism. While the “Yumi’s Cells” series is a walkthrough of Yumi’s mind and her multiple romantic relationships throughout her 30s, it is always interesting to see how the male leads opposite her fall in love with her, and episodes 5 and 6 gave the audience exactly that.

These two episodes mostly showed Shin Soon Rok’s realization of his own emotions, his hesitation, and, in the end, his acceptance. From Shin Soon Rok breaking multiple self-imposed rules to his professionalism leaving his body as soon as writer Kim Ju Ho (Choi Daniel) makes yet another move on Yumi, here are four times Shin Soon Rok was clearly in love with Yumi in the latest episodes of “Yumi’s Cells 3.”

Warning: spoilers ahead!

Shin Soon Rok’s unexplainable dislike for writer Kim Ju Ho

Flipping the script once again, episode 5 of “Yumi’s Cells 3” began from Shin Soon Rok’s point of view, not only showing the inner workings of our male lead’s brain but also presenting some of the same scenarios from previous episodes in a new light.

At first, the audience sees how, during the team dinner, Shin Soon Rok is extremely tired and simultaneously overwhelmed by the conversations happening around him. Then his Rational Cell says something that proves once and for all that Shin Soon Rok is falling for Yumi, whether he admits it or not: “It is rare for passion to spark. But I don’t like that.”

It turns out that every single time the senior writer asked for Shin Soon Rok’s help to get closer to Yumi, Shin Soon Rok hated it. His frustration over the entire situation ignites the fire in his Emotional Cell’s hut; in other words, Shin Soon Rok, the man who rarely feels emotions at work, is fuming while maintaining a calm exterior.

While characters who are more expressive and animated, like Yumi, fall in love in equally animated ways, it is more believable for a character like Shin Soon Rok, who rarely lets his emotions show on his face, to fall in love just as quietly.

There is no single moment that definitively showcases the beginning of Shin Soon Rok’s growing affection for Yumi, but his emotions are nevertheless undeniably showing.

The rule violations

Since the start of “Yumi’s Cells 3,” Shin Soon Rok has been established as a character with rules that he never breaks. For instance, he always keeps his personal and professional lives separate and draws a clear line whenever he sees those two parts of his life merging.

However, surprisingly, he breaks quite a few rules in episodes 5 and 6, making it clear that Soon Rok is falling for Yumi.

After the movie theater disaster, where writer Kim Ju Ho invites himself and makes Yumi think the only reason Soon Rok agreed to the movie was to set her up with the writer, Shin Soon Rok breaks multiple rules in a row, confusing even his own cells.

First of all, to Soon Rok, Yumi is just another writer from work whom he doesn’t even work directly with anymore. Right? Well, if that were the case, then why would he run after her to buy her an umbrella?

Next, when Yumi apologizes for getting angry at him over the entire movie fiasco, Shin Soon Rok, the man of few words, outright tells her that he found her cool. Cue the swoons. But also, this is not something you say to a coworker while getting soaked in the rain together after midnight.

Lastly, there is the cute main-leads-sharing-one-umbrella trope. The audience loved it, but it is clearly a violation under Shin Soon Rok’s cell judiciary.

All of these rule violations beg one question: why would a man of rules and boundaries leap over those boundaries? The answer is clear: he is in love.

The unsuccessful love surgery

Some people, when in love, lose their brain cells—no pun intended. However, Shin Soon Rok is not one of them; hence, he quickly catches on to the fact that Yumi likes him. His Love Cell gets an X-ray of Yumi’s love and comes to the conclusion that it has to conduct surgery on Yumi’s feelings, which is a formal way of saying he should let her down gently to preserve their professional relationship.

So, Soon Rok rejects her by asking her to set him up on a blind date. The surgery works fine; it sends Yumi the signal that Soon Rok is not interested in her.

However, Shin Soon Rok’s Love Cell takes another X-ray and, surprise, surprise, even though the surgery was a success on Yumi, it did nothing for Soon Rok, who is now yearning for Yumi and regretting asking her to set him up with anyone nice she knows.

He even tries to go on the date, but despite everything seeming normal, nothing actually feels normal because he would rather be on a date with Yumi instead of her junior.

The final showdown

The climax of episode 6 was by far the best part of “Yumi’s Cells 3” because it was the first time in the entire series that the audience got to see Shin Soon Rok become unhinged because of his feelings for Yumi. And who doesn’t love a male lead being a loser in love?

Here’s the scene: Soon Rok is heading to the restaurant for his second date with Yumi’s junior. But after a call with Yumi’s assistant, he learns that Kim Ju Ho has gone out to eat with Yumi, and Soon Rok finally loses it. He ditches his date, heads to the place where Yumi is, and starts fighting Kim Ju Ho.

The scene would not have been nearly as iconic if Shin Soon Rok had actually thrown a proper punch. Instead, he holds Kim Ju Ho’s ankle and pushes him into the bushes while simultaneously trying to keep his own balance. It looked like a type of martial art one unlocks only after foolishly falling in love with one’s senior.

Despite the chaos of episodes 5 and 6, the climax ended up being quite optimistic: Shin Soon Rok finally confessed his feelings to Yumi. Now the ball is in Yumi’s court, so only time will tell how the story of our leads will unfold in the final two episodes of “Yumi’s Cells 3.”

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Javeria is a binge-watching specialist who loves devouring entire K-dramas in one sitting. Good screenwriting, beautiful cinematography, and a lack of clichés are the way to her heart. As a music fanatic, she listens to multiple artists across different genres and stans the self-producing idol group SEVENTEEN. You can talk to her on Instagram @javeriayousufs.

Currently watching: “Yumi’s Cells 3,” “We are All Trying Here,” “Love You Teacher,” “Feel What You Feel,” and “The Scarecrow“
Looking forward to: “Four Hands,” “Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,” and “The Legend of the Kitchen Soldier”