In Selfish Romance, a modern romance webtoon about the complexities of human emotions in love, jealousy, and friendships, every action of kindness has a “selfish” motive behind it. As Yumin and Hyeondo find strength in each other to overcome their toxic previous relationships, they seem to find what they’d been looking for all along: a true romance. But when drama and chaos start enveloping their world, their bond is threatened. Previously, Hyeondo rejects Sojeong’s offer to get back together; Yumin receives a call from her mother in the hospital, and Hyeondo, who arrives just in time, drives her there. Let’s find out what drama unfolds in Selfish Romance Chapter 43-49!
Selfish Romance Chapter 43: His Winsome Personality
Selfish Romance Chapter 43 begins as Yumin introduces her mother, Miju, to her new friend, Hyeondo, and helps her walk to the car. Hyeondo insists on carrying the bags, earning a suspicious glare from Miju. On the way home and at her house, she begins hounding him with trivial questions about his age, height, and occupation. When she finds out that the tall, handsome friend was single, she immediately asks him what he thought of Yumin.
Horrified, Yumin tries to shoo her nosy mother away, even though Hyeondo surprisingly seems to handle the situation well. She offers to give him a free haircut at her salon, and he invites her to his restaurant after her leg heals. “I would love to cook for you,” Hyeondo says to her.
Later, he accompanies Yumin to her apartment. She expresses her gratitude to him for driving her to the hospital, carrying her bags, and tolerating her obstinate mother, but Hyendo dismisses it. He wanted to help out. But when he doesn’t let go of Yumin’s bag at the door, she invites him in for coffee.
An Invitation Not to be Mixed Up
Inside, Yumin awkwardly faces Hyeondo as he quickly finishes his coffee. Why was it so tense all of a sudden? Before he leaves, he asks for a quick tour of the place, noting cheekily that it was actually clean this time. Washing the dishes, Yumin jokes that she’d never know if Hyeondo was serious about his clean space- she had no way to confirm it. Unexpectedly, Hyeondo leans in and says, “Then come to my place sometime soon.”
Hyeondo holds Yumin’s arm and pulls her dampened sleeves back for her, telling her his apartment number. “Don’t get confused,” he tells her (wouldn’t want her accidentally knocking on her ex’s door).
Meanwhile, Sojeong wonders why she hadn’t heard anything from Yumin about her date with Iseon. Yumin needed to ‘get back with him and stop leading Hyeondo on’. While the mastermind keeps cerebrating over her evil schemes, her manager runs up in a huff. She explains that the head chef of the cooking show she’d featured on had canceled on Aran, the young actress, for a business trip. Selfish Romance Chapter 43 concludes as Sojeong wonders if she could recommend a certain skilled chef to temporarily fill the position.
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Selfish Romance Chapter 44: Our Special Guest Is…
Selfish Romance Chapter 44 begins as Taegeun runs over to Hyeondo, shouting with excitement that someone from a TV show had come to meet him.
That night, Taegeun and Hyeondo have a brief discussion about accepting the offer. Taegeun gets ready to beg on his knees, but Hyeondo, remembering Yumin’s words about using the publicity for business, has already made up his mind. He would do it. (Taegeun practically suffocates him with a bear hug.)
A few days later, Hyeondo sits in the film studio, ready to go on air. While he makes himself busy by texting Yumin, the other chefs judge the newcomer for possibly being hired based on his looks and not his talent. Though he can hear every word they say, he remains unbothered by the bitter traducers.
The cameras begin rolling, and the other chefs introduce Hyeondo and two very special guests. Aran and Sojeong walk out onto set, shocking Hyeondo. So, that was why the TV show had found him. Sojeong had meddled with his life again. Hyeondo puzzles over her intentions, thinking, ‘In the past, her greatest fear was for us to be seen together.’ What changed? He casts it out of his mind; he would be professional. She’d never try anything on television anyway. But when the chefs ask the actresses to pair with a cook, she chooses him with no hesitation.
Meanwhile, Yumin meets with a few employees from an established big corporation about a possible deal. She euphorically skips down the street with Jihui, who seizes the opportunity to finally ask about her relationship with Hyendo. Yumin convinces her that they’d just become friends, and the conversation shifts to his TV show. Selfish Romance Chapter 44 concludes as Jihui mentions that Sojeong was on air with him, confusing Yumin.
Selfish Romance Chapter 45: Fame & Feelings
Selfish Romance Chapter 45 begins as Jihui remembers that Sojeong had visited Hyeondo’s restaurant, Siesta, a few days ago. She wonders whether the actress might have ‘fallen in love with Hyeondo’ and gotten him his TV show gig. Almost immediately, Yumin snaps- unknowingly out of jealousy- at her. The abrupt reaction confuses Yumin herself, and she tells herself that she was simply platonically concerned (right, that seems totally plausible).
Yumin glances at a billboard poster of Sojeong and nervously asks Jihui a hypothetical question. How would she feel if Yumin had a secret friend? Jihui tells her that there should be no reason for her to keep the secret, and Yumin agrees. Sojeong seemed to go overboard with hiding her connections. Still, Yumin keeps her secret from Jihui.
Meanwhile, on the cooking show, Sojeong and Hyeondo compete against the other team. Sojeong bends to pick up a runaway lemon when a carving knife teeters off the counter edge above her. Without thinking, Hyeondo arrives to her aid in less than a second to shelter her from the harm. Production of the show immediately screeches to a halt as everyone swarms around them. Hyeondo had saved her just in time.
Later, Sojeong personally thanks him and swears that she hadn’t caused the incident on purpose. Hyeondo decides to believe her, but firmly says, “I would’ve done the same thing for anyone.” While they talk, the other chefs gossip about Sojeong’s flirtatious nature and various scandals that had “led to her success”.
A Kiss by the Riverside
The clip of Hyeondo covering Sojeong quickly goes viral, and as a result, Hyeondo gains thousands of followers in a few hours. ‘…This feels odd,’ she thinks, gazing out at the river, alone. A drunken man approaches her, asking if she has a boyfriend, and she lies about being married to keep him at bay. But when no one shows up, the man and his friends start to watch her closely. Yumin decides to leave when suddenly Hyeondo shows up behind her (the drunk loser and his cronies skeddadle at the sight of him).
Yumin asks Hyeondo about how he felt about his newfound fame, and he explains that he had only one concern: what she thought. Flustered, Yumin calls him ‘incredible’ and rushes up the steps. Hyeondo assures her that she would’ve acted similarly in the same situation. Suddenly, she turns around with an unreadable expression on her face. Hyeondo’s eyes widen suddenly, and Yumin closes the distance between them. Selfish Romance Chapter 45 concludes as Yumin kisses Hyeondo under a streetlamp, with the bright lights of the city landscape glimmering behind them.
Selfish Romance Chapter 46: Things Are Looking Up
Selfish Romance Chapter 46 begins as Yumin briefly kisses Hyeondo and then crumples onto the stairs in embarrassment. Hyeondo asks her whether she regrets it, and reaching for her, says, “If you do, I don’t know what I might do.”
Yumin apologizes to Hyeondo, saying that she’d kissed him because of her own selfish motivations. Hyeondo’s new internet fame, her own conflicting emotions, and increasing feelings had pushed her to move on an impulse. She hadn’t felt exhilarated by their first kiss; she felt guilty and humiliated for acting pettily.
Hyeondo suddenly realizes Yumin’s naive perspective on love. Love was never pure; the beauty in romance was always accompanied by ugly emotions like jealousy, hate, and selfishness. It was adorably childlike of Yumin to openly confess the nuance behind her actions. ‘But if she chose to be with me, I wouldn’t care if she showed me all of herself,’ Hyeondo realizes; he wanted to know everything about her.
Hyeondo tells her that he’d accept everything she did, and asks her to just never leave him alone. ‘How could anyone not fall in love after hearing something like this?!’ Yumin thinks, internally screaming at him. She asks him to wait until she’s completely moved on from her ex; Hyeondo agrees, burying his head into her shoulder.
The next day, Yumin hums in her office, pointing to an obvious good mood with her employees. She meets with an enthusiastic employee, a woman she’d be working with, from the company with which she was collaborating, and starts to confidently believe that she could find success, both in work and love, in her life. Selfish Romance Chapter 46 concludes as, while he waits for the elevator, someone calls out Hyeondo’s name.
Selfish Romance Chapter 47: Old Acquaintances
Selfish Romance Chapter 47 begins as Yumin brings down a box of memories she had with Iseon, and starts getting rid of everything. She wanted a fresh start with Hyeondo, and this was the best way to do it. When she chances upon a photograph of Mr. Kim, she accepts with a heavy heart that she has to get it over with.
Meanwhile, Iseon approaches Hyeondo by the elevator with his friend (who drunkenly fawned over Hyeondo weeks ago- and still does while being sober too). They invited him over for dinner; they were ordering takeout! Hyeondo makes a face (come on, he’s a chef), and cooks for them instead.
Iseon Connects the Dots
Later, Iseon’s friend leaves for the bathroom, leaving the two men alone. When Iseon asks about the stray cat they’d rescued, Hyeondo gives him his phone to scroll through the pictures. As he goes through the adorable pictures of the happy kitten, a message notification from ‘Yumin Choi’ pops up. Uh oh. Before Iseon can ask him about it, Hyeondo receives an unknown phone call.
Hyeondo walks into his room and answers the phone. Guess who’s on the line? It’s Sojeong’s mother. Hyeondo’s eyes widen at the sound of her voice; he never liked her and hadn’t talked to her in years. “Do I need a reason to call my future son-in-law?” she asks. Sojeong’s mother confronts him for ‘lying’ about breaking up with her daughter. She’d just seen them ‘all lovey-dovey on TV’. Before she could elaborate, Hyeondo told her to stop calling and ended the conversation.
At the same time, Iseon’s friend comes back and notices his friend’s sudden depressive mood. When Hyeodo comes back, Iseon’s friend wonders if he was talking to his girlfriend. Iseon indirectly asks about Yumin, referring to her as the person he worked with, and asks if they were friends. Hyeondo blushes, remembering their kiss, and says, “I don’t think I should call her my friend anymore.” While Iseon talks about the ex-girlfriend he wanted to get back with, Hyeondo playfully texts Yumin, concluding Selfish Romance Chapter 47.
Selfish Romance Chapter 48: Long Time No See
Selfish Romance Chapter 48 begins with a flashback to six years ago when Mr. Kim found out about Yumin dating his son. “I consider all of my students my children,” he’d said breezily, “And all I want for my children is to be happy.” Out of nervousness, Yumin had awkwardly joked about the situation. But in a few minutes, Mr. Kim had converted the tense conversation into a light-hearted, fun chat.
In the present day, Yumin arrives at Mr. Kim’s doorstep after a long time. Seeing his familiar face warmly welcoming her inside, she abruptly dissolves into a mess of tears and apologies. Later, she catches up with her beloved ex-teacher and explains her company’s success. On the topic of her breakup, Mr. Kim perspicaciously intuits that it was ‘Iseon’s fault’. He truthfully describes his son as ‘strangely frustrating sometimes’.
The Hidden Secrets
Moments later, the doorbell rings and Yumin rushes to answer it, thinking it was Hagyeong. Instead, Iseon stands in the doorframe, smiling down at Yumin.
During lunch, an uneasy silence takes hold of the mealtime atmosphere. Hagyeong had orchestrated Yumin’s lunch with her father and Iseon’s arrival in hopes of getting them back together again. When Iseon insists on offering to drive her home, Yumin finds it difficult to refuse him more than once and accepts.
In his car that night, Iseon asks Yumin if she is dating anyone. With Hyeondo in her mind, Yumin explains that she was interested in someone, and genuinely hopes that Iseon finds a good woman too. But Iseon still holds her in high regard, despite the way she’d broken up with him. “I wanted to hurt you, but I guess I failed,” she mumbles to herself, shocking Iseon. When he drops her off at her house, he asks her what she meant by wanting to hurt him. Had he committed a mistake? Selfish Romance Chapter 48 concludes as Yumin finally confronts Iseon about hearing him say he’d never been attracted to her.
Selfish Romance Chapter 49: Iseon’s Truth
Selfish Romance Chapter 49 begins as Yumin finally releases the anger behind all the questions she had for Iseon, all the frustration she’d pent up over his disinterest, and the heartbreakingly low self-esteem she’d suffered because of him. “Did you even care if I loved you or not?” she yells..
Iseon starts to explain, he might never have felt attracted to her, but he felt loved and stable. He travels back in memory to the time he was seventeen. Iseon had been asked out by yet another girl, whom he rejected once again. He just didn’t feel attracted to them- or anyone. His friend had supported his feelings, telling Iseon that if he himself was attracted to more than one gender, it was entirely possible that Iseon wasn’t attracted to any.
Through all his insecurity, it’d taken a while for his friend’s advice to finally settle in. But once it did, Iseon decided that he’d only date once he decided to marry. However, when Yumin saved his father with utter devotion to his family, he decided to express gratitude by learning to love her. ‘I’ll do everything I can for her,’ he’d thought. Slowly, Yumin’s love began to provide a sense of security and peace to Iseon. He did love her, just not in the way she wanted him to.
A Live Soap Opera
In the present, Yumin yells at Iseon for never mentioning that he couldn’t experience romantic attraction. He asks for another chance, but Yumin firmly tells him that it is too late. The words cause an uproar in the building above them, where a few nosy neighbours had been listening to their entire conversation. They encourage Yumin to take him back before hurriedly scuttling into their homes.
Yumin decides to continue the conversation with Iseon later, away from the eavesdropping public, and walks away. Selfish Romance Chapter 49 concludes as Hyeondo messages Yumin, who doesn’t reply to his texts, with worry.
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