In the opening of Episode 8 of "Sold Out On You," Matthew hands Ye-jin her packet of night-time pills as they both settle down with a book, eventually falling asleep with the pills left forgotten on the table.
Meanwhile, Michelle arrives in South Korea with the intention of stopping Eric from continuing his work with HIT. In the morning, Ye-jin and Matthew play a game, and when Matthew loses, she forces him to agree to whatever she wants to do that day. As they walk out of the house hand in hand, Kwang-mo and Som-yi end up seeing them.
Later, Sung-mi sends Kwang-mo a picture of herself before a show. He speaks to Jung-muk about it, who suggests that Kwang-mo buy some of the product that Sung-mi is selling. Kwang-mo does so.
Meanwhile, Matthew and Ye-jin work together on the mushroom farm, and she forces him to agree to watch a drama with her that night. Later, Ye-jin comes across Som-yi practicing a speech for the class president elections. She wants to become president so she can make more friends.
As an ace public speaker, Ye-jin gives her three lessons on how to be good at it. Som-yi mentions that Jin-yi used to dream of becoming a show host. In response, Ye-jin tells her that HIT is currently hiring new hosts. Som-yi goes home and shows Jin-yi the recruitment poster.
Ye-jin returns to the farm and joins Matthew in working on the mushrooms. Soon, they get distracted and end up kissing instead.
The next day, Som-yi prepares for her class president speech. As a final lesson, Ye-jin tells her to ignore her mask, so others will too. In class, Som-yi follows Ye-jin's advice and ends up winning the majority of votes. She becomes class president and soon gets offers to hang out with the other kids. She later sends Jin-yi pictures of her having fun with the other kids and calls Matthew with the good news as well.
Matthew hands it over to Ye-jin, who is thrilled. She's also started preparing to return to work and is on the hunt for a product to make her comeback. Ye-jin then gets a call from her father. He's worried about her, but she remains curt with him. When she returns to Matthew, he asks about her medication. Ye-jin says it started five years ago. A flashback shows that Yun-ji broke her arm and asked Ye-jin, a novice, to take her place during the show. It was none other than the Good Morning cream show alongside Myung-hwa. Ye-jin was tempted by the offer to make her debut as a host alongside her mother, but then the scandal broke out. Her mother publicly retired from acting. Then an article came out saying Ye-jin was paid hush money. Myung-hwa accused Ye-jin of taking revenge on her this way, and when she refused to listen to reason, Ye-jin let her believe that. After this, Ye-jin started overworking herself in order to ensure no other mistakes occurred.
At present, Ye-jin tells Matthew that he's the reason she was able to do a beauty show again. She thanks him for being by her side, but something eats at Matthew after this conversation. A flashback shows Matthew and his coworkers in the lab working on the Good Morning cream.
The next morning, Matthew tells Ye-jin he needs to tell her something. At that moment, Jin-yi rushes in, saying Som-yi needs to go to the hospital. She's been scratching her skin which had led to bleeding. When Ye-jin shows concern, Jin-yi shouts at Ye-jin, accusing her of making Som-yi like this in the first place.
At the hospital, Jin-yi reprimands Som-yi for defying dietary restrictions by consuming processed food containing eggs and flour. She also chastises Matthew for bringing Ye-jin to the town, unbeknownst to them. Later, Ye-jin attempts to apologize to Jin-yi, but Jin-yi curtly requests her to stay away.
Upon returning home, Matthew finds Ye-jin in tears but is at a loss for words to console her. The next morning, Mu-woon calls Matthew with the results of additional tests on L'Etoile's essence, revealing that the microbial levels have officially surpassed the threshold. He promptly informs Eric of the same.
Meanwhile, Ye-jin's colleagues send her a link to a press conference where Eric takes full responsibility for the excessive microbial count in their essence and apologizes to everyone, sparing Ye-jin from blame. Almost immediately, an HIT executive instructs Director Dong to have Ye-jin return.
Elsewhere, Mu-woon attempts to woo Ae-ra again, but she is put off by his fancy attire and watch. He leaves in frustration and rants to Matthew, who is preoccupied with other thoughts. Director Dong meets with Ye-jin and urges her to return to HIT, which she thanks her for but declines, stating that she needs time for herself at the moment.
That night, Ye-jin sleepwalks, trying to apologize to Som-yi. Matthew holds her and consoles her. In the morning, they share breakfast and Ye-jin invites Matthew to come early so they can cook dinner together.
At L'Etoile, Eric faces trouble as Michelle and other board members stand against him. He's also surprised to learn that Ye-jin has declined the offer to return to HIT. Kwang-mo later informs Matthew of Ye-jin's refusal, surprising him.
Ye-jin meets with Eric and thanks him for the press conference. He admits his concern for her but doesn't push about returning to work. Instead, he confronts Matthew and blames him for Ye-jin's absence, claiming it's his fault for not being transparent about his involvement in the Good Morning Cream.
Back home, Ye-jin discovers paperwork from Matthew's previous job at The USU. Meanwhile, Som-yi tells Jin-yi that Ye-jin helped her become class president and make new friends. Jin-yi meets with Ye-jin and thanks her but asks her to leave the town. When Ye-jin returns home, Matthew finally confesses that he was responsible for making the Good Morning Cream and feels guilty for bringing her here in the first place. He pushes away Ye-jin's accusations and claims she's suffocating him with her questions.
