Spa Night

David Cho, a closeted eighteen-year-old, lives in Koreatown, Los Angeles, with his father Jin and his mother Soyoung, both Korean immigrants to the United States. When Soyoung and Jin sell their restaurant, David is unable to work there anymore. To help him prepare for college, David's parents enroll him in expensive, intensive classes. David shadows his old friend Eddie's dorm room at the University of Southern California (USC) for two days at Eddie's mother's request. David and Eddie visit a Korean all-male spa. While in the sauna, David secretly stares at Eddie's naked body. David placates Eddie and his male friend by downplaying the incident, claiming he was staring at nothing. The following day, when Jin does not arrive, David rides a bus instead of letting Eddie drive him home. David returns home to find Jin asleep with empty beer bottles beside him. Soyoung works as a full-time waitress to continue supporting the family, but Jin fails to secure a permanent job. David struggles academically, especially at SATs, affecting his chances of being admitted to desirable colleges such as USC. To support his parents, David starts working at the Korean all-male spa; he hides his employment from his parents, secretly gives them his earnings, and falsely tells them he has done well academically. Eventually, David discovers and becomes aroused by an illicit gay sex act during one of his post-work spa rests. He secretly masturbates in a restroom stall but is interrupted by a patron knocking on the stall, flushing the toilet, and exiting. Later, while cleaning, he foresees another illicit sex act and hangs a "closed for cleaning" sign on the door of a room where such activity would occur. Later, David and an older man stare at each other, but David discreetly tells him: "No touching". When one of the sex acts is reported to police, David reluctantly posts a notice warning those caught in an illicit act, but he posts it without interrupting in a room where another sex act occurs. A few days later, David interrupts two men's sexual activity and ejects them from their room by removing a towel from a wall light. One night, after Soyoung confronts Jin for being increasingly drunk and still unemployed, David takes his drunken father to the spa where David still secretly works. While Jin is sleeping, David has sex with a patron, and the spa manager catches him trying to kiss the man, causing David to sob uncontrollably. When leaving the spa, David apologizes in Korean to the irate spa manager and throws a locker key onto the counter. David does differently from his usual activities. In a church, David stands up and neither sits nor sings with the congregation. On a street, he runs instead of jogging. ==Cast==