In-kyung asks her about Ma-ri’s involvement with General Won and his school and the reporter responds by saying that she only got a scholarship because she worked hard for it. Back at the house, Hyo-rin recalls the night of Hwa-young’s death and how she came back home, late after her classes.
She states that her parents were fighting as usual and she saw them leave without acknowledging her. She checked the CCTV footage and learnt that he took her grandfather, General Won’s car, something that he never does. Minutes later, she also saw her mother leave which triggered her into an episode.
In a recent interview with the two Oh sisters, Hyo-rin tells the story of how she became afraid her parents would never return so she slit her wrists in order to seek their attention. In-joo inquires about how Hyo-rin painted the scene of Hwa-young’s death and the little girl reveals that it was not her first time seeing that image.
She tells the story of how she has been envisioning a scenario in her nightmares where she and her friend In-seon are killed. She says that it became clear to her on the night of In-seon’s death that she too was seeing similar visions to those seen by In-hye.
The young girls state that the scent of the orchid helps one see the future and ghosts, but In-joo is still having a hard time processing it. Hyo-rin states that just because Jae-sang was at Hwa-young’s place that night it does not mean that he killed her. She tells In-joo that she won’t be handing over the dash cam footage to her and In-joo promises to ask if she needed to see or use the video. She gives Hyo-rin her medicines and leaves. ..
Meanwhile, Jae-sang is being hounded by reporters for lying about his humble upbringing when his father was hoarding property in Korea. In-kyung is also hounded by reporters and she is unable to chat with Hye-suk who seems worried. Hye-suk is worried because Jae-sang has not been answering her calls or texts. ..
In-joo finds a secret document from Hye-suk’s office that reveals the real estate confidential information to the reporters before she leaves. Later that night, In-joo is looking for the dash cam footage in Hyo-rin’s room but is unable to find it before In-hye catches her. The sisters bicker and In-hye is siding with the Park family triggering In-joo.
The public sentiment against Jae-sang is sour and Soo-im is worried. She tails In-joo to find that she was at Hwa-young’s house. Inside the house, In-joo waits to see who it was Soo-im who was following her. Hyo-rin and In-hye dig up a hole in the orchid room and hide the dash cam footage there. In-hye consoles Hyo-rin and tells her to trust herself.
The next day, In-joo visits Jae-sang with a request from Hye-suk. She states that the great aunt wanted to meet him and gives him a photo she sent to convince him. Jae-sang agrees and Hye-suk arrives at the house for a chat. Hye-suk tells Jae-sang that she has been thinking about him a lot and asks if he has been doing well. Jae-sang tells her that he is doing well, but is sad because he misses her. Hye-suk tells him that she misses him too, but they need to focus on their relationship now that they are both back in Korea. They hug goodbye and promise to keep in touch. ..
They talk about how Jae-sang had already started destroying her business due to In-kyung’s harsh behaviour towards him. She extends an olive branch asking him to forget In-kyung’s behaviour.
Jae-sang wonders how she is still alive despite her connections with the Won family. Hye-suk states that she was the one who saved General Won’s life and that she is still alive because he wanted it.
Jae-sang tells a rather embarrassing story about his father’s death and San-a watches Hye-suk leave the house and appears restless. Do-il warns In-joo that the Park family will be trying to get rid of her if she does not calm down about Jae-sang’s involvement in Hwa-young’s murder/suicide.
In-joo asks Do-il to sympathize with her and states that she was at Hwa-young’s house to check who was following her after all. She was sure that Soo-im was the one who cleared the dash cam footage for all the cars in the lane to protect Jae-sang. In-joo confronts him about In-kyung’s allegations. Do-il states that the woman who disappeared was his first client that he helped live an anonymous life.
That evening, Park Jae-sang held a press conference and blamed General Won for the properties owned under his father’s name. San-a and Jae-sang apologised for the wrongdoings of their parents and claim that they were providing scholarships to hundreds of deserving candidates in order to repent for the wrongdoings of their fathers.
Reporters applauded Jae-sang when he was announced as the winner of the scholarship. In-kyung, who was left in shock, asked if Jae-sang had helped In-hye with the scholarship. However, the politician slyly declined to comment. ..
In-joo is at dinner with Do-il and she reprimands him for keeping her in the dark about Jae-sang’s next move. Do-il asks her to keep calm and focus on the money which is their end goal, as he tells her to comply with the Parks. ..
In-kyung is by herself at a press conference and Hye-suk, the daughter of the president of South Korea, asks to go help her. In-kyung refuses and leaves with the Park family. She is mobbed by the reporter and In-joo helps her flee and they arrive at Hye-suk’s house.
In-kyung and her friends are curious about what they found in the documents at their real estate firm. They ask their great aunt about it, but she is not sure what to tell them. Hye-suk tells them that she does not know the best way to protect herself from potential danger.
In-kyung reads out an article from years ago and wonders if Hye-suk was involved in illegal activities along with General Won and Park Jae-sang’s father. Hye-suk asks In-kyung to stop prodding and focus on the future of the company. The two sisters have a fight outside but In-kyung is upset with In-joo asking her to calm down.
The next day, Park Jae-sang, San-a, Do-il and Soo-im discuss how In-kyung’s allegations have been helping them and now the public were in their favour. Jae-sang asks Do-il to go to Singapore to get the funds for the campaign. They discuss that it was now time for her to be eliminated.
In-joo suggests that San-a should be killed as she is a threat but Do-il mentions how the Soo-im had scared her off over her visit to Hwa-young’s house. San-a declares that In-joo is someone she can trust and asks Soo-im to leave the eldest of the three sisters alone.
In-kyung has been trying to find documents in Hye-suk’s firm but the great aunt has had them shredded to stop her investigation.
Do-il tells Soo-im that he knows about In-joo and that he wants her to stay out of it. San-a is at the hospital with General Won where In-joo meets her. She asks In-joo to go to Singapore for the orchid auction.
In-joo wonders why San-a trusts her after Hwa-young’s betrayal and San-a states that Hwa-young had nothing to lose after her mother’s death but In-joo still has her sisters. She gives In-joo the blue ghost orchid as a present and asks her to keep it by her bed when she sleeps. She tells In-joo that smelling the orchid when it is in bloom will help her see what she really wants.
San-a offers to pay In-joo a large sum of money if she goes to Singapore on her behalf and In-joo tells how the orchid can go back to the “father tree” once In-joo sniffs it. She claims that only then In-joo will be able to be a part of the Jeongran Society (The International Orchid Society). ..
In-joo appears to be in a trance-like state after the mention of that name while In-kyung tapes the shredded photograph back together. She reads ‘Jeongran Society’ written behind the photograph of a dozen people from the ’70s. In the Orchid room, In-hye is attempting to psychoanalyse Hyo-rin’s nightmare and asks where she saw the woman in the red shoes but Hyo-rin isn’t able to concentrate. Just then, Do-il is shocked to see In-joo with an orchid and asks her to meet him.
She declines, stating she is tired, but he continues to follow her to Hye-suk’s house. He asks her to refrain from sniffing the orchid but she does not agree. Do-il mentions that things will be dangerous for her once she sniffs it but In-joo asks him to back off.
At night, when the blue ghost orchid is in bloom, In-joo sniffs the flower and is in a trance when she suddenly gets up and walks around Hye-suk’s house. In-kyung is still at the real estate firm as she goes through the names of the former owners of the Wonryeong School.
The list of owners includes Kim Dal-su, the victim of the Bobae Savings Bank scandal. She calls Jong-ho over to the firm. In-joo visits Hye-suk in her home office and asks intrusive questions confusing the great aunt.
In-kyung and Jong-ho analyse the list of owners of the Wonryeong School land, which includes General Won, Park Jae-sang’s father, Sa-pyeong (the school principal), Kim Dal-su as well as Oh Hye-suk. At Hye-suk’s house, In-joo discusses the 70 billion won ledgers and explains how she will have to take risks to be rich.
Hye-suk is against the idea of messing with Park Jae-sang. She tells Hye-suk how she is aware that Jae-sang killed Hwa-young and asks the great aunt for information to bring Jae-sang down once and for all. Jong-ho and In-kyung learn that members of the Jeongran Society have all died early on in their lives with four members still alive including General Won, Sa-pyeong and Hye-suk.
In-joo tells Hye-suk that the ledgers and the information about Jae-sang will help them destroy him completely but Hye-suk does not agree with her. In-kyung and Jong-ho conclude that Jeongran Society has something to do with the orchids. At the same time, In-joo mentions the blue orchids she found at the scene of many deaths in the past including Hwa-young, Hyun-min and more.
She alleges that all the deaths are connected to the orchids and asks Hye-suk about them. She suddenly starts yawning and is unable to speak while Hye-suk grows uncomfortable. Hye-suk dismisses In-joo but she compares herself with Hye-suk stating how they were both very similar. Do-il waits outside Hye-suk’s house but does not see In-joo leave.
In-joo is in bed when she dreams about how Jae-sang may have killed Hwa-young. She wakes up with a jolt and looks at the orchid. Just then, Hyo-rin is able to concentrate on her nightmares and she mentions climbing up stairs that lead to the sky. In-joo climbs the stairs in Hye-suk’s house and walks around in a state of trance.
In-kyung and Hyo-rin go to the secret terrace from In-kyung’s nightmares when San-a stops them. Sometime after, In-joo arrives at Hye-suk’s house and is shocked to see the door open. Inside, she finds In-joo lying beside Hye-suk’s dead body with blood all over her hands. On the floor is an orchid.
The Episode Review
This was the most chaotic episode from the show and I really did not expect Hye-suk to be dead mid-season. I am sure In-joo did not kill Hye-suk and the open door at the end could be proof of that.
It is possible that Do-il made the attack happen because he was waiting outside Hye-suk’s house for a while and noticed the chef left. However, he seemed really concerned about In-joo going inside which could also mean that he knew Hye-suk was going to be attacked.
The Jeongran Society is shady and both Jong-ho and In-kyung may be putting themselves in danger trying to uncover the truth behind it. I am sure there is something behind the stairs that Hyo-rin and In-hye were going to before San-a stopped them. There is so much to unpack with this episode but I am sure the next will be even better. Bring it on!
