Han-jun is handcuffed to a café table, as he’s shown that he’s serious about joining forces with her until he agrees to do so.
Jae-hui demands to know the Minamdang crew’s next step. Han-jun wants to explore the possibility that Dong-gi is behind Tae-su. He’s come to it after considering that Gyeong-cheol and Tae-su used the Joyce Entertainment trainees for sexual bribes but weren’t fired despite their bad relationship with Jin-sang.
After Jae-hui leaves, the crew breathes a collective sigh of relief. Han-jun voices his intention to ditch her at the first opportunity, and Hye-jun doesn’t see why they shouldn’t include her, but Han-jun doesn’t want to be responsible if anything happens to Jae-jeong’s sister. ..
That night, Han-jun and Jae-hui reflect on their interactions with fresh eyes. Han-jun comes away with a newfound warmth and Jae-hui has rekindled her girlhood crush.
Han-jun is not happy to see Jae-hui at Café Minamdang the next day, as she has applied extra makeup to look her best. Jae-hui has also asked Do-won to come along, which makes Han-jun even more unhappy. Han-jun refuses to work with Do-won until he shows him a list of Joyce Entertainment’s secret investors. ..
The three men on the list are Myeong-jun, Pil-gu and Jeong-hyeon. They all received sexual favours and gambling trips from Gyeong-cheol in return for investing in Joyce Entertainment. This then led to Joyce Partners being created, which reinvested the money into Joyce Entertainment. Finally, the investors received 100 times their initial investment in dividends.
Han-jun finally responds to Jin-sang after he was electrocuted, and Jin-sang is kneeling in Café Minamdang within minutes. ..
Han-jun makes Tae-su out to be an evil spirit haunting Jin-sang’s father. His lips already loose to begin with, Jin-sang reveals Aunty Im, describing her as a shaman who caters to the elites in the political and business spheres. Jin-sang also lets it slip that Tae-su has been siphoning company funds, but he stops himself from saying more. Begging for help, Jin-sang offers Han-jun a huge sum to exorcise Tae-su.
Detective Jang has found a record indicating that Tae-su was questioned in relation to a firearm incident five years ago. Since Tae-su was a witness for the victim and not the suspect, the incident did not come up in their earlier background checks. The victim now runs a lodge in Paldung Mountain, so the detective team plans to track him down. ..
Do-won’s assistant walks him through her research into Joyce Partners, which has more than ten affiliated companies. Of these, Do-won takes an interest in KM Leaders, which could be a paper company established in the Philippines.
Do-won eagerly joins the detectives on their trip after getting a call from Jae-hui. They arrive at the mountain, where the owner informs them that Tae-su has been missing for five years. Tae-su went hunting in the owner’s place after the firearm incident, but then he went missing. When a body was recently found in the local hunting grounds, the watch that was dug up with it made the owner believe it was Tae-su. The police, however, were unable to identify the body at all.
Do-won asks the man in the old picture if he is the missing person, and is shocked to learn that he is not. He had been known as Lim Yeong-ju before stealing Tae-su’s identity. On their way back, Detective Jang remarks that he feels like he’s heard this name before.
After finding no trace of Hye-jun’s online presence, the Taekseong Shaman Association rented Café Minamdang out to Han-jun in order to investigate her possible connection to the Aunty Im mystery. The Shamans at the café share a strong dislike for Aunty Im, and one of them claims that she killed her shamanic instructor when she and Aunty Im were disciples together.
While the Minamdang crew is busy entertaining their guests, one of the shamans snaps a picture of them and sends it to Tae-su. Tae-su then shows it to Aunty Im. She’s not too concerned because she already has a trap laid out for Han-jun. ..
Han-jun forwards Jin-sang information about an upcoming signing ceremony for a Sinmyeong land development project. All the Joyce Entertainment investors will be in attendance. ..
Han-jun does not tell Jae-hui about the invitation, thinking that Do-won, who was chosen as Cha Seung-won’s brother due to his relationship with him, will be taking her as his plus one so she can search for Tae-su. ..
Do-won and Jae-hui are disguised as waiters at the signing when Han-jun and Su-cheol arrive together, all dolled up. Han-jun is struck by Jae-hui’s beauty, and when she comes face to face with him, she’s struck by his duplicity.
Han-jun is saved from having to answer for his presence when the waiters are all called to welcome Seung-won upon his arrival. Han-jun and Su-cheol recognise Seung-won’s cologne from the funeral parlour and Han-jun profiles him as a man obsessed with his own sense of privilege.
Director Park asks Seung-won to join the high-profile men that he’s seen meeting with Aunty Im. Dong-gi assures Seung-won that he’ll become president at the next stockholder meeting if he can impress Director Park with this development project. Seung-won listens to this with disdain, finding it ironic that he needs to prove himself for a position that is, apparently, rightfully his.
When Do-won approaches Seung-won, the latter’s expression transforms into real enthusiasm. Jin-sang, tactlessly babbling on about how Seung-won should be bowing to Do-won in thanks for stepping aside when he was first in line for succession, only makes things worse. ..
Han-jun, Jae-hui, and Do-won all head out to meet with Aunty Im. Han-jun alerts Jae-hui and Do-won before following. After Jae-hui catches a brief glimpse of Tae-su, she and Do-won split up to find him. ..
Aunty Im learns that her nephew, Han-jun, will be attending the funeral of his friend. She is not pleased and plans to make this day his last. ..
Han-jun and Su-cheol disguise themselves as chefs, personally delivering dishes to Aunty Im and the others in their private dining area. Under one is a bug. Aunty Im doesn’t let on that she recognizes Han-jun, though she does give him a few frights.
Han-jun and Su-cheol make it back out of the dining area to begin eavesdropping on Myeong-jun. It distresses them to hear Myeong-jun discussing how he ended up killing Eun-hye while trying to give her a scare. They also hear Aunty Im’s plan to get rid of Tae-su after this project is completed.
The group falls silent as Seung-won makes his entrance. Before he can do more than apologise for the delay, Aunty Im brings a finger to her lips to silence the group. She lifts the plate closest to hear and picks off the bug, dropping it into her glass.
Hye-jun watches as Tae-su leads a group of men away from Han-jun and Su-cheol. She is warning them, but it is too late. They are knocked unconscious and dragged away.
Do-won walks into the private dining area and sees his brother at the head of the table. He looks troubled. ..
The Episode Review
The cramps and stitches really started to kick in with this episode’s plateau. We’re too late into Café Minamdang’s run for the plot to dawdle like this, especially when the scandalous elites aren’t at all interesting to follow. Corrupt officials and businessmen are too tired a K-Drama trope to be stretching out into an 18-episode drama like this. ..
The jokes in the show started to feel recycled or tired, and some of the more clever ones were also a little too easy to spot.
Do-won is being primed for a big role in the future. His role was largely unimportant when we began, but then it became bland as he pined for Jae-hui. However, he has great chemistry with Han-jun and their rivalry turned out to be the highlight of this episode. I can’t help but root for a friendship between them. ..
