What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim: Episode 14

by LollyPip

The interoffice rumor mill can be a vicious thing, turning something sweet and beautiful into ugly, hurtful gossip. Thankfully, Mi-so has some viciously loyal supporters and only a few days left before she’s leaving for good. She starts to put some serious thought into what she wants to do with her life from now on, and the answer will be surprising to everyone – especially herself.

 
EPISODE 14 RECAP

The morning after their first night together, Young-joon wakes in bed alone, feeling fantastic. Mi-so walks in to tell him it’s time to get ready for work, but Young-joon is distracted by the fact that she’s wearing one of his dress shirts — and nothing else.

He quips that the shirt could get him fired for neglecting his work duties, and pulls Mi-so back into bed. Mi-so tells him that lately, he doesn’t look like the Young-joon she used to know. When he’s confused, she says that she likes this Young-joon much more.

But she still makes him get up, and over breakfast, Young-joon tries to serve her like she usually serves him. It makes Mi-so uncomfortable, but Young-joon informs her that he’s already handsome and competent, and now he plans on being considerate, too.

He asks why she won’t let him take care of her, and Mi-so admits she feels awkward because she’s used to being the one taking care of everyone else. Young-joon confesses that he’s used to being taken care of, but he wants her to try asking him to do things for her, though he can tell from her expression that that’s not gonna happen.

Gwi-nam arrives at work to find the office team choosing their vacation days so as not to overlap. They ask which days he wants, but he says he doesn’t take vacations, because going to sleep knowing his work is done is all the break he needs. Okay, that’s just getting obnoxious.

When Young-joon and Mi-so arrive, Se-ra asks if Mi-so is skipping vacation again this summer. Young-ok says she doesn’t need vacation time since she’s quitting in a week. The reminder seems to upset Mi-so, and she recalls Young-joon’s emotional objections when she first told him she was leaving, but she tells herself hopefully that he’ll probably ask her to stay again.

Young-joon invites Mi-so to his lunch meeting at a friend’s restaurant, and on the way, Young-joon says that he and his restaurant owner friend grew up together, and that the friend is a chaebol heir who gave up the chaebol life.

Imagine Mi-so’s surprise to find that the ex-chaebol heir, Yu-mi (cameo by Jung Yu-mi) is a woman, and a beautiful one at that. She eyeballs Yu-mi jealously as she enthusiastically hugs Young-joon, but Yu-mi seems genuinely thrilled to learn that Young-joon has a girlfriend at long last.

She remarks that Mi-so is pretty, and Young-joon says that she’s perfectly pretty to match his perfectly handsome face. Yu-mi notes that he’s as narcissistic as ever, and she imitates his “Aura!” gesture. Instead of being amused, Mi-so pouts that Young-joon does that in front of other women.

Yu-mi joins them while they eat and Yu-mi says that since Young-joon never dated, she’d worried he liked her, recalling that he even asked her to marry him once. Mi-so looks murderous until Yu-mi clarifies that they were only five when it happened, hee.

She’s called away by a customer, and Mi-so levels her best “You got some ‘splaining to do” glare at Young-joon. Then she slaps on a forced smile and trills that Young-joon was quite reckless as a child, proposing marriage. Young-joon reminds her that she proposed to him when she was only five, heh.

She insists that that was totally different, since she was a little girl feeling grateful to her rescuer. Young-joon delightedly accuses her of being jealous, and she scoffs that that’s ridiculous, but she refuses to let him even hand her a napkin when she stuffs too much food into her mouth.

Yu-mi returns with a jar for Young-joon to open, sparking Mi-so’s totally-not-jealouSung-yeon again. She looks ready to combust when Young-joon opens the jar, and he grows alarmed when he notices that Mi-so is holding her fork like a dagger.

After lunch, Mi-so gets a call and steps away. Yu-mi tells Young-joon that she can tell how much he likes Mi-so by his blissful expression, and he notes that she also seems happy to be doing what she enjoys.

She says that the thought of inheriting her family’s company stressed her out, but that although she made the difficult choice to refuse her inheritance, she’s happy living as her true self. Her words remind Young-joon of Mi-so’s reason for quitting, and he frowns.

On the drive back to work, still fuming, Mi-so thrusts her water bottle at Young-joon and blurts out, “Would you open this for me, Oppa?” LOL, Young-joon nearly sprains his neck, whipping his head back and forth between her and the road. He slams on the brakes and grabs his phone to record her “oppa” this time. He laughs and says that he’s enjoying her jealouSung-yeon more than any fine art he’s ever seen.

At the office, Young-joon asks if Oppa can carry Mi-so’s bag for her, or if Oppa can give her a piggyback, enjoying her flustered response. She snaps for him to forget she ever called him “Oppa” because it won’t happen again. Poor Young-joon.

Mom and Sung-yeon go shopping together, and return to find Dad snoring on the couch. They find it hilarious that he nodded off while reading Sung-yeon’s novel. Sung-yeon notices that he didn’t get very far into it, and they collapse into giggles, wondering how Dad ever managed to run a company.

Se-ra and Cheol sneak off to meet in the stairwell, where Cheol tells Se-ra that he’s got tickets for her favorite musical for tonight. She calls him her hero, pinching his cute little cheeks — but Team Leader Jung comes down the stairs so Se-ra smooshes Cheol’s cheeks hard and pretends to be scolding him.

When they’re alone again, Se-ra apologizes and says she wants to keep their relationship a secret. Cheol says his face is fine but his heart is broken, and walks away on the verge of tears.

When they get back to their desks, Team Leader Jung notices that Young-joon doesn’t use Cheol’s driving services anymore and wonders if Cheol will be fired. Se-ra yells that “our Secretary Yang” is important to the company, then backpedals to avoid being caught. She runs out, leaving Cheol grinning happily.

Young-joon offers to take Mi-so to visit her dad after work, but she says she can just take the bus. She shoots him the side-eye when he calls himself Oppa again, then refers to her sisters and her dad as his in-laws. At her surprise, he’s all, “Of course, aren’t you going to marry me?” Mi-so asks if he can marry her, when he’s had a fiancee since he was five. LOL.

At the hospital, Mi-so says it’s still too early to introduce Young-joon to her dad. She reaches up to affectionately straighten his tie, then gets caught by her dad, who bellows and makes her nearly strangle Young-joon.

Once he can breathe again, Young-joon is on his best formal behavior while Dad snarls that Young-joon spent nine years overworking Mi-so. He does thank Young-joon for getting him a VIP room, though he credits it to Mi-so’s years of hard work.

Despite Mi-so’s pleading expression, Young-joon tells Dad that they’re dating, and Dad freaks out in furious banmal. He says in no uncertain terms that he’s against their relationship, stunning Young-joon silent. A call from Yoo-shik brings Young-joon to his feet (to hilariously tower over Dad) and he meekly excuses himself.

When they’re alone, Mi-so asks her dad why he opposes their dating. Dad completely changes his attitude, grinning that he likes Young-joon quite a lot. He explains that Young-joon probably expects him to be thrilled that his daughter is dating a rich man, so he’s lying to make Young-joon even more determined to win her.

When Young-joon returns, Dad invites him to speak alone. He asks Young-joon how well he knows Mi-so, and Young-joon says that he knows a lot after working with her for nine years. Dad says that Mi-so is a good daughter who never worries him, never complains, and is the most considerate of his daughters.

He tells Young-joon that he was in an accident and couldn’t work, so she gave up on college to earn money since he couldn’t work. He says he was ashamed, but Mi-so had said it was okay with a smile on her face, though she must have been crying inside. Dad tells Young-joon that even if Mi-so smiles, he shouldn’t just trust it, because she always smiles even when faced with hardship.

He says that he knows of her resignation and asks Young-joon how hard he’s been working her that even Mi-so couldn’t handle it. Young-joon looks ashamed as Dad says that he hopes she finds what she wants to do, even though it’s a bit late.

Dad leaves Young-joon in the hospital lobby to wait for Mi-so, where he thinks hard about Mi-so’s desire to quit so she can discover what she wants to do with her life. He’s worried after hearing Yu-mi say she’s happier living life her way, and Dad’s comment that Mi-so should do what she wants to do.

Dad is grinning smugly when he gets back to Mi-so. He sends her back to Young-joon with a chuckle, thoroughly satisfied that he put just enough fear into Young-joon that he’ll treat Mi-so well.

Mi-so asks Young-joon if her father said something to upset him, since he was so quiet on the drive home. They go for a walk, where he asks what she plans to do after she resigns. She says she’s not sure, because she’s never had a chance to think about her own dreams or interests. Young-joon tells her to take her time and think about it.

He admits that he was selfish by trying to keep her with him, but now he doesn’t need to do that since he’ll always be with her. He tells Mi-so that she’s been a perfect secretary for nine years, but he’s ready to let her go.

He hugs her, then says to tell him when she decides what she wants to do, and he’ll support her no matter what. Mi-so says she will, but as he pulls her into another hug, she doesn’t look so sure anymore.

Team Leader Jung is all in a tizzy the next morning with yet another dating rumor, and the team tells Gwi-nam that he does this all the time and the rumors are never true. Team Leader Jung insists that this time there’s even a witness, and reveals that it’s Young-joon and Mi-so. They’re worried now about getting on Mi-so’s bad side and getting the ax, so they vow to work harder than ever.

In his office, Young-joon gives Mi-so a strange look, and he says that he’s thinking that he’ll only see her at work for a few more days, so he’s just appreciating each moment. He jumps up to backhug her as she’s leaving, and Mi-so looks up to see Team Leader Jung, Se-ra, and Ji-ah staring at them.

She jumps and closes the blinds, but Young-joon says they’ve been caught, so all they can do is face it head-on. He invites them into his office to tell them that what they saw is true — he and Mi-so are in love. He asks them to speak up if they have any reservations, but everyone says stiltedly that they’re totally fine with it.

Mi-so asks the three to keep this a secret, but Se-ra tells her that the whole company is already gossiping about it after they were seen on a date. Mi-so starts to notice all the stares and whispers, and grows uncomfortable.

Se-ra overhears two employees in the restroom speculating nastily that Mi-so probably got hired for her looks, considering her lack of education. Se-ra flies at the gossipers, yelling that Mi-so isn’t like that, and Ji-ah joins her to snap that Mi-so is practically perfect (after Young-joon, of course).

The harpies sneer that they can badmouth Mi-so all they want, accusing Se-ra and Ji-ah of brown-nosing, which sparks a vicious mopfight that Mi-so has to break up. She apologizes to Se-ra and Ji-ah and asks why they took the comments so personally. Se-ra says that Mi-so works harder than anyone, and Ji-ah says it’s not fair that everyone thinks Mi-so is quitting to get married.

Se-ra suggests they tell Young-joon about this and get those witches transferred to a branch in India, hee. But Mi-so says she doesn’t want to worry him and asks them to keep it quiet. But it’s too late, because he’s already heard about the fight through the Yoo-shik grapevine.

Yoo-shik says that Mi-so was accused of intentionally seducing Young-joon to get her job, infuriating Young-joon. He jumps up to find Mi-so, but Yoo-shik stops him, saying that Mi-so doesn’t want him to know and asking him to pretend for Mi-so’s sake. So when he sees Mi-so, Young-joon just tells her that he’s decided they should go to Daegu to inspect their new department store, even though he’d previously said he didn’t need to go.

Se-ra and Ji-ah limp back into the office to face the flurry of questions about their fight. Se-ra gasps that they couldn’t let Mi-so be slandered so unfairly. Gwi-nam takes concerned peeks at Ji-ah and asks if “they” are alright as Se-ra makes a big deal over a teeny scratch on her arm.

Cheol looks ready to go pound some heads, but Se-ra whispers to him that she’s really okay. He texts her to open her drawer, and inside she finds pain patches that he put there for her. Awww, where can I get one of him?

Young-joon is satisfied that the department store opening will go flawlessly, and after their meeting, he asks Mi-so on a date. He acts silly while taking pictures of her, cheering her up. They walk to an observatory overlooking the city, where Young-joon says the view is flawless like her, and he’s like the observatory, standing on a mountain.

Mi-so says that she knows Young-joon brought her to Daegu to make her feel better, and he admits that he knows what happened at the office. He suggests that she go ahead and quit a few days early, but she says she wants to work her last few days despite the gossiping.

Young-joon is worried she’ll get hurt, but she says she expected this when she entered into this relationship, and that she decided to love him regardless. Moved, Young-joon hugs her gratefully, then she says it’s time for a “hot date.”

Young-joon gulps, getting ideas, but Mi-so takes him to a marketplace for some spicy food. He gives the strange street food the hairy eyeball, but he tries it and decides he likes it, and starts stuffing his face.

The next day, Mi-so bravely steels herself to face her day at work. She arrives to find the team upset that another company has copied their design for a new laptop, and started their advertising first. Young-joon calls an emergency board meeting, where Yoo-shik says that the other company probably released their stolen design first to stave off accusations of plagiarism.

Young-joon asks if they can change their design, but Yoo-shik says that delaying their own laptop release would cause a bad ripple effect with the rest of their product launches for the year. One board member suggests they lower their laptop’s price, but Young-joon hates that idea. He decides to borrow technology from next year’s laptop model, arguing that if this year’s model isn’t successful, there won’t even be a next year’s model.

He leaves, and the board members plead with Mi-so to tell Young-joon that they didn’t have time to think of any countermeasures and were just flustered. She tells them he probably already knows, and warns that he’ll ask them later about what they plan to tell the press, prompting them on what kind of answers will appease him. Yoo-shik jokes that she reminds him of his mother after he’d get scolded by his father.

Mi-so swings into damage control mode, directing the office team on managing each department. Later she reports to Young-joon that the changes he requested will be made, having already gotten the patents altered, the budget adjusted, and the press releases prepared.

He’s impressed by her speed and efficiency, and wonders, a little sadly, if he’ll ever find a secretary as good as her. He says that the better she performs, the more he hates to see her go, and he sincerely thanks her for her years of hard work.

After a long day, the office team order in pizza for dinner. Mi-so thanks them for handling the difficult situation so well, and Se-ra says that those who criticized Mi-so for dating Young-joon should see how well she did today and realize that she got where she is on merit. Team Leader Jung laments that they’ll be lost when she’s gone.

Young-joon offers to drive Mi-so home, and when he drops her off, she says she has something to tell him. She says she’s decided not to quit her job, and Young-joon looks confused and asks if this is because of the problems today. He tells her not to worry about the company or him, because he’ll adjust to her absence.

He says she should go find what she wants to do, but Mi-so replies with a smile, “I’ve already found it. I think that staying as your secretary is what I want to do. Maybe I’m already doing the job I’m good at and is perfect for me.” Young-joon looks like he hardly dares to hope this is really happening.

Mi-so continues that she didn’t realize this job was her calling because she’d gotten so used to it. She says she enjoys solving problems, and the sense of achievement she feels after completing her work. She adds that she doesn’t want the person she loves to be in trouble, and when Young-joon ducks his head, humbled, she jokes that nobody else can handle him anyway.

She concludes, “You tried to let me go because you love me. But because I love you, I want to stay beside you.” Young-joon can’t even speak, looking like the most grateful man in the world.

He takes a deep breath and asks if he can stay for ramyun. They go inside and she finds one package that they can share, and Mi-so sighs that she’s incredibly happy right now. She says she’s always dreamed of cooking with her husband after work… then belatedly realizes what she just said.

She tries to jump up, but Young-joon isn’t about to let her get away now. He takes her hand and promises to make that dream come true, adding, “I want to be your husband. I want to marry you, Kim Mi-so.” Faced with a proposal that’s finally motivated by love, Mi-so is speechless, but her agreement is loud and clear.

Young-joon leans in to seal it with a kiss, but a voice bellows, “Objection!!” and they jump apart. Mi-so’s dad pops out from where he was hiding in her bed, screaming, “I object to this marriage!”

COMMENTS

Oh, this will be so much fun! Once again this drama is poised to flip a trope on its head, first with the way Young-joon’s rich parents wholly love and support Mi-so (and Mom’s not-so-subtle shipping of her with Young-joon) and now with her father violently objecting to their marriage. Even that’s a subverted trope, because he’s not really objecting, but just making Young-joon think he is so that he’ll value Mi-so that much more.

Although it’s a fake objection, Young-joon doesn’t know that, and I’m looking forward to him turning himself inside out to impress Dad when he’s never had to strain himself to impress anyone in his life. He’s not going to know what to do with himself, and I have a feeling that old Dad is pretty cheeky and will enjoy watching Young-joon prove himself, knowing all the while that he’s going to give them his blessing eventually.

Seeing Mi-so get jealous over Young-joon was the best thing ever — she’s always so composed and confident of Young-joon’s feelings for her, I think that meeting Yu-mi (fantastic cameo!) reminded her that he’s an attractive man to other women, even if he isn’t interested in them. She got a little reminder not to take Young-joon’s love for granted, which is never a bad thing, especially since he’s made no secret of the fact that he’s been hers since they met as children.

I love that Mi-so came to the decision to keep her job all on her own, without Young-joon even asking her. I was worried he would begin pressuring her to stay again, now that they’re together, since he loves being around her all the time. But without Young-joon even mentioning it, and in fact with him pushing her to follow her dreams, Mi-so realized that what she’s good at is helping him at work, and where she belongs is by his side. It was so sweet that Young-joon even tried to talk her out of it, which shows that he really, truly wants her happiness more than his own.

In fact, that’s what I love most about Young-joon… he actually listens to Mi-so. When she expresses her feelings or opinions, he takes her words at face value. He doesn’t act like he knows what’s best for her, or go behind her back and make decisions that affect her without her knowledge or consent (well, beyond keeping their connection a secret for nine years. But I’d argue that he had a very compelling reason to do so, as even telling her they knew each other would have reminded her of her trauma, when his intent was to protect her from the memories). Young-joon was worried that Mi-so was deciding to stay with him out of obligation, but when she said that no, she truly thinks it’s where she belongs, he believed her. He didn’t argue or play the noble idiot card or try to talk her out of it. He just, simply, believed her. I love how much respect Young-joon holds for Mi-so, as an employee, an old friend, and a lover. If they can get past Dad’s fake objections, they’re going to have a wonderful life together.

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