Mixed-up Investigative Agency: Case 6

by javabeans

I need a name for our group of friends. Like the Scoobies in Buffy, or the Freaks and the Geeks in, uh, Freaks and Geeks. Any suggestions? I’m getting tired of calling them the friends, the group, the four, etc., and I don’t want to write out all the names all the time…

SONG OF THE DAY

Sprinkler – “보물섬으로의 항해” (Going to Treasure Island). I’ve been waiting to use this song for weeks. I knew it was going to be in a Mixed-up Agency episode, but I didn’t know which one. The epilogue on this episode was the clincher. Heh.
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CASE NO. 6: “Is the Turtle a Surprisingly Fast Runner?”

Stunned, Mu-yeol and Hee-kyung watch as the food delivery guy hands over Eun-jae’s purse, which he’d stolen — at her request.

It was Yong-su’s idea (taken from an old manhwa he’d once read, natch), to shake off their annoying tag-along gangsters who would undoubtedly continue trying to steal the map from them. This way, everyone believes them to have lost the map. Poof. Problem solved.

First thrilled to have her map back, Hee-kyung then gets upset that Yong-su and Eun-jae kept her in the dark. How could they? Yong-su says that her reaction needed to be real, so they couldn’t reveal the plan. Which does not make the excluded pair happy.

Hee-kyung grumbles at Eun-jae as well… but generously concedes that she’ll let it go if Eun-jae gives them the gold credit cards as she had originally intended. Eun-jae agrees.

Because our friends — er, “Treasure Hunters” (too long for a nickname?) — are never without unexpected visitors dropping in at all hours, an unfamiliar woman cheerfully arrives and settles herself in front of the bewildered Hunters foursome. Or should I say threesome (no, not that kind!), because Eun-jae has hired the woman to find out background info on their gangster pursuers.

The woman informs them that they’re associated with a construction company, but it’s really just a cover for, as suspected, organized crime and gangster activities. The leader (Mr. Kang) is a mid-level boss, while the other two are his subordinates. There’s very little known about the head of the entire organization — lots of rumors, but no facts. She pulled Mr. Kang’s phone records, and notes a high number of calls to a particular number — the same hotel Hee-kyung had gone to for her hotel exorcism.

Speaking of whom, Boss Kang (Seung Ho) is presently on the hunt for that map. He tells his men to track the motorcycle to find the purse-snatcher. (The subordinates are pretty hilarious themselves — the balding one is the senior of the two, and is no-nonsense and serious. The taller, non-balding one is a cheerful idiot, but ever so endearing because of it.)

Meanwhile, Hee-kyung thinks back to the hotel trip and remembers thinking something felt strange about the employees. Eun-jae unintentionally (and unwittingly) insults Hee-kyung by saying she should have been suspicious the moment Hee-kyung was hired, since she’s neither very famous as a supernatural specialist nor known for her skill.

Eun-jae’s unaware of having offended, but Hee-kyung, smarting from the blow to her pride, smiles a devilish smile as she makes a proposal. The guys wince, knowing Hee-kyung’s personality, as they brace themselves.

Hee-kyung’s plan has a basis in logic (the hotel workers might recognize them, therefore a disguise is needed) but she derives much pleasure in twisting the situation for her own amusement. And that amusement takes the form of dressing Little Miss Perfect as a cheap by-the-hour hooker.

But the others can’t protest because Hee-kyung has a somewhat logical cover story all prepared. She explains that the key to disguises are to go completely contrary to one’s normal image. Thus Mu-yeol is transformed into a naive young virgin who knows nothing of women (Yong-su: “Wow, you look just like Superman! Before he changes into Superman, I mean.”), who falls in love for the first time with the young tearoom prostitute. He’s too pure-hearted to care about her profession, whereas the horrible mean tearoom girl is just out to play with him.

With that, Hee-kyung sends the couple off on their assignment to the hotel. She cackles to herself, and Yong-su tries to think of what/whom Hee-kyung resembles. “Ah! The queen from Snow White.”

They arrive at the hotel, which is staffed completely by former gangsters, and set out to conduct some surveillance. Mu-yeol’s mission is to sneak into the manager’s office and plant a listening bug inside.

Just as Mu-yeol is about to break in, the alarm goes off, and he comes face to face with someone coming OUT — a burglar! The intruder runs off, and the hotel staff rush off in pursuit. Mu-yeol can’t resist the urge to join the chase, and easily subdues the thief.

Still, he has to explain his presence to the staff, and with the aid of a well-timed phone call from Eun-jae, he pretends to have gotten off at the wrong floor. He’s managed not to get caught, but he’s failed his mission, and Eun-jae’s disappointed.

Elsewhere, the two gangsters arrive at a sort of motocross playground, where bikers gather to perform all sorts of tricks. The henchmen ask around, trying to locate their guy among the participants. They’re close, but no cigar just yet.

Hee-kyung has some escaping to do of her own, seeing that three very angry middle-aged ladies have arrived outside her apartment, ready to beat Hee-kyung down for ripping them off. Lucky for her, she has the keys to Eun-jae’s apartment (Eun-jae asked her to feed her pet iguana while she was gone), so she crashes there and waits for the angry women to leave.

Eun-jae receives word from the hotel manager that he’d like to treat them to lunch for catching the robber. Happy at this turn of events — easy access to the manager’s office — Eun-jae smiles broadly at Mu-yeol, who’s so stunned at the full force of her smile that he clutches his heart and gasps, “If you’re gonna smile, tell me beforehand, so I can prepare myself!”

Arriving at the manager’s office, the secretary tells them to wait for the manager in his office. Inside, they busily set out to plant their listening bug — but when the manager arrives with another man, Mu-yeol and Eun-jae recognize the guest as their gangster adversary, Mr. Kang.

They dash under the desk to hide while Gangster Kang and Hotel Manager step inside to discuss their nefarious gangster plans. Hotel Manager tells his secretary to call Mu-yeol, and Mu-yeol frantically (but quietly) digs in his pocket for his phone to turn it off. Stuck in an awkward position, he fumbles in a panic and just barely manages to remove the battery before the secretary’s call goes through.

Gangster Kang tells Hotel Manager that their boss wants him to bring him “it,” and the wall safe is opened as he retrieves a tube containing another piece of the map. It seems the gangster boss is rather obsessed with the treasure hunt, and once Jo Man Gi’s death became public, he’s become keen to start the search again.

 
Back home, Hee-kyung takes advantage of her access to Eun-jae’s designer wardrobe and only resists the urge for a second before giving in. She decks herself out in Eun-jae’s fancy clothes and saunters outside — only to run into the angry women. They attack her furiously, shoving her to the ground and demanding their money.

The fight gets pretty vicious and Hee-kyung is losing badly, until a handsome stranger appears out of nowhere and startles everyone into silence. The women demand their money back from her, but they back off when Handsome Stranger challenges, “So are you going to take this to the police then?”

He extracts Hee-kyung from the fray, then takes her aside to treat her wounds. Hee-kyung jumps to the conclusion (as she is wont to do) that he’s interested in her, but (to us, at least) it’s clear that he treats her in a brusque, almost professional manner.

There’s a brief interlude as our two subordinate gangsters indulge in some dancing and breaking — it’s kind of irrelevant, but so random that it’s pretty funny. They stop as soon as Mr. Kang arrives, and accept their jajangmyun delivery from the delivery-guy-slash-motorcycle-thief. Although the gangsters don’t appear to recognize Delivery Biker Guy, he recognizes them, and panics. He shoves them aside and runs out, prompting them to follow…

…but before he gets very far, he’s sent flying by a blow from an unexpected source. It’s Mystery Stranger, aka Hee-kyung’s rescuer. He steps out of the shadows, cool and elegant, and the gangsters immediately bow in deference: “Boss!”

End skit

The ending bit this episode is pretty random, but comes with a laugh-out-loud (for me) punchline.

Mu-yeol, dressed as a pirate (and looking a lot like Heechul, don’t you think?), yells out, “Let’s go! Onward to Treasure Island!” A Peter Pan-ish figure staggers onbaord and brandishes a wimpy dagger, declaring, “I’ve got you, Captain Hook!”

 
Mu-yeol clarifies, “But I’m Captain Silver.”

Peter Pan mutters, “Then what’s that thing on your arm?”

 
Back in the real world, Mu-yeol dreams as he sleeps on his arm (sleepy arm + treasure map preoccupation = Captain Hook dream!), right through classtime with his sole remaining student.

 
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• Mixed-up Investigative Agency: Case 5
• Mixed-up Investigative Agency: Case 4
• Mixed-up Investigative Agency: Case 3
• Mixed-up Investigative Agency: Case 2
• Mixed-up Investigative Agency: Case 1