The Man Living in Our House: Episode 14

by LollyPip

As one chapter of Nan-gil’s struggle closes, another begins, from a direction he never suspected. Unfortunately, unlike last time, he’s unprepared for the fight he’ll have to take on. He’s going to need every friend and connection he’s made in his time at Hong Mandoo to fight this war, and fulfill his promise to Na-ri and her mother to preserve their precious land.

EPISODE 14 RECAP

Nan-gil wraps Na-ri in a big warm backhug, and asks her again to date him like a normal couple. Na-ri agrees to give it a shot, and tells him that a normal man won’t disappear at night and come home injured. Well, she’s got him there.

Nan-gil teasingly asks if it’s okay that all he’s good at is making mandoo, but Na-ri says he’s good at many things. She says he’s good at taking care of the land, and being a stepfather, which makes him beam proudly.

She walks him out and they argue over who gets to watch the other go inside, enjoying their new childish relationship. But a car pulls up and out steps CEO Bae, and Nan-gil asks Na-ri to go inside while he sees what he wants.

CEO Bae is upset that Nan-gil hasn’t called him since stealing the secret ledger, and demands to know what he plans to do with it. Nan-gil says that he knows Bae fears CEO Kwon more than prosecutors, and tells CEO Bae that he’s only doing this because he was pushed.

CEO Bae grabs Nan-gil’s shirt and threatens Na-ri, but Nan-gil doesn’t rise to his bait, and just shoves off Bae’s hands and tells him to stop. CEO Bae orders Nan-gil to bring the ledger and Wan-shik to him tomorrow evening.

Deok-shim finds Deok-bong in his room, and asks him not to tell her mom that she’s had a hard time. He bristles when she asks about Yeo-joo, and Deok-shim agrees that she’s annoying. But it makes Deok-bong think, and he decides to follow Yeo-joo’s advice to write down everything he likes about Na-ri. She’d demonstrated by telling him everything she likes about him, such as how good he looks in a suit, his confidence, and his strong work ethic.

Wan-shik is still holed up in a motel room, and he calls Nan-gil and asks him to meet. He says that he hasn’t decided anything yet, but seems desperate to talk. While he’s on the phone, his one trusted thug sneaks out to the hallway and calls Lawyer Kim to give up their location in return for his own family’s safety.

Nan-gil is worried about the promise he made to Na-ri not to sneak out and get injured, but he goes to see Wan-shik anyway. In the car, Nan-gil tells Wan-shik that he should turn himself in before CEO Bae is arrested. But Wan-shik is scared to go to jail, and prefers to keep running.

Nan-gil jokes that he’ll let Wan-shik rob him for money on his birthday, and when Wan-shik complains that he talks about birthdays all the time, Nan-gil reminds Wan-shik that he started it. Since they were orphans with no parents or birthdays, Wan-shik had said that the one upside was that every day out of the year could potentially be his birthday.

He tells Wan-shik in a kind voice that if he turns himself in, he’ll help him when he gets out. Wan-shik scoffs at the idea of making his living making mandoo, but he doesn’t say no, either. They head back to the motel, but the moment Wan-shik steps out of the car he’s attacked by CEO Bae’s minions, and jumps back in while Nan-gil drives them away.

Wan-shik is deeply shaken at this betrayal, and Nan-gil says that there’s nobody on his side. He offers again to help Wan-shik if he turns himself in, and Wan-shik asks for the secret ledger.

Later that night, CEO Bae paces, staring at a photo of the ledger sent to him by Wan-shik. Wan-shik calls and asks him to meet, offering the ledger in return for a guarantee of his safety. They arrange a place and time, and Wan-shik tells CEO Bae to come without his thugs.

Wan-shik waits on the top of a parking garage for CEO Bae, who shows up with Lawyer Kim and a couple of thugs after all. Wan-shik refuses to hand over the ledger without a guarantee of safety, but CEO Bae motions to his thugs to advance.

Nan-gil steps out of the car where he’s been hiding, and everyone on CEO Bae’s side freezes. He stands next to Wan-shik and tells CEO Bae that he should learn something when two of his sons betray him. Sirens ring out as the cops arrive to arrest CEO Bae. It was a trap!

Bae warns Nan-gil that this isn’t the end, threatening to find him and Wan-shik wherever they go, but neither of them responds. Wan-shik looks resigned as he’s also arrested, and he asks Nan-gil how he spent his time in prison. He smiles when Nan-gil says that he found two brothers and learned to make mandoo. Awww, so that’s where he met Joon and Han-yi.

Nan-gil finds Na-ri waiting for him in his office when he gets home. He apologizes for not telling her before he left, saying that he didn’t want to worry her, and she counters that a normal girlfriend would have called him. But she didn’t, scared it would put him in more danger. Nan-gil tells her what happened tonight in an attempt to assure her that everything is over now, but Na-ri doesn’t believe him and storms out still angry.

The boys can tell something is off when Na-ri doesn’t come to breakfast in the morning and Nan-gil snaps at them to hush and eat, and they give him curious looks when he tells them that Na-ri didn’t sleep well last night. They’re further confused when she shows up in a chipper mood, except that she pointedly ignores Nan-gil altogether, ha.

The guys hold a meeting to help Nan-gil get back into Na-ri’s good graces. Young-gyu looks it up online, and finds suggestions ranging from an apology hug to using aegyo (they all cringe at that the idea of Nan-gil trying to be cute, yikes). They eventually hit on a good plan — listening to Na-ri. The boys send Nan-gil off with a hearty “fighting!”

Secretary Kwon levels her disapproving glare at Deok-bong until he stops working to listen to her. She wants to know if Nan-gil and Na-ri know how the fire at the orphanage was started all those years ago, thinking it’s only right that they know the whole truth about the property they’re fighting so hard to protect.

Deok-bong says that he intends to let Na-ri keep the land, though he plans to keep the truth about the accident a secret, but she worries that his father won’t allow it. He asks Secretary Kwon to take pity on him since he has feelings for Na-ri, and wants to hide his family’s shame from her.

Her expression goes cold, and she says that her friends died in that accident for no reason, “But all you feel is a bit of shame?” She looks at him as if she couldn’t be more disappointed in him, and leaves the room.

Nan-gil finds Na-ri in her room and generously announces that he’s here to listen, only to be shut down when Na-ri says she doesn’t want to talk. Well, there goes that plan. Na-ri tells him to go back to work, and he gives in for now, but frowns when he overhears her cheerily answer a call from Deok-bong. He’s extra unhappy later when he spots her getting into Deok-bong’s car.

Nan-gil goes back to work, and takes a call from Na-ri’s dad’s friend Jung-sook. She’s calling on Dad’s behalf, and asks Nan-gil to come see him alone. When she hangs up, Dad asks if she thinks Nan-gil hasn’t told Na-ri anything, and she tells him you have to get rid of guys like Nan-gil quickly.

Deok-bong admits to Na-ri that he needs to tell her something important, and offers to take her to the place in town he hates most. He takes her to a spot overlooking the lake, and tells Na-ri that his longtime girlfriend dumped him here. He explains that their families had a legal disagreement and his family won, so she broke up with him.

He tells Na-ri that whether he learns to love this place again depends on her, and she asks him not to burden her that way. He pouts but says that he’s giving up on building the resort, and will fight his family on her behalf.

As they walk, Na-ri tells Deok-bong that she and Nan-gil are a couple now. He says that he doesn’t think they could ever be a normal couple, and gives her the same advice Yeo-joo gave him, to write down the reasons she likes Nan-gil.

He tells her his reasons for liking her — that she’s honest, and makes him laugh, and is mature. She says this makes her uncomfortable, so he backs off and says that he’s going to Seoul to fight for her.

Nan-gil shows up at the nursing home, and Na-ri’s dad is a whole different guy this time. He admits that he remembered Nan-gil as soon as he saw him, but that he hid it in front of Na-ri. He tells Nan-gil that he despises CEO Bae, who caused his eyes to go bad, and Nan-gil tells him that he’s not CEO Bae’s son anymore.

Dad doesn’t accept that, and says that he can’t stand seeing Nan-gil with his daughter. He casually adds that he should stay close to her from now on, but that he won’t live in the same house as Nan-gil, and Nan-gil hears it for the threat it’s meant to be.

Deok-bong finds his father in the hospital this time, and confronts him about ordering the start of construction on the resort when the land still belongs to Na-ri. Wait, can he even do that?? His father argues that it’s his land because he was conned, saying that Na-ri’s father offered to sell it to him but the sales documents were fake.

Interestingly, CEO Kwon says that Na-ri’s father ran away and took Na-ri with him, calling it a kidnapping. Deok-bong pretends this information isn’t that shocking, and makes small talk for a moment before leaving. After he’s gone, CEO Kwon tells his wife to go find out what’s going on between Deok-bong and Hong Na-ri.

Nan-gil comes home to find Na-ri helping in the restaurant, and she gets angry all over again when he hesitates to tell her where he’s been. She snaps that things won’t work out between them and leaves, and he follows her to the house. He tells her that he went to see her father on his request, and that he wants to come live here.

Na-ri wonders why he’s acting like a father now after being gone for twenty years. Nan-gil half-jokes that his conscience is bothering him, having broken his promise not to tell her about the visit, but she keeps getting weird ideas. Na-ri just says that’s how normal men and women are when they’re dating.

But Nan-gil doesn’t tell her about her father’s thinly veiled threats, and Deok-bong finds him sitting in the restaurant alone, brooding. He tells Nan-gil that his own father has retreated to a hospital, and asks him to leave the land matters to him.

Deok-bong says that he heard Nan-gil and Na-ri are dating, and asks why he never showed himself to Na-ri before her mother died. He correctly guesses that Nan-gil never imagined being with Na-ri, and tells Nan-gil that Na-ri also has concerns. He asks if they ever talk about it, but Nan-gil’s silence answers the question, and Deok-bong says they aren’t a good match.

Deok-shim’s mother shows up the next morning, scaring her daughter half to death. She asks what’s going on between Deok-bong and Na-ri as if she’s only mildly curious, and Deok-shim blabs that her brother has a crush.

That’s all she says before Deok-bong enters her room and bellows at her. Deok-shim’s mother says that his dad figured it out anyway, and asks if she should meet this Na-ri. Deok-bong and Deok-shim both snap at her in horror.

Nan-gil is dissatisfied with all three chefs’ attempts at mandoo filling, and Young-gyu asks what’s up with him lately. Nan-gil hilariously goes all meek when Na-ri arrives and calls him a mean boss, and she tells him that she’s going to a meeting at the airline.

He pushes her to go back to work, saying that she obviously loves it, and Na-ri yanks his arms from behind his back and says he’s being too parental. She doesn’t like it when he folds his hands in front of himself either, and poor Nan-gil just flails his hands uselessly, hee.

Deok-bong goes back to his father to ask why he’s looking into Na-ri. His dad says it’s because she owned the land, and vows again that he’s going to build a resort there. Deok-bong asks if that will make what he did to his hometown okay, but his father just sneers at him for letting a woman push him around.

Deok-bong runs into Yeo-joo in the hospital lobby, and she says he looks scary today. She’s happy because her father’s hospital bill is less than expected, and Deok-bong quips that it’s no wonder she gets along with Deok-shim so well when she tells him not to be annoying.

She smiles, asking if he feels like she’s a baby sister, like he wants to protect her. He says he doesn’t even feel that way towards Deok-shim, and Yeo-joo tells him not to be that way to her.

At Na-ri’s meeting with the airline, she’s asked to come back to work, and she says she’ll think about it. She runs into Yeo-joo on her way out, and Yeo-joo drags her to a coffee shop to talk. She admits that she’s never worked so hard to get a woman to like her before, and asks Na-ri why that could be.

Na-ri wonders too, since she’s neither a sunbae nor a love interest to Yeo-joo. She says she’s just a link between Yeo-joo and Deok-bong, so Yeo-joo feels like she has to be nice to her.

Yeo-joo denies that this is what’s happening, and she warns Na-ri to stop acting cool and to hang on when a great guy like Deok-bong likes her. She asks Na-ri to imagine Nan-gil working in a mandoo restaurant in Seoul, and says that she would only think he was a good-looking chef and no more.

Na-ri hilariously latches onto only one part of Yeo-joo’s words, and asks jealously if she thinks Nan-gil is cute. They both complain that the idea of working together again makes them nervous. Na-ri tells Yeo-joo to just admit she likes Deok-bong, and they part ways with nothing resolved.

Na-ri visits the nursing home and tells her father that she’s getting his room ready. He says he’s not going to live with her, but he worries that someone should protect the house, and says that he and Na-ri are all each other has in this world.

She tells her dad that he won’t be bored with Nan-gil there running the restaurant, and Dad is surprised that Nan-gil didn’t tell her that he refused to live with Nan-gil after what he did to him.

Na-ri angrily reminds Dad that this all started when he abandoned her and Mom and didn’t take responsibility for his actions. She tells him that Nan-gil was dragged into this mess because of him.

Dad counters that he was just trying to survive, but Na-ri doesn’t buy it, since he survived by dumping his debt on her and her mother. She tells her dad that if he won’t live with Nan-gil, then she’ll let Nan-gil make the final decision, as the person who protected their land all this time.

The fight with her father makes Na-ri think about everything Nan-gil has done and suffered, just to protect her family’s land. She goes back to the restaurant (Nan-gil excitedly drops his dough mid-knead when he sees her, so cute) and calls an employee meeting.

She says that they’ve been under a lot of stress lately, so they’re going on a team-building retreat. Nan-gil objects to her taking charge, but the boys start to chant, and he’s overruled.

Na-ri enlists Deok-shim to invite Deok-bong with the excuse that she needs a guardian, but he initially refuses. She finally reveals that Na-ri wants him to come, and that changes his mind.

Na-ri tells Nan-gil about her talk with her father, and asks why he left out that her dad refuses to live with him. He says that he misunderstood, and Na-ri next asks how he thinks his life would be if her father hadn’t abandoned her and her mother.

Nan-gil says he would have worked at a different mandoo place, and visited her mother sometimes. Na-ri apologizes, saying that she knew he was hurt because of her, but she got angry instead of being shocked and scared. She feels bad that he still has panic attacks but endures them for her sake.

Nan-gil says that it’s his choice because he loves her, and that he’s never regretted it. Na-ri orders him never to apologize to her for that again, but he says that he’s been cured of his “Go Nan-gil disease.” Na-ri sincerely thanks him for being her stepfather.

Nan-gil smiles at her, then asks her out on a date so he can prove he’s all better. He takes her to the loudest place he can think of, a video game arcade. They spend hours playing together, and Nan-gil doesn’t have even the slightest hint of an episode.

Sometime later, the team heads to one of Greenland’s resorts for their retreat, and Deok-bong tells them to enjoy themselves. He particularly notices how excited Deok-shim is to be there. As Nan-gil tries to light the grill, Deok-bong shows up in his casual Nan-gil-lookalike outfit. Both Deok-shim and Na-ri notice, and Na-ri laughs a little at his obvious attempt to dress like the man she likes.

At dinner Young-gyu brings Deok-shim some shrimp, which gives Deok-bong an idea. He presents Na-ri with a plate of food, while Nan-gil shoots him the stink-eye. Nan-gil turns her attention back to him with garlic sauce he made.

After dinner, Na-ri asks Nan-gil why he’s teaching the boys to make the mandoo filling lately. She thinks he promised her father he would leave, and says that she can’t imagine Hong Mandoo without him.

Nan-gil turns it around, asking if this trip isn’t her way of saying goodbye. She admits that it is, that he needs to learn to live as Go Nan-gil, not her stepfather or the owner of Hong Mandoo. He agrees that they’ll consider this retreat the start of his new life.

He promises to try living as a normal man, get a job and take vacations, and even get a new girlfriend. Na-ri glares until he says that new girlfriend will be Hong Na-ri from Seoul, who he doesn’t know. She agrees that it’s a good plan, and promises to wait.

Deok-bong is distracted from his broody glaring at Nan-gil and Na-ri by a call from Secretary Kwon. She says that his father has changed the layout of the resort, and she can’t take it anymore.

Deok-shim drags Na-ri over to her brother, and he jokes that it’s sometimes nice having a little sister. He tells Na-ri that he’s down because he has to fight his father, admitting that he’s nervous.

He asks if she has any memories of her father, and she says that all she remembers is her first flight with him. Deok-bong didn’t know she found her father, but Nan-gil interrupts before she can tell him about it. He wordlessly wraps a blanket around Na-ri’s shoulders, and she wanders off when the tension between the guys grows overwhelming.

Deok-bong wonders how her father could dare show his face after kidnapping her for her mother’s land. Nan-gil looks shocked, but he remembers Na-ri telling him that her mother always denied that she went on a flight with her father.

Na-ri and Deok-shim nod off in the backseat of the car on the drive home the next day. Deok-bong asks Nan-gil when he’s leaving, and he says he’ll go after the land matter is settled. Nan-gil jokes that Deok-bong doesn’t seem sad, but Deok-bong says sincerely that he wants Nan-gil to live a good life.

In the backseat, Na-ri opens her eyes, having overheard their entire conversation.

When they arrive back at the restaurant, they find Na-ri’s father and Jung-sook waiting for them, bags in hand. Nan-gil looks at Na-ri’s father with suspicion, recalling Deok-bong saying that he once kidnapped Na-ri for the land. Suddenly, her dad’s smile doesn’t seem so friendly anymore.

COMMENTS

I knew there was something I didn’t like about Na-ri’s dad in the previous episode, and I’m not happy to have my suspicions confirmed. It felt strange when Jung-sook called Na-ri to meet her father, when before she was so adamant about not telling Nan-gil he was even alive. And Dad himself seemed to overreact when he heard mention of CEO Bae — it just felt off somehow, that he wouldn’t have known who he was borrowing money from those years ago. But I was still downright disgusted when he admitted everything to Nan-gil, and it’s gross that he thinks he still has a right to say who Na-ri should be with after he abandoned her decades ago.

Now I’m working under the assumption that Dad’s marriage to Na-ri’s mother was never legally dissolved, and that despite all of Nan-gil’s fighting to preserve Mom’s land, he’s going to be able to legally swoop in and take it all back. And now that CEO Bae is in prison, there’s nothing to stop him. I honestly have no idea how Nan-gil is going to save the land this time, especially since he’s planning on leaving soon, though I hope that the secret Deok-bong knows about the fire at the orphanage will somehow be able to help.

Speaking of Deok-bong, I’m so conflicted about him right now. I think he’s a sweet guy and has his heart in the right place, but seriously, it’s way past time for him to let Na-ri go. She has never, not even once and not even a little bit, indicated that she might be interested in him romantically. On the contrary, she’s made her feelings for Nan-gil so clear that the whole town knows about it. Yet Deok-bong keeps pestering her about it (again in a nice way, but it’s still pestering) and I don’t find it cute or even heart-wrenching, like I do with many second leads. I only feel for jilted second leads when the object of their affections has been conflicted about them as well, so in this case I don’t see Deok-bong as someone to pity or feel bad for, because his misery over Na-ri is entirely of his own making. She loves someone else, and has since the moment she met him — time to accept reality and move on.

On the flip side, I don’t hate Yeo-joo as many viewers seem to, though I certainly see why she’s easy to hate. She’s never been remorseful over her boyfriend-stealing behavior, and her reason for hating Na-ri is ridiculous (she was too nice to Yeo-joo behind her back? What the what, now??). But Yeo-joo does seem to have calmed down in her pursuit of Deok-bong, and I found her reasons for liking him to be pretty honest and genuine. If there’s one positive thing I can say about Yeo-joo it’s that she’s always open about who she is, and if Deok-bong decides to give her a shot, at least he’ll know exactly what he’s getting, unlike every single one of her previous conquests.

And awww, I’m so happy my wish came true for Wan-shik. He did the right thing and turned himself in, and when he’s served his time he can have a chance at a new, clean life if he wants it. I love that the show didn’t have him do it for the same reasons Nan-gil did — mostly, Wan-shik is just scared and has no other options — but what’s important is that this can change his life for the better if that’s what he wants. I do believe there’s a good man under the violent man CEO Bae created, because even in his fear and desperation, Wan-shik thought to tell CEO Bae not to bring any of his other adopted “sons” to their meetup. In his own way, he was trying to protect them from being arrested as well, and that tells me that with time and distance, Wan-shik will be just fine.

 
RELATED POSTS

• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 13
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 12
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 11
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 10
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 9
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 8
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 7
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 6
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 5
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 4
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 3
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 2
• The Man Living in Our House: Episode 1