Itaewon Class: Episode 3

by dramallama

Itaewon proves itself a tough neighborhood to break into, and our hero reflects on how to best support his new business. Struggling in the midst of bustling businesses can be demoralizing, and desperate times are calling for desperate decisions from the Danbam staff. A straightforward promotional campaign leads to a chain of unexpected events, and our hero finds himself entangled in even more challenges and old enemies.

  
EPISODE 3 RECAP

Sae-ro-yi and his Danbam bar staff prepare for business, and Sae-ro-yi summons them for their pre-open ritual. The chef, MA HYUN-YI (Lee Joo-young) asks if they can skip it this time, but hall staff CHOI SEUNG-KWON (Ryu Kyung-soo) scolds her to follow orders. They stand together and stretch to the national warm-up song. Ha!

At a high school, a bully harasses a classmate and takes a sleeping student’s pen to write on the victim’s head. The sleeping student, Jo Yi-seo (the person who consulted the therapist in the first episode), wakes up and takes out her phone to take a video of herself, and then pans over to the scene of the harassment. She posts the video on her social media, and it goes viral, with loads of comments condemning the bully.

Yi-seo scrolls happily through her comments, and we see a classmate following her. He introduces us to Yi-seo, a social media star and blogger who transferred from New York last year. She excels at everything — sports, school, music, art — and is considered a genius with her IQ of 162. The classmate, JANG GEUN-SOO (Kim Dong-hee), seems smitten with her and thinks she looks like an angel.

A shrill voice yells for Yi-seo in her neighborhood, and Yi-seo casually approaches this raging woman, who’s the wealthy mother of the bully that Yi-seo exposed on her social media. The mother slaps Yi-seo and berates her for incriminating her daughter. Then, Yi-seo turns and asks Geun-soo if he caught that on camera.

Geun-soo nervously nods and narrates, “With the face of an angel, Yi-seo had the personality of the devil.” Yi-seo warns the mother that she may need to escalate this further because that slap stung. She rubs her slapped cheek and starts laughing. She implies blame on the mother’s poor parenting, and when the mother tries to push her, Yi-seo throws the mother’s hand away.

Yi-seo approaches the mother and threatens to share the video with her daughter’s future college, future company, and her future in-laws. When Yi-seo gets to the potential of the bully’s children, the mother erupts in anger and raises her hand to strike Yi-seo again.

Then, someone intervenes and stops the mother — it’s Se-ro-yi. He tries to de-escalate the situation, but Yi-seo uses that window to slap the mother. Hard. Everyone looks shocked, and Yi-seo nonchalantly calls it a counter attack. Geun-soo explains, “Yi-seo is also a sociopath.” Yi-seo tells Se-ro-yi to mind his own business and goes on her way, with Geun-soo right behind her.

Se-ro-yi catches Yi-seo before she boards her taxi, and he scolds her for hitting an elder. She reminds him that he doesn’t know the situation, but he insists that she was in the wrong. Her voice trembling, Yi-seo claims that her father died because of that lady, and that hits home for Se-ro-yi. He lets her go, and Yi-seo rolls down the window of the taxi to admit her lie. She sticks her tongue out at him before the car drives off, and Se-ro-yi looks annoyed.

Irritated by the interaction with Yi-seo, Se-ro-yi slams his fist on the table at Danbam. Chef Hyun-yi assumes it’s because they have no customers, but he explains that he met a psycho earlier. Seung-kwon immediately asks if she was pretty, which earns him a disapproving look from Hyun-yi.

At school, Yi-seo gets scolded for hitting an elder, she asks why that’s not okay. She wonders aloud if she needs to tolerate an unfair beating because the woman is an elder and the wife of their district head. Before Yi-seo exacerbates the situation, her homeroom teacher ushers her out of the office.

At Jang Ga HQ, Geun-won presents his idea for a Jang Ga dating app to draw more people to their low-performing Itaewon bar. He credits the success of their Hongdae and Kondae Jang Ga bar to their popularity as hook up sites. President Jang asks Min-jung for her opinion, and she admits that she’s not sold on the idea. He then turns to Soo-ah, and she opposes this idea.

Geun-won’s smile drops, and Soo-ah explains that the Hongdae and Kondae Jang Ga bars happen to be popular for hook ups because of their location, not because it was the company’s intention. She thinks that framing the Jang Ga bars as hook up sites would ruin their brand’s merit for quality food.

Geun-won argues that this is an outdated perspective, but Soo-ah says that most importantly, hook up bars don’t suit Itaewon. Defensive Geun-won reacts angrily, but Min-jung agrees with Soo-ah. Advertising their bar for hook ups seems ridiculous, since that’s more on brand with clubs and lounge bars.

President Jang agrees with the criticisms and asks Geun-won if he knows the average age of customers in Itaewon. Geun-won doesn’t seem to know, so President Jang lectures him on the demographics of Itaewon: Due to the higher housing rates, young people in their late twenties and early thirties who live comfortably tend to live in Itaewon. He questions whether these bougier people would come to a bar looking to hook up.

Geun-won seems to shrink nervously as his father approaches him with more chastising words. President Jang rips up Geun-won’s proposal as he asserts that taste, ambience, and quality are the priorities of their Itaewon customers. He says that they need to win over customers with their food — not with his trash proposal.

President Jang reassigns the Itaewon bar management to Soo-ah, and when Geun-won meekly tries to reclaim his area, President Jang slaps him in front of the whole room. President Jang further mortifies his son by reminding him of the deficit over the past three months. Geun-won hangs his head in defeat, as President Jang calls him incompetent.

After the meeting, Geun-won asks Soo-ah if she has a grudge against him, and she responds that his proposal was bound to get rejected anyway. He warns her to pick the right side, since he’s in line to inherit the company soon. He smugly predicts that his father doesn’t have many years left leading the company. Soo-ah asks if he’s sure that he’s the heir, and she leaves him with her skepticism.

President Jang seems to ponder the same issue as he looks at the photo of his two sons, the younger one being the sociopath’s follower, Jang Geun-soo. The younger Jang son looks through his social media and smiles at Yi-seo’s posts. In one of her photos, he notices the caption indicating that she’s at the Jamsu bridge.

As Se-ro-yi walks through the subway station, he sees a Jang Ga advertisement with President Jang’s face. He remembers the last words he exchanged with President Jang — that convictions and ambition are viewed as stubborn and foolish by those with nothing — and clenches his fists in anger.

At Danbam, Hyun-yi’s patience runs thin as she repeatedly teaches Seung-kwon how to work the register. She yells at him for being an idiot, and Se-ro-yi confirms this as he enters his bar. Hyun-yi points to a large box that was delivered earlier, and Se-ro-yi says that he ordered this for marketing purposes. They all look inside the box, and his staff look slightly confused.

Geun-soo arrives at the Jamsu bridge on his scooter and finds Yi-seo. He interpreted her social media post as her call for his deployment, but she denies this, calling him a stalker. Looking out from the bridge, Yi-seo asks Geun-soo, “Have you ever thought, ‘It would have been better if I wasn’t born.’?” Geun-soo respond that he never has and asks why she would think this.

Yi-seo says that everyone dies eventually, so she finds all the studying and effort tiring. Geun-soo jokingly asks if Yi-seo came to the bridge to die, and Yi-seo responds that she’s too precious to die now and suggests that they go for a ride. Geun-soo has plans to meet a hyung at a club, and Yi-seo invites herself, despite his objection.

Geun-soo feigns reluctance and tells Yi-seo to grab tightly onto his waist. When she wraps his arms around him, he can’t help but smile. They ride to Itaewon, and a young boy chases after his basketball on their path. Geun-soo stops abruptly and manages to avoid an accident, but the sudden stop flings Yi-seo into the air.

Nearby, a person in a promotional chestnut (“danbam”) mascot outfit passes out flyers, and upon noticing flying Yi-seo, the chestnut runs to catch her as she falls. The chestnut head rolls off, and we that it’s Se-ro-yi, who hits his head on the ground but absorbs the impact of Yi-seo’s fall. When he sees Yi-seo, he immediately recognizes her, and his concern flips to annoyance.

After checking on the startled boy and mother, Geun-soo checks on Yi-seo, who head butts him with her helmet as punishment for almost killing her. Se-ro-yi points to the two familiar students accusingly, but before he can do anything, his eyes roll to the back of his head, and he passes out. Geun-soo and the surrounding crowd run to him in concern while Yi-seo observes apathetically.

President Jang meets with Soo-ah and marvels that 10 years have already passed since they first met. He recalls their first meeting and blithely mentions that it was after Geun-won killed Manager Park in a hit-and-run accident. Soo-ah seems unsettled by this casual acknowledgement, but President Jang knows that it’s not news to her.

He mentions Se-ro-yi’s Danbam bar in Itaewon near the Jang Ga bar and asks Soo-ah if she knew this. She explains that she didn’t mention it to him because it’s a bar too small to compete with them. Then, President Jang asks what side she would take if the same situation as 10 years ago unfolded again.

With some hesitance, Soo-ah astutely responds that she belongs to the Jang Ga family, and President Jang is pleased with her loyalty as a return his investment. After confirming Soo-ah’s loyalty, President Jang dismisses his Danbam and trusts Soo-ah to handle her friend.

In the emergency room, Geun-soo tells Yi-seo that Se-ro-yi thankfully didn’t have any head injuries, but he collapsed because he was overworked. Se-ro-yi slowly opens his eyes jerks away when he realizes that he’s at a hospital.

Se-ro-yi looks around for his chestnut suit, and Geun-soo explains that they left it on site because of the emergency. Se-ro-yi laments that it was expensive, since he had it custom-made, and Geun-soo offers to reimburse him.

Putting on his chestnut suit shoes, Se-ro-yi grabs his bag of flyers, and Geun-soo asks if he runs a shop. Se-ro-yi explains that he’s promoting his Itaewon bar, and Yi-seo comments that he’s old-fashioned. Out of genuine curiosity, Se-ro-yi asks Yi-seo how people promote these days, and she responds that he can post ads online or on social media, though the success of such campaigns depends on how decent the bar is.

Se-ro-yi thanks her for the advice and starts to head out. Geun-soo tries to stop him, since the doctor suggested more rest, but Se-ro-yi says that he’s busy. Geun-soo confirms that he’ll pay for the hospital bill and apologizes for the trouble. Se-ro-yi says that if he’s so sorry, he should visit the bar. He hands Geun-soo a flyer with a smile and leaves the hospital.

As they leave the hospital, Geun-soo tells Yi-seo that Se-ro-yi seems like a clean and decent person. Yi-seo says that she would have claimed much more money for the accident, which proves his point. Geun-soo answers a call from his hyung, who yells at him for being late. He promises to head over as soon as possible.

Geun-soo suggests that they rain check on the club, but Yi-seo is still in. Yi-seo takes a longer look at the flyer and remembers Se-ro-yi thanking her for the promotion advice, since he just started. That seems to affect her, but she rips up the flyer and throws it in the air as if she doesn’t care.

10 years ago, young Yi-seo nervously waits to receive the baton from her classmate in a relay race. Her mom roots for her on the sidelines, and Yi-seo tries to catch up the girl in front of her. She reaches out and pushes the girl so that she can win the race, and Mom stops cheering when she notices this. Yi-seo looks pleased with her win, but the rest of the audience disapproves of her cheating.

Mom hears from Yi-seo’s teacher that her daughter is excessively competitive and shows signs of sociopathy, which should be discussed with a therapist. Mom approaches Yi-seo and unexpectedly praises her great performance. Yi-seo can’t believe that Mom would endorse this behavior and accuses Mom of having an unresolved trauma through which she fulfills her unsatisfying life through her daughter’s achievements.

Yi-seo’s accusation also earns her Mom’s praise for being so smart, and Yi-seo is perplexed by Mom’s response. Mom says that she won’t scold Yi-seo for this because she doesn’t want Yi-seo to live an unsatisfactory life like her. She explains, “Everyone will think and judge from their own perspective, so ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are ambiguous. But standards for excellence are clear because you’re marked by numbers.” She holds Yi-seo’s #1 stamped hand as reference.

At the club, Yi-seo dances freely as she narrates, “I understood what you meant and how much you loved me, Mom. I understood it all. I’m an ordinary person, but I was born smart and pretty. Acceptance to a prestigious university, getting hired at a big firm, living a successful life… plenty of people will fail even if they put in the effort, but I can achieve this if I try. The endless desire for success, the ensuing effort… the damn effort — I’ll likely be tired until I die, which is why I wish the world would explode instead.”

Geun-soo and his club hyung (cameo by Yoon Park) watch Yi-seo dance, and the hyung asks what Geun-soo’s relationship is with her. He responds that they’re just friends, so Club Hyung says that he’s going to pursue her. Geun-soo stops him and admits that he likes her and that he just realized this now, so Club Hyung retreats. Yi-seo happily waves at him, and Geun-soo waves back at his crush.

In front of Danbam, Hyun-yi and Seung-kwon try to feed a stray cat, and they bicker about why the cat isn’t eating — if it’s Hyun-yi’s poor cooking skills or Seung-kwon’s face. Lol. Se-ro-yi finds them outside, and they ask where the chestnut costume went. Se-ro-yi brushes it off as a vague situation and asks why they’re outside. Obviously, they have no customers.

Club Hyung brings Geun-soo and Yi-seo to eat at the Jang Ga bar, citing many recommendations. Geun-soo sheepishly suggests that they go elsewhere, but Yi-seo, amused by his discomfort, insists that they go inside. The server asks to check Yi-seo’s ID before they enter, and he notes that she looks nothing like her ID photo. They manage to enter, but Soo-ah notices them.

She tests them by asking if they’re all close, and they nod. She asks Geun-soo what his friend’s name is, and he immediately responds that it’s Jo Yi-seo. Wrong. Soo-ah shows him the ID that has a different name, and she tells them to come back after they graduate high school.

Back on the Itaewon streets, embarrassed Geun-soo apologizes to Club Hyung, who suggests that they go eat dumplings. Yi-seo notices another place and points to the familiar bar as an alternative suggestion: Danbam.

Inside Danbam, Se-ro-yi looks at their books and expresses concern about the business. Hyun-yi points to Seung-kwon’s scary face as the problem while Seung-kwon blames Hyun-yi’s cooking. He remembers Yi-seo’s recommendations, and he asks his staff if they’re active on social media. Seung-kwon claims proficiency with an old platform (equivalent to Myspace, heh). Hyun-yi supports the idea of promoting on social media, but their conversation is cut short by customers, familiar faces to Se-ro-yi.

Seung-kwon notices that the customers seem to familiar to his boss, but Se-ro-yi doesn’t go into their history. Se-ro-yi decides to take a gander at the other bars in the neighborhood and tells Seung-kwon to check the customers’ IDs before taking their order. When he looks at Yi-seo’s ID, he can tell it’s fake (Yi-seo claims that the photo was taken pre-plastic surgery.) but remembers Se-ro-yi’s despondence about their empty bar, and he decides to serve them anyway.

Walking around the neighborhood, Se-ro-yi notices that many bars are packed or even have lines out the door. He remembers a section in President Jang’s autobiography about the foundation being more important than marketing — that the reason for success and failure can be found in the business itself.

At Danbam, Geun-soo notes that Yi-seo hasn’t taken any pictures yet, which is unusual for her. He explains to Club Hyung that Yi-seo is a social media star and usually promotes decent shops on her social media, but this place looks too foul. Club Hyung agrees and asks to exchange social media handles, and Geun-soo looks suspicious of his hyung’s advances.

Walking back to Danbam, he thinks about President Jang’s emphasis on the basics and Yi-seo’s advice on decency. His thoughts are interrupted by Soo-ah, who surprises him with her visit. She explains that she’s supporting the Itaewon location for now, so she can visit him often. She links her arm with his, and Se-ro-yi looks a bit flustered by her proximity.

Soo-ah observes that he seemed deep in thought, and Se-ro-yi shares that he was thinking about how to improve Danbam. Apart from the first month, the business has been in a deficit. Soo-ah offers to look through his accounts, since she’s been trained to identify unnecessary gaps in expenditures.

Se-ro-yi confidently responds that there are no gaps and runs through his list of business management — small floor space and capacity, 25% of sales going to costs, cheaper distribution costs through his connections. He says that the only issue is the high rent, and Soo-ah stops, realizing that he doesn’t need her business advice.

She notes his keen knowledge and asks how he learned all of this, and Se-ro-yi explains that he spent the past 7 years only planning for his business. He admits that he read President Jang’s autobiography multiple times and acknowledges that it was very helpful. Soo-ah looks surprised by the unexpected praise.

Nearing Danbam, Soo-ah says that Itaewon is a difficult place to run a business and asks if Se-ro-yi has considered moving. He responds that he won’t move, and Soo-ah notes that he (his resolve) hasn’t changed at all. Se-ro-yi says that Soo-ah hasn’t changed at all either and says that she’s still pretty. Soo-ah jokes that she probably dresses better now, since she was a bumpkin before.

Then, Soo-ah recognizes the customers in Danbam but decides not to out them as minors. Before she leaves, Se-ro-yi asks if she wants to grab a drink afterwards, and she agrees to meet him later. But as she leaves, she looks back at the underage students and remembers President Jang’s question about which side she’ll choose. She dials the number for the police and admits that she’s actually changed a lot.

Seung-kwon asks Se-ro-yi how the other businesses are doing, and Se-ro-yi admits that everywhere else is busy except for them. Then, Club Hyung orders “Part-Time” to get him a bottle of soju. Seung-kwon freezes for a moment at the disrespect but swallows his pride as fetches the soju with a smile. Se-ro-yi stops Seung-kwon and tells Club Hyung to press the call button instead of making rude demands in banmal.

Geun-soo apologizes on behalf of Club Hyung, but Club Hyung gets belligerent. He asks if their boss taught them to be rude to customers, and Se-ro-yi turns around to confront him. He says that he’s the owner of this bar and has yet to teach his staff that they can behave this way towards obnoxious customers.

Provoked by this insult, Club Hyung pushes Geun-soo aside and grabs Se-ro-yi by his hood. Se-ro-yi takes a few steps back so that they’re visible to their surveillance camera and dares him to hit him there. Club Hyung throws a punch, but Seung-kwon takes the hit after pushing Se-ro-yi to the ground. Seung-kwon says that he can tolerate everything except for seeing his hyung getting hit.

Geun-soo apologizes again and tries to de-escalate the situation, but it’s no use. Club Hyung thrusts himself forward to hit Seung-kwon, but he’s knocked unconscious by Seung-kwon’s punch. Yi-seo looks entertained by the scene.

Se-ro-yi recovers from his fall and tries to stop Seung-kwon, but Seung-kwon flips his boss on the ground. Seung-kwon grabs the pot of soup, and Geun-soo yells at him to stop, since Club Hyung is already unconscious. But Seung-kwon pushes him aside and pours the hot soup on Club Hyung’s leg to wake him up. Club Hyung wakes up screaming in pain and apologizes, but Seung-kwon doesn’t stop.

As punishment, Seung-kwon grabs a bottle of soju to hit the rude customer, but someone breaks through to him, “Hey, you gangster!” It’s Hyun-yi, and she tells Se-ro-yi that he told him so, that Seung-kwon can’t break his habits and should be fired. Seung-kwon drops the soju bottle and immediately apologizes to Se-ro-yi. Yi-seo laughs and wonders if he’s a psychopath.

Se-ro-yi tells Hyun-yi to call the police, but they’ve already arrived. Outside, Soo-ah smokes as she watches the police arrive at Danbam and apologizes, saying that they’ll push their date to another time. Se-ro-yi tells the police that they had an altercation with a customer, but the police claim that be here in response to a report of minors entering the bar. Se-ro-yi starts to refute the statement and then looks to Yi-seo with suspicion. Uh-oh.

Geun-won receives a late night call from Secretary Kim about his younger brother being held at the police station for entering a bar. President Jang ordered Geun-won to retrieve his brother, but Geun-won responds by asking if he has a younger brother.

At the police station, Seung-kwon throws a fit about the two-month suspension for accepting minors. He blames the students for deceiving them and aggressively defends the bar because the business will go under if they don’t open for a week. He knows what Se-ro-yi went through to open this bar, so this feels personal to him.

Se-ro-yi stands up and tells Seung-kwon to stop being so loud. He says that it’s not right to yell at the policeman and asks Seung-kwon if he really didn’t know that the customers were minors. He can see the response in Seung-kwon’s eyes, so he accepts the penalty.

Geun-soo tries to take responsibility for this penalty, since it was their fault for entering with fake IDs. The police officer tells him to sit still and wait for his guardian, but Geun-soo yells that he has no guardian. Se-ro-yi tells Geun-soo that he’s also being too loud and says that being a minor means that he can’t take responsibility. Geun-soo sits down in defeat, and Yi-seo looks at Se-ro-yi curiously.

Then, Geun-won enters the police station. He recognizes Se-ro-yi and laughs when he pieces together the situation. The police officer recognizes him as the Jang Ga Director, and Geun-won puts his hand on Geun-soo’s shoulder, identifying him as Jang Ga family. Geun-soo shakes off his brother’s hand and looks humiliated.

Geun-won also adds that Se-ro-yi was a high school classmate but also notes that Se-ro-yi never graduated. He extends his hand to greet his old friend, and Seung-kwon gets up to defend his hyung from this threat. Geun-won steps in and asks if he should let this one go, and the police officer agrees to this exception, since Se-ro-yi’s is a friend of the Jang Ga Director.

Se-ro-yi closes the police officer’s laptop and shares that his dream was to become a police officer. He admits that he couldn’t hold in his anger and became a convict, which mean he had to give up his dream. He says that police officers need to carry out the law as upright and honorable citizens, and that’s what he respected about them.

He demands to know why authorities move on Geun-won’s command and says that Geun-won isn’t his friend. He denies special treatment and asks the police officer to follow the law. Se-ro-yi storms out, and Yi-seo, looking troubled, follows him out.

Yi-seo stops him in front of the police station and asks why he won’t accept Geun-won’s help. Se-ro-yi says that he would rather die, and Yi-seo assumes that he won’t accept help because of his pride. Se-ro-yi stops and asks why she’s starting this argument, and Yi-seo says she can’t understand his logic. She says that as a businessman, he should learn to compromise sometimes.

He reciprocates her words from before — to mind her own business since she doesn’t know the situation. She acknowledges that she doesn’t know anything but suggests that he tolerate help this one time. Se-ro-yi yells that one exception will inevitably lead to more exceptions, and those many one-time exceptions will change a person.

Yi-seo rolls her eyes and says that this suspension could end his business. Se-ro-yi isn’t worried about the suspension and says that he can just open his shop again. Geun-won applauds Se-ro-yi and says that the naïve Se-ro-yi hasn’t changed at all. He claims to understand Se-ro-yi’s resistance, since he’s to blame for Se-ro-yi’s prison sentence and high school expulsion.

Geun-won laments that Se-ro-yi’s misunderstanding about his father’s death, and Yi-seo looks alarmed. Geun-won leans into Se-ro-yi’s ear and confirms that his suspicious are correct. He laughs, listing off all the ways he ruined Se-ro-yi’s life and pitying Se-ro-yi’s misfortunes.

Se-ro-yi takes off his hood and rubs the top of his head, attempting to control his anger. Geun-won goads him to punch him like he did before, but Se-ro-yi resists an outburst with his clenched fists. Patting Se-ro-yi’s shoulders, Geun-won derides him for his tolerance to protect his small business.

Se-ro-yi grabs his wrist and says that he’s endured 9 years and plans to endure another 6 years for his statute of limitations to expire. Geun-won looks nervous at this mention, and Se-ro-yi shares that his 15-year plan.

 
COMMENTS

The reunion of the two mortal enemies brought us back to the concepts of absolute “good” and “bad,” but this episode seemed to be shedding light on the exact opposite. While Se-ro-yi and Jang Ga Corp are at the tail ends of good and evil, and the rest of the characters seem to somewhere along that spectrum, though it’s unclear where some of them lie. Soo-ah and Yi-seo seem to be the two mysteries on that spectrum, and I wonder what would push them either way.

At first, I got the sense that Soo-ah was hesitant to identify as a Jang Ga person, but her report to the police confirmed where her allegiances lie currently. From Se-ro-yi’s perspective, this would have been the right thing to do, but her intent was to harm. I’m not sure if we’re privy to any pressures she may be under, but it’s interesting that she actively chose to disadvantage Se-ro-yi. She seemed to have the agency to control this situation, and even when no one’s monitoring her, she chose Jang Ga. If this is the person that she’s become — through the multiple one times she’s tolerated — then Se-ro-yi better keep his distance.

Se-ro-yi seems to confuse Yi-seo, and her bewilderment makes sense, given the guidance her mother provided in her youth. To her, good and bad always live in the gray, but Se-ro-yi is so black and white with his values and his life. Their disconnect is rooted in their upbringing, and I’m curious to see whether Yi-seo will readjust her approach to life after interacting with Se-ro-yi. Her sociopath tendencies were left unaddressed and even affirmed through her mother’s guidance, and I wonder if acknowledging the absolute good and bad will rejuvenate her uninspired outlook.

I appreciated how confidently Se-ro-yi responded to Soo-ah about his business. She seemed to be genuinely supportive of his bar, but he clearly doesn’t need her expertise to run his business, which he knows better than anyone. I thought it was even more interesting that he used President Jang’s autobiography as his textbook, and he used it to understand how to build a successful business. Of course, it may also be a part of his revenge plot — to understand his enemy in depth — but he seemed to be using the text as his guide to diagnosing and addressing Danbam’s challenges. It seemed uncharacteristically gray are for Se-ro-yi, but I welcomed the nuance.

I’m most excited to see the Danbam team come together, and I’m interested to learn more about Seung-kwon and Hyun-yi’s backstories. Hyun-yi seems to be sensible one and maybe the only one who can control the crazy guard dog inside of Seung-kwon. Her voice seemed to trigger a switch, and Seung-kwon immediately came to his senses. The deliberate gender ambiguity the drama is using when it comes to Hyun-yi is intriguing as well and I hope we learn more soon. The dangerous and protective side of Seung-kwon showed how loyal he is to his people and how easily he can smell a threat (he basically growled at the sight of Geun-won).

I’m also looking forward to seeing Geun-soo’s relationship with Se-ro-yi and how he comes to join the Danbam team. He’s already won my heart with his puppy love for Yi-seo, and it’s obvious that he’s not a Jang Ga person. He doesn’t seem to associate himself with his family and actually seems like a decent human, so I’m deciding to trust him. Don’t betray my trust, Geun-soo! You’re the only Jang Ga person I trust.

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