Cafe Minamdang: Episodes 15-16

by meryl

In contrast to last week’s progress, the penultimate week sees the real culprit running circles around our heroes. It seems things can only get worse before they get better — especially for our beloved shaman and the Minamdang crew.

 
EPISODES 15-16 WEECAP

As Han-jun and Su-cheol hurl accusations, the cartel panics over the reporters’ presence at the ceremony. They try to get their private guards to stop the shaman, but our dynamic duo ultimately wins the scuffle just before Hye-jun plays the incriminating videos of the cartel members, who are then literally trapped under a fishing net. Oof.

Even Seung-won gets apprehended by his own brother. But despite getting cuffed to a metal post, Auntie Im successfully escapes amid all the chaos.

As they’re interrogated, each cartel member is unable to do anything due to the strong evidence against them. Still, everyone’s covering up for their ringleader. The police also can’t get anything out of Seung-won and his lawyers, because he’s blaming everything on Auntie Im, so he walks away scot-free.

Just before Seung-won leaves, Do-won encourages him to confess. The younger brother even threatens to use his company shares to stop his older brother from becoming chairman and to uncover the truth from their childhood, making Seung-won seethe silently.

At Han-jun’s shaman lair, Min-gyeong and Director Park thank the profiler for his help. But to Han-jun’s disappointment, the thanks come not in the form of much-anticipated wads of cash, but a QR code leading to a fanclub poster. Did they really start a fanclub? LOL.

He’s distracted when he hears Hye-jun and Su-cheol kiss. He accuses the new couple of secretly dating, but because his visitors don’t know he’s talking to his sister, Min-gyeong and Director Park accidentally out themselves as a couple, even if Min-gyeong denies it. These two are so cute — hilarious, too!

In his office, Seung-won tries to take control of the situation. But after learning Auntie Im has hidden away his ill-gotten wealth and the company shareholders now have doubts about electing him as chairman, he decides to get back at Han-jun. Oh no. This does not sound good.

At Minamdang, Han-jun and Na-dan find Hye-jun’s room ransacked and Hye-jun herself hanging from the ceiling… Except it’s just a mannequin planted by the bad guys. Damn, my heart nearly stopped.

Apparently, Hye-jun and Su-cheol have been out on a date. The still-hysterical Han-jun and Na-dan hug them tightly out of relief. After learning the reason behind their hysteria, Hye-jun waves their worries away, but an uncharacteristically serious Su-cheol imagines the what-ifs, nearly confessing their secret relationship until his girlfriend punches him.

But Han-jun being Han-jun, he already knows about their relationship. He simply insists Hye-jun should wash her hair as she promised and gives them a list of rules that only allows kissing and nothing further. But they do officially receive his blessing. Yay.

Do-won arrives at the cafe with more information. Apparently, Seung-won murdered a classmate named HYUN-WOO just before entering college, forcing him to flee abroad. But the murder was ruled as a suicide.

To reopen the case, they plan to use a combination of Han-jun’s profiling expertise and Do-won’s childhood memories. Not sure if that’s possible… Isn’t this another moment when you need a forensic hypnotist, not a profiler? Heo Jung-min, where are you?

Regardless, the trio heads to Do-won’s mansion-like childhood home (which makes the money-loving Han-jun link arms and get chummy with Do-won, LOL). But after attempting to recall his memories, Do-won ultimately fails, which Han-jun believes is due to trauma.

Meanwhile, the police team investigates the location of the cartel’s sex videos. While the hotel has no CCTVs, they find a lead in the drone of a celebrity’s sasaeng. And it turns out this celebrity looks like Detective Na, so the sasaeng surrenders the footage after he sweet-talks her. LOL. The footage has captured the faces of Auntie Im and Assistant Gu, covering up a cartel member’s murder. Solid evidence acquired!

The next day, Do-won goes to Cafe Minamdang with a new possible witness: HONG MYEONG-SU (Ki Hwan), Seung-won’s high school friend who was present the night of Hyun-woo’s murder. Han-jun puts on his shaman act, getting “possessed” by the victim’s spirit and reenacting how he died.

Overcome with guilt, Myeong-su admits Seung-won’s father forced him to keep quiet. He doesn’t remember exactly if Seung-won choked Hyun-woo to death, but he does recall that he and Seung-won were heading to the club before they bumped into Seung-won’s tutor, who he apparently beat up.

Elsewhere, Hye-jun and Na-dan, in cute mascot outfits, are handing out flyers. It’s a distraction to allow Su-cheol to plant a bug in Seung-won’s car. Through the bug, they tail Seung-won to a location, thinking he’s meeting Auntie Im, but as it turns out, it’s his psychiatrist JUNG HYE-YOON (Woo Jung-won).

Tracking her down, Han-jun and Jae-hui ask her about Seung-won’s childhood murder case. The psychiatrist initially keeps calm, but becomes rattled after hearing it’s related to a more recent murder case. With this revelation, a nervous Hye-yoon goes to her office to check her records.

But someone sneaks up behind her and stabs a needle into her neck, paralyzing her. Oh no — it’s Do-won! So he really is Gopuri. Oh my. After the latest episodes, I thought he has become a certified good guy. RIP to my dreams of BFFs Han-jun and Do-won.

It turns out that after Seung-won visited Hye-yoon, Do-won also dropped by. Apparently, the brothers have been receiving counseling from the psychiatrist since their childhood — Do-won for psychopathy treatment and Seung-won for anger management.

The psychopathic Cha brother was Do-won all along. Hye-yoon manipulated his memories to distort his motives from killing for sport to seeking justice. “You are my best creation,” says the crazy-looking doctor to her psychopath patient. “I’ve never seen a patient correct their behavior and adjust to society as perfectly as you did.”

Unfortunately, after a night of identity crisis, that “best creation” decides to go back to his old ways, and not taking kindly to being manipulated, kills his psychiatrist and pins the blame on his brother.

Do-won escapes just as Han-jun enters the office. Observing the crime scene, the profiler figures that the murder was not planned, but knowing that is useless when they lost the culprit.

Back at Cafe Minamdang, a frustrated Han-jun catches Hye-jun and Su-cheol on a date in his sacred shaman lair, resulting in the siblings fighting over Su-cheol. In their defense, the couple has been working, keeping track of Seung-won, who hasn’t left his office at all. His alibi checks out. Put your suspicions elsewhere now, Han-jun, before it’s too late!

As the trio eavesdrops, Seung-won heads out to hunt down Auntie Im. Han-jun and Su-cheol immediately intercept the lady shaman, convincing her to run just as Seung-won and his goons arrive.

In an ironic twist, Auntie Im now sits on the guest’s place at Han-jun’s shaman lair. She remains unflappable but easily confesses to cleaning up after the Cha family since Hyun-woo’s murder. The lady shaman even adds: Han-jun will destroy the evidence they’ve gathered so far — because if he does what she wants, she’ll give him Jae-jeong’s files.

Despite protests from Hye-jun and Su-cheol, Han-jun goes through with destroying the evidence. Yay, we get another Minamdang scheme! Albeit on a smaller scale. This time, Na-dan, disguised as a woman, delivers a spiked milk drink to the guard stationed at the evidence room. After the guard leaves, Hye-jun and Na-dan quickly enter the room and delete all the evidence against Auntie Im.

The next day, Han-jun admits to destroying evidence to Jae-hui, who feels betrayed by his lack of trust. While Do-won asks for an explanation, Jae-hui simply ends their cooperative investigation. (Does this mean their romantic relationship is also over?)

But everyone is surprised, none more so than Do-won, when Han-jun brings up Jae-jeong’s files. Fidgeting nervously, Do-won encourages the police team to go with Han-jun’s plan. Looks like Gopuri is planning something for Auntie Im.

Han-jun and Jae-hui interrogate Assistant Gu, fishing for more information about Gopuri. In a series of flashbacks, we see Do-won and Assistant Gu working together in previous cases: Jeon Gyeong-cheol’s murder, the laptop in the RV, the safe at N.Joy Club, and even Chairman Park’s near-murder. Still, Assistant Gu is keeping mum about the truth, until Do-won gives him the signal to blame it all on Auntie Im. She has been discarded, hasn’t she? Oof.

After securing a written confession, Do-won gives Assistant Gu instructions on how to escape during his transport, promising to see him soon. Hmm, so Gopuri does care about Assistant Gu.

Meanwhile, at the cafe, Hye-jun and Auntie Im are at each other’s throats, with Su-cheol attempting to mediate and mostly failing. Alone, Auntie Im surreptitiously checks her phone, finding a message from Do-won warning her she’s walking into Han-jun’s trap.

So Do-won helps her set up a trap of their own. After getting her bank accounts frozen, she lures Han-jun into her temple, where Do-won says he’ll finish the job himself. Yikes! This does not bode well for Han-jun.

Arriving at the temple, Han-jun and Jae-hui finally get their hands on the files — it’s mostly burnt! Is it even readable?! Behind them, unnoticed, Auntie Im leaves the room, locking them in. Despite trying to escape, they faint after being gassed.

Han-jun wakes up back at Cafe Minamdang, where he finds the dead body of Auntie Im just as the doors slam open, bringing in Do-won, Jae-hui, Su-cheol, and Hye-jun. Upon finding him at the crime scene, the prosecutor immediately arrests Han-jun as a suspect for Auntie Im’s murder. Oh my. Is it back to prison for our shaman? Please don’t make it so!

In this week’s epilogues, we see that it’s Do-won who saved Assistant Gu during their childhood days and is also the “him” to whom Assistant Gu is blindly devoted. After each kill, Do-won justifies it as delivering “judgment” to sinners.

We also see that Assistant Gu has already escaped, helping Do-won kill Auntie Im and setting up the stage for Do-won’s judgment on Han-jun. With her last breath, Auntie Im warns Do-won that he will die at Han-jun’s hands, so Do-won gives her the killing blow, fulfilling Han-jun’s prophecy that she will die at her boss’s hand. Oooh boy. (But also, does Han-jun really have the gift?)

Well, anyway, it seems the kind and lovely Do-won was just a facade to let him go about his evil psychopathic plans freely. Everything was really just a red herring… which is kinda disappointing. He did look suspicious during the first few episodes (especially with Choi Yeong-seop suddenly dying at his watch), but I feel a little blindsided after he cooperated so much with the Minamdang crew.

And if he was made to forget his psychopathic tendencies during childhood, how come an older Do-won still murdered Jae-jeong and countless others? Doesn’t add up so far. Was he just acting? It didn’t seem like it when he met his psychiatrist, especially when she “unlocked” his real memories. The timeline of this show is so out of whack, I’m getting confused. Suspension of disbelief can’t even save me from this.

Plus, we’ve only had the Han-jun vs. Do-won rivalry for a few episodes, so I feel like we’re getting shortchanged. In another world, perhaps they’d work together, but it’s impossible here now. So, I’m glad we’re finally nearing the end. Even if Han-jun has been arrested, we know he’s going to get out, so I’m hoping we still get to see the crew do another shaman shenanigan. Let’s go out with a bang, Show! And by bang, I mean a Minamdang scheme. Or two. Pretty please.

 
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