Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Episodes 13-14

by Unit

For our penultimate week, we head to Jeju Island for a work trip. And while each of our characters have extracurricular plans for the trip, life also has its own plans for them.

 
EPISODES 13-14 WEECAP

Okay, in what was supposed to be an exciting and fun-filled trip, I did not enjoy a single moment of it. I was on edge the whole time waiting for the other shoe to drop, and when it did… oh Lord! But first, the case of the week. Our plaintiff is an elderly man who was forced to pay an admission fee for driving on the road leading to a temple where a cultural heritage site is situated. It’s a legitimate fee which is supposed to be paid on visiting the site, but he was charged for just plying the road. Although he knows the cost of a lawsuit is way more than the 3000 won admission fee, he’s still willing to sue because of the unfairness of it all.

The temple is located on Jeju Island, and Young-woo is the first to indicate her interest in the case because she wants to see her favorite released dolphins on the trip. The others are taken aback by the sudden need to travel, but Myeong-seok — who went for a checkup after coughing up blood last week — is eager to travel too. We don’t know his diagnosis yet, but the whole thing is already worrisome. Another thing to worry about is Young-woo’s prospective “meet the in-laws” with Jun-ho’s sister who also lives on Jeju.

Not wanting to be left behind, Geu-ra-mi and her boss Min-shik a.k.a. Hairy Boss, join the Hanbada squad, and off they fly to Jeju. While Myeong-seok appears really excited on the trip, as they take in the sights, he has a brief moment of silent tears. Ah! And to make matters worse, a noodle restaurant he had been looking forward to visiting has closed down. This whole thing is giving bucket list feels, and I don’t like it.

Back to our case, after the judge adjourns the first hearing, the abbot invites the Hanbada squad to visit the temple where they bow a whopping 158 times! And as they continue their tour with shaky legs, the abbot gives them an analogy saying what they see is not everything, and they should look at things beyond the surface level.

Rather than waste such a precious vacation opportunity on work, Myeong-seok declares a work-free evening for the lawyers and sends Min-woo and Su-yeon to buy drinks. On this errand, we learn that Min-woo (who has been surprisingly cooperative on the trip) is the breadwinner of his family thanks to his parents’ health condition, but I’m afraid this doesn’t give him a pass for being such a competitive jerk. We also get the makings of a brewing romance between him and Su-yeon. Okay, Show, what are you doing?

Back at the guesthouse, we also learn that Myeong-seok is divorced, and it’s all because he was more attentive to his work than to his ex-wife (cameo by Lee Yoon-ji, whom I’ve missed in dramaland). Coincidentally, Myeong-seok’s honeymoon was also on Jeju, and this trip brings back all the memories. Young-woo notices a few of Myeong-seok’s withdrawn moments, but most of her attention is on seeing the dolphins and meeting Jun-ho’s sister.

Unfortunately, the dolphins don’t appear when Young-woo goes to see them, and the visit to Jun-ho’s sister is a mini disaster. Bless Geu-ra-mi’s heart and all, but at this point, Young-woo should stop taking her advice. Not that it would have made a difference anyway, since it’s not Young-woo’s Geu-ra-mi-inspired actions that are the problem for Jun-ho’s sister, but the fact that Young-woo is autistic. Jun-ho and his sister have an argument when she says he shouldn’t introduce Young-woo to their parents, and Young-woo overhears the whole conversation. Sigh.

Things come to a head when Myeong-seok collapses at the second hearing and has to be rushed to the hospital. Oh no! There, we learn he has stage three stomach cancer and is scheduled for surgery on his return to Seoul. It’s a bit of a relief that he’s not dying (right, Show?) or anything, but stomach cancer? Seriously? The rest of the squad assure Myeong-seok that he’ll be fine except Young-woo, who wants Myeong-seok to eat at the noodle restaurant of his dreams before he dies. Lol.

Ignoring Myeong-seok’s words to not bother about it, Young-woo mobilizes the rest of the squad on a manhunt for the restaurant’s owner. They soon find out that he went out of business after a rival restaurant poached his chef, took his recipe and changed their name to sound similar to his. They manage to trace his mother to a nursing home, but unfortunately he only visits once a month and has ticked off this month’s visit.

Young-woo visits Myeong-seok in the hospital in search of a justification that will help them win the case, and she meets his ex-wife who also came to visit. The ex-wife excuses them in frustration as they go on about the case, and when Young-woo exits the room later on, the ex-wife tells her that she was reminded once again about why she broke up with Myeong-seok. He was always livelier when talking about work than when he was with her, and it made her feel lonely.

These words get to Young-woo, and on a phone call with her dad, she asks why he would want her to bring Jun-ho home. Dad says he’ll want to know if Jun-ho is someone who can make her happy, and she says yes. The problem is that she doesn’t know if she can make him happy. Oof. Young-woo breaks up with Jun-ho when they go to see the dolphins again, and Jun-ho grasps at straws as he tries to come up with a reason. He even asks if it’s because they didn’t see the dolphins, and repeats the abbot’s words about what they see not being everything.

This gives Young-woo an insight into a justification for the case. The road being a public property means the plaintiff cannot be deemed to have visited the cultural heritage site just because he used public property – and she runs off. An upset Jun-ho calls her out for just leaving without an explanation, but she simply apologizes and leaves. As she walks away and Jun-ho cries, one of the dolphins makes an appearance, but they don’t see it.

Thanks to Young-woo’s justification, Hanbada wins the case. But far from a celebratory mood, Jun-ho goes for post-breakup drinks with Min-woo and Su-yeon, and Young-woo goes with Geu-ra-mi and Hairy Boss to a karaoke where she fights back her tears. When both parties return to the guesthouse for the night, Su-yeon has had it with the sudden change in Min-woo and tells him to return to his scheming ways. He jokingly asks if she likes him, and both of them are shocked when she doesn’t deny it. Meanwhile, Geu-ra-mi watches the exchange with a mini broken heart thanks to her crush on Min-woo. Heh.

With the successful completion of the case, Myeong-seok takes his team to the temple to say goodbye to the abbot. The admission fee was charged to maintain the temple and the cultural heritage site, but now that it has been ruled against, Myeong-seok proposes that the abbot comes to an agreement with the government to create a foundation for the temple’s self management. He succeeds in selling Hanbada as the legal team to partner with the temple in the government negotiations, and Young-woo finds this proposition really cool.

Over a noodle meal in the temple, Young-woo pieces together information from their manhunt and the Abbot’s words, and realizes the noodle restaurant’s owner is at the temple. The squad files to the temple’s kitchen, and Young-woo pleads with the owner to cook for an attorney who might die of stage three stomach cancer. Lol. The downcast owner brightens up real quick when they offer him legal advice on how to sue the rival restaurant and protect his intellectual property. Finally, the Hanbada squad gets to eat at the noodle restaurant, and Myeong-seok looks like he will die of happiness rather than stomach cancer. Awww. Young-woo really went all out in looking for the restaurant’s owner for Myeong-seok’s sake, and she still thinks she cannot make people happy?

The squad heads back to Seoul where CEO Tae is on her way to becoming minister of justice. CEO Han, on the other hand, has a sit-down with the reporter on the CEO Tae/Young–woo story, and confirms the mother-daughter relationship between them. She tells him to hold off on releasing the article until right before CEO Tae is confirmed as minister of justice, and promises to get him an interview with Young-woo later on. And there you have it, folks, CEO Han officially fielding Young-woo as collateral damage in her war with CEO Tae. Tsk.

With this, we come to the end of the most dramatic week so far, where none of our characters made it through unscathed. I mean, I did not stick around this long just to be hit in the face by all these last minute K-drama tropes! Ugh! I hope Myeong-seok takes a long break after his surgery – not even to reconnect with his ex-wife because that ship has sailed, but to focus on a hobby outside of work. Min-woo, on the other hand, should focus on remaining the black sheep of this show, and kill any romantic intentions towards Su-yeon. Seriously, where did this one even come from?

As for our whale couple, I was hoping we wouldn’t go the breakup route, but alas! And the worst part is that Jun-ho still has no clue as to why she broke up with him. Why did the Young-woo who was so worried about making him feel lonely in their relationship just leave without an explanation? I get her fears, but she should have shared them with Jun-ho for them to talk things through. Now they’re both miserable and as someone who is emotionally invested in them, I’m miserable too. Sigh! Maybe the PPL multibalm can smoothen my frown lines and soothe my broken heart as we head into the final week. Please give me a satisfactory ending at least, Show.

 
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