Payback: Episodes 3-4

by SugarSnow

Our team is slowly coming together but with every attempt to gain leverage, the wall to climb is looking steeper and steeper. Despite the setbacks, they stand strong and are far from giving up, as things might take a turn in their favor moving forward.

 
EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP

Sucking us right back in, we see the reunion between Yong and Jun-kyung. After Yong apologizes to Jun-kyung, we flash back to see Yong and Jun-kyung eating together at a pojangmacha in 2003. Yong is preparing to move abroad to make money and Jun-kyung is getting started with her job as a prosecutor. Yong gifts her a celebratory pen for her accomplishments and the two clash drinks before their split.

Fast forward to 2010, we see how Jun-kyung dealt with the wrongful conviction of her mother. Seeing Hye-rin being questioned for a crime she didn’t commit enrages Jun-kyung and she storms in to accuse Ki-seok of his wrong-doings when he calmly tells her Hye-rin’s fate falls on her. Jun-kyung ends up taking a deal for her mother’s sake and fabricates evidence for Ki-seok. While Hye-rin is found not guilty in her trial, a forgery of documents charge is pinned on Jun-kyung. We get to see the full story of Hye-rin’s death in the flashback. Her last message was sent to Minister Son, moments before running her car off the cliff, telling him that she was the one who forged the documents, taking the fall for Jun-kyung.

Back in the present, Tae-choon is sent to see Ki-seok. They head down to the first floor and are bombarded by the press after Assemblyman Baek has labeled their investigation of his son vindictive. Responding to the press, Ki-seok puts all the responsibility on Tae-choon’s shoulders, defending his diligent work in the process. He nudges Tae-choon to give his reason for the investigation and he does so, stating how he just wants to do everything he can to help his country.

As billboards everywhere show footage of Tae-choon responding to the press, he thinks back to when he was younger in high school. Talking with a teacher who consistently made rude remarks about Tae-choon’s mom, Tae-choon let his anger get the best of him. As the teacher abused his power and began slapping Tae-choon repetitively, Tae-choon waited until other teachers were holding the abuser back to beat him down with a chair. After getting arrested for the incident, Tae-choon is bailed out by none other than his Uncle Yong.

In the present, we find out that Tae-choon’s mom has alcoholic dementia and can barely remember who he is. Yong shows up, surprising Tae-choon and flipping the dreary atmosphere on its head.

Yong explains to Tae-choon Myung In-ju’s manipulation methods and how he drains people of all they have. In the past, Yong slowly started to see Myung’s concerning greed for money and lack of concern for people. After taking advantage of a CEO, tricking him into thinking he was helping him, that CEO jumps from a high building to commit suicide as he had everything taken from him by Myung. Despite the shock of seeing someone die this way right in front of them, Myung is unfazed while Yong begins to see the pure evil his boss is capable of. Myung tells Yong to grab a letter from the safe as he has already pre-written letters for CEOs he believes will end up dying by suicide due to his methods. Jeez, this guy is a menace.

That was the breaking point for Yong who went his own way after that. Back in the present, Yong asks Tae-choon not to take any of Ki-seok’s offers if he is willing to try to take Myung down.

Yong makes moves towards pulling CEO Oh to his side while Ki-seok learns of the family ties between Tae-choon and Yong. This isn’t looking good considering Tae-choon is right in the crossfire of it all. Tae-choon meets with Yong when Jun-kyung joins the table, introducing herself to him. She gets irritated quickly over his rigid rule-following demeanor, as she knows doing things by the book won’t take down Myung.

Yong brings Tae-choon outside and reaches out to him, telling him that he will make him the highest level prosecutor in the country if he works with him. With sincerity and an optimistic look in his eyes, Yong is able to get Tae-choon to accept and join the team. This trio could be a power team as Yong is very calculated, Jun-kyung is fiery but controlled, and Tae-choon is a hard worker who has a strong sense of justice.

Moving forward with his plans, Yong meets CEO Oh in person. The meeting starts off well, despite both of their predisposed ideas of each other. Yong offers to invest in CEO Oh’s company to undermine Myung’s shares, but Oh doesn’t budge as he is loyal to Myung. Yong then pulls out his bargaining chip — the stock purchase agreement that says he earned money through stock market manipulation – effectively blackmailing Oh.

Previously, Yong bought the document from a powerful woman in town. Myung, tracking Yong’s plans, finds the woman and scalds her with a hot iron for giving away the document. He transfers her assets under LEE JIN-HO’s (Won Hyun-joon) name. Jin-ho is Yong’s old friend from juvy who joined Myung’s enterprise with him. So many years later, it seems as though Jin-ho has risen to a high level within the gang.

Yong shows up to see CEO Oh at GMI Bank only to be followed by a bunch of Myung’s men through the lobby. After getting in the elevator, he fights off three of them and makes his way out to the parking deck where he gets hit by a car – again – and is down for the count. As all the walls start to fall down, Yong’s equity firm is also searched and seized, leaving HONG HAN-NA (Kim Hye-hwa), Yong’s partner at Change Equity Fund, up against the ropes.

At the same time, Ki-seok approaches Tae-choon regarding his relationship to Yong and things go south quick. Ki-seok belittles Tae-choon and threatens to discredit him with a load of charges against him, painting him as a corrupt prosecutor, and revokes his entry to Special Investigations. After this, Tae-choon might be more gung-ho about taking down Myung and Ki-seok.

Yong, meanwhile, has been sedated and thrown in a hole in the woods to be buried by Myung’s men. Myung calls to check in and Jin-ho tells him the job is done. Tae-choon gets back to his office to see the investigation team is already rummaging through his stuff. He and Jun-kyung panic when they can’t reach Yong.

Now that Myung has taken the upper hand, he meets with CEO Oh and gives him the stock transfer document back, which Oh burns. Myung has taken the reins, reading every move Yong has made and answered back accordingly. Myung and Oh are looking like impossible threats right now.

Despite their immense power, there is a rift between the two of them since Myung hasn’t been able to get Oh into politics yet. After burning the document, Oh bashes Myung in the head several times with a spoon, degrading him, and tells him to sort out the election moving forward.

Yong wakes up in a car with Jin-ho driving. Jin-ho didn’t follow through with burying Yong, since Yong paid for his grandma’s hospital bills while he was in prison and he owes him one. Taking him to the aiport to send him on his way, Yong refuses and sees that Jin-ho has been doing drugs by the needle marks in his arm. He overpowers Jin-ho to crash the car, knocking him out, and then calls the police to help his friend while he escapes.

After making his way to a doctor to treat his shoulder wound, Yong is reconnected with Jun-kyung and Tae-choon. Back home Han-na pays everyone a surprise visit, introducing herself to Jun-kyung and Tae-choon. The team is just about complete. (I’m hoping for a Jin-ho crossover but I don’t know how viable that is.)

Yong briefs the group on the files Tae-choon sent him earlier in the episode. He found something of worth in the files that they can use as bait for Myung — something that can turn the tide back in their favor.

To finish this week of thrills, Jun-kyung sets up for a press conference. She says she is a culprit in the bribery case involving her mother, and openly calls out Ki-seok, asking him what justice means to him. He watches from the TV in his office.

Wow, what an explosion of action this week. The pace hasn’t slowed down one bit since last week, and with less whiplash from flashbacks, we still got to see how the past has shaped our characters into who they are now, while the plot progresses quickly at the same time in the present.

The chess match between Myung and Yong is picking up, and Myung is proving why he shouldn’t be underestimated — despite Yong’s knowledge of how he works and the power and wealth Yong has amassed in Mongolia. The same goes for Ki-seok, as he’s putting the pressure on Tae-choon heavily. Aside from those two, Jun-kyung still hasn’t gotten much of a spotlight, but based on how this week ended I’m sure we’re in for a bombshell next week.

 
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