CEO-dol Mart: Episodes 7-8

by mistyisles

Our mart co-CEO’s are settling into their new role and making a positive impact in the community, but they have an enemy who’s determined to make them fail. If they’re going to hold onto both the mart and each other, they’re first going to have to address what drove them apart five years ago — and fast.

 
EPISODES 7-8

When Ho-rang shuts down their interview before it’s even begun, the other four are hurt and angry. They’d been bursting with nervous excitement at the thought of their first broadcast in five years, and the only excuse Ho-rang will offer is that it would have disrupted their weekend sales numbers. Everyone knows that’s nonsense, and Tae-ho blows up at him for it. In his anger, he lets slip the name of their deceased bandmate, Hyun-yi, and everyone goes quiet. When Ye-rim asks who that is, Sang-woo says simply, “a hyung who’s a year older than me,” quietly savoring the chance to speak about Hyun-yi in the present tense.

Having learned from CEO Yoon that the next target ingredient is seaweed, Ho-rang heads to Busan to purchase some, letting Tae-ho believe he’s going there for personal (read: selfish) reasons instead. But CEO Yoon didn’t only give the information to Ho-rang, and the next day everyone shows up with more seaweed than they can hope to sell. They can’t help laughing at themselves, and put the interview behind them so they can focus on what to do with all the seaweed.

That’s when Tae-ho has an idea. He’s sort-of-accidentally committed them all to throwing an 80th birthday party for his former problem customer because her kids bailed on her. So he proposes they convert the rooftop into a one-day market and sell seaweed soup. It turns into a big celebratory event, replete with a custom cake and a birthday song performance by the ex-idols. Then Sang-woo is nominated to sing an encore. It takes a pep talk from Ho-rang and some makgeolli from Ye-rim, but he conquers his nerves and even plays the guitar Hyun-yi gave him.

Speaking of overcoming personal fears, Gina shows up at the mart again, and this time Young-min can’t avoid her. He says he doesn’t want to ruin her shine with his pathetic self, but she counters that she’s shining on the outside and pathetic on the inside — while he’s the opposite. And no matter how many times he runs away, she’ll follow. Young-min again tells her not to come to him… because he’ll come to her. They embrace. It’s gloriously cheesy, and Young-min grins as the others tease him about it.

But all that happiness is short-lived. With everyone upstairs for the birthday party, the mart itself is left unattended. (Guys! That’s just as bad as leaving it unlocked!) The creepy stranger from before takes advantage of the opportunity to plant expired food on the shelves and report them for selling spoiled goods. Now the mart faces suspension and a hefty fine. Worse, the creepy man left a copy of the real estate contract the boys never saw, which states that if their business gets suspended or fined, they lose ownership. And because he’s petty, he also ripped up the wanted poster Tae-ho drew of him.

Ho-rang confronts CEO Yoon about the contract. CEO Yoon already knows about the expired food and offers no help, but Ho-rang’s description of how important the mart is to them now — especially his remark that it felt like Hyun-yi was present there — does seem to smite what little conscience CEO Yoon has.

While the Thunder Boys and Ye-rim try to figure out what to do, Mr. Creepy returns, this time sans ballcap and with an entourage. He introduces himself as LEE JI-WOOK (Lee Sang-jin), owner of the land Boram Mart is built on, and laughs at their protests.

Ji-wook marks the building as condemned and orders them to clear out, threatening to turn off one power switch a day until they do. (And no, not even having the lights shut off and “to be demolished” spray painted across the still unlocked doors stops people from walking in and acting surprised to hear they’re getting shut down. And yes, I giggle every time.)

It eventually occurs to the boys to check the mart’s security cameras. Since Ji-wook already cut off power to the office, they take the entire computer to Ye-rim’s house and stay up all night reviewing the footage. And it pays off — Ji-wook broke the camera before he tampered with their goods, but they’ve got a decent shot of his face in the act of camera-breaking. It’s not proof that they were framed, but it’s a start. And it gives them something to confront him with. When Ho-rang points out to Ji-wook’s face that he was wearing a funeral armband at the time, Ji-wook explodes in anger and shuts off the refrigerators.

The boys and Ye-rim are devastated, and none more than Young-min — the meat in those refrigerators came from his parents’ farm. They almost give into despair, but there’s one shred of hope left: one of the local restaurant owners told Tae-ho they could appeal and potentially get the suspension revoked. Reinspired, they do their old Thunder Boys cheer and resolve to fight for their mart. And Ho-rang promises to stop trying to shoulder all the burdens alone. As they make plans to distribute petitions, Ho-rang is called away to help the sweet potato seller, who has fallen in the snow.

Not long after, PD Song comes by to apologize about the interview incident. Unbeknownst to her — and the boys — her boss had wanted to focus the entire interview on Hyun-yi’s tragedy, using the members’ grief as a selling point. That’s why Ho-rang immediately and unapologetically shut it down. A flashback shows us that their disbandment came about similarly. After Hyun-yi’s death, CEO Yoon had insisted they keep performing as though nothing had happened, and Ho-rang couldn’t do it himself, let alone ask the others to.

Before the other four can fully process the revelation, they learn that Ho-rang has also met with an accident. He’s lying injured in the street, and the ambulances can’t get through the snow. The boys take off running — except Sang-woo. It’s too similar to what happened with Hyun-yi. Though Sang-woo tries to push through a panic attack, he only manages to take a few steps before he collapses.

You know, when various members started getting offers to do other things — Sang-woo to the audition program, Ho-rang to take over the sweet potato shop — I expected them to wrestle between their individual dreams and their commitment to Boram Mart. Instead, they dug their heels in and put the mart first. And while I suspect they’d enjoy those other things more than running the mart, I think Sang-woo said it best: if the mart disappears, so does their reason for reuniting.

Somewhere along the way, Boram Mart has gone from a collective burden to a representation of their friendship. So they’re not fighting to keep ownership of an old building with electrical problems — they’re fighting to stay together, to prove they’re not failures, and, in a way, to keep Hyun-yi’s memory alive. The question is, do they really still need the mart for that, or has it served its purpose of forcing them back into each other’s orbits?

RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: CEO-dol Mart
• Grocery shopping with Lee Shin-young in TVING’s CEO-dol Mart
• News bites: September 11, 2023
• News bites: September 29, 2022
• Lee Shin-young
• EXO Xiumin
• Monsta X Hyungwon
• Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim 3
• The Fabulous: Episode 1 (First Impressions)