CEO-dol Mart: Episodes 9-10 (Final)

by mistyisles

All good things, as they say, must come to an end. But what kind of ending is in store for our ex-idol CEOs and their now-beloved mart? Before we say goodbye, there are truths to be told, reconnections to be made, and doors to be opened. And guess what? One of those doors is even locked!

 
EPISODES 9-10

We pick up in the aftermath of Ho-rang’s fall. Thankfully, he’s fine aside from a mild concussion, which gets patched up offscreen. Sang-woo, on the other hand, huddles in Boram Mart’s back room. When the others find him, he ekes out, “I’m sorry. It was my fault.” Then he unloads the burden he’s carried for five years: on the day of Hyun-yi’s accident, Hyun-yi and Sang-woo had been set to ride together to Seoul for the music show — but Hyun-yi had sent Sang-woo ahead early.

Oof. I wasn’t expecting this show to make me cry, but here we are. Hyun-yi’s death wasn’t Sang-woo’s fault, of course, but that kind of guilt is hard to overcome, and the others don’t try to brush it off. Instead, they sit with him while he cries, and later, as Ho-rang piggybacks him through the snow, they make a lighthearted tease-fest of it to keep him laughing.

Things aren’t looking good for the Thunder Boys to get more than a reduction on their suspension period, which won’t be enough to save the mart. Still, they throw themselves into getting petitions from everyone they can think of — their customers, the idol trainees Sang-woo has been unofficially coaching, and even the rival mart owner.

Meanwhile, Ji-wook sends an attorney in to tempt everyone except Ho-rang with an envelope of cash and a promise to help them pursue their personal dreams. Why everyone except Ho-rang? Because he rightly knows they’ll turn the offer down flat, and Ho-rang is the real target. After all, the attorney reminds them, Ho-rang sank his entire savings into the mart — and this money is their only hope of paying him back.

That does the trick. They agree to consider the offer and to try and convince Ho-rang to accept. This results in a huge fight. Many hurtful words are said, intentional and otherwise, but the long and short of it is that no one wants to give up on the mart and part ways again, but they feel it’s the best thing to do for Ho-rang’s sake. Ho-rang storms out. Ye-rim follows and offers a good-luck photocard — not Gina’s this time, but an old Thunder Boys photocard.

Since the boys aren’t speaking to each other, Sang-woo has to gather them with the threat of the “I love you” punishment I was starting to think they’d forgotten about. Ye-rim brings chicken and beer, and Sang-woo pouts at her upstaging his roasted sweet potatoes — until he realizes it’s after midnight and there has been no reconciliation. Punishment it is!

They take it in turns, Young-min pointedly ensuring Ho-rang and Tae-ho have to hold hands. Ho-rang struggles to get the words out, but then he spills his guts to the table. He’s thankful to them, he never wanted them to pay him back, and he loves them. He also confesses about disbanding them because he couldn’t bear to keep performing in the wake of losing Hyun-yi, prompting apologies all around. That leaves Yi-joon, who blurts out a quick, “I love you all, and we’re not guilty, and I have proof!” Turns out, the little boy who hangs around the mart borrowed Yi-joon’s camera during the birthday party, and he captured a direct shot of Ji-wook’s face mid-sabotage.

But a bigger surprise awaits, because while looking for an outlet to charge Yi-joon’s laptop, they find a secret back room decked out in photos and posters… of themselves. It’s practically a Thunder Boys shrine, crafted by Boram Mart’s previous owner: none other than Hyun-yi’s grandfather. At Hyun-yi’s funeral, he witnessed the Thunder Boys pulling themselves together to take over as chief mourners for Hyun-yi’s grief-stricken parents, and was so moved that he gifted them the mart, hoping it would someday reunite them.

Oh, and Ji-wook? He’s Hyun-yi’s cousin. And he’s actually second in line to inherit the mart, after Hyun-yi’s parents. Trouble is, Hyun-yi’s parents went off-grid after the funeral. With PD Song’s help, the Thunder Boys share Boram Mart’s story on the radio, and sure enough, Hyun-yi’s parents come looking for them. It’s a difficult decision, but the boys and Ye-rim agree that Boram Mart should be returned to Hyun-yi’s family.

There’s a bit of conflict involving Hyun-yi’s parents and Ji-wook (they were his stand-in parents until he was ten, and he’s felt abandoned by them ever since) that gets resolved as quickly as it’s introduced. Ji-wook does answer for his crimes, however, because CEO Yoon turns him in. Boram Mart is saved, and Hyun-yi’s parents take over running it — after one last goodbye sale so the boys can have closure with their customers.

The next time we see Ji-wook, he’s manning the cash register, and Ho-rang has to step in and show him how (mirroring when Ye-rim did the same for Ho-rang before). Ho-rang has since gone back to contractor work, with Tae-ho tagging along on deliveries. Sang-woo aces his audition for the singing survival show. Young-min and Gina make vague but exuberant forever plans. Yi-joon’s YouTube channel takes off and lands him radio interviews. And Ye-rim, no longer a part-timer, runs the sweet potato shop (and boy is she running it!).

The Thunder Boys gather at Boram Mart to celebrate the new year, briefly considering a group vacation before they remember they’re all basically unemployed and broke. That’s when Ho-rang gets a call from CEO Yoon — there’s a wedding hall with their names on it. The Thunder Boys are back in (literal) business!

I have some lingering questions (who broke into the mart back in Episode 1?), but at the end of the day, none of the nonsensical details dull my overall enjoyment of this sweet little show. In some ways, the silliness and admittedly green acting even added to the feeling of five inexperienced guys being thrown in over their heads and trying to figure things out on the fly.

Ultimately, I think it was the characters and their surprisingly complex relationship that sold it for me. I may not have understood all of their choices, but I sure believed in the bond they had with each other and felt their fears, hopes, frustrations, and sadness alongside them. I definitely didn’t see that wedding hall coming, but as soon as they said it, all I could think was that it’s a much more natural fit for their entertainer personalities than Boram Mart ever was. I don’t know if that was just a fun way to end the series, with them unanimously choosing to run another business together, or a hint at a potential Season 2 — but if it’s the latter, I will gladly be here for the next round.

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