What’s a con artist to do when the usual lies and sleight-of-hand moves don’t work? Well, as our resident con artist is learning, sometimes the only way to successfully pull one over on certain powerful people is to win other people over to your side — not through manipulation or bribery, but with a touch of sincerity and understanding.
EPISODES 11-12
Exactly zero people are excited about Ro-woom’s announcement that Jay is joining the con team (least of all Ringo, who understandably shrinks away from him in fear). But as it turns out, “joining the team” is a bit of a stretch. In actuality, Jay approached Ro-woom with an offer: he’ll help them if they’ll help him protect Kyung-ja, since the chairman has shoved her aside in favor of Mr. Ma.
Elsewhere, another deal is struck between Nasa and Mr. Ma. Except it’s less of a deal and more of Mr. Ma threatening Nasa into obedience. In any case, Nasa’s task is to plant cameras in Kyung-ja’s office so Mr. Ma can spy on her. That’s nerve-wracking enough, but Nasa’s anxiety skyrockets even more when 1) he discovers Ro-woom’s mole in Mr. Ma’s inner circle, and 2) Ro-woom shows up at his auto shop herself.
This time, though, she’s not there to fight. She offers to help Nasa install the cameras in exchange for details about an upcoming meeting. Nasa is reluctant to say the least, but Ro-woom leaves him with the reminder that he’s not the same kid he used to be back at Jeokmok — he doesn’t have to put his head down and follow orders.
After much internal deliberation, Nasa does as Ro-woom asks. While setting up the camera feed on Mr. Ma’s phone, he snoops through Mr. Ma’s text messages right in front of him to find the information Ro-woom needs.
Mr. Ma plans to meet the financier, MIN KANG-YOON (cameo by Moon Ga-young), at a party and convince her to invest in Navis Well-Being (with which money he’ll be able to manipulate stocks in his favor). To stop his scheme, our team must sow discord between Mr. Ma, Kang-yoon, and other potential investors.
Entrance to the party is by VIP invitation only, which means it’s finally time for Yo-han and Jae-in to do something useful. Yo-han procures invitations from his mother, and with Jae-in on his arm, he poses as a cryptocurrency CEO in hopes of slipping Mr. Ma a business card for a later stage of the overall con. Meanwhile, Ringo is to charm Kang-yoon and convince her not to give Mr. Ma any money while Ro-woom and Mu-young socialize and spread gossip about Navis’s finances.
But as soon as the party starts, they hit one roadblock after another. Mr. Ma recognizes Yo-han immediately, being well-acquainted with his mother, which means the CEO angle is a no-go. Kang-yoon gives Ringo the cold shoulder, far more interested in Ro-woom — but before the ladies can talk, Mu-young swoops in to pull Ro-woom out of Mr. Ma’s sight. Kang-yoon shuts down, visibly disappointed that Ro-woom has a (male) plus one.
In the end, Mr. Ma gets to make his proposal, and so does Kyung-ja, who took matters into her own hands and contacted Kang-yoon directly. Still, the evening isn’t a total loss. Mu-young takes a risk and approaches Mr. Ma himself, successfully piquing his curiosity. And Ro-woom gets another chance to connect with Kang-yoon later.
As she prepares for the meeting, Ro-woom tentatively asks Mu-young for advice on seducing women, since Kang-yoon doesn’t seem to respond to any of her usual tactics. Mu-young gives her one word: sincerity. Kang-yoon has likely been approached by people with ulterior motives all her life, so she naturally (and rightfully) assumes everyone wants something from her. Only sincerity will win her over.
So when Ro-woom meets Kang-yoon at a bar, she suggests they play a truth-telling drinking game. Then, after a few rounds, she drops all acts and tells Kang-yoon upfront that she’s a con artist and needs her help. But just when Kang-yoon seems ready to agree, the team receives a distress call from Nasa. Mr. Ma has figured out he’s a mole, and if Mr. Ma doesn’t get the money from Kang-yoon today, Nasa dies.
Ro-woom has to make a quick decision… and she chooses Nasa. Mr. Ma gets his money, and Yo-han does what he does best: makes himself as annoying and pushy as possible to strongarm his way into Mr. Ma’s building and recover his wayward probationer. Stock manipulation securely underway, Mr. Ma takes the stage to present his new brand, Navis Bio, to a crowd of prospective investors.
But this isn’t defeat: it’s Plan B. While Ro-woom was meeting with Kang-yoon, Mu-young (still posing as the crypto CEO) met with Mr. Ma, who needed little prompting to go off on an infuriating rant about all the people he’s scammed and how inconvenient it is when they die because he’s drained them of money and hope. Thanks to a bug Nasa planted in Mr. Ma’s computer, a recording of that conversation, along with information about Mr. Ma’s various frauds, pops up in place of his Navis Bio presentation. The crowd erupts in outrage.
The final straw is a message from Ro-woom: a recording of her alerting Kyung-ja about the plan. It was Kyung-ja’s one chance to intervene and stop the chairman’s plans from falling through, but Kyung-ja refused. Enraged, Mr. Ma attacks Kyung-ja on a rooftop, and moments later, one of them falls. But it’s not Kyung-ja. Her assistant pushed Mr. Ma off the roof, and Jay arrives after the fact as Kyung-ja laughs hysterically.
In the background of all this action, Ro-woom and Mu-young’s relationship quietly progresses through more late-night ramyun and honest conversation. But there’s also hints of jealousy on Mu-young’s part, as Ro-woom confesses she once had a crush on Jay and Mu-young frets over what she and Jay might be planning on the side (currently, it’s that Jay is searching for Nasa’s revolver, which Kyung-ja confiscated). Mu-young doesn’t outright say he’s jealous, but he assures Ro-woom that she’s better off relying on him instead of Jay, because he intends to stay by her side no matter what.
Then, while laying groundwork for the big con, they end up crammed in a closet together for a few supercharged moments. The familiar scenario strikes Ro-woom, and she finally makes the connection that Mu-young was the little boy who comforted her when she froze up at the game show all those years ago. She’s clearly pleased by the revelation, which makes Mu-young happy, too.
I’m so glad Nasa came around, and I especially appreciate that it was Ro-woom intentionally seeking him out and talking to him that made the difference. Ro-woom may have thought she wasn’t good at appealing to people with sincerity, but she’s been doing exactly that for a few episodes now, ever since the failed heist.
Now that Mr. Ma is (hopefully) done away with and Kyung-ja is unraveling, I’m guessing we’ll spend the remaining episodes on uncovering the chairman’s identity and facing him/her directly. Which means it’s going to take a lot more than just clever tricks for our little team to not only survive, but take Jeokmok down for good.