Our penultimate week is packed with dating era goodness, and the co-dependent mother and daughter duo on a quest for independence. In the midst of this, accusations fly against our returnee dad as the show brings us back to the mystery of the former landlord’s death.
EPISODES 9-10
Mi-rae and Tae-pyeong’s dating era begins, and they are so cute together! But Mi-rae’s kicking out era soon follows, as Ae-yeon moves her daughter’s things from Family Villa to a studio apartment. Mi-rae thinks her mom is still mad at her, but Ae-yeon counters that she wants both herself and Mi-rae to live their own lives from now on. Letting go of Mi-rae is not an easy decision, and Ae-yeon breaks down when she leaves the apartment. Thankfully, Moo-jin waits around the corner for emotional support.
As one parent kicks her child out of the house, another one grumbles at his son’s continuous decision not to move back home. Lol. CEO Nam explains that he has watched Tae-pyeong run around in circles since he quit taekwondo, and as a parent, he can’t sit back and watch his son lose his way. He admits that forcing Tae-pyeong to work for the company may not be ideal, but it’s the best solution he can think of. Then he proposes a three-month internship to Tae-pyeong and promises to quit bugging his son if the role doesn’t work for him. “If you turn down my offer, I’ll make Mi-rae work directly under me,” CEO Nam jokingly — kinda, part seriously — threatens Tae-pyeong, and father and son come to an agreement.
Ae-yeon adjusts to living without Mi-rae (and Hyun-jae, who has since been shoveled to Moo-jin’s apartment), and she plans to laze around and do nothing after a lifetime of cooking and cleaning up after her kids. As for Moo-jin, he has a list of mundane things he wants to do by Ae-yeon’s side. And most importantly, he wants to be a good dad to their kids.
On the surface, Ae-yeon appears to be doing just fine, and Mi-rae is disappointed that her mom doesn’t miss her. Her fur sibling, Medal, has also become best friends with Moo-jin, and this further drives the betrayal in. Lol. Moo-jin senses Mi-rae’s feelings, and he goes to have drinks with her. She asks if he’s sure he can make Ae-yeon happy, and Moo-jin replies that rather than “make Ae-yeon happy,” he wants her to find happiness on her own. He’ll just be there by her side. Moo-jin tells his daughter not to worry about her mom, and — for the umpteenth time — to live her own life. “The family won’t fall apart without you,” he says.
But as the days pass, the little things like coming home to a clean house and a hot meal, and having someone to talk to and run errands, make Mi-rae and Ae-yeon realize how important they were in each other’s lives. Mi-rae finds a letter from Ae-yeon that states that she will always have a home at Family Villa, and she returns for a tearful reunion/sleepover. Mi-rae acknowledges her mom’s efforts in caring for the family, and she admits that the head of household responsibilities wasn’t as hard on her as her parents thought. She was genuinely happy to support the family, but she will try to be more independent going forward.
In the spirit of independence, Ae-yeon becomes a one-day model for J Plus home shopping, and with Moo-jin and Mi-rae’s encouragement, she decides to continue the modelling gig as often as she gets the chance. Also switching departments at J Plus, is Tae-pyeong who goes from security guard at the mart to intern in Mi-rae’s department. CEO Nam proudly introduces Tae-pyeong as his son — after Tae-pyeong specifically told him not to reveal their family relationship, lol — and personally puts him under Mi-rae’s mentorship. *Wink wink* Mr. Dad is the captain of this ship.
Trouble rears its head for Moo-jin when the late landlord’s daughter learns that Moo-jin and Jae-geol introduced her father to an investment scheme that scammed him out of everything he had. The landlord’s daughter believes that Moo-jin’s wealth is the proceeds of the scam, and after ignoring her for a while, Moo-jin meets up with her to apologize. He claims that the landlord would not have lost it all if they didn’t cross paths, but he refuses to admit or deny that he was part of the investment scam.
The landlord’s daughter goes on to publicize the accusation in front of the other tenants, but while the tenants recoil in shock, Ae-yeon steps in to defend Moo-jin. According to her, Moo-jin cannot be a swindler because he wouldn’t have come back to his family after scamming a person — and she’s certain of this because Moo-jin is her family. Ae-yeon looks to her children for their corroboration, and Hyun-jae readily jumps up to show his support for his father. It takes Mi-rae more than a few seconds, but ultimately, she also declares that she believes her father. Moo-jin is so moved by their vote of confidence, he rushes his emotional self outside to cry. But I’m so over this. Will you tell us how you made your money or not?
Afterwards, Jae-geol explains that when Moo-jin became rich, he visited the landlord everyday to convince him to sell Family Villa. On one of such visits, the investment scammers ran into Moo-jin, and in an attempt to convince him to invest, they got the landlord interested. Moo-jin tried to stop the landlord from investing, but the old man stubbornly refused to listen and the rest is history. It would seem that Jae-geol also fell victim to the scam, and this is why his silly self blamed Moo-jin and has been embezzling from him. Jae-geol recognizes this same need to blame someone in the landlord’s daughter, and he points it out to her.
The landlord’s daughter reveals that she was in debt and wanted her father to sell the villa to help her out. Unfortunately, her scammed father had no other way of raising the money so he started the fire in his apartment to claim the insurance. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get out of the house in time — and there’s no insurance payout for intentional destruction of property. Double loss. The landlord’s daughter admits that she needed someone to blame for her misfortune, and she apologizes for her actions. But all that drama, and for what? Tsk.
The week ends with Ae-yeon assuring Moo-jin that contrary to what he thinks, the landlord daughter’s accusation did nothing to ruin things between him and the family. She plants a little peck on his lips to cheer him up, and he pulls her back for a bigger kiss. Good for them. Now that we’re done with the mystery behind the landlord’s death, all that’s left for Show to reveal in next week’s finale is how Moo-jin came into his money — and it had better be good.