Murders, betrayals, and twists dominate this finale as our heroes tackle their biggest case yet. As they investigate the top two people at their company, our auditors put their lives on the line to uncover the truth. Though others might not understand why they risk so much for their jobs, their work could mean life or death to some, which is why they won’t give up until every single rat is caught. It’s time to audit!
EPISODES 11-12
The last week of The Auditors kicks off with the death of the ex-president (aka, the eldest Hwang brother), but his supposed health crisis smells of foul play. Cha-il believes he was murdered, and the culprit is the one who is currently in control of the previous president’s slush funds. While the auditing team discovers how the money was siphoned — through a paper company in Florida — they don’t know if the owner is Se-woong or Dae-woong.
The entire auditing team works together in secret to catch the rat, including Seo-jin who puts aside her personal feelings in order to remain objective, and all their individual skills come together to solve the case in four days. (Even the gossiping auditor plays his part!) They learn that the new director of the outsourcing department is connected to the slush funds, and though on the surface Director Chae appears to work for Dae-woong, he actually got the position through Se-woong. Thus, the suspects list narrows down to one.
After getting confronted by Cha-il about the paper company, Director Chae leaves to meet his boss — just as our heroes planned. However, Cha-il underestimated his enemy since his trap turns into his grave. As our team leader follows the director into a construction site, both are knocked out by Se-woong who then sets the place on fire. It seems the president has fully embraced his villain-era.
Tied to a pillar and losing consciousness, Cha-il chokes on the smoke as the flames threaten to engulf him, but right then, Dae-woong appears to save the day. He takes Cha-il and Director Chae to the hospital, and though the doctor warns Cha-il to stay for treatment, our hero has no time for rest. He needs to stop the funeral!
Our auditors arrive in time to block the procession, and Cha-il declares that the ex-president was murdered. He asks for an autopsy, which Se-woong objects for obvious reasons, but Cha-il’s target is not him — it’s the wife. Knowing exactly how to manipulate her, he accuses Dae-woong of killing the ex-president, and the wife falls for the bait. Having agreed to Cha-il’s plan beforehand, Dae-woong doesn’t bat an eye, and instead, he approaches the real murderer and goads him to lighten up.
Dae-woong returns to check on his boyfriend Cha-il and takes his frenemy to the hospital. Despite the others urging him to rest for a while longer, Cha-il gets back to work since their foe won’t wait, and unfortunately, our lead auditor is correct. Without missing a beat, Se-woong strikes the team first by stealing all of Director Chae’s documents and transferring Cha-il to the “support” department (i.e., an abandoned office in the basement). Now the only course of action left for our heroes is to wait for the director to wake up, but even that option disappears when Director Chae passes away.
All goes according to Se-woong’s plan, and while the police detain Dae-woong for questioning, our villainous president holds an emergency board meeting to dismiss the vice president for embezzlement, bribery, and murder. Just as the motion passes with a majority vote, Dae-woong barges into the room and announces his own agenda: the dismissal of the president. On what grounds? The exact ones Se-woong accused him of committing.
Enter Cha-il and his crew — not as auditors, but as witnesses — and the same presentation plays over again, except this time, Dae-woong’s photos are replaced by the president. Se-woong demands Cha-il to prove his claims with evidence, so our team leader brandishes the records Director Chae left behind of all their dealings. Even cornered, Se-woong refuses to bend and tells the board that he used those secret funds for company projects. Since he never spent any of it personally, it does not count as malpractice before the law.
Cha-il agrees… if that were truly the case, and then switches the screen to a news outlet. The government official on Se-woong’s payroll holds a press conference blaming JU Construction’s president of bribing him, which means Se-woong did, in fact, use company money for personal gains. Accepting his loss, Se-woong turns to leave, but Cha-il stops him since he has one more point to discuss: the president is also a murderer.
Se-woong’s murder count is not one but two, and Cha-il plays a video of the president administering drugs into a comatose Director Chae. As the board clamors for an explanation, the supposedly dead director makes his grand appearance. He testifies against the president and tells everyone that he and Cha-il were attacked by Se-woong so they joined forces to trap him by faking his death.
Continuing this momentum, Cha-il then reveals that Se-woong also killed his older brother using the same method he tried on Director Chae. With this, the board completely turns their back on the president and leaves the room. Alone with Se-woong, Cha-il asks why he hired him in the first place, and Se-woong tells him that he wanted to develop the company fairly and justly. However, he realized that the corruption was too deep-rooted, so he decided to fight evil with evil. He believes they operate under the same principle, but Cha-il calls him out on his excuses and labels him a rat.
After Se-woong is locked behind bars, Dae-woong visits him to ask about the eldest: was the incident a year ago really just an accident? Se-woong asserts that it was, but as the show flashes back to that fateful night, we learn the truth. The two brothers argued about how to manage the company, and when the eldest called Se-woong a snake even their father tossed aside, it broke their relationship. As a result, when the eldest collapsed and asked for help, Se-woong suffocated him, instead.
With the big bad taken down, things start to change around the company, starting with the new president Dae-woong. However, this also signifies Cha-il’s end, and though Dae-woong orders him to stay for another year, our auditor leaves with a bow. He then notifies his team of his resignation at his first and last afterwork party, and before he departs, Cha-il finally shares a bit about himself to Han-soo.
He tells the younger auditor that he risks his life for every case because once in his youth, he chose to believe his superior’s lie rather than trust his own judgement. That decision led to a construction site collapse where his father died, and from that day, Cha-il realized that audits meant dealing with people’s lives. He hopes for a future where trust prevails like Han-soo envisions, but until then, Cha-il advises him to view things without clouded eyes.
Though our hero may no longer exist inside JU Construction, Han-soo takes up his mantle as “mini Cha-il” and remains in the auditing department with a new goal in mind. Meanwhile, Seo-jin transfers to a different department to achieve her own dreams and continues having family dinners with Uncle Dae-woong. As for Cha-il, the world won’t leave him alone, and he takes his talents to a wider ocean to catch even bigger rats.
The Auditors was truly Shin Cha-il’s show, and while this may not have been his most memorable performance, Shin Ha-kyun was excellent as usual. The show never got too deep into any character or case, but in exchange, its brevity allowed for a quick and tightly-paced story. It was fun despite its many flaws, and overall, I enjoyed the highlights and found nothing too glaring or egregious. This definitely isn’t the drama to watch if you’re looking for believability or nuance, but as a breezy show to spend a few hours on, it had enough escapism and ridiculousness to capture my attention.
Granted, do I wish it could have been better? Of course, but I’ve already ranted about Han-soo enough and expressed my wishes to see Cha-il and Dae-woong’s relationship blossom sooner (the wasted potential). I knew from the first week that this show wasn’t going to be sweeping awards or earning accolades for its quality, but it had two strong leads in the form of its older cast and a bunch of fun special appearances throughout its run that were a delight. In the end, despite the title, the show really wasn’t about auditing or even company politics. It was an episodic investigative drama that was borderline police procedural without any of the legal consequences, and once you understood the tone, it played to expectations and delivered a lighthearted, albeit forgettable, watch.