Figuring out the identity of the ransomware mastermind, our heroine launches an international pursuit against the betrayer. In the process, her dark past is brought to the surface, revealing an ulterior motive that runs far deeper than any of the rumors about her company’s true nature.
EPISODES 3-4
In a bid to narrow down the culprit, Ja-yoo has Hui illegally access the flight ticket purchases, money transfers, and location data of all BF employees. It’s chilling how easily she’s able to access such sensitive information, simply by virtue of being their boss with an advanced AI system. It turns out Shin-gu has a scheduled flight to visit his family, and he’d been the only employee in Sae-ip’s vicinity, right up till ten minutes prior to her crash.
Rewinding to the previous day, we see Shin-gu exclaiming with joy upon learning of Ja-yoo’s ransom payment. He’s counted his chickens before they’ve hatched, though, because Sae-ip overhears him through the door, having come by to deliver his belongings. Terrified that his perfect crime will go up in smoke, Shin-gu orchestrates Sae-ip’s accident to seal her lips.
By the time Ja-yoo, Chae-woon, and San make it to Shin-gu’s apartment, he’s already fled abroad. Shin-gu sneers spitefully at Ja-yoo when she calls, accusing her of being a murderer. “She could’ve lived a few months more if not for you,” Shin-gu snarls.
A flashback reveals that Shin-gu’s wife had been suffering from intestinal cancer. He’d pleaded with Ja-yoo to give the procedure a shot, despite her reminders that the procedure is still in development. In her office, San criticizes her for exploiting Shin-gu’s desperation, but Ja-yoo argues that they have no other choice. As a company that cannot utilize animal testing, their last resort is a human body.
Now, Shin-gu has nothing but vitriol for Ja-yoo, and the call comes to a bitter end. Shaken by the betrayal from someone she’s trusted deeply for years, Ja-yoo retreats to a stairwell to gather herself. Then, she relays the situation to Jae, who notifies the relevant embassies and revokes Shin-gu’s passport.
Predicting that Shin-gu will forge a new passport overseas, Chae-woon confronts a group of illegal immigrant brokers. After a fight sprinkled with some comic relief, he hands them Shin-gu’s information. The hefty reward is theirs for the taking, if they can use their international network to track him down.
It works, but Chae-woon’s efficiency inadvertently makes Ja-yoo distrustful of how he always seems to have exactly what she needs, at just the right place and time. Once she hears his explanation, though, his tenacity convinces her. Giving him a smartwatch connected to BF’s AI operating system (voiced by Go Geon-han), Ja-yoo asks him not to work for any other company, even if he leaves BF. Chae-woon can’t make that promise, but she fastens the watch around his wrist anyway.
Right then, their conversation is interrupted by unwelcome news. Shin-gu has died of a heart attack on his plane to France, and though an autopsy declares a lack of foul play (which I highly doubt), the timing of his death fuels the conspiracy theories against Ja-yoo.
With the hordes of vindictive protestors surrounding the company buildings, Chae-woon deems it too dangerous for Ja-yoo to continue staying at the office. Instead, he takes her to his house, which turns out to not be all that safe either — they narrowly miss the scarred man (Choi Young-joon!!) scoping out the vicinity and nearly sneaking in. Chae-woon does notice the suspiciously parked car outside, but he doesn’t follow up on it.
Inside, Chae-woon’s adorable cat (hilariously named Man-shik) takes an instant liking to Ja-yoo, hee. After she settles in, Chae-woon asks why she isn’t more upset by the false allegations against her; he’s certain she had no part in Shin-gu’s death, though he can’t speak for his late wife. In Chae-woon’s eyes, Ja-yoo isn’t the type who would kill for personal vengeance — but perhaps, for her company, it might be a different story.
While in the car with Hui, Ja-yoo receives a request from Jae to meet up, only for him to leave the house right as she arrives. There’s been a large-scale police armory raid, necessitating his presence. As Ja-yoo leaves, road construction forces her car to make a detour — right into an ambush. A shootout in the woods ensues, and though Chae-woon and newbie Ho-seung are equipped with firearms that Hae-deun procured, they’re still outnumbered.
As they take cover, the gunshots trigger Ja-yoo’s traumatic flashbacks of the bombing, and her convulsing uncontrollably in a hospital bed. “Isn’t this better? You might as well die quickly with a single shot, then succumb to the hole in your head,” Ja-yoo’s inner voice taunts, temptingly.
Clocking her distress, Chae-woon reassures her that he’ll protect her, right by her side. Then just as a grenade lands beside them, Chae-woon stands up, taking a shot to the chest, and hurls the grenade right back at their attackers.
I really liked the relationship progression between Ja-yoo and Chae-woon this week, from suspicion to tentative trust and a burgeoning camaraderie. Despite learning of Chae-woon’s presence at the bombing and wondering if he might be a spy in Moon-kyu’s pocket, she’s also witnessed his dedication and his visceral abhorrence of ransomware hackers firsthand. The smartwatch signifies her trust and her acceptance of him into BF, even if she may not know his true motives yet.
On Chae-woon’s end, he’s begun to display subtle moments of care and consideration towards Ja-yoo. While a cynic might label them as mere tactics to gain her trust, I can’t help but view his actions as genuine. Chae-woon didn’t need to wrap a blanket around her in the cold winter air, or curse Shin-gu out on her behalf, or remove her cup of scalding coffee from her tensed grasp before it could spill onto her — but he did, and it feels like part of his empathetic nature rather than a disingenuous ploy.
The plot is moving at breakneck speed, introducing two new characters that harbor even more secrets. First, there’s KIR — the man that confessed to the bombing — whose story Chae-woon easily pokes holes in. Why would he have ushered the kids he’d taught and adored right into the bomb zone? Why would he have wailed in anguish over their dead bodies, if he’d known about the bombing in advance? Clearly, there’s someone else pulling the strings.
Then there’s the chairman SEONU GEUN (Eom Hyo-seop), Jae’s father and the former son-in-law of Moon-kyu, who makes an offer to Ja-yoo — he’d like to acquire BF’s HQ, laboratory, and cell culture research for 32 trillion won. Ja-yoo is tempted by the exorbitant sum, but the main concern holding her back is whether she can keep BF’s intangible assets concealed. She can relinquish her synthetic meat, but not her secrets.
Between Ja-yoo’s seizures, Jae’s intravenous injections, and the trials on Shin-gu’s cancer-ridden wife, it seems the common thread may perhaps be linked to cell regeneration on a level beyond that of stem cells. If entire organs could be cultivated from scratch to replace diseased ones, such a groundbreaking technology would be equal parts highly coveted and dangerously volatile.
Shin-gu’s cancer-ridden wife had been eligible for the experimental trials, yet Ja-yoo’s reaction last week suggests the man with the damaged organs was not, which leads me to wonder about the technology’s limitations. Does that mean it cannot proliferate cells without an intact and healthy sample of some sort? If so, that calls its sustainability into question — on top of all its ethical quandaries, of course. I might be barking up the wrong tree entirely, but speculating is part of the fun, isn’t it?