The chase is on, and our trusty investigator is on the case. At long last, our sly schemer has finally shown her true colors, all while evading suspicion with her deceitful wiles. She may have a number of skeletons in her closet, but it turns out our hero is harboring a secret, too — one that he may not even remember himself.
EPISODES 8-9
Our heroes are intercepted mid-escape, and while Jaden lets Eun-seon off the hook since he still needs her research capabilities, he’s not so inclined to forgive Taek-kyun’s treachery. Except someone else fires their gun first — it’s Myung-joon, who misses “Jackson” entirely, since his good aim is limited only to computer games, LOL. Myung-joon may not be able to get English names right, but he’s most certainly not letting “Jason” gain the upper hand. Ro-hee has come prepared with an extra gun (which she gets to hold for a very excited five seconds), turning the tide in favor of our heroes.
Holding “JJ” at gunpoint, Myung-joon vows that Ro-hee will live just like any other 11-year-old from here on out. She’s a child, not a research subject. The men tie Jaden up and stuff him into the trunk, since they need to keep him captive for now. Myung-joon plans to turn both himself and Jaden in after Hee-ae’s surgery the next day, wanting to put an end to everything and allow Ro-hee to walk free.
Meanwhile, Sang-yoon and his team round up Jaden’s thugs, but Ho-young remains frustratingly silent. The very next morning, the arrest warrant gets rejected, and the thugs walk free. It’s awful timing, because Ho-young immediately sets off in pursuit of our ragtag team, rescuing Jaden from the car trunk only to shove a gun into his mouth. Luckily for Jaden, it’s a blank — but a phone call from their English-speaking “boss” delivers a warning that a bullet will be going down Jaden’s throat next time, if he doesn’t deliver both Professor Choi’s research reports and Ro-hee.
While Myung-joon wanders off to buy a teddy bear for Hee-ae, Ho-young stabs Taek-kyun in the hospital parking lot. Myung-joon returns in time to call an ambulance for the bleeding lawyer, but he’s sorely outnumbered. Although Myung-joon manages to overpower Jaden and break his arm in retaliation for what he’s done to Ro-hee, Ho-young leaves him with a slashed palm and trampled ankle, allowing our baddies to speed off with Ro-hee in their clutches.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Jaden is more bark than bite, while Ho-young’s stoic efficiency and inscrutable expressions (or lack thereof) make him a force to be reckoned with. Previously, it seemed like Myung-joon’s sincerity might have gotten through to him, but he’s since gone right back to his usual brand of brutal violence, so perhaps sympathy is off the table. Ho-young’s motivations may still be an unanswered question, but at least Jaden’s goal is clear and consistent. Having noticed the necklace that Ro-hee always wears, Jaden doesn’t hesitate to snatch it right off her neck, suspecting that it may somehow contain a key to Professor Choi’s research.
Jaden’s quest for Professor Choi’s research also leads him to overlap paths with Sang-yoon, who notes the coincidence of running into Jaden twice at both Eun-seon’s clinic and the Choi residence. Although Sang-yoon has been saddled with a disciplinary hearing and a month-long suspension for his unauthorized investigations, he’s not going to let police bureaucracy stop him from pursuing the truth. Myung-joon had warned him of a leak from the police force, and it’s looking increasingly likely that the mole is Sang-yoon’s team leader. Uh-oh.
The kidnapping case may have been confiscated by the higher-ups, but Sang-yoon’s not one to quit. One last look around the Choi residence yields Professor Choi’s secret room of research documents, through which Sang-yoon finally gets the full picture of the Choi family’s child experimentation. The reports prove that Hye-eun was a test subject in the Genius Child Project, but she was the second one. The first? Myung-joon.
Back when Myung-joon had been adopted, Hye-eun had hidden herself in the trunk, hitching a ride all the way to the Choi residence. Out of desperation to leave the orphanage, she’d attempted to convince Chairman Choi to adopt her instead, going as far as to swap her IQ test with Myung-joon’s. That’s how Myung-joon ended up being sent back to the orphanage, while Hye-eun soon realized her adoption was not the blessing it initially seemed to be.
Just as Hye-eun displayed her scheming from a young age, she’s still harboring more secrets in the present day. Injured and on the run after his altercation in the hospital, Myung-joon goes to Hye-eun’s apartment to nurse his wounds. While she’s out of the house, his search for a first aid kit leads him to find a hard drive containing Professor Choi’s CCTV recordings, taped to the bottom of a cabinet.
Next, Myung-joon heads over to Eun-seon’s clinic, arriving just in time to save her from a murder attempt by one of Jaden’s thugs. Apparently, if Jaden can’t secure her cooperation in rescinding her investment, then he’ll resort to the good old-fashioned route of direct elimination. Eun-seon snoops through the subdued lackey’s phone, finding messages that reveal Ro-hee is set to depart from the Sokcho port.
Just then, a knock on the door announces Sang-yoon’s arrival, in yet another instance of his perfect timing. Eun-seon barely manages to distract Sang-yoon, but he turns around just in time to catch Myung-joon red-handed in the midst of reaching for Eun-seon’s car keys, ha. Bemoaning his terrible luck, Myung-joon makes a run for it, speeding away in Eun-seon’s car with Sang-yoon close behind.
Elsewhere, someone cuts Jaden off just as he’s about to peel out of the driveway. It’s Hye-eun, sporting a self-assured smirk and a slick new look. She may not have the raw intelligence of Ro-hee or Myung-joon, but she’s proven herself to be a master manipulator who’s extremely patient in playing the long game.
Now that Hye-eun’s claws are out on full display, I’m anticipating Sang-yoon’s counterattack. He’s quick to put two and two together, and he’s already on her tail, but he’ll need to be more covert and crafty if he hopes to catch her in a trap. That moment when all expression slowly slid off Hye-eun’s face, as she noticed the blinking light of Sang-yoon’s wiretapping device, was downright chilling — this lady is not an adversary to be underestimated.
Another character who’s adept at seeing the big picture is Ro-hee, who’s realized that the dates don’t add up — there’s an entire day missing from her memory, right before she was kidnapped. Ro-hee may have spent most of this week’s episodes in captivity, but she’s no damsel in distress. As a last-ditch effort to escape Jaden’s clutches, Ro-hee requests one last meal from Ho-young before they depart for Russia — shrimp fried rice. Except, as you may remember from the anaphylactic shock that sent Myung-joon dashing to the hospital with her on his back, Ro-hee is severely allergic to shrimp. She’s courageously gambling her life on the chance of escape, and while it’s no doubt a risky plan, her tenacity is certainly remarkable.