Our precocious child is deposited right back into the cold and clinical environment she was forced to grow up in, reinforcing just how little of a childhood she’s had. An unexpected — and entertainingly charismatic — wildcard shows up to join the unlikely household, bringing both amusing unpredictability and ominous scheming with him.
EPISODES 5-6 RECAP
Following Myung-joon’s heroic rescue of Ro-hee, our injured kidnapper and his unconscious charge are quickly collected by Ho-young and delivered to Eun-seon. Back in the opulent, secluded villa where research used to be carried out on her, Ro-hee is immediately subjected to countless diagnostic tests. It’s equal parts chilling and heartbreaking to hear Eun-seon speak of Ro-hee as if she’s a robot — she’s merely checking if any brain functions have been lost, and she clearly cares little for the child’s wellbeing.
When Myung-joon comes to, Eun-seon finally explains Professor Choi’s research, and her part in it as an investor. She commends him for keeping Ro-hee safe, but that’s as far as she’ll allow. Offering to sponsor Hee-ae by covering the entire cost of her medical treatment and education, Eun-seon veils her demand in a deal — Myung-joon must leave Ro-hee’s side in exchange.
For all her complaining about peasant food before, Ro-hee’s lost her appetite for the lavish dining of her affluent household — only Myung-joon’s humble, home-cooked flour pancakes manage to bring a tiny smile to her face. Aww.
Later, Myung-joon interrupts Ro-hee in the middle of a complex Russian book to take her on a beach playdate. Quietly, Ro-hee admits that it’s her first time touching the sea, and Myung-joon gazes at her with a pensive look on his face. Then he’s scooping her up and running out to sea, and before long the two are having the time of their lives splashing water at each other.
Once they’ve dried off, Ro-hee reveals to Myung-joon that Eun-seon’s daughter has a developmental disorder, which explains her interest in the Genius Child Project. If not for Ro-hee’s role in the research, she’d be worthless. With the barest hint of tears forming in her eyes, Ro-hee asks Myung-joon to continue lying to her if she ever loses her memory again — she’d rather him pretend to be her dad. Sobs.
On the night that Myung-joon is supposed to depart, Ro-hee suddenly has a flashback while searching up news articles about her parents’ murder. The flashing lights she’d seen hadn’t been that of a police car — they’d been yellow, the exact color that the security company uses. Myung-joon immediately urges her to run away and pursue the truth, but Ro-hee knows it’s easier said than done, and she comes up with a plan.
After one last tearful farewell with Hee-ae, Myung-joon attempts to bribe the boat captain into turning back, but he’s met with a metal rod to the back of his head. Meanwhile, as Ro-hee sprints down the road leading away from her ornate prison, she’s met by bright headlights. Out of the car steps Kang Young-seok (yay, finally!) as the very suave JADEN, smirking like a cat that just caught the canary.
Ro-hee’s escape attempt is foiled just like that, and she’s brought back under Eun-seon’s watchful eye. Eun-seon and Jaden may not be on the best of terms, as an early investor and the investor who holds the most shares respectively, but both of them need Ro-hee alive, captive, and compliant. The international fund manager Jaden has returned from Singapore in order to stake claim on the profitable research that he believes ought to be wholly his, and his right-hand man Ho-young is ready to assist him every step of the way.
With her usual disregard for the social hierarchy, Ro-hee bluntly orders Jaden to bring Myung-joon back. Jaden’s amused that Ro-hee thinks she has the grounds upon which to bargain, but she isn’t the least bit intimidated by his threats. After all, she’s been subjected to endless injections and drugs all her life, so he can’t possibly do much worse.
So, how’s our favorite kidnapper doing? Out at sea, Myung-joon regains consciousness amidst a fight between the two smuggler boats, both greedy for Myung-joon’s cash-lined duffle bag. Armed with a fishing net and sheer determination, Myung-joon defeats all the thugs and makes it safely back to shore.
Unfortunately for Myung-joon, he’s apprehended at the harbor by Sang-yoon. In the police van, a frazzled Myung-joon spills the beans, pleading for them to help Ro-hee. Ha, his train of thought is speeding so fast that Sang-yoon can barely catch up. Myung-joon barely manages to recall the highway number leading to the villa before Ho-young rams into the van with a stolen fish truck, incapacitating the officers and retrieving Myung-joon.
This week, we revisit the violent incident that sparked our drama’s chain of events. We finally learn the identity of the aggrieved man — he’s Cheol-won, the hospital security personnel we’ve previously met. (Apologies for my hasty mistake in the opening week’s recap; stabby man was not the junk collector, lol!) Medical malpractice by Chairman Choi — a.k.a. Professor Choi’s father — and a ghost doctor had led to the death of Cheol-won’s wife and unborn child, driving him to vengeance in his grief. The little girl who got stabbed in the neck was Chairman Choi’s child — except the records say he only had one adopted son, not a daughter.
Back then, Cheol-won had grabbed a bloody scalpel, which had just been used on an AIDs patient — and isn’t it convenient that the one AIDs patient we know in the present timeline always keeps her neck covered? This drama doesn’t waste time confirming its hints, and when our detectives visit the orphanage Myung-joon grew up in, we learn that Hye-eun had also come from that very same orphanage.
Elsewhere, Cheol-won resigns from the security company, obtaining his severance pay. It looks like he’s tying up loose ends, and unfortunately, foreboding premonitions are never wrong. The next we see of Cheol-won, he’s fatally stabbed Doctor Yoon. (He claims it’s because Doctor Yoon is also a quack doctor, but is that really all there is to it?)
Cheol-won is arrested, where he confesses to the murder of Professor Choi, claiming he had gotten greedy at the sight of the gold bars in the professor’s safe. Professor Choi had caught him in the act of burglary, and a scuffle had ensued — during which Cheol-won witnessed the corpse of the professor’s wife. If Cheol-won’s telling the truth, that means there were two different murderers, confirming the theories about the starkly different killing methods.
Meanwhile, Jaden’s already making his moves. Paying a visit to Ro-hee’s grand-uncle, who’s next in line to receive the Choi inheritance, Jaden reminds the avaricious man that he just needs Ro-hee to be legally dead in order to usurp her rightful wealth. To prove his point, Jaden plies the ship captain with a hefty bribe, and before long everyone thinks Ro-hee was thrown overboard.
When Ro-hee learns of this, she immediately devises a counterattack — there’s one last thing Myung-joon hasn’t done yet as her kidnapper. With that, we end the week on Myung-joon making a call to lawyer Taek-kyun, demanding a hefty ransom.
You guys, you have no idea how excited I am to have Jaden on the screen at long last! Once again, Kang Young-seok is bringing his electrifying energy to the table, just like he did in Insider, and I am part fascinated by his cheeky demeanor and part terrified by his ruthless methods. Similarly, I can’t wait to find out what role Taek-kyun will play in this ever-sprawling conspiracy. Both men are keeping their cards close to their chest for now, intriguing me all the more.
On that note, Sang-yoon is still suspicious of the answers that have dropped neatly into his lap, and rightly so. Cheol-won is too deeply tied to the Choi family for his killings to be mere coincidence — but if it was truly revenge, why wait till now? What has Hye-eun been plotting all this while, and why is she evading the authorities? I love that the multiple antagonists exploiting Ro-hee are varying shades of gray, each harboring their own selfish motivations.
With every passing day, Ro-hee and Myung-joon’s bond grows deeper, and it’s so heartwarmingly sweet to see how he coaxes her out of her shell, one silly antic at a time. It’s telling that Ro-hee refers to Myung-joon as the only person she can trust, and that for all her intellectual superiority, she sees the value in his earnest sincerity. I find Ro-hee so compellingly brave — to someone who’s been taken advantage of and dehumanized all her life, Myung-joon’s unconditional kindness must feel terrifyingly foreign. Yet she’s wise enough to recognize that she deserves his care, and resilient enough to keep asserting her worth.
Not only is Ro-hee starting to take control over her own life, but she’s also influencing Myung-joon to bare his claws bit by bit, and I am very much here for it. That fakeout-greeting judo flip Myung-joon delivered to Jaden upon their first meeting — egged on by a smug Ro-hee — was hilariously glorious, heh. Myung-joon may be selflessly kind, but he’s not a total pushover. That’s reserved exclusively for Ro-hee, of course.