Now that the real chairman of Babel has decided to come forward, the company prepares for an official inauguration ceremony. The Jipuragi team and the prosecution attempt to use the situation to their advantage and work behind the scenes to expose the chairman’s true nature. Meanwhile, our lead struggles to deal with a significant setback in his plans to retrieve the gold.
EPISODE 13
Young-woon keeps his gun on Vincenzo as he promises not to hurt him if he lets him leave with one, specific gold bar. Ah, so he’s after the file. He finds the bar he’s looking for and lets Vincenzo take a gold bar as well. As promised, Young-woon doesn’t lock Vincenzo in and lets him out into the temple.
Young-woon warns Vincenzo that he’ll shoot if he tries to follow him. Vincenzo asks why he only took one bar and notes that, rather than carrying around the heavy bar, he should just take the Guillotine file out. Young-woon is shocked he knows, but Vincenzo has already figured out it’s the reason Young-woon has been helping this whole time.
Vincenzo gets in Young-woon’s head by asking if he thinks the file is really in there. Young-woon looks down at the bar to check, and Vincenzo takes the opportunity to swipe his gun. They start fighting, but Vincenzo quickly gains the upper hand and ends up with both the gun and the Guillotine file.
Elsewhere, Joon-woo takes over the auction for Babel Tower. While everyone starts trying to outbid each other with the sketchy favors they can offer Babel, Director Tae walks in. He introduces himself to Joon-woo and apologizes for being late.
Back at Nanyak Temple, Vincenzo checks the gun and finds that Young-woon didn’t load it. Young-woon tells him that he’s actually an agent for the International Security Intelligence Service (him too?!) and approached Wang Shaolin as a fake corporate spy to track down the Guillotine file. He truly did meet Vincenzo coincidentally when Vincenzo saved him.
Vincenzo had already known Young-woon was lying about how he got the biometrics, but he only now realizes Young-woon killed Wang Shaolin last year and obtained them then. Vincenzo wonders why he waited so long and let the monks move in. Young-woon hadn’t finished planning and thought it would’ve been riskier to leave the space empty and have someone come across the room.
On the bus, several of the tenants start to suspect Vincenzo after seeing him meet with Young-woon right as they left. CEO Park directly voices their concern that those two are looking for the gold and points out the oddity of luring them out by offering all that money to whoever takes the best photo.
At the temple, Vincenzo asks why Young-woon hasn’t reported the file’s whereabouts to his agency yet. Who is he selling it to? Young-woon admits he hasn’t decided yet. He’s more interested in discussing how Vincenzo discovered the file. Vincenzo vaguely replies that he has informants.
Meanwhile, the tenants turn the bus around and split up to search Geumga Plaza. Vincenzo finally answers Cha-young’s call warning him everyone is headed their way. He and Young-woon frantically toss the gold and their supplies back into the hatch and close it.
Cha-young manages to catch Hong-shik and Mi-ri as they head toward the temple. She stalls them with nonsense about the gold being in their hearts, like her father said. But when they hear a sound from the temple, she can’t hold them back.
They find Vincenzo and Young-woon doing a traditional 108 bows to rid themselves of greed and selfishness. Mi-ri notices a loose board underneath them but says nothing and lets Cha-young lead her away.
Once they’re gone, Young-woon informs Vincenzo that the device with Wang Shaolin’s biometrics was in his jacket … the one Vincenzo tossed into the hatch during their little cleanup. The monks return to find them bawling their eyes out over their misfortunes and think they’ve been enlightened.
Later, Vincenzo guilts the tenants who he considers “like family” for suspecting him. Cha-young and Joo-sung comfort him and join in the act when he breaks down in tears and says he needs time to heal. He excuses himself, still crying, leaving the tenants feeling awful.
Back in the office, Vincenzo reports that the gold and the file is there. They all jump and hug for joy until Vincenzo says they can’t get back in. He breaks down crying for real, and Joo-sung faints.
Joon-woo is happy with the results of their auction. Their bases are covered with the courts, press, and intelligence agencies in their pocket. Chairman Jang – who I’ll start referring to as Han-seo since he’s no longer even chairman in name – only speaks to express his utmost loyalty and accepts Joon-woo’s order to do nothing.
Attorney Han strategically brings up the Guillotine file against Myung-hee’s wishes and makes sure Joon-woo knows she wanted to hide it. Meanwhile, at Jipuragi, they all mourn the loss of their gold. Cha-young begs the smart consigliere to figure something out, but Vincenzo is adamant the only way is to demolish the building.
Attorney Han and Myung-hee explain to Joon-woo that the file could cause major damage to Babel and even has personal info on their father. Myung-hee estimates that half of the people at the auction are also in the file. Joon-woo orders Attorney Han to find the file at all costs.
Once they leave, Myung-hee warns Attorney Han it’s dangerous to play both sides like this, trying to prove his loyalty to Joon-woo after siding with his brother. Attorney Han insists he’s not that brave and vows that he’ll always be loyal to her before running off.
The following day in Prosecutor Jung’s office, Vincenzo and Cha-young watch footage of the union leader’s body being taken by a group of men – some of whom have those sword tattoos – to prevent a union funeral that will garner press attention and encourage union members.
Without the union leader’s testimony or any hard evidence, Prosecutor Jung argues it’d be useless to summon Joon-woo now. He tried confronting Myung-hee about the union leader’s death, but she’d brazenly claimed she had nothing to do with it. There’s little Prosecutor Jung can do, so he leaves it to Jipuragi to find evidence through their more creative means.
Cha-young gives a team briefing on Geumga Plaza’s roof. The team in charge of dealing with union-related issues (the “Vision Team”) answers directly to the chairman and is very loyal. Under them is the company union, which is not to be confused with the nice union whose leader was murdered. Jipuragi decides to start by looking into the company union leader.
As he waits for someone at a restaurant, Young-woon thinks about how Vincenzo said he always saw him as a friend. Vincenzo believed Young-woon that he felt the same way and suggested they continue working together to figure out the gold situation. His reverie is interrupted when a man whose face we don’t see arrives.
Elsewhere, Han-seo and Attorney Han have a secret meeting and argue over whose fault it is that their uprising went so spectacularly wrong. Attorney Han apologizes for his bad advice that Han-seo didn’t need to aim well because he was using a shotgun, but he doubts Joon-woo will kill his own brother. When Han-seo reminds him Joon-woo killed their father, Attorney Han is all, “Oh, right.” Pfft.
Attorney Han wants to think positive thoughts, but Han-seo says the best case scenario is where he gets to live but isn’t allowed to do anything. Attorney Han suggests he take this as a break and become an “even bigger idiot.” Get Joon-woo to lower his guard. Next thing we know, Myung-hee is picking Han-seo up from the police station where he’s making a scene after assaulting someone at a bar.
The press is unsurprisingly positive about Joon-woo’s upcoming inauguration as Babel chairman, but Prosecutor Jung has prepared a less enthusiastic welcome. He’s issued a summons about the anti-union charges for the day after Joon-woo’s inauguration. Myung-hee’s only concern is if the Vision Team gets raided; otherwise, there’s nothing the prosecution can do.
At home, Han-seo apologizes for causing trouble before Joon-woo’s inauguration ceremony, but Joon-woo prefers his little brother thoughtless and tells him to keep living that way. Joon-woo even bought Han-seo a watch as a token of their brotherhood and unity of purpose to grow Babel.
Because an episode wouldn’t be complete without Joon-woo manhandling and threatening his brother, he yanks Han-seo by his tie and shares that the only reason he let him live after the shooting incident is so he’d have a fall guy if need be. Han-seo immediately agrees to go to prison for him if necessary.
As the inauguration ceremony begins, the Jipuragi team meets over PPL lunch and goes over what they know. The company union leader was once a close friend of and right-hand man to the deceased union leader; he betrayed them and went to Babel’s side.
On the other hand, Team Leader Park of the Vision Team is the extremely loyal type. Jipuragi plans to take advantage of their traitorous and loyal natures respectively. They’ll start with the traitor.
The Jipuragi team plus their trusty sidekicks Team Leader Ahn and Cheol-wook pose as members of the Twin Swords gang and kidnap the traitor. They make him think Babel wants to get rid of him and scare him into agreeing to do whatever they want. They have him call Team Leader Park and blackmail him, demanding two billion won or else he’ll divulge all the team’s illegal activities.
Vincenzo and Cha-young visit Prosecutor Jung and hand him an official list of the anti-union strategies Babel compiled and has put into effect. With this document, he can get a warrant for the Vision Team.
Over dinner, Jipuragi and its honorary members argue over who’d make the best Mafia member. They decide they should all follow Vincenzo to Italy and become consiglieres. Vincenzo tells them about an old family ritual where they’d throw pig’s blood on the rival family’s new boss as an intimidating welcome present. The guys think it sounds gross, but Cha-young thinks it’d be fun to see.
The next day, Joon-woo shows up for his summons and vows to the reporters outside that he intends to fully cooperate and build back the people’s trust in Babel. The news reports are ridiculously rosy about Joon-woo and treat him like a celebrity.
In the interrogation room, Prosecutor Jung watches Joon-woo and thinks about Vincenzo and Cha-young’s request to leak that there will be a raid of the Vision Team. Their goal is to prove Joon-woo is the one who gave the orders to suppress the union, not to get evidence of the activities. In fact, they want them to remove evidence.
At the Vision Team office, Team Leader Park is informed of the upcoming raid and orders his subordinates to take the evidence they don’t have time to dispose of to one of the employee’s cars.
Team Leader Ahn and Joo-sung pose as security and let Cheol-wook know which elevator to head to. But they get caught quickly, so Team Leader Ahn flashes his agent ID and says they were sent to protect the Vision Team.
Cheol-wook follows the employee out of the elevator to his car. The poor man is terrified. I would be too if someone followed me with that hella awkward and creepy stride. (Those stiff arms with that hip action makes for a terrifying sight.) Vincenzo and Cha-young are waiting by the employee’s car and wrestle the box from him.
In the interrogation room, Prosecutor Jung ordered food and has made no move yet to question Joon-woo. Myung-hee receives a text about the thwarted raid and gloats that she now knows why Prosecutor Jung has been stalling. Prosecutor Jung is unfazed and tells Joon-woo he’s free to go “spread lies” at his scheduled lecture.
Meanwhile, Jipuragi has the traitor handcuffed in a pool as he makes another call to Team Leader Park demanding the money. After they finish, Vincenzo heads to the lecture venue and pays one of the planners to help him with a supposed surprise event for his girlfriend.
Joon-woo arrives at the venue and is bombarded by adoring fans wanting his autograph. Han-seo introduces Joon-woo onstage, and the brothers do a performative hug. Vincenzo and Cha-young watch from the balcony with popcorn.
Joon-woo announces Babel’s next venture, electric cars, with a video. Suddenly, the commercial is replaced with video of the traitor meeting with Team Leader Park – their Babel affiliation and titles explicitly stated – and blackmailing him over the anti-union documents. The audience gasps when Team Leader Park says he only does what the chairman orders.
Cheol-wook is holding the sound engineers hostage at the soundboard, so Han-seo can’t reach anyone to pull the plug on the video. Judging by his little smile at this turn of events, he’s not exactly broken up about it.
In the balcony, Vincenzo tells Cha-young it’s not over yet – she’s about to witness something exciting. Right on time, a vat of what looks like blood is dumped onto Joon-woo’s head. The crowd is in shock, and the cameras are steady flashing.
Vincenzo and Cha-young are illuminated by a spotlight as they stand and cheer loudly. Beside the stage, Han-seo struggles to hold in his laughter at the sight. Covered in red, Joon-woo glares with renewed hatred at his nemeses.
COMMENTS
Publicly humiliating an egotistical maniac is certainly one way of getting under his skin. I’m not sure which Joon-woo was angrier at, the incriminating video or the dousing. Babel and Wusang will no doubt find some way to explain away the video and spin the press, but to have that kind of commotion on Joon-woo’s first official day as chairman doesn’t look good. It also doesn’t help that he was holding a lecture for students. With the prosecution and Jipuragi gunning for him, Joon-woo and his team are going to be busy constantly trying to clean their image and prevent negative press. Even if they can evade legal consequences, maintaining public support is another matter. These things add up, and the public is bound to turn against Babel the more their sketchy behavior leaks.
Besides the external issues, there’s also the internal fracturing that hasn’t been resolved. Han-seo and Attorney Han may not be actively mutinying at the moment, but they’re not exactly loyal to Joon-woo and would likely try again if it wouldn’t get them killed. These two make a great comedy duo, but their usurping needs some work. Han-seo is so gullible and just listens to Attorney Han’s advice every time, even if it’s terrible. They’re no match for Joon-woo and Myung-hee, and I’m afraid they’re both going to end up dead if they don’t get help. By the way, a note on names: now that Joon-woo is officially “Chairman Jang,” it made more sense to start calling the old Chairman Jang by his first name Han-seo. I’ll keep using Joon-woo to stay consistent and clear rather than switching to Han-seok or, even more confusingly, Chairman Jang.
I can’t say I’m surprised Babel even has the intelligence community in their pocket. Is there any government agency they haven’t infiltrated? Taking down Babel doesn’t seem like enough at this point. If the right people can get ahold of the Guillotine file and use it to root out all the corrupt officials, that’d be icing on the cake. I don’t imagine Director Tae’s involvement with Babel and whatever other dirty secrets he’s hiding will go over well with the sweet and idealistic Team Leader Ahn. Even in that kind of job where he constantly monitors violent crimes, Team Leader Ahn remains strangely optimistic and naive. Judging by his attitude toward Vincenzo, he sees the best in people and is willing to do whatever it takes to fight for his beliefs.
Young-woon, on the other hand, seems jaded and weary. He basically admitted to Vincenzo that he’s planning on selling the file rather than reporting it. Seeing as he has access to all that gold, it must not be just for the money. I wonder if Young-woon is aware of the corruption within the agency and that has something to do with his decision to keep it out of their hands. Young-woon doesn’t seem like a person with no conscience, so I’m hoping that whoever he’s working for or dealing information to isn’t with Babel or someone equally terrible, at the very least. I’m glad the show did surprise me and didn’t have Vincenzo completely prepared for Young-woon’s betrayal. He caught some of his lies and knew something was up, but he still didn’t expect Young-woon to go that far. That blind spot for his friend makes Vincenzo seem more human and less superhero-y.