Asian Addicts Anonymous

Picking up right where episode 1 left off, we find Choi Hyo Woo giving orders to fellow brethren of the Sword Fraternity. In order to prove the Sword Fraternity’s innocence and to save his daughter, Hyo Woo sends his men out investigating the real truth behind the trio of assassinations of the southern officials. Dong Ju and Chun Soo go in search of the missing Dong Yi as does the triad’s men. Each hoping to find Dong Yi before the others.

And just where is Dong Yi all this time? At the house of a minister. The servant brought her to see the mistress of the house as the child they had chosen to do the New Year’s greeting came down with the measles. When the minster’s wife finds out that Dong Yi is a lowborn versus a freeborn, she ordered the servant to take her out immediately, but Dong Yi pleaded with the mistress until she finally gave her a chance. When reading the New Year’s greeting Dong Yi pointed out that the Chinese characters were wrong, impressing the mistress who decided to let Dong Yi give the greeting despite being a lowborn. This made Dong Yi’s day as she gets to wear nice silk clothes like a freeborn lady.

Dong Ju discovers Dong Yi on her way home and takes her to the captain’s house (he’s the father of Dong Yi’s best friend Gaeduara) for safekeeping. Chun Soo tries to discover who is behind the threat to Dong Yi and Hyo Woo’s life, but to no avail. The next day Chun Soo discovers a wanted poster for both Dong Yi and her father. When Officer Seo sees this he goes to the Triad in anger where he is told that Choi Hyo Woo used his daughter to implicate and murder the man in questioning of the murders of the southern officials. Seo doesn’t believe that either Hyo Woo or the Sword Fraternity is guilty and he decides to do his best to set things right.

Hyo Woo sets up a meeting with Officer Seo who feels guilty for getting Choi and his daughter involved in such a deep-rooted political problem. Hyo Woo says Seo owes him no apologies. He then gives Officer Seo the information that the Sword Fraternity had managed to gather thus far. The information showed that it was neither the westerners nor the Sword Fraternity who were involved in the officials’ deaths, but might indeed be other southern officials. Officer Seo goes to his father for help from the king. His father asks if Choi can be trusted, Officer Seo replies he trusts Choi Hyo Woo as he trusts himself, so his father goes off to talk to the king.

Unfortunately things fall apart. A member of the fraternity gets caught and gives up Chief Choi and his men. The corrupted officials then plot a devious plan to trap the fraternity and make them take the fall for all the murders – they decide to kill Officer Seo’s father before he can get to the king. The fraternity hear about the impending death order and rush out to save him; however, they are too late and he is already dead. The triad officers pop up out of nowhere (really they were the ones who did it) and arrest them. Word gets back to Officer Seo who doesn’t believe it and rides out to see for himself. He is shocked to see that his trusted friend Choi Hyo Woo is indeed the leader of the Sword Fraternity and he does believe that they really killed his father (which actually makes no sense as his father was supposed to be helping the fraternity clear their names).

While all this is happening, Chun Soo is supposed to be taking Dong Yi to meet up with Dong Ju so she can safely get out of the capital until things blow over. Unfortunately, Dong Yi did not heed her father’s edict that she stay put and went to deliver the New Year’s greeting (and wouldn’t you know, she was delivering it to the official who is behind all of these plots?). When the official learns that she is Choi Dong Yi and her father is the corpse inspector Choi Hyo Woo, he feels elated, believing all the troubles will finally be laid to rest. He calls in the police to capture Dong Yi. Dong Yi manages to catch wind of this and hide, confused as to why the police would want to take her in. Just when she is about to get caught, Chun Soo manages to catch up with her and save her.

When he and Dong Yi arrive at the appointed meeting place, Dong Ju is nowhere to be seen. Chun Soo tells Dong Yi to stay put and runs to the secret mountain cave to find Dong Ju. He arrives only to find it in ruins, the men there dead. He then finds out that a fellow brethren betrayed them and that the Chief and Dong Ju were both arrested. He rushes to find them and was going to fight the guards that held them, but Hyo Woo silently pleaded with him not to as Chun Soo was now the Chief of the Sword Fraternity, he had to survive and keep the fight going.

The episode ends with Dong Yi seeing her father and brother being led through the Market, tied up and under heavy guard.

Highlights:

• Dong Yi showing up the minster’s servant by being able to read not only Korean, but Chinese (proving them wrong that lowborns are not as intelligent as freeborns)
• Gueduara being forced to drink excrement water when he pretended to be sick to try to help Dong Yi escape to go to the New Year’s greeting

Oh No! moments:

• Watching Chief Choi and Dong Ju getting betrayed by one of their own (not to mention falling for the enemy’s trick)
• Dong Yi seeing her precious family being treated as the worst kind of criminals