Asian Addicts Anonymous

OST Song Recommendation: “Goodbye My Princess” by Monday Kiz

Hye Ri is shocked to be stopped by Seo when trying to leave for Japan. She is embarrassed and tries to figure out how he knew she was running away. Seo tells her she can’t escape from him. She tried so hard to get that case and now she’s just going to give up and run away? Hye Ri states that she can’t be a prosecutor anymore as she’s not suited for it and Min Ji’s mom doesn’t even want her on the case anymore. Seo gets upset the more Hye Ri insists she will not work as a prosecutor anymore. He tells her she’s being selfish and that she is showing no sense of shame or pride. Seo asks what she will do if she doesn’t go back to being a prosecutor. Hye Ri says she’ll just work as a lawyer like him and Seo tells her no law firm will hire someone with such a tainted reputation as she would have by quitting the office like she did. Having said enough, Seo leaves Hye Ri behind telling her he is disappointed in her.

Poor Hye Ri is hurt by Seo’s cruel words, but she decides to board the plane anyways. As soon as she gets on, she sits down and puts on a sleep mask. When she wakes up she sees Ji Min sitting across from her with he violin instructor leering down at her. This freaks Hye Ri out and she jumps up shouting “no”. She hits her head and takes the sleep mask off. It was just a dream! Hye Ri’s conscience gets to her and she decides to disembark. On her way out, she runs into all of her coworkers who refuse to let her leave the plane as they are happy she is leaving. Hye Ri jumps up and bumps her head again. Another dream. The stewardess asks if she’s all right and Hye Ri demands to get off the plane. Once outside, she is disappointed that Seo didn’t wait for her and says that she will show him that she has pride and will do her best. But where to start?

Meanwhile, Seo is with Jenny who is surprised that Seo did not drag Hye Ri back with him. Jenny asks if he is certain that Hye Ri will come back. Seo says he knows that she will as the Ma Hye Ri he knows would never be able to turn her back on Ji Min. Jenny then asks why he seems so sad and didn’t wait for Hye Ri to get off the plane then. Seo then gets a call to confirm that Hye Ri did get off the plane and is on her way back home. Yes, Hye Ri went back home before going to the office. Her mom is crying on the bed reading the note Hye Ri left behind while her father is calling around trying to find her. He confirms that she boarded a plane that had already taken off to Japan. Both her parents are surprised when she sneaks in. Before they can really yell at her, Hye Ri turns around and says she has to get to work. Hye Ri’s mom was going to stop her, but her father was happy as Hye Ri said she was going to work.

When Hye Ri gets to work, people are standing around the tomato-stained pavement, talking about the incident and debating whether or not Hye Ri would show her face. Hye Ri doesn’t really like this, but she has to go through the people in order to get into the building. They are shocked that Hye Ri came into work and believe her to be very thick-skinned. Hye Ri notices the special courier delivering her letter of resignation and immediately runs after the man, hoping to stop it before it reaches her boss. She doesn’t make it in time and her boss is at first annoyed when he reads the letter, but happy when Hye Ri shows up as it means that she did not leave and will continue working. Hye Ri goes back to her office and Yoon is surprised to hear she showed up and goes to get her to talk. He shows Hye Ri the pictures from the earlier case and Hye Ri realizes that she was wrong. Yoon then tells her why the lady dumped tomatoes on her and says that if she can’t listen and try to understand the situations better, then she should quit. He then thanks her for all the hard work she put into making the goodies for his daughter, Bin. Well, it’s a start.

This encourages and inspires Hye Ri to try again with Ji Min. She calls her mom and tells her to get the dough ready and heads out only to be stopped by Seo who asks why she’s still there. Hye Ri tells him that she does have pride left. Seo then grabs her hand and drags her after him. Hye Ri stops him and asks what’s going on. Seo replies that he is going to drive Hye Ri wherever she needs to go as she has a busy day ahead of her. Hye Ri finally agrees and they leave together. She asks Seo to take her home and he willingly obeys. When Hye Ri gets home, she and her mom start baking a new basket of goodies. Her mom says she can do a better job, but Hye Ri says she needs to do the decorating and shaping herself to show it was her and her sincerity. She then heads off to visit Ji Min.

Ji Min’s mom is less than happy to see Hye Ri and is not pleased to see the big basket of goodies. Hye Ri apologizes for how she dresses and talks and says that if she made it seem like she was looking down at Ji Min and her mother, she really wasn’t. This surprises Ji Min’s mom. Ji Min then comes out and asks her mom to fix some doll clothes, but since her mom was busy, Hye Ri offered. Hye Ri sits down and fixes the pants fast. Ji Min then gives her a whole bunch of pants to fix. While Hye Ry is fixing them, she notices the dolls all have heavy layers on. When she asks Ji Min why, she says so they don’t hurt. Hye Ri begins to understand that Ji Min was indeed telling the truth. To cheer Ji Min up and to give her the courage to talk, Hye Ri dances and plays with her. Ji Min’s mom is touched she see Ji Min smiling and laughing for the first time since the incident.

An excited Hye Ri goes outside to see Seo still there. He smiles happily at Hye Ri’s excitement, but that slowly fades. Hye Ri says that with Ji Min’s testimony they can prosecute the teacher. Seo asks if they have enough evidence besides the testimony. Hye Ri says no, that’s why she is going to investigate the teacher’s activities in the US.  Seo later requests dinner as repayment for his services and Hye Ri agrees. Before they can go eat, Hye Ri falls asleep. Seo takes her straight home. He tries waking her up, but she is dead to the world. He adjusts her head and caresses her hair softly before putting his shirt behind her head for a pillow. Later Hye Ri wakes up and sees Seo sleeping. She lightly chides him for not waking her and then covers him up with his shirt before going back inside.

Hye Ri then talks to Ji Min with a child expert and Ji Min’s mother present and Ji Min confesses the whole sordid tale. She did say no and the teacher said that he would stop teaching Ji Min the violin and force her mom to pay up on the fees, so the poor girl ended up being quiet through the ordeal. While, Hye Ri is questioning Ji Min, her investigator is monitoring the entire interview as well. Hye Ri then takes the statement to her boss who congratulates her on the thorough work. Hye Ri then asks to be the prosecutor on the case if it should go to trial. Her boss agrees to let her do it, making Hye Ri happy, not just because it will prove her worth to her father and her coworkers, but because she honestly wants to help little Ji Min put the bad man away.

While Hye Ri is working on Ji Min’s case, Seo is working on a case of his own involving a young teacher, Dong Ha falsely imprisoned for violence. Seo tells the boy’s father not to worry and goes and visits the river where it looks like he is mourning for someone, before going to talk to Hye Ri about Dong Ha’s case, she is the prosecutor in charge. Hye Ri is talking to Dong Ha and states what the office was told about the case. Dong Ha then asks for his story to be heard. He said that he was walking late at night and found a young woman being attacked. He stopped the attack and ran with the woman as the attacker and friends chased after them. They split up and the men followed Dong Ha. Defending himself, Dong Ha unintentionally hurt the attacker badly. Hye Ri doesn’t believe the story as there are no witnesses and nobody to back it up.

While Shin Dong Ha worries that he will be charged for someone else’s misdeeds, Seo comes in. This surprises Hye Ri and her associates, especially when they learn Seo is Dong Ha’s lawyer. Hye Ri takes Seo aside for a private conference and is excited by such a “coincidence” that Seo is involved in another case she is prosecuting. Seo gets Hye Ri back to the business at hand and Hye Ri says that Dong Ha’s story is not believable. Seo demands an extension to the deadline for prosecuting Dong Ha. Hye Ri asks for evidence and Seo says he does not have any. Hye Ri refuses the extension and tells Seo to find evidence before the deadline then. Seo makes a bet with Hye Ri saying he will find the girl to come forward and tell the truth. Seo goes back to his office where his investigator has already found a lead to the mystery girl. He went back to the scene and found her glasses. He also found that an order for those same glasses came in to a repair shop just two days after the incident. He then hands Seo the woman’s information and a picture of the woman in question.

Hye Ri is putting on her prosecutor’s robe, getting ready for Ji Min’s trial. Just before leaving, Hye Ri gets a delivery of documents from America. It is the information she wanted her investigator to find about Ji Min’s teacher. Her investigator says that the information wasn’t from him (nope, Seo had Jenny send it to Hye Ri). Hye Ri wonders where it came from, but is happy that she can use it in court to help support Ji Min’s testimony. At court, Ji Min’s teacher insists upon his innocence. When the time comes for Ji Min to testify, the girl freezes up and won’t speak. The judge asks if the case can be continued and Hye Ri says yes. She takes off her robe, undoes her hair and begins dancing like she did once before at Ji Min’s place. This puts Ji Min at ease and she begins talking about what happened to her. The people watching from outside the courtroom (only the lawyers and judge were allowed to remain) were deeply affected by the testimony. Seo, who was present, looked quite happy that Hye Ri got Ji Min to talk. Hye Ri then introduces the incriminating evidence from America and states that Ji Min’s pain is not just a child’s imagination.

When the trial is over, Ji Min goes over to Hye Ri and gives her a giant hug. Even though the decision has not been reached, Hye Ri did her best to put the bad man away and get justice for Ji Min. It’s a really touching scene. Hye Ri at first hesitates, but gradually hugs Ji Min back, making Ji Min’s mom happy. A fellow court worker passes by and wonders if Ma Hye Ri is the person she knew from the past. What development is this? When Hye Ri steps outside she is swarmed by reporters asking her questions. Hye Ri is disappointed when they talk about her beauty instead of the case and she is also unhappy when they called her dancing in the courtroom an act. Without answering their questions, she just keeps walking after giving a very brief statement. Hye Ri is happy that the court performance went well and that she vindicated herself for her father and Seo.

Hye Ri gets back to the office and waits outside the men’s bathroom impatiently, startling Yoon when he comes out. Hye Ri asks if he has heard and he wonders about what and then looks around and asks why Hye Ri always waits for him there (lol, too funny). Hye Ri then says that she has really done it! He then tells Hye Ri she did a good job in court. Hye Ri gets really happy and was going to talk about work and love, but changed it to just work to show she had pride and class to Yoon. Nice. Yoon then recalls what he said to Hye Ri so cruelly outside his house when she confessed. Before he can say anything to her, she walks away. Another coworker comes out of the bathroom and asks why Hye Ri must always act that way. Yoon says nothing but smiles to himself. Because Hye Ri is focusing on her work and not on love? Or because she is growing up and maturing as a person and a prosecutor? All of the above? I think Yoon is kind of starting to like Hye Ri.

Hye Ri goes home and demands her credit cards and keys back from her father. Ma doesn’t want to at first, but then his wife reads the interview Hye Ri did after court and caves. Seo is also reading the interview and is very happy with the outcome as well. Now, Hye Ri is getting a proper case load instead of the few cases that didn’t really need much investigation or real work as the boss thinks Hye Ri has come far enough to be able to be trusted with more cases now. Good job, good job! The office biddies are complaining about Hye Ri getting too smug because of one successful case and Hye Ri finds out that Yoon and another prosecutor helped get the tomato incident video off the web, this touches Hye Ri. She is told that she is invited out after work to celebrate her first successful case as a prosecutor. Hye Ri readily agrees when she hears Yoon will be going. Seo calls and invites Hye Ri out to celebrate as well, plus she still owes him dinner. She takes a raincheck and Seo is upset, knowing its because of Yoon.

At the celebration party, her coworkers congratulate her on a job well done. Her boss makes her a drink, tells her she did a great job, but says it’s not over. The rest of them still don’t trust her yet. Hye Ri accepts the drink and says she would feel to much pressure if they all trusted her anyways. They all drink and Jin then congratulates Hye Ri at coming through at the last moment. Hye Ri says it was all the power of love and looks over at Yoon, how obvious. Meanwhile, Seo is drinking with Dong Ha’s dad who tells Seo he is now sorry for teaching his son not to ignore injustice. Seo asks if Mr. Shin had done that and later regretted it before. Shin replies in the affirmative. Just what is going on? Curse Seo and his mysterious actions and agendas. Although, in episode 9 we have a much clearer picture.

When the drinking party breaks up, Hye Ri manages to get a ride home with Yoon, even though he lives in the same area as Jin. On the ride home, Yoon wants to know why Hye Ri keeps looking at him and she asks him to look at her on the way home. Yoon refuses saying he doesn’t like that and that she’s a bad drinker (meaning she behaves badly after drinking). Hye Ri finally tells him off a bit saying she is sick of hearing him say what he hates instead of what he likes. Hearing this makes Yoon laugh and makes Hye Ri happy that he has finally cracked a smile. When they get home, Yoon gets out and walks Hye Ri to the gate. Hye Ri asks if he likes her just a little and Yoon says he is of course interested in sleeping with her just once (major burn). This stuns and hurts Hye Ri to the core. Yoon then comments that her provocative dressing is advertisement for such things. Hye Ri says she dresses like she does because she knows how much she is worth and other’s opinions can just be fed to the dogs. Seo was sitting in his car outside of Hye Ri’s house and heard it all. He gets upset and turns the headlights on and makes a beeline for Yoon, swerving at the last moment.

The next morning Hye Ri’s mom and dad tell her the other party is now interested in matchmaking again and now Hye Ri is completely against it. The man injured her pride and she has a man she likes now (though she keeps that part hidden from her parents). Back at the office, Lee gets a call from an old classmate asking about Hye Ri and wanting to confirm if it’s the same one. She sends Lee a picture and somehow the picture is leaked to the entire office. Hye Ri confesses she likes Yoon to Jin. Talk about ignorance and insensitivity to others. When she goes back to her old office, she sees her investigators looking intensely at the computer and sneaks up behind them and is astonished to see what they were looking at.

End episode.

My thoughts: At last Hye Ri has become a more likable person. Still naive, still has a long way to go, but she has definitely improved. It’s a good thing this didn’t last any longer than five episodes, because I couldn’t stand to watch too much more of Hye Ri being a complete insensitive idiot. Ah, Seo. He likes her. He’s using her. I want to know what’s going on there, but it has not been revealed yet. Yoon is a jerk. He doesn’t need to completely rake Hye Ri over the coals like he does. It’s just too much. To say that a woman who dresses provocatively is enticing men for only one reason…is BS. There are women who dress like Hye Ri does not to entice men, but because they have pride in themselves and their bodies and let’s face it, there are women who dress a lot worse than she does.