Asian Addicts Anonymous

I should say I’ll probably always end up at least a day behind on this drama. Just, FYI.

The doctor finishes up looking at Myung Ja. They don’t have to worry about her blood pressure as of yet, but she needs to remain in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Snort. You know…the only reason she isn’t in a calm and peaceful atmosphere at home is because she chooses not to be. Just saying. Min Jae sees the doctor out while Mi So tries to tend to Myung Ja who gets upset and kicks her out since she doesn’t want to see Mi So’s face. Again, I know that Mi So is partially to blame as she should not have turned her back on her daughter for even one second (kids, as we can see, can disappear or get into quite a bit of trouble in a short span of time), but let’s face it, things like this happen all the time and Mi So was not really being completely negligent and ignoring her daughter, but Myung Ja doesn’t care.

Mi So says that while Hae Ram is Myung Ja’s granddaughter, she is Mi So’s flesh and blood who she would give up 10 lives if she had them for her daughter. She starts crying and says that she is about to lose her mind. Myung Ja says that Mi So has already gone crazy. She then sits up and wonders if Hae Ram is hungry wherever she is. When they don’t know how she is doing, how could Mi So eat like nothing happened? Mi So says she is fighting to stay strong for Hae Ram, but she is close to completely breaking done. She sobs and begs for Myung Ja’s patience and help, but Myung Ja will not soften towards her at all. No…that would be expecting her to act like a decent human being and she isn’t one.

Detective Choi then sits down with Mi So and Min Jae. He tells them of an illegally purchased car that disappeared off of the CCTV. It’s possible this vehicle might have something to do with Hae Ram’s disappearance. Mi So cannot recall the vehicle, but Min Jae pleads with her to think hard. Mi So then asks if the driver’s face was caught. It was, but they can’t tell who it is since he was wearing a cap. I know Mi So didn’t want to cause a scandal or make her husband or mother-in-law upset, but she should actually tell them about the attempted assault because with these two incidents happening so close together…shouldn’t she think there could be a possible connection?

Meanwhile, Na Young calls up her mother who scolds her for not coming or answering her phone after promising to be there. Na Young ignores this and asks after Hae Ram. Her mother says that after more medicine and wiping the child down all night that the fever has finally gone down. Na Young then assures herself that she did the right thing by not going because a simple fever doesn’t mean that Hae Ram would be in danger. Actually…a high fever that does not subside is VERY dangerous in children in particular. dimwit. We then see her making porridge.

Min Jae is about to leave when he gets a call from Na Young. She tells him that she didn’t feel comfortable ringing the doorbell so she called instead. Can he come open the door? Min Jae is not happy to hear she’s there, but he does let her in. He’s on his way to work as even though Hae Ram is missing, he can’t leave things unattended for too long. How much do you want to bet that Myung Ja would praise him for this, but if Mi So had a job and went to work she’d just condemn her for being an unfeeling monster. Double standards. Gotta hate them. Na Young asks after Hae Ram, but Min Jae says they still haven’t heard anything. Na Young then tries to comfort him as she is sure Hae Ram will found. She asks after Myung Ja (notice she doesn’t ask after Mi So at all) as she is sure Min Jae’s mother must be feeling very poorly. She encourages him to go to work and not to wither so he can find his daughter. Shameless witch.

Min Jae wants Na Young to leave, but she won’t without delivering her porridge first to Myung Ja. What makes her think Myung Ja would accept it? Mi So is sitting in her room cradling her cell phone when she hears Min Jae yell Na Young’s name. This brings her out to the kitchen where Na Young is spooning porridge in a bowl. Mi So asks what Na Young is doing there (the woman looks quite ill and lifeless). Na Young calls her Eun Joo and says she is shocked at how poor the other woman looks in only a matter of days. Mi So ignores this. Why did Na Young come? Did she come because she knows what is happening? Na Young says she was sad hearing that Hae Ram disappeared and came to the Lee house as a friend from the orphanage. She knows Mi So’s pain, so she could not stay away. Yes, she knew Mi So’s pain. That’s why she had to come and wallow and revel in it. THIS is the person Myung Ja should call a crazy freak.

Well…I think Na Young doesn’t really wish ill on a child so if Hae Ram had disappeared without her duplicity in the matter, she might genuinely be worried and upset. However, since she’s a backstabbing witch, these words are all empty. Mi So tells Na Young lifelessly and quietly to leave. Na Young basically tells her to come to her senses, get showered and changed and come out to eat the food Na Young brought. Mi So says nothing to this as Na Young orders her around. The other girl then asks after Myung Ja and again Mi So quietly and lifelessly responds and tells Na Young to go see for herself if she’s that worried. Na Young promises to leave after seeing Myung Ja and urges Mi So to give her mother-in-law Na Young’s homemade porridge.

Na Young goes into the sleeping Myung Ja’s room followed by Min Jae who stands just inside the door. Na Young then puts on yet another act telling the old woman to have strength as Hae Ram will definitely be found. Min Jae finally leaves her alone with his mother. Na Young recalls Myung Ja’s kindness and her cruelty. she thinks to herself that Myung Ja must get up quickly and hand over CK to her. Like she would.

Min Jae goes into work to tell his staff that they must focus on the presentation without him or a replacement for Na Young. Why? He lies and says his mother is ill and then leaves. The staff then wonder if Myung Ja has a terminal illness and that is why Min Jae looks so beaten down. She does have a terminal illness in snobbery and pride.

At the Yoon house, Jong Hee and Chan Ki are working on posters of the missing Hae Ram while Yoon drinks. This makes Jong Hee yell at him and this makes Yoon start crying. The poor child, how could such a thing happen? Chan Ki yells at his father for behaving like that and tears up, too. Yoon then wonders why his daughter’s fate is so twisted. First her biological mother, her adopted mother, and now Hae Ram. What will Mi So do if Hae Ram disappears forever? Jong Hee yells at him again for this train of thought. They have no time to grieve. They must use all the time they can to find the missing Hae Ram. Yoon keeps crying and wonders how his Mi So is holding up—is she eating?

Meanwhile Kyung Soo gets the results about Mi So’s assaulter. He receives quite the shock when his friend tells him that Lee Kang Sik works for Baek Jae Hyuk. His friend confirms this and says he got the information from a private, confidential channel. Kyung Soo hangs up and thinks back to that night. If Kang Sik is involved, then Baek must certainly be as well. He then calls in Baek to meet with him immediately.

Kyung Soo places Kang Sik’s background check in front of Baek. What is this? Doesn’t Kang Sik work for Baek? So what? Kyung Soo then says there was an attempted rape the previous month and Lee Kang Sik’s fingerprints were found on the victim’s button. I was  quite surprised that Baek managed to keep a blank expression on his face. Kyung Soo then asks why Baek ordered Kang Sik to do such a thing. Baek doesn’t need to act offended or surprised because he genuinely is. Why would he order his man to do such a lowly thing? But if it wasn’t Baek’s order, then why would Kang Sik attack Yoon Mi So when they had never met previously? The name rings a bell with Baek and then he recalls Na Young asking for his help. He’s angry. He’s really angry.

Brief pause here. Since I have never actually watched more than a few episodes of Bridal Mask, this is my first experience with Choi Dae Hoon. He’s FREAKING AWESOME!!!! He was born in 1980. He’s getting a late start in acting all things considered, but I hope to see much more of him in the future.

He swallows this down and asks how Kyung Soo came by the information. Kyung Soo explains the crime happened in his neighborhood and he witnessed it. Is Baek sure this had nothing to do with him? Baek says he did not order Kang Sik to harm Mi So, but Kang Sik could have been acting out in devotion as he did talk about teaching Mi So a lesson. Why lie for that Na Young? This shocks Kyung Soo. Say what? Baek then says that thanks to Kyung Soo’s interference with the Yoon case, it makes things harder  for him and his men. If word leaks out then all clients will come seeking recompense. Thus, to keep Mi So’s mouth shut and teach her a lesson, Baek ordered Kang Sik to scare her a little, but the man went a little too are. Kyung Soo is livid. Does Baek not know serious a crime this is? Baek doesn’t care. Since Kyung Soo has the evidence, why not just turn it in? Ah…Baek then warns him about making things hard on President Oh as he will suffer the worst humiliation.

Before Baek leaves he just has to ask if Kyung Soo likes Mi So to get so involved. This earns him Kyung Soo angrily shouting out his full name. Baek smirks. It’s just too coincidental, you know. He helped with the reimbursement and saved Mi So from getting raped. Were the two secretly dating at night? Kyung Soo stands up and grabs the other man by the collar. Of course he doesn’t answer Baek’s question. Yes, he likes Mi So. We all know this. Now Baek knows it. I can still hear Baek telling Na Young about how “his” Eun Joo is different from her. So I’m hearing Kyung Soo shouting silently that his Mi So is nothing like some low class tramp cheating on her husband with another man. Anywho. Kyung Soo shakes Baek and yells that Mi So’s life could have been destroyed over such a matter. He then calls Baek a lowlife and trash. Baek’s response? Is he the only one? Aren’t he and Kyung Soo the same? Kyung Soo knocks Kyung Soo’s hands away and says that the other man shouldn’t forget they share the same food and are the same type of person. He leaves and the enraged Kyung Soo slams his hand down in anger.

Baek calls up his man and fights back tears. He demands a nation-wide search for the missing Kang Sik. After he hands up he closes his eyes as if he’s in pain. How could that jerk lie to him like that? He then makes a second call to Na Young and screams into the phone demanding to know where she is. He goes to her apartment where Na Young vehemently denies ordering such a thing. Isn’t it possible that Kang Sik saw Mi So somewhere and fell in lust with her? Baek says that is impossible as Kang Sik would not stoop to doing such a low act unless he urgently needed money. True that. Na Young again keeps lying and denying. Baek doesn’t believe her since he knows how much she wanted to destroy Yoon Mi So and take over her position as daughter-in-law of the CK Group.

Na Young angrily turns away saying he’s writing a novel, but Baek won’t let her go. He shouts for the truth. NOW! Na Young turns around and angrily confesses she told Kang Sik to ruin Yoon Mi So. While she keeps screaming out all the things she asked Kang Sik to do for money The angry Baek hauls on and slaps her. Again, I don’t normally like violence against women, but this girl needs more than a slap to wake her up. Na Young is stunned. Did he just hit her? Why did he hit her? What gives him the right to hit her? Uh…Yes, he just hit you. He hit you because you a horrible person who used Kang Sik’s dying mother to get him to rape another woman (he still doesn’t know about the kidnapping yet…when he does…boy oh boy). Oh…and he has every right to hit you since you used him to do something so awful.

Baek after looking surprised and shocked at himself for hitting her, then demands to know why Na Young lives her life so recklessly. Because she’s a psychotic idiot with a persecution complex? Well… maybe not persecution… but I’m not quite sure what kind of complex as she believes everyone takes what is rightfully hers. Baek reminds Na Young that he went to jail to save her from her adoptive parents not to have her live her life like this. Well…it’s unfortunately her life to ruin. Ah…I can’t help but think of xxxHOLIC when Domeki yelled at Watanuki that he couldn’t do whatever he wanted with his life as it was no longer his own. That’s like what Baek is saying. Na Young can’t ruin the life he so painstakingly saved. Na Young reminds him that she wishes to have her pain compensated. She will keep going until she is satisfied. Baek warns her one last time to stop here before she completely ruins her life and leaves.

The angry Na Young calls up Kang Sik and immediately starts yelling at him for telling Baek everything. Kang Sik assures him it wasn’t him. Fine. She then warns Kang Sik that Baek better never find out about the missing child. She hangs up. No matter what, Baek can never find out about Hae Ram.

Min Jae comes in and asks after how things are. Mi So sees the box in his hand and asks what it is. It’s Hae Ram’s cooking set. This makes Mi So happy. She takes it and calls out to her daughter as Hae Ram will be so happy. Min Jae cannot believe this. Mi So knows she’s missing. Mi So is shocked and drops the box. She turns to look at her husband…what is going on with her? Min Jae doesn’t know, but he’s really getting scared of how Mi So is behaving. Oh…let’s see. I can diagnose Mi So’s problem. Let’s start with the verbal and emotional abuse caused by your mother, add in you sleeping with Na Young, Kang Sik’s assault, and now the missing Hae Ram…the woman is cracking under pressure.

Kyung Soo sits in his office. He recalls the shaking Mi So the night of the attempted rape and he recalls Baek’s words about Kang Sik’s excessive loyalty, then he flashes to Mi So going to the market in the middle of the night calling for her daughter and then breaking down and beating herself in the chest telling herself to die for being such a horrible mother. Will he start putting two and two together? Kyung Soo then takes up his phone and starts typing a text to Mi So. But what can he say? Before he can say anything he gets a call from his wife. What does she want? Hae Ryung asks to meet with him and he reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile Mi So sits in her room and stares at the cooking set when Min Jae comes in. She tells him to leave the set there as Hae Ram will want it when she comes back. Min Jae promise to and takes it into Hae Ram’s room. He then asks if Mi So needs anything as he’s going to the pharmacy for indigestion medication. He leaves and Mi So strokes her phone and cries. Why isn’t her precious daughter calling when she knows both Min Jae’s and Mi So’s numbers? Mi So then sees the bubbles and recalls how she and Hae Ram happily played with bubbles. Mi So takes the bubbles and leaves the house. She is definitely not in her right mind at this moment.

Kyung Soo is driving Hae Ryung and asks if she went shopping. Yes, she was depressed about the missing Hae Ram so she went out to make herself feel better. She intentionally didn’t drive herself so Kyung Soo could come and pick her up. Mrs. Go then calls her and Hae Ryung tells her mother that she wishes to go and Mi So to try and console the woman. Go scolds her saying that despite of Hae Ryung’s good intentions it could backfire as the family is not themselves right now. She can go and console them later. Hae Ryung agrees. She is so surprised that such a thing happened to Hae Ram and Mi So—she doesn’t even want to believe it. Kyung Soo then notices Mi So walking lifelessly down the streets. He keeps glancing back at her and nearly runs over a cat causing Hae Ryung to yell at him.

The Oh family sits down for a steak dinner. Unfortunately neither of the kids seem too interested in the dinner. Hae Ryung’s good mood has completely evaporated and Oh and Go cajole her to try to improve her mood. Kyung Soo keeps thinking about Mi So and excuses himself to go back to the office for an important fax that he must go over. This upsets Hae Ryung, but Go tells him that since its for work, what can they do and tells him to go ahead and leave. Kyung Soo hurries out the door and Hae Ryung immediately scolds him for working her husband too hard. Sheesh. Selfish child. Mrs. Go tries to diffuse the situation. I think she succeeds in it by praising her son-in-law up. This does make her a little smug and happy. Thin ice. That’s what living with her is like thin ice and walking on pins and needles.

Kyung Soo looks all over for Mi So shouting her name. Where is she? She’s happily blowing bubbles in the park recalling how she played with her daughter. When Kyung Soo finds her, he crouches down next to her says her name. Mi So turns to him and asks when he got there. What is she doing? She’s playing bubbles with her daughter. She then turns to her other side and talks to Hae Ram. This really worries Kyung Soo. He goes to say something to her, but Mi So starts talking about taking Hae Ram to the amusement park the next day. She’s worried that it will rain since there are no stars in the sky. There should be stars if there’s no clouds. Kyung Soo tells her to come to her senses as there is no Hae Ram there as Hae Ram hasn’t come back yet. Mi So finally looks down from the sky and looks over at him. She then stands up and looks around surprised. She drops her bubbles. Kyung Soo pulls her into a hug and tells her to come to her senses and not do this anymore. He silently tells her to come back to herself. If she’s in pain then he’s in pain. If she’s unhappy, he’s unhappy.

End episode.

Wowza for next week’s previews. I kind of feel bad for Kang Sik getting the crap kicked out of him by Baek for not telling him the whole truth. Will Baek learn about Na Young’s lowest of lows?