Asian Addicts Anonymous

Aigoo, the news out of South Korea seems to be getting worse and worse about that tragic ferry accident. Please do keep the families and the missing in your prayers. It is heartbreaking when any such tragedies happen all over the world. It is even more heartbreaking when such tragedies involve such a large number of young people.

The action of this episode is picking up. Our OTP has yet to be successfully reunited, but Gi Jin has found his nuna and the two are joining forces against Jang Tae Jeong at long last. Huzzah! I am happy Gi Jin is not merely eye candy for the series and that he has a brain inside his hot temper. He and Seon Yu should make a great team. It will be even better if Ji Seok can get involved in the grand scheme of things. And Bong Chang? Last episode she was at the pinnacle of her smiling insults, but today she actually gets angry and gives Dal Nyeo a rundown of her sins when she pushes all blame onto Seon Yu to make Tae Jeong appear like an innocent victim. Kudos, Chang-ah, kudos.

Tae Jeong is staring at the flier Seon Yu made of Jin Yu asking for witnesses coming forward and he is angry and searching wondering just what she took to use as evidence against him. His main thinking initially all boils down to Hyeonu. Could Seon Yu have found out something in that department? He, of course, keeps what he’s most worried about from Ji Hui and just said that Seon Yu pilfered his office, but he has no idea what she took nor what she is looking for. So what is Seon Yu doing? She is most definitely NOT staying put in Jin Yu’s place. She looks over the paperwork from Hyeonu’s initial factory inspection where he failed the quality control and then a mere three days later he was passed. That…is not possible to fix everything in only 3 days. So instead of stalking Tae Jeong, Seon Yu stalks Hyeonu instead.

Ji Seok meets with Park Chaerin. She says he must have had a very important business trip if he could not attend the marriage meeting. Ji Seok is horribly upfront and honest. He was NOT on a trip and since there is someone else that he loves, he will NOT be marrying her. Enter Aran who learned from her secretary that Ji Seok was meeting Miss Park and she also learned that Miss Park was quite the player while she was in the states thanks to the rumors uncovered by her secretary Miss Yoon. Aran plays a grand role acting all concerned about Ji Seok hooking up with a loose woman. Chaerin doesn’t flinch. It’s all in the past so what’s the big deal? Isn’t it she, and not Ji Seok, getting the shorter end of the stick considering he has a woman he loves right now? Chaerin declares that no matter what the two say, she will marry into the Seo family as it is a privilege (wrong word…but I am just not very coherent this morning as of yet) of the wealthy to give up things and one of those is marrying for love. She even has the gall to tell Aran that since the marriage is going to happen whether the two like it or not, then they should try to get along…”right, mother?” Yep, my bad feeling about her was definitely justified.

Seon Yu follows Hyeonu to L Foods and can’t do anything about that as she cannot enter. She will have to think of a different way. As she is walking away, Ji Seok pulls up. I was so waiting for him to spy her, but he unfortunately doesn’t. She hurries away and that’s when Aran happens to spot her. Aran then has Miss Yoon tail Seon Yu this way she can quickly reunite the couple as that will be better than her just confronting Seon Yu. So what is our loveable male lead doing about the whole situation? Ji Seok won’t take things lying down and he won’t run away, not this time. He meets with the man from earlier in the series who was looking into finding his mother. I totally thought Ji Seok was going to put him on the hunt of Seon Yu, but nope. He has the man investigate J Foods and their dismal business in the states. Do you know what Ji Seok is up to? He hints at it when he goes home that night.

Anywho, Gi Jin comes into the picture and it looks like he’s here to stay (a little more on what I mean in a bit). Ji Seok meets with the Heos family to assure himself that they are fine as he believes if they are doing well then it stands to reason Seon Yu must be well. He also tells them he will be coming every day otherwise he will feel uneasy. This really hurts Bong Hwang and her son since Ji Seok is a genuinely good man. They know that Seon Yu is wrong in choosing to use him to get to Tae Jeon, but they are also well aware of just how much Seon Yu loves him. It’s tearing them apart to see this couple separated and in pain. Gi Jin vows to find Seon Yu as he has a pretty good idea where she is and he’s totally right. I thought it would be odd that none of her family would think to track her to Jin Yu’s place, but Gi Jin knows his nuna well. Seon Yu is surprised to find him there and Miss Yoon is shocked to spy Seon Yu at Jin Yu’s house. This throws Aran’s secretary for quite the disturbing loop. Too bad Ji Hui gets to her before she can tell Aran anything, but we all know Ji Hui cares nothing about her family, not even the mother who pours so much love and attention on her, since all she cares about is salvaging her pride by keeping the secret buried forever. Ah…I think that makes what’s happening now even more poetic. Aran is actually treating Ji Seok in a motherly manner that is (mostly) believable. I wonder if in the long run she will realize that despite her hatred and no blood ties between them, Ji Seok is the better child who will do right by her in the end.

Anyways, Gi Jin tells her that Ji Seok is vowing not to marry and he also complains of the whole sorry mess. Seon Yu explains that she really wants Ji Seok to be safe and happy and that’s why he needs to marry a good woman who can help him like she can’t. Um…before she made this ultimate sacrificing choice…she should have investigated the daughter of the Park family better as there is NO way she is as “good” woman. I think it’s a rather bold and bad move on Mrs. Gong’s side. She loves her grandson so much and yet she makes this choice to save him from his own family, but this choice is mired in just bad mojo and not good planning or investigation. Chaerin was quite wild with men in the past, she’s quite heartless and emotionless now it seems…WHY do you think this will save Ji Seok? It can only harm him in the end even if a merger will cement his position. You could SO do a merger without a marriage and Ji Seok could still be relatively safe. Anyways, Gi Jin also learns his nuna hasn’t given up on revenge. Since he knows most of everything now, Gi Jin will NOT be left out of the equation, so Seon Yu brings her cousin into the plan as long as he keeps things from mommy and daddy.

At the pizza parlor, Pung Ho is moody and unhappy that Seon Yu is not calling and just about the whole twisted situation. Enter the happy Dal Nyeo who has come to get as much info as possible. As soon as she enters Pung Ho calls for salt and Chang rushes to get it. Snort. Dal Nyeo is cluelessly smiling not understanding the meaning! How dense and shameless can she get? She broaches the subject of Seon Yu and Pung Ho dresses her down for not telling him everything and laments the horrible situation. Dal Nyeo is quick to point out all of Seon Yu’s evil actions. Enter Chang with the salt. This time her smile goes away and Chang says while she doesn’t know everything, she counts down Tae Jeong’s sins and says that if she was her niece…is she a niece by marriage?…then she’d do what Seon Yu did, too. Pung Ho then starts launching salt and unfortunately, Bong Hwang comes at that moment and gets the entire bowlful and Dal Nyeo says it’s poetic justice for all the Heos’ sins. As if. Bong Hwang then tells her husband that salt is too good to waste on Dal Nyeo. Next time fling poo. Disgusting…but oh so satisfying if it actually did happen.

That night Aran expresses her concern over Chaerin’s past and Ji Seok’s unwillingness to marry. Mrs. Gong then reports that Chaerin already called her about the meeting and what Ji Seok and Aran did. This floors Aran. Yep…Chaerin is totally…an evil fish. Doesn’t she look like an uncute fishy with that foul and cold personality? She gives Aran and Ji Hui a run for their money. I also can’t believe Mrs. Gong is willing to overlook her checkered past with men. Sheesh. Bad grandmother. I did like this scene as Aran is expressing that she is torn between her duty as a mother and her duty as a daughter-in-law. Uri samchon laughs at this. Since when did Aran ever listen to his mother? And since when did Aran ever care about Ji Seok? Who arrives home and agrees to the marriage by the by. However…he has a caveat. He will only marry Miss Fishy if she can be of use to him and can help him. If she can’t…then he won’t. Simple as that. He goes upstairs soon followed by the upset Wu Hyeon who complains that marriage talk makes the Seo house completely fall apart. Meanwhile, Aran ponders just what that statement means. So Ji Seok is going to dig up dirt on J Foods to prove that the match cannot possibly help him. Good play, Ji Seok-ssi, good play.

Aran reveals that she is having her secretary stalk Seon Yu in order to bring her back and reunite her with Ji Seok. Both Ji Hui and Tae Jeong obviously don’t want this. So how can they stop it? Tae Jeong then gets called out by Hyeonu who had a disturbing experience. What was it? Gi Jin came with a suit, glasses, and a briefcase demanding the factory has been flagged for another inspection. He tries to bribe and name drop his way out to no avail. So he rushes to Tae Jeong who is livid to find out that Hyeonu did not keep his promise and fix all the issues with the factory (because they were too expensive to fix massively). The two then set up a meeting with the inspector. Tae Jeong has made calls and found no such inspection so that means it’s either a secret inspection from the top and kept from him or it’s Lee Seon Yu’s doing.

He and Hyeonu go to the meeting place while Ji Hui heads off Miss Yoon and tricks her into revealing everything while keeping everything from Aran. Ji Hui sneaks into Seon Yu’s house (don’t people lock their doors?) and finds the papers that Seon Yu copied. She recognizes the factory in question as Hyeonu’s and tries to figure out the meaning. Can she ignore her husband’s duplicity now if she puts two and two together and figures out the date issues? I will say I was disgusted when she looked at Ji Hui’s picture and then quickly puts it down like it’s poisonous.

So Seon Yu and Gi Jin sit in the room next door while Tae Jeong and Hyeonu wait…for over 2 hours. Tae Jeong has enough. He’s going to leave and completely wash his hands of Hyeonu before it can backfire on him since Hyeonu broke his promise. Hyeonu tears up. Tae Jeong can’t do this after all Hyeonu has done for him. Hyeonu then reveals that he has proof about Tae Jeong and Jin Yu as insurance and Tae Jeong can’t believe his “friend” would dare to blackmail him. Hearing this news really makes Seon Yu and Gi Jin perk up. Proof? What proof?

End episode. No previews dangnabbit. But…for being relatively smart and cunning, Tae Jeong executed a fatal error with Hyeonu. I can’t believe how stupid he is. Did he really think he could toss Hyeonu to the trash without repercussions? Smart people always make the dumbest decisions in dramaland. But…I won’t complain as we all know it will help lead to his downfall at long last.