Asian Addicts Anonymous

We all know that if Tae Jeong goes down, he won’t be going down alone. While he probably won’t be able to take his wife down with him, he can definitely take down her mother and Seon Yu. Our former nun is probably well aware that Tae Jeong can and will retaliate, so I don’t understand why she just can’t be honest to save herself the heartache of people finding out the truth in a very painful way (meaning not from Seon Yu herself). But we do know that even if he hurts, Ji Seok will stay by Seon Yu’s side as their love really is solid and strong, even if they don’t have as many great onscreen moments since their marriage.

It turns out that the man helping Seon Yu and Gi Jin is Gi Jin’s friend (he says Seon Yu is older than he is, but I swear he looks older, lol) who is a martial arts master. Seon Yu is very grateful to have his help in setting up Tae Jeong, but is also very worried about his well being. Gi Jin and the person we will come to know as James both assure her that he’s top notch in defense skills, plus he will have their buddies to back him up so no harm can come to him. Still, Seon Yu urges him to be careful as Tae Jeong does not trust easily. While Tae Jeong is gearing up to save himself by buying these shares, his wife is at home unhappy that he left and she has no idea where he is right now.

Ji Seok comes out of his bedroom after talking with Seon Yu. Her cousin stopped by, so she went out to meet him. This makes Ji Hui suspicious. Why would Seon Yu’s cousin come see her so late? Because he misses her, hello? Ji Hui then gripes about Tae Jeong coming home and leaving right away again. She brought home a baby, but he doesn’t care at all. But she has to stick it out since she chose the baby and her husband. Ji Seok wonders what Tae Jeong is up to since it can’t be work related. Ji Hui says she has no idea either and goes into her room. Ji Seok looks unhappy. Of course, in spite of the bad things Ji Hui has done, she is his precious sister and he doesn’t want to see her hurt.

Tae Jeong is cautions when meeting James. He feels it odd that a man as young as James could have that many shares. James recites all the names and the stocks they own and says he can continue on. He bought the shares as an investment so he isn’t adverse to selling them. If Tae Jeong is going to act this way, he’ll go to Ji Seok instead. Tae Jeong apologizes for his rudeness and shocks everyone by saying he’s buying the stocks under his own name and not Aran’s. Seon Yu and Gi Jin (who are listening in) know that Tae Jeong doesn’t have that kind of capital. Gi Jin says Tae Jeong is a great white collar criminal and Seon Yu says he isn’t stealing directly from the company, but is hoodwinking the money from Aran. Thus Seon Yu voices to make sure Aran and Tae Jeong’s good relationship is severed. Gi Jin wants to use Ji Seok for this, but Seon Yu refuses as she doesn’t want Ji Seok to suffer more since he’s already agonizing over the stock issue.

Everyone heads home. Tae Jeong beats Seon Yu home by a few minutes and goes into Aran’s room. Seon Yu eavesdrops on their conversation and listens as Tae Jeong so calmly and easily lies to Aran’s face saying he couldn’t meet James as he is currently in England, but he is coming to Korea Saturday to finalize the deal. Can Aran have the money by then? Aran has paintings she’s stockpiled for such an occasion that she will sell. Tae Jeong is happy to hear this. Selling paintings is also less noticeable for Mrs. Gong than selling some property off. Ji Hui then catches Seon Yu outside the door and asks her what she’s doing. Seon Yu, ruffled a bit, says she is only their to let Aran know she’s home. She knocks and Tae Jeong and Aran come out. Aran says it is unnecessary for Seon Yu to greet her and let her know and Seon Yu replies that she had not seen her mother-in-law all day, so it is only right. She then heads upstairs.

Ji Hui complains about Tae Jeong coming and going and her knowing nothing. Aran, again, sticks up for Tae Jeong and talks about all the good things he’s doing for Ji Hui. In their bedroom, Ji Hui brings up how Aran will change her tune once she knows the whole truth. Tae Jeong remains calm. So is Ji Hui going to tell her mother everything now? Ji Hui replies she isn’t and was just stating the facts. Tae Jeong then remonstrates her as her saying such things hurts his pride. He’s human, too, you know. Really? When did that happen? Anywho, Tae Jeong leaves and Ji Hui puts on her ugly face and we have a voice over in her ugly voice where she is really upset that Tae Jeong dared to mention pride. Just wait and see what Ji Hui will do. Once he’s ousted, he will have nowhere to go anymore. I don’t care if Ji Hui is torturing her husband, but…aigoo. As always, she can only see one person and one side and that is herself and her own. She doesn’t care about who else is hurt (even if she does keep mentioning her oppa to Seon Yu). She is the only one allowed to have pride and allowed to be angry over deceitfulness. Seon Yu warned her when Ji Hui insisted on going ahead with marrying Tae Jeong that it is ultimately Ji Hui’s own decision, so she had better not regret it. she’s regretting it big time now, isn’t she?

Seon Yu changes for bed and sees her husband sitting up in bed holding the compass. Why has he brought that out all of the sudden? Ji Seok looks at the compass and says he’s trying to decide what to do about the stocks. Which decision is right? He then asks for Seon Yu’s own hand under his own. She places it below and the compass steadies and stops moving. Ji Seok thanks her and says that he will trust his gut on this decision. So he will try to find the mystery shareholder and buy the stocks? No. He is going to start a smaller fight in order to avoid a bigger fight. What is it that you think Ji Seok will do?

Gi Jin is also on his way home when Tae Mi spots him and gets her angsty puppy look. Dal Nyeo calls out to him and tells him to avoid that street since that is where she and her daughter usually walk. Tae Mi is horrified. She tries to get her mother to shut her yap, but we all know that’s impossible. Gi Jin is offended by this and comments that Dal Nyeo doesn’t own the street. Dal Nyeo then tells Gi Jin to stop chasing after Tae Mi. Gi Jin laughs and says that it’s always been Tae Mi doing the chasing, not him since he doesn’t like the girl at all. This cuts Tae Mi to the quick and she forlornly says “Bum” to which Gi Jin yells at her not to call him thusly any more. Gi Jin then leaves and Dal Nyeo starts wailing on her daughter for being pathetic and having a one-sided love. Why can’t Tae Mi be like she and Tae Jeong and just have everyone run after her instead? Gag me. Horrible mother, no doubt about it.

So did you guess what Ji Seok’s plan is? He’s cutting off his stepmother’s capital by auditing the foundation. Ji Seok assures Mrs. Gong he’s only doing this as it looks bad to audit every other branch of L Foods, but not the foundation. Mrs. Gong gives her go ahead and Aran is livid. She tells her secretary to keep the auditors out of her office while they get rid of the evidence. Tae Jeong goes over to the office and worries if they will have the capital to continue with the deal. Aran says the paintings were off the books to begin with, so no problems there. Her secretary is to give the money directly to Tae Jeong to avoid arousing suspicion of the auditors. This makes Tae Jeong very happy.

Seon Yu is a bit worried by all of this as she isn’t certain that Tae Jeong will have the money for the deal and it will get cancelled and ruin everything. James contacts Tae Jeong and expresses worry over the audit of the foundation. Tae Jeong asserts that everything is okay and that he will be bringing the money as planned. This relieves Seon Yu and she and Gi Jin and James plan to go forward with their scheme to oust Tae Jeong.

Aran confronts Ji Seok who says that bad rumors were spreading since they did not audit the foundation the first time around. Mrs. Gong comes in and supports what Ji Seok said. Aran doesn’t believe the order was from Mrs. Gong and was based on rumors going around, but she does concede a bit. Mrs. Gong goes into her room and wonders who the mystery shareholder is as that person is the only one who can possibly save Ji Seok from Aran’s ploy. Once Mrs. Gong is out of sight, Aran is on the attack again as she knows why Ji Seok is really doing the audit – to cut her funds. Ji Seok tries once more to avoid an all out family war. He warns Aran by telling her that he will not allow her to kick Mrs. Gong out from her own company. This flusters and angers Aran. It’s not even that she’s really trying hard to oust Mrs. Gong, but to oust Ji Seok, we all know that Mrs. Gong will have to go, too.

Saturday comes and James calls up Aran and reveals the truth about the meeting with Tae Jeong. He even plays her a recording he made of their conversation. Aran is in shock. She does, however, tell him the deal is still on. This surprises James. He goes out to meet Seon Yu and apprises her of everything. Seon Yu grins. Mrs. Wu is planning a sneak attack on Tae Jeong, that is why she wants the deal to proceed. So James goes to meet with Tae Jeong and Aran shows up just as Tae Jeong is signing the final contract. She comes raging in and delivers a slap to her in-laws face. She so could have hit him harder. I did my best to get the slap, but they are so hard to get, you know?

Can’t wait until tonight and the next episode! Tae Jeong’s sliding downhill fast and there won’t be much to keep him safe anymore. As I have said, you can tell the end is nearing for this series. I can’t wait until Ji Seok’s mother surfaces and Ji Seok and Mrs. Gong finally learn the truth Seon Yu’s been hiding all of this time.

Ah…we did have a scene with Wu Hyeon. Ji Hui is sitting with Sarang on her lap and Wu Hyeon is cheerfully cooing and playing with the baby from a distance when he notices Ji Hui’s expression. Why doesn’t she ever smile at the baby? Doesn’t she like it? Wu Hyeon says he can’t help but smile at the child. Sarang cries because Ji Hui never smiles at him. Ji Hui cuddles Sarang to her and says she does like the baby, but cannot possibly love it. Aigoo. Further proof she’s not cut out to be a mother just like Tae Jeong isn’t cut out to be a father. But we knew that from the beginning when she planned on adopting Tae Jeong’s son as her own personal revenge scheme.