ANGRY MOM: Episode 8

After being thoroughly threatened by Jung-woo, Ah-ran decides to put her head down and study, and tells Mom to leave school so she can put this stuff behind her. Kang-ja is left speechless.

Jung-woo is officially re-introduced to the teaching staff as the director of the board, and when Chairman Hong tells all the teachers to make sure the upcoming midterm scores are up, Noah chirps that test scores aren’t everything. He’s met with a room full of silent stares.

As they walk out, Chairman Hong merely chides Jung-woo that the girl was awfully young, and Jung-woo just offers that everyone makes one mistake. To her credit, Ae-yeon looks a little horrified.

 

Jung-woo smirks to himself that he’ll make sure Chairman Hong never returns, while Chairman Hong chuckles in his car that Jung-woo has a long way to go. He gives Ae-yeon a vague warning to pick the right side, while thinking back to his conversation with Jung-woo’s father—the one in which daddy dearest told him to get rid of Jung-woo and the washing machine once their work is done.

Kang-ja tells Gong-joo everything, and they deduce that Jung-woo has a network of far scarier people behind him. Kang-ja finally lets down her fierce façade and starts to break down in tears, crying, “Why does a mother only amount to this? I’m her mother! I’m her mother… but why is there nothing I can do for her?”

Gong-joo tells her that it’s not just her—all mothers in the world feel this way. She just holds her friend and lets her cry on her shoulder. Great, now I’m crying too. And hee, so are the princess minions, who suddenly appear in the background sniffling into their tissues, having been a foot away the entire time.

Gong-joo gets mad and just wants to go in there guns blazing, but Kang-ja tells her that this isn’t about tit-for-tat retribution. They have to ensure that these people can never do this again. She says that it’s time to use their brains. Awww yeah.

It’s hilarious how quickly Gong-joo deflates at the mention of brains over brawn, and she reminds Kang-ja that this isn’t really their strong suit. But Kang-ja has a plan for getting smarter—they’ll both study up on Myeongseong Foundation’s ins and outs, and somewhere they’re bound to come across one weakness.

To that end, the princess minions gain access into Chairman Hong’s house posing as exterminators to plant cameras. Kang-ja’s plan is to cut off the head—Chairman Hong—and go after Jung-woo when he’s left without backup.

 

Kang-ja has another hurdle to jump when she gets home, because her mother-in-law is waiting to hear that she dropped out of school like she promised she would. They’re interrupted when her husband Jin-sang comes home, and Kang-ja clamps a hand over Mom-in-law’s mouth to keep her from talking.

She manages to drag Mom-in-law out with her, hand still over her mouth, and then butters her up with expensive sushi. Kang-ja offers to send her on that trip she’s always wanted to go on, or a facelift, and Mom-in-law starts to soften.

She’s mostly worried about what happens to their family if Kang-ja gets caught at school, so she promises to be careful and begs for one more month to keep up the ruse. Mom-in-law consents to one more week.

 

Meanwhile, hubby Jin-sang goes digging around in Kang-ja’s backpack for her ID card (to add her to his list of names for unknown nefarious uses), and finds her school uniform. He asks her about it when she gets home, and Mom-in-law actually helps cover it up and Kang-ja lies that it’s from a friend’s daughter and she’s giving it to Ah-ran.

Noah can’t get it out of his head that his father might’ve pulled some strings to get him his job, and asks him about it directly. Dad is pretty evasive and asks how he could’ve done that when he knows no one at the school, and Noah seems satisfied with that.

After watching the Chairman Hong Cam for a while, Gong-joo decides that he’s not right in the head. She promises round-the-clock surveillance and sends Kang-ja off to school with a polished apple (while wearing a Snow White costume, keh).

Ah-ran is aghast to see Mom back at school, but Kang-ja swears she’ll make it so that Ah-ran can study in peace. Jung-hee’s trio runs up and offers their sympathies to Kang-ja for her bio-mom/adopted-mom drama, having drummed up an elaborate backstory about her being abandoned in the streets. Kang-ja and Ah-ran just gape, as Jung-hee and the girls defend Kang-ja in front of the other kids.

When they get to class, the vice principal is there to rearrange the seating order, ignoring Noah’s protests. They now have to sit according to class rank, which sucks for them but is fun for the drama, since it puts first-place Sang-tae next to second-place Ah-ran, much to his joy and her ire.

And of course last place goes to Kang-ja and Bok-dong, which just makes my day. Both boys are trying their damnedest to play it cool, but Sang-tae keeps grinning and Bok-dong steals glances at Kang-ja when she isn’t looking. This kills me:

 

Besides being academically embarrassing, the new seating arrangement puts a kid who can’t read the chalkboard in the very back row, and when he asks to be moved up, the fascist vice principal tells him to just get higher scores so he can sit closer.

Noah follows him into the teacher’s office to argue that this isn’t right, but just gets another screaming outburst for his trouble. The vice principal hands out test material to use for the upcoming exams, and then collects a fat check from the publisher of the study guides. Ugh.

Jin-sang turns over his list of people to Jung-woo, and is surprised to be named the lead developer on the new construction site. Oh yeah, he’s definitely their fall guy for whatever fake front this is.

In class, Sang-tae invites the smartest kids in class to join his study group and tells the riffraff to stay out of their hair. The kid with the glasses, Geun-soo, meekly offers Sang-tae a pastry and asks to join his study group, and Sang-tae dismisses him like a bug.

Kang-ja can’t stand to see him bullying that sweet kid and gets up to make an issue of it, when suddenly Ah-ran’s eyes go wide and dad Jin-sang walks through the door. ACK. Kang-ja hurriedly drops to the ground and crawls toward the back of the room like she came out of The Ring, as if that’s not the most conspicuous thing ever.

Everyone stares, but before Dad can look closely, Ah-ran drags him out acting embarrassed. Kang-ja succeeds in crawling to her desk, but Bok-dong asks what she’s doing, so she quickly ties his shoelace. Eee, he totally has this cute internal freakout at her sweet gesture. He has such a crush on her.

 

The princess minions continue their running commentary about what a weirdo Chairman Hong is, as they watch him spend his day talking to his snakes and ignoring his son.

Gong-joo eagerly attends a moms’ lunch with other parents from Kang-ja’s high school, only to find that it’s an excuse to bribe the vice principal and get the inside scoop on which study guides to buy for the exams. Dude, just how much side money are you pocketing?

The other moms sneer at her and Geun-soo’s mother (the shy boy with glasses), who admits that she’s out of savings but had to give something to get her son ahead, when he’s struggling in school. Gong-joo is doubly saddened, knowing what an ass the vice principal really is.

 

Midterm exams begin at school, from PE tests to English poetry recitals. Comedian Kim Young-chul cameos as the English teacher, and when Kang-ja gets called up to the front of the class to share a poem, she begins to recite somberly: “Step by step. Ooh baby. Gonna get to you girl.” Oh. My. God. Are you quoting the lyrics to Step by Step? *dies laughing*

Music class includes more recitals, and the theme of the day is pretty much Sang-tae Coasts By. So do the students of mothers who bribe the appropriate people, talent or skill be damned. Kang-ja is dismayed to learn that this is how things work—students of moms that grease the right palms get ahead.

Kang-ja spends late-night study hall just happily watching Ah-ran study, and when she notices Bok-dong sleeping next to her with his thumb near his mouth, she mutters to herself that he really seems like a baby at times like this.

 

She busts out her Myeongseong flow chart to study instead, but runs out when she sees Ah-ran head for the bathroom with a bloody nose. Kang-ja tells her to go home and rest up before the big test tomorrow, but Ah-ran asks why she isn’t like all the other moms and goes right back to studying.

On her way back to class, Kang-ja sees Jung-hee sneaking down the hall. She’s on her way to join Sang-tae and his inner circle in the office, where he’s handing out copies of the exam. Oh, THAT’S your idea of study group? No wonder Ah-ran doesn’t want to join you. Besides, yunno, the fact that you’re an ass.

Jung-hee asks to be included because she really needs to do well on this exam so that her parents don’t ship her off overseas. Sang-tae agrees to let her in if she stands up to Kang-ja, and tests her right away when Kang-ja comes in asking what they’re doing.

 

Despite Jung-hee’s cold rebuff, Kang-ja can tell that something suspicious is going on and grabs one of the tests out of another girl’s hand. When she tries to wrestle the other exams away, they struggle and Kang-ja gets pinned down by a bookshelf. Sang-tae just tells Jung-hee to get all the exams, and they leave her there.

Though Jung-hee rips the tests out of Kang-ja’s hand, she manages to hold onto one piece, and takes it straight to Noah to tell him about the cheating.

He bandages up the cut on her forehead and says that the school will have to open an investigation and she’ll have to name names eventually, but she remains tight-lipped for now.

 

Noah sighs that he doesn’t know where things went wrong, calling it a kaleidoscope where teachers and parents and children just start to reflect one another until it’s unclear where the trouble began.

Kang-ja says that she doesn’t know about complicated things like that, but she does know one thing: There is a monster in this school.

At home, Kang-ja tries to get Ah-ran to sleep instead of pulling an all-nighter, and lets her in on the secret that there won’t be a test tomorrow. Ah-ran guesses right away that Sang-tae is behind the stolen tests, and uses the chance to study harder to edge ahead into first place.

 

Kang-ja catches a glimpse of Jung-woo’s father greeting his constituents on television, though she doesn’t know about his connection to Jung-woo. He’s just presented in the media as a caring politician with a heart for education, and it seems to leave an impression with her.

In the morning, Ah-ran and Kang-ja are both shocked to be handed midterm exams as if nothing happened. Kang-ja asks why the test isn’t postponed, and runs into the vice principal’s office where Noah is currently asking the same thing.

The vice principal has no intention of canceling an exam that made him so much side money, so all of Noah’s protests fall on deaf ears. Once Kang-ja arrives to offer herself up as a witness, the vice principal accuses her of being the number one suspect and shows her the video of her in the teacher’s office with Noah, adding that Noah could be in on it.

 

Kang-ja has no choice but to name the culprits, but that doesn’t faze Sang-tae in the least. He just sits back and says that the test was a practice exam based on last year’s midterm, and everyone else corroborates his story.

Jung-hee is the last holdout, and Kang-ja calmly reminds her that she’s the one who’s always complaining about this dirty rotten unfair world—if she takes Sang-tae’s side now, she’s making a choice to be part of that world she hates.

Jung-hee does really look torn up about it, and she’s about to open her mouth when she gets a text from her mother (who received a warning from the vice principal) about being sent abroad. She immediately falls in line and confirms Sang-tae’s story. Kang-ja and Noah look devastated.

 

So the midterm scores stand, and Ah-ran drops down to third place. Sang-tae gives her an I-told-you-so about joining his study group, the jerk. And Jung-hee’s friends call her out on going darkside to raise her scores, and they get into a fight.

There’s another commotion outside the vice principal’s office, where Geun-soo’s mother is currently arguing that she gave him money to raise her son’s score. It didn’t go up, so she’s asking for her money back. Naturally he denies receiving anything, so she parks herself in his chair and at least demands for her letter back, refusing to budge.

Kang-ja and Noah arrive in the office and pick up enough of the argument to know that the vice principal is collecting bribes. And just when you thought they couldn’t be disillusioned any more in one day.

Noah takes up the argument privately with the vice principal, fuming over his blatant misuse of power. He stomps off prepared to go straight to the education board with this, but the vice principal just asks how Noah’s father is any different—he paid to get his son this job, didn’t he? Ouch. There goes the last crack in Noah’s rose-tinted glasses.

There’s a cool shot of Kang-ja as she walks through the halls in slow-motion, and everyone else moves in reverse. It’s starting to dawn on her just how deep the corruption runs in this place, and how difficult it is for anyone to fight it.

She finds another set of kids in the boys’ bathroom, berating Geun-soo for cheating. The poor kid gets beaten up no matter what he does, and Kang-ja kneels down to ask gently why he did it.

 

He cries that he just wanted to do well and be liked by teachers and other students, and not be overlooked and ridiculed all the time. Kang-ja sighs and tells him that he still crossed a line, and Geun-soo wails that it’s unfair. Sang-tae steps out of one of the stalls and sneers that he can’t poop in peace.

As they leave school that night, Kang-ja tries to tell Ah-ran that it’s okay if her scores dropped a little this time because they’ll go back up. But Ah-ran argues that nothing is okay about this—no matter how hard she works, she’ll never be scored fairly, and asks what’s right about that.

She repeats the same thing that Kang-ja said at the top of the episode and that Geun-soo said: “It’s not fair.”

It breaks Kang-ja’s heart even further when Ah-ran adds that the world is just one big con. She tucks Ah-ran into bed and watches her sleep for a while, and then gets the idea to write a letter to the minister of education.

She details all of the injustices going on at her school, and then finds him at his next public marketplace appearance to hand him the letter personally. He listens to her story and tells her not to worry—he’ll take care of everything.

 

Kang-ja leaves in good spirits, buoyed by the feeling that she’s actually made a difference, and tells Gong-joo all about it. Gong-joo is skeptical about a politician keeping his word, but Kang-ja says that this one is different.

The princess minions pipe up when a visitor shows up on the Chairman Hong Cam, and Kang-ja is shocked to see the minister of education walk right in and hand her letter to Chairman Hong.

He grouses, “Do I have to deal with trash, with trivial civil complaints like this? Don’t let the cries of children reach my ears. I hate it. Give them candy or sweets to suck on, but don’t let them cry!”

ANGRY MOM: Episode 7

 

Kang-ja finds Yi-kyung’s pregnancy test in Jung-woo’s apartment, and is just about to be caught red-handed upon his return. But just as he arrives at his door, Noah comes charging up, shoving papers at Jung-woo as his excuse for being here, though we know he’s trying to check on Kang-ja.

Noah fakes an excuse about needing the restroom and is literally wrestling with Jung-woo at the doorway when Kang-ja steps out. Noah follows her to scold her for going to a teacher’s home late at night—and Kang-ja, stunned at her revelation, just agrees with him. She cuts off Noah’s lecture to say that you can’t blame the student when the teacher is a thousand times more in the wrong.

Noah demands to know if Jung-woo did anything to her and is ready to confront him about it. But Kang-ja huffs that he doesn’t know anything, leaving Noah very confused.

Ah-ran is surprised to hear that her mother has put together the truth. Kang-ja insists that the girls should have told their mothers rather than trying to deal with something so huge on their own, to which Ah-ran retorts, “Then Do Jung-woo would probably have killed Yi-kyung sooner.”

Kang-ja asks how it all started, and Ah-ran explains that Yi-kyung was an outcast at school. When Ah-ran met her, Yi-kyung dove into the friendship wholeheartedly because she’d been so lonely before. It was after they became close that Ah-ran came to know of Yi-kyung’s relationship with the teacher, which had ended when he tired of her.

And like the mean bastard he is, Jung-woo’s method of ending it was to order Yi-kyung to transfer to a new school. She’d agreed but needed time to convince her mother to allow it, and the longer she remained at school, the more he sent Bok-dong after her to scare her into leaving. Ah-ran had stood up to Bok-dong, which got her harassed as well.

 

Now Kang-ja knows the full story, although Ah-ran pleads with her to let it go, worried that Jung-woo will hurt her if she persists. Kang-ja retorts defiantly, “No, Mom will handle it. I’ll get Do Jung-woo.” Yeah you will!

Jung-woo opens the mailed envelope that Kang-ja had gotten to first, and only now sees Yi-kyung’s note and pregnancy test. He bolts up in shock and anger.

Kang-ja seeks out Yi-kyung’s mother and tells her what she knows, all fired up to go after the teacher. But Yi-kyung’s mother says that her daughter is already dead, and has been scorned enough—she won’t have Yi-kyung trampled yet again. Kang-ja is shocked that a mother could be willing to cover this up, but Yi-kyung’s mother says she has her younger child to think of. She keeps a stiff upper lip until she leaves the cafe and breaks down in tears.

 

Kang-ja shares what she’s learned with Gong-joo, who points out that continuing her path is dangerous for Ah-ran. Kang-ja replies that Ah-ran’s already in danger—she has to stop Jung-woo before he does anything to her. And now that she’s seen the pregnancy test, there’s evidence against him… if only she can get it.

In the morning, mother and daughter head into school together, and Ah-ran warns Mom not to do anything dangerous to trigger Jung-woo’s suspicions. That’s when Jung-woo appears to ask to see Ah-ran alone, to Kang-ja’s consternation, and once again pokes around to see how much she remembers.

 

Jung-woo comments that it’d be nice if people would be transparent with their thoughts, so as to avoid misunderstandings. Ah-ran replies that he’s describing a dead fish—you can’t see through the living ones. Jung-woo says meaningfully that she’s quite smart, and he’s curious to know just how much: How is her memory? Her ability to judge when and when not to interfere?

He adds that Yi-kyung sent him a “gift”—did Ah-ran help pick it out? Ah-ran doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and he figures that’s for the best. “Remember that I’m always watching over you,” he says.

Kang-ja tries her best to eavesdrop at the door, and Jung-wo catches her lurking. It’s a good thing she has her fake crush to serve as excuse, since he assumes that’s the reason for her attention and finds it amusing. It also makes it less suspicious when Kang-ja asks if he’s busy tonight and whether he’ll be late coming home. His reply (he’ll be very late) gives Kang-ja the info to start planning her way in.

But Noah catches the exchange and scolds her for dangling after Jung-woo. Ha, I love that this misunderstanding is dragging on, because Kang-ja’s certainly not about to tell him the truth, but he’s just going to keep assuming wrongly without a better explanation. And when she grumbles about his old-fashioned earnestness, he exclaims, “You can like him in your heart, but not like this!”

 

The ridiculous Vice Principal Oh assembles the faculty to greet Chairman Hong to the school, hovering obsequiously as he points out Kang-ja as the student who beat up Sang-tae. Chairman Hong looks at her blankly: “But she’s a girl. This doesn’t make sense!”

The chairman gives a mind-numbingly dull speech about school violence that stretches on so long that students squirm and fidget. Ah-ran starts to sway with a headache, which makes Sang-tae look over in concern and Kang-ja rush to her side to steady her.

After an hour and a half of pontificating, the chairman and Jung-woo retire to the secret “laundry machine” vault. The chairman advises him to work well with Ae-yeon, and not to screw around with any of the info in this room.

 

The next class is gym, and while everyone literally falls out of the path of Sang-tae’s soccer ball (gotta kiss up to the school prez), the girls gossip on the sidelines. A volleyball rolls to Kang-ja just as the chairman exits the building, and she takes the opportunity to serve the ball into his back.

The chairman glowers, and Kang-ja apologizes profusely. The chairman vents his ire the usual way—by kicking Vice Principal Oh—and orders the man to flunk Kang-ja in next week’s midterms. (VP Oh: “Yes sir! But… she’s already at rock-bottom…”)

At lunch, Sang-tae cuts in front of Ah-ran, who tells him to get in the back of line like everyone else. He says haughtily that the school is like his home and he doesn’t wait in lines, which doesn’t impress Ah-ran, who tells him to quit acting like a kid—he can go home and be a child with his mother. But mention of his mother sparks his temper, and he flings her lunch tray aside.

Then Kang-ja steps in and asks if his mother taught him his crap manners, and he throws utensils. She grabs his lapel muttering that kids like him deserve to be hit, but out come the smartphones. His cronies warn that if she bullies she’ll be expelled, and nobody’s willing to back her up in standing up to Sang-tae. He sneers at her and Ah-ran to come over to his side instead of being outcasts.

Ah-ran glares. “I’ll starve, but I won’t stick with you.” It’s only Ah-ran’s asking look that keeps Kang-ja from going after Sang-tae again. Kang-ja ushers her out of the cafeteria while sputtering in indignation, but Ah-ran tells her that school has always been like this.

Kang-ja buys them bread for lunch and asks if Ah-ran has been enduring this treatment the whole time. Ah-ran replies that any high schooler in Korea has to be tough enough to endure this much. Kang-ja sighs and turns that around on herself, saying that a Korean mother ought to be tough enough to endure this as well.

Dong-chil has Kang-ja’s husband Jin-sang on a project to collect as many names as possible. It’s not clear for what purpose, but given how he orders him to make people up out of thin air if necessary, undoubtedly it’s for the shady underside of whatever his construction company is doing.

Jung-woo takes a look at the numbers and has a similar response—if there are no cheaper materials for purchase, make them somehow. Dong-chil understands the order, but cautions that they have to pay a certain price to keep things looking legitimate. Jung-woo reminds him that it’s his job to take care of these concerns.

 

Jung-woo then suggests that having “a child” (Bok-dong) watching Ah-ran isn’t enough, because she could do a lot of damage. The implication is to have Dong-chil take over, which he actually seems uncomfortable with. And you know you’re a real scumbag when your resident lowlife looks uneasy at how scummy you’re being. Dong-chil wonders to himself if he’s being set up to be the fall guy.

Gong-joo’s princess minions (god I love them and their ever-changing hairdos) prepare blueprints and a plan for breaking into Jung-woo’s apartment. They enact the mission using methods like blinding the CCTV cameras with eggs and flour and unlocking the front door through the peephole.

 

Kang-ja’s search takes a while because she can’t find the envelope, and Gong-joo is first to see Jung-woo and Ae-yeon arriving in the garage. Kang-ja heads for the exit but can’t resist one last search through a trash bin. Princess Minion 1 thinks fast to delay them, and arrives shouting Jung-woo’s name just as he gets his front door open. He pretends like he’s an old buddy, acting like it’s so funny that Jung-woo’s “acting” like he doesn’t recognize him.

While he’s being delayed in the hall, Ae-yeon enters first and gasps to see Kang-ja rooting through the trash. She doesn’t understand what Kang-ja’s doing here, but covers up for her and gives her the opening to slip out unseen.

 

She follows her outside to confront her, asking incredulously why she’s going after Jung-woo, convinced Kang-ja’s following a false line of suspicion. Kang-ja says that she has proof that Jung-woo impregnated a student, and that Ae-yeon just doesn’t know what he’s really like. She thanks her for helping, and heads off.

Kang-ja returns to the princessmobile empty-handed, only to find the car empty as well. Gong-joo tells her over the phone to wait just a while, and directs her princesses to keep digging through the building trash pile. God I love them all.

They come back covered in refuse, but also successful: Gong-joo has the envelope. Kang-ja thanks her in tears, saying that Gong-joo saved her daughter. Gong-joo cradles Kang-ja and says, “I’ve saved my daughter too. My daughter Bang-wool.” Aw, tears.

 

Noah shares his concerns with his father that night, disappointed that he couldn’t get the kids to open up to him. His father assures him that all kids are like that, and that it’s not his fault. But it’s little comfort to Noah, who explains how Kang-ja and Ah-ran ate snacks for lunch outside, and watching that made him feel useless. Ignorant. Unable to help.

His father says wisely, “That powerlessness you feel—that’s what the kids feel. You’ve started to match your eye level to theirs. Our son is becoming a real teacher.”

Kang-ja dresses up in the morning for an important meeting, which has her already suspicious mother-in-law extra suspicious at all her recent odd behavior. She asks if Kang-ja’s having an affair, perhaps with that homeroom teacher, and tries to keep Kang-ja from leaving. In the brief struggle, Kang-ja drops her purse, and out comes the pregnancy test. Eep! Kang-ja promises to explain everything later and hurries out.

She meets her entourage to file her complaint with the education ministry, and presents her evidence and her charge against Jung-woo for being responsible for Yi-kyung’s “suicide.” Throws confetti. By which I mean there’s real confetti, thrown by Princess Minion 1 to commemorate the moment.

Two inspectors from the education ministry come to school to take Jung-woo in for questioning, which is enough to get the school buzzing. Kang-ja tells Ah-ran about finding the evidence left by Yi-kyung and reporting the teacher, and says, “No matter how scary the world is, bad guys do get punished. That’s why if you hide something up front out of fear, it just complicates things. If there are difficult problems you can’t figure out on your own, tell Mom, okay?”

Ah-ran is moved and reassured, and Kang-ja pulls her into a hug with a relieved sigh.

 

But things aren’t ever so simple, and the investigation department recognizes the names involved, knowing that they’re backed by powerful people. This has education Minister Kang, Jung-woo’s father, swooping into action immediately. He summons his son and puts in calls to do damage control.

News travels swiftly, and Ae-yeon catches wind of the movements. She calls Dong-chil to ask about it, and he answers noncommittally while looking at a safe, trying to decide something. But what?

Minister Kang is apoplectic in fury, reminding Jung-woo that he just used up his last chance. “I should have gotten rid of you earlier,” he fumes. “I’ve dragged this out too long.” He orders Jung-woo to leave the country and live “as dead” out of his sight.

 

Kang-ja just has a few loose ends to tie before quitting her schoolgirl act, meaning Bok-dong and Sang-tae, and doesn’t notice that her mother-in-law is following her in a taxi. Mom-in-law gasps in shock to see Kang-ja in a school uniform pulling up in front of a motel, which sends her imagination into overdrive.

But Kang-ja bypasses the motel and heads to the campus nearby, where mom-in-law grabs her by the bookbag. Kang-ja gasps and promises to tell her the truth, trying to prevent a scene, just as the mean girl trio spots her and tells her to hurry before she’s late. Kang-ja hurriedly waves them on and goes away sputtering “Mother!”—which makes the girls wonder why she has a different mother from last time. One must be the bio-mom who abandoned her, and the other one the woman who raised her.

They burst into class to spread the news about Bang-wool being dragged off by a totally old grandma-looking mom, and Ah-ran realizes what’s going on.

 

Mom-in-law orders Kang-ja home, tut-tutting at the ridiculousness of her madcap scheme. Kang-ja pleads for understanding, saying that she just needs to take care of a few “problem children.” Mom-in-law is unbending, but Kang-ja convinces her that she has to at least take care of dropout paperwork and will only go today.

Kang-ja heads in, only to see the chairman’s fancy car pulling up—and Jung-woo emerging alongside Ae-yeon. Jung-woo has been promoted to director of the board, and we see that he had blackmailed his father as a last resort, thanks to the preparation of his mother before her death. He says he doesn’t want to use his mother’s “gift” against his father, and so, Minister Kang gives in.

Kang-ja returns to check on the complaint, only to be told the office never received it. She pitches a fit, demanding CCTV footage and meetings with supervisors, and the office replays yesterday’s tapes for her. There’s nothing.

Kang-ja leaves feeling dejected, and belatedly realizes that she ought to be worried about Ah-ran. She hurries back to school just as Jung-woo is also on the prowl, though her desk is empty. It’s a race to find her first, and Jung-woo is closer; he enters the library just as she’s in the back aisle, trying to find that switch to open the wall.

He finds her as she’s getting a call from her mother, and snatches the phone away just as she’s about to answer. He asks if she filed the complaint and launches into a speech about her wasting her brains writing fiction… and that’s when Noah arrives in the library and overhears the curious conversation.

 

Jung-woo makes a veiled threat about people like her ending their lives lonely and scared, and throwing themselves off rooftops. He advises her to think of herself and her future, and based on the choice she makes now, her life could take on very different paths. He advises her to make the “wise choice,” and if she doesn’t, he’ll have to pay a visit to her parents.

Noah finds the exchange strange enough to ask Jung-woo what he was talking about, not accepting the answer about just wanting Ah-ran to study hard. Noah notes that Jung-woo has a talent for telling bald lies with a poker face, and demands to know what he showed Ah-ran.

 

Jung-woo warns him to stay out of it, ignoring Noah’s demand to see that complaint, and leaves.

The encounter leaves Ah-ran trembling, but she puts on a brave face before her mother. She tells Kang-ja that she wants to focus on her studies and forget everything, and that continuing with this feels like a waste. Kang-ja guesses that Jung-woo threatened her, but Ah-ran returns, “Don’t you know that the more you do this, the more danger it puts me in?” She tells Kang-ja to stop things now, and Kang-ja is left reeling.