Slicing The Tail
Episode 10 of Again My Life starts with Tae-Seob publicly approaching Hwang and talking about the vacant spot for the Minister of Justice. Hwang bites back, telling him that if the person is truly qualified then it won’t be vacant for long. Hui-Wu watches as Pandora’s box is opened. That list of those entertainers who are guilty of draft evasion is aired out to the whole world. This includes 37 people in total – including Assemblyman Park’s son, whose father challenges him on this. The thing is, the list also contains 50 drug offenders too. Hwang continues on and asks about sexual favours, which is the other part of this damning report. With Tae-Seob watching on and stewing by this revelation, Hwang also reveals a whole bunch of names for those who received this too. He’s going to read out the names one by one. As he begins, the court is in absolute uproar. The only ones composed enough are Hwang and Tae-Seob, who exchange knowing glances. With Prosecutor Choi in hot water and about to be outed, Tae-Seob plays damage control and tries to work his way around this big scandal. With the court video going viral and both Assemblyman Kim and Yoo about to go down, Tae-Seob senses an opportunity to grow in power. In fact, he has those on the list try to rally around him. Meanwhile, Hui-Wu is tasked by Seok-Hoon to hold a press conference. They’re going to investigate the Entertainment Case themselves. Hui-Wu is also given the mission to investigate Assemblyman Hwang and find something dirty on him. Naturally, Hui-Wu immediately rings him and warns the guy what’s coming. He also tells him that this is Tae-Seob’s doing. The thing is, despite all the pieces falling under Hwang’s influence, Tae-Seob has used that to make himself stronger. All the disgraced officials head over to Tae-Seob’s place where he berates them for their actions. They beg for forgiveness so he decides to delete their names from the list – but only if they pledge themselves to him. Of course, not everyone will be saved; there will be some casualties. Choi is worried and turns to Il-Hyeon or help. In exchange for doing Il-Hyeon a favour, Il-Hyeon agrees to send him over to the one person who can save his skin now. That is, of course, Tae-Seob. It comes just in time too, given Hui-Wu and the others have an arrest warrant and intend to take Choi down. Prosecutor Choi is not stupid though. He knows someone has leaked the list to Hwang and challenges Hui-Wu over how convenient all of this is. Tae-Seob works with all the Assemblyman to distract the public. Specifically, they’re going to start a “rumour”, spread from those inside the office to raise the price of taxes, including the cost of soju and cigarettes. It will cause the public to be in uproar but it won’t be an actual law. In fact, the parties even decide to make this one of their campaign pledges, to reduce down he tax for this fake raise. This would, in essence, distract from the Entertainment case. The coer-up begins as quickly as the investigation. Yun-A quits the entertainment industry, taking out their key witness, while the name of the doctor is omitted from the report. Not only that, but the most powerful names are removed from the list and saved. Hui-Wu apologizes to Hwang for what’s happened, who begins to despair about how impossible this task is to take out Tae-Seob. Hui-Wu uses the analogy of a small crack turning into a massive dam They need to have hope, and he promises that this is just the beginning of their investigative efforts. That evening, Choi turns against his own father and outs him to the press (which was Tae-Seob’s suggestion) Because of this, Choi is presented as a hero. In exchange, he agrees to get Il-Hyeon out on probation. He approaches Hui-Wu with this and suggests they work together, using some sort of legal loophole. If not, he should take a step back and let someone else do it. As night turns to day, Seok-kyu shows up to see Hui-Wu while he’s working out in the boxing ring. He promises Hui-Wu that he’ll get another opportunity to take Tae-Seob down. For now though, he needs to be patient. The trouble is, everything is starting to unravel and Hui-Wu is in danger of losing everything he’s worked so hard to secure. Hui-Wu goes right to the source and heads in to see Chairman Sung, who’s also behind bars of course. Through her, he has Sung give a press conference about her love to Il-Hyeon and how she’s actually pregnant with his child. From here, the press will spin this story in an unfavourable light and make sure he gets taken down no matter what. And it works! Il-Hyeon is sentenced to 7 years in prison. After giving Tae-Seob the USB stick earlier on the episode, Tae-Seob works round the clock with his team to completely unravel about Hee-A’s brother. It’s all over the news and the tabloids. Because of this, Hee-A has no choice but to join the management team. She also says goodbye to Hui-Wu too, admitting what she’s about to do and bemoaning how she’ll never have a normal life again. When Hee-A shows up back home, her brothers are shocked to find out she’s been added to the management team. They scoff at this revelation and walk away. In fact, Yong-Jun drives all the way up to see Tae-Seob. He wants to stay in power and to shake off the corruption surrounding him. So naturally, he asks for help. Tae-Seob agrees, and ends up with yet another ally on his side.
The Episode Review
The pieces are moving on the chessboard and both Tae-Seob and Hui-Wu are starting to strike out important parts of the game. With Il-Hyeon well and truly defeated, the attention turns instead to Prosecutor Choi and those aligned with Tae-Seob. It almost feels like one step forward and two steps back, especially as Tae-Seob manages to find a useful ally in Hee-A’s brother. It’s fair to say he’s going to try and out Hee-A, especially with her father in hospital too. It wouldn’t surprise me if Tae-Seob has him killed too. This episode definitely ramps up the tension and drama though, with a good deal of character development for Hui-Wu and a tentative game of cat and mouse that results in Tae-Seob continuing to come out on top. The ending certainly hints that next week’s double bill is going to be very dramatic, so we’ll have to wait and see what this one has in store for us next.
