The Wiretap
Episode 7 of Again My life starts with Hui-Wu’s operation getting underway. His drug bust is a massive success, arresting Hyun-Jong and his cronies in the process. This gives him more leverage to use against Mun-Gu, who is Hui-Wu’s next target. He’s on the verge of taking the fall for everything, which HuiWu is quick to remind him in the interrogation room. With the threat of prison looming over him, Mun-Gu snaps and decides to talk. Hui-Wu gives a press conference after, informing the public about Yuchae’s gang and their criminal ties to the local government officials. Just before name-dropping who these individuals are, Oh pulls Hui-Wu aside as the Chief wants to talk urgently. It’s not good news but Hui-Wu returns to the stage and points out several corrupt officials involved. Among those is Police chief Jang Hae-Jin and Sang-Tae, the Mayor. Hui-Wu claims that’s it, not even bothering to mention Assemblyman Gu. But why? Well, Seok-Kyu actually told him to leave him out the statement. He, in turn, was under orders from Seok-Hoon and didn’t have much of a choice. Tae-Seob happens to be with the corrupt official(Gu) and immediately takes an interest in Hui-Wu, admiring how good the rookie is at his job. Gu is confident he’ll be re-elected and agrees to dedicate his life to Tae-Seob. As he does, the man scurries away while Tae-Seob organizes a meeting with Hui-Wu. After this incident, Hui-Wu soon realizes that Tae-Seob has his grubby hands all over the prosecutor office. Tae-Seob continues to scheme, believing that Deputy Chief Kim is playing for time and will try to get a promotion soon. His associate believes he should use a carrot on a stick tactic. It’s actually a spot on assessment too, as Seok-Hoon shows up and (unsurprisingly!) asks for a promotion. Tae-Seob chuckles and agrees. 21 year old Yeon-Seok is interviewed next; that freelancer enforcer from before. Hui-Wu wants this guy on his side and immediately pays his mum’s hospital bills. He also hands over his business card and admits he wants to hire him in the near future. This would also mean he needs to move to Seoul. He’s in too, and Yeon-Seok joins their team. Seok-Kyu is also in, admitting he wants to change the world and he admires the kid’s arrogance and guts. Hui-Wu fires back and suggests he become the Prosecutor General in the future. Before that, Hui-Wu gathers the team as they work to take down Seok-Hoon. In order to get to him though, they’re going to go after Il-Hyun first. This is going to be tough though, especially with Seok-Hoon’s promotion up to the Central District Prosecutor’s Office. Seok-Hoon calls Hui-Wu into his office, where he discusses the gang case. He admits that he’s caught their attention but for now, he wants to keep Hui-Wu under Seok-Kyu’s management. He also wants Hui-Wu to serve as an informant for him. This also means feeding back information on those in his team. Seok-Hoon doesn’t trust people easily so the fact that he’s trusting Hui-Wu is certainly surprising. Hui-Wu soon detects a wiretap in their office, placed by Seok-Hoon himself. Hui-Wu sees it as a good thing though, believing they should use this against their enemies in order to gain the upper-hand. For now, it’s food time and that comes from Hui-Wu gathering the whole team to eat some delicious dinner. They all toast to Hui-Wu, although Han-Mi soon has to return to reporting. Hui-Wu continues to play this dangerous game, feeding back “intel” on his team to Seok-Hoon. Off the back of this, he’s invited out by Chief Prosecutor Kim to meet the inner-circle of these corrupt officials at the top. There are numerous ministers and officials here but they all play second fiddle to Jo Tae-Seob, who’s the one with all the power. After dinner Hui-Wu is invited in to have a private chat with Tae-Seob. It’s a fascinating conversation about faith and loyalty, something that plays right into Tae-Seob’s beliefs. He’s pretty brazen, admitting outright that he wants to be the one with all the power and change the country. Hui-Wu keeps his cool and plays this game well, so well infact that Tae-Seob admits to Seok-Hoon later on that he really likes him. He doesn’t want the kid held down and believes he’s greatly misunderstood Hui-Wu. Off the back of this, Seok-Hoon moves Hui-Wu across to the Anti-Corruption department to work with Jang Il-Hyun. There’s a forum for talented and promising youngers coming up and he suggests Hui-Wu attend. While he gets involved in the evening, keeping his wits about him and scouting the area, word reaches Tae-Seob’s office that the prosecutor’s office is on the verge of checking Mirae Electronics’ bank account. Tae-Seob tasks Seok-Hoon with burying this and covering it up completely. Of course, this comes from phoning his dog, Il-Hyun. The same Il-Hyun whom Hui-Wu is buttering up at the moment. Il-Hyun suspects Hui-Wu is doing as much, but Hui-Wu spins it as if he’s actually his wingman. Il-Hyun grills the medical student (Ju-Seok) hard in the interrogation room. Hui-Wu reflects on how he’s the number 1 suspect but given they fought out in the street, there would have been witnesses. But yet, the report claims there were no witnesses. Hui-Wu realizes that this is a shoddy report and the only evidence here is the knife and fingerprints on the victim. Il-Hyun is despicable and admits later on to Hui-Wu that Ju-Seok has “got the short end of the stick.” Given he’s poor, it means he’s easy to manipulate. They’re covering up the whole thing but making a big deal of it to distract from the current situation involving Mirae Electronics. Hui-Wu promises to make Il-Hyun the worst prosecutor in Korea, as this case continues to take unexpected turns.
The Episode Review
Again My Life returns with another good episode, this time turning the focus across to Hui-Wu infiltrating the prosecutor’s office and playing both sides of the conflict. It’s a clever way of working and something that eventually crescendos into that chat between Hui-Wu and Tae-Seob toward the end of the episode. It’s going to be very satisfying watching Hui-Wu take these crooks down, and all the blocks are being linked up to do just that; a domino effect of Tae-Seob’s cronies all being taken out before Hui-Wu turns his attention to the big man himself The show continues to deliver an absorbing blend of crime drama and thriller elements, although this feels far less sci-fi/reincarnation and more of another prosecutor/law drama. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but it does feel a tad misleading from the premise of this series. At its worst, this show feels like it’s in danger of slipping into mediocrity. In fact, it’s no surprise that the stand-out scene here comes from the dinner, with Hui-Wu gathering up all the men and women who have helped him along the way up until this point. It’s a simple but effective moment, one that solidifies how far Hui-Wu has come as we reach the halfway point of this drama. However, it’s fair to say things look like they’re about to get a lot harder for our protagonist.
