Episode 9
Episode 9 of Why Her starts with Oh Soo-jae and Gong Chan driving in her car where the student insists on getting a chocolate cake from the bakery. Soo-jae assumes that he is hoping to get a cake to celebrate her release, but Chan clarifies that it is Hyung-chil’s birthday, for which he wishes to buy a cake. The lawyer is embarrassed and quickly leaves the car, stating that she will buy the cake instead of him. The two arrive at Chan’s house which is already all set up to accommodate Soo-jae for the next few days. Her friend, Jun-hee calls Soo-jae and lets her know that she has consented to let Soo-jae live with Chan and his friends whereas Mi-rim arrives with Soo-jae’s suitcases with her clothes leaving Soo-jae shocked. Soo-jae states that she will be remodelling her own building – the one that had her office so that she can live and never return to the office accommodation again. Chan’s friends insist that she stay with them until the remodelling is done. Soo-jae agrees to stay with them and the entire party celebrates Hyung-chil’s birthday. On the other hand, Director Tae-kook somehow convinces the politicians to invest in Hansu Bio and helps Director Han Seung-beom with the merger and acquisition. After the politicians leave, Han Seung-beom is drunk as he reprimands Tae-kook about the way the politicians treated his son – Dong-o. Assemblyman Lee In-soo arrives and is furious at Director Han for ruining his campaign as his ratings keep dropping. The evil trio cracks as Han Seung-beom raises his voice as In-soo and the law firm owner Tae-kook watches silently. Outside, Tae-kook talks to In-soo about his ratings and how he is at a better place now than he was months ago. Tae-kook also tries to threaten In-soo with photographs of him partying with women, asserting that if he backed out now, the videos of him partying with women from Hong Seok-pal’s hostess bar were in his control. Tae-kook reveals his actual plan to In-soo and states that he does not want the title of Minister of Justice anymore. He states that In-soo should advocate for a Prime Minister-led government, one that the citizens of Korea are waiting for instead of a President-led one. Tae-kook wants to be the Prime Minister of the country while In-soo calls the law firm owner out on his overambitious plan. That same night, Choi Yoon-sang is going through the group chat of the Legal Clinic when he suddenly gets a call and a text from Chan about Soo-jae. When Yoon-sang rejects his call, Chan informs the law firm owner’s son that Soo-jae would be staying with him for the next few weeks leaving Yoon-sang irritated. On the other hand, Chan and Soo-jae are on a walk and the lawyer narrates the story of how she purchased the building that her father made a few years ago, paying twice its price because she wanted to make him proud. Chan compliments Soo-jae for her willpower. The next day, Tae-kook is driving to work with Ha Il-ku as he listens to news reports about the new policy initiated by the politicians that will help fund Hansu Bio and many other firms. Il-ku suddenly starts talking about Seok-pal’s cremation infuriating Tae-kook and triggering him as he brings up Il-ku’s son who is hospitalized. At the legal clinic, group 8 members learn that Soo-jae will be living with Gong Chan and his friends but the girls, Gang-ja and Se-ryun take it lightly but Chun-poong appears concerned. A while after, Yoon-sang shares a message on the Legal Clinic Center group stating that he will be exiting the group as he will be working closely with his father. Chan runs into Yoon-sang on his way to the Legal Clinic and Yoon-sang, the older of the two tells Chan that he had returned to live with his father. Chan invites him over to his house to have dinner when he states that he does not want to see Soo-jae with Chan which is why he won’t go. That night, at Chan’s house, Jun-hee and Mi-rim check up on Soo-jae who is fast asleep on the couch. She wakes up by midnight and sees texts from Director Han and Assemblyman In-soo inviting her to work with them. Soo-jae goes to Chan’s restaurant and finds him cooking her a meal in the kitchen. As they sit out to eat on the rooftop, Chan’s friends bring in special fish items for Soo-jae. Once they have left, she tells Chan how she likes living with them and how they have been welcoming of her. She admits that when she is with Chan and his friends, she forgets about the bad people in her life and mentions that she is only staying with them because she likes it there. The next day, Soo-jae meets Lim Seung-yeon and her daughter with Choi Joo-wan (the son of Choi Tae-kook), Choi Jae-yi. Seung-yeon states that aside from high alimony, she wanted a public apology from Joo-wan as her divorce settlement. Soo-jae says that Seung-yeon should focus on the alimony and claims that getting the highest settlement from the law firm owner’s son will only be possible if she uses their weakness against them. Soo-jae claims that all of Joo-wan’s dirty businesses from the past have now become her weapon and that she should use them wisely in her favor. Seung-yeon states that she is worried about breaking the news to her daughter Jae-yi and asks Soo-jae to do it for her. That night, the sons of the evil trio – Han Dong-o and Choi Joo-wan along with Assemblyman In-soo’s son – joke about how Seung-yeon is packing Joo-wan a mean punch with her demand for high alimony. A drunk Joo-wan arrives home and talks to his father about the divorce settlement wondering if Soo-jae is trying to make him suffer. In his drunken state, he mentions how he is curious about Seok-pal’s suicide. Joo-wan claims that Seok-pal would never end his own life and claims that someone else is the puppet-master to his death. Tae-kook is furious and changes the topic bringing it back to his divorce settlement. He asks Joo-wan if Seung-yeon had something over him that she will try and use against him and Joo-wan whispers something to his father, triggering him. Yoon-sang who was listening to the conversation from outside the door gets a hold of his brother and asks him about Seok-pal’s death. Professor Jung Hee-young spots Soo-jae going inside Chan’s restaurant on her way back home. At the restaurant, Soo-jae is playing a retro arcade game with Chan, Hyung-chil and Jo-gab. Soo-jae defeats Hyung-chil but when she is about to lose to Jo-gab, Chan grabs the controls with her hands and helps her win. She jumps up in excitement trying to embrace Chan but Hyung-chil and Jo-gab look at them and pull him away. The next day Hee-young calls her husband Min Young-bae about Soo-jae leaving Chan’s house. She claims that she will bring it up with the professors to embarrass Soo-jae. At the professor’s meeting, Soo-jae calmly reveals that she is living with Chan, her student and that she is paying him and his friends rent after his home was invaded by the police and his company. After being put in her place by Soo-jae, an angry Hee-young claims that the lawyer’s bad reputation will result in the Legal Clinic Centre being compromised. As the professors arrive at the centre to have a look, it is full of clients looking to have their legal cases solved after Mi-rim and the Group 8 members worked together to help Soo-jae out. Soo-jae gets a call from Assemblyman In-soo and she meets up with him. He offers her to work with him but she states that she has someone else in mind for the job and that she would be right behind the said person and guide them as the two shake hands over it. The same thing happens to her with Director Han and she promises to offer someone else in her stead to the businessman. Meanwhile, Tae-kook grows more curious about Chan as he recalls that he was the same person who broke into Il-ku’s office. The law firm owner grows curious about Chan’s relationship with Soo-jae. At Soo-jae’s cabin, former Professor Seo Joon-myung informs her that he will be joining TK Law Firm as an associate lawyer soon and Min Young-bae is shocked to learn the same. After Joon-myung has left, Young-bae asks Soo-jae to do something about the former professor working at their firm after he was kicked out of his job for molesting both Se-ryun and Soo-jae in the past. A flashback shows how Joon-myung got a job at TK Law Firm after bargaining a deal with Choi Tae-kook by reminding him of a favor he did to him in the past. Back to the present time, Soo-jae diverts the issue and asks Young-bae if he would be interested in working at Hansu Bio and promises to put in a word for his wife – Hee-young for her to work with Assemblyman In-soo. Soo-jae is having lunch with Tae-kook who talks about the recent decisions made by Soo-jae involving Min Young-bae and his wife Hee-young in relation with Director Han and Assemblyman In-soo. He tells Soo-jae that he wishes to crush both Han Seung-beom and Lee In-soo. Tae-kook then asks Soo-jae if she had copies of the USB flash drive and all the files from Mr. Ha Il-ku’s desk and the lawyer states she has everything with her. Yoon-sang joins the two at lunch, where Tae-kook reveals that he wanted his son to intern under Soo-jae’s guidance. Soo-jae states that she would not be keen on doing so as he had left the Legal Clinic Centre without consulting with her but Yoon-sang asks the lawyer to talk about the issue over coffee. At her cabin, she asks Yoon-sang what he was unto when the student asks her why she was staying with Chan instead of getting a hotel. She claims that she just likes the place and that staying there is good for her insomnia. Yoon-sang warns Soo-jae that she and her crew were now under her father’s radar and states that he will need some time before starting his internship with her. At the correction centre, Mi-rim meets with Soo-jae’s cellmate and former classmate, Oh Soo-young and tries to help her out with her case. Mi-rim discusses details of the case where Soo-young was charged with a jail sentence for stealing sneakers with Soo-jae over a call. The lawyer instructs Mi-rim that the public defendant be taken off from the case and states that Soo-young’s son is a construction worker. At the Legal Clinic Center, Gang-ja and Se-ryun talk about how Chun-poong and Chan have a crush on Mi-rim and Soo-jae respectively. The girls force the two to ask the women out. Chan gets a call from Hyung-chil who admits that Soo-jae is on a date with SP Partners’ Yoon Se-pil. They discuss Se-pil’s goal of trying to destroy the evil trio. The firm owner gets a call from Director Baek Jin-ki and Soo-jae grows curious about his relationship with the Seojung University Director. Se-pil tells Soo-jae that he was going to become the son-in-law of Director Baek and Soo-jae states that she did not know Jin-ki had a daughter. The businessman admits that Director Baek’s daughter is a pretty girl who loves to paint and her name is Kang Eun-seo. The two chat up as Chan runs to the restaurant interrupting their date. He grows curious about the two chatting up over alcohol and after getting worked up, he starts working out on the rooftop. Soo-jae joins him at the rooftop but soon gets a call from the police station regarding her mother being arrested for a DUI. Since Soo-jae is drunk, Chan drives her to the station to help bail her mother out and the lawyer’s mother has her license revoked. Since it is very late in the night, Soo-jae starts dozing off in the car on their way back and Chan insists that they have something to eat. Chan drives them to the beach and shows Soo-jae the picnic he has packed in his convertible van. She admits that Chan is very fascinating and nice as she runs off towards the beach. He rushes after her and calls her adorable and the two kiss after confessing their feeling for each other. Chan and Soo-jae watch the sunrise and make a wish when the lawyer states that she had many secrets that she would eventually share with him. It turns out he too had secrets that he didn’t want anyone finding out about, but promises that he would tell her about them when the right time comes. The two make out by the beach and the episode ends.
The Episode Review
It seems like now that the show is in its second half, a lot seems to be going down in the lives of the main leads. From Chan finally dating Soo-jae, there still lies the burden of his true identity being revealed to her. Chan too is going to have a hard time processing the life Soo-jae has lived. The good-for-nothing son of Tae-kook aka Choi Joo-wan may be all kinds of evil, but knowing that he is still not privy to his father’s grand plan, shows how big of a manipulator Tae-kook is. The evil trio is starting to break and now Assemblyman In-soo is the first pillar down. It will be interesting to see how Tae-kook handles the situation now that things seem to be shaking up for him. I am sure that Jae-yi is Eun-seo’s daughter but it is uncomfortable knowing that Director Baek is still friends with Tae-kook, despite what his son and their friends did to her daughter. Yoon Se-pil and Baek Jin-ki are probably planning something huge to destroy the evil trio but figuring out how Chan is connected to the huge mess will be interesting to find out.
