The Apartment Job: Episodes 5-6
by lovepark
Winning an election turns out to be the easy part of this scam as the new apartment president realizes that his community has been a hotbed of local corruption. In order to become the villain and steal the funds, the retired gangster may actually have to become a community hero first and discover the real figure pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
EPISODES 5-6
Hae-kang is president, which means “Intermittent Family” only has a day left. While his men fulfill their part of the plan — grab suitcases, steal the seal, liquidate any remaining assets — our newly-elected president is introduced to the business-side of the complex. He’s joined by the self-appointed Senior Secretary of Civil Affairs Sook-jin, and the former-foe-turned-ally makes sure Hae-kang’s tenure as president remains spotless of scandals. In other words, no bribes on her watch!
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Chung-won is having a very bad day. I almost feel bad for the heinous CEO as he sits off to the side cooking his own pork while the rest of his party eat steak and mock his proletariat roots. However, the show reminds us that Chung-won is no better than these supposed kingmakers as he takes out his anger on his employees and tries to bribe the archeologist at the dig site. The latter, though, is unneeded because the archeologist tells Chung-won that these relics may be authentic but their discovery is not. Put another way, someone planted these to halt construction.
While everyone busies themselves with the scam, Kyung-bok gets forgotten in the hurry, and the adorable tomato cries on stage as his class puts on a performance for Family Sports Day with no family. Thankfully, his teacher contacts Ha-ri in the middle of her bank PPL scene, and she grabs Hae-kang on the way to school. They burst through the doors (with Sook-jin taking the lead because she’s ✧°that girl✧°) and Kyung-bok beams with pride. When asked why he didn’t tell them sooner, the poor tomato explains how he couldn’t because they are a fake family, and I want to reach through the screen to hug him. To make up for it, Ha-ri and Hae-kang absolutely smoke the other parents’ butts in the competition and win first place. As if this whole interaction wasn’t cute enough, Kyung-bok then picks out hair rollers to gift his mom, and the whole crowd oohs along with me.
Just when our fake family starts to feel like a real one, it is time to say goodbye. Hae-kang tells Ha-ri that the job is over, and on all accounts, this should be a good thing for her. Except, it doesn’t feel so great. She chalks up her conflicting emotions as anger over an unfair dismissal, which has nothing to do with the daydreams she has about Hae-kang nor the random ogling at his fit nor the falling on top of him and staying a beat too long to gaze into his piercing eyes. Definitely none of those.
D-day arrives, and Hae-kang sets off to collect his 17 billion won. With a smile on his face, he presents the two seals as well as his suitcase to empty the account, but all he gets back in return is a measly 2,530 won (he can’t even buy an espresso with that amount, let alone his boss’s freedom). Every bank he stops at results in the same thing — nothing over ten thousand won — and Hae-kang has a meltdown in the middle of the street, screaming for his money.
It seems the scammers have been scammed, and Hae-kang’s cordial fake father-son relationship with Lizard reverts back to scary creditor-debtor threats. He demands to know what happened, and Lizard guesses that someone must be bankrolling the whole thing. In order to find the money, they need to use the reserve fund, and to do that, Hae-kang must stay the president a little longer. Project Intermittent Family is back!
After Hae-kang apologizes and “begs” Ha-ri to return, their fake family ruse continues, but trouble brews in the horizon. Living up to her busybody name, Sook-jin happens across the president’s family acting a bit strange from the sons threatening to chop off their father’s hand if he gambles again to Ha-ri telling Kyung-bok to call her noona instead of mom. Though the senior secretary tries to convince herself that all families have their issues, she can no longer ignore the warning signs when she overhears Ha-ri telling Hae-kang that she is quitting their fake family (more on this later).
The absolute worst person now knows their secret, and their flimsy attempts to persuade her come across as a bad soap opera. Rather than appeal to her sympathies, Hae-kang says that he is investigating the maintenance fee, and that perks up her ears. Sook-jin agrees to give him one week to prove himself, but the tight deadline is only the first of their problems. President Seo and his faction still hold the majority vote in the association, so the only way to win is by taking down their opponents completely.
Doing what they do best, our ex-moneylenders dig into the president’s people, and with the help of Ha-ri’s keen eyes, they discover a huge heating bill scandal. For the last six years, 123 households have been paying nothing, and according to Sook-jin’s calculations, the other residents have collectively paid 1.23 billion won as a result. Thus, the 123 incident is born, and Hae-kang takes to the streets as the “heating bill martyr.”
Chung-won watches Hae-kang’s antics with an amused laugh — while munching on a head of broccoli like a psychopath — and figures out his new president’s goal. The bank manager contacted him about Hae-kang emptying the accounts, but rather than feel threatened, Chung-won laughs at his brazen attempt to steal the reserve funds. Now that he knows his enemy’s aim, he attends the community town hall and sides with Hae-kang on the issue instead of President Seo. As the only one who truly did not know about the incorrect bill, he offers to pay his missing share and gets the rest of the corrupt representatives to agree as well as resign.
Though he fools most of the community with his act as the humble penthouse resident, Chung-won is not your typical neighbor. He turns President Seo into literal fertilizer after he failed one too many times and then calls Manager Choi over to pick up the funds and pay his respects. The facility manager realizes too late just how screwed he is, but he isn’t the only one in hot water. To really cook the books, the president, facility manager, and accountant all need to be in on it, and in this case, that means Ha-jung.
After hearing about the new president, Ha-jung returned from her vacation early to tender her resignation and caught Ha-ri red-handed on apartment grounds. Though she managed to explain that Kyung-bok was a client’s son (technically true), Ha-ri knows she cannot keep up this lie for much longer which was why she tried to quit earlier. However, it seems both sister’s secrets will come to light sooner rather than later, and Ha-ri’s fake family might actually be the lesser evil in this rare instance.
As a result of the heating bill scandal, Hae-kang is finally able to push for renovations using the reserve funds and traces the money back to Taesan Construction. He then heads over to the conglomerate where the receptionist tells him that the president has been expecting him, and inside the office, Chung-won greets him with a framed photo of Hae-kang at the bank. The ex-gangster knows a threat when he sees it, so instead of lying, he strikes a deal: how about he become Chung-won’s new right-hand man?
What a fun development! For the most part, the plot has been predictable, but this latest twist caught me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting the characters to lay all their cards down so soon, but it works so well for the story. Not only does it serve as a natural halfway mark but it also adds a layer of tension that plays nicely with the more whimsical tone of the show. Park Byung-eun does unassuming yet terrifying villains so well (it is, after all, how he made his name known), but what I really like about his portrayal of Chung-won is the casual violence he displays alongside his silly quirks that heighten his menacing aura. He’s just as funny as the other characters, but coupled with his horrible actions, it makes for an unhinged antagonist that is surprisingly captivating.
On top of Chung-won, I’m also surprised by how much I love Sook-jin. This is such a fun turn for Moon Sori who I associate with more heavier roles a la When Life Gives You Tangerines, but she’s terrific as the flashy ahjumma. It could have been such a stereotypical role, but she infuses it with so much heart and joy that makes Sook-jin easily likeable despite her more overbearing manner. Of course, I would be remiss to not mention our other two leads who have been delightful since the beginning. Hae-kang continues to be as awesome as he is handsome (and he is, indeed, very handsome), and Ha-ri plays so well opposite him. I love how she’s a bit conniving without being mean-spirited, and in a house of questionable men, she’s usually the most enthusiastic about executing a plan or helping Hae-kang win no matter what. The show is such a fun watch with a hobnob of personalities that feel larger than life but stay grounded in real emotions thanks to the performances. It’s almost reflective of the show’s premise — a microcosm of the world with its small politics and, frankly, low stakes — but within that almost humorous setup is a story elevated by characters who aren’t just silly but alive.
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