Undercover Miss Hong: Episodes 7-8
by quirkycase
This week, the mission is front and center as our secret finance agent gets some crucial information about the whistleblower and the ledger. But she’s not the only one making moves. As the economic crash causes shockwaves throughout the nation, everyone fights to survive the chaos. Our heroine is running out of time and realizes she’ll have to make some risky plays to win.
EPISODES 7-8
While I’ve been enjoying the hijinks, it’s felt like we’ve been spinning our wheels a bit with the mission plot. But we finally take a big leap forward this week thanks to an unlikely source. Our boy Albert turns out to be not so aloof after all. Like just about everyone else in this drama, he’s been running his own investigation behind the scenes. He knew his family was cold, but the way no one bothered to mourn his uncle Myung-hwi’s death left him disturbed. When he heard Chairman Kang and Ju-ran ordering a halt to the police investigation, Albert knew something was up.
That’s what brought him to that auto shop – according to his intel, the real cause of the “accident” was faulty brakes. Of course, that was left out of the official report, as was the fact that Myung-hwi’s car was serviced by the sketchy auto shop the day before.
Albert makes the reckless move of confronting the auto shop owner (Hanmin’s enforcer) with what he’s found and ends up fighting for his life. Lucky for Albert, Geum-bo has been following him around after she saw him at the shop and later discovered the real accident report hidden at Albert’s desk. She drives Albert’s unattended car into the throng and gets them both out safely. Well, for now. The owner reports the incident to Ju-ran, and it doesn’t take her long to suspect Albert from the description.
Geum-bo barely has to work to get Albert to share his intel with her, and hilariously, he’s gotten further with Geum-bo’s mission than she has. Albert has already put together that Bok-hee likely stole the whistleblower evidence from Myung-hwi’s office before the FSS arrived for the search. Geum-bo thinks to question the cleaning lady who proves their theory correct – she ran into Bok-hee in Myung-hwi’s office that night and saw her carrying a ledger out.
Realizing the evidence has been in her room this whole time, Geum-bo rushes home where both she and Bok-hee are horrified to learn No-ra put the notebook (which Bok-hee hid in an old magazine) out with the recycling. They’re too late to save the ledger, but Bok-hee mentions a note on the cover that said “7F,” suggesting it came from the 7th floor. In a desperate final bid, Geum-bo sends an email to the whistleblower, saying she’s infiltrated Hanmin. This time, she gets a response agreeing to meet.
On her way to the rendezvous, Bok-hee’s brother shows up and attacks Geum-bo outside the office. Jung-woo appears out of nowhere and punches the guy in the face. While he’s settling things with the cops, Geum-bo rushes to meet the whistleblower who runs away when he spots her. Unfortunately for him, Geum-bo is prepared. She’s known his identity from the moment she received the response. Geum-bo broke a different key on each potential whistleblower’s keyboard. The missing periods in the email reveal the whistleblower’s identity: Jin-mok.
Weary of doing Chairman Kang’s dirty work, Jin-mok didn’t need much convincing to help Myung-hwi expose Hanmin’s corruption. When Myung-hwi went to meet Geum-bo that night, he told Jin-mok to take a few photos as a safety measure in case something happened to him. Jin-mok has a family to take care of and isn’t ready to risk his life for this. But Geum-bo’s sincerity and tenacity make him hesitantly reconsider helping her.
Meanwhile, Bok-hee is fuming after the slush fund money is withdrawn from her account before she can steal it. She blames Geum-bo who has been trying to stop her from doing something stupid. Worse, because Geum-bo is nominated as the newest “Outstanding Woman,” the money is now in her account. Bok-hee goes to Geum-bo’s family’s chicken restaurant hoping to find something she can use against her.
Bok-hee gets more than she bargained for when she spots a photo of Geum-bo on the wall and her parents brag that their eldest is a college-educated accountant at the FSS. Bok-hee is aghast (both at the deception and that Geum-bo is her senior) and considers outing Geum-bo to Ju-ran, but knowing her brother attacked Geum-bo again, she can’t bring herself to betray her duplicitous frenemy. So when Geum-bo says she’ll be leaving soon, Bok-hee unhappily promises Geum-bo she’ll keep her secret from the other roommates.
On the topic of people who know Geum-bo’s secret, Jung-woo finally has an honest conversation with her about the situation. Jung-woo blames Jae-beom for encouraging her to be a whistleblower and blowing up her life all those years ago and is angry that she’s still risking herself in a quest for justice. He’s worried enough about her safety that he even meets with Jae-beom to ask him to recall Geum-bo back to the FSS. Jae-beom reminds him that Geum-bo isn’t someone who gives up, no matter how risky the endeavor.
Amid all the chaos, the IMF financial crisis that’s been looming finally hits. Hanmin requests a bailout from the government, which will require years’ worth of financial statements. Since Hanmin is too shady to turn over the real books, Chairman Kang sets up a task force for Jung-woo to oversee and orders them to clean the accounting up.
Interestingly, when Jung-woo catches Geum-bo sneaking around and trying to gain access, he makes her their designated assistant. When Geum-bo switches the cleaned up financial document with the accurate one, Jung-woo peruses the report and wordlessly accepts it. Ah, he must’ve wanted her to switch them.
Hanmin devolves into chaos with everyone (including Geum-bo’s financially strapped parents) begging for refunds after they invested in Hanmin’s now crashing “New Korea Fund.” And thanks to the accurate financial statements Jung-woo submitted, the government deems Hanmin ineligible for the bailout. Chairman Kang is livid, having no idea he’s been backstabbed by Jung-woo.
Jin-mok is also livid, but at Geum-bo for what he deems was a reckless move. Thousands of employees will lose their jobs if Hanmin goes bankrupt. Geum-bo finds it rich he’s talking about saving lives when he oversaw the fraud nine years ago that ended in her mentor dying by suicide. Jin-mok looks gutted by the revelation, but he notes in a resigned voice that they really can’t be on the same side. We end with the potential allies at an impasse.
While Jung-woo’s full game isn’t entirely clear yet, it looks like he and his accomplice are working to set up a situation where Hanmin is in desperate need of financial help. I’m guessing whoever his accomplice works for will swoop in to save the day. The question is to what end. Is it for selfish gain or some greater cause? Whatever the reason, Geum-bo basically did Jung-woo’s job for him by switching the report. Their goals really do align, at least for now, which helps explain why he hasn’t tried harder to push her out.
The three-month probation period is almost over, so Geum-bo doesn’t have long to change Jin-mok’s mind. Although he claims there’s no copy of the ledger, it seems unlikely he has no evidence of the crimes at all. Unless the original ledger somehow didn’t end up in the incinerator, Geum-bo needs his information. Given how many people are learning about her identity, and the fact that the auto shop owner saw her face when she saved Albert, the clock is truly ticking.
RELATED POSTS