Protect the Boss:
Episode 15: This episode starts with a rewind to scenes prior to the prosecutorial raid on the DN Group. In the car, Ji Heon asks Eun Seol if she doesn’t have anything she wants to tell him? When she continues to remain mum, he pulls over and asks her to get out, he needs to be alone for now. Eun Seol walks until she ends up sitting down with her troubled thoughts and worries. Ji Heon is home playing video games and doesn’t see or hear his phone ringing and Eun Seol calling. He goes to ask his dad again why he’s forcing Ji Heon to break up with Eun Seol, when it’s clear his dad likes Eun Seol very much as well. Ji Heon wants a reason, something he can understand, otherwise he can’t accept it. The Chairman reveals that he hasn’t been clean in his business practices, Eun Seol found out, and has leaked the information. Ji Heon is stunned by this bombshell, though he asks if his dad is sure it was Eun Seol who leaked it. His dad’s not sure, and is still trying to figure out how to deal with it. Ji Heon tells him to deal with it directly and just accept the consequences. Ji Heon screams that he’s had enough of his dad and Eun Seol (treating him like a kid). He goes outside to sit in the yard, continuing to miss calls by Eun Seol. Eun Seol arrives at the house to pick up Ji Heon, telling Secretary that there was a misunderstanding with the Chairman yesterday and she wants to explain it to him. Eun Seol says she didn’t report the Chairman, and it was because the Secretary told her not to tell the Chairman and Ji Heon that she’s suffering this misunderstanding now. Secretary doesn’t give her a chance and just pushes her out of the house. Eun Seol arrives at work and all the secretaries surround her, telling her that they’ve received orders that Eun Seol’s stuff is to be packed up. They don’t want to jump to conclusions and calmly ask her to explain. Eun Seol says there was a misunderstanding. Ji Heon walks into work and completely ignores Eun Seol, which all the secretaries note as being completely out his character for him. Eun Seol walks into his office and asks if he got her calls from last night. He ignores her, and reminds her that this is work and they need to wait until after work hours to discuss personal matters. Eun Seol apologizes and asks him if he’ll hear her out. Ji Heon stands up and tells her to explain. When Eun Seol starts to talk, Ji Heon interjects and fills in the blanks, which surprises Eun Seol that Ji Heon knows. She tells him that she’s been scapegoated as the person who reported this financial misdoing to the government. Before they can talk more, the prosecutorial search team arrives and starts collecting evidence. Grandma watches on TV as the scandal breaks, shaking her head in worry. The Chairman meets with his lawyers and company men on what to do. Ji Heon walks out of the meeting. The Chairman reminds everyone that Ji Heon knew nothing about what was going on and he must be protected at all costs. The Chairman looks at Director Park and says if he goes down, everyone goes down. The Chairman announces that he doesn’t believe the rumors that Eun Seol was the whistleblower. There must be someone behind the scenes masterminding it all, and that person will be dead if the Chairman finds him out. The Chairman starts to clutch his heart in genuine pain. Na Yoon’s mom gets a call from Director Park, who begs her to help him stay out of prison. Moo Won’s mom asks why Na Yoon’s mom investigated her dealings with Director Park and turned him into her own spy. Na Yoon’s mom pretends she just ran into them meeting by accident. Moo Won’s mom doesn’t believe her and calls her a woman with dark depths. She tells Na Yoon’s mom to make sure Moo Won and her aren’t dragged down into it. Na Yoon arrives and demands to know if her mom orchestrated it? Moo Won’s mom gets up and leaves, whispering to Na Yoon loudly that it sure was her own mom who planned it all. Na Yoon screams at her mom. Eun Seol is trying to clean up the ransacked office when Ji Heon walks in. He pretty much ignores her and leaves, ordering a car be brought around. Eun Seol chases after him. The other secretaries mention that the rumor is Eun Seol was the one who reported this. Moo Won comes out and chastises the secretaries for gossiping, telling them Eun Seol could not have done this. Eun Seol catches up to Ji Heon in the elevator but he continues to ignore her. She begs him to just listen to her explain. She was wrong in not telling him beforehand, but can he listen to her now? He continues to ignore her, and when other people get in the elevator and start throwing back glances at Eun Seol, Ji Heon tells them to look directly at her and start yelling at her if they want. They arrive in the lobby just in time to see the Chairman get wheeled out to the waiting ambulance. He sees Eun Seol and tells her to disappear like he told her to- he doesn’t want her around when the shit hits the fan, in case she gets embroiled in the mess, so he wants her to leave by making it seem like he’s angry at her. Ji Heon tells Eun Seol not to follow him. It’ll be embarrassing out there with all the media camped out. When Eun Seol tells him to take the underground exit, he explains that he’s used to this, making front page headlines for scandals and being the subject of national scorn and finger pointing. Before getting into the car, Ji Heon bows and tells the media he’ll explain later. They grab him until Eun Seol arrives and makes them move away. The Chairman is at the hospital when Grandma arrives. She thinks he’s faking it, but the Chairman says he’s not. His heart really hurt and he felt dizzy, though once he got to the hospital the symptoms went away. Grandma tells him to just use this opportunity to clean up the company practices, to take their punishment and fix it going forward. The Chairman explains that he was planning to do just that, except this whole thing got leaked before he could clean up. Moo Won’s mom is worried they will get implicated in the mess. Moo Won asks his mom again to confirm she didn’t do this? She says she thought about it, but she never did it. Moo Won thinks his mom bears some responsibility nevertheless. Moo Won says it’s taking all his restraint not to blow up right now at his mom. He can’t even face Eun Seol and Ji Heon, that is how horrible he feels about what happened. Moo Won’s mom says she feels guilty towards the Chairman as well, but it’s not like an apology is sufficient. If her minor involvement is revealed, she’ll be punished by the Board of Directors. Moo Won agrees not to say anything, but warns her that if she did anything ever again, he’ll cut all ties as her son. Moo Won gets a call to meet Na Yoon. Both are them are short-tempered with each other, feeling irritable and upset and guilty. Na Yoon confirms from Moo Won that it was her mom that orchestrated this reporting, and even scapegoated Eun Seol as the whistleblower. Na Yoon starts crying and asking what they can do. Moo Won chides her for crying all the time, to which she explains that she can’t help it, her tears just come. He tells her to save her tears for when it’s necessary. He notices that she’s giving him moony eyes and wonders why she can feel all romantic towards him at a moment like this. She says romantic feelings don’t just go away. Moo Won laughs at her. Myung Ran tells Eun Seol that the DN Group scandal is all over the news. Eun Seol thinks she really is a cosmic rock like Ji Heon once described her as. She was afraid of Ji Heon getting hurt so she didn’t tell him. She tried to prevent it herself but couldn’t. Now all she feels is regret and worry. Myung Ran offers to make her some dinner. Eun Seol declines – even if Ji Heon won’t see her, she needs to go see him. Moo Won walks Na Yoon home, who asks to borrow some money from him. She feels terrible living here with Eun Seol, and wants to move out and get her own place. Moo Won agrees, but will deduct what she borrowed monthly from her salary. Na Yoon asks if Moo Won wants her to get Eun Seol? He’s not sure he should see her, which is when Eun Seol walks out. Na Yoon heads inside to allow them to talk. Eun Seol explains that she’s headed somewhere, but Moo Won just wanted to tell her that he believes she’s not involved. Eun Seol asks Moo Won if his mom was involved? We see Ji Heon standing at the foot of the stairs watching them. Moo Won apologizes but he can’t answer her question. Eun Seol says that is answer enough. But she can’t explain to the Chairman the truth now without implicating Moo Won’s mom. She cries, wondering what to do now? Moo Won tells her to just tell the truth. Moo Won leans over and lightly reassures Eun Seol with a pat on her shoulder. They turn and see Ji Heon standing there. He turns to leave, which is when Moo Won tells Ji Heon not to misunderstand. Ji Heon smiles and says there is nothing to misunderstand (and he means it, he’s not jealous right now). Eun Seol runs after him and grabs him in a back hug, sobbing into his back and apologizing repeatedly. Ji Heon turns her around and wipes her tears away, teasing her for being so ugly when she cries. After Ji Heon walks away, Eun Seol continues to follow him, and he lets her. They are in the car driving when Eun Seol tells him to get mad and just yell at her or hit her. He says he doesn’t dare. If he hits her, she’ll hit him back. Eun Seol asks if he’s going to do as the Chairman says and just pretends he’s not involved and knows nothing about the company’s misdeeds? Ji Heon pulls over and calmly tells Eun Seol that he wants her to just show remorse and not do anything unless he tells her to. Even if Eun Seol did report the company, that minor thing isn’t what would cause him to be so upset at her. He’s angry because……it’s not directed at her. He’s angry at HIMSELF. He wants to go to Eun Seol’s neighborhood, he wants to be a good Chairman one day, but he still can’t do enough to get her trust in him. He’s really pathetic, unable to gain even his father’s confidence, much less Eun Seol. He can’t do anything without Eun Seol. Her not trusting him is something he brought on himself. He wants to assess exactly how Eun Seol thinks of him in her heart. So until the first ruling comes down from the court, he doesn’t have the time to discuss their relationship. Ji Heon opens the door and asks her to get out. He reminds her that she’s so strong, she’ll be just fine. Her eyes are filled with unshed tears but she gets out, reminding Ji Heon that next time he has to listen to her, okay? Everyone Is dragged in for interviews with the prosecutors. Eun Seol says she knows nothing, other than Cha Ji Heon is not involved since she stays by his side 24 hours a day. Eun Seol notices that the police have no evidence, but appear to be trying to get information from her about Ji Heon’s possible involvement. The Chairman is wheeled into the police station for questioning, and Ji Heon is accompanying his father. Eun Seol and Ji Heon see each other, and he flashes her a smile. The Chairman says Ji Heon doesn’t know anything, and it was all done by the people around him. He pulls the illness card as the interview drags on. Eun Seol waits outside the police station and happens to see Director Park leaving. She accosts him as he’s making a call to likely Na Yoon’s mom to complain. Eun Seol confronts him and says she recorded that conversation. Eun Seol asks if he was the one who set her up. Normally she wouldn’t strike women and elderly but today she’s making an exception. She punches him twice in the stomach, reminding him that she was a teenage delinquent and an eye for an eye is her way of getting revenge. She demands to know who he was talking to, was it Na Yoon or Moo Won’s mom? She asks if they are both involved? Director Park refuses to answer, which confirms it for her. She let him go for today, but warns him to beware because she can show up anytime in front of him to get retribution. Eun Seol sees the media running towards the police station. She runs back and sees Ji Heon walking out. Ji Heon sees her off to the side before he gets into the car. Eun Seol is relieved that Ji Heon looks fine. News reports say that there is no sufficient evidence to charge Cha Ji Heon, and government is requesting a five year sentence for Chairman Cha. Eun Seol asks what she’s going to do since neither Cha will see her. Myung Ran offers to go with her and barge in, she’ll knock the doors down for Eun Seol. Chairman Cha and Director Park are prison cell mates. The Chairman asks Director Park who the whistleblower is? He suspects that person will try to escape abroad the second the no-travel restriction is lifted. The Chairman says if he’s stripped of his position at work, he’ll have nothing to do, and will make it his life’s mission to track down that son-of-a-gun. Eun Seol and Myung Ran arrive at the prison to see the Chairman, only to run into him being carried into an ambulance headed for the hospital. Secretary tells Ji Heon to go visit his dad at the hospital, explaining that this time the Chairman isn’t faking it, he really does get chest pains from time to time recently. Secretary also tells Ji Heon that the Chairman was already planning to clean up the company before he was reported. Grandma arrives and tells Ji Heon to go visit his dad, and lecture him because he did wrong. Moo Won meets with Na Yoon’s mom and discusses her own shady dealings. He suggests that he can rat her out, too. Moo Won warns her not to do anything like this again, and not to get his mother involved. Moo Won tells Na Yoon’s mom that because of her, it’s caused him to not liked Na Yoon anymore. He’s even thinking about fooling around with Na Yoon. Na Yoon arrives and overhears this. She runs out and Moo Won chases after her to try and explain. He takes her to a building to show her an apartment he found for her. He heads to visit the Chairman and Na Yoon runs to join him. Eun Seol arrives at the hospital and tries to get past the security to visit him but she fails. She puts on a doctor coat and tries to sneak in behind some doctors. Moo Won and Na Yoon arrive to see her. When Eun Seol gets recognized and the police try to detain her, her quick reflexes allow her to evade them and sneak into the Chairman’s hospital room. She walks in only to see Ji Heon talking with his dad. Ji Heon tells his dad to stop mentioning Eun Seol was the whistleblower because she didn’t do it. The Chairman concurs, he didn’t think it was her anyways, because she would never hurt Ji Heon and the Chairman. But the Chairman continues and says that it just can’t work between Ji Heon and Eun Seol. The Chairman says he liked her so much he forgot why she wasn’t suitable for Ji Heon. Like that initial violence incident – to which Ji Heon laughs and says that incident was 50% the fault of the crazy bun head, and 50% of the fault of the immature revenge Chairman. The Chairman says he really loves his job, his company is just like a son to him. And now he might lose it all, and he can’t even pass it on to Ji Heon. So if Ji Heon marries Eun Seol, he’d be an even bigger laughing stock. If the Chairman can protect him, this is all that he can do. Ji Heon asks if his dad wants them to break up? Or does he want Ji Heon to break up with Eun Seol? Ji Heon says sure, he’ll break up. Eun Seol listens to this entire conversation and quietly leaves the room. She’s dragged out by cops, but she manages to slip away. Moo Won and Na Yoon help block the path and allows Eun Seol to get away. Na Yoon even threatens to bite one of the cops. She’s so earnest. Back in the hospital room, Ji Heon confesses to his dad that he doesn’t have the confidence to break up with Eun Seol. But if it must be done, he’ll do it. As Ji Heon leaves, he tells the Chairman that if he breaks up with Eun Seol, it won’t be for the reasons his dad wants him to. Na Yoon and Moo Won chase after Eun Seol outside the hospital. She asks them both if she can be rude to their mothers for once? Moo Won tells her to go ahead, but Na Yoon wants to make sure no one will get whacked. Both Eun Seol and Ji Heon are deep in thought. Eun Seol talks to herself – she started off as Ji Heon’s secretary, protecting and assisting him, so now it’s become the way she acts around him. Ji Heon drives past Eun Seol on the side and neither sees each other. Na Yoon’s mom confesses to Moo Won’s mom that Director Park really is like a water ghost, always demanding more from her. Suddenly the moms see Eun Seol and Myung Ran waiting for them at the art gallery. They easily subdue the two guards. Eun Seol demands to talk to them about how they set her up. She knows they are the mothers of people she cares about. Right now she’ll restrain herself, but who knows if one day she’s not care about anything and just go berserk on them. Before leaving, Eun Seol makes Na Yoon’s mom promise not to fire the two guards. Eun Seol and Myung Ran walk out of the gallery, and Myung Ran gives Eun Seol a hug to comfort her. Suddenly Eun Seol gets a call and she hurries to pick it up. Eun Seol tells Myung Ran that Ji Heon wants to see her, though she senses something is off. Eun Seol goes home and primps before heading out to meet Ji Heon. She walks down the stairs and smiles when she sees Ji Heon waiting for her. He turns and is stunned to see how pretty she looks. She tells him that they should enjoy their date and not worry about everything else. Ji Heon takes Eun Seol horseback riding. He explains that horses react to body language to get to know a human. Ji Heon and Eun Seol have a picnic after they finish riding, taking turns feeding each other and goofing around.Ji Heon drives a sleeping Eun Seol back to Seoul, stopping the car at the place where Eun Seol once berated Ji Heon after he ran away from home. He asks if she wants to take a walk? They walk hand in hand, until Ji Heon lets go of her hand. He tells her that he needs to stop his relationship with Eun Seol now…(nationwide rating 13.5)
Episode 16: Ji Heon asks to stop his relationship with Eun Seol. He can’t go to her world now, and he doesn’t want her involved in his messed up world. He doesn’t know for how long, but he wants to take a break and consider what he needs to do. Eun Seol calmly says sure and turns to leave. Ji Heon is shocked and asks if that is all she has to say? She doesn’t think she has a choice, so why bother discussing it further. They part ways, which is when we see Eun Seol start to tear up. Ji Heon gets in his car and starts to drive away, but then he stops and reverses, which is when Eun Seol also turns and runs back towards him as well. Ji Heon demands to know why she accepted his request to take a break so easily! He thought really hard before making the decision. She wonders what he wants her to do – cry and beg and grab his clothes so that he doesn’t leave her? Ji Heon reminds her that he’s just asking to take a break. She doesn’t want to play word games with him. This is pretty much like breaking up. Even if it was her fault, he never allowed her to explain or discussed things with her. Ji Heon says he needs to handle things himself now. She understands, and is even more upset she can’t help him. She can’t promise she’ll wait for him, so if he’s decided, he should walk his own road. They part on these frustrating terms, though neither are happy about it. Myung Ran and Na Yoon trudge back to the apartment, wondering if Eun Seol met with Ji Heon and everything has been resolved. Na Yoon tells Myung Ran not to worry, Ji Heon and Eun Seol are totally in love, everything will be fine. They are accosted by two reporters outside the apartment asking to speak with Eun Seol. They ignore the reporters and head inside. Eun Seol is already home and she’s got residual tears in her eyes. Na Yoon and Myung Ran asks if she’s crying because of the reporters, but Eun Seol says she’s crying because of the penguin documentary she’s watching. The poor penguins struggle to stand up but constantly slip on the water and ice. Poor penguins. Grandma has Moo Won and his mom over to talk. She threatens to hit her daughter-in-law, saying if she did wrong she ought to be punished just like Grandma punishes her own kids. Moo Won says he’s already chastised his mom. Suddenly Moo Won gets a call from Na Yoon about reporters camped outside, and also hears that Eun Seol is totally weird and crying about penguins falling down. Moo Won sees Ji Heon come home and stops him, demanding to know what’s wrong? Ji Heon brushes past him, nods his greetings to Grandma and Moo Won’s mom, and then goes to his room. Moo Won follows, asking if he fought with Eun Seol? Ji Heon says they fought, is that what Moo Won wants to hear! Moo Won calls Ji Heon an idiot, asking if he’s doing this to protect Eun Seol? Ji Heon says it’s not so noble. Moo Won tells him to hurry up and wake up and do the right thing. Eun Seol sits outside and drinks with her friends, finally confessing that Ji Heon asked to take a break. But she explains that she asked Ji Heon to break up in response. She understands where he’s coming from, but she’s still upset and frustrated. She laughs about being such a petty girlfriend. Eun Seol and Ji Heon sit in the dark while deep in thought.Eun Seol packs up her desk and receives her transfer orders, headed to the countryside warehouse distribution center. She thanks her sunbae secretaries for taking care of her in the past. Secretary Kim comes running back, screaming about what’s happened and why he’s suddenly been asked to become Ji Heon’s secretary again. He refuses! Eun Seol says her farewells to Moo Won, explaining that she’s happier this way. He doesn’t ask her about what happened between her and Ji Heon, but gets her to invite him to come visit in the future. Eun Seol goes to Ji Heon’s office and reminisces about their past interactions, starting from when she first became his secretary all the way until now. Ji Heon arrives at work and sees Secretary Kim sitting at Eun Seol’s desk. Secretary Kim is moaning about why he’s back in this position. Ji Heon threatens to fire him, which makes him quiet down and accept his fate. At the board meeting, the directors are uncomfortable with Ji Heon’s role at the company despite being cleared of any involvement. Grandma assigns Ji Heon to handle only the resort project during the time being while Moo Won takes over for the rest. They will wait until the final verdict is rendered on the Chairman to decide what to do going forward. Ji Heon and Moo Won start their usual good-natured bickering about Moo Won taking over for Ji Heon temporarily. The Chairman finds out Eun Seol was sent to a distribution warehouse in the countryside and is upset that a girl is sent to do hard labor. Secretary Jang reminds him that he wants Eun Seol to quit and this is the best way. The Chairman concedes that he has to harden his heart. Moo Won’s mom comes to visit bearing flowers. The Chairman doesn’t want to see her and tells her to leave. He knows she’s involved with what happened to him, but she says she’s got nothing to do with it. Moo Won’s mom tells him to hit her if he want to. The Chairman shoves her bouquet in her face a few times before tossing it on the ground. Eun Seol is packing up to leave but Na Yoon wants her to stay. Na Yoon asks Myung Ran to move in with her instead of living in this tent like place. Myung Ran says Moo Won God got Na Yoon the place, she doesn’t want to be a third wheel. Na Yoon tearfully apologizes to Eun Seol for her mother’s doing which caused this all. The friends hug each other, crying and sobbing that they will miss each other so much. Eun Seol finds out Ji Heon is headed to the resort for the time being as well. Eun Seol takes a bus to the countryside as Ji Heon is driven by Secretary Kim down to the resort. Eun Seol arrives and sees that her new work environment is really rough. Her supervisor says no one sent down here has lasted longer than a week. Eun Seol vows that she’ll last longer than a week. She starts working and gets bored just sitting at the desk. She decides to start helping with the warehouse labor, otherwise she’ll just be left sitting at the corner doing nothing. Ji Heon arrives at the resort and starts working. Eun Seol’s dad finally sees the old newspaper article about the DN Group financial misconduct. Myung Ran sits in her room by herself eating bibimbap, wondering why her place feels so empty. Suddenly Eun Seol’s dad barges in and finds out from Myung Ran that Eun Seol got transferred. The Chairman gets a three year prison sentence, which will be delayed, plus paying a hefty fine and doing another 200 hours of community service. He wants to pay more fines and not have to do community service. The Chairman is wheeled out of the hospital to face the media and apologize to the country. The Chairman thinks he doesn’t need to apologize to the public, he should apologize to Ji Heon and Eun Seol, the people who are affected. The Chairman announces that he will be resigning from the position of the Chairman of the DN Group. As he’s apologizing, Eun Seol’s dad suddenly arrives and calls him a shameless bastard. The Chairman gets up to argue, revealing that he’s not really incapacitated like he’s pretending to be. Secretary Kim comes to get Ji Heon for a meeting, not using jeondaemal which annoys Ji Heon. He chides Ji Heon for scheduling so many meetings when he normally hates this. Secretary Kim heard from Myung Ran what happened between Ji Heon and Eun Seol. Ji Heon attends meeting after meeting. Na Yoon compliments Myung Ran on being a good roommate, but not a great shopping buddy. She complains that things are not moving forward with Moo Won. Myung Ran suggest she use force but Na Yoon isn’t keen on being viewed that way. Na Yoon spies Moo Won at the department store. She asks Myung Ran to leave so that she can pretend to be shopping along while carrying many heavy bags. She pretends to accidentally run into him at the department store. He says hello but then turns to leave. Na Yoon tries to stop him but his secretary informs her that Moo Won is working right now. Na Yoon asks when he’ll be done? Ji Heon is touring the resort and remembers back to spending the night with Eun Seol here. Na Yoon gets Moo Won to carry her bags for her back to her new apartment. She offers Moo Won something to drink. When he sits down, she pours him some milk. Na Yoon sees Moo Won take off his jacket and thinks back to Myung Ran’s suggesting to just seduce him. She licks her lips, takes off her own jacket and walks over to him. She hands him the milk, which he takes a drink of. She then makes him get up and totally kisses his brains out. They then move the action to the bed. Which is when Na Yon is awoken from her day dream by Moo Won, who asks if perhaps she’s imagining something weird. He tells her to stop imagining things in front of him. He leaves and Na Yoon is totally embarrassed. Moo Won walks outside and smiles, saying that was quite shocking back there. The Chairman arrives to do his community service. Secretary Jang arrives to tell the Chairman that Grandma has decided to hand the DN Group Temporary Chairman position to Moo Won’s mom. Everyone is shocked, especially Moo Won’s mom. Grandma says she’s exhausted and doesn’t want to take on so much. The board agrees with this move. The Chairman barges into the meeting and asks his mom how she can place Seok Hee in his position? Grandma says it’s not “his” position, plus it’s just a temporary Chairmanship. He’s upset because Seok Hee conspired against him. Grandma says she needs to let Seok Hee sit in the chair and realize how scary it can be to wield such power. That way she can let go of her anger…(nationwide rating 12.9)
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Warrior Baek Dong Soo:
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Episode 24: (nationwide rating 18.2)