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So far, things haven’t been looking so bright and hopeful for our characters. In the fight for justice, Ji-hyun and Soo-ho continue to face struggles and challenges that they overcome every time. Just when they overcome one struggle, another pops up and the cycle is never-ending. However, they refuse to back down and to give up and it’s essentially their trust in each other that fuels their determination to discover the truth.

Time (시간): Episode 9 Recap

Ji-hyun and Soo-ho have some food at his restaurant before they move forward to talk about why they wanted to meet. Meanwhile, Chae-Ah and Min-seok meet on the rooftop of a building to discuss their future now that Kang In-bum is motivated to ruin their lives. If he reveals everything, they’ll have to be responsible for their actions that lead to Mom and Ji-eun’s death. Min-seok shares that he originally wanted to kill Kang In-bum so that they wouldn’t have to reach this point, but he was unsuccessful. Now it’s up to Chae-Ah to get rid of him somehow if she can.

When Ji-hyun is done eating, she prepares to tell Soo-ho the real reason as to why she worked at his restaurant. However, Soo-ho volunteers to go first and tell her the secret he’s held from her this entire time. Right when he’s about to confess to Ji-hyun his involvement in her sister’s death, Bok-gyu comes running to Soo-ho. There’s been a fire incident at the detention center that Kang In-bum was stationed at. He’s been killed.

Upon hearing the news, Chae-Ah gets rid of Min-seok’s tie that had Kang In-bum’s blood on the night of the hit-and-run incident. The case should be closed now that he’s dead. She warns Min-seok to not touch or harm Soo-ho in the investigation. He is her fiance after all.

Soo-ho and Ji-hyun rush to the detention center where Kang In-bum was held. His cell was set on fire and eventually lead to his death. Ji-hyun falls onto the ground upon witnessing the incident herself. Meanwhile, Soo-ho walks away from Ji-hyun and processes his feelings about the incident, saying,

When the truth got buried, I couldn’t help but feel relieved. And I also had to accept the fact that I could no longer stay by her side.

The program that the reporter was originally going to air the report on has been terminated. Chae-Ah managed to persuade the reporter to give up the report by promoting her to a higher position within the company in return that she not air the episode. Ji-hyun watches the final episode of the show in disbelief and grows enraged that all the evidence they gathered on the investigations will never be seen by the public. She attempts to contact the reporter, but finds herself unsuccessful. Soo-ho isn’t in his apartment unit either to talk to Ji-hyun.

Instead, Soo-ho stays at a hotel room. In a conversation with Bok-gyu, he expresses his disappointment and misery. He wished he could have continued to show his support to Ji-hyun, but he’s unable to. He was actually relieved upon finding out that Kang In-bum was dead and that the show was cancelled because that meant he wouldn’t have to tell Ji-hyun about his involvement in Ji-eun’s death. Bok-gyu ends the conversation by informing Soo-ho about his dad’s plans to control his every move even further. His dad’s created a Future Planning Team and Min-seok is the new appointed leader of the team.

Although Min-seok has been promoted as a team leader, Soo-ho doesn’t plan on backing down anytime soon. In fact, seeing Min-seok so successful motivates him even more to take Min-seok down.

Ji-hyun receives a visit by Yuri, Ji-eun’s friend who was with her the night that she died. Yuri hands Ji-hyun a bag with Chae-Ah’s purse inside of it which Chae-Ah had used to hit Ji-eun with on the night of her death. Yuri also shares with Ji-hyun the bribes that she received from Min-seok so that she wouldn’t tell anyone what she had saw or heard at the party. After discovering the crucial details from Yuri, Ji-hyun searches through Ji-eun’s belongings in search of anything that could be useful for forensic testing. While Ji-hyun waits anxiously for the results from the examination, she attempts to get in contact with the reporter.

Soo-ho presents to Dad his solution to repair all the mess that he’s created: he’ll get married to Chae-Ah within the month and work hard to inherit the company. Soo-chul and his mom gossip about Soo-ho and make plans to ruin Soo-ho’s wedding before it can even happen. Instead of getting Soo-chul’s hands dirty, they’ll somehow get Ji-hyun involved so that she can do all the work instead.

Ji-hyun follows Min-seok after she finds him leaving work. He ends up meeting with the reporter who had been helping Ji-hyun with the investigation. Min-seok wants the original files to the evidence she had gathered for the investigation, but she’s unable to give it to him. Ji-hyun is astounded upon seeing the two meet and interrupts their conversation. She’s in disbelief at how the reporter has betrayed her by meeting with Min-seok. Chae-Ah then joins the trio and presents Ji-hyun with the recorder pen that she had used to record conversations with Chae-Ah. Chae-Ah notes that instead of reporting Ji-hyun to the police, she chose to delete all the recordings and evidence from the recording device instead. Now Ji-hyun has nothing on Chae-Ah, but Ji-hyun isn’t too sure about that. She is determined to bring Chae-Ah down.

Chae-Ah and Min-seok watch clips that were supposed to be shown in the report with each other. They not only watch Soo-ho’s interview with the reporter, but also observe the clip when Min-seok had tried to kill Kang In-bum by shooting him. It’s a good thing for the two that the report will no longer air and that they now have these clips under their control.

Ji-hyun meets with Soo-chul and Soo-ho’s mom. She expresses interest in helping Ji-hyun after watching the preview to the report. Mom is going to hold an charity auction and she invites Ji-hyun to attend. Both Soo-ho and Chae-Ah will also be there. The event is simple: bring an item that you want to auction off and everyone else will listen to you as you talk about it. Ji-hyun is suddenly reminded of Chae-Ah’s purse that Yuri had given her earlier that day. Ji-hyun gives the charity event some thought, but she’s made her final decision in her mind.

Soo-ho finally returns to work after a few days of disappearing. He expresses to Chae-Ah his wishes to move forward with their wedding as soon as possible. However, Chae-Ah isn’t willing to marry him unless he seems genuine and gives her what it is that she wants. She’s worth more than he thinks she is.

Ji-hyun finally receives the results to the forensic testing examined on Chae-Ah’s purse. Indeed, the blood on her purse belongs to Ji-eun.

Ji-hyun reveals the information to Soo-ho. In a meeting at his restaurant, she informs him that Chae-Ah was there at the hotel room the night of his party and that the blood found on her purse belongs to Ji-eun. Ji-hyun worked at his restaurant so that she could do her research on Chae-Ah and find out how she was involved with Ji-eun’s death. Ji-hyun ends the conversation by placing her trust in Soo-ho. She hopes that he can keep supporting her and helping her in unveiling the truth to everyone. He’s the only person she can trust.

Soo-ho confronts Chae-Ah with the news that he learned from Ji-hyun. He demands that she tell him what really went down in the hotel room the night of his party. Chae-Ah then confesses that she hit Ji-eun with her purse because she was angry that she was with Soo-ho that night and threw some money into the pool. She even volunteers to turn herself in to the police if Soo-ho is willing to go as well. Soo-ho remains confused and is uncertain as to how to respond. Before leaving, Chae-Ah hands him a chip containing the footages of the interview he had with the reporter. He should watch those clips before he makes his next move.

Chae-Ah turns herself in to the police. Min-seok hears about the news from the detective himself interrogating Chae-Ah. Even with the purse and the DNA results from the forensic testing, the police is unable to arrest Chae-Ah. There’s no evidence that proves Chae-Ah was there at the night of the party. Plus, the cause of Ji-eun’s death was ruled as drowning, not trauma to the head.

It’s the day of the charity auction. Ji-hyun still plans on trusting Soo-ho to help her expose the truth to everyone at the event. At the auction, she watches Min-seok as he converses with different individuals. He eventually approaches Ji-hyun himself and warns her to not do anything reckless. However, Ji-hyun has plans of her own and is aware of all the things Min-seok’s committed to hide the truth about Ji-eun’s death. He must have somehow also been involved in Mom’s death too (OOOOOOH, YAAAAS JI-HYUN. YOU TELL HIM!). No matter what, she’s going to take him down. Chae-Ah grows upset seeing Ji-hyun at the auction and assumes that Soo-ho must have invited her, but he responds that he didn’t.

The bidding for the items begin. Two items into the auction and Soo-ho makes his move by making an announcement in front of everyone. Contrary to what Soo-chul and his mom was expecting, Soo-ho doesn’t approach Ji-hyun. Instead, he walks to Chae-Ah and proposes to her. He wants to get married to her. Soo-ho puts the ring on her finger and everyone gives them an applause. However, Chae-Ah isn’t too happy with the proposal. She wishes that he was sincere with the proposal, but she knows that he wasn’t even if he claims that he was.

Chae-Ah expresses her disappointment to Min-seok that night while they have some drinks. He’s uncertain as to whether she’s forcing herself to get married to Soo-ho or if she actually wants to marry him. Regardless, it doesn’t matter though because she’s essentially getting married to someone who might throw her under the bus for her involvement in Ji-eun’s case. Chae-Ah is then reminded of Kang In-bum and claims that she never killed him. His death was just an accident.

Soo-ho himself drinks his pain and misery away that night. Meanwhile, Ji-hyun informs Young-hee about the proposal at the charity auction which causes Young-hee to grow enraged. However, she isn’t home at the moment so she’s unable to comfort and console Ji-hyun. At that moment, Ji-hyun receives a visit from a drunk and loud Soo-ho. Outside of her apartment unit, he expresses his regrets in not being able to help her. He had gone with Chae-Ah to the police station with her purse, but even then that wasn’t enough to arrest her. The case is closed and there’s nothing left that can be done, hence, why he eventually proposed to Chae-Ah.

Soo-ho sulks in pain and anguish from all the drinking, but the pain starts to worsen. Ji-hyun rushes to find different pharmacy stores that she could buy medicine from to help Soo-ho. While she’s busy running around in the rain, Soo-ho slowly recovers and gets back up. Bok-gyu then sneaks into her apartment and places onto her bed the chip containing the footages of Soo-ho’s interview with the reporter.

Ji-hyun finally buys some medicine for Soo-ho and rushes back to her apartment. However, she encounters Soo-ho waiting on the sidewalk along the way and grows confused. Soo-ho was never actually sick, he was just putting on a play. He reveals to her the real reason he came to visit her: he wanted to see her.

My Thoughts:

EEEEEEEK. AHHHHHHH. He wanted to see Ji-hyun himself because he loves her and misses her and wants the best for her! Okay, he actually didn’t say that to her, but we all know that’s the reason why. I was so confused when Soo-ho got up from the ground like nothing happened (for a good second, I thought he was suddenly cured of his cancer and became so happy LOL) and then it made sense when Bok-gyu entered Ji-hyun’s apartment to drop off the footages of Soo-ho’s interview. Even if Soo-ho gets caught and captured and loses everything, he’s still willing to lose it for all Ji-hyun because she deserves to know the truth and to receive closure. He loves her and cares for her and even if that means he loses everything in the process, then so be it. It’ll be worth it.

A part of me can’t help but also feel like Soo-ho is giving everything up for Ji-hyun because he knows it won’t make a difference within a few months anyways. No one knows about his fight with cancer and he’s not going to make it out alive so he might as well just give everything up to help Ji-hyun fight for justice. It seems like a lose-lose situation for Soo-ho where he’ll lose everything he has if he helps her expose the truth to everyone and will also lose his life within a few months anyways. Why not just help her in the process right? Even if Soo-ho might be in a very tight and risky and iffy position, I consider his situation more of a win for both him and Ji-hyun. Yes, he might lose everything he has while fighting alongside Ji-hyun for the truth, but he’ll end his life knowing he did the best and most he could do for the woman who’s done just as much for him and who he dearly loved.

The investigation is moving very slowly and meticulously and sometimes you feel hopeless because Min-seok and Chae-Ah continues to win and overpower Ji-hyun in almost every way. But then along the way, things start to seem hopeful and optimistic again when Ji-hyun obtains evidence of Chae-Ah (such as with the purse) or refuses to back down. I find myself having to pay very close attention to the details of the investigation because I forget who knows what and who is aware of what and what’s happened already. Soo-ho finally discovers that Chae-Ah was there on the night of his party which was what he was essentially trying to find out for the longest time. Ji-hyun finally learns that Min-seok was involved in the death of Ji-eun and that he was the one behind the investigation. Small details like these you forget because there’s so much going on so slowly in this drama, but I also like how we receive them in small bits throughout the drama. What’s next for Ji-hyun now that Kang In-bum is dead and Chae-Ah isn’t arrested? What’s going to happen to Soo-ho and Chae-Ah and their marriage? Everything is slowly starting to break down one by one and even if things seem never-ending (because something is always happening one after the other), I love how intense and suspenseful everything still remains. The drama knows how to maintain its momentum and suspension even with how meticulously it reveals these details to us and I’m wholeheartedly enjoying it.

Soo-ho is such a multidimensional character and I love love love watching how conflicted he feels in regards to his personal greed and wants versus his desire to help Ji-hyun. He wants to maintain the trust she has in him since she doesn’t have anyone else, but he also wants to save himself. We’ve seen it before and we saw it again in this episode, but no matter what he does or feels, Soo-ho always puts Ji-hyun first. He risks his life in order to protect her and it’s this complexity and chaos that reveals how beautiful of a character he is. He knows he shouldn’t help her and he feels guilty for having been relieved that Kang In-bum was dead, but the guilt gets to him and rips him inside. He was also so smart to have proposed to Chae-Ah instead of give Ji-hyun the platform to out Chae-Ah and Min-seok. He was aware of why Ji-hyun was invited to the auction and didn’t fall victim to the trap that Soo-chul and Mom had set up. Soo-ho is not the nicest person and he has plenty of faults and debt he has to make up, but his conflicting thoughts and feelings are shown in such delicate and detailed ways you can’t help but feel both pity and love for him.

I’m really curious as to how Chae-Ah and Min-seok are going to be taken down and exposed. I just hope that we’ll get to witness this as much as we saw them protecting themselves and murdering other people to get their ways. The payoff to their downfall should be good and it might be impatient of me to say this, but I really hope it’ll be sometime soon. Sometimes I feel like the drama is dragging out the investigation a little longer than necessary, but it’s also so good that I find myself satisfied in the end.

Whatever happens, I know that Soo-ho will be there for Ji-hyun for as long as he’s alive even if that means giving up everything he wants for himself. If he’s going to lose it all eventually anyways, he might as well lose it because he fought for justice with Ji-hyun. When the time does come though for Soo-ho’s early departure from the show and he does lose everything he has, I’m not so sure I’ll be ready to bid farewell with him so early. Watching this episode made me wished he could stay longer in the drama though or that we wouldn’t have to lose out on him so early. Soo-ho is such an interesting and amazing and phenomenal character and losing him so early would be a tremendous loss for the drama itself.