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Diary of a Prosecutor: Episode 5

Today, our team concocts a plan involving some infiltration in an effort to bust an underground gambling ring. It’s a big operation that requires teamwork, forcing even our leads (kind of) put aside their differences to work together. But what if your undercover agent gets a little too deep in it?

 
EPISODE 5

Engaged in a bit of friendly gambling at his place, Seon-woong destroys Yoon-jin, Min-ho and Jong-hak at Go-Stop. But everyone freezes when Jung-woo casually mentions he ordered jjajangmyeon. There’s panic and flailing as the doorbell rings, and they scramble to hide evidence of their criminal activity (gambling).

There’s no way to not notice the awkward poses and spare change rolling around on the floor, so of course the delivery guy catches on. He pulls out his phone to report them, making Seon-woong turn around to vehemently deny they were gambling… with two cards still stuck to his forehead. Nice.

Cut to them sitting penitent on the floor as the delivery guy sits on the couch and lectures them about the dangers of gambling. Even Jung-woo is relegated to the floor, despite being innocent. The delivery guy goes on about how even large groups who gamble don’t get caught in Jinyeong, which peaks our prosecutors’ interest.

At work, Min-ho takes this news of a gambling den to Chief Kim. Jong-hak briefs the team that their informant’s (delivery guy) wife served time for gambling and still can’t kick her addiction. Delivery guy found out about this gambling den in the mountains while searching for his wife.

Myung-joo asks how they came across this info. Everyone looks at everyone else until Jung-woo opens his mouth to respond and Seon-woong promptly shuts him up. The same question is posed to Min-ho who spouts some nonsense about protecting their informant to avoid embarrassing himself.

Min-ho wants to borrow two prosecutors from Team 1, but Prosecutor Nam won’t agree. Undaunted, Min-ho claims Team 2 can do it on their own then. Their plan? Go undercover to get inside info on the gambling den.

In the meeting, Myung-joo thinks going undercover is too old-school. In Seoul (cue eyerolls from the others), they just tail people or turn informants for inside information. An irritated Seon-woong informs her they do that here too for normal gambling cases, but this one is different. It’s so secretive they won’t even tell anyone the location until the last minute.

They decided their undercover agent needs to be able to ingratiate themselves easily, speak the dialect and know how to gamble. Who does that leave but jack-of-all-trades investigator Man-ok?

Back in her office, Myung-joo asks Mi-ran to get her all the gambling case files they have. Jung-hwan doesn’t think studying cases is necessary—just interrogate the suspects like in any other case. When she interprets his words to mean she should just sit still while everyone else does the work, Jung-woo silently motions for Jung-hwan to take a seat.

Over lunch, Yoon-jin vents about Myung-joo being all Seoul-this and Seoul-that while dissing their methods. Seon-woong claims she can’t deal with a low-class case like this anyway. Jong-hak wonders if she’s from a prestigious family, and Seon-woong discloses her parents live in a mansion in a ritzy neighborhood. That… isn’t what I expected.

Yoon-jin and Jong-hak wonder how he knows that if they weren’t close in college. Yoon-jin claims he’d only know that if he’d been to her parents’. Or if he lived in the same neighborhood, Jong-hak chimes in. Seon-woong sighs and reveals his ex-girlfriend lived there. He’d seen Myung-joo walking into one of the mansions then. Ah, so he’s just assuming she lived there.

They have another meeting, this time led by Min-ho, on the gambling case. The informant’s wife Moon Hee-sook was released four months ago and has been staying in bathhouses since. Man-ok has her background story all prepared, which is apparently quite similar to her actual life story. Ha. They’ve got some nifty tech like a tracker and wiretap at the ready.

In the bathhouse, Man-ok gambles with a group of ladies while a fellow investigator points out their target. But when she gets sight of Moon Hee-sook, Man-ok immediately hides her face and excuses herself to the restroom, viciously signaling for her fellow investigator to follow.

The next day, they hold an emergency meeting. Apparently, Hee-sook had a brief stint at the Fog when the head chef was off meditating (We almost get the weird chef’s story, but Min-ho cuts off Yoon-jin’s explanation to Jung-woo.). This means she knows most of their faces, including Man-ok’s.

They’re all taken aback when Myung-joo volunteers as tribute. Jong-hak questions her familiarity with these kinds of cases, but she rattles off some facts. Guess those case files came in handy. Min-ho counters, to Seon-woong’s satisfaction, you need more than encyclopedic information to be successful.

Myung-joo impresses them with further knowledge of the lingo and the inner workings of gambling houses. To avoid the dialect issue, she can be a newlywed who recently moved to the area. One teensy problem: she’s never played Go-Stop. Womp womp.

Now Seon-woong is tasked with trying to turn her from absolute newbie to pro by tomorrow. They decide it’d be more fun with pain involved, so she gets flicked when she’s wrong, and he gets flicked when she’s right. They both end the night with red foreheads, albeit Myung-joo suffered the most.

The next day, Myung-joo shows off her snazzy new card skills to everyone’s amazement. But what’s even more amazing is she and Seon-woong actually smile at each other.

And now, it’s gamblin’ time. When they get to the bathhouse, Myung-joo and the investigator witness a nasty fight between Moon Hee-sook and her husband. He leaves dispirited as she warns him not to come back.

Myung-joo starts playing Go-Stop with a couple ajummas and keeps her eye on Hee-sook who’s napping nearby. Myung-joo suggests they switch up the game and play with higher stakes. But when she loses sight of Hee-sook, Myung-joo gets distracted.

At that moment, the ajummas exchange a look, like they’re planning to cheat. Hee-sook pops out of nowhere, calling them out. Except when she flips the cards over, Myung-joo had actually won. Whoops.

Hee-sook and Myung-joo grab a meal together, and Myung-joo gives her curated backstory a test drive. She ends up coming off more sympathetically than planned when Hee-sook sees the bruise on her forehead (from the flicking) and thinks she’s abused. When she hears Myung-joo liked to gamble in Seoul, she asks for her number.

Myung-joo reports back to the team that the pickup spot changes every time, so she’ll have to follow Hee-sook there. This is the normal procedure when Hee-sook recruits women at the bathhouse. Myung-joo is going back to meet Hee-sook that night.

Over dinner, Jung-hwan worries about Myung-joo’s safety and cutely advises her. Mi-ran is silent, per usual. Coincidentally, Hee-sook walks in and spots Myung-joo. “Mi-ran!” she calls out (to actual Mi-ran’s bafflement) as she heads toward Myung-joo. Heh.

With some wistful comments and a longing look at the eel they’re grilling, they don’t have much choice but to let her join. Jung-hwan chokes on his drink a little when Myung-joo goes along with Hee-sook’s assumption that he’s the husband. She introduces Mi-ran as her mute sister. Pfft.

Outside, Hee-sook waves Myung-joo over to see if she’s available to go gambling (there’s probably a more legit way to say that). Myung-joo claims her “husband” just said he’s headed back to work, which she reminds Jung-hwan of as he comes outside. He slips her what I think is the tracker before heading off.

Hee-sook takes Myung-joo to the pickup point. In a panic, Jung-hwan and Mi-ran run to the car, and Mi-ran calls the office to tell them it’s going down for real.

Oh, I guess it was the wiretap thingy he slipped her. Jung-hwan gets it set up at the office before heading out to follow Myung-joo. The police have already been contacted for the ensuing raid.

In a burst of comradery, Min-ho suggests they all go. Based on the investigators’ faces, that’d be more hinderance than help. The prosecutors are not feeling this idea either, but Min-ho demands this be a team effort, so off they go.

It takes two vans to accommodate the unnecessary number of prosecutors now en route to the gambling site. In the gamblers’ van, the ajummas are forced to turn in their phones, making Myung-joo nervous as that’s how she’s being tracked. She subtly turns on the wiretap in her purse.

In the prosecutors’ van, they put the wiretap audio on speaker just as Hee-sook says Myung-joo’s husband didn’t seem like a total loser. Jung-hwan explains their on-the-fly lying to the baffled prosecutors. Hee-sook laments how he could hit Myung-joo like that. Everyone’s confused once again until Myung-joo admits it’s from being flicked.

They all turn to look at Seon-woong who insists it was just a teaching method. Hee-sook continues that being slapped would be less annoying. Didn’t she fight back? Myung-joo forlornly says, “How could I? He would’ve hit me more.” Ha!

Seon-woong tries to absolve himself by exclaiming he got hit too, but he doesn’t have the bruise to prove it. Everyone sighs over how hard Myung-joo has it, putting up with his violence.

As they venture further into the middle of nowhere, our gang loses the signal. Jung-hwan thinks it’s due to a jamming device, meaning they’re close to the site. Looking at the map, Jung-hwan says they’ll have to walk the rest of the way.

The investigators are in their element and ready to go. The prosecutors in their formal wear are less so, although Min-ho forces them to stumble their way up the mountain too. Meanwhile, Myung-joo arrives at the massive greenhouse-turned-gambling-den and stares in shock at the chaotic scene.

Myung-joo takes stock of the security measures while Jung-hwan leads the not-so-merry band of prosecutors through the woods. He scouts ahead a bit and finds the site before getting them all to climb up the last stretch. Watching them literally crawl through the foliage is quite the sight.

Inside, Myung-joo puts the knowledge flicked into her by Seon-woong to use and surprises herself by winning right off the bat. She smiles. Outside, the gang waits for the police to arrive.

Myung-joo continues killing it, raking in literal wads of cash. Looks like she’s having a lot more fun than her colleagues hiding amongst the bushes outside. They’re ready to bust it up, but Jung-hwan explains that they have to wait for Myung-joo to come out before they can act since the police don’t know her face.

Myung-joo fans herself with money as her streak continues. It’s to the point of worrying the management who go out to keep an eye on her. Myung-joo’s clearly enjoying her newfound gamblin’ skills and seems to forget she’s on a mission.

While she’s inside immersed in the game and betting her whole fortune, the team decides to go in as she’s still not out and something might be wrong. Right as Myung-joo, eyes wide and chanting, is about to find out if she won the round, the team makes the bust.

Dramatic music swells as a dazed Myung-joo wades toward the front with an outstretched hand to flip that final card. Jung-hwan tries to grab her, but she won’t be stopped. Even as the police rush in and Hee-sook grabs her and runs, she stares back at the un-flipped card.

A public service announcement from the Jinyeong Anti-gambling Committee: “Once you’re addicted, you can’t quit.”

Soon, the halls of the prosecution office are filled with people clamoring as police and prosecutors deal with the criminals. Naturally, all those involved try to deny the charges, despite being caught red-handed. Myung-joo’s office is dealing with Hee-sook who is stung by Myung-joo’s betrayal.

Hee-sook maintains her innocence to Jung-woo, asserting she used her own money anyway. She even compares herself to student protestors in the ’80s running from the cops. She argues that gambling is legal in specific locations in Korea, so why is it banned in others?

Her and Jung-woo loudly argue back and forth until Hee-sook states she didn’t even earn anything. “All the money went to that prosecutor!” Myung-joo quickly busies herself and avoids eye contact.

Hee-sook’s husband rushes in and tries to convince her to come home. He claims he’s fine. She blows up at him. “I’m not fine!” She gambled away his savings and now he has to work like crazy to pay her debts. She screams that’d she’d have to be shameless to return. He holds her as she cries.

Once the office quiets for the night, Myung-joo sits alone and plays cards. Seon-woong narrates that in Go-Stop, there’s a card that acts as a reset. We see the exhausted Team 2 gathered in Min-ho’s office the next day with eight arrest requests so far. Hee-sook is one of the ones indicted.

Seon-woong continues his narration, musing how nice it would be if, like in Go-Stop, there was a card in real life that gave you a reset when everything seems hopeless. Myung-joo walks through the hallway when a man’s voice rings out, “Myung-joo!” She turns and her eyes widen.

The man smiles, happy to see her, but Myung-joo freezes. The other prosecutors glance at each other, confused. Oddly, Myung-joo catches Seon-woong’s eye before looking back at the man in shock.

Epilogue

In her apartment, Myung-joo sleeps fitfully. She dreams she’s walking through the fog-filled office hallway. Her heels clack as she makes her way forward. A spotlight shines on a blanket with Go-Stop cards, one face up and one face down. She hears the cheers from the gambling den as she nervously flips the card to reveal… Seon-woong’s smirking face. Ha! She wakes from the nightmare: “How annoying.”

 

COMMENTS

Ooh, it looks like we’ll finally be getting some info on Myung-joo’s background next episode. My first thought is that the man she was clearly not expecting (or happy) to see is her father. The only thing we’ve heard about her parents comes from Seon-woong and that may not be reliable. Something feels off about Seon-woong’s assertion that her family is rich. It sounds like he’s basing that off seeing her go into a mansion once, so it may or may not have even been her house. Even if it was, there’s got to be more to the story. Her disdain for his entitled ways indicates something more.

Despite their bickering, we actually got some comradery between Seon-woong and Myung-joo this episode. They even smiled at each other! Maybe the forehead flicking got some pettiness out of their systems. Slowly but surely, they seem to be moving into frenemies territory. I’m not sure that they’ll ever get to a totally friendly place, but it’s hard to say when we don’t have the full story on their past interactions.

It’s interesting to see how seriously gambling is taken in Korea. Even the small-scale betting the prosecutors were doing in Seon-woong’s living room was almost reported by the delivery guy. Not only are the laws stricter but public perception appears more negative as well. Obviously, gambling addiction can have serious consequences which they showed through Hee-sook’s experience. But they balanced that out with humor through the prosecutors’ private gambling and Myung-joo’s foray into betting. Although I do feel they came down more on the gambling-is-bad side, I like that it showed casual instances of gambling that weren’t so serious–not everyone who gambles gets addicted or loses everything.

All in all, I’m glad this episode went more light-hearted again after the heaviness of the previous one. With each case, the tone shifts a bit to match, which I like. This hour brought back some of the humor and fun antics like watching our gang of unprepared prosecutors crawling through the woods in their suits. Or Myung-joo’s perfect infiltration plan except the part where she can’t play Go-Stop, a game that I have accepted I will never understand. Seriously, it just looks like chaos. I even watched a video explaining how to play once, and I STILL don’t get it. And why the heck are people always slapping the cards on their foreheads? *Ahem* Anyway, it looks like we may be veering into more serious territory again (based on the preview), but thankfully, it doesn’t seem like the show is likely to lose its sense of humor anytime soon.

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I love knowing that Myung-joo will be haunted by that unturned card forever. I'm so sorry. This show is so good.

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She is not the only one who is tortured. I want to know too! 😵😲

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The Schrödinger's cat of go-stop

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Oh this episode was so funny, I am totally looking forward to next episode, finally some back story and yes, i also wanted to see what Waals the other card... Lol!

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Personally, I was a little bit surprised. The last episode ended with a death that I thought the prosecutors will have to deal with. But they didn't bring the subject... And there is a new case where a prosecutor has to go undercover? They don't have cops anymore for this kind of job? Sending someone without experience seems so weird.

I found weird they live together. They don't have a life? Family? Friends? They don't want a home?

I don't sure what the purpose of the writer. I thought it will be more like Live, the real life of prosecutors. But there is a lot of humor but then it makes it a little bit ridiculous... I'm not convinced by this drama.

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I suppose some they live together because their family is not living in town. Like a it was the residence for those who came from abroad. And although SunWoong said Junyoung is his hometown, he así said he returned only three years ago, so if he can live in that house for free, he’s saving the money. Same applies for JungWoo who obviously is not from the town. I don’t know about JongHak, because I believe I heard he is married with children.

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Only Sun-woong and Jung-woo live in that house together. It looks like we'll get more backstory about Sun-woong's family next week, so hopefully that means more information about their living situation. As for the previous episode, although it did end with a death, I felt like the drama is being told in a way that didn't make it seem necessary to focus on that death more this episode. Although I do agree this drama isn't the most realistic when it comes to proper legal proceedings. Maybe it's because it's a small town?

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I think they are live in the same building.

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Yeah, I didn't mean in the same appartment.

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I think it makes it even funnier that they live in the same building (I feel like they must or why else would Yoonjin be playing cards there in home-lounging sweats) .

They really do spend all their time together!

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Some aspects of this series are so specifically Korean that I don't dare comment. Like the group restaurant lunches and the communal housing. Is that a 'thing' that happens in Korea? I've seen so many dramas where prosecutors lead investigations that I just assume that must be how it works... in Dramaland if not in the Republic of Korea.

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Actually that's how a lot of government jobs work in India, we all live together in the same building but if there is a short age of houses we do share houses. This also works for University assistant professors. The senior you are the more benefits you get. Nothing unique to South Korea. Also many times married couples also have to share houses if they want to live in government housing. So housing is independent of you having a life or family or not. If you can afford to live alone or wate or spend time on transportation you are welcome to do so. This is not the case in Europe usually though.

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@Mike @oppafangirl

Housing says a lot about culture (positive and negative).

It comes down to how the housing market is structured (often a reflection of social/cultural drivers). Expensive entry, low availability, landlord/investor dominated vs universal ownership. If there is cheep, universal access with low hurdles to access then renting/buying becomes the norm.

Once housing access becomes difficult governments/organisations will tend to provide housing. It becomes part of the benefit of a the job. However more important politically, it also stops Governments having to deal with difficult questions from within (the most dangerous as they know where the skeletons are).

It is even more so in smaller towns as Govt housing can seriously distort the market. Here is an side payoff for any govt is not adverse to skimming off private construction...think about who builds, who pays, and who gets insider tips.

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I agree with you that it was nice to have a light and funny episode after the last one, which was so hard in the end. I had fun and laughed so much. I’m enjoying this show so much.

I also believe the man that called for MyungJoo was her father. He’s a humble man, and that suits what MuyngJoo said about struggling in life in the flashback when we saw her and SungWoong in university. I believe when he saw her in that rich neighbourhood may have been because her parents used to work in one or those big houses or maybe she was the one working there.

I was surprised by the SunWoong card in MyungJoo dream... is there going to be a romantic moment? I’m not expecting this, but giving the frenemies situation... who could tell.

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I predict episode 9 or 10 there will be a scene where Myung-joo stumbles, Syng-woo catches her and there will be a long pause as they freeze, staring into each other's eyes. Because, after all, this is a K-drama. ;-)

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Myung Joo wanting to see if she won despite the raid was so relatable. I wanted to know too.

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I agree with your feelings about Go-stop. Watched so many kdramas over the years with characters playing this game and even read the wikipedia entry, and I can understand is 1. the cards have red borders and flowers on them 2. there is technique people use to throw down their cards and 3. the forehead flicking. I'm fascinated though and am impressed that Myung-Joo learned the game so quickly.

This episode was hilarious! While I love slice-of-life dramas with poignant messages and lessons learned, I also love slice-of-life dramas that don't have those messages, like this drama. It's just a glimpse into the work, quirks, and foibles of prosecutors in a small town. I don't think anyone is going to grow into better people, but I think they will grow closer.

Jung-hwan is totally husband-material.

It looks like the drama may follow the format of alternating between wacky and more solemn episodes. I'm guessing prosecutors sometimes do get those crazy funny cases that you can chitchat about with non-prosecutor friends and sometimes you get those cases that feel like a stab in the gut.

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This was the funniest episode yet and so was the epilogue. Would Myung Joo have won? What was the last card? Lol

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This episode was brilliant! I actually felt a little bad for the lady who Myung-joo befriended! She was being so nice to her. Ughh and the timing of the crackdown! Everyone was so into it! They created very good suspense and the background music made the funny scenes even better! I'm thinking there might be a romance line for her and Jung-hwan! They did fake being spouses! :P

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