Cheat on Me If You Can: Episode 6

by quirkycase

With the return of the blackmailer and the looming investigation, our heroine’s husband is determined to be honest for once, but things don’t quite go as planned. Meanwhile, our detectives delve further into the unusual couple, and our resident spy becomes even more intent on discovering the truth behind the murder case and its connection with our heroine, despite his boss’s warnings.

 
EPISODE 6

We flashback to the day Manager Bae stood Woo-sung up for their blackmail meeting. In the taxi, he realizes his phone is missing. We see someone putting it with his other belongings as they pack up his desk.

Manager Bae watches Woo-sung in the café for a bit, and as he crosses the street, someone jumps out of a black van and snatches him. They inject him with a drug, and he passes out. Now, he’s sure Woo-sung was behind it and tells him he’s reporting him to the police. Woo-sung decides his best course of action is to beat Manager Bae to the punch and report him to the police.

Yeo-joo watches the footage from the café and tells the detectives that she and Soo-jung just met for tea. We see her throw water in Soo-jung’s face. When pressed, Yeo-joo admits they talked about “concerns.” Se-jin holds Seung-cheol back as he starts getting riled up over Yeo-joo’s evasiveness.

Jin-ho can’t dissuade Woo-sung from reporting Manager Bae, although it means Yeo-joo will find out about the affair. That’s why Woo-sung plans to tell her today.

Yeo-joo takes her sweet time cooperating and says she gave Soo-jung advice about her dress for the awards ceremony. Before continuing, she asks about the blood found on the trophy. Seung-cheol reveals it was type A (Soo-jung’s was B), making Yeo-joo wonder if Manager Kim’s blood type is A.

“You have type A blood too, don’t you?” Seung-cheol asks. Yeo-joo looks at him in surprise and chuckles. Meanwhile, despite looking like he’s about to expire right in the backseat of the taxi, Manager Bae refuses to go to the hospital.

Yeo-joo finds it hilarious that they’re suspecting her based on a blood type that about 40% of the population shares. Seung-cheol’s flimsy argument about how realistic her novel murders are doesn’t help. Yeo-joo sighs that this case is destined to be unsolved.

Jin-ho is still trying to convince Woo-sung to reconsider, but his mind is set. Hiding the CCTV evidence now would be obstruction, not to mention inhumane. Woo-sung carefully chooses anniversary flowers and jewelry that would make ineffective weapons when Yeo-joo gets angry after he tells her.

Yeo-joo wonders what motive the detectives have concocted, so Se-jin shares her theory that Woo-sung had an affair and asked for a divorce (the barista told her she heard the women mention divorce). Yeo-joo laughs and asserts her husband only has eyes for her – he’s the “national husband,” after all.

Se-jin asks if she truly trusts Woo-sung. Yeo-joo guesses she’s unmarried and claims, “Married life is hell if you don’t trust your spouse.” With that, she takes her leave.

The detectives watch as Woo-sung greets Yeo-joo with a bouquet in the parking lot. Seung-cheol finds it over-the-top. Se-jin saw Woo-sung at the river and heard him gasp “Soo-jung” when he saw her body. It sounded too intimate for acquaintances.

Se-jin notes that people find Woo-sung handsome, probably even if he wears a sweatsuit. Seung-cheol catches her drift and remembers the security guard’s remarks about the veeery handsome man who visited Soo-jung. He wonders why he didn’t think of this sooner (as do I …).

Woo-sung and Yeo-joo have dinner at a rooftop restaurant. She recognizes his guilty expression and discourages him from admitting anything serious – a rooftop is a dangerous location. He laughs nervously and tries for a romantic atmosphere.

He reminds her this is where they had their first kiss and almost broke up five years ago. He’d asked about her family, and she’d responded by dumping him. After he’d walked away in disbelief, she’d collapsed against the wall, struggling for breath.

Seeing her distress, Woo-sung came back and held her hand. He’d decided not to ask her about her past anymore. Eyes full of concern, he’d held her and then kissed her.

Now, Yeo-joo hesitates and asks, “We’re happy, aren’t we?” Woo-sung says he is, but Yeo-joo isn’t as sure about herself. She shocks him when she asks, “Should we have a child?”

Woo-sung’s face lights up, and he rushes to her side. It’s clear he’s been wanting a kid. He excitedly thanks her and even says he’ll do the bulk of the raising so she can focus on her books. He’s ready to go home and get started on the baby making immediately, but Yeo-joo reminds him he had something to tell her.

Seung-cheol and Se-jin get a hotel room to pull an all-nighter going through CCTV footage, and he about has a heart attack when Se-jin calls out to him while his wife is on the line. Afterwards, they fight like siblings over who gets the bed; Se-jin wins.

Meanwhile, Yeo-joo promises to forgive anything Woo-sung did and braces herself. Woo-sung stammers out that he was seeing someone, and he’s stunned when Yeo-joo interrupts to say she suspected as much.

At the hotel, Se-jin and Seung-cheol get a pretty clear shot of Woo-sung in his sweatsuit at the convenience store attached to Soo-jung’s building. He’s officially made it to the suspect list.

Speechless, Woo-sung kneels and hangs his head. She’s taking Woo-sung’s apology surprisingly well. Yeo-joo knew right when she saw Consultant Nam that he was secretly meeting with politicians. *Facepalm*

Woo-sung tries to say that’s not what this is about, but she yanks him up. He’s not going to continue with the politics, right? Woo-sung agrees he won’t and faintly repeats that he wasn’t talking about that, but Yeo-joo isn’t listening.

At the station, Se-jin is the only one focused on the actual investigating while all the guys gossip about the affair and whether Yeo-joo or Woo-sung killed Soo-jung.

In the car, Yeo-joo laughs when Woo-sung brings up the idea of confessing to cheating by using the old “it’s about my friend” trick. She calls it shameless and thinks it’s better never revealed. Yeo-joo doesn’t think much of Woo-sung’s opinion that confessing shows remorse.

She fixes him with a knowing stare, guessing that this isn’t about his junior colleague like he said. It’s about Jin-ho, isn’t it? Taken off guard, Woo-sung doesn’t confirm or deny her suspicion.

Outside their place, Woo-sung speculates they’re the only couple to hoist a flag on their anniversary, but to Yeo-joo, it’s a day of rebirth. Woo-sung goes to take down the flag and decides to forever bury his relationship with Soo-jung for the sake of his family.

Manager Bae goes to his office and panics when he finds his desk cleared out. The USB with the Woo-sung footage is missing. He learns that his wife supposedly called and asked for everything to be sent to her. Manager Bae thinks this is another of Woo-sung’s designs and has a fit. He grabs his chest and drops unconscious to the floor.

Elsewhere, Soo-ho isn’t happy to find Ji-eun outside his door, especially when she tells him that Director Ma wants her to report on Soo-ho’s activities. She invites herself in and even brought food to share. Ji-eun begins talking shop and says she’s discovered Woo-sung is an interesting guy.

Ominous music plays as Yeo-joo approaches her sleeping husband and slowly places her hands around his neck. She pauses at the sound of a door shutting.

Ji-eun shows Soo-ho the CCTV footage of Woo-sung at the convenience store connected to Soo-jung’s apartment. Every Monday and Wednesday, he’d buy water and wouldn’t exit for over an hour.

The door shutting was Mrs. Yeom trying to sneak into the house. When Yeo-joo catches her in the hall, she explains that she forgot to take out the laundry from the machine.

Soo-ho slams the laptop shut and begins pacing angrily, badmouthing Woo-sung. He takes offense to Ji-eun’s presumption that all guys cheat. Soo-ho answers a call from Yeo-joo who asks without preamble about the logistics of a woman strangling a man. She practices the techniques he shares on Woo-sung’s hanging shirt.

The next morning, Yeo-joo is glad to see the pen she gave Woo-sung is back in his pocket. He jokes that it’s so special he’ll take it to the grave with him, and Yeo-joo gets this smile. I think it’s supposed to be coy, but it’s hilariously awkward. He finally catches her meaning, and they begin making out.

They stumble their way out of the kitchen with Woo-sung’s shirt half off, and there stands Soo-ho. Ha. They spring apart and pretend nothing was happening. Woo-sung leaves for work, and Yeo-joo warns Soo-ho to only show up exactly on time from now on. This little scene makes Soo-ho second guess whether Yeo-joo knows about Woo-sung’s cheating.

Woo-sung runs into Mrs. Yeom on his way out, and she’s happy to hear he’s made up with Yeo-joo so quickly. At work, Woo-sung sighs to see Consultant Nam waiting in his office. Woo-sung breaks the news that he’s not going into politics.

Consultant Nam immediately guesses that the problem is an affair, but Woo-sung assures him that’s not it. He leaves for now, although he reminds Woo-sung he’s an expert in solving all kinds of issues, even those involving the police. That uncanny example naturally disturbs Woo-sung. In the elevator, Consultant Nam gives someone the go ahead for the event – Woo-sung will definitely show.

Soo-ho shares his theory with Ji-eun that Soo-jung’s body was hidden in the basement fridge and Yeo-joo later buried it in the cemetery. Later, it was moved again to the Han River.

In the hospital, Manager Bae dreams he’s back in the cemetery. Bound and gagged, a blue high-heeled foot pushes him into the freshly dug hole. Beside him lies Soo-jung’s body. Manager Bae begins screaming dramatically upon waking.

Soo-ho stops shy of sharing his suspicions about Director Ma with Ji-eun. He munches on Yeo-joo’s favorite chips, and Ji-eun accuses him of being won over by Yeo-joo. He questions whose side Ji-eun is on – his or Director Ma’s – but she thinks of herself as neutrally doing her job.

When Ji-eun calls, Director Ma is parked by a playground and watches a little girl playing with her mom. It’s unclear how much Ji-eun knows about the case as she informs him that Soo-ho seems to know the body was moved.

In the basement, Yeo-joo stands in front of the fridge and looks like she has an idea. Next thing we know, she’s sitting inside it. Pfft. When she sees Mrs. Yeom, she demands to know if she threw “it” away. Mrs. Yeom angrily asks if she really wants to use it again.

Mrs. Yeom marches toward the front door and threatens to leave permanently. Yeo-joo justifies herself by saying she’s a writer. Mrs. Yeom couldn’t care less. Yeo-joo is like family, and she won’t watch her have another breakdown.

Yeo-joo argues she can still write even without that book since she has it on file. Mrs. Yeom berates herself for thinking it’d be over if the book was gone. From around the corner, Soo-ho watches Yeo-joo try to pacify her and stop her from leaving.

Woo-sung leaves his office right as Mi-rae limps in. Jin-ho gives her the replacement bag from Woo-sung which she stares at in confusion.

Outside, Woo-sung spots Mi-rae but plans to leave without acknowledging her until he sees her limping. He offers her a ride which she accepts after some hesitation. The vomit smell still isn’t out of the seats, so he cracks a window. He panics when Mi-rae “helpfully” spritzes perfume in his wife’s car.

He drops Mi-rae off at her part-time gig and worries about her working with a hurt ankle. When she says she needs to work to pay for classes, he offers to help her find another job. “Do I look poor?” she wonders. He gets awkward and backpedals, but she just thanks him for the ride and gets out.

Mi-rae watches him drive off with a smile and heads inside. The atmosphere is a bit odd as she walks in and is flanked by two deferential women in uniform.

At the station, Team Leader Hong tells Seung-cheol that Manager Bae is in the hospital. Seung-cheol is uninterested until Team Leader Hong says he claims to know who killed Soo-jung. He grabs Se-jin so they can go question Manager Bae.

As Yeo-joo smiles the smile of inspiration and begins typing, Mi-rae is made up and styled by a team of experts. She takes off her ankle bandage and tells the employees that she’ll wear heels since people will talk if she goes in casual shoes. Elsewhere, Yeo-joo crumbles up the printed copy of her latest efforts and tosses it into the sea of crumpled papers on the floor.

Mi-rae is helped into a car, and she stops her … butler? … from throwing away the cheap bag Woo-sung bought her. They head to “the department store.” In the car, he watches grumpily as she smiles looking through the cheap makeup that came with the little purse.

At home, Yeo-joo finds the gift box Mi-rae used for Woo-sung’s pen in the trash. She recognizes the perfume from the gift in Woo-sung’s office. The note is still inside, and Yeo-joo now realizes the perfume is the same she smelt on Mi-rae when they passed by each other that day.

 
COMMENTS

Woo-sung came closer than I thought he would to confessing his infidelity to Yeo-joo, but her suggestion of having a baby put an end to that. Their relationship dynamic is so interesting. His reaction to her suggestion made it obvious he’s been wanting a kid, but it doesn’t seem like he ever pushed the issue with her. In that flashback, despite that she’d just dumped him, he came back to comfort her and looked genuinely concerned. I do think he loves her and his fear of her finding out about his cheating ways is not just about avoiding punishment – I don’t think he wants to lose her. Yeo-joo’s love for him makes a little more sense now that we’ve seen how he cares for her without pushing her to tell him everything and just accepts all her eccentricities.

I’m still unclear on how much Yeo-joo knows about his cheating, but now that she’s put together that Mi-rae’s gift ended up in Woo-sung’s hands, the idea might be harder to push aside. Then again, her response when Woo-sung brought up the idea of confessing to cheating was telling. She would rather be kept in the dark and falsely believe everything is okay rather than face the truth. I wonder how much of her perspective is related to her family trauma, whatever it is. Mrs. Yeom seems like the only one who knows everything about Yeo-joo, and even she’s careful not to mention her past. I’m assuming the book they were fighting about was that “Secret Prayer Room” book. Why would a book have contributed to Yeo-joo having a breakdown? And Yeo-joo mentioned that it has something to do with her writing too, as if “using” it helps her out of a writing slump. It’s all making me more curious about Yeo-joo’s past.

After his little cemetery expedition, Soo-ho has gotten even more obsessed with this case, and his distrust of Director Ma is fueling the fire. For how much Soo-ho suspects Yeo-joo of being a murderer, I’m with Ji-eun that he seems strangely attached to her. He was intensely angry when he learned Woo-sung was cheating on her, although maybe cheating is another one of his triggers (like independence fighters). He’s getting more and more invested in this case and Yeo-joo, and I can’t imagine Director Ma is going to let this slide for long. He’s already put Ji-eun on Soo-ho duty. It’s pretty clear that Soo-ho would continue his investigation even if he were pulled off the assignment, so I’m not sure what Director Ma’s next move will be.

Based on the high-heeled foot from Manager Bae’s dream, it was likely a woman who kidnapped Manager Bae and buried Soo-jung in the cemetery. Although it’s possible, I doubt it was Yeo-joo. She talked about how she hates high heels and only uses them to annoy people, so it’d be strange if she wore them to a cemetery late at night. Nobody else springs to mind, though, as the culprit. How great would it be if it were Mi-rae, and she turned out to be some deranged murderer or an NIS agent or something? That’d add some pizzazz to her character. Most everyone is hiding something in this drama whether it’s their past like Yeo-joo, present like Woo-sung, or entire identity like Soo-ho and possibly Mi-rae who pretends to work part-time jobs and hides her status. Everyone seems suspicious and untrustworthy, reminding us that there’s always more beneath the surface.

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