Cheat on Me If You Can: Episode 7

by quirkycase

Our protagonist finally decides on a topic for her new novel, and it causes quite the stir. But she has other concerns. After a recent discovery raises her suspicions, she begins scrutinizing her husband’s behavior. Meanwhile, the detectives are closing in, so the cheating husband takes a risk to protect his secret.

 
EPISODE 7

Yeo-joo’s keen sense of smell leads her to a trash can containing the gift box from Mi-rae. She recognizes the scent as belonging to the girl she passed in Woo-sung’s office building.

In the car, Mi-rae smiles at the peasant makeup that came in the bag Woo-sung bought her. We flashback to the day her douchey classmate literally dragged her to ride in his expensive car. He’d caused her to trip and sprain her ankle. Suddenly, they were surrounded by bodyguards who helped her up.

She’d asked SECRETARY JIN to keep this quiet lest the rumor lead to her having to quit school. Then, she’d gone to retrieve her bag and ended up catching a ride with Woo-sung to her “job” (a scene we re-watch, for some reason).

At home, Yeo-joo contemplates possibilities. Either Jin-ho’s gift accidentally ended up with Woo-sung’s things, or the box really belongs to Woo-sung. Elsewhere, Mi-rae strides through the department store in her snazzy suit with her servant entourage like she owns the place … which she seems to, given that its name is Saemirae.

Yeo-joo continues deducing and ascertains from the handwriting on the note that it’s from a young, spoiled, wealthy woman who’s possibly depressed. Said possibly depressed Mi-rae sits through a sales meeting and smiles when the same jacket Woo-sung almost drowned in is featured in the presentation.

After the meeting, Mi-rae ices her sprained ankle. She tells an exasperated SECRETARY CHOI that she didn’t want to admit she got hurt at school and risk being told to quit. She’s worried the bodyguard incident will out her identity.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Yeom finds Soo-ho diligently researching restaurants and supposes Yeo-joo’s next story now involves cooking. Soo-ho assumes its either a killer chef, a murdered chef, or a cannibal chef to Mrs. Yeom’s disgust.

Seung-cheol and Se-jin learn from an EMT that Manager Bae is claiming that he saw Soo-jung’s body in the mountains. What’s more, he accused Woo-sung of kidnapping him and killing Soo-jung.

Soo-ho finds Yeo-joo amid a pile of books about how to catch a cheating partner. There are private investigators’ business cards on her desk. He wonders to himself if she found out about Woo-sung and offers to help her research, but she tells him to focus on his current work.

They start going through Soo-ho’s over 200 (!) restaurant finds, but she rejects them one after another. She finally gives him some guidelines that he’s able to work with, and she approves one of his selections … for a work dinner.

The detectives interview the security worker who sent Manager Bae’s items to his “wife.” The only problem is he and his wife are separated. Seung-cheol looks into the delivery service used while Se-jin goes to talk to Manager Bae.

The publishing team is suspicious of Yeo-joo’s sudden desire to treat them to dinner, but they’re thrilled to hear she’s finally working on a new book after years of no new material.

Barely conscious, Manager Bae manages to convey to Se-jin that his attacker was someone he saw often at Soo-jung’s building but isn’t a resident. Seung-cheol is stunned when he visits the address where the items were delivered: Manager Kim’s apartment. Se-jin shows Manager Kim’s photo to Manager Bae who recognizes him as the driver of the kidnap van.

As Seung-cheol searches Manager Kim’s apartment, the police go on high alert and send an officer to the airport to put Manager Kim on the no-fly list. It might be too late, however, since Manager Kim is already at the airport.

The publishing team wants to know all about Yeo-joo’s next novel, so she gives them the title: “If You Cheat, You Die” (the Korean title of this drama). In this novel, cheaters will be buried.

Se-jin asks Manager Bae if Manager Kim had any accomplices. We see blue high-heeled woman, although we don’t get to see her face. Manager Bae begins to convulse before he can identify the woman for Se-jin.

When Editor Yang eagerly asks for the first scene in the new novel, Yeo-joo obliges. A famous actress vanishes, and her manager is the prime suspect. But soon after, he vanishes too. Everyone is enrapt, but Soo-ho stares at Yeo-joo with suspicion.

Seung-cheol meets Se-jin at the hospital and shares that they were too late – Manager Kim already got on a flight to the Philippines.

Yeo-joo continues detailing her dramatic plot. There’s a huge secret that should never be revealed. People have killed and been killed because of it. The scene is intercut with Manager Bae being kidnapped. Editor Yang begs to know the huge secret.

“A secret prayer room in a church,” Yeo-joo announces. Oooh. “Its existence itself is a secret.” Soo-ho’s interest is piqued now. Editor Yang abruptly slams down her glass. “Is this why you’re treating us to a meal?!” she demands and marches out in a huff. Huh, it looks like she knows something.

As they try to figure out their next steps, Se-jin tells Seung-cheol about the female accomplice. Meanwhile, Editor Yang entreats Yeo-joo not to write this novel. She’s even okay with Yeo-joo extending her break until next year.

It’s no use because Yeo-joo is determined to write this novel. She feels it’s time. Soo-ho eavesdrops as Editor Yang threatens not to publish it, but Yeo-joo is confident she can find another publisher if need be.

In the car, Yeo-joo tells Soo-ho that a secret meant to be taken to the grave will soon be revealed. She won’t tell him what it is, though, or give him a straight answer to why Editor Yang was so angry about the novel.

The following morning, Soo-ho spies on Yeo-joo and sees her hug Woo-sung before he heads to work. Everything appears as normal, which strikes Soo-ho as strange after finding those books on affairs. He doesn’t see the way her smile drops the second Woo-sung turns around. Yeo-joo wonders which hypothesis regarding the gift is correct.

At the office, Jin-ho nags Woo-sung about a woman who hasn’t paid her legal fees yet. He’s been letting it slide because she always says she can barely afford food, but Woo-sung promises to collect this time.

Soo-ho arranges to meet his colleague at a library to look for “The Secret Prayer Room.” He makes up an excuse about running an errand for Yeo-joo when he runs into Mrs. Yeom on his way out.

While Woo-sung meets the woman who won’t pay – he actually ends up letting her sell him life insurance this time – Seung-cheol and Se-jin drop by his office. The detectives camp out on the couch, determined to wait for Woo-sung. When Jin-ho steps out, Seung-cheol stealthily follows.

Jin-ho calls Woo-sung whose hands are now full of household goods the woman loaded him up with in lieu of payment. He asks in a shaky whisper what he should do. Woo-sung thinks of Yeo-joo suggesting they have a baby and instructs Jin-ho not to reveal anything.

Right as Jin-ho tells Woo-sung not to return to the office, Seung-cheol’s head pops over the bathroom stall. He threatens to arrest Jin-ho for obstruction, thoroughly terrifying him. Jin-ho very unconvincingly lies that its his wife on the phone.

Soo-ho and his colleague have no luck finding “The Secret Prayer Room,” but Soo-ho surmises one of Yeo-joo’s former assistants might know something. His colleague reluctantly passes him information on the many agents who previously surveilled Yeo-joo.

Woo-sung finally arrives back at the office and sits with the detectives. He admits to knowing Soo-jung through work but denies a personal relationship. When they confront him about being seen by a witness and on CCTV at Soo-jung’s place, he plays innocent and claims he doesn’t even know where her house is.

He remains calm, but Jin-ho is a mess which isn’t helping matters. Woo-sung leaves with the detectives to meet the witness. We flash back to two hours prior when Woo-sung met with Consultant Nam. He’d been shocked to discover Consultant Nam already knew about his link to the investigation.

Woo-sung follows Consultant Nam’s advice to play innocent and take charge of the situation. When he meets the witness (the security guard), he unhesitatingly approaches and asks if he remembers him. Woo-sung reminds him he was here twice a week and claims he went to the 19th floor for Pilates sessions. He manages to confuse the guard who now agrees it was probably the 19th floor, not the 18th where Soo-jung lived.

Woo-sung had been worried about lying, but Consultant Nam assured him it’d be fine. He’d revealed a banner of Woo-sung’s face for an event and reminded him that he could solve all of Woo-sung’s problems if he were still his candidate.

As he and the detectives knock on the Pilates instructor’s door, Woo-sung tries to control his nerves. They all stare at each other for a tense moment before she turns to Woo-sung and asks why he’s here so early. To keep up appearances, he has a Pilates session while Se-jin and Seung-cheol check his attendance records.

In the midst of his painful mid-air stretch, Woo-sung is astounded to hear the instructor say she has photos of him taken during sessions. The photos match his build, but the face isn’t clear. Se-jin thinks this feels off, but there’s nothing they can do.

When the detectives walk off, Consultant Nam pops out and tells Woo-sung not to keep secrets from him anymore. Woo-sung reluctantly agrees to attend the event the next day. He calls Jin-ho to say it’s all handled and warns him not to give them away.

Jin-ho promises never to reveal Woo-sung’s affair and looks up to find Yoon-hee in front of him. It doesn’t seem like she heard him, but after he heads to throw out the trash, she utters, “It can’t be …”

At the university, Mi-rae and her club prepare for the student event Woo-sung is attending. Mi-rae gets put in charge of ushering guests and organizing the speakers. She sees Woo-sung’s name on the list and gets a little smile.

Woo-sung returns home in a good mood, but Yeo-joo is nowhere to be found. He goes searching for her throughout the house like an eager kid. But he stops short of barging in her office, imagining her throwing a magazine at his head for disturbing her focus. The faint clacking of keys can be heard on the other side of the door, so he walks away.

In her office, Yeo-joo pauses as Woo-sung begins playing the piano. She sits beside him, and they play a duet of “Schubert’s Serenade.” We flash back to what looks like a mother and daughter – a young Yeo-joo and her mom, I’m assuming – happily playing the same piece.

Yeo-joo smiles as she plays, and Woo-sung reminisces that they played this on their first date. She remembers thinking he wasn’t a pianist and must’ve practiced the piece for months to make a good impression. He’s amazed by her insight and confesses he practiced the piece for five hours a day.

After saying she could see through him then, she muses that she hasn’t been paying enough attention to him lately. Woo-sung knows she puts work first but doesn’t mind since he loves that about her too. “I should start paying attention now,” she states. Woo-sung stops playing and finally looks nervous.

Meanwhile, Manager Kim is a jittery wreck in the Philippines and pulls out a phone. Back at home, Yeo-joo has chosen the direct route and points to the gift box. Woo-sung is confused to see it since he’s sure he threw it away. Yeo-joo looks for physical signs of anxiety in his response but finds none. He promises to throw it out properly, seemingly unaware of why she’s bringing it to his attention.

Yeo-joo asks after Jin-ho and suggests having a meal with him and Yoon-hee soon. She then goes to her office to take a call. “I told you not to call unless you’re in danger,” Yeo-joo tells Manager Kim. He whimpers that he’s scared, but Yeo-joo thinks he’s better off there than “being buried alive here.”

Manager Kim apologizes profusely and vows not to call again. She warns him to stay away until she finishes her novel, “if you want to live.”

 
COMMENTS

It was obvious that Manager Kim was involved with all this from early on, so that was no surprise. I’m still not convinced Yeo-joo had anything to do with Soo-jung’s death and Manager Bae’s kidnapping, but she’s clearly invested in Manager Kim not getting caught. If she’s not directly involved in the crimes, I’m not sure why she’d care what happens to him. She did tell him to stay away until her novel is completed; since her novel is based on (or inspired by) Soo-jung’s situation, is she trying to control the narrative? Everything surrounding her new book is strange, particularly Editor Yang’s reaction when Yeo-joo mentioned a “secret prayer room.” I hadn’t expected her to know anything about whatever that secret is, but she was just as disturbed as Mrs. Yeom. It must be bad for Editor Yang to encourage Yeo-joo not to even write this year after she’d been threatening to sue her if she didn’t have a new book soon. After all this build up of the mysterious book that can’t be found, I hope the secret is sufficiently scandalous.

We learned a bit more about Mi-rae, but it mostly left me confused. Did I miss the memo where chaebols can’t attend university now? They’re acting like rich and influential people don’t ever go to college which is ridiculous. There’s got to be a better reason than just her being stupid rich. Maybe something about her identity specifically would cause problems at that university, like that her family owns it or something. And why does she adopt such a meek persona when she’s cosplaying as a normal college girl? Not that I think it’s all fake – she doesn’t come across as the overly assertive type – but she at least partially runs a company, so there’s no way she’s that meek. It’s kind of hard to tell since she’s not brimming with expression, but she seems stifled and unhappy. From the comments about being forced to stop going to college, I’m guessing she doesn’t have complete control over her life.

It’s funny that the one person Woo-sung hasn’t had an affair with is the one that might give him away to Yeo-joo. She’s finally considering that Woo-sung might be cheating and investigating her hunch, so I’m hoping she doesn’t let it go now that she’s determined he wasn’t hiding anything with the gift box. I’d hate for her to find out about his infidelity because it’s publicly outed due to the Soo-jung case or something. But now that Woo-sung officially has Consultant Nam handling things, it may not come to that. He’s less of a political consultant and more of a fixer from what we’ve seen. A very pushy fixer. I’m wondering how they’ll handle the fact that Woo-sung already promised Yeo-joo he wouldn’t run. She’s not the type to be easily swayed.

Woo-sung, on the other hand, is wishy-washy and kind of a pushover. Look how easy it was for that woman to get away with not paying her fees again or for Consultant Nam to win him back despite his promise to Yeo-joo. Judging from how he happily lets Yeo-joo take the lead in their personal lives and has Jin-ho run things in the office, Woo-sung prefers a passive role. I think he’ll usually take the easy way out if he can. For him, it’s all about whatever makes him feel good rather than having a strong stance on anything. I don’t think he’s entirely without ethics or morals – he’s just hypocritical and selfish. He justifies all of his actions so that he can still see himself as a good guy and get what he wants. Unfortunately, guys like him often can charm or worm their way out of everything and still come out on top. Woo-sung has never had to face consequences for his actions, so he’s never changed. Unless he learns the hard way, I don’t think he ever will.

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