Gong Sil slowly climbs the stairs, as if expecting something to jump out at her. She arrives outside of apartment 404. It’s obvious that she doesn’t want to go in. The thunder and lightning don’t help.
Inside, there is trash all over the floor. The lights are out. As Gong Sil scans the room, the door to the closet creaks open. Suddenly a apparition, all in white with a mask over its face, appears in the corner. Thunder crashes and Gong Sil jumps and quickly turns on the light. The corner’s empty now.
Gong Sil starts to clean the room, inching her way inside the apartment. Suddenly, the fluorescent tube above her head pops, sparks and shorts out, bringing darkness back to the room. Gong Sil, of course, screams in terror and looks around frantically. After a moment, when nothing happens, she starts cleaning again, muttering, “Pretend you didn’t see. Pretend you didn’t see.”
Then the door slams, and, startled, Gong Sil falls back towards the corner where the ghost was sitting. It slowly apperates behind her. Gong Sil slowly turns to look up at it and a blank face with only eyes slowly literally cracks a smile. Gong Sil runs from the room. But she pauses at the door, looking behind her. Suddenly, the ghost’s mouth cracks inhumanly open and as it twists its neck, there’s a crunching sound. Then it lunges toward her.
The ghost follows behind Gong Sil as she runs down the hall. As it passes, different lights shatter, bring less and less light. Gong Sil is terrified.
She begins to climb the stairs. Why she ran up rather than down, I don’t know. The ghost flies up the stairs behind her. Gong Sil runs out onto the roof and heads to an apartment. There’s a large cross plastered to the front door and *lots* of garlic hanging by it. Gong Sil runs inside and holds the door shut, shouting, “Go away!”
After a moment, the doorknob stops rattling. But we see what Gong Sil doesn’t. The ghost is no longer outside, but behind her in the apartment. She pulls back the curtain to verify that the ghost is gone. Of course, nothing’s there, because it’s in the apartment. And suddenly, something makes her turn around and look frantically around her apartment. There’s nothing.
Gong Sil sinks to the floor, still holding the door knob. Then she lets go and tentatively begins to look around the apartment. As she’s looking the ghost appears behind her and begins looking the same places she’s looking, as if trying to see what she’s looking at. Finally, Gong Sil realizes it’s there. Slowly she turns to face it and it lets out a horrible growl. Gong Sil screams and covers her mouth with fright. But as she stares at the ghost, it slowly morphs into the face of the nice old lady who once lived in apartment 404 but who had recently died.
The next thing we see is Gong Sil wearing a white rain coat and standing under a street lamp in the downpour. She’s holding a bankbook. She’s standing outside house where the wake for the ajumma is being held. Gong Sil enters and it’s clear from the way the lights are swinging and the plants are bending over that the ajumma has come to, to see her final wishes be carried out.
Gong Sil appears before the family, who are startled. I would be startled too, given how she’s standing there wordlessly waiting for them to notice. Plus, she’s kind of glaring at them. Given the message she has to give ajumma’s son, I don’t blame her. And it’s Choi Kang Chi’s dad! Oops. Wrong show. Gong Sil says that a grandmother asked her to give him this money. A flash of a woman’s hand reaching into the ‘unlucky’ dresser for a bankbook. I wonder if ajumma chased off all the other occupants of 404 when they found the bankbook.
The son looks at the bankbook. It’s over 10 million won! He and the two women mourning with him are ecstatic! Gong Sil tells them that ajumma said to pay for her funeral and to use the rest to pay off the son’s debt. His initial reaction: to cry over his wonderful mother. But, ajumma has one other thing that she wanted to add. The son, of course, is very interested.
Suddenly Gong Sil grabs him by the collar and forcefully says, “You rotten bastard! If you ever touch gambling again, I’ll come and cut off your hand off, you bastard!” I hadn’t really paid attention, but the son’s right hand is one big bandage. “Don’t gamble anymore!” Gong Sil releases him and steps backward. Meekly, she adds that this is what the grandmother wants her to tell them.
The commotion has drawn attention of the other guests at the wake, but not enough for any of them to come and investigate. Ajumma’s son is stunned. One of the other women grabs the bankbook out of his hand. I’m thinking it’s to honor ajumma’s wishes. But it isn’t. The three start arguing over who gets the money. Apparently the son has a real gambling problem and his sister ended up losing a husband over money he lost. When the other mourners see the commotion, they shake their heads and go back to talking and eating amongst themselves. Apparently, this is typical behavior for ajumma’s children.
Gong Sil starts to leave, but at the door, she sees ajumma watching her children squabble. She looks sad and I feel bad for her. Her children are pretty horrible. Ajumma turns a more humanly color as she meets eyes with Gong Sil and nods a thank you before disappearing.
We switch to a man, Joo Joong Won (So Ji Sub), asking about a dead spirit. At first I thought ‘it’s a guy like Gong Sil.’ It’s not. Joong Won, who has a secretary, Kim Gwi Do (Choi Jung Woo), is meeting with another man, trying to get him to sell his house. Apparently, the unsold property is holding up construction on Joong Won’s golf course. The adjusshi doesn’t want to sell the house because the spirit of his dead wife is still there and she doesn’t want to sell.
Thinking a moment, Joong Won agrees to negotiate, all of them, together. Including the dead wife. Looking at the seat next to adjusshi, Joong Won smugly asks what she says. Adjusshi tells him to look at a white rose that his wife treasured. When he decided to sell, it wilted; but when he changed his mind, it bloomed beautifully again.
Joong Won declares that he’ll just have to negotiate with the flower. He grabs some pruning sheers and after squeezing them a few times, says, “Flower wife, listen carefully and respond. Your husband does not wish to sell this house, but I must buy it. Can you really never sell this house? If so, please nod your flower neck. If not, I’ll cut off your flower head.” Alarmed the husband starts to object, but Joong Won tells the adjusshi that he’s negotiating.
Holding the pruning shears ready to cut off the head of the rose, Joong Won gives the wife to the count of three to nod her head. There’s a picture by the flower and the smiling face of the wife changes briefly to fear as he reaches the end of three. Since she didn’t nod her head, Joong Won snips off the bud of the flower.
Adjusshi jumps up and declares that Joong Won’s crazy. He replies that adjusshi’s the one who’s crazy, dragging a dead person into a deal made by the living. He holds up the contract and demands adjusshi sign. He’s quite smug about it.
Adjusshi does sign, but as Joong Won and Gwi Do go to leave, adjusshi follows them out of the house, yelling that his wife *is* there. Joong Won refuses to believe it and adjusshi tells him that if he keeps acting like this, ignoring a person’s heart because he can’t see it, he’ll be struck by lighting. As he speaks, adjusshi shakes the rose bud at him. Joong Won arrogantly declares, as he pushes the umbrella away from covering him, that if how he’s living is wrong, he’ll gladly take a lightning strike. To emphasize his words, he spreads his arms wide and looks up at the heavens.
Nothing happens. Lighting strikes, but it comes nowhere near them. Smugly he smiles at the adjusshi and declares no lightning struck him. Then he congratulates him on selling his house and begins to applaud. At this point I am shaking my fists at him, at how *arrogant* he is. As Joong Won walks away, adjusshi whispers a curse in his direction.
Joong Won and Gwi Do are driving in the car. Gwi Do asks Joong Won is he’s really not afraid of ghosts. Joong Won says that the living are scarier. And he should know, being a fine example of a scary person. Joong Won asks for the voice recorder so that he can confirm the contents of the contract. Gwi Do has read the entire document for him. Why does he need to read the contract out loud for him?
As Joong Won begins to listen to Gwi Do’s recording, he pulls out the paper copy of the contract and begins to read it. Or tries to. The letters of the contract start to move around so that it’s illegible. He sighs and it looks like he stops trying to read.
Along the side of the road stands Gong Sil. As they drive by, she hails their car. Gwi Do wants to stop but Joong Won tells him to keep driving. Gong Sil looks upset that they drove by.
But fate (or something else) doesn’t let their meeting slip away. There’s a huge flash and Gwi Do slams on the brakes, stopping the car. Joong Won demands to know why they’ve stopped, and Gwi Do asks whether than was lightning. I’m glad *he’s* at least superstitious. Gong Sil appears at the back window (scaring Joong Won) and climbs in the car. She says she didn’t think they were going to stop.
Gwi Do asks what Joong Won wants him to do. Joong Won pulls down the arm rest (to separate him from Gong Sil) and tells Gwi Do to keep going. Gong Sil smiles to herself.
As they’re driving, Gwi Do asks Gong Sil why she was standing out in the rain. Apparently, a woman told her to. Gwi Do comments that she must have been a ghost to time things that way. Gong Sil laughs and slying agrees that it must have been a ghost. Which ghost? Since we know it actually *was* a ghost. Gong Sil adds that even if they avoided lightning, the woman said they wouldn’t be able to avoid her. Heh. It’s rose wife! Joong Won keeps looking at her like he smells a skunk and is eating something really disgusting.
Gong Sil takes off her wet raincoat and asks if they aren’t going to Soeul. Gwi Do answers yes but Joong Won tells her no. He wants Gwi Do to drop her off before that. Gong Sil notices the contract that Joong Won is holding and asks if that’s them, pointing at it. He smacks her hand away and she gasps, asking Joong Won if he felt that, that shock. Joong Won quickly denies it and looks away. He does not like this troublesome woman.
Gong Sil asks if they’re the Kingdom like the shopping mall by her house. Joong Won interrupts her and tells Gwi Do that the upcoming intersection looks right for dropping Gong Sil off. As Gong Sil looks down the road, a ghost is standing in the path of their car. His face flashes before her eyes and she screams, covering her eyes. This startles Gwi Do so that he slams on the brakes. Unfortunately, this stops the car so that the ghost and Gong Sil are sitting face to face. She begs for Gwi Do to keep on driving. Joong Won is a bit unnerved by this woman.
Gong Sil briefly takes her hands away from her eyes, but the ghost is just staring back at her. Screaming again, she turns and grabs Joong Won’s arm, burying her face in his shoulder. He definitely doesn’t like that. The minute she does this, though, the ghost vanishes.
When Gong Sil turns to look again, the ghost is gone. She looks a little surprised at this. Joong Won reaches over and with one finger pushing on her head, shoves her over to her side of the car. Then he wipes the finger off on his jacket.
They’ve reached a rest stop and Gwi Do has gotten coffee for a clearly shaken Gong Sil. She thanks him and as she’s about to drink, she glances around uncomfortably and excuses herself for a minute, leaving the coffee behind. Joong Won watches her go, puzzled. He wonders if she screamed so they would keep driving instead of making her get out. Gwi Do definitely doesn’t think that’s the case; instead he wonders what she saw that made her so scared. I like Gwi Do. He seems to genuinely care about people. I bet he’s been with Joong Won’s a long time, which is why he seems to cringe when Joong Won treats people like things. Joong Won’s a cynic, so he just pshaws that idea with a squint.
Gong Sil is looking at her hands and thinking about what happened in the car. There was definitely some sort of shock that happened. The ghost from the road appears behind her and she cringes at what she’s about to have to do.
Joong Won has gone to investigate what’s taking Gong Sil so long. He finds her squatting, pouring a cup of Soju. She’s, of course, talking to the ghost, whose death was caused by his drinking. Joong Won looks around to see who she’s talking to but no one’s visible. So, of course, he thinks she’s nuts. The ghost starts to flirt with Gong Sil and as she laughs, she notices Joong Won watching her.
Joong Won quickly starts to walk away. Gong Sil rushes after him with the ghost rushing after her. She yells at the ghost to leave her alone, but it only leaves when she accidentally bumps into Joong Won. Again, she’s clutching Joong Won’s arm and he’s not amused. I have to use royal verbiage here because he’s so like a haughty aristocrat, it’s killing me!
Gong Sil notices the ghost is gone. She also notices that she’s touching Joong Won, just like last time. Joong Won announces that there’s two things he dislikes: someone touching his money and someone touching his body. That’s got to be lonely, never to have physical contact with anyone. He tells her that he cut off the flower that touched his money, so what should he do with the hand that’s touched his body? Gong Sil, of course, apologizes for making him uncomfortable. She only did it because she was scared of the man following her.
Again, this only confirms that Gong Sil’s crazy. She declares that there was a man following her and subconsciously, she starts clutching Joong Won’s arm again. She tells him that touching him made the ghost go away. But he’s still around, because her back is tingling like anything. She sounds really pitiful, but this doesn’t move Mr. Icicle in the least.
Joong Won asks Gong Sil if the lady ghost was friends with the man ghost who followed her. He tells her to go have another drink with both of them. Gong Sil’s oblivious to his snark; she’s too happy that he’s caused the ghost to leave. She caresses his arm some more, affectionately. He smiles and tells her that he’s very skilled at getting rid of annoying things that stick around, did she want to see? She nods, thinking it’s going to help with getting rid of the ghosts.
Joong Won’s car pulls up. He removes Gong Sil’s fingers from clutching his arm. He tells her to stay there, for her to watch closely. Then he smiles at her, but it’s more a grimace. Then he gets in his car and drives off.
Gwi Do feels bad for leaving her there, since she starts to run after the car, but Joong Won is not moved by the crazy lady. He shakes his head at her and then looks down to see her rain coat still in the car. He almost seems guilty, but he’s just annoyed because it’s on top of the contract he was reading. He flings the raincoat off but then he notices something: it’s a white rose head, just like the one he snipped off of that flower at the adjusshi’s house. He looks at it for a moment, remembering what Gong Sil said about his avoiding the lightning, but then throws it out the window.
Someone is digging in the rainstorm. They’re also wearing a white raincoat. Is it Gong Sil, carrying out that other ghost’s task? The person is digging underneath a big tree. Then the person start using hands to dig. It’s not Gong Sil, but a man, digging frantically. What ever he’s looking for isn’t there. As he cries out in frustration, a ghost appears in the tree above him, watching him.
Perhaps Gong Sil just witnessed that in her dreams because she wakes up, freaked out. Over on her table, is the newspaper. The picture of the man and woman move, like pictures in Harry Potter books.
The people in the article are celebrities: top star Tae Yi Ryung (Kim Yoo Ri) and soccer player Yoo Hae Sung (Jin Yi Han), the man who was digging for the box. They’re preparing to be married. Joong Won is riding in his car, watching a press conference about the event on his tablet. He checks his watch for a moment. The camera pans down for a moment, revealing his company’s logo. But only for a moment. Joong Won throws aside the tablet in frustration.
Joong Won’s now walking through his business, with an entourage with him (including Gwi Do). A man mentions the news report on the wedding. Joong Won is angry because the report only included a 15 second highlight of the company as the sponsor. The man, Do Suk Chul (Lee Jong Won), replies that it was a news item, not an ad. Joong Won stops and slaps a huge poster of the bride, declaring that if it’s a wedding he sponsors for one of his company’s models, then it's a company ad. Joong Won wants the publicity he paid for. Suk Chul assures him that he’ll get lots of publicity. Only… there’s a small problem.
Someone has anonymously sent a picture of the groom with another bride. It wouldn’t be such a problem except they’ve scratched the face of the bride away, leaving nothing but a hole. Joong Won muses that if the picture isn’t a fake then the groom as just found himself a past that’s going to be quite expensive to cover up.
The bride, Yi Ryung, is looking through an old year book to decide which old schoolmates to invite. Gong Sil was one of them. The wedding planner mentions how their last names are the same. Yi Ryung declares that they weren’t close, but I think there’s more to this story. They weren’t close but she’s still inviting Gong Sil to her wedding.
Gong Sil is walking up the stairs to encounter two ghostly-looking children. It’s just a trick of the light, though. They’re there to have her open their cans of food so they can eat. Gong Sil makes the boys eat with her, since they’re alone. One of the boys tells her that the lady in 202 says that she’s weird and called her a crazy bum. Gong Sil protests that she’s not crazy and that she’s tried to live a normal life. It’s just that a big accident made her a little different. I guess that’s when she started seeing ghosts.
Flashbacks of her working in an office, spilling coffee on a man because he’s being followed by the ghost of a man with a hatchet in his head. She had men after her, but ghosts would appear and scare her away. She tried to live and work, but they just kept following her. Because she never knew when they would appear or start following her, she’s lived in a constant state of fear. Gong Sil wishes there was one place she could go to escape them.
The little boy tells her she needs to find a man. What a weird thing for a 6 year old to say. That’s what his mother does. This makes her think of Joong Won so she decides to go see him.
Joong Won is meeting with Hye Sung and his manager. Apparently, Hye Sung’s also received them at home. Apparently, the woman in the picture is a girlfriend of Hye Sung’s from before he was famous who abandoned him. He still wears the bracelet and key as a reminder to fuel him to achieve, since it now symbolizes the hate he has for her. Hye Sung’s manager calls her malicious and implores Joong Won to keep this from leaking to the press.
Joong Won encourages Hye Sung to cut the bracelet off, since it and the wedding will probably make the woman show up at the ceremony. Hye Sung’s manager wants extra security. Joong Won doesn’t have a problem doing that; it will just be part of their fee.
Gong Sil peeks around the corner outside Joong Won’s office. When the coast is clear she scampers forward to go in. She’s wearing something that definitely looks like an oversized nightshirt. And she seems to always be wearing white when she goes out. She peeks inside one of the conference rooms. Joong Won is meeting with Hye Sung, his manager, and the bride. Gong Sil can’t tell who the bride is.
The manager claims that the wedding is going to be a worldwide event, which will bring in the profits for Kingdom. Gong Sil turns away for a moment and when she turns back, the ghost from the tree is standing in the doorway. Gong Sil screams in fright, alerting them to her presence. Joong Won jumps up to check the noise out, but Gong Sil is gone.
She’s downstairs in the department store, begging the ghost to leave her alone. Then we see what she sees, the female ghost floating in the air above her. The ghost wants her to go talk to Hye Sung and tell him about the thing buried under the tree. Hye Sung and his manager are waiting by the elevator. As they board, Gong Sil rushes to get on board with them, only to be grabbed by the hair by Joong Won.
Joong Won demands to know who she is and what she’s doing there. She looks up at him pathetically. By the hair, really? This man is so arrogant! As he recognizes her as the crazy woman she smiles up at him and says, “It’s me.” I guess he’s not as good as he thought at getting rid of unwanted things.
Security shows up and Joong Won tells them that Gong Sil’s suspicious and to get her out. Gong Sil doesn’t get the hint but starts to protest about who she is. She touched him. The tingly moment in the car. She left her clothes. Boy, does that not sound good. The security guards definitely have the wrong idea. Joong Won is not pleased.
Joong Won has taken her downstairs. It seriously looks like she’s wearing a nightshirt. She’s explaining why she’s there – to see him – but she ended up with a reason to see Hye Sung. She tells him she’s not trying to see Hye Sung because she *wants* to. *He’s* the one that special to her. Heh! Joong Won looks at her like she’s even more crazy.
Gong Sil tries to touch Joong Won some more, but he dodges her hand. He asks her if she’s a gold digger or an escaped lunatic. I can see how he would wonder that, given what she’s wearing at the moment. Joong Won asks her what kind of car she wants to go home in: a police car or an ambulance. She tells him that she’s ridden in both, but doesn’t want to repeat the experience. Joong Won tells her to quietly leave or he’ll come up with a worse method for getting rid of her.
Gong Sil agrees to go since being pestered and followed around is really troublesome and having someone follow you because you just make eye contact once. And pester you to do things that you have nothing to do with. She doesn’t like meeting those people either. She leaves, with the ghost trailing along beside her, making the kingdom banners flutter. Joong Won looks surprised that she left and he watches her go. And yet the blowing up of the banners still doesn’t mean there’s ghosts.
Suk Chul is out to dinner with his wife, Joo Sung Ran (Kim Mi Kyung). Apparently, Joong Won’s father is in Spain with a cute new girlfriend. They start talking about how Joong Won doesn’t resemble his father very much, since he never seems to have any women around. The aunt wonders if it’s because the ghost of “that girl” who died, if its latched onto him. Girl who died? Is this why Joong Won’s like this? The aunt wonders if he needs to be exorcised and if she should be more proactive in finding him someone.
Suk Chul says that it’ll be difficult. Hasn't Sung Ran heard people talking about how Joong Won is cursed by his first love? Whenever there's talk of him getting married... the potential woman's family is always ends up ruined, hurt, or arrested. Everyone's saying it's all because he's cursed... so it won’t be easy for him to get married with a rumor like that going around. When his wife is irritated at him saying that his nephew is cursed, he backpedals and says that it’s because of Joong Won’s prickly personality. So the plot thickens. Joong Won’s tried to move on, but can’t because any potential bride is driven away. His first love is dead and then no other woman will marry him. That’s got to make a man feel rejected. But it’s no reason to be a jerk!
Joong Won is at home, in his nicely decorated apartment. He’s sitting on the couch reading slowly off of his laptop. The stars are falling from the skies… The sun is shining. Tomorrow… is looking at though it may be cooler. Each sentence is falteringly read, because the swimming letters make it nearly impossible. I’ve got to give it to him for his determination. He really wants to beat this, whatever it is. He’s even wearing glasses to try and read more clearly. The screen suddenly goes crazy with words and suddenly Joong Won gets very dizzy, like the words are everywhere. He grabs the glasses off his face and stops. He’s clearly freaked out, but ghosts aren’t real.
On the table by his feet is the recorder and the resume of Kang Woo (Seo In Guk), who is coincidentally renting room 404 in Gong Sil’s apartment building. The landlady describes it as the best room in the building. Right. That’s why no on can seem to stay in it. Kang Woo’s only going to be staying for a month. The landlady tells him he can do laundry and exercise on the roof. Where Gong Sil’s apartment is. It’s got a great view. She’s really trying to sell this place.
Kang Woo checks out the roof. Through the hanging laundry, he spys Gong Sil sleeping in a rocking chair. I guess she’s the one who’s just done laundry. She’s not wearing white but jeans and a pink shirt. Sunglasses cover her eyes. Kang Woo notices that the wind blows the shade caused by the laundry away from Gong Sil. He moves the sheet so that it stops and so that she’s in the shade. This wakes her and she mistakes him for a ghost. She jumps up and pushes at the sheet, knocking him down, while yelling at him to go away.
Kang Woo struggle and then pulls the sheet off of himself. Hiding her face, Gong Sil asks him if he’s human. Standing back up he says ‘yes.’ She’s a bit surprised, which is understandable since he’s new to the building.
Kang Woo helps her rehang the sheet. Gong Sil tells him that she should sleep very well now that the grandmother isn’t there anymore. She tells him to let her know if he has any problems. She then apologizes for earlier, saying she didn’t think he was human. He replies that he didn’t think she was human either. But rather a cat sleeping and basking in the sun. She meows at him, all bashful (and aegyo). He smiles back, nods a farewell and leaves, smiling to himself.
Gong Sil watches him go, smiling and thinking he’s good looking. Then she gets sad, since she knows what her life’s like and how it chases men away. And speaking of her life. The ghost chasing Hye Sung has appeared on the roof. We get a flash of its memory of Hye Sung as she asks Gong Sil to meet him for her.
Hye Sung’s doing a photo shoot with Yi Ryung. He doesn’t seem to be enjoying it. As he’s being photographed, he’s also being interviewed. The reporter asks about whether he’s planning on retiring from European plan after marriage. He refutes that, saying he’s planning on signing with a new agency. Yi Ryung does not looked pleased.
She’s not. After the shoot, Yi Ryung is yelling at Hye Sung about wanting to still play in Europe. He has his age and his old injury to worry about. If he goes back, he’ll just become a has-been and won’t be a star anymore. Hye Sung tells her that before he’s a star, he’s a soccer player first and foremost and he wants to run on even bigger fields in the future. So does she love him for his fame or for him? I’m thinking it’s more for the fame because she says that people call them the Beckham and Victoria of Korea. And this Victoria doesn’t want to encourage her Beckham to self destruct. What’s a little weird is that she *does* somewhat resemble Posh Spice. She tells him that he’s not that confident in his abilities, either.
The mirror creeks and moves. When Yi Ryung moves it back in place, the ghost is staring back at her. Or rather, gazing through the looking glass at Hye Sung. I wonder if she doesn’t like his bride. Hye Sung wants to talk about things later, but as he leaves, Yi Ryung adds that she heard that no one’s trying to recruit him anymore. Way to cheer on your man. Didn’t his manager tell him? By his reaction, this is a surprise. Yi Ryung turns back to look at herself in the mirror and the ghost is definitely glaring at her.
Hye Sung’s talking with his manager on the soccer field about this latest news: weren’t they going to continue the search. He calls his manager hyung. Hyung wants him to give up, too. It’s safer to stay in Korea and live on his already-gained fame. But Hye Sung doesn’t want the fame and if hyung isn’t going to look, Hye Sung will find an agency himself. Hyung tells him he doesn’t have time to worry about that sort of thing. Another blackmail picture has arrived in the mail.
This time it has writing on the back: ‘I know all about you.’ Hye Sung remembers back to when he buried a box under the tree with the girl from the picture. He asks why they’re doing this and she jokes that it will be something to use against him with in the future if he ever abandons her like an old shoe. At least that explains why he was trying to find the box. He thinks it’s crazy since he’s never planning on leaving her, but she gives him the key.
Hye Sung’s telling hyung about being Mi Kyung, how it was during the most difficult time in his life. He did a lot of things that people would disapprove of. The box has got to hold those shameful things. The manager wants to know where the chest is, but Hye Sung says she’d already taken it. Hye Sung sounds hurt as he asks the manager if she could really be blackmailing him. The manager tells Hye Sung not to worry, that as long as Hye Sung’s with him, he’ll take care of everything. Is this loyalty or is something fishy going on?
Gong Sil is hiding behind Joong Won’s car, waiting to talk to Gwi Do. She wants him to give a letter to Hye Sung. She’s sure that he’ll meet her if he gets the letter. She pleads with Gwi Do to deliver the letter. Then she runs off, since Joong Won is coming.
Gong Sil waits by the tree. She notices a billboard in the distance. It has Hye Sung on it. Someone’s there, but it’s not Hye Sung. It’s Joong Won. He wants to know what the letter means. It’s a drawing of Mi Kyung with a message that she’ll be waiting for him. Joong Won wants to know if it’s Mi Kyung and Gong Sil’s surprised he knows about her. He says she’s the woman that’s been threatening Hye Sung and Gong Sil protests that it’s not like that. He’s talking about one thing but she’s talking about something else entirely.
Joong Won wants to know where she is. He looks around for her. Gong Sil says that she isn’t there right now. We know she means her ghost, but he’s still thinking she’s alive. He wants to know where she went and Gong Sil tells him that she died. This doesn’t make any sense, given what he knows. So is Gong Sil the one threatening them? Gong Sil says that she just wants to replay Mi Kyung’s feelings.
Hye Sung is sitting at a bar, drinking and looking at the threatening photo. Mi Kyung appears behind him and sadly watches him. We hear Gong Sil say that the whole time, Mi Kyung has been wanting to protect him and cheer him on.
Gong Sil holds the paper with the drawing out to Joong Won and asks him to pass it along so that she can deliver the message. He takes it and looks at it for a moment. Then, after looking back at Gong Sil, who looks at him with pleading eyes, he rips it up. He tells her that if Mi Kyung’s dead, then it’s over, so stop bothering a living person. Then he throws the piece of paper into air and walks away. Gong Sil can only sadly watch him walk away.
As she’s walking home, she comes across the ajumma’s son, holding a wad of money and standing outside a gambling parlor. He’s about to go in when she stops him. When she reminds him that grandmother told him not to gamble, he tells her to mind her own business. I wonder when his mother’s going to visit him to take that hand like she promised. Gong Sil sadly watches him walk away. And I can’t blame her. I wonder how many times she’s been pestered by ghosts to do something like this and the recipients could care less about the well-meaning of the ghosts. It’s sad to see love thrown away like that.
This last incident was the rotten cherry on top of a horrible sundae. Gong Sil is discouraged since it seems like she’s just going around doing useless things. She looks across the subway platform and Mi Kyung is standing there, sadly looking at her, silently asking her for her help. Gong Sil turns to go, but Mi Kyung is right there. Gong Sil screams for Mi Kyung to get lost and stop bothering her. People treat her like she’s crazy because of it. Of course, she looks like a crazy person to the other people on the platform, screaming at nothing. Gong Sil runs off crying.
Joong Won eating dinner with Hye Sung. Is he *sure* it’s Mi Kyung that’s blackmailing him? I guess he believes Gong Sil after all. Or at least he’s hedging his bets. The manager assures Joong Won that it was her. He saw her hanging around outside of their office. Joong Won asks the manager if he’s saying he saw her personally. There *was* something fishy going on with the manager. And Joong Won’s figured it out. He nods with understanding as the manager tells Hye Sung that he’ll take care of everything. The guy’s been playing Hye Sung to keep him dependent. I wonder if that means that he’s been sabotaging Hye Sung’s attempts to be recruited for a team in Europe, too. Shady. Particularly because of how much this is torturing Hye Sung.
Hye Sung tells Joong Won that he loved her and can’t understand why she’s doing this to him. Joong Won says it’s probably for the money, what else is there that any living person could be after? He’s kind of pointedly talking to the manager, though. Joong Won asks whether he’s doing this because he’s afraid of losing what he has now. Hye Sung doesn’t catch it and answers that he’s afraid of her heart. Joong Won laughs cynically at this and asks him why he fears something he can’t see when he should be more scared of the people that he can see. Again, he’s looking at the manager. Then he nods and adds that he’s sure that everything will get taken care of.
Kang Woo is talking on the phone in his darkly lit room, telling them that he got the job at Kingdom. He assures the other person that he will continue to keep eye on him. Corporate espionage? Or maybe he’s supposed to watch over Joong Won to protect him? After all, Joong Won’s father is out of the country ‘living it up.’ Another mystery to solve...
Gong Sil has arrived home to find the invitation to Hye Sung and Yi Ryung’s wedding. She muses that she’s getting her chance to see Hye Sung because of Yi Ryung.
The Tae-Kim wedding is a circus. Tons of fans have gathered to cheer congratulations at the stars, complete with signs. Tons of flower bouquets and lots of security. Joong Won is walking with his entourage and declares that it’s not a wedding but it’s a day to promote Kingdom Enterprises. Nice. He’s all about business. His uncle assures him that everything’s been arranged so that photographers won’t be able to avoid including the Kingdom logo in any shot. Joong Won wants them to hang a HUGE logo sign, stretching his arms wide to emphasize how big it should be. Wow. Not vain at all.
Yi Ryung is admiring herself in that full-length mirror. In another mirror, there's the reflection of Hye Sung, who sits solemnly looking at the key at his wrist.
Gong Sil is at Mi Kyung’s memorial vault, unlocking it and taking out the box that was buried. I notice that she died 5 years ago. That’s sad that he didn’t know that she was gone all that time. She wants Mi Kyung to come, since it’s not fair to her to keep letting him misunderstand.
As Gong Sil walks through the lobby with the chest, Joong Won catches sight of her. She doesn’t give up! Joong Won’s astonished and Gwi Do wonders why she’s so keen on seeing Hye Sung. He muses that it’s something about relaying a dead person’s feelings. Which we all know mean nothing to him. Or so he says. I’m beginning to wonder based on how hard he fights to hold onto that stance in the face of these weird supernatural happenings. He tells Gwi Do to have security take care of her.
In Security Central, the boss tells the Team Leader, who happens to be Kang Woo, to follow Gong Sil. Kang Woo passes on the order but when he sees her in the monitor, he recognizes her as the cat.
Yi Ryung is surrounded by her old classmates. She tells them it’s fine to take pictures and tell their friends they know her. Wow, I’m liking her more and more. First she slams the dreams of her man and is all about the money and now she’s gracious enough to let her old schoolmates tell all their friends that they know her. She’s not vain at all. Her ‘friends’ laugh uneasily and tell her that she’s pretty.
Yi Ryung asks about Gong Sil. The classmates are surprised that the big sun was coming. Apparently, back in the day, Yi Ryung was only the little sun. I guess that explains why she invited her even though they’re not close. Yi Ryung wonders how she’s been. I think she already knows and wants to gloat. Look I got a man first! Look at how famous I am and you can’t hold down a job! Look at how much better I am than you! Even though from the smiling picture in the yearbook, Gong Sil was probably popular because she was so nice to everyone. One of the classmates says she heard that she turned out really strange. None of them sound like they really feel bad about it. Such nice girls.
Unfortunately, Joong Won’s plan isn’t going to work. Security can’t do anything since she has an invitation. Heh. Her name is on the official guest list. The uncle sees her enter and double checks, but she’s there. Gwi Do goes to let Joong Won know. He mutters her name and rubs the fingers of his left hand together. Strange. Did that mean he felt the spark too? He wants to know if they let Tae Gong Sil in. At least he knows her name now.
Gong Sil goes to see Hye Sung in his dressing room. Not the bride. But she’s not the one that Gong Sil’s there for. When she enters, he doesn’t recognize her, but he recognizes the chest she’s carrying. He wants to know why she has it. Was she the one threatening him? Because of all the blackmail that Mi Kyung put in the chest. He actually doesn’t seem too upset about the blackmail because he immediately starts asking about Mi Kyung. Gong Sil doesn’t say anything.
Hye Sung grabs the chest. Does she want money? Fine, he’ll give her money. He throws the chest to the floor as he screams that he wants to know where Mi Kyung is. Then he finally sees what was inside the chest, because its contents have spilled out onto the floor. It’s a pair of white soccer cleats. Nothing that anyone could blackmail him with. Just some old shoes. What Mi Kyung would use against him if he discarded her like an old shoe. I’m a little misty here. Hye Sung’s affected, too. All he can do is stare at the cleats.
Gong Sil softly tells him that Mi Kyung died. She was already sick when she left him and in a lot of pain until she died. So she stupidly left him to spare him. His face says the same thing. Gong Sil says she came to clear up the misunderstanding and express Mi Kyung’s true feelings.
Well, apparently, the news isn’t without affect. Yi Ryung is ready and *waiting.* The wedding planner arrives to tell her that he’s disappeared. Oops. I feel ‘so bad’ for her. She doesn’t even really look upset.
Joong Won’s heard the news. The staff is checking everywhere for him. They said he went out for a while. Uncle Suk Chul figures the blackmailer must have shown up. But hyung manager says that’s not possible. She definitely died. Oops. He tries to recover, but Joong Won says he knew it was the manager and that he should have done a better job covering his tracks and keeping track of Hye Sung. As they try to figure out what to do next, Joong Won mutters Tae Gong Sil’s name.
Gong Sil sits with Mi Kyung by ‘their’ tree. She feels bad for how Mi Kyung must have suffered all this time. Mi Kyung remembers sitting in her hospital room, looking at that same picture (non-mutilated) and wishing he was there. She remembers their wedding day and how she left him, confused and hurt. She said cruel things and walked away, even as he asked her not to.
Then Mi Kyung sees Hye Sung, coming towards them, wearing the white cleats. I’m definitely starting to have watery eyes. A memory of Hye Sung leaving the police station. He’s been in a fight, judging by the bandaged hand, the cuts on his face and the split lip. Mi Kyung is waiting for him outside. He tells her to go since his life is over anyway. This must have been after his injury. She sighs and hangs the brand new white cleats around his neck, telling him that it’s not over. She tells him she knows he likes soccer. He jokes about whether that’s a good thing and then hurts himself when he laughs. Gong Sil’s voice saying that the cleats were the first thing Mi Kyung ever gave Hye Sung.
Mi Kyung and Hye Sung walk slowly towards each other as Gong Sil turns and walks away. She stops to watch them from a distance. He stops and reaches out his hand. A memory of her putting the wedding ring on his finger and him smiling at her. Mi Kyung reaches out for his hand, but her fingers pass through his. The memory of their wedding and him going to kiss her. The scene splits between the present and the past as he approaches for the kiss. But in the present, he just walks through her.
Gong Sil tears up. And so do I. Hye Sung reaches out and touches their tree and says Mi Kyung’s name. He blubbers that he misses her as he cries. Mi Kyung reaches out to touch his shoulder, but this time he feels it, it doesn’t pass through him. He turns around and she smiles as he finally sees her. Mi Kyung begins to cry as the love for him shows on her face. As he watches, she leaves, her business finally done.
Gong Sil has seen everything. And so has Joong Won. But what he’s seen, we don’t know. He just knows that Gong Sil was involved.
Hye Sung has returned to the wedding hall. He’s still wearing the cleats. Fans are screaming at his arrival. His manager runs up, relieved that he’s back. Hye Sung takes one look at him and decks him. In front of all those cameras. Then Hye Sung fixes his jacket and walks on.
Yi Ryung is understandably upset, saying she waited so as to not ruin everything. Hye Sung tells her that he wants to keep playing soccer. She is not happy. Then he tells her that the woman in his heart keeps telling him to. Ouch! That’s a big time burn, because it’s not her telling him that. She slaps him with her bouquet and then across the face. There’s a nice juxtaposition of them with the huge wedding portrait she had made. I guess she’s not going to be able to rub her handsome rich husband in Gong Sil’s face, since she got dumped at the altar. That’s even more embarrassing than simply getting dumped.
Hye Sung’s meeting with Joong Won. He tells Joong Won that he’ll pay for any damages. The manager is going to take full responsibility for everything to avoid going to jail. Joong Won muses how someone dead was able to ruin the life of the living. Hye Sung replies that although Joong Won’s event was ruined, his wedding was saved. Aw. Holding out the picture, he tells Joong Won that this was his *real* wedding.
Joong Won tells Hye Sung that he’s going to regret this moment again and again, especially because with his age and past injury, it’s going to be very hard for Hye Sung to succeed. Hye Sung says that that could happen. Joong Won tells him it’s what *will* happen. I can’t wait for Joong Won to be proven wrong. This dead person may have given him courage but it didn’t give him skill and Joong Won’s going to enjoy watching him fail again and again. Hye Sung asks if that’s a curse and Joong Won replies that it is, so use it like you did the last one. Then Joong Won dismisses him.
Before he leaves, Hye Sung gives Joong Won a message from Gong Sil. We don’t hear it, because the scene switches to Joong Won driving up to Gong Sil’s building and barely missing seeing Kang Woo. Gong Sil is sitting on a bench, yawning, wishing she could just go somewhere and sleep. Next to her, the laundry pan begins to bubble. A lot.
Joong Won climbs to stairs to arrive on the roof. She doesn’t see him since her eyes are closed. Then the bubbles start hitting her and she begs for them not to come. Joong Won doesn’t know how to take this. Then we get to hear what Hye Sung said: that the dead have no power but their feelings remain. Joong Won looked puzzled as to why that would be her message. But is a bit unnerved when Hye Sung adds that there’s someone like this for Joong Won, too. Bam! Hye Sung asks Joong Won if there’s someone in his heart that he can’t forget. And who keeps cursing your potential brides?
As Joong Won watches Gong Sil on the roof, he thinks of this person. Flashback to Hee Joo, injured and trapped in a burning car. Him screaming for her as she looks sadly at him. He’s much younger. Men are holding him back from trying to get to her, although they seem awfully close to that car. The car explodes, killing her. At least we know a potential reason for why he’s the way he is.
Joong Won goes over to Gong Sil and says her name. She doesn’t respond because she’s mostly asleep. He grabs her and stands her up. He wants to know what she’s saying is beside him. What is she seeing? Is he believing now? Or has he always believed, just denied it? Without opening her eyes, she complains that she’s tired. He shakes her and asks again. She moans that she wants to sleep next to him and then falls forward into his arms, asleep.
Thoughts
I wasn’t going to start another series until I finished with my other two, but I saw a preview and it looked good. Just creepy enough (because I don’t like scary things) but also light-hearted and funny. But here I go…I really enjoyed this first episode. It set up the mood pretty quickly. I’ve loved Gong Hyo Jin since ‘Pasta’ so I’m already pre-disposed to like Gong Sil. But even if I wasn’t I would still like Gong Sil. She’s just so goofy and sweet. I just kept on liking her throughout the episode. I honestly think that if she wasn’t sleep-deprived or desperate to have the ghosts leave her alone, she would still help them. And maybe by the end of the series, she’ll stop being scared of them. They’re just freaky looking, until she starts to hear their story and then they start looking human again. You’d think she’d pick up on that.
And our hero – Joong Won. What a… wow, is he arrogant. I laughed in astonishment more than once at him. He’s very cold. But also very practical and very smart. He’s actually completely dispassionate, which lets him see through the crap. It’s interesting to see the dynamics of his family play out. His father is out of the picture. No mother. His aunt doesn’t seem very involved and is more in contact through her husband, who works as his vice president. She also seems very detached. It’s no wonder he’s like he is. And despite of myself, I kind of like him. I think it’s because I don’t quite believe that he’s that disbelieving.
Then there’s Kang Woo. We hardly met him, but he seems very nice. They’re trying to play up him being sinister, but I’m more inclined to believe my theory that he’s not there with evil intentions. I do like the idea that he’s there at the father’s direction. Could it be an anniversary of Hee Joo’s death coming up?
I find it interesting how unbelieving Joong Won is, considering how this ghost continues to plague him. And even when he sees something, like the eyes of the flower wife grow wide in the picture, he refuses to acknowledge them as real. What kind of guilt is motivating that? We know Hee Joo, presumably Joong Won’s first love, because, after all, this is a k-drama, but we know that she died tragically in an accident that he survived. Does he have survivor’s guilt? What really happened with that accident? Was it his fault? What does her ghost want? And why has she been sabotaging all his potential relationships? Because the assumption is that she has, given the number of mishaps his potential brides have.
I also think that Joong Won knows that he has a connection with Gong Sil, too. Why else would they show him rubbing his fingers when he realized that she was there for the wedding, that fate worked it out that she would be able to see Hye Sung? Plus, that moment at the rest stop, when she touched him and there was the mystical smoke. There’s definitely a connection between them. This is what I’m wondering: Is it because he’s such a cynic that the ghosts go away or is it because it’s their fate to find each other? And I’m presuming that Hee Joo isn’t going to have a problem with Joong Won falling in love with Gong Sil, which is a plus. I’m presuming at some point that Joong Won’s finally going to believe (I hope it doesn’t take *too long* because that will get old for him to suffer Scully syndrome.), will that mean that he won’t chase the ghosts away any more? I hope the answer to this question is no, because I would like for Gong Sil to be able to get some sleep and live a normal life. And I would love, by the end, that she’s got a handle on things and it in control, and the ghosts now come visit her in an orderly fashion. That would be great, because being able to help the dead is pretty cool, helping settle the what-ifs that people have.
Side thought – it would be great to see the ajumma’s son get it at some point, as a consequence of ignoring his mother. Just poetic justice.
I hope that the series continues to show Gong Sil that there’s a good reason that she has been given this gift. Hye Sung and Mi Kyung’s story made me cry, especially because Mi Kyung was nobly STUPID. I wonder if in the future, the people that she helps, that they’ll be able to see/feel their loved ones too, like Hye Sung was able to. I loved how he said that his wedding was saved. I also hope that he shows up again in the series, and continues to prove Joong Won wrong. Because Joong Won is wrong about a lot of things. But I hope that Hye Sung goes and becomes an even bigger star in Europe just to prove Joong Won wrong and their love right.
And speaking of their love, I did not feel sorry for Yi Ryung in the least. So she’s the second lead and it appears that she’s going to be the evil archetype. What’s she going to interfere with, Gong Sil’s romance with Joong Won or Kang Woo? Because I have a feeling romance’s going to be happen with both men. She obviously has a grudge against Gong Sil, presumably because she’s shallow and was jealous of Gong Sil’s popularity.
Good start for the series. I’m invested. And no medical terminology to define. Fighting!
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