Jae Wan recalls Mo Ne's words of love to him - I love you, I know what kind of person you are, Will you marry me, I'll protect you for the rest of your life, etc. Then comes her parting words - let's not see each other again. He looks at the sea, eyes filled with pain, heart breaking into many pieces.
Mo Ne is back home with Soo An. They're working on the concert for the Hallyu singer. Soo An asks Mo Ne if she would like some snacks but Mo Ne just continues talking about work. Soo An looks a little surprised but happy to see Mo Ne is focussed at work. I must all interrupt to add Soo An looks gorgeous with her hair down. Back to the recap.
Next door, Jae Wan just returned home and Chae Kyung's waiting anxiously with her umbrella for him. She heard about him getting fired and asks if he's hurt. He goes into his house and lies on the sofa. He's burning up with a fever but he doesn't want her to get a doctor. He tells Chae Kyung to just go. She's frustrated he is so love sick but doesn't want to do anything about Mo Ne and prefers to lets his body suffer as a side effect to his broken heart.
Chae Kyung barges into Mo Ne's house and demands Mo Ne take responsibility for Jae Wan. Mo Ne is not at all moved one bit by Chae Kyung's declaration that Jae Wan is really sick. She tells Chae Kyung he's none of her concern because he's not part of the hotel anymore. Chae Kyung reveals why she and Jae Wan broke up, and that it was her late husband who had sponsored her university studies. No wonder Chae Kyung married the old man! Mo Ne still refuses to go to Jae Wan and Chae Kyung tells Mo Ne not to try helping Jae Wan ever. After she leaves, Mo Ne looks a bit disturbed but requests Soo An to stay over at her place to keep working. I guess she need to make sure she won't run over to Jae Wan's place.
Next morning, Jae Wan wakes up all recovered. Turns out Chae Kyung stayed the night to nurse him and fell asleep by his side. He's not grateful at all and instead tells her she didn't have to stay. Chae Kyung still pushes her concern onto him by saying she'll make him some soup. Jae Wan doesn't really have the energy to argue so he let's her be.
As Mo Ne and Soo An leave for work, they see Jae Wan and Chae Kyung also heading off. Mo Ne is a little perturbed by Chae Kyung leaving Jae Wan's place but she doesn't say anything. Instead, she just asks Jae Wan how long he'll take to transfer all hotel matters over to the new general manager. Jae Wan only requests for a week.
Mo Ne arrives at VP's house and gives him a bird cage with a green bird inside as a present. She tells him to leave his house and Ciel (since the housing is provided by Ciel). It seems VP resigned on his own, so he's no more VP (I shall refer to him as Lee Jung Gu from now on). Lee Jung Gu rings up a reporter to tell him to write a scoop about him.
Lee Jung Gu meets with Director Baek at a private venue. Director Baek asks Lee Jung Gu if he wants to see how all the people who were working for him are under her control now. He doesn't seem concerned one bit until she calls for them to come in. Lee Jung Gu starts scolding the directors but they don't do anything because they're loyalty isn't to him anymore. Director Baek reveals she bought their loyalty. Now, this means Director Baek has control over most of the directors in Ciel. I say most because I'm sure someone like Song Chae Kyung won't be bought over and there might be one or two like her. MOST, however, are already in Baek's control ... uh oh.
In Ciel, Mo Ne personally greets the Hallyu singer when he arrives. Soo An spots a reporter taking a picture of Mo Ne and the singer but she doesn't do anything. The hotel staff are gossiping about her personally escorting the singer. The singer, Yoo Joo Min, wants to meet with Jae Wan because he's heard about Jae Wan's fussiness regarding the concert preparations. Mo Ne is a little disturbed by it and shows him to his room first.
Jae Wan receives an email with information about Baek Mi Nyeo. His informant is unable to find much about her. There are only three pictures in the email which look like they were taken in the US. One with her at her doorstep pre-blonde fringe I think, another is probably the house in US and the third is a graduation picture with Roman. Jae Wan is not satisfied because that's not much to go on to catch her.
Soo An catches the reporter once more and he admits he came to see Jae Wan, not to spy on Yoo Joo Min. I guess he's the type who likes to take pictures and videos whenever he can in case he gets a great scoop. Jae Wan agrees to let him into his office because he remembers the reporter's name as the one who wrote a few articles about Ciel including the fire accident and about Mo Ne's apparent incompetency as Chairwoman. The reporter brought a video for Jae Wan and it's the shot of how Chairman Ah died and who was in his room at that time. The footage is not clear at all. Jae Wan feigns disinterest but says he'll consider buying it. When the reporter leaves, Jae Wan makes a call to find someone who can restore images.
Mo Ne is sitting in Mo Ne's Garden talking to her dad aloud. She tells her dad about her progress in Ciel and thanks him for leaving Director Baek by her side. Director Baek coincidentally comes by and hears the part about her. She turns to leave without disturbing Mo Ne but Mo Ne hears the heels clicking and catches up with Director Baek. She is sincere in thanking Director Baek but Director Baek leaves the garden, masking all her emotions. She looks back at Mo Ne and thinks how she told Mo Ne not to believe anyone. Looks like some trouble is coming ...
Mo Ne arrives home to find Jae Wan waiting for her outside. She pauses next to him but continues walking. He grabs her by the wrist and turns her arm so that he can put her dad's watch around her wrist. All that extra skinship :P I mean, you could always just give someone their dad's watch back without putting in on for them :P He tells her to stay strong and seek her revenge against him and Lee Jung Gu. Mo Ne holds back any emotions and agrees with him. She goes into her house.
Next day, Yoo Joo Min is having a rehearsal before the concert. He's testing the sound and everything. Jae Wan is overseeing it. Mo Ne and Soo An arrive as well. Yoo Joo Min seems to like Mo Ne for her sincerity because he's really happy to see her and tells her he'll perform the opening song. Mo Ne asks Jae Wan why he's here but he says he's only just overlooking it to finish his job. Mo Ne doesn't say anything further because the song starts. She closes her eyes and sways gently to the song. Jae Wan slowly looks at her, ravishes the sight of her, his eyes full of longing and love. This is one of the best scenes that show his suppressed feelings. I can't quite tell if Soo An notices it, though.
Halfway through the song, the microphone gets cut off. Yoo Joo Min is shocked and Jae Wan says he'll check the sound system. The light bulbs on the backdrop start exploding one by one. Everyone quickly grabs their stuff and rushes out. Mo Ne tries to see what's wrong because she desperately wants the concert to take place (it was her father's plan, too) but Jae Wan wrenches her away from the backdrop. Suddenly all the lights blow out. Then dim lights come on and the alarm starts ringing through the hotel. Mo Ne realises the concert can't go on and Jae Wan spots Director Baek watching them from the back door. She nods at Jae Wan, who is livid.
Mo Ne goes to apologise to the fans personally and also kneels down to apologise to Yoo Joo Min. He's embarrassed at her sincerity because of the way he had been shouting around and behaving. Not sure how the talks between his entertainment agency and the hotel are going to go from there. Mo Ne goes out to take a breather. She's serenaded by Woo Hyun's harmonica. Woo Hyun talks about his handicapped sister and tells Mo Ne he knows she's changed and become alot stronger. Mo Ne looks a bit happier to hear his words of encouragement.
Jae Wan obviously can't take Director Baek's nonsense anymore so he ransacks her office. He can't find the secret room with the computers. The door in the closet leads to her private bedroom, a regular woman's room except most of the drawers are empty. Jae Wan opens a jewelled box and only finds a necklace with a star pendant. He walks out of the bedroom and receives a text from Director Baek. She tells him she's warned him before and to put everything back in place in her office. He realises one of the books on her shelf has a camera fixed in it. He walks towards it and bows.
Director Baek is watching him through her phone. Roman is driving them both somewhere. Director Baek really seems to dislike Jae Wan from the way she talks about him. Roman doesn't really care about whether she likes Jae Wan or not, and it's obvious he doesn't like people who aren't nice to his mother. Director Baek tells him Jae Wan's bound to be ruined anyway and Roman looks a little puzzled but doesn't probe further.
Jae Wan hides out behind Mo Ne's swing and watches her when she comes back. Stalker much, lover boy? He counts to three but the lights don't come on. He's about to run to her door but he hears the balcony door open. Mo Ne's voice floats through, apologising to something. Jae Wan walks over to peep at the scene. Mo Ne brought some food out for the cat and strokes it. Jae Wan looks on enviously. Mo Ne enters her house again. Jae Wan walks up to the cat and strokes it. It purrs contentedly and Jae Wan congratulates it on having a home to return to. I swear he sounds a little jealous.
Next morning, Jae Wan gets a call informing him that the reason why the concert mishap happened was due to poor and cheap construction. Jae Wan doesn't believe it because he doesn't think Chairman Ah would compromise on the quality of the hotel and so many checks were done on the hotel through the years and each building always passed the standards. He quickly calls Soo An to inform her so that she can prevent Mo Ne from going to the hotel.
Soo An does a good job of forgetting many things and Mo Ne asks her whether she's forgetful because she's dating. Soo An says no, and Mo Ne eventually figures out Soo An is doing it because of Jae Wan. Jae Wan goes to the meeting and claims to be in Mo Ne's stead. He rejects the idea that Chairman Ah would have done shoddy work but Director Baek says though the truth lies with Chairman Ah, they need someone to take responsibility for the event.
Mo Ne barges into Jae Wan's office and demands to know why he treats her like a doll and doesn't let her handle things. She's about to march off and Jae Wan grabs her arm. He asks her where she's off to and she says she's going to see the person behind it - Lee Jung Gu. But Jae Wan says it's not Lee Jung Gu because he would know if it was. He says it is Director Baek and Mo Ne is very shocked. Mo Ne asks for evidence and Jae Wan says the recorder Director Baek gave her was from a conversation he had recorded and played in his office.
The concierge staff, meanwhile, are taking their break. Everyone's disturbed by the recent events. Da Jung, however, is more interested in making Woo Hyun fall for her. She calls him 'Oppa', which Woo Hyun doesn't make a big deal of. The other concierge guy, Jung Hyun, is super jealous and Woo Hyun leaves abruptly because he feels uncomfortable with Da Jung's approach. Concierge Go winks at Da Jung, an indication that he would also like to be called Oppa, too. Manager Jang and Jung Hyun call Go 'Oppa', 'Appa' and granddad.
Lee Jung Gu is at home, shooting darts at Director Baek's photograph. He's totally not on Director Baek's side but he wants her help. Jae Wan comes in to see what he's doing and requests for Lee Jung Gu not to get involved with Director Baek. Lee Jung Gu looks a little surprised when Jae Wan said Jung Gu isn't capable of orchestrating a large scale destruction, implying it was due to Director Baek.
Mo Ne goes to Director Baek's office to confirm if she's the enemy as Jae Wan said. Director Baek tries to hold onto Mo Ne's trust by showing her pictures of Jae Wan and Lee Jung Gu which she had collected over a long time since Chairman Ah's death. Director Baek directly tells Mo Ne she believes those two to be the culprits of her father's dad but can't find any concrete evidence. Mo Ne isn't convinced and Director Baek shows a photo of Jae Wan in Lee Jung Gu's house, the very scene just before this. I can't believe this woman! Mo Ne doesn't know what to think anymore.
Jae Wan gets a call from the image restorer and goes over to see the restored footage. The guy says he can't believe which woman would do it and Jae Wan is surprised it is a woman. The guy says it is because only women have boobs. The footage shows the side profile of a woman with her hair covered, I think. And Jae Wan spots a blurred neckalce on the woman's neck which resembles the one he found in Director Baek's jewelry box.
Jae Wan immediately drives back to the hotel. I can totally recognise his reckless driving style now. He asks Director Baek what the heck she did. He grabs her and forces her into his car. Roman, who had gone to get his car to drive his mother wherever, spots Jae Wan's car and realises his mother is with Jae Wan. Cue a road chase and totally dangerous driving. Everyone, please don't do emulate this unless you want to get into an accident. Jae Wan finds out Director Baek's weakness is fast cars and he only stops when she screams/chokes out for him to. I guess he doesn't want the woman dying of a heart attack on him.
Roman also gets out of the car, takes of his jacket and flings it at Jae Wan who pushes it aside. They fight and Roman tells Jae Wan he's in deep trouble if he messes with Director Baek one more time. Jae Wan says that's too bad because he's going to find out the truth about mother and son. Roman looks genuinely confused. Truth?
Director Baek wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming from the nightmare of her car accident. She goes over to her warddrobe and changes into her clothes. We see her scarred back again. She makes a call in front of the hotel, telling the person on the other line not to delay "it" anymore.
Next morning, Jae Wan is out of his house without his suit, in a smart blue shirt and pants. His hair is dishevelled, shirt is not neatly tucked in. Chae Kyung's voiceover plays. Turns out Jae Wan received a call from her about a secret meeting being held in Ciel. Good old Chae Kyung, always informing Jae Wan about everything. Mo Ne rushes over to Jae Wan and asks why would there be a meeting at such an hour without anyone informing her. They get into Jae Wan's car and he heads for the hotel. He's already instructed Soo An to find out who organised it and tells Mo Ne to remain calm when he sees her clutching her hands nervously.
They run to the regular room where meetings with the Board of Directors are usually held. They enter, to see Director Baek sitting at the helm. Lee Jung Gu and Chae Kyung are both not present. Everyone is clapping and Mo Ne asks what's going on. Director Baek stands up and announces a motion to dismiss Mo Ne as the chairwoman has been passed. Mo Ne, stunned, stumbles backwards but Jae Wan quickly grips her arms to support her.
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This is one exhilarating episode. It was filled with tension from the start to the end. It was much better than Episode 17, which felt like a filler to build up to this climax. So many things are finally happening and Mo Ne has finally learned Director Baek was never on her side. Mo Ne probably didn't take Jae Wan's words too seriously when he said Director Baek is her enemy now, but seeing Director Baek in her seat and having passed the motion to dismiss her would snap her out of her false sense of security.
I think it's finally time for Mo Ne to start trusting Jae Wan again, and for Jae Wan to be brutally honest with Mo Ne about every inch of him. He needs to tell her everything about himself from the time he was a kid till now so that she can learn what made him the way he is, why he did what he did so that they can work on taking the hotel back.
Roman Lee is still such a dunce! He thinks very highly of his mother. What will happen when he learns the hyung who protected him as a kid is Jae Wan, the very person his mother is trying to destroy? He needs to open his eyes wider and learn what's going on in the hotel if he plans to stay there longer and join in the game. He can't just accept everything his mother tells him without questioning what she says. Why isn't he suspicious of her keeping a spy camera in her office to see if anyone enters it? How can anyone just accept such actions? And I thought Mo Ne was the Most Oblivious Person ... looks like there's someone to compete with her for that title.
As I mentioned on Soompi:
I have one bone to pick with the editing in Episode 18. It's the scene where Mo Ne gives the cat its food and Jae Wan is watching her from afar. When Mo Ne goes back into her house, she doesn't close her balcony door. What's wrong with her? Does she want some murderer to walk in and kill her? Even if we take the danger aspect out, what about when Jae Wan talks to the cat? Come on, anyone can hear someone talking outside their house especially when the whole surroundings are quiet and the door is open, too. I can hear my neighbours talking when they sit at their balcony and my balcony door is closed. Surely Mo Ne can hear Jae Wan's voice! He's facing the direction of the door. He definitely wasn't whispering to the cat either. Or maybe Mo Ne was hoping Jae Wan might just swing by and visit her :P
I also remember someone on Soompi said Director Baek was writing her own script and forming her own story with the present generation, right? When Yoo Joo Min's concert rehearsal failed, Jae Wan and Mo Ne were left standing on the stage. It was pitch black, but then dim lights came on. And BMN was watching from the back. It's almost like the director watching how the play unfolds right? It's like as if all the other actors have left the stage, their parts are over, and only Jae Wan and Mo Ne are left. It's their story now.
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