Episode 13 – Presidential Candidate

The aftershock

Pres. Park joining the presidential race is the talk of town. Mayor Kang Sang-Goo was teased by his secretary for dyeing his hair because she thinks he felt threatened. Pres. Park doesn’t want to join a political party to avoid compromising the investigation of the bombing. Sec. Han declines to join Pres. Park’s campaign.

Pres. Park attends a public event as part of his campaign but was put in a tough spot when the movie director admitted that she was gay. The discrimination act was thrown at him and the secretaries stops him from setting a bill in motion. Kim Nam-Wook tries to stop media from speculating about Pres. Park’s opinion about LGBT.

The investigation continues…

Jung Han-Mo declined to give information to Agent Han about his situation even though she already knows his son was kidnapped.

Tae-Ik had no choice but the bring Jae-Min to the hospital when he suffers from allergic reaction. A hospital staff recognizes Jae-Min from the picture provided by Agent Han and reports it. Tae-Ik tries to run away with the child but gives up and decides to leave him. Agent Han was surprised to find out that Tae-Ik is still alive.

Agent Han’s investigation leads them to Gen Eun Hee-Jung as a person of interest. He got spooked when Kang Dae Han asked him about it. Pres. Park cannot request an open investigation on Oh Yeong-Seok because people might think he’s doing it to damage his political rival.

Cha Young-Jin vs Kim Nam-Wook

Sec. Cha is against the discrimination act while Sec. Kim supports it. They have a heated argument about it and only stopped when Pres. Park mediated. Agreeing words won’t cut it, they decide to take it outside. What other way to settle the differences between men than a basketball one-on-one? (This is the most memorable scene ever! This shows they respect each other as colleagues and like each other to be considered friends. Friendly competition makes their relationship interesting and one of a kind. Plus, these dudes are fit! Handsome older men sweating while shooting hoops. Their chiseled bodies can be seen through their shirts wet from sweat. Sigh.) Kim Nam-Wook wins by the way. (LOL.)

Now that he’s exposed, Gen. Eun tries to convince Oh Yeong-Seok to join him and turn their back on the VIP. Pres. Park decides to go through with enacting the discrimination bill.

Episode 12 – Answer

Pres. Park wakes up

Kim Nam-Wook brags to Oh Yeong-Seok that Pres. Park is awake. The First Lady and Sec. Park fusses over the President so he kicks them out. Finally alone, Sec. Jung reports to Pres. Park that Oh Yeong-Seok authorized to kill the sniper. She finally tells him that Sec Cha was the one who ordered to remove Gen. Lee’s access to OP 5015-18.

Agent Han finally briefs the President

In the previous episode, Kang Dae Han was able to find Seo Ji-Won and all the intel they’ve gathered so far had been shared. In the pretense that she was being transferred to the prosecution, Kang Dae Han releases Agent Han and brings her to Pres. Park to report what she has found so far. Even though they’ve lost all the evidence, she tells Pres. Park that she will start all over again. Pres. Park tells her to start investigating the accomplicfe inside BH.

Sec. Han finds out that Sec. Jung investigated him in secret and realized that’s the reason why she’s been acting strange. He asks her why and if she was ordered by the president or if she did it on her own. She did not respond and left. Kang Dae Han invites him for questioning and he was surprised to find out that he’s being investigated as an accomplice to the bombing. Agent Han plays his phone call recording and showed him the OP 5015-18 file which he claims to have no access to. He says that he’s only passing orders from higher-ups, specifically from Sec. Han Ju-Seong. He points out that Sec. Han was overseas at the time and when he came back the file was gone because the previous president ordered them to be destroyed. Sec. Cha was cleared from all suspicions.

Before leaving. Sec. Cha asks Agent Han if the President suspects him to be the mole. (He sounded hurt and apprehensive of the response. It shows how much he values Pres. Park’s opinion of him.) Agent Han says that if the President suspected him, he would have been relieved of his duties first. (He looked relieved.) He meets Sec. Jung in the hospital and she awkwardly tells him that Agent Han already gave her an update. He tells her that he would have acted the same if he was put in the same situation. Sec. Jung responded that, even so, they wouldn’t be sharing that beer after all.

The Battle of Baengnyeong

Oh Yeong-Seok calls the NSC while keeping the BH staff out of the meeting. Afterwards, Gen. Eun tries to be friendly with him and acting like his superior he asks Oh Yeong-Seok to report to him. Oh Yeong-Seok brings up the Battle of Baengnyeong and tells him not to order him again. (The Battle of Baengnyeong seems to be Oh Yeong-Seok’s last assignment before leaving the navy. Rep. Yoon was also involved in it and this was the reason why he declined to join her party in previous episode.)

Sec. Cha finds out that the purpose of the NSC meeting was the expansion of Naval base so he went to confront Oh Yeong-Seok who turned it around by asking him where he was yesterday. (He was being questioned by Agent Han.)

“It’s the reason why I can trust him.”

Rep. Yoon meets with Oh Yeong-Seok to question his decisions. After their conversation, she tells Sec. Cha to be careful of him because he’s a dangerous man. Sec. Cha talks to Oh Yeong-Seok to tell him about the negative results of his decisions and that he’s abusing his power. Sec. Cha says that Pres. Park knew how to fear this position (president) and that’s the reason why he can trust him.

Agent Han follows a lead and went to BH with Kang Dae Han and Seo Ji Won. They overheard Oh Yeong-Seok talking to the US army about the naval base expansion and Agent Han realized that the reason behind the bombing was to start a war with South Korea at the center of it.

It’s been released to the public that Sec. Cha was investigated as an accomplice in the bombing so he decides to resign from his position to avoid tarnishing Pres. Park’s campaign. Pres. Park attends the press briefing and publicly declines Sec. Cha’s resignation.

President Park announces that he will be running for President…

Episode 11 – The Acting President, Oh Yeong-seok

Two shots fired.

Pres. Park needs to undergo surgery due to the gunshot wound and will be unable to perform his duties for the next 12 hours. The second shot was to the Minister of Strategy and Finance who was supposed to be next in line as acting President.

Everyone’s on edge and emotional in the hospital while preparing for the President to go on surgery. The First Lady frets after seeing her husband still working with his secretaries even though he can be replaced temporarily. She tells him that as for their family, he’s irreplaceable.

Sec. Cha notifies Oh Yeong-Seok that he’s now acting president as per South Korean Constitution. Pres. Park and Rep. Yoon discusses how to keep Acting President Oh in check. Rep Yoon tells Pres. Park that she didn’t want to recruit him on their party because he’s not marketable in politics. However she tells him that she can trust to fight if he’s the referee. (Basically asking him not to run as president and moderate the election instead.)

Interrogating Agent Han

Agent Han keeps a tight lip and asks to brief the President directly. Kang Dae-Han tells her that Pres. Park is in surgery and Oh Yeong-Seok is acting president. Since Director Ji Yoon Bae is watching, he secretly tells her that he met Kim Jun-o which surprises her. She pretends to attack Kang Dae Han so she can tell him to look for Seo Ji Won.

President Oh Yeong-Seok

Completely comfortable in his (temporary) role, Oh Yeong-Seok made it his first order of business to allow the stock market to crash to the benefit of a businessman that the VIP favors. He also orders the NSC to kill Tae-Ik in order to cover up their involvement.

Lover’s spat

Even though the surgery was a success, Pres. Park is still unconscious and the doctor is worried about possible brain damage. BH is moving forward smoothly without Pres. Park. Sec. Jung tries to go to the hospital but Sec. Cha stops her which makes her angry. She confronts Sec. Cha asking him why he remains unfazed by everything that’s going on. She accuses him of not caring about who becomes a president and calls him a kingmaker.

Sec. Cha is upset and tries to explain himself. He says that he doesn’t want this period to be remembered as Pres. Park’s failure and he thought that she of all people would understand. Sec. Jung tells him that she doesn’t know what kind of person he is anymore. (Sec. Jung doesn’t seem to believe the saying – Innocent until proven guilty. She let her emotions get in the way.)

Oh Yeong-Seok’s warning

Oh Yeong-Seok personally attends the media briefing and tells the public that the sniper was killed to avoid more casualties. He also warns the attackers “We will no longer condone any threat to the safety or lives of our people. We will make sure to punish you.” (Such strong words. Since he’s one of the perpetrators, this is really him doing a campaign in advance.) He successfully earns the public’s favor.

Episode 10 – Accomplice

How Kim Jun-O survived.

He finds out about the plan to bomb the National Assembly building so he makes his way there to stop it. He was attacked by Tae-Ik on the train but was able to get away, however, the bomb exploded just before he was about to enter the building. He pretended to be dead so that he can report what happened.

OP 5015-18

Kim Jun-O shows the bombing simulation the Pres. Park and reveals that this made before the bombing not after. All the people who knew it existed died in the bombing except one – General Lee Gwan Muk.

Pres Park continues to investigate the bombing in secret with the help of the Head of Security Kang Dae-Han. Suspicions grew when every person they find connected to the bombing are dead.

Pres. Park talks to Gen Lee and finds out that his access to the OP 5015-18 was revoked that’s why he never saw what’s inside. Pres Park ordered Sec. Jung to find out who revoked Gen Lee’s access. She later finds out that the call came from the Secretaries’ office – but the line was shared by Sec. Cha and Sec. Han.

Kim Jun-O dies, for real this time.

Suspecting that Agent Han’s life might be in danger, he calls her and tells her to leave the house before it explodes. Agent Han and Kim Jun-O meets again but their reunion was cut short when he got shot by the assassin sent to kill her. Pres. Park felt frustrated that he couldn’t give Kim Jun-O a proper funeral.

The Investiture

No way to stop it, Pres. Park proceeds with the appointment of non-party cabinet. During the ceremony, Sec Jung received the recording that proves that Sec. Cha was the one who revoked General Lee’s access to OP 5015-18. Agent Han finds out where Tae-Ik is and that he is about to assassinate someone in the appointment ceremony. Unfortunately, she failed to stop him.

Episode 9 – Scandal

Pres. Park’s scandal is revealed to be about his personal life. Choi Kang Yeon was a divorcee when she started dating Pres. Park and Si-Wan was her son on her first marriage. Pres. Park does not want to use his son for his political gain so he declined to reveal the truth in public and he was ready to ruin his image. Sec. Cha and Sec. Han tries to convince him to prioritize his political career.

Agent Han finds out that the reason why Chief Jung turned himself in was because his son was abducted. Chief Jung’s wife declined her help.

Rep. Yun first to announce her presidential candidacy.

The Blue House was able to divert the people’s attention from Pres. Park’s scandal by using the first lady’s fashion statement.

Kim Jun-o is alive. The whistle-blower was revealed to be Kim Jun-O. He used the scandal to lead Pres. Park to him so that he can report what happened during the bombing. It was also revealed that he was the one who saved Agent Han during the accident.

Sorry I haven’t been able to post anything for 3 weeks. I was busy with work and studies that’s why I’ll do my best to catch up today.

Episode 7 – Governance

Myung Hae Joon murdered at NIS

The North Korean soldier who was captured at the end of episode 6 is being interrogated at NIS by Jung Han-Mo and Agent Han. At first he keeps a tight lip but after a while they successfully provoke him to speak. They find out that North Korea did not order the bombing but somebody murders him before he could confess. He instead leaves a dying message – Tae-Ik.

The Non-Party Cabinet

Pres. Park agrees to create a nonparty cabinet to prepare for the upcoming election. Oh Young-seok is chosen as a candidate for Ministry of National Defense and he accepts it. Rep. Yoon is against the nonparty cabinet and plans to get the president impeached.

Chief Jung reports to Pres. Park

Agent Han and Agent Seo found a face for Tae-Ik and more evidence implicating Rep. Oh. Agent Han reports to Chief Jung and tells him that someone in the NIS knew about the bombing. Chief Jung reports to Pres. Park but couldn’t give him all the details because Rep. Oh was there.

Mayor Kang’s mole in the Blue House

It was revealed that Chief An leaked sensitive information to Mayor Kang. But instead of firing him, Pres. Park uses him to persuade Mayor Kang to support the nonparty cabinet and Rep. Yoon fails to get Pres. Park impeached.

Secretary Cha asks Pres. Park to run for Presidential Elections.

Episode 6 – Command

President Park’s last card.

Rep. Yun meets Rep. Oh to convince him to join her camp. At the same time, Pres. Park decides to appoint him as Acting Prime Minister even though his secretaries were against it.

Pres. Park invites Rep. Oh over to offer him the post but he declines. He doesn’t like to be used as a card for Pres. Park’s political success. But at the same time, he gave the president a tip that he should also use the same strategy when in comes to international politics. Pres. Park decides to use Vietnam to make a deal with Cambodia.

Troop 707 deployment gets the green light.

After the successful deal between Cambodia, South Korea and Vietnam – Troop 707 starts simulations and drills. Pres. Park personally oversees the simulation and greets the troop members. He orders the commander, Major Jang, to prioritize the troops’ safety.

Agent Han returns to NIS with evidence.

After receiving the anonymous tip about Room 119, Agent Han tracks down the original blueprint of the National Assembly Building and meets with Rep. Yun. Although Rep. Yun agreed to give her a copy of the blueprint, she requests that she should be notified about the progress of the investigation. Agent Han reports to Agent Jung and presents the evidence she found. Room 119 was a bomb shelter and all the people who helped build it were all murdered (possibly). And that Rep. Oh was rescued from that room after the bombing – that his survival is not a miracle but a conspiracy.

A successful mission.

Troop 707 successfully extracts the North Korean soldier from Cambodia. However, Major Jang died in the process. This saddens and angers Pres. Park so he pays Ex-Sec Han a visit. In a previous conversation, it was revealed that Sec. Han recommended Pres. Park to become the Minister of Environment. So now, Pres. Park cries bitterly and blames him saying he’s the reason why he’s in this position – a position where he takes somebody else’s life. So he asks him to take responsibility and invites him back to the Blue House.

I have to say, the story is starting to bore me. The only story line that keeps me interested now is Agent Han’s investigation. I’m starting to notice cliches – like the death of Major Jang. I want more twists, please!

Episode 5 – A Good Person

The aftermath of President Park’s honesty.

After publicly admitting that he was fired from his post right before the bombing, BH receives petitions from citizens to remove him as acting president. Meanwhile, TBN gets the highest rating of all time.

Secretary Cha’s decision.

It’s revealed that Rep. Yun offered Sec. Cha a chance to join her camp. Even though public opinion is currently against Pres. Park, he still decides to reject the offer. He thinks that being loyal makes him invaluable since it’s a rare character trait in their field.

Reporter Oh’s chagrin.

Mayor Kang offers the post of Press Secretary to Reporter Oh if she joins his camp. When TBN station director Kim joined them, it finally dawns to her that she was used for their political propaganda. Feeling disgusted and ashamed, she leaves them.

Park Si-wan’s storyline.

Park Si-wan accidentally sees a picture of his mother with another man. She was pregnant in the picture and the date on it might be approximately around the time he was born.

Representative Oh’s Eulogy.

At the funeral, the citizens’ loud boos are heard when Pres. Park goes up the stage to pay his respects. And in his eulogy, Rep. Oh openly criticizes Pres. Park’s administration.

You’re fired!

General Lee openly disobeys Pres. Park’s wishes not to send troops to Cambodia without agreement from their government. And so, Pres. Park relieves him of his post.

The New Chief Secretary.

Chaos ensues when the video of the North Korean soldier admitting to the bombing was leaked. Public opinion shifts and citizens are now more interested in capturing the North Korean soldier. Realizing that Sec. Cha released the video, Pres. Park confronts him. Sec. Cha says he did it to control public opinion and gives his resignation letter. However, instead of leaving, he moves to the Chief Secretary’s Office. Pres. Park breaks the news to Sec. Jung himself so that she won’t be hurt so much. Sec. Jung goes to Sec. Cha’s office to congratulate him and he asks her to have a beer. (Kilig* moment!) However, she declines saying she’s not mature enough to buy him a congratulatory drink or that she will look pathetic if he buys her a drink to console her. (Romance is brewing in BH).

Han Na-kyung quits NIS.

At first, Agent Han still felt pretty sure that Rep. Oh was involved in the bombing. She still decides to investigate even though her sunbae Agent Jung keeps on dissuading her. She visits Rep. Oh at his house before the funeral to question his whereabouts a minute before the bomb exploded. He didn’t answer her and asked her to leave. His fellow soldier talked to Agent Han in private to explain that he’s the reason why Rep. Oh left his seat – because he was talking to him on the phone to help him with his PTSD. After hearing Rep. Oh’s eulogy, Agent Han decides to leave NIS because she thought she’s too emotional and she can’t stay professional anymore. In her apartment, she looks at her prenup pictures and cries bitterly. Then, an unknown number calls her mobile and tells her how Rep. Oh survived the bombing – Room 119.