Friday, December 9, 2011

49 Days Episode 4









Ji-hyun rushes to try and find her official seal before Min-ho reaches the room, but she can’t manage to track it down. Just as he enters, she scrambles out the patio door and hangs off the ledge. She can’t hang on any longer, and falls a few feet down to the ground, injuring her ankle in the process.In-jung goes to the hospital to meet someone she calls “Mother,” though it doesn’t appear to be her own mom. The woman is suffering from dementia, and doesn’t recognize her. She yells up a storm, making In-jung upset. Back at Ji-hyun’s house, Mom comes in, cutting Min-ho’s search short, and he ends up leaving the house with nothing but pictures and dolls. Ji-hyun watches him leave, wondering if he found it, but sees his frustration and rests assured that he didn’t find it either.Back at Kang’s, the other two waiters complain that Yi-kyung is late again, and wonder what’s gotten into their boss, who they know to be a cold stick in the mud. The manager tells them that there’s always more to a person than what they can see.

But when Kang appears behind them and finds out that Yi-kyung still isn’t back, he walks out in a huff, ready to re-re-re-re-fire her. He sees her walking in, stuffing her face with a pastry, and assumes she’s just abusing his kindness and goofing off.something. He takes out an envelope of money and offers it to her, saying that he can’t handle things that are complicated and messy, and that since the day she stepped foot in there, he hasn’t had one peaceful moment.

He offers her pay for the 49 days she wanted to work, and fires her. Again. She gets upset at his offer to pay her off, and insists that she’s not a beggar. He refuses to give her another chance, and she asks angrily if this is why he was being nice—just to spring this on her. He gets mad at the implication, and insists he’s just trying to help her out because it seems she’s got someone to take care of at home, she’s got fiancé troubles, and she doesn’t even have money to eat. She still refuses the payoff and starts to walk away defeated…

…which of course our hero cannot abide. Exasperated, he wonders what on earth she wants from him, and she just says with tears in her eyes that all she wants is to remain here. In her head she thinks, “Kang-ah, if you kick me out, then I’m really alone.”

He tries to get her to take the money, but she says she’ll be okay, and that he’s really been there for her. He finally caves at her stomach growling (heh) and sends her upstairs to eat something. She cries, overwhelmed at the gesture, and he stares uncomfortably at her, clearly unfamiliar with…um…girls.Min-ho’s land deal threatens to go south, and he asks for just a little more time.He shows up at Heavenand Ji-hyun, simple girl that she is, can’t help but be totally transparent around him. She eye-daggers him from far away, and yet shakes in his presence. He notes her behavior and condescendingly tells her not to fuss about near him.

He gets a call from “Secretary Shin,” and steps outside to take the call. Ji-hyun suspects that it might be In-jung, and so she follows him to eavesdrop, hearing him say her name as he tells her to stop crying. He also lets it slip that this is a plan two years in the making.

Ji-hyun wonders what that means, since she met him less than two years ago…It finally dawns on her that their meeting may not have been as coincidental as she thought. Before she has a chance to properly suss out the timeline, Min-ho ends the call and notices her nearby. He tells her to stop, since he knows what she’s angling for, but she’s not his type. I thought you were only good at remembering names, but you must be good at being delusional too. Even if I were a good actor, would I be anywhere near as good as you? You have good manners but no sincerity. And your face is not your real one. Since you know psychology so well, you must use people and con them quite well.

God, that felt good, just hearing her say the words. But as she says that last part, her tear necklace starts to glow red and she stops from the pain.

All of a sudden, the Scheduler appears right between them, giving her an ominous warning: she is dangerously close to revealing her identity, and if she does, that necklace breaks. And when necklace breaks, 49 days are O-V-E-R.She nods that she understands, all the while with Min-ho staring at her like she’s a crazy person. Kang walks up just then, seeing the two of them together. Min-ho asks what she’s doing, and she gathers herself, spitting out that he’s Kang’s friend’s fiancé, but accusing her of trying to seduce him, so she’s angry is all. She whirls around and goes inside.

Later that night, Yi-kyung, driving her own body, notices her twisted ankle and her clean hair. She checks it out in the mirror, when her friendly neighborhood stalker comes in, noting that it’s the first time he’s seen her look in the mirror.

He prods her to take up more of an interest in him, but she refuses, so he tells her that he knows quite a lot about her…why she went to that place, what the scar on her wrist is. She thinks back and remembers him now as a neurologist that she saw, probably close to the time of the accident.He smiles now that she’s finally remembered him, but she doesn’t return the sentiment, and tells him not to mess with her; she doesn’t want to remember anything.In-jung tells Min-ho that she went to see his mother, and insists that they have enough money to take her abroad and live comfortably. He senses that she’s brought up his mom in a moment of weakness, and she confirms it, saying that this isn’t what she signed up for.

She’s worried about Ji-hyun’s dad, and what losing his company will do to him. Min-ho tells her that this is what they planned from the beginning…

Which takes us back to that not-so-fateful day when Ji-hyun was “rescued” by Min-ho…because In-jung ditched her and set the trap for him to swoop in and save the day. And the same goes for that not-so-coincidental run-in at the theater a week later, of course.What they don’t realize is that spectral Ji-hyun is there watching the whole scene unfold, as she witnesses firsthand just how far back it all goes. Ji-hyun, still shouting, blames her for the accident and asks if all of this was for money. Out loud, In-jung muses that Ji-hyun always finds a way not to get hurt, and maybe it’s better this way, so she never knows.

She’s like, I’m standing right here, all ghostlike, and tries to hit her through the mystical barrier. It sends her stumbling, which is when she notices the kangaroo stuffed animal that Min-ho brought from her room as his decoy.

It triggers her memory from the last time she used her seal, and remembers placing it right there, in the mommy kangaroo’s pouch.Meanwhile, Min-ho shows up at Ji-hyun’s house to pick up her parents, as today was supposed to be their wedding day. They head to the hospital, and In-jung takes the opportunity to send the housekeeper on an errand, buying her time to look for the seal.

Everyone else, including Kang and Seo-woo are at the hospital, as Mom tearfully tells Ji-hyun that it’s supposed to be the happiest day of her life. The nurse enters to tell Min-ho that the stuffed animals have to go, because they present a health hazard. Kang heads out, shocked to run into Ji-hyun (in Yi-kyung’s body) at the entrance to the hospital. Using banmal in a fit of panic, she yells, “Ya Han Kang! If you’re going to close the store, you could tell me!”

Her slip doesn’t really register with him, as he asks what she’s doing here. He puts the pieces together and assumes that she must actually have an illness, and is being treated here. She doesn’t have time to explain, and just runs in.

But when she gets there, she has to hide as everyone leaves the room, and she sees Min-ho walk out, kangaroo in tow. On her way out of Ji-hyun’s house, In-jung sees a stuffed toy dangling from her cabby’s rearview mirror, and it triggers her memory. The day that Min-ho had given Ji-hyun her kangaroo, with jewelry stuffed in the pouch—she had called it her new treasure box.She rushes to the hospital to look for it, and finds it already gone, and Min-ho isn’t answering his phone. In-jung and Ji-hyun both hail cabs and race towards…somewhere.Ji-hyun ends up in front of her parents’ house, as she braces herself and rings the doorbell. Mom asks, “Who is it?” Ji-hyun: “I…”

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