I Hear Your Voice: Episode 7

by girlfriday

I don’t know if my heart can take much more of this. This show turns me into a nervous wreck, I tell you. Everything goes into full swing today—the crush, the budding romance, and the danger. Augh, the danger. If I could just put all the people I love in this world into a little bubble… okay, that would make for a boring show. But there would still be puppies and rainbows!

 
EPISODE 7: “Why is a sad premonition never wrong”

Hye-sung goes for a run early in the morning—too early, and in too remote an area for my liking. She chats on the phone with Mom cheerily, and ignores the strange feeling she gets that someone is behind her. Don’t ignore that. Why would you ignore that?

She keeps going toward the river, and then stops on a bridge to tie her shoelace… when a man runs up behind her, picks her up, and throws her over.

The outline is Min Joon-gook’s, but we never get a lingering shot of his face.

She lands with a splash and struggles to stay afloat, but she starts to sink. Mom panics on the other end of the line, screaming for Hye-sung to answer her. Suddenly someone else dives into the water to pull her up to the surface…

And then Mom wakes up in a cold sweat. Oh phew. It’s a dream. She wonders to herself: “What kind of dream is this vivid? Why did I have this dream…?”

As they head out to start their day, Hye-sung tells Su-ha about her mom’s series of dream premonitions and how they always come true. He doesn’t believe in that stuff, and calls it all coincidence. She pauses to ask why he’s not helping her carry her big files, and he just says without skipping a beat that his own bag is plenty heavy. Ha.

But when Hye-sung gets ready to leave on her bus, he reads her thoughts and sees that she’s worried about what her mom’s dream could mean. So he hops on her bus to take her all the way to work, and even carries her files for her.

She’s clearly happy about it, but also worries that he’s going to be late for school, and tells him that he doesn’t need to do all this, because Sung-bin told her that he’s felt indebted to her for ten years. She says she would’ve testified ten years ago regardless of him, so there’s no debt to repay.

He swears that that’s not it at all, so she asks why he’s doing all this for her. His eyes dart around nervously… Suddenly he notices an empty seat and points it out, and she runs over to claim it, forgetting that he never answered her question.

Kwan-woo catches up to them on the street just outside the office, and Hye-sung has this hilarious moment where she stops herself from turning around too eagerly, and coaches herself to go with a cool, aloof concept.

Su-ha watches with a frown as she compliments Kwan-woo on his new look (Sadness—I miss dorkypants. He was so cute.) and Kwan-woo asks if Su-ha was the dongseng she had to help yesterday when she ran off.

He treats Su-ha like a kid and tries to tell him to stop getting into trouble, but Su-ha just cuts him off and leaves with a curt goodbye. But he lingers to watch them, his lip curling up in horror as Kwan-woo gives her the chocolate he’s been carrying since yesterday and wipes away a smudge from the corner of her mouth.

They giggle and flirt and she feeds him a bite, and Su-ha looks down dejectedly at his own clothes: “I should’ve worn something other than my school uniform!” Aw.

Pretty the Paralegal drops a water bottle on Hye-sung’s desk to say that she’ll need it for her next client, who’s a repeat-offender that Lawyer Shin has defended before. He’s a grandpa who stole free newspapers—the catch being that he took a whole stack rather than just one, and this is the sixteenth time he’s done so.

Hye-sung meets him, and soon finds out why the water was needed. He’s so hard of hearing that she has to scream at the top of her lungs just so he’ll hear her, and she screams herself hoarse just to tell him that he needs to settle out of court. He’s stubborn on top of it all, and refuses.

She comes home that night frustrated and exhausted, and Su-ha just smiles and tells her to think at him instead of talking, which makes her day. She suddenly lights up and think-talks at him with animated gestures, as he listens to her case of the day. It’s adorable.

Joon-gook brings back the empty containers from Mom’s birthday food and thanks her sweetly. He catches a bit of her conversation with the neighbor ajumma about Hye-sung dating Kwan-woo on her own after all, and smiles to himself in his creepy killer way.

The phone tracker ajusshi keeps sending Joon-gook spam texts to try and trace his location, but so far he’s not biting. Su-ha urges him to hurry, because he’s running out of time.

Today he walks Hye-sung to work dressed in regular clothes (oh, puppy), and lies to her that it’s plainclothes day at school. She just absentmindedly wonders if there is such a thing.

He stops to take a call and then heads up to her office to drop off her mountain of files, and runs into Kwan-woo in the elevator. Kwan-woo greets him happily, and thanks him for dropping Hye-sung off again, “In this dangerous world.”

Kwan-woo pats him on the shoulder, and Su-ha shoves the hand away: “And why is that something you’re grateful for?” Ha. Kwan-woo takes issue with his word choice (he’s not being totally informal but he’s not being polite either) and asks how old he is.

Su-ha leans in: “I’m younger than you.” Kwan-woo laughs it off and says he was just asking because he has a pretty cousin in high school he could set him up with. Su-ha rolls his eyes: “I have someone I like.”

Kwan-woo: “Who?” Su-ha: “Why do I have to tell you?” Kwan-woo sighs that he’s felt this from the start, but he doesn’t think Su-ha likes him very much. Su-ha totally turns to look him right in the eye and say: “That’s right.” Hee.

Kwan-woo’s pretty quick on the uptake, and Su-ha catches him wondering in his head if it’s because he likes Hye-sung. Su-ha: “Yes.” Omo. It startles Kwan-woo, but Su-ha plays it off like he’s answering his last question, and points out Kwan-woo’s foot that’s stepping on his.

As they get to the office, they hear Hye-sung shout at someone to stop, and they both race down the hall. That ornery grandpa is back, and today he’s armed with a bucket of slop, and threatening to throw it at her.

He screams that she’s a trash lawyer, and tosses the bucket of trash to make his point… and Su-ha swoops in to shield her, falling into the cabinet behind them to break her fall. It was mostly lettuce in the bucket, but I love that he dove like it was a bullet.

The whole office erupts in a frenzy. Kwan-woo freaks out at Gramps, Lawyer Shin tells them not to call the police, and Hye-sung flips her lid once she sees that Su-ha is hurt.

Lawyer Shin takes Grandpa outside to talk him down, and Hye-sung and Su-ha come out just as he’s shouting about what a kind, good person Hye-sung is. She’s not having any of it and tells Lawyer Shin she’ll go by the letter of the law and report him.

Lawyer Shin counters that he’ll do the same then, and report her misconduct in the twin case—being in cahoots with a prosecutor could get her disbarred. She asks if he’s threatening her, but he says they can call it a “negotiation tactic.” She’s so stubborn that she’s about to tell him to go ahead, but thankfully Su-ha is there to step in.

He bows and says he won’t report Grandpa, and she snaps: “But you were hurt!” Aw. He points out that that makes him the victim, so he gets to decide. She stalks off angrily, and he catches up to say he’s genuinely sorry for not taking her side, and that he won’t do it again.

She stops being mad and tells him to go to school, and he just stands there making smiley faces at her until she smiles back. Gah.

The tension in the office starts to take a toll on Pretty the Paralegal, and he just sits at his desk on pins and needles, waiting for someone to erupt. A ringing phone throws the poor guy off his chair, and he delivers the news to Kwan-woo that he’s been assigned to Bucket Grandpa from now on.

Judge Kim and his entourage find Kwan-woo sitting outside the courthouse lost in thought, and he brags to his colleagues that he hand-picked Kwan-woo because he was so upright… as they watch him blow a gasket and kick a trashcan over screaming, “WHY ME?!” And then five seconds later he bends down to pick up all the trash. Ha.

Pretty the Paralegal gets stuck as the conduit between Hye-sung and Lawyer Shin like a child trying to volley a pair of bickering parents, and grabs Kwan-woo in relief when he rescues them all by coming back in with a sunny attitude.

He takes on the case and works tirelessly, taking it all in stride even when the plaintiff greets him with a bucket of cold water. These grandpas sure do like their buckets. Anyway, Kwan-woo is basically awesome and does the thankless thing, which is why he’s great.

Hye-sung complains to Su-ha at home though, thinking it’s disloyal of him when his colleague was attacked by Bucket Grandpa, and asks what Su-ha would do. He’s about to say he’d do the same, but takes it back and decides that he’s loyalty all the way. Heh. Way to kick a suitor when he’s down.

She pops open a bottle for Su-ha (I love the reversal now that he’s injured) and admits that she thought Kwan-woo was a teensy bit cool, but decides she was wrong about him. Su-ha smiles and suggests that maybe her mom’s dream was a premonition about the bucket of trash. If only.

Mom’s more concerned about Hye-sung’s first paycheck this week, and asks if she’s going to put it in her bank account thoughtlessly or bring her cash in person, with respect. Heh.

Hye-sung knows when she’s being bossed, and says she’ll come this weekend. Mom’s plan all along was to use the money to buy Hye-sung a car, and calls Joon-gook to ask him to pick up a few things in preparation for her daughter’s visit. Eeep.

This is what he’s been waiting for. He smiles and then heads out to the street. We see the view from a security camera aimed at Mom’s chicken shop… and watch as he passes by, and then the footage cuts out. Jeepers.

Hye-sung finds Kwan-woo asleep at his desk in the morning, and decides to confront him, and the beginning of her sentence cracks me up: “I wasn’t going to say anything because it seemed petty but…”

She asks if he isn’t mad at what that grandpa did to her and how he belittled all public defenders. His answer is intercut with his defense in court, as he shows the judge how many newspapers it takes for Grandpa to make his rent and eat (because he collects recyclables as his only source of income) and how few people read newspapers nowadays.

He tells Hye-sung that he’s working this hard because he’s mad at what happened to her, and he wants to show the defendant, “That we’re trying to see the world through the same eyes, that we truly understand. And I’m going to win that case, and then I’m going to ask that grandpa to apologize to you. That’s why I’m working this hard.” AW.

As she rides the subway to work with Su-ha the next morning, she thinks back to Kwan-woo’s defense in court, and envisions Grandpa going through the train and collecting thrown away newspapers, and how different things are now that all the passengers are on their smartphones. There isn’t a newspaper in sight, and she murmurs aloud, “He was right. That’s how it must’ve been.”

Su-ha asks what she’s talking about, and catches her thinking that she wants to help Kwan-woo. She quickly covers by saying that she feels bad because it was originally her case, but then thinks—what’s the point in lying when Su-ha can read her mind.

She starts to say: “I realized it recently, but honestly, Kwan-woo…” He cuts her off, not wanting to hear her say the words. “Stop.” He puts his headphones back on and turns away.

A lunch coupon for four gets Hye-sung reluctantly invited along to lunch today. They happen to find Do-yeon and Judge Kim already eating there and decide to make it an awkward party, and talk eventually turns to Grandpa’s case.

It turns into a pissing contest between Hye-sung and Do-yeon, with the food held hostage in the middle via lazy susan. The judge has to break it up just to get his hands on lunch, while Kwan-woo smiles at Hye-sung for sticking up for Grandpa.

Meanwhile, Su-ha comes upon Grandpa in the street and hears him wondering if the pastry stand nearby will sell him just one, because he’s only got 500 won to his name.

So he bounds up to ask Grandpa if he has 500 won, because he’s a few won short of buying a set of buns. Grandpa asks if he’ll share, and Su-ha promises to give him two out of three with a smile. So cute.

Hye-sung and Su-ha unpack the truckload of side dishes that Mom sent over, and she tries on a jacket that she sent. Su-ha: “Pretty.” Hye-sung: “Me?” Su-ha: “No, the jacket.” Heh.

She wallows over Grandpa’s case, sighing that there’s nothing to be done if he won’t try and settle with the newspaper owner. Su-ha says he saw Grandpa today (he tells her it was by coincidence, which I don’t buy) and that Grandpa tried to settle with the owner but got nowhere.

He says the two men are actually distant relatives, which they didn’t know until someone in the extended family passed away and they met at the funeral. But that gives Hye-sung an idea—there’s a loophole concerning criminal charges in cases of theft between relatives, which she might be able to use, with Su-ha’s help.

So he shows up to meet her the next day, and humona—he’s dressed in a suit. I’m gonna need a moment.

Her mouth hangs open as she just blurts syllables, and he reminds her that she was the one who told him to wear one. She says it really must be true that the suit makes the man, and says that she almost swooned. He loves it, but pretends not to care.

She explains that they need to get the newspaper owner to settle, but Su-ha reminds her that Kwan-woo already tried and got a bucket of water in the face. Hye-sung: “That’s why I need this [holds up umbrella, ha] and you.”

Then they sit all close and snuggly to strategize, but mostly they just giggle, while Su-ha steals glances at her. It kills me.

Meanwhile Kwan-woo’s out of ideas, and Grandpa prepares to face jail time. He consoles himself with the thought that at least he won’t have to worry about rent or food, which makes me want to cry.

Hye-sung goes to see the newspaper owner armed with umbrella and mind-reader, and they catch him in lie after lie, from having stormed into Grandpa’s house to threaten him, to placing illegal ads in his paper.

They scare him just enough for him to ask if they’re threatening him, and Hye-sung smirks, “Let’s just call it a negotiation tactic.” Heh.

They strut away with signed settlement in hand, and high-five in an explosion of cheese. She asks if he wants anything like she’s rewarding a puppy, and he says he wants to go to the aquarium because he’s never been. She realizes she’s never gone either, and they make plans to go after Grandpa’s trial.

Grandpa is moments away from being sentenced to a prison term, when Hye-sung storms into the courtroom like white knight, bearing settlement papers and proof of Grandpa’s relationship to the newspaper owner.

Kwan-woo bear-hugs her right then and there, in the middle of the courtroom. She’s so stunned that she doesn’t move a muscle while he finishes the case and gets Grandpa cleared.

He chases her outside, and catches up to her just as Su-ha spots them. He asks for a high-five, and when she complies, he holds on and plants a kiss on her hand. Ack. It’s so sweet, but Su-ha! His heart just hits the ground with a thud.

Kwan-woo: “Let’s date, you and me.” She gets flustered and can’t form words: “No-, wai-, wha-?” He says that he might be smiling, but he’s shaking on the inside, and asks her to hurry up and answer—does she dislike him?

Hye-sung stammers, “No, I like you…” At that, Su-ha turns and walks away, heartbroken.

Sung-bin sees him lying in the field at school. He thinks over all the signs that were there all along—that Hye-sung liked Kwan-woo. He takes out his Good Job Bear, and tosses it away in the grass. No!

Sung-bin picks it up and listens to it, realizing that he does like Hye-sung after all. Augh, the merry-go-round of heartbreak today.

Hye-sung comes out of work and calls Su-ha for the millionth time, but he’s not picking up. But Grandpa is waiting outside and grumps an apology at her, clearly having been sent to do so by Kwan-woo.

She just tells him to call his son already, because he’d be so sad to know how his father is living, but Gramps says that’s exactly why he doesn’t call—because it would break his heart. He turns to go and then comes back to put a little yogurt in her hand before walking away. That’s so sweet.

Joon-gook finally bites and clicks on a text, which starts tracing his phone signal. He returns to the chicken shop where Mom passes over some food she’s made in preparation for Hye-sung’s visit tomorrow.

But he just stares at her in this really detached way, and says he has something to tell her. “It’s quite a long story…” And then we see a wrench in his hand. Ohgodohgod.

Hye-sung calls Mom from the bus stop to tell her about Bucket Grandpa, but Mom’s tone of voice is scaring the crap out of me. She’s saying all the normal responses, but her voice sounds shaky. Like she’s trying to keep from crying.

Hye-sung asks if Mom isn’t hiding something from her, meaning the kind of stuff that Grandpa was keeping from his son for his own good, and Mom says no…

And then we cut to her tied up and bleeding in a corner, with Joon-gook holding a phone to her ear. Nooooooooooo.

She says she’s going to hang up, and Mom calls out to her to say one last thing, while looking up at Joon-gook: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—if we lived by that law, then all the people in the world would be blind.”

She says that anyone who’s bad to her is doing so because they’re jealous, and that she shouldn’t hate them. She tells her to pity them instead. Hye-sung just whines, thinking that Mom is taking Do-yeon’s side again.

Mom screams at her to listen: “Promise me—that you won’t waste your life on hating other people.” If she dies, I’m gonna punch something. Mom asks her again to promise, and she does. She finally notices the tone in Mom’s voice and asks if she’s sick, and Mom struggles to hold in her tears. It’s so heartbreaking and terrifying all at once.

She hangs up, and Joon-gook asks if that’s it, reminding her that those were her final words to her daughter. She steels herself and says those were her final words.

He starts to show his agitation, wondering why she didn’t cry for help. Mom asks if he thinks she’s stupid—she can see plainly what he’s trying to do, and won’t be used to lure her daughter. It gets to him, and he asks if she isn’t afraid, knowing what comes next. Mom: “I’m not afraid of you. I pity you.” Damn, I love her nerve.

She says his life spent hating someone must’ve been hell, and he turns it right around on her, saying that her daughter’s life will now be spent that way, hating the man who killed her mother.

Mom smiles at him like a boss: “She won’t live that way. I didn’t raise her to be like you.”

And then she laughs.

Su-ha FIIIIINALLY gets the text from his tracker, and when he reads the location it rings a bell. He runs out to Hye-sung, who’s just arriving home. He asks where her mom lives, and she confirms it’s the same area, right down to the street.

She wonders how he knows where her mom lives, and he says warily, “Because that’s where Min Joon-gook is right now.”

It doesn’t hit her yet what that means. She wonders blankly why he’d be there… And then the house phone rings. No. Please don’t be the police. Please don’t be the police.

Su-ha picks it up. Oh no, why do you have that look on your face?

Hye-sung starts to panic: “What was that call? WHAT WAS THAT CALL?!”

Hye-sung (in voiceover): “I knew it then—that the nightmare my mother had dreamt wasn’t over, but just beginning. And that the nightmare… was worse than I could ever imagine.”

 
COMMENTS

*huddles in corner, rocks back and forth*

Mom is going to be okay, right? Mom is going to be okay, RIGHT? Ohgodohgod, she’s not going to be okay. Okay, this will sound schizo, but as much as I hate this, I love it. This show is doing everything right in terms of pacing, and stakes, and making us care. Just when we’ve settled into the idea that the killer might spin his wheels like a villain in any other drama, he pulls the rug out from under us. I’m panicked, but it’s great.

I liked the grandpa case even if it was less complex, because it left a lot of room for the love triangle to swing back and forth in this episode. As much as my heart is with Su-ha, I’m excited that Kwan-woo is stepping up as a character and as a romantic rival. He’s doing everything right, and that makes the whole triangle more compelling.

It’s painfully obvious that Su-ha sees the barrier in front of him—Kwan-woo is a man and he’s still stuck in nebulous man-boy-land, and he knows it. And that—the watching her from a distance, knowing that he can’t compete with that—it just pangs my heart in the perfect way. I loved the setup of the hand-kissing scene too, from the fact that they’re both in suits (the gradual progression over the course of the episode from uniform to casual clothes to manly suit was such a great mini arc for Su-ha) but what he’s wearing on the outside doesn’t change things. He’s still playing dress-up, while Kwan-woo gets to confess.

I’m just going to sit in my corner until tomorrow comes. No matter what happens to Mom, I believe that they’d kill her off, so kudos, Show. I’m paralyzed until you tell me what happens. Man, I love that the tension only ever builds in this show. In the great words of Barney Stinson, “People think a good mix should rise and fall. But people are wrong. It should be all rise, baby!”

 
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