Misaeng: Episode 17

by odilettante

The newbies seem to have finally hit their stride, and for at least one episode, there isn’t the sense of soul-crushing agony as we watch them go about their day. However, nothing is ever that easy at One International, and it’s the higher-ups who now struggle — particularly Chief Oh, as he not only discovers the cost of his team’s loyalty to their leader, but must also determine if it’s worth sacrificing his intrinsic pride and integrity to support the executive director’s projects.

 
EPISODE 17 RECAP

The office is abuzz with everyone hard at work, and Dong-shik and Chief Chun exchange glances when Geu-rae explains over the phone that the point of contact for this project has changed “for internal reasons” to Dong-shik, and to call his extension instead. Assistant Manager Kang chides Baek-ki for not having the data on their deal with Turkey at the ready because he’s still focused on his own project. Baek-ki sheepishly apologizes that he’s not great at multi-tasking.

Chief Jung compliments Young-yi on how excellent her documents are, and she jokes that it’s about time he noticed. The rest of the resource team members are astonished at her sass, but Chief Jung appreciates the fact she’s been studying witty comebacks. Seok-yul (with center-parted hair!) reports to Chief Moon about the progress he’s made with the factory and finding subcontractors that will help complete the order. Chief Moon is grateful, but Assistant Manager Sung watches them in silent frustration.

The old Seok-yul is definitely back, since he’s cornered Baek-ki and Geu-rae in the break room, trying to convince them to spend Friday night with him and some pretty flight attendants. The other two are resistant to the idea of going on a group blind date, but Seok-yul tells them it’s their duty. Besides, how else are they going to meet any girls since the only other woman they regularly see is Young-yi. Wait, does that mean the cute kindergarten teacher is no more?

Of course, Young-yi arrives just at that moment, and the boys try to awkwardly disperse when Young-yi asks them why they were talking about her. But when Deputy Director Sun’s staff enters, griping about their new assignment, all four newbies quietly file out of the room.

Seok-yul explains that Deputy Director Sun took on a humanitarian project to send blankets to Pakistan after an earthquake, and Baek-ki realizes that it’s sure to be a failure since it will require a lot of work with no guarantee of profit, and her team expressly doesn’t want to work on it. Young-yi also notes that Deputy Director Sun has been looking exhausted lately. When she asks again why the boys were talking about her, they all suddenly find excuses to leave. Haha!

Chief Oh carefully and thoughtfully goes through the files that had been handed down by the executive director. If he can complete the project, it’s a $500 million contract for the company. But the first project is needed in order to pave the way to the big money-making contract, and the department head reassures Chief Oh that it’s sure to go through since the executive director has been working on his connections with China for at least a year.

When Chief Oh reveals the projects to Chief Chun and Dong-shik, the latter is surprised that they’ve been given such high-profile assignments, feeling like there must be a catch. The ever-practical Chief Chun thinks that they should accept the assignments, since it means it will look good on their performance review — by passing on it, they could risk looking like they’re totally incompetent and unable to complete even easy projects.

But those “connections” might not be exactly legal, and Chief Oh points out that their team could be blamed if it falls through. Besides, the big contract relies on the executive director’s expectation that the company they have connections with will win a solar power bid, and there’s a chance that could fall through.

During a smoke break, Dong-shik admits to Chief Chun that he wants to take on the project because if they succeed, then their team will finally be respected. But he still doesn’t understand why the executive director is so determined to have this project succeed, or why he gave it to Sales Team 3. Chief Chun explains that this project will be the executive director’s way of being promoted to vice president — but only if it goes through, of course.

By assigning it to Sales Team 3 instead of another sales team, the executive director also covers himself in case the project fails. Because then Sales Team 3 will be blamed, and finally he can rid himself of that “toothache.” Dong-shik points out that it’s even less likely that Chief Oh will agree to these projects, then, since he won’t want to either support or be the fall guy for the executive director.

Chief Oh returns from a demonstration of the Chinese factory products with a chatterbox factory manager, MANAGER SEO, following behind like an over-eager puppy who could put Seok-yul to shame with his constant babbling and incessant salesmanship. If you thought this face looks familiar, you’d be right — it’s the same guy Geu-rae chased through the streets of Amman in the first episode.

The older staff seem to know his schtick and immediately shut down his attempts to sell them products, but when Manager Seo is introduced to Geu-rae, he immediately asks if there are any other newbies. Our favorite four are his captive audience as Manager Seo reveals jars of “rare” honey. Seok-yul is ready to walk out when he hears Manager Seo’s ridiculous claims as to why this honey is supposedly so special, but is immediately suckered back in when Manager Seo says this honey is good for a man’s virility.

When Young-yi proudly presents three honey pots to the rest of her team as a gift, they all chuckle to themselves, amazed that Young-yi of all people fell for Manager Seo’s scam. But Chief Jung plays along, kindly thanking her and reassures her that they’re happy to receive the honey. But when Baek-ki happily hands over his “special honey” gift, Assistant Manager Kang bluntly tells him he was duped.

Sales Team 3’s bemused reactions at Geu-rae’s pot of honey fall somewhere between the other two, with Dong-shik telling him it’s good he’s helping Manager Seo since he’s going through some troubles, and Chief Chun admitting they all know Manager Seo through his scams. But when Dong-shik searches everywhere for the fountain pen that was on his desk moments ago, Geu-rae realizes that he had seen the pen in Manager Seo’s pocket.

There isn’t much time to fret about a lost pen, because the assistant manager of Sales Team 2 excitedly informs Chief Go that he got promoted, along with another assistant manager who had only been working at the company for a year. The celebrations are too much for good-natured Dong-shik, who quietly escapes to the break room.

Chief Oh soon follows and Dong-shik admits that he had hopes he’d be promoted, too. He blames being passed over this round due to the fact that he turned down a promotion that would have him working in the Congo a couple of years ago. Chief Oh quietly tells him that’s not the reason, but Dong-shik refuses to hear any other explanation.

Concerned about meeting deadlines, Seok-yul privately recommends to Assistant Manager Sung that they change suppliers, since the company they’ve been working with always delivers late. But Assistant Manager Sung deflects by bringing up his old “Wall-dog” nickname, and calling him a bastard when Seok-yul implies there might be suspicious connections between Assistant Manager Sung’s loyalty to a untrustworthy company.

Assistant Manger Sung grabs his collar, but Seok-yul shakes him off, insisting that he stop calling him “bastard” and instead think about what’s best for the company. Assistant Manager Sung is primed for a fight, and tells the “sociopath bastard” that they’ll see who ends up leaving One International first: him or Seok-yul.

Chief Oh and Chief Go step out for a smoke break, which is really just an excuse so Chief Go can check in with Chief Oh about Dong-shik. Below them, the other assistant managers gather for their own coffee break, and Assistant Manager Sung loudly expresses his opinion on the fact that Dong-shik got passed over for a promotion.

Chief Go tries to move along, but Chief Oh stays to eavesdrop on Assistant Manager Sung, who insists that Chief Oh is the reason Dong-shik wasn’t promoted — he spends too much time focused on risky projects, not thinking of the impact it has on his team members. Even if Sales Team 3 gets along, it’s better to be part of a team that may not like each other, but produces profitable results.

Dong-shik finds out about everything the guys said, and when the assistant managers go out for drinks that night in celebration of the promotion, he drunkenly tells them all off, saying they don’t know the first thing about Chief Oh. He reminds them that he hates swearing, and then proceeds to curse them all out. Pfft.

When Assistant Manager Sung calls him a sociopath, Dong-shik lunges forward, ready for a fight. Time to break up the party, and the rest of the assistant managers help Dong-shik (still flailing in his attempt to fight Assistant Manager Sung) stumble out of the restaurant.

Chief Oh stays late at the office, lost in thought. He’s surprised to realize that everyone’s gone home for the day, except for Geu-rae, who’s still there simply because Chief Oh is still there. Chief Oh tells him to leave, adding one of his Yoda-isms that the people you meet can change your life. If you follow a fly, you’ll end up in the toilet. But if you follow a honey bee, you’ll end up in a flower garden. Geu-rae smiles: “So that’s why I’m in a flower garden.” Aw.

As the assistant managers prepare to go their separate ways, they try to figure out who will be responsible for the drunken Dong-shik, who’s still in prime fighting spirit even though he can barely walk. They all have their excuses as to why they can’t take him home with them, and it’s hilarious how they all immediately look to the only sober one, Assistant Manager Kang, who can only come up with the excuse that his house isn’t clean. Ha!

So they end up at a hotel room, instead — all of them except for Assistant Manager Sung, that is. Dong-shik’s passed out on the hotel bed, and the rest of them reminisce about how close they used to be when they were all newbies together. Assistant Manager Kang refuses to join them as they all sprawl out on the king-sized bed, saying that he’ll be leaving soon. But he still sticks around as everyone falls asleep together, he in a chair and everyone else on the bed. Super cute.

The next morning, Dong-shik shuffles into the office, nursing a terrible hangover. During a private rooftop chat, Chief Oh asks Dong-shik if he wants to be transferred to another team, since he knows it isn’t easy being a part of Sales Team 3.

Dong-shik admits that he knows about all the smack-talk the other assistant managers did, but tells Chief Oh not to worry, because he doesn’t agree with them. He likes working with Chief Oh — it’s as simple as that. He promises that if he ever wants to transfer to another team, he’ll let Chief Oh know.

Deputy Director Sun is driving home from the airport from a business trip, busy organizing meetings over the phone. She’s too tired to keep driving, though, so she pulls over to the side of the road, steps out of the car for some fresh air, and immediately collapses.

When they hear that she’s been rushed to the hospital, Chief Oh and Deputy Director Sun’s staff immediately leave to check on her. When they arrive at the hospital, her husband tells them she collapsed due to exhaustion from stress and overwork, and will need to be in the hospital for a few days to rest and recover. Deputy Director Sun’s husband blames himself for her collapse because they’d recently fought about work. He was recently promoted at his job, and told her to quit. But she refused, saying that her job has become a big part of who she is, and she needs to keep herself intact in order to keep her family intact.

Deputy Director Sun’s staff beg Chief Oh to convince her to ditch the Pakistan project, since they know it’s a sure failure. When he brings it up to her, telling her to focus on resting and trust her staff to take care of it, she wonders if she should give it up completely. She explains that she had considered quitting when her husband got his promotion, but decided to stay on.

She then overheard her staff complaining that this meant they would have to wait longer to be promoted, and that’s when she realized that her staff, whom she thought of as family, only saw her as a stepping stone up the corporate ladder.

Chief Oh returns to the office, running into the executive director as he’s headed to the elevator. The executive director asks after Deputy Director Sun, adding that Chief Oh had his own stress-related health issues, too.

The executive director apologizes that there wasn’t anything he could do about keeping Geu-rae’s name on his project, but he can only follow the company’s rules. He cryptically adds that Chief Oh needs more power, because it’s not good for the company to keep switching out contract workers and spend so much time and resources retraining them.

Chief Oh marches to Deputy Director Sun’s staff and tells them that he’ll help them out on the Pakistan project, but they once again wheedle him to convince her to give it up. But Chief Oh remembers how she thought of them as family, and when he returns to his desk, asks Geu-rae to get Seok-yul on the line, wanting to see the files for the Pakistan blanket project. He puts the kibosh on their Friday night plans by telling them he expects Geu-rae and Seok-yul at a certain hotel first thing in the morning.

Saturday morning, Geu-rae arrives at the hotel room as requested, surprised to see Young-yi answering the door. Baek-ki’s there, too, but when Young-yi says Chief Oh asked her to help out this weekend, Baek-ki admits Chief Oh threatened him. Ha! A few seconds later, Seok-yul arrives, and hands over the sample blanket Chief Oh had requested — except this is excess fabric that the factory was originally unable to sell, and thus will be much cheaper to produce than the fabric Deputy Director Sun originally planned to use.

They spend hours combing through the data that Deputy Director Sun had compiled for the project, and as Seok-yul sweet-talks his factory ajusshis into finding some free space on the factory line, Geu-rae starts to transcribe the recording of Deputy Director Sun’s meeting with the Pakistan representative. Except it’s all in English, so he wordlessly hands it over to Young-yi. Aw, it’s like nothing has changed since his first day. As she translates, he types everything up.

By the time evening rolls around, Chief Oh is asleep on the sofa. Geu-rae takes the sample blanket from Seok-yul to cover Chief Oh, and the newbies slip outside for a break. Over cans of beer, Seok-yul admits he’s amazed that everyone volunteered to work on a project that doesn’t affect any of their departments, and wonders if he were in a situation like Deputy Director Sun, if they would react the same as Chief Oh, helping each other out. Then he hilariously predicts what everyone’s reactions would be based on their personalities.

Chief Oh wakes up to find the newbies gone, and looks through the presentation file on the laptop, impressed by what they’ve put together. When he opens the door to the bedroom, he sees the newbies sprawled out and fast asleep, and immediately takes a picture of them with his phone.

Task completed, they leave the hotel Sunday evening, and Chief Oh thanks them for their help. Seok-yul’s ready to take advantage of the fact they’ve still got a few hours left in their weekend, but he’s interrupted in detailing his plans by everyone’s phone buzzing with a text from Chief Oh. Along with the message telling them to “remember this passionate day” is the picture of them all asleep. They all promise each other to never mention this again as they delete the picture off their phones.

Chief Oh is happy to share the picture with Deputy Director Sun as he shows her the presentation they put together, and as she laughs, they remember when they used to work that hard when they were newbies. She’s thankful for all the work they’ve put into the presentation, but she’s curious as to why Chief Oh was so determined to “heal” himself by doing this extra work. He explains the situation with the executive director’s projects, and wonders why he puts up with it all.

She guesses that Chief Oh’s realized that this project handed down from the executive director will end up being the true test between them. Since the project means the executive director could be promoted to vice president, he’ll be forced to support Sales Team 3. She also reminds him that if they succeed in completing the project, then Chief Oh will be promoted to department head. If he’s department head, then per the company manual, he gets to decide how his department is staffed — which means he could keep Geu-rae on permanently and promote Dong-shik.

At home, his wife fixes a late dinner for him as he ponders Deputy Director Sun’s words. They have a sweet moment of husband-and-wife banter before she sits down at the table with him, quietly asking him to tell her what’s going on. He asks if he can be responsible for someone else again.

She tells him to let go of Eun-ji (the previous contract worker who died). Chief Oh’s wife knows that he didn’t do anything wrong, and if he could go back in time, she knows he would do the same thing that he did before — and she would support him. He should focus on doing what he thinks is right and not be so worried about what he can’t control.

In the morning, the men of Sales Team 3 stare in amazement at Chief Oh’s empty desk — he’s never called in sick before, so the fact that he’s taken the morning off is unnerving. Geu-rae thinks it must be because he worked so hard over the weekend, but Chief Chun knows that Chief Oh must make a decision on the executive projects by the end of the day.

Chief Oh stands in his undershirt, staring out his bedroom window. His sons marvel at the fact that their dad hasn’t left for work yet, worried that he’ll get yelled at by his boss because they assume he overslept. But Chief Oh pulls out his dress shirt and puts it on like armor, preparing himself for the battle ahead. He confidently strides into the executive director’s office, stopping only to steel himself before he knocks on the door and enters.

 
COMMENTS

Falling asleep on a hotel bed, piled together like exhausted puppies, must be a One International rite of passage. I’m not complaining, because considering all the awful stuff our newbies have gone through as they’ve adjusted to their new jobs, sharing a bed seems like one of the better shared experiences. I do really appreciate that this episode really let us revel in the warm fuzzies, since it’s been a brutal sixteen episodes as we regularly watched the fab four take one step forward, only to be beaten back to the starting line by awful managers and petty assistant managers.

I also appreciate that the warm fuzzies weren’t just for the fab four, but for all levels of management. Most notably, Chief Oh supporting Deputy Director Sun — but also Chief Go knowing exactly how Chief Oh would be reacting to Dong-shik’s disappointment at not being promoted, and purposefully checking in with him. It’s easy to forget that they started at this company the same way the present newbies did, and have watched each other grow and move up the ranks (however fast or slow that growth might be).

But I think I especially loved seeing the assistant managers together, because it’s much easier to visualize how that could be Geu-rae, Seok-yul, Young-yi, and Baek-ki in the not-so-distant future. Although we can only hope none of them turn out to be like Assistant Manager Sung. Even if his opinion of Chief Oh and Dong-shik’s non-promotion might have been technically correct, he still refused to back down once it was apparent that Dong-shik was ready to defend Chief Oh with everything he had. Not to mention how easily he throws around the word “sociopath,” even though he’s the one who seems the most manipulative and (most telling, at least in my mind) the one who didn’t stay for the hotel-bed puppy pile-on. To quote The Princess Bride: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Because it seems bizarre to label people “sociopath” when they obviously care so much about their job, and the company they work for, that they would risk putting their neck out for their coworkers. Seok-yul sticks up for the factory workers and even tries to save Assistant Manager Sung’s reputation by coming to him privately with a way for him to avoid getting in trouble with Chief Moon. Dong-shik will go down fighting (literally, apparently) for Chief Oh, but he’s also been shown to be incredibly supportive of Geu-rae, even when no one else was. Assistant Manager Sung calls Chief Oh a “sociopath” for being so selfish as to not see how he’s affecting Dong-shik’s career, but I can’t agree. I mean, I think pretty much everyone is willing to follow Chief Oh to the ends of the earth and back, since they know he’ll fight for the people he believes in.

Knowing that about Chief Oh, though, is why I wanted to cry during that scene between him and his wife. He’s instilled such loyalty in our favorite characters, yet he’s still so insecure in himself. But to have his wife give him permission to be the man she knows he truly is was such a tender “heck, yeah!” moment (er, if “heck, yeah!” moments can be tender). Even though she knows that if he fails, it could mean the end of his career, she sees that this is a chance for him to move on from the past that has held him back for so long.

Which is why, perhaps, I’m excited about his confrontation with the executive director, because finally — finally — we get Chief Oh standing up for himself, his team, and the company he’s spilled so much of his blood and sweat and tears to support over the past fifteen years. If there was ever a person at One International that could be properly labeled a “sociopath,” it’s probably the executive director — especially since it seems he’s forgotten about his own hotel-bed puppy pile-on days. But Chief Oh is the kind of man who wants that moment to be remembered forever.

 
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