1% of Anything: Episode 13

by HeadsNo2

It’s yet another enjoyable hour of 1% of Anything, replete with kisses and a dance number, even. It’s as if everyone behind this show got together and asked themselves, “How do we make this delightful?” And here we are. That doesn’t mean we don’t have our share of issues to deal with, or that the editing is perfect (there were some whiplash cuts this episode), but this is a show where the good definitely outweighs the middling.

 
EPISODE 13: “The End of the Contract: Don’t meet a good person”

Da-hyun wakes up to find Jae-in holding her hand as he calmly informs her that she’s at his house before asking her how she feels. She’s a bit disoriented about the events that brought her here, but he insists that she get some rest first—everything else can be sussed out tomorrow.

“You’ll be fine now,” Jae-in tells her. “I’ll make it so that no one can ever touch you again. I promise.” With that, he kisses her softly on the lips.

Jae-in knows he’s in for it when Hyun-jin comes barging in, unwilling to take Jae-in’s word that Da-hyun is fine without seeing it for herself. Hyun-jin wants to take Da-hyun home, but Jae-in says she’ll be just fine here.

This puts Da-hyun in between the two of them, but she ends up staying with Jae-in. Hyun-jin has no choice but to give in gracefully, though worry remains etched across her face.

As Da-hyun sleeps in a bed also occupied by Jae-in later that night, she’s beset by nightmares that have her in a cold sweat. Jae-in wakes her up by shaking her shoulder, reassuring her that everything’s going to be all right. Pulling her into his arms, he pats her back gently to help her back to sleep. Aww.

In the morning, Da-hyun wakes and turns over, coming face to face with Jae-in. She’s not at all shocked, and only asks what happened yesterday. He tells her not to be concerned about it and to get more rest, but she insists on going to work. It’s Friday at least, so she claims she’ll be able to get the rest she needs over the weekend.

Sun-woo, having likely heard the story of what happened from Hyun-jin, pays a visit to Jae-in at his office to give him what for. “Don’t make things harder for Da-hyun,” Sun-woo says. “You know better than anyone that you two can never get married.”

While Jae-in says that’s none of his concern, Sun-woo goes on to describe all of Da-hyun’s angelic attributes, which to him, are all reasons why Jae-in is an unsuitable match for her. “It’s usually the bad guys who need angels the most,” Jae-in returns thoughtfully, though Sun-woo is less than impressed.

The two of them are soon joined by Tae-ha and Lawyer Park to discuss what’s to be done about Joo-hee. Sun-woo acts as Da-hyun’s oppa and proxy as Jae-in reiterates that Joo-hee not only kidnapped someone, but that it was his own girlfriend. He wants to make her pay for that.

Lawyer Park wonders if he wants to do so using legal methods, but Sun-woo’s against it, since the media firestorm will only make things harder for Da-hyun—and it’ll make it even harder for Jae-in to get married later. (I assume he doesn’t lump Da-hyun in with this, but it’s vague enough that it could also be implicit approval.)

For now, the plan is to alert Joo-hee’s father in an attempt to have him step in and control his daughter. As for Tae-ha, Jae-in only wants him to try and put a damper on his father’s ambitions.

Da-hyun’s dizziness makes her unable to finish a dance class with the kids, and she just looks worse as the day wears on. She seems surprised to see Jae-in waiting outside the school to pick her up, and on the car ride back, Jae-in frets over her wan appearance.

He apologizes again, and Da-hyun just sighs—all he’s done is apologize and ask about her health, she says, and she’d rather him just get mad. At least she’s used to that side of him.

It’s then that she notices that they’re not heading to her house, and despite her wanting to go home, Jae-in wants to keep an eye on her for a little while. He promises he won’t jump her bones, and half-jokingly adds that he’ll only consider it if she keeps crying and clinging to him.

She asks to know what happened again, flatly refusing to buy his story that she’s just anemic. Warning him that she’s not stupid enough to buy anymore lies, Jae-in finally sits her down to tell her what really happened.

After hearing it, Da-hyun is surprisingly calm, and even asks Jae-in not to punish Joo-hee too harshly for what she did. She’s not saying that he shouldn’t punish her at all, but to make sure it fits the crime.

He turns his face at that, and Da-hyun uses her hand to gently turn him back toward her. “That’s how you do things,” Jae-in finally says. “I have my own way of doing things.” At least he promises to give it some thought when she implores him to just do as she asks, considering that she was the victim.

Insecure, Jae-in asks again to make sure that Da-hyun’s going to stay at his house, pulling her into an embrace as he adds that it’ll put him at ease to know she’s safe. She notes that he’s more frightened than the person who got kidnapped, and Jae-in confesses that he’s a bigger scaredy-cat than most.

After meeting with Joo-hee’s father, Lawyer Park reports back to Jae-in that all the chairman wanted to do was settle the matter quietly. Jae-in doesn’t seem to like that attitude, but he ends up distracted by the revelation that Hanjoo Chemicals has been sneakily stockpiling SH Mall shares.

He’s not too worried about it since he knows it’ll have drawn the attention of stock regulatory committees, and tells a nervous Employee Kang that they’ll have to do their own internal investigation and comply with whatever outside investigations come their way.

Jae-in acts like a newlywed when he comes home to find Da-hyun waiting, unable to hide the enormous grin on his face. Da-hyun’s happy to see him too, but complains that his fridge is just for decoration. Luckily, Jae-in’s brought groceries to make her dinner.

She’s skeptical that he can cook at all, but ends up eating her words when she takes a bite of the delicious spread he makes for the two of them. His happy bubble does end up bursting when Da-hyun tries to skip out after dinner though, and despite his best efforts to try and get her to sleep at his house, he can’t change her mind.

He does eventually get her to sleep at his house by promising that he’ll go sleep at the hotel, telling her that his house is the safest place for her to be.

Cut to: Jae-in returning to his house to find Da-hyun just getting out of the shower (cue lone wolf howling) as he stammers something about his forgotten laptop. Da-hyun retreats back into the bathroom to catch her breath, but doesn’t get much of a chance when Jae-in knocks at the door.

He bids her to come out, but she says she only will once he leaves. He replies that he won’t leave until she comes out, leaving them at a standstill. It’s only when she reminds him that something bad almost happened to her because of him that he relents and agrees to leave.

She hears a door shut, wondering whether he was true to his word. But as she slides out of the bathroom, she fails to notice Jae-in standing in the kitchen and lets out a nervous sigh. “Why are you sighing like that?” he chimes in, surprising her. “No one is going to eat you alive, you know.”

Despite Da-hyun’s efforts to slide past him, Jae-in slowly traps her against the wall: “I was trying so hard not to eat you alive, but I don’t think I can resist anymore.” Brushing her hair away from her face, he leans in to kiss her, pulling her closer as she returns it. Omo.

The kiss gets more intense as she wraps her arms around his neck, but he’s the one to pull away first. “I think I might end up doing something disastrous at this rate,” he says, but Da-hyun says nothing. So he kisses her again, and again, and again. Omo omo omo omo.

After the whole of SH Group finds out that Tae-ha’s been promoted while his father has been fired, Tae-ha tells Jae-in that he’s worried his father won’t step aside so easily, but Jae-in tells him to just focus on getting the board of directors on their side for the upcoming financial investigation.

Turns out Tae-ha was right, since we see his father and mother burst into Grandpa’s home to demand answers. Grandpa gives Daddy Min a flight ticket out, adding that it’s a much better option than jail for what he’s been doing with the stocks.

Grandpa rebukes him for holding hands with Hanjoo Chemicals, claiming that they could’ve only bought the SH stocks they did using slush funds or borrowed money. “This is easily the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done!” Grandpa fumes.

Joo-hee tries bypassing Jae-in’s secretary with a haughty “Don’t you know who I am?” And hilariously, even when she does say who she is, the secretary informs her that she can’t see Jae-in without an appointment.

Unluckily for all of us, Jae-in happens to pass her by, and she latches onto him instantly. He brushes her grabby hands off every time, so then she tries using the pitiful card: “I just want you to know that I’ve chosen you and not SH Group.”

Mentioning how he always held her love for SH Group instead of him over her, she somehow thinks that that was the only reason he wanted nothing to do with her. To make matters worse, she explains away what she did to Da-hyun as proof of her “love” for him.

She goes on to say that it’s still her fault because she was so blinded by her hatred of Da-hyun, but Jae-in fires back that Da-hyun did nothing to deserve her hatred. “You did whatever you wanted, so it’s time to prepare yourself. Just watch and see what I’ll do,” Jae-in warns, before ordering Joo-hee ejected from the building.

While Employee Kang unsuccessfully tries to rope Deputy Han into transferring with him and Jae-in to the main branch, Jae-in’s sister, Soo-jung, fails yet another idol audition.

But no sooner does she run into Ji-soo outside and asks him for a favor do we find the two of them in a practice room doing a cute dance rendition of “I Want You Bad” from the OST. I don’t know when they learned the moves or why this is relevant, but it’s adorable, so whatever.

The head of the orphanage Da-hyun frequents finds that one hundred million won has been donated in her name, wondering where she could’ve gotten such a sum from. Meanwhile, we find Da-hyun walking home, clearly just trying to hold herself together.

Joo-hee calls on Lawyer Park to help her, claiming that Jae-in won’t even see her anymore. Lawyer Park informs her that he won’t be of much help either, but Joo-hee grabs his wrist and begs. Oh, okay. You kidnapped Da-hyun and would’ve had her raped, but no no, let’s all feel sorry for you.

Da-hyun finally reaches her house, only to find Lawyer Park and Joo-hee waiting outside for her. (Really, Lawyer Park? I thought you were cool.) He offers to send Joo-hee away if Da-hyun doesn’t want to see her, but Da-hyun gives her a chance to speak, with Lawyer Park moderating.

Joo-hee says she did wrong and asks for forgiveness, but Da-hyun rightly notes that she had no intention of letting her go once she kidnapped her. Plus the fact that, y’know, she actually kidnapped her. Joo-hee offers no explanation and just says she’s sorry, begging her to stop Jae-in. Besides, she adds, it’s not like Da-hyun got hurt.

This only raises Da-hyun’s ire, so she sets the girl straight: “You’re not sorry. You’re just upset that this didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. No, I’m not fine. I still can’t walk outside at night by myself because I’m so scared. And I wake up in the middle of the night because I keep remembering what happened that day. I can’t even think straight anymore, because I start to think, ‘What if a bad person had kidnapped me?’ And none of that is going to be settled with just a simple apology!”

Joo-hee asks what she has to do to make Da-hyun stop Jae-in—drop to her knees and beg? But Da-hyun reminds her that Jae-in’s not the type to do something just because someone tells him to, which is when the man himself appears.

His first instinct is to blame Lawyer Park for bringing Joo-hee, but Da-hyun quickly steps in to claim that she invited them. Jae-in gets angry at her for it, but then turns to give Joo-hee what for.

That’s when Da-hyun chimes in that Joo-hee was just apologizing to her, adding a bit more stiltedly that she decided to forgive her. At least she clarifies that she’s only forgiven Joo-hee, but she’s not about to forget what she did.

After Joo-hee leaves with Lawyer Park, Jae-in wonders whether Da-hyun is stupid, or just that nice. She gets tearful as she tells him that’s not it, but she seems unable to keep standing, and sinks down into her chair.

Outside, Joo-hee thinks that the matter has been settled, but Lawyer Park tells her that this is only the beginning. He has testimonies from everyone she involved in the kidnapping, and they also have voice recordings of her phone calls with them. His advice is for her to just go away quietly, otherwise, there’s no telling what Jae-in will do if she tries to see him again.

Jae-in’s aunt and mother have a heated discussion over Jae-in’s future in the company, as well as him having fallen for a girl who has nothing. His mother defends her son by saying that he wouldn’t do such a thing, and that there must be something Da-hyun has that they’re not aware of.

But once his angry aunt leaves, his mother looks at a report on Da-hyun worriedly. Ruh roh.

While news breaks about Hanjoo Chemicals’ shady financial dealings with SH Group stocks, Da-hyun figures out that Tae-ha’s father was behind the bomb threat at the hotel and the break-in at her apartment.

Jae-in confirms her suspicions, surprisingly calm about the whole matter while the two share a picnic blanket in a park. Da-hyun wonders at the strange world where Jae-in lives, since he’s dating someone he signed a contract with and that someone could even get kidnapped.

He smiles as he tells her that it’s only because she’s met the strangest people he knows, though he’s quick to add that he’s definitely normal. Da-hyun switches topics to ask if he was the one to donate to the orphanage, and when he squirms a little uncomfortably, she grins to see it’s true.

Explaining that he just felt like he should do something nice for a change, he then hilariously asks if she’s not going to give him a “Good job!” stamp this time. She draws the characters on his palm with her finger instead, and he pulls her in to plant a kiss on her forehead.

Da-hyun takes a look around to see if anyone’s spying on them, and when the coast is clear, she leans over to kiss his cheek. They smile and laugh, enjoying the day.

 
COMMENTS

Could these two get any cuter? No, seriously, I’m actually beginning to wonder. It does make me a little nervous going into the final week, if only because this show has been such a joy to watch—and while I don’t think they’re going to give us a sad ending, it means that we have only a few episodes left to solve the problem of how they’re going to be able to stay together. Which I hope, in the spirit of the rest of this show, will be done with as little angst as possible.

This was such a great episode in terms of relationship-building though, and I’m actually liking how Jae-in can be a little crafty about squeezing more time and togetherness out of Da-hyun, because it feels very real that he’d do that. Gone are the days where they would go on one date per week just to fulfill an obligation, since now I feel like we’re peeking into the life they’d have if they were married. (So get married, already!)

Da-hyun’s really a cut above the rest when it comes to heroines, and she’s played like a thinking human being with just a bit of sass, which I love. She was quick to catch onto Jae-in’s ploy to keep her at his house, and watching them dance around the elephant in the room was fun. This is the kind of courtship it seems like we just don’t get nowadays, and contract relationship aside, their interactions are so true to form for their characters. Plus, that kiss.

And that sort of quality of interaction is the sort of thing that all romances try for, but only a few succeed at. We’re at the point now where we desperately want these two to be together, and they want the same—that feels like the aim of most dramas, but since we’ve seen the everyday ups and downs of this couple, their growth together feels earned. You just can’t beat that.

For as crazy as the kidnapping plot was, the fallout was much more interesting, and it was so nice to finally have a crazy second lead face the threat of real consequences for their actions. Joo-hee did get off relatively easily (as in, she’s not in jail), but they didn’t skim over her responsibility in the matter or the gravity of her crime. I do wish she were played with just a bit more subtlety to make her less of a cartoon, but luckily for her, everyone around her makes up for the black hole of charisma she’s proven herself to be.

As if Da-hyun couldn’t win any more points, her confrontation with Joo-hee gave us the best of both worlds—she got to speak her mind without believing Joo-hee’s sorry act for one second while staying true to the kind spirit we know her to be. It would’ve been unsatisfying if she had felt bad enough for Joo-hee to forgive her right off the bat, but having her tell the certifiable lunatic that she was definitely not okay because of her little stunt was perfect. Not that calling Joo-hee out makes much of a difference since she’s just off in her own world, but at least this should provide some closure to her character. As in, I hope this really is the last we see of her. Bring on more Da-hyun and Jae-in, please and thank you.

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