The Man Living in Our House: Episode 13

by LollyPip

It’s time for some hard truths to be spoken, both good and bad, even though those truths could change everything. Some loyalties will change and some will grow stronger, while those in power scramble to hold onto what they have. But money and power can’t stop love, which somehow manages to grow and flourish even under the harshest conditions.

EPISODE 13 RECAP

Nan-gil tells Wan-shik that he’s going to the location that Wan-shik indicated, and that CEO Bae will suspect Wan-shik after this is over. Wan-shik tells Nan-gil to watch out for himself, then takes a deep breath before entering a room full of Dada thugs. He tells them to prepare for the legendary Go Nan-gil, and they all rush out.

Na-ri goes looking for her father at the nursing home, after receiving a tip from the laundry ajumma. She runs into the ajumma first, who introduces herself as Jung-sook, looking genuinely happy to see Na-ri here.

Na-ri sees her father in the nursing home hallway, recognizing him with the help of an old photograph. Jung-sook had told her that his eyes have gone bad, and sure enough, Dad looks directly at Na-ri but walks right on by without recognizing her.

Nan-gil enters the lion’s den, thinking of Na-ri’s confession that she loves him and how he never thought he’d hear that from her. He takes on all the Dada thugs at once and holds his own for a good while. But one of them hits him in the head with a bottle and he falls, head gushing blood.

The thugs report back to Wan-shik that the Dada building is secure, and Wan-shik says that no matter what, Nan-gil will die today. He tells them with a smirk that Nan-gil doesn’t even have a legend story, and gives a tiny nod to his right-hand man.

Nan-gil rallies, and makes his way into a secret room where Lawyer Kim and several more thugs are preparing piles of cash bribes. While Nan-gil takes on the thugs, Lawyer Kim shoves a ledger into a leather bag and tries to escape. Nan-gil cuts him off, and punches him hard enough to knock him to the ground.

He takes the bag, and somehow stays standing when one thug breaks a chair over his back. He kicks the guy down and leaves, bag in hand. Lawyer Kim calls CEO Bae to tell him that Nan-gil has the ledger, and CEO Bae immediately calls for Wan-shik.

One of the thugs at the club calls Wan-shik to tell him that Nan-gil came there tonight, instead of the Dada Finance building. Wan-shik screams for his lackeys to head to the club, now. He follows them out, thinking about how CEO Bae made him sign papers elevating him to CEO of Dada Finance.

CEO Bae had told Wan-shik to just go to jail for a while (probably the same “deal” he offered Nan-gil) then Dada would be his, calling it the least he can do for his father. But now Wan-shik grimaces at the word “father,” and orders his driver to turn the car around.

Ajumma Jung-sook takes Nan-ri to her father’s room, and tells him tearfully that his Na-ri, who he dreams about every night, is here. He looks at Na-ri but her face is blurry because of his bad eyes, and he says that she should have accepted him as dead. But when she sasses him, he smiles a tiny proud smile, and says she sounds smart.

Dad waves her closer, and her image sharpens. He marvels at her beauty, and says that it’s all his fault and apologizes. Na-ri admits that she can’t forgive him for leaving her and Mom, but says that she’s glad he’s alive.

Struggling against a growing panic attack, Nan-gil makes his way to a subway station and stashes the ledger he swiped in a locker. He staggers outside and looks up as the city lights close in on him, and finally succumbs to his injuries and anxiety.

The next morning, Na-ri is worried when she can’t reach Nan-gil. Yeo-joo comes downstairs to talk, but Na-ri snaps that she has nothing to say to her, so Yeo-joo leaves in a huff.

Young-gyu freaks out when nobody shows up to work, not Nan-gil nor either of the mandoo chefs, and he doesn’t know what to do. He tries closing the restaurant but the crowd of people outside kick up a loud fuss, demanding to talk to the owner.

The news is full of reports on Dada Finance, which is under investigation for illegal loans and money laundering. The police are looking for Wan-shik as he’s now the CEO, while CEO Bae sits comfy in his big fancy house.

CEO Bae tells Lawyer Kim that Wan-shik is working with Nan-gil, and they wonder how they’ll find Nan-gil and get their ledger back. CEO Bae tells Lawyer Kim to bring Wan-shik to him, and they’ll make Nan-gil come on his own.

Young-gyu placates the hungry mob by handing out free mandoo samples on the restaurant patio, which is where Deok-shim finds him when she shows up for work. She offers to help, and once they finish, Deok-shim offers to help him make mandoo so they can open the restaurant.

Na-ri bursts in and asks where Nan-gil is, and Young-gyu tells her that he’s missing, along with Joon and Han-yi. She heads to Nan-gil’s office and finds Mom’s phone on the desk, and she thinks about Nan-gil’s confessing that he feels responsible for her father’s supposed death.

Yeo-joo runs into Deok-bong outside the museum and angles for a ride back to Seoul. He says that he knows she’s coming onto him, and that he’s not interested, and she loudly insists that she’s not interested in him, either.

He asks why she came to the museum then, and she says it’s to give him some info on Na-ri. She informs Deok-bong that Nan-gil is missing and the restaurant is closed, and that she thinks Na-ri knew Nan-gil was going to disappear.

One of the variety show writers calls Young-gyu to yell at him for closing the restaurant the day after the show aired – people are angry that they can’t try the mandoo they saw on television. She’s practically in tears over the backlash this is causing the show, and orders him to serve mandoo no matter what.

Young-gyu hangs up and asks Na-ri what she plans to do about this. Na-ri simply says, with utter conviction, that Nan-gil will be back.

On the drive to town, Yeo-joo tells Deok-bong that she asked herself why she keeps going to the country when nobody wants her there. She thinks she wanted to apologize to Na-ri, but whenever she sees her she doesn’t want to say she’s sorry.

Deok-bong says that first of all, Yeo-joo needs to figure out how she feels towards Na-ri, and Yeo-joo seems genuinely surprised that she’d have strong emotions towards another woman. Yeo-joo asks if Nan-gil ran from Na-ri after a fight, but Deok-bong thinks something happened to him.

As Na-ri bargains with the universe to return Nan-gil to her, he wakes in a hospital bed with Joon and Han-yi hovering over him. He asks about the ledger first thing, and Joon confirms that he moved it to a safe location. Nan-gil jumps up, eager to get back to the restaurant, because being away from it makes him feel worse.

Na-ri stays up late, staring at her silent phone and remembering her and Nan-gil’s one day of happiness together on the beach. She heads to the restaurant and finds the chefs making mandoo, and they all look guilty when she demands to know why nobody told her that Nan-gil is back.

Uninterested in Young-gyu’s excuses, Na-ri runs over and finds Nan-gil sitting in his dark office. He tells her to leave the light off, and slides her an envelope. Determined, Na-ri says into the dark room, “I met my father.” That gets his attention, and he jumps up to ask if it’s true.

He grabs her and demands details, but she’s too frightened by the sight of his battered face to answer. She asks if this happened to him because of her and her father, and Nan-gil grabs her in a tight hug. He apologizes and promises not to do it again, saying that he had something to take care of but it’s all over now.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look over as far as CEO Bae is concerned. He meets with none other than Deok-bong’s father, CEO Kwon, who we learn is CEO Bae’s boss. CEO Bae insists that he’s never kept anything like a ledger for his own insurance, and CEO Kwon tells him to get rid of Nan-gil “in the old way.” Well, that sounds bad.

Once Nan-gil is calm, he asks Na-ri again about seeing her father. She confirms that he really is alive and in hiding, and that Jung-sook contacted her to go see him. Nan-gil tells Na-ri not to go alone just because someone says to, ever again.

Na-ri tells Nan-gil to rest and they can talk more later. His expression softens, and he says that he’s grateful her father is alive. Na-ri starts to leave but Nan-gil asks her to stay, dramatically collapsing on the bed from his extensive injuries. Ha, so cute.

Na-ri had given her father her photo of the two of them, and he smiles at it happily. Ajumma Jung-sook asks if he told Na-ri he’s physically weak and whether she asked him to live with her, but he says he didn’t want to be a burden.

Jung-sook wonders if Nan-gil will show up, and says that the Dada Finance guys told her he was acting like Na-ri’s stepfather. Dad blows up when she mentions the guy that caused his accident, but she thinks it’s good news — they can use that information to get Na-ri to kick Nan-gil out.

Na-ri stays with Nan-gil, offering to tell him a bedtime story. She tells him about he Legendary Go Nan-gil who could fight a hundred men, who had really good taste and fell for a girl named Hong Na-ri. Nan-gil hears the story for the gentle rebuke it is, and promises not to fight again.

Na-ri sees his expression and asks if he’s in pain, but he says that he’s just scared she’s disappointed in him. Na-ri says that she’s also scared he’ll be disappointed if he knows more about her, and tells him to go to sleep.

Nan-gil sighs that it’s nice hearing her voice, and she lays her head on his shoulder. He rests his head on hers, and they sit quietly, just savoring the peaceful moment.

Na-ri sneaks out of the office in the morning (rawr?) and nearly runs right into Young-gyu. He giggles at her and she rushes out, embarrassed.

Joon sneaks into the office to pass Nan-gil a copy of the Dada secret ledger. Nan-gil goes straight to Deok-bong and hands over the copy of the ledger, which spells out the relationship between Dada Finance and Deok-bong’s family company, Greenland.

It’s clear from Deok-bong’s reaction that he had no idea, but he goes on the offensive and asks if Nan-gil is refusing to sell his land to a dirty company. Nan-gil reminds him that he offered to pay off the debt, but Dada refused because of Deok-bong’s father.

Deok-bong wants to see the original, and Nan-gil tells him to work this out with his father, and make sure CEO Bae can’t get away. He leaves the copy with Deok-bong, and the moment he’s alone, Deok-bong calls his father and starts demanding answers. When CEO Kwon says they should talk in person, Deok-bong says he’s sending Deok-shim back home, and cutting himself off from the family.

The police search continues for Wan-shik, who’s hiding out with his main minion. The minion reports that CEO Bae is searching for him, seeming genuinely concerned for Wan-shik, who looks pretty worried himself.

Wan-shik takes a call from Nan-gil, who asks if he’s decided whether to turn himself in. He says that dragging this out gives CEO Bae a chance to run, and when Wan-shik tries to enlist Nan-gil’s help since he helped him get the ledger, Nan-gil reminds him that he only used Nan-gil to get free of CEO Bae.

Deok-shim is frantic when she finds out that Deok-bong is sending her back to Seoul, insisting that she’s been behaving as he wanted. Deok-bong coldly says that they aren’t even real siblings, and vows to cut off everything to do with his father. Deok-shim refuses to go home, threatening to run away, so a furious Secretary Kwon says she’ll take Deok-shim to her house for now.

Nan-gil takes the day off, and shocks his chefs by asking for their car keys, since he normally doesn’t drive. He finds Na-ri and tells her to come with him, reminding her that he did everything she asked whenever she wanted him to do something for her.

He seems excited, and teases Na-ri when she’s nervous about his driving. He tells her that he visited Mom this morning and told her that Na-ri found her dad, and what his plan is for today. Na-ri jokingly notes that her stepdad is in a good mood, and Nan-gil pouts and tells her not to call him that anymore.

Yeo-joo seems to be coming down with a cold, and she swigs cold medicine as she waits for the bus. She misses it to take a call from Deok-bong, who wants her to pay him back for settling her dispute for wrecking the club. He tells her to come see him, then takes it back when he hears her coughing. He says he was planning to ask for a favor, and she offers to do the favor as repayment, and coughs a few more times for his benefit, hee.

Nan-gil and Na-ri pause at a rest stop to stretch their legs, and he says that he used to come here to sleep when he’d get in a fight. He urges her to keep doing their hour a day to get to know him, because he wants them to know everything about each other. He smiles at her with so much hope, but Na-ri stays quiet, making him nervous. Nan-gil says that he thought he was protecting her, but really, Na-ri was protecting him.

He thinks back to all the times he watched over Na-ri, all their lives, and realizes now that even when he was tired, just seeing her made him feel better. He calls her his “Hong Na-ri rest stop,” and they share a sweet, quiet moment before he pouts that she was always with some other guy, ha.

Nan-gil finally tells Na-ri that he’s taking her to see her father. She asks why, jokingly asking if he’s looking to get custody of her, and he chirps that he should get custody since he never left her like her father did. As they resume their drive, Na-ri admits that she’s worried about how to deal with her dad. Nan-gil suggests that they let Dad decide.

He loses his confidence when they arrive at the nursing home, looking like he wants to toss his cookies at the idea of meeting her father. Na-ri says it’s not like he’s a son-in-law meeting his girl’s father for the first time — he’s a stepfather meeting a father, as equals.

He sure looks like a scared son-in-law though, as he stands in front of Dad wringing his hands. Dad tells him to sit, and Na-ri tells Dad that they came to take him home. He laughs, saying that CEO Bae will kill him, but Nan-gil assures him that they’ve taken steps to take down Dada Finance for good.

Strangely, Dad flips his lid to hear that CEO Bae is head of a finance company. He calls Bae a con artist, and refuses to leave the nursing home. He changes the subject and asks Nan-gil what his relationship is with Na-ri, but we don’t hear Nan-gil’s answer.

Deok-shim sits down with the still-coughing Yeo-joo, who tells her that Deok-bong says to come home. Deok-shim stays obstinately silent, until Yeo-joo warns that she’ll end up like her, friendless and unhappy. She goes through a long list of the bad things in her life, until Deok-shim hands her a tissue, asking if she came to comfort her or be comforted.

Deok-shim jumps out of her seat when Deok-bong shows up, but she says she’s only going to work then she’ll go back home. He sits with Yeo-joo, and says with a sigh that he really wants to hold onto Na-ri, asking Yeo-joo what he should do. He immediately takes it back, but Yeo-joo says that his competitiveness must be surfacing.

Na-ri is quiet on the drive home, and Nan-gil gives her hand a squeeze and says they’ll visit Dad often. He says he’s taking her home, but gives her a strange little side-glance and asks if she’s tired several times. He wants to go do something fun, something regular couples do, and Na-ri huffs that they aren’t in that kind of relationship.

Nan-gil huffs right back, reminding her again that he did everything she asked when she was the one who wanted something. She asks if he has a secret ledger, making his head whip around to her, but she just teases that he’s keeping tabs on everything he’s done for her in the past.

CEO Kwon visits Deok-bong, who demands the entire truth. Deok-bong already guesses that his father lent money to Dada Finance as a money-laundering scheme for himself. CEO Kwon thinks that CEO Bae isn’t keeping a ledger of their dealings, until Deok-bong shows it to him. Deok-bong is feeling angry and betrayed, and he begs his father to follow his advice in dealing with this.

Nan-gil and Na-ri walk together in the city, and they stop to watch couples taking pictures in front of a large Christmas display. Na-ri obviously wishes they were a couple too and could do that, and Nan-gil notices her wistful gaze.

They stop to eat at a pojangmacha, and Nan-gil asks what she does on her laptop all the time. Na-ri says she’s just playing, but then says with finality that she can’t play dumb anymore. She tells Nan-gil that when she was little, she knew that her father was about to leave because he was suddenly spending time with her and being nice. Now Nan-gil is making her nervous the same way, and she asks him if he’s leaving her.

Nan-gil just says, “Why would I?” She asks why he’s acting so cheerful today, and he says that he’s just feeling cheerful. When she presses him, he admits that there’s something he wanted to say to her today.

Na-ri braces herself, and Nan-gil says that now that she’s found her real father, he wants to be a normal man to her. He wants to date her, and love her, and get married and have children. He asks her to date as if they’re just a regular couple, starting now. They head back to the Christmas display and take those pictures together. But Nan-gil still hasn’t gotten an answer, and he wonders why she’s being so silent about it.

Lawyer Kim tells CEO Bae that a search of Wan-shik’s car revealed nothing, and CEO Bae orders him to go after anyone who knows Wan-shik for information. Lawyer Kim advises CEO Bae to hide, since the cops have been able to access some old information on their confiscated computers that obviously pre-date Wan-shik.

Back home, Na-ri patches up Nan-gil’s injured hand, then asks to see the pictures they took earlier. She scrolls through until she finds the photos of her from when she broke into his office and tried to hack his computer, and demands that he delete them.

Nan-gil snatches his phone back and holds it over her head, making Na-ri jump to grab it. He wraps her in his arms in a backhug, and says again that he wants to start over as a regular couple. This time Na-ri agrees, and Nan-gil apologizes for taking so long to get here.

She walks him out later, and they bicker adorably over who gets to watch the other go inside. Nan-gil calls Na-ri childish, with the biggest, happiest grin ever on his face.

A car pulls up, and they both look to see who it is. It’s CEO Bae, and both Na-ri and Nan-gil freeze.

COMMENTS

I love that Nan-gil and Na-ri are reconciling their relationship without there ever having been a real period of separation. For once a drama didn’t trot out the old trope that a couple has to be physically apart if they’re emotionally apart. Through everything that’s happened, all the secrets and discoveries, Nan-gil never played Noble Idiot (well, at least not in the disappearing way) and Na-ri has never let him off the hook for his behavior, demanding explanations at every turn. They’ve both stuck around for their own reasons, and tried to stay in each other’s lives even if it means redefining what they are to each other over and over.

What I love most about this couple is that they talk, continually and repeatedly, until they work out their issues. Sometimes one or the other doesn’t feel like talking, but they take turns being the one to draw the other out and keep the lines of communication open. Even with the whole stepfather thing, even with their age difference and their wildly differing backgrounds, no matter what roles they’re playing on any given day, when they’re together they always feel like true equals. There is always respect between them, and they always tell the truth, even when it’s hard to say and hear.

But okay, what the hell is Wan-shik’s deal?? Is he helping Nan-gil because it’s the right thing to do, or because helping Nan-gil also benefits Wan-shik himself? Maybe I just want him to be a good person so badly that I’m seeing things that aren’t there, but despite his every action to the contrary, he sometimes behaves in ways that make me think he really is on Nan-gil’s side. Their cryptic phone calls, tips that Wan-shik seems to be slipping to Nan-gil, the way he redirected his thugs to expect Nan-gil in the wrong place — all of it makes me think they’re working together. But then Wan-shik does something that seems directly harmful to Nan-gil, and I don’t even know. Maybe he just knows that Nan-gil is capable of taking care of himself, so he can order the minions on him and he’ll be fine, and it has the added bonus of keeping CEO Bae from getting suspicious of Wan-shik.

Or it did, until recently. Now that CEO Bae is onto him and actively looking for him, intending to turn him in so he can pay for CEO Bae’s crimes the same way Nan-gil did before. I badly want Wan-shik to be helping Nan-gil from the inside, even though they clearly do have an antagonistic relationship (some of their conversations when alone have been downright vicious), because if he’s helping Nan-gil then Nan-gil will be motivated to help Wan-shik in return, and get him out of that hellhole and into a healthier, safer life. They don’t have to be friends for me to be happy, they can be frenemies and I’d be okay with that. I just want Nan-gil to get Wan-shik out of there and teach him to make mandoo and they can all grow strawberries in the country together forever. Is that too much to ask?

 
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