Man to Man: Episode 5

by murasakimi

I feel like this is the episode I’ve been waiting for. There are still pieces in this show that haven’t really smoothed out entirely, but I feel like we are quickly moving in the right direction, if we’re not already there. Who knew that all I needed was more cute and funny moments to keep me satisfied? Just kidding, I’m a simple creature, so I did know that.

EPISODE 5 RECAP

Seol-woo throws himself back into his “Guard Kim” identity with an unexpected kiss-attack. Do-ha is rightfully bewildered and pushes him away. He apologizes, then explains that he tried to end their relationship by being cruel, but he confesses that he can’t leave her. She stares long and hard at him, then strikes him across the face.

She demands to know if he’s messing with her and he barks back annoyed that he wishes he were kidding while clutching his tender cheek. Hehe. He takes a deep breath to regain his composure then tells her that he’s usually not like this, but lately he keeps making mistakes.

He eases back into character and clarifies that he means the mistake of trying to leave her for her own good. He declares that he’s canceling his resignation, then takes off before he can bury himself in his mountain of lies. Do-ha touches her lips as he leaves and grumbles about his behavior while being clearly unnerved.

Seol-woo sits Dong-hyun down for a chat, demanding an explanation for making him look crazy. He warns that if he finds Dong-hyun’s reasoning for having to maintain his cover insufficient, then he should prepare himself. As fate would have it, Agent Y’s informant “Goldfinger” is CHA MYUNG-SUK, Do-ha’s father.

Dong-hyun explains that they are after a ring given to her by her father (the gift she lied about throwing away), and adds that seducing beautiful women is Seol-woo’s specialty. Seol-woo sighs and reiterates that he has a bad feeling about their mission, then theorizes that it might be because Do-ha isn’t a beauty.

At home, Do-ha tries but can’t make heads or tails of Seol-woo’s recent actions. Song-yi offers simply that he’s a psycho, but that isn’t enough for Do-ha who wants to know why he acts the way he does only to her, but is polite and normal to everyone else.

Song-yi suggests Do-ha might have enjoyed the kiss, but Do-ha adamantly denies it. So Song-yi tells her to just fire Seol-woo and be done with him, since he already resigned anyway, but Do-ha argues that Woon-kwang really needs him around. Song-yi doesn’t believe her, so Do-ha gets shouty and swears that she personally hates Seol-woo.

The next morning, Seol-woo calls Do-ha bright and early. He sweetly tells her to dress warmly today since it’ll be windy, and when questioned as to why he’s calling her first thing in the morning, he merely replies that he wanted to. A little later, Sang-shik tries and fails to wake Woon-kwang up yet again, but when Seol-woo arrives he announces that Woon-kwang has two minutes until he needs to wake.

The sound of the bodyguard’s voice gets Woon-kwang out of bed, and the actor excitedly asks if Seol-woo has returned to work. Seol-woo answers that he couldn’t turn down Do-ha, and asks to retract the 24/7 guarding duties. Woon-kwang is super jazzed to have his brother back and practically skips over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. He’s adorable.

Do-ha joins the team on set later and when Seol-woo sees her, he does this cute little wave, but she just scurries away awkwardly. Woon-kwang beams as he greets her, asking how she managed to get Seol-woo to stay with them.

She starts acting weird about the answer, accusing Seol-woo of doing something all on his own, but when questioned, Do-ha becomes evasive and replies that nothing happened. Woon-kwang lets it be, but he eyes her suspiciously.

Thankfully, Woon-kwang is called away to his shoot, so Seol-woo, who was watching her fumble around the truth, comes closer. Do-ha puts her hand up to stop him from approaching and institutes a one-meter-distance rule between them at all times.

He asks why and she says, “Because your eyes are indecent and your hands are wicked.” Hehehehe. She uneasily points out that his lips and the most troublesome, then leaves. He glares at her as she walks away, feeling foiled, then puckers at the air, pouting. Omg, so cute.

He follows her outside to ask her what will happen if he breaks her rule, and she answers, “You will die.” The pair is recruited to be extras in the scene Woon-kwang is filming, and though Do-ha jumps into the shot, clearly having done this a million times before, Seol-woo remains on the side.

She growls at him to hurry and come stand beside her, but he answers cheekily that he doesn’t want to die. The director becomes impatient and shouts at Do-ha to set up the shot, and so she amends her rule and says the one meter thing doesn’t apply during work.

He receives her message and approaches, promptly wrapping his coat around her shoulders, saying that he wanted to do this for a while since she looked cold. Her eyes widen from the gesture and he puts his arms around her as the director teases them for playing lovers.

Elsewhere at his day job as a prosecutor, Dong-hyun meets with Myung-suk to ask if the inmate is acquainted with “Robert Yoon” (aka Agent Yoon) and recognizes the Black Auction membership ring. He plays dumb, so Dong-hyun dangles the possibility of parole and suddenly Myung-suk is all ears.

Dong-hyun offers to put his name on the request list, if and only if he promises to stay with family while he’s out. With Do-ha as his only family member, Myung-suk vows to stick to her side and become a useful father.

Meanwhile, another meeting is taking place between Woon-kwang’s former agent CEO Ji and Do-ha, to review Woon-kwang’s endorsement contracts and to wrap up loose ends. She brings up the termination fee for breaking the contract with Chewing, but CEO Ji tells her not to mind it since he was in the wrong.

He tells her that he emptied his life savings to buy back the Chewing shares from Mi-eun and cut ties with her completely. He intends to keep Chewing open and wait for Woon-kwang to return one day.

Back on the set, after settling an issue between Woon-kwang and the director in Do-ha’s stead, Seol-woo sits down with Do-ha for a coffee break. She says that she likes drinking coffee from coffee shops while overlooking the night skyline. He angles for a date after work, but she reiterates her one-meter rule, and Seol-woo is forced to comply.

Do-ha reviews the endorsement material with Woon-kwang later that day and tries to put in a good word for CEO Ji, but the actor isn’t interested in the CEO’s new leaf. Woon-kwang gets up to head in for the night, but when Do-ha gets a text from Seol-woo asking her where she is, Woon-kwang pops back in and looks over her shoulder.

He guesses it’s Seol-woo, but Do-ha plays it off as a work-related question and Woon-kwang pretends to believe her. He gets this large grin on his face and watches her like a hawk as she fibs. She angles her phone out of his line of sight and tells Seol-woo to stop texting her because it makes her uncomfortable.

Turns out all the texting was a decoy to make sure that Do-ha wasn’t home so Seol-woo could snoop through her place and look for the ring. He texts back, “I made you uncomfortable? That’s not so bad.” He asks to eat dinner together after her meeting with Woon-kwang, and Do-ha has to keep lying to Woon-kwang about the messaging.

Woon-kwang pouts that Seol-woo doesn’t contact him about scheduling questions, and wonders if Seol-woo has eaten dinner yet. Do-ha lets it slip that Seol-woo hasn’t, and Woon-kwang’s nose is like a bloodhound’s, clearly smelling something fishy going on between his staff members.

Woon-kwang asks Do-ha if that’s what they’re scheduling: Do-ha’s dinner date. He decides that he needs to ask Seol-woo some questions over dinner (letting out a “mwahaha”), and Do-ha panics. He throws her words back at her and says that they’re just work-related questions.

Unfortunately, Seol-woo’s search has come up empty; he tells Dong-hyun that they need Myung-suk to come out of prison in order to force the ring out of hiding. Dong-hyun asks how things are going on the romance front with Do-ha, but alas that is also stalling.

Seol-woo explains that for a person like Do-ha, slow progress using cold and sweet tactics is essential. Our dating expert declares: “Dating is about reactions. It varies by the person and situation.”

Seol-woo encounters another snag in his romance plot when Woon-kwang calls him for dinner instead of Do-ha. At the restaurant, Seol-woo adorably fires eye-daggers at Woon-gwang when he isn’t looking, but his sulking doesn’t escape Woon-kwang’s notice. He asks pointedly if Seol-woo would rather be eating dinner with someone else, like say, a certain woman named Do-ha perhaps?

Seol-woo is surprised to be seen through so easily, but luckily a young fan recognizes Woon-kwang as Dark Death and spares him from answering. Oh, it’s Mi-eun’s kid. Woon-kwang gets into character, signing an autograph and snapping a pic for the fan.

The boy runs back to his mom and Woon-kwang’s smile fades when he sees his old flame. She apologizes, but he says it’s fine and adds that she raised a fine boy. She thanks him, then escorts her son away. Outside, she swears her son to secrecy about the meeting. He’s confused, but she explains that his father might become jealous if his son has a hero other than Dad.

Having lost his appetite for steak, the “brothers” retire to Woon-kwang’s to watch his movies. Woon-kwang motions for Seol-woo to feed him some mixed nuts, then opens wide. Reluctantly, Seol-woo complies, but is grossed out when his fingers make contact with his tongue.

Woon-kwang offers to return the favor, but Seol-woo refuses, so Woon-kwang asks if he would accept the morsel had Do-ha been the one offering it. I’m loving this Woon-kwang Fairy Godmother.

Since they’ve sworn not to keep secrets from one another, Woon-kwang asks Seol-woo for the truth on how he feels about Do-ha. Seol-woo says that she’s a colleague, but admits, “She gets in my way and worries me.” Woon-kwang concludes that he’s built a love triangle, since Seol-woo likes Do-ha but Do-ha likes him.

He takes Seol-woo’s hand and commiserates, since it’ll be hard to sway Do-ha away from himself. Seol-woo tells Woon-kwang not to worry about it, but Woon-kwang says that he isn’t worried per se, except the problem is that appearance-wise Seol-woo isn’t exactly Do-ha’s style (oh please, oh please take him on a Cinderella shopping spree).

Woon-kwang switches gears from being Seol-woo’s sworn brother to being Do-ha’s older brother, and warns Seol-woo that if he hurts Do-ha, he’ll kill him. After he gets confirmation from Seol-woo that he understands, he tells him to give it his best shot, adding, “It won’t be easy to win against me.”

At home, Do-ha is in a daze trying to sort through her contradictory feelings for Seol-woo. She can’t figure him out, but all she knows is that today he was kind and caring toward her, and that kiss… She swoons just remembering the tingly feeling.

Once Seol-woo has gone home for the night, Woon-kwang looks at his endorsement contracts and thinks back to old times with CEO Ji before they hit the big time. They went around together handing out yogurt drinks to casting directors and producers trying to get hired.

Outside, CEO Ji leaves a yogurt drink at Woon-kwang’s mailbox (awwww), and Woon-kwang comes out to confront him for putting all his money into buying back the shares from Mi-eun. CEO Ji is so committed to the cause that he offers to start off as a junior manager if Woon-kwang will have him back.

Woon-kwang scolds CEO Ji for the offer and tells him to just continue being a CEO. CEO Ji’s face brightens and he runs in after Woon-kwang, who grumps and pretends to be upset.

The new-reformed Chewing executives and Seol-woo sit down for their first meeting, and Woon-kwang proposes that Do-ha and CEO Ji be co-CEOs. Do-ha rejects it since she’d rather focus on her manager duties, noting that Woon-kwang has been back to eating chicken while she’s been busy. Woon-kwang suggests that Do-ha leave some time for dating, and (pfft) also to lower her standards and settle for someone with a “plain” face. He recommends “for example” someone like Guard Kim.

Do-ha is taken aback when all three men stare at her expectantly awaiting her answer. The memory of their kiss flashes through her mind and she shouts, “No way!” to halt the memory in its tracks. Everyone looks at her curiously after her overreaction, and Do-ha tries not to look anyone in the eyes.

Later, Seol-woo sneaks upstairs to meet with Do-ha. He grins as he tells her in a cute voice that he likes the text message she sent him which said: “Let’s meet in private.” I feel totally attacked by all of the adorableness flying left and right. Please don’t let it stop.

Do-ha demands to know if he discussed her during their dinner; he corrects her assumption and says that he spoke honestly about himself. He discloses the bit he told Woon-kwang about her getting in his way and worrying him.

She explodes after hearing that, so he says that he told Woon-kwang that he likes Do-ha, but the feelings aren’t reciprocal. He verifies that Woon-kwang won’t get the wrong idea about their relationship, so she needn’t worry about that. Then he apologies for making her uncomfortable and promises that it won’t happen again. Why do I feel hurt on his behalf over his fake feelings? This spy business is very confusing for my shipping needs.

Sharon and Department Head Jang stroll through an art exhibit on a date. They discuss Mi-eun’s attachment to Woon-kwang, and Sharon explains that Mi-eun wants him to star in a melodrama because she has always believed that Woon-kwang’s eyes were meant to be in a love story. She thinks that perhaps Mi-eun dreams of seeing that look in his eyes since she’ll never see him looking at her lovingly in real life.

Dong-hyun waits at Seol-woo’s hideout and warns him to be careful after discovering that both himself and Department Head Jang are being tailed. Seol-woo isn’t surprised and recommends that they prepare a preemptive strike against their enemies. They’ll throw out some bait and wait for the fishes to bite.

Dong-hyun asks for an update on Operation Romance and Seol-woo claims that he’s “almost there,” asserting that Do-ha has probably been thinking about him all day.

For all his smugness, he’s isn’t wrong; Do-ha is reflecting on her behavior and Seol-woo’s reaction, wondering if she acted a bit too harshly. She debates whether she should just ignore the entire situation and stop thinking about him, before deciding that she needs to face her predicament head-on.

She texts Seol-woo to meet tomorrow, and then waits late into the night for a reply. She gets frustrated and sends a follow-up message asking if he’s busy, but her tone is accusatory. Dong-hyun sees the message and urges him to answer and finish his mission, but our dating expert is playing it cool and replies, “There are times when doing nothing is the best reaction. I should leave her alone now.”

Assemblyman Baek visits Director Im, and it’s evident that their relationship is strained, so Director Im cuts to the chase and asks what he wants. It seems that Assemblyman Baek wants to team up with Director Im to take Seung-jae (but not Songsan) down.

Dong-hyun lays out their bait for Ki-chul’s boys, orchestrating a fake meeting where Dong-hyun will transfer the wood carving to Department Head Jang, and intentionally lets the eavesdroppers overhear. Later, Dong-hyun and Department Head Jang arrive at the spot as planned, while Ki-chul waits on a nearby rooftop with a sniper rifle. Once Dong-hyun takes out the wood carving, Ki-chul shoots, but the windshield of his car is bulletproof. Hahaha.

Ki-chul fires another bullet that doesn’t go through either, and prepares to fill the glass with shots until it breaks, but unfortunately for him, there’s another sniper nearby. Seol-woo fires and gets Ki-chul in the shoulder, and Dong-hyun and Department Head Jang head out for collection. Dong-hyun warns Seol-woo that they need the man alive for questioning.

Meanwhile, Do-ha still hasn’t heard from Seol-woo, and after Song-yi’s encouragement she calls Seol-woo to meet, but he answers in the middle of his operation and hangs up before she can finish her sentence. She calls back, feeling disrespected, and asks why he hasn’t responded. He answers vaguely that he had some business to attend to.

Speaking of, “that business” unclips a smoke bomb and tries to sneak away, but Seol-woo keeps firing shots to keep him from running. Do-ha asks to meet and then belatedly asks what he’s doing at the moment. He answers that he’s “hunting,” then says he’ll pick her up later and hangs up.

On the field, Seol-woo chases an injured Ki-chul down. As he closes in, Ki-chul shoots some debris and it erupts in flames, cutting Seol-woo off. Dong-hyun and Department Head Jang close in from the other direction, but Ki-chul slips through their fingers.

Seol-woo recognizes Ki-chul as the shady mechanic who messed with Woon-kwang’s car, and tells Dong-hyun to check if Ki-chul is another ghost agent. He adds that he’s on his way to meet with Do-ha because, “It’s time for me to declare my feelings and win her over.”

Department Head Jang and Dong-hyun examine the sniper rifle abandoned by Ki-chul, and Department Head Jang recognizes it. He tells Dong-hyun that Ki-chul was in fact a ghost agent, but betrayed his country for money.

Late in the night, Assemblyman Baek waits for Ki-chul to hand over the wood carving, but he is instead met by an army of black cars. Seung-jae exits to the assemblyman’s surprise, and Ki-chul follows shortly after. He understands that he’s been backstabbed, but appears to take it in stride.

Seung-jae has guessed all of Assemblyman Baek’s moves, including his intention to collude with Director Im in an attempt to oust him. He warns the assemblyman not to do it again, as if he were scolding a child who drew on the walls, then says they have a lot more work to do.

Outside Do-ha’s house, Operation Romance is well underway: Seol-woo opens his car door for Do-ha, and fastens her seatbelt without missing a beat. He lingers close to her, glancing upwards and she looks away, flustered.

He takes her to a park that has a nice view of the cityscape, and together they sip on coffee. He cites her comment earlier about enjoying coffee with a view and she’s shocked that he remembered.

Seol-woo adds that she looked a little lonely that day, and even if he doesn’t want to, he keeps learning things about her, and then wants to do things for her.

The plan seems to be working well; Do-ha gets this dreamy look in her eyes and she looks down at Seol-woo’s lips. He reels her in and says, “But I was too self-centered. Love should not be selfish.”

He tells her that she should just forget his feelings for her because he doesn’t want to be a burden. But before he can finish his sentence, she leaps forward and plants a kiss on his face. Then, internally, they both think to themselves, “I knew it.”

Do-ha: I knew it. This feeling… My heart is fluttering.
Seol-woo: I knew it. This feeling… I have a bad feeling about this.

They break away when Do-ha’s phone rings, but she looks up at him shyly. She answers the phone, and Seol-woo’s ears perk up when he hears it’s her dad, out on parole. They head back to her house where Dad is waiting outside.

Dad greets his daughter happily, but upon seeing Seol-woo he gives him the hairy eyeball and asks if he’s dating Do-ha. Seol-woo confirms it proudly, and so Dad suddenly changes his tune, calling him “son-in-law,” then pulls Seol-woo into a bear hug.

While trapped in Dad’s embrace, Seol-woo gets a troubled look on his face and thinks to himself: “I am Ghost Agent K. A shadow without a name or reputation. My duty is a nameless battle to protect freedom and order.”

COMMENTS

I think I’ve been a bit grumpy at the show because I was promised copious amounts of hilarity, cuteness, and giggles and I’ve been feeling somewhat short-changed. Despite my complaints last week, I think Park Hae-jin’s comedic side really shone through today. I loved all his adorable little gestures and faces and I honestly couldn’t get enough of Seol-woo acting childish and dorky. Dong-hyun said that Seol-woo’s specialty was in romance so maybe I underestimated his skills, and now even I’ve been charmed by the spy.

There was this cute moment after Do-ha rejected the co-CEO position, and CEO Ji was like, “Whyyy? I like being co-CEOs, CEO Cha.” The delivery was so earnest and lovely, and I kept replaying that part over and over again. Lee Shi-un is wonderful and I hope he gets more to do.

However, what I loved even more was Woon-kwang playing the middleman and trying to get the truth out of Do-ha and Seol-woo. It’s a terrible thing to do as their boss/client, but it was so enjoyable watching him prod them both that I’m almost disappointed the romance advanced so much and Do-ha realized her feelings for Seol-woo so quickly.

Speaking of those feelings, while I thought the main couple’s interactions were cute (like the one-meter stuff, and then seeing her eat her words almost immediately), I am kind of terrified of this entire ship. I mean I can’t really root for them wholeheartedly because Seol-woo hasn’t even attempted to navigate his minefield of emotions. It’s clear that he’s aware of Do-ha, but he’s still so in control of his feelings (particularly his detachment), that it makes me very nervous. I love seeing him get huffy at Woon-kwang for messing up his mission to have this romantic dinner date with Do-ha, because it leads me to believe that he’s much farther along emotionally than he realizes or even shows us in a credible way, but he’ll need to be more explicit before I can jump on this boat entirely.

In essence, my main wish is that the show believably charts Seol-woo’s emotional journey in a satisfying way because while Do-ha has fallen for him, he still seems like he’s ready to exit the scene via car bomb at any moment. It was okay up until this point because Do-ha was fighting her attraction to him, but now I’m worried it might just be cruel of Seol-woo to keep stringing her along. I thought we would see him a little more conflicted by now, but he’s cool as a cucumber. I get it, I get it, he’s a ghost spy, that’s what he does because it’s his mission. But what about my mission? I can’t swoon if I know it isn’t real at all. Just let a girl swoon! Is that too much to ask for?

 
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