[KD] Lie to Me: Episode 2

Ki-joon arrives at work the next morning, and by then the Rumor Mill
Express has already made its way around the hotel. The story has become
quite elaborate, including the reason for the secret marriage—because
President Aunt disapproved.
Ki-joon notes everyone talking behind his back, and discovers that
even his assistant doesn’t believe that he isn’t married. He asks if
there’s a woman named in this so-called secret marriage, and decides to
go straight to the source.

He drives up in front of Ah-jung’s office and finds her stumbling
along on the street. Though she appears to be drunk again, I think this
is her, just being clumsy and messy. Sigh. Drama can’t be a drama
without them being set up to be opposites.
Over coffee he tells her the gist of the rumor, and she laughs at the
ridiculousness of it all. He doesn’t think it’s so funny, and implies
that she started the rumor herself, and possibly even faked the
alcohol-bee incident to bait him.
She denies being the source of the rumor, (It hasn’t occurred to her
yet that her white lie to So-ran would have morphed into THIS.) and when
Ki-joon threatens to sue her for defamation, she takes offense. Why, what’s wrong with marrying me? Huh? Huh?

It’s clearly not going the way he’d hoped, so he just tells her he’ll
see her in court and she counters that he has no proof. Needless to
say, they don’t come to an agreement on anything. Ah-jung’s co-workers
see her with Ki-joon and ask who he is, and she just groans, “My
stalker!”
Ki-joon tells his assistant to call a lawyer, “The best one!” You
think he just means find the best lawyer in town, until the assistant
goes to find a lawyer… named Jung Che-go [che-go = best]. Pffft.
Aw, man they totally scooped the che-go joke! I was so sad when Best Love got renamed from its originally punny title Discovery of Affection [ae-jung
= affection], and was waiting for them to name the hero Che-go, ergo
title = Che-go’s Love. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the Hong
Sisters leave a pun just dangling there.

Sadly, Che-go isn’t actually the best lawyer around, ’cause he gets
knocked unconscious by an ajumma for losing a case. Ki-joon’s assistant
wonders what to do, which is when Jae-bum (Ah-jung’s first love) offers
his services.
The assistant gets some advice on the matter, without naming names. A
few more things we learn about Jae-bum: he’s not exactly a hotshot
lawyer, he’s kinda cheap, and he’s not too happy to be married to
So-ran. Well it’s always satisfying to know that the grass ain’t
greener.
Ki-joon returns to the hotel and when he sees people still snickering
behind his back, he tries to counter it by shouting loudly in the
middle of the lobby that he’s going to take “her” to court for spreading
such lies.

His assistant doesn’t actually think that’s such a good idea, and
suggests smoothing things out with her to resolve it quietly. Ki-joon
thinks it’s absurd that people are taking her word over his, but even
his assistant answers him like he’s playing along, but believes Ah-jung.

Just then, Ki-joon’s friend (a cameo by Danny Ahn)
comes down and tells him to come out later, and bring his wife. Ki-joon
tries to explain, but he just gets a wink and a, “I know, I know. But
you don’t have to be like that around us. I know it’s because your aunt
disapproves. We’re on your side.” Haha.
Ki-joon just stands there, ineffectually trying to clear his name,
while his friend makes a big heart over his head, shouting, “Love is
forever!” and runs off. Heh.

Ah-jung tries to focus on work, only Ki-joon comes running in and
corners her, blaming her all over again. She screams that he doesn’t
have proof, until her memory flickers and Past Ah-jung from the day at
the salon reminds her that she did tell that one lie.
The whole thing is a dream, but she wakes up with the realization
that it might’ve all started with that. She knows she never said
anything about WHO she was married to, so she doesn’t get why it has
anything to do with Ki-joon.

He’s actually on his way to see her now, and calls. She answers and
when she finds out who it is, she hangs up and hides, needing time to
think things through. She realizes that he might be on his way over, so
she tries to make a run for it, only she gets stuck in the lobby, where
he’s set up camp by the only exit.
She imagines all manner of scenarios where she might get caught
trying to run away, until the minister from the other day discovers her.
She shrewdly uses him as a shield to walk and talk her way past
Ki-joon, and manages an escape right in front of his face.

She goes to a friend’s coffee shop, who seems Mom-ish. She doesn’t
say so explicitly, but I’m getting Mom-vibes from her. It turns out that
this universe is really, really small, because Sang-hee and his friend
Suk-bong happen to be there too.
Ah-jung does her trademark talking out loud to herself, to suss out
her problems… which catches Sang-hee’s attention. They look at each
other with that confused glint of familiarity… and then simultaneously
remember: “Resignation!” “Thief!”

He’s happy to see her, thinking that it must be fate, but she
dismisses it as bad luck on his part and walks out. He follows her and
thinks she ought to thank him, for stealing her resignation and saving
her job.
As he watches her walk away, he says to himself, “If I can’t catch
her, it’s coincidence. If I catch her, it’s fate.” He calls out her name
and asks what he should do with her resignation, and she sighs.
Fate it is. She buys him a bowl of noodles, and he promises to return
her resignation napkin. It’s worth noting that they use informal speech
with each other from the get-go, which is unusual.

They met under drunk circumstances, and seem the same age, and
neither is feeling particularly inclined to be formal and polite. Though
it’s not a common occurrence that adults would just use banmal without
an agreement to do so, it also speaks to the fact that neither really
takes the other seriously.
He wonders that she’s never once asked his name, and offers it up:
Hyun Sang-hee. He tells her to remember it, even if she’s not
interested. She thinks to herself that Hyun seems a common last name,
and re-angsts about her messed up situation with Hyun Ki-joon.

Ki-joon, meanwhile, goes back to work and meets with his aunt. She
asks about Sang-hee with a heavy sigh, and he reports that he’s staying
with his friend Suk-bong. She’s surprised he hasn’t met up with him yet,
but Ki-joon says that Sang-hee probably can’t face him yet, because he
feels bad.
She confirms the backstory that we were all suspecting—that Sang-hee
is the reason Ki-joon got un-engaged, and adds her own disappointment in
the boys having fought over one girl. In his office, Ki-joon takes out
an old photo of the three of them, pre-rift.

He gets a call from Ah-jung, who asks to meet. So he shows up at the
Han River, wondering why she wanted to meet here, and finds her waving
at him, behind large sunglasses and a hoodie, which just hilariously
makes her look extra crazy.
She drags him onto a duck boat and starts paddling furiously, while
he squirms at the uncleanliness and doesn’t lift a finger to help. She
insists that it’s better to be safe than sorry, and that this is the
safest place to talk, lest anyone they know sees them together.
So they paddle out to the middle of the river and she tells him that
she told a friend that she was married, but never said anything about to
whom. He doesn’t believe her, but remembers his assistant’s advice to
just reason with her calmly, and decides it’s best to move forward
rather than argue over who started the fire.

Just then, a couple in a nearby boat is in the middle of a screaming
match, and the woman falls overboard. She doesn’t look like she’s
swimming, so Ah-jung jumps in after her. She’s not doing a great job
either, so Ki-joon jumps in after HER.
Everyone on the bank swarms over (including photographers from a
wedding shoot) and the crowd applauds them for saving the woman. Ki-joon
yells at her for jumping in and goes to his car in a huff, only he
discovers that his pockets have emptied in the river. He’s got no keys,
no wallet, no phone.

Ah-jung has her car key, and offers him a ride, the table-turning not
lost on her. He refuses snidely at first, but then when the crowd
starts approaching them, he jumps into her car in a big hurry.
She drops him off at home, guessing correctly that he isn’t the type
to ask for help in these circumstances, since he doesn’t want to be seen
as less than perfect, though he sorely denies it.
He tells her to come in, not only because she’s dripping wet, but
because he wants to finish their conversation, and not have her go
changing her mind later. She covers her face like a creepy stalker and
follows him in.

She showers and he sends her clothes out to be dry-cleaned. She takes
a peek around and marvels at how much a place like this must cost, and
he sort of scoffs at her for dreaming so big. Ah-jung: “Who said I was
buying? Just need to snag a man who’s…um… just kidding!”
She tells him that she’ll take care of the situation and tell
everyone that it’s just a big misunderstanding. He says the problem is
that no one believes him, and she wonders how he’s lived his life if
people don’t take his word.
She thinks it’ll be simple—he can gather whoever he wants to, and
she’ll just tell them the truth. He smiles, kind of amazed that she’s so
simple (as in, thinking that the world is so straightforward), but she
doesn’t see the problem with her plan.

Her clothes arrive, and she changes and leaves, again with her hood,
sunglasses, and face mask on. This is SO going to look bad on the cover
of a gossip rag.
The next day, Ah-jung has a drink with Dad, who is also a lawyer.
Lousy with lawyers, this drama. He sweetly tells her to succeed in her
career, unlike him. Aw. She promises to do so.
Ki-joon returns to work and his assistant asks how it went with “that
woman.” Ki-joon confesses that he might have misjudged her in the
beginning, and says that they’ve reached an understanding now. His
assistant notes the change in his demeanor, not that it means anything
about his feelings, nope.

He finds Manager Park acting strangely around him too, and he insists
that he’s not married. In banmal, he asks, “You too? You’re supposed to
be my friend.” And she snaps at him in banmal that she doesn’t keep
friends at work, and then back in formal speech, she calls him Boss.
Hm, iiiinteresting relationship there. That’s not going to get complicated AT ALL.
So-ran meets her friends and hears about Ah-jung and Ki-joon. She
thinks it’s crazy, but then one of the girls says that another friend
actually went… to their wedding. HA. I love how crazy out of control
this rumor has gotten. So-ran thinks that girl can’t be trusted, since
she also once told them that she attended Brangelina’s wedding too. Heh.
So-ran gets called out for being jealous rather than happy for her
friend (these people really use the term “friend” loosely), and she
stalks off in a huff.

Sang-hee finds Ah-jung’s resignation napkin and puts it out on the
table, only to have it fall into Suk-bong’s hands on his way to the
bathroom. He comes back to find it missing, “Hyung… no, you didn’t,
right?”
He meets Ah-jung to tell her the bad news. She freaks out, “My conscience! My pride! …to wipe someone’s butt?!” Hehehe.
He follows her out, and when he can’t get her to stop, he just pulls
her in for a hug. Gah! You can’t make me swoon this quickly, out of
nowhere!

He seems rather pleased with himself, and when she doesn’t respond
right away, he’s confused, as this tactic has always worked for him in
the past. Cheeky. He offers to make it right by taking her out on the
town, but she turns him down cold: “I’m not interested in you.”
But then she notices all of the girls surrounding them, all swooning
at how good-looking he is, and takes a second look. She walks around
him, and then decides that he’s worth another shot. She smiles up at
him, “Are you free tonight?” OMG, I kind of love her.

He’s like, now THAT’s the kind of response I’m used to. Oh NOES. She’s cute with both of them! Aaaaargh.
She picks him up later that evening, and he sighs at her outfit,
saying that it’s fit for a civil servant, but not if they’re going to a
party. Time to shop! He picks out a dress for her, and she nearly has an
aneurysm at the cost, but decides to cough up her credit card
reluctantly.

It seems she’s invited him to this party to be her boyfriend-beard,
and he promises to play along and stick to her side. He asks where
they’re going… and she names Ki-joon’s hotel. Ruh-roh.
He tries to make excuses not to go in, but feels bad at letting her
down, so he goes in hiding his face. But when Ki-joon’s assistant comes
to greet her at the elevator, Sang-hee recognizes him and makes a run
for it. She chases after him.
Meanwhile, Ki-joon greets his friends down at the party, and tries to
squash the rumor, to no avail. He waits impatiently for Ah-jung to
arrive, since she’s supposed to clear his name.

At the same time, So-ran and Jae-bum come to the hotel for dinner.
The girls run into each other in the bathroom, and have it out. So-ran
tells her not to go around pretending she’s married to Hyun Ki-joon,
since it’s ridiculous that someone like Ah-jung could marry someone like
him.
She has the gall to lie that Jae-bum disliked Ah-jung, and that So-ran actually kept their relationship secret from her for her benefit, so she wouldn’t be so heartbroken as to not pass her civil service exam. What the…? Bitch be delusional.

It just hits Ah-jung where it hurts, and she muses that it must’ve
been fun for them. Aw. So-ran tells her that it’s impossible that
Ah-jung would marry above her, declaring that it defies the laws of the
universe. GAH.
She watches So-ran leave with Jae-bum, her words still stinging.
Just then, Ki-joon walks out and waves at her, relieved to find her.
She thinks in voiceover: “Sometimes I think with my heart instead of my
head… when I do, there’s always an accident…”

She smiles and puts her hand up, “Yeobo!” Oh. Crap. So-ran and Jae-bum turn.
Ki-joon’s smile vanishes.


COMMENTS
We’re kinda retreading the same ground that Episode 1 covered, though
Ah-jung is definitely taking a giant step into the crapper with this
one. I like her as a character because she’s not so bumbling that it’s
frustrating, or outright stupid that I want to pull my hair out. She’s
smart and sassy, and even a little opportunistic, but she’s got a
weakness—a huge one—her pride coupled with her Achilles’ heel, frenemy
So-ran.
I like that she’s got spunk to spare, especially with the boys, but
that she’s also got a lot of growing to do in the maturity and
self-esteem departments. It seems that Ki-joon’s going to match her in
the immaturity game (always a plus), but I’m dying to see a little more
weakness from him, other than the control freak in him being off-kilter
because of the rumor.
There’s a whole lot of coincidence at play in the first two episodes,
though the drama is smart to call attention to it rather than pretend
that it’s not relying on them at every turn. The question of fate is
always going to be a dominant theme in dramas, so it’s not a stretch for
everyone to meet fatefully, as it were. But if everything becomes
hinged on fateful coincidence after fateful coincidence, imma start
grinding my axe.
So far, so cute.