A mission of Love

Episode: 7

Ooh, the slap. I suppose Kang-woo does it in that stupidly misguided sense of "I'll hurt her a little to spare her greater pain later," but I also think he's being weak to the pressure of fame, not wanting to lose it over this, and thus he goes with his manager's advice to squash the rumors definitively.

In-ah thinks he did it in defense of her and is all smiles. Until Ryu chides her for her behavior, and the princess can't take anyone telling her what to do.

Myung-wol thinks to herself, "But I thought he was a good person." It's her heart that hurts more than her face.

President Kyung is pleased that the scandal has been nipped in the bud, but finds it odd that Kang-woo would bother about providing Myung-wol with sufficient severance pay — he'd fired at least 100 people in his career, and never once cared. She wonders whether he's developed feelings for Myung-wol, while Dae-kang suggests that perhaps Myung-wol is privy to one of his weaknesses and he's making sure to keep her mouth shut.

President Kyung meets with Myung-wol to tell her not to take it too hard, since it's important to keep him scandal-free. Myung-wol tells herself that it's best this way, vowing to not let herself weaken against him again.

She takes out her two DVDs, as if choosing her path: She dumps the classic romance and keeps Mata Hari as a reminder of the perils of falling in love.

Kang-woo meets with Chairman Joo, who's not pleased with the recent gossip. We're still not entirely clear on the nature of their relationship, other than the fact that Chairman Joo has been a generous supporter of Kang-woo's career over the years, and that Kang-woo appears to be bound to the chairman's wishes as a result of that debt.

Chairman Joo warns him that although he's risen to quite lofty heights, it was Joo who brought him high, and he can bring him low.

On his way out, Kang-woo runs into In-ah and Ryu on their way in. In-ah clings to his arm and pouts for him to stay for dinner, while Kang-woo ignores her and thanks Ryu for his mountain rescue. Despite the formal thank-you, there's tension between the men, especially when the subject of Myung-wol comes up, when both Kang-woo and In-ah comment that Ryu seems to know Myung-wol pretty well.

Kang-woo returns to his empty house and confirms that Myung-wol's gone. Not quite sure on how he feels, he thinks back to their various bonding encounters, and it amuses me that their budding romance is pretty much defined by disaster. An explosion here, a perilous drop there. Ah, young love.

He sits on the couch, unaware of the tear in the leather. In a ghostly vision superimposed over this scene, we see how that tear got there — Myung-wol had preceded him to the house and took a vindictive blade to the sofa. Oblivious to her vandalism, he sighs, "But she seemed like a nice kid." Heh.

Next he goes to the guest room she'd used and sits down on the bed. Lost in his thoughts, he misses seeing yet another act of petty vandalism left by a peeved Myung-wol. She'd scratched into the wood, "Kang-woo, you bastard — I curse you!" Hee. Not seeing this, he thinks, "And she had her cute sides, too."

Hearing the front door, Kang-woo hurries out thinking it's her, and covers up hastily when he sees it's only Dae-kang.

Kang-woo gets in his car to go out, and the interior quickly fills with exhaust — Myung-wol had stuck an orange in his exhaust pipe. He mutters that this must be his karmic punishment, but the orange pops out soon enough and he's able to drive off.

Team Great Wall of China worries about their fates now that their mission has failed and their futures look bleak. They're safe for now because the higher-ups in Pyongyang don't yet know their mission status, but Ryu warns them that they may have to prepare themselves for a worst-case scenario. That entails being shot dead, and they shudder at the thought.