SASSY GO GO ! [CHEER UP!]

episode 8

Soo-ah runs up to the third floor corridor. Looking up at the security camera, she's haunted by the thought of Yeon-doo discovering she's the culprit. Returning to the dorm, she stares at Yeon-doo a long moment, before retreating to her own corner.

Yeon-doo gets a message from Hyo-shik - it's the video he took of her with Yeol. She snorts at the hilarious accompanying message ("For Kang Yeon-doo, drowning in loneliness since her mister left...") and chuckles at the video. But she notices something else, and exclaims she's found the evidence to clear Yeol. Soo-ah turns in anxiety.

Yeon-doo and Ha-joon run to meet each other in excitement. She shows him the video, and we clearly see Teacher Im in the background, bear-USB on the counter. Putting it away, he leaves first. But Yeol was seen in the staffroom at 12, and the video is timestamped 12.58. "Therefore, Kim Yeol did not steal the USB at 12 pm from the staffroom," Yeon-doo concludes, snapping her fingers. She holds out her hand for a low five, and giggles when Ha-joon bashfully obliges.

She stops him from calling Yeol right away - good news is best delivered in person. They'll do it tonight, she says.

She sneaks out after everyone's asleep, but a teacher's up working in the lounge. Ha-joon is about to walk into the situation unawares, so she makes a run for him. In their haste, he trips. The teacher finishes up, and the pair hide, waiting for him to leave. Yeon-doo quietly fusses over Ha-joon's scrape, when the teacher looms over them. Haha, oops.

Yeol lies in bed at home, reading. He laughs quietly at the photo Yeon-doo sent of her and Ha-joon getting punished for their attempted jailbreak, and even feels a little jealous of their punishment.

The pair are forced to duck-walk under the teacher's watchful eye. Clutching her earlobes, Yeon-doo apologizes to Ha-joon for getting him punished, but he just smiles quietly to himself, totally glad to be there. He steadies her the moment she whimpers in pain. So so cute.

Back in his dorm, he grins over their punishment photo. Noticing the scrape he got before, he applies the ointment Yeon-doo gave him last time. Just everything is making him smile right now, aw.

Yeon-doo hides out in the laundry room and chats with Yeol on the phone, both of them grinning like loons. Or best friends. Yeon-doo tells him how glad she is that they can exonerate him, but Yeol says they still have to prove he didn't do it after 12.58. But he reassures her thatMeitantei Yeol is on the case, and she ribs him about his big head.

"Thank you. For believing me," he says. Not as first-place Kim Yeol, but as simply himself. It's the hardest thing in the world to put your trust in someone wholly, he tells her, "So it was a little less hard for me, because I had someone who believed in me."

He's back at school the next day, and Yeon-doo and Ha-joon see him to the Principal's office. Inside, Teachers Im and Yang are also present, along with Instructor Nam, as Principal Choi reviews the evidence.

Teacher Im churlishly asserts Yeol could have stolen the USB after the video. Unperturbed, Yeol asks when he first discovered it was missing. Around 1.55, Im replies. In proper Yeol-style, he systematically lays out the timeline, grilling Teacher Im on his movements.

Im had it at 12.58, and it took him two minutes to come to class, where his bag was in the teacher's desk until 1.50, when class ended. Yeol points out that it's not possible for him to have stolen it with the whole class looking on, but Im argues that he could have taken it after. Nope, says Yeol. Im left as soon as class was up, and Yeol went straight to the club room with the cheerleading kids. Instructor Nam confirms his alibi.

Choi wants to know how it came to be in his bag. Yeol leans over and slips his watch into Teacher Im's pocket, and asks if that's the same as him stealing it. Understanding fills Teacher Yang's face. Yeol asks if he can now return to school.