Unlock the Boss: Episodes 9-10

Unlock the Boss: Episodes 9-10

by mistyisles

This week packs quite the emotional punch (in more ways than one!). As our team inches closer to the truth, they’re also drawing closer to each other — but their enemies are closing in, too, and will stop at nothing to get what they want.

 
EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP

In-sung, Se-yeon, and Ma-pi race into the hospital where Sun-joo’s unconscious body is being kept. They have to fight their way past the staff, giving Wi-je just enough time to get Sun-joo out and into the back of an ambulance. Our team stays hot on their heels nevertheless, following the GPS signal from Sun-joo’s phone.

But when they catch up to the ambulance, there’s a different patient inside — Wi-je was smart enough to leave Sun-joo’s phone in a decoy ambulance and whisk Sun-joo away elsewhere. Still, it’s not a total loss. Now they know Sun-joo’s body is still alive, and they have a few clues to follow up on.

For one, Ma-pi and Se-yeon return to the hospital the next day to try and demand answers about Sun-joo’s whereabouts. When that unsurprisingly doesn’t work, Ma-pi causes a scene, allowing Se-yeon to swipe the hospital director’s lanyard without anyone noticing. Turns out, he lost his license a few years back for medical malpractice tied to the death of none other than Mi-ran’s younger brother.

That’s doubly fascinating paired with the flashback we get from Mi-ran’s perspective. She was passed up to inherit Bumyoung from her father in favor of said brother. Instead, Mi-ran was given management of Bumyoung’s baseball team (which explains her penchant for using baseball analogies to intimidate people), and she looked suspiciously unaffected to hear of her brother’s untimely death.

Now Mi-ran makes another patient disappear — Se-yeon’s mom. She’s done this enough times before that it’s a clear threat: if Se-yeon doesn’t do what Mi-ran wants, her mom might just “disappear” for good this time. And what does she want? A copy of BARO 4.0. And now Se-yeon is desperate enough to give it to her.

Just as Se-yeon finishes copying the files, In-sung and Ma-pi arrive, ready to set their next plan into motion. No matter how excited In-sung is to cause more trouble (his words, not mine), he can tell instantly that Se-yeon is distressed. He doesn’t push for her to talk about it, just lets her know she can come to him about anything and he’ll listen, and she finally breaks. With no preamble whatsoever, she blurts out the whole story and asks for help.

When Se-yeon goes to meet Mi-ran as promised, she brings information instead of BARO 4.0: Sun-joo is still alive (which they both know isn’t news to Mi-ran), and In-sung is meeting with Young-geun right now. If Mi-ran wants to block the deal those two are making, she’d better let them have Sun-joo back.

In the meantime, Ma-pi tracks down Se-yeon’s mother. In-sung moves her into a hospital where his parents can easily drop in to check on her, and Se-yeon is so overwhelmed with gratitude for them all that she runs outside in tears. In-sung lets her have some time alone before following and offering 1) his handkerchief, 2) the talisman his mother bought from a scammy shaman (In-sung wasn’t interested, but Sun-joo thought the exorcism was worth a shot), and 3) a hug.

After crying in his arms for a few moments, Se-yeon pulls back just enough to reorient and go straight in for a kiss. It’s quite a kiss, but we don’t get to see exactly how long it lasts because In-sung’s mom pulls his dad (and us) away to give them privacy.

They’re both giddily shy about it the next day, to the point Sun-joo thinks they’ve had a fight since they don’t seem to be speaking to each other. But they don’t get much time to soak in the bliss yet, because they’ve still got work to do.

Remember that deal In-sung made with Young-geun? Before his disappearance, Sun-joo discovered a fatal bug in BARO 4.0 that caused it to disregard commands and stubbornly make its own judgments — not something you want a self-driving car to do. Together, In-sung and Sun-joo piece together what happened next: Sun-joo meant to alert both Mi-ran and Young-geun, concerned only for the integrity of his project. But no way would Mi-ran let that info get to Young-geun, so Sun-joo tried to send it to Young-geun by way of Sam-soo (whose loyalties were complicated, thus Young-geun only received the report after Sam-soo’s death).

After explaining the situation, In-sung proposes ousting Mi-ran from Bumyoung leadership. That way, Young-geun gets the chairman position he wants, and In-sung ensures Mi-ran can’t evade punishment for her crimes.

There’s just one problem: Young-geun knows Mi-ran’s dismissal won’t be a good look for Bumyoung Group. So he and Mi-ran work together for once to not only get her dismissal vetoed, but also to get In-sung dismissed instead. It happens so quickly, In-sung hardly has time to react before his face is plastered all over the media and he and his family are swarmed by reporters who twist everything he’s done at Silver Lining into the worst possible interpretations.

Just as quickly, people come out of the woodwork left and right to share how he’s shown them kindness and helped the company keep moving forward. It’s truly moving to watch all the people he’s helped now help lift him out of despair and get him reinstated as CEO.

Sadly, all these wins come at a price. Ma-pi, determined not to let Min-ah turn out like him, pounds the pavement tirelessly until he finds Sun-joo. He takes Sun-joo to his boxing gym, but In-sung and Se-yeon aren’t picking up their phones, and the gym is swarming with Wi-je’s thugs.

Shots of In-sung being showered in flowers and applause are chillingly juxtaposed with shots of Ma-pi putting up the fight of his life to keep Wi-je from stealing Sun-joo back… and failing. By the time In-sung and Se-yeon arrive at the gym, it’s empty except for Ma-pi’s lifeless form crumpled in a corner of the ring.

I was all set to talk about how much I enjoyed Ma-pi’s growth this week — from practicing smiles to being Min-ah’s doting “Uncle Mafia,” but now I’m just sad and crossing my fingers on the off chance he might still be alive. I was really hoping In-sung and Se-yeon would be able to save him like he saved them, but giving his life to try and bring Min-ah’s dad back to her is in keeping with the journey he’s been taking the past several episodes, too, as much as I hate to admit it.

On a lighter note, though, every time I think In-sung can’t possibly make me fall more in love with him, he does exactly that. After all the setbacks he’s suffered personally and professionally just for being a genuinely good person, it was so gratifying to see him get some of that goodness returned. While I’ll miss him terribly when this show is over, I also look forward to watching him and Se-yeon ride off into the well-deserved sunset to chase their new dreams together.

 
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Unlock the Boss: Episodes 9-10
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily