Social Skills
Episode 4 of Love In Contract starts with Gwang-Nam cleaning up the apartment. When he heads into Sang-Eun’s room, he notices that Ji-Ho’s ring is still in the drawer. Her last client. He too hasn’t told his family he’s leaving, and is feeling sentimental about his sisters. Ji-Ho shows Sang-Eun and Hae-Jin the CCTV footage he’s obtained. He’s looked back from a month ago all the way up to now and he’s actually captured the camera flashes in the bushes. Ji-Ho believes the cameraman and the attacker are one and the same. He deduces that it’s a jealous stalker who is misinterpreting Hae-Jin’s ties with Sang-Eun. After clearing things up with Hae-Jin (at least as much as he thinks anyway), Sang-Eun and Ji-Ho discuss the concert tickets outside. Sang-Eun is not happy he didn’t ask to go together but the atmosphere is awkward between them. Ji-Ho does eventually decide to show up… but he switches seats with a woman at the back so he doesn’t have to socialize with Sang-Eun. Funnily enough, he ends up watching her more than the performance. After the show, Ji-Ho notices the Chief outside and he questions Ji-Ho about why he’s come alone. As he begins asking whether Ji-Ho is a sociopath, Sang-Eun pops up and the dynamic shifts. Ji-Ho introduces her as his wife, Sang-Eun plays along, and the four go for dinner together. It’s a hilarious segment, especially as Sang-Eun does her best to prop up Ji-Ho as this knight in shining armour. He even protects her from a motorcyclist who drives too close to her later on. Ji-Ho asks whether there’s something wrong with him but Sang-Eun cryptically says: “The door is broken but the room is fine.” This is, of course, in reference to Ji-Ho’s social skills. Sang-Eun does agree to help him become more likable among his peers and give him some “trade secrets” that she has. Well, Ji-Jo is immediately thrown into the deep end when the Chief confronts Ji-Ho and tells him he’ll be hosting a work do with all of his colleagues. When he suggests suing the Chief, he throws it back at Ji-Ho and points out those VIP tickets that he hasn’t used, and how expensive they are. Madam Yoo works with the Kangjin Group, enticing an architect to set up some sort of design work on a lot of land. They all sign contracts but there’s a problem. It turns out this is on a green-belt and as such, Yoo comes under fire on the news. The reporters discuss how she tried to collect a large sum of money and stole Kangjin’s name in the process. As a result, she’s arrested. This explains her attempting to ring Sang-Eun some time before this, and Sang-Eun finds out herself while over at Ji-Ho’s place. Now, it would seem that Yoo was a pawn in Kangjin’s game, at least if Ji-Ho’s deductions are anything to go by. He believes they forcefully made a contract to develop the green belt area. The Kangjin brothers are apparently in a fierce rivalry with one another and it would seem tat Yoo is caught in the middle. The only stake Sang-Eun has to this whole ordeal is that she was raised by Yoo. Every bit of affection she showed to her guardian was shrugged off as being crass or weak. Still, despite that Sang-Eun changes her mind and decides to stick around and not go to Canada after all. With news spreading about Hae-Jin potentially being gay online, Hae-Jin’s father is not happy. He arranges a meeting with his son and demands he come home and get married. He’s set things up with the second daughter of Sungham Group and wants to play damage control. Hae-Jin hangs his head in sadness. When Hae-Jin heads back home again, he confronts Sang-Eun on her way into the grounds, where she intends to stay with Ji-Ho. He apologizes to her and wraps her face up in a scarf and sunglasses to obscure Sang-Eun’s identity. He then reveals to everyone that he’s married… showing off Ji-Ho’s ring. When Ji-Ho sees this on TV, he’s not happy.
The Episode Review
With every episode that ticks by, I’m liking Hae-Jin less and less. He’s not a great character and a lot of the issues here stem from the fact that he’s selfish and has numerous red flags. I appreciate that he has some repressed issues from his childhood but at the same time, Sang-Eun didn’t ask t be thrust in the limelight like that, and Ji-Ho is not going to take kindly to this. I wonder how Sang-Eun will react if she finds out that she’s been watched by Hae-Jin’s guys all this time? However, the relationship between Ji-Ho and Sang-Eun is easily the strongest part of this show and their scenes together are great, especially with all the comedic shenanigans that have been going on. It would appear that Sang-Eun is going to help him open up and become more sociable among his peers, and we’re already seeing that transformation in these episodes too, which is great to see. Either way though, the ending leaves the door wide open for where this one may go next and based on this showing, it should be quite the enjoyable watch.
