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My Demon: Episodes 13-14
by alathe
Our demon would like everyone to know that he can’t do any paperwork today. He’s too busy with a far more important job: being our heroine’s husband! But sadly, our leads can’t just hang up their hats and be happy. Tragedy lurks around the corner for them both — or maybe it’s already arrived…
EPISODES 13-14
Gu-won is hellbent on rewriting his love story with Do-hee. Two hundred years ago, it might have been a tragedy, but now? It’s going to be pure rom-com. Do-hee is very much of his mind; as far as she’s concerned, the only thing they ought to worry about is celebrating Christmas together! (Okay, granted, she’s effectively the bride of Satan, but they can make it work.) Alas, with four whole episodes to go, it’s too early to be gunning for a happily ever after. After witnessing a nearby car accident, Do-hee can’t help but dwell on past trauma — her parents are never far from her mind.
Part of Do-hee feels frightened at being so happy. To Gu-won’s concern, she’s quick to bury that part of herself in work. When she falls asleep at her desk, he visits her dreams, where she wanders a dark woodland, crying out for her parents. Much as he longs to, Gu-won can’t give them back to her. All he can do is replace her nightmare with a happier fantasy. Do-hee wakes to dreams of decorating a Christmas tree with her parents, Madam Ju, and Gu-won — and almost wants to stay asleep.
Gu-won is determined to make her waking world just as bright, one dramatic gesture at a time! Sadly, before he can purchase half a flower shop, he finds himself inconveniently on fire. Yup, it’s that time again. Our demon, still lightly aflame, attempts to speed-run his way through a deal, only to be interrupted by the ever-faithful Perilla Seeds and Scallions! To their credit, they take the revelation that their boss is a fiend from hell in perfect stride. Life is fleeting, but the love of thirty or so gangsters is eternal. And so, when Gu-won demands that they abandon their life of crime, they hardly hesitate. With enthusiasm enough to put the heroes of Wok of Love out of business, they pledge to embark on a culinary career… and in the blink of an eye, the Sunny Spot Rice Soup Cafe is born.
Mercifully unaware of all these shenanigans, Do-hee is greeted with a dorky, devilish grin, and an armful of flowers. Gu-won made sure to buy every single kind of plant symbolizing happiness — and even wrote a cheat sheet on the back of his hand to remember which specific type of happiness each one represents! There’s only one thing Do-hee can say in the face of this glorious overkill. I love you. Gu-won, utterly punch drunk, returns the sentiment.
Unfortunately, another threat looms on the horizon: family dinner. Suk-min is discouraged by the realization that — even with his powers as chairman — trampling over workers’ rights is proving trickier than anticipated. However, he’s hit on a solution. Gathering all the family members he hasn’t yet murdered, he tells them that it’d make life easier for him personally if they just, y’know, handed over their shares to him. Pretty please with a lightly-veiled threat on top? Do-hee’s response is to silently walk out. She may have retreated from this war, but she’s no pushover. Seok-hoon is similarly scathing. Su-ahn? Uh, she… she’ll get back to him on that.
No more Mr. Nice Murderer, promises Suk-min. After leaning on Mirae’s board, he implements a series of horrifying changes. The Industrial Accident Compensation Committee, a progressive measure brought in by Madam Ju back when such things were rare, is disbanded after bogus reports of fraud. Meanwhile, a slew of full-time contracts are axed, replaced with part-time jobs. When Seok-hoon objects, Suk-min immediately threatens to organize a motion for his dismissal.
Do-hee wastes no time: furious, she storms into Suk-min’s office. This irresponsibility, she says, proves that he’ll never live up to Madam Ju’s legacy. Incensed by this, Suk-min can’t help but resort to literary reference — which proves his undoing. The bird fights its way out of the egg, he replies, insisting that he has surpassed Madam Ju. It’s the same thing he said in his texts to the assassin. Do-hee, horrified, addresses him by the code name under which he killed his own mother: Abraxas.
Where in the world is Gu-won? Unfortunately, working on another grand gesture. Previously, he’d been inclined to say good riddance to his lost demonic manual. Still, loath as he is to think of himself as a vacuum cleaner, Do-hee did say she wanted to understand him better… and so, he resolves to provide her with his terms and conditions. This is how he ends up confronting Se-ra, who has been hospitalized on her abusive husband’s command. Find that book for me, he tells her, and it might just be your ticket out of hell. Se-ra makes her decision. Suk-min, she declares, is the one who killed Madam Ju — in addition to his own son.
Currently, Suk-min is intent on taking one more thing from Do-hee: her faith in Madam Ju. With a nasty look of determination, he announces to Do-hee that her parents’ deaths were no accident. They were caused by his mother. He was there the day they died. He made a secret recording. Astounded, Do-hee listens to a tape of the discussion Madam Ju had with her parents before they died. An offer this big doesn’t come often, claims a younger Madam Ju, indignantly. She’s cut off by Do-hee’s father. I’ll expose everything, he says. You leave me with no choice.
When they left, smirks Suk-min, my mother drove after them. Afterwards, Mirae Electronics became the Mirae Group. Your parents’ blood laid the foundation. Numbly, Do-hee accuses him of lying — at which point, he grabs her by the throat. She tries to shake him off her, to no avail. But luckily, our demon arrives in the nick of time, seizing Suk-min, and transporting all three of them to the dizzying heights of the clock tower. Here, he dangles Suk-min over the edge, whilst Do-hee looks on in horror.
You can’t kill a human, sneers Suk-min, who’s been doing his demonic homework. But Gu-won scoffs. He doesn’t need to. Soon, Suk-min will beg for death. As for a deal? Please. It’s all over: Se-ra has gone to the police, and even now he’s being investigated for his welter of crimes. Suk-min’s eyes narrow. I can still flee to hell, he announces. Struggling against Gu-won’s grip, he pulls free — and lets himself drop.
This time, it truly is over. But our heroine feels anything but free. She can’t stop agonizing over Suk-min’s accusations: doubting Madam Ju, and torturing herself. During a long, restless night, Gu-won holds her, and she calls out his name just to remind herself that he’ll answer. I’m here, Do-hee, he replies without fail. But he’s at a loss for how to help her. Bok-gyu, considering the problem, thinks they ought to both do their best to forget. Better imperfect happiness than the painful truth.
Do-hee can’t bring herself to think that way. Dead women tell no tales, it’s true — but their priests just might. And so, she and Gu-won pay a visit to FATHER MICHAEL (Seo Sang-won), Madam Ju’s confessor. He gives a single, cold glance to Gu-won. Hackles rise on both sides. He does indeed have information — but he insists that he speak to Do-hee alone.
Filled with rage, Madam Ju did drive after Do-hee’s parents that night. Both cars swerved, dangerously fast, as Do-hee’s father (Kim Young-jae) sped back home to see his daughter — before it was too late. Then, chaos, as both cars flew out of control, and the one containing Do-hee’s parents went careening across the road. Do-hee’s mother (Woo Hee-jin) was bloodied and unmoving, but her father remained alive. Then, our demon entered the scene… to collect on his deal. Madam Ju dragged herself out of the car just in time to see Gu-won exit, having sent Do-hee’s father to hell.
Do-hee maintains her composure as she exits the church. She smiles at Gu-won, telling him Suk-min was lying. It’s only when they get home that she locks herself in the bathroom, turns on the tap, and cries like her heart is split in two. Gu-won, hearing her, goes straight back to Father Michael — who knows exactly who he is. Leave Do-hee, he commands. The moment I saw you, I knew you were the devil that Madam Ju saw. Gu-won, in a moment of genuine surprise, thinks back to that night all those years ago — and realizes that the tragedy he fears has already come to pass.
He hadn’t remembered. As God tells him on the clock tower, it’s not uncommon to forget. Humans wear out so quickly. This is why he had to figure it out for himself — at the end of the day, she controls so very little. Humans, she tells him, are always each other’s personal hell. In the end, there’s nothing Gu-won can do besides follow Do-hee to Madam Ju’s grave, and watch her grieve afresh.
Do-hee, meanwhile, is determined to understand. Why did her father make that deal? She tries to corner Bok-gyu for answers, but he sends her to wait in Gu-won’s office… sadly, triggering another series of deeply ill-fated events. A woman barges into the office. Ten years ago, she made a contract with Gu-won; now, before it expires, she’s here to beg for her life. Do-hee, hiding in the back room, witnesses Gu-won’s total indifference — his scorn, as he waves a hand and watches her die.
She doesn’t see him slump to the floor, weary and defeated. Instead, she turns to see the woman’s clock disintegrate into flame. For the first time, it hits her what the clocks are for. Each, a contract like her father’s. She runs from the office, nearly crashing into Seok-hoon on the way out, hardly able to disguise her panic. Here, Gu-won sees her, and starts in her direction. Do-hee flinches. He stops. Later, exhausted and miserable, Do-hee curls up in her office, still refusing to tell Seok-hoon the reason. All she will admit is one thing: the people she loves have become her hell.
When she finally leaves, Gu-won is waiting for her on the street outside. Let’s go for a walk, he says. Desperate, Do-hee takes his hand, bites her tongue, and tries to pretend. She talks about restaurant bookings. She talks about decorating the Christmas tree. But Gu-won can’t bear it. Slowly, he turns to her. I don’t think, he says, haltingly, that we can spend Christmas together. Then, gently, he pulls his hand away from hers. Do-hee doesn’t move. Jeong Gu-won, she calls, softly. There is no response. Jeong Gu-won, she says again — and again, to no avail. Finally, she turns… and sees nothing whatsoever. My salvation, she finds herself thinking, has come to an end.
Folks, even writing this recap, it hurts all over again. Now that’s — I hate to say it, but we’re all about ironic echoes this week — how you write a tragedy! The trouble is, realistically speaking, I can’t see a world in which our OTP come back from this. Surely, all Do-hee will be able to see in Gu-won from now on is the man who condemned her father to suffer? Short of descending into hell and pulling him up into heaven single-handed, there’s no making amends — and even then, it’s hardly enough. Plus, considering the foreshadowing we’ve had to do with parents making sacrifices for their children, I suspect Do-hee’s father struck some kind of deal for her safety.
However, let’s take a minute to marvel at the tour-de-force that is Kim Yoo-jung. She did an exceptional job at conveying Do-hee’s grief! Whilst I’m admittedly not the most stoic when it comes to sad dramas (the subtitle to my recaps might as well be Alathe Cries at Everything), I was weeping along with her in that bathroom. Perhaps there’s a way to untangle this web, but, to my mind, this is a maybe-in-my-next-life-we-can-be-together sort of deal. That, or there has to be some serious deus ex machina in store… and God seems disinclined to intervene. This drama is coming together beautifully, in all its glorious misery — and you can’t say we weren’t warned. Here’s hoping they can stick the landing!
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