A Virtuous Business – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

The Survey

Episode 4 of A Virtuous Business begins with Da-hyun showing back up at the station. The officer there has left a forensic report on his desk. In the middle of the night, he looks through it before making a call to Bitna. They’ve found the graffiti culprit.

Bitna and Daon drive out to the hardware store, where they speak to the owners. Da-hyun has figured out the boot-print from the scene is identical to the man who works there. Tae Sik. So why did he do it? Well, he thought Jeong-sik was a bad influence on his wife. Her reaction is one of incredulousness, and she reprimands Tae-sik for his behaviour. Jeong-suk wants him to apologize and refuses to leave until he does so.

Jeong-suk comments after how she used to have a really good relationship with the couple and it’s sad to see things sour so quickly. Especially in the wake of her work. Da-hyun though is fully on her side and supports her as best he can.

Meanwhile, Ju-ri finds herself in sticky water with the greedy Chairman’s wife, Ms Heo Young-ja. She wants Ju-ri to pay more rent, citing they’re in a really good spot in town and seems to be attracting a lot of business. So according to her, Ju-ri should be paying a lot more. Ju-ri is not exactly happy. Dong-u though remains optimistic with his mum and encourages her, suggesting she get a side hustle. And she has just the idea – she’s going to join the gang in selling the Fantasy Lingerie range.

At the station, Da-hyun presents the resolved civil case with his superior. He points out that they’ve reached a settlement. Seong-jae believes it’s because Jeong-suk is worried about repercussions but Da-hyun is quick to squash that idea, citing that Jeong-suk is stronger than he knows. Da-hyun isn’t exactly endearing himself to his colleagues, especially as they all go out for dinner without him and he hangs about at the station working.

The next day, the four ladies get ready to work. They sit together and decide on a system that works in order to maximize their business. They freely share their ideas and after a visit from a sales rep, gets a golden idea. Jeong-suk thinks they should do a customer survey to tailor their sales strategy.

Meanwhile, Da-hyun continues on the hunt for whatever he’s investigating. He slowly begins crossing people out of his journal, and the latest happens to be Park So-yeong. He next visits Sun-ae next and asks about a fire that broke out 30 years back. This coincides with Jeong-suk and the gang trying to get their survey feedback from various people across town, but nobody is ready to give her or the others the time of day.

Da-hyun eventually agrees to give Jeong-suk 5 minutes to go over the survey and she fumbles her words as she asks various questions. When she mentions sexual fantasies he quickly changes the subject but it’s all pretty cute as he gets really shy. He finishes his survey and she offers up some candy as a thank you.

The others aren’t getting many more responses and in the butcher’s overhear a couple of ladies discussing whether to set up a town meeting to close down Jeong-suk’s business. When the trio square up to the two women, they end up getting beaten and leave with their tails tucked between their legs.

As they leave, Jeong-suk ends up running into her friends, who try to shield her from the bad news. Unfortunately, she hears it for herself when all the neighbourhood ladies are gossiping over at the hardware store that night. They believe Seong-su left because Jeong-suk is a “tough cookie” and cold, not knowing the full story of course.

Da-hyun happens to be out in the wilderness the next day, and he watches from afar as Jeong-suk lets her anger out on the punching bag there while collecting her drinking water. This is, of course, her way of psyching herself up. Da-hyun comments to himself how cool she is.

Jeong-suk refuses to back down and take no for an answer. No matter what, she’s going to set out to make this business a success. Despite those across town badmouthing the four, they set up shop outside the salon, complete with hot drinks and the surveys. Jeong-suk confronts the women who badmouth her and points out that she’s not going to change her mind. She’s never done anything to hurt them and she’s just trying to make some money to get by. This little guilt-trip is enough for some of the women to change their mind and agree to the survey. Sure, there are still those who reject it, but even a few of the detectives agree to fill it out. It’s a successful day and the freebie gifts certainly help sweeten the deal. The others comment on Jeong-suk’s fiery persona and how her line about changing minds really helped turn it all around.

That night, Da-hyun speaks to Jeong-suk. He utters a really poignant line, saying: “People who persevere even after going through the pain that could destroy them, tend to be successful in the end”. While they discuss a singer on TV, the real subject here is actually Jeong-suk and she soon realizes this. However, the cherry blossom petals suddenly start raining down, but Da-hyun can’t stop watching her.

During the epilogue, we cut across to Da-hyun, who ends up having a bad dream. He can’t stop thinking to this fire we heard about, and as it spreads, a baby is trapped right in the middle of this. Someone heads in and snatches him up, saving the babe from a horrible predicament.


The Episode Review

A Virtuous Business finishes this week with a really solid episode that looks at solidifying Jeong-suk’s character and helping her stand up for her beliefs. She’s an incredibly strong person and Da-hyun appears to be the only person to truly appreciate this in the village, although the others are starting to come around to this.

There’s going to be ongoing animosity with this infidelity situation and it’s surely going to bubble over soon with Seong-su and Da-hyun growing in hostility while In-tae is surely going to find out about Mi-hwa right? The preview for episode 5 appears to hint toward this but for spoiler purposes I won’t reveal that here.

It does look like there’s a mystery surrounding who saved Da-hyun and it could well be this person that he’s looking for, explaining why most of the people in his book appear to be females. In a twist, could it be that Jeong-suk’s mum saved him from a fire? We did see two kids living with her didn’t we, so it could well be that he’s her step-sibling… but then with the romantic implications between the two, I’m probably way off the mark to be honest!

The show is relatively low-stakes from an emotional perspective but it’s certainly no less endearing or enjoyable. There’s lots to whet the appetite but agonizingly, we’ll have to wait a whole week before we jump into that!

Previous Episode

Next Episode

Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!

  • Episode Rating
    (3.5)
3.5

Leave a comment