Check In Hanyang – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Number 30

Check-in Hanyang episode 2 starts with Sa-seon and Mae-hwa walking into the recruits and deducting their points. Mae-hwa asks Sa-seon to train them well, and Deok-su tries to introduce herself.

Meanwhile, Mae-hwa heads back to Mak-dong’s office to keep him up to date. She raises concerns about Lee-eun and Jun-hwa’s training together. However, Mak-dong says it will be fine. He believes it is time for Jun-hwa to learn how to handle the royal family. Mak-dong takes great pride in installing the current king and wants Jun-hwa to choose the future king. After all, as he says to Mae-hwa, money runs the world, and even the king becomes a puppet in the face of money.

Meanwhile, Sa-seon continues to train the apprentice while deducting points from those who make mistakes. On the first day of training, the apprentice gets a tour of Yongcheonru. This also allows us as viewers to get a better view and understanding of how Yongcheonru works. The system is structured in a strict, financially driven order, with the rich given the best room and treatment.

It offends Lee-eun when Sa-seon says their richest client is a king. Lee-eun considers this a treasonous remark, but the other apprentices find his reaction odd. Most of them vow to stay away from him, including Deok-su.

Later, the apprentices are sent to their respective rooms. Deok-su, Jun-hwa, Lee-eun, and Soo-ra end up sharing the elementary room. The other group of kids from rich families start mocking them. Everyone settles into their room and starts sewing their identification numbers on their uniform. Being the prince, Lee-eun is unable to sew. The discussion switches to taking a group shower, but Deok-su refuses to shower with everyone else.

Elsewhere, at a local entertainment joint, Mae-hwa joins a group of men on behalf of Mak-dong. The leader of this group is the Minister of War, Young-rak. He is offended that Mak-dong intercepted the gold bars meant for him. However, Mae-hwa tries to appease the men by gifting them the best ginseng that the King normally gets. She also serves Young-rak an expensive wild wine. Young-rak is pleased but still asks to get his gold back.

Back in Yongcheonru, Deok-su tries to find Mae-hwa’s room but fails. In the meantime, Lee-eun secretly summons his bodyguard to help him sew his identification number into the uniform. He also checks the picture of the keys and decides to confirm his suspicions about the key on Deok-su’s chest.

Later, he spots Deok-su secretly taking a bath on the other side, the women’s hostels.  He helps her hide when a group of female servers come to the well to fetch water. He then confesses that he will not stop until he figures out why she is at Yongcheonru. For this reason, he doesn’t want her to be kicked out of the training just yet. Even as he sleeps, Lee-eun can only think about the keys. His dad told him that Mak-dong had one and is looking for the other one. Lee-eun wonders how Deok-su came to have the key.

Outside Yongcheonru, the police discover the body of Man-dol. Someone killed him using a sword with a dragon mark. His mom begs the local prosecutor to find out who stole the red certificate that Man-dol had. She explains that whoever took it must be the killer. The news gets to Mae-hwa quickly, and she informs Mak-dong. Mak-dong is almost impressed that someone would kill to work at his establishment. However, he asks Mae-hwa to find the culprit and hand him to the police.

The next day, the bullies continue to harass Deok-su, Jun-hwa, Soo-ra, and Lee-eun. They assume they are from a poor family, and that is why they have the least luxurious rooms. On the second day, the apprentices are introduced to the three department heads.  Yu Su-in is in charge of hospitality and excitedly informs Seung-ryang about Jun-hwa. Seung-Ryang is in charge of security, and we have the genius Sook-soo, in charge of food.

At the palace, Young-rak visits his daughter, who is married to the king. She has a son, and Young-rak plans to make him the next Crown Prince and ultimately the king. He clarifies he won’t be calm until his dreams for their family are fulfilled. He is under the impression that Lee-eun left the palace to undertake a healing break.

As the day drags on, one of the bullies, Myeong-ho, continues to get under Deok-su and the other’s skin. They agree to settle their issues by playing a game; the losers leave the training programme. They decide to play dice, and Deok-su teaches the others a few tricks before the game starts. On the other side of Yongcheonru, Mae-hwa asks the other three department heads to help her find the apprentice who forged their papers and killed someone to get into the training programme. Sook-so reveals that he added honey to the ink he used on the red certificates. He uses ants to find out the forged document.

We circle back to the eight apprentices; their dice game is intense, and they are currently tied. To make matters worse, Lee-eun suggests they strip their shirts to prove no one is cheating. Of course, Deok-su refuses, and they all start wondering what is wrong. She tries to flee the room and trips on her way out with Lee-eun trying to pin her down.

Deok-su makes it outside but runs into Mae-hwa and the other department heads who are there to take her in. Deok-su’s secret is out, and they all know she forged the red certificate. The episode ends with a flashback of the good days when Deok-su’s dad was alive and enjoyed playing mind games with her. It turns out that Mae-hwa was close to the family and even taught Deok-su how to play dice and beat her dad in one game.

The Episode Review

Kim Min-jung is a good actress, but for some reason, her acting in the past two episodes is coming off as stiff. Her facial expressions are underwhelming, and it is a pity because she made a good villain in Devil Judge.

On the other hand, the premise of the show is moving along well. The comedy, suspense, and mystery are well-balanced. The characters are well-written, but there is a plot hole. At the beginning of the episode, Mae-hwa said they sent out 30 red certificates and only 28 apprentices showed up. In the scene where Sook-so finds the culprit, he says he will check all 30 red certificates. Where did they get the remaining two if only 28 apprentices showed up?

It will be interesting to see how Deok-su manages to get away with the accusations of murder and forgery in the next episodes.