Delightfully Deceitful – K-drama Episode 9 Recap & Review

Let’s Try This Again, Shall We?

Episode 9 of Delightfully Deceitful begins with Moo-Young and Lee Ro-Um heading home after Moo-Young picks Lee Ro-Um up from where Jang Kyung-Ja left her. They arrive at Moo-Young’s place, but Moo-Young doesn’t ask anything. Instead, he gives Lee Ro-Um a towel to go and shower. Of course, Lee Ro-Um is surprised that Moo-Young isn’t asking anything. I mean, I am too. But that’s just who he is.

Lee Ro-Um asks Moo-Young if he found the flash drive and read its contents. Remember, this is the flash drive containing evidence that Jeokmok Foundation caused Moo-Young’s father’s company to become bankrupt. They talk briefly about the flash drive’s contents and what happened at the hotel after Moo-Young left. It turns out Lee Ro-Um actually shot Na-Sa when they were in the vault in the last episode. It’s doubtful over whether he’s seriously injured though.

Later, Moo-Young calls Da-Jung to thank her for letting him know where Jang Kyung-Ja might take Lee Ro-Um. After the phone call, Da-Jung seems emotionally drained by what happened in the last episode because she breaks down crying and starts to pack her belongings. It seems like she’s leaving. Could this be the last time we’ll see Da-Jung on the show?

Back at Moo-Young’s house, Moo-Young calls Lee Ro-Um to sit beside him, and he starts to clean the wounds she sustained while she was held captive by Jang Kyung-Ja. This interaction between them while Moo-Young is cleaning Lee Ro-Um’s wounds makes me wonder if they have romantic feelings toward each other.

Moo-Young asks Lee Ro-Um if she thought he would give up on helping her seek revenge against Jeokmok Foundation if she left him the flash drive. Moo-Young tells Lee Ro-Um that while he was upset by what he discovered in the flash drive, he knew he couldn’t blame Lee Ro-Um because it wasn’t her fault. He then tells Lee Ro-Um that the flash drive’s contents made him more sure that he’ll help Lee Ro-Um seek revenge against Jeokmok Foundation.

The next day, Lee Ro-Um leaves without informing Moo-Young. She meets Yo-Han at a train station, who gives her a train ticket. Yo-Han tells Lee Ro-Um that he now knows everything about her experience at Jeokmok Foundation. Yo-Han apologizes to Lee Ro-Um on behalf of Shin Seo-Ra for analyzing and recommending her to Jeokmok Foundation. Yo-Han then tells Lee Ro-Um that she should come back from wherever she’s going to in a month.

Yo-Han later tells Moo-Young that Lee Ro-Um wanted a ticket for the earliest train and that she didn’t care about the destination. Moo-Young asks Yo-Han if he knows the whereabouts of Na-Sa, but, Yo-Han doesn’t know where he is.

Yo-Han begins telling Moo-Young about his insomnia and asks Moo-Young if he could recommend him to his psychiatrist, Mo Jae-In. Moo-Young then tells Yo-Han he’ll arrange a meeting between him and Mo Jae-In.

Elsewhere, it seems Na-Sa is now with Jay and Jang Kyung-Ja. Jay asks Na-Sa what Lee Ro-Um’s next move was, and Na-Sa tells him he doesn’t know and that he was only asked to get the notebook. Jay then asks Na-Sa what was in the notebook, and Na-Sa tells him that he doesn’t know. Na-Sa then tells Jay to recommend him to Jang Kyung-Ja so that he can work for her. Jay asks Na-Sa if he’ll return to working with Lee Ro-Um, but Na-Sa can’t because Lee Ro-Um will kill him.

The next day, Jang Kyung-Ja meets a man, presumably one of “the president’s” men. While Jang Kyung-Ja is on her way to meet him, she remembers Lee Ro-Um telling her in the last episode that “the president” will be curious about what she’s hiding now that Lee Ro-Um has tried to rob her. Well, Lee Ro-Um was right because the man asks Jang Kyung-Ja what Lee Ro-Um was attempting to steal from her.

Jang Kyung-Ja tells the man that Lee Ro-Um was after the gold in her safe, but he doesn’t believe her. Jang Kyung-Ja then tells the man that Lee Ro-Um thought that An Chae-Hong’s records about Jeokmok Foundation, which she was to give her the night her parents were murdered, were in the vault, which is why she broke in there. It turns out Jang Kyung-Ja didn’t give Lee Ro-Um the black bag containing the records. Instead, she handed it over to “the president.”

The man tells her that Mr Ma will soon be released from prison and she should allow him to join Navis Well-Being. Jang Kyung-Ja is against the idea, but the man tells her it’s not up to her to make this decision.

Elsewhere, Yo-Han goes to Mo Jae-In as recommended by Moo-Young. Yo-Han is surprised to see Mo Jae-In since they had met at Shin Seo-Ra’s house in the last episode. Remember Yo-Han didn’t know that Mo Jae-In was Moo-Young’s psychiatrist. Later, Yo-Han tells Mo Jae-In, who was actually Shin Seo-Ra’s student while in the university, about how Shin Seo-Ra recommended several kids to Jeokmok Foundation to be groomed into criminals.

We’re then introduced to a young lady named Yeon Ho-Jung. Yeon Ho-Jung struggled to make ends meet when one of her co-workers recommended a better job opportunity. It turns out the job opportunity was in Darusa International, which was a pyramid scheme.

Yeon Ho-Jung got into a lot of debt because of buying products from Darusa International to sell. And these products were in bad shape, so they weren’t sellable. The worse thing was Darusa International wouldn’t allow Yeon Ho-Jung to terminate her membership with the company. This meant she would continue receiving products to sell, which meant she still owed Darusa International in some way. Yeon Ho-Jung couldn’t take all the burden anymore. And sadly, she took her life.

Meanwhile, Moo-Young asks Young-Ji and Jae-Hyeok for help in investigating Jeokmok Foundation. They discover Navis Well-Being, and Jeokmok Foundation have been working together. Moo-Young tells them that another company, Darusa International, has also been working with Jeokmok Foundation.

Moo-Young discovered that Darusa International was the one that caused his father’s company to go bankrupt. Moo-Young, Young-Ji, and Jae-Hyeok also discover that Navis Well-Being is a pyramid scheme. Navis Well-Being managed to hide what they did quite well until an anonymous blogger, Young-Ji, managed to find and start exposing Navis Well-Being for what they’ve been doing.

It turns out the CEO, Ma Kang-Soo, was arrested. This is Mr Ma, whom the man from “the president” told Jang Kyung-Ja that he’d be working at Navis Well-Being when he’s released from prison. Well, Kang-Soo is released from jail, and Jang Kyung-Ja reluctantly goes to pick him up.

One night, Moo-Young calls Lee Ro-Um and tries to convince her to return so they can try seeking revenge against Jeokmok Foundation once again. Lee Ro-Um then goes to a certain restaurant and finds Da-Jung working there. After having her meal, Lee Ro-Um and Da-Jung go somewhere to talk. Remember, they hadn’t seen each other since what happened when they were trying to take the notebook from the hotel vault.

Lee Ro-Um tells Da-Jung that she didn’t kill Na-Sa, although she doesn’t know where he is. Lee Ro-Um then asks Da-Jung to work with her again so they can execute their revenge against Jeokmok Foundation, but, Da-Jung doesn’t want to. Lee Ro-Um asks Da-Jung what she has to do so they can work together again. Da-Jung then Lee Ro-Um that they should work as partners and that Lee Ro-Um shouldn’t keep Da-Jung in the dark about her plans anymore.

Elsewhere, Mo Jae-In is having a group therapy session with some students with the help of her colleagues. Later, one of her colleagues mentions that Shin Seo-Ra, their professor gave them a case about Lee Ro-Um to study. Shin Seo-Ra asked her students to study Lee Ro-Um, Na-Sa, Da-Jung, and Ring-Go as anonymous case studies. But, since Lee Ro-Um was at a famous show at that time, the other students knew Lee Ro-Um was one of their case studies.

Mo Jae-In then meets Yo-Han to tell him everything about the case study. Apparently, the students, together with Shin Seo-Ra, recommended that Lee Ro-Um, Ring-Go, Da-Jung, and Na-Sa be put in a completely different environment so they could thrive. Could this recommendation have made Jeokmok Foundation take in Lee Ro-Um and the others?

Later, Young-Ji calls Moo-Young and sends him an article he found on the anonymous blog that was exposing Navis Well-Being. This article turns out to be about Yeon Ho-Jung taking her life because of Darusa International. Young-Ji also tells Moo-Young that the writer behind this blog is Yeon Ho-Jung’s father, Yeon Tae-Hoon.

Lee Ro-Um returns, and Moo-Young tells her that she wants them to start over their quest to seek revenge against Jeokmok Foundation; they’ll now do it his way. The episode ends with Kang-Soo telling Jang Kyung-Ja that she’s no longer the head of Navis Well-Being.

The Episode Review

We’ve gotten more context about Jeokmok Foundation’s schemes and Shin Seo-Ra’s role in Lee Ro-Um, Ring-Go, Na-Sa, and Da-Jung being recruited into the foundation. Judging by how Kang-Soo was talking to Jang Kyung-Ja at the end of this episode, could Darusa International have been renamed Navis Well-Being?

Now that Lee Ro-Um has seemingly agreed to start over in her quest to seek revenge against Jeokmok Foundation, I hope she does things differently this time. As for Na-Sa, I am eager to see what he’s up to by wanting to work for Jang Kyung-Ja.