Race – K-drama Episode 10 Recap & Review

You Don’t Have to Take the Blame All By Yourself

Episode 10 of Race begins with the Chul-Jun on the phone with Jae-Min, who’s not at the office. He informs him that one of the owners of Ang’s Bread has exposed Seyong for intentionally writing bad reviews about their protein bread, putting them out of business. And now his co-owner has been hospitalized due to health issues due to stress.

Meanwhile, Yi-Jung summons Yoon-Jo and Eun-Jeong and asks if what the co-owner of Ang’s Bread has said is true. Yoon-Jo admits that it’s and seemingly takes full responsibility for it, even though she was against it in the first place. Yi-Jung instructs Yoon-Jo to write a full report about what happened with the CENTUM 100 marketing project as she was the one overseeing it. She then tells PR team 3 that they may be disbanded as they are responsible for what happened.

Later, there is a lot of tension in the PR department. Jae-Min tries calling Yoon-Jo, but she doesn’t pick up. He later calls Chul-Jun, who tells him that the media has discovered what Seyong did to Ang’s Bread. He also tells him that Yoon-Jo will most likely take the blame for this issue, even though Seyong has been doing negative marketing since the beginning. This makes Jae-Min very upset.

At Earth Comms, Hee-Young tells Dong-Hoon that General Manager An eavesdropped on his and Yoon-Jo’s conversation the previous night. She then told Hee-Young about it, and the co-owner who exposed Seyong on the Internet overheard their conversation.

Back at Seyong, Gu-Young meets with Ji-Hyeon and Yi-Jung. He begins blaming what just happened on Yoon-Jo, saying she’s the problem. He also blames Yi-Jung and tells Ji-Hyeon that all this happened because there’s no Chief Strategy Officer to lead the Strategy Management Division, which the PR department is under.

Later, Yeon-Soo vouches for Byung-Man to be the next Chief Strategy Officer. Meanwhile, Ji-Hyeon worries about losing control over Seyong if the board members decide to fire Yi-Jung and Yoon-Jo over what just happened.

Yoon-Jo is trying to think about what to write in the report Yi-Jung instructed her to write. Ji-Hyo then asks her if she’s going, to tell the truth in the report. Yoon-Jo asks her what else she should write in the report and adds that if she knows what she should write in the report, she should tell her.

Elsewhere, Jae-Min is in Changwon, where Seyong’s factory is situated. He tries inquiring about the supplier of CENTUM 100 from the factory manager, but he isn’t interested in answering any of Jae-Min’s inquiries.

Back at Seyong, Sun-Tae sees Yoon-Jo struggling to come up with what to write in the report. Sun-Tae then approaches Yoon-Jo and tells her to save herself because no one else will help her. Jae-Min arrives at the office and finds Yoon-Jo alone. So, they go to the headquarters’ break room to have coffee. Jae-Min asks Yoon-Jo if she’s okay.

Yoon-Jo explains to him her dilemma regarding what to write in the report. If she writes what really happened, she’ll be placing other people’s jobs at Seyong at risk. On the other hand, she’ll feel guilty for not telling the truth.

Jae-Min assures her that Yi-Jung and the team members will be fine and she should look out for herself. Jae-Min then tells Yoon-Jo to stay strong for him, and that statement makes things awkward between them.

Meanwhile, Yi-Jung bumps into Byung-Tae and PR Team 1’s leader, Young-Ho. Byung-Tae begins telling Yi-Jung how the R&I project should be put on hold, considering what is happening. He even tells her how the R&I project was a bad idea, to begin with. Of course, this annoys Yi-Jung, and she tells him that the R&I project will continue.

Elsewhere, Jin-Seo from the Sales department and Sun-Tae are arguing about the situation with CENTUM 100’s marketing project. It turns out Jin-Seo was the one who suggested that Seyong spread false bad reviews about other protein products, including Ang’s Bread. And they gave Ji-Hyo that project and proposed that idea to her. They knew she’d do anything to make CENTUM 100’s marketing project a success and be recognized for it.

Now, Jin-Seo wants Sun-Tae to avoid being associated with the current situation and leave the rest of the PR department to take the fall for it. Surprisingly, Sun-Tae refuses.

The following evening, Jae-Min offers to take Yoon-Jo out for dinner. As they head to the restaurant, Hee-Young calls Yoon-Jo to check on her. She then mentions Dong-Hoon is still at Earth Comms headquarters, so, Yoon-Jo decides to go see Dong-Hoon instead. And while Jae-Min has no issue with that, he seems pretty hurt by it.

Jae-Min goes to Eun’s bar when she receives a call from the factory manager. He leaves the copies of CENTUM 100’s ingredient analysis on the table and heads out to talk to the factory manager. Just then, Choi-Young comes to the bar and sees the two copies of the ingredient analysis. The reason Jae-Min has two copies is that he had CENTUM 100 ingredients analyzed elsewhere. And when he compared it to the one already available at Seyong, he realized they were different. This means that one of them is fake.

Later, Ji-Hyo meets with Yoon-Jo. Ji-Hyo tells Yoon-Jo she visited the Ang’s Bread co-owner, who’s in hospital and mentions his condition is worsening. Ji-Hyo then breaks down crying about how guilty she feels for having a hand in putting Ang’s Bread out of business. She tells Yoon-Jo that she just wanted to prove herself at Seyong, so she agreed to proceed with the negative marketing strategy.

The next day, Yoon-Jo leaves a copy of the report Yi-Jung instructed her to write on Eun-Jeong’s desk and takes another copy to Yi-Jung. She mentioned in the report that she’s taking full responsibility for the negative marketing strategy and how it has affected Ang’s Bread. Of course, Yi-Jung is disappointed in Yoon-Jo and puts her on probation.

Meanwhile, Eun-Jeong reads the report, so she and Sun-Tae rush to Yi-Jung’s office. They explain to Yi-Jung that negative marketing is something Seyong has been doing for a very long time. So, Yoon-Jo shouldn’t take the fall for how this strategy has affected other businesses.

Later, Yoon-Jo calls Jae-Min, who’s at a driving range. Apparently, the supplier of CENTUM 100 owns that driving range. Jae-Min bumps into a friend at the driving range who tells him that Jin-Seo’s brother-in-law owns the driving range. This means that Jin-Seo’s brother-in-law owns the company that supplies the protein powder that Seyong brands as CENTUM 100.

Meanwhile, Yoon-Jo meets Hae-Jo smoking. Hae-Jo then leaves, and Yoon-Jo asks her where she’s headed to. Hae-Jo tells Yoon-Jo that she isn’t heading home because their mum, Hwa-Ja, has a man at the house, and she isn’t comfortable being around them. Hae-Jo asks Yoon-Jo if she could move out so she could stay with her. But, Yoon-Jo doesn’t say anything, and Hae-Jo concludes that Yoon-Jo doesn’t want to live with her.

Jae-Min visits Chul-Jun at his house to update him about what he discovered about CENTUM 100. The ingredient analysis that was available at Seyong was fake. What’s more, the original supplier died in a drunk-driving accident. Apparently, he became an alcoholic after he unfairly lost the CENTUM 100’s supplier deal to Jin-Seo’s brother-in-law’s company. Jae-Min then tells Chul-Jun that CENTUM 100’s doesn’t fit the health standards according to his ingredient analysis.

Jae-Min later bumps into Yi-Jung at Seyong. She tells Jae-Min to keep on with the R&I project even if she may not be around. The next day, Hye-Young meets Jae-Min and tells him she saw the two copies of CENTUM 100’s ingredient analysis when he left them at Eun’s bar. She also tells him that she wrote an article about it, and it’s set to be published soon. Jae-Min then tells Hye-Young that this may be for the best.

Meanwhile, Ji-Hyeon and Yi-Jung attend an ESG forum. Just then, Hye-Young’s article about CENTUM 100’s ingredient analysis is published, and people at the forum see it, so they start asking Ji-Hyeon questions about it. Yi-Jung advises Ji-Hyeon that they leave the conference, and Ji-Hyeon is furious about it. But Eun-Seok, who’s also in attendance, seems to enjoy seeing what’s happening, especially because her ex-wife, Yi-Jung, is involved.

Sun-Tae also reads Hye-Young’s article and asks Jae-Min if she tipped Hye-Young off about what’s really happening regarding CENTUM 100. Jae-Min confirms he did tip off Hye-Young, but he asks Sun-Tae if he’s involved in all this. As expected, Sun-Tae gets mad. He then threatens Jae-Min that he’ll go down for what he has done.

Meanwhile, Byung-Tae tells Yeon-Soo that Jae-Min was the one who tipped off Hye-Young about what’s really going on with CENTUM 100. He then advises him to push for Jae-Min and Yoon-Jo to be fired. The episode ends with Yoon-Jo and Jae-Min attending a disciplinary hearing.

The Episode Review

Yoon-Jo is again taking the blame for something she wasn’t responsible for. But it’s good that Sun-Tae and Eun-Jeong explained to Yi-Jung that it wasn’t Yoon-Jo’s fault. As expected, the top people at Seyong are looking to save themselves and let Yoon-Jo and Jae-Min take the fall.

Let’s see if the truth about the quality of CENTUM 100 and its supplier will come to light. It’s honestly refreshing to see Sun-Tae thinking of other people rather than himself. But I wonder if he’s involved in this CENTUM 100’s current mess.