When The Phone Rings – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

The Birthmark

Episode 2 of When the Phone Rings picks up where we left off with Sa-eon threatening to hurt the caller (406) once he finds him. In the ladies’ room, Hee-joo panics about whether Sa-eon is on to her. However, she soon realises he is not aware.

Based on Sa-eon’s actions, it seems he is angry that someone dared to hurt his wife. Hee-joo assumes he is just being territorial, and it is not about love but pride.

Sa-eon texts her new bodyguards to take his wife home. He also calls his team and sends them a recording of the call so they can use it to uncover their identity by removing the voice modulator.

At home, Hee-joo listens to the recording while trying to analyse Sa-eon’s words. She also worries that the real kidnapper might be looking for the phone.

Sa-eon checks the dash cam, but there isn’t anything there. Hee-joo panics when she realises that Sa-eon might find the dash cam and hear her speak. She rushes after him and is relieved when he informs her that it’s not working.

As they talk, Sa-eon saves Hee-joo from a racing motorbike in the parking lot. He advises Hee-joo to stay home, but she begs him to let her continue working. She also tells him about the court case she has to interpret. He agrees, but asks her to take bodyguards with her. He then calls Administrative Officer Park and asks him to check CCTV footage of the accident.

The following day, Sa-eon meets his mom for a meal but keeps getting distracted by calls from Choi Yeong-jin. His mom senses something is wrong, and she advises him to study his opponent well.  Sa-eon soon realises there are only a few family members who know about his arrangement, so this narrows down his suspect list.

Meanwhile, Hee-joo meets a former college friend and leaves without informing her bodyguards. In a moment of panic, the bodyguard texts Sa-eon, and he urges them to find his wife quickly. He can barely concentrate on his meeting.

Thankfully, the bodyguards find Hee-joo outside having a casual talk with her old acquaintance, Sang Woo. Sa-eon gets jealous when the bodyguards send a photo of the two looking so happy as they talk.

Hee-joo returns home and shortly after, her mom arrives. Yeon-hui gives Hee-joo lingerie and encourages her to seduce Sa-eon. She claims the future of Hee-joo’s family relies on the success of her marriage. If she fails to keep Sa-eon happy, they won’t be able to afford her dad’s treatment. Yeon-hui knows that Hee-joo’s dad is her weakness and uses him as a bargaining chip.

Instead of wearing the lingerie to seduce Sa-eon, Hee-joo wears it when she pretends to be the kidnapper and calls Sa-eon again.

This time, Sa-eon asks if the kidnapper is close to him. Sa-eon refuses to give in to the demands, so Hee-joo sends him a picture of a unique birthmark on her thigh.

Sa-eon is not sure if that is a picture of his wife, and the kidnapper mocks him for not knowing his wife’s body. Sa-eon fights back by calling the kidnapper a pervert and flustering her with personal questions. The kidnapper gets more offended when Sa-eon threatens to add more offences to the list of things he will charge her for.

Hee-joo loses her cool and asks him to check for himself if she has a birthmark on her thigh. After ending the call, Sa-eon checks if his team was able to track the location. Unfortunately, they weren’t, and Sa-eon doesn’t show them the picture the kidnapper sent.

Sa-eon rushes home and finds Hee-joo in bed. He tries to check her thigh, but she refuses to let go of the bedcover. He pulls too strongly and ends up falling on top of her.

Flustered, he changes his mind and starts talking about an interpreter job at the President’s Office. He insists that he won’t give her any special treatment and that if she wants the job, she should earn it by merit.

In a flashback, Sa-eon remembers the early days of their marriage when Hee-joo tried to seduce him, but he turned her down, warning her not to fall in love with him. In hindsight, does he regret it?

Elsewhere, Sang-woo has a run-in with You-ri when he rescues her from tripping after being pushed by fans waiting for their celebrity outside the station.

Accidentally, You-ri ends up pouring her hot coffee on his arm. They later talk, and Sang-woo informs her that he will be joining the new show. They also talk about how fans are devoted, and You-ri finds it offensive when Sang-woo claims the fans are being a nuisance.

The conversation turns to how being a fangirl is similar to having a crush. Sang-woo admits that he has experience in this as there was a girl he once liked. He is probably referring to Hee-joo.

Meanwhile, Hee-joo visits her dad in the nursing home and learns that he gave up on her so she can have a chance to follow her dreams of being a news anchor.

Hee-joo is touched but also frustrated because her life hasn’t been peaceful. She starts crying about how tired she is of it all and how she no longer knows who she is.

At the office, Sa-eon reviews CCTV footage of Hee-joo’s car on the night of the incident. He sees a man getting in her car. He later talks to Reporter Hyeok-Jin and subtly narrates his troubles. Hyeok-jin insists that the wife in question is having an affair, and the lovers are trying to fleece the husband.

Sa-eon watches the CCTV footage again and notes how casually the man walked to Hee-joo’s car and got in.

At 10 pm, Hee-joo calls as the kidnapper, and Sa-eon intentionally hangs up. She is shocked and calls him again. This time, Sa-eon says he is not the desperate one and asks the kidnapper to call him after 5 minutes before hanging up.

Hee-joo gets out of her car and tries to calm herself, pacing back and forth. After 5 minutes, she calls Sa-eon again.

This time, he threatens to turn things against the kidnapper. He mocks the caller, and Hee-joo tries her best to stay calm. A blast is heard as they talk, and Hee-joo curls herself in shock. The call ends, and she is unable to reach Sa-eon. She heads home and waits for Sa-eon while sitting on the sofa.

She wakes up the following morning and realises he never came home. Worried, she turns on the TV and sees a report about a bombing at an office in Yeuido.

The media plays a part of her call with Sa-eon, where she threatened Sa-eon. Hee-joo is too shocked because she is not the one who planted the bomb. Before she can collect herself, Sa-eon arrives looking like a mess. He corners her in the kitchen and makes her sit on the aisle. He then moves to check for the birthmark on her thigh.

Hee-joo is too stunned by how close he is. He senses her hesitation and plainly asks whether she will lift her skirt or he will!

In an epilogue, we learn that Sa-eon was the one who asked I-na to switch with her sister. He didn’t want Hee-joo to marry the son of the Yeonghwa Construction company, as rumour has it that he was a horrible man, and many families avoided marriage talks with the Yeonghwa family.

The Episode Review

It is official; we are adding Sa-eon to the list of touch-my-girl-and-die kind of men. Sa-eon is a walking contradiction. The more we learn about him, the more confusing it gets. So he had I-na switch positions with Hee-joo to marry and protect her from her mom and Yeonghwa.

However, he doesn’t want her to get close to him. He treats her like a hostage, but also cares enough to make her breakfast and get jealous about Sang-woo. He is willing to go head to head with the kidnapper to protect his wife, yet he won’t give her the one thing she desperately wants; freedom.

On the other hand, Hee-joo is playing her husband, but he has the upper hand. She is playing checkers in a chess game. She better up her game before he finds out what she has been up to. I am also curious about her mutism and why she is hiding the fact, she can talk from everyone. What happened to her and why did she agree to switch places with her sister? Sure, her dad’s safety was a big part of it, but could there be more?

With just two episodes, this K-Drama is delivering twists, tension and heat like never before. If they maintain this pace, we might have another classic hit on our 2024 K-Drama list.