We got a little more on the game mechanics in this episode!

Quick (I hope) recap on this one!! Turns out Jin Woo never did intend to leave Granada so hurriedly and for so long, or for them to pretend to be Se Joo infinitely. He left Granada because he thought he had Se Joo’s whereabouts – he was working on the game with another Korean called Marco, who was the one who reached out to Hyung Seok about selling the game. Hyung Seok, Marco and Se Joo all left for Granada on the same day, but Marco and Se Joo disappeared, with Marco’s dead body turning up months later. My bet’s that Hyung Seok has something to do with Marco’s death, maybe kill him so that he doesn’t have to pay so much for the game? Otherwise, why would Se Joo call him a bad person? Or was Se Joo actually referring to Hyung Seok’s father?

Hee Joo was devastated by the news about her brother and dashes into the toilet when her grandmother and sister return home. She cries in the toilet with the tap running, while Min Joo agrees delightedly with Jin Woo that she herself has grown prettier. Haha! Min Joo wants to show Jin Woo her room but he declines and leaves. Hee Joo runs after his car and yells into the phone that he’s a fraud and she was there taking care of him instead of worrying about her brother. Mid-shouting, Jin Woo hangs up on her (I was taken aback HAHA) but turns out, he has turned the car around and Hee Joo gets in. Min Joo watches the leaving car worriedly.

Meanwhile, Secretary Seo explains to Sun Ho how HE got in the game too. He agreed to Jin Woo returning to Seoul because Jin Woo wasn’t getting better in America and eventually joined the game via Yang Joo’s help because he was bored of waiting for Jin Woo. His alias is City Hunter and I’m sorry but I did think of the K-drama City Hunter (hahaha always one of my loves). Anyway, Secretary Seo realised quickly it was impossible for him to catch up the levels and he requested for an alliance with Zinu/Jin Woo – what this means is that they can share weapons and face the same enemies. But what both didn’t expect is that Seo now could see Hyung Seok as NPC character, with the same bloodied face, the same music and… the same degree of hurt felt when slashed.

Jin Woo returns with a fainted Hee Joo and Min Joo stealthily sneaks them into her sister’s room. Min Joo is the cutest, saying that she feels ashamed on behalf of her sister for chasing after a man and getting into his car. Min Joo and Jin Woo’s banter gives me life – I really appreciate that they work some comic relief into the show but I wonder Hyun Bin feels being called Ahjuhssi or is this normal in Korea? Hur hur. Also just putting it out there, he looks the happiest with Min Ju HAHA, even more so than with Hee Joo. I love Hyun Bin’s twinkling eyes, especially when he keeps insisting, “I’ve already said no.” That being said, I guess Jin Woo looks the most vulnerable with Hee Joo – he doesn’t put up any walls with her.

In a flashback, we see that Hee Joo learns all about Se Joo, including the fact that they can’t report him missing because he might be suspected of murdering Marco. She then cried and fainted from both shock and being caught in the rain. When she wakes up, she tells Jin Woo that she will take action on her own but she doesn’t want him to come visit or contact her family again.

When Jin Woo leaves, we hear in a narration that he wanted to tell Hee Joo this when they meet again: for a long time, fake tears and tears shed out of excuses have made me exhausted. This is why I wanted to tell you…crying for me because I am not there, protecting me when I am asleep… what this means to me. 

Next day, in a private conversation between Sun Ho and Hyung Seok’s father, we learn the reason why Jin Woo orders for the game’s launch to be delayed but for development to continue is because he’s starting to believe that the problem isn’t with him but with the game. He wants to reach the level of the developers to understand what went wrong at the beginning – and that’s basically ‘Master’ at Level 94, ‘Marco’ at Level 92 and Zinu at Level 88. I’m guessing Master is Se Joo. Both Master and Marco haven’t logged into the game for a year – which tallies with when both guys have disappeared.

Even better, we learnt that Sun Ho HAD in fact asked to join Jin Woo’s alliance – so that he can see Hyung Seok as well. But Jin Woo declines because both him and Seo realised belatedly that there’s no way to break an alliance; not even Yang Joo could tweak the gaming code to do that. And he does not want Sun Ho to be harassed to death by Hyung Seok. That being said, I realise that Hyung Seok still only haunts Jin Woo? Just that Secretary Seo now has the power to kill him too.

Hyung Seok’s father rolls the content (eerily) in his mind and considers that Jin Woo doesn’t want to explain his actions, despite breaking the source of revenue of the company. “Then the answer is simple.” Think of a way to pull Jin Woo down from his seat without too much damage. There’s so much more to Hyung Seok’s dad we don’t know and I really want to find out more – was his aim all along to swallow the company? Which is kind of greedy of him don’t you think, because if I’m not wrong, J-One was started by Hyung Seok and Jin Woo right?

Hee Joo decides to book herself a flight to Granada the very next day to find Se Joo and Sang Beom rashly decides not only to book himself a flight the following day but that he will release all news about Se Joo to the press. I would like this character better if he wasn’t so hot-headed, and his bias against Jin Woo purely fuelled by his jealousy. Anyway, before Hee Joo’s flight takes off, she receives a call from Jin Woo notifying her that she should get off the plane if she still can – because there’s no use going to Granada. Only he can contact Se Joo.

And in a flashback, we see Jin Woo hitting level 90, therefore being able to receive the hawk…which is revealed to be the messenger from the Master. Cool stuff! I’m really hoping the Master is Se Joo, and not some automated name/automated level in the game.

Verdict for this set of episodes – interesting but not super mind-blowing or gripping. That being said, I do love the added detail right at the end of EP8, where it says that the messenger of master has arrived. Also loving that Se Joo’s ID is ‘Master’, because that shows you who really is the boss and brains in this game eh?

As for Hee Joo/Emma, I’m holding out on judgement but I’m really hoping that Hee Joo has a greater role to play. Actually scratch that – I’m hoping Emma has more screen time, not Hee Joo. I understand if Hee Joo’s role is simply to be the supportive, caring and fiesty female lead Jin Woo never had in his life, although that would suck majorly for character development. But it would be such a waste if Emma is created just for visuals and for us to ogle at how pretty Park Shin Hye is each time. I give the show credit for creating the oomph effect each time Emma appears, but it’s about time she does something other than playing the guitar don’t you think? Since Jin Woo is at level 90, I’m hoping he will be able to interact with Emma perhaps in Granada. That would be interesting.

Side questions:

• How does Jin Woo work the leg while driving?
• It also just occurred to me – didn’t the time leap in EP2 happened one year later? This means that we will be getting that confrontation soon pretty soon eh?
• Okay and what about him asking her to get off the plane while she can and in the preview, saying he must go to Granada?
• All I wanna know too is whether Puppy Seo will be affected, such that he can see Hyung Seok even without the lens? Because right now, that seems to be the only irregularity – Jin Woo still needs to wear the lens to be IN the game and progress, but only Hyung Seok appears out of the game and deals blows that hurt.
• Can’t wait to go back to Granada!!

<3thoughtsramble