Oh My Ghost Clients: Episodes 7-8 » Dramabeans

Oh My Ghost Clients: Episodes 7-8

by solstices

Switching the pace up this week with two cases instead of just one, our team find themselves faced with clients unlike any they’ve ever had before. With one not-dead-but-dying, and one a collective group burning with an aggrieved anger, our crew must draw upon every resource at their disposal to face their biggest challenge yet.

EPISODES 7-8

How do you help someone who doesn’t want to be helped? That question lies at the center of our first case this week, which raises the stakes drastically. Not only is our team seeking justice, but they’re also trying to give their client a second chance at life.

Thankfully, Yoon-jae is still alive for now, but he’s fallen into a coma from severe dehydration. Mu-jin reconvenes with Hee-joo and Gyeon-woo in the hospital — they’re fine, save for a bout of food poisoning from their latest meokbang video — and they begin retracing Yoon-jae’s recent steps.

As it turns out, the major corporation Yoon-jae had been hired by abruptly revoked all their job offers. With that opportunity snatched away from him, Yoon-jae ended up working at a major supermarket, pushing shopping carts in the parking lot with no air-conditioning and barely any breaks. The company shirks responsibility, claiming they can’t share CCTV footage because they’re foreign-owned and the decision lies with the U.S. head office. Think something like Costco Korea — which happens to be the real-life counterpart that this case is based on.

Mu-jin reassures Yoon-jae’s sister that he’ll take on the case pro bono, but Yoon-jae himself is far more difficult to convince. Despite his love for his young nephew, Yoon-jae ultimately arrives at the conclusion that his sister would be better off if he died — dragging this out would only add medical bills to his student loans. The world may insist that hard work never betrays oneself, but Yoon-jae counters that all too often, diligence and desperation amount to nothing but suffering.

Mu-jin tries to convince Yoon-jae that life is worth living, especially since he’s still so young, but Yoon-jae counters that he’s worked too hard for naught. Yoon-jae doesn’t want to return to his life — he’s too tired. He just wants to rest. Waaaaaah, I’m crying. Yoon-jae fades away, and in the hospital ward, his condition rapidly deteriorates.

At a loss, Hee-joo and Gyeon-woo suggest asking Bo-sal for advice. One summoning ritual, aborted stun gun tasing, and joint strangulation later, they succeed in transporting Mu-jin to Bo-sal — but the latter simply sends our hero back to Earth with the sage advice that this is a case the trio can resolve on their own. Plus, living souls technically aren’t under his purview. LOL.

Gyeon-woo proceeds with his usual YouTube exposé, except this time it’s met with a wave of cynical and downright unempathetic comments. However, amidst it all, one of Yoon-jae’s former employers vouches for him — and then many others begin to chime in, sharing their positive experiences working with Yoon-jae. It’s a testament to his good character and hard work, demonstrating how his diligence hasn’t been futile after all.

On the legal front, the U.S. head office finally replies to Gyeon-woo’s email — after Gyeon-woo adds English subtitles to his video and threatens to make it go even more viral, LOL. The head office states they’ll take responsibility and provide compensation, much to Gyeon-woo’s delight: “Impossible is nothing!” HA. The video’s view count skyrockets anyway thanks to a member of VIXX VOXX sharing it, and supportive comments flood in wishing for Yoon-jae’s recovery.

All that’s left is to restore Yoon-jae’s will to live, but that’s no easy task. Having noticed a postcard of the sea in Yoon-jae’s room, on which Yoon-jae had written “A better life,” Mu-jin splurges on a rented sports car to drive Yoon-jae to the beach. Aww, I love the detail of Yoon-jae still wearing his seatbelt even though he’s technically a specter. When Yoon-jae asks why Mu-jin cares so much about his case when he’s just a stranger, Mu-jin muses that Yoon-jae reminds him of someone he once knew. Hyung, perhaps, or his younger self?

Though Yoon-jae teases Mu-jin for his trite sayings about light at the end of the tunnel, a faint smile does find its way back to Yoon-jae’s face as they listen to Hee-joo and Gyeon-woo’s song cover. After a day of carefree frolicking by the seaside, Mu-jin suggests Yoon-jae study to become a labor attorney. Yesss, take him on as a protégé! With a refreshed spirit and a renewed purpose, Yoon-jae finally regains consciousness, returning to his loving family at last.

One month later, our crew has officially taken Yoon-jae under their wing, and Mu-jin makes good on his promise of chicken and beer soda by the Han River. As for Hee-joo, she finally accepts Gyeon-woo’s feelings, since he finally fulfilled her criteria of making her heart flutter five times. LOL, these two. Our quartet end off the day cycling merrily on tandem bikes, with a cheeky Bo-sal speeding past them, hee.

Alas, Yoon-jae doesn’t join us for the next case, which starts out quite like his own. While visiting his hospitalized friend (Jung Soon-won in a returning cameo) who took a drunken tumble down the stairs after a work dinner, Mu-jin encounters the charred victims of a warehouse fire. With their phones stored away in their lockers, alongside broken sprinklers and rusty fire extinguishers, the workers had no means of escape. Oof, this brings to mind both the Coupang logistics center fire and the Aricell storage facility blaze.

Trapped in the burning warehouse, the laborers suffocated to death while MANAGER CHOI (Im Chul-hyung) drove away in a panic. The true villain, though, is the chairman KIM MYUNG-AHN (Choi Moo-sung) of Myungeum Construction. Having registered the warehouse as a separate entity to shirk legal consequences, Chairman Kim offers the bereaved families a hefty settlement and schemes to get rid of Manager Choi as their fall guy.

Hounded by his conscience, Manager Choi calls our team to expose the truth. Except the warehouse ghosts follow Mu-jin to the meeting point like a trail of baby ducklings, and their indignation over their wrongful demise gets the better of them. One wrathful chase and ghost-induced tornado later, Manager Choi is all shaken up, but at least he’s remorseful enough to kneel in apology for his cowardly deeds. (Even if he’s perplexed by the idea of speaking to thin air, ha.)

To Mu-jin, Manager Choi exposes the connection to Myungeum Construction alongside his own role as a puppet CEO. To that end, Manager Choi has evidence in his office — more specifically, in his refrigerator, because it’s darkest under the lamp. LOL, good thinking? Unfortunately for our pair, Myungeum men are quick, and they soon swarm the area. With no other choice, the two split up, and Mu-jin takes off running (complaining all the while, HAHA).

After the somber melancholy and subdued healing of Yoon-jae’s case, our hero’s latest (mis)adventure swings our drama right back into laugh-out-loud comedy. That epilogue scene of Bo-sal conducting the chorus of furious workers! Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men? It’s downright hilarious, and also absurdly endearing. I’m surprised the ghosts are able to create a tangible impact on the real world, though perhaps that’s the power of banding together. Is it time to storm the Myungeum building?

Talking about Myungeum Construction, the industry they’re based in is making me uneasy, especially since Hyung is a construction worker. (Please don’t let “was” be the tense for that sentence!) It’s a shame we didn’t get Yoon-jae joining our crew just yet, since I was looking forward to his dynamic with them, but perhaps he’ll make a later reappearance? The arc of Mu-jin guiding Yoon-jae to realize his own worth and regain faith in himself was such a deeply moving one, and I’d love to see Yoon-jae grow into his own and extend his own form of support to our bumbling hero.

 
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