Undercover High School: Episodes 9-10 » Dramabeans

Undercover High School: Episodes 9-10

by quirkycase

It’s all out war between our determined spy and the terrifying chairwoman as they both close in on the gold. Our hero and his people are put on the defensive as the chairwoman proves she’s willing to do anything to achieve her goal. But while she may be powerful, she has her share of enemies who come in handy for our underdogs as they scrappily fight to take her down.

 
EPISODES 9-10

First things first, Soo-ah is okay despite her gut wound. The intruder grabbed a nearby knife to threaten her to be quiet and cooperate, but didn’t mean to stab her – they tussled and she fell on the knife. He seemed stunned, which makes sense when they find the DNA matches teacher LEE JOON-HO who seems to have a crush on Soo-ah. He broke into Hae-sung’s to find the notebook for Myung-joo in exchange for no longer having to tamper with the students’ grades. Obviously, he didn’t expect to find Soo-ah there and had no intention of killing or even hurting her.

Joon-ho is naïve enough to threaten Myung-joo to ensure she holds her end of the bargain, which ends with Myung-joo’s favorite pastime: attempted murder by proxy. Hae-sung’s teammates Mi-jung and Young-hoon, who were keeping tabs on Joon-ho, try for their own action hero moment that goes sideways, landing them tied up next to Joon-ho in the car headed for the crusher. Thankfully, the real action hero shows up. Hae-sung was already on his way and takes out the gangsters (and the principal) before saving the trio from being crushed to death in the nick of time.

Joon-ho goes public about the tampering (and the murder attempt) and that combined with hard evidence on a USB leads to public scandal that has all the VIP parents and their kids panicking. The principal is arrested and Myung-joo brought in for questioning. We see the NIS director visit her – confirming he’s the mole – and say he’s out now that her education city and position as chairwoman is over. But Myung-joo isn’t ready to give up yet.

Things are still mighty tense between Hae-sung and Seok-ho, but in the end, Hae-sung can’t stand doubting the man who’s been like his father for 20 years and dismisses the notion that he’s the traitor. He comes clean to Seok-ho about it, but Seok-ho is unfazed both by the suspicion and the real traitor. He’s long suspected the director. On the day he went missing, Hae-sung’s dad called Seok-ho saying he needed to tell him something about the director. Seok-ho has felt guilty all this time, and now he and Hae-sung are both crying.

With the public scandal, the students are shocked and angry about the unfairness. Soo-ah apologizes to her class and promises to ensure nothing like this happens again. She’s clearly loved by her students who all agree to help her prepare for the superintendent’s visit and spend the evening cleaning the school. But it’s Myung-joo, not the superintendent, who shows up after the NIS director gets her out. Now she’s on a warpath and kicks Hae-sung out, tired of their cat and mouse game.

Both Myung-joo and Hae-sung are making headway on the gold hunt. Hae-sung comes across some school history which mentions hiding a bead, and that leads him to solve the riddle from the piano: when the founder faces the red sun, the gold is revealed. Unfortunately, Myung-joo is smart and has figured it out too. Luckily, she’s looking for a fourth legend not realizing that Hae-sung’s father made the fourth legend up to throw others off.

Now Hae-sung is not only racing against the clock to find the gold before Myung-joo, but he’s doing it without the free access of a student. Making things worse, his team is “audited” on the director’s orders and what do you know? They find (planted) embezzled money and suspend Seok-ho, which Myung-joo tells Hae-sung is a warning shot. She has his number and threatens Soo-ah if he keeps going.

I like that he immediately tells Soo-ah about the threat and discusses the situation with her. We love communication. She, of course, tells him not to be scared into quitting. She’s scared too, but she’s seeing it through for the kids. Hae-sung agrees to push ahead and asks for his team’s help, so they all go rogue out of his living room. They brainstorm and realize the riddle is referring to the founder’s bust statue, so he goes to investigate. How does he get into the school? As a Quiznos delivery guy – you can’t keep Quiznos down!

He and Soo-ah get the bust to turn but then are caught by the vice principal before they can see what happens next. (Soo-ah literally jumps on the man’s back to let Hae-sung escape unidentified.) Myung-joo retaliates by sending a photo of Soo-ah and Hae-sung getting drinks to the whole school. And this time, we get an unlikely ally in Ye-na who spies the plan on her mom’s computer and alerts Hae-sung. I love watching Ye-na find her courage and stand up to her mom, refusing to stay silent while her mom commits atrocities. That said, I am afraid for her and need someone to save her.

Thanks to Ye-na’s tip, Hae-sung busts into class dramatically to tell everyone the truth: he’s a grown man with the ID to prove it. When he starts to say he’s part of the NIS, Yoo-jung quickly draws an X and holds it up to stop him. Ha. So instead, he spins a tale of a rough childhood where he couldn’t get a high school education. He then confesses his feelings to Soo-ah in front of the whole class, winning everyone over. So much for that plan, Myung-joo.

Since sneaking failed, Hae-sung and the team have no other option but to go full on assault to get to the bust, but for that they’ll need backup. A surprise resource enters the chat: Soo-ah’s mom who sweetly offers to get them people. Next thing you know, a group of gangsters who call her noonim show up – apparently, she used to lead a gang. HA.

Myung-joo is right on their tail, having just figured out that the bust is the final key. She calls her backup as Hae-sung races to solve the final riddle to find the gold. He twists the bust, and the whole statue moves to reveal a trapdoor. Hae-sung descends alone, entering a cavern below the school. It’s empty. He deflates when he realizes, after all this, there’s no gold in the secret room. However, he finds something else he’s been searching for: his father, now nothing more than bones that Hae-sung identifies by the watch on his wrist.

I wonder if Hae-sung is right that the gold is nothing more than a fable, a wild goose chase for something that never existed. If so, what’s the point of all the riddles and the hunt? I’m not sure what the founder would gain from all that effort creating a false trail to nothing. Possibly it’s redirection and there is gold, but it’s not at the school.

Now that Hae-sung has discovered his father’s body, I imagine the final episodes will deal with how his father died and getting revenge. Myung-joo clearly didn’t know about that secret room, so it’s unlikely Hae-sung’s father’s death was orchestrated by her side. That means it could’ve been an inside job at the NIS, but why? And if they knew the gold wasn’t at the end of the riddles, why send Hae-sung in to redo the same mission as his father? I think we’re in for an intense finale.

 
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