Terius Behind Me – Episode 7 and 8 Recap
3 YEARS AGO- POLAND
A group of people are at a piano recital. Choi Yeon Kyeong is also present. A man (Polish probably) seated diagonally behind, watch her. Kim Bon/Terius stands at the entry and nods at Yeon Kyeong. She acknowledges and he walks away. Yeon Kyeong gets up and walks out of the recital. The man follows out.
Yeon Kyeong walks swiftly and is aware of the man closely following her. She walks down a few streets to the bus stop.
She waits at the bus stand and the man stands a few feet behind her. The bus comes to stop at the bus stop. Terius stands a few feet away from the man. Yeon Kyeong gets into the bus and the man gets in behind her. She moves to the front and Terius is already in the bus standing next to her facing the other way. Yeon Kyeong stealthily puts a pen drive in Terius’ pocket.
She says, “Its the last file.” He says, “Good work. Today is D-Day. Always take the same route. Our agents are stationed at the bakery, which is your last stop. While they get rid of the tail, you exit through the back door and get into the car that is standing by for you. You have to move in 10 seconds.” Yeon Kyeong says, “I’m a little scared.” Terius says, “I’ll continue to watch over you.” She says, “When I’m in Seoul, buy me a mojito at Namsan Tower.” He smiles and says, “You can look forward to it.”Yeon Kyeong smiles lightly and walks towards the door. The man straightens up and gets ready to follow her.
Yeong gets down at the stop and walks away with the man following her closely. As Terius gets off the bus, the man looks over his shoulder. Terius walks the other way. As Keong walks down the street, Terius follows her from the other side of the road. He crosses over and then follows them at a safe distance. As she turns a corner, he reports into the earpiece, “Candy approaching the alleyway.”
Elsewhere, the NIS team is stationed in a NIS vehicle, watching the happenings. Kwon is present and she asks the agents to confirm their positions. One female agent (outside the bakery) and 2 male agents (one inside the bakery and the other at the wheel of a car) confirm their positions.
Terius reports, “Candy approaching the building.” Candy/Yeon Kyeong acknowledges the female agent at the entry and walks in. Terius walks away as she enters the bakery. The female agent distracts the man asking him to try some cake. Candy goes into the bakery and waits tensely as the agent inside points to the back door while he mops the floor. Meanwhile, the agent outside spills the cake on the man’s clothes and Candy slips out of the bakery when he is distracted for a moment. The agent mopping the floor stops the man as well and the man finally loses Candy.
Candy smiles as she walks swiftly through the alleyway. Terius waits by the vehicle as she runs out of the alleyway. She stops as she sees him and smiles. As she starts to run towards him, he spots a sniper on the window of one of the buildings. He screams out, “No!” but before he knows it, a gunshot rings out and Candy freezes as a bullet hits her. Terius runs over to her as she falls down and holds her.
Kwon watches this and orders all the agents to withdraw. The agent driving the vehicle calls out to Terius but he doesn’t leave Candy. The agent drives away leaving both Terius and Candy behind. Candy bleeds heavily as she slowly brings her hand towards his face. Terius asks her to pull herself together but she shakes due to the pain from the wound. He tells her she will be fine and he holds her as she dies. He starts crying as he continues to hold her.
Kwon asks Terius what he is doing and asks him to get away. Terius throws away the earpiece and holds Candy. He sees the sniper (The magician) exit the building. Terius immediately starts chasing the magician. The magician starts running as he sees he is being chased. They run through the streets and finally, Terius catches up with him. The man manages to get away but Terius continues to chase him. After a long chase the man runs into a dead end and tries to pull out the gun but Terius is faster than him. He disarms the man and they start to fight. Terius pins the magician to the wall and asks who sent him.
The magician again manages to get away but Terius knocks him unconscious. He points the gun at the magician and asks him who sent him, but the man lays on the ground laughing. Suddenly, someone shoots Terius from behind. Terius again asks the man who had sent him but he is shot again. Terius drops the gun and falls over the magician who pushes him away. Terius lies alone on the ground and slowly loses consciousness.
Kim Bon/Terius wakes up from his nightmare in his apartment. He goes over and drinks some water as his voiceover says everyone has a secret.
At star Towers, Ae-rin panics and frantically tries to wipe the bag clean. Both the children start crying apologising to her. She hits them and continues to wipe the bag as Bon’s voiceover continues to says that the secrets are sometimes exposed for unexpected reasons. The camera pans over the locked room.
Kim Bon goes out for a jog and his voiceover continues that due to his noisy neighbour’s incredulous mistake, the tip of the iceberg, which is a huge secret is about to come to light.
Meanwhile, Yong Tae knocks on Ae-rin’s door. He gets no response. Downstairs, Bon takes the elevator. As he reaches the 8th floor, both of them cross paths. Yong Tae takes the elevator but Bon places his hand on the door before the door closes. Both of them ask each other who they are. Yong Tae asks if Bon lives in 803 and Bon confirms it. Yong Tae says that he has business with 804 and is about to leave. Bon asks him what it is and Yong Tae says its none of Bon’s business. Bon tells Yong Tae that he is her babysitter.
Yong Tae deduces that Bon must be the fake husband who watches her kids. He says that he sees Ae-rin every day. He tells Bon that he is the representative at the company she works at. He says he came to return her phone but no one is answering the door. Bon goes over and rings the doorbell. There is no response. He asks Yong Tae to give the phone to him so that he can pass it on to Ae-rin. Yong Tae refuses. Bon presses the elevator button and asks Yong Tae to get in. Yong Tae smiles and gives the phone to Bon. He asks if a neighbour who is not her husband should get this involved. He says that he is amused. As the door closes, he says goodbye to Bon.
Ae-rin walks into the Apartment’s entrance slowly carrying the kids. Bon asks where she was. She gets startled seeing him and asks if he was waiting for her. He says that he came to put out the trash. She tries to walk away but he stops her and lifts Joon Hee off Ae-rin. He takes her bag too and walks toward the house.
They walk out of the elevator and Ae-rin thanks him. Bon gives her the phone saying the CEO dropped it off. She is shocked hearing it. Bon says he finds it odd that a CEO comes to an employee’s home to drop of a phone. She sits down in despair and tells him that she has done something wrong. When he asks into it, she doesn’t explain. She takes Joon Hee from him and walks inside.
Inside Ae-rin’s apartment, Eun-ha is shocked to see the state the bag is. Ae-rin shows her the bag (apparently she has taken the bag from star towers). She laments that it will take her 8 years to pay back the amount. Eun ha asks which brand it is as there is no tag or label. She says she is an expert in bags but hasn’t seen this before. Ae-rin says it is handmade from Italy.
Eun-ha asks to have a look and she opens the bag. She opens the bag and finds a label. Eun-ha asks Ae-rin to take a picture of it and Ae-rin does so. Ae-rin says that it is just a long number. She even shows the picture of the box that it came in. They see that it has come from Milan from a “Via Pietro Verri”. Eun-ha says she will ask her friend about it. Ae-rin wonders how she will explain this to her boss.
The next day, Ae-rin stands as Yong Tae opens the box. He drops the cover as he sees the state the bag is in. He asks her what happened and she apologises. When he reprimands her, she offers to compensate him. He looks at the calendar and says that he has 5 days left. He yells at her when she again asks her to compensate him and asks her to get out. He asks her not to come anywhere near him the whole day.
Yong Tae makes a call and tells the person on the other end to make the tote bags, which they made last time. He asks it to be made with the same serial number and says he will bring the bags himself.
Ae-rin visits the realtor. She asks for an urgent sale. The realtor tells her that she will have to sell at a loss of 30000 dollars if she sells urgently. Ae-rin is dejected as she walks out.
She is startled when Bon joins her. He asks why she is at the realtor’s when she should be at work. He asks if she is selling the house.
Bon and Ae-rin sit at the cafe. She says that the market price of the house is 500,000 dollars. She says that if the house sells for 470000, 250000 is for the loan. She says she will be left with 220000 dollars. Bon says she will be left with 120000 dollars after paying for the bag. She laments that the children like the neighbourhood a lot. Bon learns that she works for J International. He remembers it being listed as one of the companies in Star Tower and she confirms it.
Kim Bon meets Ji Yeon at Sejong Centre and she suggests that they go to a ‘Place of disguise’ to talk. She brings him to King’s Bag. She says it’s the operation’s code name. He asks her why she chose this place and she says it’s because it’s close to his place. Ji Yeon then asks him about the witness and Bon says that the witness is dead. She says that she got approval for the operation because of the witness. He is annoyed hearing that she told the NIS about the witness. She says she didn’t mention his name. She is anxious that the witness is dead.
Kim Bon places a picture of the magician on the table. She asks him who this is. He explains that he is the assassin who goes by the name ‘the magician’. He says he is the one who killed Moon and Candy. She figures out that he has been hiding and investigating for 3 years. He tells her that they should share information and asks her not to tell the NIS as he doesn’t trust them. He tells her to find out about J International, a bag importing company, located on the 29th floor of Star towers. She asks if it is for a case and he says that it is for a personal matter. Ji Yeon wonders if he is asking information for the woman Ae-rin. Bon looks at the handbag on display and she yells out that it is not for sale.
Meanwhile, Do woo is on his way back after running an errand and he lays low after he sees Terius in King’s Bag.
At the apartment, Eun-ha, Ae-rin, Sang Ryeol and Sun-mi meet up. Eun-ha says that she will send the image of the bag across and ask anyone if they have come across a brand like it. They immediately forward the picture to all their contacts.
They ask Ae-rin if she can’t ask her boss about the brand. Ae-rin says that her boss won’t tell her. She tells them there is a room her boss had asked not to enter. They tell her to enter the room and find out because her house and all her money is at stake.
Sun-mi and Ae-rin arrive at Star Towers and are startled to find Yong-Tae sitting in the lobby. Sun-mi runs and hides while Ae-rin walks up towards him. Sun-mi watches them converse.
Yong Tae asks Ae-rin to book a flight ticket to Milan for the next day. He continues to talk to her. Sun-mi notes that Yong Tae has gotten plastic surgery on both sides of his eyes, forehead, ears, eyebrows and even his facial bones. She calculates the cost and wonders whether she should ask him where he got it done. Meanwhile, Ae-rin asks if Yong Tae if will be returning after work. He asks her to wait in the office. As he crosses Sun-mi, she wonders why he had gotten so much surgery when she can say his original face looked good.
At the office, Ae-rin runs over to the door and wonders what the passcode to the door would be. Suddenly a thought strikes her.
Episode 8
Ae-rin dabs her compact powder over the keypad and thinks that if she finds out 4 digits, the combinations would be lesser.
Meanwhile, Bon is at the secret base in King’s Bag and she looks at the stickers (bugs). He asks if they have the NIS gadgets here too and Ji Yeon says that Do Woo tests them as he receives them first. Bon asks if he is trustworthy and she says that he is. Bon asks her not to tell Do Woo about him but she persists that Do Woo is fine. He starts to leave but Ji Yeon asks why he is taking care of the kids. Bon says that he needs to make money.
Bon walks the kids home from school and on the way Joon Soo says that he has to pee. Seeing that there is no restroom nearby, they run home. He carries both the kids and they run into the elevator. Before the door could close, an elderly woman enters slowly and presses the 3rd-floor button. Joon Soo finds it very difficult to hold it in and Bon gets very tensed. They reach their house and Joon Soo makes it to the bathroom door but wets himself before he could go further. He starts to cry.
Bon runs the bath and gives Joon Soo a bath. Joon soo seems to be enjoying himself and splashes some water on Bon, who gives a slight smile. Bon then dries Joon Soo and then settles down to washing clothes. His back hurts as he tries to get up.
Both the kids watch him dry the clothes as they eat ice cream. Joon Soo apologises and Bon says that it is okay. Joon Hee asks if they can visit Bon’s house and he refuses, saying that his house is very clean. Joon Soo asks if they are too dirty and Bon smiles saying that is not it.
Yong Tae walks into the office and Ae-rin says that she has printed a copy of the flight ticket and put it on his desk. Yong Tae tells her not to come to work while he is in Italy. He yells at her to make himself clear. She agrees not to come to work.
She stops him before he can go in and says that she has put her house on sale. She says she will pay him back for the bag. He gives a slight smile and asks her to forget about the bag. He says he will think about how he can get her to compensate later on as he has too much on his mind now. He says they will discuss after he returns from Italy and walks into his office. Ae-rin has a worried look on her face.
Back home, Ae-rin stands on her balcony wondering why he isn’t taking her money. She wonders if he wants her organs instead. Ae-rin’s gaze falls on the drying laundry and wonders if Bon washed them. She sends him a message.
Bon is fast asleep on the chair and wakes with a start hearing the phone ring. He comments that he is very tired and checks the message. Ae-rin has asked if Joon Soo peed his pants. Bon wonders how she knows as he Joon Soo had asked not to tell her. (Ae-rin uses stickers and emojis while messaging)
Ae-rin wonders why he isn’t replying after reading it and wonders if he is upset. She writes another message saying he needn’t have done the laundry. Bon asks if Joon Soo had told her. Ae-rin sends a picture of the laundry and sends it across saying she made a guess. She says all mothers recognise this combination of laundry.
She thanks him for his work (patting sticker) and then heads into the living room. Bon scans the various stickers on the app and wonders which one he could send as a reply. He sends her the wrong sticker and she thinks that he is upset. She apologises to him and leaves the chat room. Bon wonders why she left. He wonders if it is because of the emoticon.
Ae-rin lies on the couch and feels guilty about bothering Bon at night.
Bon plays a song on the record player. He sits listening to it.
Ae-rin tosses and turns in her couch and is not able to sleep.
In the morning, Bon goes for his morning run and sits next to Ji Yeon on the bench. She says that she searched J International and there is nothing odd about it. He asks about the CEO and she says his name is Jin Yong Tae, 35 years old, born in Boston, has an MBA from MIT. She says he was born into a rich family. She sends the profile to Bon. Bon asks for the price range of the bags and the brands. She says that some are even over 100000 dollars.
Sang Ryeol is passing by on his bicycle when he sees Bon and Ji Yeon. He smiles as he wonders who the woman is.
The 5 neighbours gather at a restaurant and distribute the wraps among themselves. Before they start to eat, Sang Ryeol asks Bon who the woman was (Ji Yeon). Everyone is surprised as he explains seeing Bon earlier, out on a date with a woman. Bon starts saying it was not a date and Sang Ryeol says that it is alright as Bon is young.
Eun-ha updates the information on the bag. She says her friend contacted her from Milan. She says that a tiny place manufactures the bag and there is no master craftsman behind it. She says the company is a fraud. Bon is surprised hearing this.
Sun-mi goes on to tell them that the CEO had gotten plastic surgery done and his face is all fake. She says that his original face was handsome too. She says that he might have gotten it done because of his crimes.
Ae-rin is furious that he gave her sleepless nights over a fake bag. Sun-mi asks if she started digging around at work and Ae-rin says she will today.
On their way back, Bon asks her not to dig around at work. She says she will do it even if she gets fired. She says she is disgusted by Yong Tae. Bon asks if she thinks she can do it without getting caught. She says Yong Tae is in Italy. She says she wanted to discuss it with him yesterday but he was upset so she couldn’t. He explains that he wasn’t upset.
She asks him to take care of the kids and is about to leave when Bon mentions the woman whom Sang Ryeol saw him with. Ae-rin says that she wishes the two of them well. She says it is good as he always looked lonely. She places a candy in his hand and says that it is a gift. As she walks away she trips but she manages to walk away. Bon looks at the candy wrapper which reads, “Good luck”.
Ae-rin goes to her office and finds out 3 numbers which Yong Tae uses for a password. She sits down and starts trying all the combinations. She manages to finally open it and she heads inside.
Once inside she finds the shelves with bags. She finds bags named, ‘Ethan, fail’, ‘Rodriguez,4’, ‘Dorothy,2’. Ae-rin opens the bag and notices the serial number inside. She remembers clicking a picture of the serial number on the white bag. She immediately clicks a picture of all the bags as the serial numbers are different. She catalogues it on her computer. She wonders what the serial numbers mean.
Yong Tae returns to Korea and heads to the meeting straightaway.
A car pulls up the driveway and Jeong In Taek, the new head of National Security steps out.
As he walks away, Ji Yeon and Bon are in a car watching him. She says that Jeong In Taek has a weakness for money. Bon says that he will soon become a target because of the jets (Moon had refused the offer to buy the outdated fighter jets). She says there is a possibility that those people are the ones who placed him in this position but she isn’t sure. She says she got a tip that he will be going to a strange place so wants to follow him.
Another car arrives and Bon sees that this time it is Yong Tae. As he walks in, Bon wonders why Yong tae was here. Bon rushes out of the car and comes to stop a few feet from the staircase leading to the meeting place. Ji Yeon follows him. Bon remembers Ji Yeon saying that Moon had lost a bag and recollects Ae-rin say that the bag was very important. He remembers Ae-rin having the same cover of the bag that Yong Tae has right now. Bon realises that J-International is a company that is used for bribing officials. He remembers Ae-rin saying that she is going to do some snooping. Bon says that he has to go somewhere. He asks Ji Yeon to look into the company before leaving. Bon flags down a taxi and gets into it.
Ae-rin is at Yong Tae’s desk going through his files. She wonders why unrelated files are there in the system folder. She receives a call from Bon.
Bon asks her to leave the office immediately. He says that he will meet her at the lobby. She says she is a bit busy and asks why he is coming over. He thinks for a moment and says that he misses her. He says he wants to see her badly and hangs up.
Ae-rin wonders why he confessed his feelings all of a sudden. She then opens the file and sees the list containing all the labels of the handbags in the locked room.
At the meeting place, Yong Tae places the handbag near the table and tells Jeong In Taek that its a handbag for his wife. He tells Jeong In Taek to wire 100000 dollars to an account number and he will consider that as a yes to set things up. Jeong says he doesn’t want to wire the money. Yong Tae says that it will be considered as payment for the handbag and he says 10 times the amount plus principal will be returned. Jeong In Taek agrees to it.
At the office, Ae-rin makes a copy of the list. As she walks out of the office, she bumps into a man. She immediately remembers bumping into Mr Moon in the same place when she had attended the interview.
Ae-rin calls Bon and asks him to wait in the lobby for 30 minutes as she has some work to do. He asks her to leave the office and she says she has left it. He asks where she is off to and she says that she will tell him later. Bon wonders why she is always busy.
Ae-rin is at the hospital and checks the name of the person whose funeral was held in hall 16 on August 31st. She finds out that the man’s name was Moon Sung Soo. The staff says that Moon Sung-Soo was an important person as even the President had sent him flowers.
Ae-rin stands outside the hospital and learns that Moon was the head of national security after a search on the internet. She wonders why they have such high profile clients. She realises that those numbers must be the money.
She calls up Bon (who is at the star tower lobby) saying that she found out that her company carries out illegal activities. She says that she had bumped into Moon Sung Soo that day while walking out of the office. She says she found the man’s identity from the hospital. Bon asks if she had seen Moon at the company. Ae-rin says it’s odd that her husband and Moon died the same day. She says that she has also obtained the list of bags with the numbers.
Bon asks her to check if there are strange people around her. She doesn’t understand and he asks her to take a taxi and come to him. He tells her not to tell this information to anyone. She asks why he was being so serious and scaring her. He hangs up.
Bon calls Ji Yeon and she reports that he is still inside.
At NIS, Kwon sits across Director Shim and asks if Ji Yeon really took an extended holiday. She asks about Ra Do Woo and he says Do-woo is on an assignment. She asks where and he says it is confidential.
Kwon walks out of the room and makes a call. She asks the person on the other end as to where ‘she’ is. She asks ‘her’ to be brought in. She hangs up with a wicked smile.
Meanwhile, Bon waits for a cab. He calls up Ae-rin to check if she got a cab.
Ae-rin says she hasn’t yet. Just then, a black SUV pulls up next to her and two men grab her. She starts yelling and drops her phone. Bon is on the other end of the phone asking what is happening but the abductor cuts the call and pockets the phone. Ae-rin yells at the top of her voice as the SUV drives away.
Bon runs through the streets and reaches a hideout. It looks fully equipped with a car too. He wears his black coat (which he usually wears as Terius) and walks up to a secret room. It is equipped with gadgets and weapons. He takes a gun and loads it.
Ae-rin’s mouth is taped and the men hold her as the van drives away.
Image Courtesy- MBC
Review
The NIS and KIS use totally different approaches in investigating and every time the KIS’ method is more effective. The NIS uses high tech gadgets and puts in a lot of time and effort to gather information while Ae-rin and the KIS easily manage to get the information effortlessly.
The scene where Eun-ha suggests taking a picture of the bag and circulating it to their contacts was hilarious as it is something that Yong Tae wants to keep confidential. It was funny how Ji Yeon informed Bon that J-international wasn’t suspicious but Eun-ha found out that the company was a fraud and even managed to track down the bag maker in Milan. It looks like Kim Bon is better off asking the KIS for Intel rather than the NIS.
It looks like taking care of kids can tire out even a legendary NIS agent.
It is intriguing that Yong Tae has got numerous surgeries to alter his appearance. I wonder what the reason for the surgery was.
The scene in Poland was well made and the cinematography was picturesque.
It was a bad call by Ae-rin to snoop around without any backup when the company’s activity was suspicious. Considering her present situation and events she has gone through, it was definitely not a good idea but I am not complaining as it makes the plot interesting and fast-paced.
The last scene makes me curious because there is more than one person who could have reported Ae-rin’s location to Kwon with the intention of drawing Terius into the open. It looks like its someone from the NIS because Yong Tae doesn’t seem to be having people lurking around following others. He seems to be just working with the magician, his assistant and the anonymous caller.
This episode’s ending evokes curiosity and I am looking forward to seeing the next week’s episodes.
-By Soul Sword-
The Writers Room 
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