The Pied Piper
It’s a usual day where all the kids leave their school and get into their academy vans. Every student gets into one or the other academy vans and after getting into the van few discuss their math problems and a few plays.
On such academy van is Mujin academy and the driver is sleeping well near the driver seat and a man gets up and blows his whistle to get the attention of the kids. He introduces himself as commander in chief, Bang Gu-ppong of the children’s liberation army and he has taken over this bus. He tells them that this bus is supposed to go to Mujin academy but now it won’t go there.
Children laugh at his name saying is it Mr. Fart and the man gives his Id card to prove his name. He gives the children two options either they can get off the van to attend the academy or they can come in the van to join the children’s liberation army.
He tells the kids that the children’s liberation army does nothing but play, play, and play until their tummy hurts from all the fun. The kids seem to enjoy him but what irks me is he says not to call their parents as they are enemies for children’s fun and they won’t understand if they want to play.
The man announces that the children’s liberation army proclaims – “first, children must play immediately. second, children must be healthy immediately. third, children must be happy immediately. I commander in chief of Bang Gu-ppong, will presently defeat the sly demands of schools, academies and parents. and immediately sing for happy children.”.
So, when the man starts the bus not a single kid gets off the bus and they all go to the forest.
Young Woo rushes to the Seoul central district court and she speaks to attorney Jung over the phone that she would reach for judgment of the arrest warrant on time but she would not have enough time to interview the defendant and she has not looked into the case material too. Attorney Jung tells her that Jun Ho is waiting for her with case material so she can read there.
As she reaches the court, Jun Ho hands over the case material and tells her that the defendant is 26 years old and is arrested for kidnapping 12 elementary school kids who were onboard on Mujin academy bus. The man hijacked the bus two days ago and he is the Youngest son of the Mujin academy director. Jun Ho tells her that they did some recreational activities in the forest and after the bus driver woke up, he reported to the police.
Jun Ho tells her that she has an eyelash sticking to her face and he tries to take it out. It is supposed to take two seconds to take the eyelash off and he takes it out for long two minutes and says it was hard to grab and managed to take it off.
Young woo meets the defendant and he feels like a crackhead. He asks her if he could go without any attorney and gets to know it is not possible. Young Woo first introduces herself with her tag line of kayak, rotor, etc., and then is startled by his name and asks if it’s his real name and worries that the judge would take it negatively. He tells her that his name makes children laugh and her name tag name was catchy but not funny and suggests that it should be woodpeckers boogers/butthole to make the kids laugh. He tells her that he changed his name to make children laugh and adults angry and live up to it and he is trying to start a revolution. They then shake fingers from the small hole in the partition.
The next person Mr. Bang stuns is the judge. The judge asks if it is his real name that his parents named and gets to know he legally changed it two years ago. When the judge asks about Mr. Bang’s occupation, he tells him commander in chief of the children’s liberation army. The judge reminds Young woo that it’s an arraignment when she objects to what Mr. Bang says. Young Woo says she is surprised by Mr. Bang’s answer that’s why she objected and the judge says he was surprised too. Young woo takes the judge’s permission to speak with Mr. Bang and asks him to say jobless and not anything crazy but Mr. Bang doesn’t listen.
At Hanbada, Attorney Jung apologizes to Mujin Chairman that they couldn’t prevent Mr. Bang’s detainment because he was set in his ways. They tell her that Mr. Bang responded that he lives in Children’s heart when the judge asked about his address. The Chairman understands and she pleads with them that Mr. Bang won’t be able to survive prison so they need to save him in the trial. She tells them that her husband died when she was young and she raised her three boys well and made them go to Seoul National University. With her experience, she started Mujin academy.
Attorney Jung asks if she met with the twelve children’s parents. She tells them that she met them in the police station and apologized and even refunded the entire fees as all twelve of them quit the academy. Jung asks her to get a letter of non-punishment from the parents and she needs to pay settlement money to them.
Young woo visits Ra-mi’s restaurant. She orders seaweed sushi and Ra-mi gets herself a beer from Young Woo’s order. Young Woo asks what it means if someone tells that they like a person but the other person doesn’t respond. Ra-mi is startled to hear from young woo that she confessed to Jun-Ho. Ra-mi exclaims, “they always say it’s the quite ones” and asks how she confessed.
Young woo tells them word by word – “my heart rate was really high. even though, I didn’t touch you at all, my heart was beating very fast. so, I do think I like you.”.
Ra- mi asks if she is shooting some kind of medical drama but Ra-mi’s boss tells her that she expressed her feelings well. Young woo tells them that before Jun Ho could reply Mr. park yu-jin started running away and after that Jun Ho didn’t talk about it. She tells them that Jun Ho is still kind and warmhearted and he smiles when he sees her and removes the eyelash on her face.
Ra-mi gets all excited about the eyelash part but her boss tells her that it doesn’t mean he likes her. Young woo asks if she should ask him again. Ra-mi and her boss say no. Ra-mi gives her expert dating advice to be really nice and confuse him.
Ra-mi’s boss teaches Young woo how to be nice which is to pull out seats for them, open the car door, make sure they walk on the inside of the sidewalk, and carry their things for them. Young woo is all set to confuse Jun Ho now.
Young woo and Attorney Kwon go to the detention center to enquire Mr. Bang. Bang is beaten up in the detention center and when Kwon asks about it, he points to it and says it’s a milky way. Attorney Kwon tells him that though he kidnapped the children he didn’t harass them so they can ask for a reduced sentence if he acknowledges his wrongdoings. Mr. Bang tells them that a reduced sentence is what his mom wants not what he wants. He makes them come closer and whispers that he wants Children’s liberation. (Kwon is like “really!” He shouldn’t have expected something sane from him).
Young woo asks what happened in the forest. He tells them “enlistment ceremony”. We are shown the flashback. After taking the kids to the forest he tells them that school, academy, and parents, are enemies to children’s liberation and they don’t like happy or playing kids but just anxious, suffering, and obedient kids. The adults have manipulated the law and institutions in Korea to make children busier and worse they turn their back when they grow up.
They spend hours playing, eating sweet potatoes, and playing again, finding acorns.
Back to the present, Kwon comments that there is nothing original then. Mr. Bang says playing has to be original. Bang continues that it is camp trips that people consider to be novel and educational are not playing and says even if a child smiles while watching clouds and the sky it is playing. Young woo comments that his philosophy about playing is different.
At Hanbada canteen, Young woo and Jun Ho is picking their food and Young woo is talking nonstop about Mr. Bang and says how Mr. Bang commented about her name should be woodpecker’s booger to make children laugh. She then tells him she should change her name temporarily if she is defending a child. Jun Ho tells that she is talking awfully lot about Mr. bang that day which is not like her.
Young woo tells him that Mr. Bang is even a stranger person than her and it’s nice when she is with him. Jun Ho comments that it must be nice for Mr. bang. (Someone is Jealous!)
As they go to the table to sit Young woo remembers she has to be too nice to Jun Ho. She rushes and pulls a chair for Jun Ho. Young woo tells confused Jun Ho that she did it because he has plates in his hands. She then offers her pickled radish to him which he denies. (Mission accomplished! Jun Ho is confused now.)
In court, The bus driver of Mujin academy gives testimony that he lost consciousness after drinking the misagaru Mr. Bang gave and only woke up after four hours. He tells them that he found himself at the foot of the mountain and called the police.
When the police came, Mr. Bang was coming down from the mountain like a pied piper with all the kids following him. He then speculates that Mr. Bang came two or three times that week so he must have come to find out about the academy bus schedule. Attorney Kwon objects that it calls for speculation. The driver continues that Mr. Bang spiked his drink, Young woo objects to it and Mr. Bang makes the situation worse by saying no objection.
Mr. Bang says he spiked the misagaru he gave to the driver and he indeed came to school often to find the schedule of the academy bus. Everybody is in shock and the judge asks to record every word of the defendant. (It feels as if Mr. Bang has made up his mind to go to jail.).
Mr. Bang then apologizes to the driver for putting him in an awkward situation. Young Woo switches off the mic and turns it towards her.
All attorneys return to Hanbada in Jun Ho’s car and Attorney Jung gets to know from Mujin’s Chairman that she was not able to get even a single sign from parents for non-punishment and to make the situation worse, class action lawsuit against mujin academy is filed.
Young Woo says that the parents might be angry but it must have been a fun and exciting memory for the children, So she suggests she can visit and make the children persuade their parents. Attorney Kwon tells her that they would be in trouble if the parents find out about it and already the parents would be sensitive to kids’ safety.
She suggests she would go as if she walked into them naturally. Attorney Jung asks if it is possible for her and asks Jun Ho to accompany her.
Young Woo and Jun Ho plan to visit the areas nearby academies as all the kids would be present when the classes end.
Young Woo plans to continue her mission of confusing Jun Ho and walks outside of the sidewalk. Jun Ho asks why she did it, She explains to him that if you walk on the inside hypothetically if the car drove onto the sidewalk, on the inside is safe. Jun Ho says then he must be the one walking outside and tries to come to the other side but Young Woo doesn’t let him. She even opens the door to the cab they ride making him more uncomfortable.
They both visit a girl named Kim Min Ji at a restaurant she is having her dinner at 9 pm. The girl responds to them only after they tell her that they are friends of Bang Gu-ppong. When Jun Ho asks her why she is having her dinner late, the girl replies that she is having dinner early today when she was in the mujin academy they were not allowed outside until 10 pm. She tells them that the mujin academy is a locked classroom where no one is allowed to go outside all day long, no break time and they have to get permission to go to the bathroom.
Young woo tells that it sounds like prison, not an academy. The girl then rushes to the study café saying she can’t fall behind in her studies until she joins another academy, she has to maintain her grades. She shows them the acorn she picked from the mountain and asks if Mr. Bang would go to jail.
Young woo tells that he would go and the girl tells them that other students who went to the mountain would be in the convenience store across the street and asks them to speak to those children.
Jun Ho and Young woo reach before 10 pm and they get to know from the store person that the children are from rich families but all they eat is noodles, triangular gimbap, sausages, and other things like that instant food. She tells them that even elementary school kids drink highly caffeinated drinks like water and wonders how will they get through high school. By that time the store is swarmed with a large number of students buying drinks and junk foods. The store person tells them that few short kids always look tired, they study hard either for science or to go to gifted high schools. They are short because of what they eat and mostly because of lack of sleep and point to two short kids.
Young woo notices the acorn in one kid’s neck and rushes to talk to them. Even these kids get excited after hearing Mr. Bang’s name and show the acorn that they collected in the forest. When they saw the kids, the boy was crying and young woo asks for the reason. The kids tell them because the boy got undecided. (which means he did not pass the mission of completing math problems up to the level of 10 and it seems he was the only one.).
The kids run as soon as they see their parents’ car. Before leaving Young woo asks if they want Mr. Bang to go to jail. they tell no. She asks if they want to play again with Mr. Bang, the boy whispers something in Young Woo’s ear and rushes to his car.
The next day at Attorney Jung’s office, Young-woo explains to him how the children at age of 10 or 11 are stuck inside school or academy, they are made to study for 12 hours without proper food or sleep, just like how dolphins are abused in tanks and made to eat frozen fish. She then diverts to how dolphins are abused in tanks. Attorney Jung brings her back to context asking what she is bringing up.
She says that they can claim that Mr. bang has rescued the kids who are being abused by taking emergency measures. Attorney Kwon who is in the same room says that what Mr. Bang did is a crime and nobody would see what his intentions were. When young woo tells him that they can tell Mr. Bang did it with the children’s consent, Kwon tells that what matters more is the guardian’s consent.
Attorney Jung tells her that he understands how young woo feels and Mr. Bang just wanted to help children but is put in a case but they can’t stick to the ideology and they have to find something feasible.
As Young Woo and Attorney Kwon come out of Jung’s office, they both see Attorney Choi in full femme fatale form and their jaws drop. Kwon asks if she is going somewhere. Choi tells them that she is going for a blind date and calls out Kwon as rotten instincts when Kwon asks about Jun Ho.
Attorney Choi tells them that she is going to live aggressively and asks if they know someone nice. Young woo tells her that she knows someone who would pull the chair for her or open the car door or make very good sushi (Ra-mi’s boss) and she would introduce her to him one day.
Attorney Jung and his team gather the parents of the 12 kids along with Mujin’s Chairman for persuading them to sign the letter of non-punishment. It breaks her heart to hear the parents talking about Mr. Bang that the police arrested him at right time and what if he turned into a rapist. The chairman then apologizes to all the parents and in response, one parent tells her that Mr. Bang should be the one apologetic but he is more confident.
The parent tells her that even in the police station he accused the parents to be shameless and disregarding their kid’s happiness and only bent on sending them to college. Another parent asks what will happen to their lives if we let them play as much as they want at the time, they should be developing study habits. (It would be a nightmare for me to live under such a parent!)
The chairman gets up and kneels in front of them and says that her son is mentally unwell and lacking and he probably doesn’t even know what he is saying. She asks for their apology this one time and promises to make sure nothing happens again. She then cries that her son is too fragile to handle life in prison and he might do the unthinkable.
Almost 11 parents sign the non-punishment form after that. The attorneys leave and Young woo before leaving tells the chairman that as Mr. Bang’s attorney she doesn’t think Mr. Bang is mentally unwell or lacking and she only knows him for short time and sees his positive but as his mom, she should try to listen to him at least once with an open heart.
Young woo then says, “The children laugh at the name “Bang Gu-ppong”. they understand the meaning of liberation of children that Mr. bang is claiming. The only people who do not understand Mr. Bang are adults.”
We are shown what the kid at the convenience store whispered to Young woo when she asked if they want to play with Mr. Bang again, “I want to play all day, every day. I want to be liberated.”
The next trial starts and the witness this time is a psychiatrist. Attorney Kwon questions him to prove that Mr. Bang is suffering from a delusional disorder – megalomania.
At this time, Young Woo sees a big whale coming into the courtroom and stays Infront of her, watching eye to eye and Young woo realizes something. By this time Attorney Kwon finishes his interrogation but Young woo tells the courtroom she has few questions.
Young Woo tells the psychiatrist that the mujin academy is famous for running locked classes and explains that in this kind of academy the students are kept all day long and are forced to study for 12 hours and the children go to the bathroom more than two times then they are sent to home saying they don’t have the right mindset to study. These academies even get parental consent forms stating that the children can be punished for not doing homework. When Attorney Jung tries to stop Young woo Mr. Bang asks him to let her speak.
Young woo continues that the popularity among the parents of such an academy is at an all-time high. She asks the psychiatrist if even now he thinks the defendant is suffering from delusional disorder. Mr. Bang was serious until now and is now curious and smiling. The chairman watches Mr. Bang and thinks, “look at my son’s face, what does he want to say that would make his face look like that?”.
The judge asks young woo why she is trying to get testimony that is disadvantageous. She tells him that the defendant committed the crime because he wanted to reform a belief that is against the current society and he should not be considered a heinous criminal who needs moral criticism but a political offender.
If he is labeled as a person suffering from delusional disorder then it is insulting the defendant’s ideology of the liberation of children and as his defendant, she not only wants to defend his actions but also, she wants to defend his ideology.
The judge says that they can’t see someone’s ideology but give the judgment based on what a person did and asks Mr. Bang if he feels remorseful for his action. Before Attorney Jung reminds them that Mr. Bang has the right to stay silent, Mr. Bang says No and when the judge asks if he is going to continue committing a similar crime he says Yes.
After the trial ends, Attorney Kwon goes to Attorney Jung and tells them that Young woo ruined the trial with her outburst and asks if she has some kind of penalty. Jung tells him that they already had a similar talk when young woo took an unauthorized absence. Jung tells that Kwon seems to like rewards and penalties and asks if that is why he wrote that kind of post on the bulletin board. And says that he doesn’t work that way. Jung continues that If something is wrong as a team they should sit and sort it out but not be giving penalties. Jung tells him that he will warn young woo and goes.
At the detention center, Attorney Jung apologizes to Mr. Bang that his team’s attorneys had a difference in opinion about defense strategy and he should have sorted it out before the trial. But Mr. Bang thanks Young woo for speaking and gets to know that his mother didn’t tells anything when Jung apologized to her.
Jung informs him that the letter of non-punishment was advantageous but then since Mr. Bang told in testimony that he is not remorseful there would be additional punishment and the judge won’t understand the circumstances, So probation is a long shot.
Mr. Bang tells them he is not worried about probation but he needs a favor from them to bring children of the liberation army on the day of his final testimony. He tells them that he wanted to give a happy memory to the kids but now they would remember it as “So, price of playing as much as I want is a prison sentence.”.
Mr. Bang says that he wants to show the kids that he is not ashamed of what he did and he is getting punished with dignity.
So, Attorney Jung, Young-woo, and Kwon visit each parent and persuade the parents to send their kids to the trial. They don’t tell the truth and persuade the parents saying that they went to SNU law school and if the child sees the attorney, judge, and prosecutors working in the court then they would naturally want to go to Seoul National school.
Jung assures that the attorneys will personally take care of the kids. This persuades the parents and they accept to send the kids to court. The mujin academy chairman lends her van for taking the children to the court.
One day Young Woo also sees Jun Ho carrying a heavy box and gets it from him. This time Jun Ho wants to know what she is really thinking and takes away the box from her. Jun Ho asks her why she is being really nice to him by pulling out the chair for him, walking him to the side of the street, opening the car door, and now carrying his things. He asks if he did something wrong. She says, “I just like you. I was being nice to you because I like you” and she runs away.
On the day of the trial, the attorneys take the bus with the kids and Young woo introduces Jun Ho as Lee butthole and herself as Woodpecker’s booger. The kids laugh and now Kwon and Jung change their names as Kwon poop and Jung fart fart so they too fit in.
At the trial, the judge asks if Mr. Bang has anything to say. Mr. Bang first addresses the parents that children have to play right now. He says, “It’s too late after getting into university, after getting a job, and after getting married”. He then starts saying the rules of the children’s liberation army and the judge warns that no one other than the victim can speak when the kids repeat after Mr. Bang.
Young woo asks the judge that the children are victims in the case and with the permission of the presiding judge, they have the right to speak their opinions. Mr. Bang mocks her with some signal and all the kids start to laugh. Then Mr. Bang comes forward and starts telling the oath again and the children repeat. They all then hug each other. Everyone in the court smile at it and even the judge doesn’t stop it.
Young woo bids adieu to her whale which was trapped in the court until now and her eyes become teary.
At Jun ho’s apartment, Jun Ho eats with Kwon and sighs frequently. Attorney Kwon asks who he like and why is it so complicated as he is sighing like a sick dog. He tells Kwon that it is not important who it is and says it is hard to imagine what happens next after he acknowledges his feeling. He says that It feels like it’s a big deal and he needs some great determination else it would be difficult for both of them.
Kwon asks if he is going to get married and if it’s just dating if the person doesn’t suit, they can end it. Jun Ho tells that with this person he can’t be in a mindset that it won’t last and says he really likes her. Kwon asks him then what stops him and asks him to go for it metaphorically. Jun Ho really leaves the house to find Young woo.
He finds her at the entrance of Hanbada stuck inside the revolving door and helps her out. Young woo thanks him and goes. Jun Ho stops her and confesses- “I like you. I like you so much that it feels like I’m sick inside.”
At Woo Young woo gimbap shop, Gwang ho is chopping greenies for the coming day and he drops his knife seeing Tae su-mi entering the shop. Tae Su-mi comes to the shop alone and looks at the photo of young woo and gwang ho. A reporter (friend of Kwon who tried to help him in the ATM case and visited Sodeok-dong to write a good article about Hanbada) is taking her paparazzi and thinks that what Tae Su-mi is doing in a gimbap shop at this hour and that to she didn’t come with her secretary. He notices the shop name and instantly identifies it’s the name of the Hanbada attorney.
The episode ends here, and I like each and everything about this episode. It’s one of the good kdramas I am watching now and I can’t wait to see the next episode. Comment your opinion about this drama below.
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