Recap Korean Drama "Why Her (2022)" Episode 4

Episode 4 of Why Her starts with the Group 9 students gathered at the legal clinic. Na Se-ryun enters the room informing them that it is the Lawyer and Professor Oh Soo-jae who leaked the information about Park So-young’s sister – Park Ji-young – being the murderer.

The rest of the Group 8 members speak ill of the lawyer but Gong Chan is busy thinking about his first kiss with her since he confessed his feelings. Meanwhile, Soo-jae is also shocked by the fact that she was the one who kissed her student first.

The Seojung University Director, Baek Jin-ki, asks Soo-jae to take Park Ji-young as the first legal client for the clinic which makes Soo-jae curious. She asks the chairman who he thought killed So-young but the Chairman states that he too was unsure.

Associate Song Mi-rim is picked by Soo-jae who drives away as the associate reveals Hong Suk-pal, the owner of the hostess bar where Park So-young worked. She tells the lawyer that the bar owner is notorious for helping the trio – Hansu Bio’s Chairman Han Sung-beom,  Assemblyman Lee In-soo as well as TK Law Firm’s Chairman, Choi Tae-kook – and often handled their dirty work.

Soo-jae’s informant, Mr. Ko, reveals photos of So-young outside an ob-gyn clinic revealing reports of her being 4 weeks pregnant. Mi-rim states that her autopsy report did not detect a fetus. The informant mentions that the medical examiner who conducted her autopsy was ordered by his boss to hasten the report without testing for a fetus because it was concluded that she died by suicide anyway.

Mr. Ko then hands Soo-jae back the pen drive she found in the Hansu Bio documents and states he managed to crack the first lock but inside the drive were many documents which were heavily protected. Mi-rim concludes that this means Hansu Bio is protecting something huge. Ko then hands out one document he managed to open which shocks Soo-jae.

The episode moves on to the evil trio – Han Sung-beom, Lee Il-soo and Choi Tae-kook – who are accompanied by others as they inaugurate the construction of Yeongpyeong District – the one that had gotten Il-soo in trouble during episode 1. The trio celebrate their success.

Tae-kook informs Sung-beom that Park So-young’s sister had been arrested and infuriates the Chairman of Hansu Bio. He alleges that Sung-beom was fond of her – hinting at his affair with the deceased hostess.

As Ji-young has been arrested, she is being bullied by her inmates but she is incessant and fights them back. The police take her into solitary confinement and reveal to Soo-jae that she hasn’t been saying anything but had only asked to see the lawyer. Soo-jae accuses the officer of shutting down So-young’s case as suicide without investigating . The cop tries to defend himself and his team.

The officer then hands out Ji-young’s diary to Soo-jae which is full of hateful comments about So-young where the younger sister wishes for the elder’s death. The police officer takes Soo-jae to a different room, revealing a video from TK Law Firm’s security cameras with a pre-text that she has to help the cops extricate information from Park Ji-young.

The CCTV footage shows Ji-young going up the building when So-young died and was seen fleeing down to the scene of the crime minutes after the hostess had fallen. In the questioning room, Soo-jae inspects the cameras as she asks Park Ji-young why she is called to help here as the teenager talks to her rudely.

Ji-young blames the lawyer claiming that she was in the mess because of Soo-jae but the lawyer hands out her diary stating that Ji-young had intent for killing her sister. Meanwhile, behind the one-way mirror of the questioning room, the police officer is waiting for Ji-young to confess but the teenager denies the allegations against her.

Soo-jae tells Ji-young that she needed to believe Ji-young in order to defend her and suddenly starts writing something in the diary. The officer suspects something and barges into the room. By then, Ji-young has already written something back in the diary and has returned it back to Soo-jae.

Soo-jae tears up the paper and puts it in her bag telling the officer that it was her legal contract with Ji-young and mentions that she is not obligated to share it with the cops. She also adds that she will be defending Ji-young.

Outside the police station, Soo-jae gets a call from Mi-rim who tells her that SP Partners’ Yoon Se-pil has asked to see her. Lawyer Min Young-bae who is at the same hotel with his friends sees Soo-jae take the elevator to a Presidential Suite. He calls his wife Professor Jung Hee-young to inform her about Soo-jae’s visit to a suite.

Hee-young asks her husband to keep a watch on Soo-jae and take a photo of her leaving with the man she is with. Hee-young intends to have Soo-jae kicked out of her position at the legal clinic. At the suite, Soo-jae is met with the lawyers from Hansu Bio that ditched Sung-beom for Soo-jae and now had recently ditched Soo-jae and joined hands with SP Partners.

After the duo has left, Se-pil offers Soo-jae a burger and notices the evil trio in the news. He tells Soo-jae that his goal was to bring the three down and watch them shattered but Soo-jae is confused after the revelation. The SP Partners’ owner then gives Soo-jae some intel stating that Hansu Bio was soon going to defer the sale that she had been looking forward to handling.

Not only that, but he also hands her some old photographs of Chairman Han Sung-beom with the deceased hostess Park So-young from back when she was alive. Soo-jae leaves the suite and just as planned, Young-bae takes photos of her with Yoon Se-pil. He immediately informs his wife and the professor is shocked as she yells about the firm owner’s “7 billion dollar” net worth.

Chan, who is standing feet away from Hee-young hears her talk to her husband about Soo-jae dating a man who was well to do and the student hangs his head. Just then, Mi-rim texts Chan and the rest of the Group 8 members informing them that Soo-jae has asked them to gather at the legal clinic.

At the clinic, Soo-jae informs the group members that their first case would be that of Park Ji-young but the students call her out for reporting the teenager to the cops in the first place. Soo-jae tells them that they will have to learn on their own why the lawyer did what she did and Chan asks her if Soo-jae thought Ji-young is innocent.

The Director of the Legal Clinic – Soo-jae states that she never believes her clients and asks the students to investigate the case of Ji-young with the possibility that there is another person who killed So-young. She leaves the students with the note by Ji-young from the questioning room. In the note, Soo-jae asks the teenager about So-young’s spare phone that she left at her house.

Ji-young had written that the phone was stolen the day she posted the video about Soo-jae. The group 8 members ask Mi-rim for some tips for solving the case and they start looking into the person who stole the phone from Ji-young but also asks the team to keep the possibility of Ji-young being involved in the murder of her sister open.

Later that night, Chan is sitting in the campus recalling Soo-jae’s words stating that she never trusts her clients. He remembers a younger Soo-jae who told him she believed in him during his wrongful accusation.

Now, Soo-jae is at a local restaurant having drinks with her doctor Chae Joon-hee. The lawyer is almost drunk as she tries telling her friend about kissing Chan but the doctor is already drunk. She then sees Chan at the same restaurant sitting a few feet away.

The student is close to the restaurant owner and talks to her about his life. He states that he likes a girl but mentions that his heart aches for her considering she is looked down upon by many who do not know her well enough.

Soo-jae, who is hearing the conversation, gets emotional. The restaurant owner states that Chan should pursue her but he mentions that she seems to be dating someone who is extremely rich – someone with a net worth of 7 billion dollars.

This part of his conversation makes Soo-jae smile but Chan declares that he will steal Soo-jae, considering his heart is worth 70 billion dollars. This makes Soo-jae blush. Chan leaves the restaurant and Soo-jae silently watches him from her seat.

The next morning, Lawyer Young-bae hands over photos of Soo-jae with Se-pil from the hotel to Choi Joo-wan with the sub-text that she was soon going to snitch on TK Law Firm during the Hansu Bio sale.

However, the firm owner’s son, calls the lawyer out for his actions and shows him the news where it is being reported that Hansu Bio’s sale has officially been postponed. Joo-wan confronts Soo-jae in her cabin and her about being in a suite with Se-pil. He accuses her of using the documents to her advantage but when she refuses to hand them over.

Soo-jae is called by Joo-wan’s father Tae-kook to his office where the law firm owner asks her to close off So-young’s case with a sentence as soon as possible because TK firm’s name is invalid in the issue.

He also asks Soo-jae to help Joo-wan with his divorce and help him gain custody of his daughter. The lawyer declines to help but the firm owner tries to coerce her by using his power. Soo-jae is persistent and declines to take part in the case as she leaves the room, infuriating Tae-kook.

At the restroom, Soo-jae is met with Joo-wan’s daughter and she learns about the child’s love for her mother during the small interaction. Outside, Soo-jae angrily whispers to Joo-wan warning him for trying to involve her in his divorce settlement case.

Group 8 members are now at an internet cafe where one of Nam Chun-poong’s friends is sure they saw So-young falling off the building in one Mukbang YouTuber’s recent video. They look for hours to finally find the video from a small YouTuber who lived in a building across from TK Law Firm.

They reach the YouTuber’s house and coerce him into sharing the entire uncut video of So-young being pushed off the TK Law Firm roof showing the silhouette of a man in a suit pushing her down.

The other son of Tae-kook and group 8 member Choi Yoon-sang are having dinner with his father’s right-hand-man – Ha Il-ku. He asks Il-ku if his father or brother were involved in the death of So-young but the man denies it, reassuring Yoon-sang.

Meanwhile, the bar owner Hong Suk-pal leads Joo-wan to a drunk Han Ki-taek – the nephew of Hansu Bio’s – Han Sung-beom and was used by his uncle to take the fall for the chemical mega-firm. Ki-taek is responsible for letting Soo-jae find the confidential documents and is being punished by his uncle and cousin.

Joo-wan manipulates Ki-taek into revealing what item of the documents held the most value to Hansu Bio and the drunk nephew reveals that the pen drive is the only item that is most important to them before passing out. Joo-wan rewards Suk-pal for helping him out as Ki-taek is taken to his house.

The next morning, Ki-tael is with his children at the park where Soo-jae finds him and reveals that she still had access to the files on the USB flash drive. She then claims that she knew why he had hidden so many confidential documents in one place and reveals that Ki-taek was keeping them as insurance against the evil trio in the event of a crisis.

He offers a deal to Soo-jae in exchange for the USB and the lawyer asks him three questions. She asks Ki-taek about the true nature of Sung-beom’s relationship with Park So-young and wants to know if the Chairman is the only one the hostess got cozy with.

She also asks him how he defrauded his uncle of 27 million dollars and finally asks him to somehow resume the Hansu Bio sale immediately if he wanted the USB drive back. The episode then moves to Seojung University where Director Jin-ki asks Soo-jae about the progress of Park Ji-young’s case.

The lawyer reassures him that she was going to resolve it soon, but he informs Soo-jae about his recent meeting with Tae-kook. Jin-ki asks Soo-jae to let nature run its course with Ji-young’s but Soo-jae senses something sinister.

The Group 8 members alongside Soo-jae and Mi-rim are looking at a video of So-young’s spare phone being stolen from Ji-young’s house all thanks to the help of Group 8 member Jo Gang-ja’s former cop friends. The video reveals a man with an unusual gait which has the entire Legal Clinic team curious.

Gong Chan also reveals a report about So-young’s pregnancy which has the rest of the group but Soo-jae and Mi-rim shocked. Since Soo-jae and Mi-rim were already aware of the information but Chan reveals that So-young had taken a paternity test but its reports were released after her death.

The said reports were with Ji- young’s school locker out of fear of being stolen. Chun-poong also reveals the video he and Se-ryun extracted from the YouTuber. Soo-jae takes the video to the prosecution and asks them to let Ji-young go without a trial as the video reveals a man to have pushed So-young off the TK Law Firm roof.

On her drive back, Soo-jae receives a call from Mi-rim who reveals that the DNA reports she had asked for have arrived. The report shows that the unnamed person Soo-jae thought fathered So-young’s fetus was not the father, leaving her alarmed. Director Jin-ki calls Soo-jae to congratulate her for rescuing Ji-young by letting nature run its course.

Soo-jae recalls ten years back when Jin-ki asked her to join Tae-kook’s law firm with the same words. She also remembered how Tae-sook had asked her to join the University as a professor using Jin-ki’s name and now thinks that the Director is involved with Tae-kook and the evil trio somehow.

At a hospital, Director Jin-ki offers toffees to a young woman – Kang Eun-seo who is a patient. Ji-young is finally released and near her sick mother at the hospital as she recalls her interaction with Soo-jae. Before her arrest, Soo-jae had warned the teenager about being convicted. The lawyer had asked her to make up a diary threatening to kill So-young in exchange of a reinvestigation of her sister’s murder and Soo-jae offered to pay for Ji-young’s mother’s medical bills.

Present-day Ji-young promises to pay Soo-jae back but the lawyer asks the teenager to stay on guard. On her drive back, Soo-jae receives a call from Chan who apologizes for not trusting her when it came to Ji-young’s arrest. The two chat for a while and she compliments him for working hard. Chan’s friends think he is talking to his girlfriend and start teasing her.

Soo-jae slips up and reveals that she is not seeing any guy with seven billion dollars and immediately hangs up. Chan is embarrassed to learn that she had heard his drunk rambling at the restaurant but his reaction leads his friends to think they’ve broken up.

Soo-jae soon reaches her secret office but notices that it has been broken into. She immediately calls Chan and asks him to come over. Chan hears her scream through the phone and rushes to the address. The person dressed in black with a mask attacks her. Despite her attempt to see his face, Soo-jae is overpowered and falls to the ground.

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The Episode Review

This episode was a roller coaster ride from the start to the finish. Soo-jae’s reaction to being asked to help Joo-wan’s divorce case is probably a hint at something troublesome. It could be possible that Soo-jae had dated him in the past or was somehow involved with him because Joo-wan had also made a comment to her stating that trying to marry a rich guy would not give her a ticket to be a part of the rich club.

Soo-jae was aware that Tae-kook is capable of doing anything to protect his son which is why murdering a hostess was not huge. It is possible that she wanted to confirm Joo-wan was somehow the father of So-young’s illegitimate child. Yoon-sang amuses me but it is possible that the younger Choi son knows his father and brother’s cruel ways which is why he asks Il-ku about it. But the loyal servant obviously denies it.

Chan technically does not fit into this episode and his contribution seems limited but Soo-jae carries the entire chapter, and possibly the entire show. The man in a suit that pushed So-young from the building could be anyone and the suspects are the evil trio, Kang-won, Joo-wan, Suk-pal, and Il-ku among many more for now.

Director Jin-ki is someone who seems like an evil-doer masked behind an innocent face. It seems like the patient Kang Eun-seo is his daughter or someone he knows – possibly the woman that was abused by Joo-wan and his friends years ago. It is highly likely that he is aware of the entire fiasco and is helping Tae-kook or possibly is the mastermind behind the entire fiasco – only time will tell.