Haha Talk
Episode 4 of Again My Life starts with Tae-Seop giving his speech at the conference. He talks a big game and as we know, politics is all a game of who can lie the most convincingly. Tae-Seob pitches the idea of getting rid of all tuition fees, allowing everyone to have a fair chance at making it to the big-time. Of course, that route is obscured by a glass ceiling, something that gets him a standing ovation at the end of his meeting. Hui-Wu is not impressed. He does approach the Reaper after though, telling her he’s going to keep his promise. Tae-Seob continues on, heading to the children’s home and meeting the “common man” in the street but it’s all one big publicity stunt. We know that as soon as he makes it, he’s going to turn on a dime and crack down on the very people he’s allegedly saving. Funnily enough, Hee-A can see through this façade and believes there’s something shady about him. She drinks with Min-Soo, and the pair agree to drop their honorifics. Drunk and giggling, they’re joined by Hui-Wu who helps take them home. However, a shadowy figure in the corner of the room seems like he could be a problem. When he follows Hee-A home, Hui-Wu intervenes and the pair end up sparring outside. He claims this is a big misunderstanding and eventually we learn that it is. Hee-A is actually going to go on and become a big prosecutor, which Hui-Wu believes he could use in this fight against Tae-Seob. Now, Tae-Seob is currently using Chungha, the company her father is chairman of. It’s unfortunately also the slush fund that Tae-Seob is using, and in their absence he convinces Hee-A’s father to buy up Mirae Motors as he doesn’t want this being sold to a foreign investor. At school, tensions arise when Hee-A realizes that Hui-Wu is close with Gyu-Ri, even calling him her gofer. Anyway, Hui-Wu is soon introduced to Moon Sung-Hwan, a failed entrepreneur who created “Haha Talk.” Back in his reality, this was a world-changing platform but he lost an IP case to Jeil Telecommunications, eventually leaving the country and studying abroad. Hui-Wu perks up when he learns learns that Sung-Hwan has joined the Chungha Telecommunications Entrepreneurship Program. The CEO there happens to be Kim Chan Il, a name that Hui-Wu recognizes. He’s the one who goes on to lure Sung-Hwan to join Jeil and with it, completely screw the guy over. Chan-Il is known as a hyena and after destroying several people’s lives, he’s arrested by Hui-Wu himself. This time though, Hui-Wu promises to be faster. The vultures move swiftly upon hearing about Haha Talk, with Sung-Hwan approached and immediately pitched to join Jeil Communications by Chan-Il, with the pitch levelled at how it’ll be bigger than Cheonha. However, the catch here is there he needs to share the development process with them. This is where the IP case is going to come up but it’s a big decision to make. Naturally, Hui-Wu shows soon after and warns that he needs to be careful. In order to thwart this, they’re going to rush through a patent registration for him. With everything starting to move into place, Hui-Wu brings a whole lot of evidence to the table. With the IP infringement and contest corruption at hand, he hands it over to senior prosecutor Jeong Il-Hyeon on a plate. Naturally, Seok-Hoon also catches wind of what’s happening and warns Tae-Seob. Hui-Wu realizes that Haha Talk needs an investor, someone who will take care of the project and take it away from the greedy hands of Tae-Seob and his cronies. So naturally, he decides to use Yong-Su’s money to invest himself. Sung-Hwan is close to finishing this project but Kim Chan-Il is a real problem. Likening him to an unsalvageable stone, Tae-Seob decides to get rid of him before he’s investigated and it links back to him. News of this spreads online, with Chan-Il’s sudden death levelled as a suicide. With him dead, this means there will be no investigation. Not only that, but as the episode closes out, Hui-Wu learns that the owner of a mysterious message sent over to Sunghwan earlier in the episode was actually from the Grim Reaper. The ID was simply signed off as “Pluto”, which reinforces her ties to the afterlife. It would seem that the grim reaper is working with them in the shadows, and that could well help to sway things in their favour.
The Episode Review
Episode 4 of Again My Life complicates matters, diving deep into the real estate game and depicting an intellectual property case, with two companies vying for control of Sung-Hwan’s Haha Talk proposal. At least on the surface. It soon becomes clear that all of this is Tae-Seob working to absorb all of this man’s assets. In the end though, Tae-Seob cuts off his own tail in order to save face, and that comes from getting rid of Chan-Il, his inside man. Of course, there’s likely to be someone else who will just take his place and Hui-Wu knows that. This is not going to be easy to take him out. Getting the patent registration for Sung-Hwan’s company is an important step forward, and it’s helped by a growing group of supporters by Hui-Wu’s side to thwart Tae-Seob’s ascension. Despite being shorter than episode 3, the political drama and scheming here is far more complicated but it’s undoubtedly enthralling and engrossing nonetheless. The ending certainly hints that we’ve got more drama to come, leaving the door wide open for next week’s follow-up.
