If I were to give a title to this episode, it would be something like “Breaking the Silence.”

1. Making sounds

In the beginning of the episode, HeeJoo (HJ) breaks down in tears beside SaEon (SE). Her emotional distress causes her to forget that she’s supposed to be mute. SE notices it instantly.

SE: You’re making sounds. (bemused) Hong HeeJoo…can make sounds.

source: liveasbutterflies’ tumblr

SE: (handing her a hanky) Tsk. You look so ugly right now. (then clarifying in case she misunderstands him) I’m not telling you to stop crying. Cry as much as you want.

Noteworthy: he is 100% pleased to see and hear HJ making noises. She’s broken her silence. But he covers his elation by mocking her appearance. I’m sure he’s aware, like his mother, that HJ’s mutism is only selective. HJ’s mother (or stepfather) must have disclosed to the in-laws that HJ’s muteness wasn’t genetic but a psychological trauma she suffered from surviving an accident – the same accident that claimed the life of the chairman’s biological son and rendered the chairman’s biological daughter deaf.

Remember her mother’s words when HJ regained consciousness in the hospital. Episode 3, 49:37.

HJ: Mom.
Mom: Why? Why did you survive? Why are you unscathed? You should’ve been hurt, too.
HJ: (crying)
Mom: (covering her mouth) Be quiet. Don’t make a sound. His biological daughter’s deaf and his only son is dead. But you’re unscathed, and if you upset the chairman, we’ll get kicked out.

HJ couldn’t be seen as the lucky one. She had to be injured, too, so the chairman would feel guilty and feel responsible for her condition. Given the mom’s frightened reaction, I don’t think she was lying about the death of the chairman’s son; she truly believed that the boy died. For now, I’m inclined to believe that there’s no adult Hong son out to kill SE and HJ.

Anyway, back to the Episode 4.

2. Wall of silence

Instead of bringing her home, he takes her to a hotel for a pre-scheduled dinner with his parents. However, because of her ordeal, he gives her time to eat and relax before meeting them. While waiting for the food to arrive, he asks her if she’s hiding anything from him.

SE: As you know someone’s been messing with us lately. Your car, my office, and even your father’s nursing home this time. I haven’t requested a police investigation yet but if this continues, I’ll have no other choice.

He turns her chair around and leans in. (Personally, I don’t know why he must POUNCE on her and surprise her with some macho/nacho act. Ugh! He did this, too, in the previous episode when he suddenly entered the room and lifted her onto the table. It was so cringey.)

SE: (staring at her intently) If you’re the victim instead of me, the police will start digging into you. So before that happens, tell me if you’re hiding anything.
HJ: (no answer)
SE: I guess there is something. (sighing) I could keep pressuring you until I force it out of you, but I won’t. I won’t do that, HeeJoo. We’re not close enough to interfere with each other’s lives, right?

In other words, he wants her to come clean about this “affair” he suspects she’s having with the Mysterious Killer 409. He knows he can coerce her, but he chooses to respect her privacy.

That said, I agree with his reporter friend who told him earlier that love is the reason preventing him from investigating the truth about his wife’s affair. He’s afraid to find out the truth because he loves her. He prefers this wall of silence between them.

3. Defending herself 

After his argument with his father, he exits the room and dragging HJ with him. He grips her hand tightly even when she tries to free herself. I find this a bit symbolic of their relationship. You see, her hands are her means of communication. But when he holds her hand, he’s essentially restraining her from talking. He doesn’t want her to speak; he only wants her to listen to what he has to say. To me, this is one of the flaws of their relationship: his inability to really listen to her.

source: liveasbutterflies’ tumblr

SE: I bet you want to divorce me. You married me in place of your missing sister and can’t speak. So you can’t even defend yourself when your in-laws spout nonsense.
HJ: (pulling her hand free again)

source: liveasbutterflies’ tumblr

SE: They’re people who can easily replace their children. So whatever they say, don’t listen to them or take it to heart.

Two things:

One, I like this moment because it shows that he’s focused on her feelings.

He was unfazed by his father’s threat, “Do you know what will happen if you keep acting like this? The moment you step out of my shadow, you could get crushed completely.” He knew that not only was he out of his father’s shadow, he cast an even bigger shadow than his father because of his popularity. Hence, his father needed his influence in the presidential campaign.

He also knew that he delivered the smackdown with his parting remark to his father. He said, “I’ll say one thing. You’re at the threshold of being president, thanks to Grandfather. The least you could do is step over it on your own. Don’t whine and ask me to push you.”

What really bothered SE was that HJ couldn’t speak up for herself. He didn’t like her getting hurt. He seethed when his father berated HJ nonstop, but she couldn’t break her silence to mute her father-in-law. The injustice heaped on her infuriated him so much that he left the dinner table abruptly.

To me, his reaction is consistent with what he said to the British Ambassador in Episode 1. He admitted that she was his weakness. He could tolerate attacks on him from all sides, but he didn’t want her to be subject to attacks like he was. His father verbally attacked HJ and he lost his cool.

Two, there’s a theory circulating that SE isn’t the biological son of the Paik senior because of this comment, “They’re people who can easily replace their children.”

source: liveasbutterflies’ tumblr

It certainly sounds like he’s speaking from experience and he’s a replacement for the real Paik offspring.

Moreover, halfway through the show (timestamp 44:33), SE remembers the time when he was a kid at a luncheon at the Hong’s residence. He didn’t want to eat the sashimi, so he escaped the party and hung out at the rooftop. His mother followed him, however, with the plate and pressured him to take a bite, saying, “You didn’t eat anything. Not eating as an invited guest is considered disrespectful. Eat it. My son…likes to eat fish.” Again, it sounds like she’s referring to an absent third person when she said, “My son.”

Also for me, one plausible reason SE feels a certain affinity for HJ is that they’re both nonbiological children being used like pawns by their parents. I found it interesting that he didn’t wonder who Na Jin-cheol was. When the nursing home called him to report that Mr. Na was missing, he knew right away that this man was his father-in-law. I wonder how he knew; even HJ’s mom was shocked to learn that he knew about her dad.

However, the sticking point for me about this theory is that if SE is indeed the replacement son, then logic dictates that he should have considered the real son as his prime suspect and investigated his whereabouts.

For now, I’ll wait and see.

4. The timeline

Let me set up the timeline because the story moves fast.

2024.06.06 (June 6, 2024)*
HJ’s dad is abducted.
SE introduces HJ as his wife to the police and promises to file a report next time.
SE and HJ have disastrous dinner meeting with his parents.
HJ is wished good luck by her colleagues for the job interview the following day.
SE orders his aide DoJae to look for a new retirement home for HJ’s dad.
HJ throws away the burner phone.

*the date is on text message from DoJae

2024.06.07 (June 7, 2024)*

SE is late for work because he brought HJ’s dad to new retirement home.
HJ has her job interview so well that SE becomes suspicious.
SE comes out to interview her herself.
HJ gets text from her dad’s new facilities.
SE tells his chief of staff that he, too, likes HJ.
HJ finds out that her unnie, Hong Ina, is back in town.
SE calls up the female reporter but only gives her 3 minutes to talk because Killer 409 is about to call him up.
HJ retrieves the burner phone and calls up SE.
She tells him that SE must divorce because Hong Ina is returning.
SE almost catches her on the phone call, but he gives her encouraging feedback on her interview.
He tells her that he’ll attend the Chungwoon Daily News Anniversary event the next day.
*the date is on the banner for the Sign Language Interview

2024.06.08 (June 8, 2024)

Morning??
Evening: newspaper anniversary event: black tie event
HJ arrives with her mother
SE arrives solo.
HJ overhears women gossiping about Hong Ina in the ladies’ powder room.
HJ flees to the rooftop and calls SE.
SE takes the call of Killer 409 while he searches for HJ at the event.
By chance, they encounter each other on the rooftop.

In my opinion, SE did NOT know that HJ could speak when he interviewed her on June 7.

I think the epilogue showing SE meeting with the police officers took place on the June 8, the morning of the Newspaper Anniversary event.

For one, he was late for work on June 7 because he moved his father-in-law to his new retirement home. I doubt that he had time to accomplish two tasks in one morning, that is, assist the old man in settling in at his new home and give a statement to the police.

For another, the suit and tie he wore on June 7 were different from the clothes he wore to the police station. Sure, both ties had diagonal white stripes, but the tie at the police station had three bold stripes instead of one. And the suit jacket he wore to the police jacket was striped and had peaked lapels. Just check them out for yourself. Thus, if he had gone to the police station on June 7, it meant that he changed clothes before going to the office. But why do that when he’s already late for work?

His movements on the morning of June 8 are still unaccounted for.

Of course, it’s also possible that the epilogue is a forerunner of events that will happen in Episode 5, but for now, I’m inclined to think that he went to the police station on the morning of the 8th.

Will continue this tomorrow because I have another kdrama to watch tonight. “Love Your Enemy.”