Delightfully Deceitful (2023) Episode 3

Delightfully Deceitful episode 3 begins with Lee Ro-Um telling Moo-Young that he’s fired from being her attorney. Moo-Young also tells his therapist that the little girl he saw on the TV show when he was young is Lee Ro-Um.

The next day, Lee Ro-Um is at a park doing community service as part of her probation. Yo-Han bothers her as usual. Lee Ro-Um then notices one of the probationers taking a video of her, so she follows him, causes him to fall, and takes his phone.

At Park & Cue Law Firm, Park Kyu is upset about Moo-Young asking for the judge to wait until Choong-Sik’s retrial is through, so Lee Ro-Um can go on with her defamation lawsuit. Just then, Yo-Han calls Moo-Young to inform him that Lee Ro-Um has “stolen” another probationer’s phone and locked herself in the restroom with it. Yo-Han then tells Lee Ro-Um that he has called Moo-Young, and she’s not happy about that.

Lee Ro-Um, Moo-Young, and the probationer are at the police station. The probationer claims that Lee Ro-Um made her fall. Surprisingly, Lee Ro-Um admits to his claims and also tells the police that she  stole their phone. But, the probationer denies it, although it’s clear Lee Ro-Um has his phone. The police officer gets fed up with the pair and sends them away. As soon as they’re outside, the probationer forces Lee Ro-Um to return his phone but Moo-Young stops him.

Moo-Young and Lee Ro-Um leave, just as the former asks Lee Ro-Um why she stole that guy’s phone. It turns out it’s because he got on her nerves. Lee Ro-Um takes Moo-Young to the restroom, where she hid the probationer’s phone, and hands it to him. Lee Ro-Um tells him to check what’s inside, and it turns out the guy has many sexually explicit pictures of young girls.

Moo-Young asks Lee Ro-Um if she wants him to return the phone to the guy, and she tells her that she doesn’t care since there are no pictures of her in there as she thought. They start going back and forth about how taking the phone to the police will get Lee Ro-Um into trouble, as he may claim she stole it from him.

Lee Ro-Um tells Moo-Young that there are messages on the phone proving that the probationer is selling sexually explicit pictures to an illegal website. She also tells him that she has planted malware in the phone so she can access everything on his devices, not just his phone. Of course, Moo-Young tells Lee Ro-Um that what she did is illegal, which pisses her off.

At Park & Cue Law Firm, Jae-Hoon is exhausted by Seo Gye-Sook’s case. Her son, Myung-Hoon, drowned while on a trip with his adoptive parents. His death was ruled accidental, and the adoptive parents are set to claim his life insurance policies, and Seo Gye-Sook is not okay with that.

Elsewhere, Yo-Han is having dinner with what seems like his mother, and they don’t look that close. Meanwhile, Moo-Young is at his house trying to figure out what he’ll do with the probationer’s phone. He checks his messages, and Lee Ro-Um was right about him selling those sexually explicit pictures to an illegal website.

The next day, Moo-Young calls the probationer to his office to pick up his phone. He starts recording their conversation and asks the guy why he needs his phone. The probationer gets upset by Moo-Young’s question because Lee Ro-Um was the one who stole his phone. But, Moo-Young tells him he didn’t steal; he just recovered a lost item. So, the probationer says that Moo-Young recovered his lost phone, and he fell on his own and hurt himself. Moo-Young then tells the probationer that if he says anything different during the investigation of his “accident” at the park, Lee Ro-Um will testify about what she saw in his phone. Surprisingly, the probationer isn’t scared. He even offers to sell some of those pictures to Moo-Young.

Elsewhere, Lee Ro-Um receives a text from an unknown number, welcoming her to the outside world after being released from prison. He also sends her an address. In prison, Choong-Sik receives information that his account has no money. So, what Moo-Young told him about the person paying him off to keep quiet about Le Ro-Um’s parents’ murders, stopping to send him money at some point, is true.

Moo-Young goes to Da-Jung and asks her to delete the sexually explicit pictures and videos they found on the probationer’s phone from the internet, and he’ll pay her. Moo-Young asks Da-Jung how she knows Lee Ro-Um, and it turns out they were prison mates.

Lee Ro-Um goes to the address the unknown number text her. She opens a safe and finds pictures of her dead parents and their murderers the night they died. She remembers seeing the killers take those pictures while she was tied up nearby. As she’s walking away, she sees the younger version of herself, asking her if she “can’t do it” (this may mean avenging her parents’ death) and that Lee Ro-Um should stay awake as the younger version of herself is watching.

At Park & Cue Law Firm, Jo Jae-Hoon tells Moo-Young about the latest development in Seo Gye-Sook’s case. Myung-Hoon’s death was ruled accidental, and his adoptive parents have already claimed his life insurance policies. Jae-Hoon also tells Moo-Young that Seo Gye-Sook didn’t accept the verdict, so he was able to negotiate a settlement, which is very little, but still, Seo Gye-Sook didn’t accept the verdict. Jae-Hoon tells Moo-Young that Seo Gye-Sook is now his problem.

Lee Ro-Um’s studio apartment is flooded, so she goes to Moo-Young’s house to ask him if she could stay with him and she’ll pay rent. As expected, Moo-Young allows her to stay but declines her rent contribution.

Lee Ro-Um sees Moo-Young working on Seo Gye-Sook’s case and tells Moo-Young that Seo Gye-Sook should go on with this case as it’s her fault her son died since she left him with his adoptive family. But, Moo-Young tells her that he’ll help Seo Gye-Sook fight for his son’s justice till the end. Lee Ro-Um then remembers her parents coming to get her from middle school.

The next day, Moo-Young visits Seo Gye-Sook, who doesn’t want to see him thinking that he has come to convince her to accept the verdict and settlement. Moo-Young returns home and remembers his mother leaving him and his alcoholic dad.

The following morning, Myung-Hoon’s adoptive mother, Kim Bo-Ra, takes his son to school, and his son demands all kinds of things now that they have all that insurance money.

Lee Ro-Um then goes to Bo-Ra’s son’s school for a parents meeting, pretending to be a child psychologist. She singles out Kim Bo-Ra and reveals how her son needs help. After the meeting, she convinces Kim Bo-Ra to allow her to do just that. That evening, Lee Ro-Um goes with Kim Bo-Ra to her house and convinces her and her husband to divulge everything about their family so she can “help”.

Meanwhile, Yo-Han realizes he has two probation program apps; one was sent to him by Da-Jung when she accessed his phone to track him. Moo-Young is still working on Seo Gye-Sook’s case when he receives a strange message from her, so he goes to check. Moo-Young finds Seo Gye-Sook about to take her life when he stops her. Seo Gye-Sook breaks down crying about how she should have been with her son. Shortly after, Moo-Young collapses.

Moo-Young finds himself in the hospital with Yo-Han, who found him unconscious and took Moo-Young to the hospital. Yo-Han starts getting into Moo-Young’s business, telling him to get a new psychiatrist. He even insists on accompanying Moo-Young back home.

They eventually arrive at Moo-Young’s home, and he insists on coming in, but Moo-Young refuses to allow that.

The episode ends with Moo-Young finding Lee Ro-Um in his house, sitting on a huge pile of money, and telling him it’s Seo Gye-Sook’s insurance money. Meanwhile, Yo-Han starts knocking on Moo-Young’s door.

The Episode Review

I’m a bit scared for Lee Ro-Um since one of her parents’ killers may be after her. As for Moo-Young, his condition taking a toll on him means he should slow down with Seo Gye-Sook’s case, but I doubt he will.

It’s curious how Lee Ro-Um got Kim Bo-Ra to give up all that insurance money, but again, at this point we can’t underestimate her capabilities. If this episode has brought out one thing, it’s that while Lee Ro-Um and Moo-Young are both after the right things, they have very different ways of solving problems. I’m eager to see how they’ll eventually be on the same page in the upcoming episodes.