Numbers (2023) K Drama Episode 9

Episode 9 of Numbers takes us back to when Ho-woo and Seung-jo tried to save Hyeong-woo and Yang Jae-hwan at the burning warehouse. Remember, Je-kyun had ordered some important documents to be burnt there. However, it seems that Hyeong-woo, who was overseeing this activity, had other plans with those documents. Je-kyun ordered the men he had hired to burn down those documents to eliminate Hyeong-woo and Yang Jae-hwan, who was also there. 

Unfortunately, it exploded before Seung-jo could get Hyeong-woo out of that warehouse. Sadly, Hyeong-woo died. A memorial is held for Hyeong-woo, and many people from Taeil Accounting Firm don’t show up, which is sad to see. Je-kyun does attend the memorial though, accompanied by a few people. It turns out most of them were under the Taeil Accounting Firm scholarship. Je-kyun is emotional about Hyeong-woo’s passing, but we all know he’s just putting on a show. 

Yang Jae-hwan is at the hospital, healing from the injuries he sustained when he was attacked at the warehouse. Yang Jae-hwan isn’t at peace after what happened though. He keeps having nightmares about him and Hyeong-woo being attacked at the warehouse. He then garners the courage to go to Hyeong-woo’s memorial. 

Later, Je-kyun asks Woo Sang-hyun, an accountant at Taeil Accounting Firm, to ransack Hyeong-woo’s office. Sang-hyun searches the office and takes Hyeong-woo’s laptop to give to Je-kyun. What exactly is Je-kyun looking for in Hyeong-woo’s office, and what is Hyeong-woo hiding? 

Lee Sang-joo then calls Je-kyun, who immediately apologizes for how things went at Sang-Ah Group’s shareholders’ meeting in the previous episode. He tells Lee Sang-joo to be more patient, and that he’ll be Sang-Ah Group’s next chairman soon. But Lee Sang-joo tells Je-kyun that he’s planning to ambush Chan-joo. 

Jang Ji-soo has discovered several Peer-to-peer (P2P) online loan companies under PEF HK Private Equity that have had huge losses. She is then told that Taeil Accounting Firm will handle these loan companies. This leaves her wondering what Je-kyun is trying to do since he is from PEF HK Private Equity and Taeil Accounting Firm. 

It turns out, Je-kyun is trying to convince Jin Tae-soo to get Jisan Bank to buy one of these online loan companies. Jin Tae-soo hesitates when Je-kyun suggests to Jin Tae-soo that he buy this company by himself. Je-kyun tells Jin Tae-soo that doing so will increase the chances of his term as Jisan Bank’s president being extended since this company’s stock prices will increase in future. 

Of course, this is highly unlikely because the company has incurred huge losses. But, Je-kyun seems to have other plans in mind by trying to convince Jin Tae-soo to purchase it. 

Je-kyun grants Yang Jae-hwan’s requests he had made in the previous episode. He had requested compensation for his eyesight being affected because of his working conditions and for Son Hye-Won to retain her job at Taeil Accounting Firm. Yang Jae-hwan then asks Je-kyun to allow him to continue working at Taeil Accounting Firm as long as his eyesight is still good, which Je-kyun finds strange. 

We’re then taken back to when Yang Jae-hwan had attended Hyeong-woo’s memorial. He met Seung-jo and Ho-woo, and they started going back and forth about him reporting Je-kyun to the police for what he did to him and Hyeong-woo. Seung-jo then told him that going to the authorities would be dangerous, considering Je-kyun has power. 

Yang Jae-hwan then asked Seung-jo and Ho-woo what they should do, and Ho-woo told him to keep working. This explains why he was so eager to ask Je-kyun.

Elsewhere, Lee Sang-joo is doing his research on Ho-woo. Remember, Ho-woo had helped Chan-joo win most of the votes during the Sang-Ah Group’s shareholders’ meeting in the last episode. This enabled him to retain his position as Sang-Ah Group’s chairman. He then discovers Ho-woo was Jang In-ho’s adoptive son. It’s unclear how he knows Jang In-ho though!

Lee Bo-sung is with his friend Choi Kyung-II from Taeil Accounting Firm, celebrating him succeeding his father, Chan-joo, in taking control of Sang-Ah Group. Lee Bo-sung then mentions how many stock mortgage loans he has. Choi Kyung-II suggests he take another loan with lower interest rates to pay off these mortgages. 

At Taeil Accounting Firm, Ho-woo and Seung-jo go to Hyeong-woo’s office and realize it was ransacked. Meanwhile, Je-kyun instructs Sang-hyun to do all he can so Jisan Bank will purchase the P2P online loan company. Later, Kang-hyun gives Seung-jo and Ho-woo a flash drive Hyeong-woo gave before he died. This flash drive contains plans on how Je-kyun used companies like People’s Entertainment before selling them. 

Elsewhere, Lee Bo-sung signs the loan contract that was recommended to him by Choi Kyung-II. The next thing he knows, he’s at a police station being accused of being in sexual contact with a minor. Chan-joo finds out about this, and being mad is an understatement. 

Lee Bo-sung then tells Chan-joo about the loan he took out. It turns out he had put up the Sang-Ah Group stock shares he had as collateral. And now that the stock shares prices’ dropped, they were liquidated. It turns out this was all Lee Sang-joo’s doing. He asked Choi Kyung-II to get Lee Bo-sung to take out this loan, and he also set him up to look like he was in sexual contact with a minor. Lee Sang-joo then ended up getting the stock shares that were under Lee Bo-sung’s name. 

Not long after, Chan-joo is arrested for several financial crimes, leaving Lee Sang-joo as Sang-Ah Group’s chairman. Later, Je-kyun tells Lee Sang-joo that it’s all over now that he is the chairman. But Lee Sang-joo mentions that he has one more thing to do.

Ho-woo receives a package addressed to Jang In-ho. He finds a key card inside the package, so he decides to go courier service to find out who sent it to him. It turns out it was Hyeong-woo who sent it to him. Ho-woo later discovers that the key card opens one of the new recruit lockers at Taeil Accounting Firm. Inside, he finds several flash drives that contain recordings of almost all of Je-kyun’s conversations. 

Ho-woo then comes across Jang In-ho’s official autopsy report among the documents he seemingly got from Hyeong-woo. It turns out Jang In-ho died from a knife wound, meaning he was killed! Well, how about that! Ho-woo also finds an audio recording of the night Jang In-ho died in one of Hyeong-woo’s flash drives. Ho-woo puts two and two together and realizes Hyeong-woo was the one who stabbed Jang In-ho to death. 

Jang Ji-soo goes to see Hwang In-bum, who used to work for the National Forensic Service. Hyeong-woo had given Jang Ji-soo a list of the people who benefited from Taeil Accounting Firm’s scholarship program. It turns out these people were in major sectors of the country, so Je-kyun gave them scholarships as a bribe. Hwang In-bum was among those who benefited from this scholarship.

Hwang In-bum was the one who performed an autopsy on Jang In-ho. He tells Jang Ji-soo about the real cause of Jang In-ho’s death and how Je-kyun instructed him to lie about Jang In-ho’s cause of death in the autopsy report. 

Je-kyun receives word that Jang Ji-soo went to see Hwang In-bum, so he sends goons to her hotel room to attack her. Fortunately, Seung-jo, who was coming to see Jang Ji-soo, arrives just in time and saves her. 

Yeon-a goes to Ho-woo and Seung-jo to find out what exactly Taeil Accounting Firm is doing with Jisan Bank. Ho-woo then tells her that Je-kyun plans to sell a P2P online loan company to Jisan Bank. And this project is discreet; they conclude that Je-kyun is up to something. 

They later decide to find another client to bid for this online loan company to prevent Jisan Bank from being pressured by Je-kyun to buy it. Kang-hyun, who turns out to have his own company offers to be that client. Meanwhile, Jang Ji-soo finally goes to meet Yeo-jin, Kong Hee-sam, and Cheon-ja. After the goons sent by Je-kyun tried to attack her, Ho-woo suggested that she come to stay with them.

At Taeil Accounting Firm, Je-kyun decides not to tell Jin Tae-soo about the online loan company’s huge losses. Seung-jo, Ho-woo, Yeon-a, Kang-hyun, and even An Seung-yeon also find out about this. They quickly realize that Je-kyun’s plan all along was to get Jisan Bank to buy this loan company so they could be stuck in debt. That way, he could control Jisan Bank and eventually have more power. 

Later, Ho-woo tells Seung-jo about the recording on Hyeong-woo’s flash drive, recorded on the night Jang In-ho died. He then tells Seung-jo that Hyeong-woo killed Jang In-ho as per Je-kyun’s orders. 

Seung-jo is obviously crushed by this, so he goes to talk to Jang Ji-soo about it. He later goes to talk to Je-kyun to confront him about this. Je-kyun tells Seung-jo that he’s doing all this for him, but Seung-jo is having none of that. 

The next day, Yeon-a finds out that Jisan Bank has bought the online loan company. Meanwhile, Ho-woo goes to meet Lee Sang-joo, who had asked to see him. Amid their conversation, Lee Sang-joo tells Ho-woo that Je-kyun may have also killed his real parents just like he killed Jang In-ho. 

The episode ends with Ho-woo confronting Lee Sang-joo about the claims he just made. 

The Episode Review

Well, this was a rollercoaster of an episode, to say the least. A lot of shocking details have been released. The writers of this show saved the best for last and as usual, Je-kyun continues to surprise us with how far he can go to get what he wants. It’s sad Hyeong-woo died this way though, but it goes to show how quickly Je-kyun can get rid of someone who goes against him. However, it’s good that Hyeong-woo made things right on his end before his untimely death.