Recap Korean Drama "Café Minamdang" Episode 13

Cafe Minamdang episode 13 starts at a very shocking moment in Han-jun’s life – as he tackles Tae-su to the ground like a pro, the latter asks him whether he’ll save Jae-hui or apprehend him. Backup runs up to him as well. Han-jun tries to open the door desperately, and after a few hits with a rock, he breaks the lock open and gets her out.

Unfortunately, the smoke consumption makes him pass out, and Hye-jun and Jae-hui try to desperately wake him up. Later, we find both of them in the hospital – Jae-hui is awake and waits patiently as Han-jun slowly wakes up. Outside the room, Hye-jun notes how a usually calm Han-jun was so paranoid about getting Jae-hui out of the fire. She then further notes that she’s going to be the same for him.

 

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 13

Inside the room, Han-jun immediately hugs Jae-hui the moment he wakes up. He mentions that he was afraid of losing her and promises to give her his whole heart after he catches Gopuri and takes Jae-jeong’s permission – so will she wait for him? Jae-hui looks ecstatic, and the two hug each other. Later on, the four of them start to fight with each other because, obviously.

The next day, Du-jin identifies Tae-su from the picture Jae-hui had acquired from the trailer and mentions how he was the suspect in his first murder investigation. Apparently, when Tae-su was young, his mother abandoned him to his alcoholic father, resulting in him being abused daily. One day, not being able to take it anymore and in self-defence, he not only stabbed his father with a shovel but burnt his house down with his father inside, still alive.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 13

The gang discuss more of Tae-su’s past and realise that they need to find out what happened to him after he disappeared after burning his father alive. That night at Minamdang, Han-jun, Jae-hui, Hye-jun, and Su-cheol get into Tae-su’s laptop and find out how Auntie Im and Tae-su worked together to increase her popularity among the masses. They find a clue in one of the folders and decide to go to N. Joy Club, the name of which they find in one of the videos.

 

When Do-won gets there with Joyce Partners’ company card statements, they realise that the up-and-coming nightclub must be dealing with drugs to get 100 times the investments they are putting in. In an effort to figure out what’s going on in the club, Do-won proposes that they go to the club undercover to find out whatever evidence they can find. That night, Han-jun drops Jae-hui home while Su-cheol and Hye-jun go out, leaving poor Do-won standing outside of Minamdang alone in utter confusion.

Han-jun and Jae-hui’s relationship seems to be going pretty well, and taking the long route home, the two discuss the paths that they took in life and whether they regret the decisions that brought them here. Han-jun, rather sweetly, mentions that they should catch Gopuri as soon as possible so that they can date like normal people.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 13

 

The next time we see the gang, they are all going inside N. Joy Club dressed to the nines. For some reason, Do-won and Na-dan are waiters in the club. I guess it makes sense since it’s Han-jun’s plan, but Do-won just looks so annoyed; it’s hilarious. On the other hand, the two women are rocking it out on the dance floor while keeping a close eye on all the entrances and bouncers. They spot a few suspicious people, find them dealing with drugs and start to follow them to the club’s depths.

Na-dan and Do-won also find the drug seller in one of the private rooms and then promptly get into trouble for being good Samaritans. They call Hye-jun and Jae-hui to the room, who beat the men up when they learn that they were trying to drug unsuspecting women.

As Du-jin tells Chul-geun that Jae-hui’s amazing detective work is going to land him with something big, Han-jun and the team sift through the drugs that they find in the club, the operations of which Tae-su was in charge. They only need to find Tae-su’s ledger, which Su-cheol tells them is in a hidden safe on the top floor. Thus, the next order of business is to get to the safe and successfully open it.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 13

Han-jun has it covered, though – he has brought in reinforcements from the police using Jae-hui’s name. Thus, Do-won and Jae-hui only have to create enough ruckus for the others to rush in and get what they need to prove everything with a nice and clean bow. Their plan, however, comes across a weird problem in the form of Jin-sang and Min-gyeong, who, for some reason, follow Han-jun around like puppies.

Anyway, Han-jun makes up some excuse about bad vibes in the hotel, especially on the Royal Floor – the root of which is the safe. He asks him to get rid of it; otherwise, his entire family will be ruined. Anyway, Jin-sang helps them to get to the top floor using the private elevator. Obviously, they are caught before they can reach the room and Su-cheol fights off the guards while Han-jun makes his way to the room.

From a darker corner, Tae-su sneaks in to retrieve the files from the safe, which Han-jun has already gotten his hands on. He finds Cha Seung-won’s inspection report inside as well, but he keeps the thoughts on the back burner for the time being as it’s time to engage in combat with Tae-su. Han-jun gets his face based in pretty badly, and Tae-su goes off with the files, but Han-jun has enough to make this a celebration.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 13

Anyway, Seung-won’s inspection report, unfortunately, lands in Auntie Im and Seung-won’s hands. They speed up the process of selling the cursed land so that they get half of the construction fee; in this way, they won’t incur any loss even if something happens to the project itself. Seung-won adds that they need to get rid of Dong-gi so that he can’t throw a wrench in his plans to become the chairman of Choekang Group.

In the meantime, Han-jun, too, realises how Auntie Im is syphoning off the investment money from the Jakdu-dong project through an overseas paper company called KM Leaders. It’s the perfect con that Auntie Im has set up over the years. Han-jun even mentions how they will try to get rid of Dong-gi, which happens soon enough.

As Dong-gi goes missing after going out with Tae-su, Han-jun and the gang go off to find him. They surmise in a rather thrilling car ride that since this is the last step for her to get what she wants, she will help Tae-su wrap everything up where it all began – in his childhood home.

Cafe Minamdang Episode 13 Ending

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 13

 

At the location, Jae-hui finds a badly hurt Dong-gi in Tae-su’s childhood home. The elusive perpetrator is standing with a gas cylinder and lighter, ready to burn everything to the ground. Han-jun mentions how Auntie Im has been manipulating him the entire time and took away his last chance of atonement, that was Eun-hye.

Anyway, he mentions that he should’ve protected Eun-hye regardless of what Auntie Im told him to do since he isn’t a child anymore; he’s a grown man who can protect others. Tae-su doesn’t look like he’s enjoying the lecture that is being handed to him, and the episode ends with him looking rather annoyed.

In the epilogue, a young Tae-su comes out of his flaming home and walks off alone with a terrible burn on his arm. The next morning, as he passes out on the side of the road and is found by Auntie Im – curiously, there’s also a little boy with her, who ominously calls Tae-su a magpie to his crow.

Going back into Jae-jeong’s home the night he was murdered, it is revealed that there’s another person who is carrying out the murders with Tae-su – is it the ‘crow’ whom we saw earlier?

Cafe Minamdang Episode 13 Review

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 13

For some reason, characters who were introduced previously with some weight have all but become jellyfishes only used as a convenient plot device in Cafe Minamdang, only popping up with Han-jun or Jae-hui need to crack open safes and need important information on the big bad guys. Yes, I am talking about Jin-sang and Do-won.

 

Ok, Jin-sang, I still get it (with great difficulty). He was a secondary character, if that, but seriously, was it necessary to turn him into this weepy mess of a person who fawns over Han-jun when he was quite scary at one point?

However, the biggest disservice that they are doing is against Do-won. They started his character off with much gumption, and although he was always cute, he had an air of authority to him. Nowadays, we only see him when he needs files with important information in them or to be sort of a pain in the butt for Han-jun’s romance arc. He might not get the girl, which is fine, but he can get a better storyline. What.

Anyway, coming to our protagonists – I like that Han-jun and Jae-hui’s characters have become much more mellow and relatable in the last couple of episodes. They are changing each other for the better while also keeping their character quirks. Hye-jun and Su-cheol’s romance is quite cute as well, and honestly, I’d watch them together over anyone else.

The storyline is going down an interesting route – I am interested to know who this ‘crow’ fellow is and how Tae-su is being manipulated by Im. Although I have my speculations about the identity of this person, I am honestly expecting to be thoroughly surprised. Hopefully, they won’t go down the tried and tested route and bring a shocking twist!

Cafe Minamdang episode 13 is fine – we see the softer sides of our characters, and they don’t always scream for no reason. There are a lot fewer silly moments, and those that do make it to the screen are rather enjoyable.