Previously on Hotel King… recap ep 23

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Anna’s Recap

SPOILER ALERT: Do not proceed if you do not want to know what has happened so far!

Bravo, Hotel King. Your ridiculousness has made even me, the most ardent My Girl fan ever, completely annoyed and so done with the Mo-ne and Jae-wan pairing. Not gunna lie, I spent the majority of this episode rolling my eyes when those two appeared onscreen together. I’ve lost all interest in their love story since they seem to break up and then make up in alternating episodes. And this has been going on for 24 episodes…enough already! Let’s get on with the more interesting plotline of Chairwoman Baek being Jae-wan’s mother, and hopefully not see Mo-ne pining away for him for the next few episodes.

All eyes are on Joong-goo after he dropped the major bombshell that Jae-wan is his son, in front of the hotel staff and Chairwoman Baek. Hearing this, Chairwoman Baek begins to think that he could possibly be her own son, Hyun-woo. After the spectacle in the lobby, Joong-goo tries to talk to a sulking Jae-wan, only to be stopped by Mo-ne. She warns him to stay away from Jae-wan. Joong-go then flips the script and warns her to stay away from Jae-wan instead and that she should let Chae-kyung have him. Hey, why don’t both of you just leave him alone? He’s much better off without you guys.

Since Joong-goo couldn’t speak with Jae-wan, he turns his attention to Roman. He knows that Roman knew and purposely didn’t tell his mother about Jae-wan being Hyun-woo. Joong-goo sort of threatens to tell Chairwoman Baek, but then says that he will help Roman keep the secret. He gives Roman fake pictures and a made up story about Jae-wan’s mother for him to give to Chairwoman Baek, in order to throw her off the trail. Roman accepts this bundle of lies from Joong-goo, but not before pulling a knife on him and threatens Joong-goo for threatening him in the first place. Roman apparently carries a knife on him at all times.

Chairwoman Baek is still wondering if Jae-wan is her Hyun-woo, who she thought was dead. She asks Jae-wan if he knows who his birth mother is. He tells her to mind her own business, but that yes, he knows who his mother is. Coming from his secret meeting with Joong-goo, Roman sees the two of them talking and freaks out. He warns Jae-wan to leave his mother alone, and Jae-wan replies that it was Chairwoman Baek who’s bothering him. Later, Chairwoman Baek asks Roman if he really did see his “older brother,” Jayden, die. Roman gets all shifty-eyed and says that he saw Jayden get shot in front of him, and even attended his funeral. He then shows her the fake pictures of Jae-wan’s mother that Joong-goo gave him, and she believes him.

With Jae-wan’s parentage mystery seemingly solved, Chairwoman Baek gets back to the business of selling Ciel. She proposes the sell of the hotel water park in order to remedy the recent financial losses. Jae-wan tries to reject her proposal, but no one on the Board of Directors will listen to him because they think he’s just working under the influence of his father, Joong-goo, now. To get rid of this Jae-wan obstacle, Chairwoman Baek posts a surveillance camera picture on the staff bulletin board that shows Mo-ne and Jae-wan holding hands while going into a hotel room. This actually occurred when Mo-ne and Jae-wan escaped from hiding in John Howard’s room’s coat closet a few episodes ago, but the staff believes that they were off to do scandalous things.

Because of the perceived sexual scandal that Jae-wan and Mo-ne have brought upon the hotel, they both receive disciplinary citations. Outraged that she’s being framed, Mo-ne crashes an employee training that Chairwoman Baek is having and accuses her of lying. Jae-wan shows up and tries to take the blame for the scandal himself, of course. Mo-ne tells Chairwoman Baek and the staff present that she and Jae-wan aren’t having any type of illicit relationship, but instead are in love. And because there are no rules that prohibit hotel employees from dating, Mo-ne and Jae-wan avoid the punishment for starting a scandal at Ciel.

After declaring that she and Jae-wan are in love to Chairwoman Baek, Mo-ne goes to Chae-kyung to further rub her relationship status in people’s faces. Chae-kyung had given Mo-ne a plane ticket for Las Vegas to give to Jae-wan, begging her to let him go so that he can finally escape from Joong-goo’s grasp. Mo-ne rips the ticket in half in front of Chae-kyung, and says that she will never let Jae-wan go because she and Ciel need him. Let me get this straight, Mo-ne is basically saying that she’s perfectly willing to let Jae-wan suffer, if only to keep him by her side. Ugh, selfish much?

Jae-wan and Mo-ne meet up afterwards, and declare their undying love for each other. They get back together, after breaking up for approximately one day, and officially start dating. Well, so much for the resolve that Mo-ne showed the last episode when realized that she can’t be worrying about her love life if she’s to take Ciel back from Chairwoman Baek. Seriously, why does she even deserve the hotel? So far, Mo-ne has done absolutely nothing to help the hotel, only causing problems. She’s not a good maid, either! I was rooting for Mo-ne and Jae-wan to be together, but now I just want them to go away. Or more accurately, I want Mo-ne to leave and let the grown ups get to work because she’s clearly not equipped for it.

Continuing their relationship flaunting tour, Mo-ne and Jae-wan act all loved up in full view of Woo-hyun. Get a room, you two. Oh wait, that’s what caused this annoying display of affection in the first place. When Jae-wan sees Woo-hyun watching Mo-ne leaving his car, he goes and has a man-to-man chat with him. Jae-wan says a bunch of nonsensical things about being jealous of Woo-hyun before for being able to love so openly when he couldn’t. Woo-hyun looks like he’s mentally rolling his eyes the whole time, and ready to punch Jae-wan right in the face. Then, Jae-wan has the nerve to ask Woo-hyun to continue looking after Mo-ne because she trusts him. WTF. He expects Woo-hyun to keep on selflessly helping Mo-ne after she broke his heart? If I were Woo-hyun, I would have straight up laughed in Jae-wan’s face. This couple is so unbelievably selfish.

Onto more serious matters, two prospective buyers have appeared with bids for the Ciel water park that Chairwoman Baek is trying to sell. One being Chae-kyung and the other is Woojin Ranch’s Chairman Sun, working under the pseudonym of Jin Kyung-soo. Chairman Sun actually has no interest in buying the water park, but Jae-wan convinced him to use a fake name to drive up the price in the bidding war for it, in order to prevent Chae-kyung from buying it. Chairwoman Baek discovers that there isn’t really a Jin Kyung-soo interested in the water park, and agrees to sell it to Chae-kyung. Jae-wan tries to appeal to Chae-kyung to not buy it, but she’s basically like, “You’re kidding me, right?” and tells him to get lost. Team Chae-kyung!

Ciel’s general shareholders voted and agreed to sell the water park to Chae-kyung, but then Jae-wan bursts into the room. Somehow, he convinced four of the minority shareholders to transfer their shares to him, meaning he now he holds 20% of Ciel’s shares. With his new shares, the votes against selling the water park exceed the ones for it, so the deal is off. Chairwoman Baek is absolutely livid that Jae-wan ruined the deal, and slaps him right across the face when they are alone in the conference room. He then grabs her by her jacket collar and gets major crazy eyes, threatening her and her plans for Ciel. Damn, it just got real up in here.

Feeling on top of the world after that intense showdown with Chairwoman Baek, Jae-wan is brought back down to earth when he receives the info he wanted on Roman’s background investigation. Roman’s real name is, “Lee Joo-wan,” the same one as his “younger brother.” Coupled with the fact that Roman has ties with the New York gangsters and is originally from there, Jae-wan thinks that he’s actually his “younger brother.” He rushes over to Roman’s house, and he sprints out the door ready to attack Jae-wan for threatening his mother. Jae-wan calls out, “Joo-wan,” stopping Roman in his tracks.

Et cetera:

After Mo-ne’s very public declaration of love for Jae-wan in front of Chairwoman Baek and the hotel staff, Woo-hyun goes to his family’s ranch and has a heartfelt chat with his dad. They seem to be on the road to reconciliation. Yay!

Jae-wan gives Mo-ne the book he found with the serial number that matches Chairman Ah’s hidden code. The book is indeed Chairman Ah’s missing journal.

Roman has been investing in a fake company that was set up by Chairman Ah before his death, and now his own company appears to be bankrupt after these fake investments.