Café Minamdang Episode 8 Recap (2022 Korean Drama)
**This recap of Café Minamdang Episode 8 contains spoilers**
Trigger Warning: Topics of suicide, murder, rape are a ongoing theme of this show. Please look after yourselves.
Jae-Hui enters the men’s washroom to argue with Han-Joon, causing Gu to retreat into a stall before either of them notice his intentions. Han-Joon pulls Jae-Hui into another stall and unto his lap while sitting on the toilet to stop her from exposing the both of them. Even though he did not realize the danger he just escaped, he did know about someone else’s presence inside the washroom.
In one of their rare moments of truce, they agree to share with each other their reason for being at Joyce. Together they come up with a new plan on how to be able to check Jin-Sang’s wrist. Jae-Hui suspects his involvement with Eun-Hye after her talk earlier with Lee Ji-Eun, a fellow Joyce trainee.
Their plan’s execution is a disaster, ending with a electrocuted and unconscious Jin-Sang taken away in an ambulance. However, Han-Joon does manage to check his wrist and confirms he does not have a burn mark.
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Jae-Hui leaves feeling sad that she has not made more progress in the case. She suddenly receives a call from Lee Ji-Eun, admitting shamefully that she didn’t tell her everything. She once saw Eun-Hye perform a provocative dance in what seemed a private audition afterhours. A woman and two man watched Eun-Hye, demanding at some point that she remove her clothes as well. Eun-Hye started crying at some point.
Ji-Eun took a video of the whole thing, but later deleted the footage and since replaced her phone, selling the old one. She did not recognize any of the other people present.
Both Han-Joon and Jae-Hui’s team manage to identify the cellphone’s new owner, who lives on an island. Realizing each others presence on said island upon arrival, it is clear they are there for the same purpose. In a comical turn of events, everyone except Hye-Joon and Jae-Hui are suffering the aftereffects of seasickness.
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Facing the new cellphone owner, both teams try to convince him to hand it over to them. Han-Joon ultimately wins after paying him two million Korean Won, only to have Jae-Hui snatch it out of his hand.
Both teams end up fighting over the phone on the beach, which makes for yet another hilarious scene. Only Hye-Joon sits on a rock nearby, shaking her head at the foolery. She finally steps in by grabbing the phone, offering to share the info she gets from it with both her brother and the police. Specially since the last boat just left, forcing them to stay on the island overnight.
Café Minamdang Episode 8
While Hye-Joon does her thing, the rest enjoys a dinner of outside barbeque with some of their usual bickering. Some time later they are finally able to watch the retrieved video, which elicits a range of angry emotions from everyone. Especially Jae-Hui and Hye-Joon let loose a stream of curse words, that makes the others take a step back. Both woman toast each other in recognition of their similarities.
Unfortunately they do not recognize anyone in the video with Eun-Hye. The woman and one of the man has their back turned, while the identity of the other person is not known. All they can tell is that he has a predominant birthmark on his right cheek and curly hair.
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Later that night, Han-Joon is out for a pondering walk by the beach, when he spots Jae-Hui sitting by herself in front of a bonfire. She invites him to join her, all the while reminiscing about time spent with her brother during childhood camping trips.
The two start talking about their reasons for their determination in solving the case, sharing some information with each other. Jae-Hui reiterates her apology to Han-Joon for not believing him and misjudging him all this time. He teases her that he was correct after all and she was not being sincere when she apologized before. They share a smile at this.
Café Minamdang Episode 8
Han-Joon concedes that given her situation he would have likely made the same call and believed Choi was the culprit. He sums it up by stating that they each saw different things and based their belief on what they saw. They also both already have enough regrets, so she should stop feeling sorry about this matter between them. Han-Joon admits to his regrets of not going to his friends place sooner that night and ventures she has similar regrets weighing her down.
His way of talking and acting has Jae-Hui slightly speechless. When he gets up to leave, she tries to stop him but instead knocks him over and lands on top of him. Caught in the moment, both are lost in each others eyes. Just as they lean in for a kiss, prosecutor Cha interrupts them. Han-Joon makes no secret of the fact that he is not pleased with Cha butting in.
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While Cha walks Jae-Hui back to their sleeping quarters, he comments on her sudden closeness to Han-Joon. He wishes she would also be relaxed and less formal with him. Jae-Hui exclaims her surprise at Cha’s interpretation of her repeatedly punching and kicking Han-Joon as “being close”. She jokingly asks if he also wishes to be treated that way.
They share a laugh at this before Cha gets serious again, telling Jae-Hui to remember that he will always be by her side. She thanks him and returns the sentiment, then leaves.
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Han-Joon walks by Cha who tells him in a rather ominous way that he is still the same as 3 years ago. He counters that Cha should have believed him back then. In a statement seeming to contain a hidden message, Han-Joon states that brakes are used while driving a car but not while chasing the truth. One must never give up on finding the truth.
Returning from the island the following morning, both teams go their own way. Jae-Hui and Han-Joon back to their bickering.
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Coming up empty for someone with a visible birthmark among Joyce’s employee records, Hye-Joon instead starts tracking Eun-Hye’s last movements. This leads them to Jeon Gyeong-Cheol, known interim chief of the Jjokmun Gang and currently running a livestream service.
Gyeong-Cheol turns out to be the man with the birthmark and his abroad travels match those of Eun-Hye. His livestream services also seem nothing more then a front for a 21st century pimp. To locate him, Han-Joon and Su-Cheol go speak to Madam Wang, one of his known associates.
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Meanwhile Lee Ji-Eun from Joyce calls to inform Jae-Hui that she remembered Eun-Hye would usually get off the subway at Hanguk University Station. Jae-Hui takes Detective Jang along to have a look around the area of said station. Picture of Eun-Hye in hand, they ask passersby if they recognize her. After multiple fails they finally luck out at a coffee shop, where the waiter recalls her as one of their regulars. He mentions seeing her enter a nearby apartment and assumed she must live there.
Talking to a real estate agent they are able to find the apartment the high school girl resided in with what everyone believed to be her uncle. A closer look at the lease agreement reveals the “uncle’s” name as Jeon Gyeong-Cheol.
Café Minamdang Episode 8
Simultaneously, Han-Joon and Su-Cheol find out through Madam Wang that Jeon approached her to request her top girls. Paying her a substantial amount, he stated that money was not an issue for his powerful clients but complete confidentiality a must. She mentions that Jeon would also sometimes bring in a director from Joyce Entertainment but she did not get the name of the person.
At the prosecutors office, Cha’s investigation leads him to Jeon Gyeong-Cheol via a Joyce credit card used by him to buy a plane ticket abroad. Jeon is not a new name to him as he has a lengthy history of facilitating gambling and sexual bribery. Instructing his team to find a connection between director Park and Jeon, Cha goes to the Daeun Police station. Here he comes across Jae-Hui and Jang going through surveillance footage from the apartment showing Jeon grabbing Eun-Hye as she exits the elevator.
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The Nam siblings together with Su-Cheol are on a stakeout across the street from Jeon’s studio. Despite the buildings dilapidated exterior, Hye-Joon discovers their security system is high tech. Just then a black van stops in front of the studio and several men drag a young woman from it to inside the studio. They are able to identify her as a famous live streamer recently kidnapped in the middle of one of her streams. She shows obvious signs of intoxication. Hye-Joon mentioned that a few months ago another live streamer named Jung Eun-Ah suddenly vanished in the same way, never to be heard from since.
Doubting police will be able to help, Han-Joon instead comes up with a scheme to get inside and past Jeon’s men. He walks into the building under the guise of Shaman Nam on a mission to remove a vengeful spirit. Jeon’s men are unconvinced at first but smoke starts filling the room and Eun-Ah’s voice eerily appears to come from a shadowy figure just outside. The men rapidly beg the shaman to save them. He instructs them to stay inside the room while he catches the spirit and not to come out until he tells them that it is safe.
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Han-Joon and the team then proceed to secretly lock the men up. Little do the goons know they are being tricked. The smoke was fake and orchestrated by Su-Cheol, while the shadowy figure was a disguised Na-Dan using a voice simulator programmed by Hye-Joon.
After locating Jeon with the streamer and a few more of his men upstairs Han-Joon and Su-Cheol approach them. Once Su-Cheol has knocked out all the men, he suspends Jeon over a hole in the floor, threatening to drop him if he does not give them the password to his safe. Gaining access to the safe, Han-Joon takes a quick look through its contents. Spotting some documents listing the name Joyce Entertainment inside a brown envelope, he retrieves them.
Café Minamdang Episode 8
Questioning Jeon about his connection to Park, the former’s reaction indicates the two do not get along. So even though Joyce is clearly involved with Jeon, it appears Director Park is not the connection between the two. At this realization Han-Joon suddenly asks Jeon if a man with a burn mark on his wrist put him up to what he is currently doing. The weird look on Jeon’s face speaks volumes. Yet before Han-Joon can find out more, they are interrupted by Jae-Hui and her team of detectives.
Unbeknownst to Han-Joon, the police arrived just a while earlier to take Jeon having found evidence of his connection to Eun-Hye. Pointing a taser gun at Han-Joon, Su-Cheol and Jeon, Jae-Hui orders them to surrender. Taking advantage of the chaos, Jeon slowly grabs hold of a nearby iron bar and prepares to strike Han-Joon.
However, Jae-Hui catches his movements and commands him to put it down or she will shoot. Han-Joon, thinking she is referring to the envelope him and Su-Cheol are secretly hiding behind their backs, tries to calm her down. But she keeps repeating her earlier command. Still unaware of Jeon swinging the iron bar at his head, Han-Joon is shocked when Jae-Hui pulls the trigger. Whether intentional or not, the taser hits him and not Jeon.
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Epilogue
A first person view of Eun-Hye being forced to strip during the event recorded by Lee Ji-Eun on her cell phone.
A glimpse of the recipient from Gu’s phone call regarding Lieutenant Nam Han-Joon reveals her to be female.
Café Minamdang Episode 8 END
