Moving (2023) Episode 14

Moving episode 14 starts with Ju-won and a young Hui-soo returning to their home after Ji-hee’s funeral. Ju-won is trying to remain strong for his daughter. He meets with Yong-jun and explains that he will be stepping back from the Black team as he needs to care for his daughter. 

Yong-jun doesn’t understand why Ju-won wants to go back to his desk job. Nonetheless, he authorizes the request but warns Ju-won that it is only for the time being. He is still on call in case of emergencies and other covert Black team operations. He threatens to fire Ju-won if he fails to pick up his calls.

The scene cuts to the summer of 2003  in Cheonggyecheon. Here, we embark on the story of Lee Jae-man, a loving husband to Yoon-young and a dotting father to Lee Gang-hoon.  He is a strong man who helps his wife by delivering items from their shop to various clients. At the time, Cheonggyecheon was at risk of being redeveloped, and the people were against being kicked out of their homes and shops. One man tries to recruit Jae-man to the ongoing protests, but Yoon-young forbids it.

She advises her husband to finish his deliveries and hurry back home so they can eat. Yoon-young is protective of her husband and loves him deeply. A fellow neighbour, Choi Sung-woo’s mom, comments on how Jae-man is a family man. She is envious that he is always taking care of  Gang-hoon. Jae-man insists on picking up and dropping the kid from school and always worries about his son’s safety. It is the only thing he talks about most of the time. He even bought matching T-shirts for them.  

The neighbour hints that Jae-man is a caring dad because he can’t take care of anything else, and Yoon-young is hurt. She clarifies that Jae-man insists on taking care of Gang-hoon on his own. 

We travel back to the year 2000 when Jae-man got into trouble with the law for beating up a man who assaulted Yoon-young. He lost his cool and went ham on the man, forcing the police to intervene. Yoon-young did her best to defend him in front of the police, who were about to shoot him down. She managed to calm him down, and the police finally arrested him. Even as he was taken away by the police, Jae-man was only concerned about their son.

Unfortunately, Gang-hoon was sleeping in their van when the trouble started. An electric circuit malfunctioned and caused a fire in the car. Gang-hoon was nearly burnt to death as Yoon-young worked on seeing Jae-man off following his arrest. Thankfully, she saved Gang-hoon. After his release, Jae-man returned home, but Gang-hoon had grown and was indifferent to him. Jae-man did his best to get close to his son. And as days went by, Gang-hoon started to open up to his dad. 

Meanwhile, Ju-won struggled with being a single dad but did his best. He always prepared Hui-soo and made sure she got to school on time. They continued to live their lives, trying to recover after the loss of Ji-hee. They became a great team, working around the house and finishing chores together. They are so adorable!

Ju-won hired help to help him take care of Hui-soo when he had too much work. On one occasion, he ended up late and found Hui-soo alone, with a message left by the caretaker. He felt bad for his daughter but also had to work to keep them afloat. It is like being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Back to Cheonggyecheon, the protest against the restoration continues to heat up. The dwellers organize themselves and hold a big protest. Yoon-young asks Jae-man not to take part since he has a criminal record. She volunteers to represent their family and asks him to take care of Gang-hoon. Jae-man takes their kid home and waits for Yoon-young’s return. However, as night rolls by, he gets worried. He promises Gang-hoon that he will quickly leave to get Yoon-young and be back before his sleeping time.

Jae-man is unaware that the protest has turned violent, and the dwellers are being attacked and arrested. By the time he gets there, Yoon-young is being escorted to the police bus. Yoon-young tries to warn him not to approach, but he loses his cool and attacks the police. The police try to tame him using a water cannon, but he is too strong. Yoon-young begs him to return to their son. Jae-man finally hears her and flies away, shocking the police and the spectators. 

Following the incident, Young-jun calls Ju-won and informs him there has been a sighting of a monster. He insists that Ju-won must come quickly and handle the matter. Ju-won is left with no choice but to obey the order. He is about to leave when Hui-soo wakes up and sees him off. He promises to be back soon and asks her to go back to sleep.

In the meantime, as chaos erupts in Cheonggyecheon, Sung-woo decides to run away and free his fish. He happens to be one of Jae-man’s neighbours and is obsessed with setting the fish free. He even refuses to go to school because he wants to stay with the fish. It is raining heavily, but he takes the fish out of the aquarium and heads out. He ends up falling into the sewer.

On the other hand, Jae-man hides in the sewers as the search for him intensifies. Like an omnipresent devil, Yong-jun is always at the scene, ready to take advantage of people with abilities.  He is disappointed to learn that Jae-man is intellectually disabled and can’t speak properly. He, however, insists that he must see it with his own eyes and sends Ju-won into the sewer to find him. 

Ju-won heads into the sewer and catches up with Jae-man, who keeps saying Gang-hoon’s name. They get into one of the most intense fights we have seen so far in this series.  Each punching the other as if wanting to throw him miles away. Honestly, we were on team Jae-man on this one.  That man only wants to get to his son, and Ju-won unknowingly does Yong-jun’s bidding. 

Finally, after fighting to the brink of life, Ju-won knocks out Jae-man and handcuffs their hands together. He is about to drag Jae-man out of the sewer when he hears a boy crying, asking for help. He starts pounding on the concrete wall to save the boy. Jae-man wakes up and helps him save the boy. 

Meanwhile, the police are notified that a boy has fallen into the sewer. They change their priority from arresting Jae-man to saving the boy. Being the heartless guy that he is, Yong-jun is displeased by the police’s change of priority. 

As they discuss, Ju-won shows up with the boy in his arms, and they quickly rush the kid to the hospital. Yong-jun asks about Jae-man, and Ju-won informs him that the man has gone home. He wanted to keep his promise to his son. Yong-jun questions whether Ju-won is sane or has a problem understanding orders. He calls him an idiot. They head over to Jae-man’s home and are surprised that he truly went home. 

Gang-hoon was scared and glad to see his dad back. However, their reunion is short-lived as the police barge in with their guns blazing. Yong-jun takes one look at Jae-man and deems him useless. He is on his way out of the building when some police fly out of Jae-man’s place. He thinks that it is Jae-man’s doing, and Ju-won rushes back to the house. In a shocking turn of events, Gang-hoon is the one attacking the police. Jae-man is doing his best to calm him down, begging him to stop. 

At this moment, it dawns on Yong-jun that the abilities can be passed on. He smiles as he orders his Ju-won to take care of the situation. However, Ju-won’s face is grim as a new reality dawns on him. He heads home, takes Hui-soo, and leaves everything else behind. He narrates that even though he left his life behind, he took Hui-soo, who is his everything. This line nearly broke the flood of tears in us!

The episode ends with a time jump to the present, where Hui-soo is in high school, and Ju-won is a restaurant owner.  Hui-soo tells her dad about a classmate who has been a good influence on her. She is talking about our adorable Bong-seok.  Her conversation with Bong-seok about her mom’s death reminded her of Ji-hee’s last moment. She confesses that she believes Ji-hee smiled in her last moments. 

Ju-won calmly asks her to go home, promising to be there soon. After Hui-soo leaves, he breaks down crying. We can’t help but cry with him too; he has been through a lot!

The Episode Review

Ju-won’s story keeps breaking our hearts in new ways every other week. Hearing Hui-soo talk about Ji-hee’s final moments must have been so hard for him. He loved her so much and is still grieving. However, Ji-hee is probably looking down on them and feeling proud about the dad he is to their daughter. He brought her up well; she is an amazing young woman with a big heart because he poured all his love into her. He should be proud of himself, too. 

As for Jae-man, he is the definition of an amazing father. He is devoted to his son, and now we understand why he always waits for him to come home with a smile. Yong-jun was wrong, Jae-man is not a monster. Jae-man is something Yong-jun will never be. Yong-jun is heartless and ambitious, a man many would never love. However, Jae-man is the epitome of humanity, a man who loves deeply and protects those close to him.

Even with his shortcomings, he is a great husband and father anyone would be blessed to have. The real monster here is Jong-yun!