Moving (2023) Episode 16

Episode 16 picks up where we left off, with Gye-do accelerating after noticing Hui-soo and Bong-seok are in danger. The passengers are scared and confused about what is happening, but Joon-hwa seems rather calm. Gye-do finally spots a police station and abruptly pulls over. The police rush out to help the passengers. Joon-hwa uses this commotion to get away. One second, he is there; the next, he is gone. Poof! 

Meanwhile, at the school, Mi-hyun is still interrogating Il-hwan. She asks how long he has been a teacher, and he says he has been a teacher for ten years. We circle back to 2004 when Il-hwan reported for duty at the NIS. He met our Yong-jun after being recommended by Rae-hyuk. He is also one of the soldiers Ju-won saved from the North Korean spies. He hopes to join the Black team and be a helping hand. 

Yong-jun decides to send him to Jeongwon High School as a teacher. Yong-jun tasks him with developing potential talents. He reminds Il-hwan that he is still an agent and, as such, should avoid getting emotionally involved during the mission. Il-hwan reports to the school and starts updating the N.T.D.P files. 

In his first year, he met Gye-do, who initially thought he had a chance to major in sports. To test Gye-do, Rae-hyuk planned for him to be beaten by some school bullies to see if he would use his powers to fight back. Luckily, Gye-do decided not to fight back, and Il-hwan failed him. He asked Gye-do to consider majoring in Broadcasting. It is also evident that Il-hwan was against Rae-hyuk’s strategy and didn’t want to use the kids.

Four years later, he met Se-eun, the daughter of Naju, the salon owner Frank killed. Se-eun was a considerate student who got along well with other students and teachers. Il-hwan got her to trust him with her secret. You see, Se-eun has great physical abilities and x-ray vision. Once Naju found out, she faked Se-eun’s death because she didn’t want her to fall into Yong-jun’s death. Naju didn’t want her daughter to be used like she was. We know she is not dead because we saw her during her mom’s funeral in Episode 4.

After See-un’s ‘death’, Il-hwan focused more on being a real teacher. He blamed himself for not knowing See-un allegedly had cancer. He grew even more disappointed by Yong-jun’s dismissive attitude towards the N.T.D.P project. As the years went by, Il-hwan became a great teacher. One would argue the best in Jeongwon High School. He even grew to enjoy the job as he saw the students improve themselves. 

It was not exactly easy; he dealt with a few things as a teacher who also handled the gifted kids. As years went by, the N.T.P.D project failed to see results. One kid, Young-tak, even transferred. He had the power to stop time; how cool! Even though it seemed bleak, Yong-jun insisted on keeping the project alive until it bore results. 

 In 2015, Rae-hyuk, on the other hand, decided to bring in a new agent, Sung-wook. Sung-wook was tasked with helping II-hwan to make sure they got results. Ii-hwan was against this, but Rae-hyuk didn’t care for his opinions. He also reminded Il-hwan that he is an agent, not a teacher. Fast forward to 2016, when Bong-seok, Gang-hoon and Hui-soo joined  Jeongwon High School. Rae-hyuk gave Il-hwan clear instructions to focus on Bong-seok, Doo-sik’s son.

The tension at Jeongwon High School is slowly simmering as Mi-hyun and Ju-won show up to meet Il-hwan. Ju-won notices secret cameras, and Sung-wook tenses as he watches the CCTV feed from the principal’s room. He is looking for Ju-won and is startled by the knock on the door. He is petrified, thinking it is Ju-won, but it turns out to be the cleaning lady. He opens the door and is greeted by a knife to his throat. Unsurprisingly, the cleaning lady is one of the North Korean spies sent to infiltrate  Jeongwon High School.

In the meantime, Ju-won meets Il-hwan and is surprised to see Mi-hyun. Mi-hyun quickly places her phone in the trash bin to listen to Ju-won and Il-hwan’s conversation. They act like they don’t know each other, and Mi-hyun excuses herself. On her way out, she warns Ju-won about the CCTV.

Elsewhere, Bong-seok and Hui-soo head to the sports centre at Dunchon-dong. They sneak away when the police are interviewing Gye-do about what happened. Gye-do lies that the bus battery malfunctioned. He fails to notice Bong-seok and Hui-soo leave. Hui-soo remembers she dropped her phone, and Bong-seok promises to ask Gye-do about it later. 

Back at the school, the cleaning lady listens to Ju-won’s conversation with Il-hwan. Ju-won is aware that there seems to be more to Jeongwon High School. He finds it suspicious that Mi-hyun’s son is in the same class as Hui-soo. He also suspects Gang-hoon, the boy who saved his daughter, is Jae-man’s son. It is just a coincidence too many, and Ju-won says this much to Il-hwan, who confirms his suspicion. 

Ju-won informs Il-hwan that someone is watching the school through another set of hidden cameras. After hearing this, the cleaning lady calls the team waiting outside and invites them into the school. She tells her team exactly where to find Ju-won and Mi-hyun, who are still on the school grounds. Mi-hyun hears the call and realizes she is calling for backup. 

Back to Il-hwan and Ju-won, the latter is curious about the teacher’s identity. Il-hwan narrates how Ju-won saved his life when they encountered heavy gunshot fire while hunting North Korean spies. 

Mi-Hyun heads to the principal’s office and finds the cleaning lady. She notices the bloody body of Sung-wook hidden behind the desk and closes the door behind her. She asks the cleaning lady where she is from, and the latter lies to her.

Outside the school, Han-byul tries to sneak in and steal her camera back, but the guard sends her home. The North Korean team moves and leaves behind one man in the boot. They promise to signal him when it is time. Why is he in the boot? The four spies break into the school without the guard noticing. 

The Episode Review

Moving has managed to leave us at the edge of our seats. We are dying to know what happens when the four spies come across Ju-won and Mi-hyun. We also need to know if Joon-hwa is still following Bong-seok and Hui-soo. Things are about to go awry because they have no training. They won’t survive fighting Joon-hwa. 

Yong-jun was supposed to train them, but that never happened. Their parents taught them to hide their superpowers instead of leaning into them. Basically, the students are sitting ducks and are now caught in a war they know nothing about. We understand why the parents made this decision, but in hindsight, it is a big mistake.

What makes matters worse is they are outnumbered at the school. We have faith in Mi-hyun and Ju-won, but let us be honest: they are up against a strong team. We should brace ourselves for the next four episodes; we are about to be hit with severe emotional damage.