Numbers (2023) K Drama Episode 2

Episode 2 of Numbers takes us back to when Seung-Jo asks Ho-Woo to join his team at Taeil Accounting Firm. Ho-Woo rejects his offer – as he should. Given their altercation earlier when Seung-Jo came to deliver the liquidation notice for Haebit Construction company, I would be surprised if Ho-Woo accepted Seung-Jo’s offer to join his team.

Hyeong-Woo meets with Je-Kyun to discuss the progress of People’s Entertainment’s audit report. Remember, Je-Kyun plans to hide that People’s Entertainment is on the verge of becoming bankrupt, but the person in charge of this audit report, Kang-Hyun, isn’t on board with the idea.

Je-Kyun tells Hyeong-Woo that hiring a hearing-impaired barista at the company’s café was an excellent idea. Je-Kyun tells Hyeong-Woo the reason the staff has embraced the move is that they now gossip freely at the café without the fear of someone listening in on their conversation.

Hyeong-Woo then tells Je-Kyun that if he wants to become the next Firm’s President, he must surpass An Seung-Yeon, who may likely take that position. Je-Kyun tells Hyeong-Woo that this is nothing to worry about.

It turns out the hearing-impaired barista doesn’t have severe hearing problems as people think, and she eavesdrops on the staff’s conversations at the café. She heard some employees talking about An Seung-Yeon quitting because she has cardiovascular problems, so she informs Je-Kyun.

Je-Kyun then suggests to Hyeong-Woo that they place another employee in Kang-Hyun’s team. The employee could act as an “ear” for Je-Kyun in that he could report to Hyeong-Woo what Kang-Hyun is planning to write in People’s Entertainment’s audit report.

Meanwhile, Seung-Jo is taken aback by Ho-Woo’s refusal to join his team. But, Ho-Woo still stands by his decision not to join his team.

Kang-Hyun and his team are having trouble getting People’s Entertainment’s financial confirmation of its savings and debts from a local bank, as Je-Kyun predicted. Ho-Woo comes and tells Kang-Hyun to allow him to get the financial confirmation, and Kang-Hyun reluctantly agrees.

Ho-Woo meets with Yeon-A, who offers to drive him to the bank. Ho-Woo arrives at the bank, and as expected, none of the bank tellers want to help him. Getting the financial confirmation is a lot of work, which the Tellers aren’t compensated for, which is why no one is willing to do it. But, Ho-Woo’s quick thinking helps him get the financial confirmation. Of course, this surprises Kang-Hyun and his team, so they all go to thank Ho-Woo in front of the other staff.

Later, Hyeong-Woo suggests to Kang-Hyun that he adds Ho-Woo to his team. Hyeong-Woo saw Kang-Hyun and his team thanking Ho-Woo for getting them the financial confirmation, so he tells Kang-Hyun that Ho-Woo would be an excellent addition to his team.

Elsewhere, Ho-Woo comes across a box in the review room with a label indicating that it contains Haebit Construction’s liquidation information. Unfortunately, he doesn’t find anything. Ho-Woo then bumps into Yeon-A in the review room. And judging by how they’re looking at each other, it seems they are attracted to each other. How interesting!

Je-Kyun calls Seung-Jo to his office. He asks him to take care of People’s Entertainment and another company, Sang-Ah Group’s Merger and Acquisition. Seung-Jo asks Je-Kyun if he’s planning to do the same thing he did to Haebit Construction to People’s Entertainment. It turns out that Je-Kyun may have convinced Jang In-Ho to agree to a merger and acquisition with Sang-Ah Group, only to be liquidated and used to stash secret funds for Sang-Ah Group.

Je-Kyun tells Seung-Jo to get over what happened to Haebit Construction and asks him if he hasn’t gotten over “that girl.” It turns out the girl Je-Kyun is talking about is Jang Ji-Soo, Jang In-Ho’s daughter and Ho-Woo’s sister.

We’re taken back to when Jang In-Ho took his life. Seung-Jo heard the news and went to the construction site. He bumped into Jang Ji-Soo, who seemed not to want anything to do with Seung-Jo. Could they have been romantically involved?

Back to the present, Seung-Jo refuses to take care of the merger and acquisition of People’s Entertainment and Sang-Ah Group. He tells Je-Kyun to ask his “hunting dog,” Hyeong-Woo, to do it for him.

Later, Kang-Hyun informs Seung-Jo that Hyeong-Woo has asked Ho-Woo to join Kang-Hyun’s team as they work on People’s Entertainment’s audit report. Seung-Jo knows Hyeong-Woo is up to no good, so he asks Kang-Hyun to keep an eye on Ho-Woo.

Ho-Woo joins Kang-Hyun’s team and asks to look at People’s Entertainment’s financial statements. He immediately notices something is wrong with its recorded assets. So, Ho-Woo does his research and confirms something is wrong. He asks one of the team members, Choi Kyung-II, about it, but he gets frustrated with coming up with an explanation.

All this while, Kang-Hyun listens to Ho-Woo’s findings about People’s Entertainment’s assets and decides to check for himself. He finds out there is indeed something wrong with it, so he asks Ho-Woo about his findings privately. Kang-Hyun then goes to People’s Entertainment CEO, Koo Jun-Tak, to talk about it.

Seung-Jo meets with Ho-Woo and warns him about working with Hyeong-Woo. Ho-Woo shrugs it off, telling him that he decides who is a friend or a foe to him, which surprises Seung-Jo.

Koo Jun-Tak confesses to Kang-Hyun that the assets recorded are a lie. Koo Jun-Tak begs Kang-Hyun to turn a blind eye and say nothing about it on the report. He then tells Kang-Hyun that People’s Entertainment will be merging with Sang-Ah Group, which makes Kang-Hyun realize that Je-Kyun and Hyeong-Woo are in on this together.

Koo Jun-Tak tells Kang-Hyun that People’s Entertainment has incurred major losses because of Sang-Ah Group’s Chairman son, Lee Bo-Sung’s poor financial decisions. But, since Lee Bo-Sung is a major shareholder of People’s Entertainment, there’s nothing he can do. This explains why Lee Chan-Joo was yelling at Koo Jun-Tak in the last episode. However, Kang-Hyun refuses to lie in the audio report about the assets.

Koo Jun-Tak then informs Je-Kyun that Kang-Hyun knows everything about Lee Bo-Sung, causing a major loss for People’s Entertainment, the false record of People’s Entertainment’s assets, and the plan to merge with Sang-Ah Group.

Je-Kyun calls Kang-Hyun and threatens to get him fired if he doesn’t disregard the false record of People’s Entertainment’s assets as he writes the audit report.

That night at his house, Kang-Hyun sees a drawing his son did of him. He wanted to like Kang-Hyun when he grows up. This puts Kang-Hyun in a dilemma on what to do regarding the report. The dilemma is made worse by Ho-Woo telling him how he has the power to change what is wrong in the accounting field.

Kang-Hyun finally decides to write the truth about People’s Entertainment’s financial situation in the audit report. He then decides to resign from working at Taeil Accounting Firm.

Of course, Je-Kyun is mad at Hyeong-Woo for allowing this to happen. Hyeong-Woo is also angry at Ho-Woo for not telling him what Kang-Hyun was planning to write in the report. But, Ho-Woo pretends that he didn’t know when he actually knew. Je-Kyun then tells Hyeong-Woo that they have to go by what Kang-Hyun wrote in the report. They also have to try to find a way to cover up the false financial statements they wrote about People’s Entertainment in the past year.

The episode ends with Ho-Woo at home investigating what happened to Haebit Construction. As he was doing minimal tasks for other employees, he had access to all vital documents at Taeil Accounting Firm. This allows him to investigate what happened to his father’s company.

The Episode Review

This episode has given us a twist of events, just as expected. It seems Seung-Jo knew Jang Ji-Soo, and he was against the idea of Taeil Accounting Firm throwing Haebit Construction Company under the bus. Ho-Woo is doing an excellent job of looking clueless in front of other people at Taeil Accounting Firm, but he knows what he’s doing.

I’m glad Kang-Hyun wrote the truth about People’s Entertainment’s financial situation because he may have saved the company from being thrown under the bus like Haebit Construction. It’s curious though where Jang Ji-Soo is because we haven’t seen much of her so far. Hopefully she shows up later on down the line!