Recap Korean Drama "May I Help You" Episode 1

We pick back up where we left off with Sang-shik and Na-rae kissing. Suddenly, Na-rae pushes back and stares in shock. Aziz is lounging on the bed, snacking as he watches the show. (I’m dying.) I love how Aziz just casually asserts himself into every situation.

He congratulates them on their new relationship, which leads to Na-rae absurdly claim she was merely greeting Sang-shik. Aziz calls her bluff by asking, “Aren’t you going to greet me?” Ha! Na-rae mentally kicks herself and plants a kiss on his cheek as she rushes out. Leave it to Aziz.

After all that, Na-rae and Sang-shik react as you’d expect. Sang-shik says exactly the wrong thing by texting her an ambiguous “sorry.” Na-rae’s temper and embarrassment get the better of her, and she fires off a paragraph about it being a mistake brought on by her pain meds and his drunkenness.

 

They’re both dissatisfied with the situation but stubborn enough to pretend it’s all fine. They’re super awkward around each other at work to the point of raising Hyung-mi’s suspicions, especially when Na-rae gets a little too riled up at the idea of Kang-mi setting Sang-shik up on a date with her friend.

Unsurprisingly, Sang-shik is the first to break and confront Na-rae about his real feelings. He’s so consumed with thoughts of Na-rae – he now sees her bathed in light whenever he looks at her – that he’s even ignoring Hae-young.

He admits that he said “sorry” because it was his first kiss and he worried he was bad at it. Aww. He argues that since they were interrupted, they probably should kiss again just to confirm their feelings. Na-rae is quick to accept his flimsy argument as logical, so this time, it’s Sang-shik who eagerly kisses her.

 

Sang-shik is ready to go all in on their relationship, but Na-rae is understandably hesitant given he’s been mooning over Hae-young for five years. (If someone sprained both my arms after flinging me off their back because their crush showed up, I’d be hesitant to go all in on a relationship too.)

Meanwhile, Ma-tan is still being Ma-tan and gives himself another mission. His father seems to know everything he’s up to, so Ma-tan assumes there must be a spy in their ranks. After hearing a suspicious phone call, he mistakenly pegs Kang-mi for the spy and starts very unsubtly following her around after work.

Because he can’t blend with regular folk to save his life, Ma-tan ends up getting the clothes literally stolen off his back in Kang-mi’s neighborhood. He gets a little starstruck when she single-handedly fights off the group of troublemakers without breaking a sweat. Of course, this is the obtuse Ma-tan we’re talking about, so he later attributes his quickly beating heart to stress.

And it’s true that everyone is under a good deal of stress. After the team’s multiple mishaps of late, Senior Manager Wi gets word the team is being disbanded. When everyone is summoned by Director Choi, they’re resigned to being fired. Instead, they’re congratulated.

In a fantastic twist, Sang-shik’s ridiculous marketing video that caused all that grief went viral and actually raised the public’s opinion of Gaus. Everyone’s buzzing about the unique marketing, especially after the livestream balloon incident. HA.

Rather than give her employees their due, Director Choi unabashedly takes credit for their work, acting like she ordered them to do these things. And it’s not the first time she’s done stuff like this. Years ago, she threw Senior Manager Wi, an old college friend, under the bus for her mistake, which is how he landed in Marketing Team 3.

I love the absurd office life moments this drama highlights, like when they’re all working on this proposal that circulates until they’re at file names like “proposal_reallyfinalfinalfinal2.” Anyone who’s done office work knows the pain of never-ending file revisions.

Amusingly, the proposal that ends up winning the company competition is Ma-tan’s proposal that Manager Gi found ridiculous. So not only did their team end up marketing darlings for their accidental successes, but they also get tasked with handling the project Ma-tan proposed.

Given their track record, everyone is nervous about failure. There’s this rumor that whenever stoic Hyung-mi laughs, a product succeeds. So rather than working hard on the project, the team spends an inordinate amount of time trying to make Hyung-mi crack a smile.

 

Hyung-mi’s poker face is legendary. She’s an infamous negotiator since all she has to do is turn her cold stare on a client, and they undercut themselves. The best part is that Hyung-mi doesn’t seem to be doing it on purpose – that’s just her face. I love how nonplussed and straightforward she is. She refuses to pretend something is funny when it’s not; this woman is impervious to peer pressure.

Meanwhile, Ma-tan has unwittingly convinced Sang-shik that he’s a poser who’s trying to impress people with his non-existent clout. Fed up with his little adventure in Gaus-land, Ma-tan’s father has cut him off from money and resources. Now, every time Ma-tan throws out a casual remark about having access to something or knowing someone, he can’t follow through. Even when a drunk Kang-mi announces that Ma-tan is the Power heir to the whole team, they all dismiss it as Ma-tan bluffing again. (Ma-tan’s luck is through the roof.)

 

Although Ma-tan isn’t what you’d call subtle or perceptive, he does seem to be onto something about a spy being in their midst. Not only is his father getting intel on him, but for the second time, Power is somehow working on the exact same product as Gaus at the same time. Looks like we might have a mole. I’m a little suspicious of Senior Manager Wi since he’s been taking pretty frequent calls from a “chairman” and being told by Director Choi to take care of Ma-tan.

Even with all the work drama, Sang-shik and Na-rae are distracted thanks to their budding relationship. They start “seeing each other” without officially calling it dating. Na-rae argues they should take it slow and really think about it before going further. But then the second they’re alone in the office, they’re making out. And for the second time, they turn to discover they have an audience: a drunk Manager Gi and teammate CHA WA-WA (Jeon Seok-chan) stare at them in shock.

 

Elsewhere, Ma-tan sits alone with Kang-mi and finally starts to suspect his irregular heartbeat might be feelings of the love kind. Instead of reacting reasonably, Ma-tan grabs Kang-mi’s hand and places it over his rapidly beating heart, confirming to himself that she’s the source. We end as a startled and slightly creeped out Kang-mi slaps Ma-tan in the face.

Now that Ma-tan has realized his feelings, I wonder what he’ll do. He mentioned that he has someone he’s supposed to marry, so it seems like he’s got one of those rich people marriage alliances. Since he’s had no problem going against his father so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes with his heart on this one.

Not only has Ma-tan’s secret been revealed (and hilariously dismissed), but Na-rae and Sang-shik got caught before even starting to officially date. I swear, no one on this team has a subtle bone in their body. Except maybe Hyung-mi. Does anyone else want to see her and Aziz meet? That could be an epic combination.