The Escape of the Seven: War for Survival (2023) Episode 15

Episode 15 of The Escape of The Seven starts with Mathew’s flashback to when he discovered that Min Do-hyuk is Chairman Shim’s real son. Chairman Shim scolds him for not doing well enough in his science tests and intends to send him to the United States. He pays someone to spy on Do-hyuk and finds out that he is the best at everything he does, including fighting and academics.

He gets first place when he asks Secretary Kang-jae to get Do-hyuk to stand in for him at the next science competition. Knowing that Do-hyuk is much better than he is, he gets furious and vows to destroy him and everything in his life.

Back to the present, Mathew walks into Chairman Shim’s office. Chairman Shim tries to understand why Mathew is coming after Sungchan Group, but Mathew tells him to figure it out. After he leaves, Chairman Shim has a heart attack and faints. Secretary Kang-jae rushes in and tries to resuscitate him. 

Mathew arrives home and finds Ha-na trying to push the silver horse that opens the basement. He yells at her to stop but talks calmly after realising his mistake. He asks her not to touch the horse, and as a reward, he allows her to go outside with Paeng-hee. Mathew leans down and takes Ha-na’s hand, and she immediately notices the colour of his nails, similar to those of the man she had seen at the hospital. 

Elsewhere, the police are on Do-hyuk’s tail, and he is almost at a dead end, but Mo-ne comes to his rescue. He jumps to the next building and takes Mo-ne’s car. Secretary Kang-jae informs Mathew about Mo-ne helping Do-hyuk escape. He asks about his father, and for a second Secretary Kang-jae thinks he is referring to him. Mathew says that he does not think of him as his father. Mathew asks Kang-jae not to look into Do-hyuk’s escape since he is confident he will come to him.

Mo-ne drops off Do-hyuk and tells him to make sure he does not lose to K. The police interview La-hui, and she plays the victim card. After the police leave, she and Ju-ran discuss what they have found out about the playground where they suspect Chairman Bang’s money is hidden. The next scene reveals that the old man Ju-ran and La-hui run into on the playground is Chairman Bang’s secretary Dong-hyuk. 

Min Do-hyuk goes to Mathew and asks him to drive to a hotel. He installs a listening device into Mathew’s phone. He wants to know why Mathew, whom he still thinks is Lee Hwi-so, is betraying him. He overhears Mathew on the phone with Secretary Kang-jae. Mathew asks him to send the police to Do-hyuk’s location. In addition, Do-hyuk overhears Mathew saying he is K. Do-hyuk knows that everything happening is K’s plan, including the disappearance of Ki-tak. He vows to finish K and end his game.

Meanwhile, Chairman Shim is at his wit’s end since the police and the media are pushing for his arrest in the conspiracy to kill his wife. Kang-jae tells him their only way out is to name Jun-seok the murderer, but the Chairman has other ideas. To save Jun-seok, he directs Kang-jae to use all the resources available to pin the murder on Do-hyuk. He is to spread the fake news that Do-hyuk used Jun-seok’s name to commit all the crimes Jun-seok is accused of. He will do anything to save the Sungchan Group. 

La-hui receives the DNA results and finds that Ha-na is not Jin-mo’s daughter. She starts to suspect that Ha-na might be Mo-ne’s child with K. She goes to Mathew’s place. Ha-na and Paeng-hee are on the way out when Ha-na tells La-hui about the new rules of the house. She is not to touch the silver horse. La-hui turns the horse, and the basement door opens up. She goes in and sees Lee Hwi-so on the CCTV screen. Mathew calls her, and she notices the CCTV in the room. 

Elsewhere, Do-hyuk meets with Mo-ne. She gives him an access card for TIKITAKA Studios and a photo of the person who manages the servers. He intends to expose Mathew before 5 pm. He asks Mo-ne to create a distraction so he can secretly enter the building. 

La-hui knows that Mathew is Jun-seok. She tells him that his father will talk to the press. Mathew is not worried since he knows his father will pin everything on Do-hyuk. He asks La-hui for a favour. La-hui takes the opportunity to ask for 50 percent of Mathew’s shares of TIKITAKA Studios. Mathew agrees, and she records the conversation. 

Mathew intends to get rid of Ha-na and goes to pick up Ha-na and Paeng-hee from their day out. On the way back, Ha-na mentions that she bought Mathew gloves so his nails no longer hurt. Paeng-hee checks Mathew’s nails and instantly knows that he is Jun-seok. She thinks quickly and tells Ha-na to pretend she wants to go to the toilet. Ha-na forces Mathew to make a stop, and Paeng-hee leaves everything in the car so as not to spook Mathew. 

Elsewhere, Do-hyuk makes it to TIKITAKA and threatens the server manager to open the server room. The CCTV cameras catch him, and Luka alerts Mathew. He calls Jin-mo and tells him to go to TIKITAKA and stop Do-hyuk. Meanwhile, Paeng-hee and Ha-na escape from Mathew. She calls Jin-mo, but he is already running to get Do-hyuk at TIKITAKA. He leaves his phone in the car. Paeng-hee calls Cherry Entertainment, and the secretary directs her to where Jin-mo is gone for a shoot. Ha-na notices Paeng-hee’s distress and tries to comfort her. 

Min Do-hyuk makes it into the server room, but before he can send a notification revealing Mathew’s identity, Jin-mo arrives and knocks him out. Meanwhile, Chairman Shim started the live press conference. He tries to convince the media that Jun-seok is not involved in the case of Bang Da-mi using fabricated evidence. He says that Do-hyuk killed his wife and stole his son’s watch. He has been pretending to be Jun-seok.

La-hui arrives at the press conference and calls out Chairman Shim on a lie. She has a bit more information to add to her lies. She says that Jun-seok had plastic surgery and now looks like Do-hyuk. She even brings out the plastic surgeon as evidence. Chairman Shim insists that Do-hyuk is not his son. La-hui asks him to do a DNA test before the whole nation. 

Protestors from Myeongju Girls’ High School, Mo-ne’s and Da-mi’s former school, storm the set of Dear D the movie. They are the girls that Mo-ne and her group bullied in high school. They are angry that Mo-ne and her friends get to live the good life while they suffer trauma from the torture they went through at their hands. According to the contract, Mo-ne has to pay for the production cost if any disruption relating to her occurs. Mo-ne, YU-jin, and So-yeon try to escape from the angry mob. 

Mo-ne runs into Paeng-hee and Ha-na outside the shooting studio. Mathew is hot on her tail, and she asks Mo-ne to take care of Ha-na as she leads Mathew away. Ha-na escapes, running after Paeng-hee. Mo-ne first thinks of abandoning her, but she remembers Paeng-hee’s plea. She turns back and runs after Ha-na. 

Paeng-hee arrives at the rooftop and has nowhere else to run. Mo-ne catches up to Ha-na and hides. She overhears Paeng-hee’s conversation and realises that Mathew is K and Ha-na is her daughter. In shock, Mo-ne lets go of Ha-na and screams, alerting Mathew. Paeng-hee jumps off the roof with Mathew to save Ha-na. While Paeng-hee falls to her death, a loose wire saves Mathew, and he is left hanging upside down from the building. An explosion occurs from a loose electrical wire at the end of the episode. 

The Episode Review

The series is becoming more and more frustrating to watch since the revelation that Mathew is Jun-seok. The storyline changed from what got viewers hooked, Da-mi’s death and the revenge of her adoptive father, to a fight over wealth. Kang Ki-tak and Lee Hwi-so are still missing, and Da-mi’s death is slowly becoming insignificant.

The storyline about the switch at birth could have been captivating as a primary plot if Da-mi’s death had not been introduced in the beginning. Should the writer have written two independent series? The schemes and the twists have become infuriating and not as intriguing. All viewers want to see is Lee Hwi-so getting revenge, and everything else is redundant.