AH

A spoiler that someone posted without hiding it?

There are definitely some major parallels with FoE!

"Maybe I should just accept the fact that BSE's EQ is way lower then I hoped it would be😅" LOL spot on.

It's a problem if people are posting novel spoilers without hiding them under spoiler covers and including text warnings to say that the hidden spoiler is a novel spoiler.

But some viewers want to see these spoilers. If the spoilers are properly hidden and proper warnings are included, only people who want to see them should be reading them. If someone who doesn't want to see novel spoilers opens a hidden spoiler and ignores a text warning about novel spoilers, isn't that on them?

Given how tame the drama is compared to the novel, I wouldn't be surprised if she was just embarrassed by the fact that he chose to take a shower in her hospital room bathroom (meaning he was undressed in very close proximity to her) when he could've gone home to shower. I assume at their house they have separate bathrooms and showers and she wouldn't normally be so physically close (with nowhere else to go) when he showered at home.

I truly, truly cannot picture this drama including him being "noisy" in the shower. But we'll see!

Edit: Maybe putting the blanket over her head is something she does after he comes out in a towel or something?

True!

If the writers framed BSE as only having one goal (HHJ's happiness) and made it seem like BSE's only focus was achieving that goal, then everything you've mentioned would indeed be a complete plot hole.

But BSE has some other very heavy things pulling his energy and focus, and the drama has only given the drama viewers very small glimpses of those things so far. Marrying HHJ instead of HIA was a decision he made very quickly when HIA tried to blackmail BSE into calling off their wedding. He viewed it as being beneficial for HHJ, but it wasn't something he spent a long time planning in advance for her sake. And that decision (to marry HHJ instead of HIA) disrupted his plans and forced him to adjust them.

Once the marriage was taken care of, BSE's focus returned to his plans. He thought that HHJ would be able to make a happy life for herself and didn't think that she needed him. After getting married and entering his home, she had some level of protection from her family. And when her mother pressured her to get close to BSE, he shut that down and told her she didn't have to do whatever her mother told her to do. And her father was well looked after. She could pursue her career and wouldn't face any demands from her husband. In that context, I don't think BSE anticipated that HHJ would want a divorce. It just didn't occur to him. And he also didn't realize how much his coldness affected HHJ.

You're welcome!

You're welcome!

I mean... his parents did draft that contract. While they did not hold a gun to BSE's head to force him to get HHJ to sign it, BSE and his parents have dirt on each other that is of the "mutually assured destruction" type.

Plus I imagine BSE didn't think that the contract requirements would be a problem for HHJ. If she wanted a divorce, she could ask him for one any time other than an election cycle (i.e., she could have asked at any point in their first three years of marriage, or at any point in the month of June 2024 when the drama takes place). BSE would probably try to address her reasons for wanting a divorce first if he could, but if she came to him and asked for a divorce and was adamant about wanting one, I can't picture him withholding it and forcing her to stay married to him unless he thought her safety would be at risk. Unfortunately, BSE didn't give HHJ insight into his thoughts and feelings so she didn't see it that way. To BSE's surprise, she thought her only option was to blackmail him into divorcing her.

Novel spoilers ahead.

I mean... BJH (the grandfather) tried to kill his grandson and thought he succeeded, and he didn't seem to be remotely conflicted about doing so. So it definitely seemed like he had limited empathy. But the reason he killed his grandson (the real BSE) was that the real BSE was a psychopath (he harmed animals, for example) and BJH believed that if he continued to live he would destroy the Baek family.

The male lead of the story is BJH's illegitimate son, who is the same age as the real BSE (his nephew). The male lead was born when his father (BJH) was over 70 years old. He was forced to take the real BSE's place after BJH killed the real BSE.

BSE knew that the Hong household was like a prison for HHJ where her mother beat her and controlled her intensely, where she was an out-of-place step daughter, and where she had to be HIA's ears and shadow. BSE also confirmed, when he texted HIA, that HHJ was going to become engaged to a terrible man in an arranged marriage. BSE felt that being forced into a marriage to a man like that would mean replacing one prison with another. Potentially one where the jailer would expect to be able to sleep with HHJ.

Compared to those options, living as BSE's wife (in name only) seemed, to BSE, to be a much better option for HHJ. He wouldn't try to control every aspect of her life like her mother and in-laws (he wouldn't stop her from working as a sign language interpreter, for example) and he wouldn't try to force himself on her like another arranged husband might (he specifically mentions that in the novel).

And when HHJ's mother continuously pressured HHJ to try to get closer to BSE, he wouldn't take advantage of the situation. He would tell HHJ not to be her mother's puppet. He would tell her not to do everything her mother told her to do. And he would tell her to forget about trying to force herself to have feelings for him. In his mind, he was giving her freedom. He didn't think she had any romantic interest in him and he didn't realize how his coldness hurt her. And he didn't want to become more attached than he already was, because he expected the marriage to eventually end.

Slight novel spoilers ahead.

BSE has a major dark secret. He plans to reveal that secret and to expose the Baek's family corruption. Based on what he told 406 in episode 6, it seems that he expects that when he fulfills his plans, he will lose HHJ. Because he was afraid of losing her, he was also afraid of getting closer to her and becoming more attached to her.

Also the contract rules of their marriage (no divorce initiated by HHJ and no divorce initiated by either of them during a Presidential election cycle) where rules imposed by BSE's father (the man who plans to run for President) for BSE's marriage even before HHJ was part of the picture. They were not imposed by BSE.

I'm not going to go into detail or post the excerpt in this comment, but you can read chapter 40 here: https://kisskh.at/discussions/the-number-you-have-dialed/132368-novel-translation?pid=3186566&page=4#p3186566

Basically after BSE confirms 100% that HHJ is 406, he takes the subsequent calls from 406 very differently than how he took the previous calls.

Novel spoilers ahead.

Park Do Jae is not taking revenge against HHJ. Pushing her off the mountain was about working against BSE. HHJ was just collateral damage to Park Do Jae, just as she was when the kidnapper threatened her.

Park Do Jae is taking revenge against the male lead (fake Baek Sa Eon) because he's been manipulated into thinking that fake Baek Sa Eon was the one who harmed his sister, when it was really the real Baek Sa Eon.

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Chapter 65:

"My younger sister went missing when she was a child," Park Do-jae interrupted her.

His words left Hee-joo speechless.

"That incident plunged my family into ruin. It was in the late ’90s, during a period when cases of missing children were rampant. My father quit his job and traveled the country searching for her."

"..."

"A 30-square-meter apartment shrank to 20-square-meter. Then, it was a rented villa. After that, a semi-basement studio. In less than three years."

His voice was low and dark.

"My mother, overwhelmed with depression and neurosis, was bedridden for years before passing away."

"..."

"That’s when I met Professor Shim."

"...!"

"The reason I stayed by the spokesperson's side all this time was..." His gaze dimmed.

"Professor Shim told me that Baek Sa-eon was the one who harmed my sister."

"...!"

"I always thought that was referring to the man I served as my superior." He rubbed his face with his cuffed hands, a tormented expression etched into his features.

"But it turns out that man wasn’t Baek Sa-eon."

His distorted face betrayed deep anguish.

"I was unknowingly helping the man responsible for my sister's suffering."

His cracked lips curved into a bitter smile.

Pushing Hee-joo on the hiking trip. Taking the negotiation phone from her climbing pack to keep it undiscovered. Deliberately sabotaging location tracking or erasing threatening voice files to cover up the mastermind behind the calls—it had all been his doing.

Manipulated completely by Shim Kyu-jin and her son, he hadn’t realized he was becoming just like them.

Park Do Jae is Baek Sa Eon's assistant. The other details about him have not been shown in the drama yet.

Thank you for saying that, but full credit to MDL user pen_p for the translations!

I just copied and pasted the relevant chapter excerpts from her posts in the discussion threads. ^^

You're welcome! ^^

Probably for the best tbh. I think I'd die of embarrassment if they included the whole scene from the novel in the drama. 🙈🙈🙈

But I'm curious to see if it will make any kind of sense as to why he decided to shower right when he knew 406 would call, or if it will just be illogical apart from being a little gift for the novel readers.

Edit: I watched the preview and now I realize she didn't ask why he was taking a shower in the context of a 406 call, so maybe it won't be so out of place. ^^

Lol it's rated TV-14 for "fear and language". They definitely won't be incorporating the whole scene with that rating!

Novel spoilers ahead.

Park Do Jae and the sister that he is getting revenge for were not twins. Just siblings.

Hong Hee Joo took Hong In Ah's place as BSE's bride-to-be, but HHJ and HIA were step-sisters with different ages, not twins.

The male lead took the real BSE's place, but they are also not twins. They were uncle and nephew, despite being the same age.

So no twins in the novel.

Wow, I wasn't expecting them to incorporate anything from that scene! 😳 🫣

For the drama, we don’t know yet.

In the novel, there was something like a twin (a blood relative of the same age) that took the other's place, but no actual twins. But it's possible that the drama will change the dynamic.