AH

You're welcome!

I can relate. I think the impatience would be killing me if I hadn't already read the novel. ^^

In the novel, HHJ's mutism was initially fake but quickly became real as a result of a psychological block that she developed due to her mother strictly and brutally enforcing the mutism lie. However, the psychological block is selective. There are times when HHJ can speak, such as when she is alone with her father in his nursing home room, when she uses the kidnapper's phone to call BSE and she can use the voice changer to make him believe that she is someone else, and when she has a panic attack. But there are also many occasions when HHJ wants to speak and is physically unable to get the words out due to her psychological block.

After Hong In A's disappearance, there is no longer any reason for HHJ to maintain the original lie that she is mute. When Hong In A disappeared, she thought that HHJ would stop "pretending" and "recover". But three years after Hong In A's disappearance, HHJ's psychological block remains the same as it had been for the 17 years before Hong In A's disappearance.

So far the drama seems to be following the same pattern as the novel. That is why HHJ types on her phone to speak to her mother even when they are alone.

Novel spoilers ahead...

The biggest one (which has already been hinted at in the drama) is that the male lead is not actually BSE. I'll refer to the male lead as 675. BEY (the man who is planning to run for President) is not 675's real father and BJH was not 675's grandfather.

Instead, 675 is actually BJH's illegitimate son (rather than his legitimate grandson) who was raised by a fisherman (hence why he hates fish / the smell of fish). The real BSE was a psychopath and BJH killed him in front of 675 when they were both kids. Then BJH forced 675 to take on the identity of BSE.

BJH orchestrated the car crash that caused Hong In A's deafness after Hong In A made the mistake of saying that the BSE she met at that time (i.e., 675) was not the same BSE that she had seen before.

The kidnapper was the real BSE, who survived BJH's attempt to kill him but lost his memory for several years. He was working with SGJ (the real BSE's biological mother / 675's fake mother / 675's actual sister-in-law) against 675. If I'm remembering correctly, the real BSE was sent to prison for multiple violent crimes and attempted murder. But he regained his memories and was able to get in touch with SGJ, who got him out of prison.

SGJ is a highly accomplished hostage negotiator with powerful connections / lots of connections amongst law enforcement and criminal networks, so she was the one who procured the kidnapper's phone with all of its security features. She either had advanced hacking knowledge, had the means to help the real BSE gain advanced hacking knowledge, or had the means to manipulate or hire an advanced hacker to help with their plan. She was also the one who knew that HHJ was 675's wife. Since she was 675's "mother" and HHJ's mother-in-law, she also knew when and where HHJ would be leaving the dinner between HHJ, HHJ's mother, and HHJ's mother-in-law and getting into her car where the kidnapper (the real BSE) was hiding.

SGJ and the real BSE also manipulated Park Do Jae into working for them / against 675. So PDJ was acting as a double agent from the beginning. As 675's assistant, PDJ subtly took steps to make sure that 675 took the initial call from the kidnapper (the real BSE). PDJ also helped ensure that 675's attempts to trace the kidnapper's phone number worked in SGJ and the real BSE's favour. PDJ also knew where HHJ's father's nursing home was located and where BSE was (at one of his offices, the location of which is supposed to be confidential) when he rejected 406's call and the real BSE punished him by setting off a bomb in 675's immediate vicinity. If the drama follows the novel, PDJ will continue to interfere on behalf of SGJ and the real BSE.

It isn't explained directly.

In the novel, HHJ has to call BSE at a time when she is alone and when BSE is able to take the call. So she ends up making her first call with the kidnapper's phone to him at 10:00 pm / 22:00.

In the drama, HHJ makes the first call to BSE with the kidnapper's phone from a bathroom after she is angered by BSE at the party for the British Ambassador (a party that doesn't happen in the novel). She happens to make that first call to BSE at exactly 10:00 pm / 22:00. BSE looks at his watch when the call comes in, so the timing is confirmed for the audience.

The kidnapper's phone is programmed so that it cannot receive calls and can only be used to call BSE's phone. Since BSE cannot call 406 back if he misses a call, it is helpful for the calls to be made by 406 at a pre-established time so that BSE can ensure that he is available to take the call (e.g., as he did when he told Yu Ri that he only had 3 minutes of availability in episode 4 in the evening after HHJ's interview). So 406 usually calls BSE at the same time as the first call: 10:00 pm / 22:00.

It's also worth noting that, in the beginning, HHJ tries to impose a one-day / 24-hour deadline on BSE to make a decision about whether he will meet her demands or face the consequences. So it makes sense that her next call would come in at the same time the next day. And when BSE tries to establish dominance over 406 by refusing her call and telling her to call back in 5 minutes, the kidnapper punishes BSE by detonating a bomb at BSE's office. After that, BSE knows there may be serious consequences if he doesn't make himself available to take 406's calls when they come in at the usual time.

TL;DR - Baek Sa Eon probably watched the footage (of Hong Hui Ju's panic attack in the police car) in the morning before Hong Hui Ju's interview on June 7th, and that's why he directly asked her if she really couldn't speak in her interview (as he did in the novel, where he definitely watched the dashcam footage before the interview).

But it's also possible that Baek Sa Eon watched the footage during the day on June 8th, after Hong Hui Ju's interview but before the party, and this possibility seems to be supported by his outfits.

---

June 6th - Panic Attack Day

Hong Hui Ju had her panic attack on June 6th. Afterwards, Baek Sa Eon collected her from the police and took her to a hotel to meet his parents for dinner. He got a room at the hotel so that Hong Hui Ju could rest before meeting her in-laws. In that room, Baek Sa Eon told Hong Hui Ju that if she was a victim of the kidnapper's harassment, the police would start to look into her, so she should come clean to him about anything that she was hiding. From her reaction, Baek Sa Eon realized she *was* hiding something but decided not to force her to tell him what that something was.

After leaving the dinner, Baek Sa Eon drove Hong Hui Ju home. Hong Hui Ju went into their home first while Baek Sa Eon stayed in the car so he could take a call from Park Do Jae, who was at a police station. Baek Sa Eon ended the call with a request for Park Do Jae to look into finding a new nursing home for Hong Hui Ju's father.

Inside their home, Hong Hui Ju's colleagues wished her good luck with tomorrow's interview, and Baek Sa Eon echoed the sentiment.

The last scene we saw from the evening of June 6th was Baek Sa Eon texting Park Do Jae about moving Hong Hui Ju's father to the different nursing home that Park Do Jae found, per Baek Sa Eon's earlier request. Notably, we see a picture of what the nursing home building looks like.

---

June 7th - Interview Day

The next day we find out that Baek Sa Eon was unusually late for work because he had important matters to take care of. We know that one of these matters was visiting Hong Hui Ju's father in his new nursing home.

Later that day, the interview takes place. In the interview, Baek Sa Eon asks Hong Hui Ju point-blank if she really can't speak at all.

After the interview, Hong Hui Ju visits her father, who has been moved to the new nursing home. During the visit, her father parroted words that were clearly said to him by Baek Sa Eon when he visited earlier that day ("Don't worry, father. No matter what happens, I'll protect you and Hui Ju.").

At 9:57 pm, Baek Sa Eon calls Na Yu Ri while driving home and asks her about Ji Sang U. At 10:00 pm, he takes a call from 406.

After arriving home, Baek Sa Eon told Hong Hui Ju she did well in the interview and that he would be attending the Chungwoo Daily News Anniversary Event the next day.

---

June 8th - Party Day

Before the party, we don't see what Hong Hui Ju or Baek Sa Eon did during the day on the 8th. We just see them arriving late to the party, separately. Baek Sa Eon may have intentionally arrived late because he wanted to avoid being associated with his father and his father's presidential election campaign or giving the impression that he intends to leave his position as the current president's spokesman in order to officially support his father's campaign. Or it might just have been that he had other things to do.

---

Outfits

On the 6th, Baek Sa Eon wore an outfit that included a solid black tie.

By the time he got to the office on the 7th, Baek Sa Eon was wearing an outfit that included a dark tie with a thin white line. He wore that outfit for the rest of the day.

By the time he got to the party on the 8th, Baek Sa Eon wore a party-appropriate outfit that included a black bow tie.

At the police station and when he watched the panic attack video in his car after leaving the police station (on the 7th before arriving at the office or sometime during the day on the 8th), Baek Sa Eon wore an outfit that included a dark tie with a thick white line.

It's possible that Baek Sa Eon wore one outfit early in the morning when he went to the police station and then changed into a different outfit before heading to the office on the 7th. But logically it would seem more likely that this was the outfit that he wore during the day on the 8th (before changing into his party attire) than that it was the first of two office-appropriate outfits that he wore on the 7th.

When Baek Sa Eon watched the video in the novel, he spilled coffee on the sleeve of his shirt. Although he did not change his shirt in the novel (so Hong Hui Ju could smell the coffee from his shirt when he came home the next morning after watching the dashcam footage over and over again all night), it's possible that the drama will show us more of how Baek Sa Eon behaved immediately after he watched the video and will somehow incorporate the spilled coffee detail (or something similar) but have Baek Sa Eon change his shirt and his entire outfit. If that's the case, it would provide an explanation for why Baek Sa Eon would change outfits between leaving the police station and arriving at his office, if he watched the dashcam footage on the 7th.

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Sequence of Events in the Novel

In the novel, the scene where Baek Sa Eon sees Hong Hui Ju holding a phone to her ear on the roof of the building (where the newspaper's anniversary party is taking place) occurs in chapter 28. Then Baek Sa Eon requests the police car dash cam footage and watches the recording of Hong Hui Ju's panic attack in chapter 29. Then the interview occurs in chapter 30. So the drama has changed up the sequence of events from the novel, with the interview occurring before the party in the drama.

Yes the drama has moved several things up. It will be interesting to see how they use the remaining 8 episodes.

Just skipping the thriller parts? That must have been tricky!

Novel spoilers ahead.

IMO, there was more to it than that.

Guilt. I had the impression that BSE unfairly placed some of the blame for the accident that killed HHJ's step brother, that took HIA's hearing, and that appeared to cause HHJ's mutism on himself. Because his real father / fake grandfather (BJH) arranged for the car crash to happen after HIA revealed that she could tell that he was not the same BSE that she had met before.

Horrific Truths / Danger. Just as HHJ spent twenty years burdened by her mother's lies and her own mutism, BSE had spent decades hiding the horrifying truth behind his identity. Hiding the truth and maintaining the lie in order to survive became second nature. And he especially did not want HHJ to find out the truth that he had watched BJH kill the real BSE (BJH's legitimate grandson) or that he (BJH's illegitimate son) had replaced the real, murdered BSE. Both because the truth was horrific and because knowing the truth would be dangerous, given the lengths that the Baek family would go to in order to protect themselves and their positions in society even after BSH died.

Emotional Detachment. Due to the horrific situations he had faced, BSE became extremely emotionally detached. The novel describes him as such. He focused on surviving and on protecting HHJ. But he didn't think about romance or relationships until 406 came into his life and shook up his perspective.

Unwanted. BSE also viewed HHJ as young, innocent, and forced into a marriage that she did not want. He didn't think she had any romantic interest in him.

Weakness. If the Baek family or his other enemies thought that he cared about protecting HHJ, let alone loved her, then there would be a risk that they would try to use those feelings against him, especially since he had so few exploitable weaknesses. This is emphasized when BSE receives the first series of phone calls from 406 and he pretends that he doesn't care about HHJ.

Other Goals. BSE did not want to become BYR's pawn and did not want to be forced to join his presidential campaign. Before he changed his plans and married HHJ, his original plan was to amass his own power, to reveal the Baek family's corruption, and to abandon the name and identity of BSE. After marrying HHJ, he had to adjust his plans for her safety. But most of his original intentions still remained. He continued to amass his own power and to collect dirt on the Baek family and others. Pursuing his plans took up all of his focus and energy.

For all these reasons, BSE didn't think it was possible for him to have a real romantic relationship with HHJ and he even intentionally distanced himself from her both in public and in private. Before 406 showed up, he was content to just have HHJ safe in his home, providing a calming presence like a pretty fish in a home aquarium.

You're welcome!

pen_p and other fans have kindly provided translations of the novel in the discussion threads.

You're welcome!

In the novel, HHJ's mutism isn't fake exactly. Initially it was, as her mother forced her to fake being mute to avoid backlash from her new husband after the car crash. Her new husband's bio son died in the crash and his bio daughter lost her hearing. So HHJ's mother thought that her husband would react poorly if his step daughter was totally fine after the crash while his bio children were so badly affected.

But HHJ's mother enforced HHJ's fake mutism so intensely that the trauma damaged HHJ and made her mutism real. For that reason, most of the time HHJ has a psychological block that prevents her from speaking even when she wants to. But the block is selective. For example, she can speak to her father when she visits him in his nursing home, because that is safe. And she can speak to BSE over the phone when he thinks she is someone else. But in the novel there are moments when HHJ tries to speak to BSE face-to-face and is not able to get the words out due to her psychological block.

Thanks Cora! ^^

You're welcome!

Typically viewers would expect spoilers hidden by a spoiler tag to be about spoilers from episodes of the drama that have already aired, and that it would be safe to view a comment under a spoiler tag if they have viewed all of the episodes that have aired. This comment contains a spoiler from the novel (that has not been confirmed in the drama episodes that have aired yet) without a text warning that it contains novel spoilers.

I have read the novel, so the novel spoiler is not an issue for me. But I have seen other viewers who have not read the novel make comments under comments like this one expressing disappointment about seeing spoilers from the novel after thinking it was safe to open a comment because they had seen all the episodes that had aired by that point.

Cora doesn't have to update her comment if she doesn't want to. I'm just passing on a suggestion because I've seen people mention this being an issue in this comment section before.

You might want to edit this comment to include a warning that it contains novel spoilers. The second sentence is related to a spoiler from the drama, but the first sentence is a novel spoiler that is foreshadowed in the drama by the detail you mentioned in the second sentence but that hasn't been confirmed in the drama yet. Some viewers might click to reveal the spoiler thinking they are safe because they have watched all of the drama episodes that have aired so far and then be upset to be spoiled by that detail from the novel that hasn't been confirmed in the drama yet.

For those who aren't familiar with the political situation in South Korea that led to the scheduling changes, here's a summary.

(1) Yoon Suk Yeol is the current president of South Korea and a member of the conservative People Power Party (PPP).

(2) Yoon narrowly defeated the Democratic Party's (DPK) nominee in South Korea's 2022 presidential election. In South Korea's April 2024 parliamentary election, the PPP suffered an electoral defeat, which further weakened Yoon's political power. Yoon's tenure has been marked by a number of crises and scandals, including the 2022 Itaewon Halloween crowd crush and the 2024 South Korean medical crisis. Yoon and his wife have also faced accusations of wrongful political influence, bribery and stock manipulation. A petition calling for Yoon's impeachment gained over 1 million signatures between June 20th and July 3rd, 2024. In short, Yoon is extremely unpopular and has limited political power.

(3) On Tuesday, December 3rd, Yoon made a televised address to the nation where he declared martial law for first time in South Korea since the military dictatorship of Chun Doo Hwan in 1980. In his declaration, Yoon accused the DPK of conducting "anti-state activities" and collaborating with "North Korean communists". The declaration included the prohibition of any political activities, including gatherings of the National Assembly and suspension of the free press.*** It was later revealed that Yoon also ordered the arrest of various political opponents.

(4) Despite efforts by the South Korean army to uphold Yoon's order, protestors assisted politicians in climbing fences around the National Assembly and within hours 190 legislators (including 18 members of the PPP) unanimously voted to lift the martial law order. Following this vote and a cabinet meeting, Yoon officially lifted martial law.

(5) After martial law was lifted, the DPK began impeachment proceedings against Yoon. Han Dong Hoon (the leader of the PPP) initially stated that the PPP would not support the DPK’s motion. The DPK has a majority in the 300-seat National Assembly, but they would need the support of at least eight PPP National Assembly members to get the 200 votes required for the impeachment motion to pass.

(6) On Friday, South Korean politicians held emergency meetings where it was revealed that Yoon ordered the arrest of Han, Lee Jae Myung (the leader of the DPK), and three other opposition politicians after he declared martial law on Tuesday. Han has now called for Yoon’s suspension, saying that Yoon would pose a "great danger" to democracy if he remained in power, and indicated that the PPP may vote with the DPK to impeach Yoon. On Friday afternoon, there were reports that Yoon was heading to the National Assembly and DPK politicians lined up to block entry to the assembly, chanting "impeach, impeach". A vote on the impeachment motion is scheduled to take place today (Saturday) at 5 pm local time. Understandably, news coverage of these events has been prioritized over regularly scheduled TV broadcasts.

*** There have been no reports that the decision not to air new episodes this week is related to this particular drama's content and MBC stated that the decision was made to allow special news reports to air during the drama's normal broadcasting slots. Other dramas, variety shows and events have also been rescheduled or cancelled. However, it is still worth noting that Baek Sa Eon (the ML of this drama) is the South Korean President's official spokesman and one of his earliest actions in this story is imposing an information embargo on the free press during a hostage crisis. In the novel, he delivers this message in a harsher manner than in the drama - scolding the media and suggesting that their careless coverage might cause the deaths of South Korean citizens if they were permitted to report freely.

Edit: Soompi has compiled updates from various networks about the cancellations and scheduling changes here: https://www.soompi.com/article/1708722wpp/dramas-and-variety-shows-announce-broadcast-schedule-changes-and-cancellations-amid-political-turmoil

The airing schedule has been interrupted by political upheaval and corresponding news coverage in South Korea right now. If you haven't started it yet, I recommend waiting. If you watch now and like the first four episodes you'll have to suffer with the rest of us waiting for the rest of the drama to hopefully start airing again next week.

The drama changed a ton of things from the novel, but not the fact that XY married TSJ in absentia while he was presumed dead. That did occur in the novel between the end of chapter 42 and the beginning of chapter 43. On the day that XY's wedding with TSJ was scheduled to occur, XY waited in her wedding attire all day. When TSJ failed to reappear, XY made her vows to the moon and afterwards XY referred to TSJ as her husband and to herself as TSJ's wife.

In chapter 46, when XL intentionally provokes XY to cut ties with him before he dies in battle, XY angrily says, “我不会饶过伤害璟的人，也不会让你称心如意。如你所说，涂山璟从没有让你占到便宜，他的妻子也不会！” / “I won’t forgive anyone who harmed Jing, but I also won’t do as you wish. Like you said, you never took any advantage of Jing, and now you won’t do the same to his wife!”

In chapter 47, when XY angrily confronts her grandfather after finding out that CX was responsible for TSJ's "death" and her grandfather knew about it, she says, “你们是我最亲的亲人，却一个杀了我的夫婿，一个帮着隐瞒欺骗！我究竟做错了什么，你们要这样对我？” / “You both are my closest dearest family, but one killed my husband and the other helped conceal it! What did I do wrong to deserve this?”

Where the novel included two events that were similar, the drama often cut one of the events and incorporated elements of it into other parts of the story. This happened with XY's wedding to TSJ in absentia (after his disappearance) from chapter 42/43 and the Royal Mother initiation ceremony from chapter 49. They cut the Royal Mother initiation ceremony and combined it with the wedding in absentia, so the wedding turned into a grand ceremony (instead of just XY bowing and making her vows to the moon alone in her wedding attire with no grand ceremony), her wedding robes were mostly white instead of red (a mourning colour, as well as the colour of the ceremonial robes she would have worn for the Royal Mother initiation ceremony), and her exchange with CX from before the Royal Mother initiation ceremony (when he pleaded with her to change her mind) was moved so that it occurred (in a slightly modified form) before the wedding ceremony.

<3 ^^

You’re welcome!

Yes, it does seem to be a very common dynamic / theme in historical C Dramas. I can understand why, given the themes of China’s history and the government’s current policies. But it is still a bit frustrating to see wars of conquest / expansion / “unification” constantly being promoted as being “necessary for the greater good”, especially when these dramas are airing in the context of certain current international conflicts (e.g., Russia’s invasion of Ukraine).