The Apartment Job Episodes 5-6 Recap: What Happens Between Chung-won And Hae-kang?

What will Hae-kang do, when he himself is the President of True Value Apartment Complex who holds the power to authorise billions of funds? In this week’s “The Apartment Job,” Hae-kang thinks about all the possible solutions that will allow him to secretly cash out and leave. Lizard seems to have no plans anymore apart from leaving with the funds but it must be done carefully. Although Hae-kang is worried sick, he cannot discuss much with his trusted employees in front of Ha-ri because she is not aware of their true intentions. Being a law student, Ha-ri has already given them a lecture on funds embezzlement, money laundering and corrupted apartment complex presidents. Although Hae-kang is very cautious regarding his activities, Ha-ri still feels suspicious. 

Spoilers Ahead

Ha-ri Starts Suspecting Hae-kang

Ha-ri needs a lot of money because she has no other job and studying law without any backup is tough. Although she gets paid by Hae-kang, something seems to pique her suspicion. As Ha-ri thinks about all the unexpected things that have happened – Hae-kang’s viral fight, the oddly-extended family and the hurry to become the President – they don’t seem normal at all. Ha-ri’s friend also plants the seed of doubt in her head while discussing Hae-kang’s secretive nature. Since Hae-kang’s friend knows about a man who made huge arrangements to siphon funds from an apartment complex, she warns Hari after she finds a similar pattern in Hae-kang’s activities. 

Suk-jin Becomes A Headache For Hae-kang 

From the moment I saw Suk-jin, I knew that her intrusive nature would never let Hae-kang and his ‘family’ execute their plan in peace. This time, Suk-jin gets the best reason to walk into the President’s office because she claims that without her help, Hae-kang would have never won the election. Suk-jin considers herself the “kingmaker” and demands the position of senior secretary of civil affairs from Hae-kang. Since Hae-kang does owe his victory to her and also knows that Suk-jin is totally against Choi, he accepts her demand. But Suk-jin doesn’t stop there; once she eavesdrops and learns how Hae-kang’s ‘brothers’ threaten their ‘father’ (Lizard) she starts following them everywhere. She also overhears Ha-ri confronting Hae-kang about his intentions behind the ‘fake family’. 

Hae-kang Has The Worst Day Of His Life

Lizard had his own ways of stealing money from the apartment’s long term reserve funds and he used a mixture of methods, which made his case unique. However, even though Hae-kang and his team secures Choi’s stamp, they fail to extract the ten billion from the True Value fund because the money is not in a single bank account. Since Chung-won himself is a money launderer and knows how to avoid the tax department from investigating, he has distributed the money among countless banks. Naturally, it becomes quite frustrating for Hae-kang to roam endlessly and get only a few thousands from a bank branch when he wants to withdraw money. But Chung-won has already removed that money somewhere else. So, the only way Hae-kang can get himself authorised to use the long-term reserve funds without consulting the accountant, Ha-jeong, is through emergency repairs. But there’s a small catch – he cannot inflate the costs because Suk-jin is already keeping an eye on him. He tries his best to find faults in the infrastructure but in order to take money from the long-term reserve fund, the majority of the residents association needs to be on his side. We have already seen how Gang-won has appointed his people there and quite obviously, President Oh, President Seo, and other members voted against Hae-kang’s favor. 

Hae-kang’s Grand Plan To Overturn Gang-won’s Plot

Since he cannot use the fund without a majority vote in his favor and the board meeting cannot be rearranged, Hae-kang has no other way but to resort to his old tactics. As a gang leader, he and his trusted team has years of experience in entrapping the top brass of the state by digging up dirt and using it for blackmailing. With Hae-kang’s advice, Big Guy, Jae-gil and Gyeong-nam try their best to scour through the resident association members but they fail. When Ha-ri points out that people who are a part of Gang-won’s inner circle are paying zero electricity charges for six years, Hae-kang finds his perfect trump card. Since it proves that Gang-won and the residents association are corrupt, their votes no longer matter – this allows Hae-kang to use his Presidential power and withdraw funds without anyone’s approval. 

Ha-ri’s Secret Comes Out

Although Ha-jeong aspires to be a patisser, her trip to France does not end well as she is used to being in Seoul. Even though she hates her job at True Value, Ha-jeong still comes back and it messes up Ha-ri’s plans to hide her side hustle as a role player. All this time, Ha-ri was playing the caring little sister who is rooting for her elder sister and encouraging her to follow her dreams. She feels humiliated and exposed when Ha-jeong catches her red handed with Gyeong-buk. It feels really embarrassing when Gyeong-buk calls her ‘mother’ right in front of Ha-jeong, who thinks Ha-ri is spending time to pass the bar exam this time. 

Chung-won‘s True Face Is Finally Revealed

Chung-won never tolerated any kind of disruptions in his plan and Gang-won messed up big time. Years ago, Gang-won decided to become Chung-won‘s right hand man and launder money from the True Value Apartment funds. Although Chung-won paid him sufficiently, Gang-won’s endless greed made him embezzle more money from the residents. Gang-won even included all of his favorite secretaries into the equation and together, they looted billions from the apartment owners electricity charges. When Chung-won learns about this, and witnesses Gang-won face public humiliation along with the representative council, it strikes a major nerve in him. The bloodbath we see proves that Chung-won is nothing but a monster – he beats Gang-won to death and buries him inside his Pine Garden. He spares Choi’s life because he is still a secretary and Chung-won wants to exploit his position to carry out some more favors. 

Chung-won And Hae-kang’s Faceoff Ends With A Major Twist

Chung-won figured out that Hae-kang planted those artefacts because the soil around them did not belong to Onam City’s landscape. He also spotted Hae-kang’s car entering the new town project land from the CCTV footage. This time, when they meet, Hae-kang does not speak much since he is already exposed. It’s Hae-kang’s skill to stay cool even when Chung-won is exposing him for trying to empty the funds across the different bank branches. The Hae-kang we see is much different from what I expected him to be – he is acting loyal to Chung-won and is even ready to act as his new right hand man.

There’s no fight, no major exchange between them and even though Hae-kang enters Chung-won‘s office with a vengeful demeanor, his expression seems completely normal. Hae-kang knows that without manipulating Chung-won, it will be difficult for him because he is here to play the long game. He needs time to execute his plans and extract the ten billion won that he has planned to. Hae-kang’s team is already keeping tabs on Choi – they have seen him getting out of Chung-won‘s Pine Garden with a suitcase of cash. It may take some time but Hae-kang will definitely crush Chung-won with his power but the latter will not go down without a fight. For now, we will see a partnership between Chung-won and Hae-kang – let’s see how Suk-jin reacts when she witnesses the new President’s activities!

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