'Hush' Episode 5 Spoilers: Can Joon-hyuk really make Daily Korea accountable by digging into Minister Go scandal?
'Hush', the new JTBC show, is set in the very real world of journalism where the values and ethics of the fourth estate have long been forgotten. Joon-hyuk is a senior journalist who has fallen victim to the corruption that is prevalent in the media and as he continues to work in Daily Korea after a traumatizing event, he transforms to a 'trash reporter' who specializes in creating clickbaity headlines to increase traffic on Daily Korea's website. It is after he meet Soo-yeon, a young and aspiring journalist who kills herself after not being able to land a job solely because of the college that she passed out from does Joon-hyuk wake up from his reverie.
Soo-yeon's talent was overlooked and after her death, the HR in Daily Korea had manipulated the dates and made it seem as if all the interns, including Soo-yeon were to be hired after they completed their internship. This doesn't surprise Joon-hyuk. After all, this was precisely what had disillusioned him in the first place. So this time, he decides to make his late junior proud by working as a true journalist at least now. The one to taunt him and goad him into taking action is none other than another intern, Ji-soo, who is in reality none other than the daughter of Joon-hyuk's senior who committed suicide. This was the incident that had traumatized Joon-hyuk but he doesn't know the truth about Ji-soo's identity.
Without being aware of her identity, he even discusses the incident with her and tries to explain how things had not worked in the past when he had tried his best. He doesn't reveal the personal loss that he had faced because of the incident, yet he does try to give her an idea of how things would turn out in the present as well. Yet, Ji-soo doesn't take the responsibility or changing things in Daily Korea on herself, instead pushes Joon-hyuk to take up the mantle. When he does as she had wanted, she doesn't appreciate him but instead tells him that she will always be around to watch him and judge him.
Joon-hyuk, as his first assignment since returning to being a proper reporter, decides to dig into the scandal that Daily Korea managed to bury recently. The scandal involved Minister Go and corruption in hiring process, something that one of Joon-hyuk's junior had managed to find a source for. However, just a day after publishing the story on Page 1, the very corrupt Chief Editor of the paper decided to publish an amendment along with an apology.
In Episode 5, Ji-soo will begin working as a reporter and the beat that she has been assigned is social affairs. Her captain in the office believes that she was created to be a part of the social affairs team but she is unable to do what a journalist does — report. She is assigned a drunk driving case that led to an accident. The driver, however, happens to be related to someone influential so somehow they manage to switch the driver for official purposes. Can she ask the right questions and shed light on the truth or will she be too focused on her own shortcomings to see the actual story?
'Hush' airs on JTBC every Fridays and Saturdays at 11 pm and can be streamed on iQiyi.