'Itaewon Class' Episode 7: Park Sae-ro-yi's plans don't materialize and Jang Dae-hee has an upper hand
In the last episode of 'Itaewon Class' we saw Jang Dae-hee (Yoo Jae-myung) arrive at DanBam which surprised his son Geun-soo (Kim Dong-hee) and Yo Chi-seo (Park Da-mi), however, Sae-ro-yi (Park Seo-joon) didn't let the surprise visit bother him. Instead, he just welcomed Dae-hee like he would any other customer. We know Sae-ro-yi has a lot of fo restraint when it comes to facing Dae-hee and Geun-won, and that restraint came through brilliantly as the scene was picked up again in episode 7.
He serves Dae-hee, Geun-won (Ahn Bo-hyun) and Soo-ah (Kwon Na-ra) food and waits to see what Dae-hee is going to be saying, or how he would react. Sae-ro-yi knows that this visit is a result of his investment in Jang Corporation. His investment, which was about 1.9 billion won, surprised Dae-hee and realizing that Sae-ro-yi had also invested before, tells Dae-hee that he must be aware of Sae-ro-yi, but not show how insecure or how unnerved he is by the young man's tenacity.
By the end, when Dae-hee asks why Sae-ro-yi invested in Jang Corp, Sae-ro-yi says it was because he believed that the company would be a great investment for him to earn money. He doesn't give even a slight hint about what he has planned for the future and so, when he loses his temper while talking to Dae-hee , Yi-seo is shocked. Geun-won has always taunted Sae-ro-yi about their past and when he tries to do the same this time as well, he is shut down instantly. He is in Sae-ro-yi's pub, and that gives Sae-ro-yi a bit of control over who he speaks to. Yes, it seemed as if his loss of temper would portray him as an amateur in front of Dae-hee.
Yi-seo is especially worried that this slip on his part would result in a harsher reaction from Dae-hee. Sae-ro-yi explains to her that he intended on coming across as an amateur to ensure that Dae-hee was not too wary of him. He has a plan and while it initially seemed as if it might work, Geun-soo's meeting with his father ends up pushing Dae-hee. Geun-soo tells his father that Sae-ro-yi is a lot stronger than Dae-hee can see and, this, of course, makes him want to prove his son wrong. So he ends up buying the building that DanBam has rented and through the landlord, he sends a message across that he would prefer the current tenant to move out as soon as the contract is completed.
As unexpected as this turned out to be, Sae-ro-yi might just have an idea about how this new obstacle must be faced in the next episode.
In this episode, we also were introduced to Sae-ro-yi's fund manager, Lee Ho-Jin (David Lee). This is the same boy that Sae-ro-yi had saved from being bullied in high school. He is also the one who is helping Sae-ro-yi plan everything in his fight against Dae-hee. It was also he who set up a meeting with Kang Min-Jung (Kim Hye-Eun). After Dae-hee, Min-jung owns the highest number of shares in Jang Corporation and Sae-ro-yi hopes to make use of this by joining hands with her. He wants her to take over the Jang Corporation after pushing Chairman Dae-hee out of his company and he wants to do it by being sincere, hardworking and smart. Not manipulative, greedy or unfair -- which is what one would expect of someone such as Dae-hee. Min-jung's only condition was to get Dae-hee to dine at his pub because that would show how much Sae-ro-yi really bothers Dae-hee.
The episode also sees Sae-ro-yi finally share his story with Yi-seo. This is unexpected as he doesn't connect to people too easily. He has always been antisocial since when he was in high school and this bond that he is beginning to build with Yi-seo is surprising. He shares his story while the two are on their way to the hometown of the detective who investigated his father's accident case. He hopes to gain the detective's support when he files for a reinvestigation of his father's case.
'Itaewon Class' episodes can be streamed on Netflix.