'Private Lives' Episode 4: Does Lee Jeong-hwan faking his death after skipping on his wedding involve Joo-eun?
'Private Lives' Episode 4 begins with Joo-eun (Seohyun) trying as far as possible to tell herself that Lee Jeong-hwan is not dead. She doesn't want to believe that Jeong-hwan scammed her and cheated her out of her money and neither does she want him dead either. So as she struggles with the mess of all the feelings that Jeong-hwan has awoken in her, she also must deal with the last rites. Despite trying to prove that the body that was found in his car was not his by handing over proof of DNA, she learns that everything is a match and that is how she ends up creating who she had been told was her husband. The remains were completely burned out and it was impossible to have identified him.
It is after his death is confirmed by the cops does Joo-eun begin to learn more secrets about the man with whom she had registered her marriage. Sure, he skipped the wedding ceremony, however, unlike what others believed, he did make it to the venue dressed in a suit and bowtie too. However, before he could end up at the venue, he gets chased by a group of men who look like gangsters. The same group ends up visiting Joo-eun now that Jeong-hwan is dead. That is when she learns of how a $5 million won loan has transformed into a $70 million debt which is now left to Joo-eun to pay back.
She, of course, resists this loan shark's claims and despite his claims that he is best friends with Jeong-hwan from when they were in the orphanage, she doesn't care. She just needs answers. Before this man leaves, he also mentions that he was the one who paid for Jeong-hwan's insurance and that is when Joo-eun decides to register his death considering there is a lot that she doesn't know about Jeong-hwan. Joo-eun is in debt herself. In addition to the wedding expense, and the money that she had ended up handing over to him for the flat, which, turns out Jeong-hwan never spent on the flat in the first place.
It is while registering his death that she learns about him holding a business license. She ends up visiting Spy Detective Agency where surprise, surprise, she sees her nemesis Jeong Bok-ki. The same woman who sent her and her father to prison. She realizes that Bok-ki had hired Spy Lee, and initially misunderstands that Jeong-hwan was hired by Bok-ki to fool her but very soon, when she goes over Jeong-hwan's case files from his office, she understands that Bok-ki had hired him to search for someone named Edward Kim. She also sees the real names of the two and soon, wants to figure out why Jeong-hwan was forced to do what he did.
She believes that by finding out what really happened to Jeong-hwan, she would be able to find out if he really scammed her or just hid parts of himself from her like she did with him. Strangely, she understands why he would want to lie about his family, and that is why she continues to give him a chance. Also, while she believes that she was scamming him, it seems as if she is in love with Jeong-hwan. So all her attempts now are going to be about finding the truth. However, can she really work out what happened? She does visit the mansion that Jeong-hwan had last visited and there, she sees Edward Kim. Before she could follow the lead, however, she gets found out by a dog in the mansion and tries to escape.
She is just about to be caught when a man in a helmet manages to get the dog to act dead and beats up one of the men who had managed to stay on Joo-eun's heels as well. All while staying hidden from Joo-eun. The smile on his face when he lifts the helmet off indicates that he knows everything about Joo-eun. Was this part of his plan when he faked his death? We cannot wait to see what Jeong-hwan is really interested in.
'Private Lives' airs on JTBC on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 pm KST and can be streamed on Netflix outside of South Korea.