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| Shin Irang Law Office / Photo: SBS screenshot |
[Sports Today reporter Jeong Ye-won] Yoo Yeon-seok pulled off a showstopper on Shin Irang Law Office. Playing a lawyer possessed by a gangster’s spirit, he unearthed decisive evidence, scored the show’s first courtroom victory and helped the late Lee Kang-pung (Heo Seong-tae) find peace.
In episode 2 of SBS’s Friday-Saturday drama Shin Irang Law Office, which aired on the 14th, Shin Irang (Yoo Yeon-seok) and the wrongfully deceased Lee Kang-pung teamed up for a satisfying win — but the episode ended on a cliffhanger when Shin Irang screamed after encountering a new spirit. According to Nielsen Korea, episode 2 posted a 9.2% rating in the Seoul metropolitan area and peaked at 11.3%, ranking first in its time slot and among Friday-Saturday dramas.
That day, the Taebaek law firm weaponized Lee Kang-pung’s gangster past, framing him as a violent patient making false claims and launching a PR campaign to discredit Shin Irang. After a possession-related outburst humiliated Shin Irang in court, he attempted to send Lee Kang-pung away by burning the talisman attached to him. But when Lee’s daughter Ji-woo (Ahn Chae-him) collapsed after seeing the news, and his wife Kim Min-ju (Kim Si-eun) revealed that her husband had turned himself in, paid his debt to society and tried to live honestly, Shin Irang reconsidered.
Shin Irang first tracked down the operating room’s last witness, nurse Oh Jin-sook (Lee Da-bit-na). Recently divorced and raising a child alone, she had taken under-the-table payments from the hospital and refused to speak. Shin Irang shared his own experience of being stigmatized as the child of a criminal and urged her to tell the truth for her child’s sake. Oh Jin-sook still declined to testify, but she suggested the court records might have been altered and left a crucial lead: check the EMR (Electronic Medical Record).
Investigating further, Shin Irang learned the OR’s main computer that stored the EMR had been sold to SaeNara Used Appliances. He and his brother-in-law Yoon Bong-su (Jeon Seok-ho) went to the warehouse, where they recognized the owner, Joo Ki-chul (Park Ki-deok), whom Lee had once treated like a senior in the gang. Joo mentioned his habit of hiding things in secret compartments inside car seats, and the pair finally recovered the EMR hard drive — the case’s smoking-gun evidence. The catch: Joo was actually running a drug operation disguised as a used-appliance export business, and the warehouse was his hideout.
At that moment, Han Na-hyun — who had obtained insider information from the prosecution — appeared, disguised as a prosecutor. The gang members, who had seemed cooperative, turned hostile when the drugs were discovered and surrounded her. Shin Irang rammed the warehouse door with his car to get in; he couldn’t abandon Han Na-hyun because his soft-hearted nature wouldn’t allow it. In the end, Shin Irang, Yoon Bong-su and Han Na-hyun were captured and forced to kneel.
When Joo Ki-chul played the song he always used while brutally beating his men, it triggered Lee Kang-pung’s rage. The stimulus — encountering someone he hated — made possession more likely. Possessed, Shin Irang shouted, “I’m a gangster lawyer!” and instantly unleashed powerful punches and flashy flying kicks to subdue Joo Ki-chul and his crew. After the violent brawl, a single drop of water fell from the ceiling, traced his cheek, and the possession lifted; Shin Irang collapsed, unconscious.
Han Na-hyun found the hard drive in Shin Irang’s inner pocket. She couldn’t bring herself to destroy the decisive evidence that would secure another victory. Though she could have fled, she kept replaying how Shin Irang had risked himself to rescue her and even taken blows on her behalf. Ultimately, the surgeon who had operated on Lee Kang-pung was arrested on charges of negligence, and Han Na-hyun recorded her first defeat in the diary where she had painstakingly tracked her wins.
Shin Irang then visited Ji-woo and allowed Lee Kang-pung to possess him one last time. He comforted the daughter, who blamed herself for her father’s death during surgery because of his snoring, telling her, “It wasn’t your fault.” After watching the mother and daughter vow to live bravely and find happiness, Lee Kang-pung, relieved, said his final goodbye to Shin Irang on the roof of the Okcheon Building. Father Mateo (Jung Seung-gil) burned the talisman and sent him peacefully to the other side.
Back at the office, Shin Irang sprinkled red bean paste at the entrance and hung garlic and a cross to ward off evil, boasting that not even a ghostly grandfather could enter. He was proven wrong. When a levitating student asked, “Sir, can you see me?” Shin Irang screamed again.
Shin Irang Law Office airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 p.m.
[Sports Today reporter Jeong Ye-won ent@stoo.com]
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