I love Man of Honor because Young Kwang and Jae In are darling together, but everything else pretty much sucks. The sudden spate of In Woo-shipping also weirds me out. Even though I’m enjoying his character’s development, he’s still mostly a jackass who is only nice to Jae In, with some long overdue growth of a backbone and confrontiong his emotional traumas. All of that is fine and good, but he comes with psycho parents and Jae In doesn’t like him that way, so I’m confused how this drama even has a viable alterna-ship.

Sadly the character development for Young Kwang has been pushed aside for the sake of plot, and even Jae In is reacting most of the time to everything. My affection for this drama remains from nostalgic goodwill for the earlier episodes, but my interest has sunk to new lows. As such, I’m switching the baby recaps for the remainder of its run. I want to enjoy this drama without feeling annoyed I have to devote so much time to recapping the details of its over-the-top emoting.

Episode 17 baby recap:

In Woo barges into the study where his dad is trying to make Jae In sign away some rights so he can usurp more of Geodae. He’s not even subtle about it either. In Woo prevents Jae In from signing, and when daddy starts to get violent as usual, In Woo raises his arm and blocks his dad’s incoming fist. About time, dude. Everyone is shocked that In Woo stood up to his dad and was able to subdue the crazy-eyed lunatic.

In Woo drags Jae In out while his dad gets teary with the realization that he can’t knock his son around anymore. Oh boo hoo. Jae In manages to stop In Woo’s aimless rushing when she switches to banmal with him. He calms down enough to marvel at the discovery of how weak (in comparison) his dad really was.

Young Kwang sits down next to dirty old man and promises to assist him with the tent-fixing request. Even though the tent was purchased twenty years ago and the broken part is likely unavailable, Young Kwang promises to resolve this matter for this customer, even though Dae Sung has told him there is nothing to be done with fulfilling the old guy’s demand that the tent be fixed.

In Woo’s mom does her best rendition of a replay of her husband’s usual crazy act – she loses her marbles while trying to toss Jae In’s clothes away, as if that could remove this girl from her son’s life. She rages at In Woo for being an idiot like his father always called him and taking the side of Jae In. In Woo announces that he can’t live without Yoon Jae In. Really? You appeared to live fine for 27 years without her just fine. Emotionally frakked up, yes, but hardly on the brink of death to justify the use of “can’t live without her.”

Young Kwang’s mom gets news from her landlady that the store has been sold and is off her hands. The new owner is none other than Jae In, though Mom and Young Kwang figure it’s the handiwork of In Woo’s dad using Jae In’s name. Young Kwang confronts In Woo’s dad, who is pleased to be ruining the lives of the Kim family and now even threatens to break Young Kwang’s legs if he keeps opposing him.

Jin Joo comes crying to Jae In, asking why she is buying their family store and kicking them all out. She’s sorry for what happened to Jae In, but asks if she can spare the family. Jae In sees Young Kwang upset but the latter pretends everything is fine. In Woo and Kyung Joo discuss his next moves. In Woo’s dad drives to the countryside of a beautiful estate and asks to meet the owner. The man is out and In Woo’s dad hunkers down to wait for him.

Young Kwang brings a new tent to dirty old man’s shoeshine store and offers it to him, but the offer is rejected because the broken tent was a gift from the man’s deceased son and has meaning to him. When the old man shines Young Kwang’s shoes, he’s able to correctly read the scuff marks and the wear tracks to describe Young Kwang as an impatient young man. Young Kwang has no choice but to keep looking for a replacement part, with his time ticking down to complete this assignment.

Everyone on the team decides to pitch in and help on the tent project. Young Kwang, Jae In, gangster lackey, and Gil Dong (chubby team member) go to an old warehouse to comb through outdated products looking for a replacement part for the tent.

The search goes on until it’s nighttime, but then the members are locked in the warehouse and suddenly Young Kwang is attacked by an unknown assailant. He hurts his ankle when a shelf is pushed on top of him. Even Dae Sung has arrived, having been told to check on the group in case something went wrong.

From the fallen shelf tumbles the replacement part they are looking for, which makes everyone cheer, except for gangster lackey who is off to the side and looks suspiciously like he could be the mole sent by In Chul. Or it could be a fake out. In Woo is waiting for Jae In to join him in dining with the parents. He sends her a text with a picture of himself to remind her of the time. Jae In runs off to join the crazy family for dinner. I would have totally lost my appetite.

The old man thinks Young Kwang failed to keep his promise to fix the tent within the agreed upon time frame, but turns out Young Kwang fixed the tent and set it up for the old man outside already. The old man cries to see it fixed. He sits down with Young Kwang inside the tent and discuss his dead son. Young Kwang offers to take responsibility for the old man going forward since he took responsibility for getting the tent fixed. Dae Sung (with Gil Dong and gangster lackey in tow) watches from the side and gets all teary-eyed.

During the dinner of awkwardness, Jae In announces that she will sign the papers In Woo’s dad asked of her, in exchange for the noodle store deed. In Chul and In Woo are surprised to hear this, with In Woo staring at Jae In as if she just announced she was a hermaphrodite. We see In Chul showing Jae In’s mom pictures of adult Jae In and telling her that Jae In is in danger now. He warns Jae In’s mom not to be rash and endanger Jae In further. Jae In’s mom cries as she looks at the pictures, vowing to get her Jae In back.

Jae In calmly signs the papers. In Woo’s dad remarks that Jae In is just like her dad, able to bargain for what she wants. Jae In goes back to her room and picks up her assignment from Young Do, which is the note that reads “Hope is nowhere!” Jae In refutes the note’s message, tearing up the note so that it now reads “Hope is now.” Young Kwang’s mom heads to the noodle restaurant and finds the deed to the store in an envelope left for her. Jae In writes in the accompanying note that she will bring her mom to eat at this noodle store soon. Young Kwang’s mom cries to read this.

In Woo’s dad finally meets with the person who lives in the countryside estate. It’s none other than dirty old man who wanted his tent fixed. In Woo’s dad asks him for more money to expand the company. Young Kwang finds out from In Woo that Jae In signed papers in exchanged for the deed to his family’s noodle restaurant.

Jae In goes to the hospital and starts asking everyone about her mother’s whereabouts. One nurse gets a conscience and pulls Jae In aside and reveals the truth – her mom was a patient in the hospital but recently moved. They were told to lie to Jae In. Her mom was actually moved to another room in the same hospital. Jae In rushes to that room but her mom has already been moved again. Jae In sees her own pictures by the bedside table. She turns to scream at In Chul (doing her version of the crazy-eyes), asking where the hell is her mom! Wow, I didn’t know the condition of crazy-eyes was contagious in this drama.