Eun Yong, who had a rough childhood as an orphan, grew up to become a financial trader and made loads of money to give himself and his sister a comfortable life. His nephew, Jang Tae Chun, who is as smart as him, becomes a prosecutor. Tae Chun became the leading prosecutor in a sensational case, which became the reason Eun Yong returned to South Korea from Mongolia after many years. Eun Yong is returning for a “Payback” that Tae Chun is not aware of yet. There is a bigger picture behind the case he has taken, and he will soon find out.
Spoilers Ahead
How Does Myung Find Out About Eun Yong’s Return?
Eun Yong meets Park Joon Gyeong as soon as he lands in South Korea and apologizes for reading her email late. Eun Yong doesn’t inform his sister or nephew that he has returned and goes to stay at Joon Gyeong’s place instead. With no time to waste, Joon Gyeong fills in Eun Yong with the details of how her mother died and also makes a confession. When Yoon got arrested for fraud, election campaigns were going on, and Hwang wanted to take General Son out of the competition. Yoon was charged with helping General Son in embezzling money, and Joon Gyeong, who was just a prosecutor back then, protested against it to Hwang. Hwang threatened her instead, saying that if her mother’s company gets investigated, she will lose everything, but if she goes to court for embezzlement, there are high chances of her being proven innocent. Yoon was being used as bait, and Joon Gyeong helped Hwang fabricate documents to avoid an investigation into her mother’s company.
As Hwang had mentioned, Yoon was proven innocent by the court, but Yoon was a person who fought for justice, so she announced that she would find the people who framed her and General Son in a false case. Joon Gyeong felt guilty for what she did and was going to resign as a prosecutor to surrender herself, but before she could do that, she got summoned for alleged charges of fabricating documents. Hwang did it purposely to stop Yoon from furthering her agenda of catching the culprits. Hwang threatened her to stop or else lose her daughter. Yoon was disappointed in Joon Gyeong, but she couldn’t see her life getting ruined. To save her daughter, she committed suicide after confessing to General Son that she forged the documents.
Assemblyman Baek is attacking the prosecution directly for targeting him purposely in the election period. This has been going around for some days, and Hwang finally decides to answer him and the reporters. Hwang has been impressed by Tae Chun’s persistence to get into the special investigations team, and he needs people like him on his team who are willing to do anything to make a name for themselves. Hwang brings Tae Chun in front of the reporters and puts on a show by telling them that a young prosecutor like him, who works day and night, has investigated Baek, and that’s why the allegations against him are not groundless. Hwang knows how to turn the game in his favor, and it works. Tae Chun’s face is all over the news, stealing Baek’s spotlight. Seeing himself on television reminds Tae Chun of his past when he almost went to Juvie for hitting his teacher, who’d insulted his mother. Thanks to Eun Yong, Tae Chun didn’t go to Juvie and decided to become a prosecutor to fight injustice.
Eun Yong finally makes time to meet his sister and nephew. After asking about each other’s well-being, Eun Yong and Tae Chun come to the topic of the ongoing case. Tae Chun refuses to disclose details to Eun Yong, but Eun Yong surprises him with more details about the case that even Tae Chun doesn’t know. Tae Chun knows that both Myung and his uncle are loan sharks but doesn’t understand how they are different. Eun Yong explains to Tae Chun how Myung ran his business and why he stopped working with him. Myung used to manipulate the company’s stocks by short-selling after its owner took a loan from him by keeping stocks as collateral. This led to many companies going bankrupt. However, what made Eun Yong leave Myung’s side was Myung’s special vault of funeral money. Myung was heartless and prepared money beforehand to send to the funeral of company owners who committed suicide after going bankrupt. That’s why Eun Yong promises to help Tae Chun only if he doesn’t work with Hwang.
Hwang was Joon Gyeong’s senior when she worked as a prosecutor, and they haven’t met since her mother’s death. However, this time, she meets him and tells him that she will take revenge for what he did. Myung, CEO Oh, and Lawyer Lee think that they are safe now that Hwang has diverted attention from Rambo’s case, but they don’t know yet that Eun Yong has returned. Eun Yong visits Dongdaemun market to meet Ms. Kim, a small finance trader, and Eun Yong’s old acquaintance. He convinces her to sell the contract worth 1 billion Won with CEO Oh’s signature by giving her an offer she can’t deny. Eun Yong is working at lightning-fast speed, but Tae Chun hasn’t decided if he wants to work with Hwang or his uncle. However, Hwang has gotten a hint of Tae Chun’s relationship with Eun Yong through Eun Yong’s friend, Jin Ho, who still works for Myung.
Who Saves Eun Yong?
Tae Chun meets Joon Gyeong, and she interrogates him to understand if he will be on their side or on the enemy’s. However, Tae Chun keeps talking about being on the law and justice’s side. It reminds Joon Gyeong of her younger self, but she has learned her lesson and knows that the law barely gives justice. She leaves Tae Chun to Eun Yong’s care, who has the necessary evidence to help Tae Chun solve his case. After thinking for a while, Tae Chun decides to side with Eun Yong. Hwang will make Tae Chun drop the case, but with Eun Yong, he can see this case through to the end. Eun Yong promises to take Tae Chun to the highest level a prosecutor can go.
Eun Yong meets CEO Oh and introduces himself as someone who worked with Myung previously. He offers Oh to work with him instead of Myung, and Oh gives Eun Yong kudos for his courage. Eun Yong knows that Oh is not going to budge with just words, so he brings out the document he bought from Ms. Kim. Oh gets enraged and tells Eun Yong that he should have brought gifts if he wanted to make connections because that’s how business works in South Korea, to which Eun Yong replies that he doesn’t want to make connections, but he wants to buy them. Eun Yong wants Oh on his side and tries to convince him by saying that Myung and Hwang’s game will be over soon because an accomplice in one of the biggest frauds they committed is going to surrender, and that is Park Joo Gyeong.
Joo Gyeong and Eun Yong also have General Son and his party on their side. General Son convinces his party leader to go against Hwang, as he is the kind of person who could betray you at any point. Everything is going according to Eun Yong’s plan until the Financial Supervisory Service raids Eun Yong’s office. His company’s vice president, Hong Hannah, manages to delete ledgers from her computer, but their company is still in trouble as Myung’s hitmen attack Eun Yong, and the man at the forefront is his friend, Jin Ho. They knock down Eun Yong and try to bury him alive on Myung’s orders. However, Jin Ho saves him for the old time’s sake. Jin Ho is on his way to drop Eun Yong at the airport when Eun Yong regains consciousness.
Eun Yong is thankful to his friend and asks him to leave Myung’s side and work for him instead. He truly cares for his friend but cannot force him to leave the life he has been living all these years. As Jin Ho gets distracted while talking, Eun Yong gets hold of the steering wheel and crashes into another car. He calls emergency services for Jin Ho and leaves. Joon Gyeong and Tae Chun, who had been searching for him, come to get him after he informs them where he is.
‘Payback’ Episode 4: Ending
Thanks to Hannah’s efforts, the Financial Supervisory Service couldn’t find important ledgers, but they found Eun Yong’s document, which lays out his plans to re-apply for Yoon’s old patent. According to the plan, selling the patent to developing countries could bring a lot of profit. Myung gets hold of it and immediately initiates the process. However, it was Eun Yong’s bait, and Myung caught it. Lawyer Lee is taking care of getting the patent, and inspector Nam catches him red-handed while giving a bribe to an officer.
Myung believes that Eun Yong is dead and he doesn’t have any obstacles in his path anymore, but Joon Gyeong holds a press conference and announces that she is an accomplice, along with Hwang and Myung, in framing Yoon in a fraud. Hwang and Myung are taken aback by this sudden attack, but they are going to be more surprised when Eun Yong appears in front of them with a bigger scheme that he has planned against them.
