As we come closer to the end of the show, we also get a lot of drama. At the end of the last episode, things took a dark turn. Jae-Min and Yoon have their tentacles around Kyung-Sook’s child now. Will this finally put an end to Kyung-Sook and Do-Hee’s fight? Let’s find out in Episodes 9 & 10 of “Queenmaker.”
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In ‘Queenmaker’ Episodes 9 & 10?
As we know, Jae-Min has decided to use Kyung-Sook’s son as a weapon against him. Hyun-Woo is caught on camera committing violent acts against his classmate, including hitting him on the back with a bag of glass bottles. Kyung-Sook is immediately summoned to the police station, where the detectives claim the attack was entirely unreasonable. Hyun-Woo doesn’t say anything in response, while the other kid, who is terribly bruised, agrees that it was an unprovoked act. Kyung-Sook is apologetic to the family and can’t believe her son could do something like that, especially without reason; her husband thinks the same. Hyun-Woo continues to remain quiet and does not even apologize to the other boy and his family. They say they will sue, and in no way will they settle the case. It is clear that Hyun-Woo is angry with his mother, but that wouldn’t make him a violent child. He does feel neglected, but as we know from before, he just wants his mother to succeed. In the meantime, Do-Hee and the team believe this is not a coincidence that the attack was conveniently filmed, meaning he was targeted by Jae-Min’s team. Some things aren’t adding up, including the fact that the video angle is perfectly aligned to shoot Hyun-Woo’s face, the news is spreading extremely fast, and the parents spoke about settlements even before anything was mentioned by Kyung-Sook.
It is Joong-Seok who finds out the truth behind Hyun-Woo’s attack. The kid has a second social media account, which was not monitored by the team. Hyun-Woo was receiving threats and malicious comments on this account, but more importantly, vulgarly edited photos of his mother triggered Hyun-Woo to attack the boy. The boys, Hyun-Woo’s friends included, were paid money through the dark web gaming channels and were used to spread hate comments regarding Kyung-Sook on Hyun-Woo’s social media channels. Kyung-Sook is devastated to see her son standing strong after all that he has been through. Finally, the case is taken too far and directly handed over to the prosecution. The boy’s family also goes to press, stating that the police are on Kyung-Sook’s side and won’t listen to their child. Yoon’s team goes so far as to accuse Hyun-Woo of sexual assault. But as Joong-Seok has found, it is actually the other child who is involved in these practices and not Hyun-Woo.
With no options left for Kyung-Sook to save her child except to resign from her position and quit the race, that’s what she decides to do. But, before doing so, she speaks to her son and tells him she knows the truth. He is proud to be her son and even claims he is a clone of the Rhino. Kyung-Sook says she understood why he did what he did, but violence is never the answer, and that is what he has been punished for. Hyun-Woo says after going through all that they’ve been through, Kyung-Sook cannot quit now. He convinces her to stay running, and although she is angry at herself for having her son protect her instead of the other way around, she confirms that she will fight for the better world she has promised him till she dies.
Chae-Ryoung, The Prodigal Daughter
It turns out that Chae-Ryoung is the illegitimate child of Mr. Son, and so Chairperson Son never favored her. Although in the beginning, it appeared as though the older sister was the unfavored sibling, it is starting to look clear now that the whole plan was to make Seo-Jin the heir of the company. Chae-Ryoung interrupts a meeting and reminds her mother that she should be involved in such big decisions too. The Largest tower in Asia and duty-free store called the “Heaven of Asia” that they are banking their whole company on is an illegal project from start to finish. If Jae-Min doesn’t become the next mayor, Heaven of Asia is in huge trouble. Chae-Ryoung uses Jae-Min and Ji-Yeon’s secret relationship as her leverage to get what she wants from the Chairperson. Chairperson Son is quite impressed by Chae-Ryoung and gives her an accepting hug. Of course, we know this is all fake, but Chae-Ryoung truly believes her ‘mother’ cares for her and that as long as Jae-Min wins the election, she will be the next CEO of the Eunsung company.
Do-Hee’s Way Forward
We don’t know what is cooking in Do-Hee’s mind, but she uses Seo-Jin to get some money for Kyung-Sook’s camp. Obviously, Kyung-Sook would not approve of such a thing, but we just have to wait to see what she has planned. Maybe she will use Seo-Jin as the final takedown of Chairperson Son. Next, she heads to the kid who accused Hyun-Woo of beating him up. She essentially gaslights the kid into admitting that it was game money that he was offered to write those malicious comments and that he got extra money for posting the pornographic picture of Hyun-Woo’s mother. The money that Do-Hee took from Seo-Jin was a bribe for a candidate named Yook, who was on Jae-Min’s side. Yook is in the education field and helped tarnish Hyun-Woo’s name by going on YouTube live and claiming it was bad parenting that led to Kyung-Sook’s son being uncontrollable. Do-Hee’s secret weapon is that she knows he has a girlfriend in the US, in whose account Yook has put a lot of his own money. She wires him the Seo-Jin money in order to make him speak against Jae-Min and Yoon and clear Hyun-Woo’s name. Yook does a press conference, and all seems well for now. Kyung Sook publicly apologizes for her son’s wrongdoings and states that if she were to be elected, she would condemn violence even if it were her own son who committed it, and everyone would be held responsible for their wrongdoings. A better future for everybody.
Ji-Yeon Is The Scapegoat
Finally, Do-Hee decides to use her biggest weapon against Jae-Min (or so we think). Ji-Yeon and Jae-Min’s affair is publicized, and all the news outlets begin to report that Ji-Yeon is also pregnant with Jae-Min’s child. Attacking the family man in the right spot, as Jae-Min was considered the perfect “family man,” would take a huge toll on Jae-Min’s candidacy only two days before the election and the launch of the Heaven of Asia. Yoon’s big plan is to make Ji-Yeon lay low as the public eye is now on her, so she can’t be discarded (you know, another suicide) just like that. Jae-Min pretends to be madly in love with Ji-Yeon and says that everything will be okay soon. She just needs to trust him, support him, and even show up to work. Ji-Yeon is attacked by reporters as she’s about to head to work, and she makes the decision to talk to the press. At the press conference, she claimed she has a different partner who she is planning on marrying, and these allegations are hurting their relationship and their unborn child. The reporter who Do-Hee always reaches out to is out for blood, though, and bombards Jae-Min and Ji-Yeon with questions and allegations that they are unable to answer. At the same time, an article with pictures of Jae-Min heading to Ji-Yeon’s apartment alone at night appears online as well. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Ji-Yeon, she faints, and the press conference is over. She’s rushed to the hospital, and Ji-Yeon, realizing her time is short, gets a paternity test done to safeguard her life. Jae-Min visits her and tells her to rest assured that nothing will be the matter and that she should trust him. Ji-Yeon says it is because of I-Seul’s demise that she is worried, but if Jae-Min takes care of her, she will “forget” everything that happened with I-Seul. She also tells him that Do-Hee visited her about I-Seul, and this irks him.
Jae-Min realizes it is time to get rid of Ji-Yeon, and if she dies now, it will appear as if she was driven to suicide through the scandals brought on by Kyung-Sook’s team, killing two birds with one stone. Yoon is surprised that Jae-Min is willing to cross the line, but Jae-Min claims he crossed the line when his father died, trying to instigate a memory in Yoon, who doesn’t realize that Jae-Min knows he had a hand in his father’s death.
Jae-Min’s Big Move
Jae-Min uses the momentum to tell the people of Seoul that they will all get shares in the Heaven of Asia without consulting the Chairperson. She is furious, but Jae-Min is finally in a position where he can make her give him some respect rather than treat him like trash. Now, if Jae-Min isn’t the next mayor, the Eunsung group and the Heaven of Asia are done for. Seo-Jin takes this info directly to Do-Hee, who asks her to surveil Ji-Yeon as Do-Hee thinks she may be in danger. But nothing can be known to Chairperson Son. Yoon prepares all the work for Ji-Yeon’s “suicide,” thinking all is clear to them.
Do-Hee’s Fall From Grace
Unlike what we thought earlier was Do-Hee’s biggest weapon, I-Seul’s death, and the affair, it is actually a memo that includes all the bribes that she personally paid by hand to the people in charge of the land and construction of the Heaven of Asia. There are many fabricated documents and approvals that Chairperson Son is sitting on, and Do-Hee has them all in the palm of her hand, which she is handing over to Kyung-Sook. Kyung-Sook refuses to use the information because that would mean Do-Hee’s ruin, but Do-Hee will not take no for an answer. She has another plan in hand, which she showed to Joong-Seok earlier. She plans on broadcasting something during the debate that is about to happen between Kyung-Sook and Jae-Min that will ruin her, according to Joong-Seok. We’ll have to see what that is in the last episode.
‘Queenmaker’ Episode 10: Ending Explained – Will Do-Hee Find Evidence Against Jae-Min?
Yoon uses Chae-Ryoung as a decoy to get Ji-Yeon in the good books of the public. Jae-Min convinces her to bring Ji-Yeon out of the hospital publicly in order to make the world see that he is innocent and that his wife supports him. Chae-Ryoung can’t understand why she should do such a thing, and Jae-Min reminds her that they both have used each other, and they need to do it once more in order for Chae-Ryoung to get the company in her name. Chae-Ryoung uses fake DNA documents to rattle Ji-Yeon’s spirits and tell her that they are on the same side. She convinces Ji-Yeon that she needs her to ruin Jae-Min’s career after he becomes mayor. Naive Ji-Yeon falls for the act and appears in front of the press with Chae-Ryoung, who claims that she has faith in Ji-Yeon as an employee of Eunsung. Before departing, Chae-Ryoung whispers in Ji-Yeon’s ear that she is completely done for now.
Do-Hee knew something was amiss and had Dong-Joo head to the hospital early; now she, too, is on her way to try and save Ji-Yeon. At the same time, Yoon’s big plan is to use Ji-Yeon’s suicide as the big news that usurps the debate and surprises Kyung-Sook, making a clear win for Jae-Min. What he doesn’t know is that Do-Hee now has evidence that Jae-Min killed I-Seul because they found CCTV footage from across the street that showed Jae-Min walking away from the office the moment I-Seul’s body fell, meaning he clearly knew beforehand that this was going to happen, so he wasn’t shocked or confused and just walked away. It looks like there is a lot to be revealed about Jae-Min in the last episode, and what is Do-Hee’s wildcard that will ruin her as well? We hope to find out in the final episode of “Queenmaker.”
