Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Se-ri walks into her company alive, interrupting the plans being made in her absence. Sang-a’s attempt to take control of Se-ri’s Choice stops as Se-ri tells the board to return to work. Her return to the family is less comforting: she discovers who bought shares while the price fell and sees how readily her belongings and position were being claimed. The life she missed no longer feels quite the same.
In the North, Man-bok confesses his part in Mu-hyeok’s death and gives Jeong-hyeok the recovered watch and a recording. His account explains Cheol-gang’s threats and the guilt he has carried for years. The watch contains evidence of the officer’s crimes, allowing Jeong-hyeok to bring the material to his father. Meanwhile, Seung-jun tells Dan how he helped create a diversion so Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok could escape.
Cheol-gang is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, but his connections arrange an attack on the transport carrying him away. Jeong-hyeok realises the apparent fatal crash conceals an escape, and Cheol-gang calls to threaten Se-ri in Seoul. Missing the captain, Se-ri goes out for a late walk and finds him standing before her. His father separately sends the four soldiers and Man-bok south to retrieve him, bringing them into the city under an athletic delegation’s cover.