SBS 금토드라마 '신이랑 법률사무소' Yoo Yeon-seok teamed up miraculously with the ghost of Esom's older sister to save the life of a student who was a victim of school violence. After a satisfying sequence that punished the perpetrators, the ending—Esom recognizing the sister possessing Yoo Yeon-seok and embracing him in tears—left a poignant afterglow.
On the 4th, episode 8 of the SBS Friday-Saturday drama '신이랑 법률사무소' (directed by Shin Jung-hoon, written by Kim Ga-young·Kang Cheol-gyu, produced by StudioS·Mongjakso) showed Shin I-rang (Yoo Yeon-seok) under fire as a lawyer defending a student assault case but nonetheless uncovering the truth about the school violence, and Hanna-hyun (Esom), who accompanied him through the process, acknowledged Shin I-rang's uncanny secret and finally met her dead sister Han So-hyun (Hwang Bo-reum-byeol). The nationwide rating was 9.5%, the Seoul metropolitan area rating was 9.4%, and the peak minute rating reached 11.1% per minute, ranking first among all dramas aired in the same time slot as well as on Friday and Saturday. It also topped the mini series currently on air. The target demographic 20-49 rating peaked at 2.5%. (Nielsen Korea provided)
Using an incense burner to reopen his spiritual sight, Shin I-rang immediately realized that the new spirit was Hanna-hyun's sister, Han So-hyun. But before they could exchange greetings, Han So-hyun, seeing a student being one-sidedly beaten by three people in an alley outside the window, possessed Shin I-rang's body and rushed out. With a personality that could not tolerate injustice—enough to have won a civic virtue award—and taekwondo black belt kicking skills, she subdued the violence. However, not only did the perpetrator students lie and say it was a prank, the victim Seo Jun-ho (Han Hyun-jun) also gave false testimony, and Shin I-rang suddenly found himself locked up in a detention cell.
Only in the detention center did Shin I-rang properly talk with Han So-hyun and help restore her memory through her name and birthdate. Unlike previous spirits who had died wrongfully, Han So-hyun, who had sacrificed her life by pushing her sibling out of the path of an oncoming drunk driver, cried, "I saved my Na-hyun. I'm dead but I'm happy." At that moment, Hanna-hyun, who had taken Shin I-rang's case at the request of her brother-in-law Yoon Bong-soo (Jun Suk-ho), appeared. Despite Shin I-rang's plea that he had acted to stop the assault and was attacked, she maintained a cynical stance that settlement was the best option.
Han So-hyun found her changed sibling unfamiliar. It was strange that the sibling who used to sing all day and play guitar while dreaming of becoming a singer had become a lawyer, and her bright smile and lively energy had vanished, replaced by a closed, cold aura. Moreover, the sibling even avoided calls from their father, and the parents worried only about the sibling, so the changed household atmosphere made Han So-hyun even sadder. Shin I-rang comforted her, saying, "All the sad stories of the spirits who came to me have been resolved, so I will do my best to help."
But escaping the crisis of having his lawyer license suspended and having to pay a huge settlement was urgent. Shin I-rang and Han So-hyun investigated why Seo Jun-ho was lying. The truth they discovered was horrific. The perpetrator students had filmed humiliating videos of Seo Jun-ho and were extorting money and committing violence using them as leverage. Moreover, Seo Jun-ho harbored a vengeful intent he should not have entertained. Using Shin I-rang's body, Han So-hyun stopped Seo Jun-ho's revenge with a heartfelt plea: "If you return it the same way, you'll only end up worse off." Hanna-hyun, who went looking for Seo Jun-ho and witnessed this, learned that Seo Jun-ho was a victim driven to the edge and joined Shin I-rang in securing evidence.
Despite repeated setbacks in their plan, it was ultimately the victim's true courage that revealed the truth. While being mercilessly beaten by the perpetrators, Seo Jun-ho endured until he exhausted them and personally secured the phone containing the illegal video. Seo Jun-ho's desperate fight—choosing a path different from violence and not meeting violence with violence—moved viewers. Just as Shin I-rang's mother Park Kyung-hwa (Kim Mi-kyung) was about to sign the settlement, Hanna-hyun rushed in, tore up the agreement, and reported that the perpetrator students had been urgently arrested on charges of aggravated assault and illegal filming and distribution, bringing the case to a satisfying close.
Yang Do-gyeong (Kim Kyeong-nam), the head of Taebaek who had represented the perpetrators, warned Hanna-hyun, "Shin I-rang sees ghosts. It's dangerous to get close." He then presented the office photo from when it used to be a shaman's house and evidence that Shin I-rang's odd behavior over time was caused by the spirits. At that moment, realizing something, Hanna-hyun confirmed that the words Shin I-rang used to persuade Seo Jun-ho perfectly matched content written in her sister's diary and that her parents had visited that shaman's house after her sister's death, leaving her stunned and confused.
Finally drawing close to Shin I-rang's secret that "he can see ghosts and converse with them," Hanna-hyun took him to an amusement park that held memories of the sisters. There, Han So-hyun, excited at the sight of the roller coaster, possessed Shin I-rang, and when she uttered the sisters' code, "Let's ride the last car today," Hanna-hyun burst into tears she had been holding back. The sisters' tearful embrace amid the crowd moved viewers deeply. SBS Friday-Saturday drama '신이랑 법률사무소' airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 p.m.
[Photo] StudioS, Mongjakso
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