Cafe Minamdang (미남당) is a mystery-drama-comedy TV series directed by Ko Jae-hyun and written by Park Hye-jin, the series is based on the book Minamdang: Sagun Soochub written by Jung Jae-han. Cafe Minamdang episode 9 has a runtime of 61 minutes.
The series, created by Park Hye-jin, Ko Jae-hyun and Yun Ra-young, takes over KBS2’s Monday-Tuesday 9.30 PM KST slot previously occupied by Bloody Heart. The series stars Seo In-guk, Oh Yeon-seo, Kwak Si-yang, Kang Mi-na, Kwon Soo-hyun and Baek Seo-hoo, alongside other cast members.
Netflix describes the series as:
A SUSPICIOUS BUSINESS THAT OFFERS THE SERVICES OF A PURPORTEDLY ALL-KNOWING SHAMAN CATCHES THE ATTENTION OF A TENACIOUS POLICE INSPECTOR.
– Cafe Minamdang Episode 9 Recap Contains Major Spoilers –
Cafe Minamdang episode 9 starts with Jae-hui electrocuting Han-jun instead of Gyeong-cheol. Major drama follows, and after Han-jun is taken to the hospital, Jae-hui interrogates Gyeong-cheol, who tries to play dumb but the video puts him in a tough spot. He continues to deny his involvement in Eun-hye’s death.
Although Jae-hui doesn’t get much out of the man, Do-won has a different set of evidence that makes him uncomfortable. Regardless, they don’t have an option but to let him go since they don’t have anything to keep him with.
As Jae-hui and the team are threatened with the case being taken away, thanks to someone important having their talons in it, Anyway, later on, Do-won comforts a frustrated Jae-hui, who mentions that they need more definite evidence to nab Gyeong-cheol. It’s pretty clear that he is crushing on Jae-hui hard, and the spunky officer is also enjoying the attention.
In the meantime, Han-jun and his team wonder how to get their hands on Gyeong-cheol and nab Gopuri as a result. Su-cheol mentions that they should just grab him and get the man to Minamdang and teach him a lesson, but Han-jun mentions that considering the man that he is, they should wait for Gyeong-cheol to come to them instead.
Han-jun then plans an elaborate setup to make Gyeong-cheol’s life a living hell. In the end, worn out and deserted in the middle of the road, he gets beaten by three teenage girls for being a pervert as Han-jun watches on. And, just like that, Gyeong-cheol is at Minamdang asking for Han-jun’s help.
Also Read: Cafe Minamdang Episode 8 Recap and Review: A New Villain
As Han-jun tries to get Gyeong-cheol to talk about his sins, Hye-jun installs a listening device on his phone so that they can always keep an eye on him. After a little prodding and probing, Gyeong-cheol blurts out Gu Tae-su’s name, saying that catching him wouldn’t make a difference which takes Han-jun by surprise. He starts to add two and two together and asks him about the woman in the video. But, Gyeong-cheol is far too scared of the consequences than he is of his own death,
That night, Gyeong-cheol watches a video that he had recorded of Eun-hye’s death. She was with a client that night, and the entire incident was recorded clearly. He tells Tae-su of this development and asks for money in exchange for buying his silence but promises to keep his mouth shut and lay low forever if Tae-su complies.
Meanwhile, Jae-hui finds out about Gyeong-cheol’s chummy relationship with Eun-hye from security tapes at her place and realises that either he killed her or he took her to the person who killed her. Plus, the car he is driving isn’t his – so who is behind all of this? In the next scene, we see Tae-su driving the same car as in the video. He has gone to see another shaman, who is apparently trying to make one of the election candidates win.
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And it apparently works – Candidate Yang has a heart attack and Lee wins. Oracle Im seems to have some very deep connections, and Tae-su asks her what he should do about Gyeong-cheol and the video that he has taken. Frustrated, she takes out a gopuri, writes Gyeong-cheol’s name on it and mentions that if he starts running his mouth, their plans will be foiled. She gives the knotted cloth to Tae-su and the latter promises to take care of it.
Interestingly, it seems like Oracle Im has a special interest in Han-jun, which is evident from the file in her safe.
Anyway, Tae-su informs Gyeong-cheol that he will be visiting him within the hour with his money, and Han-jun and Su-cheol rush out to his place because something bad is clearly about to happen. Inside the warehouse from earlier, Han-jun and Su-cheol find Gyeong-cheol’s dead body on a couch – they are too late to do anything. Tae-su even took the evidence and staged it like a suicide. However, unknown to Han-jun, a killer is lurking right there behind him.
Cafe Minamdang Episode 9 Ending
Han-jun goes off to investigate, resulting in a fight between him and the masked killer as the police also get there. He unmasks the killer and it turns out to be Gu Tae-su. Han-jun asks him whether he’s Gopuri and why he killed Jae-jeong. Unfortunately, that question is left unanswered when the microwave bursts, sending Han-jun flying. Meanwhile, Do-won gives a fleeing Tae-su chase but is no match for him.
Eventually, Tae-su gets away but they now have his identity and hopefully, it will be much easier to catch him.
Anyway, the police find a fake suicide note on Gyeong-cheol’s desk and Han-jun tells Jae-hui whom he saw. Unfortunately for him, Jae-hui insists on taking Han-jun to the police station, although they know that the killer is someone else. Her excuse is that she wants to know the truth from Han-jun and doesn’t want him to squirm away – arresting him was the only way to assure that.
Han-jun and Jae-hui end up trying to figure out the gopura fabric and its connection with all the victims. She suggests that they use hypnosis to bring back the memories that he has forgotten to find something that they missed, but Han-jun immediately shoots it down. However, when she throws him into an unhygienic cell, he quickly changes his tune.
Although the hypnosis doesn’t go as planned at first, Jae-hui knocks him unconscious, which results in a successful hypnosis session. In a heartbreaking scene, Han-jun retells Jae-jeong’s death once more and calls Tae-su the killer. IN the midst of this, he mentions being deeply scared of losing his loved ones all over again, resulting in a tearful embrace between Han-jun and Jae-hui, who assures him that nothing that happened in the past was his fault.
On their way back home, Han-jun and Jae-hui stop beside the road where she tends to a small wound on his hand, and the romantic music makes it evident that Han-jun is falling for the detective. However, he stops short of losing himself in her, but all of that takes a backseat when they rush to the station to find Gu Tae-su sitting there.
In the epilogue, we follow Tae-su as he is seen pulling off all the murders, clearly with a religious undercurrent to the murders.
Cafe Minamdang Episode 9 Review
Now that we know who the killer is, I wonder what we are supposed to do for the next 9 episodes. Do we find ways to catch him? Or maybe Oracle Im? Or is there someone else? That’s still a bit unclear, but I wonder whether they’re simply going to continue to develop random storylines in order to keep things going.
The show has created some interesting scenarios, and I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t enjoy them. However, I am more surprised by its audacity to take things this far and try to make us believe that this is a scenario that can actually happen. I like how brave the showrunners are – I applaud them for it. And honestly, I am enjoying a show that can go that extra, unbelievable mile and keeps a murder mystery going.
Anyway, Cafe Minamdang episode 9 moves forward with Gu Tae-su and gives us some definitive answers. Personally, I don’t think they’re going to introduce any new murderers, but they will definitely add scenarios and characters that add context. At 18 episodes, Cafe Minamdang seems like it’s going to be a very long ride considering the slapstick comedy shtick that it is following.
I fear that it is going to go overboard with the silly humour resulting in a messy and confusing show.
Now, Han-jun is a character whose silliness you can get behind. From the first episode, that is who he is. However, what is up with Jae-hui? Being full of heartbreak and sadness is one thing but she’s supposed to be a gutsy, no-nonsense detective; how is it that she always ends up behaving like a big buffoon? She always makes silly decisions that don’t feel rational in any way, shape or form. Her character is annoying, which is sad considering I really wanted to like a smart and driven female detective.
Anyway, I am super confused with the direction of the show. I found the comedy moments to be going down a notch now that we’ve had the same things repeated for 9 episodes. The mystery still has a chance to come out of this alive, but now that we know who all of these secretive people are, I wonder whether there is a twist after this somewhere.
Cafe Minamdang is streaming on Netflix.
Check out our Cafe Minamdang reviews here.