Start-Up Season 1 Episode 6 Recap – Key Man

[00:01:00] After celebrating a little with Do-san, Dal-mi realizes Do-san was already hugging her; she feels a bit embarrassed. They congratulate each other as Dal-mi looks for Ji-pyeong. Ji-pyeong steps outside to think about what he will say to Dal-mi once the time comes, and they talk again. Dal-mi wants to look for Ji-pyeong, but Do-san stops her. He knows Dal-mi can’t find out about the truth. Ji-pyeong still thinks about things outside Sandbox when Do-san approaches him. He tells Ji-pyeong he answered Dal-mi’s question for him. Dal-mi wants to know why Ji-pyeong lied to her. Do-san told her he asked for Ji-pyeong’s help. He told Dal-mi they were like brothers, and she bought their excuse.

[00:06:00] After getting accepted into Sandbox, Dal-mi goes to A-hyun’s hotel to show off her achievement. She waited for A-hyun to emerge from the elevator, but she didn’t show up. Dal-mi waited for such a long time; A-hyun eventually showed up. She thought Dal-mi went to the hotel to meet with her, but she told A-hyun she’s meeting up with her friends, and everything was just a coincidence. Dal-mi tells A-hyun she got accepted at Sandbox. She went over not to brag but to set things straight. She told A-hyun previously she would achieve more than In-jae. A-hyun was meeting up with In-jae because she also got accepted into Sandbox. She feels proud Dal-mi is achieving things she couldn’t before. In-jae sees Dal-mi speaking with A-hyun.

[00:09:00] Do-san is in his room running In-jae’s new font style through their model again. He finally gets a false result, so he rushes out of his room and tells his parents he’ll be leaving for work. Do-san’s father refuses to let him leave wearing regular clothes. They give him a proper suit and tell him the CEO always needs to look his best. Do-san can’t tell his parents he isn’t the CEO of Samsan Tech. He leaves for work and meets Dal-mi at Sandbox. They go over to Chul-san and Yong-san, enjoying all the free food they can get. While talking at the cafeteria, Do-san shows them the false result he got using In-jae’s font style. They are thrilled Do-san managed to solve the problem.

[00:12:30] They see the announcement about their office, so they go over and are amazed at their new office. The guys celebrate the brand new office while Dal-mi goes to In-jae’s office to show her the false result. In-jae asks Dal-mi why she’s peeking into their office, but she tells In-jae they need to talk about something. While the guys decide where Dal-mi should sit, Sa-ha enters the office and takes the seat Do-san is offering Dal-mi. Do-san really want Dal-mi to take the biggest table in the room, but she refuses. Do-san is angry at Sa-ha for taking the table because he feels she doesn’t deserve it.

[00:18:00] Seon-hak is on her way to Sandbox when she sees a flower tied to a bridge. The flower is tied to the bridge with a black ribbon. It seems she knows the meaning behind the flower as she frowns while staring at it. Ji-pyeong roasts Dong-cheon while he is presenting their business model. After the meeting, Seon-hak hands him a mug of coffee and tells him Ji-pyeong is just nervous as the first day of mentoring starts today. Dong-cheon visits Samsan Tech to tell them the rules and guidelines they need to follow while working at Sandbox. They are astonished at how much money they will receive if everything works out. Dong-cheon tells everyone to prepare for due diligence, but they don’t know its meaning.

[00:22:00] Do-san thinks it has something to do with due dates, making him look like a fool in front of Sa-ha and Dal-mi. Dal-mi explains due diligence to them while Sa-ha walks out of the room. Dong-cheon tells them who the mentors are for the residency program: Seon-hak, Ji-pyeong, Alex, and Du-jeong. In-jae is heading back to her office when she bumps into Du-jeong at the elevator. He wants In-jae to thank him because she got in because of him. In-jae knows her stepfather would come and brag he helped her get in, but she refuses to thank him. In-jae tells Du-jeong she’s already decided on who her mentor will be.

[00:24:00] The first time In-jae went to Sandbox, she overheard Seon-hak talking to Dong-cheon about the Sandbox logo. Seon-hak told him the story about the girl on the swing. In-jae knew the story because it was Dal-mi and Cheong-myeong. In-jae used the story of the girl on the swing on her application at Sandbox. Seon-hak read the application, but she didn’t tell Ji-pyeong until it was time to pick a mentor. Dal-mi is outside the office when In-jae is picking her mentor. She is trying to eavesdrop on the conversation outside, but she can’t hear anything. In-jae sees her trying to eavesdrop when she exits the room. The panel calls Dal-mi as In-jae goes out.

[00:27:30] Dal-mi goes inside, and Seon-hak asks her colleagues who wants to mentor Samsan Tech. Both Alex and Ji-pyeong raise their hands. Dal-mi feels flattered, but she tells everyone she’s already chosen a mentor. She wants Ji-pyeong to be their mentor, surprising Alex. He thought they would automatically pick him. Ji-pyeong tries to decline the offer and tells Dal-mi to choose Alex, but she has already decided. After their meeting, Ji-pyeong tells Dal-mi she wasted the opportunity to have Alex as their mentor. Dal-mi tells Ji-pyeong he’s interested in Samsan Tech more than Alex. She points out all the things he did for them. At first, Dal-mi thought Ji-pyeong just likes her, but everything was cleared up by Do-san when he told her they were like brothers.

[00:30:00] Ji-pyeong doesn’t deny anything Do-san told Dal-mi. She extends her hand to Ji-pyeong and asks him for his continuous guidance and support for everyone. Ji-pyeong responds she’ll regret choosing him, but Dal-mi responds she’s never regretted her life choices. Ji-pyeong meets with the rest of the team, who disapproves of Dal-mi’s choice. They wanted Alex as their mentor because he is global, unlike Ji-pyeong, who was only on a local level. Dal-mi tells them Alex might be global, but Ji-pyeong is family. Chul-san and Yong-san ask Dal-mi when Ji-pyeong was considered as family. Do-san winks at them and explains Ji-pyeong is like a brother to him. The two understand his body language and agree that Ji-pyeong is like their brother.

[00:32:30] Ji-pyeong takes Do-san’s hand and tells him he’ll guide him like a Himalayan Sherpa, crushing his hand. After their small talk, they decided to talk business. With Ji-pyeong as their mentor, things would get out of hand as he never minces his words. True enough, as they begin to discuss due diligence, Ji-pyeong notices something odd about the company’s shareholder structure. The equity is divided equally among its members, something you don’t see from other companies. Ji-pyeong asks Do-san who the other members are, and he pretends to know them to continue lying to Dal-mi. After the initial talks, Ji-pyeong finally lets his cannon loose. He tells them their shareholder structure will be the company’s downfall. He explains that equity should be given to one person, so he or she will have complete control of the company.

[00:35:30] Meanwhile, things are looking good for In-jae and her associates. She chose Seon-hak as her mentor despite Du-jeong being part of the mentor’s list. In-jae learned things the hard way. She thought Du-jeong’s shares were hers, so she never questioned the equity in their company. She tells Seon-hak she trusted her father too much, leading to her demise. Dal-mi disagrees the equity needs to be with the CEO. She tells Ji-pyeong they could act as one, but he knows it isn’t that simple. Do-san is also naïve when it comes to business. He tells Ji-pyeong their love and friendship will last forever. Ji-pyeong tells them those words are for weddings. He explains companies lose money once a shareholder leaves, unlike marriage, which splits the assets upon divorce. Once shareholders leave, investors lose money.

[00:38:00] Do-san offers his shares to amend their mistake, but 35% is still insufficient. Ji-pyeong explains once the funding rounds begin, investors will buy their stock, and sooner or later, they will have more than 35% of the company’s stock. He adds there are scenarios where other shareholders side with investors in an attempt to overtake the company or sell it for higher profit. Ji-pyeong tells them it’s important to have their key man own most of the company’s shares. Dal-mi asks how to determine who will be the key man of the company. Ji-pyeong answers the person Samsan Tech can’t lose should be the key man. He tells them the key man should have at least 60% of the equity, but he prefers the CEO to have 90%. Things go smoothly at In-jae’s company but not at Samsan Tech.

[00:39:00] Chul-san disagrees with the equity share. He starts complaining and accuses Dal-mi of planning things out to steal his shares. Unlike In-jae’s employees, the people at Samsan Tech don’t have a deep understanding of how a company works. They are all rainbows and butterflies, but now they need to face reality checks that are hard to swallow. The three men allow their emotions to get the best of them, and they end up fighting. Ji-pyeong decides to leave them as he knows they will accomplish nothing. Dal-mi chases after Ji-pyeong and tells him the three will make up soon. Ji-pyeong tells Dal-mi she’s the problem; she can’t resolve the issue as their CEO. Ji-pyeong tells her if those three are fighting over 100 million won, they can’t achieve anything greater or even earn more.

[00:41:30] In-jae and her associates are leaving their office just as Chul-san and Yong-san are leaving as well. They shout out to Do-san to change the company name to Dal-mi Tech. Dal-mi asks Yong-san’s help to speak with Chul-san, but he doesn’t want to help her. Dal-mi feels embarrassed in front of In-jae as it looks like the end for Samsan Tech. It is their first day, and they can’t keep things together. In-jae asks Dal-mi what they’re meeting is about, but she can’t brag about their achievement — the company is falling apart. Dal-mi goes back to their office and sees Do-san staring at the shareholders’ list. Dal-mi asks Do-san to take her home. Do-san tells Dal-mi to just filter out what happened. She offers to make Do-san the CEO again, but he refuses.

[00:43:30] Do-san assures Dal-mi he can convince his friends and make up with them. Dal-mi goes home to tell Won-deok her problems. She offers some solutions based on her understanding of the problem, but her solutions won’t work because they really aren’t options to begin with. Won-deok tells Dal-mi to just allow Do-san to become the CEO, but he refuses to take the position. They can’t give Do-san the shares because it will cause distrust among their possible investors if the company’s CEO doesn’t have the majority of shares. Won-deok quits on Dal-mi and tells her she’s looking for non-existing answers. Meanwhile, Chul-san and Yong-san go back to Samsan Tech’s office to spend the night and think about what happened. They remembered the first time Samsan Tech opened its doors.

[00:49:00] It was originally called Dosan Tech. Do-san owned it, and he was the only employee. Chul-san and Yong-san decided to get jobs independently, but Chul-san encountered a problem at work. The servers got attacked and infected with ransomware on his shift. He couldn’t do anything about it, but the company wanted him to pay the hackers to get the company’s data back. Chul-san wanted to just die because he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have the skills to unlock the ransomware, nor 100 million won to pay the hackers. Do-san told Chul-san he’ll try and unlock the ransomware. Do-san spent all night unlocking the ransomware, and he successfully did. Yong-san left his job to offer his severance pay to help Chul-san. Do-san told him they had already unlocked the ransomware, but it was too late.

[00:55:30] Yong-san decided to keep the money as he applies to work for Do-san. Soon enough, Do-san’s empty office slowly filled up with items as they worked out the kinks of their start-up company. Yong-san and Chul-san could give Do-san shares, but they couldn’t give it to Dal-mi. Chul-san explains Do-san and Dal-mi met because of the fake letters, to begin with. He knows once the truth is out, Dal-mi could leave Samsan Tech, so they can’t let her have all the shares. They didn’t know Do-san was up in the office listening to their conversation. He couldn’t help but wonder what would be the best path to take.

[00:58:30] Dal-mi is up all night studying as CEO of Samsan Tech. She keeps sending messages to Ji-pyeong about her questions. Morning came, and Ji-pyeong sees he has almost 500 unread messages from Dal-mi. All of her messages are business-related, and he can’t believe she spent all night asking him questions. Dal-mi goes to the bookstore to get more books, so she can continue learning how to be a good CEO. Ji-pyeong goes to the bookstore to meet with her. She reaches for a book entitled “What makes a great CEO.” It is also her first question to Ji-pyeong last night. Ji-pyeong tells her there’s no such thing as a great CEO because there are no correct answers in politics or management. The CEO just needs to make decisions based on the facts given to him or her.

[01:00:00] Ji-pyeong asks Dal-mi if she wants to be a good person or a CEO because she can’t be both. Dal-mi goes back to the office and sees Sa-ha talking to a person at the cafeteria. She decides to call Sa-ha to see what she’ll do. Sa-ha sees Dal-mi calling, so she rejects the call and continues her conversation. Do-san is at the office knitting when he sees a milk bottle on the window sill. He left the milk yesterday, and he knows the bottle will burst, so he takes it off the sill and places it on his desk. Dal-mi calls Do-san and tells her they need to talk. Do-san leaves the office and sees Chul-san on his way out. He tells Chul-san not to touch the bottle of milk. Chul-san doesn’t listen to Do-san; he decides to open the bottle.

[01:02:30] Chul-san gets his eyes and face burnt; the milk bottle exploded when he opened it. Do-san rushes back to the office to help his friend. They are on their way to the hospital when Yong-san arrives. He doesn’t know what to do, so he just goes with them. Chul-san cries at the doctor’s office; he can’t open his eyes. He tells the doctor he needs to see again; he wants to see his friends and apologize. Do-san and Yong-san are outside the doctor’s office crying and begging as if Chul-san was in a major accident. They apologize to him and each other for what happened. Chul-san shouts. He could see again, so the two rushed inside the doctor’s office to hug their friend, renewing their friendship.

[01:05:30] They walk back to Sandbox after spending the day at the doctor’s office. Chul-san tells Do-san he trusts him and could also trust Dal-mi. They decide to give their shares up for the future of the company. Chul-san assures them they won’t regret their choices and tells them he heard their conversation last night. Dal-mi calls up a meeting at the office and shows them a brand new shareholders list. She made two lists, and one of them didn’t include Sa-ha’s name. Sa-ha asks why her name isn’t on the list. Dal-mi brings the hammer down on her. She asks Sa-ha if she’s ready to become part of Samsan Tech. Sa-ha refuses to follow Dal-mi, so she tells her she can leave. Dal-mi tells Sa-ha she can’t work with her because she doesn’t want to cooperate.

[01:09:00] Sa-ha doesn’t have any choice — follow Dal-mi or leave. Chul-san tells Sa-ha to take the other option, so she could still be part of their company. After the meeting, they take their first company photo. At first, it seems Sa-ha is no longer part of the company because she isn’t with them when they take the photo. Chul-san drags Sa-ha in front of the camera, so she could be included in the photo despite not wanting to be included. After the company photo, Dal-mi and Do-san meet with Ji-pyeong. They show him the shareholders list, but he isn’t happy. It was confusing as Do-san has most of the shares, but Dal-mi is the CEO. Dal-mi tells Ji-pyeong that Do-san is the CFO; he’ll be with her all the time.

[01:11:30] Ji-pyeong disagrees, but Do-san assures him they won’t argue or undermine each other. Dal-mi tells Ji-pyeong she made a decision as CEO of the company despite ignoring his initial opinion. Dal-mi defends her decision by telling Ji-pyeong she followed his advice. Ji-pyeong can’t do anything but agree because Dal-mi is the company CEO. After their talk, Do-san decides to stay and talk with Ji-pyeong. He tells Ji-pyeong they should tell Dal-mi the truth. Ji-pyeong wants to know why he wants to tell the truth. Do-san explains he wants to remove a future bug from occurring. That night, Do-san takes Dal-mi home and asks if her grandmother is at home. He wants to meet Won-deok for the first time.

[01:14:00] Dal-mi goes into their house to tell Won-deok that Do-san is coming in. Dal-mi and Won-deok clean the house as fast as possible. After a few minutes, Dal-mi tells Do-san to enter the house. Won-deok thought it was Ji-pyeong, but she gets shocked to see the real Do-san. Dal-mi asks Won-deok if she recognizes Do-san because they haven’t seen each other in 15 years. Do-san is about to cry because he does remember Won-deok. She was at the doctor’s office when they brought Chul-san in. He overheard Won-deok is going blind, and her medications won’t stop her blindness. He wants to tell Dal-mi the truth, but he can’t. Won-deok doesn’t want Dal-mi to know about her condition. They pretend to know each other so that Dal-mi won’t suspect anything.