I’m jobless :P

Okay, here we go…

Let’s first break down our cast of characters (the ones we know so far, at least):

- Rep Lee (Lee Myungseon): Former Mayor of Songmoon City (served two terms) and current District Representative for Yeongseo. Important note: a district representative is a member of the National Assembly (the Korean equivalent of the US Congress) and is voted for by the people.

Rep Lee’s staff:
- Cha Kwonsoo (“The Guy Next Door”): Senior political aide and assistant to Rep Lee
- Joo Incheol: Senior political aide to Rep Lee
- Jeong Yohan: Cha Kwonsoo’s secretary
- Shin Dohyun: Joo Incheol’s secretary
- Kim Seokjun: Executive secretary
- Oh Wonhee: Administrative secretary
- Yun Dokyun: Secretary
- Park Jaeyoung: Intern
- Soohyun Lee: Legislative assistant

Miscellaneous political people:
- Kim Min-hyung: District clerk (works in Yeongseo)
- Kim Woongjae: A senior political aide (same job as Incheol, different boss)
- Rep Choi: District representative, opposite party to Rep Lee

The gym:
- Ahn Pyeonghwa: Gym owner and boxer
- Kim Sungkyung: Student and part-timer at Pyeonghwa’s gym
- Officer Park: Police officer who previously owned the gym

Okay, so moving on to the politics, as I understand them. Don’t take this as gospel, this is just my interpretation.

Let’s establish the main setting of our story: Songmoon City. It consists of an upper and lower city, separated by a veil (it’s probably just smog, but the locals call it a “veil” so whatever). Remember: Rep Lee used to be the mayor of Songmoon. And when she was, the upper part of the city went through redevelopment (this is history repeating itself bc now she’s pushing for the lower city to be redeveloped as well).

The Central District of Yeongseo (in Songmoon) is where the majority of our story takes place. When they’re talking about “the district”, they’re usually referring to Yeongseo. Pyeonghwa’s gym is located in Zone 2 of this district.

Rep Lee is currently spearheading a neighborhood redevelopment project. This is a project years in the making. Most residents have sold their land and/or homes & businesses so that construction can begin. However, Pyeonghwa’s refusal to leave has thrown a wrench in the works. Construction has a specific order of operations in which they need to proceed, so they can’t just skip Zone 2 and come back to it later.

Initially, Cha Kwonsoo was sent down to negotiate a deal with Pyeonghwa. It’s unclear why Rep Lee decided to send Incheol in as a replacement for Kwonsoo, but she does (maybe Kwonsoo ingratiated himself to her or maybe she thought he was taking too long). Kwonsoo spent 2 years trying to get Pyeonghwa to sell. There’s obviously some history there, hence why Incheol is so interested in knowing what Pyeonghwa told Kwonsoo. And, in turn, what Kwonsoo didn’t share with Incheol.

Incheol’s new position is seen as a demotion, by himself and by his colleagues. It’s almost like a punishment, despite Rep Lee’s attempts to convince him it’s a golden opportunity. It’s Incheol’s job to get Pyeonghwa to sell the gym, so they can tear it down and get construction started on the new builds. Unfortunately for Incheol, Pyeonghwa’s price is not monetary.

There’s also some underlying government scandal going on with the Prime Minister (idk the details, but he’s being exposed for… something) and that puts a lot of pressure on Rep Lee and her team to play by the rules and do things to code. In other words, Incheol can’t just like kill Pyeonghwa and take his gym or something like that. Too much scrutiny and eyes on them.

Let’s talk about the gym real quick. It was previously owned by a police officer named Officer Park (most likely the guy Pyeonghwa dreams about seeing in the hospital in Chapter 16). Officer Park was promoted to an Inspector position (this is a civil servant job like Incheol’s), and was forced to sell the gym bc public officials cannot own businesses in Korea. The timeline gets kind of hazy here and I’m not exactly sure how Pyeonghwa ends up with the gym, but he does somehow.

The behind-the-scenes movements of characters like Kwonsoo and Rep Lee are purposefully being withheld from us at this point in the story. Incheol doesn’t get to know all the details so neither do we. All that’s clear is that Rep Lee was trying to push a real estate amendment through the National Assembly, but the votes didn’t go her way and it was rejected. We’re not privy to the stipulations of the Special Council Bill, but it seems that Incheol suspects its rejection was orchestrated.

**This is just something extra I noticed in the story: In Chapter 14, Incheol gets a text from a reporter asking for an interview. The reporter wants to talk to Incheol about “an incident” that occurred 12 years ago during the first redevelopment of Songmoon (the upper city).

That’s all I got, folks. Hope it helps…?