This last episode was about the simple fact that money can't swim.
This one was both fun and sad. The whole action takes place during one night (hence the title). One night that changed the lives of so many people, not only main characters.
We meet our two main characters when they are standing in front of the big challenge. Dongshik is a young man studying to get into the police academy. He is smart so his friends are sure he will pass this time. If only he doesn't decide to help some strangers. Because this is exactly what prevented him to get into the academy and become the police officer. He tries to help people and ends up injured, so his physical exam is nearing zero.
Juyeong, his girlfriend is also mired in some societal and financial trouble - he pays off her brother's debt that keeps growing and not diminishing. Also she's stuck at work she hates but it provides her some finances. So she also supports Dongshik, believing he will pass his exams and become the police officer. Dongshik, wanting to at least once pay her back, plans to take her on a date, but to get money, he decides to sell a pair of shoes he got from her as a token for good luck. And this is the moment when everything goes wrong.
At the subway station he makes the exchange with a guy who came to buy his shoes, but when he checks the payment he's taken aback. In the TURQUOISE* bag there is 1 million Won. Realizing something was wrong, Dongshik tries to find the owner of the bag. Meanwhile the owner of the bag happily checks the shoes and packages inside them just like his boss asks him to do. But instead of drugs, there's only desiccant. And the roller-coaster starts - Gijun tries to find Dongshik, Dongshik tries to find him and later to go to the police station and report it.
The temptation is, however, too strong. A little pinch - one bill, nothing more. And then he will return the rest of the money. Dongshik tries to rationalize it - after all he is entitled to the finder's fee, etc. With this he decides to spend the night with Juyeong at some fancy hotel, as she expressed the wish to have sex with him. Long story short, he needs to chase her as she ran away with the bag of money. Dongshik chases Juyeong, and at one point he's spotted by Gijun so the chase becomes more complicated. While Juyeong deposits half the money to her account to cover the debt, two men start to talk, so Dongshik learns about the circumstances of the unfortunate exchange.
Juyeong is willing to return the remaining money and they meet on the bridge. Due to the light scuffle, the bag lands on the fast flowing waves of the Han River. There is only one thing to do - to die at the hands of a furious gangster boss. The confrontation with the mafia ends on a happy note when panda-eyed Juyeong comes in with police officers who have a field day, arresting the drug king in the wee hours of the morning.
The comedic moments were weaved in craftily and effortlessly, sometimes all it took to make me smile was a wordless scene with glances, or just Juyeong who after the whole night of crying, running and not sleeping had mascara smudged exactly like in reality. But apart from the fun stuff, the episode touched upon more serious issues - aging population and the responsibility for old Parents, even to the point of doing a mafia boss bidding to pay the bills, the harsh realities of people working just to pay for living expenses but not having any satisfaction.
In all - it was a nice coda to the KBS Drama Special Season 2020.
* Shawols are on tv making your dramas
