AH

👍

That’s fine, you don’t need to care about the novel and you can skip the parts of my comments with warnings about novel spoilers if you don’t want to see them.

I’m just saying that, in addition to the evidence we’ve seen in the drama that I described, there is also additional evidence elsewhere that further supports the interpretation that Magnolia and I described. You are free to ignore that information if you prefer.

Bitch? I don’t love HIA and she’s far from perfect, but I don’t think her behaviour merits that. Out of all the relatives in BSE and HHJ’s families, she’s the least problematic and the one who is most concerned for HHJ after BSE.

Novel spoilers ahead.

The drama has changed some key details from the novel. For example, in the novel HHJ knew the real BSE as a kid before he was replaced and she recognized that the fake BSE was a different person even though everyone pretended that he wasn’t. That’s disturbing enough, but then right after she mentioned it in front of BSE’s grandfather she was in a car crash that killed her nanny, killed her half-brother, and rendered her deaf. She was smart enough to realize the accident was orchestrated to keep her quiet. So she was quite understandably afraid of the replacement BSE’s secret / unknown background and the lengths that his family would go to in order to keep that secret. Obviously the drama has changed some of these details, but I don’t think there’s any reason why they would change HIA so that she only cared about BSE’s standing as a legitimate son of the Baek family. If that was all she cared about, then why would HHJ having feelings for the replacement BSE make any difference when HIA was deciding whether or not to warn HHJ about BSE?

Also, one thing the drama didn’t change was the fact that BSE pretended that his reason for marrying HHJ (instead of just calling off the wedding with HIA) was to use HHJ as a hostage to keep HIA quiet about his secret. So HIA understandably views BSE as a potential threat to HHJ, especially if HHJ had feelings for BSE (which she obviously does).

Magnolia is correct. It’s much clearer in the novel, but even in the drama it’s still pretty clear that HIA’s concerns are about the fact that BSE isn’t who he / his family says he is and they are all lying about his identity and seemingly hiding a dark secret from everyone. If BSE had just been openly adopted without any secrecy, she wouldn’t be concerned.

The subtitles translated BSE’s words as, “If something happens to me and the BSE you’ve known disappears from this world, even if I throw away the title of BJH’s grandson, BUY’s son and the president’s spokesperson, just remember this: the only BSE I want to leave behind in this world is the one who belongs to HHJ.”

But translating it as “leave behind” is a bit confusing. I think his intended meaning would be clearer if they translated it more like “…the only BSE that I want to continue to remain in the world even after all the others are gone is the BSE who belongs to HHJ.”

If so, that will be a new character that didn’t feature in the novel, like HNJ’s character.

Friendly PSA / request: as a courtesy to fellow fans, please consider tagging / hiding every comment you post that describes things that happen in today’s episode as containing spoilers, even if others in the comment section have not tagged comments about the same thing as a spoiler.

The best way to encourage people to tag their spoilers is to lead by example, and being considerate makes the comment section a lot more pleasant for everyone.

Thank you to everyone who tags their spoilers, and enjoy today’s episode! 😊

Novel spoilers ahead.

I don’t recall a character like that in the novel. BSE is her first love.

My impression was that HHJ’s mother didn’t want to give BSE unnecessary extra evidence of the fact that she and HHJ don’t have a great relationship and specifically the fact that HHJ left their dinner meeting without eating.

If HHJ hadn’t been delayed by the kidnapper, the crash, and dealing with the aftermath of the crash (getting her car towed / getting a ride home / showering / bandaging her cuts), she would’ve gotten home sooner and might’ve eaten at home sooner without BSE knowing or seeing anything that contradicted what HHJ’s mother had told him about HHJ eating with her.

Oh, nice observation! She stopped speaking in front of others in the hospital (after the car crash on the day that the amusement park opened) because of her unloving and uncaring mother, and she decided to start speaking in front of BSE again in the hospital (before returning to the amusement park) because he showed his love and care.

You are not the only person who has posted spoilers about episode 7 without covering them in this comment section, but ideally everyone would cover their spoilers. Just as you mentioned, the more people post uncovered spoilers, the less subsequent commenters feel that there is a need / any point to covering their spoilers. Conversely, every time someone chooses to cover their spoilers they contribute to encouraging others to do the same.

Slight novel spoilers ahead.

Omg, thinking of that novel scene as BSE's way of getting HHJ to "relax" before kissing her is a new perspective. 😅 🙈

For those who are curious, the... "relaxing" occurs in chapter 46 and the kiss occurs in chapter 47. Fair warning, it's NSFW. https://mydramalist.com/discussions/the-number-you-have-dialed/132368-novel-translation?pid=3186728&page=5#p3186728

You're welcome! As for whether it clears anything up... we'll have to wait for the remaining episodes to see. It may end up being the case that your observation will prove to be highly relevant and the point I raised might be irrelevant. Either way, I'm glad you pointed out the ambiguity of the term and prompted me to look it up. ^^

Regarding the subtitle point, it was translated in episode 3, about 15 minutes in.

I won't share my thoughts about those things at this point since my theories are influenced by the novel, but I will say that the drama has changed enough details to make it so that even as a novel reader I can't be sure about who some of those characters will end up being / how they will end up relating to certain other characters. ^^

That term can also refer to someone who is a pro or master of their craft or field of study / someone who excels in their field. Netflix's English subtitles use that translation ("Master") rather than teacher or doctor, although it's possible they chose to use that more ambiguous translation because the meaning of the word in Korean is ambiguous and international viewers shouldn't get an extra tip-off from unambiguous English subtitles that Korean viewers wouldn't get when they view the drama. https://korean.dict.naver.com/koendict/#/entry/koen/84ad3259526447fd90f7c0f06d14daa9

As HHJ mentioned at the end of episode 7, the kidnapper is not a person who seems capable of the advanced car hacking, tracking, security / VPN / encryption configuration, bomb-making, and planning that has been part of the kidnapper's activities so far. So, logically, he must be working with an accomplice who has a more sophisticated skillset.

Ah, we still have four more episodes after episode 8, which we've already seen a preview of / will be getting in just a few more hours. That makes sense 😊

We still have five episodes left! 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. That's already a small enough number!

I agree with everything else ^^

Agreed!

Novel spoilers ahead.

There have been a lot of changes so this probably won't cover everything, but I'll give it a try! ^^

(1) In the novel, HHJ doesn't find out that BSE knows that she is 406 until almost the end of the story. BSE pretending he doesn't know (and flirting with HHJ / going much further - all the way to phone sex) goes on for much longer / many more calls. And HHJ does not speak in front of BSE during all of that time (with the exception of yelling "stop!" when he kisses her intensely). Near the end of the story, BSE intentionally leaked clips of him speaking to 406 (after finding out that 406 was HHJ / after the calls turned flirtatious and NSFW) on the phone to the public, which created a scandal. When he takes a final stand against the kidnapper and the master, he publicly announces that the "406" he was speaking to in those clips was his wife. That's how HHJ finds out that he knew 406 was her (and that she could speak), along with BSE's big secret that he is not the real BSE. Then he disappears and they don't get to talk about it for a long time. It's just all very different.

(2) On a related point, in the novel, BSE does not learn sign language (Korean or international) at any point in the story, even though HHJ continued to not speak in front of him for much longer. Although I can understand why the author made that choice for plot reasons I won't get into, and the novel made a point of emphasizing how difficult it is to learn sign language and how much work HHJ had to put in to learn it, it is very satisfying to see BSE working on learning it so he can communicate with HHJ in the drama before she willingly revealed to him that she could speak. It also seemed to me that, in the novel, HHJ's mutism wasn't entirely fake / something she could just decide to stop on her own at any time. It seemed like there were several situations where she tried to speak but wasn't able to for psychological reasons that went back to her mother physically disciplining her when she didn't keep up the lie as a child.

(3) In the novel, Park Do Jae does not give the kidnapper's phone to BSE after HHJ is rescued and taken to the hospital. He intentionally hides it from BSE and then makes sure that HHJ gets it back so she can continue making calls as 406.

(4) In the novel, HIA knew that BSE was not the real BSE since she was a child. She made the mistake of saying something about it in front of BSE's grandfather, and that was why BSE's grandfather arranged the car crash: to keep her from spilling the secret. It's also why HIA didn't want to marry BSE. Not because some mysterious other person gave her a file right before the wedding.

(5) In the novel, it's never explicitly acknowledged that exposing BSE's secrets would really hurt SGJ (BSE's mother) and basically ruin her life. This felt like one of the biggest plot holes in the novel. Her actions were just so self destructive. In the drama, SGJ acknowledged this, showing that she's at least aware of it. We'll see if the drama provides more of an explanation for why she acts the way she does than how it was "explained" in the novel.

(6) The novel does not make any mention of twins or an orphanage. It does make mention of a girl who went missing (Park Do Jae's younger sister... and that his sister's disappearance destroyed his parents) and it's also mentioned that there were victims of violent crimes and attempted murder (crimes that led to the real BSE being sent to jail before he reconnected with his mother / before the start of the story), but it doesn't specifically get into the details of those other victims. It's also mentioned that the male lead, BSE's grandfather, and BSE's parents all thought that BSE's grandfather succeeded when he tried to drown the real BSE. Hence why he took the ML (his illegitimate son, who was being raised by the fisherman who made a brief appearance in episode 7) and forced him to take over BSE's identity. In the novel, the real BSE survived but lost his memory and was raised by the fisherman before eventually ending up in jail (and later regaining his memory). There was no mention of him or the male lead living in an orphanage at any point, or of either of them interacting with twins or orphans who lived in an orphanage.

(7) The drama has reduced the role of Director Han from the sign language centre (who featured in episode 7) and taken a lot of his characteristics and given them to the new SML, who doesn't exist in the novel. In the novel, there is no sub-plot where people look into the orphans that disappeared / into the boy who harmed animals / into the identity of the person depicted in the portrait that previously hung in that country estate... for the purpose of a TV exposé. Although the novel does include something that is sort of journalistic / exposé-like related to BSE's grandfather.


If I think of more, I'll add them.

I know everyone loves the intensity of the later part of the kiss, but I think one of my favourite parts that no one's talking about is when they take their first pause and draw apart a little. BSE takes a beat to let go of some tension with a shaky breath before opening his eyes to look at HHJ and then up into her eyes before looking back down to her lips and going back in for more. A+++

Sorry CSB but I haven't paid much attention to your side of things in my 3 million rewatches. YYS' performance is just too captivating!