“Cafe Minamdang” is a Korean mystery and rom-com series based on the web novel “Minamdang: Case Note” written by author Jung Jae-ha. The series stars Seo In Guk, Oh Yeon So, Kang Mi Na, and Kwak Si Yang in leading roles. The story follows a fake shaman and how he cons rich people. Nam Han Joon is a shaman who is not an old man in traditional clothes but a young and handsome man who has his own chic style.
What Happens At Cafe Minamdang?
Nam Han Joon arrives in his stylish red suit and enters the MK Noble Hotel. He has a different office for himself, only to monitor the candidates getting interviewed by the general manager of the hotel. The owner of the hotel has strong faith in Han Joon and has asked him to choose the best fit for their hotel. Han Joon declines many interviewees by guessing their personalities and past. All this time, Han Joon only talked with the owner from his office, but suddenly he shows up in the interview room. He says that he sensed an evil spirit and points at one of the interviewers.
The interviewer sexually harassed an employee in the past and induced her to kill herself. Han Joon tells the owner to report him and suppress the news before it blows up and harms the hotel’s reputation. Nam Han Joon is known as “Yohae-dong’s Wonder” for his accurate predictions and solutions to people’s problems. He is popular among young women for the charming looks that barely make him look like a shaman. Many VIPs, VVIPs, and conglomerates visit Han Joon in his Cafe Minamdang for advice whenever they are in trouble.
A new team leader has been assigned to the lowest-performing crime division of the Yohae-dong police station. The new team leader, lieutenant Han Jae Hui, is known as Yongshin’s Ghost for her intense personality. She had fought with a mafia gang alone and unarmed to save her team that was held captive. On her first day, she catches the MK Hotel employee who was on his way to flee the country. Jae Hui has been digging out old cases to work on because there is nothing new. However, soon enough, she finds her team an interesting case.
The hotel owner calls out to Han Joon because she sees her husband with bloodied hands and is worried about something. Han Joon asks his sister, Hye Joon, to find out what is wrong with Shin Gyeong Ho. Hye Joon is a former National Intelligence Service expert but now helps her brother at the Cafe Minamdang by hacking systems and getting confidential information that helps Han Joon in making predictions and solving cases. Gyeong Ho has hit a motorbiker and has dumped his body somewhere. Before Gyeong Ho’s men can come and take the body somewhere else, Han Joon has to find it.
Han Joon, Hye Joon, and Su Cheol find the body and report it to the police right away. However, Han Joon tells the police to hand over the case to another crime division. Jae Hui finds it suspicious and keeps the case to herself. She thinks that she knows Han Joon from before and is on a stakeout outside Cafe Minamdang to find a lead against him and the café.
Can Jae-hui’s Team Arrest Shin Gyeong-ho?
One of the employees at Cafe Minamdang, Na Dan, sees that their trash bag has disappeared and thinks that it is Looney, the mysterious spirit, who always does shenanigans. All of them follow Looney but get scared and run away when she climbs up the building fast like a ghost. Han Joon stays behind alone, but Looney runs away. It was not the mysterious Looney but Jae Hui, who was spying on Han Joon.
The hotel owner invites Han Joon to their home to talk with Shin Gyeong Ho. Han Joon tells him exactly how the accident happened. He also tells him that he has been cursed by the woman whom he killed by choking her to death. Gyeong Ho makes fun of him at first, but when Han Joon describes every detail, he believes in him. Han Joon makes him swear that he won’t harm anyone again as he won’t be able to help him again. Han Joon starts working on his mission to save Gyeong Ho.
Jae Hui and her team find Gyeong Ho’s car in a junkyard and ask the owner to deliver the car and the dashcam to the station. Jae Hui has asked prosecutor Cha Do Won to issue a warrant while they head on to Gyeong Ho’s house. Han Joon tells Gyeong Ho to not worry when the police arrest him and bring him to the station. Han Joon follows them right after and asks for the warrant. He shows them that they have got the evidence one minute before the warrant was issued, which makes it invalid.
Jae Hui has to let Gyeong Ho go, and the news releases that the police arrested a big businessman over a small mistake. They had all the evidence, but Han Joon beat them to it and took away their big criminal. The police chief tells Jae Hui to stay low and not get involved in high-profile cases. Jae Hui’s senior comes in and tries to pursue the chief by telling him how it would affect his reputation if Gyeong Ho gets caught doing something illegal again. However, the police chief warns them that they will be fired if they are unable to catch Gyeong Ho.
‘Cafe Minamdang’ Episode 2: Ending
Han Joon thinks Gyeong Ho is out of trouble for good and smacks him to behave himself further. Han Joon is more concerned about the victim than Gyeong Ho, which shows that he used to be a police officer in the past. Jae Hui recognizes him and asks him why he has gone so low and has been helping criminals. Jae Hui had learned martial arts from Han Joon when she was younger, and Han Joon had just become a police officer. However, Han Joon was dismissed from work after a controversial case.
Jae Hui’s words cannot escape Han Joon’s head, and he knows that he can never be a person who hurts the innocent because of money. Nevertheless, he still has to work and leaves the cafe with his team. Na Dan is the last one to leave, who locks the cafe and leaves the key under a pot. Jae Hui has been on the stakeout again and enters the cafe as soon as she gets the chance. She finds the flowchart with many people’s names on it, along with her brother’s. She gets curious about Han Joon’s intentions, but before she can investigate further, she hears the car arriving outside the cafe. She runs and hides in Han Joon’s closet to avoid getting caught, but just when Han Joon is about to leave, Jae Hui’s cell phone rings.
Why did Han Joon quit being a police officer and become a shaman? Do Jae Hui and her brother have something to do with it? Let’s find out in the upcoming episodes of “Cafe Minamdang.”
See More: ‘Cafe Minamdang’ Episode 3 & 4: Recap and Ending- How Did Nam Han-joon Become A Shaman?
