Betrayal Spirals Into Tragedy in tvN's Property Drama as Wife Loses Control

In episode 9 of tvN's Saturday-Sunday drama How to Become a Landlord in Korea, the carefully laid revenge plan of Lee Kyung (played by Jung Soo-jung) reaches a deadly turning point when her husband Min Hwal-sung (Kim Joon-han) finds himself in mortal danger.

After discovering that her kidnapper was her husband's best friend Ki Su-jong (Ha Jung-woo), and that Su-jong's wife Kim Sun (Lim Soo-jung) had been having an affair with her own husband, Lee Kyung snaps. She takes Ki Su-jong and Kim Sun's daughter Ki Da-rae (Park Seo-kyung) hostage as payback, forcing both parents to their knees begging for forgiveness. But what Lee Kyung demands isn't mercy, it's a full confession of their crimes on camera, and both comply. The twist comes when Ki Su-jong goes further, pre-emptively confessing to murdering Min Hwal-sung, shocking everyone in the room.

The roots of Ki Su-jong's rage run deep. Nine years earlier, when he was just an office worker, Min Hwal-sung pressured him into buying the Seyun Building together. Ki Su-jong borrowed 200 million won from his brother-in-law to put down a deposit, but Min Hwal-sung suddenly backed out before the final payment was due. Unable to abandon his brother-in-law's money, Ki Su-jong went through with the purchase, taking out a loan for the balance. Only after the deal closed did he discover that the redevelopment project Min Hwal-sung had promised had been cancelled, and Min Hwal-sung had known all along. When his friend and wife insisted the building would eventually appreciate, Ki Su-jong reluctantly accepted his new reality as an unwilling landlord.

But there's more. Min Hwal-sung orchestrated Lee Kyung's original kidnapping and fathered a child with Kim Sun. Ki Su-jong's festering resentment finally boils over when Lee Kyung reveals that Min Hwal-sung also doctored documents to steal her inheritance with help from a lawyer.

Ki Su-jong's plan to Kim Sun is chilling: sedate Min Hwal-sung with medication, force him to sign over the building deed, then use a defibrillator to revive him within five minutes. Kim Sun insists it will work. But when Ki Su-jong attempts to incapacitate a loan shark enforcer with a stun gun, he's the one who collapses instead. Left alone to face the loan shark, Kim Sun grabs a hammer and screams at him not to approach, raising the stakes to a fever pitch.

The turning point comes when Lee Kyung receives word through the loan shark that her husband is dead. Her anguished wail reveals the truth she's been hiding from herself: she never actually wanted him dead. In the episode preview, Lee Kyung takes Ki Da-rae hostage and faces off against both parents, leaving viewers wondering whether Min Hwal-sung is truly gone, whether she'll harm the girl, and what price Ki Su-jong and Kim Sun will ultimately pay for their crimes.