Episode 4 of *Confidence Queen* kicks off with the dramatic arrest of Mr. Kim. Yi-rang teeters on the brink of exposure when My Famous makes an unexpected appearance, but the group swiftly manages to conceal themselves as he departs the scene. Gu-ho and James are riddled with anxiety, particularly when Mr. Famous calls, demanding a meeting with the dealers at his residence.
Upon arriving at Mr. Famous' abode, Gu-ho finds himself under intense scrutiny regarding his connection to Mr. Kim Yong-bok. Playing dumb, Gu-ho denies any knowledge, prompting Mr. Famous to offer an apology, explaining that he's had to report Gu-ho's painting as a counterfeit.
It turns out that Mr. Famous, a connoisseur with an encyclopedic knowledge of the nation's top art forgers, had spotted a telltale brushstroke that gave the game away—a detail the team had unfortunately overlooked.
Realizing the depth of Mr. Famous' acumen, Yi-rang acknowledges their underestimation of him. They decide to shift their strategy, targeting a Charity Gala Event as their new battleground. Gu-ho, donning a disguise as a seller, receives an invitation to the event.
Their primary objective is a safe believed to contain Mr. Famous' "Famous List"—a compendium of artworks and political patrons intertwined with illicit slush funds. Securing this list would be a game-changer, potentially dismantling Mr. Famous' entire operation.
While we already know the team successfully infiltrates the event and reaches the safe, the episode takes us back to the start, retracing their steps from the very beginning.
Fast forward to the opening moments of episode 1, and we see Gu-ho arriving with food and drink for the security personnel. Unbeknownst to them, the refreshments are laced, and the guards soon succumb to their effects, collapsing into unconsciousness. Seizing the opportunity, Gu-ho dashes in, erasing all surveillance footage before skillfully evading the remaining security team. After a brief skirmish with a couple of unsuspecting security goons, he dons his seller disguise once more, ready to execute their daring plan.
With the evening proving to be a resounding success, the gang regroups to scrutinize their findings. Nestled within the confines of a thumb-drive lies an extensive list, brimming with videos from an array of painters. It soon becomes apparent that Mr. Famous coerces aspiring artists into crafting masterpieces for him, confining them, pushing them to their limits, and then drugging them into submission. This is where Bo-ra's narrative intertwines, for she is ensnared in this web, one of the unfortunate victims. She was lured into joining as an intern at Mr. Famous' company and was ushered into an exhibition at the Fame Gallery.
Alas, this marked the inception of her nightmare, as she found herself coerced into creating these works for Mr. Famous, trapped with no escape in sight. The veneer of politeness vanished whenever he reappeared, demeaning Bo-ra and compelling her to exert herself even further. Compounding her misery, Bo-ra was also under the influence of drugs – a fact captured on film – which Mr. Famous wielded as a weapon for blackmail. It was at this juncture that Bo-ra resolved to break free, leading us up to the moment she was struck by that car.
Flashing forward to the present, Mr. Famous orchestrates another auction, this time with a keen focus on "Sight of the Sea," a painting from 1933. Yi-rang emerges victorious, outbidding everyone with a staggering 100 million, far surpassing the starting bid of 15 million. Mr. Famous, ensnared by the ruse, embarks on a quest to acquire all works by the painter, Myeong-shin. Eventually, Mr. Famous offloads all the paintings for a hefty 300 million, only for Yi-rang to disrupt the proceedings and outbid him once more, this time with an astronomical 3 billion.
Recall, if you will, Mr. Famous's lifelong ambition to discover an amateur painter and catapult them to stardom, reaping the accolades for himself. This revelation compels Mr. Famous to escalate his bid to a whopping 5 billion won. The deal is sealed, but at the subsequent auction, Mr. Famous is left with a tarnished reputation, realizing too late that he has been duped entirely. Myeong-shin is a figment of imagination, and the woman in question is merely a random small business owner.
Bo-ra also makes a grand entrance at the auction, seizing the spotlight and unveiling that she is the true artist behind all these creations. Moreover, she unveils footage of Mr. Famous's abusive behavior, along with humiliating videos of him. The police, having received reports of abduction, confinement, and narcotics trafficking, arrive promptly to escort him away in handcuffs, marking the end of Mr. Famous's reign of deceit.
Though the case has been neatly wrapped up, a bit more context has emerged to shed light on why Yi-rang was so hesitant to become entangled with that particular man. Hidden among the files on the thumb drive lies one named "Ghost Castle." In a moment of secretive urgency, she deleted those files before anyone else on her team could catch a glimpse. Yet, there's a tantalizing hint that they might be intricately connected to the haunted house from her past.
Flashing back to those days, it was James who stumbled upon a young, unconscious Yi-rang in the woods, at a time when the police were desperately scouring the area in search of her.
