Episode 9 of Sold Out On You opens with a flashback that finally gives more insight into Matthew’s emotional collapse. He visits a hospital and sees patients suffering because of the Good Morning cream. The scene is genuinely disturbing because you can immediately tell how badly this shook him. Matthew and the research team try to figure out what went wrong, but Woo-su tells everyone he’ll take responsibility.
Not long after that, Matthew learns that Woo-su died by suicide after taking the blame for the incident.
At the funeral, Chang-ho reveals another layer to the story. According to him, Woo-su secretly changed the raw materials and even fabricated test results for money. That revelation explains part of the scandal, but it also leaves Matthew carrying an even heavier burden.
Back in the present, Ye-jin returns home and finds her father waiting for her. He cooks dinner for her, and the quiet warmth of the scene honestly made me emotional. Ye-jin asks him if she’s the kind of person people eventually grow tired of, and you can feel how deeply the breakup has damaged her confidence.
The next day, her coworkers celebrate her return to work and suggest going out together, but Ye-jin clearly isn’t herself anymore. She turns them down because she’s simply too drained.
Meanwhile, Michelle successfully forces Eric out of L’Etoile. Even after losing his position, Eric stubbornly decides to remain in Korea.
Elsewhere, Seok-gyeong meets Myung-hwa and urges her to contact Ye-jin first because her daughter needs her right now. But Myung-hwa still believes Ye-jin intentionally tried to ruin her through the scandal. Seok-gyeong insists that Ye-jin would never do something like that.
A flashback reveals that Myung-hwa took responsibility for the incident in the past and retired from acting afterward. But things got worse when she later saw articles claiming Ye-jin accepted hush money.
In the present timeline, Yun-ji visits Myung-hwa’s office and subtly tries to turn her against Ye-jin’s comeback. Myung-hwa directly asks Yun-ji why she hates Ye-jin so much, but frustratingly, the drama never shows the answer.
That night, Sung-mi brings fried chicken to cheer Ye-jin up. During her sleep-talking episode, Ye-jin calls out for her mother and starts talking about Matthew. She admits she wants to know how he truly feels about her. This scene completely broke me because Ye-jin sounds so vulnerable without even realizing it.
At the farm, Matthew accidentally cuts his palm while working with mushrooms. He later asks a doctor for sleeping pills, only to receive a warning about using them too much again. The mention of “last time” quietly hints that he’s been struggling for a while.
Later, Matthew drives Som-yi and Jin-yi to the hospital for Som-yi’s checkup.
Meanwhile, Eric keeps investigating the contamination issue at the factory. He tries to meet the manager to learn who added microbes to the essence, but Michelle interferes again and sends Cha Joong-hoon to stop him. Surprisingly, Joong-hoon changes sides this time and offers to help Eric. He says he still feels grateful because Eric once gave him a job after Michelle fired him.
Back in Deokpung, Kwang-mo continues buying products from Sung-mi and even leaves detailed reviews for her sales posts. Sung-mi gets hilariously confused because she thought he only wanted selfies in exchange for the one she sent earlier.
Eric eventually moves into a new apartment, and somehow he ends up living directly across from Ye-jin. She helps him with his faulty door lock, and they later grab a meal together.
At the same time, Gojeuneok Bio’s problems keep getting worse as clients begin canceling their contracts one after another.
At home, Ye-jin finds the poetry book Matthew once gave her. Inside, she discovers sticky notes he left behind, recommending poems for specific moments. Watching her quietly cry while reading them felt painfully intimate.
The following day, Ye-jin visits the Selvanta Hotel with a colleague to inspect a hotel package for HIT. While there, she spots Matthew and Mu-won meeting with a client. She later tries to speak with Matthew, but he walks past her without saying a word. That scene hurt more than I expected.
Mu-won later confronts Matthew and tells him the truth: pushing Ye-jin away is hurting her far more than staying with her ever would.
That night, Ye-jin leaves Matthew a voicemail saying she wants them to meet properly and end things face-to-face. The problem is that she accidentally leaves the message on Kwang-mo’s phone because of the switched numbers. Kwang-mo calls her back and explains everything, finally giving her Matthew’s real number.
Ye-jin instantly recognizes the number. It’s the same number that once belonged to her mother.
She then listens to every recording from her sleep-talking episodes and realizes Matthew had been listening to her all along. In the final recording, Matthew finally responds. He admits he was happy with her but believes he doesn’t deserve that happiness. He apologizes for dating her despite knowing it would eventually hurt her because of the past scandal involving Woo-su.
The entire confession felt raw and messy in the best way possible.
Ye-jin immediately calls Matthew and tells him she’s waiting at the park. Thinking she’s sleepwalking again, Matthew rushes there in panic. When he arrives, she tells him she already knows everything.
Matthew insists that he’s responsible for all her suffering, but Ye-jin hugs him and says she can’t leave him alone anymore. She asks him to stay by her side instead.
And finally, Matthew gives in.
The next morning, Mu-won awkwardly watches Ye-jin blow kisses toward Matthew before leaving the hotel. The mood quickly shifts when the client they’re supposed to meet never arrives. Instead, Michelle walks in.
She casually reveals that she sent the client back to Hong Kong herself before placing an L’Etoile contract on the table. Even though Matthew refuses to sign it, Michelle leaves looking completely confident. Mu-won quickly realizes she’s the reason Gojeuneok Bio has been losing clients.
With work piling up, Matthew has to cancel plans with Ye-jin. Soon after, he and Mu-won receive a surprise visit from Chang-ho, who now runs a successful cosmetics company. After hearing about L’Etoile pressuring Gojeuneok Bio, he offers to help them.
Later, Matthew visits Ye-jin and nearly loses his mind after discovering Eric lives right next door. His imagination immediately spirals into dramatic scenarios where Ye-jin and Eric grow closer. I’m not going to lie, his jealousy was both ridiculous and funny.
Ye-jin later appears on television to promote hotel packages, and Matthew secretly buys several of them himself.
That night, they talk on the phone, and Ye-jin admits she still hasn’t been sleeping well since returning to Seoul. Sometime later, Matthew unexpectedly appears at her door and asks if he can sleep over.
Episode 9 Review
This episode works best when it focuses entirely on emotion. Ye-jin’s sadness feels believable from beginning to end, especially because the drama shows it through small moments instead of dramatic speeches. Watching her lose interest in work, hesitate around people, and quietly cry over Matthew’s notes made the heartbreak feel real.
Matthew’s guilt also finally becomes clearer here. His confession through the recordings was easily the strongest part of the episode for me. The reunion scene in the park landed exactly the way it needed to.
At the same time, the story still struggles whenever it tries to explain the bigger scandal.
Woo-su’s death is supposed to carry enormous emotional weight, but the drama barely developed him before this reveal. Because of that, Matthew’s extreme guilt feels emotionally understandable but narratively undercooked. I kept waiting for more context about why Woo-su switched the materials and accepted money in the first place, but the episode never fully explains it.
The same issue appears again with the contamination plot. Eric’s investigation makes some earlier scenes feel inconsistent, especially regarding whether the microbes were intentionally added or not.
And honestly, the Matthew-Eric rivalry doesn’t hit as hard anymore. Earlier episodes used their competition for comedy and tension, but after everything Matthew and Ye-jin already went through together, his jealous fantasies now feel more silly than impactful.