The first episode of The Auditors starts with the main character, Shin Cha-il, a skilled and accomplished auditor, stopping a company from going under because of a staff member’s embezzlement scheme. He is dogged and refuses to listen to any begging from the staff member.
The narrative begins with a major accident occurring at the construction site of the Inpo Apartment, as a tower crane collapses. Next, we move on to the audit department at JU Construction, a well-known construction firm, where a vacancy for a team leader arises following the dismissal of the previous team leader by the new company president, Hwang Se-woong.
Yum Kyung-suk, the assistant team leader, aims to take on the role. Meanwhile, Goo Han-soo is a unique auditor compared to others because he is able to build friendships with people from various departments and readily trust others. At the same time, Yoon Seo-jin is another professional who has a straightforward personality and carefully evaluates every situation without engaging with others. The audit team is in disarray and is not operating efficiently but Seo jin, the youngest auditor like Goo Han Soo seems different from the rest refusing Han Soo’s attempt to treat her to drinks with the company card.
Go Han Soo’s parents have a misunderstanding because his father is always stealing his mother’s money to help with taking care of his relatives.
Soon, the team is surprised to learn that an external interview is being conducted for the position of team leader, as they had assumed Yum Kyung-suk would be promoted to the role. They encounter Shin Cha-il, who thoroughly addresses the team’s shortcomings, particularly when an employee raises concerns about the poor quality of food being offered in the cafeteria saying it would be the fault of the incompetent Audit team if the company goes under. This of course triggers the Audit team.
At the interview later with President Hwang and other high officials, Shin Cha il admits that he applied for the job in order to eradicate the corruption within JU Construction that is leading the company towards bankruptcy. He made these comments in response to the company’s stocks reaching their lowest point ever. When asked why he changes jobs frequently, he replies he does so to eradicate rats in a company and then move to the next. Ignoring the other managers objections, He advises President Hwang to take measures before it’s too late.
The following day, when Han-soo arrives at work, he sees that the new team leader, Shin Cha-il, is already at work. Shin Cha-il knows the names of all team members and demonstrates his sharp observation skills by realizing that Han-soo only just met the requirements to be hired by the company and received assistance from the former team leader to secure a spot on the audit team.
After spending six months on the audit team, Han-soo intends to relocate to the Florida branch of the company once he fulfills his three-year commitment. Han-soo is obviously shocked.
Once the rest of the team arrives at work, Shin Cha-il gathers everyone for a meeting to revisit the investigation of the tower crane incident. Shin Cha-il highlights errors and deficiencies in the investigation conducted by the previous auditing team, contradicting their explanation of strong winds and settlement of the case through compensation. The investigation starts with looking into foreman Bae Young-sik, with whom Han-soo has a good rapport.
Of course, Han-soo disagrees with the team leader’s decision, pointing to his belief in Bae Young-sik. Nevertheless, Shin Cha-il has made a final decision and requests that Han-soo move to another team, stating that Han-soo is not suited to be an auditor. They eventually meet with Bae Young-sik. They look through his desk and grab his laptop, but Bae Young-sik manages to grab it back and quickly runs away. Han-soo runs after him, closely followed by Shin Cha-il. Bae Young-sik is hospitalized after falling off a three-story building during the pursuit.
Nevertheless, Shin Cha-il remains determined and decides to have the damaged laptop fixed. At the hispital, while questioning the other staffs, he finds out that Bae Young-sik had committed to providing his injured staff with long-term employment but was not able to follow through with this commitment. All the injured men speak highly of Bae Young-sik’s kind-heartedness and credit him for the fact that the crane driver only suffered a broken leg.
Han soo refuses to let Shin Cha il interview Bae Young shik at the hospital and when he gets to work, he discredits him to the other workers angry that Shin Cha il said he wasn’t meant to be an auditor plus, he caused Bae Young Shik’s accident. However, after work, while leaving the company with Seo Jin, she tells him to his shock that Shin Cha Il is right, he isn’t fit to be an auditor.
At this stage, the managing director Seo Gil-pyo tries to prevent Shin Cha-il from continuing to investigate the case, but his efforts are unsuccessful. Shin Cha-il then starts looking into Seo Gil-pyo. The following day, Yum Kyung-suk enlists Han-soo to collect Bae’s laptop following advice from his superior, Yang Jae-seong, in order to sabotage Shin Cha-il’s inquiry and have him dismissed from his position.
Meanwhile, Han soo’s resolve to protect Bae Young Shik strengthens after an old friend of his father whom they all thought cheated them of their money returned. His father advices to learn to trust others and Han Soo after thinking of how kind Bae has been to him becomes determined to prove his innocence.
The next day, Han-soo and Cha-il receive the laptop that has been fixed but on their way, Cha Il suffers a panic attack after recalling a memory about his father’s death. He stops by the road side and Han soo asks him why he doesn’t qualify as an auditor. Cha Il responds that someone like him who easily trusts people can’t be an adequate auditor but Han soo points out that it must be very lonely to him suspecting people all the time. The drive is quiet as they go to meet Park Ho-yeon, the CEO of Myung Tower, who supplies the tower crane for JU. He speaks privately with Shin Cha il and under the order of Yum Kyung Sun, Han soo spies on their conversation. Meanwhile, Shin Cha-il accurately suspects corruption in the purchase of the crane, which consisted of subpar equipment from different production dates and was sold to the company at inflated prices. He realizes that Seo Gil-pyo kept the difference in price for himself.
During their journey, Cha-il and Han-soo are assaulted by a group of criminals. Although Cha Il fights well with his skills, he ends up being knocked unconscious. After he wakes up later, he finds himself in the car being driven by Han Soo. To his astonishment, he discovers that the laptop is missing. Afterward, Cha-il requests Han-soo to give him the laptop but he acts clueless. Cha il makes him stop the car and then drives off himself then confronts Seo gil pyo and Yang Jae seob for the attack. Both act clueless as well threatening to fire him. Just then, the vice president, Hwang Dae-woong drives in and the two men greet but as soon as he sees Cha il, he wonders why he is looking at him judgementally.
Thanks for reading the recap of this new drama. I think it’s going to be a good one. A man ridding a company of corruption. Who would turn out to be right in the end? Him or Han soo who believes in trusting everyone.