(Episode 8- Ba-reum’s memories)
The boy in yellow opens the rat enclosure and the rat runs out after attacking the snake. He follows it. A girl holds the mouse under her foot. The boy asks her to give it back. She says if he lets it go, he will become like the rat snake (dead).
She stamps the mouse and kills it. He watches it.
At present, Ba-reum clutches his head and turns away as he remembers picking up the mouse.
Later, he tells Mu Chi that Han Seo Joon didn’t kill the child. He says the knot on the mouse’s head was tied to the right.
Mu Chi sees some dead mice under the drain grate. All have knots tied to the right side. Ba-reum is sure that Han Seo Joon isn’t Hyung Soo’s killer (Det. Parks daughter).
They learn from the hospital that though Han was a lefty, he always tied knots on the right. Mu Chi feels that it was an accomplice.
Hong Ju reads the newspaper clipping containing the news of Park’s daughter’s remains being unearthed. She recalls flashes of memories in the surgical room. She recalls a snowy night with a woman thrown against a car. Elsewhere, Han throws a rope, telling the girl (from episode 1) to tie up the victim (Song Soo Jung Ep1). The girl (from episode1/Hong Ju) ties up the victim using the altered highwayman’s knot.
At present, Hong Ju sees the news article about the current murder case and Park Hyun Soo’s case.
Mu Chi and Ba-reum revisit the crime scene of Head hunter victim Song Soo Jung. They find the place where the accident was staged to lure the victim.
They see the place where Song Soo Jung telephoned her brother. They wonder how she went to the crime scene which is a bit further down. Mu Chi says women wouldn’t follow strangers and it was a snowy night.
Ba-reum says the victim would have let her guard down for someone else. So they are sure there was an accomplice.
They check the original case records of the call from December 5, 1994. They find out that there was a witness. The man/witness says he didn’t know that a man and a kid would go around slicing people’s neck so he didnt report it.
He says he saw a car and he couldn’t see the drivers face. But a ten-year-old boy was beside him.
They check the missing children list around that time and don’t find anything helpful. (It looks like (child) Hong Ju’s face is on screen). Ba-reum and Mu Chi decide to check a man in his 30’s connected to both the current victims. Mu Chi says both the victims knew the killer as the CCTV shows Kang Min Joo smiling before as she spoke with the driver/killer and Hong Na Ri had opened the door for her killer.
Ba-reum says if he was the killer, he would choose to kill strangers since he would enjoy killing while not getting caught. Mu Chi disagrees.
They go back to check the evidence box and Mu Chi notes that someone has been through the evidence box. They check the CCTV and find Hong Ju in the footage.
Later, Mu Chi learns that Hong Ju is reinstated but waiting for her post. Mu Chi and Ba-reum go to her cabin to find newspaper articles about the Head Hunter case.
They go over to the whiteboard and wonder why she is investigating the current killings.
Hong Ju walks in and is taken aback by seeing both of them. She says she is glad that Ba-reum is alive. Ba-reum wonders why his heart is aching all of a sudden. Mu Chi tells her off for tampering with evidence.
Hong Ju says she went to Hong Na-ri’s house to check what was used to tie her wrist. She says she hid in the other room when they came. She says she checked the evidence to see the knot and he asks why.
Before she can answer, ba-reum walks in. She says the knot looks similar to that of Park’s daughter. She says she shot a documentary about the Head Hunter against the death penalty. She says she noticed the knot at that point. She says she started this investigation to check why the same knot was used.
Mu Chi doesn’t buy it. He says the information about the knot was not released to the media.
Hong Ju says she didn’t see the knot used on Kang Min Ju. She says she might not be the first victim.
She says a month ago a middle-aged lady told her that she felt her daughter was murdered.
We see a montage of a young woman at the dog park playing with her dog. She greets someone and then goes missing. The dog finds her dead body further away. She is tied with the same knot and the dog gnaws on it. The dog turns around and barks at the person who walks up to it. The dog is killed and found hanging on the tree.
At present, Hong Ju says they thought the girl killed her dog and ran away because she suffered from serious depression. the police had closed the case as suicide.
Hong Ju says a hand cart went missing that day and also the rope was found under the grate. She assumes that the rope has gotten loose because the dog chewed on it and it had fallen off. She says the police didn’t see it because the rope was far away from the scene.
She says she will give the rope to him under the condition that she is allowed to cover this exclusively. Mu Chi says he won’t allow it. He asks for the real reason she wants to catch the killer.
Later, Ba-reum asks Dong Koo if he had feelings for Hong Ju before his memory loss. Dong Koo says Ba-reum shouldn’t do this to Bong Yi. Ba-reum says he feels bad that he doesn’t remember Bong Yi.
He goes back home wondering what that mouse memory was about. he goes through his things and finds the empty birdcage.
He asks his aunt for the photo album from his childhood days. She says she will bring it the next time she visits. He asks about the cage and he vaguely remembers the bird when she talks about it.
She makes his favourite Cheongukjang (a dish with fermented soybeans) and he is unable to bear its smell. She throws it away saying his palette has changed as he used to love it in the past. Just then, he receives a call from the redevelopment office.
Mu chi is trying to convince the Chief that the 3 murders are linked. he asks to be allowed to work on the case so he can join the violent crimes unit later. The Chief reluctantly allows him to work on it till the NFS results are out.
Ba-reum visits his old house as he is told it will be torn down soon. He has flashes of memories of his time at the old house, with the bird, watering plants etc. He then recalls Sung Yo Han standing in the corner in his black jacket. He walks closer and then runs away.
It is raining when Ba-reum walks near the bridge and he recalls a figure in black. He suddenly recalls Bong Yi on the bridge. he runs after a schoolgirl thinking she is Bong Yi and ends up starling her. he recalls Bong Yi’s grandmother asking him to take care of Bong Yi when she is not around.
Ba-reum looks for Bong Yi and he is told that she never returned to school after her granny’s death. She didn’t graduate either. He wonders where she is and walks back.
He finds a pregnant cat on the curb and brings it home. He wipes the birdcage to put the cat in. He suddenly pauses as he looks at the birdcage. He frowns.
He calls Mu Chi to Hong Na Ri’s apartment. Ba-reum says the house looks old but the window bars seem new. He says the repairman would be a known person but not a common acquaintance.
The neighbours say that the city had ordered these windows for women living alone in high crime areas. They learn that the volunteers installed the grills.
Ba-reum and Mu Chi go to the volunteers’ office. He notes a dog similar to that of victim Kim Young Hee’s Dog. They are told that the volunteers take care of it in turns.
Mu Chi makes a call and asks to check if the dog hairs on the victim’s headband belong to more than one dog.
They are told the office doesn’t keep a proper record of the volunteers. Ba-reum finds a photograph of the volunteers standing in front of a building. Ba-reum says that is Hong Na-ri’s building as he recognises it from small turtle stickers on the wall.
They go back to the building and Mu Chi finds that Ba-reum was right. He asks if the surgery made Ba-reum a genius.
Hong Ju gives a pretext of filming the documentary about crimes against women. They interview all the volunteers in the photo. They later give them presents tied in a cloth. Two volunteers tie the knot to the left side Kim Baek Hee and Jung Man Hoo. Hong Ju says Jung Man Woo lied that he had a daughter and seemed emotionless.
Ba-reum asks if they can do follow up interviews with Kim Baek Hee Jung Man Hoo and Lawyer Woo Hyung Chul. As the volunteers wait, Ba-reum makes them interact with the dog.
Later Ba-reum says that Woo Hyung Chul is their man. He says Woo Hyung Chul’s body language shows he was acting. He says the other two volunteers pet the dog normally. He says Woo Hyung Chul copied Ba-reum’s movements and pet the dog under the tail. He says dog lovers know that dogs don’t like to be petted under their tail. He says Woo put on act. When Hong Ju talks about the knot. Ba-reum says Woo figured out this interview is fake and he ties it on the wrong side.
He shows them footage that shows Woo is a lefty. Mu Chi asks if Ba-reum spent time inside a psychopath’s brain. Hong Ju watches Ba-reum.
Woo drives back and finds Kang Duk Soo waiting for him. Kang Duk Soo thanks him. Woo says he resigned the moment he found out about Kang Duk Soo. Duk Soo says if Woo had stayed on in the case, he would’ve got a reduced sentence. He asks where the girl is. He says he wants to apologise to her.
Lawyer Woo says he scrapped all documents and won’t tell him even if he knew where she was. Kang Duk Soo says he has the tracking device on him and he can’t find the girl by himself even if he wants to.
After he goes away, Woo’s father asks who that was.
Mu chi returns home and he learns that the hairband had hairs from 2 different breeds. Mu Chi checks a book on psychopaths but he says it didn’t seem like Ba-reum was explaining from a book. He wonders what is up with Ba-reum.
The next day, Mu Chi collects hair from the dog at the volunteer office. He gives it to Shin to get it checked against the hair on the headband. He tells Shin to check the whereabouts of Kim Baek Hee Jung Man Hoo and Woo Hyung Chul on the days that the victims disappeared. He asks Ba-reum to join the team as his skills are good.
They learn that Woo took the dog to walk many times. Next, they check the car’s log for March 8th. Mu Chi finds that Woo’s name is against window bars.
Mu Chi and Ba-reum visit Woo at work. They are told he gives free consultation for runaway teens. Mu chi is in Woo’s office. He comments that Woo’s wife looks stunning in the photo. He asks Woo about what he did on March 8th.
Shin tells Mu chi that Woo has a solid alibi and he came by to install window bars on a person’s house.
Ba-reum is still certain that Woo is the killer. Mu Chi doesn’t entertain him. He tells Ba-reum to call others who had window bars installed.
Later, Shin tells Mu Chi that the hair on the volunteer’s dog didn’t match with the victim’s headband. Mu Chi feels foolish for trusting Ba-reum again.
Shin says Jung Man-woo’s phone was spotted near the crime scene around the victim’s time of death.
Kang and the chief interrogate him. Jung Man-woo denies all charges. He says he went to a carpenter shop to make a toolbox for a friend. He says the shop was closed and he went alone. They ask for the friend’s number. He says his friend is Woo Jae Pil (Lawyer Woo Hyung Chul’s father) who worked at the violent crimes unit.
The Chief Knows Woo’s father and calls him up. No one answers.
Mu Chi rushes out and goes to Lawyer Woo’s house. Their white dog barks at him. He finds it empty and sneaks in. He speaks to Jung Man-woo on the phone and asks if Woo’s father also fitted window bars. Man-woo says Woo’s father accompanied him on the days he was free. Mu Chi asks who took the photograph of the volunteers at Hong Na-ri’s building. Man-woo says it is Woo Jae Pil. Mu Chi realises that Woo’s father is the killer.
Ba-reum is calling up all the women who have applied for installing window bars. He finds Oh Bong Yi’s name on the list.
he goes over to the address and calls out her name but receives no response.
Inside, Bong Yi lies on the floor with her hands tied. The killer clamps his hand on her mouth so she doesn’t make a noise.
Ba-reum writes a note to her asking her to call him and walks away after waiting for some time.
After Ba-reum leaves, the killer moves a bit and Bong Yi fights back but she is overpowered.
Ba-reum walks away muttering that there are no lamps nor CCTV in this area.
Bong Yi breaks free of the rope and she throws a stool at the attacker. He runs out and she runs behind him.
The man pushes ba-reum and runs away. Ba-reum sees Bong Yi running down the stairs and he immediately chases after the black figure.
Mu Chi waits outside the house. The dog is barking at him like crazy. He realises this is a white dog too and he checks the doghouse. He finds something stuck on the ceiling of the dog house.
He opens the cloth and finds the knife (murder weapon) with a small toy hanging from it. Mu chi feels someone watching him and points the gun in that direction. He sees it is Lawyer Woo Hyung Chul
Ba-reum is hit on the head by the attacker who is Woo Jae Pil. The man continues to beat him but Ba-reum attacks him back. He throws strong punches at Woo Jae Pil. He then goes into a frenzy and keeps punching Woo Jae Pil.
Suddenly a memory of punching another person comes (Song Soo Ho) into his memory. he clutches his head and falls back. The attacker tries to hit him but Bong Yi hits him hard and the attacker falls. Bong Yi faints.
Ba-reum waits beside Woo Jae Pil’s hospital bed. He recalls the memory of him punching a person tied to a chair.
Hong Ju and Mu Chi rush in. Woo Jae Pil admits to killing all the victims. Hong Ju watches as Woo Jae Pil admits to killing detective Park’s daughter. He takes out the gun points it at Woo Jae Pil, asking why he killed her. Mu Chi is pulled away.
Ba-reum is outside. He wonders who that person is. He comes in to find Bong Yi gone. He recalls Bong Yi’s grandmother says that it rained on the night of the incident so Bong Yi is scared to cross the bridge on a rainy night.
Bong Yi stops beside the bridge as it rains. She tries to run across but stops as she hallucinates a puppy tied to the wall. She turns around and runs back.
She sinks to the floor. She looks up and sees Ba-reum holding an umbrella over her. He apologises for taking so long to remember her. Bong Yi seems embarrassed as she grabs the umbrella from him and walks away. She stops and calls him over. He walks up to her and holds the umbrella for her as both of them walk away in the rain.
Kang Duk Soo watches the news and learns of an attack (Bong yi’s attack). He calls up his mother and asks if the girl still lives in the same neighbourhood. His mother yells at him and says Bong Yi moved away a long time back. She tells him not to visit her and that she will go to him.
The mother watches Bong Yi and Ba-reum walking past her in the rain.
Kang Duk Soo is suspicious of her and he goes over and asked a person named Kim to help him out with something.
The chief and Mu Chi let Detective Park know that they caught his daughter’s killer.
Park rushes to the hospital to speak with Woo Jae Pil. Jae Pil says he killed Park Hyun Soo. He says he found her asleep in the woods when they searched the mountains after Han kidnapped them. He says he was jealous of Park making more arrests than him. He says he was happy that Park lost his children but Hyun Soo was alive. So he says he killed her. He says people assumed Han killed her.
Park goes into a frenzy and chokes Woo Jae Pil. Hong Ju comes in time and pulls him away. Park leaves the room. Hong Ju walks up to Woo and asks why he lied about killing Park’s daughter when he didnt do it. Woo looks up and asks how she knew about that.
We see a montage of blood running to the drain.
Park goes home to his wife who is sleeping.
Bong Yi is cleaning things at her house. Someone clicks a photo of her and sends it to Kang Duk Soo. Kang is angry that his mother lied to him.
Bong yi is on the phone with Ba-reum. They agree to meet at the theatre at 6:00 pm. Bong Yi asks if she can have granny’s brooch back.
Later, Ba-reum goes to the evidence room (keys in the password from his photographic memory) and looks through the Moojin Serial killing’s evidence box. He sees the Sung Soo Ho’s photograph in it. He recalls beating SUng Soo Ho who was tied to the chair. Ba-reum wonders why he has Sung Yo han’s victim in his memory. Mu chi walks in and asks how he got in.
Hong Ju peeks inside Detective Park’s house. She looks at Park’s wife. Park’s wife sees Hong Ju’s bracelet and chases after her. Hong Ju gets into the car and drives away.
Ba-reum learns from Mu Chi that Sung Soo Ho was beaten up badly.
Meanwhile, Park finds out that his wife is missing. Park’s wife is in the police station. She sees the news of her daughter’s killer being caught. When asked where she is from, she points to the hospital.
Ba-reum is at the hospital. He asks why he has Sung Yo Han’s memories. His doctor says he must have read a lot of case files and his memory is distorted. He says Ba-reum has mistaken case files as memory. He is told this can happen even with his childhood memories.
Ba-reum collects his medicines and finds the name familiar.
Mu Chi is loading his gun. he vows to kill Woo Jae Pil when he is being transported.
Ba-reum comes in and checks the evidence for Jo Mi Jung case. he sees the same tablets which she took. He calls up her mother who confirms that Jo Mi Jung had brain surgery. He asks who was her surgeon and she says it was Park Min Joon.
He visits the surgeon and he says Jo Mi Jung had lost sense of smell dues to brain injury and she took medicines for that. He says that led to weight loss. Ba-reum says Sung Yo Han mistook the medicines for anorexia medicine. Ba-reum asks if brain damage can improve the sense of smell. The surgeon says it isn’t possible but there is one way to make it happen.
Ba-reum meets Bong Yi in the lobby. She has come to get her wound treated. She looks at the doctor and tells Ba-reum that he wasn’t the one who operated on him. She says the surgeon was older. he asks her how she knows this.
Flashback
Bong Yi puts the pillow over Sung Yo Han’s face and suffocates him. She isnt able to got through with it and she puts the tube back in. She hears voices and hides.
She hears a voice says that after going through so much he still pulled through. They say it is bad that they have no other choice. The man says Jung Ba-reum’s surgery has to be a success.
At present, Bong Yi checks all the photos of the Neurosurgeons in the hospital but says the surgeon who operated on Ba-reum isn’t there.
Meanwhile, the cop brings Park’s wife to the hospital.
Park receives a call that his wife is in the hospital.
Ba-reum goes back to his surgeon (Park Min Joon) and asks if he was the one who operated on him. The surgeon says he is one of the best neurosurgeons in Korea and he was the one who operated on Ba-reum. He says he wasn’t assisted by anyone either.
Ba-reum is sure that the surgeon is lying as he walks out of the room.
The surgeon calls someone and says Ba-reum is suspicious.
Ba-reum doesn’t notice Park’s wife walk past him. he wonders why the surgeon lied.
Park’s wife goes into an empty room and picks up a scalpel.
Mu Chi distracts the guards in the hospital by using the radio to tell them that there is an armed assailant in the lobby. Mu Chi gets out and walks into the hospital to kill Woo Jae Pil.
Park rushes into Woo Jae Pil’s room to see Mu Chi standing rooted to the spot. Park’s wife holds a bloodied scalpel in her hand and stands next to Woo Jae Pil’s lifeless body.
Ba-reum remembers Bong Yi says that the surgeon had a scar on the right side of his face. Han’s image appears in the mirror before him. He recalls that Han is also a neurosurgeon.
Ba-reum asks for recent photo of Han from the prison guard. He is told they cant take recent photos out of the prison walls. He tells Ba-reum to take a look at the documentary.
At the hospital, Mu Chi offers to take the scalpel and go to prison. he vows to kill Han. Park allows it. Mu Chi is escorted away. Park’s wife says it was not him. Park holds his wife and says Mu Chi will kill Han for them and he asks her to look the other way.
Hong Ju tells Ba-reum that the footage was deleted from the documentary as it upset the victim’s families. hong Ju eyes him as he moves away.
He sends the photo to Bong Yi and she confirms that he was the doctor who operated on Ba-reum.
Kang Duk Soo watches Bong Yi walk before him. He comments that she has grown up into a beautiful woman.
Ba-reum visits Han in prison. He asks him what he did to his brain. He asks if Han implanted Sung Yo Han’s brain inside him.
Image Courtesy- TVN
Review
This was an interesting episode.
It was revealed that the boy in the yellow uniform didn’t kill the mouse (in the flashback) but a girl did. I wonder if the girl and the boy kept in touch and she was an influence in his life. It is also possible that the girl grew up to be Hong Ju.
The eye witness mentions seeing a boy in the car whereas it was a girl (Hong Ju) who made the knot. I wonder if Park’s daughter is really dead. It is possible that Hong Ju could be Park’s daughter and she may have saved herself by helping the Head Hunter.
However, she does have a habit of visiting the head hunter’s victim’s family without their knowledge (Song Soo Jung and Park’s house). Hong Ju has turned out to be more mysterious than any other character as very little is known about her past. Most of her flashbacks are things to do with the murders.
The murder investigation was a good watch. There were some new characters in this episode that added their bit to the plotline.
Bong Yi’s re-entry scene was thrilling and good.
Woo Jae Pil seems to be protecting someone. It is possible that the boy (with the headhunter) may have been his son. Woo Jae Pil seemed to recognise Hong Ju too. I wonder if it is a coincidence that he chose Bong Yi’s house the day Ba-reum caught him. The killings had started a month ago and Woo Jae-Pil died (was killed) abruptly just like Sung Yo Han. It looks like there is more to that case too.
Kang Duk Soo has tracked down Bong Yi. Jung Eun-Pyo has done a great job in portraying the offender Kang Duk Soo who always has a creepy aura about him.
The Head Hunter Han Seo Joon being the surgeon who performed Ba-reum’s surgery was great suspense.
It is revealed that Han might have implanted Sung Yo Han’s brain into Ba-reum. Nothing about the procedure or of its existence has been shown in the drama till now.
Ba-reum has memories that are exclusive to him which is the bird, Bong Yi, granny, Mu Chi etc. He also remembers his identity. He has the killer’s (Sung Yo Han) memory from kindergarten, punching Song Soo Ho and feeling of heartache when he saw Hong Ju. It looks like he has mixed memories.
The government seemed like it would go to any length to keep Ba-reum alive for gaining votes. It is possible that they followed Han’s means to save Ba-reum. It looks like the tape which Hong Ju sent to the Govt had footage of the procedure. They will also go to any length to keep this a secret. I am curious to see Han’s answer to Ba-reum’s question in the next episode.
If this is the case, it will be extremely interesting to watch Ba-reum battling between the good and evil side of his personality.
It is also possible that Ba-reum was the killer all along and he may be regaining his suppressed memories.
Either way, the plot looks promising.
Mu Chi finally got what he wanted as he was arrested for murder though it was the one which he didn’t commit.
It is interesting how the plot weaves in and out of two timelines.
The best part about this episode was that it narrowed down the numerous possibilities in an open-ended, vast plotline and showed a clear direction to the story. It was an interesting and thrilling episode.
-By Soul Sword-
The Writers Room 
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