The identity of the enigmatic Doctor is unveiled at last, yet the reveal offers little catharsis to our long-tormented hero. Meanwhile, latent fissures amidst the trio of schemers portend the fracturing of their avaricious alliance, all while our tenacious investigators’ astute deductions hit closer and closer to home.
EPISODES 11-12
In the wake of Tae-jin’s outburst, Jae-kyung cuts right through Yoon-jin’s mortified sulking to the heart of the matter. Tae-jin and Joon-seo had opened a foreign cryptocurrency account together, splitting the password because they couldn’t trust each other. Initially, Joon-seo had joined the drug operation to quickly amass money for his daughter’s medical treatment, but after he’d finally earned enough, the ambitious Tae-jin had reneged on his promise to cease the operation. Without Tae-jin’s half of the password, Joon-seo hadn’t been able to withdraw a single cent.
Joo-song sums up the process with an adorable doodle — the pharmacist Lee Myung-guk manufactured the lemon meth pills, which Joon-seo delivered to the addicted Jong-soo. Tae-jin, who keeps his cards close to the vest, is likely manipulating the scheme from the shadows. But one question remains: now that Myung-guk and Joon-seo are dead, who has taken over their roles?
As it turns out, the answer has been right under our noses all along. Remember how Myung-guk’s research journals revealed his regularly scheduled meetings with Sang-eui? That’s right — Sang-eui is our current Doctor. The fugitive drug dealer Jin-wook sends him Jae-kyung’s gun and a USB in exchange for an escape boat to China, and as a final parting, Sang-eui disconnects the voice changer and reveals his identity.
Except he claims he’s Tae-jin, convincing Jin-wook with anecdotes only Tae-jin would know. Afterwards, Sang-eui sends a note with a location and time alongside Jae-kyung’s lemon meth delivery, informing our detective of the port Jin-wook will be escaping from in two days’ time. Ah, so he plans to have Jin-wook implicate Tae-jin when interrogated?
As usual, our devious trio gathers in their private hideout, where Jong-soo denigrates a meek Sang-eui. Then they send Sang-eui out to discuss matters in private, unaware that Sang-eui’s phone is recording audio in the coat he left behind. Tae-jin criticizes Chi-hyun and Jong-soo for rashly killing Myung-guk, but in turn, Jong-soo flares up at Tae-jin for cementing plans on his own and ordering them around. Unfazed, Tae-jin points out that Yoon-ho is too much of a liability, insinuating that he ought to be eliminated entirely.
Sang-eui calls Yoon-ho with an audio clip of Tae-jin’s proclamation, then follows it up with a message that the proof of Tae-jin murdering Joon-seo is somewhere within Joon-seo’s house. Yoon-ho beelines straight there, and guilelessly, Ji-yeon opens the door. Recounting how Joon-seo had always been there for him, Yoon-ho works himself up into a seething agitation, accusing Ji-yeon of betraying her husband and killing him in cold blood with Tae-jin.
Meanwhile, Yoon-ho’s beleaguered wife gives up his location to Jae-kyung, allowing the police to track him down via phone signal. By the time Jae-kyung’s squad arrives, Ji-yeon lies battered — but still breathing — amidst a thoroughly ransacked apartment. Yoon-ho hadn’t finished her off despite having ample opportunity to; murder had not been his motive.
While on the run, Yoon-ho calls Jong-soo to plead for help, disparaging Tae-jin and Chi-hyun all the while — not realizing Jong-soo has put him on speaker, allowing the insulted pair to hear every word. Now that it’s all out in the open, Tae-jin admits to his affair, but denies having a hand in Joon-seo’s death. Amidst the brewing suspicion, Tae-jin points out that this is exactly what Joon-seo intended — to have them all turn on one another. Do they really intend to leave a loose cannon like Yoon-ho to his own devices?
The next morning, Yoon-ho anxiously awaits his rescue car deep in the woods. Unsurprisingly, he ends up chloroformed by Chi-hyun, regaining consciousness next to a freshly-dug grave. Still, Chi-hyun’s conscience halts him in his tracks. Telling Yoon-ho to never show his face around them again, Chi-hyun spares his life. However, as Chi-hyun leaves, Yoon-ho shouts their high school student creed — and the next thing we see is Chi-hyun tossing Yoon-ho’s bloody sneaker aside.
Elsewhere, Jae-kyung and Yoon-jin tail Sang-eui to a restaurant, where they realize he’s meeting Tae-jin. Thanks to Yoon-jin’s handy listening device, they overhear Tae-jin catching Yoon-ho recording their conversation yet again. Surprisingly, Tae-jin doesn’t press the issue beyond a stern warning, and even more unexpectedly, Sang-eui passes Jin-wook’s USB to him.
After the meal, Jae-kyung and Yoon-jin pile into Sang-eui’s car to interrogate him about the lemon meth scheme. Instead of answering, Sang-eui drives them both to the meth lab within the freezer storage. Nonchalantly, Sang-eui admits he’s the one who got Jae-kyung hooked on the drug — simply because he dislikes him.
Bitterly, Sang-eui recounts how Joon-seo used to be his one and only friend, until Joon-seo grew closer to the Audiophile club and drifted apart from him. How dare Jae-kyung refuse to forgive Joon-seo, turning him away for over a decade? Sang-eui simply can’t comprehend why Joon-seo left the insurance money to Jae-kyung and Yoon-jin, when he’d been the only one who stayed devoted to Joon-seo all these years.
Of course, Sang-eui’s plan had been far from perfect. Things had gone awry when Jae-kyung failed to capture Jin-wook and trace the drug distribution chain, causing the situation to spiral out of control. Still, Sang-eui begs them to hold off on arresting him so he can trip Tae-jin up and avenge Joon-seo. He’s convinced Tae-jin is Joon-seo’s murderer, and he needs to secure decisive evidence that will put Tae-jin behind bars.
Alas, it seems time may be of the essence. The tail that Chi-hyun put on Tae-jin, following Jong-soo’s orders, reports back to him with photos of Jae-kyung and Yoon-jin in Sang-eui’s car. Elsewhere, deep in the woods, Jae-kyung and his squad uncover Yoon-ho’s corpse.
A flashback to high school reveals Joon-seo hadn’t voluntarily taken the bullies’ side; his dad had been threatened by none other than Jong-soo’s father. Only Jae-kyung had been transferred out, and Tae-jin smoothed over the issue by suggesting they accept Joon-seo back into their fold — until Sang-eui pointed out that they needed to cut Joon-seo off from Yoon-jin, too. Following that, Yoon-jin found Joon-seo smashing up the audiophile club room. Then he broke up with her in an aggrieved rage, all while Sang-eui watched smugly from the shadows.
Sang-eui’s duplicitous nature was on full display this week, which makes me suspect that there’s more behind his alleged loyalty to Joon-seo — especially since he’d been present the day Kyung-tae’s house burned to the ground. Did Tae-jin pressure him into taking over the role of the Doctor, or did Sang-eui volunteer with ulterior motives? I have a feeling we’re nowhere near the full truth of the matter, and the twists are only going to get more shocking the closer we draw to the end.
On that note, I can’t help but notice the parallels between Yoon-ho and Sang-eui, especially given their similar trajectories. Yoon-ho clings onto and ingratiates himself with anyone who will let him into their fold, yet is quick to lash out when slighted. Sang-eui — if you believe his words — harbors a profound faithfulness to Joon-seo, and he strikes back not for his own sake, but on Joon-seo’s behalf. Both men feel their emotions viscerally, yet stifle themselves to blend in until it all comes spilling over — and if Yoon-ho is any indication, Sang-eui may very well be digging his own grave one misstep at a time.
Amidst the burgeoning strife between Tae-jin and Chairman Won, who are aware of each other’s dirty dealings, Jong-soo has finally succeeded in securing a hefty investment for the redevelopment project — but as the saying goes, the higher one rises, the harder one falls. (Plus I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing them get decked, because Yoon-jin’s payback smack to Tae-jin’s face this week was gratifying.)
As for our detective, his addiction is drawing near to its breaking point. Severe withdrawal symptoms had him incapacitated several times this week, to the point Yoon-jin was left with no choice but to feed him one lemon meth pill. Worse yet, the officers that scorn him are starting to catch on. Will Jae-kyung figure out yet another alternative, or will he succumb worse than he already has? In the meantime, I’m anticipating even more tense stand-offs between Jae-kyung and the antagonists, because the tension in his confrontation scene with Tae-jin was positively electric, and there’s certainly no harm in letting these actors flex their acting chops again.