Following a case of mistaken identity, our heroine pieces together the misleading puzzle pieces to reveal a scheme that had been hiding in plain sight. She’s quick on the uptake, but our antihero has been arranging his chess pieces for years, and he’s a ruthless player.
EPISODES 7-8
Now that we’ve learned the truth about Seon-yul, the intricacies of his plan come to light, and it’s been a long time in the making. His stint volunteering at the prison had been a ploy to get information about Soo-hyun, which is how he found out about Hyung-ja and began preparing to assume Min-hyuk’s identity. In the present, he finally gives Hyung-ja’s notebook to Min-hyuk — who has a sprawling burn scar on his back. Incensed by the reminder of his past, Min-hyuk demands to know who Seon-yul is, and all Seon-yul says is that Min-hyuk’s like him.
Needless to say, the darkroom reveal had been a misdirect. When Seon-yul claimed the blackmailer was someone skilled with cameras, he’d really been talking about himself, having picked up those skills while working for Joon. Still, for all that he’s exploited Min-hyuk’s identity, he doesn’t simply leave him out to dry. Using his payment from Joon’s aide, Seon-yul pays off Min-hyuk’s hefty debts and even buys him a box of rice.
Having realized that the details of Seon-yul’s story don’t add up, Soo-hyun retraces her investigative steps, and they lead her to a very different conclusion. For one, the arson victim’s parents have been laid to rest at a columbarium, not the grave that Seon-yul had supposedly been paying respects to when they first met. Soo-hyun connects the dots quickly — we love a smart heroine — and confirms her theory with evidence that Soo-ho used to be in med school and keeps a photo of the accident victim in his locket necklace.
Soo-hyun asks Seon-yul to meet her at a cafe, where they talk in circles about the driver’s son, both acting unaware while clearly knowing Seon-yul’s true identity is no longer a secret. Resolutely meeting his gaze, Soo-hyun asserts that she can bear any torment as long as her family is kept out of the line of fire, but Seon-yul counters that the boy had his family destroyed. What once brought them together in empathy now drives them apart — neither can see past their own pain.
Now that she’s opened her eyes to the extent of Seon-yul’s scheming, Soo-hyun pulls herself together with a renewed resolve. Not only does she dedicate more effort towards showing up for her family, but she also continues forging ahead with her investigation into Seon-yul’s background.
Unexpectedly, she discovers a connection with Joon, whose foundation has been covering the hospital bills for Seon-yul’s mother. Then, as she returns home, she happens to witness Joon entering Hye-geum’s house. We see them embrace tenderly, only for the moment to turn sinister when Joon coldly tells Hye-geum to leave town temporarily with her son — he won’t hesitate to eliminate them if they get in his way.
In another series of coincidences, Soo-hyun finds out that Hye-geum had been overseas on the day of the affair photo. When confronted, Hye-geum admits the truth — Soo-ho had approached her to convince her into exposing Joon, since he’d found out she was laundering money for him through her art gallery. He’d promised to protect her from the inevitable fallout, and Hye-geum taking the blame for the affair had been his way of protecting Soo-hyun, too. Supposedly, Soo-hyun “must never find out who the other woman is.”
With his political goal inching ever closer to his reach, Joon has begun making more proactive moves, and one of them is offering Soo-ho a spot in his political party. As expected, our righteous journalist staunchly turns him down. On his way out, Soo-ho passes by Seon-yul, whom he recognizes as Joon’s lackey from the background check he previously did.
Having noticed Seon-yul in Soo-hyun’s vicinity, this immediately pings Soo-ho’s suspicion radar, and he looks into Soo-ho’s background with the help of a friend. When he discovers that Seon-yul is the driver’s son, he’s understandably alarmed, and he immediately rushes to the junkyard — where he finds the affair photos in Seon-yul’s truck.
Meanwhile, Seon-yul is setting his next attack in motion. He sends his friend to Soo-hyun’s house with a made-up accident, requesting Soo-hyun to check their car’s black box. It’s a deliberate ploy to lead Soo-hyun to a specific night, and Soo-hyun realizes this, having recognized the man from the junkyard. Despite her apprehension, she watches the footage, which had captured Soo-ho and Yoo-ri’s confrontation outside the house. Yoo-ri previously claimed that she’d been scolding Soo-ho on Soo-hyun’s behalf, but the recording of Soo-ho proves otherwise: “Shall I tell her that you’re the woman in the photo?”
Soo-hyun is left reeling, her worst fears confirmed. While her turmoil surges within, another upheaval is happening outside. Yoo-ri finds herself blindsided at her workplace by the sudden arrival of her abusive mother, who’d been estranged all this while until a certain someone sought her out. In the lobby, Seon-yul reclines with his earphones in, relishing in the chaos he’s engineered.
Whoa, Seon-yul is not holding back in the slightest. I really like how the drama has set up our leads as foils to each other, which was perfectly encapsulated by one scene in particular. When Soo-jin asked Seon-yul why he’s going to such lengths and taking a roundabout route in order to approach Soo-hyun, he’d replied that he needs to become someone precious to her in order to rip it all away. While Soo-hyun wanted to punish the perpetrator with the same crime he committed, Seon-yul wants to inflict the same pain he had to endure onto Soo-hyun. He’s calculating and methodical where Soo-hyun was emotional and impulsive, and he’s suppressed his emotions for so long that they’re now bubbling up in vindictive anger.
Given how Joon had extended a hand to Seon-yul after his father’s death, it does seem like Joon may possibly be Geon-woo’s true killer, manipulating Seon-yul’s father into being his scapegoat. For the sake of subverting predictability, though, I hope it doesn’t turn out that way. I’d like to see Seon-yul grapple with the implications of his father being a murderer, and the complexity of loving and mourning someone while also condemning their actions.
Amidst all the double-crossing and dredged-up secrets, Soo-hyun remains a compelling heroine, and I think a large part stems from her deep empathy. Despite all the revelations she’s had to contend with, she still made the effort to reach out to Min-hyuk. He may have railed at her, asking what an apology from Hyung-ja could possibly change, but Soo-hyun saw through his defensive anger and pointed out that Min-hyuk’s self-destructive tendencies ruin no one but himself.
Once again, Soo-hyun’s sincere words and her own painful past have resonated with another wounded soul. As for Seon-yul, it almost feels as if he’s doubling down on his long-held opinion of her character — an unremorseful murderer that destroyed his family — in order to avoid being swayed by the person she’s proving herself to be. His fury may be misplaced to some extent, but he’s clinging onto his vengeance as a way to cope with the way his family’s lives abruptly fell to ruin. That mindset, alongside the years of public disdain, has turned Seon-yul into a bitter shell of his former self, and all we can do is hope that Soo-hyun will be able to pull him back from the brink.