Finding himself in the parallel world, our hero seeks answers about the dead, the living, and himself. While largely familiar, a few unfamiliar elements of this parallel world drastically change the lives of our hero and the people around him. In this different reality, our hero uses his knowledge of his world to prove his innocence and learn about his alternate self.
EPISODE 4
As we take a ride down the train tracks, the show formally introduces us to the concept of parallel worlds. “Some scientists claim that a world just like ours exists because the universe expands infinitely. And they believe that a passage connecting the two world exists.”
Do-won runs out of the parallel Mukyeong Station, and he can barely process his utter confusion about his surroundings because he’s being chased by the police. He takes a turn onto the train tracks and freezes when he hears a gunshot in front of him. Slowly pointing his gun at his enemy, Do-won makes out a silhouette of someone pointing a gun at him.
His tense glare at his enemy softens with recognition, as he realizes that the person standing in front of him is Seo-kyung — alternate Seo-kyung, that is. He can’t believe it and drops his gun as he approaches her, unbothered by the gun against his chest. Do-won reaches out to touch her face and tears fall as he confirms she’s alive while alternate Seo-kyung watches him closely.
As Do-won gets transferred in custody, he pieces together what’s happening. He knows this isn’t a dream or a hallucination. He observes that the date and location are the same, but his surroundings are slightly different. The dead and living are also different, and he looks to Seo-kyung.
Determined to prove his innocence, Do-won argues that they’ve got it all wrong, starting with the motive. He claims that he doesn’t use drugs and consents to any bodily tests to prove it. He adds that they’ll know for certain that he isn’t the culprit when they compare the bullet from his gun with the one from Lee Jin-sung’s body.
As predicted, the tests and analysis prove Do-won’s innocence, which further confuse the officers and infuriate Seo-kyung. In his cell, Do-won wakes up from his dream about his nightmare-like past few days and finds Seo-kyung angrily pushing him against the wall. They didn’t find the ledger that Do-won claimed was in Lee Jin-sung’s possession, and she suspects that he may have lied.
Seo-kyung resentfully unlocks Do-won’s handcuffs and says that she’s ashamed that he’s a fellow police officer. She warns Do-won not to disappear since he’s still their prime suspect, and he assures her that he won’t leave. Even though he’s accused of being a murderer and suspects that he’s going insane, he promises to stay here. Do-won looks at Seo-kyung earnestly as she walks off.
At the train station, Do-won vows to himself that he’ll find a way to stay here for Seo-kyung. He looks at his hand as he remembers reaching out and touching Seo-kyung’s face. He sets out to figure out who he is in this world.
Frustrated with Do-won’s escape, Seo-kyung asks her team to send her all of their evidence tracing Do-won. She washes her face in the bathroom and recalls Do-won affectionately calling her name and touching her face. The interaction puzzles her and indicates that they don’t know each other personally in this world.
Do-won finds his home and goes upstairs to his attic room. He finds a key under a flowerpot and enters a cluttered room. As he cleans the room, he finds a photo of himself and notes that alternate Do-won attended police university. The light flickers, and he notices something under the light panel. He uncovers a box of needles, confirming that alternate Do-won could be a drug user.
In this world, Jung-min and Seo-kyung don’t know each other personally, and Seo-kyung recognizes Jung-min’s name from Do-won’s call history from the day of Lee Jin-sung’s murder. When she calls this out, Jung-min explains that her job involves multiple calls with police officer every day, but that does little to defuse Seo-kyung’s accusatory tone because she knows that they’re not just colleagues. Jung-min claims that they’re childhood friends, but Seo-kyung knows the most recent update in their relationship. Apparently, Jung-min and Do-won are exes.
Seo-kyung knows that they stopped calling each other regularly post-breakup, which happened after Do-won’s corruption accusation at his previous station. She wonders why they happened to have called on the day of Lee Jin-sung’s murder and why Jung-min showed up at the crime scene after the initial investigation.
Jung-min accuses Seo-kyung of only searching for evidence against Do-won while leaving Lee Jin-sung’s side under-investigated. Seo-kyung responds that drug transactions are conducted discretely, so they don’t have any records. She adds that they’ve found no enemies, no financial issues, no family issues, or any relationship issues because he didn’t have a girlfriend.
Evidence in hand, Jung-min challenges Seo-kyung’s last point and shows her the hair clip she just found under the bed. Jung-min says that they found hair on Lee Jin-sung’s bed in their first sweep, and since his family is in Canada, the evidence points to a potential partner. She suggests that Seo-kyung redirect her effort in digging up her relationship history to reinvestigate Lee Jin-sung.
Do-won meets alternate Park Min-kyung at her home and shows her a photo of Lee Jin-sung. She claims that she doesn’t know the man, and when Do-won shows her the hair clip, she doesn’t show any sign of recognition. Do-won notices that alternate Min-kyung is married with a baby on the way, and he leaves after her husband returns home.
As Do-won leaves the house, he wonders if Min-kyung doesn’t know Jin-sung in this world. Then, he notices something hanging from Min-kyung’s car rearview mirror. At the same time, Seo-kyung finds the surveillance camera footage of the last person to speak with Lee Jin-sung and notes the license plate.
Seo-kyung also arrives and seems irritated that Do-won is there. She confronts Min-kyung about being the last person to talk to Lee Jin-sung before his death, and Min-kyung pleads that they keep this a secret from her husband, who doesn’t know anything. In distress, Min-kyung suddenly grabs her stomach in pain.
At the hospital, Do-won tells Min-kyung that he notified her husband and assures her that he didn’t tell him anything about her relationship with Lee Jin-sung. Min-kyung finally opens up and share that she wanted to end things with Jin-sung because the child belongs to her husband.
In a flashback, we see Jin-sung begging Min-kyung to reconsider and threatening to tell her husband about them. The doorbell rang, and Jin-sung asked Min-kyung to stay on the line. Over the phone, Min-kyung heard the scuffle and gunshot, and she confirms with Seo-kyung that she heard someone being slammed against the wall.
Do-won follows Seo-kyung, who turns to him and asks if he heard Min-kyung’s voice on the phone when he entered Jin-sung’s home. She suspects that Do-won found Min-kyung to threaten her, but Do-won calmly claims that he found Min-kyung to prove his innocence to Seo-kyung. She isn’t convinced and warns him that if anything happens to Min-kyung, she’ll blame Do-won.
Seo-kyung finds Min-kyung waiting for her at the police station, and Min-kyung hands over the USB to her, per Do-won’s request. Before she leaves, Seo-kyung advises that Min-kyung keep her relationship with Jin-sung a secret to her grave. She says that there’s no such thing as universal good — only good for yourself so that you can keep living.
Seo-kyung’s team looks through the drug transaction records and comment that they’ve hit the jackpot. Seo-kyung seems less enthused and makes a call to ask about a transfer to Mukyeong Police Station.
COMMENTS
Now that we’re into the parallel universe confusion, I’m intrigued by all the interesting tweaks that domino into completely different realities. The thought experiment that Do-won agonized over — of having his father properly charged for his crimes — is the reality in this alternative world, and now that he’s confronted with the consequences of that reality, I don’t think it provides any solace to Do-won. Other than the fact that Seo-kyung is alive, this world seems to have been tougher for alternate Do-won, and I’m curious to know more about the dominos that impacted Alt Do-won’s life.
Though Do-won is definitely reckless, he’s still principled. His conversation with Jin-hyuk was most telling about his commitment to justice, and I found Do-won approach to his investigation of himself in this world very wise and rational, unlike the wild Do-won we’ve seen previously. Maybe it’s the egregious wrongs of Alt Do-won that is making Do-won seem more principled, but I generally think that Do-won always knew right from wrong. He may be more behaved because he’s trying to redeem himself with Seo-kyung, but he has a long way to go before he can undo the 12 years of misunderstandings and false accusations.
After this episode, I’m inclined to believe that Alt Do-won isn’t bad enough to kill someone. There’s definitely another murderer out there, and the DNA sample (if it does belong to the serial killer) indicates that it’s a woman. Is that just something to throw us off? Or is that a hint? At first, I thought that maybe Alt Do-won was the one dropping off bodies in the Do-won’s world as hints, for their world to solve because the parallel world couldn’t, kind of like Signal. In the case of Signal, it was the past informing the future, and I think a similar theme applies here — one parallel world informing the dynamics of the other. I hope there’s more interaction between the two worlds and the two Do-wons (wait, wasn’t there another drama…), both informing the other about this interworld serial killer and giving Do-won and Seo-kyung the answers and closure they desperately need.
