The Kidnapping Day: Episodes 5-6

31 September 29, 2023September 29, 2023

The Kidnapping Day: Episodes 5-6

by solstices

Our precocious child is deposited right back into the cold and clinical environment she was forced to grow up in, reinforcing just how little of a childhood she’s had. An unexpected — and entertainingly charismatic — wildcard shows up to join the unlikely household, bringing both amusing unpredictability and ominous scheming with him.

EPISODES 5-6 RECAP

Following Myung-joon’s heroic rescue of Ro-hee, our injured kidnapper and his unconscious charge are quickly collected by Ho-young and delivered to Eun-seon. Back in the opulent, secluded villa where research used to be carried out on her, Ro-hee is immediately subjected to countless diagnostic tests. It’s equal parts chilling and heartbreaking to hear Eun-seon speak of Ro-hee as if she’s a robot — she’s merely checking if any brain functions have been lost, and she clearly cares little for the child’s wellbeing.

When Myung-joon comes to, Eun-seon finally explains Professor Choi’s research, and her part in it as an investor. She commends him for keeping Ro-hee safe, but that’s as far as she’ll allow. Offering to sponsor Hee-ae by covering the entire cost of her medical treatment and education, Eun-seon veils her demand in a deal — Myung-joon must leave Ro-hee’s side in exchange.

For all her complaining about peasant food before, Ro-hee’s lost her appetite for the lavish dining of her affluent household — only Myung-joon’s humble, home-cooked flour pancakes manage to bring a tiny smile to her face. Aww.

Later, Myung-joon interrupts Ro-hee in the middle of a complex Russian book to take her on a beach playdate. Quietly, Ro-hee admits that it’s her first time touching the sea, and Myung-joon gazes at her with a pensive look on his face. Then he’s scooping her up and running out to sea, and before long the two are having the time of their lives splashing water at each other.

Once they’ve dried off, Ro-hee reveals to Myung-joon that Eun-seon’s daughter has a developmental disorder, which explains her interest in the Genius Child Project. If not for Ro-hee’s role in the research, she’d be worthless. With the barest hint of tears forming in her eyes, Ro-hee asks Myung-joon to continue lying to her if she ever loses her memory again — she’d rather him pretend to be her dad. Sobs.

On the night that Myung-joon is supposed to depart, Ro-hee suddenly has a flashback while searching up news articles about her parents’ murder. The flashing lights she’d seen hadn’t been that of a police car — they’d been yellow, the exact color that the security company uses. Myung-joon immediately urges her to run away and pursue the truth, but Ro-hee knows it’s easier said than done, and she comes up with a plan.

After one last tearful farewell with Hee-ae, Myung-joon attempts to bribe the boat captain into turning back, but he’s met with a metal rod to the back of his head. Meanwhile, as Ro-hee sprints down the road leading away from her ornate prison, she’s met by bright headlights. Out of the car steps Kang Young-seok (yay, finally!) as the very suave JADEN, smirking like a cat that just caught the canary.

Ro-hee’s escape attempt is foiled just like that, and she’s brought back under Eun-seon’s watchful eye. Eun-seon and Jaden may not be on the best of terms, as an early investor and the investor who holds the most shares respectively, but both of them need Ro-hee alive, captive, and compliant. The international fund manager Jaden has returned from Singapore in order to stake claim on the profitable research that he believes ought to be wholly his, and his right-hand man Ho-young is ready to assist him every step of the way.

With her usual disregard for the social hierarchy, Ro-hee bluntly orders Jaden to bring Myung-joon back. Jaden’s amused that Ro-hee thinks she has the grounds upon which to bargain, but she isn’t the least bit intimidated by his threats. After all, she’s been subjected to endless injections and drugs all her life, so he can’t possibly do much worse.

So, how’s our favorite kidnapper doing? Out at sea, Myung-joon regains consciousness amidst a fight between the two smuggler boats, both greedy for Myung-joon’s cash-lined duffle bag. Armed with a fishing net and sheer determination, Myung-joon defeats all the thugs and makes it safely back to shore.

Unfortunately for Myung-joon, he’s apprehended at the harbor by Sang-yoon. In the police van, a frazzled Myung-joon spills the beans, pleading for them to help Ro-hee. Ha, his train of thought is speeding so fast that Sang-yoon can barely catch up. Myung-joon barely manages to recall the highway number leading to the villa before Ho-young rams into the van with a stolen fish truck, incapacitating the officers and retrieving Myung-joon.

This week, we revisit the violent incident that sparked our drama’s chain of events. We finally learn the identity of the aggrieved man — he’s Cheol-won, the hospital security personnel we’ve previously met. (Apologies for my hasty mistake in the opening week’s recap; stabby man was not the junk collector, lol!) Medical malpractice by Chairman Choi — a.k.a. Professor Choi’s father — and a ghost doctor had led to the death of Cheol-won’s wife and unborn child, driving him to vengeance in his grief. The little girl who got stabbed in the neck was Chairman Choi’s child — except the records say he only had one adopted son, not a daughter.

Back then, Cheol-won had grabbed a bloody scalpel, which had just been used on an AIDs patient — and isn’t it convenient that the one AIDs patient we know in the present timeline always keeps her neck covered? This drama doesn’t waste time confirming its hints, and when our detectives visit the orphanage Myung-joon grew up in, we learn that Hye-eun had also come from that very same orphanage.

Elsewhere, Cheol-won resigns from the security company, obtaining his severance pay. It looks like he’s tying up loose ends, and unfortunately, foreboding premonitions are never wrong. The next we see of Cheol-won, he’s fatally stabbed Doctor Yoon. (He claims it’s because Doctor Yoon is also a quack doctor, but is that really all there is to it?)

Cheol-won is arrested, where he confesses to the murder of Professor Choi, claiming he had gotten greedy at the sight of the gold bars in the professor’s safe. Professor Choi had caught him in the act of burglary, and a scuffle had ensued — during which Cheol-won witnessed the corpse of the professor’s wife. If Cheol-won’s telling the truth, that means there were two different murderers, confirming the theories about the starkly different killing methods.

Meanwhile, Jaden’s already making his moves. Paying a visit to Ro-hee’s grand-uncle, who’s next in line to receive the Choi inheritance, Jaden reminds the avaricious man that he just needs Ro-hee to be legally dead in order to usurp her rightful wealth. To prove his point, Jaden plies the ship captain with a hefty bribe, and before long everyone thinks Ro-hee was thrown overboard.

When Ro-hee learns of this, she immediately devises a counterattack — there’s one last thing Myung-joon hasn’t done yet as her kidnapper. With that, we end the week on Myung-joon making a call to lawyer Taek-kyun, demanding a hefty ransom.

You guys, you have no idea how excited I am to have Jaden on the screen at long last! Once again, Kang Young-seok is bringing his electrifying energy to the table, just like he did in Insider, and I am part fascinated by his cheeky demeanor and part terrified by his ruthless methods. Similarly, I can’t wait to find out what role Taek-kyun will play in this ever-sprawling conspiracy. Both men are keeping their cards close to their chest for now, intriguing me all the more.

On that note, Sang-yoon is still suspicious of the answers that have dropped neatly into his lap, and rightly so. Cheol-won is too deeply tied to the Choi family for his killings to be mere coincidence — but if it was truly revenge, why wait till now? What has Hye-eun been plotting all this while, and why is she evading the authorities? I love that the multiple antagonists exploiting Ro-hee are varying shades of gray, each harboring their own selfish motivations.

With every passing day, Ro-hee and Myung-joon’s bond grows deeper, and it’s so heartwarmingly sweet to see how he coaxes her out of her shell, one silly antic at a time. It’s telling that Ro-hee refers to Myung-joon as the only person she can trust, and that for all her intellectual superiority, she sees the value in his earnest sincerity. I find Ro-hee so compellingly brave — to someone who’s been taken advantage of and dehumanized all her life, Myung-joon’s unconditional kindness must feel terrifyingly foreign. Yet she’s wise enough to recognize that she deserves his care, and resilient enough to keep asserting her worth.

Not only is Ro-hee starting to take control over her own life, but she’s also influencing Myung-joon to bare his claws bit by bit, and I am very much here for it. That fakeout-greeting judo flip Myung-joon delivered to Jaden upon their first meeting — egged on by a smug Ro-hee — was hilariously glorious, heh. Myung-joon may be selflessly kind, but he’s not a total pushover. That’s reserved exclusively for Ro-hee, of course.

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1 Britney

September 29, 2023 at 11:25 AM

The first thing I have to address is the HIV/AIDS thing. I am not an expert and I think information about how it's spread or managed has changed over the years but when I watched these episodes, all I could was "what the...?!" She got infected as a child and didn't learn about it for possibly 20 years later? In which time she had gotten married and had a child. (I mention the marriage because for some reason it's in my head that couples get bloodwork done prior to registering their marriage).
That whole situation had me questioning myself and feeling like maybe I'm the dumb one because I know artistic liberties can be taken but what even???

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Blue (@mayhemf)

September 29, 2023 at 11:49 AM

Someone please ask Ajhushi to get a test done!! clearly she was infected prior to marrying him.
It is possible she didn’t know because her father didn’t bother to tell her. Gave her to orphanage and picked another kid. 🙄
May be she wasn’t lying in finding out she had AIDS only after her symptoms got worse.
I have never heard of couples getting blood work done prior to marriage. I guess it’s common in some countries and unheard of in some.

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rho

September 29, 2023 at 5:40 PM

If Hye-Eun had been infected with HIV, she should have shown the symptoms much earlier. And Myeong-Jun should have been infected. Unless Choi senior was doing some experiments on Hye-Eun and as a result, the virus was under control. After all, Choi junior was apparently injecting some virus/virus concocted drug into Ro-Hee.

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emsel

September 29, 2023 at 10:47 PM

Someone mentioned that Sr. Dr.Choi also was interested in brain research stuff or good at diagnosing and Ro Hee also said that her grandpa keeps handwritten notes. So, did this whole experiment start with Hye Eun? If she got exchanged for Jr. Dr. Choi, it wouldn't be a surprise that she knew of the "Genius" project.

So, did Hye Eun plan this whole murder/revenge? Or did she and Park Cheol-Won wanted to rescue the poor girl and accidentally ended up killing Jr. Dr. Choi?

Also, was Jr. Dr. Choi a past subject of the project, who then proceeded to experiment on his own offspring? It would explain his indifferent attitude towards Ro Hee.

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peachietime

September 30, 2023 at 1:59 AM

I don’t think she was telling the truth. It seems like a story that she made up. Just like the security guy told his story about how he killed Roger’s dad. The drama showed the scene but it seems to just be based on what they are saying at that moment. It may not be the truth.

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Emperor

September 30, 2023 at 4:59 AM

As someone that has a close relative living with HIV/AIDS, suddenly this drama piqued my interest!

So HIV is actually not deadly anymore once you reach U=U status, actually its as dormant as it can be. You won't even infect anyone else even if you do unprotected sexual intercourse, as long as you do your ARV medicine dose everyday, and regularly check up your health every +/- 2-3 months. You can and actually be able to live like anyone else, really.
This relative I know is as healthy as he's ever been, and indistinguishable from anyone (he's quite fat, even ...).

What people with HIV fear right now is still, rejection from society. They need support, they want to be treated equally like everyone else without suspicion. Honestly, some countries are going in the right direction ... I read Germany has some openly HIV-positive politicians ... that is a good thing.

That's just my two cents of sharing. Thank you!

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DancingEmma

September 30, 2023 at 5:17 AM

That is absurd and scientifically impossible. They should not mess around with disinformation about a virus that globally continues to kill poor people and has killed over 40 million people so far.
And, of course you’re not.

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2 Blue (@mayhemf)

September 29, 2023 at 11:45 AM

I didn’t think I could love this show more, but I do!! What a fantastic set of episodes. My worry about angst was unnecessary!! What a turn of events. I love the way they both watch out for each other.

The scenes of Ro-Hee going through the motions in that house was really sad. After having seen her personality for 4 episodes we can visibly see how she is stripped of any joy. She looked like a robot.
So the beach scene that followed was beyond beautiful. I want these two to end up together. Of course, with his own daughter too.

I don’t trust the security guy. Definitely he is hiding something.

If this continues, Kim Myeong Jun will end up being my favorite character this year. He is literally ‘killing’ people with his kindness.

Yoon Kye-Sang is nailing this role. I cannot imagine anyone but him as Kim Myeong Jun. He is living this role. His body language, his dorkiness and earnestness is adorkable! 🥰🥰
And I love how he uses the fact that he is not smart as a line to convince people. Lol. He is such a cute Ahjushi!

And finally a show with competent cops!! The investigation is so well done and I love how they moved forward.

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emsel

September 29, 2023 at 10:50 PM

I did not expect Myeong Jun's conversation with Ho Young to be funny and touching. If that hitman doesn't end up on Myeong Jun and Ro Hee's side, I hope he gets thrown into the sea.

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3 Britney

September 29, 2023 at 12:09 PM

I think Myung Joon & Ro Hee's dynamic is the best part of the story. Every time they are together, the scenes are better. They really do have a weird partnership dynamic haha.

Kudos to the actress playing Ro Hee cause she really does hold her own with all the adults. Even her physicality is good; Ro Hee carries herself, even when she's sitting on a couch, as if she's way older and detached from everything.

Myung Joon is such a genuinely good guy. I think he *may* have started having some affect on Ho Young. Super tiny but just maybe the sincerity is working some magic.

I liked how Myung Joon immediately asked for help and divulged all that he knew including how initially Ro Hee thought the police were involved which is why she/they didn't go to them. He really is such a sweet man.

I hope the detective is able to keep investigating and somehow help them.

The CCTV guy confuses me. The account he gave *does* seem plausible but it still feels like there's a part of the story missing such as the "thing" the doctor kept alluding to. Also, what the hell is with the unlicensed doctors?! How are unlicensed doctors performing surgeries? This is fictional but makes me not want to trust anything.
How would the CCTV guy even know about the doctor being unlicensed? Did I miss something?

Ro Hee's father looked like the Goblin from the spiderman movies. Whatever drug Jaden wants more of, I'm thinking the father used it which altered his brain and strength (like the goblin). Not sure why he would've killed his wife but I'm assuming it was due, at least in part, to the drugs. Maybe it made him more erratic or impulsive or violent.

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emsel

September 29, 2023 at 10:54 PM

CCTV guy was friends with the unlicensed doctor. CCTV guy was the only one who smoked and gave company to the doctor, so they are sort of like buddies.

I think Ro Hee's dad himself was a test subject of the project once because it would explain is detached state with his own daughter and pyschopathic outburst at the CCTV guy (if we were to trust his narration)

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4 jerrykuvira

September 29, 2023 at 12:33 PM

I was wondering how this drama will be pulled. In a 360° turn for me, I am enjoying this so much.
Jaden brought about the aura as quickly as he came on stage. It's chilling and exciting at the same time.

The more I watch Myeong-jun and Ro-hee, the more I see them replicating winning the best couple award. I think they usually have multiple awards for this.

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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜

September 29, 2023 at 2:47 PM

I like Kang Young Seok, the actor that plays Jayden. He's fun to watch when he gets a role he can play with, like here, or like Sun Oh in Insider.

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Blue (@mayhemf)

September 29, 2023 at 6:22 PM

This is the first I am seeing him. He reminded me of Jung Kyung Ho for some reason. Face? Bright? Body language?

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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜

September 29, 2023 at 6:37 PM

This is technically my 5th, but I don't remember a couple of those haha, not his fault.
I can't recommend Insider, alas, but he was the best part of the 10 episodes of that show I watched... lmao

Interesting comparison! They have really different face shapes but body language maybe? I could see that.

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emsel

September 29, 2023 at 11:00 PM

As soon as the actor portraying Jayden stepped out of the car, I was blown away by his charisma and was raking my brain trying to pinpoint the drama I had seen him before. Lol! His blonde character Sun Oh has imprinted deep in my brain that I couldn't recognize him in black hair and dapper look (because he was mostly in prison uniform in "Insider"). This guy needs to be promoted to bigger supporting roles and then to ML role.

💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜

September 30, 2023 at 12:32 PM

@emsel as soon as he stepped out of the car I went "Sun Oh! Yessss!" Lmao

Made me realise how much I'm need to have at least one unhinged freak of favourite character to latch on to per year.

Unfortunately, like Lee Jae Kyoon, they both seem stuck in charismatic scene stealing supporting roles rn 😭😭😭

emsel

September 29, 2023 at 11:28 PM

In a 360° turn for me, I am enjoying this so much.

Tell me about it because I was not into the drama until Ep 3.

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jerrykuvira

September 30, 2023 at 2:00 AM

Myeong-jun's earnestness in looking after Ro-hee's welfare. Each time he does something towards this fact, it only draws me into the drama more.

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5 tabong has two different tears🍉

September 29, 2023 at 12:45 PM

1. Ro Hee and Kim Myung Joon ahjussi are such a great team!
They're always been great, but this week I feel like they're totally in sync. Maybe it's because Ro Hee seems to be me open about her feelings? She doesn't even bother to pretend she doesn't worry about him anymore.

2. The beach scene broke my heart. When Ro Hee said she didn't need to know the truth, that she was fine thinking ahjussi was her dad... 🥺 This little girl most be in so much pain, I kinda want to see her comfortably crying or screaming or something. She's so busy trying to find a way to to survive that she didn't have the time to just feel her pain and let it out. Watching her acting strong and chill all the time kinda scares me. Someone make her listen to Entertainer's OTS "You can cry", please.

3. Mr. Scary (is he a bodyguard? hitman? Ninja?), like Mindy calls him, seems to have a soft spot for uri ahjussi. I feel like those two will become besties.

4. The security guard ahjussi is hiding something. I don't trust him and I can't believe anything he says. Same goes for Hee Ae's mom.
I really wanna know what's going on with those two.
One lost his wife and baby, the other one was abandoned after getting sick... was it really a revenge thing?
Why did she send KMJ ahjussi that day too the house? It was because she knew there was no CCTV or because she wanted to frame him?

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6 jillian

September 29, 2023 at 1:15 PM

Many new information given this week. My favorite is still Myeong Jun and RoHee. Our genius girl is pulling the strings and the hapless kidnapper is relegated to be the obedient muscles of the operation. What was most memorable this week are RoHee's snarky comments to MJ, Myeong Jun's olive branch to Ho Young, MJ's backflopping Jaden, MJ's scene with Hee Ae and just RoHee outwitting just about everyone in the room.
I also hope that Ho Young will be redeemed and help MJ in future episodes.
There is a connection between Cheol Won and Hee Ae's Mom, Hee Eun. Is Hee Eun the mastermind of this revenge or someone else? I can't believe that doctor would give his daughter up for adoption because she contracted HIV due to no fault of her own. She definitely would have it out for RoHee's father if he enjoyed the life that should've been hers.
I also wonder about the events of that night, why would RH's father kill his pregnant wife? He also looked crazed when he attacked Cheol Won. Did he inject himself with the experimental drug? His increased human strength and murderous actions are a side effect? So many questions..

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Blue (@mayhemf)

September 29, 2023 at 6:25 PM

I can't believe that doctor would give his daughter up for adoption because she contracted HIV due to no fault of her own.

Me on the other hand thought he is exactly the kind of person who will throw away his child because she is not the right subject for the experiment anymore. He saw them as ‘subjects’ not his children. Or he was just crazy like you said from experiments done on him.

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jillian

September 29, 2023 at 7:01 PM

I was referring to Ro Hee's adoptive grandfather, who I assume is Hee Eun's real father. Was there also indication that he is like the adopted son, RoHee's father? I can't remember either doctor's names. If so, I have missed that.

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emsel

September 29, 2023 at 11:07 PM

Jr. Dr. Choi was adopted 2 years after Hye Eun contacted the disease. It was mentioned in the drama.
I am confused about Hye Eun. She was own daughter who got kicked out? Wasn't she an adoptive too? If she was own daughter how could she end up in orphanage? Does SK allow kids to stay in orphanage if parents are well and alive? Or is it because Sr. Dr. Choi is rich enough to forge birth certificates and throw her out?

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Glen

October 25, 2023 at 11:06 PM

despite their name, orphanages everywhere around the world, throughout history were never really about caring for children without parents, but about caring for children who were unwanted.

7 marblebees

September 29, 2023 at 10:43 PM

Wow. We haven't even really "met" Ro-hees father (besides the small scene in episode one) but what a piece of work. He adopts a child and then immediatly after she becomes useless to him, he dumps her back into an orphanage and takes the next best child. And that new child seems just as bad as him... I wouldn't blame Hye Eun at all if this is revenge after all, she even got hiv because of her shortlived adopted father.

I think she lied about when she found out about the hiv though. With no treatment for 30 years she would have died a long time ago, i think she just used this as a convenient excuse for why she left her family. I think something must have happend at the time she left. Maybe her "brother" contacted her (he was seen with an unknown woman, right?) or she met Cheol Won and they made a revenge plan?

I am not sure if i believe Cheol Won's story. It's a little bit to perfect. Also, who killed Ro-hees mother? Was it her own husband or someone else? He acted so weird. He walked into the room with his dead wife in it and he was already furious, so why did he never call police or an ambulance? Was it because of his shady doings? And who turned the heat up and closed the door in the room?

I want a Ho-young redemption ark, i have been saying this since a few episodes, there is something more to this guy, he actually doesn't seem to be a bad person at all. He didn't even kill the homeless man, it was a third party (maybe it was Jadens group for some reason? But the third party must have know from the start where Ro-hee was. They knew to kill the homeless man so he couldn't tell on them, but why didn't they kidnapp Ro-hee themselves if they knew that she was in the house and got some random dude to do it instead?

I knew the lawyer Taek-kyun would play more of a role! We even saw a short flashback, he and Ro-hee seemed to get on well. I think he is my main suspect for (one of) the murders though. I could imagine he tried helping Ro-hee escape?

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marblebees

September 29, 2023 at 10:46 PM

I meant *grandfather in the first sentence.. oops.

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8 emsel

September 29, 2023 at 11:26 PM

@solstices What a great joy to see you excited about the actor,Kang Young-seok, playing as Jayden and coincidentally you recapped "Insider" Kdrama last year where we all fell in love with his character Sun Oh.

I thoroughly loved this specific recap (not because of the actor playing Jayden) because you beautifully captured Myeong Jun and Ro Hee's relationship. They are the essence of this show.

As far as the other powers at play in the drama, although the pieces are falling into place one by one, it is getting surprisingly complex and good. I can think of three possibilities to the murder: 1) Hye Eun asked Cheol Won to disable the CCTV as a favour, so Myeong Jun could kidnap the girl.
2) Hye Eun and Cheol-Won tried to rescue Ro Hee, but failed terribly.
3) Cheol Won witnessed Ro Hee doing something horrific and took the blame on himself.

Whatever it is, I do not want the 3rd possibility to happen or to imagine that Hye Eun might be evil enough to frame the murder on Myeong Jun for her revenge on Jr. Dr. Choi.

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emsel

September 29, 2023 at 11:29 PM

Hee Ae as a minor character stayed out of most of the drama, but when she did get pulled in for a brief interaction with her dad, Myeong Jun, it was so sweet and teary. I almost bawled my eyes out 😭😭