I was vehemently shaking my dog’s paws while watching and squealing over certain parts of this episode. I think he feels very traumatised right now.

While Ji Ahn is being kidnapped, the trio are still having a nice meal.

 

Min asks casually if Joon Ho and Hyun share meals often and Joon Ho explains that it’s because they are neighbours. I can feel Min’s feelings of being left out even from my screen. Amazing! It’s the kind of face you give your friends when you find out that they went out to do something without you haha.

Hyun smirks/smiles at his question. If it wasn’t in this context, I would have said Hyun is amused at his brother’s jealousy. He asks Min about being Jang Il Joo’s lawyer. Min challenges Hyun’s phrasing of a murder case without a corpse.

Since there’s no body found, then it should be a suspected-murder case instead. Joon Ho gives his creepy laugh about how this is a very apt topic for a meal. Watching the three of you eat give me weird feelings.

Kang struggles to call Myung Woo but collapses right after telling him to find Ji Ahn.

The team manages to locate Kang by tracing his phone’s GPS. The Big Guy/Jae Shik is actually the first victim’s husband’s brother, but he doesn’t care or know where his brother is. Myung Woo angrily finds Hyun since he knows the two went to find a lead based on his profiling.

Joon Ho names a few composers and asks what they have in common. Min smiles, “They are all named as victims of the 10th symphony.” They all died after composing their 9th symphony. Nine boxes carrying nine bodies. “The tenth symphony is either unfinished or never composed.”

No matter whether it’s done by either of you, or a third party, there won’t be a 10th murder. 

Joon Ho mentions casually that baseball also has 9 innings but Min replies that there can be more if there is extension of time. Which I interpret as a signal that there can be more than 9 murders.

I love this scene. I’ve never really thought about it this way, but after seeing the three of them interact with each other, I realise just how similar they are to each other. They are astute and brilliant in their own ways.

Myung Woo calls Hyun and shouts at him. Hyun is nonchalant at first, “What do you mean find Cha Ji Ahn?” Then he realises, “Is something wrong?”

“Where are you..right now?”

Both Joon Ho and Min watch his worried face carefully and offer their help. The two exchange a glance. Is this a sense of competition I feel?

   

Min offers to drive instead of Hyun and Joon Ho looks on with curiosity (and interest?).

If I’m Hyun, I would have taken over the wheel like MOVE I NEED  TO FIND MY WOMAN NOW.

Chief officer shows a tender side of him as he frets over his son’s safety.

 

Myung Woo pulls on Hyun’s collar when he arrives and demands that he finds Ji Ahn. Brother is uncaring and arrogant, but he’s no match for the trio who tears him down. I LOVE IT. WAY TO GO. WOOHOO.

Min points out that he has no love nor interest in his brother and Joon Ho continues immediately that the brother probably looks down on Jae Shik on a regular basis.

Hyun slightly smirks that this is why Jae Shik’s first victim was Brother’s girlfriend.

Min responds, “Ahh…of course.” Joon Ho widens his eyes, “He developed the taste so he keeps repeating similar murders.”

Brother’s eyes start shifting in fear – who are these three brilliant, slightly psychopathic-sounding men that have descended upon my doorstep? Besides, two of them are so good looking, how is that possible?

The trio concludes that Jae Shik’s murder motive could be inferiority complex towards his brother. Even though Brother mutters, “What did you say?”, Hyun ignores him and walks off. Haha.

Ji Ahn wakes up in the dungeon looking place and finds Blind Date Lady, who is semi-relieved that she’s a cop but also points out the fact that a cop should be saving her, not stuck with her. Funny. Ji Ahn is worried about Kang since he didn’t get caught along with her, but believes that he will be alright. She asks about the culprits. “A crazy guy and a crazy woman. Is that enough?”

Hyun suggests a method called triangulation, where you connect the residence, location of bodies found, and abduction area to form a triangle on the map. Although Joon Ho feels that finding the brother’s real estate within this triangle is no use because Jae Shik will not want to use his brother’s land, Min deduces differently that Jae Shik could have wanted to take any opportunity to trespass and take over his brother’s estate.

Hyun quickly deduces that in order for the abduction to be so quick, there must have been an accomplice. Min and Joon Ho are also quick on the uptake. Does Jae Shik have a woman living with him? Oh my, put the three of them together and we have a genius profiling team.

Ji Ahn tries to establish some sort of connection with Shushing Lady. She thinks it works because the Shushing Lady moves towards Hyeon Sook, but turns out that the lady is just cleaning her nails.

The operation is finished and Kang is alright. Chief Officer washes his face and tears in the washroom. Awww.

He visits Kang and asks him worriedly if he can recognise him. Kang’s eyes widen, “Cha Ji Ahn-sshi.” “Punk, I’m your dad, not Cha Ji Ahn.” HAHAHA.

Kang knows that he has overheard the location which the two culprits were going to drive to, but he can’t remember because he had a minor concussion.

Back in the dungeon, Ji Ahn gives Hyeon Sook a quick Dummy’s Guide to Escape Psychos – Don’t let them see your fear, but also pretend that you understand them and are on their side. This confuses them.

Lee Hyun. Am I right? I’m not wrong, am I?

 

Ji Ahn assures Hyeon Sook that they will be found for sure, “There’s a person like that. A person who will find us no matter what.”

Min points out that the culprits knew that Ji Ahn is a cop and worries that she might not be alright. Hyun quickly replies, “No. She will survive it, no matter what.” Worried face.

Jae Shik/Big Bad Guy enters dungeon and tells the two women that the rule is when the new one comes in, the old one dies.

Eun Bok traces Jae Shik’s girlfriend’s estate and finds it to be within the triangulation. At the same time, both Joon Ho and Hyun guess differently as to the possible location of the hideout. Min simply listens.

Jae Shik tightens the belt/whip and scrutinises the two women. Ji Ahn returns his gaze unflinchingly but Hyeon Sook quivers slightly in fear. When Jae Shik walks towards Hyeon Sook, Ji Ahn quickly shouts at him to take her first. He replies that he’s not going to take the bait, but looks up when she says that he must be sexually crippled. “Looking at the reports, there were only indirect sexual assaults, but no direct sexual assaults. There are a lot of jerks like you. Because they are sexually crippled, they are killing women instead, you crazy bastards.”

Hey hey HEY, is that following the Dummy’s Guide??

Ji Ahn lands the last blow, “To hide the fact that their manhood is crippled, they only work on building muscles, right?”

Kang knocks his head in frustration because he can’t remember (while I worry that he gets a second concussion) where’s the location. But third time’s the charm because he suddenly recalls and quickly calls Hyun.

Hyun’s guess is correct. Joon Ho tells him he wins, but Hyun replies that he wasn’t playing the game.

Ji Ahn gets hurled around by Jae Shik while the three guys arrive on scene. Hyun and Min quickly run inside, leaving Joon Ho with the Shushing Lady. Shushing Lady tells him that she couldn’t do anything about Jae Shik.

Hyun comes in right when Jae Shik is going to strangle the life out of Ji Ahn. Jae Shik lets go of her to defend himself and Hyun runs towards Ji Ahn. AHH. Jae Shik gets up to attack Hyun and Min throws himself at him. Ahhh x2.

Hyun asks Ji Ahn if she’s okay and she smiles, “I’m okay.” AHHH<3

In the end, both brothers manage to take Jae Shik down.

Joon Ho taunts Shushing Lady and she frantically takes out Ji Ahn’s gun to point at him. He smiles at her but Myung Woo’s arrival breaks the tension and he quickly pretends that Myung Woo has saved his life.

 

Min watches as Hyun helps Ji Ahn to walk.

He quickly turns around and tightens his tie as he walks off. It’s these small gestures that break my heart. Min, I really hope you didn’t kill anyone so that you can have a happy reunion with your brother.

Ji Ahn tries to walk but faints in Hyun’s arms.

She later wakes up to find everyone staring at her. HAHA.

She’s embarrassed and covers her face, “It’s not like you are at my funeral.”

Ji Ahn asks after Kang’s injury, thanks Joon Ho and Min, and looks to her side.

    

Hyun turns away nonchalantly, and Ji Ahn doesn’t see his smile. Here’s when my dog’s paws start to get shaken about hahaha.

Hyun tells Joon Ho and Min that they should meet up more often because he want to know them better. At the station, the couple gets interrogated and the girlfriend is analysed to have susceptibility mental disease. This means that she was fine at first, but succumbs to her boyfriend’s mental disease after being with him.

Joon Ho visits Ji Ahn and they talk about this case.

Hyun wonders. What if, what if Min didn’t disappear but was kidnapped by Lee Joon Young, and he was raised at the hands of a murderer, could he also suffer from this mental disease?

Ji Ahn thinks that if the girlfriend hasn’t met Jae Shik, she would have been living a normal life. However, Joon Ho gives her a hypothetical situation – will 10 people all make the same choice in the same situation? He thinks that the girlfriend already has a tendency towards violence and murder.

 

Min stops by with flowers and Ji Ahn smells the bouquet, “I definitely did not hurt my nose.” Hahaha.

Myung Woo attempts to apologise to Hyun, but Hyun is too engrossed in his thoughts. Oops. He confronts Planning Officer who finally reveals to him the truth. In her junior days, Lee Joon Young struck up a deal with her. Because Hyun’s father requested for Joon Young to be cut off from the outside world, Joon Young wanted her to release that restriction. In return, he gave her information about criminals. That’s why she had a good performance record of catching criminals and rose to her current position. The Planning Officer tries to explain to Hyun that she really didn’t expect him to be able to escape and do things to his family just from a few visitations and letters.

“That’s why you raised me, out of guilt.”

He realises that the Planning Officer lied about finding Min as well. “You said you looked all over Korea. Back then, because I was young, I couldn’t look for him so I trusted you and waited.

Did they find him today? Will they find him tomorrow? Because you told you have used all manpower to search for him!”

“I believed you.” Hyun looks broken.

“It’s my fault. In the end, I did not personally look for him. I…I didn’t look for him.”

Cut to Min driving his car. Why did he not look for me even once? There’s no trace that my brother ever looked for me.

Before Hyun leaves in anger, the Planning Officer passes him a few magazines – this is how Joon Young had communicated with her after his escape. He had posted informations of criminals hidden within the advertisements. In one magazine, there was a slip of paper with a poem, ‘A song for a dead child’. This is why the Planning Officer thought that Min was dead and didn’t search for him. Hyun quickly calls someone to put out a personal ad. Don’t you think it’s time we met?

 

Someone enters Hyun’s house and leaves a notebook for him.

The art director reveals that the Lawyer’s records are thoroughly clean – no such thing like late birth records, fake records or adoption. However, the director casually mentions that Eun Bok is an orphan.

“Orphan?” “You don’t know what an orphan is?” Hyun stares at him, “Would I be asking because I don’t know?” Hahaha.

Director asks who the murderer is among the suspects and tells Hyun that he has met Myung Woo. Hyun tells him to get along well with him and leaves. It’s so funny how Hyun dismisses the possibility of Myung Woo ever being dangerous.

Ji Ahn packs her stuff and grumbles about Hyun’s non-existent visitation records. Kang is sad that she’s leaving and asks if she can visit him when she leaves the hospital. But he can leave the hospital the day after hahaha so Ji Ahn is a little bewildered. He apologises for not having protected her, and Ji Ahn gives a sweet smile, telling him it’s okay.

Her aunt is stuck in a jam and is late in picking her up.

No worry, because Hyun is here to save the day and gives us all some squealing to do.

“Are you waiting for someone? Should I just go?”

Ji Ahn quickly denies that she’s waiting for anyone hahaha. Poor aunt gets a whispered apology on the phone.

Hyun tells her to rest and that he will treat her like a patient for one day. She asks if he will cook her anything she wants to eat and he asks her what she wants. I say, you guys are ready to be married!

Ji Ahn recalls the terrifying moments when she was hurled around and strangled. She sighs, “I am alive.” She tells him that she really thought she was going to die.

 

Hyun takes a step closer, “But you survived.” “Yes, thanks to you.”

She tears a little as she tells Hyun how she has experienced the fear of dying and found out how scary it was, “Maybe my dad…” She stops herself from going further, “I have many thoughts.”

“Another thing that was scary was…not being able to see you again.” Hyun takes another step closer, “But now you see again.”

She takes a step forward and kisses him.

Before I could see Hyun reciprocating her kiss, the episode ends.

-the end-

I think with this episode, we have taken a few steps forward.

In terms of the relationship, there’s no way it’s going to remain stagnant after that kiss. Whether Hyun is going to reciprocate, or push her away for the time being, there will be new things to anticipate. At this rate, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to close his eyes and kiss her back though. Maybe another time? I always sort of appreciate scenes where the female lead initiates the kiss. Although I have nothing against with the men taking the lead, I think it’s always a nice way to use that to characterise a female. Slightly superficial technique, but still effective in showing that Ji Ahn is strong, confident and willing to act on her feelings.

(I love Hyun’s side smiles. LOVE IT. His worry for Ji Ahn palpitates through the screen hahaha. Love every scene of the couple. Call me crazy hahaha.)

I didn’t expect scenes with the three weird men together hahaha. But it was awesome. It was great watching them – there’s this sense of a slightly twisted conversation, tension-filled air and simply lots of interest in each other. While Min’s and Hyun’s agenda are pretty clear, Joon Ho’s interest and fascination in the brothers remain unexplained. Is he just someone who is good at judging people? Or is he really Joon Young, waiting to watch how this pair of brothers unfold?

Park Bo Gum continues to rock the scene as he acts out the hurt, un-loved brother. I felt that oomph when I hear him telling Brother that he probably doesn’t care about Jae Shik. He doesn’t sound hurt or personal in that statement, but oh the scriptwriters, so clever in letting Min be the one who say that. I really feel for him when he’s injured and bruised, but has no one like Hyun to help him to walk. Especially considering the fact that he probably mostly only got into the fight because the guy was going to smash Hyun.

I’m also looking forward to knowing who is the guy who left the notebook in Hyun’s house. If done right, the reveal will be amazing! And I’m going to go crazy anticipating Hyun’s reaction in next week’s episode!

Now excuse me while I stand at my door and await for a Hyun to come fetch me too. Feed me anything thanks.

<3thoughtsramble