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onomatopagu-et-cie · 1 year ago

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The Killing Vote (ep. 8 notes, part 3)

(SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 8!!!!)

Part 1

General impressions on the episode Official character profiles Lee Minsu’s tattoo Three pictures missing in Kwon Seokju’s house Choi Jinsu, Min Jiyoung and Lee Minsu « If I were Gaetal… » and a triangulation orchestrated by Kwon Seokju and Lee Minsu

Part 2

Jihoon and Gaetal Jihoon’s name Joohyun, Kim Muchan, Kwon Seokju and the Killing Vote « The moment you perfectly understand… » The Gaetal Kwon Seokju’s departure

Part 3 (right here!)

Joohyun and Gaetal More on Joohyun’s scar and expressions Joomin and the ‘firecracker smell’ Kim Muchan and Gaetal What’s still not addressed (yet) The ‘witness’, chronology of some key events, where the story is going:

Chronology of key events

Kim Muchan’s nightmare

Kwon Seokju’s conversation with Jihoon’s grandmother

‘Kim Muchan knows…’

Choi Dohee’s personal investigation and Kim Muchan’s endeavors

Gaetal

More on 당신

A potential secret communication in the main cast ① The news article on Kim Muchan and Gaetal ② The reverse Prison Break and ‘The 13th one is heard/tells [the signal]’ ③ Joohyun and the letters ④ The rabbit, the paperknife and the ointment cream ⑤ « Exactly 22 minutes. » ⑥ An IP address? ⑦ « Kim Muchan knows… » and the first letters

Wild guesses

♦ Joohyun & Gaetal

THE LOOK JOOHYUN GAVE KMC C’MON! She swallowed right after lmao:

Note: KMC only said « Gaetal is No. 1 Fan and No. 1 Fan is LMS. » in front of KSJ once he cut his phone call with Joohyun. She looked genuinely shocked it was one of KMC’s current leads. And she also drew the line earlier in this episode as she spoke to KMC (as I said in Part 1!).

And after discovering KMC is the next target, she drags LMS out enraged and threatens him with a gun.

The Gaetal are supposed not to know anything about each other as a rule, that's what this episode showed ; if Joohyun took part in the TKV because she sympathized with No. 1’s rage (it's about No. 1, not No. 1 Fan/LMS she seemed to know nothing about!) and plans but now realizes the mastermind might be LMS, its literal antithesis who actually uses people’s rage to fuel his twisted game, what would her reaction be with this new piece of information… ?

(The very first picture parallels what her sister Joomin said to her schoolmates before she got injured, ‘You think this is a game?’!)

Worth mentioning that while KMC’s team is panicking because their colleagues start judging KMC and voting, Joohyun and LMS keep staring at each other as you can see in the last picture above.

(Of course anyone would go batshit crazy in front of this scumbag’s behavior and given the urgency because the vote could be executed at any moment from now, but that still sounded reeeeeeeeaaaaally extreme nonetheless: threatening an individual with another officer’s gun she’s not even permitted to have and shooting at the ceiling… ?)

This bit on the pictures below felt even more suspicious, like she’s aware LMS has in his possession the means to stop the broadcasting, thus privy to how it was organized in the first place:

The moment she turned around to smoothly borrow Yoonji’s gun was pretty unhinged too (first set of pictures below)! The motion looked totally natural to her, done in cold-blood (could she also be used to shoot even though her work doesn't require nor highly likely permit it?):

In the second set of pictures, you can see this was an adrenaline moment done in the heat of the moment, she looks like she gradually regained her composure, realizing she was out of her mind as she looks around.

Note: a kr account on Twitter also noticed Joohyun spiraled even more once she saw this man on the screen (first set of pictures below):

The user theorized he could be the drunk driver that killed Joohyun’s family and LMS bribed him to fabricate this testimony (more on it later in the final part of the post!).

That’d be some other level of wickedness from LMS lmao… ! But dude was ready from the get-go so it wouldn��t surprise me he thought that far given his hatred for KMC.

And it’s true Joomin also said she knew where he lived, that he was faring well in life and led a ‘happy life’ after murdering her family: he could’ve bought himself a ‘new’ life with that money.

On the subject of that car crash, going back to Joohyun's profile (see Part 1 for more context!):

There was only one police officer (I wonder who that is… ? c:) who bothered listening to her and that’s why she decided to join the police.

I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning it, but in ep. 2, we see KMC go back to Narae & KSJ’s cases: as he stumbles upon the picture of KSJ on his way to prison as he watches, the camera also focuses on Joohyun on the left side but KMC doesn’t seem to react to it at all.

-> Either it was only a hint directed at the audience (‘oh, look! the three were there on the same day, perhaps there’s more to it than that?’) and KMC didn’t notice her on the picture (perhaps he would later?) ;

-> Or he didn’t bat an eye because he already recognized her somehow eg. we’re not shown in the flashback if they spoke later to each other (when Joohyun was protesting and Muchan was parting with KSJ) and we don’t know if they met before (eg. through Joohyun’s family car crash or Gaetal).

However KMC reacted to the pictures of Joohyun’s parents in ep. 4 (in the second set of pictures above) like he recalled something while his lips part (though it could be from pure sympathy only!)!

If so, the possibility that Joohyun might've recognized him along the way could further explain her ‘the votes made sense this far but not with the Superintendent!’ in addition to their companionship/friendship built through this investigation!

(I’ll talk about Joohyun's past further in the final points!)

Also, if she’s part of Gaetal, she perhaps realized through her analyses (eg. Gaetal’s speech mannerism, other details) that KSJ was really involved with TKV and sympathized even more with him.

What she might’ve not been aware of was No. 1 Fan’s identity she was still trying to figure out while KMC had an inkling it was LMS (and in addition to that, it’s interesting that he withheld the story behind the ‘No. 1 Fan’ up to this episode!).

She also lashed out at KSJ (first set of pictures below) when she realized he discarded the first letter, and it might just be my imagination but that sounded pretty emotionally loaded, like she felt betrayed (especially the trembling and tense ‘LMS’s first letter is missing.’).

She looks mad MAD, there were only a few scenes she reacted this strongly unlike KMC for example, and the best example only happened in this episode with LMS:

And she probably didn’t even inform KMC she was visiting KSJ to confront him (in the last pictures, she pretty much looks like she was interrupted by the call ; KSJ also looks embarrassed).

KSJ's expressions in the second set of pictures are also pretty interesting, when KMC called and when he was about to leave Joohyun behind!

Not to mention the exchange she had with Jihoon on what sets an accessory apart from an accomplice: it could be foreshadowing of not only Jihoon being part of Gaetal but also Jihoon and Joohyun working together (be it knowingly or not), with KSJ.

And Jihoon saying to her in the end « I’m your partner and not an accomplice, right? » is interesting in regard to what Choi Jinsu said on vigilantism: « Robin Hood didn’t think he was a thief either. »

An accomplice is a partner with the right intentions in the culprit's mind ; a murder becomes well-deserved vengeance ; a motive to murder in retaliation devils that were deemed innocent by the failing Rule of Law becomes a justification for preemptive assault, and so on!

It also brings into question this scene with Jihoon: indeed, how did the video ‘test’ even happen to be sent in Joomin’s laptop… ?

Recapping what we saw in the drama,

— KSJ didn’t seem to know its existence at all when Joohyun mentioned it to him ;

— Jihoon was shocked someone (Joomin) was able to find it ;

— KMC looked overcome with emotion when Joohyun showed him the video in the first episode, whatever this will mean later (① below) ; his reaction when Joohyun says one thing didn’t change between the video test & the broadcast (②) and when Joohyun finally mentions KSJ (③):

Note: I supposed in one of the previous posts the person might’ve sent the video test on Joomin’s laptop to alert Joohyun (or for another purpose) through her sister knowing she’s part of the Cyber team. Joohyun became well-known in the workforce as the whistleblower, and KMC seemed well-aware of it! Also Joohyun modified the video test’s title: it’s not Lrae090915 but only ‘test video’ …

— For what it’s worth, here was Jodan’s reaction to the video test by the way and his reaction when Joohyun first mentioned KMC:

♦ More on Joohyun’s scar & expressions

In episode 4, when Joohyun confides in KMC her habit of playing with her scar, she says: « Whenever I’m stressed out, it starts burning. »

She uses 신경쓰다 in this sentence (‘to mind/care/bother, pay attention mindfully/get on one’s nerves’ ; 신경 means nerve anatomically and fig. feeling/sense/thought about sth).

According to her profile, her scar became the stigma reminding her of the injustice she suffered.

Since ep. 8 cast some doubt on Joohyun in some scenes to me, I tried to rewatch the scenes she exhibited that habit to see if there were some interesting things to note!

→ She scratched her scar in this specific moment in ep. 2, when they were searching for the LAN cable at BGC’s ‘hideout’ (since Gaetal used a computer or remote server to air the test run for the Killing Vote there) and she also inserted the USB drive she carries around.

I’m not at all knowledgeable about this, but a random window popped up only a few seconds on top of the log history… ? And she coincidentally scratched her scar only after this particular moment.

She initially asked Jodan to check the log history but she’s the one who did it in the end.

She then said she was collecting all volatile data to analyze them later (I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt haha, maybe that’s why that random window showed up?). But I believe we never heard from it again, right… ? And on the pictures above, she seemed a bit on edge when she told KMC she’d analyze the data back at the office, with a little forced smile.

It's interesting to note that she arrived first at the scene with Jodan, who then asked her: « By the way, didn’t you tell Team Leader too? », and… Joohyun never answered lmao????

And given CJS’s reaction when he arrived, the answer must have been no: « What’s going on here? Are you toying with us? », Jodan covered Joohyun by saying « We followed the lead and ended up here. »

She looked puzzled at Jodan's question somehow then a bit surprised once KMC and Choi Jinsu arrived, and finally turned around panicked/annoyed as she’s blurred in the foreground.

… Reciprocally, KMC didn’t inform the Cyber team they were going there while their expertise would’ve definitely helped???? Because he perhaps knew everything already... ? (more on that later!)

Other moments where she scratched her scar:

→ As she was running an algorithm based on keywords related to KSJ & Gaetal and the words ‘Kwon Seokju’, ‘Kwon Narae’, ’Seohyun University’, ‘murder’ & ‘revenge murder’ were displayed (ep. 2).

→ When she interviewed KSJ for the first time, and seeing this habit made KSJ swallow for some reason (ep. 2), and it’s interesting to note their confrontation was shot in a pretty unusual way in the drama, literally face-to-face like they’re on equal footing: it was not even done between LMS & KMC nor KSJ & KMC!

The only other pair that was shot like this was KMC & JJW in ep. 6 (the second set of pictures). And Lee Yunseong alone (not KMC) was shot in this way as he was interviewed by KMC in ep. 7. Is this to symbolize the character in question know everything, something along those lines... ?

→ When she’s nervously waiting for KSJ with KMC in ep. 3.

She thinks to herself:

« We’ve found traces of Gaetal in BGC’s hideout and KSJ’s house. These two places. If there’s no record of anyone logging onto the internet from either location while the voting took place, Gaetal must have a hideout elsewhere. Even so, they wouldn’t have gone that far. If we look for places that used more electricity than usual around the voting periods or housed a larger server in the vicinity of these two places… »

Note: indeed, in ep. 8, Min Jiyoung/LMS’s house used an unusual amount of electricity for example!

The two sentences in bold were said as she scratched her scar, KMC even stopped her in the end! KMC’s expressions were also interesting in this moment (eg. averting his gaze, shutting his lips more tightly).

And KMC says: « Fussing over it won’t change anything. Don’t underestimate KSJ. Don’t show him anything he could use to read you. » (and indeed, you could read more into Joohyun’s behavior than KSJ’s in this whole scene!)

What followed was also really interesting, the moment was very short but once KMC asked if KSJ was Gaetal, Joohyun’s eyes were darting everywhere! And KSJ’s reaction too haha:

Note: I never noticed until I took those screenshots the melancholic/worried/soft look on KMC’s face!

→ Joohyun scratched her scar once KSJ gave an explanation on the tag ; she also did it when she first watched the video test when the ‘devils deemed innocent’ came about! KSJ’s ‘That’s probably what it means.’ was superposed to a full focus on Joohyun’s habit while KMC noticed it (① below):

Note: KSJ has a lopsided smile as he says he just realized it himself (it was about the intriguing 13th stab... more on that at the end of the post!) so he doesn’t know who he could’ve told that to + KMC’s expression was not shown on screen at that time!

→ Joohyun scratched her scar after KMC asked her to take KSJ outside to Gaetal, for her to be his messenger (more on that at the end of the post!) and eventually find out why he hid the letters and asked for a special pardon.

→ Also on the way to the Police Agency with KSJ in ep. 5, after KMC checked on them and assured him she would keep a close eye on him, which KSJ noticed.

→ Also in the same episode, as Joohyun showed the pictures of BGC’s wife to KSJ and said: « But there’s a case that seems to be an outlier for Gaetal, so it makes me uncertain. »

So how does Joohyun factor in all this?

→ Choi Jinsu said something interesting about her in the first episode (② above, 'How would she know the killer?').

→ And in ep. 3 (③ above), you get the superposition of KMC’s line (‘Gaetal is very close to [KSJ].’) with this shot including the two, Joohyun at the center and KMC exiting the picture! KSJ, the object of the sentence implied in this line from the context, is omitted, so the sentence could also literally mean 'Gaetal is very close.'!!!!

→ For what it’s worth, Joohyun was the one who led KMC to investigate KSJ: she suggested to KMC the link between ‘Devils deemed innocent’ and KSJ first and it became a lead in his investigation (ep. 1) ; she reported to KMC BGC’s isolation thanks to KSJ’s testimony, which made her finally meet him ; she’s the one who first theorized ‘Gaetal = No. 1 Fan’ in front of KMC as she analyzed the letters!

It was also Joohyun that claimed ‘devils deemed innocent’ was not a quote KSJ got from someone else.

It’d be really interesting if it was Joohyun who tried to deceive/manipulate KMC from the sidelines (of course, not necessarily with bad intentions in mind!) while the drama showed how KMC seemingly assumed an advising/supporting position to Joohyun. The drama also highlighted how KMC was the one who needed these advices the most!

→ There’s also that moment that seemed out of place as she faces the camera straight in ep. 3 (right in front of the TV news, presented by Choi Dohee, showing KMC caught in the explosion) and asks: « Do you still think Gaetal is right? »

(Once again Joohyun's expression is blurred on the second set of pictures!)

While the question form (~니 was used ; it’s an informal marker for questions) and the context make it seem like she addresses her younger sister, her grave look and the close-up of the camera could show something else and cast some doubt.

Yes, in her next lines, she speaks like it was about her sister (eg. by mentioning her classmates) but this moment puzzled her sister who saw how serious she looked. Joohyun only relaxed once Joomin asked her ‘What?’ in shock.

Was the question directed at someone she knows (younger or the same age eg. Choi Dohee, Jodan, Jihoon ; the ~니 could also mean nothing since she was speaking to her sister at the same time)? Or herself?

Note: they’re talking about a betrayer in ep. 8, so if she worked with Gaetal/someone in Gaetal (like KSJ), she perhaps realized something was going wrong with the way the one who laid out the plans did things (eg. harm an innocent person, and KMC at that) only along the way.

While 'Do you still think Gaetal is right?' could naturally mean she totally condemns Gaetal (as in the group) and their deeds at first glance, it could also mean she condemns someone among that group and not necessarily the group as a whole, for example the mastermind who was giving out the plans in advance and that Joohyun knew nothing about until the investigation began!

If it was about Choi Dohee, we (and also Joohyun) know how she manipulates the truth for ulterior motives (she first appears as an admirable justice warrior in the first episodes but we discover it’s far from the truth behind the scenes) and she had communicated with Gaetal, was Joohyun aware of her plans?

When CDH asks who the votes served in the end, you can see Joohyun reacting.

Joohyun continues: « You said that your classmates likened Gaetal to Batman. A hero. You should all wake up. That bastard is a criminal. Someone who wouldn’t hesitate to kill cops and even people like you and me. A dangerous scoundrel. »

If I’m hearing right, she used for ‘지독한 낙 진범.’

진범 = real culprit, which might suggest even more that she separates Gaetal the group and the mastermind (but how does she know all that... ?)!

지독하다 = spiteful, venomous (ie. mind or personality having a very cold or harsh quality), terrible, awful, dreadful, cruel, harsh, inhuman or violent, sharp, intense, bitter, heavy, tenacious, persistent (ie. having a strong will)

That’s the adjective KSJ used to describe that ‘terrible rage’ KMC also felt when he got in the car ; it was specifically KSJ’s wording, while Joohyun only used 분노 (rage/fury/wrath) without that adjective when she spoke!

In ep. 6, she never made KMC listen to this specific part though btw! And we don’t know what she did when she went upstairs as KSJ was down, we only have her word!

-> On that subject, she lied a little to KSJ in ep. 6 about where she found Gaetal’s video test, saying it was ‘on a zombie PC when she was investigating a cybercrime case before this one.’ ????

And she sounded nervous, avoiding eye contact with him when she answered.

She scanned what was under her gaze and changed the subject to Narae’s drawing KSJ was holding.

Why though?

Was it because it was simply an unnecessary detail to disclose to KSJ?

Was it because she already realized something really involved KSJ to the video?

Was it because she didn’t want to involve her younger sister since it was found on her laptop?

Was it because KSJ would understand something from the true answer?

And in ep. 4, she gave another version to KMC: « I was using [Joomin's] computer when I first found Gaetal’s test video. I forgot to erase it afterward, so she and her friend found the video and analyzed it. », which does not say AT ALL it the video test was specifically destined to Joomin’s computer only (the entire PC bang and accounts were infected but no video was found there except through Joomin’s laptop) as we discover it in Joohyun's separate investigation in ep. 2!

The only person she shared with how things really happened was Jodan (ep. 1 & 2).

What gives???? It’s similar to KMC is withholding the story behind ‘No. 1 Fan’ and his relationship to KSJ!

………….. And once again, how did KMC end up finding that IP address/that it was at BGC’s hideout without Joohyun nor (supposedly) Jodan’s help?

(See the last point where I overthink lol about KMC, Joohyun and KSJ's cryptic communication, some points above will be brought up again!)

→ In ep. 6, this scene was interrupted by Joomin. You can definitely see a hint of a smile/relief on Jihoon’s lips and under his eyes, his voice also is breathed out and trembling but Joohyun also seemed absorbed in their conversation until Joomin rushed in worried:

♦ Joomin, the ‘smell’, Kim Muchan & Joohyun

In ep. 3, when JJW (was it him though?) fled, I didn’t notice the gunshot that you can hear (around 50’) ; from the angle, it doesn’t look like it’s JJW himself who shot, he only stumbled when Joomin blocked his way and his arm, he looked empty-handed. He would’ve used it earlier if he had a firearm on him, but he only used what came in handy as a weapon (a golf club) like KMC did with the paperknife!

Note: ep. 8 showed Joohyun could fire a gun even though she was a special recruit in the Cyber Team. In ep. 3, she trailed after KMC and 'that man' ; also, it’s likely KMC didn’t bring a firearm on him since he switched clothes with Choi Jinsu and in a hurry at that (and made a point to take that paperknife with him as he went upstairs).

But if there was a gunshot (that sounded really close), where was the detonation seen (yes, it depends on the weapon but it’d produce at least a little flash because it was really dark out there)? Either it was shot from far away (Joohyun and KMC rushed few seconds after) or there was no gunshot in the first place... ?

The only thing that shined was Joomin’s phone in her hand… ? That she seemed to tinker with (she turned it on when she bumped into JJW then turned it off as soon as she fell) … ?

And a few minutes ago, she showed Jihoon an app on her phone imitating sirens and whatnot … (last picture above) ? Could she have generated a gunshot sound with her phone … ? Was it to scare him off or some other reason?

In any case, the fact there wasn’t any gunshot doesn’t mean she couldn’t have sensed the firecrackers/gunpowder/metal smell though eg. that person already had that smell on them for whatever reason.

Here’s Joohyun’s reaction when Joomin remembered the person smelled like firecrackers (and that dumbfounded look on KMC?!):

Note that:

→ That lead on the smell was never brought up again interestingly!

→ The whole exchange unfolds under the premise the person was a man, Joomin kept mentioning « 그 남자 » (that man)

→ We don’t know what happened to KMC nor Joohyun in the gap between the moment the person exited KSJ’s house and they ran after them after the gate.

→ KMC and Joohyun were really close to the car exploding a few days ago so their skin could still smell metal/combustion!

→ KMC changed into Choi Jinsu’s clothes (it could be the source of the smell: even though CJS was far from the bombing, his clothes could smell something else, like gunshot powder).

→ KMC wore REALLY similar clothes to that person (black cap, vest, t-shirt and pants) except for the black mask that person wore when they knocked Joohyun (and Joohyun is seen putting a black mask on KSJ in ep. 5).

Was this incident a pure sleight of hand staged by whoever needed it to happen (I include everyone present in this haha)? If there was someone to deceive, who was supposed to be the audience... ?

→ The next day, Choi Jinsu said the person who fled « must know the area well. He sneaked out through blind spots. One camera caught their face, but it’s hard to identify someone in a mask. »

Cue KMC’s reaction on the pictures below ; he also wanted to see Jihoon to ‘ask him something.’

Note: KMC never got to see Jihoon that day because he went to the hospital ; he was only interviewed at the Police Agency in ep. 7 but by KMC’s colleague, not him. Ep. 7 shows KMC paying close attention to CCTVs around KSJ’s neighborhood as he investigates Narae’s murder! It’s also obviously the case for LMS when he was young! Jodan also said in ep. 8: « You can easily learn how to avoid CCTV cameras online. There are a lot of online communities where those with criminal records share cops’ plate numbers and schedules of crackdown. » ➾ this could mean anybody could have found a way to bypass the CCTVs, eg. from Jihoon to KMC/LMS, the Cyber Team to KMC’s team and on MJY’s side too.

Another interaction between KMC and Jihoon was in ep. 6, as he looked at him quite worried/perplexed!

♦ Kim Muchan & Gaetal

① There was a puzzling scene from the first episode, when KMC took the time to pull over once he received the announcement BGC was voted to be executed. This specific scene also happened just BEFORE BGC was murdered.

② The first episode also made visual parallels between KMC and KSJ!

③ Ep. 2's scene was also weird, in ep2 KMC wasn’t even pretending to be dead, so he wasn’t working with the journalist (yet), why did he look this absent-minded then startled, brought back to the investigation at hand once Joohyun talked?

Note: He also seemed completely focused on what Joohyun was doing on her laptop ; even if Jodan’s moment was some comic relief (when he mistakenly pointed his flashlight to him as he argued with Choi Jinsu), it broke whatever absorbed trance he was into.

There’s also this scene in the conference room where the journalist seems to be pretty sure she’ll directly get information (and her show) from Gaetal in person. This never got addressed again later!

This gets even weirder now that the journalist dropped this bomb in front of Min Jiyoung (though it could be a bluff since they were challenging and literally lambasting each other lmao) in ep. 8: « I learned about their identity from a reliable source. And the police promised me a scoop on it. There wasn’t a hint of you at all in any intel I obtained. »

Like… what is actually happening right now???? I guess she somehow figured Gaetal’s identity only through said ‘hints’ and is not 100% sure of it.

(This also explains her determination to get information from her previous source and to keep it exclusively to herself!)

The question she asked him and the glances they exchanged also felt curiously emphasized in ep. 4 (the next pictures of ③).

KMC did taekwondo like his colleague Yoonji, he was 1st dan in taekwondo (you can see it when Joohyun searches for his profile in the first episode) but it’s never brought up even though it was a hint to Gaetal’s identity at the time.

Note: of course, 1st dan must be nowhere near the level of a national athlete (her profile says she even won an Olympic gold medal!) but it’s still a black belt! For comparison, it’s revealed in ep. 6 that JJW practiced hapkido (3rd dan), special martial arts (특공무술, 3rd dan ; I believe it’s taught in the military and the police force) and bodyguard martial arts (경호무술, 2nd dan, taught to protect VIPs).

There’s also this bit that’s not been explained (yet): in ep. 1, KMC negotiates a promotion to the HQ Investigation Team in exchange of handling TKV’s case because « there’s a case he must investigate while he travels nationwide. »

We still don’t know why KMC is determined to obtain it, but given the last episode, is it about his mother?

But for him to need to travel ‘nationwide’ and a higher position than he already has, the case must have a pretty large scale eg. branching in different regions and perhaps even cases, national authorities etc.

KMC’s auspicious nightmare also stood out in this week’s episode (more on it by the end of the post!).

I wonder how this will foreshadow the story: after witnessing Joohyun threaten LMS in front of his mother, he dreams Joohyun replaces her mother, bleeding out.

(Please let this not be her death flag, the still cuts for this episode were already enough ;;)

Also this might be reeeeeeeally far fetched, but when KMC arrived in front of Jihoon and Joomin and asked how long Joohyun has been in KSJ’s house, Jihoon says it’s been exactly « 22 minutes. » ???? … KSJ supposedly stabbed BWT 22 times to avenge Narae?

♦ What’s still not addressed (yet)

As the drama progresses, we still don’t have any flashback between the moment KSJ decided to murder BWT and the moment KMC catches up to him in the rain:

— KSJ must’ve contacted/left a message to KMC beforehand. This conversation is missing and we don't know how KMC knew he had to rush in the neighborhood ;

— We only get KMC’s recount of the events in the present: « [KSJ] abandoned everything that he had and chose to be a murderer. ‘devils who were deemed innocent’ is the phrase that he used to express his feelings at the time. ». It's only recently that we saw a glimpse of Jihoon's recollection of the events! It seems like the reveal will be vital and saved for the end.

— This series of events might be pretty important for it to be revealed in the second part of the drama while the outcome was hinted at since the first episode ; doing so would mainly be for the storytelling to be more engaging and dramatic with no specific reveal in mind, but it could also be to prepare for a potential plot twist ;

— If it’s that important, maybe there’s something that could significantly change our point of view of the whole situation or on one of the characters involved eg. KSJ or KMC. Idem for the key moment KMC fabricated the evidence, we only see a shot of him parked right in front of the building where Narae was found and hallucinate a smiling LYS!

— (crack theory that I still hold onto in a corner of my brain) what if it was KMC and not KSJ that murdered BWT?

The drama also still didn’t address two other really important elements in KSJ, KMC & LMS’s past: KSJ & KMC’s first meeting (is it linked to the latter’s mother?) nor LMS confessing to murdering Narae (or the complete truth behind the case: he’s 100% involved, but to what extent?).

LMS left KMC’s question unanswered (‘You’re the one who killed Narae, right?��) and the drama keeps hinting at LMS’s dangerousness with all the suspicions piling up.

The tragedy behind Joohyun’s family also remains completely untouched! I guess the conversation between Jihoon and Joomin about her family’s murderer will soon factor in since Jihoon is now completely revealed involved in TKV!

Like at this point all these elements seem like one big elephant in the room, I expect this to explode in our faces by the end of the drama haha

Also Jodan… ! Dude got his hands on the wiretapping device in Narae’s room ever since ep. 3 but we’ve heard nothing from it so far (perhaps analyses take lots of time since it’s really old and Gaetal’s case is all over the place, but still!)????

♦ The ‘witness’, chronology of some key events, where the story is going

I put this part in the end because it’s based on (too) many hints I mentioned in the notes and I tried to make sense of it all haha

A kr user found that the murderer of KMC’s mother suspiciously looked like said witness (I can’t unsee it now haha):

Here’s what the witness said:

« He framed me for all kinds of crimes and ruined my life. My life was so tough and I made one mistake. Then, he lied about victims who never existed, fabricated the evidence, and framed me for something I didn’t do. So I was in prison for 10 YEARS. Because of KMC, my son grew up without his father. »

Chronology of key events

It made me think of how the key events unfolded in the drama:

→ 2008: KSJ began teaching at KNPU, KMC promised he’d be his ’No. 1 Fan’ (which might suggest their relationship went back an even longer way)

→ December 27, 2013 (you can see it written on Joohyun’s protest cardboard): Joohyun’s family hit-and-run car crash, the ‘repeated drunk driver’ escaped repeated DUI because of a ‘lack of evidence’ (and was only arrested for drowsy driving, the cardboard says he received 1 year and 6 months only). Only one police officer believed her story, which made her want to join the police. Meanwhile, the SAME YEAR, the witness for KMC’s vote (organized by LMS, not the ‘real’ Gaetal) was supposedly arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison because of KMC’s abusive investigation.

→ Around 2015: when Jihoon met KSJ and Narae and KSJ wished to adopt him

→ 2015: Min Jiyoung was a new assemblywoman, prepared her campaign (presumably to run for presidency) and wanted KSJ to join her team. Narae’s murder (she disappeared on September 15). BWT is acquitted (because of the confusion of the plush toys KMC and the lawyer used & the extorsion BWT’s confession under police violence revealed during the trial ; there could be other underlying reasons), then murdered by KSJ in retaliation.

Note: we definitely saw KMC beating BWT because he was enraged but we also saw how Min Jiyoung and her husband literally stepped on him ; the bruises might have been mixed (or Min Jiyoung might’ve added to the bruises deliberately), Min Jiyoung coerced BWT into showing how hurt he was at the trial (in front of official authorities so this could not be denied) and KMC was discredited. It means nobody was held responsible for Narae’s death.

BWT’s parents died, it was classified (but most likely written off) as suicide. It was KMC who received the news through his phone call with CJS. KSJ didn’t seem to know it as he was being sent to prison (ep. 5, but it could be a lie). LYS fled the country soon after ; he only came back in 2022 and became a teacher at Seorae High School (its foundation is run by Min Jiyoung’s relatives). During Narae & KSJ’s cases, the Police Commissionner, KMC’s superior and Min Jiyoung met and something is linking them three to KMC and KSJ. Joohyun is seen protesting for her family’s case while KMC sees KSJ off.

→ May 2018: Lieutenant Im (a nurse officer), JJW’s fiancée, hanged herself after all the sexual abuse she went through. JJW threatened Cpt. Oh with an illegal weapon and as a result his death was faked by the military, was given a new identity and was discharged. Ever since, he worked in security services.

Note: On December 10, 2018, he worked as a Senate security agent. July 18, 2019, at a demolition company. 2019.12.01 - 2022.09.30, at Saehyeon Hospital, Cpt. Oh and Jihoon’s grandmother’s working place.

→ September 15, 2018 (same date Narae disappeared!!!!): KSJ received No. 1 Fan’s letter and was sent to solitary confinement for the first and last time. For 5 years he’d receive letters on a monthly basis.

→ 2021: Joohyun collected evidence to arrest Min Jiyoung because she ordered an illegal DDoS attack on the National Election Committee, but her aide took the blame. She found the hacker as she herself hacked the server of MJY’s family/political account. Someone else, MJY’s aide, took the blame. As a whistleblower (whose identity was forcefully revealed by Choi Dohee which was not per their deal) Joohyun got a special promotion but at the same time marginalized at her workplace: she revealed her team’s investigation to Choi Dohee and got her team leader fired (as he tried to delete the evidence right before they were meant to arrest Min Jiyoung).

→ 2023: the Killing Vote begins. KSJ, KMC and Joohyun (and the rest of the cast) are brought back together by this event.

And here are the events that still aren’t labelled with a date:

→ The tragic story behind Jihoon’s parents and how his grandmother came to raise him ; and it might have something to do with the death row inmate they planned to poison among others in the fourth vote.

→ The deal between BWT’s parents and Min Jiyoung (ie. likely for BWT to become the scapegoat for whatever LYS did)

→ The murder of KMC’s mother, her culprit fled the scene: what’s important to know is if it happened after Narae’s case or a long time before that (eg. when he first met KSJ). In that flashback, it seems KMC was wearing the Academy’s/Police uniform for his graduation or a promotion (see here for comparison) was holding a diploma/promotion certificate that fell in the pool of blood.

Looking at his epaulette, he had the rank of 경위/inspector at that time (one Rose of Sharon/mugunghwa is seen ; which is the first rank you get once you graduate from the Police Academy or University, there are five grades included) and when he held Gaetal’s Special Team press conference in ep. 1 he had the high rank of (chief) superintendent (three Roses).

→ Gaetal’s video test, which was probably titled after Narae’s disappearance

→ When Jodan got arrested for hacking and joined the police.

Kim Muchan's nightmare

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

KMC’s sinking feeling that unsettled him was maybe a subconscious association with what he experienced in the past:

(1) This nightmare seemed to happen on occasional occurrences whenever KMC felt something was off, but enough for Choi Jinsu to comment on it.

(2) Joohyun threatened LMS and Min Jiyoung tried to get back at her in retaliation (in the same way she said to KMC after BWT’s trial: ‘Don’t mess with my son ; I won’t let this pass if you do it again.’), KMC intervened:

→ Joohyun replacing his mother in his nightmare could mean that both of them were in a position of a 3rd person’s imminent threat in retaliation to whatever KMC did to them (eg. arrest a culprit with strong connections).

→ It could mean whatever got his mother killed was linked to his promotion at the time.

(3) His mother was murdered by a man who looked like the witness involved in the Killing Vote that LMS organized. Said man got a very mild sentence for what he did to Joohyun’s family but he claimed (without any proof to back it up, the video was shot mainly for shock value) he was sentenced to 10 years of prison because of KMC.

(4) If his mother was murdered by the ‘witness’ who was involved in the case of Joohyun’s parents, he was probably someone’s henchman/bribed and/or blackmailed by someone to do this.

Note: Min Jiyoung grew connections with businessmen and politicians through her husband’s fortune and her parents/siblings’ connections (no name was mentioned though) ; his husband is a CEO of a construction/steel production company (‘Samdo Steel’, it’s described as a chaebol company). AND LMS said in ep. 6 « My family isn’t really on good terms with the police. 8 years ago, I was even suspected of being a murderer. »: the ‘even’ suggests Narae’s case might not have been the starting point of his family’s bad blood with the police. (Jihoon’s grandmother also advised him not to get involved with Joohyun… ? Was it because she feared they might get caught as Gaetal? Are they both related to MJY’s family? Does she fear the police for entirely different reasons eg. involvement with the disparition of Jihoon’s parents?) Note 2: Min Jiyoung’s profile highlights the fact she treasures her son but he’s also her weakness like ‘children always become a mother’s weakness’. The profile mentions she was judged because it was her husband’s second marriage (the two older sons were born in his first marriage) even though he’s a chaebol, but it doesn’t say if she was married before nor who was LMS’s father (not the chaebol, since they got married when Narae disappeared).

(5) Did the murder happen before or after Joohyun’s case in 2013? If that was before and KMC was that police officer who listened to her, was it because he believed her from his own experience?

(6) If KMC is part of Gaetal, and/or is aware someone else might be (eg. Joohyun, LMS or KSJ), could this nightmare have another meaning?

Kwon Seokju's conversation with Jihoon’s grandmother

I talked about that conversation in ep. 6 (thinking how Jihoon’s grandmother behaved like Min Jiyoung) but it now looks COMPLETELY different given ep. 8 haha:

« — But when it comes to sharing, kids these days seem even worse. My grandson never shares anything with me, and it frustrates me so much. A few days ago, he almost got seriously hurt, and I didn’t know because he didn’t tell me. — So he’s not hurt badly? — It’s just a scratch. It seems he’s pretty shocked. He’s always been quiet, but he’s quieter than usual. It hurts me to see him like that. He’s still a kid, AFTER ALL. — When I’m released, I’ll make sure to visit your hospital. It’ll be more effective to keep receiving treatments from you. — I guess I can’t retire until then, Inmate 0512. »

KSJ sounds like he’s keeping up to date with Jihoon’s well-being through his grandmother, even though they probably don’t meet in person (Jihoon’s desperate reaction as he saw him in ep. 6 would make sense if he barely met him for all those years).

Jihoon’s actual address is not registered, nobody knows where he lives. It's highly likely Gaetal's hideout.

And given the preview, KSJ is probably taken to that place and this exchange was probably the moment he planned to escape there (with code words eg. ‘when I’m released’ for his escape ; ‘visit your hospital’ for where she lives with Jihoon ; ‘I can’t retire until then’ ie. work with him as Gaetal No. 2 ; ‘He’s still a kid, after all’ hinting Jihoon’s involvement with Gaetal).

‘Kim Muchan knows…’

So according to KSJ, KMC knows that terrible rage from losing loved ones and the intense desire to kill the culprit. As I supposed in a previous post, it must be for both Narae and his mother, and KSJ seems to know that. KSJ also says ‘If you understand Gaetal for the reason I believe, I feel… deeply for you.’

In KSJ’s eyes, ‘For the reason I believe’ might not only refer to the rage Joohyun defined, but also to how Min Jiyoung might be behind all this. After all, he also checked Joohyun's background, he could've put two and two together and as for KMC, he must've learned it from the man himself.

Choi Dohee’s personal investigation and Kim Muchan's endeavors

In retrospect, Choi Dohee is no newbie to dropping bangers lmao

In the first episode, you see her debate on BGC’s controversial case with Min Jiyoung.

She then changes subject:

« And now, let’s take a look at examples of mitigation cases that have been controversial.

I heard a rumor about you running for presidency. You didn’t need to compete for your nomination, but running for presidency is… I’m worried the investigative hearings will end up just hurting you. »

And Min Jiyoung abruptly cut her off. Here’s the screen and said cases on the picture to the left:

→ Child sexual assault by Jo Daeseung. The culprit indiscriminately assaulted a 10 year-old grade schooler girl ; his sentence was reduced to 12 years of prison labor because he was in a state of mental and physical weakness (thus the mens rea was not fully qualified) while he was actually drunk.

Note: I can only talk from my country’s standpoint, but being drunk is an aggravating factor in many infractions, such as SA, and not a mitigating one!

→ DUI leading to the death of a 40 year-old mother and her two children by Jeong Gyuwon. The culprit got their sentence reduced to 4 years of prison labor because they reflected on their crime, they admitted to committing the offense and was a first-time offender.

→ Kidnapping of a minor causing their death by neglect by Choi Yuseon, the director of a daycare center. She inflicted continuous abuse and violence on a 4 year-old child. The sentence was reduced to 6 years of prison labor for family neglect (meaning the family of the victim also neglected them).

This is absolutely no coincidence, and she definitely wanted to mess with her! We weren’t given any clues at the beginning about the cast’s past so this bit felt out of place (why would this make Min Jiyoung react this sourly, after all?) but in retrospect these cases’ circumstances are a disturbing recall to:

→ Narae’s case

→ Joohyun’s family’s case (though it’s a unisex name, the culprit in the case quoted by CDH could even be the man who killed Joohyun’s parents!)

→ Narae’s case once more because it also involved kidnapping and allegations of domestic abuse, but it could be about someone else!

In ep. 1 (the picture to the right), you can see a news article (the second on the picture) reporting how hard-working KMC was in solving gang and drug traffic cases but also hit-and-run cases???? In 3 years, 48 cases out of 50 were resolved according to the Nambu Police Agency. He was seemingly responsible in raising the arrest rate by 100%.

The article quoted KMC: « [We] will also catch, without fail, the culprits involved in hit-and-run cases [that were overlooked/remained unsolved] over the past several years. » (more on the phrasing just after!) and something along the lines of « We will endeavor [in handling] serious/great [crimes] that destroyed families. » (this second quote is too blurry and cut so I tried to guess from the missing parts in the brackets!)

???????????????????

In ep. 8, Choi Dohee also hints a lot how « she works so hard even though she doesn’t have to, which makes her pretty unique » suggesting that even though she's privileged with her connections, she still pulls a lot of (illegal) strings to perhaps hide something ugly underneath.

And what she does in ep. 8 before Min Jiyoung joins her definitely looks linked to whatever investigation she leads on her: she took a picture of one of Min Jiyoung’s campaign pledges, a project to empower the underprivileged (among redevelopment projects and a children hospital project).

Gaetal

It’s possible some members know each other’s identity for some reason (eg. Jihoon and his grandmother seem to communicate with KSJ pretty knowingly) while some don’t since it’s a rule between them.

Which means it could be possible and not that farfetched that if there’s more than 6 Gaetal (and there are actually 7 for example, matching the number of the desks) Joohyun, LMS, KSJ and/or KSJ worked together interchangeably without even knowing it. They could have realized it along the way and knowing LMS was a part changed the way to operate whatever plan they initially had in mind.

Since Gaetal is a group of people trying (but perhaps failing) to uphold each member’s anonymity, the misunderstanding is naturally introduced as « Gaetal » doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing from one Gaetal to another.

Eg. a wild guess but since there’s a great great (highkey great haha) chance he’s No. 3 (see Part 2!), when KMC says ‘If I were Gaetal, he would’ve been my first target.’ it’s because to him it’s true: he’s not the one who planned all the votes (most likely it is No. 1), he’s No. 3 but not the mastermind (it's highly likely Fan No. 1 then Gaetal No. 1, and KSJ factored in somewhere). And when KSJ asked if he meant it, it might also be because there’s doubt on what each meant by « Gaetal ». So he speaks of Gaetal as though it is separate from himself because that holds some truth to him. But when he felt KSJ might be Gaetal, he crammed Gaetal, No. 1 Fan and LMS together into the same identity.

Eg. When Joohyun says « Do you still think Gaetal is right? » she perhaps meant ‘Gaetal’ as in the mastermind laying out the plans (No. 1 Fan), not necessarily the whole group altogether! She perhaps addressed her question to someone she knows also works with Gaetal (eg. KSJ, their conversations sound even more cryptic than with KMC haha) who initially disagreed with her on the plans feeling wrong because they didn’t doubt anything (it could make sense for KSJ to believe that because of the letters and he was surprised to hear KMC was involved in the bombing of the car)

Eg. Joohyun & KMC’s scenes in ep. 8 also felt like Joohyun was trying to convince him that No. 1 Fan is LMS and the betrayer among Gaetal, and that he acts separately from them.

Eg. If KSJ and KMC know that they both are part of/involved with Gaetal, ‘JJW must not be the only one willing to sacrifice oneself’ could sound like KSJ is announcing he will escape his cell and draw the public’s attention on him so that the initial Gaetal won’t go down on its own while LMS flees and shifts all the blame on them

Eg. When LMS says KMC « is a really funny guy », could this also mean he caught up on his involvement with Gaetal?

Each Gaetal might also have different agendas eg. KMC would perhaps want to collect decisive evidence to catch LMS and MJY (and maybe even shift all Gaetal’s plans on him, who knows?), he might’ve been chasing after No. 1 Fan/LMS once he learned about the letters. He might even change his plans along the way if he realized KSJ is really involved with Gaetal. Joohyun might be looking for No. 1 Fan on her own too.

There’s an interesting parallel between what’s happening now and 8 years ago when it comes to videos, here’s what KSJ said about the video that smeared his reputation in ep. 7: « Whoever it was that made the video, it got the entire country hoping that I’m the murderer. Maybe the last thing I can do for Narae is to admit that I did it. That way, no one will talk about her anymore, and perhaps that’s all I can do. »

Replace Narae with KMC in this and this could be what's actually happening in the present aaaaaaaaaaa

To which KMC answers they have to catch the culprit: « I don’t believe you did it. Never. You’re the only person I trust… And look up to. Have you forgotten? I said I’d be your No. 1 Fan. » Back to the present, KSJ confessed he wished KMC were Gaetal.

More on 당신

(See more context on the pronoun in this post!)

In addition to what I said about Gaetal and KMC’s speech patterns in ‘The Gaetals’, KMC also uses the pronoun 당신 in ep. 4 when addressing Gaetal. It’s also the title for ep.3: « 당신, 영웅 아니야 » (« You’re not a hero. »).

An interesting detail is he addresses Gaetal by ‘너’ right before when he says ‘Also… You and the Killing Vote. Don’t be mistaken.’ and after as he adds: ‘You’re clearly a murderer, and your method is wrong. I’m going to catch you no matter what.’

He addresses the one across the cameras and in a confrontational tone too. The ‘너’ before and after 당신 reinforce that impression but could also suggest he’s identifying someone/it is personal (eg. he knows who’s behind the mask).

➾ Is he talking to two separate individuals/groups (eg. 당신 → KSJ/Gaetal & 너 → LMS)?

➾ (wild take) but could this mean he intends to catch LMS but not KSJ/Gaetal... ?

Another detail: in ep. 7, KMC also addresses LMS with ‘너’ and informally.

Of course, LMS is 10+ years younger and you wouldn’t say their relationship was amicable ; the way they’re both sitting & behaving in front of each other is not your average respectful conduct either haha!

It contrasts with LYS’s interview by KMC 8 years ago too!

→ The mention of ‘hero’ in KMC's lines might be a personal reference to the flashback we saw in the next episode, as Narae says in the recording ‘You’re my hero, Dad. Because you always keep me safe. I love you, Dad.’ in front of the ‘My Daddy My Hero’ neon.

→ While the adjective/verb for ‘to be wrong’ (틀리다) is really common, both KMC and the person who tagged Narae’s wall used it (‘Your method is wrong.’ & ‘The 13th was wrong’). KMC says this AFTER going to KSJ’s house and witnessing the tag, it could be a reference (does he know what ’13th’ means?).

And KMC swiped the tablet to get to the picture of the tagged wall right after he asked KSJ if he was Gaetal, and reiterates once the picture is displayed: « Should I ask you again? Mr. Kwon Seokju. Do you know anything about Gaetal and the Killing Vote? ».

It’s as though the tag (besides being in Narae’s room) pointed to something and KMC knew that ; because yes, the video test was shot in Narae’s room which is suspicious enough, but the tag is quite obscure and the articles were only about Narae and KSJ.

(See ② of 'A potential secret communication' right below for more about the tag and the number '13'!)

A potential secret communication in the main cast

① The news article on Kim Muchan and Gaetal

As a reminder,

Gaetal in the video test: « Just you wait. I’m coming for you. » / « 기다려. 내가 너 잡으로 간다. » KMC to Gaetal: « I’m going to catch you no matter what. » / « 내가 너 반드시 잡는다. »

‘잡다’ broadly means to catch, hold, grab but in this context it’s to arrest/catch a culprit

‘반드시’ means without fail, certainly

The news article Joohyun saw on KMC and his strive in hit-and-run cases in ep. 1 also had a similar wording:

« 수년이 지난 뺑소니 사고도 반드시 잡는다. » ‘[We] will also catch, without fail, the culprits involved in hit-and-run cases over the past several years.’

‘수년’ means a certain number of years, and I didn’t know that it’s several years ‘that do not precisely exceed 10 years’! 10 years, like the (potentially fictional) sentence of the 'witness'... ?

We don’t know when that article was written, but I’m pretty sure it’s a reference to Joohyun’s case: all these articles were written when KMC climbed the ladder all the way up so it'd make sense!

② The reverse Prison Break and ‘The 13th one is heard/tells [the signal]’

'The 13th was wrong.' was what was seemingly tagged on the wall in Narae's room.

But… 틀리다 (틀렸어) can also become a paronym of 들리다 (들렸어) because their pronunciation in the past tense becomes almost identical. 들리다 can mean: — tell something, have something heard ie. have someone listen to something — be heard/audible ie. for a sound to be heard and recognized through one’s ears — become sick or possessed — be held or lifted

… In ep. 8, Mozart’s Requiem is specifically heard!!!! And that’s exactly the same part Joohyun played in ep. 3 LMAO

JJW halts and tilts when he hears the tune, as if he recognizes some sort of signal… ? It seems it came from the truck that broke the wall and made KSJ escape! We also weren’t shown the truck driver’s face!

KSJ and a third person (this might include KMC, Joohyun, Jodan and JJW) helping him from the outside were the ones the message was destined to, and it was delivered by Joohyun and/or KMC.

Note: For the '13th' part, it could be a reference to the Requiem, XIII: Agnus Dei but I don't believe it was that part we heard in both episodes, I feel it was I: Introitus, though I could be wrong (if someone has the answer please tell me haha)! However the point still stands, as it could be a synechdoche (a literary device using a part of something to describe a whole and vice versa because they're bound by a logical link/a relation of inclusion ; it's a type of metonymy) ie. the 13th points to the Requiem being played. Or the wrong part is deliberately played on screen so as not to make it obvious? I don't know, I'll get back to that later if I find answers! AND: on Agnus Dei, God's 'Lamb' is 하느님의 어린 양 in Korean!!!! 'Lamb' is 양 in Korean, and... Jihoon's grandmother, a member of Gaetal, is called YANG Hyejin lmao + the company delivering bottled water to the death row inmates (and also to the Police Agency it seems from the last minutes) is said to be 'partly supported by us through a private organization', which might be Yang Hyejin's. Finally I believe we see KSJ reuniting with Jihoon and his grandmother in the preview: the tag could've been an indication of where to go next?

After KSJ thanks her because it was nice to 'listen to it' (reconfirming he understood the message?), Joohyun then brings up the tag once again: « Gaetal may have scribbled on your wall a bit, but they didn’t make a huge mess. It had good natural lighting. It was a very nice house. »

Was KMC privy to this message? Did they work together? He looks like he noticed something as he listened, he squinted his eyes a bit. In ep. 5, he specifically said KSJ wanted her to be his messenger, but who knows if he was let in on in too.

But one thing did feel suspicious:

In KSJ’s cell at the Police Agency, KMC thoroughly checked the camera angles beforehand (maybe to prepare for what he wanted to whisper to KSJ so that he wouldn’t be caught) AND the windows that the truck crashed into in ep. 8.

KSJ did the same when he first arrived, then literally faced the wall (on which the papers were coincidentally taped) and windows in question in ep. 5 with KMC looking at him. The papers coincidentally stopped being taped around where the truck would collide, as if it was someone’s way (whoever it was) to pointedly demarcate it and signal it to KSJ.

The first thing KMC asked KSJ to do in the investigation was to search through the letters he received, his acquaintances, and everyone who attended the final trial to find out who is Gaetal.

And curiously, the only shot that shows KMC pointing to the papers on the wall is when he directed KSJ’s attention to the final trial attendance list, and coincidentally… it’s the one that was taped at the far end, right next to the point of collision… !

If I’m hearing things right, he introduced said list with the adverb ‘특히’ (especially): « Go through all the letters you received, your acquaintances and [especially] everyone who was at the final trial, and pick out those who may be Gaetal. »

And cue KSJ’s reaction: to find a lead in this case, you would normally look for the next targets, not the culprit, to which KMC answers it’s better to divide work for efficiency, « finding the culprit is our top priority. »

Also an interesting shot in ep. 5: the emergency exit sign points in the direction of KSJ’s cell as you can see on the last picture lmao

And ironically, KSJ was checking the wall when Jodan and KMC were saying this:

« — There are CCTV cameras outside of the room as well, so we can watch your every move in real time . So there won’t be any blind spots. Should you wish to leave this room, you must be accompanied by at least one guard or detective. — KMC: The most important thing is that no one can know you’re here. The moment people find out, the special pardon will be cancelled. »

In ep. 8, it was Jodan who mentioned a ‘reverse Prison Break’ while they were debriefing about how Gaetal would target death row inmates, be it foreshadowing for the real escape in the end of the episode or Jodan’s potential involvement in all this.

In ep. 8, KSJ also asked Jodan: « Could you ask Park Cheolmin to bring me a book? »

That’s maybe how they communicated together with the warden? Is this really about a book?

AND in the same episode, the janitor was not by KSJ’s side (when he ultimately fled) because he got an ‘urgent call’ from the warden MMMMMMMH + in ep. 4, KSJ hinted to the warden there’s no way he might ‘threaten’ him should the need arise, but… ‘they’re not in that situation yet.’

③ Joohyun and the letters

In the same interview in ep. 4, Joohyun hands over to KSJ a few letters out of the stack, her index turning white by the pressure she applies on the first one (is she indicating him which ‘letter’ to read?). KSJ opens it but we don’t see its content (the first set of pictures below):

Who’s to say there weren’t some specific instructions printed on said ‘letter’?

And when KSJ seemingly accused her of violating the Privacy Act, and « Given the severity, you could even get a prison sentence. » (the 'Killing Vote' actually is actually called 'national death punishment vote' in Korean, so is he requesting information on the Killing Vote and its future plans... ?), Joohyun specifically says she found the letters in the prison trash can..........

(Could there be another message/item waiting for him there? A prison trash can could be a place that both an inmate and a visitor have access to!)

Insisting on maintaining eye contact, she hands him once more the same stack but her thumb points out to the second one (second set of pictures above!).

What was likely staged as Joohyun handing KSJ his letters back because she stole them was perhaps her giving him next instructions without raising suspicions.

Note: What she says next is: « These letters Gaetal sent under the alias ‘No. 1 Fan’ describe in detail how the victims of the Killing Vote would be executed (she only maintains eye contact with him the moment she put emphasis on the word 방식, ’specified method or form’ ; 방 also means room hence the emphasis maybe, perhaps as a reference to his future cell?). But some pages are missing. I’m suspecting the targets were written on them. You were just playing innocent, right? You actually know Gaetal’s next target, don’t you? (I believe this part was actually her really wanting to know the truth because she wasn’t aware there were letters premeditating TKV and wanted to know where the missing pages went) »

KSJ then negotiates his special pardon but Joohyun seemed genuinely surprised.

-> Either KMC deceived her along the way: he instructed her to do everything mentioned but the content of said ‘letter’ was only known of KMC (while Joohyun truly thought they were the letters). However, this didn’t go exactly as planned for KMC either, he smashes the desk in frustration.

-> What she communicated to KSJ was something entirely different than the special pardon: she also expected something out of this meeting.

Speaking of ‘method’, in ep. 4, KMC said in front of the cameras: « Your methods are wrong/[???]. » (‘네 방법은 틀렸어/들렸어.’)

But once again… You can replace ‘wrong’ by any of the following paronyms: tell something, have something heard ie. have someone listen to something ; be heard/audible ; become sick or possessed ; be held or lifted.

AND he uses the word 방법 for method which is used to describe a reliable/effective/scientific method of data analysis.

④ The rabbit, the paperknife and the ointment cream

What else did Joohyun (or somebody else) do that was related to KSJ?

THE STUFFED BUNNY

In ep. 3's interview, KSJ halted in front of the picture of Narae’s stuffed rabbit probably because he knows this wasn’t the specific place he last left it before he murdered BWT: it was on the living room’s sofa! The bunny was also recorded on the video test.

And he might've caught on that the one who did that was pretty much aware of the great sentimental value the bunny held in KSJ and Narae's eyes (KMC or Jihoon), which means that they might've done that with a particular reason in mind.

KSJ says: « The rabbit is all worn out. » (‘토끼가 많이 바랬네요.’) but 바랬네 can come from both 바래다 (fade/lose color ie. for a color to become less clear or turn yellowish from being exposed to sunlight or humidity, by ext. being worn out) and 바라다 (want/hope/wish).

And KMC uses that meaning of 바라다 in ep. 4 (KSJ did too when he said ‘I wished you were Gaetal’), as you can see in the last two pictures.

Was there something inside the stuffed bunny or in the shelf that’s underneath?

Note: It could even be 바래다 (see sb off ie. going with someone who is leaving to a certain point or to see them off, eg. taking them home)! Also, like in many Asian countries, the rabbit is also strongly associated to the moon and the lunar calendar/months (Gaetal?). Also as I said on ep. 7's post, 탈 (mask), 딸 (daughter) and 달 (month, moon and rabbit by association) are paronyms: there must be something hidden under all this message!

These moments also looked interesting:

THE PAPERKNIFE (first set of pictures)

I rechecked out of curiosity and the paperknife KMC threw was still there in ep. 3 when his team investigated the house.

But it’s gone from the frame in ep. 5. Which could mean:

-> Most probably the forensics took it

-> Someone else did after they left with an ulterior motive in mind eg. Yoonji herself/someone in the investigation team or somebody else who came while they were investigation or after!

THE BOMBING SPRAY AND JOOHYUN KNOCKED OUT (second set of pictures)

Speaking of the scene in ep. 3, KMC stumbles upon a knocked out Joohyun and there seems to be the bombing spray right beside her:

Was the point of this showing the tag to KMC so that he’d understand something (it's the first thing she did once she regained consciousness)?

Were her injuries and the third person’s escape fake and was she trying to stage the scene? Joohyun claimed in front of KSJ she was hit pretty severely then, but her injury remained concealed under her hair and was not shown like for the rest of the cast:

Her own scar from the car crash ;

KMC's burns, injured forehead and bandaged hand ;

His team's bruises after they fought with the passerby ;

Jihoon's injured arm from the thrown chair and the cut on his neck from being taken hostage in ep. 6 ;

JJW had the scar on his ear and the burn scar on his neck ;

LMS has the scar left from his surgery ;

KSJ had the scar highly likely left from his pneumothorax surgery given its position on the side of his ribs.

THE OINTMENT CREAM (third set of pictures)

Joohyun gave KSJ the ointment cream and what looks like a bandaid (there could be something inserted inside).

KSJ thanks her for ‘everything’: he puts the emphasis on ‘everything’ by saying « 고마워요… 다. ». It’d be casually said « 다 고마워요. »: it could be because of the emotion of the moment of course but perhaps he’s referring to an ‘everything’ only Joohyun and him could understand. She looks naturally moved but she also touches her scar in reaction (!!!!).

WHATEVER SHE DID IN 'NARAE's ROOM' (fourth set of pictures)

As I said previously, we also don’t know what she did in Narae’s room or wherever she went upstairs.

As soon as she mentioned checking the photos on the wall (사진), she looks in the direction of the frames hung next to the stairs (was there something inside/behind?).

⑤ « Exactly 22 minutes. »

Also for Jihoon’s « Exactly 22 minutes. » (정확하게 22분 있네요.)

분 can mean several things: — the counting marker for minutes — the honorific address of a person or the honorific counting marker for number of people — … powder (the smell of powder… ?) — anger, wrath, like 분노 (rage) KSJ used in his conversation with Joohyun

⑥ An IP address?

This is beyond Reach Land lmao but in ep. 3, KSJ says:

« My daughter Narae was stabbed with a knife 22 times. I did the same thing to her murderer. Seven. Eight. Nine. He was already dead, but I couldn’t stop. He was the bastard who dared to lay his hands on my daughter. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. And then the 13th thrust… The knife slipped in the rain, so the 13th stab wound was different from the one my daughter sustained. That’s probably what it means. The 13th one was subtly but clearly different. And wrong. »

➾ Was he trying to convey a combination of the numbers he mentioned? It could be an IP address if you remove the 3 of 13 (because the 13th was ‘slightly wrong’) and reverse the order: Not 78910111213 but 121.110.198.7 Note: The IP address Joohyun found in ep. 2 was 260.215.195.7.

⑦ « Kim Muchan knows… » and the first letters

Joohyun reads some letters from No. 1 Fan at the end of the episode.

The No. 1 Fan’s letter on June, 4, 2019 was… romantic lmao (you can see an excerpt when Joohyun checks it at the end of the episode) and it sounds eerily familiar to what LMS said to KSJ: in the letter, the Fan said he received flowers from a friend, the birth flower for June 1st, the Great Maiden’s Blush.

He told KSJ its flower language, « You’re the only one who knows my heart » (« 나의 마음 그대만이 아네 », the word used for heart is 마음, it can mean someone’s mind, mood, feelings and also heart ie. affection or interest ; 알다 means to know).

He said he thought of the Professor when he looked at the flowers: just as he alone understands KSJ, it’s nice to know the only person who understands him is the Professor (for understand he used 이해하다).

Which is also an interesting call-back to Joohyun trying to decipher KSJ’s words in ep. 6: « If you understand Gaetal for the reason I believe, I feel… deeply for you. (…) You said Team Leader Kim didn’t notice, but I don’t think so. I’m sure he did. That terrible rage. He knows what it’s like. »

The last line said is « 잘 알고라고요 » (I said [he] knows [it] well): the object is once again omitted because KSJ spoke about the ‘terrible rage’, but it could also be in reference to something else, and this letter is now shown in the drama!

Also later in that episode, Joohyun puts the emphasis on the verb ‘knowing’, as though she’s found an intriguing keyword in KSJ’s lines:

« 김무찬도 안다. 그런 마음을 안다. 김무찬은 안다. 김무찬도 애틋하다? »

Sentence by sentence:

« Kim Muchan knows [it, whatever it is] too OR I know Kim Muchan too. »

« [He or I, subject implied] know(s) such a feeling. »

« Kim Muchan knows. » [no doubt on KMC being the subject of the sentence here ; but whatever is its object, eg. heart/feelings/rage, is totally unknown but privy to both of them]

« Kim Muchan also feels deeply/loves [for who? Who knows c:] OR [I] feel deeply for/love Kim Muchan too. »

The thing is, ~도 is a particle that can replace BOTH subject particles (~는/은) AND the object particles (~를/을) so the first and last sentences can be translated both ways (hence the 'or')!

And as I said for ep. 6, 애틋하다 can both mean you sympathize with someone’s pain (anxious, regrettable ie. one’s heart going to someone or something out of regret or sympathy) AND that you feel affectionate for someone (ie. having deep affection and love for someone).

And… the 애 in 애틋하다 can be two homonyms: 애 as in anxiety, worry AND as in 愛, the hanja for love…

This really gives me the impression that LMS read KMC and KSJ’s correspondence and tried to mimick it to take KMC’s place, why would he speak of ‘embarrassing love letters’ otherwise, emphasis on embarrassing (meaning he stumbled upon something he found really interesting)… ?

Not to mention that he said to KSJ when he met him: « I was worried you might hate me, but you showed you completely understood me (he used 이해하다, same as in his letter). It meant we were finally communicating properly, which reassured me. »

With that same logic, KSJ's « I feel deeply for/love you. » (당신이 많이 애틋합니다.) could 1) mean love ; 2) be a reference to the letter ; 3) the 당신 truly addressed KMC at the same time KSJ was respecting Joohyun’s pain. And 4) KMC understood it.

Has KMC been communicating with KSJ like that through the years? Was he the one who planned out KSJ's escape? My brain is exploding from too much possibilities 8D

Wild guesses

We still lack A LOT of context but maybe:

-> KMC’s grand-scale investigation aims all the tragedies gathering the cast together (Joohyun, KSJ, Jihoon and his grandmother, JJW, …). He needs enough authority on a national scale to take down Min Jiyoung, her son and others involved (eg. the Commissionner, the 'witness'), especially since she’s now running for presidency. He’s been communicating with Choi Dohee to try to look into some events, poke at Min Jiyoung and find evidence. Perhaps he’s even the Gaetal who tipped her off and the one she’s having a privileged communication with.

Maybe KMC expected Min Jiyoung to covet the Killing Vote (to win the presidential elections) and dirty her hands by making it hers: he wanted to lay that strong of a trap to be able to expose her tentacular influence and (re)open all the cases that were insidiously tampered with by her and force his way through all potential cover-ups and corruption by national authorities (we know the Commissioner himself isn’t in the clear at all for example) because he’d then gain the country’s trust and support.

For that, he needed to be himself a part of Gaetal to collect enough evidence to indict her and make sure she has no way out by promising to Choi Dohee a scoop on Gaetal’s identity when the time comes.

Note: time is ticking because once she’s elected as the next president, she’ll be granted presidential immunity from criminal prosecution: if so, she needs to be successfully impeached for her to face charges. She’d highly likely escape KMC’s trap because she seems to have deep ties in politics, corruption might be unavoidable then.

The ideal moment to expose MJY would be during her investigative hearing (that's broadcasted publicly if I'm not mistaken) where a well-crafted rebuttal in advance would prove difficult, and Choi Dohee indeed hinted at this event in ep. 1.

I just checked and impeachment in SK must be voted by the two thirds of the National Assembly, which means 201 votes or more in favor. The majority of the Constitutional Court must then vote to uphold the impeachment motion and remove the president from the office. Which might considerably reduce the chances to zero because the long and complex procedure would introduce too many unknown and uncontrollable parameters to successfully tip the scales in favor of KMC’s plans.

-> Making Joohyun a whistleblower in 2021 by Choi Dohee was perhaps even part of the plan unbeknownst to her, to make her a voice legitimate enough for the country to listen to her when the time comes.

-> KMC was the Gaetal in the ‘video test’, but it’s possible the initial objective was totally different from what it actually is now. He asked Jodan and/or Jihoon’s help to reach Joohyun, known to be a whistleblower, by hacking her sister’s computer. It was never supposed to be a video test. He needed to give Joohyun strong reasons to believe Gaetal was an imminent threat for her to look into it without her suspecting they specifically wanted to reach her (eg. by turning into zombie PCs every computer of the PC bang her sister used to play games at) and eventually understand it was maybe a hidden message (to further communicate between each other).

Joohyun also seems unrelated to KSJ so any communication between both of them would not be under suspicions nor scrutiny, unlike KMC (which is probably why he never went to visit him... according to the warden, but KSJ's secret 'labor' outings could be linked though).

-> LMS learned about the Killing Vote before it began and decided to mess with KMC’s plan by laying out the votes for the future Gaetal that would be led by KSJ he’d coax through the letters (by impersonating KMC based on his knowledge of their intimate relationship he got by wiretapping them and from CJS for ex.). That way, he’d drag both KMC and KSJ’s names in the mud, they’d have no way out of the game he made his. One of his objectives was getting KMC murdered as a target of the Killing Vote once people’s support and trust would be completely gained. Somehow, he doesn’t have much time left, probably due to his heart disease, so he decided to take part in TKV and enjoy it to the fullest.

Min Jiyoung's 'children hospital project' might also be connected to LMS eg. to save him in time.

-> KMC didn’t expect the letters at all and never wanted KSJ to get himself involved in the Killing Vote. This might’ve drastically changed his initial plans. He now has no other choice than to catch Min Jiyoung/LMS through Gaetal (eg. by making them the scapegoats).

-> KSJ believed KMC was Gaetal because of the No. 1 Fan letters, and he deliberately got himself involved at first because the letters asked him to and later (when he realized LMS was the sender) so that KMC wouldn’t take the blame alone (perhaps he even settled on becoming the scapegoat alone).

-> The first letter might not have been written by LMS. For example, it could’ve been KMC confessing his initial plans to him and that he’d finally be able to atone for his past mistakes. The plan was suggesting he’d be doing everything on his own without involving KSJ (perhaps he even made his farewells in case things wouldn’t go as planned), which made him go mad because he couldn’t bear to watch him going down alone helplessly. But he never went into detail as to how the plan would be carried out. That’s why he believed the other letters that were sent from this point on were a change of heart and truly came from KMC who now wanted to involve him. LMS perhaps intercepted the first letter through his mother’s connections (because he kept a close eye on KSJ as he was still obsessed by him) and decided to impersonate KMC and involve KSJ in his Killing Vote. Doing so, he gets to thwart KMC’s plans from the inside to save his mother in a purely entertaining way and enjoy the intimate relationship he felt entitled to from the beginning.

-> How Gaetal’s cast was recruited in the beginning remains a complete mystery, whether they were gathered by KMC, KSJ or LMS in the beginning, how they were recruited in anonymity, …

-> KMC nor KSJ never meant to involve Jihoon in the plan but he insisted on joining them because he couldn’t stand it too.

-> While investigating on their own, KMC and Joohyun each realized along the way the other was part of Gaetal through subtle details. Joohyun might be taking a bigger part in it than expected and her communication with KSJ seems really hazy too. Each also realized in their own way LMS was part of Gaetal.

-> KSJ, Joohyun and KMC bonded through the Killing Vote and now try to protect each other without the other necessarily knowing it. Joohyun also realized KMC was the police officer who believed her story during her parents’ case and is now determined to protect both KMC and KSJ.

-> KMC was promoted in the past because he cracked down a huge case involving Min Jiyoung’s connections or herself, even before Narae’s case ; his mother got killed in retaliation.

Et voilà! Again have a nice week and enjoy episode 9 💚

#국민사형투표 #the killing vote #tkv #kdrama

9 notes · View notes

onomatopagu-et-cie · 1 year ago

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Aaaaaaaaaa I’m really happy you liked reading it, thank you @mare-sanguis 🫠💚 It’s nice discussing over a shared brainrot interest like that, tumblr is a really nice platform to do that!

What an interesting observation OP :C Good luck for your latin assignments! I’m looking forward to your research if you have time adding on to this post! In the meantime, I reblogged your post (my answer got once again too long haha)!!

Interpretations are personal, the drama itself introduced religious imagery with LMS & KMC and adds lots of hidden details, so I think it’s safe to further explore symbolism like that!

Even in ep. 8’s preview, No. 1 Fan’s letters were filled with a religious lexicon (if it’s brought up in detail in this episode, I’ll talk about it in the next post!)!

TKV also highlights a lot the theme of legitimacy of judgment!

(Ngl I paid attention to KMC’s hands at first to see if there were some suspicious hints about his injuries or how he handled guns & knives because series sometimes foreshadow twists in the most random details and it comes back to the audience later on!)

KMC definitely looks ambidextrous (provided it’s a deliberate direction when shooting the drama and not the actor’s habits)! For posterity, if it is brought up later in the drama:

-> KMC’s left hand:

is dominant on his gun as he chases after KSJ in the flashback (ep. 1 & 4) and is used as a support when he climbed the gates to KSJ’s house & jumped down the stairs to catch JJW (ep. 3)

in the streaming site eg. when he fights, plants evidence, uses his phone and drives (ep. 1)

when he throws a rock at BGC’s car and at the CCTV to beat up BGC (ep. 1)

when he uses a lighter to threaten the bar waiter (ep. 2)

is always the one that gets injured (ep. 1 when he punched BGC & ep. 4 after the bombing)

when he uses the tablet even though he’s injured on that hand (ep. 3)

when he drinks an energy drink as Joohyun analyzes the letters (ep. 4)

when he comes closer to KSJ and puts his hand on his left shoulder (ep. 6 & 7) and as he reached out his hand to KSJ’s left arm to draw his attention in the flashback (ep. 7)

-> KMC’s right hand:

is dominant on his gun when he stops JJW (ep. 6)

when he threatens the bar waiter with the broom (ep. 2)

when he uses his phone sometimes

as he marks the 2nd killing vote’s date on his calendar (ep. 2)

when he throws the paperknife at JJW (ep. 3)

when he drinks beer with Joohyun (ep. 4)

As for other characters:

-> Kwon Seokju uses his right hand when he drinks the mug (ep. 7), carries the umbrella (ep. 4 & when he first met Jihoon in ep. 7) and signs LYS’s book (ep. 7), as he highlights the warden’s divorce case and drinks tea (ep. 2) and when he stabbed BWT (ep. 1 & 3)

-> Gaetal is also right-handed when they smash the red mug (ep. 4)

-> Lee Minsu has his ring on his right hand and also drinks right-handed (in every episode) ; his overall gestures are right-handed too ; he beats the actress with the mug in his right hand (ep. 4) and is seen scarring the forehead of BGC’s wife with his right hand (ep. 6) ; he wore his watch on his left hand and as Min Jiyoung, he touches his earlobe with his left hand (ep. 4)

-> Jihoon uses his right hand when he uses his tablet (ep. 3)

-> Joohyun is mostly right-handed, so is JJW

-> Gaetal in ep. 1 is mostly right-handed & BGC’s executor (provided it’s JJW) suffocated him with their right hand ; they rotated on their chair from their left to their right to watch the screen

-> Gaetal’s gestures in ep. 2 were equally right and left-handed ; they rotated on their chair from their right to their left to watch the screen

Have a nice week and here’s to ep. 8 finally airing haha 🍻 🌼

The Killing Vote (ep. 7 notes)

The Killing Vote (ep. 1-5 notes) The Killing Vote (ep. 6 & overall notes) The Killing Vote: more on Joohyun, Kwon Seokju & Kim Muchan

I don’t know if you saw, but they announced episode 8 will be out next week on October 5th……….. After THIS preview no less, you’ve got to be kidding me aaaaaaaa (PД`q。 ) ·。 ' ゜

This got again really long, sorry again!!!!

Have a nice week!

(SPOILERS UP TO EPISODE 7!!!!)

Let Jihoon, Joomin, Joohyun, KMC & KSJ get their happy found family ending (இ﹏இ`｡) Put them in a slice of life, far far away from this noir genre plsssssss

I appreciated the fact that no explicit violence (except when BWT was beaten up by Min Jiyoung's family & KMC) was shown on screen ie. for Narae nor her dog ; the violence implied from all the scenes were more than enough already (eg. the video on KSJ ; the audio recording Narae’s voice)... ! And by the way, Park Sungwoong's acting in this episode!!!!!! I also loved how KMC’s character was shown trying to maintain a composure/restraint (his voice damn) in front of KSJ’s grief.

And the Jihoon & Joohyun scenes were GREAT!! Joohyun sounds like that sister you can naturally rely on!

(She needs to live, you hear me?!)

(Don’t read the new OST’s lyrics you are warned haha, it was beautifully played for Jihoon’s scene and the lyrics could also very well apply to KMC & KSJ in KMC’s pov!)

♦ September 15, 2015 (Lrae091515)

Narae disappeared on September 15, 2015… Just like how the video test is titled!

OH and something I missed!!! In the first post I mentioned the video test title, I wondered if it could refer to both Narae and Dies Irae (since Mozart’s Requiem was played in ep4):

As for the ‘Lrae’… It could be a wild WILD guess but ‘Lrae’ could be ‘irae’ as in Dies Irae/day of wrath (capital i looks like a lowercase L), which is a sequence in Requiem mass!

But the capital L could also stand for the korean letter ᄂ/니은 (nieun), which is the first letter for Narae/나래. Added to the ‘rae’, it gives ‘Narae091515’.

♦ The items in LMS’s room & his ring

Some of the items that were in the display case in LMS’s hidden room were revealed in this episode (from left to right):

KSJ’s suitcase

KSJ’s book he signed for LMS

KSJ’s mug, which is seen carried in the present by:

Jihoon (we only see him retrieve it from the deliveryman)

LMS (a whole collection)

This Gaetal in ep4 with this particular red mug when they rage as the public opinion is shaken because KMC was believed to be dead.

The picture with Narae seems to have been taken the day of the conference shown at the beginning of the episode. LMS probably stole the picture because it was a significant day to him ie. when he met KSJ in person.

Also, about the ring, LMS had it even in the flashbacks (picture to the right). Could it be some device to send him a reminder to take his medicine?

♦ More on shame

Something I wanted to add to what I said in a previous post (‘On the frames facing down (ep. 1 & 6), shame and guilt’): when KSJ visited his house in the present thanks to Joohyun, he only dusted off Narae’s picture to face her stuffed bunny.

Ep7 showed the other frame was a picture of KSJ and her, so it could show how he still strongly feels he failed her as her father:

♦ Narae, Joomin and Jihoon

FINALLY a bittersweet but hopeful? (I don’t care if it’s wishful thinking, let me hope okay ;;) parallel that’s clearly the opposite of ep4 & 6’s framing, the new OST (Aalia, Blue) was a perfect addition, it was soothing:

♦ The third person meeting with Narae and KSJ

(1) « She »

At the beginning of the episode, Narae met KSJ and said a ‘she’ couldn’t join them for dinner according to the subtitle translation when I watched.

(I’m unfortunately not able to watch on Prime, so I’m not sure if it’s fansubs or the Prime translation ; I wanted to use my free trial to watch the drama and other series, but it’s region-locked in my country and I don’t have a VPN ;;)

The gendered pronoun is an addition of the translation as the original exchange omitted any indication on the subject.

Most of the time [in Korean] the subject is implied, and you would rather address someone by their title or name (with an honorific if need be) depending on your relationship eg. Joohyun calls KMC 팀장님/team leader and KSJ 교수님/professor, Joomin calls her sister 언니/big sister. Note: but it can also be used by a female speaker for an older woman she’s close to eg. a friend, a girlfriend (like 형 = younger man -> older man ; 오빠 = younger woman -> older man or 누나 = younger man -> older woman).

This is how Narae and KSJ’s conversation went:

« — 왜 혼자 왔어? / Why did you come alone? — 또 먼저 갔지. 오늘도 할일이 엄청 또 많대. / [They] left early again. [They] said [they] had a lot of things to do today too. — 셋이 같이 저녁을 먹을랬는데. (…) / I’d hoped the three of us could have dinner together. »

Nothing in this exchange hints at the identity of the person that accompanied Narae. KSJ only mentions the three of them (셋이), nothing else.

(Of course, translating this exchange could be really tricky because it’s about a context that only Narae and KSJ are privy of and we’re unfamiliar to, how to introduce a character we potentially know nothing of?)

But the conversation shows:

— That person usually accompanied Narae to see her father (and probably picked her up from school first & walked the dog together) ; that explains why the subject is omitted in the conversation because it’s implied from their daily life.

— They sounded like an adult habitually swamped with what looks like a usually time-consuming work (which excludes Jihoon)

— They seemed close enough to both Narae & KSJ (who jokingly says it’ll be a father-daughter date if they don’t come), dinner with them sounded customary.

— We know it couldn’t be about KSJ’s ‘late wife’ as Min Jiyoung comments ‘It must be hard for him to raise a girl by himself’ as they’re driving home from the conference.

— It has been highlighted twice already how hard, to society/KSJ’s surroundings, raising a girl by himself must be: first with Min Jiyoung’s housekeeper in ep5 (‘They felt sorry for me for raising my daughter alone, so they would share food with me sometimes.’), then Min Jiyoung herself in ep7. Whoever that was, this person also might've helped KSJ to raise Narae unbeknownst to everyone else.

So it was supposed to be someone close to the two of them.

(2) Kim Muchan?

In the same episode, when KMC said Choi Jinsu knew what kind of relationship he had with KSJ, CJS later described it as a ‘close relationship’ (가까은 사이), the same adjective KSJ uses to describe KMC in the present (see in a previous post the notes on 가깝다).

KMC is also the one shown in the very next scenes working hard to bust drug scenes (to the point of eating those painkillers like it’s popcorn). It’s also highly likely the other cases we saw on the news were also recklessly solved by him. (Also the ‘Lives Here.’ on the mirror is a fitting detail to his workaholic side!)

He's still the same in the present and brings work at home. Even though he gets around the law to arrest culprits, the reputation he has now can also attest to the fact he’s still relentlessly absorbed by his work.

This was indeed how Jodan described KMC to Joohyun:

« (…) aka. Wipeout. Pressuring criminals to admit more crimes. Making a case bigger to take more credit. He somehow makes cases into special ones. That’s how he made his way up to Seoul from the south. The master of promotions. (…) Based on his arrest rate, he should be at the top, but those up there must hate him. »

And KMC was close enough to KSJ and Narae to firmly believe Narae would never run away from home, like family would say ; KSJ was the only person he trusted and looked up to.

Not to mention KSJ was completely tensed as Choi Jinsu interrogated him but relaxed once KMC took over, letting out a sigh of relief and dropping his guard to cry.

EDIT: KMC also knew calling KSJ 'hyung' instead of 'Professor' would eventually make him react, as he was lifeless and caught in his thoughts so far.

(3) How long did KMC know KSJ?

KSJ began teaching at KNPU in 2008, which means KMC and him must’ve known each other for at least 7+ years (it’d be 15+ years in the present): ‘Have you forgotten? I said I’d be your number one fan. I said that at your first lecture at KNPU.’

Also KSJ is 44 years old btw, I missed that detail in ep4 when KMC checked his files!

♦ Relationships conveyed through pictures

It’s interesting how the drama keeps highlighting the importance of KSJ and KMC’s relationship, but there’s (yet) no picture to materialize this truth in people’s eyes, while the other significant relationships are framed in the drama:

-> Joohyun’s family portrait and a picture of Joohyun and Joomin in the present.

-> KMC picture with someone who might be his mother.

-> Many pictures of KSJ and Narae filled the house’s walls and the furniture and there was a picture of Narae and Jihoon with the handmade bunny toys hanging on their backpack.

And even though nobody might’ve heard of KSJ adopting Jihoon soon at the time (except KMC), he was present in Narae’s drawings by her and KSJ’s side. And he also drew the three of them together.

-> Min Jiyoung’s family portrait was ostentatiously exhibited in the past & is still used to build her image for her campaign. But there’s also a small portrait with only her and LMS at her apartment in the present.

KSJ and KMC’s relationship evades common portrayal. (Not to mention family portraits are often shown in dramas to foreshadow underlying dynamics between its members!)

The only picture we were shown of them was on the day KSJ was sent to prison:

♦ KSJ’s health and military service

On KSJ’s resume (first picture), you can see he was exempted of military duty.

Indeed, what’s written on the left column under his military status is 미필 (incompletion, if he had been discharged after completing his military duty, it would be written 군필), and the rank and service term columns are empty.

I can’t quite make out everything that’s under the last column for the reason of incompletion, but I read 기형 (deformity), 친환 (one’s parent illness) and 변재 (accident) … ?

However what we learned when KMC checked his medical files in ep4 (third picture) was that he’s got asthma (천식) and primary spontaneous pneumothorax (일차성 자연기흉) ie. occurring without an apparent cause when there’s originally no known lung disease while there’s a preexisting lung disease when it’s secondary.

« Until now the cause of primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) has not been identified, however; several risk factors have been identified such as; smoking, male sex, and a family history of pneumothorax ».

So he was probably exempted due to his long-time health issue (asthma, lung collapse), and maybe KSJ’s family had a history of pneumothorax.

♦ Who is Gaetal?

Is LMS really Gaetal? Are Fan no. 1 & Gaetal different people?

As I said in a previous post, the drama plays with the bias that everything must’ve been done by the same individual/a same group with the same intentions, so it’s possible:

Gaetal in the video test

Gaetal in the prerecorded votes, at least the first one (because the tone, gesture and expressions seemed different compared to the two next votes)

Gaetal broadcasted live (for Cpt. Oh’s vote)

Fan no. 1 who wrote the letters to KSJ

Fan no. 1 JJW said he was working with who described KSJ as the one they admired the most but also said they destroyed the person he loved the most, so he must hate them

Are different people in some cases, meaning:

— The ‘Fan no. 1’ Jung Jinwook worked with might not be LMS, since they never met each other

— It could be Jihoon, or at the very least, he’s an accomplice (there’s this exchange with Joohyun about the shift from an accessory to an accomplice, it could be foreshadowing). He’s well-versed in hacking, he most likely ‘admired’ KSJ and feels guilty over Narae’s death (and probably over BWT’s murder by KSJ), as KSJ said to KMC:

« — [Narae and Jihoon] were supposed to meet that day. — Yes, he thinks all of this happened because he was late. He’s still in shock. »

(He could’ve been the one to have faced Narae’s picture down!)

We don’t know his whereabouts for these 8 years but he must’ve been in contact with KSJ at least once since what happened and given KSJ’s reaction when KMC asked him if he contacted him.

Also Jihoon was definitely searching for KSJ before Joohyun interrupted him when he was at the Police Agency at the end of the episode.

He looked like he definitely knew the content of the ‘video test’ too (or recognized the room), he seemed dumbfounded to learn Joomin found it in ep3:

Determined to help, a part of him could’ve held KMC guilty of the chain of events 8 years ago. KSJ entrusted his handmade bunny toy to KMC and said:

« He said he made them himself, so there are only two of them. Whoever has Narae’s is the murderer, so he told me to use this to catch him. He left this with me. I’m counting on you. »

And KSJ must have some part in whatever is happening now with the Killing Vote: after all, we never got the reason KSJ went out of prison in ep4 (‘If they find out what I did instead of performing labor, they might believe the suspicions are true.’).

-> This scene in ep3 (the first set of pictures on the left): of course this shows his relief because he still cares for KMC but it seemed like he somehow already knew for a fact KMC was out of danger, even before the janitor said he was barely hanging on and not off the hook at all.

— This was even before the video of KMC was revealed to the public in the next episode ;

— The present Gaetal might have informed him in advance a police officer got involved in the bombing against their will, without revealing it was KMC. This would explain why KSJ seemed genuinely surprised when the janitor said it was KMC (the last two pictures of the set) ;

— Someone else could have informed him even if it seems difficult from the prison (but we know he got lots of privileges there and we still don’t know what he did for the warden ; the visit register could have been fabricated and someone indeed met him) ;

— It’s worth pointing out KSJ was convinced KMC was Gaetal up until ep6, which adds another layer to this scene.

-> His reaction in ep5 was also curious (the second set of pictures on the right), he only got perplexed for the video test, as though he was well-acquainted with the rest of whatever was going on except for that one detail (which adds to the theory that Gaetal in the video test ≠ Gaetal in the Killing Vote/Fan no. 1).

Curiously, as I said just above, while KSJ seemed unaware of the video test's existence, Jihoon looked familiar with its content on the contrary.

KSJ never outright denied he was Gaetal eg. his interview with Joohyun in ep2:

« — ‘Devils who were deemed innocent.’ The phrase that the killer used… You were the first one to say it, weren’t you? I think the killer has something to do with you. — The two people who used the same phrase must be connected. That’s such a naive approach. »

Ep6 only showed KSJ hoped KMC was Gaetal.

And you wouldn’t say KMC’s ‘I’m a cop.’ is a real answer too. Hate to admit it, but KMC stayed silent when KSJ wanted to confirm he was sincere: his feelings might be genuine, but denying he’s Gaetal could very well be a lie.

As for KMC’s front ie. keeping silent when asked about his relationship with KSJ, I guess it comes from his determination to solve all this by his own hands this time: he knows they would take him off the case otherwise. (And for some reason, I can’t help but also suspect Joohyun aaaaa we still don’t know anything about her past!!)

KMC or KSJ, one of the two might be related somehow ; if so, I guess they’d be trying to plan something without the other knowing in order not to involve them and also because the other would disapprove (eg. KSJ to put an end to KMC’s guilt ; KMC to offer some peace to KSJ after all the tragedy and his past mistakes).

— Plus, the Gaetal of the first vote sounded suspiciously like KSJ (his silhouette and gait too) eg. t h a t tremulous voice when he gets angry (the actor plays a lot with that in his roles overall).

— The first vote was prepared from a redevelopment area and BGC was murdered there (pictures on the right).

In ep7, in addition to the video accusing KSJ of being dubious and the witness statement, Narae being found in a redevelopment area was what made the police suspect KSJ of murdering her, since he was known for standing up against said building’s demolition:

« You’d been to the place where the body was found, right? Don’t even think about lying. We know you protested against demolishing that building. »

(Even before Joohyun showed him the Gaetal video test, KMC must’ve had his suspicions from BGC’s murder scene and the broadcast after the body was found eg. recognizing KSJ’s tone, 'the devils deemed innocent' or the ‘rational justice’!)

Narae might’ve been found in the lower part of the building BGC’s vote was prepared in: even though the first story doors were repainted in red and handrails were added to the bridge, the overall architecture and the sort of electricity meter/letter box on the ground floor look the same.

And even without it being the same building, it holds enough resemblance for it to seem like a disturbing recall of the events 8 years ago, combined with Gaetal’s keywords.

— LMS could’ve killed BGC’s wife as Gaetal's copycat at first but that still wouldn’t explain his involvement to the Killing Vote, saying he would give it to his mother as a present.

(But his conversation with KMC when he interviewed him in the present really gave me the impression he knew something about KMC we were not shown, and that could foreshadow what'll happen in the next episode!)

— About LMS’s true perception of justice: we never got to hear his opinion, Narae came running to her father and KSJ interrupted the conversation. So far, the drama didn’t show if his ideals align with Gaetal’s for example, but some elements in the flashbacks clearly show it could be the case.

In fact, his notes about ‘proper justice’ could align with Gaetal’s concept of vigilantism to make up for a failing official retributive justice.

And his ‘If you pass judgment without looking at things clearly, it’s not being fair. It’s being indifferent.’ clearly parallels KSJ’s opinion in the present (ep6):

« Lady Justice wears a blindfold because she’s afraid of bias in decisions. That always bothered me. If you don’t look at cases and the people involved clearly, how can one pass fair judgment? Can judgments without experience be right? Only after losing my daughter did I realize I was qualified to judge others. »

KSJ’s past self would’ve been moderate and warned him however: ‘Relying solely on your experiences can also lead to bias. Experiences are gained through situations and conflicts. They can’t be absolute truths.’

But this detail is something KMC doesn’t know, he instead focuses on LMS’s elitism because he didn’t have those kinds of exchanges with him.

♦ ‘No. 1 Fan’ & LMS

So…………………… You mean to tell me « No. 1 Fan » was originally a memory both KSJ and KMC held dear? That LMS chose this very nickname as a penname for the 5 whole years he sent letters to KSJ? That LMS described KSJ to JJW as the man he admired the most, just like KMC said in that exchange.......... ?

There’s literally no way in hell LMS didn’t listen KMC and KSJ’s conversation ; « no. 1 Fan » could be common in any other cases but not in this one: LMS made everyone around KSJ gone from the picture, it wouldn’t surprise me KMC was/is meant to be the next (LMS even describes him as a ‘cockroach’ hard to kill in ep5).

As to how he got to learn all that, bugging one of the two’s communications/belongings/Narae’s room (eg. that ‘My Daddy My Hero’ seems to be the only thing taken from the house, or the device Jodan found in the ceiling, as it’s totally covered with dust) or even hiding in KSJ’s house that day and listening to their exchange wouldn’t be that surprising given what he did and how he seems to enjoy playing recklessly.

What Jodan found looks like the kind of device that transmits frequencies to another device (eg. cell phone, a recorder prepared to this end).

In this episode, we saw LMS watched everything among the crowd each time (when Narae’s body was found, when KSJ was sent to prison), there could very well be times he watched unnoticed from KMC or KSJ.

I guess he learned about the ‘rational justice’ the same way: he could’ve heard the ‘devils deemed innocent’ from his mother or some other way (eg. if he hacked the court’s archives, he could’ve found the trial transcripts), but ‘rational justice’ was something only KSJ and KMC knew about (at least, at this point of the drama).

Given his obsession for KSJ, LMS could benefit from deliberately using a precious memory that KSJ could only attribute to KMC and posing as KMC: that would finally make him assume a special position in KSJ’s eyes (and it worked: that’s probably why KSJ firmly believed Gaetal and/or the one who wrote him letters was KMC).

And he probably deludes himself into believing it was originally his by right, not Narae’s, not KMC’s nor anyone else’s (I don’t think he knew Jihoon even if he observed the house): he considers himself KSJ’s only entitled Fan no. 1.

At the same time, becoming Gaetal, a figure that would finally bring the justice to KSJ which KMC failed to do, gives him the opportunity to finally ‘judge’/destroy KMC as he wished. Eg. making him the next Killing Vote target by showing people he was deceiving them (his ‘Wipeout’ reputation) ; or distorting facts about his involvement in Narae’s case (just like the video Min Jiyoung/LMS made on KSJ to divert the attention off her son).

And this seems to be the case in the preview:

The screen on the left side of the shot displays an edit of KMC (which looks like those Gaetal did for the previous targets ; the picture seems to come from when the journalists gathered at the prison when they learned he was alive), and if I’m not mistaken you can read on the banner « 속였습니다 » (‘I/He deceived/lied to [the people maybe?]’), which might be a reference to what he said in ep4 where he also used 속였습니다.

♦ « This house had good natural lighting »

Losing Narae left KSJ lifeless. In this episode’s flashback, his profile, livid, is blinded by white light, like a ghost.

Even though he stood in Narae’s room, he was perhaps longing for the house that was already not there anymore and that initially had ‘good natural lighting’, as Joohyun said in ep4. It symbolized all the happiness he shared with Narae.

And KMC could only witness, helpless, KSJ’s grief.

In retrospect, on the second set of pictures to the right, the sight of KSJ’s silhouette in a similar setting and lighting (when KSJ was transferred to the Police Agency, ep5) might’ve reminded KMC of this memory.

The drama highlighted this theme in other previous scenes too. They have in common a silhouette shot in an overall dark setting facing a strong backlighting.

[And you can notice the shots get gradually brighter as the drama progresses and KSJ gets out of prison!]

Joohyun's scene on the top right was so beautifully shot... !

-> When KSJ is transferred to the Police Agency ;

-> When Joohyun interviews KSJ and makes him listen to Mozart’s Requiem in ep4. And also KMC’s reaction we could better understand in retrospect as he listened (the pictures on the bottom right) ;

-> When KSJ enjoyed the light from the prison in ep4 ;

-> When he looked outside from his cell’s window while meditating in the first episode ;

-> When KMC wanted to visit KSJ but he refused to meet him in ep2 (and we can once again better interpret his expressions in retrospect to ep7).

Note: in ep3, KMC’s reaction to the tagged wall (‘the 13th was wrong’) and the news articles about the case from 8 years ago could also now be interpreted as pained in retrospect ; his surprise upon discovering this also shows it’s at least not him who messed the room that way. If he cared for Narae as this episode showed, he probably wouldn’t have damaged her room. It's also maybe relevant to note again that the video test didn't have the tagged wall!

♦ Min Jiyoung’s classism

Whatever Min Jiyoung found on KMC was something she did not approve according to her standards: she went from ‘that detective’ when she first met him to ‘bastard like you/the likes of you’ at the end of the trial.

I get BIG classist undertones when she speaks to him, and it's not the sole occurrence:

-> When she fired her previous aide because he advised her in a way she deemed unsatisfactory, she commented: ‘촌스러운 새끼’ which was translated to ‘What a loser.’ The adjective she used is 촌스럽다 (unpolished, countrified, dowdy ie. « one’s attitude or taste being unsophisticated and looking like that of a country person »).

The Naver Dictionary also gives the expression ‘촌스러운 사람’ and translates it as ‘a lout, rustic, clodhopper, boor’.

새끼 means offspring (cub or child/kid), but it’s often used as an insult to mean someone’s a jerk/bastard/etc. which is the case here (eg. 개새끼, SOB/bastard).

-> The housekeeper: KSJ described her as ‘도우미’ (assistant, helper) and was getting along well with her and her husband (‘They felt sorry for me for raising my daughter alone, so they would share food with me sometimes. (…) Though we didn’t know each other very well, we were quite close.’).

And Min Jiyoung, who lives with her and her family, calls her…… an expense (‘비용’) if I’m hearing well (at the very least, it doesn’t sound like any of the words commonly used for housekeepers eg. 가정부, 도우미, 파출부, 하녀…), and it could explain why KMC made her repeat.

-> She used 너 같은 새끼 to insult KMC (‘bastards like you/the likes of you’), right after calling LMS his son (아들), which could imply the latter qualifies more as a person than him. She even deems him a taint/테인트 threatening to spoil their status/reputation.

-> She said to LMS in ep5: ‘[KMC] must be trying to make ends meet. You better stay away from those vermins.’

And be it a coincidence or not, Jihoon’s grandmother was also judgmental towards Joohyun and her sister (ep4, first set of pictures).

Her reaction to KSJ’s idea (she was taken aback and raised her eyebrow then looked embarrassed as she tried to answer) could also be explained by some distance she wants to put between her and disreputable people (ep6, second set of pictures).

Gaetal targeted the rich so far (‘The law that is more harsh on victims than on criminals… It feeds like a parasite off of money and power, so the ones who deserve to die are still alive.’), like some sort of Robin Hood as KMC commented.

♦ « Hyung »

(breaking my silence once again…) KMC and KSJ were lovers/KMC was in love and they were in their domestic life bubble (and ngl that ‘… [and the one] I look up to.’ delivery with that hesitant interruption felt like a left out confession)

The scene in Narae’s room was paralleled in the present at the end of the episode:

You can notice with this comparison that most (if not all) of KSJ & KMC’s scenes in the present are submerged by blue tones in the prison cell and at the Police Agency, just like in the lyrics of the new OST with the wordplay on the color blue and feeling blue! eg. 눈을 감아보면 I see blue — 그런 너의 모습에 feel so blue (When I close my eyes I see blue — At the sight of you feel so blue) 네게 가려진 난 I see blue — 몰랐던 너의 모습에 feel so blue (I’m covered/obscured by you I see blue — This side of you I didn’t know feel so blue)

♦ Gaetal, masks and dogs

Gaetal could be translated as ‘dog mask’ (개, dog + 탈, mask).

GAETAL AND MASKS

Gaetal’s excentric and playful, Robin Hood-esque character and their theatrics could be a reference to the traditional Korean masks.

« [Korean masks] were used in war, on both soldiers and their horses ; ceremonially, for burial rites in jade and bronze and for shamanistic ceremonies to drive away evil spirits/illness/bad luck out of an individual or a village (often horrifying or grotesque to invoke fear and humor), to remember the faces of great historical figures, and in the arts, particularly in ritual dances, courtly, and theatrical plays. The present uses are as miniature masks for souvenirs, or on phones hung as good-luck talismans. There are two ways to categorize masks: religious masks and artistic masks. »

Indeed, KSJ had a glass display of Korean masks in his house (it’s a limited Seoul 1988 Olympic Games Korean Masks Collection):

Masks are in fact known to be used in talchum/talnori (mask dance/play), an art developed after a cultural shift in society: masks were initially used in religious activities, but entertainment and festivities factored in through time.

« An ensemble of musicians accompanies masked performers who humorously explore social issues through dramatic combinations of cheerful, energetic and rhythmical songs, dances, movements and dialogue. »

They mostly originated from the pre-modern society of the Joseon dynasty. The country was governed by a rigid social hierarchy (eg. the aristocracy and the buddhist monastic hierarchy) and a strict patriarchal system. They sharply criticized contemporary society with satire and witty humour, depicting the falsehoods and hypocrisies of the upper classes (eg. decadent noblemen, apostate/depraved monks, patriarchal husbands) but also mocked stereotypical versions of annoying personalities within the lower classes (eg. the drunkard, the gossip, the flirt of the complaining grandmother). It offered people both catharsis and important life lessons, and masks are a key means to do that.

On the nobleman mask (Master Kim Dongpyo, maker of Hahoetal): « yangban noblemen prioritize dignity and saving face above all else. The gentle curves of a Hahoe yangban mask embody this character. » In other local traditions, noblemens’ masks may express greedy and pretentious personalities.

Talchum offered an opportunity to commoners to unleash their pent-up emotions, their suppressed anger and for the governing class to hear the people’s complaints, ultimately promoting greater unity within society. Their will for resistance is voiced.

Gaetal's apparent intentions correspond to all this to a great extent.

« Once a person dons a mask – men and women, young and old, nobility and commoners – all are freed from social conventions and restrictions. The appearance of the Korea mask itself is also liberated by convention. Nevertheless, everyone manages to find a part of the mask with which they can identify. In this way the mask is truly the face of the heart's hidden desires. (…) Korean masks are grotesque and vividly colored. Masks are painted in vivid primary colors, representing both the individual personality and social class of the character as well as his or her age and gender eg. black & dark for an elderly character ; red & bright for a young character ; white for a young female character. In terms of personality, a red, darkly-colored mask represents recklessness and aggressiveness; a yellow or lightly-colored mask characterizes foolishness and incompetence ; and a black or darkly-colored mask exemplifies an anxious, socially marginalized character. To symbolize a character's duplicity, masks are sometimes painted half red and half white. »

[For posterity, in the drama, Gaetal’s mask is fully white ; we also don’t know Gaetal’s gender, Joohyun evokes this possibility, it could very well be herself, Min Jiyoung or her assistant, even Jihoon’s grandmother ; Min Jiyoung’s attention to her clothes also reflects the good/evil duality with her outfit at BWT’s final trial.]

Professor Heo Yongho, Korea National University of Arts: « Korean mask-dance dramas deal with such universal themes as freedom and equality. However, they present these common subjects in a distinctively dynamic and exciting way. »

All these emotions, ambitions and desires can therefore be put on display without fear or shame. The characters mock and satirize the duplicity and foolishness of the ruling class and pray for a new world and a better future, like Gaetal does in the Killing Vote.

This page even theorizes 탈 derived from the Chinese character for ‘to rid/free oneself from something’.

« Korea adopted Chinese characters prior to the invention of their own, unique alphabet under King Sejong (1397-1450), and still use Chinese characters extensively. Thereby, the original meaning of the talnori or talchum, is a play or dance that helps shed ones stress and grief. Originally talnori was performed at night, often in a clearing around a fire and the exaggerated colors and expressions on some of the masks reflect a time when such vibrant colors and expressions were necessary to make them visible in the poor light. » [This bit could be relevant later on in this point when I’ll talk about the moon and the fire symbolism!]

The interaction with the audience is important, it completes the performance. As the UNESCO page describes: « talchum performances do not require a formal stage: any empty space can become a venue. The audience plays an essential role, contributing to the production with their cheers and jeers as the drama unfolds. »

Talchum players improvise their lines and actions in response to the spectators, quickly forming a bond together.

In a distorted fashion, the Killing Vote seems to strongly rely on the country’s participation to vote for the ‘judgement’ of the culprit, introduced as corrupt and deeply irredeemable people (even though we know the reality is more ambiguous: two broadcasts were pre-recorded and pretty compelling cases were deliberately chose to obtain an unanimous vote, not to mention Gaetal’s true intention eg. if they’re LMS).

The country even becomes an entertained audience in addition to their participation: each vote brings its fair share of debates, cries of support, admiration, disgust, anticipation or emulation. The Killing Vote becomes an outlet to everyone's fears, anger, frustration.

Gaetal's judgment of 'devils that were deemed innocent' by a failing legitimate system which would even condone their deed inflames passions: revealing the culprit's corrupt side in a sarcastic, unfiltered fashion the conventional society would (or could) never dare to do makes people look up to Gaetal.

It also makes people relate to Gaetal because the votes serve as an example that they wish was applied to their own tragedies eg. Joohyun, KSJ, Joomin & Jihoon. Exemplifying the 'judgment' of their cases could be seen as a prophylactic step to 'exorcise' the deep-rooted evil and appease the tormented souls of their victims.

And Gaetal engages with the people with a witty and sarcastic speech, and sounds deeply concerned with people’s opinion (again, it could be false pretenses) eg. when they cautioned sensitive souls to close the video as its content might be too violent ; when they got angry as they read forums after KMC was thought dead ; when they broadcasted the video revealing KMC was alive.

The Killing Vote also seems to touch on people’s duplicity, hidden desires and ambitions in society eg. especially KSJ, KMC, Min Jiyoung, LMS and people’s ambivalence in the face of good and evil (everybody has in them the risk of becoming a ‘Gaetal’ or one of their targets if faced with certain opportunities and circumstances) as I talked about it in a previous post (’The Killing Vote and a vigilantism built on a twisted basis’).

The hahoetal (Hahoe [Village] masks) are one of the most known Korean masks, designated as national treasures.

They were used during a kind of mask dance called 하회별신굿탈놀이, dance drama of Hahoe Village: it’s a shamanic dance drama passed down from the mid-12th century & performed to appease the local deity, pray for the village’s peace and wellbeing as well as a good harvest. It is said to be one of the oldest mask dances known in Korea.

It's a play in satire and humor directed at the ruling class from the religious perspective of praying fortune. The masks represent 12 stock characters needed to perform the roles in the ritual dance dramas included in the ceremony (eg. the monk, the scholar, the bride, the aristocrat …).

Their origin is not clearly known, but a legend about their original design exists.

« In the middle of the Goryeo Dynasty, there lived a craftsman, Heo. For years his village suffered from misfortunes but no one knew why. One day, he dreamt about a mountain god, receiving an oracle message that the misfortunes would disappear if the villagers danced with masks made by Heo. The god said he was not to have any contact with anyone until he finished. Heo then had a straw rope wound around his workshop to allow him to work undisturbed and immediately set to work. One hundred days had passed. A young woman named Kim was in love with Heo and was growing weary of waiting. She broke her vow to leave him undisturbed for one hundred days and peeked into her lover’s workshop to see what he was doing. He was carving the last mask, the scholar's foolish servant, Imae. The moment she glanced inside, Heo collapsed spitting blood and died. The mask was left unfinished, without a chin. Out of guilt for causing his death, the young woman committed suicide. Afterward, the residents of Hahoe village decided to serve the dead woman as a tutelary god and held annual rituals to assuage her soul. »

An annual winter memorial rite is held at dawn of the first full moon of each new year to console their unrealized love, appease their tormented souls and honor them. They would also pray for the well-being of the village and for its protection against evil spirits.

This also seems relevant:

The word 탈 also includes a second meaning of misfortune, illness and difficulty. Eg. when someone becomes sick or runs into trouble, you can use the verb 탈나다 (an accident happens/have a hitch/run into trouble/fall ill/get out of order or go wrong) or the word 탈 which is a homonym of the mask.

« The word for masks represents something that people hope is only a passing event. Interestingly, people were reluctant to hold onto the word 탈 in its meaning of a mask. In the past, they believed that if they kept a mask nearby, they would be in trouble due to the bad luck attached to the mask. Therefore, they stored the masks in a village shrine or burned them immediately after the ritual for which they were created. People regarded masks as religious objects, something that should be feared, worshipped and enshrined. »

But masks were also considered by ancient Koreans as a sacred symbol of the gods (or a particular god): as such, it was especially valued and worshipped, and always kept a certain distance away from living quarters.

In the drama, the mere existence of Gaetal calls for trouble and the police force endeavors to catch them. Gaetal nicknames themselves 'the citizens' watchdog' who will protect them from evil, and is compared to many heroic figures (eg. Robin Hood, Batman, …) but also to God. For example, Jihoon says to Joomin:

« That devil was set free by our incompetent legal system. If he wouldn’t be punished by the law or by God, I thought he should at least be punished by the people. »

The sight of their figure 'should' be feared by the culprits but only Uhm Eungyeong was really scared ; BGC and Cpt. Oh challenged and dared them to actually murder them. But in the end, the latter begged JJW for his life and promised him money, the thing he cared the most for.

This also ties well with the overall Christian symbolism exhibited in LMS’s room or Saint Michael (see the next point!).

GAETAL AND DOGS

As for the dog part, since one of the main plot points is a commentary on justice and the good & evil in people, it might be a reference to the haetae/haechi (해태/해치), a Korean mythological creature often associated for example to the Chinese guardian lions (also called shishi, lion or fu dogs) or the Japanese shishi/komainu.

Symbol of justice and law, the haetae is a hybrid beast: a mix of a lion, dog and dragon covered in scales or fur, wearing a bell and baring its canines, sometimes winged, sometimes with a reptile tail. It possesses the ability to divine and distinguish the true character in people, right from wrong, truth from lies in people.

The horn on its forehead was used to ram into the guilty in an argument.

It is said to feed off fire ; under Joseon, its statues were placed at the entrance of official places like palaces to protect the capital Hanyang (now Seoul, eg. at the National Assembly and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office) from natural disasters and fires.

« Haetae statues lie on high pedestals at each side of Gwanghwamun, the main gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace (…) [they] represent the Joseon rulers’ political and philosophical ideals of protecting the nation’s dignity by applying the laws strictly and justly and providing peace and stability to all the people without allowing bias or personal feelings to influence decisions. »

This article explains how the Chinese characters for law (법, 法) derived from the ideogram for haechi.

What I gathered from this page is that law was initially written as 灋. Looking at its structure:

— The radical to the left, 氵, is associated to water (水): which means that the law must be as fair as water — The character 去 is placed under the character ‘chi’ 廌, which depicts the haechi. Making a creature said to judge right from wrong a part of the law character brings out its meaning even more.

The character was later simplified by removing the 廌, thus written 法.

[And as I said in a previous post, the hanja 橅, which means law, can be used for the Mu of Muchan!]

The haechi was also closely associated to the Chinese judicial system eg. on decorations and paintings, embroidered on the robes, crowns with a horn. The judicial officers were also named after the haechi.

It has become Seoul’s symbol since 2008.

The haetae is also mainly assimilated to the Chinese xiezhi, a mythical single-horned creature (a sheep, goat or ox) commanded during imperial criminal proceedings to ram into the guilty in the same manner.

Since Gaetal chases after evil, it could also be a reference to a breed of dogs native to the Korean Peninsula, the Sapsali/Sapsalgae.

Their name literally translates to ‘one that roots out evil spirits’ or ‘drives out devils’. Due to their appearance, they’re often associated to the haetae and sometimes called ‘Lion Dogs’.

Lion dances are indeed performed because it was thought lions contained the power to expel evil spirits and bring good luck.

Sapsali are also nicknamed ‘Ghost Hunters’ or’ Sunshine Dogs’.

Some aspects of the drama also involve dogs:

-> Gaetal used a mail address titled ‘watchdog’ that the journalist wanted to use as a catchphrase for her broadcast ;

-> KMC called KSJ their ‘hunting dog’, urging Joohyun to ‘get him off the leash’ ;

-> Narae’s dog LMS killed and all the past dogs of his family ;

-> The scene at the beginning of ep7 shows BWT beaten by Min Jiyoung’s family as his parents watch powerless. The next shot shows the Dalmatian puppy sitting quietly by his neat doghouse as the violent scene continues to unfold before it off-screen. The absence of pictures of BWT’s family in the house unlike the Dalmatian puppy could be interpreted as a further highlight of the family being poorly treated by Min Jiyoung’s family, even worse than a dog. It also aligns with the classist behavior of Min Jiyoung & co.

-> Indeed, 개 is often used as a prefix to an insult (or to emphasize words in slang, but it’s not used in the drama so far eg. 개싫어, ‘[I] freaking/really hate [it]’).

For posterity also, the word ‘mask’ (탈) is also the homonym/paronym of 달 (moon/month) and 딸 (daughter, perhaps a reference to Narae, since the video test seems to be titled after the day she was missing?).

For the 달 (moon/month), the most relevant connection to the Killing Vote is that they’re held every 15th (new moon) and 30th (full moon) of each month. It also ties up with how the talnori/talchum were originally performed at night.

If there’s also some symbolism with the moon, combined to the fire and dogs, the mythical dogs Bulgae (불개, lit. fire dog) might come to mind:

« According to a myth, one of heaven's realms, the kingdom of darkness, was called Gamangnara, the Dark World. Its king was concerned and weary with the perpetual darkness and desired the light of the sun and moon for his kingdom. He sent one of the gigantic fiery hounds, the Bulgae to chase the sun to bring it to his realm. However, when it tried to bite the sun, the sun was too hot, which made the dog unable to hold on to it, resulting in him giving up, and running back to the king, angry at the failure. He sent another more ruthless dog to steal the moon. When the Bulgae tried to carry it in its mouth, the moon was so cold, that the mouth of the dog was icy and frozen, and caused the Bulgae to drop it. The Bulgae tried many times to grab the moon in its mouth, but eventually gave up and ran back to the king in disappointment. The king never gave up this mission though. He continued to send fire dogs that were fiercer than the others, but none were able to collect the sun and moon. According to the Korean eclipse belief, during a solar eclipse or lunar eclipse, the dark sections are the parts where the dogs are biting. When the eclipses are over, the dogs have given up and run away back to its kingdom. »

Noting it down if it’ll hold meaning in the next episodes, we’ve got two scenes shot in the moonlight:

In the first episode when KSJ looks out from his cell’s window and moonlight enters the room ;

Right after KSJ got his health checked by Jihoon’s grandmother in ep6 and Joohyun gets in LMS’s car!

♦ Saint Michael and Kim Muchan

Following the previous point, in the nightclub KMC was investigating, a big statue right behind where he sat sometimes showed up.

It looks like a reproduction of the St. Michael bronze statue by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt on top of the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome (the set of pictures in the middle).

There are other examples of similar iconography (the two pictures on the right):

— St. Michael defeats Satan by Guido Remi — Fontaine Saint-Michel in Paris (Bvd. Saint-Michel) by Gabriel Davioud, the sculpture, Archangel Michael and the devil, was designed by Francisque-Joseph Duret

I’ll quote this interesting page from EHNE, an online encyclopedia project developed in 2012 by the Sorbonne University.

« Saint Michael was a unique saint. As an archangel, he acted as the preferred messenger between Heaven and Earth. His struggle against the forces of Evil allowed him to serve as both a guardian and a warrior angel. » He’s also depicted as a champion/guardian of justice and a healer of the sick.

'Who is like God?' mmmmh

[What I didn’t know is that he was also considered the patron saint of the police, justice, military and many other trades and places, which is why he’s represented on the Saint Michael pendant!]

« As a victorious angel, defender, overcomer of evil and leader of heavenly armies, Michael the Archangel is often depicted in medieval art as an armored soldier [eg. pteruges, Byzantine armor or a fully feathered body or a mix of both] carrying such arms as a cross-inscribed shield, cross-staff, or the sword or spear he typically employs to fight the dragon during the Apocalypse. Outside of the apocalyptic combat scene, Michael also may be shown trampling and piercing the dragon as part of his overall iconography. (…) He's also featured in other important episodes, such as the biblical narrative of the Fall of Angels and the Last Judgment [Day of Wrath/Dies Irae, where the just will be welcomed to eternal bliss, separated from the wicked, cast into ‘eternal fire’.]. In Last Judgment scenes, Michael the Archangel is often shown holding the scales of justice laden with good and bad souls. »

This thesis (p. 287 ss.) on Saint Michael’s italian iconography by Clémentine Denèle was also interesting:

[It could align with KMC’s restraint in front of KSJ most of the time, his mainly unreliable narration and expressions you could only interpret in retrospect. The same could be said of KSJ, but it’s less apparent to me: it was strong in the beginning of the drama but by now, KSJ feels less ‘cryptic’ than KMC who’s been hazy the whole time.]

Most of the time, Saint Michael's representations depict him with a neutral expression, totally disconnected to the threat and tension of his whole body engaged in his battle against evil that belie no hesitation: no emotions pass through (eg. compassion, anger, fear, remorse, hesitation, pride, judgment/disgust against the evil’s deeds or the violence he executes), only a solemn severity can be seen. Even for other angel figures of the Christian iconography, feelings were initially expressed through their gestures and hands. This changed at the end of the Middle Ages: angels were depicted with emotions and expressions eg. smiling to suggest their angelic gentleness, especially when represented suffering next to the Christ being crucified. But Saint Michael stays depicted with an impassive/calm expression, at most with a discreet rictus. Clémentine Denèle comments it could be explained by his ethereal nature and superior quality as an angel unlike humans & the overall idealistic representation of angels. She quotes the art historian Jean Wirth: he says the immobility and the impassibility are characteristic of the superior beings, because they convey an abstraction and reflect the stable order of invisible things. To materialize their constant presence by God and humans’ side, angels make themselves visible to the humans by assuming a human form as well. Vivid expressions were exclusive to the damned and the demons. It aligns with the attitude he exhibits in the Epistle of Jude 1:9: « But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” » Passing a partial judgement on the evil is not his mission, Clémentine Denèle says he only assumes his role as God’s armed wing and as such, his faithful obedience and trust in God command quietude under any circumstances: as the executor of divine justice, he knows for a fact his mission is devoted to the good and it must be fulfilled. She reports there were only rare occurrences depicting him with anger and aggressiveness or fear (he’s most of the time confident in the battle’s aftermath), and he’s also rarely present to mourn the Christ as he is crucified: it is not his place.

On a related note, Narae’s name (나래) is the synonym of wing, spelled 날개. 나래 was officially admitted as an alternate orthography for the word in 2011. But from what I gathered, it’s only used in a literary/poetic context, while the common spelling stays 날개.

♦ More on names & hanja

After all these episodes, some hanja that could be used for KMC, KSJ and Joohyun’s names now seem relevant to note:

— For Kim Muchan

-> Mu in Muchan Law (橅 & 膴, 법) as I mentioned in the first post: it aligns with his ambiguous position on justice on the past (‘a rational justice’ that doesn’t follow the official law if it’s unfair) and in the present (manipulating evidence and proceedings to arrest culprits but still handling them within the law, rejecting Gaetal’s ways)

Deceive/lie (誣, 속이다) & fog/mist/haze (霧, 안개): his unreliable narration, the way he deceived people to catch Gaetal in ep4 & the edit that appears in the preview ; KMC now seems even more ambiguous than KSJ.

Full of rumors (楙, 무성하다): his ‘Wipeout’ reputation

Rough/violent/tough (蕪, 거칠다): his overall reckless and violent behavior as he works

Work hard/try hard and strive/work/endeavor ie. devote oneself and contribute to doing sth (務, 힘쓰다): self-explanatory given what we saw in this episode, combined with the shots of his house and the first episode that explains his reputation!

Stroke/touch/caress with hands and figuratively soothe ie. calm down sb with warm words and acts (憮, 어루만지다 and 애무하다 which can have a romantic tone = caress, stroke affectionately ie. for sb to gently stroke the one they love): his overall restraint to reach out to KSJ and guilt over being too late to save Narae. The new OST’s lyrics also refer to those kinds of feelings (whoever the narrator is), especially ‘Let me hold your hand, 더 가까이 너를’ (‘Let me hold your hand, Closer to you’), ‘익숙치않은 이런 내 모습 미안해’ (‘I’m sorry for this unfamiliar me [I showed you]’) and ‘Oh, please tell me why — 더는 네게 — 늦지 않게’ (‘Oh, please tell me why — I won’t be late for you anymore’).

EDIT: also, some shots indeed focus on KSJ's hands as he buries himself in them to cry in front of KMC!

House (廡, 집): KSJ’s house he seems to know pretty well and possibly holds precious memories to him, and his own house he doesn’t seem to tend to, probably out of guilt (see a previous post, ‘On the frames facing down (ep. 1 & 6), shame and guilt’)

Warrior (ie. person who learns martial arts and practices it as a job) & soldier/military/army (武, 무사 & 병사 respectively): his potential association to St. Michael who led heavenly armies + for posterity, if they reveal later in the drama he also knows martial arts and it somehow involves him with the Killing Vote (the first episode & ep3 at least showed he was quite agile)

Shaman (巫, 무당 ; though the word is mainly associated to female shamans, male shamans can also be called mudang): a shaman « employs magic to effect cures, to tell fortunes, to soothe spirits of the dead, and to repulse evil »

Dance (舞, 춤추다): like… the talchum… masks… in addition to the shaman... you know… haha

— For Kwon Seokju

-> Kwon [You can also apply relevant meanings to Narae, since it’s her last name]

Prison (圈, 감방): both physical and figurative ever since Narae died and he murdered BWT

Abstain/refrain from ie. be careful about one’s speech or behavior (惓, 삼가다): his overall behavior in the present

Tired/exhausted/weary (倦, 고달프다): what he wen through these whole 8 years

Take care of/look after/oversee, heartfelt/caring (惓, 정성스럽다) & warm/friendly: self-explanatory about his character in general when we see his past self with Narae, Jihoon & KMC, and other people in general (BWT’s parents, LMS, his students) before Narae’s case

Loyal/devoted (惓, 충성스럽다): devoted wholeheartedly to his family

Look back/reflect on the past (睠, 돌아보다): also self-explanatory

-> Seok in Seokju

Untie (釋, 풀다 ie. return what has been tied, bound, or twisted back to its original state)/relieve anger or sorrow/get rid of one’s agony by handling it : he’s still waiting for the accomplice to Narae’s murder to be arrested to find some closure after all those years, he perhaps also wants to put an end to it all for KMC to stop feeling guilty over the case.

Night (夕, 밤), tide (汐, 조수 ie. seawater flowing in and out from the shore because of the gravitational pull of the sun and moon) & tideland (潟, 개펄 ie. wide expanse of mud revealed when the tide goes down): [if the moon and sun imagery holds some meaning in the drama] ; also, most of KSJ’s scenes in the beginning were shot in the dark compared to the bright scenes with Narae and Jihoon

... The Mont Saint-Michel is known to be a tidal island and for its fog haha

-> Ju in Seokju [You can apply the relevant meanings to Joohyun too]

House (宙, 집): the house that had good natural lighting (Narae, Jihoon and perhaps KMC) he cherished is now gone, it is derelicted after all these years

Bear/endure/put up with ie. endure sth for a long time, resist (拄, 버티다): self-explanatory too

Sunlight/sunbeam/sunshine (晭, 햇빛): the shots of him mourning or basking in the light

Timely rain but also heavy rain/downpour (澍, 단비 and 폭우) & wick and burn out ie. burn and eliminate sth (炷, 심지 & 불사르다) as I mentioned in the first post!

The fire imagery is also present with Joohyun’s character and her scar.

It’s associated to the tragedy she had to live, and we could project the same theme to KMC & KSJ who went through the same, all linked by this ‘terrible rage’ still waiting to be put out.

The hanja 火 (which is what 炷, the hanja for wick/burn out is composed of) is associated to anger (화, anger, fury) and fire (불).

Given the previous posts, you can also link it to the haetae (symbol of justice which feeds off fire, is said to prevent fires) or the eternal fire at the Last Judgment.

— For Joohyun

-> Hyun in Joohyun

Snoop/nose around (俔, 염탐하다): self-explanatory hahaha

Bright ie. a place being light as a result of getting a lot of sun/light or brilliant (adj.)/break or dawn but also fig. cheerful/bright (炫, 밝다), sunlight/sunbeam/sunshine (昡, 햇빛 and 晛, 햇살) and kind-hearted/benevolent (賢, 어질다): self-explanatory for this lovely character!!

Wise/sagacious/sensible (賢, 현명하다): she has a soothing and mature side to her eg. as she talked to KMC & Jihoon

Clever/bright/intelligent (儇, 영리하다): self-explanatory too!!

Connect/link/join (縣, 연결하다, can also be used for people): she seems to connect with people around her with ease, and she looks like she’s trying to reconnect KMC to KSJ

♦ « The person Kwon Seokju cherished the most »

I don’t know where this will lead, but KMC JJW’s quote in ep6 as he relayed it to KSJ: initially, it was about ‘the person KSJ loved the most’ (가장 사랑하는 사람 ; 사랑하다 = love/care ie. cherish, value, and care for sb with all one’s heart).

KMC quoted it as ‘the person KSJ cherished the most’ (가장 소중한 사람 ; 소중하다 = valuable/precious/cherished/dear): while the two adjectives almost mean the same thing, ‘cherished’ feels more personal than the general ‘loved’ (사랑하다 is also used a lot) and conveys the invaluable dearness better in this situation to me.

#국민사형투표 #the killing vote #tkv #kdrama

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