Ghost: Episode 17

by kaedejun

Secrets never last long. Though one thinks they can keep it hidden forever, eventually the secret busts through the cracks and reveals itself for all. Hyun Min’s skeletons in his closet are just as bound to come out as the fact that Woo-Young is actually Ki Young. And goodness, once a drop of a secret leaks out, it pours. There is no stopping it from spreading.

OK – cat’s out of the bag. Now what? Woo-Young feels that Hyun Min is now enjoying killing for the sake of killing. It’s gotten so out of control it’s no longer just about avenging his father. Hyun Min scoffs at the accusation, and fires back that Woo-Young can never be Woo Hyun. What sets them apart is the memories; Ki Young has no idea what Woo Hyun remembers, why Woo Hyun went to kill him in the factory, or why Woo Hyun sided with Hyun Min! So, Hyun Min suggests that Woo-Young come over to his side.

Woo-Young won’t be fooled. He refuses to be bought and knows that Hyun Min just came for one thing: the original CK hard drive. However, it’s not like Woo-Young is going to just hand it over; Hyun Min would have to kill him first! In addition, it’s not like Woo-Young didn’t make copies of it, and who’s to say that the hard drive is the original? If he made multiple copies, only he would know where they all were.

Hyun Min: Then, I guess I’ll just make everyone not trust you. All that’s left is telling the police that you’re Park Ki Young.

Kaedejun: Pfft – the only people who matter already know.

Hyun Min leaves empty-handed, but his plan working out perfectly as expected. He heads off to Safe Tech, while Woo-Young receives a very angry phone call from Hyuk Joo yelling at him to get out of there NOW! Woo-Young hears the sirens; the police already know he’s Ki Young and have begun a manhunt. He quickly begins a wiping program on his computers to delete everything.

The police swarm outside True Story’s building, and before the officers can barge into his room, Hyuk Joo pushes to the front, demanding to do the honors of breaking down the doors. I’m sure he’s as nervous as heck when he rams his shoulder into the door. 2 forceful jams and he’s in the room. It’s empty, and the computers have been wiped. Hyuk Joo and Kang Mi silently let out sighs of relief, and he then orders the other officers to start packing things up for evidence.

Once everything is collected, Hyuk Joo has it all sent to the police bureau, and the police cars pull out. Then, he and Kang Mi get into their own unmarked car… to find Woo-Young hiding in the back seat! They’re all startled at the sight of each other, but they quickly leave the area and drive to a deserted tunnel.

Woo-Young demands to know what’s going on. When he had first left the bureau with the original drive, Kang Mi immediately reported it to Hyuk Joo. It only made Hyuk Joo angrier, as he’s afraid Woo-Young might lose the original drive. Director Jun already has a copy of that drive – and had handed it to their enemy Chief Shin! Just then, Director Jun came rushing in, looking for Woo-Young and calling an emergency meeting.

Hye Ram did her presentation before the cyber team and Director Jun. She had been analyzing the USB Sang Woo found in Jae Hee’s bag. Sang Woo said there wasn’t much in it, but she claimed that there was – there was a video file hidden through steganography (much like how Shin Hyo Jung hid the Phantom video file). She played the video for them: it’s the night Nam Sang Won died, but taken from a different angle (presumably by the stairway). All they can see is Nam Sang Won drinking the alcohol before Woo Hyun, and then dying right in front of him. The stairway helps block out the third, integral person in the room – Hyun Min.

Tae Gyun and Sang Woo called the video a fake because Woo Hyun would never have done that or been there. Hyuk Joo tried to say that someone else was in that room too, and Kang Mi wanted to investigate why Jae Hee had this video in the first place. However, none of that mattered to Director Jun, who now thoroughly believes that Woo Hyun is a bad guy and wants him brought in. Hence, the manhunt.

Kang Mi thinks that the video was manipulated, but Woo-Young swears to get to the truth of the matter. He will find out why Woo Hyun was there in the first place, and why he was working with Hyun Min. And then, he will tell the whole world that Hyun Min was the one who really killed all those people. I think Woo-Young’s gone delusional, and Hyuk Joo agrees: “Are you Kim Woo Hyun?! You’re Park Ki Young! Who’s going to believe YOU?!”

A close-up of a puddle at this moment makes me fear that someone is watching and listening to them. Another part of me just wants to believe it’s an artistic shot depicting that reflections don’t always mirror the truth.

Woo-Young is ready to admit the truth if it means that Hyun Min will eventually be caught. It may also mean that once Woo Hyun’s name and reputation is smeared, Ki Young himself will be arrested for the Shin Hyo Jung case. Though that’s a less-than-desirable prospect, the Three Musketeers need to do something to stop Hyun Min.

Seung Yoon returns home, struggling with the groceries, and to her surprise, finds Hyuk Joo waiting outside her door! He’s come to give what he’s promised: a scoop. What if Jo Jae Min was actually framed for the crimes he’s been accused of? Seung Yoon is initially skeptical, but she writes up an article that questions Jae Min’s guilt on True Story per Hyuk Joo’s request.

As soon as she’s done, Hyuk Joo contacts Kang Mi and Woo-Young, both of whom are in a PC cafe and getting creative in hiding Woo-Young’s face from the roaming police. It is now their turn to make Seung Yoon’s story the number one trending topic and cause a frenzy among the netizens. With his hacking program and expansive collection of zombie PCs, Kang Mi and Woo-Young start using those computers to rack up the number of hits on Seung Yoon’s story. Within a very short time, her story and Jo Jae Min are the top trending topics on a search portal. Hyuk Joo: “It’s a scary world we live in.” No kidding.

That evening, Chief Shin, Director Jun, and Hyuk Joo meet to discuss the progress on catching Woo Hyun. Though they’ve lost him for now, police are being stationed everywhere near his homes. Director Jun is feeling quite smug – he knew something weird was going on between Nam Sang Won and Woo-Young! He wants a thorough re-investigation. Chief Shin and Hyuk Joo can’t deny him that request after all the evidence before them, but it’s funny to see that both don’t want the re-investigation to occur for very different reasons. For Chief Shin, it would mean that the trail may lead to Hyun Min; for Hyuk Joo, it would mean that the trail will lead them to Woo-Young before they can get to the truth.

When Hyuk Joo returns to the cyber team’s office, Sang Woo quickly approaches him with his opinion on this case. He had checked Jae Hee’s USB thoroughly and found nothing. Because he wasn’t an expert at cyber crime, he even ran the steganography-detection program to double check that there was nothing in the USB. And there was nothing in the USB! That means it was manipulated by someone on the inside after Sang Woo had checked it.

Is Hye Ram a traitor!? Oh my God – if she is, I called it! The two people I suspected would have ended up being spies!

On a bridge overlooking the city, Hyun Min looks at the trending articles with a smile. He knows it’s all because of Woo-Young using zombie PCs to fake the number of hits. Chief Shin is also in his car, in slight disbelief that Woo Hyun really is dead, and they’re chasing after Ki Young in Woo Hyun’s body. Hyun Min wants Woo-Young to be caught, but he won’t rely on luck. He needs something that will draw Woo-Young out of hiding.

At the Kim house in the countryside, Kim Suk Joon receives a visitor during his sleep. It’s Director Jun! The director only watches Suk Joon sleep, but seriously, when can I stop wondering whether he’s a baddie or not?!

Meanwhile, Woo-Young is hiding out in a motel. Kang Mi comes in with some of his essentials that he requested, but he’s in the shower. When he comes out in only a bathrobe, Kang Mi looks around nervously. Come on, he’s still fully covered! Realizing that she’s uncomfortable, he goes and changes into his cool, incognito outfit that make him look 10x more dashing. It’s no wonder Kang Mi becomes even more nervous around him, thinking that he’ll pounce on her. She falls back on his bed, and he takes the opportunity to handcuff her to it.

Woo-Young has chosen to go solo now. He doesn’t want her or Hyuk Joo to get in trouble as accomplices should he get arrested. Besides, Hyuk Joo should be arriving at the motel any moment now, so he can free her from the handcuffs. Kang Mi grabs his wrist: “We started it together. Let’s finish it together.” He thanks her for trusting him, gently puts her hand down, and walks off with all the stuff she had gotten for him.

Outside, he calls up Hyuk Joo and lets him know about his plan to take down Hyun Min on his own. He’s about to hang up when Hyuk Joo cries out that Suk Joon is in critical condition. The housekeeper had called Hyuk Joo when Woo-Young didn’t answer his phone. Uh-oh – immediately Woo-Young knows that Hyun Min is involved and he runs off.

Suk Joon has already been transported to the hospital, and his doctor informs Director Jun and Chief Shin that his potassium levels shot up dangerously. It could be because he’s lying down all the time, or someone injected extra doses of potassium into his body. They all leave the room, with Director Jun increasing security around the room because Woo-Young would sure visit his father. Just as they get on the elevator, they barely notice a doctor with huge glasses passing by – it’s Woo-Young in disguise!

Woo-Young takes a cart of medical supplies, and with his disguise, the police let him in to Suk Joon’s room. He studies Suk Joon’s chart and steals the first page with the doctor’s diagnosis. Suddenly, Suk Joon wakes up! He calls out for his son, but Woo-Young appears by his side and holds his hand. Based on how Woo-Young addresses him, Suk Joon immediately figures out that he’s Ki Young. For a sick man, he sure is sharp!

Suk Joon is so surprised at finding Woo-Young by his bedside that he wonders if something happened to Woo Hyun – like, did Woo Hyun die?! Woo-Young is at loss of words, but he eventually admits that Woo Hyun did in an accident. Suk Joon: “Was it… Se Kang? Because of the slush fund case?” Nothing escapes this guy! He expresses regret at not having listened to Ki Young years ago, when Ki Young begged Suk Joon to admit that he was covering up someone else’s crimes by pinning it on Jo Kyung Moon. The truth may be hidden, but it never goes away.

With some difficulty, Suk Joon urgently tells Woo-Young that Woo Hyun had been trying to find the truth. He was going to reveal everything, and Woo-Young just needs to have faith in him. Of course, all this talk adds stress to his health, and his vitals go bonkers. That alerts the nurses, whose running towards Suk Joon’s room alerts Director Jun. They all pile into his hospital room, and Woo-Young tries to discreetly exit the room. He hurriedly puts on the glasses again and is so close to the door when Director Jun stops him: “What’s wrong with him, doctor?”

Uhm…

Woo-Young ignores him and slips out, but it’s too late – Director Jun recognizes him and calls for all the police to make chase. He manages to lose them all in the hospital, and the police think that he’s already made it out of the hospital. Director Jun’s lost his chance, when he was so close to nabbing him! He leaves in his car, advising one of the officers to keep an eye out for Woo-Young.

But Director Jun doesn’t get very far in the parking lot, because next thing he knows, he’s got Woo-Young in his back seat, a gun trained to his neck. Woo-Young insists that the video in Jae Hee’s USB was manipulated and planted there. Even though it looked like Woo Hyun had killed Nam Sang Won, Woo-Young says there was another person that was the real criminal. Director Jun: “So go to the police and turn yourself in!” Ha – easier said than done. Woo-Young doesn’t trust the police, especially when there’s a spy in there, and his father is being targeted. He believes that someone increased his father’s potassium levels through injection.

Woo-Young wants to trust in Director Jun, just as he had trusted the cyber team during the investigation on Hyuk Joo. He only asks that Director Jun keep a close eye on Suk Joon. Director Jun agrees – he doesn’t trust Woo-Young, but he does seem to admire Suk Joon.

Woo-Young runs off, and returns to the hospital in hopes of seeing Suk Joon again. He waits in the stairwell for the moment when the police would stop their patrol, but jumps back when Kang Mi rushes through the door. “I have bad memories of being handcuffed,” she says. She promised Woo Hyun she would be a good police officer for him, so no way in hell is she going to be left out of this. Woo-Young’s concerned that she might get caught as an accomplice; he only kept up the charade to catch the real culprit, but now he can’t go around freely under the guise of being a police officer.

“Not a police officer?!” Hyuk Joo shows up out of nowhere from an upper floor. He’s quite bitter because his success rate at catching the real culprit has been stuck at 0%. “Before it became your business (to catch the criminal), it was my business. So, you have to help me.” YAY – the Three Musketeers, unite!

They all pile into Hyuk Joo’s car, and Woo-Young tells them that Woo Hyun was actually trying to find the truth. He never sided with Hyun Min at all, but must have been collecting evidence on his own for the day that it would all be revealed. Of course, since he’s a cyber crime team member, he surely must have left a copy of all his findings just in case something happened to him. Since they couldn’t find any evidence in his apartment, Woo-Young believes that it’s at his father’s home in the countryside.

It’d be easy to get in – if only there weren’t cops stationed outside to keep watch.

Hyuk Joo heads over to the stakeout police car with some snacks. After showing that he’s part of the police, he gets into their backseat and starts handing out the snacks. It distracts their attention long enough for Kang Mi and Woo-Young to sneak through. They tell the housekeeper to stay quiet about their presence, and start rummaging through the rooms looking for a USB that could hold the evidence.

The two of them end up in Suk Joon’s room, and Kang Mi finds a USB taped to the back of one of the drawers. Hyuk Joo enters the house just in time to see the two of them plug the USB into the computer. Inside are numerous files since May 2011 containing proper case reports by Woo Hyun.

Flashback! And we finally go back to the day when Hyun Min first approached Woo Hyun at his home, asking for him to be his ally. Hyun Min came by with the express purpose of giving him a tip for a new case. In the envelope are the papers proving that people were paid off to frame Jo Kyung Moon during the political slush fund case – including Kim Suk Joon. Hyun Min wants Woo Hyun to arrest all the people involved, since he knows that Woo Hyun is an upright policeman.

Though his own father was involved, Woo Hyun did start investigating the case, and he quickly caught on to the vaccine program that resided in Nam Sang Won’s computer. He realized that Hyun Min was using Safe Tech and the vaccine program as a way to get information from his targets. The only reason Hyun Min ever got close to him was because he was Suk Joon’s son, right? Angrily, Woo Hyun swore to investigate everything – not just about the political slush fund case, but also Se Kang and Safe Tech.

Later that evening, he spoke to his comatose father, wondering why he hid the evidence in the first place. Why couldn’t Suk Joon wake up here!? In his father’s stead, Woo Hyun promised to reveal the entire truth. Suk Joon most definitely must have heard this part.

The Three Musketeers then find the report from the day Nam Sang Won died. After Nam Sang Won had collapsed, Woo Hyun demanded an explanation. Hyun Min reasoned that Nam Sang Won was going to die sooner or later anyways, and dared Woo Hyun to report him to the police. However, if he did, then he’d be seen as an accomplice to a murder. Hyun Min basically coerced Woo Hyun to be on his side by killing a man in front of him, thus binding them together over this secret.

A closer look in the files reveal that Woo Hyun was trying to locate the source code that would help block the vaccine program. There is also a written report on Jo Hyun Min, but Hyuk Joo has never heard of Woo Hyun submitting an investigative report. Flashback again! And it appeared that Woo Hyun handed the report to none other than Chief Shin! He wanted to arrest Hyun Min for the murder of Nam Sang Won and also find solid evidence to take down Safe Tech. After that, he wanted to resign from his position.

Chief Shin wanted to keep all this a secret between the two of them, because he heard that there was a spy within the bureau. Turns out, he was the spy, and the Three Musketeers figure that out when they see Shin’s signature on the report, but know that it was never formally handed in.

So Woo-Young goes to Chief Shin’s apartment building to confront him. Even though Chief Shin keeps calling him “Woo Hyun,” both of them know that it’s really Ki Young. Woo-Young wants an explanation: Woo Hyun clearly trusted the chief enough to finally join sides with Hyun Min. But Hyun Min probably knew that Woo Hyun was never fully an ally because Chief Shin must have shown him Woo Hyun’s report. And yet he didn’t kill Woo Hyun yet.

Chief Shin: “Hyun Min’s father died because of Woo Hyun’s father. To just kill him would have been an absolute waste.” Woo-Young pulls his gun on Chief Shin, but the chief isn’t scared. He did so much to get to the position he is in now; a little gun threat is not going to faze him. He doesn’t believe that Woo-Young would shoot anyways, and he’s right. Woo-Young puts his gun down, and remarks that there is a better suited ending for the chief in the future.

Next, Woo-Young meets Director Jun in a parking lot to hand over Woo Hyun’s report on his investigation of Hyun Min. Director Jun doesn’t understand – what does he mean by a “dead Woo Hyun”? Woo-Young finally reveals to Director Jun that he’s not “Woo Hyun,” but is actually Ki Young. Director Jun has a hard time believing all this, especially considering that the man talking to him has Woo Hyun’s face. He wonders if this is just Woo-Young’s way of avoiding blame for being seen in the Nam Sang Won video, but Woo-Young denies it.

He hands over the USB that has all of Woo Hyun’s files in it. (I hope you made a copy, mister.) Woo-Young explains that Woo Hyun didn’t initially report Nam Sang Won’s murder in the hopes of getting a bigger piece of evidence. However, he did inform Chief Shin, who subsequently hid the reports. Director Jun still doesn’t believe all this, but Woo-Young insists he check out the USB first. He’s ready to come clean to everyone if he has to.

Director Jun agrees, and as he heads off to the elevator, he tells his secretary to cancel all appointments and schedule a meeting with Chief Shin instead. When he gets on the elevator, he does not notice a young man with a cap pulled over his eyes… it’s hacker Do Hyun! Woo-Young recognizes him too late, and so he tries to catch up to them by running down the stairs to the first floor. The elevator doors open, and Director Jun is slumped over in the elevator, blood splattered all over the walls.

Director Jun is dead!!! And then next thing you know, Woo-Young hears sirens off in the distance…

Comments:

Agh! This is the perfect set up now. It would appear that it was Woo-Young who killed Director Jun due to the similar hats Do Hyun and Woo-Young both wear, and also because Woo-Young would have Director Jun’s blood all over his hands. I’m assuming of course that he will get out of the elevator without getting caught, and that he remembers to take the USB with him. Ah well, guess Director Jun was a good guy after all!

I do think Hyun Min has gotten a little psychotic as he’s realized that he’s not seeing the punishment he wants meted out to those responsible for his father’s death. Initially it appeared that he wanted them arrested, but now he wants them all dead. He’s willing to kill off anyone who gets in his way – i.e. Shin Hyo Jung and Director Jun – which just indicates that he might be addicted to killing. Death is final, and there’s no way that secrets can resurface if they’re dead. No matter how much Hyun Min destroys the evidence, a copy will appear somewhere because digital technology is just that great. So instead, he’ll just kill off all the people around Woo-Young, and corner him to beat him to submission. (Crap – I hope this does not mean that Hyuk Joo or Kang Mi will die!) Right now there are still 2 people that we can get the truth from: Im Chi Hyun and Kim Suk Joon. I hope Prosecutor Im wakes up randomly and starts spilling secrets and truths too.

That leads me to my one quibble with this episode, which is that I felt Suk Joon’s momentary consciousness was out of place. Why couldn’t he be awake at other times? Why now? I thought he was a permanent vegetable, but I guess not! It felt like he woke up just because the writer needed a plot device. It’s slightly as incredulous as when Prosecutor Im was stabbed because he was a supposed gamer, although this plot point did help move the episode forward. Because of him, we viewers know that Woo Hyun is actually good, and he gave the Three Musketeers a little more guidance on where they should look, and what they should be looking for. Three more episodes to go, and I don’t feel like we’re getting any nearer to nabbing our big bad!

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