Nobody Knows: Episode 4

by Sunny

Up until now, Young-jin’s one blind spot in Eun-ho’s life has been school. And who better to ask than his homeroom teacher? As the dynamic duo continue to search for the truth of the days leading up to Eun-ho’s fall off the roof of the Millennium Hotel, they uncover more questions which seem to be leading to a conspiracy darker than they’d anticipated.

  
EPISODE 4: “Missing Security Footage”

Young-jin stands transfixed on Dae-hoon’s swaying body as his ringtone echoes in the room, mirroring her discovery of Im Hee-jung’s body. Snapping out of her daze when Sun-woo calls her, Young-jin checks the phone. It displays 3 missed calls from Min-sung and the contact page identifies him as a student in Eun-ho’s grade. Sung-woo confirms they’re in the same class but can’t be sure he recognizes the dangling corpse. Young-jin pulls up a series of photos of Dae-hoon with Min-sung and a text from Min-sung’s mother addresses him as Min-sung’s driver.

After Sun-woo calls the school to confirm that Min-sung is there, Young-jin suggests they leave. As they walk to the door, something catches Young-jin’s eye. It’s a button from Eun-ho’s uniform and she tells Sun-woo he might’ve been right – the bruises she found on Eun-ho’s body might not have happened at school. Outside, Young-jin calls the forensic team while Sun-woo recovers from seeing his first dead body.

Detective Han arrives at the office, grumbling that he’s getting flack for Young-jin investigating Eun-ho’s case (since it belongs to another precinct). Jae-hong jumps to her defense by pointing out Eun-ho is her neighbor. Detective Han snaps whether he knows his neighbors and Jae-hong cheekily says his neighbors are his parents. Hee. After he leaves, Ja-young’s superior, Officer Hong, asks about Young-jin and laments Young-jin and Eun-ho have been close since he was a child.

Ja-young blurts that it’s a shame Young-jin has to go through the pain of another hurt friend but before Jae-hong can question her, he answers a call from Young-jin. She tells him about the body and asks him to bring a hard drive from her desk. Jae-hong agrees and after they hang up, Jae-hong explains Young-jin found a body while investigating Eun-ho’s case. Officer Hong muses Young-jin has luck finding criminal cases, immediately incurring an earful from Jae-hong and Ja-young. Aww.

Officer Hong tasks Ja-young with Jae-hong’s report so he can help Young-jin. Ja-young pouts but sits at Jae-hong’s desk, thinking the stigmata serial murders was supposed to be Young-jin’s last case. Back at the scene, Young-jin asks for Sun-woo’s prints and DNA since they both touched the door. As he stamps the fingerprint card, Young-jin asks about the duffel bag and Sun-woo explains he’d seen Eun-ho with it before school the morning of the incident.

Young-jin says it’s not Eun-ho’s usual bag and the sparse belongings inside suggest he didn’t change it by choice – he either lost his backpack or it was stolen. After swabbing Sun-woo’s cheek, Young-jin asks about Min-sung. Sun-woo says he gets along well with his classmates and receives good grades… but guesses Young-jin meant to ask how Min-sung interacted with Eun-ho. Young-jin is sure there was nothing to see since Sun-woo had said he was unaware of Eun-ho being bullied.

She releases Sun-woo to return to school but asks for his number. Sun-woo admits he’d believed Eun-ho’s fall was an accident despite Young-jin telling him otherwise and thinks that finding Dae-hoon’s body can’t be coincidental. He questions if Dae-hoon harmed Eun-ho but Young-jin cuts him off, pointing out nothing has been confirmed. Young-jin promises to call and adds she’ll inform Min-sung and his parents, so he needn’t say anything.

Sun-woo’s brother-in-law, Hee-seob, calls Sang-ho to apologize for the mess of Eun-ho falling off the Millennium Hotel and asks him not to mention the school to the media, since Shinsung is already going to be under fire for the stigmata serial murders. Sang-ho assures him he’s already spoken with the local police about keeping it quiet for now. Hee-seob suggests they eat with Sun-woo soon and they hang up. Looking at Young-jin’s business card, Sang-ho smirks that he can’t quiet her.

Flipping through Eun-ho’s file, Hee-seob recalls Sun-woo mentioning him at dinner a few nights ago. Remembering Dong-myeong’s name also came up, Hee-seob calls for Dong-myeong’s file. The teacher says they’ve been watching Dong-myeong since he got in trouble for working at a voice-phishing company last year. There haven’t been any incidents since but Hee-seob asks the teacher to dig into Dong-myeong anyway.

Meanwhile, Dong-myeong checks his messages and finds a voicemail from Sun-woo, asking to call him back. His finger hovers over the call button but he thinks better of it. Sun-woo returns to school and seeks out Min-sung, finding him sitting out gym in the classroom. Min-sung claims a headache but denies Sun-woo’s suggestion to go to the infirmary. Sun-woo’s eyes wander to Eun-ho’s desk and Min-sung finally asks how sick Eun-ho is (as the teachers only said he was out ill).

Sun-woo clarifies that Eun-ho is hurt… badly. Remembering Young-jin’s request to not say anything, Sun-woo doesn’t elaborate and instead offers to buy Min-sung lunch. Across town, Min-sung waits outside a food supply building until Eun-ho’s mom’s boyfriend, Chang-soo, drives up. Chang-soo shoos him away, questioning why Dong-myeong isn’t at school. Dong-myeong says he plans to quit and earn money but Chang-soo claims not to hire minors anymore.

Dong-myeong blocks him, wondering why he’d deny cheap labor… unless he hit a windfall? Chang-soo stutters that he’s only letting Dong-myeong off for Eun-ho’s sake. Dong-myeong realizes Chang-soo hasn’t heard about the incident and thinks Chang-soo might be in trouble if he was at Millennium Hotel last night. Chang-soo pales and Dong-myeong suggests they talk inside.

Jae-hong joins Young-jin at the scene and they attempt to watch the footage from the black box in Dae-hoon’s car, but it’s been deleted. She tells him if they find traces of Eun-ho on Dae-hoon’s body, then this isn’t a coincidence. Young-jin orders he check the CCTV from Millennium Hotel’s basement while a forensic officer informs her they didn’t find Eun-ho’s phone in the area.

She explains to Jae-hong that she’d received a strange call from Eun-ho and thinks the timing would place it while he was here. Young-jin admits she gets a similar feeling to the discovery of Im Hee-jung, who’s phone was also missing from the scene. Jae-hong agrees it’s suspicious how the stigmata serial murders are connected to the New Life Church, which is connected to the school Eun-ho attends.

Chang-soo tells Dong-myeong he didn’t see Eun-soo yesterday but Dong-myeong doesn’t look convinced. Regardless, he wants Chang-soo not to mention him to the police. Chang-soo wonders if he has a guilty conscious but Dong-myeong warns that if the police come to him, he’ll tell them what Chang-soo took from the hotel. Dong-myeong grumbles that he didn’t come here to talk about that, and asks Chang-soo to take him to Eun-ho.

The forensic team tell Young-jin that there’s no evidence to suggest Dae-hoon didn’t hang himself. She asks if it were possible for someone to yank the rope from behind but the forensic team says the assailant would have to pull very quickly with power equal to Dae-hoon’s weight. Jae-hong reports to Young-jin that the Millennium Hotel basement parking lot footage is missing.

She hangs up and Hee-dong blubbers as his car – the one Eun-ho fell on – is towed away. Manager Bae Sun-ah tsks that his car saved Eun-ho’s life, warning him to imagine the mess he could’ve been in. Upstairs, Sang-ho takes a call from the chief of the police station, assuring him the incident won’t be in the media.

The chief adds that the basement parking garage footage is missing and Sang-ho scowls. Pulling the phone away for two beats, he tells the chief he checked with his team and there was a system malfunction. The chief says Eun-ho didn’t show up on any other cameras, so he had to have entered the building through the parking garage. Arriving in a car suggests he wasn’t alone, and his fall might not be an accident or suicide attempt. In that case, they won’t be able to block the media.

Hanging up, Sang-ho stops himself from chucking his phone and demands Hee-dong be brought to him. Jae-hong wonders if the camera was really out of order or the local precinct is keeping it from them. Young-jin thinks the latter would be good, since at least that means there’s solid evidence. The forensic team needs Eun-ho’s prints and DNA so Young-jin offers to take care of it. She orders Jae-hong to get CCTV footage from the hotel entrance and set up an interview with the car owner, but not mention Eun-ho.

Sang-ho eats instant ramen and lectures a bloody Hee-dong that this is what happens when Hee-dong doesn’t follow through on all security precautions. Sang-ho says the hotel is the basis of his success and now it will be under scrutiny. Smiling sheepishly, Hee-dong vows to never let it happen again. Sang-ho throws his ramen in anger and then tosses Hee-dong a rag. Hee-dong thanks him and starts dabbing at his bloody face before realizing Sang-ho meant for him to clean up the ramen. Sang-ho’s assistant, Du-seok, “drops” a hot towel on his way over to Sang-ho but Sang-ho yells again when he sees Hee-dong wiping his face instead of the floor.

Ja-young finishes Jae-hong’s report and finds a note on his desk about Ki-ho (the man Eun-ho saved and worked in the New Life Church). Ki-ho arrives at a church and prays at the altar to be saved and given the power to fight evils. He says Eun-ho is a boy who will do good in this world and begs God to look after him. Meanwhile, Sang-ho arrives the New Life Church and the man who’d pointed Young-jin to Seo Sang-won greets him.

Sang-ho’s smile is strained as the man chuckles that Sang-ho was starving when they found him, but lookat him now! Sang-ho praises his good memory and asks if he’s seen Ki-ho. The man says he’s gone off grind since Im Hee-jung’s death… but he recalls Ki-ho’d actually left a few days prior. He asks why Sang-ho is looking for him and Sang-ho grins that Ki-ho has something of his he wants back. Handing the man a wad of cash and his business card, Sang-ho asks him to call if Ki-ho returns.

The man stops him from leaving to proudly take credit for identifying Seo Sang-won. Sang-ho guesses the man remembers his childhood better than he does and the man gleefully pulls him over to a photo of six children. He identifies Sang-ho and Hee-dong as well as Hee-seob and his wife (Sun-woo’s sister) Sun-kyung. Meanwhile, Sun-kyung cleans house and finds a six-winged angel doll in a drawer.

PART 2: “What Eun-ho Found at Millennium Hotel”

Visiting Eun-ho, Chang-soo assuring Mom that Eun-ho will recover soon. Mom can’t figure out why Eun-ho was at Millennium Hotel and Chang-soo nervously suggests he was there to visit Sang-ho. Mom argues they’d briefly met at Eun-ho’s award assembly. Chang-soo becomes alarmed when Mom adds Young-jin didn’t have any idea whey Eun-ho was at the hotel either. He questions how Young-jin can investigate a case she has a personal connection to but Mom waves him off, saying she’s relieved Young-jin is looking into it.

Chang-soo asks if Eun-ho tells Young-jin everything and Mom admits she doesn’t know. Chang-soo receives a text from Dong-myeong to hurry up and he suggests Mom take a break and eat something while he’s here to watch Eun-ho. She agrees and doesn’t notice Dong-myeong slipping in behind her. Chang-soo guides him to Eun-ho’s room and Dong-myeong says Eun-ho doesn’t look like he fell from the tenth floor.

Young-jin arrives, passing Dong-myeong on his way out. She barely seems to notice, but he’s anxious to get away from her. Chang-soo leaves Young-jin alone with Eun-ho and she comments he looks better. Young-jin bets he’ll wake up soon but says she won’t wait for him to wake up and tell her what happened. Outside, Dong-myeong gets a text from his aunt saying the surgery is in 2 days. Hm…

As she’s leaving, Young-jin remembers the night she’d found Eun-ho in her house. He’d claimed he was there because Mom’s boyfriend was staying over and Young-jin asks if Chang-soo was there on that date. Checking his phone, Chang-soo says he wasn’t, explaining he’d taken Mom home drunk and left after tucking her in. Young-jin asks if Eun-ho had acted strangely and Chang-soo remembers asking Eun-ho about the money… but only tells her Mom said some mean things.

Young-jin asks for his number and they exchange business cards. Back at the office, Ja-young accosts Jae-hong about his note on Ki-ho. He’s unhappy she looked at his stuff but asks her not to tell Young-jin while she’s focused on Eun-ho’s case and Ja-young grudgingly agrees. Young-jin returns and Jae-hong tells her Dae-hoon’s sister will confirm the corpse tomorrow, but Min-sung’s parents refuse to cooperate.

Needing Min-sung’s side of the story, Young-jin tells him to try again and she’ll ask Sun-woo as a last resort. Meanwhile, Sun-woo is on the phone with Min-sung’s mother as she explains she’d been thinking of reporting Dae-hoon for car theft when she was notified of his apparent suicide. Sun-woo tells her not to worry, offering to take Min-sung home. She tells him not to bother since Min-sung has lessons.

Reporting to Detective Han, Young-jin says that both Eun-ho’s fingerprints and DNA were present on Dae-hoon’s clothes and car but admits there’s no evidence Dae-hoon was on the Millennium Hotel rooftop. Detective Han sighs the suspect is dead, the victim is comatose, and the evidence is all inconclusive. He urges Young-jin to drop the case, but she refuses. Frustrated, Detective Han gives her an ultimatum: stigmata murders or Eun-ho’s accident, she can’t work on both.

“The stigmata murders,” Young-jin deadpans, “I’ll drop that case.” She takes her files and breezes out of the office while Detective Han mutters that she’s so unpredictable. Young-jin finds Superintendent Hwang waiting in her office. He’s heard about Eun-ho and tries to warn her that even if Eun-ho wakes up, she may never get answers, same with Seo Sang-won. “I have nowhere to run,” Young-jin says. She explains the weird call from Eun-ho and how she’d known if felt off but didn’t check it. She cries that maybe she could’ve prevented this by calling again… just like Soo-jung.

Ja-young stops Young-jin on her way back, extending her condolences for Eun-ho. She says she wants to help solve the case quickly so Young-jin can focus on the stigmata serial murders. Young-jin tells her Detective Han ordered her to quit. Ja-young points out that hardly means she actually will and Young-jin smiles. She takes Ja-young to Jae-hong and tells him to hand over the dashboard cam footage for her to review.

Jae-hong reluctantly hands over the tablet and Young-jin tells him they found Eun-ho’s DNA on Dae-hoon, but no proof Dae-hoon was at the hotel. She says if they find evidence of Dae-hoon’s car at the hotel, they can dig deeper. Jae-hong frowns that the won’t get an indictment but Ja-young pipes up that’s only true if Dae-hoon is the culprit. Young-jin calls Eun-ho’s mom to ask if she can check for Eun-ho’s room for his bag and Mom agrees to text her the passcode.

Sun-woo sits outside Dong-myeong’s house, as another call goes unanswered. Sighing, Sun-woo texts Dong-myeong that he’ll report him missing if he doesn’t show up. Dong-myeong calls back immediately and they meet at a neighborhood store. Sun-woo grins, asking if Dong-myeong has eaten and suggesting they visit Eun-ho tomorrow. Dong-myeong refuses and Sun-woo finally asks how he knew Eun-ho was at the Millennium Hotel.

Bristling, Dong-myeong asks if Sun-woo thinks he’s responsible for Eun-ho’s accident, but Sun-woo smiles gently and says anyone who saw his face when he found out about Eun-ho would’ve known how much he cares. Dong-myeong finally confesses that he and Eun-ho occasionally worked part time at the hotel for Chang-soo. Sun-wo tells Dong-myeong that Eun-ho is unconscious, but stable and should wake up soon. Before Dong-myeong leaves, Sun-woo hands him a bag of food to take home and eat.

Young-jin lets herself into Eun-ho’s house and starts digging through his room but doesn’t find anything. Jae-hong calls to report he found CCTV footage of Dae-hoon’s car driving to and from the hotel. Young-jin hears someone punching in the passcode and quickly turns out the light and hides behind Eun-ho’s door. Someone enters the room and she cuffs them, flicking on the light to reveal Chang-soo.

Chang-soo whines that she can’t arrest him since he practically lives there but Young-jin wants to know why he was sneaking into Eun-ho’s room without even turning on the lights. Chang-soo says he left his watch behind but couldn’t have Eun-ho’s mom retrieve it. Young-jin answers a call from Sun-woo, who fills her in on everything Dong-myeong had said. She takes Chang-soo down for interrogation and he says Eun-ho found 30,000,000 won (close to 25 thousand dollars) in the hotel bathroom.

Chang-soo says they’d split the money in half, insisting that Eun-ho was the one who suggested keeping it. He claims he’d told Eun-ho the money was likely illegal and they should leave it where they found it, but Eun-ho had wanted to keep it. Chang-soo swears he hasn’t spent any of his half and Jae-hong finds the stack of cash hidden in Chang-soo’s apartment. Afterwards, Sun-woo startles awake to his phone ringing and rushes out to meet Young-jin. Sun-woo tries calling Dong-myeong as they head to his place, but he doesn’t answer.

Inside, Young-jin finds Eun-ho’s shoebox. They sit in the car, lost in thought until Sun-woo breaks the silence by telling her there had been a bully at his old school. After only hearing the victim’s side of the story, he’d transferred the bully to another class. Sun-woo regrets not bothering to find out what actually happened between the two and says he doesn’t want to make the same mistake.

Young-jin remembers Sun-woo had seen Dong-myeong in Eun-ho’s classroom and they speed off to the school to check Eun-ho’s locker. Young-jin starts flipping through Eun-ho’s books and Sun-woo follows suit and freezes when he finds a drawing of a six-winged angel. He recognizes it from his childhood and to Young-jin’s shock, blurts, “Seo Sang-won.”

  
COMMENTS

I’m going to guess that angel is something referenced in the book Ki-ho left with Eun-ho. The book was pictured with deceased Im Hee-jung and left with Eun-ho by Ki-ho for safekeeping while he’s on the run from… something or someone. And from the way Sang-ho said Ki-ho had something he wanted… I’m willing to bet it’s the book. There must be more to its pages than New Life Church gospel. And does that mean that Eun-ho’s accident might not be related to the money at all, but the church, or even the stigmata case?

It all ties in somehow and while I worry how easily convoluted this could get, I’m going to trust the show. The writing thus far has been solid and gripping and I’m so invested in the story we’re being told. I feel like we keep getting handed puzzle pieces that are clearly meant to fit together, but so far I’m not sure how… or what picture they’ll reveal when they do. It’s all very exciting and everyone is hiding secrets.

The connection between Sang-ho, Hee-seob, and Sun-woo has become a little clearer. They’ve mentioned before they grew up together and it makes sense that it was at the church. I’m not sure if the man at the New Life Church just didn’t identify Sun-woo in the photo… or if he wasn’t there at all. It’s just curious. Sun-woo remembers the church, but doesn’t seem to be in on the schemes of Hee-seob and Sang-ho.

Speaking of, I’m slowing getting a feel for Sang-ho. He’s a hard character to read, and that’s intentionally so because he’s clearly playing the part of the fool. He’s too loud, and fake, and yet I found him quite likable and I’m unsure how much of that is influenced by Park Hoon‘s charismatic portrayal. We’re catching more glimpses of the man beneath the façade, but just enough to know trickery is involved and not get a good read on him.

It’s equally fun and frustrating when you don’t know what everyone is thinking. More players keep getting added to the mix – each with their own agenda – and none of them seem to be telling the truth. Sang-ho with the missing basement footage, Chang-soo’s story about Eun-ho insisting on keeping the money, even Dong-myeong is clearly still hiding something. It’s a lot to sniff out, but thankfully Young-jin won’t be working alone.

I love how quickly Young-jin accepted Sun-woo as her unofficial partner. I mentioned last episode how well they play off each other and I just can’t get enough of it. Sidebar, another duo deserves an honorable mention: Jae-hong and Ja-young. Despite their rivalry (which is heavily skewed on Ja-young’s side), they both deeply admire Young-jin. I’m happy to see this little trail of ducklings she’s inadvertently acquired because it just goes to show that against her best efforts, Young-jin is not alone.

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