Nobody Knows: Episode 6

by Sunny

Hope y’all are prepared for another wild episode as our detectives track down a new lead that shines a little more light onto the web in which Eun-ho has ensnared himself. Meanwhile, everyone’s favorite teacher tries his hand at solo sleuthing and uncovers more than he bargained for.

  
EPISODE 6: “School Exam”

During class, Eun-ho sketches the six-winged angel in his notebook and looks dead in the camera before we’re dropped back into the hospital room. Young-jin tearfully asks why he drew it. In response, Soo-jung’s killer’s words echo in her mind: “Aren’t you afraid of me? I might come find you…” She flashes back to the night she and Eun-ho went out to dinner and when he goes inside, she turns to see Seo Sang-won standing in the street.

In his office, Sun-woo mulls over his misunderstanding Dong-myeong was bullying Eun-ho. He’d told Young-jin he’d made the mistake of only listening to the victim at his last school without bothering to find out the truth. A flashback shows Sun-woo growing frustrated with a student for not talking, but he spits back that Sun-woo won’t listen to his side anyway. Breaking out of the memory, Sun-woo calls Young-jin to say he found the date Eun-ho would’ve sketched the angel.

Sun-woo offers to meet in Eun-ho’s room but Young-jin says she’ll go to him. She reaches for the door just as caregiver, Kim Tae-hyung, returns. He already knows who she is from Sang-ho and explains he’s been reading to Eun-ho from the book found in his bag. He worries whether it’s appropriate but Young-jin is sure Eun-ho has already read it. Tae-hyung agrees that a 15-year-old is no longer a child but Young-jin corrects that he’s still a kid because he’s only 15. Once she’s gone, Tae-hyung pulls out a small blinking device from under Eun-ho’s bed.

Reporting to Sang-ho, Tae-hyung relays the Young-jin was there and left to see Sun-woo. Sang-ho winces and asks for Eun-ho’s condition. Tae-hyung says he’s still unconscious but reacts to strong stimuli and Sang-ho says it won’t be long now. He orders Tae-hyung to continue watching Eun-ho and hangs up. He peers up at the glowing cross of the church Ki-ho had visited and goes inside. At the altar, he wonders what Ki-ho had prayed for.

Ki-ho insists that he see Eun-ho but Nosy Ajusshi can’t understand why he asked for help to go into hiding only to risk exposure. “I put too heavy a burden on him,” Ki-ho says, “I need to get it back.” Nosy Ajusshi recalls Sang-ho saying Ki-ho had something of his and wonders if he’ll get in trouble for hiding him. Ki-ho says the Lord is with him and Nosy Ajusshi will be rewarded for his deeds.

Meanwhile, Sang-ho sees himself as a child, sobbing before the altar, and tells the child he can only save himself and the only thing he should ask Him for is forgiveness. Oooh chills. Du-seok reports that Ki-ho was caught on the CCTV and Sang-ho says it’ll be more beneficial to ask the locals than search blindly. He sighs deeply and grumbles that Young-jin and Sun-woo working together irks him.

Hearing about Dong-myeong’s statement regarding Eun-ho and Min-sung’s strained relationship, Sun-woo fears Min-sung and Dae-hoon harassed Eun-ho together, but Young-jin clarifies Eun-ho was the aggressor. Min-sung’s mother finds him slicing his arm with a razor and wordlessly doctors the wounds. Numbly, he tells her that Dae-hoon was only supposed to scare “him,” wondering why he ended up dead. When pressed, Min-sung admits Eun-ho saw the test paper she’d given him and his mother balks, referring to Eun-ho as “that fatherless kid.”

Sun-woo reasons that harassing Min-sung would be motive for Dae-hoon to harm Eun-ho but can’t connect the hotel. Young-jin points out the hotel incident could be unrelate and Sun-woo questions why she’s telling him this. Young-jin is curious why Min-sung never came forward about being bullied, and whether he’s even the type to allow it. She thinks Min-sung must have a fault only Eun-ho knew about. Sun-woo assumes she wants him to find out but Young-jin says he wanted to know what happened to Eun-ho. She says she’ll reveal Min-sung’s secret as a detective and he has his own decision to make as a teacher.

Returning to the hotel, Sang-ho and Du-seok head to a secret elevator which takes them to Sang-ho’s private suite. Manager Sun-ah and Head of Security Hee-dong are already waiting inside. Tossing out two files, Sun-ah says they’ve found the buyer and the seller, one is a regular and the other is a former employee.

Jae-hong brings dinner to Ja-young but she’s completely enraptured with the CCTV footage she’s reviewing. She suddenly exclaims and the footage shows a man taking a bag into the Millennium Hotel bathroom, only to leave moments later without it. Eun-ho and Chang-soo go in, and they leave with Eun-ho holding his stomach. Another man walks into the bathroom and comes out distressed. Soon after the first man races back in panicked and walks out looking nervous.

Sang-ho looks thoughtfully at the pictures of the men from the CCTV footage. Sun-ah tells him to leave it to the police and focus on finding Ki-ho. “Sea squirts don’t have brains,” Sang-ho announces to everyone’s confusion. He explains that they’re born with brains, but once they become adults, they find a safe place and eat their own brains. Sang-ho says he doesn’t want to live like a sea squirt. Sighing, Du-seok stands and tells him to pick one so Sang-ho gleefully compares the two pictures.

Leaving the school, Young-jin answers a call from Jae-hong about the trafficking. She tells him to report it to the drugs division and that she’s headed to Dae-hoon’s to see the room with Min-sung’s things. Inside, Sun-woo recalls how after he’d left the hotel with Dong-myeong and Ja-young, he’d gotten dropped off. Dong-myeong had stopped him and apologized for pushing Sun-woo when he’d accosted him over Eun-ho. Sun-woo joked that he just tripped, and they smiled.

After parting, Sun-woo spotted Hee-seob and accused him of starting an investigation into Dong-myeong. Hee-seob thought it was suspicious Eun-ho fell the same day he passed money to Dong-myeong but Sun-woo revealed that Dae-hoon was the culprit. Hee-seob is relieved Min-sung wasn’t directly involved because his parents are investing in the foundation to build a college – just as Sun-woo’s father wanted.

In the present, Sun-woo walks home, thinking of Young-jin’s words that Eun-ho knew something about Min-sung no one else did. He runs back while Young-jin investigates Min-sung’s room in Dae-hoon’s house. Meanwhile, Min-sung’s mom flicks through pictures of him and Dae-hoon on his phone and smashes it mercilessly with a hammer.

Looking at the wall of model figures, Young-jin sees her bookshelves and sees Eun-ho asleep in front of them. She’d found him there and gently told him to go home and sleep instead of crouched on her floor. Eun-ho had laughed that he’s more comfortable in her home than his. Young-jin wonders if it was the same for Min-sung. Stepping out, the light turns on and a thought crosses her mind. She digs through drawers, finding a paper that gives her pause.

Sun-woo has returned to school and pores over Min-sung and Eun-ho’s records, searching for a connection. He pauses at Eun-ho’s midterm grades, recalling having pulled him aside to ask him why he didn’t fill out answers for English, Math, or Science despite being good at those subjects. Eun-ho had simply said he could see the answers so he couldn’t fill them out, promising not to do it again. Flipping over to Min-sung, Sun-woo sees that he ranked first on that exam.

Returning to the abandoned building where Dae-hoon was found hanging, Young-jin grabs her sunglasses and heads inside. She recalls that his phone flashlight hadn’t been on when they’d found him and puts on her sunglasses to simulate the darkness Dae-hoon would’ve been hanging himself in, finding it impossible to even reach the beams. Elsewhere, a man cradles a bag, dragging his foot as he walks. It’s one of the men from the video and he lets himself into his house where Du-seok and Hee-dong are already waiting.

Young-jin receives a phone call, answering that someone took a secluded path on purpose. She has a sudden vision of someone piggybacking a sedated Dae-hoon in and stringing him up, yanking the rope hard to hang him. “It’s not a suicide,” Young-jin realizes, “He was murdered.”

PART 2: “An Accomplice?”

Young-jin reports to the rest of the team that Dae-hoon didn’t kill himself. Having noticed an unusual number of light sensors in his home, Young-jin had found Dae-hoon to have nyctalopia. Superintendent Han questions why Jae-hong and Ja-young hadn’t noticed, and they explain they were there in the morning. Young-jin continues it would’ve been impossible for Dae-hoon to be driving with the headlights off – as caught on the CCTV footage – so there was another person.

Byung-hee argues it’s possible if the roads were well-lit but Young-jin’s already confirmed that the vehicle took dark back-alleys paths. Ja-young adds that they suspect one of the two men involved in the illegal dealing at the hotel bathroom. Superintendent Han questions why she’s still there and Officer Hong breezes in just then to request she return to their division. Young-jin responds by requesting he temporarily transfer Ja-young to their unit until the case is resolved. Flustered Superintendent Han says he needs to think but Officer Hong wants to know why Young-jin insists.

Standing, Ja-young says she wants to partake, apologizing for being brazen. Young-jin points out she needs Ja-young because she wants to do this, not just follow orders. Superintendent Han tries to interject he hasn’t decided but is easily overruled by the women. Hee. They’ve identified the seller as Lee Young-sik (the guy Du-seok and Hee-dong visited) and the buyer as Kevin Jung. Young-jin calls and he greasily agrees to cooperate and visit their office.

The seller isn’t answering his phone so Young-jin orders Jae-hong to visit his place and leaves. Jae-hong asks why Ja-young isn’t moving, explaining that if he were going with Young-jin, she would’ve said, “Let’s go.” Young-jin shows Chang-soo photos of the buyer, seller, and Dae-hoon but he insists while he’s seen Lee Young-sik and Kevin Jung at the hotel, he doesn’t know them. Young-jin releases him, informing him his charges for breaking and entering will be handled in court.

Eun-ho’s mom gets herself spiffed up and when Chang-soo arrives home, he finds her waiting. He starts to make excuses, but Mom wordlessly begins trashing the place. Finally, Chang-soo drags her away and tells her to leave. Mom dares him to call the cops and Chang-soo argues that he did made a mistake, but this is all Eun-ho’s fault. Disgusted, Mom says she’s only met crummy men since Eun-ho’s dad died, but Chang-soo is the worst.

Annoyed, Chang-soo says the reason Mom keeps picking jerks is because she can’t stand someone better than her. “How can someone who even feels inferior to her son,” Chang-soo scoffs, “meet a decent man?” Unable to argue, Mom dissolves into frustrated sobs. Searching for Eun-ho, Nosy Ajusshi flags down Dong-myeong by chance outside the school and asks him to pass a number to Eun-ho. He says the man Eun-ho saved wants to thank him properly. Dong-myeong starts to say Eun-ho is unconscious, but notices Hee-seob eavesdropping and quickly excuses himself.

Hee-seob honks and Nosy Ajusshi and asks what he’s doing at school. Nosy Ajusshi explains he’s doing a favor for Ki-ho and Hee-seob’s eyes light up. Over tea, Hee-seob learns that Ki-ho is in hiding and while Sang-ho is also searching for him, he’s unaware Nosy Ajusshi is still in touch. Nosy Ajusshi promises to pass a message for Ki-ho to call Hee-seob and when asked about his visit to the school, Nosy Ajusshi says Eun-ho saved Ki-ho’s life.

Kevin Jung is shown the video of him entering the hotel bathroom twice and laughs that he felt sick from too much room service. Young-jin steps out to answer a call from Jae-hong saying that Lee Young-sik’s phone is ringing, but no one is answering the door. She starts to tell him to call the fire department when Ja-young steps out of the apartment (having crawled in through the window) and takes the phone, reporting that his phone and wallet are inside, but Lee Young-sik is not.

Jin-su calls next to report after the money disappeared, Kevin Jung gave Lee Young-sik a serious beating – hence the messed-up leg – and they saw each other yesterday. When Young-jin tells him the others found only Lee Young-sik’s phone and wallet, Jin-su knows they’re looking for a body. Byung-hee grumbles they should stop digging before they find something worse.

Young-jin returns to find Kevin Jung schmoozing with the lawyers and asks where he was last night. The lawyers advise him not to answer, but Kevin cockily agrees to answer if Young-jin tells him why she’s investigating. She nods and Kevin says he was at Millennium Hotel all night. She releases him and calls Jae-hong to warn him Kevin will either call or visit Lee Young-sik’s apartment.

Jae-hong tells Ja-young the security cameras in the area are all fake and she frowns that something feels wrong. To Ja-young’s delight, Lee Young-sik’s phone rings. Jae-hong answers and Kevin barks that the cops are looking for him and if he causes more trouble, Young-sik will have more than his leg to worry about. He demands a response and then grows suspicious as to who he’s talking to. Ja-young replies the cops and he hangs up, refusing to answer when they call back.

After some more investigating, Sun-woo goes to Hee-seob with the allegation Min-sung cheated on the exam. He points out there was an error on the English exam that was later corrected but Min-sung’s answer was the uncorrected version. Hee-seob tries to argue but Sun-woo also confirmed security footage of the head of the school administration heading into the print room the day before the exam.

Hee-seob coolly asks what Sun-woo suggests he do in his position: report it or overlook it. Sun-woo asks if doing what’s right changes according to your position and Hee-seob says he’d make the same choice… for anyone but Min-sung. He asks Sun-woo not to make a decision they’ll regret.

Ja-young reports the phone call from Kevin to Young-jin and she orders them to remain outside Young-sik’s house. Superintendent Hwang informs her they arrested Young-sik in the past for voice phishing and had assaulted 3 middle school students for bullying an elementary student. They head down to Superintendent Hwang’s department (Division of Child and Youth Office) and Young-jin observes as he interviews a kid about Young-sik.

The kid has heard Young-sik is missing and says Young-sik had been borrowing money because he was being threatened and would be in big trouble if he didn’t pay it back. Superintendent Hwang chides the boy for not attending a job interview he’d arranged. The boy grumbles that no one would hire a high school dropout. Hwang sighs that he wouldn’t hire him either with that attitude.

Embarrassed, the boy admits he dreams of being a police officer. He says he never had a role model until he came to the police station and Hwang smiles that he can achieve that dream if he’s serious… but suggests he become a homicide detective since beating up criminals seems more his speed than guiding the public. From her vantage point, Young-jin smirks.

She remembers Eun-ho asking if he should become a cop to punish bad guys and protect the weak like Young-jin. Young-jin had confessed she hadn’t become a cop for such noble reasons. “I was afraid, but I couldn’t avoid it,” she’d told him glancing at her murder-room door, “To protect myself. I became a detective to save myself.” Eun-ho had smiled that she’d saved him too and she’d smiled back.

Returning to his desk, Sun-woo finds Eun-ho’s good conduct award has been delivered but hesitates to call Eun-ho’s mother. Instead, he calls Young-jin and when he hands it to her, she flashes back to sitting at that same table when Eun-ho told her he’d received it. She asks why Sun-woo brought it to her and he says he’d thought Eun-ho would’ve wanted to show her. Looking at the award, Young-jin suddenly asks about the person Eun-ho saved.

Unfortunately, Sun-woo doesn’t know. Young-jin explains Eun-ho didn’t have his bag when he visited her at the office and thinks maybe his fall has something to do with his missing bag. They check the ambulance CCTV, but Eun-ho’s bag is with him in the footage. Young-jin resolves to ask the hospital but Sun-woo recognizes Ki-ho from the church. Hee-seob visits Eun-ho after hearing he saved Ki-ho’s life.

Tae-hyung calls to report the visit to Sang-ho, who glares down at a bound Kevin Jung and Lee Young-sik. Sun-woo admits he can’t remember Ki-ho’s name but recalls that he was like a brother to Seo Sang-won. Meanwhile, Sang-ho visits Eun-ho and says there isn’t a world where no one gets hurt so he chose the side of not getting hurt. Sang-ho laments Eun-ho might not get a choice and leaning close, urges him to wake up: “Then I will… come back to you.” After he leaves, Eun-ho’s eyes fly open.

  
COMMENTS

Our boy is awake!!!! I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d kept Eun-ho asleep until the very end, so I am ecstatic that he’s opened his eyes before we’ve even reached the halfway point. It’s possible this is another fake-out because Nobody Knows is full of surprises, so I won’t hold my breath. And with that last visit from Sang-ho, I wonder if it’s such a good thing he’s waking up now or not. Sang-ho’s message was ominous, at best, and if Eun-ho is awake, I almost want him to fake comatose until we get a better read on what the beans Sang-ho is up to. This is the first episode where I’ve felt truly creeped out by Sang-ho. His evil smile when he told his younger self he need only ask forgiveness was chilling and then whispering in Eun-ho’s ear?! Skeevy City. Eun-ho’s light seems to attract all sorts and with this latest twist in Sang-ho’s character, I’m back to suspecting he could be Soo-jung’s killer that called Young-jin all those years ago. That crazed look in his eye finally shifted from enthusiastic to manic and if The New Life Church is tied to a cult in some way, I really feel Eun-ho might be the ultimate sacrifice – his soul is just too pure. The stigmata serial killings have fallen by the wayside in recent episodes but now that Eun-ho is awake, I wonder if the story will shift back.

Everyone around Eun-ho seems to gain something positive from his influence… except Mom. She recognizes Eun-ho is special, but her own darkness rejects his light. She’s a hard character to swallow and this episode – while not excusing her behavior – at least allowed me to understand her a bit more. After Eun-ho’s dad died, Mom was suddenly all alone with a young child. It doesn’t seem like they have any other family to rely on, so I imagine it was terrifying to suddenly find herself a single parent. It makes sense she would seek comfort in boyfriends, but as Chang-soo savagely pointed out, she chose crappy men to reflect the crappy situation she perceived herself to be in. Mom spent her days pitying herself and resenting Eun-ho for her hardship rather than embracing and raising him. And now she’s been faced with the bitter pill that it might be too late. She’d already admitted in an earlier episode that she felt like a bad mother and that’s due to her own insecurity and shame. To make matters worse, she sees the mother that she should have been to Eun-ho in Young-jin, who shares a closer bond with Eun-ho than anyone.

It breaks my heart how wracked with guilt Young-jin is over Eun-ho. Sun-woo recognizes that and it was lovely how quick they were to rely on each other. I will keep gushing about this pair until they stop being amazing, and I hope that day never comes. Young-jin continuing to keep Sun-woo in the loop when she doesn’t have to and Sun-woo taking a page from Young-jin’s book and investigating things himself were such powerful moments this hour. He’d thought that learning from past mistakes meant not getting involved, but Sun-woo has realized that his fault wasn’t in getting involved, but in not looking for the truth. It sucks he had to learn it the hard way, but the past is not repeating itself as he and Young-jin likely feared. This time around they have the chance to save Eun-ho, have more tools and knowledge at their disposal, and best of all, are working together.

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