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 The second episode of Flower of Evil opens with an image of a
Korean traditional neighbourhood shop. Though Cha Ji Won was listening to a
song, ‘Oh My’ by Jang Yoon Jeong, she absorbed in her
studies.
In front of the shop, which was located at a road junction, was
a ‘No Right Turn’ sign. A warning. A wrong turn. Is someone taking
a wrong turn? Cha Ji Won’s studious demeanour was reflected on a round table mirror. While mulling over her notes, probably, for an examination for police candidates, a strikingly handsome young man in blonde mullet hair approached her to pay for his Barleer beer. Although he radiated an attractive masculinity, his face was impassive.
Since he looked so young, she requested for his ID. Teenagers
were probably not allowed to drink beer. He complied. The young man towered
over her.
Baek Hee Sung was born in 1982. The eyes of the two young
people kind of locked in on each other. He came, he saw, he conquered.
He had newly moved into the neighbourhood. Despite his unapproachable and remote appearance, he
disclosed, ‘It seems like a nice
place to start over and it’s quiet.’ She glimpsed a shadow in his eyes.
Perhaps, she may not know how a Greek god looked like but the gorgeous
man with his bleached blond hair falling over his beautiful eyes, looked like
the Asian version of one. A cold aura
hung over him. It must have been love at first sight for Cha Ji Won. It was just a sweet dream. Cha Ji Won was in bed.
Most of the rooms in the Baek family house, including the bedroom, had white or red brick walls. Brick walls seem to prevalent in the drama. The Baeks seemed to have artistic tastes. Well, Baek Hee Sung was a metal craftsman. One observes that there is an abundance of objects with lines, squares, rectangles which denote rationality, peace or stability. There were hidden compartments and hidden rooms in the house. But, the presence of grid pattern partitions and wire mesh gives the impression that certain people and their brains might be imprisoned. The head of the bed had a structure made of wooden rods. Lines. The quaint dressing table had 5 square drawers. The pillowcases had grid-like shapes and the comforter was lined.
The bathroom walls were adorned with elongated hexagon tiles. Baek's reflection in the round mirror showed absorption in what he was doing.
Baek Hee Sung didn’t appear to be normal. It was not easy to keep
up his pretence of being ‘normal’ but online tutoring helped in transforming
his personality. It may seem ridiculous that he had hidden in the bathroom to
practise his ‘happy smiles’. The distinctive marks of a genuine smile,
according to the online tutor, are the formation of wrinkles around the eyes
and the raised cheeks. After constant practice, he had become an expert and
his façade of warmth and happiness had even fooled his wife.
It is quite a delightfully humorous and unique scene. Baek had made himself busy in the kitchen, the grills of which, had a square pattern. His important daily routine as a househusband was preparing breakfast. Familiar with the tasks of slicing, cutting, deep frying, frying, boiling and so on, he was able to produce a mouth-watering meal in no time.
Out of old habit, his wife crept stealthily out of the bedroom and
mischievously tried to spring a surprise on him. But he wasn’t startled.
What he had learnt from the Internet came to his rescue. Upon
gazing at her dazzling smiles, he quickly put the Internet instructions into
practice. He responded with pleasure at her playfulness. She launched into a
narration of her romantic dream of their first encounter which had put her
in a really sweet mood. The househusband, a master chef, had whipped up a soup that smelt and tasted delicious. It was unsurprising as it was a combination of expensive ingredients like abalone, crabs, sea cucumber, prawns, pollack and vegetables. It is definitely an Asian dish. Baek Hee Sung must be unduly happy.
He spooned some of the soup for her and a cry of pleasure
escaped her lips. The viewers could probably ‘smell’ the scrumptious dish. It wouldn’t have been surprising if they had salivated and their stomachs had rumbled.
Eun Ha, their young daughter abhorred the idea of her mother drying
her hair. Ji Won was not as attentive and conscientious as her husband with
the handling of the hair dryer.
Baek learned from Eun Ha that his wife had gone downstairs to the ground floor to clean up his workshop. Panicking, he rushed after her. All she had discovered was a shard from the porcelain kettle which had shattered during his scuffle with Kim Moo Jin the previous day.
 The Grandfather’s clock in the basement struck 8 o’clock. It startled Kim Moo
Jin from his sleep.
It seemed strange that the Baeks had collected things that
were considered to be out of fashion. Perhaps, the objects had artistic
appeal or sentimental value. The turntable. The Grandfather’s clock. The
quaint dressing table. What else? The chimes from the clock reminded the viewers of the refrain of Henry Clay’s My Grandfather’s Clock song.
Ninety years without slumbering (tick, tick, tick, tick) His life second numbering (tick, tick, tick, tick) But it stopped short, never to go again When the old man died.
The clock, a measurement of time, impresses upon the viewers
the importance of staying in schedule and living in the moment. The swinging
pendulum, a symbol of the passage of time, is a reminder of the terrifying
reality of one’s own mortality. In the drama, it is almost a countdown clock, not just for the telling the time but reminding the people that their days are waning or numbered. For Moo Jin, whose blur image seemed to be reflected in the glass face of the clock, he may have regarded it as a Death Clock, a stopwatch counting down his time. The basement was his prison and perhaps where he would end his days there. Three lights illuminated the basement which doubled as a storeroom. Relieved to find that his wife had not discovered anything out of the ordinary, he told her of a visitor. He tried to assuage her curiosity about his old friend being a ‘customer’ and he quickly led her out of the room. It was not a subject that he was willing to discuss. His talkative wife claims, ‘I know you better than you know yourself.’ His friend, she speculated, was someone with whom he would have a long chat as he had offered him warm tea. In response, he smiled warmly at her. If one was observant, one could have seen the panoply of gadgets used for metalcraft work. A large array of hammers was hanging on wire grids. The red brick walls which were all over his house, especially in his workshop, is a constant reminder to the viewers, of Baek’s challenges. The camera pans in on the locked trapdoor. Beneath it, Kim Moo Jin was tied with some white tight self-locking nylon ties with tamper proof seals. Blood seeped out of his injured wrists as he tried helplessly to free himself.
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Park Seo Young, a social worker of the Gangsu Welfare Centre, was climbing
what seemed to be a unique sloping road in the form of a very long
never-ending staircase. Is the staircase built into a hill? The staircase with several flights of stairs seemed to climb heavenwards. The young lady passed by a red brick wall. By now, the viewers would know that brick walls symbolise the difficult situations that people had to surmount. When Park Seo Young reached the object of her visit, she found a trail of blood on the floor leading to the dead body of Jung Mun Ok, an old lady who was clothed in a deep pink blouse. Blood was splattered near her prostrate body. Red apples peeled and unpeeled were on the floor and a tray. Red was the predominant colour of the scene. It would be learned later that there would be red lipstick as well. The camera leads us to look at the dead Jung Mun Ok through the glass panel of the wooden partition. A rope was loosely wound round her neck.
Cha Ji Won, whose image was reflected in the congealing blood,
was surprised at the victim’s missing thumbnails.
Ho Joon was quick to link the victim to the seven victims of the
2002 Yeonju City serial murders which have already been closed. He repeated
the story about the suicide of the perpetrator which happened eighteen years
before. The murders happened during the 2002 World Cup. It implied that the
residents forgot about the dead serial killer because the pure excitement of
the World Cup blanketed the tragic events. The triumph of South Korea in the world event is not discussed in the drama but history tells us that South Korea and Japan co-hosted the world event. Perhaps, the exhilaration of the former being placed 4th in the world event made the people in Yeonju forget their sadness. Ahn Jong Goo, the son of the deceased old lady was in hysterics and tried to barge into the cordoned area but he was forbidden to do so just in case he messed up the important evidence.
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The viewers are brought back to the Baek’s house. To his
customers, it would be odd that Baek Hee Sung had closed his workshop. He picked up the key to the basement which he placed in a bowl and opened the trapdoor which led to the basement. The camera shows us the red brick walls of the house again. Baek squatted at the stop of the stairs and then descended the stairs.
The green duct tape, which had been firmly plastered over Kim
Moo Jin’s mouth, was firmly in place. The gaze Hyun Soo passively gave Moo Jin was a level, steady gaze. He did not have an ounce of sympathy for the helpless guy. Moo Jin had not been able to shake off the thought of himself being murdered from his mind. He warned his captor that it was a crime to lock him in the basement. Hyun Soo seemed to have understood the psychology of captives. He had already slipped into the head, mind, and psyche of the journalist. He could feel the way Moo Jin felt as Hyun Soo had been held captive in Moo Jin’s hands before. But, as a tormentor, he knew how to control Moo Jin’s mind. Hyun Soo was going to play a psychological game with him but Moo Jin was new to the game. It is amusing to see how the game pans out.
It seemed at first that Hyun Soo was driven by the desire for
revenge. Nobody would want to be in Kim Moo Jin’s shoes when Hyun Soo walked
him down memory lane. 18 years before, Hyun Soo had been held captive by
Moo Jin and his sidekicks. It was not a level playing field. Now, they have exchanged roles. Hyun Soo was the tormentor and Moo Jin was the tormented in the basement of his home.
Hyun Soo, whose hands had been tied behind the tree had been
bullied by Moo Jin and his gang in the summer of 2002. Hyun Soo must have
twisted Moo Jin’s index finger and as revenge Moo Jin and two other High
School boys tied him up and together, they pelted him with stones.
The biblical stoning parable comes unbidden to the mind. ‘Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.’
Only those who are without any faults have the right to pass judgement
on others. Hyun Soo was fearless and unintimidated by the immature boys who had been easily influenced by the village chief. Speaking with a voice which was taut with anger, Hyun Soo promised to smash Moo Jin’s skull the next time. Moo Jin had wilfully taunted him about him being an accomplice to his father’s murders and helping his father to commit murder. Prejudiced against him, the people had concocted a story of his guilt. It had tarnished his image and diminished his reputation.
It seemed that the village chief had told Moo Jin that Hyun Soo
was weird; he resembled his dad in his ways. Perhaps, the village chief had something to hide too. Moo Jin had mocked cruelly, ‘If it hurts too much, don’t hesitate to tell me. It’ll definitely be more entertaining for me.’ Hyun Soo was stung by the accusations levelled at him by the those who were more powerful and he was powerless to fight back. Did this backstory explain his psychopathic characteristics? Hyun Soo warned him that his turn would come and it did 18 years later. Was Hyun Soo bent on vengeance?
He would certainly strip Moo Jin of his veneer of arrogance
that masked his real ignorance.
Hyun Soo took a hammer hanging from the wire grid and dragged
the hammer menacingly over Moo Jin’s face. He repeated those cruel words
which were embedded in his memory.
‘If it hurts too much, don’t
hesitate to tell me. It’ll definitely be more entertaining for me.’
Hyun Soo enjoyed playing the psychological game with him as he
toyed with the hammer. The tension rose. Moo Jin had no inkling about Hyun Soo’s intentions but begged him to rethink his intended torture by rationalising with him. ‘We were young then,’ implying that people did foolish things in their youth and were not accountable for the pain inflicted on their victims. It was unspeakable horror to tie someone up and stone him for his perceived sins. Young people never thought of the ill effects of their irresponsible actions.
Hyun Soo smiled complacently because Moo Jin was snivelling and begging him. He was fearful of what lay
ahead. Hyun Soo pooh-poohed the idea of killing him. He was just kidding. The metal caftsman painted a mental picture of a clever murder if he wanted to make mincemeat of him. ‘I would’ve covered the floor with a plastic sheet.’
Moo Jin offered him money, lots of it and Hyun Soo smiled enigmatically.
Moo Jin confessed, ‘I’m really scared and frightened. I can’t
feel my arms and legs.’
Hyun Soo brushed his chin with his hammer. It was as if he was mulling
over the pathetic sight before him. His school nemesis was whimpering like a
little kitten. Smiling mockingly, Hyun Soo ruminated dispassionately over Moo Jin’s plea for mercy. The metal craftsman gave the impression that he was actually a chip of the old block; he was the patterning his behaviour after his father, a psychopath. He advised the journalist not to manipulate him by weeping or
looking pitiful. ‘So, don’t cry. I won’t feel a thing.’
He was impressing upon him that a psychopath has no empathy nor
compassion. He was unsympathetic towards his plight. Instead, Moo Jin's laments would be
egging him on to act on his murderous instincts. ‘You’re making me want to cover the floor with a plastic sheet.’ He warned him further, ‘From now on don’t make me repeat myself. He demanded for the password of his cellphone.
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Cha Ji Won was in the autopsy laboratory. A post-mortem was
being carried out on the corpse. The pathologist, was sure that Jung Mun Ok, the victim, had lain on
the floor for 8-9 hours as her back was violet. There were no ligature marks
so there was no reason for the rope to be there. The old lady had been viciously cut
and stabbed 8 times. Death was caused by excessive bleeding. The murderer broke the deceased’s ankle and had removed her thumbnails only after her death. The forcible extraction of her nails was similar to the denailed thumbs of the victims of the Yeonju City serial murder case. Do Min Seok’s signature was he collected the victim’s thumbnails. The pathologist also noted lipstick on the victim’s thumb.
Yong Sangpil, the Captain of the Homicide
Investigation Section of the Gangsu Police Station was dismissive of it as a copycat
crime. When Ho Joon argued that it resembled the Yeonju City serial murder case, Choi Jaesup sneered at his theory. The older detective insisted that it was a camouflage and believed that Jung Mun Ok was murdered by an acquaintance. Judging by the contents of her stomach, she had eaten an apple before she was murdered.
Choi Jaesup was the animated and
touch-feely type of character who liked to gesticulate whenever he discussed
his murder theories. He even poked Lee Woo Chul in the belly but his
immediate superior coolly pushed his hand away. Although Lee was unperturbed
by his behaviour, he did not show it. But, he did intercept his subordinate’s
hand in mid-air when Jaesup tried
to touch him yet again.
Interesting pieces of
information collected by the detectives demonstrated that Jung Mun Ok was a wealthy woman.
She collected money every day as she ran a gimbab restaurant and she lent some merchants 20,000 dollars.
According to Choi Jaesup, Park Seo Young, the
social worker divulged that Jung Mun Ok had even donated
about 370,000 dollars to the Gangsu Welfare Centre. As she was a major donor,
the welfare centre prioritised her welfare; they took care of her personal well-being.
The rich lady had over a million dollars. Usually with rich people, greed for money would the prime motive for murder.
Park Seo Young’s image was reflected on the gleaming surface of the green table when she was interviewed by Jaesup. Ho Joon stubbornly held onto his
theory that the crime was like the Yeonju City serial murder
case.
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Hyun Soo wanted more information about Moo Jin and see the world
through his eyes. Under Hyun Soo’s explicit instructions, Moo Jin phoned Kang Pil Young, the 51-year old Manager of the Hanjugan Weekly. Ms Kang was surprised by his call. He told her he couldn’t go to work that day but would be in the office the next day. But, the fast-talking and no-nonsense lady lost no time in expressing her disgust for unproductive journalists who were stuck to their office desks. ‘Just remember the deadline,’ she brusquely reminded him.
Moo Jin wanted to say he was
trapped, ‘I’m tied up ….’ which was literal but the robust lady was too busy to
listen to his frivolous talk. The viewers should be able to see an artistic barrier made of vertical and horizontal bars, which reminds them of Piet Mondrain’s artwork. Kang Pil Young was as straight and inflexible as the vertical and horizontal bars of the decorative wooden structure in her office.
Hyun Soo soon figured out that the other man worked at the weekly newspaper office and his deadline was Friday. He had
3 whole days before anyone reported that Kim Moo Jin was missing.
 The interaction, though very tense, between Hyun Soo and Moo Jin deteriorated into what seemed like a hilarious exchange.
It has stolen the viewer’s breath away. ‘We’re in the basement of Baek Hee Sung’s workshop, right?’ Moo Jin asked.
Hyun Soo encouraged him to go on. ‘You
must be his employee. Yesterday, I agreed to meet Mr Baek here. His wife
introduced me to his workshop.’
Hyun Soo who had been standing all along was probably quite bemused.
But his face was immobile. ‘His wife is a detective in the Violent Crimes Unit,’ he ended in a childlike tone.
Hyun Soo was probably thinking, ‘That ignorant fool is trying to
intimidate me.’ His eyes narrowed and he stared unblinkingly at the other
man.
‘Do you still not get it?’ Moo Jin was puzzled
about Hyun Soo’s lack of anxiety. He
warned, ‘You’ll be caught in no time!’ The
contempt and disdain Hyun Soo felt for the other man were evident in his
eyes.
Looking down, Hyun Soo tried
to hide his faint smile. He dramatically lifted up a metal stool and placed
it in front of Moo Jin. He sat down with his knees touching the other man’s
legs. It was intimidating body language.
‘Moo Jin’, he enunciated the name patiently like explaining a simple
concept to a little child. Mocking the other man, he repeated Moo Jin’s rhetorical question. ‘Do you not get it?
Don’t you know why you’re locked down here? How do you think I
got away being a wanted man for 18 years? He stared at Moo Jin, with laughter in his eyes.
When Moo Jin realised that Hyun
Soo had assumed Baek Hee Sung’s identity,
he was aghast. The amused look never left Hyun Soo’s eyes. The dispassionate Hyun Soo was enjoying his psychological torture. It was Hyun Soo’s turn to threaten the reporter. ‘Do you want to know the truth?’ Hyun Soo asked mockingly. ‘Once you know though, you’ll have to pay for it.’ He was implying that he was going to murder him. Moo Jin was sure he had to pay with his life so he was adamant he didn’t want to know. Curiosity always killed the cat. ‘Moo Jin, I know who killed the village chief.’
The exhausted mouse was now defeated. He didn’t want to play the
cat and mouse game anymore. This cat was not a domesticated cat. He was a big cat, a deadly tiger. When he leaps, rears and strikes, the little mouse won’t have a
chance to hide. For the first time, Hyun Soo actually smiled. ‘I bet you’re curious,’ he teased. ‘No, Hyun Soo, don’t do this!’
Resentment and bitterness must have weighed heavily on Hyun Soo's mind. The other man had been responsible for some of his misery. Looking at him with contempt, Hyun Soo teased, ‘The killer is……’ 'No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to hear who it is.’
Hyun Soo’s expression changed abruptly. He understood the terror that had seized his childhood acquaintance. Something bright and luminous must have flashed in his eyes as he pressed his lips in satisfaction. In an act that could be interpreted as deliberate malice, Hyun Soo brutishly slapped Moo Jin’s mouth with a strip of duct tape. There were faint lines of fatigue around the eyes of the former.
He eyeballed Moo Jin but the terrorised man would not look him
in the eye. Then, he declared, ‘That’s right. It was me.’ A smile lingered a while on his lips. The shadow of the wire mesh falls on Hyun Soo’s face. There is a flashback of the young Do Hyun Soo with Do Hae Soo, his sister. ‘You can’t do this. Hand that over to me,’ she cried. Standing over the dead body of the village head, Hyun Soo eerily declared, ‘Hae Soo, I actually feel quite all right.’
It didn't matter whether his confession was the truth or a lie, it certainly scared the daylights out of Kim
Moo Jin. Anger must have frothed in Hyun Soo's belly as he applied pressure on the duct tape affixed to Moo Jin’s mouth. His hostility was barely veiled. It was nothing short of a miracle that Hyun Soo did not kill him there and then. The house owner walked away from the reporter exhausted but determined. It was as if the conversation had injected some life into him.
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Cha Ji Won and Ho Joon were poring over photos of the crime scene and Kim Moo Jin’s article on the Yeonju City serial murder case in the police station. Ji Won queried him as to whether he believed the murderer of Jung Mun Ok had read the article. What were the signatures of Do Min Seok? A noose around the neck. A permanent injury to the ankle. The removal of thumb nails from the victims.
A dog leash from the brand, Hound Dog, was used in the Yeonju case. The killer only used a certain design but the police had never revealed any details regarding that. A hound dog is a hunting dog. Perhaps, the killer saw himself as a hunter. But as they discussed, they realised that the murder of the old lady deviated from the Yeonju City serial murder case. If the killer was a copycat, he or she would know Do Min Seok’s signature. Permanent ankle injury - the raptured Achilles tendon. A dog leash on the victim’s necks. Their conclusion was: either the murderer did not know Do Min Seok at all, or the killer wanted to throw the police off.
Cha Ji Won received a message from the kindergarten principal
to meet up in school.
Do Hyun Soo had just emerged from the basement. He went
straightway to his closet.
The closet was full of his shirts. He pushed them all aside and
on pulling the back panels apart, a hidden compartment was revealed.
Having pulled out Kim Moo Jin’s work bag which he had hidden
there, he took out Moo Jin’s handphone and switched if off. Walking to his workshop table, he noticed 2 missed calls on his own handphone. Upon reading the message, all sorts of thoughts must have raced throught his mind.
One might notice that Baek's closet area is situated next to the workshop area. It should be noted that certain parts of the house seemed uncompleted. One of these is the doorway between the closet and Hyun Soo’s workshop. The entrance is flanked by bare concrete walls with jagged edges. The walls are held together by some rectangular wrought iron structures. The question is: Are the walls supposed to be a work of art or do they signify that God has not completely moulded the Baek family, particularly Do Hyun Soo?
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Park Seo Young, the social worker was
waylaid by Ahn Jong Goo, the son of Jung
Mun Ok, who had been murdered. He wanted to know where his mother's ledger was as
he was desperately in need of cash. The young woman's denial of knowledge of its whereabouts angered him. It was indecent of him to ask about money since his mother had just died. Choi Jaesup caught him red-handed trying to strangle the truth out of Park Seo Young. The young lady divulged that Jung Mun Ok, the old lady, was deeply concerned about her son who seemed to be frittering away his time and money with his gambling habits. Jaesup realised that the murder was fraught with problems and wanted a list of people who had a grudge against late woman.
Choi Jaesup divulged that due to the ineptitude of the murderer, the victim's body was stabbed far too many times. The social worker revealed that the old lady had called the night before
to inquire about getting her simple will notarised. She promised to help the old
lady the next day. A minor crisis had arisen in the kindergarten. Eun Ha had been punched in the nose by a young child at the kindergarten over a doll. Blood oozed from her nostrils. Both pair of parents were called in to resolve the matter. Ji Won thought that the young bully, Soo Young, should apologise to Eun Ha. ‘It’s natural for kids to fight and
get hurt in the process.’ But the mother of the other girl, although willing to pay for hospital expenses for the injuries, forbade her child from apologising. She argued that it was wrong of Eun Ha to take the doll that didn’t belong to her. Eun Ha tearfully confessed that she wanted to hold the doll because it was really pretty. Ji Won thinks reconciliation was important but the words of the other mother inflamed the tension. Ji Won was told off for her failure to teach her kid not to steal.
‘He who steals an egg will steal
an ox.’ Both mother and daughter seemed to be in sync. The proverb started by
the mother was completed by her daughter.
The two mothers were on opposte sides of what was shaping up to be a quarrel that would affect their children. Upon hearing the chastisement, Hyun
Soo quickly instructed his daughter to apologise. Even though he knew that
she wasn’t in the wrong, he took the blame because he was the primary
caregiver. Ji Won, although furious, kept her temper in check. Eun Ha was compelled to apologise to Soo Yoong and her mother as well as the principal.
Ji Won berated her husband for
not standing up to the woman and he sensed that she was absolutely furious with him. She felt that
he had made an utter fool of them. Hyun Soo explained that dealing with the issue first was his priority. He
had to defuse the situation lest it escalated into a verbal fight. He was Eun Ha's favourite person and his wife felt their child might be hurt.
Hyun Soo understood his
predicament and placated his wife with his apology. It was his first time
being a dad but he promised that he would
consult her first from then on before taking action.
Meanwhile, the pathologist gave her report on the results of the autopsy.
The stuff on Jung Mun Ok’s thumb was lipstick but it did not belong to the
deceased.
 The way Hyun Soo behaved in public and in private was eye-opening.
Hyun Soo took his daughter to have some egg tarts but his daughter was peeved at the way he dealt with her nose bleed issue.
He cajoled, ‘I’m going to
raise you to become a nice kid. You have a good reputation now. It means no
one will doubt you when something bad happens. But, if you have a bad
reputation, people will doubt you first. After what happened today, Soo Yoong
and her mother will have a very bad reputation.’ What he said was true of the situation and of his life. One has to build up an enviable and fine reputation. He had learnt the lesson that once one’s reputation is ruined, it’s difficult to live down a bad reputation. Once, a person’s reputation is spoilt, people are not likely to trust that person again. Most people cannot differentiate between truth and lies, good and bad, or what’s on the surface and what’s beneath the surface, so to be on the safe side, one should build a fine reputation. Hyun Soo happily disclosed that he saw Soo Yoong crying because she had lost her doll.
He was uncharitable and
vengeful; he had actually stolen the little girl's doll and thrown it away in the
restroom. Hyun Soo exhibited a vengeful
heart. What he couldn’t solve face-to-face, he did it through the backdoor. An
eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. He must have been smug and self-satisfied but the
face reflected in the oval bathroom mirror was calm and emotionless. One is chilled
to the bone.
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Choi Jaesup showed the last will and testament of Jung Mun Ok, to his son, Ahn Jong Goo. The will stated, ‘In return for agreeing to hold a memorial service for me after I die, I shall donate all the money I have to Gangsu Welfare Centre.’ Ahn Jong Goo was shocked by the contents of the will. Jaesup told him that his late mother had kept it inside her closet with her ledger. Someone testified that he had an argument with his mother the previous night. When he knew that they had no proof that he had killed his mother, he strode out.
The egoistic Jaesup insisted that his analysis of the
murder was correct. He and Ji Won bickered over the case; the more they argued, their higher the volume of their
voices.
Judging by the date she signed the wll, Jaesup argued that it was obvious that the son was the murderer. The argument heated up very quickly when Ji Won pointed out that they had to investigate the women who knew the victim and find out whose lipstick it was on her thumb. Their squabble startled everyone in the office. When Jaesup shoved the will at her, she noticed the thumb print was made using lipstick. The will with the lipstick was sent to be analysed since they realised that the lipstick was one of the critical evidences in the old lady’s murder. Ji Won explained that they probably couldn’t find a stamp pad and used the killer’s lipstick on the thumb instead.
Park Seo Yong was believed to be the culprit. Lee, the team
leader, though not sceptical, asked the team for the motive the murder.
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Having sent Eun Ha to his mother-in-law’s house, Hyun Soo was
free to study the contents of Kim Moo Jin’s work bag. The 61-year old Young
Ok was more than willing to take care of her grandchild.
Hyun Soo rifled through every item of Kim Moo Jin’s belongings. In his notebook was a note on a meeting with Nam Soon Pil which was scheduled for that day at Cheonggyecheon Stream at 5 pm.
Hyun Soo demanded that Kim Moo Jin explain his connection with
Nam Soon Pil. The wire mesh had cast a shadow on Hyun Soo, seemingly separating him from Kim Moo Jin, making the latter seem like a prisoner.
Noticing the water bottle that Hyun Soo carried, Kim Moo Jin begged for a drink but
Hyun Soo wanted their problems to be solved through negotiations. He wanted
some explanations.
The viewers would be alarmed by now. They would have noticed
the plastic sheet that had been placed under the seat of Kim Moo Jin. Hyun Soo
had promised that if he intended to kill him, he would place the sheet there.
Moo Jin was meeting Nam
Soon Pil because the latter had a tip for him.
The thirst lingered. It would be a comforting thought to be given water for his parched lips. Kim Moo Jin bargained with Hyun Joon and his wish was granted.
Moo Jin admitted to writing an incriminating article about him and
his father. The metal craftsman could have taken offense but he merely stared
at exhausted man in his presence. There was a vague suspicion that he lost
confidence in his childhood friend-cum-enemy and in humanity in general. He may have a simmering feud with him but it had probably died long ago. He was disappointed that Kim Moo Jin had no compassion flickering in the depths of his heart. The two strangers, who were both the nemeses of Hyun Soo, would be meeting that day. Wouldn’t it be suspicious if Kim Moo Jin didn’t turn up for the meeting?
Hyun Soo looked at his watch. Having already decided to replace
Moo Jin, he wondered how he would impersonate the reporter.
Park Seo Yong was in the restroom when Ji Won entered. The lady detective introduced herself and informed her that they had discovered female DNA which was believed to be that of the killer from Jung Mun Ok’s will.
It is amazing that both Cha Ji Won and Park Seo Yong, together
with the greenery, were reflected in the mirror.
Cha requested for her cooperation to give a sample of her DNA
but the latter refused. Given the situation, it was difficult for Park Seo
Yong to wriggle out of it.
In one interesting shot, Cha Ji Won is wedged between the real
Park Seo Yong and her reflected image. What is real and what is fake? The presence of the metal grid foreshadows the young suspect's grim future. She seemed to be imprisoned behind the metal grid.
She asked if they had proof that she killed that old lady but
Ji Won assured her that they were studying the footage of all related CCTVs.
Meanwhile the other detectives had been examining the footage from the
CCTV of her apartment building.
They detected an unusual feature about Park's appearance. When she returned home on the day of the murder, Park had worn her clothes inside out. The detectives speculated that one side of her attire had already been tainted with blood. To conceal it, she had worn the reverse side. In her hand, she probably held the victim’s nails wrapped in red wrapping paper with printed red roses. Red spells danger.
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Hyun Soo went to Cheonggyecheon Stream supposedly to meet Nam Soon Pil at 5 pm but before he
contacted the man, he observed him for some time from the communicating passageway which
connected some buildings that flanked the stream.
Nam Soon Pil was seated on the stone slabs which lined the walkway which
had been tiled with rectangles of different sizes.
Hyun Soo had no reason to be apprehensive. By all appearance, he had
changed. His voice had changed. He phoned
the man using Kim Moo Jin’s handphone and impersonated the reporter. He told the man that he wanted to conduct the interview by phone instead of a face-to-face interview as a new
case had demanded his urgent attention.
Hyun Soo seemed
skeptical of the information that was going to be imparted by Nam Soon Pil. A smirk crossed his
lips. Imagine a person listening to his enemy smearing his name and bringing out his past. And would that enemy be spouting a few interesting lies for good measure. Nam Soon Pil could not imagine that he would be uttering disparaging remarks to none other than the man being condemned. Hyun Soo steeled his emotions for the phone conversation. The cook and restaurant owner revealed he had lived with Hyun Soo from the autumn of 2002 to the summer of 2005 as they were both working as deliverymen.
Nam Soon Pil never imagined that Hyun Soo ‘had murdered someone’. He had no
idea that his father was a serial killer either. Hyun Soo must have curbed his rising anger when he was accused of
murder. He must also have felt some aching sorrow. If Nam Soon Pil was to be believed, the truth would be that he was his
father’s son. ‘No wonder’.
Was Hyun Soo uneasy and
perhaps annoyed by Nam Soon Pil’s
flippant comment? Like father like son. He asked what he meant by that ‘No Wonder.’ It must have been
startling for Hyun Soo to listen to
himself being described as ‘weird and
wasn’t normal’. ‘I watched a movie
with him once and he asked at which scenes he should laugh. And be sad.’
Was that a revelation to Do
Hyun Soo himself? Did he think of himself in that way? Did his stomach
churn with resentment or was he impassive? Perhaps, he realised he was weird.
He did not show himself to be visibly upset nor shook up. His reaction was to
turn away from watching Nam Soon Pil. Do Hyun Soo wanted to know whether he had additional details since he had known Do Hyun Soo for three years. Nam Soon Pil disclosed that he was fearful because Do Hyun Soo has been threatening him. ‘It’s driving me crazy. Please protect me.’
His fears, real or imagined about Hyun Soo were the ghosts
which returned to grip his mind.
It shocked Do Hyun Soo. He
may be impersonating Kim Moo Jin
but the crux of the matter was he never expected that someone else was
impersonating him. He may have a vague suspicion that the impersonator might
commit murder using his name. His troubles were never ending. Was he resigned
to it? A sad look flickered in his eyes. Do Hyun Soo was at the Cheonggyecheon Stream. The river, is a metaphor. It is the symbol of the great flow of Life itself. Small mountain streams, which are the sources of the river, depict the beginnings of life. When the river meets with the ocean, it symbolises the end of life. Hyun Soo stared at the picturesque scene from where he was standing. Two brick walls flanked the Cheonggyecheon Stream. Do Hyun Soo has another challenge in his life that he had to surmount. As Do Hyun Soo stood there, one wonders whether he was facing upstream or downstream. One assumes that he was looking upstream, to the source of the stream. He was looking back at the beginnings of his life, the source of his history in the past.
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The viewer is brought back to the police station where another
detective proposes to search Park Seo Yong’s apartment before she got rid of
the evidence. But, Jaesup remembered the suspect’s sentimental words about
seeing a shooting star the previous night as if the old lady was saying
goodbye to her. When Jaesup looked at the rectangular shaped apartments opposite the police station, a light bulb went off in his brain.
Something struck him that she must have looked at the night
skies at the rooftop of her apartment and had hidden the evidence there. His
intuition led him to the rooftop which had been painted green. There was a
hatch in the floor.
The comparative visual storytelling makes the drama very exciting and interesting by depicting the parallel stories of Park Seo Yong's disposal of the evidence in the night and Choi Jaesup's discovery of the evidence in the day.
Day and Night are compared. Day (Choi Jaesup) is good but night (Park Seo Yong) is evil. They walk during different times of the day in the direction of the metal hatch.
They lift the hatch. Park Seo Yong threw the evidence away but Choi Jaesup picked it up. Park Seo Yong seemed to be drowning in the
darkness. The evidence is replaced by her face.
One notices the roof of the building had been installed with a
few turbine vents. The turbine is a
cheap, passive ventilation device which spins with the slightest breeze but
if there’s no breeze, it won’t function properly. It is an inefficient device
which is not popular in the present day.
The old lady can be equated with the turbine vent. Her life is
cheap and can be disposed of easily.
The drama takes us back to the restroom where Detective Cha is
waiting for Park Seo Yong.
The two women are reflected in the mirror. The yellowish-green
trees are clearly reflected in the mirror. Whilst green have positive
connotations, yellow-green stands for sickness and cowardice. Olive green and
several green shades and tints are used in camouflage gear. Park Seo Yong had
camouflaged herself as a good person.
Cha Ji Won is shocked that Park
Seo Yong does not appear to be bothered about her guilt and had refused
to admit it. Ji won got a sense of what she was really like. Choi Jaesup phoned Cha Ji Won about the incriminating evidence that he had picked up. It was wrapped in red paper. Red is a symbol of danger and bloodshed.
Cha Ji Won informed Park
Seo Yong that she was a suspect and she was under arrest. Park Seo Yong requested for time to put on her makeup. Was she kidding? She blatantly admitted she hadn't worn makeup on that day in order to appear sad for the old lady. Suddenly, she turned 180° and was ready to make an instant change, to keep up the charming impression.
Shakespeare's misquoted line makes its presence felt, ‘Vanity, thy name is woman.’
Park confessed that she killed
Jung Mun Ok because she had to climb
many stairs. In one shot, the strong and healthy young lady is compared to the two old ladies who probably had to climb that particular staircase every day.
Ji Won listened with a mixture of anger and disbelief that she became murderous because she resented the old lady's request that she visit her and keep her company every day.
The thought of climbing those
stairs until the old lady died was abhorrent to her. When the old lady requested her
to scratch her back, she did - with a knife.
N Note the various shades and tints of red in the murder story.
Cha Ji Won was shocked by her callousness and lack of remorse.
Park Seo Yong didn’t seem to care about the consequences of her action. The
murder was an impulsive act, done on the spur of the moment. But her
resentment must have festered like a deadly sore until the day of the murder. Shifting the blame on the old lady,
Park Seo Yong had sidestepped her accountability.
The brick wall which lined one
side of the long staircase exemplified the challenge that the young
lady had to face but was unable
to overcome. The top of the staircase could symbolise heaven, death or the
money donated to the Gangsu Welfare
Centre where Park Seo Young
worked. Park, a
self-confessed psychopath, couldn’t overcome her own emotional, psyvhological and mental
barriers. Park Seo Yong laughed, “They say three percent of the people are like me.’
What are the characteristics of psychopaths? Psychopaths lack emotions,
anxiety, fear, sadness, guilt, remorse or shame. A lack of certain emotions, namely,
anxiety and fear, helps them to stay calm in frightening conditions. Psychopaths do not have empathy and are not emotionally attached to people. The audience must have been left gaping. Now, who are the 3% among us? Park Seo Yong warns, ‘There may be one near you too.’ Shudder.
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With the warning, ‘There may be one near you too’, the camera
zeroes in on Hyun Soo. Do Hyun Soo was looking at Nam Soon Pil who narrated that a month before, he got a call from a payphone at 4 am. He thought it was Do Hyun Soo probably because of his own guilt. His mind was playing tricks on him.
He revealed a secret. He admitted that when he was young, he
was blinded by greed so he wronged Hyun Soo.
The memory of that incident could never be purged from Hyun
Soo’s memory.
One is grimly aware of his rising anger but Hyun Soo showed no
emotion. His demeanour betrayed nothing; he seemed
unmoved and indifferent. Do Hyun Soo relived the cruel tricks fate had played on him. With the wicked intention of robbing Do Hyun Soo of his money, Nam Soon Pil had lured him into the woods. He had planned kill Hyun Soo. Premeditated murder. Evil attacked Do Hyun Soo with a knife but the lucky young man survived.
The scar on Do Hyun Soo’s shoulder was a reminder of the treachery of
his friend who turned traitor just because of a few pennies. Nam Soon Pil’s embedded guilt made him expect revenge from Hyun Soo. Hyun Soo tried to convince him that Do Hyun Soo had died and he should forget him. It was true that Do Hyun Soo had ‘died’ because he had assumed a new identity. He just wanted the past to be buried.
Nam Soon Pil was happy to learn that Hyun Soo had died. His
guilt and prejudice led him to say Hyun Soo had killed someone even though he
wasn’t sure. To Hyun Soo’s chagrin, Nam Soon Pil’s final remarks, which demonstrated his true character, were vicious. ‘It’s better for certain people to die. Don’t you agree?
Hyun Soo’s stomach must have clenched. The other man, who blamed
Hyun Soo for his own misfortunes, refused to be accountable for his crime and
had shifted the blame on Hyun Soo. Hyun Soo agreed with seemingly chilly indifference. Perhaps, anger, bitterness and hurt had welled up in him upon being cursed. His face, however, was inscrutable except for his eyes. One cannot wrench one's gaze away from his eyes which were tinged with sadness. The naked vulnerability in his eyes evokes sympathy.
 In the restroom scene, Park Seo Yong, being arrogant, tried to
intimidate Cha Ji Won with a penknife. The psychopathic
murderer slashed Cha Ji Won in the face but she only suffered a minor cut
near her eye.
She taunted, ‘Arrest me.’
Playing with the Alpha lady detective? The aggressive detective was no
shrinking violet and she was not going to take it lying down; she retaliated
by slapping the psychopathic woman.
The police outside the door were concerned by the commotion in
the restroom but Ho Joon assured them the situation was under control.
‘Murder’ was on the homicide
detective’s mind. She picked up the penknife. She stunned the other woman
with her slaps.
She had risen to the occasion
with her chilling threat that if there was a struggle or altercation between
a murderer and a homicide detective, and if the murderer died, the policewoman
would go off scot-free.
Does fooling and hurting those weaker than you make you feel
superior?’
The detective impressed upon her that she could kill within a minute. Horrified and motified, Park begged for mercy. But, of course, the lady detective was just joking. Park
Seo Yong was cuffed and arrested. Justice was served.
 This story complements Hyun Soo’s lesson for his daughter. The tale about the bully involving the pre-schoolers, Eun Ha, the victim and Soo Young, over a pretty doll is compared to the story between the two adults, Cha Ji Won, the homicide detective and Park Seo Yong, the murderer. One’s reputation is important. Someone with a bad reputation, even when in the right, will not be trusted in any conflict. A person with a good reputation will impress others and none would suspect them of any wrongdoing. Eun Ha had been punched in the nose by Soo Young at the kindergarten because she wanted to hold the very pretty doll that belonged to the other little girl. Blood oozed from the wound. Soo Young’s mother was self-righteous. She not only refused to apologise for her child’s behaviour but she also forbade her child from apologising. Apologising, in her viewpoint, is probably an indication of parenting failure.
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Do Hyun Soo visited his mother’s pharmacy. He diplomatically
declared, with a brittle smile, that he missed her. Gong Mija’s customer was
impressed.
Commenting on her customer who had just left that, Gong Mija
disclosed that she seemed happy and bright, but actually took medicine for
her depression.
She was not embarrassed to admit that her customer’s
misfortunes brought her joy.
Do Hyun Soo stared at her with a knowing look. ‘If I can’t be like others, I’d rather they be like me.’ Gong Mija was as cold as ice and just as hard. Apparently, she wasn't good at concealing her emotions. Do Hyun Soo smiled. He told her he needed some sleeping pills. Why would he need sleeping pills?
It was his good luck that he married Cha Ji Won. She loved him
with all her heart. Her vibrant and positive personality ensured that he
stayed sane.
He went to pick her up from work. It was raining. She loved the
rain as it was romantic. Probably it had something to do with their romance
in their younger days. Perhaps, her memories of her love for him was related
to the rain. Hyun Soo teased her that she shouldn’t enjoy the rain because it washed away all evidence.  As the rain pelted down, the drama took a suspenseful
turn. The pet shop, ‘Dog & Cat' had
a mysterious visitor.
The news of the arrest of the killer of the Jung Mun Ok, a
70-year old lady was being aired. It was reported that the murderer, a social
worker, was a copycat killer who had copied the modus operandi (MO) of Do
Min Seok to throw the police off. Such murders hinted of impulsiveness. A sinister customer in a hooded raincoat entered the shop to buy a particular brand of dog leash known as 'Hound Dog'. The red leash symbolises danger and bloodshed.
The rain from his raincoat dripped onto the floor. The drops of
water gave the impression that the water might turned red. The camera brings us to Soon Kil restaurant which offers Chinese cuisine. The Chinese restaurant was filled with the celebratory red colour. The name of the restaurant was in red, the 2 hanging lanterns were red and the red banners were printed with felicities.
Nam Soon Kil, the restaurant owner, was reading Kim Moo Jin’s
article in The Hanjoongan. It was about the Yeonju City Serial Murder case of
Do Min Seok and his son. Do Min Seok may or may not be the serial murderer
but to drag his son’s name into the mud was unethical of the journalist.
Nam Soon Kil phoned Kim Moo Jin with the intention of adding more juicy details to the murder report but there was no answer to his call. Kim Moo Jin and him were strangers but he was willing to go to shocking lengths to malign Hyun Soo though he did not know the real truth. He was a man with a mission: he seemed to enjoy fabricating lies to totally ruin Do Hyun Soo’s reputation. Was it an attempt on his part to lay the blame on Hyun Soo whom he had tried to kill? Was he consciously or unconsciously trying to affix his own guilt on his victim? Was there no real regret or actual shame for his past deed? Is he another type of psychopath?
Anyway, he had been told that Do Hyun Soo was dead. Dead men tell
no tales so why was it so urgent for him to lie? Did Nam Soon Kil not spell out clearly that ‘It’s better for certain people to die’? Retribution for Nam Soon Pil had finally arrived. A killer had appeared in his restaurant to take his life. When the intruder opened the door, the bell chimed notifying the owner of the arrival of the unexpected guest. A flash or red could be seen through the glass doors. The was a swirl of anticipation. The raindrops were like blood on the red floor. The frightened man screamed into the phone, ‘It’s Do Hyun Soo. What did I tell you, I said that he’d come for revenge.' Was it Poetic Justice?
Blood, akin to the rain, had fallen to the floor in droplets. A sudden fear must have gripped the audience upon realising the imagery. The assassin walked out nonchalantly and passed by the darkened games arcade, a symbol of entertainment in decline. The mannequins in a shop looked like death in the hair-raising eerie night lights. So many wanton killings. One thinks of the death of morality. Perhaps, it is insanity running wild. The murderer entered a building which housed a disused pool which probably was previously used for storing live seafood. It had small square tiles. One wonders if it is the place where the murderer drowns his victims?
On the walls were pieces of paper, pamphlets, newpaper cuttings, and innumerable images of a certain woman arranged in a brick-like fashion. The assassin stuck a knife on a piece of paper on the wall. Mission accomplished? Perhaps, he had already killed his intended victim. Nam Soon Kil? There were newspaper clippings entitled ‘Multiple
bodies found in the woods at Gagyeongri’, ‘Who is serial killer Do Min Seok’,
‘Preseved Fingernails Found in Do Min Seok’s workshop’. Interesting.
Was he the serial killer who had long eluded the police? Cha Ji Won woke up from her deep slumber. Unsurprisingly, the bedroom had brickwalls. A gorgeous macrame wall hanging with tassels adorned the brick wall. The old-fashioned alarm clock showed 3.29 am.
Upon walking out, she discovered that her husband had just
arrived home. Where had he gone in the middle of the night? The doorway had rectangular pattern grills. Hanging on the wooden door was a cicular metal ring with macrame bands. Baek Hee Sung removed his hood to show his face. The couple faced each other tensely in the dark.
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What can we say about Lee Joon
Gi’s performance in this episode? Well, it is impossible not to notice the
wide spectrum of emotions that Lee displays. He is a chameleon when it comes
to expressing his emotions.
The audience knows that behind
the happy and cheerful façade that Baek Hee Sung / Hyun Soo, the metal
craftsman had created and fabricated, lies a frosty character. His cold and
remote exterior comes to the fore especially when dealing evil characters. He
can be civil with strangers. Baek Hee Sung / Hyun Soo sinks into bitterness
and sadness at times but what is most interesting is one can sense the rising
anger in him despite his cold exterior. Lee’s portrayal of the frosty man is the most appealing. Chilly. Dispassionate. Aloof. Unemotional. Unmoved. Indifferent. Dispassionate. He makes one's hair stand on end.
Lee portrays a mature man of his
age and also a much younger version of himself in the drama.
When the second episode opens, we see a youthful Baek Hee Sung who is in his early twenties. Lee’s sensitive portrayal of a cold and unemotional young man who is forced to live a new life, appeals to the heart. It a heady and enticing image of a totally shy and bashful man unaccustomed to the admiration of the opposite sex. How does this 39-year old man manage to look like and act like a teenager? It is
incredulous and almost inconceivable to watch the amazing transformation of a man into
a someone almost half his age.
It takes at least a full moment,
even if viewers are familiar with Lee, to realise that he is one and the same
person. Some would never have guessed until the end of the drama. No other
actor of his age can look and act like him.
 Lee has delivered an awe-inspiring
portrayal of a psychopath to perfection. Do Hyun Soo plays a psychological
game with Kim Moo Jin, played by Seo Hyun Woo. The excitement increases the
tension and suspense in the dark basement. At certain points in the game, the
audience must have shuddered. Do Hyun Soo’s creepy expression is enough to
make one’s hair stand on end. The later part of the interaction between Do
Hyun Soo and Kim Moo Jin seemed mildly humorous, despite the seriousness and
the tension that is in the air.
   
The scene that tugs at one’s
heartstrings and evokes the most sympathy for the lead character is the scene
between Do Hyun Soo and Nam Soon Pil. Though Do
Hyun Soo seems passive and emotionless, one can feel his sadness in being
compelled to relive his tragic past and the viewer could feel his unutterable
sadness, despair and his loss of faith in humanity. The picturesque stream
adds meaning to the scene.
  Moon Chae Won’s most interesting scene is the one between Cha Ji Won and Park Seo Yong where Ji Won threatens the female psychopath. Her aggression is a far cry from her lovable self in the presence of her husband, a duality that is startling.
Jung Seo Yeon who plays Baek Eun
Ha, will make a great actress one day. Her realistic portrayal especially,
her apology for the trouble over the doll incident in the kindergarten, is
laudable.
The director and scriptwriter have left their footprints in the fast-paced, tightly-knit drama – the reflections in the mirrors, blood, table surfaces; the brick walls, the staircases, the grids, the lines and shapes and the colours. But, one very thrilling scene is the unique narration of the parallel stories which involve Choi Jaesup in the day time and Park Seo Yong at night on the rooftop. Episode 2 of 'Flower of Evil' is amazing and the drama is a masterpiece. |
