Since there are many lurkers to this blog, and this drama in particular, I have to do my usual spiel. Old-timers already know this.

One, I don’t do recaps. If you just want a summary of the show, please visit other kdrama sites.

Two, you’re getting my interpretation of the plot, and obviously, my theories.

I’m giving the Bitches’ version of “Hobson’s Choice.” Who’s Hobson? I mentioned him before. He was stable owner in 17th century London. When riders went to his stable to rent his horses, they would demand his “best” horses. This created a class division between horses: the overworked steeds versus the mediocre slackers.

To solve this work inequity, Hobson rotated his horses and imposed a rule. The customers must rent the next available horse or…they had to rent a horse elsewhere. In short, take it or leave it.

In this blog, you may or may not be getting the “best” available theories, but if you don’t like what you’re offered, do feel free to exit the blog. I call this the “Packmule3’s Choice.”

Three, don’t delurk just to debate me. Some of the newbies (and a handful of old ones that I’ve blocked) are getting tiresome. They don’t get that there’s a difference between an open forum like reddit and a blog, like my Bitchesoverdramas. And they presume too much that their opinion is worth my energy to seriously mull over. I practice what I preach: I take it or leave it.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

1. Non-linear timeline?

Was it you, @Growing_Beautifully who commented on the non-linear timeline?

Just a short note to others: if you want to check if you’re on a 2018 or 2020 timeline, these are my tips:

a. I remind myself that Hyun Jo is comatose in 2020. So if I’m seeing him alive, then I’m watching watching the past.

b. I check to see if I’ve a fullscreen or widescreen.

If the scenes are in fullscreen, you’re in 2020. In a fullscreen, the image occupies the whole screen. Like here…

If the scenes are widescreen, you’re back in 2018. In a widescreen, there are black bands/ribbons on the top and bottom of the screen.

Like here.

I know I complained about the director in my previous post, but I must give credit to him here for using this cinematographic trick.

You see, when you’re viewing something on a widescreen, you’re suppose to feel that you’re getting the “whole picture” or the overarching story. You’re watching a past event unfolding again as a spectator. You’re detached from the scene because of the passage of time.

In comparison, when watching a scene on a fullscreen, you feel like you’re actually “in” the moment with the characters. You aren’t a distant viewer, you’re right there beside them. For instance, you’re seeing HyunJo’s hand twitch and turn blue in real time.

Do you see the difference in suspense between the hand of the Potato Bomber/Yogurt killer, and the hand of HyunJo?

In our minds, we know that Potato Bomber didn’t kill YiKang in 2018 because she’s still alive in 2020. As shocking as this first encounter was, she survived it.

But as for HyunJo’s hand, we don’t know what his hand turning blue signifies. Does this mean he’s dying bit by bit with every contact or he’s slowly regaining consciousness? We’ll find out in the future.

2. The rookie DaWon

Three noteworthy things:

a. Of all people in the station, YiKang (YK or Demon Seo) availed of rookie Dawon’s help instead of the veterans like GooYoung or the police WoongSoon. I think WoongSoon’s defensive remark about the yellow ribbon indicates that he knows more than he’s willing to divulge at the moment.

WoongSoon: All I heard is that it was found to be an accidental death.
YK: What about the yellow ribbon? Anything on that?
WoongSoon: (exhaling) I’m just a low-rank police officer. What would I know? But if it was closed that way, there probably wasn’t much to it. Why are you asking about the ribbon? Did you find something strange?
YK: (no response, the scene transitioned)

WoongSoon’s reply that he was a “just low-rank police officer” implied that a senior officer would have knowledge or authority to discuss this matter.

b. Twice Hyunjo (HJ) materialized before her, and twice she didn’t see him. Is it because she drinks a lot? lol.

GooYoung: We have to drink to chase the ghosts away?
HJ: I see. What about Sol then?
GooYoung: That’s exactly why he’s not drinking.

Meaning, Sol doesn’t drink because he wants to keep the ghosts around him. He’s a cultural researcher so he’s interested in these encounters.

I’d like to know why rookie Dawon couldn’t see HJ while the herbalist could. I’d like to know the “visibility rules” that would make it possible for Demon Seo to finally see HJ’s wandering spirit.

She wasn’t the least bit surprised to see the stick move. To me, this meant that she already had an inkling that he was wandering up in the mountain. I mentioned this in “My First Impressions.” Her undeclared mission is to get her partner back from that limbo or liminal space he’s currently in. They made a pact in Episode 1.

YK: Our job is to come back safely from a dangerous place. We must be a pillar to each other. If you get blown away, so do I. (she hooks them together) If I fall, so do you. So, let’s both be careful.
HJ: Copy.

c. In Episode 4, when rookie Dawon ran through the spirit of HJ, she caused his comatose body to convulse, and his hand to singe. Too bad that a nurse didn’t see it.

3. Shoes

What’s this about the shoes?

I’ll jot these down here and explain more later. For now, I’m paying attention to the number of times YiKang observed the shoes.

Ep 1: at their introduction, she told HyunJo to tie his shoelaces

Ep 2: she tied hers before going to rescue HJ from the fraudster

Ep 3: she noticed the shoelace of the hiker and tied it for her.

She also gave the young shaman her shoes and complimented it.

Because she talked about shoes a lot, I began looking at the shoes, too. More on this later.

4. YiKang and HJ’s opposite personalities (continued)

I can relate to YiKang’s personality more than HJ. She’s assertive, skeptical, and objective. She distrusts anything that can’t be quantifiable. And she likes structure and authority. On the other hand, HyunJo presents himself as quiet, unassuming, and empathetic.

YK: Don’t confuse Jirisan to be for beginners thinking it’s not as rocky. Plus, you’re sure to get tired when you carry something like that (looking at the watermelon).
Hiker: I’m sorry.
HJ: I’m fine.

Demon Seo and HJ are like “good cop, bad cop.” She was lecturing the Hiker while HJ was softening YK’s reprimand with his friendliness. He mediated for YiKang. The Hiker explained that she went up the Peak to pray for her son’s college test.

Hiker: Cheonwangbong Peak is supposed to have such great energy.
YK: (notices the untied shoelaces and ties them) Jirisan is only a mountain. There’s no energy or anything. If you want to pray, go to a church or a temple. At least you won’t get tired going up.

I think this is ironic given that she was ranger with the lowest score. If the Peak really could do magic on students and test-takers, then she should have graduated at the top, not bottom of the class, because she was in and out of the mountain since she was six years old.

But HJ remembered her dismissive comment because when they were searching for the missing Grandma, he became defensive.

YK: Let’s split up and search some more. You take the side road.
HJ: Wait. Baektogol, stone pagoda ground. Can we search there?
YK: Why? Are you seeing things again? What did you see?
HJ: You never believed in the Seven Wonders of the World, right? Just because you don’t get them doesn’t mean they’re lies.
YK: The pyramids, Moai, and the Bermuda Triangle…These things all exist.

Note: The Moai are the big rocks carved with human faces found in Easter Island, a territory of Chile.

HJ: What on earth are you saying?
YK: Never mind. If you don’t trust me, I’ll go alone.

He was saying that he had vision again. He didn’t want to share it because she wouldn’t believe him anyway as “Jirisan was just a mountain.” To her, no psychic or paranormal activity could happen there.

However. I think HJ got it all wrong. I think YK was a believer of these things prior to her parents’ death. When her parents passed away, she became an agnostic or an atheist (for lack of a better word). She doesn’t want to believe in that there were invisible forces in the mountain because they didn’t help her out. The Mountain deities let her down.

That’s why she was brusque later when they didn’t find Grandma at the pagoda ground. She wanted to believe in him, too.

YK: I found nothing. You?
HJ: I saw it for sure. It was right here.

HJ was just standing at the pagoda. Demon Seo wouldn’t have known to be kinder to HJ because he was having a post-traumatic stress. A year ago, in this exact spot, he saw his soldier die in this spot.

YK: I shouldn’t have trusted you.
HJ: I’m serious. It was here.
YK: Whatever.

Then, then they saw the troop on an exercise march. If we put ourselves in HJ’s shoes, then this encounter was more than uncanny; it was psychic.

Demon Seo would later be grateful that they were there at the stone pagoda because if they hadn’t encountered the troop at that time, they wouldn’t have located Grandma’s dead body, and assisted the poisoned soldier.

YK: I appreciate your help this time. If we hadn’t gone to the stone pagoda place you mentioned, we wouldn’t have been able to save Private Ahn. But I’m still not sure what you see.

And because he couldn’t give her a clear explanation of his visions, he went back to the stone pagoda place by himself to work out his visions. Looking at the pagoda, he finally connected what he was seeing. In a flashback, he remembered being knocked down, and staring at his colleague and the stone pagoda.

HJ: The height changed. It was the past.

This meant that the vision he saw wasn’t a premonition or a vision of the future. It was actually a memory of a past incident. He remembered staring at the dead body with its wide-opened eyes.

HJ: What I saw was the past, of a year ago. Somebody murdered my colleague. And that person is still on this mountain. Killing people on this mountain to this day.

And then we saw images of the hand.

And in this image, the fingers were tapping

like here.

My comments:

a. We have an additional timeline here, 2017. In 2017, HyunJo was still in the military, and captain of his team.

My question is: why was HyunJo so weak, and so out-of-shape after a year out of the military? Or was this an act? I told you it didn’t make sense when he suddenly showed up right beside Demon Seo when she was rock-climbing in the rain.

b. His vision of the pagoda rock was upside down because he was seeing the vision from the dying man’s eyes.

5. Baektogol

Grandma was found dead at Baektogol, Hyeongje Rock, 30m northwest. It was demonstrated that Demon Seo wasn’t such a fearless demon after all when the sight of the dead Grandma, up-close, unnerved her. I like how HJ took over and shared his own experience about death.

HJ: This is the second time that I’m seeing a dead person on Jirisan. Back there at the stone pagoda ground, I’ve had to let a sergeant die before. I valued him more than anyone else.

Awww. I like what he said here. He wasn’t a cruel commander then.

HJ: But he died alone and lonely on the mountain because of me.

My comment:

a. Earlier that day, when he and Demon Seo were told to go to Baektogol for the illegal shamanistic rite, he had a vision of a troop running in the forest. He was remembering his traumatic experience. But he didn’t tell her.

b. He was blaming himself because of death during the 2017 “ruck march.”

A ruck march is test of endurance. As the name implies, the men carry a heavy load in their backpacks (or RUCKsack) and march from point A to B. HJ wanted to set a record. He ordered his men to speed up. He knew Kim Hyeonsu was tired, but he said him, “I hope your hometown energizes you. Let’s go.”

Most likely, her was blaming himself because he was focused on the new record that he didn’t take care of his men better.

In comparison the captain they met that night in the wood had a different attitude about the ruck march. That captain said it was just training.

To continue…

HJ: And that’s when I started to see people dying on this mountain. At first, I thought I was imagining things. But they were always followed by the news that something bad happened on Jirisan. I was afraid of coming back here. But I thought it was the right thing to do. Sol told me that there’s something about this Baektogol. I’m not sure if it’s a ghost or a guardian spirit. But I think it gave me a gift. To save people.
YK: I believe in them.
HJ: Sorry?
YK: The Seven Wonders when I was little.

I think her family’s tragedy is the reason that

one, she’s stopped believing in a benevolent ghost or a guardian spirit who saves people. They didn’t come to save her family.

two, she goes above and beyond the call of duty to save people. She’s replacing the spirit, ghost, or gods. She sets herself up as the *Demon* Seo in contrast to the Jirisan gods who don’t act.

three, hence, her advice to the Hiker to pray in the churches or temples, not at Jirisan.

and four, hence, her disbelief in the Shaman ritual, and her rather business-like way of telling them to leave the grounds.

6. The Shaman ritual

I like how GooYoung mentors HJ. He gives the newbie the ins and outs of being a park ranger at Jirisan because he expects that YiKang wouldn’t fill him in with the details.

GooYoung: Oh right. Do you know that?
HJ: Sorry?
GooYoung: There’s something you must do before kicking the shamans out.
HJ: What’s that?
GooYoung: How can you not know? This is very important. You must call out, “King’s orders” before doing it. Otherwise, you’ll be unlucky for three years.
HJ: What on earth?
GooYoung: Hey, it’s up to you. But you know what happened to those who didn’t say, “King’s orders!!!”? They failed their driving test five times, had their leg broken, or get hemorrhoids. It was crazy. It’s up to you.

HJ: Are you all right?
Young Shaman: You’re destined to roam the mountains even when you’re dead.

I told you about this kind of tilted or skewed shot, didn’t I? This is called a Dutch angle. It’s meant to disorient the viewers and give them a sense of tension fear, and doom.

I haven’t yet decided whether she was cursing HJ or reading his fate. Either way, his spirit ends up roaming the mountains as the shaman predicted because he’s comatose.

HJ: Hmm?
Young Shaman: (gets up and leaves)

A talisman was floating on the water. Lol. I’ve seen enough of those after “Lovers of the Red Sky.” They either sealed the demon in so it couldn’t get out, or kept the demon out.

I like this shot, too. Instead of directly filming the girl physically pass in front of HJ, the director opted to film their reflections on the water. To me, this optical illusion dramatized that their “spirits” were crossing each other. This was a visual foreshadowing.

HJ: (wondering about the child) What was that?
Sol: (picking up the talisman)
HJ: What’s that?
Sol: I’ve never seen this kind of talisman before. I should take it and do some research.
HJ: People like these must come here often.
Sol: You know the expression in Korean, “go to the valley,” which means “to die”?
HJ: (nodding)
Sol: “Gone to a valley.” It originated from here, since no one walks out of Baektogol Valley alive. This place has especially strong yin energy, even for Jirisan. The Donghak Peasant Revolution. The Japanese invasion. The Korean War. And the Partisan Battle.

Note: The Partisan Battle led to “red commie” building the stone signals.

Sol: Many people died here for a period of time. Human bones are still being dug up to this day. There are many places in Baektogol with a cross or a stone pagoda. They’re for those who died without a grave. If the ghost exist, this is the place for them.

The camera was appropriately on HJ. Again, this was visually foreshadowing HJ’s ghostly existence in 2020.

Sol: (continuing) That’s why these shamans come here to get energy.
HJ: (thinking to himself) This place had such a history. If ghosts exist, if there’s something, this is the place that suits them the most.

But the interesting thing is, Demon Seo didn’t establish contact with HyunJo at the water but behind Mangbawi Rock.

I also like how Sol gave Demon Seo hope in Ep 4. After she discovered that HJ’s spirit had moved the twig in their stone signal, she wanted to know if there was still hope.

YK: You know, you said before that anything is possible on the mountain.
Sol: Yes.
YK: Could there really be a ghost on the mountain?
Sol: You think all the folktales set on mountains are false? You know they call Jirisan the mountain of patience. There are more people who climb with a story or two than for the sake of leisure.

Meaning they’re hiking not for recreation but because there’s a backstory to their journey.

Sol: (continuing) Those people have sorrow and regret. And ghosts are all about sorrow and regret. If anybody had a strong desire, they could remain there as a ghost.
YK: Sure.

Sol. He’s an interesting character because he’s such a fountain of information for both Demon Seo and Crazy HyunJo. To me, he’s their spiritual guide.

7. Is Chief Jo Daejin the murderer?

For now, everything’s circumstantial.

His gloves? So? They’re black. A lot of people wear black gloves.

The yellow ribbons? YiKang opened the drawer and spotted the ribbons, right? Well, if YiKang could open that drawer, then real killer could, too. The killer could have planted that plastic bag there.

As for Chief Jo’s days off? He could have an alibi for one or more of those days.

Besides, the pants don’t match…lol. I’ll explain in a bit.

But here are HJ’s notes on the deaths. YiKang read HJ’s little planner.

Sept 15, 2017. Private Kim Hyeonsu, died in Baektogol during ruck march
Nov 16, 2017. Seo Geumja Yangseokbong Peak, the rope broke
Jan 20, 2018. Lee Jonggu fell from Buam Cliff, Deokseoryeong
Mar 23m 2018. Kim Jindeok fell in Narigol Daeyeongri

Here are the notes that YiKang gathered from the files:
Jul 19, 2020. Mujindong Restricted Trail
Aug 4, 2020. Cheongwangbong Peak, Restricted Trail

She realized that all these dates corresponded to the dates when Chief Jo was off-duty. But she still must check Chief Jo’s whereabouts during the other four “accidents” she mentioned in Episode 1, namely, the Gaeam Falls accident (the one with the yellow ribbon), Moojin area accident, Jeonmukgol accident, and Oerae Valley accident.

But back in 2018, she and HJ knew who the “yogurt killer” was.

After Oct 10, 2018, the night of the ruck march, HyunJo suspected that Grandma was poisoned by the “Yogurt Killer” because Private Ahn witnessed the man messing around with Grandma’s backpack. Private Ahn was given yogurt laced with poison by the killer. Because yogurt was used, HJ believed that this was the same killer who poisoned his soldier Private Kim Hyeonsu in 2017.

Furthermore, he dreamt that this Yogurt Killer planted the potato bomb and had five scratches on his right hand. He discovered that the Killer was Ranger Yang Sun’s close associate (maybe a family member?). Meanwhile on the other part of town, YiKang spotted the scarring on the man. He wasn’t a stranger but one of the locals.

In 2018, the Potato Bomber = Yogurt Killer

The Potato Bomber was the man Ranger Yang Soon saw messing around in her family shed on her way to work that morning. She didn’t think it was odd to see him in the shed because she knew him.

She saw these:

Notice, too, the animal traps on the ground on her way to the shed.

Potato Bomber had scratches on his hand either because he was either trapping animals or rescuing them from the traps.

He could have planted the potato bomb to kill off people who didn’t follow the rules.

He didn’t like the Grandma who continued flouting rules and hiked on restricted trails, and he didn’t like the Snake Vendor who disregarded law regarding wild animal protection.

To me, HyunJo and YiKang already knew who the Yogurt Killer, and he couldn’t be the same killer on the loose in 2020. Unless he wasn’t apprehended back in 2018…

All I can say is, for now, we have to keep an open mind about the gender of the serial killer in 2020.

The killer could be female who wears slim or skinny jeans with tapered and shortened hem.

GoYoong doesn’t wear his pants like that.

The captain doesn’t.

And unless they changed their fashion sense, none of the men in 2018 were fastidious enough to sew their hems.

The women did, though. lol.

Okay, gotta run. I’ll try to edit this later (when I’ve time).