These are @Growing_Beautifully’s notes. My comments will be in blue and italics.
Thanks, @GB, for listing them!
-packmule3
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
It seems the killer had planned ahead who the victims would be. In the notebook of Se Wook we have a List of Victims with method of killing and places where they were killed/were to be killed:
1) Kim Hyeon Su. Baektogol, Jangseungdae, yoghurt. (Mentioned in Hyun Jo’s notebook from Ep 4: Kim Hyeon Su. Sept 15th 2017, Died in Baektogol during ruck march.)
Chief Jo DaeJin was off-duty.
2) Seo Geum Ja. Yangseokbong, Saenyeok Rock, lost footing. (Mentioned in Hyun Jo’s notebook. Seo Geum Ja. Nov 16th 2017. Yangseokbong Peak, the rope broke)
Chief Jo was off-duty.
3) Lee Jong Gu. Deokseoryeong, Buam Cliff, lost footing. (Mentioned in in Hyun Jo’s notebook. Lee Jong Gu, Jan 20th 2018. Fell from Buam Cliff, Deokseoryeong)
Chief Jo was off-duty.
4) Kim Jin Deok. Daeyeongri, Narigol, lost footing. (Mentioned in Hyun Jo’s notebook. Kim Jin Deok. Mar 23ed 2018. Fell in Narigol, Daeyeongri … [exploded and died??? Not clear if this is with reference to Kim Jin Deok])
@GB, Viki updated its sub and the “exploded and died” refers to the snake poacher’s death.
Choi Alman, October 15, 2018. Potato bomb explosion at the Saema Valley cemetery.
Chief Jo was also off-duty.
5) Lee Geum Rye (Granny who visited restricted area often) Baektogol, Bullet Tree, yoghurt. (Private Ahn met a civilian who was checking Lee Geum Rye’s backpack and who gave him a yoghurt drink. This happened in 2018).
We have a date for this one. The military had requested permission for their ruck march to be held in the park on Oct 10 – 11, 2018. Grandma died on the night of Oct 10th.
6) Choi Il Man (Snake Poacher). Saemagol, graveyard, bomb. (2018).
7) Lee Yang Sun. Saemagol, Bomb, (bomb got crossed out) and next to it was ‘Yoghurt’. (2018).
8) Lee Yang Sun’s name was scratched and Kang Hyun Jo was added to the list. (2018)
9) In 2020, the herbalist took a yoghurt drink that was left cooling in the river and almost died. He claims to recognise Hyun Jo as the ghost.
All those who died from loss of footing would have needed to follow the yellow ribbon markers to fall off the edge of the path? Or be pushed?
So there is 1 mastermind killer with Se Wook as accomplice and 3 methods of killing. The 3 potato bombs Yang Sun knew of had been accounted for, but there might be more unknown bombs. The killings started as early as 2017 as far as we know. After the murder of Kim Hyeon Su, Hyun Jo gets visions.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
As for the yellow ribbons, this is what we know from Episode 2 (timestamp: 1:17:04).
HJ: Those ribbons. Aren’t those by illegal hikers?
YK: Yup. They must go up in a limited amount of time, so they don’t wait for those who fall behind. They just tie a ribbon to indicate the way and leave. It’s like a lifeline to the ones that fall behind.
Note: So the ribbons are like the stack of stones, too, that the Partisans/Red Commies used as code to those members who were trailing behind, and that the spirit of HJ was using to signal to YiKang in 2020.
HJ: When I got injured here before, there were yellow ribbons. If they belonged to the illegal hikers, wouldn’t they lead to the top?
YK: Of course, they should.
Because the purpose of the hikers was to reach the top of Jirisan. They were just using a different trail than the ones designated by the Park Rangers.
HJ: But not those ribbons. They were tied to the other way. Not the top. As if…they wanted you to get lost on purpose.
See the precipice here? The ribbons led the illegal hikers to the precipice.
To me, the person who re-positioned the ribbons was targeting park visitors who were flouting the Park Ranger’s rules. He/she thinks that these illegal hikers deserve to be punished with death anyway because they didn’t follow the rules. The serial killer was someone who imposed rules, and expected absolute obedience to his/her authority. He/she selected Sewoon as henchman because Sewoon was compliant and had no compunction killing his own flesh and blood.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
What has been established in Ep 4 and 5?
In 2018, Se Wook, with someone giving him instructions, was the civilian that Private Ahn had seen and received the yoghurt drink from. He had also left the yoghurt drink for Lee Geum Rye who had died as a result. From Hyun Jo’s visions, Se Wook had left a potato bomb that killed the snake poacher Choi Il Man.
Se Wook was instructed to kill his cousin, Ranger Yang Sun. He implicated their grandfather as the potato bomber, and told Yang Sun where her grandfather had been in the mountain. He hoped that she would be killed with the 2nd potato bomb. She avoided death. He then received instructions to go ahead as planned. He visited her and ensured that she drank a yoghurt drink. He had run away from the rangers and been killed in the mountain, presumably by the mastermind behind the killings who had used him as an accomplice. After he died, more people were still killed.
Before he was found, someone without gloves, took away his notebook in which were the list of victims, places and method of being killed.
Slim List of Suspects unless it’s someone we have not been introduced to yet:
Policeman Kim Woong Soon (unfriendly towards Hyun Jo).
Boss of Haedong Branch Jo Dae Jin (shown with yellow ribbons in hand and a ribbon in his desk drawer).
Team Leader Park Il Hae (complains a lot about missing staff but seems unlikely).
Ranger Jung Goo Young (sweet on Yang Sun and unlikely).
Kim Sol (the expert in the spiritual aspects of the mountain and informative. Seems unlikely).
Can’t think of any females so far if Yang Sun is out of it and the Snake Poacher wife is out of it. The crazy lottery ticket girl, Hee Won seems unlikely. New rookie girl was not around in 2018 as far as we know. I presume that’s why Yi Gang trusts only her.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
Here are the other known “accidents” that occurred in 2020 when the spirit of HJ was sending signal.
From Ep 1:
1. Oerae Valley
2. Jeonmukgol
3. Moojin: the stone signal was pointing to SeongHwang tree.
4. Yiseokjae accident: After a month of searching for the missing hiker, Chief Jo called off the search. But YiKang arrived and asked Chief Jo to search Gaeam Falls. The skeletal remains of missing hiker Yang Geun Tak were were found.
YK: This was three months ago during the Moojin area accident. I also found the mark there in the photo. It was pointing to Seonghwang Tree. You found the missing person’s body there, right?
GooYoung: Yes.
YK: This was six months ago during the Jeonmukgol accident. And this one was the Oerae Valley accident. Here, too. It pointed exactly to a missing hiker.
In Ep 4, YiKang found out more details about the accidents:
Jul 19, 2020. Moojin Area Entrance, Restricted Area (Chief Jo was off-duty)
Aug 4, 2020, at around 22:40. Near Cheongwang Peak, Restricted Area (Chief Jo was off-duty)
Also in Ep 4, the death of the herbalist was averted when YiKang received the signal in the nick of time. Because of the herbalist’s eyewitness account, she was able to confirm that HyunJo’s spirit was wandering and that yogurt was again being used to poison park guests.
One last note: I wonder where Team Leader Park Il Hae and Ranger YangSoon are in 2020.
Thanks, @GB!
Thank you pm3 and GB 😘!
Yes, the first thing I notice when we were shown year 2020 was there are missing persons from the past i.e. KHJ and PIH. I will be observing the KS and KWS closely next. For the policeman, he was the first, presumably, to arrive at SW’s house and involved in his search. He might be the closer suspect. One thing, the mastermind must be someone from the neighborhood too whom ppl less suspect.🤔
Yes, @Miracle23. I agree. The mastermind is most likely a local. He’s invested in the preservation and conservation of Jirisan.
Private Kim HyeonSu (the 2017 death) was from the neighborhood, right?
Thanks @pkml3! You’ve certainly done a good job augmenting my notes. 🙂
Yes, Kim Hyeon Su was a local. Many of the victims were locals, as in they probably frequented Jirisan. I’m guessing they were also known to have flouted the rules governing the care of the mountain.
From the 2006 rangers’ job interview, we learn that locals were given preferential treatment (they were offered more bonus points), which might mean that a majority of the rangers were locals too.
Is Kim Sol the photographer? Someone took a photograph from their car with an expensive camera and their face wasn’t shown – not sure which episode. The photographer was also at the hospital. Coincidence or conspiracy? A villager also brusquely entered the town hall wearing all black and refused to take a flyer – face not shown. At this point it could be anyone. I also feel like the top guy’s resignation may be significant.
@Good Twin,
Did you mean the photographer who was taking shots as the snake poacher’s wife was screaming outside the station?
No. 🙂
That photographer had glasses on, and he worked for the media.
Yes, I’m not ruling out Kim Sol as a suspect.
@Good Twin @pkml3, I’ve sadly kept Kim Sol on my list of suspects and maybe bumped him up the list (meaning I’ve moved him from unlikely to likely). I like him for his respect for the history of the mountain and his enthusiasm for its spiritual aspects, but that also sets him as one of the people who’d most likely be offended by the way the mountain is being treated or regarded by its visitors.
He didn’t want to drink with the rangers after they dismissed the illegal shamanistic activity, meaning that unlike them, he wanted to be open to spirits that might hang around him.
From a drama perspective, he seems kind of likely because he has been highlighted a few times in previous episodes. He’s also affable and likable, and therefore we are lulled into thinking him quite innocuous. He’d be the ‘perfect’ surprise villain from a dramatic point of view.
@pm3 thank you for solving that mystery for me. I am perhaps looking so closely for mystery that I can’t see forest for trees.