A woman hiker, Kang Sueng Ah, sprays 2 rangers with bear spray when they come up behind her in the restricted black bridge village area. An older couple is caught exiting a restricted area by 2 other rangers. The woman presses a medicinal powder on the rangers. The parents, daughter, and other family members gather at the top to remember Hyun Jo and his love for this mountain. The father declares they have to let him go. It’s time to let him go.
Hyun Jo lays comatose in his hospital. The nurse calls Yi Gang to report the family will cut life support tomorrow.
Sueng Ah introduces herself to Seo Yi Gang (Gianna Jun). She shares she went to black bridge village and the other locations Hyun Jo loved. She tells Yi Gang that Hyun Jo spoke of her often.
Ranger Jung and Team Lead Ranger Park return to the ranger station and want to know why the victim died at a different location and time than stated. They demand to know why another person from black bridge village has been murdered.
They show Hyun Jo’s picture to a man who says he saw ghost Hyun Jo on the mountain in a snow suit covered in blood. Yi Gang asks what happened in black bridge village in 1991. The man gets nervous and declares nothing happened.
Yi Gang explains many including herself have seen ghost Hyun Jo on the mountain. She shows the footage from the camera Ranger Lee Da Won positioned. They see the markers change. Yi Gang says Hyun Jo is alone on the mountain.
2019…
Yi Gang texts Kang Hyun Jo (Ju Ji Hoon) to meet her tomorrow. He agrees.
Hyun Jo listens to the winter weather prediction of snow. When he exits the remote station, he sees a vision of blood on snow. He calls Yi Gang that he can’t make meet her. Yi Gang calls the remote station and learns Hyun Jo left for black bridge valley.
Yi Gang heads to a remote station. She radios Hyun Jo who is tramping through the snow. He doesn’t answer. She enters the valley. She spies her hiking pole. She falls from a cliff edge when it breaks. Hyun Jo finds her and takes her to the cave remote shelter. The next morning Yi Gang wakes. Hyun Jo tells her there is no radio signal but there might be a cell signal. He’ll find out. Yi Gang tells him someone lured her to the cliff edge by planting her hiking pole there. Hyun Jo calls Branch Chief Jo but the reception is bad. When he hangs up a man in black gloves bashes his head with a rock. Hyun Jo goes down. The mountain murderer hits Hyun Jo again and again. Blood splatters on the snow. The MM wearing a ranger’s snow suit walks away, leaving Hyun Jo for dead.
Present day…
Yi Gang tells Ranger Jung and Team Lead Ranger Park Hyun Jo refused to leave the mountain and now they must pursue the mountain murderer. They review all the murderers of the black bridge villagers. They can’t believe they didn’t realize all the murders were related. Only three villagers remain – Lee Jae Geun (the potato bomb grandfather), Hwang Gil Yong (the man that refused to talk about the black bridge village), and Heo Jin Ok (the woman hiker that the Youtuber ignored). In addition, Police officer Kim and Ranger Kim Sol.
That’s a short list now!
Yi Gang arrives at the police station. Team Lead Ranger Park goes to visit Hwang Gil Yong (the man that refused to talk about the black bridge village) but he won’t talk. Yi Gang learns Police officer Kim isn’t at work as it is his day off. Yi Gang asks the officer why Police officer Kim has been different lately. The officer says Police officer Kim’s mother’s medical condition has worsened. Yi Gang calls Police officer Kim but he doesn’t answer.
Police officer Kim enters the restricted area on the mountain.
Ranger Jung goes to visit Yang Sun’s mother. He asks about black bridge village. She states as a local eatery owner she didn’t know the full story but her father-in-law, Lee Jae Geun (the potato bomb grandfather), would know but he doesn’t respond much since Yang Sun’s death. Ranger Jung looks at the unresponsive man. As he exits, the old man says he feels sorry for her.
Yi Gang is told Heo Jin Ok died of cancer the previous year. The neighbor doesn’t know anything about black bridge village. The neighbor remembers the mountain monk attended Heo Jin Ok’s funeral.
Yi Gang visits the mountain monk who shares Heo Jin Ok was regretful about something but never revealed what that was.
Team Lead Ranger Park talks to Ranger Kim who claims he doesn’t remember anything about black bridge village since he was only a child.
Police officer Kim texts Ranger Kim to meet him at the black bridge at 3pm.
Team Lead Ranger Park calls Yi Gang with his update and what Ranger Jung relayed to him. He notes Ranger Jung is visiting retired rangers next. Team Lead Ranger Park will explore the cable car development.
Yi Gang visits Branch Chief Jo in jail. She asks for information about black bridge village. Branch Chief Jo states he told Hyun Jo everything. Yi Gang shares Hyun Jo’s family will pull the plug tomorrow. She wants to catch the mountain murderer. Branch Chief Jo shares he has an early case file about Ranger Kim’s mother (the mayor’s wife). Branch Chief Jo states the answer is on the mountain. He is sure she can find the answer as she knows the mountain better than anyone.
Yi Gang retrieves and reviews the case file. Team Lead Ranger Park reports the black bridge villagers wanted the cable car development to proceed and shows her signed agreements from every villager. Yi Gang realizes that poachers were hit hard when the access to the mountain was restricted in that timeframe. Only bee keepers had better access to the mountain. Yi Gang states some villagers wanted to leave but some wanted to stay. Team Lead Ranger Park says that wasn’t enough to murder. Ranger Jung arrives and reveals that father of Lee Se Wook (the mountain murderer’s accomplice) died a hit and run accident during the cable car development. Ranger Jung and Team Lead Ranger Park believe they must involve the police. Yi Gang doesn’t believe the police will help.
Police officer Kim waits for Ranger Kim who trudges through the woods to their meeting point.
Yi Gang lies to the police officer to step outside and locks him out while she searches. She finds the case files, one that identifies Kim Seong Guk as a prime suspect. By the time the police officer gets back into the building, Yi Gang is gone.
Ranger Kim arrives. Police officer Kim stands. They look at each other.
Hyun Jo’s vision comes true when a cell phone drops with the text message and blood on it. A man’s bloody hand falls next to the cell phone.
Yi Gang goes to Ranger Kim’s house. When he answers the door, she asks if she can come in.
A bloody Police officer Kim lays in the woods.
Ranger Kim makes coffee for Yi Gang. He asks why she’s come. She flips through his photo album. He asks if she’s there because of black bridge village. He reiterates he doesn’t remember much because he was a child. Yi Gang muses that no one expected it would go so far when they started. Everyone had to agree to the cable car development or the deal would implode.
Flashback…a young Sol sees a light in the woods. Heo Jin Ok tosses a dead bird into the well. The next day the mayor accuses the cable car development planner to a young Ranger Jo and Ranger Kim. The villagers meet and decide the mayor won’t change his mind and go along with the cable car development. As a bee keeper, the mayor’s cash flow hasn’t been impacted by the new restrictions. They decide they’ll get every villager’s agreement in writing and then appeal to the mayor’s wife. When they talk to the mayor’s wife, she refuses to cooperate. The men get angry. She is pushed and falls to the ground hitting her head on a rock. The men can’t believe it. She’s dead. The men agree to never reveal what happened. They run away. But she’s not dead. She starts to crawl.
Yi Gang notes she never understood why his mother was found down the mountain, not near the village. Some believed she was trying to get to the police. She puts the hit and run case file on the table. She notes the prime suspect was Police officer Kim’s father.
Flashback…from up in a tree, a young Sol sees a light in the woods. The man order Police officer Kim’s father to get it together or he’ll be caught for the hit and run. He offers to take care of the evidence IF he’ll sign the cable car development agreement.
Yi Gang notes the evidence was never found and the investigation ended. She shows the cable car development agreement signed by Police officer Kim’s father and points out the signature date was the date of the hit and run accident. Ranger Kim asks why she’s telling him this.
Ghost Hyun Jo looks at Police officer Kim’s bloody body. He realizes the phone in his vision wasn’t the victim’s phone. Rather it was the mountain murderer’s phone.
Flashback…Ranger Kim picks up his phone next to Police officer Kim’s body. We see his reflection in the glass. Ghost Hyun Jo watches Ranger Kim walk away.
My Thoughts
Ranger Kim Sol is the mountain murderer. Writer Kim Eun Hee lifted the veil and revealed Ranger Kim’s motive is revenge for his parents’ murders. Certain black bridge villagers wanted the cable car development to be approved for the cash payment when the village was shut down. But Kim Sol’s parents, the mayor and his wife, were intractable against the development. Kim Sol’s mother was accidentally killed, then everything snowballed from there. A young Kim Sol overheard the culprits and decided to make them all pay. He just about killed everyone, only 4 villagers remained at the beginning of the episode. Now Yi Gang is sitting in his house. SHE KNOWS. Does he know she knows?
Seo Yi Gang (Gianna Jun) amped up the investigation. Yi Gang knew Hyun Jo’s family would take him off life support soon. She urged Ranger Jung and Team Lead Ranger Park to help her find the mountain murderer so Hyun Jo’s soul could be at peace. She gave Ranger Kim a steely stare when she entered his home.
Kang Hyun Jo (Ju Ji Hoon) is about out of time. His family has decided to take him off life support. Ghost Hyun Jo realized that Ranger Kim was the mountain murderer. Can he do anything about it?
What’s my Wish List for the final episode?
- Hyun Jo lives. He’s been stuck on a mountain for years never able to save the mountain murderer victims. He deserves to be reunited with his physical body and wake before the plug is pulled and his life energy fades away.
- Yi Gang lives. She’s in the mountain murderer’s lair. Precarious place to be. She needs to survive.
- The mountain murderer is caught. Process of elimination points the finger at Ranger Kim. He’s lived his life to avenge his parents’ deaths. The death toll doesn’t need to increase in the last episode.
I rank this episode as very good, 8 on a 10-point scale.
Asian drama fan. I watch and blog dramas on https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/.
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Ha❗ District Ranger Kim Sol 🐻🚩 had more motive for murder than Officer Kim Eun Sung 👮♂️ as did accomplice Se Wook 🥔 💣. Is Officer Kim Eun Sung 👮♂️ dead or injured❓⁉️ The villagers were evil in covering up the accidental deaths of Kim Sol’s 🐻🚩mom and Se Wook’s 🥔 💣 dad, but conspiring to kill all the villagers, including some children of the guilty, like Hyun Jo’s army buddy, just might be worse … especially when I think of the innocent dead grannies on the cable car bus.
I’m hoping Yi Gang 👩🦽🚩 wasn’t foolish enough to confront district Ranger Kim Sol 🐻🚩 alone. Please tell me Goo Young💐🚩 and Il Hae 👓🚩 are in the next room as witnesses. Could the young policeman be tracking her down for ransacking the police station❓⁉️. It hard to believe the wheelchair bound Ranger escaped an Young able-bodied policeman.
I thought it was sweet Hyun Jo’s🛌🚩 family came to Jirisan, gladly paying fines to hike into the restricted area. Why did they hike in ones or twos, instead if the whole group together❓⁉️. I’m not thrilled at the thought of them turning off Hyun Jo’s🛌🚩 life support …. my happy ending scenario has him alive AND out of a coma …am I being optimistic … YEESSS, it’s my prerogative.
I like your wishlist KJT, it’s simple and to the point. Kim Sol 🐻🚩 is caught and our protagonists live. I do want Hyun Jo🛌🚩 out of his coma,, but anything else good that happens will be a welcome bonus.
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The villagers were evil in covering up the accidental deaths of Kim Sol’s 🐻🚩mom and Se Wook’s 🥔 💣 dad, but conspiring to kill all the villagers, including some children of the guilty, like Hyun Jo’s army buddy, just might be worse … especially when I think of the innocent dead grannies on the cable car bus.
That was heavy payback.
It hard to believe the wheelchair bound Ranger escaped an Young able-bodied policeman.
One of several “don’t think to hard” moments in this series.
I’m not thrilled at the thought of them turning off Hyun Jo’s🛌🚩 life support …. my happy ending scenario has him alive AND out of a coma …am I being optimistic … YEESSS, it’s my prerogative.
At least the family agreed and supported each other. You are allowed to want a happy ending for the sweet and gentle Hyun Jo.
I like your wishlist KJT, it’s simple and to the point. Kim Sol 🐻🚩 is caught and our protagonists live.
Yep, sometimes I want the villain dead, but Kim Sol doesn’t engender that.
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Murderers should suffer the consequences of their actions … sometimes death feels like vindication has been robbed … sometimes it seems the planet (and all the people thereon) would be better if the murderer were snuffed from existence.
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