*Skip a bit for a longer review*

What I liked:
- the job! Negotiations! solving everything through a conversation. how can a listening ear change everything. work with hostage, terrorism situations!
-the concept of pied piper!
- the main lead's transformation
-the villain
- all the amazing quotes and messages of this drama that makes you think about lots of stuff.
-The ENDING! omg amazing

What I didn't like:
-the female lead! so much cries! >< she was annoying (sorry to the actress)
-a bit boring at parts (especially the begging) it is not a spicy drama, the juicy parts for me started at around 9-10th episodes. lol

I recommend it for at least one time watch :) I really enjoyed it a lot, especially the end. You just need to hold onto it and deal with boring parts and the female lead lol. the messages were fantastic. There is no that much romance though (only a super tiny hint, with a small look or small touch).It is mostly about crime and existential questions that rise through the drama, which i liked a lot.

Longer review:

The pied piper takes the children farther and farther....
What can you do for the truth? For justice? Can you become a monster to teach people to listen to the voices of weak?
This drama is about conversation, power, the voices of weak, negotiation, and quite philosophical thoughts.
I'll write a quick summary because i don't think the real summary describes it well.

Slogan: What is needed in the worst situation is not a violence but a conversation!

Summary:
The main male lead is a negotiator! Cold and calm. He does what he needs to for money. One day everything changes and he turns from a successful negotiator to a person who tries to find out the truth behind that case,which changed his life. The female lead is part of the police negotiation team, which is not so much in favor inside the police. Our male lead ends up joining the team and now they try to uncover the truth behind the series of cases where a certain someone controls people behind the curtains, making them commit crimes.

I'd be honest it was boring at first. Well after watching so many crime/mystery dramas this was not a surprise. Signal was out during the same year and was more than incredible. This one.... no, it can't be as good as signal. It's just a drama which has OK-ish first episodes, couple of twists, and breathtaking final episodes. It starts to open many questions and turn into a big question: Are you ready to sacrifice yourself for the sake of a unknown person, or your own comfort is so important that you close your eyes and ears and just follow the tide?
This is how the Pied Piper, with a not-so-amazing story line, slowly, but certainly, made a tiny question crawl into your mind: Is the villain... really a villain? And here goes the philosophical questions about everything, that made me want to immediately think about meaning of life and stuff like that.
There are lots of stories about revenge for parents, sad childhood etc etc that show us all of that in a better way. Well the Pied Piper looked at the problem in a little different perspective. In each one of us lives evil based on traumas, jealousy, complexes, injustice, rage and if someone suddenly shows you that all those emotions are justified and your revenge is needed, your inner monster can get up and go with the sweet melody of the Pied Piper to the road of Hell. But the melody sounds sweeter and louder covered in the vale of your noble intentions...

Do you know how to boil frogs? You boil them slowly controlling the heat so they don't notice. And when they do it's already too late. This country is such a boiling pot, and we are frogs getting cooked in it. The frogs will never notice unless someone comes and tells them, "Get up! lets leave this place, you are being boiled!"

Story:

Well i talked a lot about this already but i wanted to say some more about the occupation of the main leads. This drama is about negotiating. We have seen lots of dramas where people smack each other. Where police doesn't take action at all, or takes action through violence beating each other and all. Well here we follow the team who doesn't go into violence but into conversation. It shows how important it is and how it can save not only the victims/hostages but also the criminals themselves. Because at the end of the day we all strive to be heard. When no one listens to us we get hurt. And when that reaches a certain level when you are already so desperate to be heard but still hit a wall. No one can stop that rage anymore and in the clouded state one makes decisions that cannot be undone anymore. For fare negotiations the both sides need to have the same amount of power. There needs to be a balance, or you get smashed by the other's power. So you take the risks and get yourself a power that sometimes can't be ignored. Like taking hostages. So that the other party will listen to your plead. To you desperate cry.
I also liked how the main lead showed that in different situations when you need someone to do something, like tell cars to open the road for the ambulance, or tell someone to call the ambulance, you don't say it generally referring to all of the people, but tell it precisely to certain people. for example tell the car number and tell them to move, or tell a a person "you, call the ambulance" and not "someone please call the ambulance". Because people really don't react when when someone talks generally, they think someone else can do it.... I really liked how this drama showed it.

Characters + Acting:

Can't say that this drama has all the best characters. Especially when some of them go through the transformation, we all are familiar with, from a strong policewoman, to a crybaby (yes, this is about the female lead). She has her won role though, showing everyone the road of forgiveness, the road that is not through revenge. There is no romance here, by the way, they did some tiny romantic scenes for show but that's all. This Piped Piper is lead by the two main actors, Shin Ha Gyun and Yoo Joon Sang. Others are just extras. I already knew Yoo Joon Sang from Master in the House. He was introduced as a super energetic musical actor. Shin Ha Gyeon I saw for the first time I think, not sure though. The main lead's character goes through a lot of transformations. From a cold negotiator doing everything what it takes to finish his job and get the money, to someone who cares for others people and fights the injustices for free! He is a complex character with difficult personality and sometimes his acts can seem very bad. Some admire him, some hate him. But he does his work well. Solving a problem with minimum loses. What will you do if you can save 4 people by sacrificing one? Ask yourself the question without all moral principles. So what was the answer.....?
On the other hand Yoo Joon Sang plays a reporter who went from a poor reporter with no power, to someone who gained a lot of power by closing his eyes on a certain case only once. Well he didn't forget his principles though. He wanted to unveil lots of truths so he worked hard in his own way. Yoo Joon Sang could perfectly portrait him till the end! standing ovations for him.

The ending was incredible! It was breathtaking and this drama was worth every second for just that ending! bravo!

Music:
It was great!In the OST I discovered a nice song that describes this drama so well!

In conclusion, I think this drama is worthy of at least a one time watch :) Just need to keep watching despite it being not so spicy at the start.


P.S.I usually don't rewatch dramas so i put a random number there.