I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m so disappointed with the route the show has gone and I think it comes…
They never claimed nor hinted that the story was based on real events or true-to-life. ^_^
People are capable of creating stories. These stories may or may not appear to be similar to something that happened or happens in real life. However, it does not mean that they used those real life events/cases and created a fictional story out of it.
If it was inspired by, they will also mention it, especially in a country like South Korea where GenZ and Gen Alpha can destroy a show and the reputation of their actors.
Also, who said nothing like it, or something similar, happened in Korea or anywhere else? The show's premise that a child grew up as a psychopath is not new either. Psychopaths have high IQs, they either stay on the “good side” and use their genius for the good; or fall on the “evil side” and use their genius for evil (a.k.a. psychopath).
Then there is also the 'revenge' factor. There is nothing new about it, and it does happen in real life. The show was portraying how people who were deeply wronged might end up plotting revenge.
Why did they target their children? YJ said it himself, they should feel what he felt when they killed her sister (at least as per ep14, he thinks they killed his sister). People are capable of thinking that way, and there were those who did that.
In fact, probably the majority of the world population did it at least once in their life, enjoyed seeing the people who wronged them “had a taste of their own medicine”. If we can feel that for small things, all it takes is to push the wrong button for someone to do it similarly as portrayed in this show.
Also, it is a misconception that the best revenge is killing the person who wronged you. No. The best revenge is letting them live while watching the people they love pay for their crimes.
People on death rows? Probably half of them are happy. It's an easy way out for them. But give them a life sentence and let them know their loved ones, their children most especially, are paying for their crimes?
This is why in covert jobs, people without familial connections (and rarely make any relationships) are highly valuable. It is almost impossible to break them.
We can forget about YJ being a genius. His sister murdered. Tortured. And him being a very young kid when all of it happened, can easily drive him to that point of committing the ultimate revenge method: target their loved ones.
Him being a psychopath only added to it, and that psychopathy showed in how he killed his victims. A person who is not a psychopath would probably just kill them, or let them live but live suffering while their parents are watching. But, you know, parents would not feel the full impact of having your family member killed if their children are still alive, so maybe a non-psychopath will hide their children somewhere and make them appear murdered.
Maybe you're now thinking, “You are a psychopath! How can you think of those things! How can you justify it?!!”
I'm not “justifying” anything, I'm just explaining it, presenting different perspectives.
But then again, I am in the bottom end of the genius range… so… as they say there is a fine line between genius and psychopathy… that it is two sides of the same coin. Perhaps that's why I can make myself think in their shoes.
Even Aristotle said, “No great mind has existed without a touch of madness”.
Anyway, for me, it is good that they did not shy away from this type of story because the public needs to be aware how they treat children. Push the wrong buttons, a child might grow and think in ways most people can not imagine a human being can and will do.
And, well, the show established YJ is a genius, so there's that, we go back to the fine line between genius and psychopath.
1. The Playground memory #1 (SJ was pushed) and #2 (SJ with bandage) were YJ's memories not Sung Hoon's.
2. SH did turn SJ into YJ but it was not during the playground memory #2, it was a long process.
3. YJ is claiming SH betrayed him. Could it be that the entire plan was SH's idea?
Since things are not going in the direction SH want, he started to move on his own without informing YJ. SH turned everything against YJ, made him an escape goat.
If this is the case: a. Yu Na was killed by SH. b. SH “found” Yu Na first, so he can make sure she was still there and actually dead. c. SH was really the one who hit SJ on the head (yellow paint under his left shoe) d. When YJ pushed SJ, and lost memories, SH probably created the plan to make SJ become YJ, and for YJ to take on another kid's identity. This way, they can keep the real YJ hidden; while at the same time, keep SJ unstable (and silent). The real YJ was sent to the US.
Now that the real YJ feels betrayed, he's going to start a war with SH.
Then again, maybe SH saw how uncontrollable YJ is so he changed his plan?
4. Meanwhile, the reporter's ego might get him killed because he had to inform the suspects of his plan.
Seriously?! He just painted a huge target on himself. LOL.
5. I wonder, who is the Chef working for? YJ or SH?
YJ said he was not the one who stabbed SH. No doubt it was the Chef at this point. So, is he working for SH or YJ?
If the mysterious old lady will give Fake Seo Cheong a Golden Spoon of his own, how will it affect Fake Tae Young?
We still haven't got a clue if Fake Tae Young's “10 years” is over. As per the notebook: 1. First Chance, May 2011. 2. 30 days later, he used his Second Chance on June 2011. 3. It was June 2012 when he used his Third Chance (the 10 years).
They still haven't revealed what month in 2022 the story jumped into.
— If it's already after June 2022, it means Fake Tae Young is permanent. — Then Fake Seo Cheong using his own Golden Spoon to become Tae Young again… will work? — If Fake Tae Young's 10 years is not yet over, then Fake Seo Cheong's Golden Spoon should not work with Fake Tae Young.
Now, as for the “let's reveal each other's crimes” scene.
That was the best I've ever watched. The exchange were good. The dialogues were just right. The acting were perfect. It was not dragged on and wasn't lacking.
If you are familiar with board games like “Cluedo”, this was the epic version of it.
1. Yoon Jae said, “I'm just playing by the rules”.
This hints that it was all a game, a setup, and he's only one of the players in that game.
There are other players.
And, there is a gamemaster.
2. If Yoon Jae is simply playing by the rules…
Could it be it was not him who committed the murders… but the gamemaster?
3. The Japanese restaurant guy is still a big mystery.
Could he be the gamemaster?
Is it possible he was one of the kids, probably got out before the main kids arrived at the Center?
4. There was also a guy watching outside the restaurant of In Seong's mother when Yoon Jae pretended to be In Seong.
We did not see him in this episode.
Is he the real In Seong? If so, why is he not doing anything? Is he one of the players in the game, or the gamemaster?
5. In the preview of Episode 14, “lost memories” was mentioned again. This seems to be very important, and Sung Hoon seems to know how important and/or dangerous those memories are.
It was also still a mystery why Sung Hoon pushed Sung Joon when they were kids. It was as if he planned it and knew Sung Joon will lose his memories if his fall was about right.
6. Also recall that Sung Joon visited the Center and saw Yoon Jae. Then Sung Hoon said, “helped him first” (referring to Yoon Jae). After that, we were never shown about that memory. Something happened after that scene/memory.
Fake Tae Young is trying to set up fake Seung Cheon to have a better job and everything else so that when they…
Soon. He still has a few months left to his deadline. It's why fake Yeo Jin is so desperate to keep fake TY in line with her plans. And also why fake TY is rushing things.
1 
People are capable of creating stories. These stories may or may not appear to be similar to something that happened or happens in real life. However, it does not mean that they used those real life events/cases and created a fictional story out of it.
If it was inspired by, they will also mention it, especially in a country like South Korea where GenZ and Gen Alpha can destroy a show and the reputation of their actors.
Also, who said nothing like it, or something similar, happened in Korea or anywhere else? The show's premise that a child grew up as a psychopath is not new either. Psychopaths have high IQs, they either stay on the “good side” and use their genius for the good; or fall on the “evil side” and use their genius for evil (a.k.a. psychopath).
There is also a growing consensus that psychopathy “is chiefly a genetic or inherited condition” (c. https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-psychopath-and-a-sociopath-and-how-do-both-differ-from-narcissists ) (there are a lot of materials and papers about this accessible online), so YJ being a psychopath is do happens in real life.
Then there is also the 'revenge' factor. There is nothing new about it, and it does happen in real life. The show was portraying how people who were deeply wronged might end up plotting revenge.
Why did they target their children? YJ said it himself, they should feel what he felt when they killed her sister (at least as per ep14, he thinks they killed his sister). People are capable of thinking that way, and there were those who did that.
In fact, probably the majority of the world population did it at least once in their life, enjoyed seeing the people who wronged them “had a taste of their own medicine”. If we can feel that for small things, all it takes is to push the wrong button for someone to do it similarly as portrayed in this show.
Also, it is a misconception that the best revenge is killing the person who wronged you. No. The best revenge is letting them live while watching the people they love pay for their crimes.
People on death rows? Probably half of them are happy. It's an easy way out for them. But give them a life sentence and let them know their loved ones, their children most especially, are paying for their crimes?
This is why in covert jobs, people without familial connections (and rarely make any relationships) are highly valuable. It is almost impossible to break them.
We can forget about YJ being a genius. His sister murdered. Tortured. And him being a very young kid when all of it happened, can easily drive him to that point of committing the ultimate revenge method: target their loved ones.
Him being a psychopath only added to it, and that psychopathy showed in how he killed his victims. A person who is not a psychopath would probably just kill them, or let them live but live suffering while their parents are watching. But, you know, parents would not feel the full impact of having your family member killed if their children are still alive, so maybe a non-psychopath will hide their children somewhere and make them appear murdered.
Maybe you're now thinking, “You are a psychopath! How can you think of those things! How can you justify it?!!”
I'm not “justifying” anything, I'm just explaining it, presenting different perspectives.
But then again, I am in the bottom end of the genius range… so… as they say there is a fine line between genius and psychopathy… that it is two sides of the same coin. Perhaps that's why I can make myself think in their shoes.
Even Aristotle said, “No great mind has existed without a touch of madness”.
Anyway, for me, it is good that they did not shy away from this type of story because the public needs to be aware how they treat children. Push the wrong buttons, a child might grow and think in ways most people can not imagine a human being can and will do.
And, well, the show established YJ is a genius, so there's that, we go back to the fine line between genius and psychopath.
^_^
2. SH did turn SJ into YJ but it was not during the playground memory #2, it was a long process.
3. YJ is claiming SH betrayed him. Could it be that the entire plan was SH's idea?
Since things are not going in the direction SH want, he started to move on his own without informing YJ. SH turned everything against YJ, made him an escape goat.
If this is the case:
a. Yu Na was killed by SH.
b. SH “found” Yu Na first, so he can make sure she was still there and actually dead.
c. SH was really the one who hit SJ on the head (yellow paint under his left shoe)
d. When YJ pushed SJ, and lost memories, SH probably created the plan to make SJ become YJ, and for YJ to take on another kid's identity. This way, they can keep the real YJ hidden; while at the same time, keep SJ unstable (and silent). The real YJ was sent to the US.
Now that the real YJ feels betrayed, he's going to start a war with SH.
Then again, maybe SH saw how uncontrollable YJ is so he changed his plan?
4. Meanwhile, the reporter's ego might get him killed because he had to inform the suspects of his plan.
Seriously?! He just painted a huge target on himself. LOL.
5. I wonder, who is the Chef working for? YJ or SH?
YJ said he was not the one who stabbed SH. No doubt it was the Chef at this point. So, is he working for SH or YJ?
The scene where SJ was pushed was SH's memory. They were the only ones at the playground then.
Then SJ's only memory of being at the playground was after the accident, when SH told him a fake memory about YJ, and possibly gave him the necklace.
----
Charles was #4? I mean, was it established already? Because even Eun Ki asked him what he has to do with everyone.
So, I'm suspecting he actually was part of the abused kids and has taken on the identity of his brother to keep everyone off his trail.
If the mysterious old lady will give Fake Seo Cheong a Golden Spoon of his own, how will it affect Fake Tae Young?
We still haven't got a clue if Fake Tae Young's “10 years” is over. As per the notebook:
1. First Chance, May 2011.
2. 30 days later, he used his Second Chance on June 2011.
3. It was June 2012 when he used his Third Chance (the 10 years).
They still haven't revealed what month in 2022 the story jumped into.
— If it's already after June 2022, it means Fake Tae Young is permanent.
— Then Fake Seo Cheong using his own Golden Spoon to become Tae Young again… will work?
— If Fake Tae Young's 10 years is not yet over, then Fake Seo Cheong's Golden Spoon should not work with Fake Tae Young.
Only the Golden Spoon owner can remember all the details, not the target.
That was the best I've ever watched. The exchange were good. The dialogues were just right. The acting were perfect. It was not dragged on and wasn't lacking.
If you are familiar with board games like “Cluedo”, this was the epic version of it.
Superb!
1. Yoon Jae said, “I'm just playing by the rules”.
This hints that it was all a game, a setup, and he's only one of the players in that game.
There are other players.
And, there is a gamemaster.
2. If Yoon Jae is simply playing by the rules…
Could it be it was not him who committed the murders… but the gamemaster?
3. The Japanese restaurant guy is still a big mystery.
Could he be the gamemaster?
Is it possible he was one of the kids, probably got out before the main kids arrived at the Center?
4. There was also a guy watching outside the restaurant of In Seong's mother when Yoon Jae pretended to be In Seong.
We did not see him in this episode.
Is he the real In Seong? If so, why is he not doing anything? Is he one of the players in the game, or the gamemaster?
5. In the preview of Episode 14, “lost memories” was mentioned again. This seems to be very important, and Sung Hoon seems to know how important and/or dangerous those memories are.
It was also still a mystery why Sung Hoon pushed Sung Joon when they were kids. It was as if he planned it and knew Sung Joon will lose his memories if his fall was about right.
6. Also recall that Sung Joon visited the Center and saw Yoon Jae. Then Sung Hoon said, “helped him first” (referring to Yoon Jae). After that, we were never shown about that memory. Something happened after that scene/memory.
I hope they can protect themselves legally if they did not acquire a License to translate, sub, and re-upload the videos.
I think they also have English.
They will probably release the subtitles after the entire series ended.
Yeah, you can definitely skip episode 15 and save yourself from massive disappointment.
Actually, what episode 15? I don't know that.
At least that's how I'm seeing it currently.