AH

I don't think anyone has mentioned him here before :)

Maybe one of the reasons he hasn't shown up in the drama is that HHJ was never officially engaged to that other man? It seemed like BSE heard that the families were planning to announce the engagement and asked HIA to confirm, which she did, but that it had not been made official yet and never ended up happening since BSE made the decision not to call off his marriage with HIA (as she requested) and to instead marry HHJ in HIA's place.

Please tag your comment as a spoiler to hide it under a spoiler cover :)

Based on the info we've seen in the drama so far, we can't rule out the possibility that Park Do Jae is the Master. That's why I only said that he "likely" isn't the Master. But there seems to be evidence that the kidnapper might be working with both Park Do Jae and someone else (and that "the Master" is the third person, not Park Do Jae).

In episode 3, the kidnapper delivered a bomb to the male lead's office. Park Do Jae was at the office and might have provided the location to the kidnapper so he knew exactly where to deliver the bomb (not just the address, but the exact floor and room). And when his colleague brought in the bomb, Park Do Jae was right next to him. Both he and Park Do Jae should have been hurt very badly, but they both survived and Park Do Jae seemed to realize what the pizza box was when his colleague went to open it. So it seems possible that Park Do Jae knew it was a bomb and reacted accordingly, which allowed him to save himself and his colleague from being more badly hurt.

Then, the next day, the Master texted the kidnapper about the bombing and told the kidnapper not to act alone again. The text conversation began with the Master texting an article about the bombing to the kidnapper, and the kidnapper responded "Did you see?". This all makes it seem like the Master didn't know about the bombing before or after it happened, and instead found out through the news the next day. Also, in the previous scene, Sim Gyu Jin (the real BSE's mother) is looking at the same article about the bombing on her phone and then she becomes very defensive when HHJ's mother tries to see what she's looking at. So it seems possible that she might be the Master. She would have access to the kind of technology that the kidnapper used (a phone with top-level encryption, a VPN and a voice changer) as well as access to criminals with advanced hacking knowledge that could be used to hack into HHJ's car, the police car, and the parking garage system. Like Park Do Jae, she also lost something precious and is holding a deep grudge.

The twins were orphans and grew up in the orphanage that has been mentioned several times in the drama. Several orphans from that orphanage went missing. We have now learned that those orphans were killed by the real BSE, who is the kidnapper, when he was a kid.

Park Do Jae and his older twin brother grew up in that orphanage, and his older twin brother was among the orphans who were killed by the real BSE.

The male lead (the replacement BSE) seems to have a fairly close and trusting professional relationship with Park Do Jae. The real BSE (the kidnapper) and his accomplice (the Master) likely decided it would be helpful to have a double agent by the male lead's side. So the real BSE and the Master likely used the real BSE's knowledge of what he did to Park Do Jae's twin brother to convince Park Do Jae that the male lead (the replacement BSE) was the one who killed Park Do Jae's twin brother so that Park Do Jae would work with them against the male lead. Park Do Jae wants to avenge his brother, but unfortunately it seems like he's been manipulated into working with the murderer instead of against him.

Thank you!

HIA didn't just stop the marriage because BSE isn't Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s biological son. If BSE had been Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s adopted son, but that fact was known to the world, then it may not have been an issue. But the fact that BSE was not Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s biological son was kept a closely guarded secret for decades. In the drama, HIA said that the world knew that Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong had a son, but before he turned 15 the world never saw him. Even Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s next door neighbours, the Hong family (including HIA), never saw the son. HIA realized that a major secret related to BSE's identity was being hidden, and she didn't want to marry into that situation.

Some of the details in the novel were a bit different... but not completely different, and it was very clear that HIA was afraid of the Baek family and the lengths that they would go to in order to keep BSE's true identity a secret.

The comment below includes a recap of some of the details we've learned about the Baek Family in the drama. It does not include spoilers from the novel that have not been revealed in the drama yet, but it does include spoilers from episode 9.

The Real BSE

We now know, with a very high degree of certainty, that the kidnapper is the real BSE, who is the real and legitimate son of Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong and his wife Sim Gyu Jin, as well as the real and legitimate grandson of Baek Jang Ho. The kidnapper has heterochromia (different coloured eyes) and his biological father (Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong) had heterochromia when he was young, before it was "corrected" through surgery. It seems that the male lead might not have been aware of the fact that Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong had that surgery (the Baek family secretary told HHJ that most people did not know about it), which is why the male lead didn’t realize that the kidnapper was the real BSE (Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s biological son) when HHJ told him that the kidnapper had heterochromia. The male lead only realized who the kidnapper was when the fisherman called the male lead's office and left a message saying, "he’s alive”.

The information about the surgery (as well as the information that the male lead is not Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong's biological son, and HIA's speculation that there may have been a biological son who was replaced by the male lead at the age of 15) allowed HHJ to realize that the kidnapper was Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong's biological son / the real BSE who was going after the male lead because he took over the real BSE's identity.

Baek Jang Ho (the grandfather) tried to drown the real BSE in the lake by the fisherman’s shack when the real BSE was a kid. Baek Jang Ho was not aware that he failed to kill the real BSE and he used the male lead to replace the real BSE. Meanwhile the real BSE lost his memories and his mental capacity was affected by the attempted drowning. He was raised by the fisherman, but his psychopathic tendencies remained and he ended up harming more people. Evidently his memories eventually returned, and now he (as well as the Master / Park Do Jae) is targeting the male lead, who took over his identity.


The Male Lead

Unlike the real BSE and Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong, the male lead was not born with heterochromia. Also, a DNA test proved that the male lead is not the biological son of Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong. So he cannot be the real BSE's twin brother.

The fisherman who raised the male lead told the male lead not to call the fisherman "father", so the male lead's father is very likely someone else. Baek Jang Ho visited the fisherman alone on other occasions before he brought the real BSE to the fisherman’s shack and later attempted to drown the real BSE (we know this because the male lead said to the fisherman that the old man came “again” and asked who the boy he brought with him that time was). Baek Jang Ho also told the male lead that there was a reason he never gave the male lead a name. This implies that Baek Jang Ho had known the male lead since the male lead was born. These details suggest that perhaps Baek Jang Ho had a younger mistress and the male lead is Baek Jang Ho’s secret, illegitimate son.

Note: If the male lead was Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s son, about 47.5% of his DNA would match with Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s DNA. If the male lead was Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s half brother, then somewhere in the range of 17% - 34% of his DNA would match with Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong’s DNA.

Source: https://customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-us/articles/212170668-Average-Percent-DNA-Shared-Between-Relatives


The Missing Orphans / The Twins / Park Do Jae

Baek Jang Ho told the male lead that his grandson (the real BSE) killed goldfish, then a cat, then kids who were younger than him. Baek Jang Ho also used the fisherman to take care of the bodies of those children so his grandson’s crimes would not come to light and ruin the Baek family's reputation. Later on, the male lead confirms that the kids who were murdered by the real BSE were the missing orphans who grew up at the children’s centre. Thanks to the reporter, we also find out that one of those victims was Park Do Jae’s older twin brother.

We learned that Park Do Jae is the younger twin brother of one of the missing orphans, and we saw that he kidnapped HHJ and drugged her. Based on the hand and sleeve of the person who pushed HHJ off the top of the mountain, it seemed like Park Do Jae was likely the one who pushed her. The kidnapper (the real BSE) got angry with the Master via text (this could be the pusher, presumably Park Do Jae, or someone behind the pusher) for pushing HHJ (or arranging for her to be pushed) and acting without him. The Master texted back that he or she wanted the male lead to feel the pain of losing something precious too.

Earlier in the drama, Park Do Jae also subtly made sure that the male lead picked up the first call from the kidnapper. Park Do Jae was also with the male lead / knew the male lead’s location when the bomb was delivered by the kidnapper to the male lead’s office after the male lead rejected a call from “406”. It also seems like the Master found out about the bombing later (the next day), and if that's the case then Park Do Jae is likely not the Master.

So it seems like Park Do Jae is working with the kidnapper (and the Master, if the Master is a third person) because he mistakenly thinks that the male lead was the one who killed his older twin brother (even though the killer was actually the real BSE / the kidnapper) and correctly thinks that Baek Jang Ho and the Baek family covered up the murders.


Ji Sang Woo

We already knew that JSW entered the Baek family's country house and witnessed the real BSE kill the cat that Baek Jang Ho mentioned when he and the real BSE were kids, that he grew up in the orphanage where some of the other orphans went missing, and that he wanted to find the culprit behind the murders and bring them to justice. In episode 9, we found out that: (1) the fisherman who raised both the male lead (before he replaced the real BSE) and the real BSE (after he lost his memories) did not know or recognize JSW, and JSW did not know or recognize him; (2) JSW learned that HHJ could speak thanks to the observations of the orphanage director; and (3) JSW was not one of the twins from the orphanage. We also saw that JSW risked his life to save the male lead and the fisherman from a fire. So it seems like JSW is not working with the kidnapper, the Master or Park Do Jae against the male lead.

Novel spoilers ahead, possibly?

You’re correct. That dynamic doesn’t exist in the novel.

I’d say let’s wait and see if she does love him or if her actions have a different motive. I’m honestly not sure how the drama is going to handle this point.

Novel spoilers ahead.

Yes, in the novel BJH uses the fisherman to raise his illegitimate son (the male lead) and he drowns his legitimate grandson (the real BSE) near the fisherman’s shack.

As far as I can recall, the novel didn’t mention anything about BJH using the fisherman to hide / dispose of bodies. It also doesn’t mention any twins or an orphanage.

The novel does mention that, after the male lead took over BSE’s identity / after the real BSE was drowned but survived, the real BSE lost his memories and was raised by the fisherman. But his psychological issues remained and he hurt more people and eventually went to jail for it.

One of the people that the real BSE hurt was Park Do Jae’s sister, who went missing. The Master and the kidnapper manipulated Park Do Jae into thinking that the male lead was the one who harmed her so that Park Do Jae would work with them against the male lead. Which is deeply tragic, because it meant that Park Do Jae was helping his sister’s murderer and taking revenge against someone (the male lead) who was basically one of the real BSE’s other victims.

It seemed like BSE was expecting the printed script that Mr. Kang gave him (the one that he would use for / at the climate event) to be delivered to him at the hospital, but he wasn’t expecting the office crew to come and deliver it personally to his hospital room.

Mr. Kang probably sent a message (or got Park Do Jae to send a message) to BSE to ask where the script should be delivered and BSE gave him the address of the hospital but not his hospital room number (hence why the team had to look through the door windows to try to figure out what room he was in) as he expected that the script would be dropped off at the hospital front desk and then the hospital would take care of getting the script to his room.

In case anyone was confused, Baek Jang Ho (the real BSE's grandfather) never drowned the male lead.

When he was a teen, the male lead saw BJH drowning the real BSE. After that, the male lead was forced to replace the real BSE, and he constantly had nightmares where *he* was being drowned by BJH in the way that the real BSE was drowned by BJH.

Yes, I’ve liked his character so far, and how he seems to genuinely be the ML’s friend, even though the ML can’t fully confide in him.

He has never had anyone care about and worry about him like that before (or at least, not in a very long time) and it looks like he’s realizing that and really touched by it. 🥺 💔

I’m sure he had friends and coworkers who cared about him to some extent, but not like this. BSE’s parents and grandfather certainly never cared about and worried about him like that. The fisherman was probably the closest, but he doesn’t seem like the type who would express his care and worries much. His way of showing care was probably mostly limited to actions like trying to protect him by stopping him from seeing BSE’s grandfather trying to commit murder (as we saw in episode 8).

I’m glad that, after HHJ got to feel his love and care over the past few episodes, he is now getting to feel her love and care too. 🥰

Yes. In the novel, the former King of Xiyan doesn’t give CX tea to force him to realize the consequences he would face if he plotted TSJ’s assassination. CX actually plots to enable TSH to kill TSJ, and for seven years it seemed like TSH had actually succeeded in killing TSJ. When XY found out what CX did, it caused a very serious rift between them.

After TSJ disappeared and was presumed dead, Xing Yue orchestrated two separate assassination attempts on XY’s life.

👍

That question is partly answered in the novel, but it might be handled differently in the drama.

Happy to share how that point was handled in the novel if you want. No worries if not.

Yep, same actor 👍

HHJ started pretending to be mute after the car crash when she was nine and BSE is a few years older than her so he was an early teen in the food exchange scene.

👍