Catch The Ghost: Episode 6 Recap

Our heroine has always considered herself to be a lone wolf on her road to justice, free from any ties that might make her hesitate. But before she can stop herself, she finds herself getting attached to someone, wanting to rely on them. It is a realization that rocks her and she does everything she can to reverse the damage. Will our hero let her slip away, or will he be able to reach through her walls and pull her close to him before it's too late?

EPISODE 6

After some silly fun at the silent disco party, Ji-seok and Yoo-ryung shift to a pojangmacha for some drinks. They laugh over Ji-seok's various stories of catching petty criminals, free and uncaring for once. Suddenly, Ji-seok winces in pain from the cut on his lip, making Yoo-ryung's face fall. Noticing her expression, Ji-seok tries to cover it up by talking about his fall down the stairs again and immediately dives back into his stories.

Slightly tipsy, she looks at him animatedly chatting away and gets mesmerized, her world narrowing down to him. "Didn't it hurt?", she asks, her expression soft. She tells him that she knows about his fight with Won-tae.

Taken aback, Ji-seok stiffly fibs that he had wanted to fight him to find out who would be stronger. Except, he takes as many words as he can to explain this, trying to trivialize the whole thing. Yoo-ryung doesn't even bother listening to him till the end and takes something out from her bag.


Ji-seok freezes like a deer in headlights when Yoo-ryung gets up from her seat to sit close to him. She has medicine in her hands and reaches up to apply it on his lip. Ji-seok flinches at first, but then lets her do it. He cannot take it for long however and gently wraps his hand around hers to stop her. They stay like that for a bit, the moment trembling with hushed romantic tension.

Ji-seok takes her hand to his forehead, haltingly saying that he's also got a cut there, and the moment breaks. They laugh, the atmosphere between them going back to normal as Ji-seok cries out at the slightest of her touches on his wound and Yoo-ryung teases him for being a crybaby.

Afterwards, they take the first train back, hoping to check the first train rumor while they are at it. Ji-seok starts to tell Yoo-ryung to get some shut eye while he stays on the lookout, but finds her already out. He gently adjusts her into a more comfortable position and smiles.


He notices a suspicious looking man, dressed in full black with the only splash of color being a gold eagle printed on his hat. The man pinpoints a lone sleeping woman dressed in a short black dress. He surreptitiously steals her wallet and leaves the cabin. Ji-seok follows him.

Upon noticing him, the man stops, trying to look like an innocent passenger. Ji-seok shows him his ID and asks to check his bag. In return, the man pulls out a knife and charges at him. Ji-seok expertly dodges the attack but the man pushes a nearby woman at him, gaining a head start and running away. Ji-seok gives chase but gets tricked into leaving the train while the man stays inside. They stand face-to-face, the impenetrable glass separating them. Ji-seok slams the doors of the subway in frustration and the man cockily smiles at him as the train leaves.


Ji-seok calls Yoo-ryung who is still inside the train and tells her about the man, ordering her to get off at the next station with the victim. Yoo-ryung wants to catch him but Ji-seok yells at her not to. Petty thieves do not carry around knives because weapon possession increases the sentence. Neither did the man take any of the woman's jewelry when that is what thieves go for before wallets since people use cards instead of cash nowadays. Whatever the man is, he is definitely not just a petty thief.

He promises to catch the man and tells her to get off at the next stop again. Yoo-ryung seems to listen to him, but we see her take off her heels after cutting the call, a familiar determined look coming over her face.


At the next stop, Ji-seok nervously walks around the station, unable to see Yoo-ryung. Just as he's about to call her, we hear her voice call out to him. She did listen to him! She brags to him about how hard it was for her to hold back and Ji-seok, relieved, pats her head in reward. It makes Yoo-ryung smile broadly.

At the subway police station, they take the victim's statement and Officer Lee is assigned to check the CCTV footage for the man. Ji-seok calls Chief Gong (now disguised as an office worker) to get a list of all the complaints regarding petty thieves on the first train. Chief Gong knows about the man they are looking for and tells them that he only targets the first train after Club Day, matching him with the culprit in the rumors.


Ji-seok asks him if he checked the man's transportation card which would identify him but alas, the man always uses a single-ride card. Ji-seok tentatively asks him if he can meet all the victims.

The next we see them, Ji-seok and Yoo-ryung are speeding down the road in her pink scooter to meet the victims. Yoo-ryung wonders why Chief Gong is suddenly being so helpful towards them. Pfft, it's because he saw them at the silent disco party and pitied them.


The first victim they meet talks to them through a barely open door with the chain latch still on. Her body language is strangely fearful, unable to even look them in the eyes. She tells them that she remembers nothing about the thief. Only her wallet was stolen while her jewelry remained untouched. It is a story that is repeated by the victims after her as well.

They find the next victim's house empty and are learn from the neighbor that resident was none other than Avocado. They realize that she disappeared on the same day that her wallet was stolen.


On their way back, they theorize that the culprit of this case might be connected to the disappearance of women off the first train. Yoo-ryung's eyes take on a familiar glint as she says that they must investigate Avocado's disappearance. Ji-seok snaps her out of it and Yoo-ryung innocently widens her eyes to say that she is really only doing this to increase their arrest numbers. All for him. Really.

Ji-seok obviously doesn't believe her and tells her that a grown adult shouldn't lie. Yeah, look who's talking. Yoo-ryung reminds him about his promise to catch the culprit, regretting not having gone after the man herself. "I trusted your words", she pouts. Ji-seok says that he never said he won't investigate. Ma-ri's team is investigating the case so he'll ask them for information.

Ma-ri's team watches Avocado's last video and Ma-ri catches the split-second reflection of the culprit on a window. She tells them to send the video for analysis and get an estimate for the culprit's height by taking account that the window is roughly 1m above the floor. Her keen eye has everyone stare at her in amazement.


With only two months left until the deadline, Ji-seok worries over the Grasshopper case. The conversation is interrupted by a food delivery and the delivery guy turns out to be a part of the grasshoppers, a team of three young boys. He steals the case file on them from under the officers' noses and the grasshoppers pore over it to see how far the investigation's gone. It is clear that this is all a game for them, a crooked road to fame, as the "boss" of the group cribs over how their grand thievery was overshadowed on the search portals by the Subway Ghost.

Ma-ri overhears two members of her team talk behind her back about how her position isn't earned but bought. Ji-seok, arriving just then, defends her and says that she got the position because she is capable. He snaps at them to just admit they are jealous. Touched, Ma-ri looks at him with heartbroken longing in her eyes.

She rushes inside before she can be noticed, pretending to be poring over her cases when Ji-seok walks in. He looks at the mess on her desk and sighs in concern. He tells her about the man from the train and his possible connection to Avocado's case. Woo-hyuk arrives with the analyzed video and Ji-seok recognizes the man from the train. With how many wallets he's stolen, they realize that there might be more victims like Avocado.

Yoo-ryung studies the subway blueprints, looking for a way to get into the gated tunnel. She looks at the CCTV footage of the Subway Ghost and notices his shoulder tick, remembering having seen him after Won-tae had left her to die. We go back in time and see that she had actually talked to her sister in her final moments. In a raspy voice, her sister had moaned that her neck hurt a lot, how she couldn't breathe. Oh this is a nightmare. All Yoo-ryung could do was scream her name and cry as she stood on a subway platform.


She realizes that the Subway Ghost tried to kill her and storms into the guns and ammunition room. Taking a gun out, she fiercely vows to find him no matter what.

Ji-seok starts to leave to go back to his station, worried about having left Yoo-ryung all alone there. Trying to make him stay a bit longer, Ma-ri tells him to do a composite sketch of the suspect before leaving. Woo-hyuk protests, saying that it's 2am, and starts to tell her to just ask Ji-seok to meet again. One threatening hand on his shoulder later, he is more than happy to shut up and bring the sketch artist over.


We see the Subway Ghost dragging a suitcase behind him in the dark subway tunnel, his footsteps punctuated by the crush of gravel under his feet. He pauses and we flashback to another day when he had been doing the same. Though still shrouded in darkness, it seemed like he had been surprised by something in his suitcase. He had put it down and slowly opened it to find the bloodied body of Yoo-ryung's sister inside.

In the present, he opens the subway door and, bathed in red, lifts himself onto the platform.

Unable to wait any longer, Ji-seok promises to come back for the sketch early next morning, repeating that he is worried about Yoo-ryung. Ma-ri takes note of his usage of the word "worried".


Yoo-ryung takes the subway door key to head out, but the power goes out, having been turned off by the Subway Ghost. She hears the slowly approaching rumble and creak of wheels being dragged across the floor, accompanied by the heavy fall of his footsteps. It is absolutely terrifying and her fear increases the closer the sound gets. She tries to find her gun but is unable to do so in the pitch black darkness.

Suddenly, the sounds stop. With heavy breaths, she makes her way towards the office door and opens it midway. "Who are you?", she asks into the darkness. A gloved hand reaches for her neck and starts to choke her. We also see that Ji-seok has arrived at the subway and is running towards her, having seen the blackout.

Even though Yoo-ryung doesn't struggle, the gloved hand lets her go after a few seconds and retreats. She immediately closes the door and locks it, repeatedly telling herself that she has to catch him. But she is trembling too much with fear and cannot bring herself to move. Crying, she falls to the floor.


Ji-seok comes into the office a bit later, calling out for her. She doesn't seem to be anywhere in sight at first but then we hear someone answer him in a small voice. He turns to see her crouched in a ball next to the door. He asks after her, worried, but all Yoo-ryung can do is look at him with tears in her eyes. He notices her expression and asks if something happened. She buries her face in her arms and breaks down into sobs.

Later, Yoo-ryung is still in a daze as Ji-seok prepares her bed for her. He asks her if she is hiding something from him but Yoo-ryung lies that she is just scared of the dark. "Then I'm glad it's nothing serious", he says, smiling at her reassuringly. He brings over a small candle that he places between their beds. He notices her staring into the flame and tells her to wake him up if she gets scared.


The Subway Ghost removes Yoo-ryung's picture from his board. Crumpling it, he walks towards a large locked wooden box. Yoo-ryung looks at a sleeping Ji-seok, mentally apologizing to him. She blows out the candle, telling him that she needs to get stronger.

She retrieves her fallen gun and goes to the gated tunnel. She points her gun into the dark and screams as she asks the Subway Ghost why he didn't kill her. On her way back, she finds a torn piece of white fabric lying on the subway tracks.


The next morning, Ji-seok smiles and sweetly asks Yoo-ryung if she slept well, his eyes still heavy with sleep. Her response - "I want a new partner." That is enough to wake him right up and he has to ask her a few times if she really means she wants to change him, unable to believe it. Yoo-ryung tries to partner up with the other two but they stick themselves to each other, suddenly all lovey dovey, refusing to even look at her.

Soo-ho wonders if they fought last night and Ji-seok asks her if it's because he left her alone in the dark. She simply says that she doesn't think they fit well. The look of shock on Ji-seok's face can only be experienced, not narrated. She might as well have hit him with a 100 ton brick. He calls her inside their meeting room for a private chat while the other two try to eavesdrop on what is bound to be a juicy conversation.


Ji-seok, his eyes suspiciously going red, says that he had told her they weren't a good fit right from the start. The past month with her had been more exhausting than his entire two years here. Yoo-ryung says that is exactly they should separate, shocking Ji-seok even more. He asks her if that is something she should say after how hard he's worked to finally make them start to fit well together. She tells him that he doesn't have to work hard anymore. "Who can put up with you other than me in the Subway Police?!", he bursts out.

This time it is Yoo-ryung's turn to be offended and she asks him if he had been "putting up" with her this entire time. ROFLMAO this is like a lover's quarrel. Ji-seok tries to backtrack but she shouts that if he hated her then he should have just said so. OMG both of them look like they might cry any second (Ji-seok even sniffs). He dramatically monologues about how she used to say he was her seatbelt. "How could your feelings change so quickly? And overnight too!"


Our two officers outside wonder if they are talking about switching partners or breaking up. Me too, mate. Me too.

Trying to calm down, Ji-seok says that they should take some time to think about it, at least until Avocado's case is over. The mention of a case is like a switch and they immediately start discussing it. It's like the highly emotional conversation from before never even happened and it's back to the usual with them as they head out to investigate.


The Subway Ghost calls someone from a payphone and we cut to a woman receiving a call from someone who says that they found her lost wallet. Ji-seok and Yoo-ryung also come knocking on her door about her pickpocket report. She tells them that she's found her wallet and must have actually just lost it in the subway.

They go to the next pickpocket victim on their list and do not find her at home. It seems like she hasn't been home in a long while too. Soo-ho calls to tell them that the victim they are investigating is also the same - no one at home and out of contact with everyone ever since Club Day.

Yoo-ryung says this means that other than Avocado, there are two more people missing. She immediately takes out a knife and tries to break into the house. Ji-seok tries to literally snap her out of it (Red Sun! Red Sun!) since that constitutes as breaking and entering, but has to physically take the knife away from her in the end. He asks her if she is rebelling because she doesn't want to be his partner and walks away, making her follow him.


At the subway police station, Soo-ho and Officer Lee find the victims on CCTV footage after the day they were supposed to have gone missing, looking supposedly fine. Everyone is relieved that the first train rumor turned out to be false after all, but all the effort does feel wasted. Ma-ri and Woo-hyuk also make the same discovery and prepare to close the case.

However, our dear little Yoo-ryung cannot let it go this easily. She finds it weird that none of them have gone back to their homes ever since that day and wants to speak to the victims once. Ji-seok contests that they are not minors and are free to leave their house, but Yoo-ryung disregards everything he says and starts to head out.

Ji-seok stops her and asks her why she is reverting back to her previous habits and she retorts that always backing down while investigating is also an illness. He starts to deny it but remembers all the times he tried to send their cases over to another department. He narrows his eyes at her, wondering if that's why she doesn't want him as a partner anymore. He agrees to go with her to talk to one of the victims, Park Yoo-mi, in the morning.


They stake out at a convenience store that Yoo-mi frequents and have some noodles. A drop of the spicy soup gets into Yoo-ryung's eyes, stinging them. Ji-seok grabs her hand to take it away from her eyes and get a look at it, but she jerks her hand away and gets up, leaving him confused and a bit hurt.

Yoo-ryung comes across Yoo-mi and they relocate to a cafe. She is very jittery as she sits across from them, signs of extreme stress evident on her face and mannerism. She tells them that all the man did was steal her wallet and nothing else happened. Ji-seok notices her suddenly start to scratch the table with her nails, and gets up to give Ma-ri a call.

After the call, Ma-ri checks Avocado's CCTV footage from after Club Day and notices her freezing up whenever she gets close to a man.


Ji-seok and Yoo-ryung come to Ma-ri's office. Ji-seok goes in first while Yoo-ryung parks her scooter. He ends up taking the elevator with Woo-hyuk and asks him about when he loses all respect for his supervisor. He intuitively asks if Yoo-ryung said she doesn't like him, making Ji-seok's head snap towards him in surprise.

He admits that she said she doesn't like him as a partner. When Woo-hyuk notes that she only said "as a partner", Ji-seok is a bit too passionate in his exclamation that it's the same thing. Woo-hyuk tells him to not overreact and take it professionally. It takes Ji-seok mulling it over until they come out of the elevator to say that OF COURSE he takes it professionally. How else is he supposed to take it?

Yoo-ryung runs past him just then and takes Woo-hyuk aside for a talk. Ji-seok overhears Woo-hyuk worrying over her, his hand on her shoulder, and his face falls. They look intimate and he walks away without saying anything.


Yoo-ryung pushes Woo-hyuk's hands away, not wanting his concern. She tells him about the Subway Ghost's shoulder tick and even her run-in with him at the subway police station, hoping that it would help with their investigation. She hands him the piece of fabric she picked up from the tunnel and asks him to run an analysis on it. Finally, she asks him to keep all this a secret from Ma-ri, assuming that she won't be interested anyways.

Woo-hyuk asks her why she doesn't want Ji-seok as a partner anymore. When she says that she doesn't want her work to be ruined, he guesses that she likes him. In an attempt to emphatically deny it, she blurts out that it's because being with him keeps making her want to rely on him. Woo-hyuk asks her if she would like some help from him.


They go inside where Ji-seok and Ma-ri are discussing how they came to the conclusion on Avocado's case being one of sexual assault. Ma-ri was tipped off by Avocado's fearful behavior around men while Ji-seok was tipped off by Yoo-mi's obsession with removing a stain on the cafe table earlier. The stains remind them of themselves, since they feel like their bodies have been dirtied. They never went back to their homes as it would be difficult to go back to the place of the crime.

The culprit picked his victims from girls who go clubbing because he probably thought they deserved it, and would steal their wallets so as to get their addresses and check whether they live in multiplex studio apartments which are easier to break into.

Ji-seok and Ma-ri are like a well oiled machine as they discuss all this in rapid fire, even finishing each other's sentences. Woo-hyuk and Yoo-ryung can only silently listen to them. Ma-ri notices Yoo-ryung's unusual subdued demeanor and pointedly asks if she didn't know they used to be partners.


Yoo-ryung awkwardly says that it's no wonder they have such a good rapport. Ma-ri scoffs at that and asks Ji-seok how his rapport with Yoo-ryung is but he doesn't have anything to say. Ma-ri asks Woo-hyuk what kind of a relationship it is when only one person makes trouble while the other one is stuck cleaning up afterwards. It is supposed to be a taunt, but Woo-hyuk ruins her objective by saying that it means that the one cleaning up likes the other person a lot. Ji-seok doesn't say anything.

Stopping the conversation there, Ma-ri tells Woo-hyuk to categorize the case as a serial rape case and forward it to the Major Crimes team. Yoo-ryung objects to the transfer but Ma-ri tells her that they have other cases to solve, like the Subway Ghost case. She makes it a point to repeat information about the case to Yoo-ryung.

Yoo-ryung makes a comment about how she "left" it as a cold case for two years but Ji-seok defends Ma-ri on that. Ma-ri says that Yoo-ryung seems to have a lot of problems with the way she's handled the case. She tells her to let it all out now since she is ready to listen. Yoo-ryung looks at Ji-seok and keeps her mouth shut however.


Yoo-ryung gets up and declares that she will be meeting with the victims regardless but Ji-seok pushes her back down. Ma-ri makes a snide comment about how a person should at least be passionate if they are ignorant and starts to leave. She is stopped by the appearance of the Commissioner.

Having overheard their entire conversation, the Commissioner scolds Ma-ri about sending the case over to another team when it also falls under her jurisdiction. Ma-ri tries to say that they don't have much time until the Subway Ghost case's deadline but the Commissioner tells her that they are also still bound to investigate other cases as long as they wear their uniforms, especially rape cases. She tells the two teams to co-investigate the case together.


Outside, the Commissioner's shoulders fall as she worries about the very little time until the Subway Ghost's deadline, wondering if she tried too hard to look cool. She immediately puffs herself up again when the team of four come out of their room, declaring to herself that she will keep her principles even if she were to die the next day.

The new team of four gets into an elevator and Woo-hyuk breaks the silence by saying that they should switch partners since they are co-investigating. It would make sharing information between the two departments more efficient. He asks Yoo-ryung to be his partner and she immediately agrees.

Before he can control himself, Ji-seok angrily turns Woo-hyuk around to face him, surprising even himself. Yoo-ryung and Ji-seok look at each other, a world of upheaved emotions swirling in their eyes.

COMMENTS

This episode made me think more deeply about Yoo-ryung's real objective behind wanting to catch the Subway Ghost. Is it to bring him to justice and stop more murders? Or is it because she wants to face her sister's murderer, get some closure as to why she had to die, and maybe hopefully die at his hands after that? If the former had been the case, no matter how attached she became to Ji-seok, she would never let her emotions get the better of her and would have used him to help her solve the case faster. It's not like she doesn't know how capable he is. If she had been hiding her connection to the case from him just because she was scared he would kick her out of the team, she wouldn't be so uncaring about Ma-ri and Woo-hyuk knowing the truth when she has no reason to believe they would hide it from Ji-seok for her.

If the latter is her objective however, then her actions and her brashness start making much more sense. And this is where her feelings for Ji-seok come in. Her sister had been her only family, the only person she had had to go back to. After her death, she has lived with the single-minded purpose of wanting to come face-to-face with the murderer, and maybe dying after it because once she's achieved her objective, she has nothing else left to live for, everything else about her life having been burned away by the sheer tragedy of the murder. It would also serve as a kind of atonement for not having been able to save her sister. Then Ji-seok comes into her life and, for the first time, she has started to think about a life beyond her tragic circumstances. It no doubt makes her feel guilty, the hope making her scared. This is why she hides such a vital part of herself from him. Because if she were to open this part of herself up to him, she would never be able to kick him out of her heart again.


I have developed second lead syndrome. And no, it is not for Woo-hyuk. It is for Ma-ri. I do really like our main couple, but the history and angst that Ji-seok and Ma-ri have between them is also an undeniable draw. Not only that, it is clear they match each other perfectly on every level. Most importantly, they have a lot of respect and trust between them. In my opinion, that is the most important part of any relationship and that is the only thing missing between the main couple. They are great together but this aspect of their dynamic feels very one-sided, only present from Ji-seok's end. Despite everything that has happened, Yoo-ryung refuses to respect his opinions and none of her actions induce trust, something that is especially important in their line of work.

I do still like the romance of this show quite a lot. It is a best friends turned lovers type of deal and I am absolutely digging it. I also really love that, for once, the FL's life is in danger and she knows about it. In fact, it is the ML who is in the dark about it. The FL's actions may be reckless and stupid, but at least it is all based on her own decision. It is a welcome change from other such shows where the MLs go around acting like knights in shining armor and the FL is kept blissfully ignorant about how much danger she is in.

That one flashback of the Subway Ghost makes me wonder if all the murders after Yoo-ryung's sister had been in revenge of her death. His body language had seemed very surprised when he had opened the suitcase with the sister's body in it, as if he hadn't known what was in it. Maybe he is also autistic like her, judging from the shoulder tick, and maybe they had formed a bond, which led him on a bloody revenge path against the ones who killed her. It would also explain the huge difference in pattern between her murder and the rest of the Subway Ghost's murders.

Glossary:

Pojangmacha = They are highly popular tented street bars that can be found anywhere and everywhere in South Korea. Traditionally, pojangmachas only served Soju and other side dishes to go along with it, but have now grown to include a wide range of street foods as well. Soju still remains their primary serving and attraction however. These are unofficial businesses, opened by people who need more income but cannot afford to invest in a brick and mortar shop.