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Hae-joon successfully rescued Joo-young’s life so the drama proceeds to focus on the second victim in the serial murder case. There was a reason as to why Hae-joon was hesitant in opening up to Yoon-young about the case and it’s up to Yoon-young to prove that she’s capable of handling the investigation and all the context that comes with it.

My Perfect Stranger Episode 7: An Overlapped Path

Yoon-young follows Hae-joon up to his office where he stores all his notes and information on the serial murder case investigation. She focuses on the three suspects listed on the wall and pretends as if she could handle the shocking information just fine. Hae-joon, on the other hand, is not okay and he’s thrown off by the addition of Yoo-seob as a potential suspect. He was going off the list of suspects that was compiled by the police but he never thought for a second that the list could have been wrong. He asks Yoon-young for some information about her uncle. What type of person is he? Yoon-young admits that she doesn’t know her uncle all that well. They’re not that close but they aren’t completely strangers either. She’s reminded of a particular moment back when she was in high school when her uncle barged into her bedroom and ripped all her belongings apart, including Mi-sook’s first novel Small Door. Since Yoon-young doesn’t have that much information and knowledge of her uncle, she and Hae-joon will just have to start from scratch.

So Hae-joon rushes over to Hee-seob’s house and discovers him leaving the house with a bag. Hae-joon pulls Hee-seob to the side and asks him a few questions. Whose blue cap is he wearing? Also, why did he suddenly show up to the inn that Joo-young was staying at on the night that he was at Bong Bong Teahouse? Hee-seob reluctantly admits that it was his brother, Yoo-seob, who told him to check if the lights were on on the second floor in the inn. He also shares that the blue cap belongs to his brother. Yoon-young sits not too far away and she listens in on their conversation. The two walk back home and Yoon-young attempts to break down the new hints to the investigation that they just learned. She assumes her uncle must be the culprit but Hae-joon warns her not to jump too far ahead. He also checks in with her on how she’s feeling. It’s okay for her to feel distressed given that this is her uncle they’re investigating. If he really is the culprit, that means that he went on to kill other victims. Yoon-young gives it some thought and it’s clear she has a lot on her mind. She primarily only cares about saving both her mom and Hae-joon so she’ll gather more information about her uncle and share it with Hae-joon.

While at the hospital, Hee-seob takes off his blue cap and throws it into the trash. A few seconds later, Mi-sook appears and grabs the blue cap from the same bin. She then greets her mother who works at the hospital and shows her mom the bag of clothes that she can change into. Hae-joon and Yoon-young continue to discuss the case and Hae-joon shares that the second victim was Yoon-young’s aunt, Kyung-ae. She was told that her aunt died at a young age because of her weak health but that wasn’t the truth. Similar to Joo-young, Hae-joon has a plan to save Kyung-ae. There’s a reason his house is located across from Soon-ae and Kyung-ae’s.

The next morning, Kyung-ae wakes up and heads outside to search for her dad’s secret stash of money hidden in the balcony. She reacts excitedly when she finds the envelope full of money and she celebrates by herself. Little does she know, Yoon-young and Hae-joon are watching her from their window across the street, haha. Soon-ae is saving up some money herself but she doesn’t have too much saved up just yet. The two housemates remind each other that Kyung-ae will be at Bong Bong Teahouse later on that night which was the night when she originally died. The two are determined to save Aunty Kyung-ae but wait, what about school? So Hae-joon and Yoon-young lie to Principal Yoon that Yoon-young’s sick with a fever and she’s excused from school for the day. Haha, you gotta love it. After speaking with Hae-joon on the phone, Principal Yoon goes back to talking with Detective Baek in his office. He hands Detective Baek some money to make up for what happened the other day with the fire incident. He also shares the news that his son, Yeon-woo, is coming back to Korea to visit.

During breakfast, Kyung-ae asks for some money from her parents to help her with her Miss Korea pageant. But Grandpa and Grandma aren’t the wealthiest and they don’t have $500 to spare. Soon-ae then brings up her request and she also wants some money for a math tutor. But similar to Kyung-ae, Grandpa and Grandma don’t have the extra money to support Soon-ae at the moment. However, Grandpa promises to give Soon-ae some extra money when he has the chance. Soon-ae’s mood is soured when she witnesses Grandma give some money to Oh-bok right before they leave for school. Wow, so much for not having any extra money.

Yoon-young and Hae-joon trail after Kyung-ae as she walks to school with her siblings. They stop once they discover Kyung-ae talking privately to Soon-ae and they listen in on the conversation. Kyung-ae confesses that their dad has no plans of sending Soon-ae to college so she should give up on asking for money for a math tutor. His two wishes are to support Oh-bok so he can go to college while Kyung-ae and Soon-ae are to marry off into a wealthy family. Upon learning the truth, Soon-ae grows heartbroken and dejected. She hands Kyung-ae the book with her savings inside and then walks away. Kyung-ae doesn’t feel all that good about how she reacted to Soon-ae.

Yoon-young and Hae-joon continue to follow Kyung-ae but they pause for a bit at the bridge upon witnessing Soon-ae sit by herself near the river. Hae-joon assumes Yoon-young must have wanted to spend some time with her mom but Yoon-young moves on. Her mother would have wanted her to follow after her aunt and save her life so the two proceed with their plan. They eventually find Kyung-ae calling someone on a payphone but they’re too far away to listen to her conversation. Yoon-young’s upset and disappointed in her grandpa for not allowing Soon-ae to go to college but Hae-joon assumes that her grandpa must not have known how Soon-ae felt. A few seconds later, a van with some men and women show up in front of Kyung-ae and they promise her that they’ll help her become Miss Korea if they’re given the $500 cash that she stole from her father. She hands the envelope over to the guy but begins to regret it a few minutes later and fights to get the envelope back. Kyung-ae gets into a fight with the leader of the group and she jumps into the van with her legs dangling outside dangerously. Yoon-young is unable to just sit back and watch despite Hae-joon’s warnings and she jumps out in front of the van to save her aunt. Hae-joon also gets involved and fights the other men in the van only to get some help from Yoo-seob who suddenly appears at the scene. At one point, Hae-joon notices that Yoo-seob’s movements seem similar to the stranger in the blue cap who he was chasing after on the night that he and Yoon-young was with Joo-young at the river. However, the thought slips through his mind and he continues to fight against the scammers. They end up defeating the scammers and the chaos concludes.

Hee-seob and Beom-ryong chat about Soon-ae at school. Beom-ryong’s curious about how Hee-seob knew who Soon-ae was and Hee-seob admits that she was his crush. But he pretends to be happy for Beom-ryong and his romantic relationship with Soon-ae. Beom-ryong jokes around with Hee-seob and teases the idea of letting Hee-seob date Soon-ae instead. While Hae-joon, Yoon-young, and Hee-seob wait for police to arrive, they capture some of the men involved and have a talk. Yoo-seob happened to just be passing by and saw what happened which was why he intervened. Hae-joon grows confused and thinks silently to himself on Yoo-seob’s surprise appearance. Did Yoo-seob intervene because of him or because of Kyung-ae? Was this supposed to happen or is this a new incident? Detective Baek arrives on the scene shortly afterwards and takes over. Yoon-young and Hae-joon run off to search for Kyung-ae and Yoo-seob who they notice have disappeared and they agree to act on their contingency plan. They separate for the time being and Hae-joon runs off somewhere alone.

Yoon-young is reminded of the conversation she had with Hae-joon while they were planning for this second case. During that interaction, Hae-joon’s nose started to bleed and Yoon-young learned that Hae-joon didn’t sleep much. But that wasn’t important to him; solving the serial murder case and finding out who the culprit is was what’s crucial. So is there really no other alternative or strategy to finding the culprit? It’s not as if Hae-joon can save everyone and even if he did, that doesn’t guarantee that he’ll live later on in 2022. But Hae-joon explains that the place he laid on when he died was so cold and it wasn’t fair for him to die after coincidentally running into the culprit. There were other victims out there and he wants to discover the truth to have the power to change his fate. That’s the responsibility that comes with hope. So Hae-joon and Yoon-young proceed with their plans and they separate to search for places that Yoo-seob could have visited. Yoon-young stops by Yoo-seob’s house and the Sun and Moon Record Shop that she previously found him in. On the other hand, Hae-joon stops by the locations of Kyung-ae and Joo-young’s original murder scenes but there are no bodies found. Though Hae-joon is unable to find Kyung-ae, there’s a part of him that is also slightly relieved that there aren’t any bodies at the original murder sites. It’s not too late.

So Yoon-young and Hae-joon reconvene after searching all day for Kyung-ae. They failed in finding Kyung-ae but they believe it’s not too late. But wait, what if Kyung-ae was doing something somewhere? They only searched at locations where a murder could have occurred but what about other locations? So Yoon-young and Hae-joon head over to Bong Bong Teahouse which was the last place that police officers noted Kyung-ae was located before she got murdered. And sure enough, when the two housemates arrive at the teahouse, they discover Kyung-ae inside singing in front of customers. But they aren’t in the clear just yet for Min-soo is also at the teahouse watching Kyung-ae sing. So Hae-joon and Yoon-young hide and sit at a table across the restaurant to spy on Min-soo carefully. Hae-joon elaborates that Mi-sook turned her brother into the police after confessing that she saw him murder a victim in-person which was how he got convicted. Surely, one of them must be lying and they’ll find out later on that night. But it seems as if Yoon-young has other plans for she spots her mom walking outside with Beom-ryong and she grows concerned especially after learning that Beom-ryong was one of the potential suspects. So she asks for Hae-joon to look after her aunt while she chases after her mother.

Beom-ryong drags Soon-ae to the same inn that Joo-young stayed at and wants to have some more fun with her before they break up for good. Soon-ae fears for her life and she shouts for help. That help arrives and Yoon-young attacks Beom-ryong first to protect her mother. Hee-seob also shows up to help the two ladies and he beats up his friend-now-turned-enemy so Soon-ae and Yoon-young take the chance to run away. Meanwhile, Min-soo follows Kyung-ae once their party at Bong Bong Teahouse wraps up. He approaches her at the bridge and wants to spend some more time with her but Kyung-ae makes it clear that she’s not interested. The two get into an altercation and Min-soo loses his balance and falls over the bridge. Hae-joon shows up shortly afterwards and he checks up on Min-soo who’s still alive. Since Min-soo’s hand is broken, Hae-joon concludes that he must not have killed anyone since the culprit who killed Joo-young and Kyung-ae tied them up with a rope. So Min-soo remains alive but injured and Hae-joon walks Kyung-ae back home.

On the way back home, Hae-joon remains honest with Kyung-ae. Her dreams of becoming Miss Korea landed her in trouble and she might not have the best chances at succeeding. But hey, she could become the Kim Wan Sun of their village. She’s a good dancer, she’s friendly, and she also has a good sense of fashion. Haha. She’s still young so there’s time to figure things out. Hae-joon also hands back the envelope full of Grandpa’s money that he managed to get back from the Miss Korea scammers. Kyung-ae is relieved to receive the money again and she happily gives it to Soon-ae to spend on her math tutor and tuition. When the two sisters reunite, they give each other a hug and make up. Yoon-young and Hae-joon watch the two sisters hang out and have fun later on that night in their bedroom. Their hearts are warmed and it seems like everything has been solved. Excepttt the peace doesn’t last for too long.

Hae-joon suddenly receives a phone call from Beom-ryong who notifies him that someone is dead. All he can repeat is that the person is dead and that her “death” ended up happening. This person is none other than student-teacher Joo-young who’s found dead and tied up at the river like how she originally died in the murder case. The person that Hae-joon tried so hard to protect and had thought he protected is no longer alive.

My Thoughts:

Wow, I feel like you never really have some time to just breathe and sit down. We watched as Yoon-young and Hae-joon successfully worked together to protect Aunty Kyung-ae from getting killed and so you thought they were good. You thought that maybe since they saved both Joo-young and Kyung-ae’s lives that they could relax for just a tiny bit. But nope, it’s always one thing after another in this drama and you’re always on the edge of your seat. You can’t ever just sit back because you never know what’s going to happen.