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Hae-joon and Yoon-young continue the work on the serial murder case. It hasn’t been easy but they’ve been able to do the best that they can with the information that they have. But what happens when the unexpected happens and the two dive into unknown territory? 

My Perfect Stranger Episode 12: A Man Who Doesn’t Exist

Yeon-woo grows suspicious of Hae-joon after finding a small box of matches in Hae-joon’s house. He addresses the issue with Hae-joon in the car garage but Hae-joon doesn’t panic. He’s rather curious as to why Yeon-woo talked to him instead of the police about the matches. He also defends himself and adds that he didn’t kill anyone. He’s innocent. Yeon-woo may not trust Hae-joon right now but if he continues to fix the car, he may have the chance to learn who Hae-joon is. Meanwhile, Detective Baek and his co-workers also stop by Min-soo’s house to search his room. Sure enough, there are small boxes of matches from Bong Bong Teahouse hidden everywhere. The only thing is: there aren’t any notes hidden inside the box.

After Yeon-woo leaves, Yoon-young checks in with Hae-joon. He seems dejected and down after the conversation with his dad so Yoon-young attempts to cheer her housemate up. She suggests they go for a walk so Hae-joon takes her up on the offer and they grab some air by the river. Yoon-young understands what Hae-joon must be going through; he’s been interacting with his family and parents more recently so he must be feeling conflicted about all of it. So Hae-joon shares some more details about his family to Yoon-young and she learns that his dad traveled back to the U.S. after his mom Chung-Ah disappeared. Hae-joon was left to live with his grandpa Principal Yoon who didn’t like him so much. Yoon-young assumes Hae-joon must have been lonely for most of his life but she reassures him that it doesn’t have to be that way for much longer. Because she feels differently about him. She thinks fondly of him and she wants him to be in her life (I WAS NOT EXPECTING THISSSS). Yoon-young goes on to share about the repetitive dream that she’s been having. In her dream, her parents are alive and well and happy but no matter how long and far she looks, she can’t find Hae-joon anywhere. Yoon-young doesn’t want to live in a world without Hae-joon; she wants to live in a future with him in it. Hae-joon is taken aback by the confession but a part of him also feels relieved. Because he also feels the same way about Yoon-young. So the two make their feelings for each other clear and they hug each other afterwards. There might not be a lot of time left to get down to the root of the investigation but for now, they’re going to enjoy their time together as much as possible.

Min-soo is arrested and dragged to the police station. Even though he’s intoxicated, he’s aware enough to ask for his sister’s whereabouts. Detective Baek talks with his team leader about Min-soo’s arrest. He finds it suspicious that there weren’t any hidden notes inside of the boxes of matches found in Min-soo’s bedroom. But since Mi-sook turned her brother in and she was a witness, the police aren’t going to think otherwise. Which family member would turn their brother into the police anyways, right? Detective Baek’s comments and observations are rejected.

When Yoon-young and Hae-joon arrive home from their night walk, they share another adorable moment. Hae-joon reassures Yoon-young that he won’t disappear and that they’ll accomplish what they were set out to do together. He also hopes that they’ll have fun together for a very long time. They hold hands for a few seconds until Yoon-young spots Soon-ae’s dad staring at them from the rooftop of his house, haha. Though he didn’t mean to, he has something that he wants to ask Hae-joon regarding Soon-ae’s achievement as a novelist. Hae-joon agrees that it’s a huge accomplishment and Grandpa should be proud of Soon-ae. Grandpa also shouldn’t feel guilty for feeling happy and proud of his daughter and Yoon-young supports Grandpa’s idea of supporting Soon-ae’s studies.

When Hae-joon and Yoon-young return inside the house, they go over their details about the serial murder case. Min-soo has been arrested but they doubt that it was all just Mi-sook’s doing. They also wish for another witness to come forward and share some details and information, such as Hae-kyung. So Hae-joon approaches Hae-kyung the next day at school and makes himself available to her. If there’s something she wants to tell him, she can. But Hae-kyung is stressed out and she doesn’t want to tell anyone anything. In the other classroom, Beom-ryong hands Hee-seob a small bow hair clip that originally belonged to Soon-ae and asks for him to give it back to her. He assumes that Soon-ae wouldn’t want to see him especially after their last interaction and Hee-seob reminds him that he can always change for the better.

Yoon-young bumps into Hae-kyung, Eun-ha, and Yu-ri in the hallway at school. Hae-kyung avoids eye contact with her and refuses to say anything. Speaking of Soon-ae, Hee-seob walks Soon-ae home. When they arrive in front of Soon-ae’s house, the two chat a bit and Hee-seob suggests that they go out and have some fun to get their minds off of things. But Soon-ae rather just go home; her mom is alone and she wants to be there with her mom. Soon-ae notices that her mom’s been stressed out and she’s worried about her. Grandma – who was outside near the front entrance doing some laundry – overhears Soon-ae’s comments about her and she hurries back inside the house. When Soon-ae reunites with her mom inside of the house just a few minutes later, Grandma pretends as if she just woke up from a nap so as to not make Soon-ae worried. Yoon-young also finds that a copy of her novel Small Door has arrived.

Yeon-woo embarks on an investigation of Hae-joon. He asks his dad, Principal Yoon, for information on the type of person Hae-joon is. Principal Yoon speaks highly of his grandson, saying that he has the amazing tendency and timing to save people in dangerous situations. To simply put it, he’s a hero.

While walking home that night, Hae-joon and Yoon-young receive a surprise visit from Hae-kyung. She finally asks to speak with Hae-joon privately so the two go to Bong Bong Teahouse to talk. Hae-kyung confesses that she originally wasn’t going to tell anyone anything in order to protect Mi-sook and honor her request but she lets it out. She was the one who brought Mi-sook to Min-soo on the night that he fell over the bridge at the river and injured his hand. So Hae-kyung did as Min-soo requested and she notified Mi-sook to save her brother. While the two friends were walking to Min-soo’s location, they spotted someone tying up Joo-young’s body. Hae-kyung glanced over but she didn’t stare long enough to catch who it was. Only Mi-sook was able to get a glimpse of the culprit’s face.

Hae-kyung argues that they should report the tragic event to the police but Mi-sook refuses. This is her one chance to frame Min-soo for the death and escape the violence and abuse that her brother has inflicted on her for a very long time. So Hae-kyung vowed to keep her mouth shut to protect Hae-kyung. After meeting with Hae-kyung, Hae-joon returns home and catches Yoon-young up on the information. Mi-sook wasn’t the culprit but an actual witness and she was the only person who saw the face of man who killed Joo-young.

Right at that moment, Hae-joon and Yoon-young receive a phone call from Beom-ryong. He’s terrified at the thought of Soon-ae because he fears that something bad must have happened to her. They saw each other earlier that day when he went up the mountains to return Joo-young’s ring at Joo-young’s grave site. He encountered Soon-ae who was also in the area to visit her sister’s grave. When he returned from his trip, he couldn’t find Soon-ae anywhere and he searched everywhere he could for her but failed to find her. Soon-ae isn’t home and the police won’t help either. So Hae-joon and Yoon-young set out to find Soon-ae. Yoon-young heads straight to Hee-seob’s house to update him on the situation and together they go to Detective Baek for some help. Soon-ae indeed has been kidnapped and she’s trapped inside of the same abandoned house where her sister was killed. She’s also tied up similarly to the way that Joo-young and Kyung-ae both were but manages to escape when Beom-ryong successfully finds her in the house. While Soon-ae runs for her life, Beom-ryong is left behind to defend himself and he unfortunately is killed by the man.

The man almost catches up to Soon-ae but she gets far enough to be found by Hae-joon first. So the man runs away but it doesn’t take long for Hae-joon to chase after him. Soon-ae is reunited with Yoon-young, Hee-seob, Detective Baek, and another police detective. While Detective Baek goes off to search for the culprit, Yoon-young, Hee-seob, and the police detective rush Soon-ae to the hospital. Hae-joon loses the man but senses that something else is wrong. He heads to the abandoned house where Soon-ae was kidnapped and finds a dead Beom-ryong laying inside. Hae-joon is horrified at the tragic sight because he knew how apologetic and sorry Beom-ryong felt towards Soon-ae. But he’s also alarmed by how eerily similar Beom-ryong’s death looks to the way he died on the frozen lake in the year 2022.

While Hae-joon freezes upon thinking about the fearful realization, he’s caught by Detective Baek who also arrives at the abandoned house. Detective Baek assumes it was Hae-joon who murdered Beom-ryong and he searches Hae-joon’s clothes for any clues or evidence. And sure enough, in one of Hae-joon’s pockets lies a small box of matches from Bong Bong Teahouse with a hidden note inside. So Detective Baek arrests Hae-joon after discovering the item and he takes Hae-joon with him. Yoon-young shows up just a few seconds later and she finds Hae-joon in handcuffs standing next to Detective Baek. The two don’t say a word to each other. Yoon-young is speechless and Hae-joon has nothing to say.

My Thoughts:

No commentary for this week’s episodes. Sorry everyone! Will hopefully provide commentary and thoughts for the remaining episodes :]