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The truth is revealed and now we move on to the aftermath. Are things really as they seem? Is the work finally done? What happens once everything concludes? Most importantly, will Hae-joon and Yoon-young be able to return to where they came from?

My Perfect Stranger Episode 15: The Reason You Can’t Leave

The episode starts off by showing Yeon-woo committing the murders of Joo-young, Beom-ryong, and Kyung-ae. He indeed was the culprit, having written the notes hidden inside of the Bong Bong Teahouse match boxes and killing the victims. He attempts to escape the 1987 world by driving the red time-traveling car through the traveling tunnel but his plan is interrupted by Hae-joon. Hae-joon stops his dad just in time but he gets injured after dodging the car. Yeon-woo approaches an injured Hae-joon lying on the ground and takes his anger out on his son. All Hae-joon can see are memories of him and his dad when he was younger as well as his dad with Principal Yoon.

Yoon-young returns to the neighborhood in search of Hae-joon. Instead, she discovers Mi-sook who also showed up to Hae-joon’s house and it is in that moment that Mi-sook shares with Yoon-young who the culprit was. It was none other than Yeon-woo. And sure enough, Yoon-young sees that the red time-traveling car is gone. Upon learning the news, Yoon-young runs across town to the time-traveling tunnel. She bumps into Detective Baek along the way and they both make it to the tunnel just in time. They witness Yeon-woo beating Hae-joon – similar to the way that Yeon-woo would kill Hae-joon in 2022 – and Detective Baek shoots Yeon-woo’s arm before he causes any more harm.

The next day, Detective Baek delivers the news to Principal Yoon about Yeon-woo’s arrest and he and his colleagues investigate Principal Yoon’s house to seize any items that could be used as evidence. Principal Yoon stops by the hospital to visit an unconscious Hae-joon who was beaten by Yeon-woo. While he’s inside, baffled and confused by everything, Yoon-young and Detective Baek sit outside of Hae-joon’s hospital room. Yoon-young thought that everything would be over once the culprit was caught but it seems as if all of this is never-ending for Hae-joon.

Detective Baek walks Principal Yoon out of the hospital but Principal Yoon still can’t believe that his son was the one behind it all. How could Yeon-woo have killed the victims when Principal Yoon picked his son up from the airport after the victims had died? But Detective Baek notes that Yeon-woo actually arrived way earlier than Principal Yoon thought. Yeon-woo’s passport shows proof of that. During an interrogation with Detective Baek, Yeon-woo grows confident that the police won’t find anything on him. They don’t have any concrete evidence that he was the one who committed the murders so they won’t be able to do anything to him for now.

Fortunately, Hae-joon wakes up and he finds Yoon-young sitting by his hospital bed waiting for him. After receiving an update on Yeon-woo’s arrest, Hae-joon apologizes to Yoon-young. He feels guilty for the actions of his father who killed one of his family members. But Yoon-young comforts Hae-joon and notes that none of this is his fault nor hers. He shouldn’t feel sorry or guilty for something that his father did. Yoon-young will always care for and appreciate Hae-joon for who he is.

Later on that night, Detective Baek visits Hae-joon and Yoon-young at the hospital after his interrogation with Yeon-woo. They still need concrete evidence to prove that Yeon-woo was the killer since he got rid of any traces of evidence. So Hae-joon suggests that they try to find a way to compare Yeon-woo’s handwriting to the notes found inside the Bong Bong Teahouse match boxes. Speaking of handwriting, Chung-Ah visits Principal Yoon at his house and shows him a bunch of letters that Yeon-woo wrote to her when he used to live in the U.S. She at first thought the letters were romantic but things turned serious when the murders happened and police came to visit her at her teahouse. She never told the police the truth about Yeon-woo’s handwriting and letters because well.. She’s pregnant. She wanted to protect her baby.

Back at the hospital, Detective Baek, Hae-joon, and Yoon-young strategize and come up with a plan to find Chung-Ah. Since she was the one who told Hae-joon the truth about Yeon-woo, maybe she knows more and can give additional information. So Yoon-young embarks on a mission to find Chung-Ah. She pays a visit to Grandpa to inquire for more information and Grandpa shares his account of his last interaction with Chung-Ah. She had been waiting outside of the family store for the bus and sat alone for a while. But since the interaction was short-lived, Grandpa doesn’t have any recollection of which bus she took or where she went. After talking about Chung-Ah, Yoon-young checks in with her grandpa to ask him how he’s feeling. Grandpa feels relieved that the culprit has finally been arrested. No one else will have to experience the pain and hurt that he and family did. He’s thankful for Hae-joon for all his hard work and effort into capturing the culprit 🙁

Hae-joon puts a few puzzle pieces together and he recalls a childhood memory of Principal Yoon taking away a letter that his dad wrote for him. It then clicks to him that his grandpa knew about Yeon-woo’s handwriting and letters all along so Hae-joon embarks on his own personal mission to Principal Yoon’s house. And sure enough, Principal Yoon is seen burning Yeon-woo’s letters to Chung-Ah outside his house. Hae-joon arrives just in time to scold his grandpa for his actions and to grab the few remaining letters left. Principal Yoon vows that he’s doing all of this for Hae-joon’s sake but Hae-joon doesn’t buy into it. His grandpa originally swept everything under the rug to protect his son and he mistreated Hae-joon for all of Hae-joon’s life. Hae-joon knows the truth. None of what Principal Yoon is doing is for him.

Hae-joon stops by the police station to drop off the letters to Detective Baek. He then heads back to the hospital to reunite with Yoon-young and he expresses his wish to be discharged. He wants to go back home. So he and Yoon-young walk back home together and Yoon-young updates him on the information she got from her grandpa about Chung-Ah. During Grandpa’s last interaction with Chung-Ah, she seemed stuck and uncertain about leaving. She was also holding onto some baby socks that she knitted herself and it seemed like she was hesitant on leaving the village. Yoon-young ponders over whether she should continue to investigate Chung-Ah’s whereabouts but Hae-joon declines the idea. He’s okay with not knowing.

Detective Baek gives an update on Yeon-woo’s arrest to the news media while the rest of the villagers convene to talk about the situation. They’re relieved at the news of the culprit getting arrested but they also admit that they’re shocked at how it ended up being Principal Yoon’s son. That night, Hae-joon and Yoon-young briefly watch the news report and then walk back home together. It seems as if their work in the 1987 world is done for now. They’ve successfully captured the culprit and the red time-traveling car is now working again. They should return to the future to see how things have changed. So the two agree to leave the next night. They’ll have some time to say goodbye to family members.

So Yoon-young spends some time with her dad, Hee-seob, the next day. She buys him the special guitar that he had been eyeing as a gift and though the two bicker over the purchase, it’s clear that Hee-seob appreciates it. Afterwards, the father and daughter sit down to talk about the guitar. Yoon-young admits that she did it to bribe Hee-seob. In exchange for the guitar, he should treat Soon-ae better and be good to her and stay next to her for a long time. Yoon-young hopes to be able to see both Hee-seob and Soon-ae together again sometime in the future, although it may take a little while longer for Hee-seob to eventually reach her. Hee-seob grows confused at Yoon-young’s words but she doesn’t elaborate any further. The two go their own ways and Yoon-young watches as her father walks away with his new guitar. She voices,

Dad, make sure to live happily with Mom this time. Don’t get sick. Do whatever you want in life without getting hurt.

Hae-joon is granted some time alone with Yeon-woo to interrogate him. He’s curious as to why Yeon-woo killed him. So the episode throws it back to when Yeon-woo discovered Hae-joon’s office room with notes and documents on the serial murder case. It was also at that moment that he discovered the owner’s manual for the time-traveling car. He assumes Hae-joon returned to 1987 to get revenge on him for killing him but that’s not it. Hae-joon’s also curious about the love letters that Yeon-woo wrote for Chung-Ah. He knew there was a chance he could have gotten caught at any point if Chung-Ah turned him in since the love letters could be used as evidence. So why did he let Chung-Ah go? Yeon-woo admits that he loved Chung-Ah. He held out the hope that she would be different from the dreadful woman who he hated and resented growing up: his mother. His mom never paid any attention to him and neglected him starting from when he was a young child. She was always busy reading books and she decided to suddenly leave him when he was barely seven years old. Just like with the victims from the village, Yeon-woo murdered his own mother. He vowed to have a family different from the one he grew up with and his relationship with Chung-Ah would allow him to do that. Hae-joon is thankful that his mom, Chung-Ah, was able to get away from a monster like Yeon-woo. He goes on to confess that he’s Yeon-woo’s son and he even shows a photo of them together as proof that they’re family. Yeon-woo is in disbelief at the bombshell news but it’s clear that Hae-joon holds no love or affection for his father.

So the farewells continue and it’s Hae-joon’s turn to say goodbye to Soon-ae’s family. While walking back home, Uncle Oh-bok, Grandma, and Grandpa approach Hae-joon and give him hugs. They thank him for all his help and they’re curious as to where he’s moving next. Of course, since Hae-joon and Yoon-young are returning to the future, Hae-joon doesn’t have an exact location or timeline. But he hopes to be able to see them again and he vows to come back and visit. Inside the house, Yoon-young spends some time with her mom and they both shed some tears as they bid farewell. Soon-ae’s worried about Yoon-young’s departure but Yoon-young reassures her that they’ll see each other again. In 34 years. She voices,

By that time, you might look different than now but I love that face too. That face.. I miss it a lot. I’m so glad I was able to come here. I was able to meet this version of you and have you back in my life. And I’m so glad.

Soon-ae is also glad to have met Yoon-young and the mother-daughter pair give each other a hug while they cry their hearts out (omg I’m crying tooooo).

Once the farewells conclude, Yoon-young and Hae-joon hop into the red time-traveling car and drive to the time-traveling tunnel. During the drive, Yoon-young checks in with Hae-joon about his family. Wouldn’t he want to see his grandpa or mother one last time too? But Hae-joon is content with the amount of time he had with them and he’s okay with not saying bye to them one last time. So with that, Hae-joon turns the system inside the vehicle to the year 2021 and they drive through the tunnel. When they arrive on the other side of the tunnel, they assume they must have done it. But a few seconds in and they realize that they actually didn’t when one of the village neighbors greets Hae-joon as “Mr. Yoon” upon seeing him in the car, indicating that he’s still playing the role of a teacher in the village.  And so Hae-joon and Yoon-young slowly come to terms with the fact that their time-traveling attempt failed on June 14, 1987 at 10:40pm and that maybe it was their fate to be trapped in the 1987 universe forever. All Hae-joon and Yoon-young can do is look at each other, speechless.

My Thoughts:

Commentary for this episode will be combined with the commentary for episode 16 :]