Sae-ha informs Sun-wool of the convenience store murder case report, telling her about the unidentified disappearing woman. When Sun-wool scrolls down to the sketch of the accomplice, there’s a flicker of recognition in her eyes, and she looks clearly shaken. Having finally found the Ghost, the team springs into action, taking over the case from the police.
Sae-byuk heads to collect the results of the DNA analysis, where she’s told that there’s something odd about the accomplice’s DNA. Comparing it to bones, the DNA analyst says that it’s as if they’re all disconnected, and that a person couldn’t possibly be alive like that.
Outside, Sae-byuk rolls up her sleeve to reveal an odd scar on her forearm — the night of the altercation, the Ghost had touched Sae-byuk’s arm with a strange oval disc, leaving that mark.
Sae-ha and Eo-jin show up to collect the DNA results from Sae-byuk, but she refuses to cooperate. Ooh, it looks like there’s history between her and Eo-jin — speaking to him in banmal, she accuses him of being no different from the Administration Bureau, and asks how he could show up after years and demand her to do as he says.
Sae-ha finally manages to get through to her, and she hands the evidence over. He asks if she’s taken a look at it, and Eo-jin mutters under his breath to advise her to deny it. “I regret not taking a look,” Sae-byuk bites out.
It’s clear that whatever relationship Sae-byuk and Eo-jin had in the past ended on bad terms, yet there’s still mutual concern that runs below the surface. In a later scene, Sae-byuk asks Sae-ha why Eo-jin transferred, since he used to work for the department that oversees the Grid. Sae-ha points out that she should ask him herself, but she says that’s never going to happen.
Unfortunately, Sae-ha doesn’t manage to find anything, so he heads to Ma-nok’s abandoned clinic hideout. However, he’s not alone; someone’s hiding in the cabinet, and it looks like the Ghost. She tackles him when he flings open the door, and he pulls out a small pocket knife, pointing it defensively at her. Tears in his eyes, Sae-ha snarls that this must be easy for her, since she can just disappear like she did before.
However, she merely chuckles, tossing Sae-ha’s phone at him so he can shine his flashlight at her — it’s not the Ghost, it’s Sae-byuk! She dusts the grate of the air vent for fingerprints, threatening him that she won’t let him take this away from her too. Instead, he helps her bag the grate, and she points out that the accomplice must have removed them ahead of time to plan for Ma-nok’s escape, since the grates weren’t ripped out or broken in a rush.
Grumbling that her case report got deleted by the Administrative Bureau, Sae-byuk asks him how the investigation is going, but it’s clear from his silence that he doesn’t know anything. Sae-ha admits that he’ll be excluded — his team finds traces, but another team carries out the investigation. “It’s always been like that,” he says, which tips Sae-byuk off to the fact that they’ve been searching for the Ghost for a long time.
She points out that earlier, Sae-ha spoke as if he knew the ghost, which means he must have seen her disappear before. He denies it, but she clearly doesn’t believe him, scoffing as she walks away. She gets into her car, only for a message to pop up on her phone. Aw, Sae-ha sent her a copy of her case report that got deleted.
I love how smart and quick-witted Sae-byuk is — she catches on so fast, and even the slightest turn of phrase doesn’t slip by her. Her adeptness at reading between the lines is proving to be one of her greatest strengths, getting her much further in the investigation than Sae-ha expected. She’s such a capable investigator, and I can’t wait to see her team up with Sae-ha (and maybe the rest of the team too).
We get to see more of the Ghost this episode, but it only raises more questions. She seems to be keeping tabs on Ma-nok, though it’s not clear why. When Ma-nok steals an envelope of money straight out of a man’s pocket, the scene glitches, then resets itself. Ooh, looks like the Ghost can manipulate time! Ma-nok finds himself empty-handed, and the envelope is back in the man’s pocket.
Turning back, Ma-nok finds himself face-to-face with the Ghost. That frightens him so much that he falls to the ground before scrambling away, since he’d witnessed the Ghost disappearing in front of Sae-byuk that night.
Later, the Ghost orders five slices of cake at a cafe, tucking in happily. Haha, does she have a sweet tooth? Pulling out a flip phone, she scrolls through an article about an assemblyman accepting a bribe — except the article is dated June 19, 2022, and we’re still in October 2021. Curiouser and curiouser.
Fast forward to June 18, 2022, at 11pm. A man waits with a briefcase in his trunk, but when the assemblyman’s aide walks up to receive it, they suddenly find the trunk empty. Meanwhile, the Ghost relaxes in a luxurious apartment, the briefcase of money lying open on the couch next to her. Huh, I wonder if she’s protecting the assemblyman too. If she just wanted money, surely there are easier ways to get it?
In the Administrative Bureau, the seeds of discord are slowly being sown. Sun-wool informs the team that the Special Investigation Bureau will be taking over the case, leaving them out yet again. Eo-jin expresses his displeasure at this, but Sun-wool firmly puts him in his place — his job is to sit at his desk and search the web, nothing more.
Sae-ha is next to speak up, pointing out that she ought to tell them what their job is all about. How did she recognize the Ghost just from the composite sketch alone? “We’re people, not search engines,” Sae-ha implores. Impassive and impervious, Sun-wool responds that they ought to spend their time investigating the connection between the Ghost and the murderer.
She returns to her office cubicle, and Sae-ha follows her in to apologize to her. He grabs her hands in a show of zealous remorse, and after she leaves, he stares intently at the tumbler she’d been drinking from.
However, in the elevator, Sun-wool gets a text notification that someone entered her office twice during her absence. She quickly returns to the office, catching Sae-ha inside. Oh no!
Sae-ha’s proven himself to be clever and shrewd, so I don’t doubt his ability to cook up a plausible excuse for entering Sun-wool’s office. Still, she’s clearly a very cautious person, so getting on her suspicion radar in any form does not bode well.
On a side note, I like that Sae-ha has a wry sense of humor. When Eo-jin tries to take a jab at him for prioritizing getting off work and going home on time, Sae-ha merely responds that they need to go home in order to come to work the next day. Heh. We’re definitely going to need more sprinkles of humor like that as the show’s intensity ratchets up. And of course, I wouldn’t say no to more adorable smiles from our enigmatic Ghost!
