The Devastating Truth
Upon seeing Mo-Tak, episode 6 of The Uncanny Counter begins with the corrupt officers scrambling from the scene, leaving Chang-Gyu passed out on the ground. Ha-Na does her best to read his memories but he’s so drugged up she’s not able to do this properly. However, she does extract that Chang-Gyu is just the messenger boy; he has a brother called Hang-Gyu. This guy happens to be an executive at Taeshin Group. To figure out exactly who’s behind all this, they decide to use Chang-Gyu as bait to lure out his brother. Lo and behold, Hong-Gyu shows up right on cue as they watch from across the road. The next day, Mun heads out with his friends who discuss a crazy woman at the department store. Ju-Yeon casually brings up a curly-haired boy there who got involved but Mun quickly lies and tells them it wasn’t him. As he cycles away, the kids make it to Saewang Intersection which is obviously where Mun’s parents were killed on the road. Eventually they turn and head back in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Hong-Gyu heads into hospital to see his brother who can’t remember how he got there. One of his subordinates, Jae-Cheol, shows up and mentions how Mo-Tak was the one who knocked him out. Hong-Gyu is not happy, especially given he apparently gave the order to make sure Mo-Tak is dead in the past. Clearly this hasn’t come to fruition and he demands they bring Mo-Tak in. When they head back to the noodle bar, Mae-Ok is not happy and threatens to quit. That is, until Jang-Mul rocks up through the front door. While they talk, Mun starts researching more about the past and specifically how that links in with Hong-Gyu. Sifting through his father’s notebook, Mun finds various different notes and random words… but also a sim card too. Taking the sim, he uses it on his phone and sees camera footage of a group of cars traveling down a dark pathway. While the police investigate the brutal killing of the Chairman and try to work out the culprit, Sang-Pil is tasked with killing his own son, Cheong-Shin. He deliberates too, with the job that much harder when he shows compassion. When he holds the gun up to his son’s head, this pushes Cheong-Shin over the edge as the spirit lurking deep inside him controls Sang-Pil and turns the gun on himself. Despite pleading for his life, a solitary gunshot pierces the night’s sky. Mun returns to the Bar and feeds back what he’s found out so far, including Hong-Gyu and Chang-Gy’s family background and their ties to Taeshin. He’s sure there’s something fishy going on and convinces Mo-Tak to tag along to the police station to discover what. There, we learn that Kim Yeong-Nim was actually pregnant at the time of her death. They also discovered traces of animal blood and a male that has the blood type AB. Mun contemplates whether the pregnancy is why she was killed but Mo-Tak warns him not to get ahead of himself and make assumptions. Mun however, boasts that his intuitions as a “detective’s son” is what led him to this. Given how they’re investigating together, it’s clear that Mo-Tak is enjoying this time. Mo-Tak arrives before Detective Kim and passes along what she’s learned so far. Only, he notices strange footprints on the floor and begins looking around suspiciously. While he does, Mun notices Detective Kim and recognizes her from the past. She tried to interview Mun as a child after the accident but he was too distrait and grief-stricken to say anything. As she leaves the scene, Mo-Tak shows Mun the powdered glass foot prints and believes they’re on the hunt for an evil spirit. Afterwards, Mo-Tak sends a message over to Detective Kim, letting her know what they’ve found out (minus the evil spirit stuff) and what camera to check. As Mun wrestles with Mo-Tak over documents, he discovers printed stills of the car he believes Kim Yeong-Nim’s corpse was abandoned in. As we soon find out, this mirrors the footage that Mun has… which leads him to realize the truth about his parents. Mun lashes out at Mo-Tak given he hid the truth from him about the murders. Mun’s world completely crumbles around him as he begins crying and demands the truth. Now he hears it from Mo-Tak’s mouth that his parents were murdered. Unable to handle this, Mun bolts from the shop and phones Ung-Min and Ju-Yeon, needing help to try and unlock his memories of the car crash. The next day, the Counters try their best to get through to Mum but fail to do so. Instead, Mae-Ok pitches the idea of going to Yung and getting the spirits involved to help. Ha-Na heads over to Mun’s house though but his grandfather comes out… prompting Mun to call Ha-Na his girlfriend. It’s a pretty funny scene, one that sees awkwardness ensue between Mun and his grandparents as they ask him to keep the door ajar while they talk. Ha-Na shuts the door anyway but it’s a funny moment nonetheless. Handing over the drawings from the past, Ha-Na tries to help Mun remember the past. However, they’re not alone though as Mae-Ok and Mo-Tak make it to see Wigen. It turns out Mun’s parents never ascended to the higher plain. This means they’re either roaming in the netherworld or have become evil spirits. The third (and worst) possibility is that they could have been eaten by an evil spirit. Mun and Ha-Na hold hands while accessing the former’s memories from the past. There, they find themselves in the car during the exact moments of the car accident. It’s a harrowing scene and one that sees Mun relive all the painful sequences before his Mum and Dad pass away. He even sees the exact moment their spirits leave their body and float away. Inside the truck, a masked man steps out and approaches the car. Mun sees the ugly truth that his parents’ souls were swallowed by Cheong-Shin, the same spirit that Ha-Na she fought in the first episode – and the one who killed Cheol-Jung. Now Ha-Na sees this too and worse, the spirit somehow controls this vision and begins to stalk toward her. Mun struggles to control his anger and launches himself at the spirit. As he grabs Mun by the throat, his younger self wakes up in the car.
The Episode Review
What a dramatic episode! Hats off to Joe Byeong-Gyu though, he puts on a heck of a performance here as Mun and you can really feel his pain as he discovers the truth about his parents. It’s good to see a bit of the father/son vibes going on between Mo-Tak and Mun too. It’s clear the elder has affection for this kid as he enthusiastically starts getting into the groove of investigating – at least until Mun discovers the truth. It seems likely now that Cheong-Shin is going to be the big bad of the series, more so than the Taeshin Group which are still here but nowhere near as interesting as what’s happening with Mun and his parents. Still, the series leaves the door wide open for the future and this series has just kicked things up a gear!
