Secret Forest (Stranger / Forest of Secrets / Bimilui Soop / 비밀의 숲)

ALL CHARACTERS, ORGANIZATIONS, PLACE NAMES AND CASES IN THIS DRAMA ARE FICTITIOUS.

Thank you for your help.

Not a problem at all.

How did we run into each other right there?

By the way,

has Eun-soo been craving gangjeong again?

She's been talking about it for a few days,

but I didn't really pay any attention.

I should be more attentive to my one and only child.

She only likes dishes that require a lot of work.

This year must be a lucky year for us.

You finally got to clear yourself of the false accusation.

Goodness.

Now, I just hope that things go well for Eun-soo.

She's doing great.

She should meet someone.

I really want to find her a nice guy.

That's all I wish for.

What are you talking about? Times have changed.

My gosh, look at you.

She's too good for anyone, right?

You're such a doting dad.

You know expressions like that?

Of course I do. I'm still young.

And you're old.

I came here just in case Ga-young might be here,

but it didn't look like anyone was inside.

As I was leaving,

I ran into the tenant

on the stairs.

At the time, I didn't know who she was,

so I was just going to leave,

but I heard a scream coming from downstairs all of a sudden.

So I came in and...

Judging from the murder weapon, it looks like the same killer's doing.

Have you found any belongings of the victim?

No, nothing.

Neither her purse nor her phone has been found.

Ms. Young must have a transit pass.

Please go through the usage history and find out where she's been.

Will you go to the autopsy room?

You have to track down where Ga-young is.

How can he be like that?

Even I feel sick to my stomach.

Did he actually work with her?

He didn't even hesitate to call her a victim.

NATIONAL FORENSIC SERVICE

-There's blood. Please don't step on it. -Okay.

Are you saying it's been diluted with water?

Was it dropped after he tried to wash it off?

You need to tell us what you saw.

Please stop crying and tell us, okay?

I heard there's some at the stairway as well.

Don't you think it's a bit odd?

He must've been in a big rush this time.

Or...

Stop touching that, please!

What is the matter with you? You know that he's in complete shock now.

Mr. Yoon, I'll take you home.

It's okay.

I'm sorry.

You two are such loyal friends.

Don't you think it's strange?

How can he touch the body when he works in the prosecution?

He must've been stunned.

Wouldn't you do the same if you found me dead on the floor?

What?

Gosh.

God, he completely ruined the damn scene.

What should we do to catch that son of a bitch?

We're ready.

You said she was your colleague. Will you be all right?

Please begin.

Okay.

No...

Not now.

Please...

-Brief me. -Yes, sir.

The first person who found the body is the new tenant who is

renting the apartment Ga-young used to live.

It looks like the victim was already dead when she was found.

Getting stabbed in the stomach and neck must be

the cause of death.

Have a look at this too. A contusion was found on the back of her head.

That looks similar to the wound Ga-young had.

Did he hit her head and make her pass out before stabbing her?

Judging from the dent, she was probably unconscious.

If she was conscious and resisted,

the blood spatter would look a lot more irregular.

And this kitchen knife has the same flower motif

as the ones found on the scenes of Moo-sung Park and Ga-young Kim's cases.

-Do you think there's seriality? -The consistency of the murder weapon

and the crime scene.

Ga-young was found at the previous victim Moo-sung Park's house.

The same goes for Ms. Young.

She was found where Ga-young used to live.

But the scene obviously wasn't cleaned up

like the other two were.

Blood was splattered all over the place,

and a significant amount of the victim's blood was found in the bathroom as well.

The blood trail from the bathroom to the stairway was mixed with water.

The killer must've tried to wash the blood off in the bathroom and left the trail

on his way out.

The towel we found in the bathroom

had no blood stain on it.

If the killer didn't use the towel

after washing blood off of himself, some water could've dripped from him.

Don't you think this case is too different

from the other two to assume that it's serial?

What about the autopsy?

The contusion on her head wasn't the primary cause of death.

Other than that, there were no signs of resistance.

The cause of death is excessive blood loss due to a severed carotid artery.

The time of death is presumed to be about four to five hours

prior to the time of autopsy.

-Then it must've been between 5 and 7 p.m. -That's right.

I got the victim's transit pass usage history.

She always commuted to work by subway.

Only the day before and the day of the incident seem out of ordinary.

The rest shows her traveling home

from Western Seoul Prosecutors' Office and vice versa.

The day before the incident, she came to my place from Mr. Hwang's place,

then went home.

She must've walked to his place from her office.

Why did she go to his place and your place?

That day, she stopped by his place

to drop off mails for him.

-And we had a team dinner at my place. -Ms. Young!

-Welcome. -Hello.

What we need to focus on

is the fact

that Ms. Young saw this man

who sneaked into Mr. Hwang's place.

Who's this guy?

We don't know yet.

If he's the one who killed her,

he probably assumed that she saw his face.

Why did he sneak into the prosecutor's place?

Did he steal something?

No, nothing was stolen.

It was more like a warning.

Well, Mr. Hwang was the one

that stopped the weapon import.

What?

Are you saying the special investigation team was behind that?

Yes, sir.

Does that mean Hanjo, The Bahn or the Ministry of National Defense

gave him a warning?

Watch your mouth.

Don't make risky assumptions.

The last thing I see here from the day of the incident is that she took a taxi.

At 4:47 p.m., she got off at Haengdang-dong.

Anything else after this?

She lives in Haengdang-dong.

Was she killed there and moved to the scene after?

The culprit must have

abducted her around her place.

All right, everyone. A prosecutor has been killed.

Whether this is a copycat murder or a serial case, all of you must know

what kind of stir it will cause.

-Yes, sir. -You must find something before dawn.

-Yes, sir. -Yes, sir.

Understood, sir.

PROSECUTOR EUN-SOO YOUNG

Thank you for your hard work.

I'm sorry that this happened

immediately after your promotion.

Please do your best.

See you later.

I need to talk to you.

What is it?

Have you seen Si-mok?

He went straight to the autopsy room from the scene.

The autopsy was completed hours ago. Why can't I get a hold of him?

I'll try calling him now.

He's not picking up.

Okay, thank you.

I really don't want to see things like this anymore.

His medical history shows that he had insular cortex surgery. Did you know?

Insular cortex?

It's a part of the brain that activates emotions.

Simply put, it enables us to be human.

It controls things such as desires, likes and dislikes.

So what did they do to his insular cortex?

It looks like a part of it was removed.

It must've been because of pain.

Those with an overactive insular cortex

often can't tolerate stress caused by external stimuli.

Does that mean he fainted because of a recurrence?

No, that's not the case.

Insular cortex removal can make the person look apathetic.

There are also other mental side effects such as personality changes.

On the other hand,

relieving insular cortex from pain can activate it

and significantly enhance cognitive abilities.

I think what happened was a side effect of some sort.

Has he been in an extremely stressful situation lately?

No one can be completely devoid of emotion.

When you can't express your emotions,

they pile up inside of you without you even realizing it.