I know we suspected that Ena’s psychologist, Lee Seungjoo, was a massive part of this story, but I honestly didn’t think she’d be the person we’ve been looking for this whole time. Though seeing as we still have another episode left, there’s a chance we might get some sort of last-minute surprise. But still, all the clues point to one answer. In episode 10, we get a rundown of some events that went down many years ago, which led to the construction of “The One City” building. While I was more suspicious of her partner, Hwang Inchan, I feel like the show will feel super dated if the end result is just that a person who went on to become a psychologist also became a killer because of some traumatic events from her past. It gives quite a disappointing impression. I didn’t find the show all that impressive so far either. I loved the idea of the puzzle pieces, but did it actually give the police any hints? Or were they clutching at straws until the answers just came to them on their own? Anyway, I won’t bore you with my thoughts, let’s jump straight into episode 10 of Nine Puzzles.
Spoiler Alert
Who Calls the Police?
We already know that the man at the hospital died at the end of episode 9, and they couldn’t save another person. The puzzles have been publicized, so Ena is expecting tips, but if they don’t act soon, they’ll be dealing with nine puzzle pieces and no killer. Ena visits the news channel and gets the puzzle piece that was delivered there. The duo do their own investigation, trying to connect the dots between Jungho and the possible murderer. After a lot of here and there, Ena goes to the clinic and looks for Dr. Hwang. She specifically asks the receptionist if he was around 2 days earlier and learns that the clinic was closed until the previous day. This makes her even more suspicious of him. But to add to this, she walks into his room to snoop around a little bit again and finds a painting with the letter H on it. H for Hwang, presumably. Plus, the police learn that whoever killed these people also has some sort of medical background, which leads Ena and Hansaem to the same conclusion. However, Hwang himself makes a call to the Hangang Police Station and asks Hansaem how he’s sure that the person sending the puzzle pieces and the killer are the same person. This is quite confusing, but the police find Hwang through CCTV footage and bring him in for questioning soon after.
Ena quickly notices that the puzzle pieces have the H mark on them too, but she doesn’t think Hwang is the killer. In fact, she suspects it’s probably his best friend or a possible crush (only according to her), Seungjoo, her own psychiatrist. It hits her that she knows the most about her, the case, and the situation from the day she found her uncle’s body. So, naturally, Hwang made the puzzle pieces for Seungjoo.
What Happened To Seungjoo And Her Mom?
Hwang tells Ena and Hansaem that he didn’t know that his business partner was a stone-cold serial killer working under his nose all this time. They even live in the same house, which Ena visits and is shocked by how disordered it is. Hwang tells Ena that he’s different from other men because he’s gay, and Seungjoo was the only person who’s known this all this time. This is why he chose to work with her and live with her, because she was understanding of him and didn’t judge him for who he was. Soon after, the cops get a call that an assemblyman named Kim Muryong is missing. And of course, nobody can get ahold of Seungjoo.
Okay, I was stupid to suspect a female cop, I know, but she seemed a little bit odd in my defense. Anyway, it’s Nam Na-Ri who helps Ena have a breakthrough in understanding the case a bit more. Na-Ri tells Ena that Seungjoo told her once that she can’t go to amusement parks because her mother abandoned her at one when she was 7. Na-Ri had been shocked by the casual revelation but didn’t really make much of it. Back when she was 7, in 1995, she was called Lee Seol and went missing in Dream Land. Her mom ran a restaurant named Seojin in Shindonga. This is the last thing Jungho mentioned before dying. Now this is what happened to Seungjoo, so she never went back to her mom, and she essentially lived on as an orphan, but why would this make her want to kill all those people?
The restaurant happened to be on the same piece of land where “The One City” was meant to be constructed. Seol’s mom refused to shut down her restaurant or move because she believed her daughter would come back. By this time, 10 years had already passed since Seol went missing. Turns out Jungho used to work at the restaurant back in the day, and slowly but surely, all the people who have died so far show up to harass Seungjoo’s mother, and Jungho, too. She doesn’t budge, though. Chimok is the gangster who is sent to get her to abandon her place, and finally, they just end up burning the restaurant down with fireworks. The whole place burned down, and the police essentially did nothing because Yoon also made a deal with the guys who wanted the best spot near the Han River. The journalist made it seem like the restaurant owner herself burned the whole place down.
At the end of Nine Puzzles episode 10, Ena returns home defeated because she can’t figure out where Seungjoo could be, but she sees a shadow in the reflection on her window, similar to how she did all those years ago. This time, Seungjoo asks Ena if she’ll be able to turn around. It takes her a few seconds, but she does turn around almost as if she’s jolted. Finally, Ena will get all the answers she wants from the perpetrator herself. I wonder what made Seungjoo realize that she wants to avenge her mom, who she might’ve assumed had abandoned her all those years earlier.
