Netflix’s Korean thriller drama series The Price of Confession is centered around two women and a deadly deal they struck. An Yun-su was accused of murdering her husband, Lee Ki-dae. She was the one who’d made the emergency call after she apparently found Ki-dae lying in a pool of blood at his studio. The prosecutor was convinced that Yun-su was lying. He thought she was too relaxed and too good-natured, and there was something about her that bothered him. Yun-su never admitted to murdering her husband but, as a result of a lack of any other suspect and based on the limited evidence procured, she was sentenced to life imprisonment. Yun-su didn’t know how to prove her innocence. She drew the sketch of a woman in a black hood she had seen leaving the studio, but the prosecutor concluded that she was simply trying to distract them. Just when Yun-su had completely given up, Mo-eun walked into her life like a ray of hope. She was a prison inmate arrested for the cold-blooded murder of a couple. She detested them and didn’t hesitate to tell the media that they deserved to die. She used to work at the dental lab that the couple owned, and they’d been mistreating her for a while. So, she decided to poison them, and she stated she enjoyed watching them gasp for breath. The media had labelled her a psychopath, but Yun-su soon discovered that there was more to the story than what met the eyes.
Spoiler Alert
Who Was The Killer?
Towards the end, it’s revealed that it was Jin Young-in and his wife, Ms. Choi, who’d been involved in Ki-dae and Ko Se-hun’s murder. Well, Choi had murdered Ki-dae, and Young-in was responsible for Se-hun’s death. Why did the couple kill the artist and the young gamer? As it turned out, the motive was quite trivial—they were offended by Ki-dae’s rudeness, and that prompted Choi to repeatedly stab him. Young-in was a law professor, and he and his wife had donated a painting to the university gallery, and they had been soaking in the praises they received the entire evening, but that was before Ki-dae showed up. The director of the university always had Ki-dae evaluate the paintings that were donated to the gallery since he was an expert and could tell original from fake. Just a glance at the painting and Ki-dae knew it was plagiarized. He bluntly stated the truth and later told Young-in that it was part of his job and he must not take it to heart. Young-in and Choi couldn’t bear the embarrassment, and they harassed Ki-dae, threatening him to apologise. Ki-dae refused to entertain them, and then one day they ended up storming into his studio. When Ki-dae didn’t agree to ‘clear the misunderstanding,’ Choi grabbed hold of a wine bottle that was lying around and hit him in the head. She immediately got hold of a carving knife and repeatedly stabbed him in the neck. Choi explained to her husband she couldn’t allow him to insult them. Young-in cleaned up his wife’s mess. He validated her manic behavior, and they operated like a team. He used the etching solution to get rid of fingerprints and hid the original murder weapon and replaced it with another curving knife. Young-in was hiding in the room when Yun-su walked into the studio and found her husband. She had also seen Choi at the parking lot and had drawn a sketch for the cops, but they never cared to seriously consider it because they assumed they already had the killer.
Later, Young-in vouched to represent Mo-eun in court. Mo-eun and Yun-su were kept in solitary confinement when they spoke to each other through the crack in the wall. Mo-eun was ready to take the blame for her husband’s murder, but she expected Yun-su to murder someone in return. It was a dangerous deal, but Yun-su didn’t have a choice, so she agreed to it. Although Yun-su continued to be a suspect in her husband’s murder, she was released on bail under the condition that she would be constantly supervised via the ankle monitor. Yun-su was tasked with murdering Se-hun, a young man who had been previously arrested for raping a teenager, secretly filming the incident, and circulating the video. Since his parents were influential, he got away with it even though he’d initially confessed to the crime. Testimonies began to shift, and it resulted in victim blaming. The teenage girl killed herself, and later her father also took his life. It was said that her elder sister had died in an accident, but we eventually discovered that Mo-eun was the girl’s sister, and she cared about nothing but vengeance. The couple she’d killed were the assaulter’s parents, and since she couldn’t kill him, she hoped Yun-su would do the task for her. But Yun-su couldn’t make herself stab the guy even though she had managed to knock him unconscious. She faked a crime scene and begged the young man to stay in the basement at least for a week. With a picture of the (fake) murder scene, she tried to convince Mo-eun that she kept her end of the bargain because she feared that Mo-eun would reveal their deal to the world if she doubted Yun-su. But by then Mo-eun had already received the photograph of the actual murder, and we later discovered that Young-in had killed Se-hun. As Mo-eun’s lawyer, he had already learned about her and Yun-su’s plan. He’d hoped Yun-su would stick to her end of the deal so that he could secretly expose her and put her right back in prison once again. But things went accordingly, so he decided to kill Se-hun and make it look like Yun-su did it. At first Yun-su thought maybe the killer was someone Mo-eun knew, but they eventually realized that was not the case.
What evidence did Yun-su find to prove her innocence?
Yun-su solved the mystery behind her husband’s murder when she went to the university to see his exhibition. She noticed that there was a fingerprint on one of his paintings. She remembered leaving her thumb impression, but she wasn’t sure who the other fingerprint belonged to. When she met Young-in at the university, she mentioned the finger impression, but soon she noticed pictures of her husband with the college faculty, and she saw Young-in and his wife there. She wondered why he never mentioned knowing her husband, and she immediately felt suspicious. She simply walked away from him without a word, and on the way she ran into Choi, and she immediately recognized those eyes. She realized that Choi was the woman she’d seen leave the studio. She went home, drew a sketch of Choi, and asked her appointed psychiatrist, Sun-deok, to leave the sketch with the rest of the evidence. But soon the sketch went missing, further suggesting Young-in was desperately trying to protect his wife. Later, she spoke to one of her husband’s students, who confirmed that Young-in was a law professor at the college. Yun-su remembered Ki-dae complaining about a law professor, and upon searching the internet, she learned about the plagiarized painting that the couple had donated. Yun-su soon uploaded a video confessing to killing her husband, but she begged the cops to dig into the murder of Se-hun. She emphasized not killing the young man and hoped that the truth would prevail. Later, when Yun-su and Mo-eun met once again outside prison (Mo-eun escaped from a hospital), Mo-eun disclosed that she had evidence that could prove Yun-su innocent. As it turned out, her sister’s friend (also an inmate) knew a guy who’d seen Se-hun’s murder video. Soon after escaping from the hospital, Mo-eun met him and got access to the video. There was a video camera in the room, and clearly the video evidence wasn’t destroyed. Yun-su shared the video with prosecutor Baek. Se-hun’s grandfather had confirmed that Young-in had shared evidence with him to convince him that Yun-su was Se-hun’s killer, and the Choi’s missing sketch from the evidence also confirmed that the couple was involved in the murders.
What happened to Mo-eun?
Mo-eun and Yun-su decided to visit the studio once again to get hold of the printing plate that had Choi’s fingerprint, and to their surprise, Young-in was already there. He planned on destroying the plate since it was the only evidence that proved Choi’s involvement in Ki-dae’s murder. Young-in had decided to take the blame for Ki-dae’s murder, and all he needed to do was find the plate. Yun-su grabbed hold of a carving knife and asked him to stay away, but by then he was already convinced that Yun-su lacked the courage to stab him. He tried to justify murdering Ki-dae, stating that his rudeness had resulted in his death and it was not really their fault. When Yun-su attempted to attack him, he managed to overpower her and snatched the carving knife from her. He held it close to her neck, and then Mo-eun walked into the room. Her phone was ringing, and while Young-in disconnected the call, he soon discovered that Yun-su had already sent her lawyer, Jung, the video that incriminated him. But Young-in was still hopeful that he could simply get away by stating in public that it was some thug that Mo-eun had sent and not him. He pushed Yun-su aside and grabbed hold of the printing plate and attempted to pour a liquid over it. Mo-eun stabbed him in the neck with a knife that she’d kept hidden. But Young-in managed to get hold of her and was almost about to push her to kill her when Yun-su begged him to stop. She agreed to pour the liquid and destroy the plate for him as long as he released Mo-eun. But Mo-eun didn’t care; she explained that she had nothing to look forward to in her life anymore, but Yun-su had a daughter who needed her. She chose to help Yun-su because she believed in the goodness in her, and after she’d committed a heinous crime, she wanted to do something right. Mon-eun held Young-in’s hand that had the knife, and she forcefully stabbed herself. Immediately, Jung and prosecutor Baek stormed into the studio, and they caught Young-in in the act. He tried explaining that he didn’t stab her; she did it to herself. Yun-su was furious; he was almost about to kill Young-in when Mon-eun pulled the knife from her chest and used it to stab Young-in right into his heart. At the end of The Price of Confession, Young-in collapsed on the ground, and he bled to death. Mon-eun didn’t survive the bleeding either, but she knew what she was doing, and she chose to die protecting Yun-su. She didn’t think her life had any meaning left—she’d already avenged the people who’d wronged her sister, and she preferred to die protecting a wrongfully convicted woman than live without a purpose.
Was Ms. Choi convicted?
The video evidence helped prove Yun-su’s innocence in Se-hun’s murder case. She was also found innocent in her husband’s murder case. Although the judge found her guilty of attempted murder and conspiring to commit a murder and had sentenced her to two years imprisonment. But Se-hun’s grandfather had filed a petition requesting the judge to reduce the sentence. He’d realized that he had made a terrible mistake of suspecting Yun-su, and he couldn’t help but wonder if all of the killings could’ve been avoided had his grandson been given the rightful punishment that he deserved. Prosecutor Baek understood what Dong-uk must have been through, because for the longest time he too was blinded with the idea of bringing justice to the extent that he didn’t realize that he was suspecting the wrong individual. Dong-uk was imprisoned after he’d attempted to kill Yun-su and Mon-eun and for also kidnapping Yun-su’s daughter. Though clearly, he regretted his actions. Because of the petition filed by Dong-uk, the court allowed Yun-su to return home to her daughter.
Ms. Choi was interrogated by prosecutor Baek. She denied all allegations against her. She didn’t hesitate to blame her late husband for Ki-dae’s murder. Since the printing plate was destroyed before Young-in was killed and she’d also destroyed Ki-dae’s original painting that had her fingerprint, there was no way the cops could tie her to his murder. But to her surprise, there was a test print, and it still had her fingerprint. Her one careless mistake of unintentionally touching the printing plate before murdering Ki-dae is surely going to cost her. Ms. Choi tried to play innocent at first and then went on to pin the blame on her husband. She hoped the prosecutor would realize how difficult it must’ve been for her to even consider the idea of turning her own husband. She also stated proudly without any remorse that she understood why Young-In killed Ki-dae. Prosecutor Baek mentioned that according to the evidence, she would be considered a co-conspirator as well as the murderer in Ki-dae and Se-hun’s murder cases. And while she might get away with Se-hun’s murder since there wasn’t any strong evidence tying her to the case, she will likely be imprisoned for at least her involvement in Ki-dae’s death.
Was there a past connection between Yun-su and Mo-eun?
After she was acquitted of the murder charges, Yun-su traveled to Thailand with her daughter. She wanted to visit the village where Mo-eun had stayed to work at a local medical facility before she found out about her sister and father’s death. She believed the village held fond memories for Mo-eun before she turned into a completely different person who only cared about revenge. Yun-su decided to leave Mo-eun’s watch near a cliff that used to be the only spot with mobile network connectivity. The watch belonged to Mo-eun’s only friend in Thailand. Mo-eun’s real name was So-hae; she’d adopted her friend Mo-eun’s identity after she succumbed to COVID. Mo-eun was forever grateful to So-hae because she had saved her life after she was almost about to die due to a spider bite. She had been drifting across Thailand, and in So-hae she found a place to call home. When she was dying, she begged So-hae to use her identity to get closer to her goal of avenging her sister. They went on a long drive, and on the way Mo-eun passed away. From that day, So-hae adopted Mo-eun’s identity and left her belongings in the car to make it look like she’d died.
Perhaps after everything Yun-su had been through, she might as well decide to settle in Thailand. She wanted to provide her daughter a better life, and keeping her away from prying eyes might just be Yun-su’s goal. In the final scene of The Price of Confession, we discover that there was a past connection between Yun-su and Mo-eun, aka So-hae. The day Yun-su got married, So-hae and her sister had stopped by to see the celebration. Yun-su was a jolly bride who didn’t mind the young girls joining in their celebration, and perhaps that was why Mo-eun/So-hae always believed in her innocence and knew that no matter what, she would never hurt her husband. Society and the justice system had betrayed her sister, and she wasn’t surprised that they had turned their backs on Yun-su as well. So, she offered to help Yun-su, and thus began a strange friendship between two individuals who connected on their shared pain of losing their loved ones and ultimately united to bring justice to the dead.
