The K-drama Like Flowers in Sand is coming to an end, and as much as I like a mystery, I wish we had the answer for who killed Mi-Ran’s father and Chil-Seong by now. It’s really quite tiresome to wait until the last episode for the reveal when it’s not even the most important part of the story. The ssireum has taken a backseat, and I wonder if we’ll ever get to see Baek-Du actually win a championship, making his family and Du-Sik proud again. On top of that, they tried to feed us a love story, which would’ve been cute if there hadn’t been so much other stuff going on to distract us from it. So, while I did think in the beginning that Like Flowers in Sand was a nice little small-town K-drama with an exciting mystery, I can’t help but be very disappointed with how it’s progressed. Anyway, here’s a recap of episode 11 of Like Flowers in Sand.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In Episode 11?
In the childhood flashback, we see Mi-Ran joining the group to play while her father looks distressed, talking to a man dressed all in black, presumably Chil-Seong. After a little chat about how humans are more terrifying than ghosts (said rightly by Du-Sik, of course), Seok-Hui brings his disposable camera to take some pictures. The flashback ends with Seok-Hui photographing the four other kids. In the present day, the same group sits in Mi-Ran’s cafe to try and figure out the connection between the crime 20 years ago and now. Seok-Hui recently found an old-school phone when he freed Snowball so he could try and follow her and see where she led him. He tells everyone how he theorized that somebody was freeing the dog every night because they were in search of something. Now he knows that they were looking for the phone. Seok-Hui takes Hyeon-Uk and Mi-Ran to the station to check if the phone resembles something Mi-Ran saw her dad using back in the day. It turns out it is, and so Seok-Hui hands it to Hyeon-Uk, even though it’s not working. Hyeon-Uk promises to tell his seniors in Seoul that Seok-Hui found important evidence and helped with the case, so suddenly, they’re best buds.
On the other hand, Baek-Du meets Pil-Du, one of the older men in the neighborhood, near Snowball’s house at night. He wonders if Pil-Du is the neighborhood man who might’ve killed two men, but it’s an absurd theory to him. The gang knows that the person who killed Chil-Seong is the same person who killed Mi-Ran’s father all those years ago. Now, the gang splits up and speaks to all the men who look like they could be ssireum players (based on observation from Snowball’s owner) and have been around all these years. Only Pil-Du doesn’t have proper proof for his alibi. Du-Sik comes up with the idea that if they let the news spread that Mi-Ran is the child whose father died in the town 20 years ago, then they will quickly be able to find the culprit. As we know, it’s easy to spread rumors and news like wildfire in small towns, so it’s completely feasible this would work for them. Mi-Ran isn’t afraid and agrees to the plan, and everyone is around to support her and look after her.
At first, it seems like the rumor has only given Mi-Ran a big boost in her cafe sales. Somehow, it’s only Pil-Du who doesn’t make it to the cafe and can’t be found all day. Later, in the evening, he heads to Baek-Du’s house, where Baek-Du’s mother is asking her husband if he knew that Pil-Du was the last person to see Mi-Ran’s father before he died. She’s stunned when she sees him and leaves the men to have a conversation over a barbeque in the yard. Baek-Du returns home after a ssireum session and is shocked to see Pil-Du at his house; he expected him to be at the cafe. Baek-Du makes a fool of himself in front of Pil-Du and his father, then heads in and eavesdrops on their conversation.
What Is Pil-Du Guilty Of?
Pil-Du tells Baek-Du’s father that he should go speak to Mi-Ran because he can’t live with the guilt for much longer. He says that Baek-Du’s father also knows that he made a big mistake back then and caused some distress to everybody in the town. Baek-Du obviously thinks at first that he’s saying he killed the men, but soon, Pil-Du admits that when he was interviewed in the police station as the last person who met Mi-Ran’s father before he died, he answered “yes” to everything the detective asked. In reality, Pil-Du knew that Mi-Ran’s father was heading to the mountain and not to Du-Sik’s house. He’s guilty because he feels like if he had asked the man where he was heading back then, things might’ve been different. Pil-Du also admits that he hasn’t been sleeping well, which is why he wanders the neighborhood at night, explaining why Baek-Du found him near Snowball’s home. On the other hand, Baek-Du’s father says that Du-Sik’s father never blamed Pil-Du for the misunderstanding because he claimed that whoever forced the man to participate in match-fixing was the guy who killed him for revenge. At that time, Du-Sik’s father had gotten Mi-Ran’s father to promise never to do it again. Of course, it’s the good people who feel guilty for not doing anything.
What Happens To Mi-Ran?
Jin-Su leaves Mi-Ran to close up despite worrying about her safety. She tells him to leave, because it’s not time to close just yet, but he has to step out for some work for a bit. When Jin-Su leaves, one of the men from the neighborhood shows up at the cafe. Mi-Ran talks to him normally at first; however, she realizes he had already visited earlier in the day with the other men in the neighborhood. He turns off the lights and asks Mi-Ran what evidence she’s found. All we can see is him walking with a slight limp. At the end of the episode, Du-Sik realizes that, on that day when Seok-Hui got his disposable camera to take pictures with the other kids, Du-Sik had asked a man in a nearby car to take a group picture for them. She realizes he’s the man they’re looking for. In the flashback, the man looks like quite a gangster based on his outfit. With one episode remaining, we’ll finally get an answer to who he is.
