“Shadow Detective” is a 2022 Korean crime thriller series written by Lim Chang Se and directed by Hang Dong Hwa. The series has cast members like Lee Sung Min, Jin Goo, Kyung Soo Jin, and Lee Hak Hoo in leading roles.
Spoilers Ahead
What Did The Secret Caller Tell Taek Rok?
Kim Taek Rok is a police detective who hasn’t retired yet despite his old age. He might have become physically weak, but he still has a keen eye for details and can deduce situations easily. He has been taking medicine for panic disorder and is also following precautions to avoid dementia. His junior at work is also his team leader, who requests him not to disappear without notice.
Team leader Bae gives Taek Rok a file of ongoing investigations, and Taek Rok gives him intel just by reading the names of the criminals. A newly joined officer, Son Kyung Chun, has joined Geumo city police to work under Taek Rok, but Taek Rok is not yet impressed with him. However, he takes him to work on a case with him as Kyung Chun aspires to become a homicide detective.
Taek Rok sends Kyung Chun to locate Ma Sang Gu and return, but the thugs easily recognize the rookie cop. Kyung Chun’s senior officer, Lee Sunga, arrives on time and fights the gangsters while Sang Gu escapes. However, Taek Rok has been waiting for him outside. He starts chasing Sang Gu but cannot run faster because of his old age. A stranger sees him and catches Sang Gu for him instead. Sang Gu denies having traded drugs and says that he has no idea about the whereabouts of Mr. Cheon, a notorious drug dealer.
Taek Rok arrives at the police station only to find out that everyone has gone out to eat as a gesture of welcome to their new chief investigation officer. The new officer is Kook Jin Han, the same person who caught Sang Gu. He has been demoted for standing up to his superior at work and calling out Taek Rok for being old. He asks him to retire, but Taek Rok doesn’t get offended because he is braver than Jin Han. Taek Rok has been asking section chief Woo Hyun Seok to meet him, but Hyun Seok has been ignoring him for some reason.
However, Hyun Seok finally agrees to meet him. Their meeting doesn’t go well, and Hyun Seok leaves after receiving a phone call. After going back home, Taek Rok gets a call from a private number, and the person on the call tells him to save Hyun Seok from dying. Taek Rok reaches the mountain trail that the person mentioned and finds Hyun Seok already dead. He wakes up the next day at his home and gets a call from his colleague that Hyun Seok has died. At the same time, he receives a text message from a private number that reads “Murderer.”
What Hint Did Taek Rok Receive From The Caller?
Taek Rok is trying to make sense of the situation that he is in when he gets a call from the private number again. He is on his way to Hyun Seok’s murder site but gets distracted by the call. The caller calls himself Taek Rok’s friend and threatens him not to tell anyone about him, or another person will die, and the blame will be on Taek Rok again. The caller wants to play a game with Taek Rok, and Taek Rok has no choice but to agree with him.
The police take Taek Rok into custody, and Jin Han is in charge of the case. He knows that it will be difficult to interrogate a veteran detective who knows all the tactics, and Taek Rok doesn’t make it any easier for him. Taek Rok cannot tell them about the secret caller, but he tells the truth that he doesn’t know how he got home after he saw Hyun Seok’s dead body. Taek Rok calls for the police chief, Seo Gwang Su, and he sets Taek Rok free for a week to catch the real culprit.
Taek Rok’s daughter, Ji Woo, has her wedding scheduled for the next day, and Taek Rok’s colleagues tail him to the ceremony. His ex-wife asks him why none of his colleagues showed up, but she just assumes that Taek Rok may have forgotten to distribute wedding invitations. Taek Rok divorced his wife because many of the culprits that he convicted tried to hurt his family. It was a big sacrifice on his part. He had not invited anyone but still got a bouquet from a friend. The friend is the secret caller who left him a message to receive his call.
Taek Rok turns on his phone and receives the friend’s call. The so-called friend gives him a hint to find out his identity. The friend reminds Taek Rok of an old case in which Taek Rok fabricated evidence and convicted Choi Kyoil. He doesn’t understand its correlation with Hyun Seok, but he has to dig it up anyway. He finds Kyoil, but he is sick and bedridden. Later, he finds out that a teenage girl named Se Young also disappeared on the same day Kyoil supposedly murdered his brother.
‘Shadow Detective’ Episode 2: Ending
Kyoil’s brother was buried on Geumosan mountain, and Se Young also disappeared on the same mountain. Taek Rok thinks that the caller is either someone related to Se Young or Kyoil, who claims that he was wrongfully accused. He asks the police chief to send people for a search party on the mountain. Many police officers, along with Jin Han, joined Taek Rok at the mountain. Jin Han has come to know that Hyun Seok and the police chief did many illegal activities together, which turns the chief suspicious in his eyes.
Jin Han asks Taek Rok if he knows anything about Hyun Seok’s burner phone, but Taek Rok has no idea about it. Apart from the search party, Taek Rok starts his own investigation at Hyun Seok’s murder site and discovers that Hyun Seok could have been pushed off the cliff. Taek Rok and Hyun Seok used to be close in the past, and that particular cliff was Hyun Seok’s favorite spot. Taek Rok wonders if Hyun Seok knew the person who pushed him and if he had asked the killer to meet him there.
“Shadow Detective” starts right off with an interesting and suspenseful murder case. The team leader has stopped the search party, but Taek Rok has noticed something strange in the woods. He chases that strange person and ends up hanging on the same cliff that Hyun Seok supposedly fell down from.
