“Shadow Detective” has a mystery man who is trying to frame the veteran detective Kim Taek Rok in a murder case. Taek Rok has been receiving calls from the same person whom he met while investigating Hyun Seok’s murder site. However, the man fooled him and pushed him off the same cliff that Hyun Seok died falling from.
Spoilers Ahead
What Is Taek Rok’s Next Challenge?
The mysterious man throws a rope toward Taek Rok and pulls him up from the cliff. The man runs away, and the police officers start rushing to the site where a skeleton is found. The skeleton has a name tag around it that reads Se Young, the girl who disappeared years ago in the mountains. There is also a knife near the skeleton, which is evidence against Choi Kyoil. Kyoil was imprisoned anyway, but if Taek Rok had tried to find the evidence, Se Young could have been found sooner.
Taek Rok feels guilty about it and meets with his therapist because he has been feeling anxious. As the therapist brings the medicines for him, Taek Rok gets a call from his “friend” again. The Friend asks him if he understands what he did wrong in the past. The Friend claims that he knows everything about Taek Rok. At the same time, Taek Rok finds his pictures on his therapist’s computer. His therapist is also a webtoon writer and has written the same dialogue in her webtoon that the Friend recited to Taek Rok.
His therapist explains that she has taken those pictures as a reference for drawing her character, and the dialogue that she has written is a sentence that Taek Rok uses often. Taek Rok calls the Friend again, and he tells Taek Rok to solve the next case. It involves Yang Ki Tae, who was wrongfully accused of setting a person on fire. Taek Rok barges into Ki Tae’s room and finds Hyun Seok’s pictures on his wall and some incomplete drawings.
When Ki Tae arrives home, he notices someone’s presence and tries to run away, but to no avail. Ki Tae tells Taek Rok that he is going to receive money from Hyun Seok in exchange for not exposing the real culprit. Ki Tae didn’t care about finding the culprit and only wanted money. He had recorded his conversation with Hyun Seok and threatened him with it. Taek Rok promised him to find the real culprit in one day if he didn’t cause any problems.
Taek Rok asks Jin Han for help, and Jin Han provides Taek Rok with his team for help. Taek Rok takes Sunga and Kyung Chan into the forest to find a small device that he lost while chasing Friend. They do not find the device, but Taek Rok finds Kyung Chan suspicious because his height, size, and way of running and jumping are the same as those of the Friend. Jin Han looks into the victim of the arson case and finds out that he died just three days ago. In the police office, team leader Bae has been investigating chief Seo secretly.
Taek Rok suspects the sons of the big leaders in the city of the arson and circles down two of them, as others do not live in Geumo city. One of them is the police chief’s son, and the other is the hospital director’s son. Taek Rok gets a parcel on the roof of his building from the Friend, but it just turns out to be a food bowl. Taek Rok falls asleep while Jin Han tries to call him from outside his building. At the same time, a man covered in black clothes enters a room with a knife.
How Did Jin Han And Taek Rok Agree To Help Each Other?
The man covered in black enters Ki Tae’s room and is about to stab him when Taek Rok stops him. They get into a fistfight, but the perpetrator runs away. He gets into a car and drives away, and Jin Han, who is standing outside the building, sees him. Taek Rok gets into Jin Han’s car, and they chase the perpetrator.
After getting into a fight with a gang, Taek Rok, and Jin Han finally catch the perpetrator. They confirm the face of the real culprit from him, and he turns out to be the hospital director’s son, Ahn Ju Yeong. Taek Rok kept Sunga and Kyung Chan on his watch, and they arrested him as soon as he tried to leave the house. The hospital director meets the police chief to save his son, but the police chief doesn’t want to help him.
Jin Han interrogates Ju Yeong and asks him whether the police chief has something to do with his case. Because of this one question, Jin Han gets dropped off the case, and this case, along with Hyun Seok’s case, gets transferred to another precinct. Taek Rok inquires about Jin Han in his old precinct, and Jin Han’s colleague tells him that his personality is just like Taek Rok’s. Moreover, he finds out that Jin Han didn’t get transferred to the Geumo office, but he applied for the transfer himself. It makes Jin Han look suspicious.
Taek Rok and Jin Han meet accidentally in a Sauna, and Taek Rok notices bruises on Jin Han’s waist, which he thinks are from tying a rope around his waist. The culprit had tied a rope around his waist when he pulled Taek Rok up from a cliff. Taek Rok follows Jin Han to a port the next day. Jin Han sees him, and Taek Rok joins him for fishing. That’s when both of them clear all the misunderstandings and agree to help each other.
‘Shadow Detective’ Episode 4: Ending
Back at home, Taek Rok notices the changed positions of his journals on his bookshelf. He checks the CCTV footage and sees an unknown man walking on his veranda. He goes to the rooftop and finds a ladder. He understands that the culprit has been frequenting his building and has read all of his journals. He collects fingerprints on everything and gives them to Jin Han for investigation. As soon as Jin Han leaves with the evidence, Taek Rok gets a cryptic message.
Taek Rok tries to stop Jin Han, but Jin Han’s car gets out of control and tumbles over. “Shadow Detective” has an enemy who calls himself Taek Rok’s Friend but has been living in shadow himself and has been controlling Taek Rok.
See more: ‘Shadow Detective’ Episode 1 & 2: Recap And Ending – How Does Taek Rok Become A Murder Suspect?
