Previously, in the first episode of Song Of The Bandits, we were introduced to Lee Yoon, a Korean man working for the Japanese army. He had a history with the bloodbath that took place in the Gurye region of Korea. A Japanese army opened fire on this village, killing almost every innocent villager in the area, not even sparing children. Among those villagers, the family of a Korean man named Choong-soo was killed, and Lee held himself responsible for that. Therefore, abandoning his position in the army, he comes to Gando to apologize to Choong-soo and get killed by his hands as a punishment. However, in the midst of this, Lee was really worried about the atrocities that the bandits had unleashed on the settlers from Joseon. He decided to take on the role of a bandit himself and kill the tyrants who caused the deaths of these innocent people.
Spoilers Ahead
Were Lee Yoon and Choong-soo working together?
Song Of The Bandits Episode 2 opened at a Japanese military base, where one night a badly wounded Japanese soldier rushed into the base from the jungle. When the unit leader asked him about the cause of his condition, he blamed the bandits. He began to say that their Imperial Scouting Force went on a scouting mission to Orangkae Pass, and on the way, their journey was interrupted by a group of bandits. First, they were confronted by Choong-soo, who was on horseback, warning the squad not to take a step forward into their region, but the squad didn’t pay attention to his warning at all. As a result, Choong-soo shot an arrow, killing the leader of the squad.
One after another, everyone from the squad lost their lives at the hands of Choong-soo, his associates, Choraeng-yi, and the others who were heavily trained in tiger hunting skills. This group of bandits killed all the men in the force and held only one Japanese soldier hostage until he managed to make his way to the military base. The unit leader suspected how this wounded soldier had been released despite being held captive by the bandits. However, he soon realized that the bandits had used this soldier as bait, and following him, they had arrived at their military base to kill everyone. The unit leader quickly killed the wounded soldier, but in a matter of seconds, his base was surrounded by a group of bandits led by Lee Yoon. Lee Yoon pointed his gun at the leader and took him out. According to the context of Song Of The Bandits Episode 2, we understand that some time has elapsed and Lee Yoon had formed a group of bandits, which was destroying evil bandits and the Japanese tyrants.
Who was Hee-shin? What was her plan?
Miura was going to marry a woman, as we saw previously in Song Of The Bandits Episode 1. She was Hee-shin, a member of the Korean independent army, who was marrying Miura to get all the details of the movements of the Japanese army. One day, at a restaurant, when Miura and some of his associates arrived to spy on an insurgent meeting with a member of the Independent Army, Miura found his fiancée was there. He was surprised to find her there, but Hee-shin replied that she had an interview to manage a railway line opening ceremony held by the government. However, unbeknownst to Miura, it was Hee-shin who was meeting the insurgent. But cunningly giving some excuses, Hee-shin escaped the restaurant, but as the insurgent had already arrived at the restaurant, he got captured by Miura’s men and brutally killed. Hee-shin was deeply traumatized by the entire situation and went to meet the independent army leader at a church. She discussed her failure to save the life of their comrade, which immensely upset the leader. He expressed that he couldn’t put his trust in Hee-shin anymore, but Hee-shin, a dedicated freedom fighter, didn’t want to back down from the responsibilities that she had for the people of Joseon who were struggling to survive in Gando.
However, Hee-shin had a master plan. As she was aware of the railway opening ceremony, she was also aware that the Hoeryong Bank branch was sending a large sum of money to Gando’s MayeongJeaong office through the railway. Therefore, if their army managed to loot the train on the Gando line, they could acquire a large sum of money, which they would be able to send to the settlers in Gando. Although Hee-shin wanted to carry out the mission all by herself, the army leader suggested that they recruit someone as dangerous as the task was, someone who would do anything for money.
He was referring to Eon-nyeni, who was a contract killer. She came into this profession driven by the desire to take revenge on her parents’ killer, but by now her motivation has shifted. Now she has become habituated to this job and carried out killings only to eat and survive. We saw that Eon-nyeni didn’t just kill for money. She set up a meeting with two rival warlords, Mr. Pung Chung-Hu and Mr. Kawaguchi, who were after each other’s lives. Eon-nyeni suggested a deal: she would work for whoever would pay the highest amount to recruit her. But even though Kawaguchi bid the highest amount of money and won the bid, Eon-nyeni didn’t kill Pung Chung-hu due to her acquaintance with him; rather, she asked Mr. Kawaguchi to leave and waited for an exact moment when Kawaguchi would orchestrate an attack on her. She told Pung Chung-hu to leave and single-handedly took out all the men of Kawaguchi, including the man himself. We saw all the money she got paid for the killing; she handed it to a blind person. We still don’t know who he was. Probably it was her manager or some sort of guardian that she relied on.
Why did Seon-bok come to Gando?
Meanwhile, in Gando, when Lee Yoon’s group of bandits were training their tiger hunting skills, Seon-bok paid a visit in haste. She was worried as her weapon-trading business was facing a crisis. She required money, and that’s why she intended to associate with Yoon, suggesting he become wealthier. While Seon-bok desired to become massively wealthy, Lee Yoon wanted the money so that the settlers of Gando would not have to face the crisis ever again. However, acquiring the money was a tough task. Luckily, Seon-bok had a plan. She was also aware of the money required for the ongoing railway construction, which was worth a fortune. She knew that the Hoeryong branch was sending that money, which was worth 200,000 won, by railway transportation to MayeongJeaong. She suggested the idea of looting the train on the Gando Line and acquiring all the money.
The total sum of the money intrigued Lee, who agreed to carry out the heist. But simultaneously, we saw Hee-shin meet Eon-nyeni in a cinema hall and divulge a similar plan for the train heist. However, in both sequences, their concern was about the obstacles in their way. So Eon-nyeni assured Hee-shin that if anyone came on their way, she would kill them, as that’s what she was known for. Similarly, Lee Yoon also vowed to get rid of all the obstacles to successfully raise money for his countrymen.
