Previously in The Killing Vote, Gaetal set up another vote about a woman who was killing her husbands to commit insurance fraud. But, more importantly, she was hurting their children, too, because it would give her more insurance money. This is what made the masked man really furious, and he decided on her as his next target. As expected, the vote is positive for killing her, and Gaetal places her in a car with a time bomb in it. In an effort to save her, Mu-Chan gets into the car, too, and they drive off into the school premises because there’s a field where they can put some distance between them and other civilians. Ultimately, everyone sees the car blow up and assumes Mu-Chan has been injured or worse. Joo Hyun is the person who is closest to the car when it does blow up, though, so what will she do?
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Episode?
While the commotion takes place in the school, Min-Soo, the school teacher, who is also the man who has been talking to the executioner, calmly watches from a rooftop nearby. He sees two kids taking videos of the car. Joo Hyun realizes that the car hasn’t been completely blown up just yet, so she gets closer and sees Mu-Chan trying to bust open the driver’s door. Joo-Hyun pulls him away from it before the car blows up again, and she barely manages to save him. Min-Soo takes the videos from the students and pays them a hefty sum in exchange, but Joo Min sees him do that and records it too.
The media portrays the event as tragic and says Mu-Chan is barely recovering from the incident. They paint the picture that Gaetal let an innocent person almost die in the car, and that too, a police officer who was doing his work diligently. On the other hand, the other police officers on Mu-Chan’s team are still struggling with the public. Some drunk person tries to insinuate that Gaetal is doing the right thing and ends up causing a fight where some of the team members get physically assaulted. Joo Hyun reaches home in the morning and startles a sleeping Joo Min. She tells her that she should be aware of what kind of person Gaetal is because he could someday come after anyone, even them.
Mu-Chan’s boss and a highly regarded journalist go to Mu-Chan’s hospital room to confirm the big lie. They discuss whether it’s the best idea to turn the public’s view against Gaetal but realize that if they get in trouble, the entire police force will be in trouble. At the school, Jin-Soo notices Min-Soo taking some pictures of the crime scene and stops him. He also calls him by a different name and is a bit surprised to see that man as a teacher. Joo Hyun makes her way into the hospital to go see Mu-Chan and give him a dressing-down for conning the public. He admits they’re lying, but he tells her that the important part is that if they catch the guy, then everything will be fixed for them. In the morgue, Jin-Soo finds out that the woman was actually poisoned before she was put in the car, so she was already dying before the bomb went off; it was only a matter of time. This means it didn’t matter if they’d gotten her out of the car or not. She would’ve died in any way. While they’re having their discussion, Bae Gi-Chul’s body is released to his family so they can conduct his funeral.
Min-Soo tells the executioner that he has an interesting piece of evidence to give Gaetal. He’s talking about the video that the kids took to get Mu-Chan and Joo Hyun busted for conning the public. Min-Soo’s mother, on the other hand, seems to take an interest in Gaetal, too, and she wants to have him support her. We know that Min-Soo is from a wealthy family; it’s possible she has political ties or is a very important person either way. At school, Joo Min attends a computer class, and her classmate Ji-Hoon notices Min-Soo holding onto her shoulder too long. They’re in computer class, and Ji-Hoon fixes Joo Min’s frozen computer. Joo Min realizes that he’s good with computers and can help her solve some mysteries about the case back at home. Ji-Hoon feels offended by Min-Soo and even notices him using his personal laptop at school. Joo Min interrupts his pondering and invites him over.
In prison, we learn that Seok-Joo has an illness that may be chronic. He tells the doctor that, at this point, it’s like a friend. The officer in charge of Seok-Joo asks him about the killing vote again and tells him that Mu-Chan was severely injured in the accident. This makes Seok-Joo falter in his steps, leaving the officer questioning what their connection might be. Elsewhere, Joo Min shows Ji-Hoon the video of Gaetal that was found on her zombie laptop. She made a copy of it on her sister’s laptop when she was sleeping so that she could do her own little journalistic investigation. They try to increase the sound of the background noise because they can hear a firetruck in the background. They confirm the sound, and Joo Hyun returns, noticing what they’re up to. At first, she’s extremely angry, but then she uses their ideas and finds the location of all the big fires on that day. After their research, they determined that the house where the video was taken was actually Kwon Seok-Joo’s house. Joo Hyun decides to go there, and she takes the kids along so they can call the police if something goes wrong.
Joo Hyun can’t get through to Mu-Chan when she reaches Seok-Joo’s house, so she sends him a text informing him that she’s there. She goes inside and tells the kids to wait outside and call the police if they hear anything strange. Whatever happens, they should not go inside the house. When she’s inside, she sees writing on the wall that says, “The 13th one was wrong,” along with some newspaper clippings related to Seok-Joo’s case.
At the same time, Jin-Soo visits Mu-Chan to have a discussion, but he reads the message from Joo Hyun and decides to head out in disguise. Mu-Chan tells Jin-Soo to take his place in the hospital and escapes. At Seok-Joo’s house, Joo Hyun gets hit in the head by a man and ends up unconscious. Outside, the kids start to worry because it’s been 20 minutes since she went in. Mu-Chan shows up just in time and heads inside, telling them that the authorities will arrive soon. Mu-Chan wakes Joo Hyun up and looks inside the house, too. They see a man run across the hallway, and Mu-Chan follows suit. Mu-Chan hurts the man by knicking his ear, but he manages to escape. Joo Min tries to hold on to him, but Ji-Hoon stops her because it’s too dangerous. He points Mu-Chan in the direction of the man, but it’s too late.
The next day, the police go to check out the premises of the house, and Jo-Dan is successful in finding the modem, which will help them figure out if the videos and questions were sent out from the same house.
Does Seok-Joo think Mu-Chan Is Gaetal?
On the way to meet Seok-Joo, Joo Hyun confronts Mu-Chan about already knowing that the videos were shot at Seok-Joo’s house. Mu-Chan had been in charge of the kidnapping of Seok-Joo’s daughter from the start, so he had already been in the house before. Mu-Chan doesn’t respond at all to Joo Hyun, making her more curious. While Seok-Joo and Gaetal have a lot in common, Mu-Chan is sure that Seok-Joo isn’t the guy. What he does think is that it could be a fan of his or someone who was close to him at some point. Joo Hyun works out theories while waiting for Seok-Joo to come. She has a habit of touching a scar on her neck when she’s thinking, and Mu-Chan holds her hand and tells her not to give away her “tells” so easily in front of Seok-Joo.
Mu-Chan asks Seok-Joo if he knows anything about Gaetal, and all Seok-Joo is willing to give are cryptic replies. They ask about the writing on the wall, and Seok-Joo says it was because his daughter was stabbed 22 times that he wanted to stab her killer 22 times as well. The man had died way before, and the 13th time Seok-Joo had stabbed him was different from the way his daughter had been stabbed, so that’s what Gaetal may have referred to on the wall. This is the first time he himself has made this observation, though. Joo Hyun probes and asks him if he knows of any fans, and Seok-Joo connects the dots to Mu-Chan himself. He says he can’t think of anyone better than the description given by Joo Hyun, and then leaves immediately without answering any more questions. Elsewhere, Bae Gi-Chul’s wife is killed in the same way as he was in the funeral home.
At the end of The Killing Vote Episode 3, the video of Mu-Chan being saved by Joo Hyun is revealed by Gaetal, and the media has already made their move to get pictures of them at the police station. Gaetal poses the question “What is justice to you?” to Mu-Chan, and he replies through the media and tells Gaetal that he should not get ahead of himself because he’s no hero and Mu-Chan will surely catch him and stop The Killing Vote.
