Behind Your Touch (2023) Episode 2

Aug 14, 2023

In episode 2 of Behind Your Touch, Ye-bun sits outside her clinic, in shock from just seeing Jang-yeol’s memories. Ok-hui arrives, and Ye-bun grabs her butt, much to Ok-hui’s annoyance, but Ye-bun doesn’t see any of her memories.

Jang-yeol stands outside his new rooftop flat and tells someone on the phone that “there are no cases here.” The man on the other end talks about losing someone named Baek and tells him that someone named Ted Chang did a drug deal with Baek, and he may be nearby in Mujin. Jang-yeol hangs up the phone, excited about his new lead.

The next day, Ye-bun is checking out one of the dogs at the clinic and sees that the dog has been getting out and eating food from outside his home. He won’t eat his kibble at home because he is full. She tells his owner this, and the man thinks she is a fraud. But then he gets home and is amazed to find a hole in his fence, and he knows that she was right.

Soon, a lot of pet owners line up outside the clinic. And with a touch of her hand on each animal’s rear, Ye-bun magically finds out each pet’s issue.

In the clinic, Ye-bun gets a visit from a stranger named Sun-woo, asking her to look at his kitten. The man’s good looks seem to literally blow her away. Stunned, she holds up a stethoscope to his heart instead of his kitten’s before realizing her mistake. She sees the kitten’s memories and learns that he found her when she was a stray. Ye-bun enthusiastically gives him advice on how to care for her.

Meanwhile, Jang-yeol is staring down a Mujin map, trying to pinpoint where there might be drug crime. He walks into a shop and starts snooping around, looking for drugs. He sticks his finger into a bag of fishing paste powder and tastes it, while his co-workers look at him, disgusted.

Later, the police team has dinner, and Jang-yeol is still tasting any powdery substance he sees but doesn’t find any drugs. He also learns that Jong-mook had a difficult first love and never married. Jong-mook recalls the past: He is recording a video for Hyun-ok to watch before her wedding. In the video, he congratulates her on her marriage. Later, she watches the video, dressed in a wedding gown, and loudly sobs, saying “I’m sorry, Jong-wook!”

At the clinic, Ye-bun reluctantly steps out to visit the same farm that she visited during the meteor shower. The farm owner, Kwang-shik, picks her up in his truck, and they give Mr. Park a ride to the bus station on the way there. When she arrives at the farm, she asks where the cow she touched earlier, Geumsil is and Kwang-shik says that she ran off after the meteor shower.

Later, he reveals that since the meteor shower, when he touches the leg of any human or animal, he can see everything. He says that he thinks his hair started falling out because he used his power too much. Ye-bun starts to fear for her own hair. When she gets home, she puts a closed sign on the door. Hyun-ok tells her to take it off because they still need more money, but Ye-bun leaves it on.

The next morning, Hyun-ok apologizes to Ye-bun for prioritizing money and tells her that they’ll go eat together. She tells Ye-bun that the restaurant’s van will pick them up. When Ye-bun gets inside the van, some men hold her inside, and one man hands Hyun-ok a stack of cash. Ye-bun is hauled off to the isolated Mujin flatfish farm, where she believes that her organs are going to be harvested. Instead, she finds a huge seafood lunch laid out for her.

A few other people join her, including a guy she knows from vet school, Jong-hyeok. They’re taken inside the farm area, and they’re told to inject the fish with vaccines. With 10,000 fish to vaccinate, she fears touching the fish’s butts will make her bald. She asks Jong-hyeok where their butts are located so that she can avoid touching them.

Meanwhile, Jong-mook tells Jang-yeol that he tasted rat poison, and Jang-yeol downs some medicine while observing that a lot of deliveries come and go from the flat fish farm and grows suspicious. That night, Jang-yeol and Deok-hee go to the farm. Jang-yeol observes that the fish smell would cover up the smell of cooking drugs.

Ye-bun hides outside and calls Hyun-ok. She asks her to get her off the farm, but Hyun-ok refuses. Ye-bun prepares to escape, but the man in charge of the farm catches her. Later, he accepts a case of white powder from a visitor, and Jang-yeol watches from afar, taking a photo with his phone. The next day, the police team goes to the flatfish farm and starts seizing delivery crates.

Jang-yeol runs into Ye-bun, who looks dazed and is holding an injection needle. Jang-yeol calls her a junkie and tackles her to the floor. The police bring everyone at the farm to the police station. Jang-yeol opens a case of drugs that he saw the night before, and the owner tells him that it is fish food. Jang-yeol tastes some of it and realizes that it is indeed fish food.

Jang-yeol asks for some hair samples from the people who were at the farm, and Ye-bun starts freaking out and threatens anyone who comes near her with a spoon. Later, Jong-hyeok falls asleep, and Ye-bun procures a blanket to put on him. When she does, her hand falls on his butt, and she sees his memories of holding a woman hostage. Jang-yeol walks in, and Ye-bun stares at his buttocks with curiosity. He sees it and mutters a threat if she touches it: “I’ll kill you.”

Outside, Jong-mook and Deok-hee see Hyun-Ok approaching. She tells Jong-mook that she heard that she is the reason that he did not get married. Jong-mook is instantly mad and tries to taze her, but Deok-hee holds her back. She runs into the station, and an important assemblyman walks in to ask for Ye-bun’s release.

When Jang-yeol sees him walk in, he stands up and comically and over-enthusiastically releases Ye-bun in an attempt to make himself look good. When Ye-bun gets home, she realizes that her grandfather was the one who called the assemblyman in her favor. She goes to her computer and starts researching who the woman that Jong-hyeok held hostage might be, but she doesn’t find anything.

The following day, Jong-mook tells Jang-yeol to investigate a “murder.” Jang-yeol takes Deok-hee to look at the chalk outline of where the murdered body was found. It has an odd shape, and Jang-yeol tries to expertly explain how the person must have died. Then a farmer shows up and tells him the outline is where his onions died, and someone sprayed pesticides all over his field.

They sit down, and the farmer theatrically tells the story of how the prior year’s batch of onions was also “murdered.” He then invites them for lunch, and Jang-yeol makes a lot of social faux pas. The duo leaves to ask the nearby pear farmer a few questions next. Jang-yeol notices that the farmer scratches his hands. He suspects this is due to using pesticides on his neighbor’s field. They search his home but don’t find any pesticides.

Meanwhile, Ye-bin is at the convenience store, flirtatiously buying snacks from the clerk, Sun-woo. He tells her that he has another cat he would like her to check out. They walk together to go see the cat. They run into Jang-yeol, who warns Sun-woo to keep his butt safe. Ye-bun tries to tell him that he meant to watch out for toxic grass when he sits down.

When Ye-bun sees the cat and holds it, she sees its memories of witnessing a man take bottles out of a crate and bury them. When she gets home, Ok-hui deems her disloyal for shopping at another supermarket, as Ok-hui’s family owns the one next door. She threatens her not to shop elsewhere again.

That night, Jang-yeol, still searching for the pesticides, sees a figure clawing at some dirt. It’s Ye-bun. They both scream, and Jang-yeol runs after her. After they recover themselves, Jang-yeol asks her how she knew where the pesticide bottles were. She tells him the truth: that she can see memories when she touches someone’s butt. He is in disbelief. She asks if she can prove it to him, and he immediately says no.

Ye-bun goes to Ok-hui’s place, and Ok-hui changes and takes off some butt padding. Ye-bun sees, touches Ok-hui’s butt, and realizes that she can see her memories. It finally clicks that everything she sees must be real. Somewhere, a girl runs for her life, but Jong-hyeok finds her and drags her away.

The Episode Review

This episode’s comedic scenes have better execution than the last episode. It is a lot more consistently humorous. The K-drama is turning out to be the rom-com crime drama that its trailer promises. The cartoon intro is growing on me, and so are the characters. Jang-yeol is really turning out to be a desperate and overeager detective, and it’s pretty amusing.

Even though it’s early in the series, it has stirred up five mystery-related questions:

Where is the girl that was kidnapped, and why did clueless Ye-bun never say anything to anyone? Obviously, time is of the essence here.
What is the significance of Jang-yeol’s memories from the first episode?
Did Ye-bun’s mom actually die of suicide?
Is there actually drug activity in Mujin?
Why did Hyun-ok betray Jong-mook?