Revenant (2023) K Drama Episode 7

Episode 7 of Revenant picks up where we left off with San-yeong in Hae-sang’s house trying to get answers from Woo-jin. After Woo-jin tells her about a woman named Choi Manwol, who allegedly created the evil spirit, he disappears. 

San-yeong frantically tries to summon him back but he is long gone. She looks around the house and finds Hae-sang’s recent discoveries about the evil spirit. She touches the piece of pottery Hae-sang found and has a vision. 

Meanwhile, Hae-sang is at the old shaman getting more information about his mom and Gang-mo. The old lady tells him that Gang-mo and his mom were working together and asked her to chant a sutra for a deceased child. The old lady explains that the said child was Hae-sang’s sibling who got miscarried.  Hae-sang is surprised to hear this but remembers the old prophecy that the second child must die.

Elsewhere, Mun-chun buries himself in old case files trying to find a clue. His luck changes when he comes across Choi Manwol’s case in 1958. Choi Manwol was suspected of being involved in Mokdan’s kidnapping and murder. He gets a call from Hae-sang asking to meet and they agree to meet at their hangover soup joint to exchange information.

Immediately after speaking to Mun-chun, Hae-sang gets a call from San-yeong asking if he is hiding anything from her. Hae-sang denies the allegation and wonders what brought on this line of questioning. San-yeong doesn’t believe him and continues to carry out her own investigation. She heads to the cyber cafe and tries to find out more about Woo-jin. She searches for the school badge she saw on Woo-jin’s jacket and learns that he was a student at Jangil High School.

Through a flashback, we go back to 1999 when Woo-jin and his dad moved into Byung-hee’s mansion. Woo-jin was fascinated by everything in the house and kept coveting things that didn’t belong to him. After a while, Hae-sang realised that Woo-jin was possessed by a hungry ghost but felt too scared to tell him. Things escalated and Woo-jin kept going into forbidden rooms and taking things that didn’t belong to him. During one of his little kleptomaniac escapades, he discovered a file on Choi Manwol. 

Back in the present, Hong-sae has a strange encounter with Chi-won, who asks him to spy on Mun-chun on behalf of Junghyeon Capital. Hong-sae is baffled by the request and Chi-won tries to sweeten the deal by giving him a document that can help with his promotion. Thankfully, Hong-sae turns down the offer, but his interest is piqued. 

In the meantime, Mun-chun and Hae-sang meet as planned. Hae-sang tells him about his dead sibling and how everything is tied to Gang-mo. Hae-sang believes that there was an evil spirit in their house. He feels he will know more if he looks into Gang-mo. He asks Mun-chun to look into the suicide cases surrounding Gang-mo, but the detective says it is futile. Instead, Mun-chun tells him about Choi Manwol and Lee Mokdan. Mun-chun believes this was the start of all the suspicious suicide cases. 

We circle back to 1958 when Lee Mokdan was found dead. The police arrested Choi Manwol, who was considered the most talented Shaman in Jangjin-ri at the time. After finding condemning evidence in her house, they brought Choi Manwol in for questioning. Unfortunately, that night the evil spirit attacked  Choi Manwol, forcing her to commit suicide. It was a strange case because no one saw the evil spirit, and the case was closed after an internal investigation. 

After listening to Mun-chun’s take on the case, Hae-sang asks him to help track Choi Manwol’s family. Hae-sang also goes through the Choi Manwol case file and sees a list of five items that are supposed to seal the evil spirit. 

In the meantime, Hong-sae calls San-yeong and asks to meet. They have coffee and Hong-sae asks about the kind of man Hae-sang is. San-yeong is surprised and points out that Mun-chun is better fitted to answer this question. She is also curious why Hong-sae is looking into Hae-sang. 

She promises to answer his question if he helps her find out more about Woo-jin. She doesn’t know his name but gives Hong-sae a description of Woo-jin, the school he attended, and the year he died from suicide. Hong-sae remarks that she looks like a different person, and San-yeong asks what he means but he doesnt expound. 

The next morning, Hae-sang tracks down a family member of Choi Manwol. The man is Choi Manwol’s great-nephew.  He happens to be a shaman but has no talent whatsoever. Hae-sang asks him about Choi Manwol and the red hairpin. The great-nephew explains that the red hairpin was used to evoke a juvenile ghost. He argues that the village of  Jangjin-ri was having a hard time in 1958, so they committed such an atrocity. 

The villagers gathered all second-born kids and Choi Manwol chose Lee Mokdan as the child to be killed. They then turned Lee Mokdan into a ghost. Choi Manwol kept a record of everything and Hae-ang asks to see that record. He is shocked to see that Choi Manwol received one billion Hwan in exchange for creating a juvenile ghost. However, what shocks him the most is seeing that the cheque was issued by Junghyeon Corporation. He begs the great-nephew to take the record book and leaves. 

On the other hand, Hong-sae meets up with San-yeong to update her on his research into Woo-jin. It turns out there were a series of mysterious deaths in Woo-jin’s school. Some students died of sudden heart attacks, just like what happened to Yoon-jung’s victim.  After getting the information she wanted, San-yeong answers Hong-sae’s question. 

She informs him that Hae-sang can see ghosts, and so can she. She adds that he might not believe her but the cases she is involved in are also because of a ghost. Hong-sae doesn’t believe her and insists on accompanying her to Jangil High School. San-yeong is hoping to find out more about what happened to Woo-jin. 

They meet an old teacher at the school who helps them fill in the blanks. He tells them that Woo-jin was found with the belongings of the four students that died. Woo-jin felt he can take them since the students had a lot when he had little. The teacher believes that Woo-jin was acting out following his mom’s death. Woo-jin was given disciplinary action and the parents of the students forgave him. Sadly, Woo-jin got into a car accident after the cases were solved.

San-yeong decides to call Woo-jin’s last known residence and Byung-hee picks up the phone. She immediately starts screaming after San-yeong asks about Choi Manwol. Hong-she finds it strange that San-yeong called the house. He explains to her that the house belongs to Hae-sang’s grandmother. They are also the owner of Junghyeon Capital.

In the meantime, Hae-sang visits the bank and verifies that the payment for Mokdan’s murder was paid by his dad’s company. He later gets a call from Mun-chun, who informs him that it looks like the police investigating Choi Manwol’s case were dismissed. However, Mun-chun suspects that they were bribed, given that the case was internally closed. He questions who might have paid the bribe, but Hae-sang doesn’t tell him what he knows. 

Concurrently, San-yeong and Hong-sae drive to the old Junghyeon Capital. Hong-sae tells her about all the fishy suicide cases related to the company even before it changed its name. Anyone who went against the company ended up dying in a mysterious suicide and San-yeong is convinced there is a connection to Choi Manwol. She looks at the files and notes that Jae-woo was appointed CEO in 1958, the same year Choi Manwol killed Mokdan. She also sees a picture of the old company and recognises it as the place she saw in her vision.

As she goes through the file. She sees Mokdan and gets out of the car to follow her, even though it is raining. She sees how Mokdan was led to Byung-hee’s house under the illusion she will be given food. Choi Manwol deceived the girl and led her to a painful death. They starved her as they performed rituals outside. When the time came, Choi Manwol killed her and mutilated her body.

All these were done on the order of Byung-hee and Jae-woo. In turn, the company grew successful and the village people got paid in food for their sacrifice. 

As San-yeong follows Mokdan’s ghost to Byung-hee’s house, Hae-sang confronts his grandmother and demands the truth. Byung-hee tells him that they paid for Mokdan to be turned into a juvenile ghost to ensure the success of the company. She calls Hae-sang’s mom stupid for wanting to get rid of the evil spirit.

The evil spirit was supposed to possess Hae-sang after his father’s death but his mom got rid of it. Byung-hee feels no remorse just hatred that Hae-sang’s mom gave the evil spirit away.  

Outside, San-yeong wails in pain as she sees what Mokdan went through. The pain consumes her, and Hong-sae tries to track her down. He finds her outside Byung-hee’s mansion, crying in the rain. Before he can get out, he sees Hae-sang approach. He watches as San-yeong confronts Hae-sang for what his family did to Mokdan. 

San-yeong feels it is unfair and abominable that Mokdan died because of greed. She asks if he had fun enjoying all that wealth when it came at such a high cost. She smashes the windows of his car and asks him to sue her if he wants. Hae-sang is also in shock after learning the truth and doesn’t defend himself. He goes home but then decides not to get in. Woo-jin sees him and follows to the bridge. 

Hae-sang is consumed with guilt and asks why Woo-jin never told him the truth about his grandparents. Woo-jin explains that he found the documents concerning Manwol in Jae-woo’s study and overheard Gang-mo asking Byung-he how to acquire a ghost. Of course, Byung-hee sent Gang-mo on his way without telling him anything. Woo-jin was afraid that Hae-sang won’t be able to handle the truth and thought that Gang-mo would continue to keep his distance. This is why he never revealed the truth to Hae-sang. 

Hae-sang feels even more guilty and starts getting suicidal as a spirit roams below in the water. The more Hae-sang despairs, the closer the spirit gets. Woo-jin tries to warn him to stop but it is too late. In the end, Woo-jin sacrifices himself and is consumed by the ghost. Hae-sang feels even more sad and suicidal but doesn’t jump from the bridge. 

San-yeong, on the other hand, goes home and talks to the evil spirit. She assures the spirit that she will make different choices from her dad and Jae-woo. However, the evil spirit is not convinced and rattles the doors before telling her that she is no different from her dad. The evil spirit tells her that they all wanted her.

The Episode Review

It is clear that Mokdan suffered a terrible fate and one can’t blame her for seeking revenge. It is, however, sad that so many people have paid the price of Jae-woo’s greed. So many lives were ruined or shortened because Jae-woo and Byung-hee wanted success and money. 

There is also Gang-mo; he wanted the ghost because he was afraid of going blind. Was it worth all the pain? He lost his family and now his daughter is being affected by the same evil spirit. He ruined her life because of his greed. It is possible that San-yeong will make a different choice but the question remains, what will it take to get rid of the evil spirit?

I feel for Hae-sang; he is simply a son paying for the mistake of his family. It is not his fault and one can only hope that he will overcome the guilt ravaging him.