Blood Free – K-Drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Who is CitizenX?

Blood Free Episode 2 begins with Chae-woon arriving at the BF office. He’s led to a VR room where he must prove his fighting, shooting and driving skills. Afterwards, On San interviews Chae-woon and the latter reveals that he’s studied On San’s background as well. On his way out, Chae-woon notes the locations of the security camera.

Later, Ja-yu speaks with her team leaders. The security team hasn’t cracked the ransomware yet and On San tells her about Chae-woon’s interview. After that, Hae-deun says the prime minister wants to meet her. She also breaks the news that a South American gang has put a bounty on Ja-yu’s head. Ja-yu seems like she was prepared for it though she wonders who she should pick for her bodyguard.

Chae-woon goes home and finds a man hiding inside. He fights him while another lounges on the couch, watching. After Chae-woon wins, the man tells him to kidnap and bring Ja-yu to him. He tries to bribe Chae-woon with money. When Chae-woon refuses, the doorbell rings. It’s Hae-deun. This was simply a part of the test and Chae-woon passed.

He’s taken to meet Ja-yu. Ja-yu does think it odd that he’s appeared right at the moment when they need him. But she decides to trust him and reveals the issue with CitizenX. Chae-woon says his previous workplace wasn’t able to decrypt the files either. Ja-yu decides to pay the ransom and the files are immediately unlocked.

Chae-woon officially begins his role as Ja-yu’s bodyguard and follows her to her car. A man named Kim Ho-seung is her driver, and perhaps another bodyguard as well. On San visits the final resting place of the man who fell on Ja-yu’s car. The victim’s sister is distraught, so he waits for a while.

After dropping Ja-yu off, Ho-seung tries to chat with Chae-woon but doesn’t get much response. Inside the house, Seonu Jae is upset about the hacking incident since BF is a big part of the country’s reputation. Ja-yu asks him to help catch the hackers and become the first to get them to do so. Meanwhile, On San heads to a hospital where a BF employee has been admitted due to an accident.  

In return for helping Ja-yu, Seonu Jae tells Ja-yu to donate money to the government and to announce that the culture fluid is safe. Since the ingredients of the fluid are top secret, she only agrees to announce that the meat is safe. Back in the car, Ja-yu gets a call from On San who tells her that an employee named Ms. Hong got into an accident. She almost drowned but was saved by a witness.

Ja-yu gets to her hotel room and dismisses Ho-seung and Chae-woon. Back home, Chae-woon removes a button from his shirt which had a hidden camera. He goes through the footage from the day till he comes across the message CitizenX sent BF. Recalling his experience with the hackers during his time in the Navy, Chae-woon notices something is different.

He turns up where Ja-yu’s staying in the middle of the night and shows her what he’s found. Since it is believed that CitizenX is a Russian organisation, the ransom note has some Russian use of punctuation in the English text. The note Ja-yu got didn’t have any of these. It’s a Korean pretending to be CitizenX.

In fact, it could be someone Ja-yu knows. Within BF. Ja-yu and Chae-woon go to the BF lab. As they walk, Ja-yu thinks things over, suspecting the people in her inner circle one by one at the end of Blood Free Episode 2.

The Episode Review

Blood Free Episode 2 brings Chae-woon and Ja-yu together, which immediately makes the story a lot more appealing. She did seem quick to trust him but I suppose the various tests he went through were more than enough.

It is a bit surprising that both the leading characters are a bit stoic, closed-off and even speak in a bit of a deadpan voice. It works for now but after an episode or two of this, it could run the risk of becoming monotonous. The fun of it will be in seeing the inner thoughts and feelings of both, Ja-yu and Chae-woon, spill over.

The story as a whole is more streamlined and focused than the pilot, with the major spotlight being on the hacking case. It is intriguing the way this case leads to the larger plot of someone from Ja-yu’s inner circle having betrayed her. The larger themes have gotten a bit lost in this narrower focus but there’s plenty of time to get back to them.