Seoul Busters – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

The Killer 

Seoul Busters episode 3 starts with Yu-bin on a call with Tan-sik. He is surprised that the killer has been arrested. It turns out that Joong-Ryeok discovered that Min-sik lied in his initial statement. Joong-Ryeok makes him write a new statement, detailing exactly what happened in Dong-il’s house.

Once Yu-bin arrives at the office, Joong-Ryeok briefs him that Min-sik lied about borrowing money, a car and the apartment from Dong-il. Joong-Ryeok thinks the motive for the killing lies behind Min-sik’s lies. However, Yu-bin is unconvinced that Min-sik killed Dong-il.

He threatens to report Joong-Ryeok if he fails to follow protocol when arresting a suspect again. He also asks Joong-Ryeok to only charge Min-sik for his existing crimes. As expected, Joong-Ryeok is pissed, and the team tries to calm him down. Before leaving, Yu-bin asks Jung-hwan to keep trying to contact Mr Jang’s secretary who has gone MIA.

The next day, Min-seo and Yu-bin visit Mr Jang to ask him more questions about Min-jae. By the looks of it, Mr Jang appears shaken and sad following Min-jae’s death. However, Yu-bin doesn’t believe his act, unlike Min-seo, who is moved by the man’s tears. Yu-bin argues that Mr Jang is lying since he noticed a fresh soy sauce stain on his shirt when the latter had claimed he was too distraught to eat.

Later, Joong-Ryeok uses his charms to finally get the secretary of Mr Jang to show up. She tells the team about a rumour that Min-jae was planning to leave Mr Jang’s company. If Min-jae left the company, Mr Jang would lose his biggest source of income and go bankrupt.

Further investigation leads the team to discover that Min-jae was indeed planning to switch companies. He was looking for dirt on Mr Jang to avoid paying a huge fine for breach of contract. Meanwhile, Yu-bin visits Eun-gyeong and she gives him a piece of paper she found in Min-jae’s throat.

At the same time, the team members are shocked when Yu-bin invites Min-seo to watch a movie. Jung-hwan and Joong-Ryeok wonder if it is appropriate for Yu-bin to date Min-seo and if it will work in their favour. On the other hand, Min-seo feels awkward as she thinks Yu-bin is about to confess his feelings. Fortunately, he abandons her at the theatre, claiming he needs to use the restroom. He returns two and a half hours later when the movie is about to end.

Elsewhere, Mr Jang reminisces about the days he and Min-jae struggled together. He makes plans to leave the country but Yu-bin shows up out of the blue. Yu-bin starts reading him his Miranda rights, but Mr Jang tries to flee.

An intense foot pursuit ensues, forcing Yu-bin to follow Mr Jang up a hill. After running for miles, Mr Jang gets tired but refuses to give up.  He draws out his knife to attack Yu-bin. Yu-bin moves to draw his gun only to realise he dropped it during the chase. Thankfully, Joong-Ryeok shows up just in time to save the day.

It turns out that Mr Jang found out about Min-jae’s plans and came up with one of his own. He snuck out of the theatre and never watched the movie. He used this chance to visit Dong-il and kill him. He then leaked the video of Min-jae bullying Dong-il to ruin his reputation and make sure no company would work with him.

Unfortunately, Min-jae accidentally found evidence of Dong-il’s murder when he was snooping around Mr Jang’s office. He realised that Mr Jang had written down Dong-il’s address on a piece of paper because he visited the manager and killed him. 

Min-jae’s mistake was to take that paper and confront Mr Jang in his home. Mr Jang showed up prepared to kill Min-jae and even pretended to be a delivery man. He used the helmet to hide his identity. After fighting with Min-jae, he hit the young man with the helmet, leaving a piece behind. Unbeknownst to Mr Jang, Min-jae swallowed the piece of evidence before he threw him over the balcony. Before his arrest, Mr Jang was hoping to flee to China.

As for Joong-Ryeok, he figured out the truth when Min-sik remembered seeing a man alight from a taxi the night Dong-il died. Based on the sketch, Joong-Ryeok realised that the culprit was Mr Jang and Yu-bin was on his way to arrest him. He managed to find Yu-bin’s gun while trying to catch up with them.

After a long day, the team returns to the office and Yu-bin is surprised to find laxatives on his desk. Jung-hwan thought he missed the movie because he had constipation. The episode ends with Yu-bin and Min-seo coincidentally meeting at Dong-il’s grave. Min-seo suggests they have a team dinner to welcome him and Yu-bin agrees. She asks about his impression of the team and he responds that they’re not that bad.

The Episode Review

After solving the case and proving himself, Yu-bin has gained the trust of the members. The ice has thawed, and they are slowly starting to accept him. It is nice that Joong-Ryeok is not good at holding grudges and moves on from arguments quickly.

It also helps that Yu-bin is patient and eases his way into the team. He observes before making a move. This is one of the few things that makes him a good leader. He also found a way to make Tan-sik feel useful by asking him to look into the taxi Mr Jang used on his way to visit Dong-il.

He gave Tan-sik a task he knew he could manage and included him in the case.  With this case solved, what new case will the team solve in the next episode?