The Killing Vote – K-Drama Episode 7 Recap & Review

Trip to the Past 

Episode 7 of The Killing Vote opens with a debate on open access to suspects’ identities. This is in the past, before Na-rae’s murder took place. Kwon Seok-joo and Min Ji-young are both on the panel — Ji-young argues for the right to be informed about a suspect’s identity to be able to protect oneself.

Seok-joo replies that even if one knows the identity, no action can be taken because according to Korean law, pre-emptive assault is a crime. Afterwards, Ji-young introduces her son, Yun-seong, as a huge fan of Seok-joo. Seok-joo discusses law with Yun-seong and even invites him to his university lecture, but gets distracted when his daughter Na-rae arrives.

On the way home, Ji-young makes one of her assistants get out of the car because of a rude comment he made. Yun-seong sees Seok-joo walking with his daughter and seems upset about it. Later, Yun-seong attends Seok-joo’s lecture and gets jealous when he sees him laughing with his female students and patting them on the shoulder.

When he’s home, Yun-seong keeps looking at Seok-joo’s autograph in his book. Through binoculars, he sees Seok-joo in his garden, with Na-rae and their dog, Fluffy. The next day, Fluffy is missing. Seok-joo asks Yun-seong if he took the dog and the latter responds by asking, “How could I have taken it?” Yun-seong’s parents walk in on the conversation and convince Seok-joo to go back home.

But in their own backyard, they find the dog’s body buried underground. And apparently, this isn’t the first dog that Yun-seong has killed. The chairman, Yun-seong’s father, hits him in anger. But Ji-young steps up and tells Woo-taek, the son of the housekeeper and the driver, to take the blame. Woo-taek obediently takes the beating instead.

Later on, Yun-seong goes up to a bleeding Woo-taek and apologises. Claiming that those who apologise are good people, Woo-taek says he has a gift for Yun-seong and rubs the lobe of the younger boy’s ear. Yun-seong says they need to take revenge on the person who told on them. We then see little Na-rae on her way home, on the phone with someone, telling them she can find her way home alone. She puts the phone down and someone calls her name from behind. 

Cut to the bathroom at a club, a young Mu-chan stuffs his face with pills. He goes out and joins a group of people who are taking drugs. Soon, Jin-soo and other officers arrive and arrest all the offenders. In the hospital, recovering from the massive amounts of painkillers he took, Mu-chan defends his actions to Jin-soo.

But Jin-soo knows he only put his health at risk because he wants to work on the case of Na-rae’s disappearance. At that moment, Mu-chan gets a call regarding the discovery of Na-rae’s body. It cuts to the place where Na-rae is found. Her body is taken out and Seok-joo is arrested for her murder. Before leaving, Mu-chan spots Yun-seong watching from nearby and smiling.

Jin-soo interrogates Seok-joo, accusing him of faking the kidnapping and killing his own daughter. Apparently, a witness saw him get off the bus with Na-rae (untrue, as far as what we’ve seen). Mu-chan takes over the questioning but it’s clear he believes Seok-joo is innocent. He shows him a video going around on the internet accusing Seok-joo of inappropriately touching his students. 

Seok-joo is ultimately released but is still a suspect. At his house, Mu-chan calls himself Seok-joo’s number one fan and promises to catch the murderer. Seok-joo tells Mu-chan about the small bunny plush toy that is missing from Na-rae’s belongings. It was given to her by a boy Seok-joo was going to adopt but wasn’t found when she was murdered.

The boy was supposed to meet Na-rae on the day she got kidnapped. He only made two of those plush toys, one for him and one for Na-rae. He gave his own to Seok-joo to help him find the murderer.

While casing the area, Mu-chan sees a group of cyclists and asks one of them for the footage from the camera strapped to her forehead. In the footage, he sees Woo-taek walking with Na-rae. Jin-soo and Mu-chan discuss his connection with Yun-seong while Woo-taek is in the interrogation room.

In Min Ji-young’s house, Mu-chan sees a photo of Yun-seong and recognises him. After questioning Ji-young, Yun-seong comes downstairs and Mu-chan asks him about Woo-taek. He claims to not be close to Woo-taek at all. Outside the house, Mu-chan makes a phone call to ask for more information about Yun-seong. Ji-young hears this through the security camera and tells her secretary to spread more slander about Seok-joo to keep the attention on him.

The investigation reveals that Yun-seong was always involved in the crimes that Woo-taek has been accused of. Due to heart surgery, Yun-seong is permanently homeschooled. The boy himself comes to the police station to give his witness statement — he saw Woo-taek leaving the house with a pink backpack. While talking to him, Mu-chan realises the injury on Yun-seong’s hand is from a knife. 

Convinced that Yun-seong is the killer, Mu-chan beats Woo-taek till he confesses that Yun-seong is an accomplice. But he has no proof. Until he thinks about the plush toy Seok-joo gave him. We then see the ‘new evidence’ presented to a judge with proof of Yun-seong’s involvement. But the original plush toy is found by the other party and Mu-chan’s evidence is dismissed. Woo-taek is proven innocent.

The prosecutors, Ji-young and even Seok-joo are angry with Mu-chan for how things went down. Later, Seok-joo comes across Woo-taek outside his house and apologises for the trouble he went through. Reiterating his belief that those who apologise are good, Woo-taek wants to give Seok-joo a gift. In lieu of that, he lets Seok-joo hear a recording of Na-rae on her phone where she is asking to go home. Seok-joo looks shaken to the core.

We then see Seok-joo cover up Na-rae’s room and leave the house. He murders Woo-taek. Later, Mu-chan watches him being taken to prison while nearby Hyun is standing with a board protesting drunk drivers. Yun-seong is there as well, smiling again. We also hear that Woo-taek’s parents committed suicide.

Finally, back in the present day, we see Yun-seong and Ji-hoon come across Seok-joo. Hyun arrives and records Yun-seong’s reaction as the two men pass each other. Ji-hoon’s statement is quickly wrapped up and the officers ask Yun-seong to stay a little longer. Mu-chan enters and begins questioning him about Na-rae’s death.

Instead of exiting the police station, Ji-hoon tries to sneak his way around but Hyun catches him. He gives an excuse of not being able to find the restroom. Hyun then drives him to school and asks him to help her get into the computer lab. Once there, he realises that she’s looking for evidence against Yun-seong (Min-soo, as Ji-hoon knows him).

Turns out, Mu-chan’s interrogation is a distraction to let Hyun look for proof. Ji-hoon helps Hyun recover deleted files on the computer and they find the video of the car explosion. Once Yun-seong leaves, Mu-chan tells Seok-joo his suspicions. Seok-joo doubts it because while he fits the description of the Number One Fan, there isn’t a reason for him to be Gaetal.

As they discuss, it is also revealed that when Mu-chan whispered in Seok-joo’s ear in the previous episode, he was telling him that if he was Gaetal he would have killed Na-rae’s murderer first. At present, Mu-chan asks Seok-joo what happened to the boy he was going to adopt.

Ji-hoon and an overjoyed Hyun walk out of the school. Hyun tells Ji-hoon that he can confide in her anytime he wants if he can’t open up to his grandmother. After she leaves, Ji-hoon stands in the rain.

The scene cuts to another young boy sitting in the rain when Seok-joo and Na-rae walk by. Na-rae shares her umbrella with him. He spends more time with the little family and seems happy. On the day of Woo-taek’s murder, the boy is standing on top of a flight of stairs watching Seok-joo and crying. At present, Joo Min turns up and holds an umbrella over Ji-hoon. She smiles at him and he pictures Na-rae doing the same thing. Ji-hoon is the boy Seok-joo was going to adopt.

The Episode Review

The Killing Vote episode 7 continues at a slightly slow pace but it serves up some delicious plot developments. The debate at the beginning and Seok-joo’s comments about pre-emptive justice reflect so much about how he got into his current situation. We also learn about Ji-hoon and his connection to the case as a whole as well as exactly how Mu-chan’s investigation fell apart. All of these things keep the narrative highly engaging.  

While it is quite interesting to get a full picture of what happened in the past, I wonder why the makers decided to devote almost an entire episode to it. I think the story is a lot more effective when we are getting bits of the past along with the present. The balance is completely shifted in Episode 7 and as a result, that makes the viewing experience a tad uneven.

That said, it is satisfying to see some threads begin to come together. The moral arguments are fascinating as is the depiction of young Yun-seong, whose portrayal is suitably eerie. Overall, a good episode!