The Road: The Tragedy Of One – K-Drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

Muddy Shoes

Episode 5 of The Road: The Tragedy of One begins with Soo-Hyun calling the police and, specifically, Sim Seok-Hun to the crime scene. There’s blood everywhere and Soo-Hyun tries to piece together what happened by the spatters across the cluttered room. So who did kill Sung-Hwan? Well, that much is still unknown.

The police soon arrive at the scene but Seok-Hun has his concerns. This is the second person connected with Soo-Hyun who has passed away and it does look pretty suspect.

While Seok-Hun doesn’t outright say that he suspects Soo-Hyun, it’s clear that’s what he’s thinking. He’s also not particularly pleased that Soo-Hyun didn’t ring right away too. However, checking the security footage shows a mysterious figure leaving via the emergency exit – but also being careful to use the blind spots to avoid detection.

Back home, Eun-Soo finds Seo-Young’s pills which certainly rattles her given the autopsy report has it listed that Joon-Young was being medicated. This immediately sees Eun-Soo show up at her place, where Seo-Young frantically looks through the bags for something. Well, that something is her medication which Eun-Soo indirectly calls her out for.

Seo-Young is in no mood for antagonistic quips though and heads off to the company roof to meet Soo-Hyun. She stops by to see Yeo-Jin first, revealing the truth about Sung-Hwan’s murder and learning that she’s a secret witness too.

The meeting goes ahead between Soo-Hyun and Seo-Young. It seems like Sung-Hwan was killed because he stumbled upon information he shouldn’t have. He was trying to orchestrate a meeting with Seo so… is he involved? Is it Seo-Young playing dumb? Or is there something else going on here? Seo telling Mun-Do “I won’t allow any more surprises” seems to be a hint that Seo is definitely involved though.

At work, Soo-Hyun’s world is turned upside down when he receives incriminating texts blackmailing him over the parentage of Joon-Young. A birth certificate and an ominous note to stay silent and cover his eyes and ears are enough for Soo-Hyun to pass out in the studio. When he awakens, he finds himself in hospital being looked after.

At the police station, interviewing Jung-Wook sees his side of the events from that night. They drove back home drugged up, determined to track down Joon-Young. Jung-Wook didn’t find him at home and decided to “fall asleep”. The reality is, he started kissing Mi-Do.

Se-Ra though has a very different statement. She plays the victim and claims that she’s innocent. She mentions a parked car and also a strange man cursing and walking along the street. Taking a short break, the detectives see through her façade and realize she’s playing them.

This only further reinforces what their fears are – that everyone in Royal the Hill is an accomplice. This leads us nicely along to day 5 of this investigation.

Seok-Hun apologizes for being so harsh to Soo-Hyun, claiming he didn’t mean what he said. Looking at the evidence and the autopsy report, it loos like Joon-Young was fed a large amount of his asthma medication before he died, backing up what Eun-Soo found out earlier on. And who else has loads of pills stashed away? Seo-Young. Alas, the plot thickens.

Speaking of secrets, back home Sung-Ja flashes back to the night of the murder, with Tae-Seob sporting muddy shoes. Sung-Ja has polished them up all nice and clean, stashing them away in a box.

Tae-Seob also has a bloodied shirt from that night which she still has in her possession. Given the car is clearly damaged, Sung-Ja calls him out for it in the present, asking the man to get it fixed up. They also sort their story out from that night, claiming Tae-Seob was drunk and walked home to clear his head. The person driving his car was his driver, who took it back from the banquet.

At church later that day, Eun-Soo is cornered by Jang-Ho, the guy she was previously having an affair with. This whole situation is made even worse given his partner is actually blind. In fact, he flirts with her right in front of the poor girl’s face.

Later that day, Seo-Young decides to hold her press conference on News Night. Yeo-Jin is there to greet Seo-Young too, but it doesn’t take long before she heads on-air to discuss Joon-Young. She immediately brings up the situation involving the parentage of Jeon Woo, a disguise to blanket the truth.

Soo-Hyun freezes on-air, unsure how to answer, as his colleagues rush out and plead with him to say something. It’s no good – Soo-Hyun is completely spooked.

The Episode Review

The Road: The Tragedy of One is just starting to get good. What began as a simple murder mystery has now ballooned into something much bigger.

It’s clear that there’s more going on here than meets the eye, especially when it comes to all these different accomplices. Tae-Seob and his muddy boots are incredibly suspect while Seo-Young and the pills seem to incriminate her too. And what’s going on with Joon-Wook and Se-Ra? These two are also hiding things and it ultimately causes this entire web of secrecy to blanket the entire show.

Unlike Sky Castle and its relatively simple murder mystery, The Road: The Tragedy of One is much less black and white, with shades of grey starting to filter in and show a much more complicated and deeper case than we first thought. I mean, it could still be Chairman Seo but there’s also a litany of other characters who could be responsible too.

That’s to say nothing of the current situation involving Soo-Hyun who’s certainly no angel. Someone is blackmailing him and for now, it doesn’t seem like it’s Seo-Young. I could be wrong though.

Either way, The Road: The Tragedy of One is setting itself up for a very intriguing set of episodes to come.