Aramintai

That chasing scene was straight out of anime 😂

He’s 23 with grey strands of hair in his beard 😂 Car salesman scammer job must be very stressful.

Doesn't explain anything. More like a dissonance - the show is successful, ratings are great but episodes are shortened to somehow improve the story? The only way to improve the story is to iron that backstory niggle with more funny stuff in more episodes, not less, so that it would be more even. And shorter amount of episodes is never good for character development or having a solid unrushed ending.

In Sung the killer may not be her son - he could have heard what her real son was talking about his mother.

Ok, I'm trying again to get through this numbers switcheroo headache.
Number 7: Ahn Tae Ho - the snitch; hanged himself with killer's help.
Number 11: Ryu Sung Hoon - brother judge; was adopted by ML's parents.
Number 12: Jung In Sung - the killer; claims to be number 12, but pretended to be Jung Yoon Jae to the bad guys; has a scar from the trap that number 12 had according to the nurse; may still be the real Jung Yoon Jae with changed name.
Number 13: Jung Yoon Jae; allegedly died; had a sister who was killed, her remains were found.
Number 24: allegedly died, remains wearing number 24 track suit were found; chef's brother?

Number 45: not part of the group; was one of the victims from Hope Center orphanage.
ML: Ryu Sung Joon - not part of the group; was his parents real son.
Chef: Charles - covers for the killer; had a brother who was one of the numbered boys; sus; may still be one of the allegedly dead numbered boys.

🤷‍♂️

It was 2.5 episodes long, to be exact. And yeah, I would have been fine with it if it were full 16 episodes. But not like this.

I think chef is covering the killer, because his brother died in the orphanage and the killer promised revenge for his death.

Ok, not an unexpected killer reveal. But shoutout to the guy who figured out the thumb. And also, they could have chosen an actor who doesn't look so much like his child version.

But what are they gonna show for 4 more episodes? More filler with characters doing fake sus bs? Or more contrived switcheroos who's what number or who took who's identity?
They twisted the plot with those orphanage boys so much I don't really care anymore. I just hope the main characters survive and everyone else goes to jail, that's it.

Also, to make a rule of three complete, FL is next in line to get stabbed, both brothers already were.

It was a low blow from the showrunners to shorten it to 12 episodes. That flashback was already out of tune with the rest of the show, but would have been fine in a full 16 episodes drama and bearable in 14. But now with the news it feels just criminally too long, turning this drama into a weird mish mash. I'd love to get a season 2 for this, but I'm not holding my breath. And big question remains - why the showrunners decided to butcher this drama? It has good ratings, excellent premise and all those great actors onboard. What happened?

It's out now. Yesterday was a recap.
But be aware that this drama was shortened to 12 episodes and from now on it's gonna air once per week.

I feel like this is the opposite - not enough episodes, gonna be rushed.

Episode 9 - over the top circus and PPLs in your face. But still more interesting than ML's cliche backstory.

It's another one of those contrived "running circles" decisions just to off another character. I facepalmed at this too. That girl's death was the dumbest mistake so far.

That's exactly what I meant. But I get it, for some people here differing opinions are a personal offense they just have the need to disparage instead of simply agreeing to disagree 🙄
But don't feel too agitated, I don't find all of Chinese cinema bad, some of their movies are pretty good.

You clearly missed "personally" in my first post. And do I really have to waste my time by trying to watch all of them, if even those from recent years are not good enough for me *personally*?

There's a big red button called Delete on the left when you're changing drama's status.

I don't see why do I have to defend my personal opinion from your unsubtle attempts to discredit it. But whatever, I tried watching some from recent years only, go too far and even kdramas start to look crap. This year, for example, I tried Love Like a Galaxy, Love Between Fairy and Devil, Immortal Samsara.

Yea, because I never managed to finish any of them. And I don't fill Dropped tab, I just delete dramas not worth watching.

There's probably an ad somewhere promoting that hooded raincoat:
"Want to stab or murder someone without reavealing your identity? Want to look like a mysterious creep while going out incognito? Look no more, check out our new completely water and bloodproof hooded raincoat that absolutely won't make you stand out while wearing it!" 🙄.