Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Hello and welcome back to the recaps for Crime Scene Returns, and after the conclusion of the last case, we’ll be starting up a new one for Episode 3.
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The cold open to the episode is like a fucking horror movie, which I immediately dislike because I am a coward.
Anyway, the case is a murder of a YouTuber at the Bamboo Dormitory, who just prior to his death had claimed to have discovered the truth behind a conspiracy involving the dorm.
SHINee‘s Key serves as the detective for this case, or Officer Key.
The sets really are bigger. They even sprung for realistic-looking rain!
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Victim – Hwang Seulwoo
- 36-year-old male, lived in room 302 for a month but was in the process of leaving
- Body found in utility room, mouth covered with tape, blow to back of head, knife wound in chest
- Attempt at dismembering him at waist
- Wealthy tenant, played golf
- Energy drinks and used laxatives box found in room, maybe prank related
Investigation discovered hair on the handle of the murder weapon, inferring it was used to inflict the head wound, and that the dismembering attempt was interrupted by a blackout. Plan was seemingly to put pieces of his body into trash bags and dump him out of the window into the bin below, as trash was scheduled to be picked up that day. Also, it wasn’t mentioned, but you can see that when he’s hit it happens while in front of room 304, the empty one.
Hard to rule anybody out based on the method of murder. In theory, seems most likely to be a man given the need to knock the victim out in one blow and drag them to the utility room, but the distance is short and the dismemberment could’ve been to make things lighter anyway.
Owner Park (Park Ji Yoon)
- 52-year-old female, owner of the dorm and lives on second floor
- Only concern is building, is a strict landlord with fines, and rent is down
- Had keys to every room except the empty room 304, possesses a ledger of all tenant ID numbers, and has all tenant’s ID cards except victim
- Denies accusations of using IDs to take out loans as debt went up
- Seemingly has eight of every item for some reason
- Dating Super Jang
- Victim brought sexual assault case against her, matter was settled
- Claims to have been sleeping at time of murder
Investigation was suspicious of her excuse for not having the victim’s ID card given that she’s so overbearing with everything else. Claims that the sexual assault case wasn’t serious and it was just her flirting with the victim. Also, had a clear path from her room, to the kitchen, to the hallway where the initial attack occurred. Had a bunch of notes of things to do as a landlord, but threw away a complaint from Mature Joo about the washer being loud, which maybe has relevance, as you’ll see later.
Super Jang (Jang Jin)
- 55-year-old man, owns supermarket on first floor
- Lived at dorm before moving out
- Acupuncture books, notes on which pressure points cause death
- Dating Owner Park, didn’t tell her he was divorced, and looked into building’s value should it be sold
- Involved in a dog poop pill scandal at former job, but says he has no criminal record
- Claims to have been at an off-site factory at time of murder
Likely to learn more about him as a suspect as the case continues to get investigated, but I’m guessing it’s more likely he tried to murder Owner Park than anything else at the moment. Something about his excuse for being off-site at midnight on Christmas doesn’t make sense without more info.
The thing that stood out more than anything was him and Owner Park putting on a melodramatic acting clinic. Park Ji Yoon wants that casting for his next movie.
Dayworker Jang (Jang Dong Min)
- 36-year-old male, lives in room 303 next to the victim’s
- Found with a bunch of tools in his room, along with special glasses and a covered mirror
- Was bullied by victim, made to run errands, and pictures of wine poured on him at party found on camera
- Fan of gory horror movies
- Failed at securing employment, card from investigator Agent Jang found
- Unclear if Agent Jang is a loan shark like Owner Park claims, or detective agency head, or both
- Claims to have been in his room at time of murder, awake
This is a bit meta, but it does feel like every suspect that gets bullied always looks like they have the strongest motive and means at the beginning, but it never turns out to be them specifically because of that. That said, he does fit the description of a suspect most likely able to attempt this murder. Also, it’s possible the ashtray thing has more relevance than we know so far. Seems unlikely it was just about him burning failed job applications.
Bonus points for scaring the shit out of everybody.
Mature Joo (Joo Hyun Young)
- 33-year-old woman, lived in room 301 next to the victim’s
- Working for 10 years to pass the bar exam, blames victim’s noise for failure
- Victim was ex-boyfriend from before that moved in suddenly
- Client of an investigator to find ex’s address
- Claims to have been in room at time of murder
I’m thinking that at some point the fact that they dated before becomes relevant aside from having bad blood. She already admitted to wanting some form of revenge, but the evidence itself isn’t there yet.
As the subber mentioned on Twitter, this was probably one of the funnier moments. Just absolutely confused while trying to rattle off legal jargon and not making any sense, then getting caught with that face, lol.
Rapper Ahn (IVE’s Yujin)
- 22-year-old male, lived in room 305
- Claims to have been close with victim, who listened to their rapping
- High school dropout and constant Show Me The Money reject
- Victim pranked him with laxatives, making him shit himself
- Claims to have been working in his room at time of murder
Honestly some of the best moments of the episode was just Yujin doing dumb stuff for the character and getting laughs.
Yujin cracking up the cast with her character, lol. #CrimeSceneReturns pic.twitter.com/5JWkc3gbzG
— Asian Junkie (@asianjunkiecom) March 3, 2024
The prank might give him motive, and was accused by Owner Park of having secret beef, but there’s likely more of the story to emerge yet cause the actual evidence is sparse.
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Timeline
- 10:30 – Going away party (Dayworker Jang & Super Jang attended)
- 10:33 – Victim texts Rapper Ahn asking where he is, gets no response
- 10:35 – Victim gets response to text from Dayworker Jang
- 11:25 – YouTube broadcast
- 11:27 – YouTube broadcast ends with injury
- 11:50 – Blackout starts
- 12:05 – Blackout ends
- 12:25 – Body discovered
One interesting theory by Dayworker Jang was that the murder happened while the washer was running to hide the noise, which could connect to Owner Park having all the notes up except that one despite it not being fixed.
Also, while all the other suspects claim they were in their rooms in some way, Super Jang is the only one who claimed to be off-site. If that proves to be untrue, he looks like a prime suspect.
Votes
- Dayworker Jang: 1 (Officer Key)
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Honestly, I didn’t really get this vote, especially when Key cites that it’s partially due to him having gory movies. Seems like a silly reason to suspect somebody for murder based on evidence, though he does inarguably fit the profile anyway.
For me, I think Owner Park had all the requirements. She had access to every room, she had a clear path to the knife and then to the victim where nobody would see her moving around, and the motive was that the victim was about to expose something about her building that could’ve tanked its value. Plus, there was the other stuff with regards to the lawsuit. At the time, I feel like that’s the most logical choice given the lack of evidence with the others so far.
Rapper Ahn is also a suspect to me because he had the ability to pop out from behind in room 305, and also admits to being awake at the time of the murder. In the video, you can see a lack of rooms behind the victim, so it was that direction the attacker came from, though anybody could’ve been hiding in the utility room.
Naturally, all this is subject to change, especially based on what the actual conspiracy the victim uncovered was, as I assume that’s highly tied into the case.
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Other Stuff
- Yujin, wordplay genius?
- Park Ji Yoon being the detective really was a gigantic waste. Absolutely need her to be in character.
- I appreciated the references to season two characters on posters and what not.
- The victims deserving to die is tradition at this point.
- Jang Dong Min abuse, always popular. Joo Hyun Young fitting right in.
- Subtle PPL again:
- #Blessed
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Loved this episode, even though there was less detail revealed about the actual case in terms of being able to solve it. The characters and the jokes compensated plenty, and the entertainment is what we’re here for, after all.
If you’ve seen the other available episodes, don’t spoil it in the comments.
