2023 Kdrama Revenant Episode 9 Recap & Review+3 highlights

Korean drama “Revenant” Episode 9 recap: the plot unfolds as Hong-Sae collapses after witnessing Moon-Choon’s death firsthand. Hae-Sang also struggles to hide her pain and sorrow. This time, demon’s killings have nothing to do with San-Yeong. The demon has a secret that it wants to keep hidden. On the other hand, Hong-Sae personally meets with San-Yeong, who has transformed into a demon, and begins to question its true identity.

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Kdrama Revenant Episode 9 Recap

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🔺 Continuing from the Revenant Episode 8 plot, Lee Hong-Sae opened the door and the demon has already found Seo Moon-Choon, causing him to intentionally fall off a building. This greatly saddens Lee Hong-Sae, who blames Gu San-Yeong for bringing this tragedy upon them (even though he just saw Gu San-Yeong outside the door).

🔺 At that moment, the demon inside Gu San-Yeong speaks horrifying words about how it’s no big deal if someone dies. Everyone is shocked by this revelation. The Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost also mentions that it’s not yet Yeom Hae-Sang’s turn to die. Later on, Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost leads Gu San-Yeong’s body to a bar to enjoy some happiness.

🔺 The next day, Gu San-Yeong wakes up in terror realizing that she can’t remember what happened last night. She even told her mother that they should sleep together and said dreamily “Mommy don’t go, don’t die.”

🔺Gu San-Yeong feels guilty and confesses to Lee Hong-Sae but there is no evidence or reason for anyone to believe what he saw. Therefore, Lee Hong-Sae doesn’t know how to trust Seo Moon-Choon’s sighting of Gu San-Yeong before his death. At the funeral, Lee Hong-Sae breaks down and hopes that if Yeom Hae-Sang can see Seo Moon-Choon then she would apologize on his behalf because he blames himself for not stopping Seo Moon-Choon earlier. In Seo Moon-Choon’s place, Yeom Hae-Sang feels sorry for him as he hasn’t been taking care of himself while working on the case lately.

🔺In 1996 when Yeom Hae-sang lost her parents’ comforted her since then took care of her.Lee Hong SAE goes looking for the information that Seo Moon-Choon had before his death, even though it could be dangerous for him. However, there are no copies of this information. He manages to obtain a document from Cheon Il-Man stating that Ku Kang-Mo applied for “retrieval of personal belongings” on April 21st, 1999.

🔺Gu San-Yeong realizes that she can’t remember what happened again and eventually finds drawings under the furniture in her closet. She wonders if finding these five things will lead to success but feels something is off about it. When Gu San-Yeong tries to tell Yeom Hae-Sang about what she saw, Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost threatens her by saying that if she reveals it, Yeom Hae-Sang will die. This makes Yeom Hae-Sang suspicious and wonder if Gu San-Yeong doesn’t want to eliminate the demon anymore? But Gu San-Yeong knows that the document regarding Ku Kang-Mo’s retrieval request is definitely a weakness of the demon as it doesn’t want anyone to know its contents.

🔺Lee Hong-Sae goes to Yoon Gyeong-Mun seeking information about who Ku Kang-Mo helped, but Yoon Gyeong-Mun lies and claims not knowing anything about it or Jangjin-Ri’s story.

🔺 On the other hand, Gu San-Yeong found the management book of Jangjin-Ri and discovered a transaction receipt between a village man and Junghyeon Trading Company. It turns out that June 7th, the day Lee Mok-Dan went missing, was also the day when villagers received many benefits.

🔺Yeom Hae-Sang wonders about the connection between the death of librarian Chae Seo-Rin and Ku Kang-Mo. Later, it was revealed that before her death, she tore apart a book called “Understanding Art” by Shin Sung-Joo. Shin Sung-Joo is also from Jangjin-Ri and he died because of a demon. His book contains secrets that demons want to hide.

🔺 On another note, Gu San-Yeong is suspicious as to why Jangjin-Ri’s account book would be in his father’s possession. He suddenly realizes that those who attended his father’s funeral must know something, so he finds an innkeeper who turns out to be related to an incident involving Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother several decades ago.

🔺Furthermore, Ku Kang-Mo sent over a tree which was later inspected by him on a rainy day before his passing. He mentioned something going wrong with it; otherwise, how could demons not have been eliminated? In the end, a red hair accessory was dug up and news of his death arrived the next day.

🔺Gu San-Yeong now knows for sure that his father also wanted to eliminate demons but questions why they had to dig up the hair accessory again. And why did demons insist on them finding these things? Subsequently, Gu San-Yeong experiences memory lapses and suspects that his father used forbidden ropes to prevent demons from escaping their bodies. As a result, Gu San-Yeong locks himself inside his room.

🔺Yeom Hae-Sang finally obtains the graduation yearbook of art teachers from 1959. He discovers a painting on the bulletin board of a certain class that is identical to the one appearing in Gu San-Yeong’s house. Lee Hong-Sae tells Lian Hai that he has conversed with demons. Although they have childlike qualities, their words are mature and terrifying. She also dislikes children misbehaving for no reason, so Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost is unwilling to accept its own death.

🔺At the same time, Gu San-Yeong realizes that the day Lee Mok-Dan went missing until her body was returned coincides with Man-Wol’s absence, indicating that it wasn’t Lee Mok-Dan inside her body.

Kdrama Revenant Episode 9 review & 3 highlights,Explained

What important information does Seo Moon-Choon possess?

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Gu San-Yeong said that this information is a weakness of the demon. These two documents are respectively hospitalization records and confirmation of relic collection. From the content, we can know that the person who was hospitalized and passed away is a village man (because the image is blurry, I tried to interpret the name inside as “village man”, but regardless, this person’s surname is “Lee”).

According to episode 8 of Revenant, Seo Moon-Choon said in a taxi that “Lee Mok-Dan is not the second child.” I don’t see any information related to Lee Mok-Dan in this data, but I wonder if this deceased person might be Lee Mok-Dan’s father. However, it seems unlikely because he was the head of Jangjin-Ri. If he intentionally handed over Mok-Dan as her father, why would he need to use kidnapping to let Mok-Dan be deceived by a witch?

He could have just given her directly to the witch. So he should not be her father but only the head of Jangjin-Ri~ And I think Seo Moon-Choon knows more than just these things because Seo Moon-Choon said that Lee Mok-Dan is not the second child, which means he has other information that can prove Lee Mok-Dan’s past. However, those pieces of evidence were destroyed by demon stories because they only exist in original copies without duplicates and their contents cannot be known due to Seo Moon-Choon’s falling case.

Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost must stay on Gu San-Yeong?

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In Gu San-Yeong’s case, it has been confirmed that the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost is not Lee Mok-Dan (and Lee Mok-Dan is also not the second eldest). The voice sounds like a “more mature female” voice, so perhaps the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost is really just as I had previously thought – not just one.

This reminds me of when Gu San-Yeong received the red hair accessory and heard the phrase “she received it.” At that time, the voice sounded more like that of a little girl. Therefore, I speculate that Lee Mok-Dan is helping the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost.

After all, speaking in third person implies a conversation between demons. So now we can be certain that there is indeed more than one Juvenile Ghost – one being Lee Mok-Dan but not residing in Gu San-Yeong’s body, while another Juvenile Ghost resides within Gu San-Yeong and appears to be older in age. (I believe Lee Mok-Dan may have also undergone the Juvenile Ghost ritual because her finger was also severed, indicating different timing for both Lee Mok-Dan and the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost regarding their experiences with this ritual.)

• 🔺 On June 3, 1958: A piece of paper that looked like a contract stated that Choi Man-Wol received one billion old Korean won from Junghyeon Trading Company (which is owned by the Yeom Hae-Sang family) for a ritual involving Lee Mok-Dan. It seems that this was part of a plan to kidnap Lee Mok-Dan for the ritual.
• 🔺 On June 7, 1958, the day Lee Mok-Dan was kidnapped and went missing (during the waxing crescent moon): Gu San-Yeong said, “In exchange for her life, hand over what Mok-Dan received as compensation.” That day happened to be a village feast where everyone received various items and money. Ku Kang-Mo had a ledger which probably came from the village elder (because Ku Kang-Mo helped him with something at the sanatorium and eventually returned his belongings: “Jangjin-Ri ledger”). In the scene, it appears that the village elder is distributing things. I remember him being involved in handling matters related to Lee Mok-Dan’s aftermath.
• 🔺 On June 24, 1958 (during the waning crescent moon): blue porcelain and a corpse (Lee Mok-Dan’s body was sent back for disposal and hung on a tree by the village elder using a wooden barrel).

Therefore, although Lee Mok-Dan has an unsettled spirit, she is not possessing Gu San-Yeong as some kind of demon. Seeing Yeom Hae-Sang holding a graduation yearbook from 1959 indicates that Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost must have been killed at least in 1959. This seems to explain why Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost continuously guided Gu San-Yeong and Yeom Hae-Sang to investigate Lee Mok-Dan. It’s not about Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost playing tricks on them, but rather about finding the root of this evil person’s heart and the existence of the ritual.

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During the period of Ku Kang-Mo, his desire to kill was different from before. Because Ku Kang-Mo wanted to eliminate demons, Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost would kill people during the time of Ku Kang-Mo and Gu San-Yeong because they didn’t want to be eliminated. It’s like Ku Kang-Mo and Gu San-Yeong are fighting against the Revenant just like that.

At the end of “Revenant ” Episode 7, Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost said to Gu San-Yeong, “You were the one who desired me first, just like your father. You will also desire me.” When Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost says these words, it means that what Ku Kang-Mo and Gu San-Yeong desire is not wealth but rather “to find demons”. Therefore, their desires are different from those of the Lim family. That’s why Gu San-Yeong gradually falls into a dangerous abyss similar to Ku Kang-Mo.

Even though Gu San-Yeong has self-control and wants to resist demons, this kind of temptation cannot be emptied out completely. In Episode 9 of “Revenant “, when the screenwriter made Gu San-Yeong say “I can’t tell if I am my true self or a demon anymore,” it accurately portrays how Gu San-Yeong seems to have an inner state where she wants to merge with demons. In addition, in Episode 9 of “Revenant “, there is a trend where Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost talks more frequently with Gu San-Yeong (which implies that Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost’s spiritual body occupies an increasingly large proportion in Gu Sang-yeon’s consciousness). Even worse, Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost starts putting Gu Sang-yeon in a situation where she cannot seek help or discuss things with Yeom Hae-Sang.

“Revenant “This episode slightly reveals why Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost holds grudges. I think her grudges are stronger than Lee Mok-Dan’s and there must be a story behind it. In this episode of “Revenant “, the screenwriter deliberately shows that demons have had unjust experiences in their past lives. For example, Yoon Gyeong-Mun mentioned that Gu San-Yeong said in her dream, “Mom, don’t go, don’t die.”

There is also a scene where demons see a little girl misbehaving with her mother at an amusement park and find such children who do not understand the true meaning of happiness annoying. This indicates that Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost is unwilling to accept her own death and this grudge is related to the story of how she died.

People who are close to the identity of Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost will be in danger.

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And now, the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost has been wanting to stay inside Gu San-Yeong’s body. The motive behind the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost killing Seo Moon-Choon can be linked to the past attacks on Ku Kang-Mo and his grandmother. In “Revenant ” Episode 2, we discussed the motives of the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost attacking Ku Kang-Mo and his grandmother. This time, I combined it with the reasons why Seo Moon-Choon was also attacked.

In summary, these individuals all have something in common – they possess information that can destroy the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost (such as a decryption method) or reveal its true name. Since eliminating demons requires knowing their story and name, it is clear that the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost wants to continue residing within Gu San-Yeong’s body for this purpose (it mentioned making Gu San-Yeong need it).

Therefore, it eliminates these people, indicating its motive to remain in Gu San-Yeong’s body continuously. This is also why Yeom Hae-Sang warns Lee Hong-Sae by saying “Once you know everything, you will also be in danger.”

• A: Regarding why Ku Kang-Mo’s grandmother was attacked by the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost: Based on some connections from previous scenes, we can see in “Revenant ” Episode 2 that Ku Kang-Mo’s grandmother discovered the contents of that “hairpin” book while Yeom Hae-Sang happened to obtain both the hairpin and her desire for that book. At her location, we see that book being burned down which signifies that one of Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost’s motives is to burn down this book – a detail echoing back to how Ku Kang-Mo died in “Revenant ” Episode 1.
  
  
• B: As for why Ku Kang-Mo would be killed by the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost; besides being father and daughter, I couldn’t understand why the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost would target him. I believe it is because the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost wants to prevent Ku Kang-Mo from knowing its secret identity and from eliminating it. As soon as Ku Kang-Mo returns home, he immediately starts flipping through that “hairpin” book and even takes out the hairpin he had hidden for a long time. Therefore, the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost’s motive is likely similar to its motive of getting rid of his grandmother – both are aimed at avoiding others discovering its existence or eradicating it.
  
  
• C: Regarding why Seo Moon-Choon would be killed; because Seo Moon-Choon possesses information about Lee Mok-Dan’s file and even discovers that Lee Mok-Dan isn’t actually the second child in rank, this implies that the information in Seo Moon-Choon’s possession can lead people to speculate that the true identity of the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost is not Lee Mok-Dan. This way, everyone won’t be fixated on Lee Mok-Dan anymore, which means they will uncover the real name and story of the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost. Hence, this is a motive that the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost doesn’t want anyone to know about – thus eliminating Seo Moon-Choon so he won’t continue investigating.