Korean drama “Revenant” Episode 8 : San-Yeong had no choice but to understand Kang-Mo’s decision. On the other hand, Hae-Sang, who fell into despair after realizing the truth, went to Baekchagol Village only to be found lying on a cliff. The growing darkness gradually threatened to engulf Hae-Sang.
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Kdrama Revenant Episode 8 Recap
Continue from kdrama ‘Revenant’ episode 7 , Lee Hong-Sae apologized to Seo Moon-Choon and mentioned that Junghyeon Capital asked him to secretly investigate Seo Moon-Choon. However, Lee Hong-Sae also discovered that representatives from Junghyeon Capital’s competitors have been “not so innocent” suicides.
Seo Moon-Choon and Lee Hong-Sae each shared their own findings. When Yeom Seung-Ok was still alive, she was the first victim of the witch. Afterwards, whenever someone who could expose Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost appeared, they would mysteriously die.
Then, when Yeom Jae-Woo became a representative for Junghyeon Capital, prosecutors investigating the case against them died under mysterious circumstances, leading to a lack of evidence in the case. Subsequently, several people with competitive relationships with Junghyeon Capital also died.
Lee Hong-Sae mentioned that Gu San-Yeong said that Yeom Hae-Sang’s family made money by summoning Juvenile Ghosts but he wasn’t clear about what it meant exactly. However, he felt there must be some connection between Lee Mok-Dan and Junghyeon Capital.
Gu San-Yeong started experiencing moments where her eyes couldn’t see clearly. Knowing her father had experienced similar symptoms before, she went to see the same doctor who explained that this condition began in 1999 and is similar to Gu San-Yeong’s current situation.
This disease cannot be cured; however, last year when she met Ku Kang-Mo she noticed his eyes seemed fine after ten years had passed since his initial diagnosis. She couldn’t explain why he had recovered like this and suddenly realized if her father chose demons because of this disease? Now she finds herself facing a similar choice.
Gu San-Yeong decided to spend more time with her mother and close friends doing things together such as taking care of her mother’s shop and celebrating Baek Se-Mi passing the civil service exam at her grandmother’s house. She sincerely congratulated Baek Se-Mi. It seems like Gu San-Yeong is trying to make the most of her remaining time.
However, she also admitted that she wants to obtain a demon because she doesn’t want to lose her eyesight or her life. So Gu San-Yeong asked the demon what it wanted, and the next day she saw a photo of Kim Woo-Jin posing with the Hungry Ghost Map. Yeom Hae-Sang returned to Baegji Valley wanting to summon Ku Kang-Mo and Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost who had been summoned before. Yeom Hae-Sang decided to take on this responsibility alone in order to eliminate the demon.
Seo Moon-Choon asked his former colleagues for help in investigating the 1958 case, while Lee Hong-Sae approached Choi Jin-Ho to inquire about the circumstances surrounding his father’s death. He was certain that he saw Yeom Jae-Woo at the door before his father committed suicide by self-immolation. He knew for a fact that his father did not commit suicide, but no one believed his testimony because there was no footage of Yeom Jae-Woo on the surveillance cameras. This phenomenon further convinced Lee Hong-Sae that an unknown external force caused the incident.
Yeom Hae-Sang was distraught in Baekji Valley, and when Gu San-Yeong arrived there, he also saw a spreading black shadow on the wall.
The grandmother in the village referred to it as “the spirit of darkness,” saying that if you kept staring at it, eventually everyone would be engulfed and consumed by darkness. Gu San-Yeong had no idea what to do, but Yeom Hae-Sang indeed saw the demon he wanted to see during his dying moments.
However, he was terrified and constantly fleeing from it. Gu San-Yeong remembered Yeom Hae-Sang mentioning how his mother once took him to “the east where the sun rises,” a place where ghosts dare not go.
So he drove with Yeom Hae-Sang towards that place in an attempt to escape, finally managing to wake him up due to dawn breaking through. Now Gu San-Yeong understood the heavy burden weighing on Yeom Hae-Sang’s heart – seeing horrifying scenes every day – as a way for him to atone for sins committed by his family members.
Lee Hong-Sae found a detective who had previously handled mysterious deaths of prosecutors and mentioned finding fingerprints belonging to Yeom Jae-Woo at one crime scene; however, there is evidence proving that Yeom Jae-Woo was not present.
Yeom Hae-Sang looked at the photo in Gu San-Yeong’s hand and said that he knew Kim Woo-Jin was haunted by a hungry ghost but dared not speak up. Therefore, he decided to help him because he could tell that the incidents occurring at school were caused by the hungry ghost inside Kim Woo-Jin. He wanted to come to this temple to exorcise the hungry ghost, but Kim Woo-Jin refused and eventually died in a car accident outside.
However, Yeom Hae-Sang couldn’t understand why this negative film ended up at Ku Kang-Mo’s house or why the demon guided them here. Later, they realized that there had been a murder case involving someone known to Ku Kang-Mo near the reservoir nearby. So it was highly likely that Ku Kang-Mo came here to bury something in an attempt to seal away the demon.
Indeed, they found a black rubber band buried here. When Gu San-Yeong touched it, he saw visions of the victim’s death; however, he couldn’t comprehend why both his father and Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother failed in their attempts? Seo Moon-Choon finally repaired all of Lee Mok-Dan’s documents and discovered that she wasn’t their second child after all.
At this moment, Gu San-Yeong once again saw through the eyes of the demon – terrified yet uncertain about who would die next – only for them to realize later on that it was actually the demon impersonating Yeom Hae-Sang’s voice, leading Lee Hong-Sae and Seo Moon-Choon to decide to open the door.
Kdrama Revenant Episode 8 review & 2 highlights,Explained
Juvenile Ghost summoning began in 1958.
Yeom Hae-Sang’s grandparents sought Choi Man-Wol for a reason. Their motive was to make their Junghyeon capital even wealthier. Choi Man-Wol mentioned that they were destined to inherit the demon through generations, and having the demon by their side would fulfill their desires.
This greed drove them, but it came with a corresponding cost (which I believe is the price of “the second child must die,” resulting in Yeom Hae-Sang’s siblings’ deaths). Lee Hong-Sae mentioned that Junghyeon capital is referred to as “San Tu River.” Those who hindered Junghyeon capital and represented its competitors all died. Therefore, summoning Juvenile Ghost was done because of Na Byung-Hee and Yeom Seung-Ok’s greed.
Choi Man-Wol performed this ritual on June 3rd, 1958, due to receiving a large sum of money. However, compared to Choi Man-Wol, the ones who provided the money (Yeom Hae-Sang’s grandparents) should be considered more responsible~ (Behind the receipt is written “Junghyeon Trading Company,” which refers to Yeom Hae-Sang’s grandmother’s family-owned Junghyeon Capital Group. At that time in 1958, Yeom Seung-Ok was its representative while his wife was Yeom Seung-Ok.)
The perpetrators harmed by Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost: inheriting demons
I really liked a line spoken by Seo Moon-Choon at the beginning of ‘Revenant‘ episode: “Are these serial killers who committed these crimes real?” It is an interesting dialogue that accurately expresses the dilemma faced by police officers when deciding whether they are chasing ghosts or humans.
But now that I think about it thoroughly, it reminds me completely of something Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost said once to Yeom Hae-Sang: “Was it me or someone else who killed your mother?”
In fact, looking at all the crimes committed by “Yeom Seung-Ok” and “Yeom Jae-Woo,” they all stem from human desires. They are unable to break free from their greed and use a young girl’s life to gain wealth and power. So when Seo Moon-Choon talks about the target they need to catch, it indeed doesn’t exist, but it is still a presence of some sort because it materializes the loss of human lives – that is the killer.
Yeom Seung-Ok period
In 1958, the first victim was a witch. She saw Yeom Seung-Ok at the police station and became terrified, leading to her suicide. The truth is that Yeom Seung-Ok already had a demon inside him, which allowed him to prevent anyone from discovering the secret of the Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost.
Therefore, killing the witch was necessary. The witch mentioned that as long as someone inherits the demon, it can help fulfill their wishes. So in order to prevent the police from finding out anything from the witch, Yeom Seung-Ok used the demon to kill her.
In 1965, a detective who was handling Lee Mok-Dan’s missing case died.
In 1978, a teacher from a nearby school named Shin Sung-Joo (a resident of Jangjin-Ri) also died.
Yeom Jae-Woo period.
1958, the first victim, a witch: The witch was terrified when she saw Yeom Seung-Ok at the police station and then committed suicide. In fact, this scene reveals that Yeom Seung-Ok already had a demon inside him, which allowed him to prevent anyone from discovering the secret of the Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost. Therefore, killing the witch was necessary.
The witch mentioned that as long as someone inherits the demon, it can help fulfill their wishes as long as the demon is by their side. So Yeom Seung-Ok used the demon to kill the witch in order to prevent her from revealing anything to the police. The reporter who covered Lee Mok-Dan’s disappearance case died.
In 1965, a detective handling criminal investigations died.
In 1978, a teacher from a nearby school named Shin Sung-Joo (a resident of Jangjin-Ri) died.
In 1979, after Yeom Seung-Ok passed away, Yeom Jae-Woo changed his company name to “Junghyeon Capital.” However, at that time, the company faced significant financial problems. Prosecutor “Lee Ze-Hui,” who handled this case also died and thus no further progress was made due to lack of evidence. However, during this murder investigation scene they found fingerprints belonging to Yeom Jae-Woo (similarly like Gu San-Yeong’s fingerprints appearing at a phone scammer’s crime scene).
In 1983 Choi Won-Chul represented Junghyeon Capital’s rival CEO with development rights. He believed his father did not commit suicide because initially he saw Yeom Jae-Woo outside his door but then suddenly strange behavior occurred before disappearing without any surveillance footage capturing it; hence why police didn’t believe what he said.
In 1991, the construction site manager and intermediary of Junghyeon Capital’s development project died.
Yeom Hae-Sang suffered an untimely death (also inherited Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost from his father in 1995): During this period, Ku Kang-Mo and Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother should have known each other. Madam Ban Rope mentioned that Ku Kang-Mo and Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother met during a field investigation. However, at that time, Ku Kang-Mo didn’t fully believe what Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother said.
In 1995, Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother passed away: I think even before Yeom Hae-Sang’s father inherited the Juvenile Ghost, his mother was already searching for a way to prevent the demon from possessing Yeom Hae-Sang. This can explain my previous confusion about why she knew the solution within days of the funeral because she had already discovered this secret through her investigations (and also learned about Madam Ban Rope through Ku Kang-Mo).
That is why she asked Madam Ban Rope to recite scriptures for her children if anything happened to her. The object of mourning was Yeom Hae-Jin. At this point, I believe Ku Kang-Mo already knew about the Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost but hadn’t done much research on it yet. His mother encountered those things and buried them in order to eliminate the demon; however, when Yeom-Haeng opened the door, Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost killed his own mother who tried to destroy it.
Ku Kang-Mo era
During this period, Ku Kang-Mo’s desire to kill is different from before. Because Ku Kang-Mo is someone who wants to eliminate demons, the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost kills people during the time of Ku Kang-Mo and Gu San-Yeong because it doesn’t want to be eliminated. It’s like Ku Kang-Mo and Gu San-Yeong are fighting against the Revenant just like they are fighting against a scattered ghost.
In the ending of Episode 7 of ‘Revenant‘ , the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost says to Gu San-Yeong with a voice, “You were the one who desired me first, just like your father. You will also desire me.” When the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost speaks these words, it means that what Ku Kang-Mo and Gu San-Yeong truly desire is not wealth but rather “to find demons”.
Therefore, their desires differ from those of the Lim family who only seek wealth. This suggests that Gu San-Yeong may gradually fall into dangerous depths following in Ku Kang-Mo’s footsteps. Since the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost does not want to be eliminated, it will do everything possible to prevent Gu San-Yeong from escaping its grasp and even make her choose it.
Ku Kang-Mo got to know Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother and learned about Na Byung-Hee and her husband summoning the Juvenile Ghost to establish their career. However, at that time, Ku Kang-Mo didn’t really believe in Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother. It was only later when he pursued his studies that he decided to investigate further. It wasn’t until 1999 that he confirmed Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother died trying to stop a demon.
In February 1997, Ku Kang-Mo published a paper titled “Folk Beliefs in Korea” where he first mentioned the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost. Unfortunately, his theories and ideas were ignored by the academic community and received little attention.
In 1998, Ku Kang-Mo met Yoon Gyeong-Mun who took him on field investigations. They discussed the continuous deaths of children in Jangjin-Ri. That year, after publishing one book, Ku Kang-Mo focused more on researching the Jangjin-Ri case rather than writing more books.
In 1999, high school student Kim Woo-Jin was brought to Yeom Hae-Sang’s house by Kim Chi-Won for the first time. Due to his own greediness, Kim Woo-Jin also became entangled with hungry ghosts but refused help from Yeom Hae-Sang. He eventually died in a car accident. That year, Ku Kang-Mo hoped Na Byung-Hee would hand over the demon; however, she refused as it was a powerful tool for her family business consolidation. But for Ku Kang-Mo himself, knowing how terrifying and dangerous the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost was led him to demand its surrender from Na Byung-Hee.
During this period of time,Ku Kang-mo began experiencing eye problems, occasionally suffering from blurred vision. However, ten years later, it seemed as if nothing had happened. Gu San-Yeong speculated whether his father chose the demon because of his eye condition.
In 2000, “Xu Shangxun” committed suicide in the restroom of a raw fish restaurant in southern Jiangnan. He was a respected professor in the Chinese Department at a university but wrote derogatory comments about Professor Ku Kang-Mo being involved with cults and being a fraud in an expert column he contributed to. He strongly disliked Professor Ku Kang-Mo.
Before the due date on February 25, 2002, Lee Ok-Ja + Yoon Gyeong-Mun’s second child died. With only two months left until Gu San-Yeong’s expected delivery date, Ku Kang-Mo told Yoon Gyeong-Mun, “The second child will die, it will die by my hands.” Later at Baecigok Valley, Yoon Gyeong-Mun’s mother would be eliminated by Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost.
2007: Li Cixi, a civil servant of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, graduated from the university where Ku Kang-Mo taught. He had studied folklore under Ku Kang-Mo, which means he was a student of Ku Kang-Mo.
In 2022, she worked as a librarian and had met Ku Kang-Mo the day before her passing.
Gu San-Yeong period + Yeom Hae-Sang period
Currently, after the death of Ku Kang-Mo, Gu San-Yeong is haunted by an evil spirit Juvenile Ghost and gets involved with Yeom Hae-Sang: The demon leaves a letter through Ku Kang-Mo’s hand, saying “Please give the hairpin in the wooden box on the desk to my daughter San-Yeong. Thank you,” and also writes a letter to Yeom Hae-Sang.
Currently, grandma is killed by an Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost.
In continuation of the plot from Episode 7 of ‘Revenant‘ , Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost said, “It was you who desired me first, just like your father. You will also desire me.” I initially thought that the issue with their eyes was caused by the demon wanting Gu San-Yeong to see some illusions. However, Episode 7 turned out to be quite unique.
The eye condition is actually a symptom that both Gu San-Yeong and Ku Kang-Mo already had. But later on, Gu San-Yeong understood that “it seems like my father chose the demon because of his eyes.” This aligns with what the demon told Gu San-Yeong about how “those who desired me first, just like your father did, will also desire me.”
It appears that Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost is pressuring Gu San-Yeong to choose the demon as well. The purpose behind this is probably so that it won’t be eliminated and it can continue to grow stronger. It’s also using some desires within Gu San-Yeong’s heart to force them into choosing it. By doing so, it can continue to search for the origin of resentment through Gu San-Yeong and make use of them in its own way.
So basically, the demon is seducing desires within Gu San-Yeong’s heart and helping them investigate past events (hence why there’s a photo of Kim Woo-Jin together with a hungry ghost map). However, this photo isn’t meant to present Kim Woo-Jin; instead, it should guide Gu-San Yeon towards finding the location depicted in the photo (although originally I thought it would lead them to Yeom Hae-Sang’s family warehouse but turns out it leads them to a temple).
Episode 8 of Revenant focuses more on character development and introspection. Whether it’s Gu San-Yeon resisting temptations provoked by the demon or Yeom Hae-Sang feeling guilty about the sins committed by their family, the portrayal of these two characters by the screenwriter is meticulous. Gu San-Yeong understands how Yeom Hae-Sang feels when seeing ghosts and carrying such a heavy burden. They know that “facing the sins committed by one’s own family is a way to seek redemption.”
The method to eliminate demons, why did it fail?
In this episode, ‘Revenant’ has already consolidated and confirmed five items that can eliminate the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost. However, there is a slight change in my previous reasoning about Revenant. Let’s talk about the methods to eliminate demons first: originally, I thought Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother was asked by the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost to dig out those things. But in Episode 5 of Revenant, it shows that they were “buried”.
So when Revenant mentions in Episode 5 that “only the aura of the victim can suppress the aura of the Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost-infested items,” it means that what Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost did was actually seeking revenge on the people in the village, just as we deduced in Episode 4 of ‘Revenant’ . This point should be correct~ Just like what Gu San-Yeong said, “Lee Mok-Dan, I’m sure that child is a demon. If I went through something like that, even if I became a demon myself, I would want to seek revenge on those people.”
But how should we interpret Ku Kang-Mo’s statement in his thesis? “Only the aura of victims can suppress items filled with Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost’s aura.” Through Episode 5 of ‘Revenant’ revealing Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother burying these five things instead of digging them out, we can infer that other things might have been buried as well; only red hair accessory may not have been buried in time because Yeom Hae-Sang opened the door and then Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost killed her mother.
So now it seems certain that if these five things are buried at specific locations, they can seal demons away. However, someone must die near where these buried objects are located~ This seems to correspond to Ku Kang-Mo’s statement: “Only the aura of victims can suppress items filled with Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost’s aura.” Therefore, by burying these things in the ground, the aura of the victims who died here can suppress the aura of items infested with Evil spirit Juvenile Ghost’s aura (such as grudges on the red hair accessory).
As for why Ku Kang-Mo and Yeom Hae-Sang’s mother failed to seal the demon even though she had already sealed it before? Could it be because “the door was opened”? Because when their mother was about to perform the final seal, Yeom Hae-Sang opened the door and let the Evil Spirit Juvenile Ghost come in and attack her; and just like that, Ku Kang-Mo did the same before he died. He heard a voice calling him from outside, and then he opened the door.
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