Episode 3 of Forest of Secrets 2 continues to build up the suspense and the tension between the police and the prosecution.
Si-mok and Dong-jae also begin investigation on the 2017 suicide case at Segok station.
Here’s a recap of episode 3 of Forest of Secrets 2 (Stranger 2).
Recap of Forest of Secrets 2 – episode 3
The episode begins with Assistant Chief Kim Sa-hyun passing by Dong-jae at a restaurant, both not noticing each other. It’s the first time Sa-hyun meets Si-mok as they prepare for the police-prosecution council.
Si-mok being his usual self is awkward during the dinner as he doesn’t seem to know how to eat certain Japanese delicacies.
Sa-hyun also notices that Si-mok doesn’t seem to drink, even though he was offered to do so. When Sa-hyun asked if Si-mok has alcohol intolerance, Tae-ha looked a little angry.
Meanwhile, Yeo-jin reaches the Yongsan police station she used to work at to recruit Jang for the police-prosecution council. She dragged him into a room to quietly discuss this, but Jang says he’s not suitable for the job, and that the captain should do it. However, Jang’s qualification is what they were looking for — as he did not graduate from Police University, has the right age and works in the field.
As she discusses it with the rest of the officers, Captain Yoon-soo says she shouldn’t take Jang as they’re already overburdened with work. After Yeo-jin left, they were understaffed. He offers the youngest officer instead but he lacks experience. While they were eating, the officers gets news about a suspect and proceeds to leave the station. Yeo-jin however did not follow as she isn’t part of the team anymore.
In the van, Captain Yoon-soo however tells Jang that he should join the council, as it’s a good way for networking. Without graduating from Police University, it’s hard to have connections and thus hard to get promoted to a better paying job.
Si-mok and the team continues to discuss at the restaurant. Tae-ha asks him to prepare a list of assemblymen that were from the police force and the prosecution. Tae-ha and Sa-hyun then went out for a smoke. Si-mok leaves the restaurant to start working on the list, but Sa-hyun finds it rude for a junior to leave before the seniors do. Si-mok, being himself, just leaves regardless.
At the office, he works late to prepare the list of documents needed. He also starts looking at the file given by Dong-jae.
We then get a flashback to the team of policemen from Segok station. At the time, they were known for taking bribes, led by Captain Jung-gi.
When they went back to the station, they were introduced to Sergeant Song Gi-hyeon. He is the guy who is suspected to have killed himself in 2017.
We’re also shown the meeting between Dong-jae, Si-mok and Tae-ha that wasn’t shown earlier at the restaurant. Dong-jae briefs Si-mok on the case; saying that the suicide may be a homicide after all. Apparently the late Gi-hyeon had depression and they all assumed he killed himself.
However, Gi-hyeon was an upright policeman who was possibly investigating his colleagues on bribery, and may have been killed for that.
Tae-ha then asks Dong-jae not to mention anything about the Criminal Legislative Division or the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office when doing the investigation. Dong-jae is supposed to investigate as an Uijeongbu prosecutor, and Si-mok must not be involved on paper, so as not to cause problems with the council later. Si-mok however has to help Dong-jae with the investigation.
Tae-ha asks Dong-jae to leave as Sa-hyun is on his way to the restaurant.
The next morning, Tae-ha arrives at office with the list of assemblymen all on his desk.
In the present, Captain Jung-gi receives a call from the prosecution about the old suicide case. He lies to his colleagues saying he has to go on a patrol.
We then see a flashback to 2017 when Gi-hyeon was found dead. Apparently an officer heard a noise in the men’s shower room and then saw Gi-hyeon lying unconscious. The men all came in to the room to try to help Gi-hyeon but he was already dead by then.
During the time, no autopsy was asked for as well, as they all believed he killed himself due to depression. The doctor checking however saw some dirt or skin cells on the deceased’s finger nails. He ignored them and just left the body in the freezer.
Captain Jung-gi is then seen with some finger nail marks on his arm, implying that the deceased was struggling earlier, and that it was possibly a murder.
Si-mok then meets Dong-jae to discuss the case. Dong-jae says that no autopsy was made as all the police officers claimed the same thing; that Gi-hyeon had depression and killed himself even though there were bodily injury. Also, the bribery claims only came months later, meaning it was possibly done later to avoid any connection with the suicide.
Si-mok then says that Gi-hyeon’s transfer to Segok was sudden and it was rare for a transfer to happen in such a way. Dong-jae then asserts that he submitted the reason for the transfer to Tae-ha. However, Si-mok didn’t get the file from Tae-ha.
Dong-jae continues to claim that Gi-hyeon only suffered depression after he transferred, not before. This means the excuse of depression causing the transfer to Segok was not correct.
We then see a flashback to the past when Gi-hyeon was still alive. He sees a junior policeman washing a car while limping. He examines the junior’s leg and sees huge bruises.
The story is that the junior policeman was driving the chief and he suddenly braked as someone jaywalked in front of the car. The chief got mad and kicked the junior’s leg multiple times.
Gi-hyeon then confronted the chief and was shouted at.
Back in the present, Dong-jae and Si-mok continues their conversation. Apparently Gi-hyeon was transferred from Dongducheon station to Segok station because of his principles; and that he couldn’t stand corruption.
Dong-jae then makes a snarky remark, saying Gi-hyeon reminds him of someone — hinting towards Si-mok himself, and that he doesn’t want to see another person dying because of such principles. He also explains that the former prosecutor was the one who made a discovery of a possible homicide at Segok station.
We then see a past interrogation with a business owner who was bribing the police officers from Segok back then. They paid millions of Korean won a month to the officers.
The business owner also made a comment saying Gi-hyeon did not commit suicide. Everyone in the industry apparently knew that as a fact but there’s no real evidence on paper, due to the nature of the business.
In the present, Dong-jae interviews Captain Jung-gi who was part of that team of police officers. He was the only one who remained at Segok station while the rest were removed via different means.
Jung-gi claims the doesn’t know why he was summoned, as Si-mok watches from the screen behind the interrogation room.
Lawyer Oh (the one who defended the rich snobs) meets up with chief prosecutor Kang Won-chul. He tells Won-chul that the latter should join his law firm after retiring from the prosecution.
The lawyer also talks about Sung-jae’s statement in Sungmoon Daily. The article was the one that smeared Lee Chang-jung’s name. Won-chul says that if he goes against Sung-jae (son of Yoon-beom) and protect Chang-jung’s name, he will be indirectly helping Yeon-jae (daughter of Yoon-beom) instead.
Lawyer Oh however recommends that Won-chul should deal with one of them instead of making both Yeon-jae and Sung-jae enemies. Furthermore, Sung-jae is apparently the type that will play dirty, implying Yeon-jae is a better choice to support.
In the next scene, lawyer Oh is seen meeting Yeon-jae in secret, which shows why he earlier persuaded Won-chul to go after Sung-jae. Yeon-jae then asks Mr. Oh to join her team as an internal lawyer, but it will not be recorded on paper.
She leaves the house and lawyer Oh is asked to leave 5 minutes later to prevent suspicion that they’re both working together.
Si-mok reaches Segok Station and sneaks into the men’s toilet. He enters the shower room and tries to re-enact what had happened that day. Si-mok uses his tie to form a loop, placing it around the same faucet, and simulates hanging himself to see if it’s possible. However, as he tries it, it seems unlikely to be suicide as there isn’t much room between the faucet and the ground, and he’s able to sit down without any struggle.
Si-mok imagines the job being done by all the police officers as they all said the same thing, and were all involved with bribery.
As he leaves the shower room, a police officer spots him and chases after him but fails. Jung-gi who is back at the station heads to the rooftop to speak to someone on the phone, saying he was summoned by the prosecutor. He also remarks that the jerk (Gi-hyeon) is still bothering them after he’s dead.
At the police HQ, Yeo-jin meets up with Jang-geon first, before they met the rest of the members to prepare for the council. Jang-geon wore his full police uniform and is the only one overdressed for the occasion.
During the meeting, Director Jae-yong asks Jang for his opinion on the investigative rights and whether the officers in the field agrees with the cause. Jang starts relaying what his team members mentioned about the rights (e.g. search and seizure), and was stopped by Chief Choi as it was too lengthy.
She also remarked that they were all field officers once, so it was unnecessary to explain everything.
Si-mok then reports his findings to Tae-ha about the suicide case. Captain Jung-gi claimed that he didn’t know about the bribery back then although all of them were as close as family, which didn’t make sense to Tae-ha.
Jung-gi also said that the previous prosecutor decided not to prosecute him for bribery. Si-mok then tells Tae-ha he wishes to visit another former member of Segok station who is in jail.
Towards the end of the episode, both the police and the prosecution teams are seen heading for the first police-prosecution council meeting.
Episode 4 should begin with the council meeting.
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Forest Of Secrets 2 (Stranger 2) Episode 2 Recap
Forest Of Secrets 2 (Stranger 2) Episode 1 Recap