[Drama 2017] Forest of Secrets / Stranger 비밀의숲 - Baeksang 2018 Daesang Award /Best Actor / Best Writer

[Ahmad Kamil]

Happy to know that it sets new highest viewership ratings for yesterday of 4.834%. Hopefully it can exceed 5% this week.

[yonaomi123]

Why is it that after these two episodes, I feel hopeless that we’re ever going to get anywhere with CEO Park’s murder?  That’s what I really want to know!  All of this about Hanjo Group is just so much less interesting to me. I mean it’s great that the investigative team is slowly chipping away at the case that likely started it all, from three years ago.  They’ve safely stolen Kim GaYoung and from the previews it looks like she’s going to be able to give them so clues about who abducted her.  These are all good, but I feel physically pained that ShiMok apparently has this huge blindspot when it comes to deciding whom to trust.  And this blindspot is why I’m worried ultimately about the ability of the team to succeed in figuring out who the murderer is.  

For example: Seo DongJae barely had to say anything and suddenly ShiMok is all “I have no choice but to trust him.” What?!?  I mean, it’s possible that ShiMok is just using DongJae fully aware that DongJae is going to be double-crossing him as soon as he can.  But to go so far as to include DongJae in a talk with Section Chief Kang seems to stretch the bounds of plausibility.  

And what’s up with Section Chief Kang suddenly being this guy who treats ShiMok like a human being?  From the start, Kang acted like ShiMok was gum stuck to his shoe that needed to be scraped off as soon as possible.  Now, ShiMok asks him for advice about how to treat Prosecutor Yoon well??

Of course, the icing on the cake is ShiMok’s refusal to include EunSoo into the investigative team because of… Well I can’t say I understand why he’s excluded her?  He was apparently willing to let her confront DongJae, so is it that the lengths EunSoo was willing to go to rule out DongJae were too extreme and he felt guilty for putting the idea in her head?  Is his possible guilt making him go to the other extreme of trying to protect her from herself?  If so, my guy you’re going about it the wrong way.  Yelling at people (even to just get their attention), grabbing them, ignoring them, and belittling them are 1)unprofessional in a person who’s been doing their job for 8 years and 2) just f***ing unkind.  

However, as much as I have complained about ShiMok in this post, I can’t complain that the writer has been illogical in the way she’s constructed the events and interactions of eps 9 and 10.  We saw from episode 1 that ShiMok (while very smart and perceptive) has a tendency to rush ahead recklessly.  His personality has been well-established as essentially ruthless in his pursuit of the facts and apparently only able to let down his guard with one person.  And even the trust that he’s given to YeoJin doesn’t mean he’ll include her in all his plots. 

[chicha]

I'm a little taken aback that people here are angry at Simok for treating Eunsoo this way... Was she was doing a right thing placing herself in danger and needing to be rescued?

Yoon was already tailing the delivery man and she had just jeopardized the very thing she was trying to accomplish. That lame evidence recording they did out there, saying it wasn't coerced? With 3 people surrounding him, pressuring him for 'the truth', saying he could be stabbed if he didn't come clean ( falls under threats) he could have easily recanted later... That's what a proper recorded statement with video in a statement room is for... Luckily Simok told yoon to bring him back to get charged formally which at least saved that part of the fiasco for me. 

Him yelling at her was probably written as a breakthrough on his part,  since he wasn't supposed to have emotions. How is he a jerk for telling her to get a grip on herself? Someone had to, and even she acknowledged it. Should he have silently stood by while she does even more rash actions to endanger herself and others? So actually I'm glad to say he was willing to risk her life before but not now... To me that is progress that he can feel guilt towards the ex minister Young, since the father begged him to leave her out of it all. 

 

[devil webtoon]

hello, im a korean fan. nice to meet you guys. i read you guys post. very interesting!

many people think Mr. Yoon love ES? maybe..but i don't think so haha.

bcz he is  a married man. and his 7 years old child died in car accident 2 ~ 3 years ago. and he took time off from the work for average 2 years to recovering his mind, and he returned to work recently. 

and ES is junior prosecutor. i think she started work 2-3 months ago.. so anyway, Mr. yoon and ES? i think there is no affection among them. 

ES' s EX's name is huyn cheol. he is not MR. Yoon.

this is just my opinion. haha.

 

anyway, i think MR. Yoon is real culprit. maybe his child's accident connected with CEO Park or LYB. but not sure until ep. 10 

 

[yonaomi123]

20 minutes ago, st4rdust said:

I'm a little taken aback that people here are angry at Simok for treating Eunsoo this way... Was she was doing a right thing placing herself in danger and needing to be rescued?

Yoon was already tailing the delivery man and she had just jeopardized the very thing she was trying to accomplish. That lame evidence recording they did out there, saying it wasn't coerced? With 3 people surrounding him, pressuring him for 'the truth', saying he could be stabbed if he didn't come clean ( falls under threats) he could have easily recanted later... That's what a proper recorded statement with video in a statement room is for... Luckily Simok told yoon to bring him back to get charged formally which at least saved that part of the fiasco for me. 

Him yelling at her was probably written as a breakthrough on his part,  since he wasn't supposed to have emotions. How is he a jerk for telling her to get a grip on herself? Someone had to, and even she acknowledged it. Should he have silently stood by while she does even more rash actions to endanger herself and others? So actually I'm glad to say he was willing to risk her life before but not now... To me that is progress that he can feel guilt towards the ex minister Young, since the father begged him to leave her out of it all. 

 

Hmm... so you have really great points!!  However, I think that both ShiMok and EunSoo are in the wrong.  Did EunSoo deserve to have a talking to?  Yes, (but not in that way).  As well, it doesn't help that I'm angry at ShiMok for basically all of his actions toward EunSoo.  What I want from him-- for him to realize that using a person in EunSoo's current state (ie obsessed with clearing her father's name) is wrong-- is probably too much to ask, considering his own emotional issues.  I guess I just want him to make up his mind and stop treating her like either a pawn in his game or a child to be protected. 

 I hope that made sense...

[dito]

1 hour ago, devil webtoon said:

anyway, i think MR. Yoon is real culprit. maybe his child's accident connected with CEO Park or LYB. but not sure until E.

 

I've been having the same thoughts ever since they mentioned his kid died in an accident....actually something seemed off about Yoon the moment his character was introduced....

And I'm surprised too where the ES-Yoon ship came from....with no evidence even...when there's lots for shimok Yeojin and Shimok eunsoo

Sorry for cutting your post

And welcome to the forum...hope you have fun here.

[ddeokbokkii]

14 minutes ago, devil webtoon said:

hello, im a korean fan. nice to meet you guys. i read you guys post. very interesting!

many people think Mr. Yoon love ES? maybe..but i don't think so haha.

bcz he is  a married man. and his 7 years old child died in car accident 2 ~ 3 years ago. and he took time off from the work for average 2 years to recovering his mind, and he returned to work recently. 

and ES is junior prosecutor. i think she started work 2-3 months ago.. so anyway, Mr. yoon and ES? i think there is no affection among them. 

ES' s EX's name is huyn cheol. he is not MR. Yoon.

this is just my opinion. haha.

 

anyway, i think MR. Yoon is real culprit. maybe his child's accident connected with CEO Park or LYB. but not sure until ep. 10 

 

Thank you for your insite. Well, Shi-Mok think that one of his new investigation team is the killer or have information to the killer, that's why

he keep them close to him, so he can expose him/her when he/she makes mistake. Currently, Mr. Park murder is at a dead end, unless

something happen. I'm sure he/she can't hide forever.

[UnniSarah]

33 minutes ago, st4rdust said:

I'm a little taken aback that people here are angry at Simok for treating Eunsoo this way... Was she was doing a right thing placing herself in danger and needing to be rescued?

Yoon was already tailing the delivery man and she had just jeopardized the very thing she was trying to accomplish. That lame evidence recording they did out there, saying it wasn't coerced? With 3 people surrounding him, pressuring him for 'the truth', saying he could be stabbed if he didn't come clean ( falls under threats) he could have easily recanted later... That's what a proper recorded statement with video in a statement room is for... Luckily Simok told yoon to bring him back to get charged formally which at least saved that part of the fiasco for me. 

Him yelling at her was probably written as a breakthrough on his part,  since he wasn't supposed to have emotions. How is he a jerk for telling her to get a grip on herself? Someone had to, and even she acknowledged it. Should he have silently stood by while she does even more rash actions to endanger herself and others? So actually I'm glad to say he was willing to risk her life before but not now... To me that is progress that he can feel guilt towards the ex minister Young, since the father begged him to leave her out of it all. 

 

Well said chingu, @st4rdust It seems to be be mad at Si Mok day. Everyone thinks he is being to cruel and unkind. It seems everyone forgort that he doesn't understand human emotions. If he understood emotions maybe he could have handled her situation better. Si Mok has no idea how to handle ES's behavior. He doesn't understand how she feels but can seee what she is willing to do cleat her father's name. ES is in alot of pain and has no outlet release it , that is why we see doing all kinds of things. Not only that she has no power but shee. also doesn't trust anyone. If she trusted Si Mok and was honest with him then maybe the could work together. 

I see ES and consider her to be manipulative because of the way she handles people. She pretends alot and Yes he was manipulative but that is because she is soooooooo Gun HO to destroy LCJ. We have no idea how far she is willing to go to clear her father. SHe puts herself in harms way even without the help of Si Mok. So much coul dhave happened to her if Mr Yoon wasn't following the deliveryman. Remember , her call got cut off while she spoke to Si Mok. and then he got the call from Mr. Yoon. He yelled at her so she can finally get through her that she needs to stop what she is doing because she isn't acting right. THe onl who could put a stop to it is her father. But he is so scared of getting his family hurt he is willing to stay quiet. 

[yonaomi123]

16 hours ago, nateko said:

Lee Yeon Jae is a piece of work, I don’t even want to talk about her all that much. She's the type of person that will discard anyone who doesn’t play her game by her rules. An apple sure didn’t fall far away from the tree. She truly is her father’s daughter, they are both dangerous and scary people.

About the highlighted part, I completely agree with you But my question now, after having seen episode 10 is: are Lee YeonJae and her father (and her husband) actually all on the same side???  From the way she eavesdropped on them, it really doesn't seem to be the case.  But then, only ChangJoon looked even slightly concerend when YeonJae's phone rang from the stairwell.  So what's up with these three?

Is DongJae's explanation that Chairman Lee has been blackmailing his own son-in-law the truth?  And if that's the case and ChangJoon does have a predilection for sleeping with call girls, why not just come clean to his wife?  What could she do?  Divorce him??  That seems unlikely given their social status.  And besides, the show seems to be implying that both ChangJoon and YeonJae know that he was unfaithful-- even if neither of them has outright said anything about it.

 

[UnniSarah]

54 minutes ago, dito said:

And I'm surprised too where the ES-Yoon ship came from....with no evidence even...when there's lots for shimok Yeojin and Shimok eunsoo

@dito  I said that because he was so aggressive when he rescued her.   He looked like a SUPERHERO when he kicked the delivery man who witnessed the bribe that occurred 3 years ago. It was just for fun and to keep the thread alive this entire week unti the next episodes. Today the thread has been so quiet, probably to real life from our other chingu, I would love for this thread to reach 100 pages. 

[yonaomi123]

On 7/8/2017 at 7:18 PM, maddymappo said:

Then there was LYB's   discussion about his handshake with MS, he didn't grasp and pull - he's not playing ball, he's scramming out of there with his team.  

I was pretty amused in episode 10 when Chairman Lee realized that his little psych-evaluation via handcrusher handshake was actually super wrong.  That's what you get idiot!

 

[dito]

18 minutes ago, UnniSarah said:

@dito  I said that because he was so aggressive when he rescued her.   He looked like a SUPERHERO when hee kicked the witness to the bribe that occurred 3 years ago. It was just for fun and to keep the thread alive this entire week unti the next episodes. Today the thread has been so quiet, probably to real life from our other chingu, I would love for this threat to reach 100 pages.

 

Lol....so it was just for fun....man for a minute there I thought I missed some scenes of Yoon with ES.

[yonaomi123]

So this is off-topic a little bit... but would anyone care to speculate on why we have only heard our other main character's (YeoJin)  thoughts one time?  We've seen her doing what she does best (ie being super badass) both in solo scenes and with other characters.  And from those events and interactions we've gotten a pretty good understanding of her personality.  But, the answer I have come up with to this question is either 1) by excluding us from YeoJin's inner thoughts we are to assume that she has some experience or knowledge that is the key to the overall mystery OR 2)  ShiMok's words to YeoJin in ep9 were true.  She really is what she seems to be on the surface and requires no investigating

I find the decision to withhold YeoJin's POV odd, whatever the reason may be.  But I'll be curious to know what you guys think.

And also, is anyone else somewhat disappointed in Lee ChangJoon today?  Perhaps I shouldn't have been considering the family he married into and his best buddy the Police Chief, but I am!  I really was trying to believe that he was playing a long con and wasn't actually corrupt.  But the way he reacted to the photo of Kim GaYoung walking toward his hotel room, at the end of Ep10, just makes me think that he is also a bad guy. 

[kiklaminHo]

4 hours ago, ddeokbokkii said:

Suspect list after episode 10.

Suspects for the fail murder of Kim Ga-Young:

Kim Woo-Kyun                Police Chief

Lee Yeon-Jae                  Chairman Lee's daughter              @Tee- Sama

Congratulation to the following people from last week suspect list. If your guess either Police Chief Kim or

Chairman Lee's daughter, you are half right. @penelop3 , @Nymeria289 , @nona88 , @Runa Chatterjee ,

@ddeokbokkii . Police Chief Kim is being charge with stabbing Ms. Ga-Young, and Lee Yeon-Jae is being

charge with second attempt on her life in the hospital.

 

Mastermind suspect that began 3 years ago:

Lee Yoon-Beom              Chairman Hanjo Group              @Tee- Sama , @UnniSarah ,

Young Il-Jae                    Ex-minister

Lee Chang-Joon              Chief Secretary

Possible 3rd party            Name???              

My guesses

I still believe Lee Yoon Beom is not so naive as he looks .I dont also believe that his slip of the tongue was accidentally.

I think he works with the mastermind of the case.

Who is the mastermind?

Do you think Chairman HanSo Group works together with the top prosecutor guy? The guy who accepted  the resignation of  former Chief 's prosecutor?

Basically I have 3 suspects .Those 2 guys above and Lee Yoon Beom who works for them.

I want to see:

A-Who is the person that helps the evil /control freak wife of former Chief prosecutor .

B- Did ex - minister ES 's father admitted indirectly in today's episode that he is the one that gave info to the newspaper?

 

[ddeokbokkii]

12 minutes ago, kiklaminHo said:

My guesses

I still believe Lee Yoon Beom is not so naive as he looks .I dont also believe that his slip of the tongue was accidentally.

I think he works with the mastermind of the case.

Who is the mastermind?

Do you think Chairman HanSo Group works together with the top prosecutor guy? The guy who accepted  the resignation of  former Chief 's prosecutor?

Basically I have 3 suspects .Those 2 guys above and Lee Yoon Beom who works for them.

I want to see:

A-Who is the person that helps the evil /control freak wife of former Chief prosecutor .

B- Did ex - minister ES 's father admitted indirectly in today's episode that he is the one that gave info to the newspaper?

 

Top prosecuter guy?.  You mean Lee Chang-Joon(Chief prosecutor)? <=== is Lee Yoon Beom son-in-law. 

The guy who accepted  the resignation of  former Chief 's prosecutor?, <=== who is this?, have a name?.

As far as I know, Lee Yoon Beom doesn't work for anybody. Most of the high ranking officials are working

for him. He got all them officials in his pocket with corruption money. That's how he bought his son-in-law

(Chief prosecutor Lee Chang-Joon) the position Chief Secretary of the Blue House. Are you sure we talking

about the same Lee Yoon Beom here?.

[yonaomi123]

12 minutes ago, ddeokbokkii said:

Top prosecuter guy?.  You mean Lee Chang-Joon(Chief prosecutor)? <=== is Lee Yoon Beom son-in-law. 

The guy who accepted  the resignation of  former Chief 's prosecutor?, <=== who is this?, have a name?.

As far as I know, Lee Yoon Beom doesn't work for anybody. Most of the high ranking officials are working

for him. He got all them officials in his pocket with corruption money. That's how he bought his son-in-law

(Chief prosecutor Lee Chang-Joon) the position Chief Secretary of the Blue House. Are you sure we talking

about the same Lee Yoon Beom here?.

The bolded part: This guy is the Public Prosecutor General, who as far as I know doesn't have a name.

[ddeokbokkii]

5 minutes ago, yonaomi123 said:

The bolded part: This guy is the Public Prosecutor General, who as far as I know doesn't have a name.

Thank you, I need to wait for him/her to confirm it, also reply back other questions as well.

[annagriss8]

Ratings...

[kiklaminHo]

49 minutes ago, ddeokbokkii said:

Thank you, I need to wait for him/her to confirm it, also reply back other questions as well.

Yes chingu I meant this guy. Sorry I did not know exactly his position and ofcourse not his name either.

You are right the guy who works for them-or this is what I think- is the old classmate of SM .

I think his name is Kim Jeong Bon .Hope this time I got it right.

Quick review after watching episodes.9/10:

Master minds are

1-Lee Yoon Beom [Lee Chang Joon's Father-in-law]

2-Public prosecutor General

And I m an adjumma.

@yonaomi123

thank you my friend . you are much better than me with position, titles and names.

Like you I was hoping Lee Chang Joon was not corrupted. I could not vision him as a bad guy and he made it worst by blocking Chief's Police phone number.Few weeks ago they were sharing secrets and corruption.

 

[ddeokbokkii]

19 minutes ago, kiklaminHo said:

Yes chingu I meant this guy. Sorry I did not know exactly his position and ofcourse not his name either.

You are right the guy who works for them-or this is what I think- is the old classmate of SM .

I think his name is Kim Jeong Bon .Hope this time I got it right.

Quick review after watching episodes.9/10:

Master minds are

1-Lee Yoon Beom [Lee Chang Joon's Father-in-law]

2-Public prosecutor General

And I m an adjumma.

@yonaomi123

thank you my friend . you are much better than me with position, titles and names.

Like you I was hoping Lee Chang Joon was not corrupted. I could not vision him as a bad guy and he made it worst by blocking Chief's Police phone number.Few weeks ago they were sharing secrets and corruption.

 

you putting Kim Jung bon down for what?. Is it for CEO Park murder suspect?.

and you should only have one person name as Mastermind. Between Lee Yoon Beom and Public Prosecutor General, which

one do you think is the main villain?.