Disney+ Hotstar’s latest Korean drama addition, Revenant, enters its second half with a bang.
The story revolves around Gu San Yeong (Kim Tae Ri), a woman possessed by an evil spirit, and Yeom Hae Sang (Oh Jung Se), a professor of folklore who can see spirits, as they uncover the secrets behind the mysterious deaths surrounding the spirit.
San Yeong’s trust in Hae Sang is paper thin, which leads to the creation of a connection with Lee Hong Sae. More is revealed about the background of the evil spirit as San Yeong investigates Woo Jin.
Hae Sang also makes revelations of his own that send him spiralling down a dangerous path.
The drama has depictions of suicide, and viewers’ discretion is advised.
Revenant Episode 7 Recap: How is Yeom Family Connected to Choi Man Wol?
Woo Jin reveals to San Yeong that he knows the name of the person who created the evil spirit. But he wonders whether she, not sure if he’s referring to San Yeong or the loose-haired spirit that possesses her, would leave Hae Sang alone if he revealed it.
Woo Jin tells San Yeong to keep it a secret from Hae Sang and tells her to look for the woman named Choi Man Wol. But he disappears before she can ask him to elaborate, sending her into a frenzy.
While San Yeong is searching for Woo Jin in the house with her handy mirror, she stumbles upon a whiteboard in Hae Sang’s Gang Mo room. Hae Sang noted the baessi daenggi, the traditional hair accessory, and the piece of blue earthenware.
San Yeong also spots the aforementioned items on a side table in the room. She touches the piece of blue earthenware to see what it is, and, just like when she first touched the baessi daenggi, she sees a vision—a memory associated with the item.
A person, most likely Lee Mok Dan, is covered in a blue cloth. A mysterious hand, probably the shaman from Jangjin-ri, lands a blow, possibly killing the person. Panting, San Yeong disconnects herself from the item.
Hae Sang asks the shaman who made the Line of Probation how his mother knew Gu Gang Mo, as the two had been there together to commission five Lines of Probation. She reveals that they met coincidentally while conducting a local survey.
Curious, Hae Sang probes for more information from the shaman. She reveals that they had asked her to chant a sutra for Yeom Hae Jin, the child who had died in Hae Sang’s mother’s womb. It was a failsafe in case something befell her and no one who could hold a memorial service for the child remained.
Revenant Episode 7 StillMeanwhile, Mun Chun is still at the storage facility of the Gwangcheon precinct, looking for any overlooked clues. He stumbles upon records from 1958 about a kidnapping and murder committed by Choi Man Wol. He receives a call from Hae Sang, who wants to meet him as soon as possible.
After his short conversation with Mun Chun, Hae Sang receives a call from San Yeong. She asks whether he is hiding something from her. But he denies it.
San Yeong goes to an internet cafe, searching for the three-leaf logo stitched on Woo Jin’s suit. She believes that she needs to find out more about him to know why the evil spirit guided her to him and who Choi Man Wol is.
Na Byung Hee had offered shelter to Woo Jin after his mother, the wife of Vice President Kim Chi Won, passed away. Woo Jin is awed by the grandeur of Hae Sang’s family home. She welcomes them with a spray of salt and red beans and tells her trusted aide to keep his son in line.
Hae Sang catches Woo Jin coming out of Na Byung Hee’s room when no one is home. When questioned, Woo Jin says that there was nothing interesting in her room. He goes to all the rooms in the house, rummaging through things, clearly envying their wealth.
Both boys are in the study, Woo Jin playing with a camera he found in one of the drawers and Hae Sang trying to stop him, when Hae Sang’s grandmother and Chi Won return home. Hearing footsteps coming their way, the boys sneak out through the window.
Woo Jin spots a shed and wants to go exploring. Hae Sang says that there is nothing but junk in there. Woo Jin’s eyes turn red under the influence of a hungry ghost, and he creepily says that Hae Sang has a lot of stuff but doesn’t know what. But he snaps back the very next second.
Hae Sang seems to have sensed something and goes silent. Woo Jin is confused and wonders whether there is something on his face. But the former tells him not to do all of that again.
Undeterred by the advice, Woo Jin goes back to study at night and gets the camera. He sees a piece of paper about a shaman named Choi Man Wol, born at Jangjin-ri in 1914.
Back in the present, Chi Won approaches Hong Sae and asks him to keep an eye on Mun Chun. Chi Won ran a background check on him and found out that he had barely graduated from Police University despite his excellent investigative skills because of his disregard for teamwork.
Chi Won encourages Hong Sae to also run a background check on them. Junghyeon Capital is essentially a moneylending venture that has a large number of high-profile customers. This gives them access to corporate secrets that will grant Hong Sae the promotion that he so desperately wants.
Hong Sae rejects him, but Chi Won assures him that it is not a bribe. He has to relay everything about Mun Chun with regard to Hae Sang. He has to find out about their meetings and what information they exchange.
The men in question meet each other. Hae Sang reveals that he had a younger sibling who was killed in the womb by the evil spirit because it was the second child. Jangjin-ri created juvenile ghosts with a second child, and so the vengeful spirit was retaliating.
He believes that his house also harboured the evil spirit. He shares that his mother knew Gang Mo. He asks Mun Chun for the case files of the suicides that occurred around him. But Mun Chun has other plans.
Mun Chun shows Hae Sang the report about Choi Man Wol’s kidnapping and murder charges. Lee Mok Dan’s belongings and severed finger were found on an altar in her house, and she was arrested. She committed suicide in the holding cell and had bruises on her wrists.
The author of the article about Lee Mok Dan was also found hanging in his home with bruised wrists the day the article was published. Mun Chun believes that if they were to begin searching, they would be able to solve Hae Sang’s mother’s case too.
Hae Sang carefully goes through the case file and notes five objects – the red baessi daenggi, the blue piece of earthenware, a black rubber band, a jade hairpin, and a glass bottle. He asks Mun Chun to contact any family members of Choi Man Wol, as he has questions to ask.
Meanwhile, Hong Sae approaches San Yeong and asks her about Hae Sang. She takes a jab at his profession and tells him to find it out himself. Or he could ask his partner. She later relents on one condition. He would help her find a person whose name she doesn’t know, referring to Woo Jin.
Hae Sang goes to meet a baksu, a male shaman (cameo by Cho Hyun Chul). He tells Hae Sang to beware of road accidents, especially on rainy nights, but roads are naturally dangerous to navigate on rainy nights.
Hae Sang tells the baksu that he cannot see any ghosts nearby that would help him predict the future. He wonders whether he has lost all the spiritual powers his great-aunt, Choi Man Wol, passed on to him.
Hae Shows shows him the baessi daenggi and the piece of earthenware. The baksu wonders whether it has anything to do with juvenile ghosts, as the baessi daenggi was used to mark the children that would become juvenile ghosts.
1958 was a particularly harsh year, with a draught as well as a typhoon hitting the village, as was mentioned in the record among his great-aunt’s belongings. Hae Sang asks to see the record.
Choi Man Wol received a billion hwan, the transliteration of South Korea’s basic monetary unit that was prevalent from 1953 to 1962. The present-day value of the money would be worth a building in central Gangnam.
It was too large an amount for it to appear in a village as downtrodden as Jangjin-ri. The money was paid by Junhyeong Corporation, which stuns Hae Sang.
Hong Sae meets San Yeong and reveals that there were no suicides among the students but strange deaths. The deceased were victims of a hungry ghost similar to Yoon Jung.
Hong Sae scoffs at her repeated mention of ghosts. Yoon Jung tells him that the Professor Yeom Hae Sang, he is interested in can see ghosts, and so can she. They’re after the same evil spirit and are trying to get rid of it.
Unable to find substantial information, San Yeong decides to go to the school and find out herself. Hong Sae accompanies her, as having a police badge is helpful at times. The principal reveals that Woo Jin changed after his mother passed away. Later, he got into a car accident that killed him.
San Yeong calls the number from Woo Jin’s student records, the Yeom family landline, and Na Byung Hee receives the call. San Yeong says she’s looking for Choi Man Wol. Byung Hee, paralyzed from the waist down, screams suddenly, causing her to drop the phone.
Still from Episode 7 of RevenantHae Sang is at the registry office, trying to find out more about the billion hwan. It was approved by CEO Yeom Seung Ok, his grandfather.
San Yeong wants to visit the address mentioned in the records, and Hae Sang asks if she really doesn’t know who the house belongs to. She is shocked to learn that it is Hae Sang’s house.
Elsewhere, Mun Chun lets Hae Sang know that the investigators in the kidnapping and murder case were dismissed shortly after the case was closed. He thinks the detectives took bribes.
Revenant Episode 7 Ending Explained: What is Yeom Family’s Secret?
Hong Sae shares with San Yeong the history of the establishment of Junghyeon Capital. The people called it Samdocheon, a mythological river in Japanese Buddhist tradition similar to the ancient Greek Styx, as anyone who was an obstacle to the company died.
San Yeong notes that Seung Ok was appointed CEO in October 1958. She sees the board of Junghyeon Corporation in one of the pictures and connects it to the memory she saw when she touched the piece of blue earthenware.
Hae Sang goes back home. He barges in even though the bodyguards try to stop him. He confronts his grandmother with the baessi daenggi. She tells him to get out. He then shows her the news article about Lee Mok Dan’s disappearance and asks whether she knew the child too.
San Yeong’s vision blurs but then goes back to normal. She sees Lee Mok Dan and runs after her. She sees Choi Man Wol lure Lee Mok Dan away with promises of delicious food before her vision blurs again.
Junghyeon Corporation had paid off not only the mudang, Choi Man Wol but also the detectives in charge of the kidnapping and murder case and the people of Jangjin-ri.
San Yeong sees a vision from the past. Choi Man Wol was performing the ritual for the creation of the juvenile ghost while Yeom Seung Ok and Na Byung Hee watched from the sidelines. The juvenile ghost would possess the head of the family and fulfil all his desires.
San Yeong stumbles upon the house with the blue gate. She keeps sobbing as Choi Man Wol chants and then takes a knife to kill Lee Mok Dan. Seung Ok takes the baessi daenggi, and his shadow changes as the juvenile ghost possesses him, the loose-haired evil spirit.
Hae Sang questions his grandmother about whether their family was really responsible for the death of that child, and Na Byung Hee affirms it. The company was in a time of crisis, and the luxury he enjoys is a result of that ritual.
Hae Sang asks about his mother’s involvement. Byung Hee tells him he should have been possessed after his father’s death. She tried to prevent that but got possessed instead. They would have been much richer otherwise. A shocked Hae Sang stumbles out of the house and sees San Yeong wailing.
Hong Sae reaches the place, searching for San Yeong. He sees her accuse Hae Sang and destroy his car, while the latter stands and watches. Guilt-ridden, Hae Sang goes to the Han River Bridge, and Woo Jin follows him.
When Woo Jin went back to the study to look for the camera, he heard footsteps and hid beneath the table. Gang Mo had visited Byung Hee and told her he had met her daughter-in-law in Jangjin-ri. He had heard that they had created a juvenile ghost. Byung Hee wonders whether he was there to threaten them with that knowledge.
Still from Episode 7 of RevenantGang Mo reveals that he did not believe but was academically curious and investigated the malicious customs of Jangjin-ri. He met an elder of the village from that time who had evidence of the event. Byung Hee’s daughter-in-law had revealed to him how to get rid of an evil spirit.
The reason Gang Mo had visited Byung Hee was to know how he could acquire an evil spirit. Whether he had to find Choi Man Wol or the five objects sealed by the five Lines of Prohibition, which her daughter-in-law had sealed away. Byung Hee offers him a bribe and tells him to leave and never contact her again.
Woo Jin reveals it all to Hae Sang. He tells him that he had not revealed it earlier because he thought Hae Sang would not be able to find the evil spirit as it had not appeared for a long time.
A river spirit starts climbing the pillars of the bridge as Hae Sang, in tears, throws his watch and car keys into the river. Woo Jin is agitated when he spots the spirit. He stands on the spirit’s path to Hae Sang and lets it pull him off the bridge and consume him.
Woo Jin offers his farewell, and Hae Sang begs him not to leave him alone. He cries, wondering how he is supposed to live from then on.
San Yeong goes back home to Hwawonjae. She sits at the door and sympathizes with the juvenile ghost. She says she won’t live like the other people she has possessed. San Yeong will do right by her now that she knows her name and her story.
San Yeong goes into the house, but the doors rattle from their hinges. Lee Mok Dan says that they were the ones who wanted her first. San Yeong would want her, just like her father did. San Yeong’s vision blurs again.
Revenant Episode 7 Review
Greed. This series is an unexpected yet apt portrayal of emotion.
Kim Tae Ri has yet again nailed her scenes. Her agony at witnessing the death of Lee Mok Dan reached through the screen.
Gang Mo’s involvement was predicted, but the show managed to surprise in the how. Considering the way he has been presented so far, his desire to acquire the ghost was shocking, to say the least.
Now that San Yeong seems to have cut ties with Hae Sang, will she place herself on the opposite side even though they have the same goal?
It would be interesting to see how the detectives would incorporate the involvement of ghosts in their quest to solve the bruised suicides.