12 timestamped notes explaining the Korean cultural context in this episode — customs, idioms, food, honorifics, and history, at the moment each appears on screen. These notes discuss events across the whole episode. To see them revealed scene-by-scene as you watch, use the episode page to find an airing.
주 집사 (Chief Butler Joo) addresses the family matriarch as 왕사모님 (wang-samonim), meaning something like 'the great lady of the house.' 사모님 is already a respectful title for a high-status married woman; adding 왕 ('king/great') in front signals she outranks everyone else in the household. It's the domestic staff's way of marking her as the ultimate authority.
순혜 snaps at the detective using the phrase 수녀 나부랭이, which tacks the belittling suffix 나부랭이 ('mere,' 'lowly') onto 수녀 ('nun'). In Korean the construction strips someone of dignity — it's like spitting out 'that worthless nun.' It tells us exactly how little Sunhye thinks of Sister Emma as a credible witness.
The TV anchor uses the formal word 향년 (hyang-nyeon) when giving Han Ji-yong's age at death, meaning 'age at the time of passing.' It appears almost exclusively in official obituaries and news reports — hearing it signals that the broadcast is treating his death as a formal public matter, not a rumor.
The news report notes the funeral was held as a 가족장 (gajokjang), a private family-only funeral rather than a public or company-sponsored ceremony. For a chaebol heir expected to become chairman, choosing 가족장 is conspicuously understated — it keeps outsiders away and minimizes scrutiny, which is exactly what the family needed.
Detective Baek blurts out 좆 됐어 (jot dwaesseo) — a crude, vulgar expletive roughly equivalent to 'you're totally screwed' or 'he's f***ed.' 좆 is a highly profane term for male genitalia; combined with 됐어 it means things have gone catastrophically wrong for someone. It's a raw, unguarded moment that shows how personally invested Baek has become in nailing Ji-yong.
황 경위 identifies the untraceable phone as a 대포 폰 (daepho pon), literally a 'cannon phone' — Korean slang for a burner phone registered under a stolen or fictitious identity. They're associated with organised crime, fraud, and contract killings in Korea. The fact that this one is registered to a 63-year-old homeless man in Euljiro means whoever used it knew exactly how to stay invisible.
진호 uses the four-character Sino-Korean idiom 사면초가 (samyeon choga), meaning 'surrounded on all four sides by the sound of Chu songs' — a classical Chinese reference to a general who realises his army has been encircled. In everyday Korean it means being completely cornered with no way out. It's a precise, literary way of describing Ji-yong's collapsing situation.
하준 insists the ramen must be eaten 뚜껑에, meaning straight from the pot lid used as a bowl — a classic Korean comfort-food ritual. Eating instant ramen (라면) from the foil lid is so associated with cosy, informal closeness that just mentioning it carries a flood of memory and warmth. The detail tells us this was a very intimate, ordinary routine between him and Hee-soo.
진호 has a 관상가 (gwansangga) — a face-reader who interprets character from physical features — evaluate a job candidate, and also references the person's 사주 (saju), the four-pillar birth chart based on birth year, month, day, and hour. Using traditional divination to vet staff is unusual even in Korea, but among old-money families it signals a deep distrust of modern credentials and a preference for fate-based judgment.
진희 groans that her situation is exactly 까마귀 날자 배 떨어진다 — 'the pear fell just as the crow flew off.' It's a proverbial phrase for terrible coincidental timing that makes an innocent person look guilty. She's saying she genuinely planned to offer the divorce before the accident happened, but now no one will ever believe her.
황 경위 points out that Monaco is not a member of Interpol, meaning Korean police have no formal channel to compel contact with Kim Seong-tae there. In reality Monaco joined Interpol in 1956, so the show takes a small liberty — but the dramatic point is clear: Ji-yong deliberately sent his most dangerous witness somewhere the detectives cannot easily reach.
황 경위 explains the investigation file listed the tutor as 강자경 (Kang Ja-gyeong) rather than her real name 이혜진 (Lee Hye-jin). Using a false name is central to her whole plan — she entered the Hyowon household under an alias to conceal that she was Ji-yong's victim and Ha-jun's biological mother. The name mix-up briefly sent the detectives chasing the wrong alibi.