9 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.
Yun accuses Father Yang of performing a 검은 미사 (geomeun misa) — a Black Mass — a term for a parody of Catholic worship associated with Satanic ritual. In Catholic theology and Korean horror tradition alike, it marks a deliberate inversion of sacred rites: replacing sacred words, desecrating the Eucharist, and subverting the liturgy's meaning. Calling it out publicly inside a church is an enormous accusation.
나눔의 손 means 'Hands of Sharing.' Volunteer and charity groups like this are extremely common in Korean civic life, often organised around churches or community centres. Because they maintain large membership rosters, politicians sometimes cultivate ties with them for voter outreach — a practice that can cross into election-law violations (선거법 위반) if members are mobilised for campaign work without disclosure.
The informant hands over what she says is proof of 후원금 착복 (huwongeum chakbok) — pocketing donated money. Misappropriation of charity or church donation funds is a serious criminal offence in Korea under the Criminal Act, and it is also a major social scandal because charitable giving carries a strong expectation of public trust. Combining this with the election-law allegations makes Councilwoman Park's exposure potentially career-ending.
A 구마 사제 (guma saje) is a Catholic exorcist priest. The Catholic Church in Korea formally recognises the Rite of Exorcism, and priests assigned to it are rare and specially trained. Father Yang frames his health problems as 후유증 (huyujeung) — lingering after-effects — of that ministry, which within Korean Catholic culture would be understood as a plausible, if sobering, explanation.
The panel of priests is applying 교회법 (gyohoebeop) — canon law, the internal legal code of the Catholic Church. A formal 징계 (jingye), or disciplinary sanction, can restrict a priest's ability to celebrate sacraments, preach, or move freely. Being confined to a 징계 시설 (disciplinary facility) is essentially internal house arrest, and it sidelines Yun at exactly the worst moment.
박홍주 holds the title 국회 의원 (gukhoe uiwon) — a member of the National Assembly, South Korea's unicameral legislature. The team chief's reluctance to investigate her reflects a real dynamic: sitting lawmakers enjoy broad public visibility and strong political networks, making police who move against them without airtight evidence professionally vulnerable. His fear that 'we're all dead' if it leaks is about careers, not lives.
Father Yang's reference to '20년 전에도 그렇고' — 'the same as 20 years ago' — is the thread tying the entire season together. The drama has built its mythology around a single demonic possession event two decades prior that scarred three families. Revisiting that night is how the show frames generational trauma: evil that was never fully confronted doesn't disappear, it just waits.
Earlier in the series Hwapyeong was identified as a 강신 무당 (gangsin mudang) — a shaman who receives spirits directly into their body, as opposed to a hereditary shaman who learns rituals by study. This type of shaman is considered especially powerful in Korean folk religion (무속 신앙), which is why the show positions Hwapyeong as someone who can perceive and confront the demon on a level ordinary people cannot.
Father Yang's cryptic clue — 'a lost sheep goes home' — draws on the parable of the lost sheep from the Gospel of Luke, well known to any Korean Catholic. The irony is deliberate: a man possessed by a demon is quoting scripture to give directions. It is also a grim echo of his priestly identity, using the language of pastoral care to describe where a body has been hidden.