'Stranger 2' aka 'Forest of Secrets' Episodes 13 and 14: Seo Dong-jae is found by Shi-mok and Yeo-jin
Turns out, from the beginning, both Hwang Shi-mok (Cho Seung-won) and Han Yeo-jin (Bae Doo-na) were headed in the wrong direction while investigating the abduction of Prosecutor Seo Dong-jae in 'Strangers 2' aka 'Forest of Secrets 2'. In episode 13, Shi-mok comes to this realization after he has looked into all avenues, from the cases that Dong-jae was looking at in his free time to the case that the two of them were working on for Special Prosecutor Woo Tae-ha, there was no one who hated Dong-jae enough to abduct him. At this time, there is something that Shi-mok notices about his senior colleague's office.
In a picture that the colleague has of himself and his mother, the floor is similar to that of the one in the letter that was sent to the police with a bloodied tie that was identified as belonging to Dong-jae. The blood, and even the message was directed to make it seem as if a cop was the one to have committed the abduction and Shi-mok puts the two together. However, he doesn't address his suspicions. What is further doubtful is the fact that the witness who came forward and gave a fake testimony had a police record for false testimony and speculation from before as well and his case was processed by the same department that this senior prosecutor had worked at in that time period.
It is not a far stretch to assume that the prosecutor had in fact sent the letter, however, could he also be the one behind the kidnapping? Now that the cops and the investigators are all days past the golden time, we cannot also be sure that Dong-jae will be found alive. So the focus of the investigation, at least between Yeo-jin and Shi-mok has moved to find the person with the most to gain from the abduction. While investigating this, Shi-mok hears from Dong-jae's junior colleague at his branch and she points him towards the case that breaks open Dong-jae's investigation in a way.
It seems, Dong-jae was investigating a case of highschoolers bullying one of their friends and the signature injury that the three kids inflicted upon their victim is similar to the injuries that Dong-jae might have sustained. This is something that the junior had gathered from the traces of blood that was left behind at the scene of the abduction. So when Shi-mok looks at the pictures and tries to connect the two cases, they do not match. However, there is something that catches his eye and that is the picture of the kids that Dong-jae had been investigating. Their picture with the victim was quite similar to another picture that Shi-mok had seen before.
The season opened with a drowning case at the branch that Shi-mok had worked at and it was the last case that he had consulted on before he was transferred. The case was dropped against the rich folks who had removed the warning barricade for a picture for their gram. However, it was ruled as drowning. Looking at the picture, however, it became clear that the survivor was being bullied by the two boys who died and when things went over a limit, he lost control and as a result ended up going on a trip with the assailants to kill him and end his misery.
He had believed that he had gone scot-free as the attention of the case was diverted towards prosecutors for doing a foul job as soon as a former judge had appeared as the rich folks' attorney. So no one paid attention to the real cause of death until Dong-jae made the same connection that Shi-mok did and he reached out to the survivor. He also confronted the boy about being bullied and that is how he ended up being attacked by a kid who kidnapped him to hide the truth. What is intriguing is that the one who sent the letter to the cops was not the boy and neither did the tie belong to Dong-jae. Proof of this was found when Dong-jae was found in the depths of a mountain where this college boy had dumped him after news of a witness coming forward had been broadcast. Initially, it seemed as if Dong-jae was not alive, but thankfully, he was unconscious due to hypothermia and was taken to a hospital to be treated for all his serious injuries.
When Yeo-jin accompanies him to the hospital, she finds that his hands are tied down with his own tie, one that is not cut anywhere and so, it makes no sense for the letter that the cops had received to have belonged to him. So the cops capture the witness who gave the fake statement in the first place and investigate who instructed him to send the statement and why. It is extremely rewarding as Tae-ha and Choi Bit prove that they are not completely evil, but just self-serving as both of them push further to find out who is really behind Dong-jae's abduction.
While Yeo-jin and Shi-mok have unraveled the mystery behind Dong-jae's abduction, however, the death of Park Gwang-su which was something that Dong-jae had been looking into has not been solved yet. Why was Tae-ha invited to go to the Hanjo vacation home, and how did Choi Bit end up at the same spot without being invited by the main players? Answers to these questions and more will be something that we can find in the upcoming episode.
'Forest of Secrets 2' aka 'Stranger 2' airs on tvN on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 pm KST in South Korea and can be streamed on Netflix.