'Gugyeongi' Women Living in an Era of Distrust, Female Narratives That Never Existed Before [Kang Joohee's Video Prism]

The Story of Serial Killer K Who Selectively Kills Only Those 'Deserving to Die' and the Female Detective Chasing K

Drama 'Gugyeongi' / Photo by JTBC

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Joo-hee] "Is it suspicious?"

In a world where news of women being murdered comes almost daily, the JTBC drama Gugyeongi depicts a world set in the present day, the one we live in now. The protagonist, Gugyeongi, is a person who doubts everything around her. She is automatically labeled as sensitive, picky, and eccentric. The reason Kyung-i is suspicious is partly because she is a police officer, but not solely for that reason. She doubts because there is no corner of the world she lives in that she can trust or feel safe in.

Kyung-i lost her husband, Seong-woo, several years ago. A student died at the girls' high school where Seong-woo worked as a teacher, and Kyung-i was the detective in charge of investigating the case. Various rumors swirled around the student's death at the school. Someone had seen the student with Seong-woo before the death. Kyung-i thought this case might be connected to Seong-woo and even suspected he might be the perpetrator. Before the truth of the case was revealed, Seong-woo took his own life. Since then, Kyung-i has built a wall between herself and the world and hides behind it. She is consumed by guilt, believing her excessive suspicion caused Seong-woo's death. Kyung-i quit her job and became a recluse, living in a house piled high with trash, accompanied only by alcohol and games. Yet even after that, Kyung-i sometimes wonders whether Seong-woo was really the culprit or not. She cannot be sure if her suspicions were correct.

Drama 'Gugyeongi' / Photo by JTBC

Then, someone who arouses her interest appears before her. A killer named K who chooses only those who deserve to die. There is a reason behind K's murders. K targets sex offenders, illegal video distributors, those who abuse their social status to bully others?people who inflict wounds more painful than death and live brazenly with a smile. K has principles for the killings. The murders are disguised as accidents, natural deaths, or suicides so they do not appear as homicides, and no one who might hold a grudge against the victim becomes a suspect. Although murder is clearly a crime, K’s principles serve as a mechanism to somewhat justify the act. K feels no guilt about the killings. Instead, K shows confidence and conviction in the murders, believing they have the right and ability to judge others and that others will be grateful for this ability.

K’s identity is revealed early in the drama. K is Song I-gyeong, a woman in her twenties and a student of Kyung-i’s late husband, Seong-woo. I-gyeong began her first murder by disguising the death of a school janitor who secretly killed a cat she cared for as alcohol poisoning. This was triggered by a friend’s casual remark, "I wish the person who killed the cat would die." I-gyeong responded, "Then should I kill them?" and carried it out, feeling satisfaction in having eliminated someone who deserved to die with her own hands. Thus, the drama’s purpose is not to find out who the culprit K is. On the surface, it is a chase between I-gyeong, who recklessly commits murders, and Kyung-i, who tries to stop her. On a deeper level, it portrays the clash between suspicion and certainty?the two characters’ contrasting attitudes toward the world.

Kyung-i and I-gyeong oppose each other throughout the drama, but the show intentionally overlaps them like a decalcomania. Their relationship is revealed through their similar yet different names. Seong-woo often told Kyung-i that she resembled I-gyeong. Both Kyung-i and I-gyeong share the same awareness of issues as women living in present-day South Korea. It is a world where heinous crimes against women and the vulnerable are so frequent that they barely even become issues anymore. Yet the punishment for perpetrators is insufficient, and both Kyung-i and I-gyeong distrust this world. I-gyeong therefore takes matters into her own hands to punish offenders, while Kyung-i becomes someone who cannot help but constantly doubt her surroundings. Kyung-i could not even trust her husband and sometimes casts suspicious glances at her junior colleague Je-hee, who trusts and follows her the most. Even when criticized as "the woman who drove her husband to death," Kyung-i rarely lets go of her suspicion.

Drama 'Gugyeongi' / Photo by JTBC

However, Kyung-i is different from I-gyeong. Even though they share the same awareness of the problem, Kyung-i does not condone I-gyeong’s murders. "Do you think I didn’t have anyone I wanted to kill? Stupidity and arrogance. You need those two to kill someone, but I didn’t have those essential elements," Kyung-i says. In Kyung-i’s dreams, Seong-woo also says, "K is just like you. But K is still young and alone." I-gyeong, who commits private revenge without any guilt, blinded by certainty, appears to Kyung-i as a foolish and arrogant brat’s excessive prank. In fact, I-gyeong often ignores principles and kills for trivial reasons, such as having her feelings hurt. Ultimately, the principle of "people who deserve to die" becomes clearly just a flimsy, arbitrary interpretation as the murders continue.

Of course, Kyung-i is not someone without empathy who does not feel anger toward those who deserve to die and become I-gyeong’s murder targets. However, Gugyeongi says that being angry at such people and physically inflicting pain or committing murder to become another perpetrator are entirely different matters. The helpers whom I-gyeong was sure "would never betray her" end up betraying her in the end. Mi-ae, a victim of illegal filming and one of I-gyeong’s helpers, asks Kyung-i, "Please stop her from killing anymore. Living with the intention to kill someone is really unforgivable," pleading for help to stop I-gyeong’s murders.

After the dedicated team B, which was in charge of catching K, is disbanded, Kyung-i opens a private detective agency. This likely means there are still many cases to solve and bad people to catch in the world. It also shows that Kyung-i’s suspicion will continue. However, Kyung-i no longer turns her back on the world to hide in her own world or doubts those around her who trust her. Although it remains a world where it is hard to trust others easily, she now knows that no one can live alone. It was Je-hee who pulled Kyung-i, who had become a recluse consumed by guilt over her husband’s death, back outside. Perhaps I-gyeong was also desperately searching for someone who would truly understand her and stop her from killing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.