The episode starts where it ended. In the previous episode, we saw Jae-yeong tied up in a chair, and now the cyclist is going to take his identity. Jang-gil was also killed by the cyclist. Now next—
Chapter 6 – KARMA
We see the cyclist taking petrol and spreading it everywhere, pouring a whole container of petrol onto Jae-yeong, who is still tied up in the chair. Then he sets the place on fire, and Jae-yeong and Jang-gil are burned. But there is a gas cylinder in the building. When the cyclist tries to leave, the cylinder explodes and he gets buried under the wood. The fire gets him too. But ASAP, the police arrive. By that time, both were already burned—except the cyclist.
At present, the cyclist is thinking about that moment. We now know what happened in the building that day. Now we see out of the 6 leads, how 4 of them get their karma back. As I mentioned before in the cast review blog and in episode 1 recap—there are 6 main leads, 5 of them are criminals, and our neurosurgeon Ju-yeon is the victim. We already saw her past in episode 4. So 4 mysteries are clear—how 4 of them died. Now only one remains—the cyclist. Moving on, let’s see what happens to him.
Back in the drama, the cyclist now reaches the place where Jae-yeong used to live. He gets his home password and other info and starts living there. Soon he gets a call saying his father’s insurance is ready to proceed and they’ll send it to the nominee. But here we see another twist: Jae-yeong’s father didn’t name his son as the nominee. He gave all the insurance money to the church he used to go to for peace. After hearing that, the cyclist (pretending to be Jae-yeong) runs to the church and asks the nun to give his money back. While going to the church, we see the cyclist bump into the case officer (the one from the spy agency who helped Ju-yeon and also Sang-hun’s wife). Here, the officer secretly swaps the cyclist’s medicine with a drug that causes unconsciousness. It was actually Ju-yeon’s plan. If you’re confused, let me explain: In the last scene of episode 4, we saw Ju-yeon was going to kill Jae-yeong for revenge. But the real Jae-yeong is already dead. The cyclist is using his identity, so everyone—including Ju-yeon—thinks Jae-yeong is still alive. That’s why she’s planning to kill the cyclist.
Okay, next: after reaching the church, fake Jae-yeong asks for the money. But following Jae-yeong’s father’s wishes, the nun doesn’t give him anything. While they’re arguing, Ju-yeon arrives and sits in the church. Seeing her, the cyclist gets angry—he doesn’t know about Ju-yeon and Jae-yeong’s past. He yells at her, but Ju-yeon is only there to confirm whether he took the unconscious medicine or not. When she sees that the drug has started working, she follows him after he leaves the church. They reach a silent alley, and soon the cyclist starts to feel dizzy. Then Ju-yeon appears. He gets mad again and tries to hit her, but he’s half-fainted. When Ju-yeon is about to stab him with a knife, her boyfriend arrives. He tries to stop her, saying, “I already know what happened to you. Please don’t ruin your life for people like him. No matter what, I’ll be with you always. Let’s go, Ju-yeon, please.” At this point, Ju-yeon calms down. Damn, we all want someone like that (TT). Okay, next, the half-unconscious cyclist starts mocking Ju-yeon’s life. She gets angry again and beats him badly, saying, “I’ll remember this face.”
The scene cuts here, and we see the cyclist getting sick from the medicine. Ju-yeon and her boyfriend return home. At that moment, a call comes to the boyfriend’s phone. We don’t know much about it yet—we’ll find out later. Later, we see the police officer investigating the building fire. He finds out that the cyclist is using a fake identity. Earlier, the cyclist told the police he was the one tied to the chair. But we now know the tied-up person was completely burned—that was the real Jae-yeong. The police confirm this and go to catch the cyclist. But he finds out and escapes the apartment. Here comes another twist. Remember in episode 1, we learned that Jae-yeong had a huge debt and only 30 days to pay it? If he didn’t, the collectors would cut his body parts and sell them for money.
Yes, the fake Jae-yeong (the cyclist) doesn’t know any of this. As soon as he leaves the building, he sees a message on Jae-yeong’s phone: “DAY-30.” A minibus arrives and kidnaps him with a blindfold. When he regains consciousness, he’s tied up in a surgical room. He’s about to take his last breath. Then we see Ju-yeon’s boyfriend arrive. YES! Earlier we saw that phone call—turns out it was from the debt collector. He hired the boyfriend for the job. And the boyfriend agreed because he had to repay loans and wanted to marry Ju-yeon. But now, he refuses to go through with it—his loans are gone and he can marry her. The debt owner is nice to him and tells him to call if he ever needs anything. But he also says not to let Jae-yeong (the cyclist) escape—if he doesn’t die while they’re removing body parts, they’ll kill him themselves.
The drama reaches its final scene. The cyclist is tied up in the room, begging for his life, saying, “Please trust me, I’m not Jae-yeong. It’s a long story.” He reveals his real name: Kim Beom-jun. But since he has to face his karma, the doctor doesn’t listen. He says, “Usually I use anesthesia while doing this job. But this time, I’m not going to.” He starts the operation—without anesthesia—to take revenge for his girlfriend. AWWWW SO ADORABLE. And the chapter of the cyclist ends here.
The final scene shows Ju-yeon going to meet her mother-in-law. Her boyfriend says, “Ju-yeon-na, there are only good things ahead.” Then the case officer comes to Ju-yeon with a DNA test report confirming Jae-yeong is dead, and Kim Beom-jun (the cyclist) was using his identity. But Ju-yeon refuses to know the truth—“There is noting else I want to know”. The drama ends with Ju-yeon’s beautiful, peaceful smile.
We all thought maybe the cyclist would escape karma—but eventually, he faced a more horrible and painful death than anyone else, even though he wasn’t entirely responsible.
And this is how all five criminal leads received their karma, and our victim Ju-yeon is finally free and starts her peaceful life again. Our K-drama Karma ends true to its title. I hope you liked it. Personally, I loved it. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a thriller crime mystery like this—since A Killer Paradox. And did you notice? The actor who played Jae-yeong was also the main villain in A Killer Paradox.
Drama ratings:
- IMDb: 7.6/10
- MyDramaList: 8.1/10
- Personal rating: 9/10
I hope you liked it too! Soon, I’ll come back with another drama like this—guess what? WEAK HERO CLASS 2!!!!!!
Okay, till then, keep exploring dramas Wavies!
