The Killing Vote (국민사형투표) is a crime-thriller Korean drama series directed by Park Shin-woo, written by Jo Yoon-young and based on the webtoon of the same name by Uhm Se-yoon and Jung Yi-pum. The series stars Park Hae-jin, Park Sung-woong and Lim Ji-yeon in lead roles. The Killing Vote episode 4 has a runtime of 71 minutes.

– The Killing Vote Episode 4 Review Contains Major Spoilers –

The Killing Vote Plot

The crime drama series follows a mysterious man who doles out punishment to the most heinous criminals in the country who fall through the cracks of the justice system. His M.O. includes sending a text message when a criminal doesn’t face justice and citizens over the age of 18 can vote on whether or not they should die. If the results in favour of punishment receive 50% or more votes, then this mysterious figure, who operates through the internet, shows the said criminal a taste of the consequences of their actions. With such a dangerous precedent being set, Kim Moo-chan, Kwon Seok-joo and Joo Hyeon get embroiled in a wild chase to figure out who the punisher is.

The Killing Vote Episode 4 Recap

The Killing Vote Episode 4 begins 8 years ago – Moo-chan walks into a shocking crime scene, the situation of which is so brutal that it leaves him speechless and shocked. He is followed by Seok-joo, who immediately realises that it is his daughter and, of course, he, too, is left inconsolable. Later on, Professor Kwon is seen watching videos of his daughter from her childhood and laughing by himself. Moo-chan, who is also beside him, looks heartbroken at the state of affairs.

Back in the present, Moo-chan asks an incarcerated Seok-joo whether or not he’s Gaetal. We cut back and forth between their previous bond and the situation that they are in, as we see Moo-chan was the one who was left distraught after the perpetrator got away and Seok-joo was stopping him from taking drastic steps. Either way, as the media gets a hold of Moo-chan walking out of prison, Gaetal has a field day throwing mud at the police system and calling them frauds.

Moo-chan, however, doesn’t hide away from the media and instead, decides to make an official statement. He first apologises for the false statement and then moves on to say that he did so in order to catch the criminal quickly – because right now, a murderer is getting more support than the police, and so he has to figure out the crime and criminal as soon as possible in order to stop the madness as soon as possible. When he is done with reminding Gaetal that he is a murderer and isn’t some hero, the media asks him whether or not he thinks that he is hindering the investigation himself.

Realising that the question is a tough one, Hyun creates a silly distraction and runs off with Moo-chan. At the station, Ji-soo gets a call that Bae Gi-chul’s wife, Elena, has also turned up dead. Back at the prison, Seok-joo makes subtle threats at the jail warden and then gets violently beaten up.

On the other hand, Hyun takes Moo-chan home, since he is the hot topic of the nation, to hide him from everyone for the night, and he asks Min why she was at Seok-joo’s house with another teenager in the middle of the night. Hyun clears up the confusion, and Min tells him that the guy who attacked them at Seok-joo’s house smelled of gunpowder. He praises Min for her quick wit, and then the two of them get into the morality of Gaetal’s actions; in the end, Min emotionally mentions that she doesn’t find anything wrong with what he is doing and the only reason Moo-chan finds that wrong is because he never faced the same injustice. He, however, mentions that his stance is the same, although he, too, was in a similar situation before.

Afterwards, Hyun and Moo-chan share a drink, and she opens up about their parents’ accident and why Min is so protective of her, while Moo-chan tells her about his relationship with Seok-joo and why he implied that Moo-chan might have something to do with the Gaetal business.

Also Read: The Killing Vote Episode 3 Recap and Review: Do We See the Real Killer?

Jumping back 8 years – Moo-chan and Ji-soo discover that Byun Woo-taek is being funded by the chairman of Samdo Steel, at whose house Woo-taek’s parents work. The policemen wonder why they are pouring so much money on this boy, who has gotten away with many other crimes before, thanks to his intellectual disability. During his trial, it is revealed that Moo-chan had submitted false evidence in order to get Woo-taek convicted, which was caught on the day of the hearing, and since Woo-taek retracted his initial confession, he, too, was deemed as a loss of validity of his confession. Unfortunately, Woo-taek is declared innocent, much to Moo-chan’s shock.

Seok-joo, however, looks frighteningly stoic and, that night stabs the guy just like Woo-taek did to his daughter. Moo-chan thatches him in the act, and in the present, he tells Hyun that it is because of him that Woo-taek got away and Seok-joo murdered him. Just as the two of them wonder how to approach the case further, they get a text about Elena’s murder. Elsewhere, Ji-young continues to cover for Min-soo illegal and dangerous interests with her power and wealth.

Gaetal’s crimes are, of course, catching fire, and at Min’s school, kids try to extort money from their peers using a similar format. However, Min stands up for her friends, which ends up in Ji-hoon getting a chair broken on him to protect her. At the police station, Moo-chan apologises to his colleagues for putting them in a tough position. After everyone forgives him, they discuss who could’ve murdered Elena and find taxi driver Dong-gyu at the scene of the crime. Meanwhile, Hyun gets the call that her sister has been injured.

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She rushes to the hospital and meets Min-soo, who informs her that Min’s injuries are minor and everything is fine with her sister. The two sisters apologise to everyone, and Min-soo strikes up a rapport with Hyun. At the prison, the warden intercepts a letter to Seok-joo from Gaetal and wonders how this will affect him. As they get scared of the upcoming audit, Park Chul-min advises him to get rid of Seok-joo so as not to get into any trouble in the future.

Meanwhile, a very vindictive Hyun meets Do-hee in an empty seminar hall and assaults her to give out information about Gaetal’s contacts or whereabouts. Do-hee feigns ignorance, but Hyun promises to come up with a way to shake her down and get the truth somehow. Meanwhile, Moo-chan meets Chul-min about the letter that Seok-joo gets from Gaetal and tries to blackmail him into paying for them. Of course, Moo-chan puts him on the ground and arrests him for illegally possessing someone else’s mail, which puts Chul-min on the straight path.

He takes the letters to Hyun, who immediately starts analysing them and realises that Gaetal has been sharing his murder plans with Seok-joo from the start. Unfortunately, they also realise that some pages are missing from the letters and that Seok-joo must want something from them. At the prison, Seok-joo holds up the missing page of the letter wherein Gaetal has promised him to get rid of those criminals who were deemed innocent in the eyes of the law.

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With this information, the two of them meet Seok-joo, with Hyun talking to him and Moo-chan keeping an eye on everything. Hyun calmly asks Seok-joo her questions and asks him about the missing paper. Seok-joo agrees with what Hyun mentions, going as far as to say that he has destroyed it, and everything is now in his head. An exasperated Hyun asks him why he would do such a thing, and Seok-joo finally comes forward with his demands – he asks for a special pardon in exchange for his help with the Killing Vote. The demand leaves them both shocked, and right after, Seok-joo calmly gets up and simply leaves.

The Killing Vote Episode 4 Ending

Afterwards, we see Seok-joo helping Hyun with the meaning behind the letters as he breaks down where the justice system, although necessary for the country, is letting go of heinous criminals that are resulting in the crimes existing and prospering. In between, we see that the police were forced to let Seok-joo go as he comes out of the prison and meets Hyun outside.

The Killing Vote Episode 4 Review

In spite of that twist at the end, I must say the fact that everyone in this universe just seems to be a horrible person is giving me major ick. Like, anyone other than the main characters is absolutely despicable, and you literally can’t trust anyone. What kind of world is this?

Apart from my senses of doom fiercely kicking in after watching every episode, I must say that the cat and mouse game is delicious and has its moments wherein you won’t be able to move. Then, even some of the primary characters seem to be absolutely horrible – I don’t understand the point of Min-soo and Ji-young yet; why are they so bad? Did Min-soo reborn after being stabbed by Seok-joo? Are they twins? At this point, I wonder about the validity of these insane questions, considering the universe we are standing in.

I also understand why Hyun has that extreme sugar-rush persona to her – without her positivity, I feel like things would be too depressing to watch. Either way, I really enjoy watching the show regardless, and I am simply hoping that they do a good job with the final reveal and the path they take to it. Seok-joo looks like an excellent character waiting to blossom, and Park Sung-Woong’s deadly stare makes me uncomfortable. It might just be a recipe for success.

The Killing Vote will air every week on SBS in Korea as well as on Amazon Prime Video in select regions.

Also: Read All of Our The Killing Vote Reviews