Spring 2024 SDLC112
Monthly Learning Journal #1
David Kim
30262888
david.kim123@richmond.edu
For Spring 2024, I decided to watch the Korean drama A Killer Paradox on Netflix with my language partners. The show is based on a Korean comic on Naver Webtoon with the same title. I was disappointed because the English translation does not possess the full meaning of the Korean title. The original Korean title is 살인자ㅇ난감. You can read it in two different ways, which is 살인자 난감(The killer is panic) or 살인 장난감 (Killing Toy). 장난감(Jang Nan-gam), which means toy, is also the detective’s name in the show. I guess it is a difficult title to translate, but the show gives something else from the title itself.
A Killer Paradox’s main character is Lee Tang. He is an average college student who finished his military service in South Korea. He works part-time at a convenience store and dreams of a Working Holiday in Canada. After his working shift, he meets the drunk people who went to the convenience store again. One man with bad manners was sleeping on the street. Lee Tang tried to wake him up but he was not getting up. Lee Tang meets the other man with good manners and tells him about the other man but he suddenly commits physical violence toward Lee Tang. It reminded Lee Tang of his high school years when he was bullied. Lee Tang accidentally pulled out a hammer that he borrowed from the convenience store to hang a painting at his place and hit the man on his head. Lee Tang used to be shy, calm, and quiet. He realized what he just did and started to panic. There were no surveillance cameras, but a woman who seemed blind with a guide dog passed right by. Lee Tang immediately ran away after she walked away.
When Lee Tang went back to his place, he felt guilty but still made an alibi using his friend. Detective Jang Nan-gam visits the convenience store and asks several questions to Lee Tang. However, there were no surveillance cameras near the crime scene and a fly covered the convenience store’s surveillance camera when Lee Tang borrowed a hammer. The police arrived to a conclusion that the drunk men killed each other. It seemed like Lee Tang was getting off the suspect line. However, detective Jang Nan-gam was the only one who was still suspecting Lee Tang.
After a while, it turned out that the man Lee Tang killed was the culprit of the serial murder case in Gangwon-do. Lee Tang and detective Jang Nan-gam were both surprised by this fact. It bothered Lee Tang that he had left a hammer at the scene. The hammer was at the woman’s house, the blind person who passed by the crime scene.
Even though there were only a few scenes, I could see what a South Korean college student’s life was like. The final outcome might be exaggerated compared to reality, but you can still rarely see drunk people on the subway or on deserted streets. I am looking forward to what will happen during the rest of the show.
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