The Dump Site
We begin episode 9 of The Uncanny Counter with Mun running into Cheong-Sin down the alleyway. As he does, Wigen senses his heart rate rising and communicates from Yung, telling him he needs to listen and join with the team.
Mun is confident he'll get the upper-hand as he sees the territory form around him. As he goes toe to toe with Cheong-Sin alone, Wigen collapses on the ground, prompting the other spirits to call on the Counters to help.
Unfortunately Cheong-Sin manhandles Mun until Kim Jeong-Yeong shows up and saves the boy at the last second. It's just the distraction the Counters need as they race to the scene and save Mun before it's too late.
Mun's wounds are bad but Mae-Ok is determined to heal him, even if it causes her distress. As she starts humming, it seems like her life force is taken out to heal wounds, which explains the limitations of the healing powers. She continues to grow older as she heals Mun, bleeding from the nose and sporting grey hair. As we soon find out, this small act causes her to lose a year of her life.
Mun's grandfather calls and asks to speak to his grandson. Obviously Mun's in a bad way so that's easier said than done. At the same time, Cheong-Sin relocates his severed bones after the fight in an abandoned motel room. Snapping his bones back into place, Cheong-Sin notices the news and sees Mayor Shim announcing his desire to step up as President. In fact, he's in the process of drawing up a draft to do just that, determined to gain the advantage in the upcoming elections.
At the Noodle Bar, Mo-Tak contemplates what to do about Cheong-Sin, who clearly seems to have telekinesis powers. As he sits with the Jeong-Yeong, he divulges everything about their world, including Yung and how it's connected to theirs. Jeong-Yeong however, doesn't believe him.
Mun finally awakens and apologizes to Mae-Ok for what happened. He notices her grey hair and eventually embraces her, especially when she reassuringly understands his eagerness to stop Cheong-Sin before it's too late. Mun soon realizes that his abilities include manipulating the territories, which could give them the edge in the fight to come. In order to channel that, Mun needs to relive the painful memories of the past – namely strong feelings of fear and anger.
Back in Yung, Wigen is interrupted by dog-wielding spirits who seem to be the higher authorities there. As we soon find out, they're actually investigators.
Ha-Na meanwhile heads back to Mun's grandparents' house to drop off their shopping. Only, she's invited in to have dinner. There, they discuss Ha-Na's 2 month-long relationship with Mun... which causes her to cough and sputter in surprise.
Out on the road, Mun and Mo-Tak stake out the familiar stretch of road leading to the waste site. There, they stop a truck sporting an enraged parent determined to burn the area. Apparently the waste there has been killing people and he wants to expose Shin for everything he's done.
As they exchange greetings, this man brings the two Counters back to his place and explains what's going on. When So-Eun was born ill, her Father conducted an investigation into the environmental problems – specifically the waste mountain nearby. Despite reporting this to the authorities, they didn't investigate and worse, plan for an eco-friendly park to cover up the evidence.
On their way back home, Jeong-Yeong rings and breaks the news that the blood sample has gone missing. Pyo intercepted the evidence and seems to have passed it on to Chief Choi. With the police coercing with Shin and his cronies, an enraged Mo-Tak decides to try and get retribution.
That retribution comes from the team infiltrating's Myeong-Whi's conference where he intends to announce his candidacy. Chang-Gyu is in attendance too and after spying Mo-Tak, is subsequently knocked out and throw in a storage closet.
The Counters hijack the backstage area, knocking out the various workers as they prepare for the next stage of their plan. Mun and Mo-Tak sabotage the graphics and show off a video of the waste dump live on-air. They name-drop all those responsible and dump waste water on Myeong-Whi's head.
This publicity stunt certainly makes quite the impression as the Counters hurry backstage and continue their shenanigans, coating the crooked politicians in more waste and fire extinguisher smoke.
Mo-Task eventually shows himself to Chief Choi, promising that he'll be back after dealing with the others. Only, they have bigger problems when Wigen and the others see that the Counters have caused serious issues and meddled in human affairs.
Shin and the others gather and contemplate what to do next. As they go over their options, they eventually decide to kill Mo-Tak and the others. Just as they come to this agreement, Cheong-Sin shows and manhandles the security, using his telekinetic powers in front of them.
While they formulate this plan, Mun gathers the troops on account of Wigen wanting to speak to them. Midway through eating, they head up to Yung. The famous inspector shows them what they've done, giving out a number of different warnings to each of the Counters. Despite all of them being let off the hook, Wigen speaks up and decides Mun should be dismissed as a Counter.
The Episode Review
The Uncanny Counter returns this week after a brief Christmas hiatus for a super-charged episode of action and drama. The inclusion of Yung's Inspector works well to give some real consequences to the Counter's actions and explains the warning system they have in place for when things go wrong.
Alongside that, it's good to see Mayor Shim and the others get their just desserts, although predictably Cheong-Sin's interjection at the end spells big trouble for all in attendance. Could he now align himself with Shin and the others to go up against the Counters? It certainly looks that way.
And what of Mun too? It seems like Wigen is hell-bent on stripping him of his Counter powers, but to what end? In doing so this would almost certainly cause him to use crutches again too so there's a lot riding on this decision.
Either way, The Uncanny Counter delivers another decent episode that leaves the door open for tomorrow's follow-up.
