A much darker case is in store for us this week, and surprisingly that case resonates a lot with our neuroscientist lead, who sees his younger self reflected in one of the case victims, thus wanting to do for her what many adults failed to do with him.

Brain Works episode 5: Sealing a deal with Doctor Hwang 

Picking up where we left off, Ha-ru meets Doctor Hwang, and through that meeting, we learn more about that psychopathic death row inmate. 

When he was a neurosurgeon, Hwang killed as many as seven of his patients only for “pleasure.” I am getting the creeps. Hwang’s violent tendencies and psychopathic brain pique Ha-ru’s curiosity; who can do almost anything to put his hands on that so-called valuable brain, even if it means becoming Hwang’s friend.

We got hints about some unique characteristics in Ha-ru’s brain that Hwang is interested in, but we have yet to know if it is psychopathic traits or if the whole thing is a red herring. 

As of now, Ha-ru promises to spend 4 hours a month with Hwang in return for his valuable brain.

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Brain Works episode 5: Introducing this week’s case

In this week’s case, a middle-aged man is found dead after falling off the rooftop. The man has a shallow stab wound, so he likely got into an accident while trying to dodge the knife. 

Before he takes his last breath, the man tells his shocked wife that their six-year-old daughter, Ji-Yul, is the one who killed him. But is that true?

Our investigative trio takes on the case, checking if Ji-yul’s father was physically abusing her, which turns out to be a wrong speculation. Afterward, they check out the mother’s alibi to rule her out of the suspects’ list.

The problem is Ji-Yul suffers from aphasia which makes the only possible way of communication with her through shaking her head and writing, and, for sure, a six-year-old kid doesn’t have that much vocabulary knowledge to describe everything going through her head. 

Our trio only gets the clue that another person, “a wicked spirit,” was present with the father on the roof before Ji-Yul arrived.

Unfortunately, when Myung-Se tries to get more information on that so-called wicked spirit, Ji-Yul passes out. Shockingly enough, her mother is set against sending her to the hospital and keeps insisting her daughter isn’t sick but possessed.

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Brain Works episode 5: A new suspect joining the case

Doubting that the MRI, the mother hands over, is Ji-yul’s, our trio begins investigating the surrounding people, starting from Ji-yul’s doctor to her aunt. 

It turns out the MRI is Ji-yul’s, but the doctor told the mother that Ji-yul needs more tests run, which she doubts the mother followed through with. 

We also learn from the aunt that Ji-yul’s mother suffered from postpartum depression, and soon after, she joined a cult and cut off ties with her family and friends.

As expected, the suspicious cult has brainwashed Ji-yul’s mother into believing her daughter is possessed, so she urgently needs an exorcism. Thus, Ji-yul’s mother goes as far as to put the house for sale to cover the expenses of the exorcism. 

On the other hand, Ji-yul’s father doesn’t believe the whole exorcism thing, insisting Ji-Yul see a doctor, which causes them to have heated arguments over that issue.

 Learning about the exorcism being scheduled, the father returns to Seoul the day before to save his daughter, but unfortunately, he dies that very day. 

A quick visit to the cult headquarters confirms our trio’s suspicions. What if the father is killed so the cult won’t lose out on the exorcism’s money?

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Proving Ji-Yul’s innocence in Brain Works episode 5

But with no CCTVs nor witnesses, there is no proof if the cult leader has been praying at the murder’s time or if she is lying about her alibi. 

As Ha-Ru suggests, now the only hope is to print out the picture in Ji-yul’s head through neuroscience technology. This only happens after Myung-she threatens to report the mother for child abuse if she doesn’t consent to the process. 

The problem is that the person in the picture is Ji-Yul herself.

With everything pointing to Ji-Yul as the culprit, our trio’s path to proving her innocence becomes more challenging than ever. 

This time, it is Myung-se’s turn to take matters into his own hands and go for a crime scene inspection, where he comes across a new clue that turns the case upside down. 

There is one more person in the printed image besides Ji-Yul. That night, she saw her reflection in the mirror along with the culprit, which is why she was included in the printed image.

The person in the image is none other than the creepy cult leader. Also, her car was caught in the parking lot camera the day before the murder. 

Our trio confronts Ji-yul’s mother with the new evidence. Still, she annoyingly keeps claiming that Ji-Yul is confused when she is the one who is confused, and even worse, she has no problem stigmatizing her daughter into believing she killed her father as long as the cult leader is safe.

Despite being confronted with the footage from the parking lot, the mother goes on with her unreasonable claims. 

Yes, the cult leader visited, but she left late, very late in the night. She was drunk, so she called a cab, and her manager picked up the car the next day. Wasn’t it caught on the CCTV? So infuriating.

Even when our trio tells the mother that Ji-yul’s father was killed while luring the cult leader away from their daughter, her stance doesn’t change. 

Instead, she takes Ji-Yul to the cult headquarters in tight security as if they were guarding a criminal, not an innocent kid.

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An undercover operation in Brain Works episode 5

Now our trio has only one way left to save Ji-Yul. Someone has to go undercover and find out the time of the exorcism. 

Who would be a better fit than Myung-Se, who has a common face, unlike Ha-ru’s attention-stealing looks? Certainly, Myung-Se throws a fit at first, refusing to go, but when they mention poor Ji-Yul, who can only be saved in that way, he gives in.

Disguised as a married couple, So-jung and Myung-se go to meet the cult leader, where So-jung begs her to perform an exorcism for her paralyzed husband, but the cult leader isn’t one to be taken lightly, and she insists on checking for herself if Myung-Se is indeed paralyzed or not. 

Just before they get their cover blown, So-Jung “accidentally” drops a cup of hot tea and saves their necks.

The exorcism is scheduled for next Saturday, but the trouble is that only members of a certain status are allowed to join. How can our fake undercover couple move up the ladder? 

As per Ha-ru’s suggestion, the answer is showing off some cars and promising a hefty one-million-dollar donation if they are allowed to witness an exorcism in person.

It is the exorcism day, and our trio is prepared for almost everything, with So-Jung putting on a hidden camera and Ha-ru watching in the background while waiting in front of the headquarters. 

The problem is instead of Ji-Yul, the cult leader suggests they perform Myung-se’s exorcism first. We end the episode with a terrified Myung-Se lying on the table about to get bashed by the cult leader’s spooky exorcism whip.

We also learn that, as a child, Ha-ru suffered from aphasia for a while following his parents’ death. 

Although he couldn’t speak, he could hear everything just fine, namely irritating people gossiping about him being the sole survivor of the accident, as if they were blaming him for not dying with his parents. 

How could people be that exasperating? At that time, Ha-ru luckily had his aunt by his side, and he now wants to do the same for Ji-Yul.

I hope our trio succeeds in their mission and saves Ji-Yul. As for the mother, I want her to be punished for putting her daughter in danger. Even though she was brainwashed, what she did was wrong. 

Despite everything she learned, she didn’t stop for once and doubted that cult leader instead of going through with the exorcism.

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