With MC actor Lee Yi-kyung temporarily stepping down, Brave Detective 4 featured guest appearances by actors Lee Jun and Seo Beom-jun.
On the 26th, episode 64 of the T-cast E Channel entertainment show Brave Detective 4 (abbreviated Brave Detective 4) aired and included Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency 112 situation team chief Commissioner Cheon Hyung-gil and former commissioner Yun Oechul of the forensic investigation unit (KCSI) and Senior Inspector Kim Jin Soo, who appeared and revealed investigation logs they had solved themselves.
In particular, that broadcast featured actors Lee Jun and Seo Beom-jun as guests. Normally Brave Detective 4 has been presented with three MCs — former soccer player Ahn Jung-hwan, actress Kim Sunyoung and Lee Yi-kyung — along with regular appearances by profiler Kwon Il-yong, former commissioner Yun Oechul and Senior Inspector Kim Jin Soo. However, Lee Yi-kyung recently stepped away temporarily for personal reasons. The production team presented the slot in a format that included guests, and Lee Jun and Seo Beom-jun appeared. Nevertheless, Lee Yi-kyung remains listed on the program's official cast roster.
Among them, Kim Sunyoung said, "When I heard Lee Jun was coming out I screamed. He is a best friend I am very close to and like," expressing her delight. When a past anecdote about Lee Jun tracking a suspected drunk-driving vehicle was introduced, Lee Jun said, "It was a situation anyone would have reported," and added, "I usually enjoy and like watching programs like Brave Detective. After watching, I thought 'This is worth reporting,' so I reported it. I think this is a positive function of such programs," expressing his affection for Brave Detective.
The first case introduced on the show began with a report from a mother of a high school student who said, "I received a call from an unknown number saying my son drank a beverage handed out on the street and that there was drugs in it, and they threatened us." After the call, the mother also received a threatening message saying, "Your son drank a beverage containing methamphetamine. If you don't want to ruin your child's life, answer the call again."
The son, returning home after tutoring, encountered people handing out drinks at a recent tasting event for a product from a well-known pharmaceutical company and drank the beverage after being told it was good for the brain and could improve memory and concentration. They had disguised it as a preference survey, collecting personal information and parents' contact numbers. One hour after the report, another police station received a report that a high school son who had received a drink on the street and drank it with his parents showed abnormal symptoms and visited an emergency room, and blood tests detected methamphetamine components.
To prevent the spread of harm among students, an open investigation was decided, and similar victims followed. Of the 18 who received drinks, half ingested drug components, and the victims were adolescents reported to be suffering hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, adding to the tragedy.
After checking CCTV routes, arrested part-time workers were found to have taken part in the job without knowing the drinks contained drugs. One part-timer was a woman with an intellectual disability who, under the instruction of the representative she met through online chat, also collected cash from voice-phishing operations. The beverages delivered via courier included a link to the actual pharmaceutical company's website and were produced in a set of 100 bottles that included promotional gifts such as dolls, key rings and school bags. Based on the courier's statement, investigators traced and seized remaining bottles and product boxes from the home of a man surnamed Choi (alias) who had sent the drinks.
Choi mixed methamphetamine with Chinese milk and poured it into bottles, and the drinks were found to contain more than three times a single methamphetamine dose, making them extremely dangerous. He claimed he acted under threats from a classmate in China and had no choice, but the investigation found they were clear accomplices who had committed crimes together multiple times. The classmate was forcibly repatriated to Korea from China eight months after the incident.
Five days before the recording, the main suspect in the August kidnapping and killing of a Korean university student in Cambodia was captured, and they are suspected to be the mastermind behind the Gangnam drug beverage case, adding to the shock. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the police are cooperating with the Cambodian government on the investigation. The person who ordered the manufacture and distribution of the drug beverages was sentenced to 23 years in prison, Choi was sentenced to 18 years, and the Chinese drug supplier was arrested in Cambodia and given a 26-year sentence in the first trial.
The second case introduced by KCSI began when a middle-aged woman urgently reported, "I came home and my daughter was dead." The mother, who lived alone apart from her daughter and could not reach her, visited the home and, while cleaning and doing laundry, opened a wardrobe door and found her daughter's body.
At discovery, the victim was wearing only a long T-shirt with no lower garments or underwear, raising the possibility of a sex crime. An autopsy found saliva on the victim's body and no semen reaction, suggesting the victim resisted during an attempted sexual crime and was killed. Male DNA was confirmed from blood found under the fingernails.
Neighbors testified they saw a man coming and going from the victim's house, but their descriptions pointed to three different people, causing the investigation to stall. Investigators later confirmed that from the playground directly opposite the victim's veranda, one could see into the house from the swing, and questioning children who visited the playground produced a testimony that they saw a man who appeared to be the victim's father. However, the victim's mother had divorced long ago, and the man turned out to be the mother's boyfriend. Determined detectives tracked down the man after he went into hiding by shaving their heads and posing as monks to infiltrate the temple he frequented, and after DNA comparison matched, he continued to deny the crime to the end and was sentenced to life imprisonment after trials through the third instance.
Meanwhile, Brave Detective 4 airs every Friday at 9:50 p.m., and is also available on major OTTs such as Netflix, TVing and Wavve.
[Photo] OSEN DB, provided by E Channel.
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