Nine Puzzles- Episodes 7-8

Secrets, Scandals, and a Body in the Water

Nine Puzzles Episode 7 is a full-course meal of shady pasts, shifting loyalties, and the most shocking ending yet. If you thought things were tangled before, buckle up—this episode yanks the floor out from under everyone.

We open with I-na uncovering that Yoon-su owned 13 apartments in The One City complex. Twelve went to his family. The last? Unit 5802. Gifted to Chi-mok… who gave it to Mi-young. No incident reports. Nothing suspicious—on paper. But I-na and Han-saem aren’t buying it. They’re convinced this apartment chain was hush money for a crime. One covered up by none other than Dong-hoon. But what did he get in return?

They look at the puzzle pieces again: Dong-hoon shoots a doll. Mi-young whispers to a girl. Chi-mok dances with women in an armband. Yoon-su crushes a sandcastle. Creepy, yes—but also symbolic? Absolutely.

With no new leads, the duo falls into their default setting: bickering over coffee. Han-saem consults Dong-su about Dong-hoon, who was apparently “too good” for the force. Turns out, Dong-hoon took the fall for a botched serial case, the infamous Jungbu murders.

Meanwhile, I-na’s therapy session dives deep. She finally admits she chose to forget her uncle’s murder—afraid of what she might uncover. Dr. Lee empathizes… up to a point. When I-na flips the question back on her, Lee shuts it down.

Then—surprise confession. Sergeant Nam corners I-na outside therapy. She’s wracked with guilt over Mi-young’s death. I-na’s response? Cold but sharp: Mi-young ran that red light for a reason. If Nam had stopped her, the killer might’ve struck then and there.

Back to the case. I-na and Han-saem start digging through Dong-hoon’s old files. Han-saem warns her: what if Dong-hoon was corrupt? Can she stay objective? At the same time, Dong-su and Chief Hyun are both wondering why Dong-hoon was really killed.

A lead finally surfaces: the Myungsung Daily defamation case. The plaintiff? Brother of the final Jungbu murder victim. Dong-hoon dismissed it three months later.

Han-saem and I-na track the guy down, who explains a reporter named Lee Gang-hyun falsely called his sister an escort. No justice in court—but poetic justice followed: Lee killed himself.

Or so they thought.

They pull Lee’s case file. I-na recognizes a familiar name—Oh Cheol-jin. Suddenly, they realize: Lee didn’t kill himself. He’s the first puzzle victim. His death predates Dong-hoon’s by eight months. And they even find a hidden puzzle piece in the file—featuring a man with sewn eyes holding a camera.

Game changer.

Han-saem updates Captain Yang, who warns him: don’t trust I-na. And while Han-saem promises Chief Hyun results, he’s clearly rattled.

Yang starts probing Choi San and stumbles on a working CCTV camera near Griffin. He also presses San about the missing handkerchief from Yoon-su’s crime scene. San’s cagey. Suspicious.

Han-saem confronts Yang. This is emotional. Han-saem became a cop because he believed in justice—because of Yang. Now he has to ask: is Yang the killer’s accomplice?

Yang denies it, but drops a bomb. The night Reporter Lee died, his son Seon-wook had a math study group. One of the kids present? I-na. Lee died between 10 p.m. and midnight. I-na was spotted on the rooftop at 11, and left the building at 12:23 a.m. No alibi.

Flashback time: I-na arrives. Gang-hyun is drunk, yelling for Cheol-jin. She heads to the rooftop for air… and later sees a man enter the building.

When Han-saem learns of I-na’s link to the first victim, he’s furious. She fires back: everyone’s been hiding things. Yang kept his mouth shut for years. She tells Han-saem to choose—trust her, or trust Yang.

Cut to I-na flying to Jeju to find Oh Cheol-jin—Dong-hoon’s old friend. She brings up Reporter Lee. The temperature drops. Friendly Cheol-jin turns threatening fast.

Meanwhile, Han-saem tries to contact her—and gets slammed with the final twist.

I-na has been arrested. For murder.

Last scene? A dockworker watches, horrified, as I-na pulls a drowned body out of the water.

It’s Cheol-jin.

End of Episode 7.

The mystery just cracked wide open. The puzzle killer’s first victim has been identified, I-na’s past is catching up with her, and the one person she thought she could question? Dead. And now she’s in cuffs.

Framed, Freed, and One Very Suspicious Handkerchief

Nine Puzzles Episode 8 takes the slow-burning tension and sets it on fire. We’ve got I-na playing 4D chess, Han-saem unraveling a web of lies, and Captain Yang… looking more like a suspect than ever. Buckle up.

We open with Cheol-jin alone on his yacht, drifting off in the middle of the sea—until someone boards. He jolts awake, terrified. Cue: ominous fade to black.

Cut to the aftermath. I-na is arrested for Cheol-jin’s murder, and the Hangang precinct is thrown into chaos. She’s her usual ice-cold, snarky self—refusing to cooperate, teasing Han-saem, and confusing everyone in the room. Even Yang and Chief Hyun show up to help, and she side-eyes Yang for vouching for her innocence. Suspicious?

Meanwhile, conveniently (or not), Dr. Hwang and Dr. Lee are in Jeju for a seminar on “darkness and retaliation.” Han-saem pulls them in to talk to I-na. She gives them the latest puzzle piece instead: a man in a burger-eating contest. Grim and weird. Business as usual.

Han-saem presses Yang about why he hid the puzzle piece from Reporter Lee’s crime scene. Yang says he didn’t trust Han-saem because of his closeness to I-na. And still insists she’s hiding something.

Frustrated, Han-saem pleads with I-na to just talk to him. She gives him a lead instead: her taxi ride. Turns out, she left the yacht at 5 p.m., and the murder happened between 5 and 8. The puzzle piece was delivered at a red light.

Boom. Alibi confirmed. I-na walks free.

Then comes the real bombshell. She framed herself. On purpose. Why? Because the puzzle killer needs her alive for his game. She figured whoever rushed to help her must be the killer—or his accomplice. And just like that, the suspect list narrows: Yang, Hyun, Dr. Lee, Dr. Hwang… and even Choi San, who Han-saem brought with him.

Back in Seoul, I-na grills Dr. Lee about being in Jeju. Lee claims it was just for the seminar, and to prove she could handle I-na better than her failed predecessor—Dr. Hwang. But I-na’s antennas are up. She sneaks around Hwang’s room, not buying a word of it.

Han-saem, meanwhile, starts digging into Yang’s past. A trip to Yang’s old precinct reveals a red flag: the night Dong-hoon was murdered, Yang lied about having a sibling emergency. He returned soaked from the rain. And the bar he left from? Just down the road from Dong-hoon’s house. Meaning: Yang could have taken the shortcut and gotten there before I-na.

Chief Hyun officially launches a task force on the puzzle case, led by Dong-su. I-na lays out all six puzzle pieces so far and warns them: three murders left. The game’s still on.

Later, I-na and Han-saem drink and debrief. She teases him for not having seen LA Confidential, his favorite movie. He jokes, she dodges, and they talk about Cheol-jin. Flashback time: Cheol-jin suspected he was next. He mentioned the Yoons—yes, I-na’s parents—and hints that I-na was once supposed to be close to his son.

Hmm.

Before the next briefing, Han-saem tells Dong-su point-blank: he thinks Yang’s involved.

Yang can feel the walls closing in. He knows Han-saem’s been sniffing around his past. He doesn’t flinch. In fact, he confronts I-na and asks what she really saw on the rooftop the night Reporter Lee died. She lies. He knows it.

Things get even messier. Travel records place Yang in Jeju twice—once a month ago, and again on the day Cheol-jin died.

Desperate, Han-saem turns to hypnosis—yes, really. I-na’s superior hypnotizes Choi San to recall what he saw at Yoon-su’s crime scene. Bingo. San remembers Yang pocketing the missing handkerchief.

Final scene? Han-saem storms up to Yang, furious.

Yang slowly pulls out… the handkerchief.

Boom. End of Episode 8.

We’re eight episodes in and the tension is electric. Is Yang the killer? An accomplice? A red herring? No idea. But one thing’s for sure—this puzzle is almost complete, and it’s pointing straight at someone wearing a badge.

🧩 Let the final moves begin.

DramaZen's Opinion

Trust No One, Suspect Everyone

Episodes 7 and 8 of Nine Puzzles had me yelling “WHAT?!” every ten minutes. I-na framing herself for murder to bait the real killer?? Iconic. Deranged. Genius. She’s not just playing the puzzle—she’s running it now.

Meanwhile, Han-saem is in full detective meltdown mode. He's chasing ghosts, connecting dots, and somehow still dealing with I-na moving into his apartment like it’s her crime cave. Their banter? Flawless. Their trust issues? Deliciously messy.

And Captain Yang?? That man is either the world’s most misunderstood brooder or the most dangerous cop in Seoul. The missing handkerchief reveal at the end of Episode 8? I screamed.

We're eight episodes in, and the puzzle pieces are snapping together—fast. Suspicion is everywhere. Alibis are unraveling. And I-na is ten steps ahead of everyone.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this show is unhinged in the best way. 🧩🔥