Viewers are reeling after it was revealed that actor Jung Moon-sung’s character is a serial killer, sending the drama’s shocking storyline — and ratings — into overdrive.
Episode 8 of ENA’s Monday–Tuesday drama 'The Scarecrow,' which aired on the 12th, pushed tensions between Kang Tae-joo (Park Hae-soo) and Cha Si-young (Lee Hee-joon) to the brink. According to Nielsen Korea, the nationwide rating hit 7.4%, a new personal best for the series, with a per-minute peak of 8.2% — No. 1 among Monday–Tuesday dramas.
Regaining consciousness at the hospital, Kang Tae-joo went straight to Cha Si-young’s mother’s funeral hall. After seeing Cha Si-young smiling, an enraged Kang snapped, cuffed him, and dragged him out — a move that junior detective Park Dae-ho (Ryu Hae-jun) scolded out of pity. Haunted by thoughts of Lee Gi-beom (Song Geon-hee), Kang confessed in despair: "I did it to survive. If I stayed still, I felt like my insides would shrivel up and burst — like I’d die."
Kang Soon-young (Seo Ji-hye), unable to accept Lee Gi-beom’s death, showed signs of short-term memory loss, but later regained her memory after overhearing a conversation between Kang Tae-joo and Seo Ji-won (Kwak Sun-young. She then began protesting in front of the Prosecutors’ Office, holding a blood-written sign reading "Punish murderer Cha Si-young." After a clash with Cha Si-young’s fiancée Kim Hee-jin (Hong Bi-ra), Kang Soon-young was detained at a police station, prompting Kang Tae-joo to seek help from Cha Joon-young (Heo Jung-do).
Meanwhile, the real killer Lee Gi-hwan (Jung Moon-sung) — known to others as Lee Yong-woo — blamed Kang Tae-joo for his younger brother Lee Gi-beom’s death and declared, "Let’s never meet again," hinting at a new plan. Im Seok-man (Baek Seung-hwan) was shown being interrogated under wrongful accusations, enduring beatings and torture, while Lee Gi-hwan’s icy tactics to force a confession left viewers stunned. Lee then repeated his murders and set his sights on Kang Soon-young as his next target, cranking the tension even higher.
In the end, Kang Tae-joo vowed under his breath, "I’m going to smash you to pieces, you little rock," and left Gangseong to go after Cha Si-young. But Cha Si-young not only drove Lee Gi-beom to his death, he also extracted a false confession from Im Seok-man and sought the death penalty.
As the episode closed, another murdered body appeared, signaling that the 'Gangseong serial The Scarecrow airs every Monday and Tuesday at 10 p.m. KST on ENA and is also available on KT Genie TV and TVING.