Kim You-jung – K-wave Insider

100 Days of Deception Episode 3 illustration showing the heroine entering a grand colonial building, with secret meetings and tense conversations around her.

100 Days of Deception Episode 3 Recap & Analysis: A Very Personal Reason to Become a Spy

October 18, 2026 by KwaveInsider, posted in K-Drama & Film

An offer of passage to America turns a pickpocket's survival skills into the tools of a spy.

Spoiler warning: This post covers the main plot and final scene of 100 Days of Deception Episode 3.

Lee Gakyeong (Lee Ga-kyeong) becomes a spy. But patriotism has nothing to do with it.

She believed that if she could just save enough money, she could leave for America. Then she learns that money alone won't get her there, and when she returns to her shack, even the money she saved is taken from her. So Gakyeong decides to do what she does best, right in the heart of enemy territory. This time, what she'll steal isn't a wallet. It's information from the Japanese Government-General of Korea.

100 Days of Deception Episode 3 Recap: From Pickpocket to Trainee Interpreter at the Government-General

Police Raid the Pawnshop, and Hideo Covers for Gakyeong

Hideo, the adopted son of Administrative Superintendent Sato, finds his wallet at the pawnshop, but Gakyeong keeps playing dumb. Just as he gives her one last chance to hand over the pawn ticket, Japanese police storm in. Gakyeong assumes Hideo called them, but he's standing there with his hands up like everyone else. The police are hunting the Gugukdan, the resistance group behind the previous day's attempt on Sato's life.

When Hideo shows his Government-General interpreter's ID and reveals that he's the Superintendent's son, the officers' attitude changes instantly. Then they move to check Gakyeong's identity, and she pressures Hideo: if she's dragged off, he'll never get his pawn ticket back. In the end, Hideo vouches for her as his companion. Since the pawnshop owner has already explained the place away as somewhere young couples come for a little daytime "sport," Hideo has no choice but to introduce Gakyeong as his "sports partner." The pawnshop, it turns out, doubles as an inn.

The police try to haul off an innocent Korean boy just because he tried to run. When gunfire breaks out elsewhere, Hideo offers to take custody of the boy, then lets him go as soon as the officers leave. Meanwhile, Gakyeong invents a story that a man called the police to catch his cheating wife, swaps clothes with the "wife," and strolls right out.

A Collaborator's Daughter, and a Japanese Man for Whom Korea Is a Land of Opportunity

The Gugukdan meets in secret. Nurse Hwang Gyuyeong (Hwang Gyu-yeong) and doctor Kim Chigeon (Kim Chi-geon), who are caring for Suzuki, the mole the group planted inside the Government-General, are there too. They're Gugukdan members as well. With Suzuki laid up, they have no way of knowing what's going on inside the Government-General, and the frustration shows.

Han Cheolyong (Han Cheol-yong), an armed Gugukdan fighter with a bounty on his head, receives funds from Kim Myeongnam (Kim Myeong-nam). She is the only daughter of the president of Joil Textiles, a chinilpa, a Korean collaborator, who was made a marquis by Japan. The money comes courtesy of her father's secretary, Lee Yeongbok (Lee Yeong-bok), who has been siphoning it from the company. A collaborator family's money is flowing into the independence movement.

That same night, Sato shares drinks with Police Bureau chief Fukuda. For Fukuda, who knew poverty and contempt back in Japan, Korea has been a land of opportunity. When Sato asks whether he'll be satisfied with being police chief, Fukuda presses his forehead to the floor and swears his loyalty. The Korea Gakyeong is desperate to escape is, for him, a place where there's still room to climb.

Outplayed, and Soran's Offer

When the Government-General's English interpreter post opens up, Gugukdan sniper Yu Soran (Yu So-ran) proposes sending Gakyeong. She's quick-witted, a skilled liar, fearless, fast with her hands, and she speaks English. Philip Yu, an American news correspondent, objects. A mole holds the lives of the people in the Provisional Government in Shanghai in her hands, he argues, and they can't hand that to someone who doesn't care about independence. Soran is betting that if they make America the reward, Gakyeong won't betray them.

The way they lure Gakyeong in fits her perfectly. Soran's people let their wallets get picked at Gyeongseong Station, with a letter tucked inside: an invitation to interview a woman named Hong Gilsun (Hong Gil-sun) for a spot accompanying a collaborator's daughter to study in America. Gakyeong takes the bait. She tracks down "Hong Gilsun," actually Hwang Gyuyeong in disguise, tells her the interview has been canceled, and hands her 20 won as a goodwill gesture. That's a month's pay for a department store clerk, a so-called "depart girl." Soran is impressed: Gakyeong knows you have to give something first to get what you want.

But when Gakyeong shows up at the interview pretending to be Hong Gilsun, the person waiting for her is Soran. Soran offers to send her to America if she'll join them inside the Government-General. Gakyeong refuses. Soran tells her that under current U.S. immigration law, money won't get her into America anyway. When Gakyeong asks why she's in the independence movement, Soran only says she hopes Gakyeong will go to America and live a happy life. Gakyeong snaps back: if you're going to die for independence, don't have kids. Being left behind alone is the worst thing there is.

No America, and No Home to Go Back To

Gakyeong goes to the U.S. consulate and confirms that Soran was telling the truth. And when she gets back to her shack, Munmak, the boss of her pickpocket gang, is holding the box of money she hid. Noma and Kkotnim have already been beaten, and when Gakyeong and Noma fight back, the blows come down on them too. When Munmak tries to rape Gakyeong, Noma begs him to stop, offering him all the money. Munmak adds insult to injury, sneering that Gakyeong's mother was a Japanese man's mistress.

Out on the street that night, Gakyeong remembers her past. Because of her mother, she grew up treated with contempt by everyone around her. She once followed a man who promised her work at a textile mill, only to be forced to work as a hostess entertaining Japanese men. And when one of them tried to rape her, she fought back and killed him. For Gakyeong, saving money to leave Korea wasn't a dream. It was a matter of survival.

Gakyeong's Three Months, and Soran's Warning Against Betrayal

Gakyeong goes to Philip's house. She'll do it. But she has conditions. She wants gabong, a bonus allowance, on top of her base pay. When she's told that gabong is only for Japanese officials, she says fine, then the Gugukdan can pay it. She also wants to stay at Philip's house. And she'll work exactly three months, then they send her to America.

Soran has conditions too. Don't ask questions. Don't steal anything in this house. And don't betray us. Traitors will be executed. Soran also warns her to watch out for Hideo. He's a Korean boy Sato adopted, once a pickpocket on the streets of Gyeongseong, but now he's more Japanese than the Japanese.

The Fourth Meeting, and a Fake Confession

Gakyeong gets into the Government-General thanks to Philip's groundwork. He tells Sato he'll put in a good word when the League of Nations commission comes to Gyeongseong, and asks him to hire Gakyeong as a trainee interpreter. Then he insists, quite forcefully, that she's actually his lover. Sato laughs and grants the favor. Hideo is in the room.

Inside the grand marble building, Gakyeong runs into Hideo again. This is our fourth meeting, he tells her. Three times is coincidence, but four times is not. Tell me one true thing, just once, and I'll accept you as a colleague. Gakyeong confesses that she's liked him since the first time she saw him, and that's why she came all this way. With her fingers crossed. Hideo knows it's a lie. Still, he's stunned at how easily she says it.

Her First Mission as a Spy, and a Gun at Her Back

Philip's first assignment is to get Sato's schedule. Hideo locks the schedule in a drawer, asking if she's never heard the Korean saying that a thief's feet go numb, the equivalent of a guilty conscience giving itself away. As soon as he leaves, Gakyeong bends a hairpin and picks the lock. Inside is a note: "Thou shalt not steal." Gakyeong copies Sato's schedule from right underneath it.

On her way home from work, she stops at a café and, disguised as a waitress, passes on the information. As she heads home, someone follows her. In an alley, she feels a gun barrel against her back, and hears her fake name and her real name, one after the other. Geum Seohui. Lee Gakyeong. You're a spy, aren't you?

Why Do Only Japanese Officials Get Gabong for the Same Work?

Gabong was a bonus allowance added on top of base pay. Imperial Japan paid it to Japanese officials working in colonies like Korea as compensation for "overseas service," while Korean officials were excluded as a rule. Two people could work in the same office, doing the same job, and be paid differently depending on where they came from.

Gakyeong doesn't protest this discrimination with grand words. If Koreans can't get it, then the Gugukdan can pay her. Having a noble cause like independence doesn't suddenly make her rise above money. It's what keeps Gakyeong a realistic character to the end. For her, colonial discrimination is first and foremost a question of her own paycheck.

Why Was Korea a Land of Opportunity for People Scorned in Japan?

Fukuda's lines show that colonial inequality wasn't only a matter of Japanese versus Korean. Someone who knew poverty and contempt in Japan could come to Korea and stand on the side of the rulers. Systems like gabong held up that ladder.

In the same city, Gakyeong is saving money to leave, while Fukuda dreams of climbing higher. The grandeur of the Government-General that leaves Gakyeong speechless and the opportunities Fukuda enjoys are two faces of the same system.

Why Would a Collaborator's Daughter Fund the Independence Movement?

The title of marquis held by Myeongnam's father was a noble rank granted by Japan. In fact, right after annexation, Imperial Japan made Korean royals and powerful figures part of its nobility, handing out titles and large sums of money. In Korea, chinilpa, "pro-Japanese," is still a heavy word today. It refers to people who gained wealth and status by collaborating with colonial Japan.

And the daughter of such a family brings money to the independence movement. Money to fight the very regime her father serves is coming out of her father's own company. Why Myeongnam chose this path will come out later, but the family you're born into and the side you choose are not the same thing.

Why Did the League of Nations Commission Matter So Much to Japan?

The League of Nations was an international body created after World War I, the predecessor to today's United Nations. The commission in the drama can be linked to the Lytton Commission, which investigated Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1932. What hung on that investigation was whether the international community would recognize Manchukuo, the state Japan had set up.

Philip uses exactly that scrutiny as a bargaining chip. A Korean American praising Japan's rule would look far more convincing to the outside world than Japanese officials praising themselves. Gakyeong's entry into the Government-General isn't a job she landed on her English alone. It's a deal that exploits the very face Japan wants to show the world. How the League ultimately ruled on Manchukuo is covered in our Episode 2 analysis.

Where Is the Government-General Building Today?

The massive Government-General building that left Gakyeong speechless stood inside Gyeongbokgung, the royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. Yes, the very palace that almost every foreign tourist in Seoul visits at least once. It went into use in 1926, and building it meant tearing down palace gates and corridors and even relocating Gwanghwamun, the palace's main gate. Japan drove the heart of its colonial rule into the heart of the Joseon dynasty to break the Korean spirit.

After liberation, it served as the government's main building, then from 1986 as the National Museum of Korea. Demolition began in 1995, the 50th anniversary of liberation, and by the end of 1996 it was gone. The Gyeongbokgung and Gwanghwamun visitors see in Seoul today were restored after that building was torn down.

Did the Independence Movement and Imperial Japan Really Use Spies?

Spies weren't invented for spy dramas. Imperial Japan planted spies inside the independence movement, and independence groups tried to find and eliminate them. The 1925 killing of Kim Dalha (Kim Dal-ha), a Korean informant working for Japan, is a well-known example.

Gakyeong, though, is a spy in the opposite direction. She wasn't planted inside the independence movement by Japan. She was sent into the Government-General by an independence group. That's why Soran's last condition is no empty threat. Gakyeong thinks she's sold three months of her life, but the Gugukdan has trusted her with many people's lives.

Can a Pickpocket Really Become a Spy?

There's little record of a pickpocket becoming a spy. But there is a true story of a criminal whose skills made him one: Eddie Chapman, a British double agent in World War II. He had done several stretches in prison as a safecracker for London gangs. When the Germans occupied the British Channel Islands, Chapman, then in jail there, offered to spy for them, and the moment he was dropped back into Britain, he went to British intelligence and became a double agent. The Germans even awarded him the Iron Cross.

Chapman wasn't driven by patriotism at first either. At first, he offered to spy for the Germans simply to get out of prison. That's a lot like Gakyeong, who becomes a spy in exchange for passage to America. Fast hands, a gift for lying, nerves of steel. The reason Soran chose Gakyeong is exactly the same logic: a criminal's skills translate directly into a spy's.

Were There Cafés and Food Delivery in 1930s Gyeongseong?

There were. In 1930s Gyeongseong, cafés and tearooms opened alongside modern buildings like department stores, hotels, and banks. They were gathering places for writers and artists, and spots where the new generation, the so-called "modern boys" and "modern girls," enjoyed a new culture of consumption.

Food delivery existed too. In 1920s and 1930s Gyeongseong, restaurants delivered naengmyeon (cold noodles), seolleongtang (ox bone soup), gukbap (rice soup), and Chinese food, and records describe delivery men racing around on bicycles with bowls stacked high. Korea's delivery culture didn't start with smartphones. That's why it makes sense when Gakyeong buys Noma a bicycle and suggests he try food delivery. Even on the day she starts stealing documents from the Government-General, what Gakyeong takes care of is Noma's job and Kkotnim's medicine.

Video: 100 Days of Deception — Character Teaser / Source: tvN DRAMA (YouTube)

Basic Info

Official English title: 100 Days of Deception
Formerly known as: 100 Days of Lies
Korean title: 100일의 거짓말 (Baegirui Geojinmal)
Genre: Period drama, espionage, romance
Setting: Gyeongseong (colonial-era Seoul), 1932
Premiere: October 10, 2026
Directors: Yoo In-shik, Kim Youn-jin
Writer: Ryu Bo-ri
Main cast: Kim You-jung (Lee Ga-kyeong), Park Jin-young (Sato Hideo), Kim Hyun-joo (Yu So-ran), Lee Moo-saeng (Philip Yu), Jin Seon-kyu (Sato Shinichi)
Episode covered: Episode 3
Where to watch: tvN and TVING in South Korea; Netflix in available regions. Availability varies by country.

Advertisements may appear on this page.

Some links in this post may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

100 Days of Deception Episode 2 Recap: A Dead Daughter’s Name and a 13-Year-Old Pawn Ticket

October 15, 2026October 18, 2026 by KwaveInsider, posted in K-Drama & Film

A failed assassination brings Soran face to face with her missing husband, while her daughter’s name and Hideo’s pawn ticket begin to reveal the past.

Spoiler warning: This post covers the main plot and final scene of Episode 2 of 100 Days of Deception (formerly 100 Days of Lies).

On the night Yu Soran (Yu So-ran) had waited thirteen years for, she wasn’t the only one with a gun pointed at Sato Shinichi, the No. 2 official in Japan’s colonial government in Korea.

Another assassin, disguised as a cake delivery man. He is Geum Seokjung (Geum Seok-jung), the husband whose fate Soran hasn’t known for thirteen years. If Episode 1 was about an assassination derailed by Lee Gakyeong (Lee Ga-kyeong), a pickpocket who only sees money, Episode 2 shows who Soran really is, the woman who staked her life on that assassination. And a worn pawn ticket inside the wallet Gakyeong stole begins to stir up the hidden past of Hideo, Sato’s adopted son.

100 Days of Deception Episode 2 Recap: The Pasts That Surface After the Gunfight

A Gunfight, and the Name “Seohui”

In Philip and Soran’s house, the assassin and Hideo exchange fire. Suzuki, the interpreter, steps in without knowing what’s happening and is shot down by the assassin. Under Hideo’s return fire, the assassin drops his gun, and at the end of the hallway his eyes meet Soran’s. It isn’t the surprise of two people who happened to target the same man.

When Hideo runs out of bullets, the assassin smashes through a window and escapes. Soran fires a shot too, but it’s a shot never meant to hit. Once things settle, Hideo tells Sato, who has been hiding, that it’s safe to come out. What he gets back is a gun pointed at him. Sato doesn’t trust even the adopted son who just risked his life to protect him.

Police Bureau chief Fukuda storms in and slaps Gakyeong before saying a word. Hideo shields her, saying that if anything, this woman stopped the assassination. Soran’s pistol has somehow ended up in Philip’s hand, and he claims he carries it for self-defense in such unsettled times.

When Fukuda still tries to drag Gakyeong away, she starts to reveal Soran’s assassination plot. At that moment Soran clutches her pregnant belly and collapses. She calls Gakyeong “Seohui” and begs for help. Philip pressures Sato, threatening to report the attempt on the Administrative Superintendent’s life. With Japan anxious about how the world views its actions in Manchuria, a story from an American reporter would be devastating. Just then, the real cake delivery man, stripped of his uniform, is dragged in wearing only his underwear, and Sato shuts the matter down and leaves.

What Has Korea Ever Done for Me?

With everyone gone, Soran grabs Gakyeong and lays into her. Thirteen years of longing ruined for a few coins. Gakyeong, who started out insisting she was owed at least 100 won, senses how serious things are and says she wants nothing to do with the independence movement. Better luck next time, she adds.

Soran asks if she isn’t Korean too. Gakyeong answers that by the time she was born, this was already Japan’s land. What has Korea ever done for her? To Gakyeong, her homeland isn’t a country to win back. It’s just a name that left her to starve.

When Philip points a gun at her, Gakyeong does the math first. She has already told everyone she’s the household’s live-in maid, so if she informs on them, she’ll go down too. Soran tells Philip to let her go, and Philip tells her to hand over what she stole first. Gakyeong returns the American passport and admits she meant to put her own photo in it and go to America. Soran tells her flatly that America doesn’t take immigrants. If you don’t believe me, she says, go ask at the consulate.

After Gakyeong leaves, Philip asks who the other assassin was. He wasn’t one of the people from the Provisional Government, the Korean government-in-exile in Shanghai, either. Soran answers. He is Geum Seokjung, her husband, who had been hiding for thirteen years, and the man she wanted to kill if she ever found him.

A Fake Miscarriage, Real Blood

Outside, Gakyeong’s legs give way and she sinks to the ground. Hideo blocks her path. What kind of live-in maid rides first class and speaks English? And why is she leaving without cleaning up a house that’s just been torn apart? She can keep the wallet and the money, he says, but he wants back what was inside it. Gakyeong plays dumb to the end.

Just then Philip comes running, calling for Seohui. Blood is running down Soran’s legs. The three take a taxi to the hospital. In the car, Philip asks in English why Hideo stopped her, and Gakyeong lies her way out again.

At Keijo Imperial University Hospital (Keijo was the Japanese name for Gyeongseong), where Philip takes Soran, there are doctors and nurses who belong to the Gugukdan, an underground independence group. Soran asks them to record that she has miscarried. The blood running down her legs came from a cut she made on her own thigh. The doctor tells Philip, waiting outside with Gakyeong, that Soran has lost the baby. Gakyeong believes it’s her fault. As Soran changes into a hospital gown, her body is covered with scars.

Meanwhile, Sato is reprimanded by the Governor-General. With a League of Nations commission investigating Manchukuo, Korea cannot be seen as unstable. Hideo, being treated for a gunshot wound, thinks of his father pointing a gun at him. It wasn’t the first time. On the day he told Sato his mother had disappeared, Sato pointed a gun at him then too.

An Excuse to Crush the Gugukdan

Fukuda is furious at having lost Geum Seokjung, and he receives a report that Han Cheolyong (Han Cheol-yong), an armed independence fighter, has surfaced. Told that Han belongs to the Gugukdan, Sato remembers the past: the day he learned his wife was connected to the Gugukdan and pointed a gun at her. Without even confirming who the real culprit was, Sato orders that the attack be pinned on the Gugukdan. What he needs isn’t the truth. It’s a pretext for a crackdown.

Soran and Gakyeong: The Beginning of Trust

When Soran and Philip wake up in the hospital, Gakyeong is gone. Philip assumes she isn’t coming back, but she bursts in, out of breath, holding seaweed and beef. She wants to make seaweed soup for Soran, who she believes has just lost a baby.

On the way out of the hospital, Soran offers her 100 won, but Gakyeong takes only what she paid for the seaweed and beef and hands back the rest. Then she says she’s keeping the stolen bag. Cheeky, yes, but she isn’t someone who pockets money in the face of another person’s pain.

Philip says Soran’s life comes first and they should get rid of Gakyeong. Soran refuses, saying the girl seems to have a sense of loyalty. Then she asks something of Philip. We’ll hold the guns, she says. You must never pick one up. Use your pen and your words to tell the world what Japan is doing. Philip, hurt, asks whether even after playing her husband he still isn’t part of “us.” Soran lets go of his hand. She is someone who will kill Sato and disappear, she says.

A 13-Year-Old Pawn Ticket and an Unasked Question

Back in her shack, Gakyeong digs out the pawn ticket that came from Hideo’s wallet. The name “Shin Taejin” (Shin Tae-jin), and the date “Taisho 8.” In the Japanese imperial calendar, that’s 1919, thirteen years ago. Hideo’s words, keep the wallet and the money but give that back, were pointing to this single slip of paper.

Sato assigns Suzuki’s duties to Hideo until a new interpreter is chosen. Handle the foreign press well, he says, and keep a close eye on Philip Yu. Then he adds that he doesn’t trust Chosenjin, a Japanese slur for Koreans.

Hideo asks him in Korean: then you don’t trust me either? Why did you try to shoot me? Why did you point a gun at me on the day Mother left home, too? I fought so hard to be a useful son. What do I have to do to be your son? Hideo breaks down sobbing.

But the scene only plays out in Hideo’s head. The questions never leave his mouth.

Geum Seohui, the Name She Couldn’t Say for Thirteen Years

Back home, Soran cleans in silence. When Philip offers to do it, she refuses, saying she has to keep her body moving to stop thinking. Then she tells him. The name she used to call Gakyeong, Geum Seohui (Geum Seo-hui), was the name of her dead daughter.

After the independence protests of 1919, rumors spread that Japanese troops were burning villages in retaliation. She never thought it would be hers, but the soldiers came. Her husband Geum Seokjung, who had led the protest, was forced to his knees in the middle of the village and ordered to name his comrades. When he refused, the soldiers shot little Seohui dead.

Told his wife would be next, Geum finally gave up the names of three comrades. But the soldiers herded the villagers into a building, set it on fire, and shot anyone who ran out. The place where the villagers burned was the school Geum had built. Soran watched, numb, then clutched her daughter and wailed.

The life of a country woman whose whole world was her husband and daughter ended that day. Hearing that the Gugukdan was in Shanghai, Soran went there and learned to shoot. She showed a rare talent with a gun, but the chance to shoot Sato took thirteen years to come.

And on that night, after thirteen years, Geum Seokjung appeared. In the moment she had to call Gakyeong by any name to hold onto her, the name she hadn’t spoken aloud once in thirteen years came out. Soran, who made seaweed soup in Shanghai every year on her daughter’s birthday, says she doesn’t think she can eat the seaweed soup Gakyeong brought.

“Caught You, Pickpocket”

Hideo visits Philip’s house with a gift and Sato’s condolences. Philip says he kept his word and didn’t publish the story. Hideo asks where Seohui, the maid who worked here, has gone, and Philip claims she quit after last night.

Gakyeong goes to the pawnshop. The owner, who also runs an inn, jokes that he’ll let her stay for free if she marries him and takes everything he has. Gakyeong hands over the bullets and takes the money. Then she asks whether anything pawned thirteen years ago and never claimed is still there. Just then Hideo walks in and asks if he can check on an item pawned long ago. Then he sees Gakyeong beside him. She tries to run, but this time she can’t get away.

“Caught you, pickpocket.”

Were There Women Snipers in Korea’s Independence Movement?

Soran brings to mind Ahn Ok-yun, the sniper Jun Ji-hyun played in the film Assassination (2015). So were there women with guns in the real independence movement?

The best-known figure is Nam Ja-hyeon. After losing her husband in battle with Japanese forces, she crossed into Manchuria, threw herself into the independence movement, and plotted to assassinate Saito Makoto, the Governor-General of Korea, and Muto Nobuyoshi, Japan’s ambassador to Manchukuo. She is often linked to Ahn Ok-yun in Assassination. There’s no record, though, that Nam was a trained sniper like the film’s heroine. Women such as Ji Bok-yeong and O Gwang-sim also received military training in the Korean Liberation Army, founded in 1940.

Nam Ja-hyeon joined the fight after losing her husband; Soran picked up a gun after losing her daughter. Soran isn’t a real person but a character created for the drama, yet she stands on a history in which the independence movement was never a fight for men alone.

Why Do Koreans Eat Seaweed Soup After Giving Birth and on Birthdays?

In English, miyeok and gim are both just “seaweed,” but to Koreans they’re completely different foods. Gim, which many know as nori, is dried into thin sheets for wrapping rice. Miyeok, often sold as wakame, is soaked in water and made into soup. Miyeokguk, seaweed soup, is simmered with beef or seafood, and the longer it cooks, the deeper its flavor. It’s a truly healthy dish.

Korea has a long tradition of serving seaweed soup to women who have just given birth. Koreans also eat it on their birthdays, because the day you were born is the day your mother gave birth to you and ate seaweed soup. A bowl of birthday seaweed soup carries a reminder to think of the mother who brought you into the world. That’s why, for Koreans, miyeokguk is soul food that makes you think of your mother.

That meaning deepens for those far from home. For Soran, who made seaweed soup alone in Shanghai every year on her daughter’s birthday, that bowl was both the daughter she lost and the homeland she left behind. Seaweed soup made in a foreign land calls up a mother, a home, and a country all at once.

In Episode 2, the meanings of this dish collide. Gakyeong buys seaweed thinking of Soran’s body after a miscarriage. But for Soran, seaweed soup is what she made every year on her daughter’s birthday. The first thing this money-minded girl ever buys for someone else touches a memory Soran has kept buried for thirteen years.

If there’s a Korean restaurant near you that serves miyeokguk, try it at least once. You’ll feel the warmth of a healthy meal, and maybe remember the story behind the bowl.

What Is the Pawn Ticket? Shin Taejin and Taisho 8

A pawn ticket is the receipt you get when you leave an item at a pawnshop in exchange for a loan. Pay back the money with interest, and you can reclaim the item. Taisho 8, the date on the ticket, is 1919 in the Japanese imperial calendar. A Japanese era name on a document from colonial Korea fits the period.

Three things about this slip of paper stand out. The name on it is Shin Taejin, not Sato Hideo. The date is thirteen years ago. And Hideo is willing to give up the money but not this ticket. Is Shin Taejin family from Hideo’s days as a Korean boy? Or someone connected to the mother who disappeared? 1919 is also the year Soran lost her daughter.

Nothing can be confirmed yet. What’s clear is that a slip of paper Gakyeong grabbed for money is a door leading into the past Hideo has been hiding.

Why Couldn’t Koreans Go to America in the 1930s? The Immigration Act of 1924

Soran is right. In 1924, Congress passed what was called the Oriental Exclusion Act, shutting out immigrants from Asia, with students as about the only exception. For Gakyeong, who believes she can survive if she just gets out of Korea, the door to the country she wants most had already closed eight years earlier.

Korean immigration to the United States began in 1903 with workers bound for Hawaii’s sugar plantations. Philip, a Korean American from Hawaii, comes from the very community those immigrants built. Gakyeong, whose road to America is blocked, and Philip, who grew up at the end of that road, end up under the same roof. The ban wasn’t lifted until 1952.

Kim Hyun-joo’s Powerhouse Performance as Soran

Koreans have an expression, “charyeok show.” It originally means a strongman act, like breaking bricks with bare hands, but people also use it when an actor pours every ounce of strength into carrying a scene. That’s exactly what Kim Hyun-joo does in Episodes 1 and 2.

Soran is a cold-blooded assassin and a mother who lost her daughter. Kim lets her emotions explode in the massacre scenes, then, back in the present, presses down hard on a single line about not being able to eat the seaweed soup. Even in one remark, that she has to keep moving to stop thinking, you can see the thirteen years Soran has lived through.

In her younger days, Kim Hyun-joo was known as a fresh-faced, beautiful actress. Now she carries long years in the face of a middle-aged woman. Some say they started watching for Kim You-jung and ended up falling for Kim Hyun-joo instead. For me, too, the star of Episodes 1 and 2 was Kim Hyun-joo.

Did the League of Nations Ever Recognize Manchukuo?

In short, no. Japan occupied northeastern China after the Manchurian Incident of 1931 and set up Manchukuo in 1932, but in reality it was a puppet state run by the Japanese army.

The League of Nations concluded that Manchukuo had not been created by a genuine independence movement of the local people, and in 1933 it decided not to recognize it as an independent state. In protest, Japan walked out of the League. The international recognition Sato cared so much about never came.

With that background, the scene where Philip threatens to publish a story looks different. In 1932, as the League was looking closely at Manchuria, a report that a senior Japanese official had nearly been assassinated in colonial Korea would strike directly at the “stability and order” Japan claimed to have brought. That’s why Soran tells Philip to take up a pen instead of a gun. Philip’s pen is as dangerous a weapon as Soran’s gun.

Video: 100 Days of Deception — Character Teaser / Source: tvN DRAMA (YouTube)

Basic Info

Official English title: 100 Days of Deception
Formerly known as: 100 Days of Lies
Korean title: 100일의 거짓말 (Baegirui Geojinmal)
Genre: Period drama, espionage, romance
Setting: Gyeongseong (colonial-era Seoul), 1932
Premiere: October 10, 2026
Directors: Yoo In-shik, Kim Youn-jin
Writer: Ryu Bo-ri
Main cast: Kim You-jung (Lee Ga-kyeong), Park Jin-young (Sato Hideo), Kim Hyun-joo (Yu So-ran), Lee Moo-saeng (Philip Yu), Jin Seon-kyu (Sato Shinichi)
Episode covered: Episode 2
Where to watch: tvN and TVING in South Korea; Netflix in available regions. Availability varies by country.

More from 100 Days of Deception

100 Days of Deception Episode 1 Recap: A Pickpocket, a Bullet, and Colonial Seoul

100 Days of Deception Episode 3 Recap & Analysis: A Very Personal Reason to Become a Spy

Looking for More Korean Dramas?

Doctor X Episode 1 Recap: The Mercenary Surgeon Who Refuses to Run with the Pack

The Scandal: Full Story and Ending Explained

Should You Watch The East Palace? A Korean Viewer’s Take

Mousetrap: What You Need to Know Before You Watch

Illustrated thumbnail for the Korean thriller Mousetrap. — Illustration: Mousetrap / KwaveInsider

Agent Kim Reactivated: What You Need to Know Before You Watch

Looking for More Korean Romance?

Can This Love Be Translated? — Netflix’s Most Charming Romance of 2026

Spooky in Love Review: A Rom-Com Horror Hybrid Made for Summer

We Are All Trying Here — Why the Korean Title Is Much Darker

Advertisements may appear on this page.

Some links in this post may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

100 Days of Deception Episode 1 characters in colonial Seoul, with a woman in a red coat, a man holding a child, and period city scenes.

100 Days of Deception Episode 1 Recap: A Pickpocket, a Bullet, and Colonial Seoul

October 12, 2026October 18, 2026 by KwaveInsider, posted in K-Drama & Film

A stolen bag pulls Gakyeong into Soran’s assassination plot. Here is the Episode 1 story, its final gunshot, and the history behind 1932 colonial Seoul.

Spoiler warning: This post covers the main plot and final scene of Episode 1 of 100 Days of Deception (formerly 100 Days of Lies).

Gyeongseong Station, 1932, under Japanese colonial rule.

A pickpocket in a sharp Western suit, Lee Gakyeong (Lee Ga-kyeong). A woman disguised as a pregnant Chinese traveler, Yu Soran (Yu So-ran). And, greeted by a military band as he steps off the train, Sato Shinichi, the Administrative Superintendent and second most powerful man in the Japanese Government-General of Korea. The three stand on the same platform, each after something completely different. Against a tragic chapter of history, their lives become tangled in a story of survival, love, and revenge.

100 Days of Deception Episode 1 Recap: Those Who Fight for Independence, and Those Who Live Only for Themselves

Three Lives Cross at Gyeongseong Station

Gyeongseong Station is what Seoul Station was called during the colonial era. Dressed in her elegant suit, Gakyeong works the crowd, lifting wallets. Her partner Noma draws people’s attention, and in that moment she makes her move with practiced ease. At the same time, Soran, visibly pregnant, steps off a train from Fengtian, and Philip Yu, the Gyeongseong correspondent for the American news agency WWP, is there to meet her. A Korean American from Hawaii, Philip is known as a reporter friendly to the Government-General.

Sato arrives to a fanfare from the military band. As Administrative Superintendent, he is the No. 2 official in colonial Korea. His interpreter Suzuki and Police Bureau chief Fukuda are waiting for him. Suzuki introduces Philip to Sato, and Philip presents Soran as his Chinese wife from Shanghai. Sato, who speaks Korean, agrees to have dinner with the couple. In the meantime, Gakyeong walks off with Soran’s bag.

Once word gets out that Soran’s bag is missing, the checkpoints tighten, and Gakyeong slips onto a train to avoid them. She takes a first-class compartment tag and attaches it to the stolen bag. There she runs into Sato’s adopted son, Hideo. He is cradling Sato’s daughter Hanako, who cannot walk, as carefully as if she were a little princess. Hideo understands the English Gakyeong mutters to herself and starts a conversation. Even during their brief exchange, Gakyeong picks his pocket, then strolls through the checkpoint. But she has left behind someone who will remember her face and her English.

The Pickpocket Out of Her Suit

Out of the suit, Gakyeong returns to a poor Korean neighborhood in a worn-out hanbok. Three years ago, she stole money from the boss of her pickpocket gang and tried to stow away on a ship, but she was caught and brought back. Ever since, she has paid off her debt at one won a day. Living there is Kkotnim (Kkot-nim), a girl Gakyeong cares for like a younger sister. Kkotnim cannot walk either.

Noma’s parents were killed in the independence protests of the Gimi year, 1919. Gakyeong, though, asks what the independence movement has to do with her. All she cares about is saving enough money to get to America. She learned English from a missionary as a child, and that is also where she picked up her habit of crossing her fingers when she lies. Flashes of being thrown out of her home as a child, and of whispers about her bloodline, pass by, but her story has yet to be told.

Inside the lining of Soran’s bag, Gakyeong finds hidden bullets. Far from worrying about the danger, she is thrilled to have found something worth real money, and she asks a pawnshop what they would fetch. Fifty bullets, twenty won.

Hideo: From Korean Pickpocket to Sato’s Son

At dinner with Sato, Hideo’s past comes out. A graduate of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and Tokyo Imperial University who speaks three languages, he is the kind of elite no one would ever take for Korean. Yet he, too, was once a Korean pickpocket on the streets of Gyeongseong. When he was caught as a boy by Sato, then a low-ranking police officer, he didn’t beg for his life. Sato shot another Korean boy dead and took Hideo home to raise as his own.

When Sato asks whether he remembers that day, Hideo says he doesn’t. But that is not the kind of day a person forgets.

An Assassination Thirteen Years in the Making

Philip and Soran enter an English-style mansion. In public, Philip spoke to Soran in casual, familiar speech, playing the husband, but once they are alone, he switches to formal, respectful speech. Their marriage is a cover.

In a hidden room inside a clinic, the two receive guns and bullets from an independence fighter named Han Cheolyong (Han Cheol-yong). Unexpectedly, Sato’s interpreter Suzuki is there too. He is a mole planted inside the Government-General by the Gugukdan, an underground independence organization.

The plan is to shoot Sato at the dinner Philip has arranged. An American husband, a Chinese wife, a fake pregnancy: every layer of Soran’s disguise is meant to cut any link between her and the Gugukdan once it’s done. Soran has no intention of coming back alive. In 1919, she lost her daughter and her fellow villagers when Sato massacred civilians in Gyeam-ri, and she has waited thirteen years for this day.

Philip and Soran first met three years earlier in Shanghai, when Philip sought out the Gugukdan to deliver independence funds raised by Koreans in Hawaii. Philip dreams of living with Soran in their house, Huiwon (Hui-won), whose name means “garden of joy.” Soran, instead, asks him to have a hanbok made for her, and to dress her in it and cremate her when she dies.

Sixty Won for the Bullets, and an American Passport

That night, armed soldiers search every corner of the house before Sato walks in. But Hideo has come with him, wearing a gun. He was never part of the plan. At the table, Sato watches closely, even the way Soran counts on her fingers. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese people each count on their fingers differently, so for a woman posing as Chinese, a single word or gesture could give her away.

As the tension holds, Gakyeong shows up at the house. She wants Soran to buy back the stolen bullets for sixty won, three times the pawnshop price. She knows Sato is inside, but she has no interest in what Soran plans to do with the bullets. When Soran hands her part of the money and tells her to wait, Gakyeong, left alone in a room, goes through it, steals an American passport, and tries to slip away.

“Assassination,” and a Gunshot

On her way out, Gakyeong comes face to face with Hideo at the door. He recognizes the pickpocket from the station at once and asks for his wallet back. She bluffs her way past him by pretending to be a maid in the house, only to bump into a delivery man bringing a cake Sato ordered.

The delivery man turns out to be an assassin. A gun is hidden under the cake box. When Sato, who had been talking privately with Philip, leaves to use the bathroom, the delivery man has his chance to shoot. But he freezes when he sees a photograph of Soran in the house.

In the dining room, Philip, Suzuki, and Soran, pistol in hand, wait for Sato to come back. Meanwhile, the delivery man threatens Gakyeong into leading him to the bathroom where Sato went. But the man inside is Hideo. Gakyeong whispers a single English word: “Assassination.” A gunshot rings out, and the episode ends without showing who shot whom.

What Was the Gimi Independence Movement? The Most Important Event in Korean History

Gimi is the traditional Korean name for the year 1919. On March 1 of that year, protesters across Korea, which had been under Japanese colonial rule since 1910, took to the streets shouting for independence. It was a nonviolent, nationwide uprising in which Koreans from every walk of life rose up together, and Japan crushed it brutally. One contemporary tally records more than 7,500 deaths, though casualty figures vary by source.

After the March 1st Movement, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was founded in Shanghai, and South Korea’s constitution today states that the nation carries on the legacy of that government, born of the March 1st Movement. To Gakyeong, independence is a distant idea. To Noma, it is the event that took his parents.

Was the Gyeam-ri Massacre Real? The Jeam-ri Massacre

Gyeam-ri, where Soran lost her daughter, appears to be the drama’s renamed version of the real Jeam-ri Massacre. On April 15, 1919, Japanese troops gathered villagers in Jeam-ri, Gyeonggi Province (part of today’s Hwaseong), inside a church, opened fire, and set the building ablaze. Twenty-three people were killed in Jeam-ri, and six more in the neighboring village of Goju-ri. It shows how savagely Japan retaliated against the March 1st Movement.

Soran’s daughter and Sato are, of course, fictional. But when Soran says she has waited thirteen years, it tells us that for her, time stopped on that day. For Sato, it is long past. For Soran, the day she lost her daughter has never ended.

What Was Happening in Korea and Japan in 1932?

100 Days of Deception is set in 1932. Japan had seized Manchuria after the Manchurian Incident of 1931, and in 1932 it created Manchukuo, an independent state in name only and a puppet run by Japan in reality. The United States took the position that it would not recognize territorial changes made by force.

With that international tension in mind, it becomes clear why Sato treats Philip, a correspondent for an American news agency, with such care. Even a regime that crushed Koreans had to weigh foreign citizenship and world opinion. Philip’s American nationality and Soran’s Chinese disguise are a clever way to slip through exactly that gap.

What Is the Gugukdan? Was It a Real Independence Group?

After losing their country to Japan, Koreans formed countless independence organizations. In the drama, Soran and Philip belong to one called the Gugukdan. There was a real Anti-Japanese National Salvation Corps (Hangil Gugukdan), formed in Pyongyang in 1919, but there’s no way to tell whether the drama’s Gugukdan is based directly on it.

Another group, the Korean Patriotic Organization, was founded in Shanghai in 1931. It is best known for the 1932 attacks carried out by Lee Bong-chang and Yun Bong-gil, the same year the drama is set. For groups like these, the people and money that connected Koreans at home and abroad were a lifeline. Philip, arriving in Shanghai with funds from Koreans in Hawaii, is exactly that kind of person.

Films set in the same era include Assassination (2015) and The Age of Shadows (2016). Both capture the tension of never knowing who’s on your side, and people who stake their lives on a single operation. They pair well with 100 Days of Deception.

What Was Gyeongseong Station Like? The Line from Fengtian to Korea

Fengtian, where Soran’s journey began, is today’s Shenyang in China. You can’t take a train from Seoul to Shenyang now, but back then Korea’s railways connected to the rail network of Manchuria. The Gyeongseong Station in the drama is the old red-brick station building completed in 1925, which survives today as Culture Station Seoul 284.

Still, this grand station can’t be seen only as a symbol of modernization. The railway was a tool Japan used to rule Korea and to move troops onto the Chinese mainland.

Even so, the image of boarding a train in Seoul and heading out across the continent stirs something in me. Whether through reunification or some other way of opening the road, I hope that one day I can travel by train from Korea through Central Asia, all the way to Europe and Britain. Not on a line built for colonial rule, but on a road anyone can travel freely.

How Much Would 60 Won Be Worth Today?

The price Gakyeong demands from Soran for the bullets is 60 won. According to one study, converting colonial-era food prices into today’s money means multiplying one won by 50,000 to 60,000. By that measure, 60 won is roughly 3 to 3.6 million won today.

Measured against how people lived then, it looks even larger. A Korean laborer earned about 58 jeon a day on average (100 jeon made one won), so 60 won meant more than 100 days of work. It happens to line up with the 100 days in the title.

For Gakyeong, it means even more. Sixty won is the equivalent of sixty daily payments to her gang boss—roughly two months of payments. Perhaps those 60 won were her ticket out.

The Villain of Episode 1, Lee Gakyeong: Can a Heroine Who Only Sees Money Change?

In Korea, the word “villain” is used a little differently than in English. It doesn’t always mean a bad guy. Koreans also call an annoying, unlikable character a villain. In that sense, Gakyeong is a textbook villain.

In Episode 1, Gakyeong is a villain whose greed throws everything into chaos. Soran sat down at that table ready to shoot the man who killed her daughter and to die herself. Gakyeong barges right into the middle of it, haggles over the price of bullets, and steals a passport.

Sooner or later, the reasons she had no other choice will come out. What I’m hoping for isn’t for Gakyeong to become a good person. I want to see what she has to witness, and what price she has to pay, before she finally takes other people’s struggles as her own.

Can she break through this wall of dislike and become a heroine worth rooting for? The final gunshot sounds like a warning that Gakyeong has stepped into a place where grabbing the money and slipping away is no longer an option.

Video: 100 Days of Deception — Character Teaser / Source: tvN DRAMA (YouTube)

Basic Info

Official English title: 100 Days of Deception
Formerly known as: 100 Days of Lies
Korean title: 100일의 거짓말 (Baegirui Geojinmal)
Genre: Period drama, espionage, romance
Setting: Gyeongseong (colonial-era Seoul), 1932
Premiere: October 10, 2026
Directors: Yoo In-shik, Kim Youn-jin
Writer: Ryu Bo-ri
Main cast: Kim You-jung (Lee Ga-kyeong), Park Jin-young (Sato Hideo), Kim Hyun-joo (Yu So-ran), Lee Moo-saeng (Philip Yu), Jin Seon-kyu (Sato Shinichi)
Episode covered: Episode 1
Where to watch: tvN and TVING in South Korea; Netflix in available regions. Availability varies by country.