Bridal Mask E5

Now that I had time to process what happened, I can honestly say the unexpected turn of events is going to shake up more than the characters involved. It was sort of like rattling the cage of a starving lion and getting it on its feet ready to pounce and go for the kill. What will ensue once that lion gets free is anyone’s guess, but I guarantee the death count will go up.

Oh man – what happened tonight is going to unleash a flood of tears tm night. UGGHHHHH. Brace yourselves.

Thanks to Semi-fly for torrents and Sparkskey for all her research into this drama. we are so lucky to have you here. 🙂

Written before it aired: This might be the first time in a drama where I am still not feeling the chemistry between the two leads. Maybe all that beating and suffering she suffered played a hand in it, but Dan really hates Kangto right now so I don’t see how and when this love story is going to progress. Once she learns he is the boy she had been waiting for all these years, then things could change possibly, but I still find that highly unlikely. She seems to have a major chip on her shoulder about him and what he did to her dad. what I am more curious about is that since he actually shot her this time, how is he going to react the next time an attempt is made on his life. Pretty sure Dan and her group won’t stop till they get the job done.

I read some reviews about JW’s acting on the soompi page about how viewers are complaining that JW screams and scowls too much. Considering what this character is going through, isnt it only natural that he does that. Not too sound too JW biased, but if any other actor played this role, wouldn’t he have to yell out Gaksital in the same way? It’s not like he can call out his name in a whisper. I’m pretty sure no matter who played this role, criticism is likely to follow so I hope JW takes it all in with a grain of salt.

Once K becomes Gaksital, does anyone else wonder what the writers are going to fill up the rest of the episodes with? 24 eps seems like a lot for a story like this. Is he just going to go on adventures becoming the nation’s hero? I haven’t had the time yet, but has anyone read the manhwa? What happens to Gaksital in the end? Cuz if he dies or something, I think I’d rather know now so I don’t get too attached to the character.

I think this is the first time he smiled like this on this drama so I got carried away with the screencaps. There are more, but I held back and wont post all of them cuz that would just make me look super fanatic. Not that it was a big secret anyway. Plus once he becomes Gaksital, he will be wearing that mask often so there will be a lot less to screencap.

Joo Won as Lee Kang-to (K)

Jin Sae-yeon as Mok Dan (D)

Park Ki-woong as Kimura Shunji (S)

Han Chae-ah as Chae Hong-joo (a gisaeng. Japanese identity: Ueno Rie). (H)

Shin Hyun Jun  as Lee Kang-san, Kang-to’s older brother who is the original Gaksital. (KS)

Yoon Bong – kil as Abe Shinji (the chubby guy with the hat that is with K all the time)

Jeon No Min as Dam Sa Ri (D’s dad and leader of the independence movement )

Kimura Taro (the actor who played the president on city hunter- dont know his real name. he has two sons kenji and shunji)

Kimura Kenji (that scowling guy with the mustache who is out to kill K. Kenji is Taro’s son and S’s brother)

Kono Goji (the old actor from Moon who played minister yoon and B’s dad. Goji can also be spelled as Koji. On the show he is referred to as Konno but there are way too many K names as it is.)

Leader Jo – head of the circus (I give up memorizing any more circus characters – too many names to remember as it is)

Seonhwa (Dan’s circus friend)

Baek Geon is Lee Sun’s (k’s dad’s) subordinate

Katsuyama Jun is H’s bodyguard – the guy with the long hair tied back (what kind of spy has her own bodyguard-this drama is trying to kill me by adding on more characters each episode)

The Ki group that the 5 men belong to is called the Kishokai (I cant remember how to spell this during live recaps to save my life)

the other Kishokai members besides Taro are:

UH– Ueno Hideki – the leader of this group and the man H calls “father” cuz he adopted her

Lee Si Young is a Count with the wife who cheats on him. his son is friends with K.  *This is the actor from Rooftop prince who played Taemu’s dad. now he is on Big as Daran’s dad (thank god he toned down his acting on Big). he is also on two other dramas. does this actor never rest? I really hope Gaksital kills off Lee next cuz I am at my wits end with this character. I hate every scene he comes out on. he is worse than the screeching guy from Warrior Baek Dong Soo with the fake hand who wouldnt die. Every time Lee overacts and screams, it makes my skin crawl. If this drama is anything like City Hunter, then Gaksital needs to kill off each of these bad characters one by one and I am really praying Lee is the next one to go for my sanity’s sake. )

Woo BJ -hospital director and doctor

Park IS Newspaper owner

Jo YG-in charge of banking

E5

Starts from K running through the streets looking for the one who tried to kill him. It shows how seonhwa prevented him from shooting D. then Kenji climbs up the stairs and watches from a building nearby as other circus people try to kill K.

That spy girl from the circus came and reported to kenji that K is in danger. it’s urgent. they are trying to kill him.  so Kenji came to the site and stood and watched alone from inside a building and said please (kill K). lots of people try to kill K and he fights them off. when a masked guy fails to kill K, D jumps in the air and tries to stab K. K shoots her. the circus people flee the scene. Kenji gets his gun ready and takes a deep breath. K turns Dan over and sees it’s her. kenji tries to shoot K and misses. before he can try again, Gaksital prevents kenji from making anymore attempts to shoot K. K shoots in kenji’s direction, but he didn’t see kenji. kenji tries again but Gaksital shoots something at his forehead. kenji tries to shoot Gaksital but Gaksital jumps away to safety

Then K carries D to the main street and puts her in a cab.

K yells at the driver to hurry. He remembers as a kid telling Boon to stay alive and he will be sure to find her. K says to her in his head: did I shoot you? Boon you cant die. don’t die. don’t die Boon. he tells the driver to hurry and go faster.

K carries her into the hospital and tells the doctor that she is a korean patient. she got shot in the chest. the doctor walks away so K calls out : look here doctor. he puts her down and says to him: didnt you hear me. The doctor says this hospital is for Japanese patients and he cant treat her cuz she is Korean so K pulls out his gun and aims at the doctor saying: I am officer LKT. I will take responsibility so treat her right now. The guy says we can make exceptions with the head director’s permission. K asks where he is

Lee is throwing a fit on his bed face down. The head director doctor is with him and tells him not to worry too much. Lee’s wife tells her husband you only bled when you pooped.  the doctor says Lee was stressed about the country too much and couldnt digest well so this happened. she says thank goodness it’s not an illness that will kill you. she tells him to hurry and get well so he can attend some event. Lee goes on and on about the current state of affairs so the doctor says how someone is coming to catch Gaksital. (think he means H) Lee says dont just talk about someone coming but get someone to kill Gaksital. there is a knock and K walks in before he is announced. K bows and says how a patient who has been shot has been turned down for treatment cuz she is korean. doctor asks what is this. K says that girl needs to be saved to catch Gaksital. the girl that guy saved many times was shot. Lee says what are you doing director. he said he could catch Gaksital. K says it’s urgent.

while waiting on D to get surgery, K calls Abe and says look into all circus people – specifically those who performed this morning in seodaemun area. Abe asks why look into that suddenly so K says they tried to kill me. since they were tumbling with weapons, they arent your usual performers. Abe asks if he wasnt hurt. K says after you find out anything come to this hospital (and gives the name)

K asks the director how the surgery went. The director says I got the bullet out myself (he says how the bullet was close to the heart or something) K eagerly asks : did it end well. is there no more danger to her life? (K wants to be sure she is totally out of danger) Since K seems genuinely concerned,  K covers up by saying  I am sorry. it’s cuz the only way to capture Gaksital is that girl. The doctor says since i saved that girl, you better catch him for certain. when I think about what he put me through, he wasnt just mocking me but the Japanese rule. K says I am sorry. I will catch him and pay him back for what he did to you director. K bows at the waist.

The director calls kenji and says K seemed overly concerned about that girl even if he says he needs her as bait to catch Gaksital. How it bothers him so he called kenji. kenji says you are saying he was overly concerned about a girl who tried to kill him. director says even though Goji said it wasnt true that K and Gaksital are on the same side, what kenji said still bothers him. kenji says they are on the same side otherwise how could Gaksital still be out there. he remembers how Gaksital prevented him from killing K. kenji tells the director to keep an eye on the girl and K and let him know if anything suspicious happens.

his lackey comes in and asks if that spy girl talked but the guy says she keeps saying the same thing. that she came cuz of K.

Kenji had the girl who reported about the attempt to kill K beaten and interrogated. kenji says i trusted your words and went there and almost died. how did Gaksital know to come there and interrupt me. she says she doesnt know. she only knew that D planned with others to kill K so if she informed the police she thought she could earn some money. He asks if that was the only reason and she nods yes. he asks her to be his spy/informant. I am the chief’s son and higher rank that K. she nods yes. he bribes her to report about the circus actions -especially D. everything about them so she promises to tell him everything he wants to know

The circus is trying to practice like nothing is going on. they hear the leader talking about how he has to shut down the circus cuz it’s not safe anymore and it’s only a matter of time till K finds them since they tried to kill K.  the woman worries about D –what will happen to D. the other guy says didnt you see her get shot. the woman says so are you not going to care if she lives or dies and only try to save ourselves. leader says he will take responsibility for D so dont worry.  leader tells them to keep an eye out on the papers and look at it. when things settle down, if it seems safe, he will put an ad in the paper. then we can gather again, but for now. …he was going to say break up the circus and leave but Kenji’s spy girl comes over and says  you cant do that. there are lots of circuses around here so how would K know it’s us. if we shut down K will suspect us first. Seonhwa agrees. the woman says that’s true- it will make us look guilty like we actually did it.

K watches D and looks at her knife. He looks sad remembering. Boon came back to him in a cave and gave him back his knife and fainted. Then later he told her no matter what happens to stay alive and don’t die. he says in his head “Boon please please wake up – how you lived all this time and how you ended up involved with Gaksital, I have so much to hear from you”

S is building something and remembers how K said -the girl I have to kill – for the sake of catching  gaksital-the girl i have to catch for bait, what if she was your first love. what if it’s the girl you liked -what would you do. I would still kill her. if I can just catch Gaksital, I can tear her apart and distribute her all over the land. S pounts on the hammer over the nail out of anger. Seonhwa runs over and says help me. She says how D was shot by K. S runs out of the school and rides off on his bike

The spy girl watches that and smiles

D wakes up and sees that she is handcuffed to the bed. She looks at the IV drip on her arm. She remembers being shot by K. K unlocks the door and comes in and smiles at her. he comes over to her bedside and asks – are you alert? can you hear me. Do you know who I am. It’s me. (he almost tells her his real identity – that he is the young master but he stops himself)  K: Thank goodness (you are ok) thank goodness. She asks where is this place. He says the name of the hospital. he starts to say the head director treated her himself but she cuts him off and asks what about the others -the the performers. He says so you were with the circus. which one? Tell me. Is Gaksital involved too. She says no you got it wrong. K: tell me everything and I will save you. (as in spare her life) all those others too with you who tried to kill me – I will save all of you. she says I dont know – you think i would tell you even if you spared me. He asks : look – look at me carefully – don’t you know who I am. (he wants her to recognize him from their childhood)  She says I do know you. she insults him and says how he is the one who is exploiting his own people, working for the other side.

K yells and kicks a chair over. He grabs her shirt. S comes in and sees that and punches him

S gives K a handkerchief to wipe the blood from K’s lips. S and K sit on a bench outside and talk. S says even though you said all that about what you would do to her if you could only capture Gaksital, I kept saying he wouldnt do that. there is no way- he wouldnt. i trusted you. K:what are you talking about? S: dont act like you dont know. you knew and shot her. you knew the girl you shot was Esther and still shot her.  I know too how much you want to catch Gaksital, but she is Esther. You knew how i felt about her so how could you shoot her. did you really mean to kill her? K realizes the girl in the closet was D. so K says: so …back then… the girl in the closet…S says: yes. it bothered me that i deceived you, but I had no other choice. it was to save Esther. K stands up so S does too

S: I am your friend now and will be your friend in the future too but I cant stand by and watch you kill Esther. I am asking you as a favor. K is stunned to discover Esther is Dan

H’s bodyguard Jun reports how K is in charge of Gaksital’s case and Konno Goji ordered K to do that. She says I have to get rid of Konna and K is under his orders. she wants to know about K’s family, friends, girl, and what’s in his head -find out everything about those 4. He says ok and leaves

Flashback

This was when H was younger and still followed Korean traditions. H goes to a gathering wearing a white hanbok. the guard says how dare you come here like that. H says today is her (korean) father’s memorial so I told you I couldnt entertain any guests today. the guard says “but still – how could you” but she continues that today is the day her father was killed unjustly. since i already gave you the reason why I couldnt accept any guests today, but you ignored that so I had no choice but to attend like this. (The old man the one she now calls father-UH) UH’s guard gets mad and says how dare a gisaeng gripe about a memorial. he is about to hurt H but her aide begs for H’s life. the woman says how H was born a noble, after H’s father died and her household went into financial ruin from being robbed,  H came at the age of 9 on her own two feet to become a gisaeng. UH tells H to accept a cup from him. H cries and says it would be better if you slit my neck instead. (meaning cut her down). The guard goes to kill her but a young K jumped in and saved her from death by fighting the guard. K ends up with the sword to his neck , but UH stopped the guard from killing K. H looks over at K out of gratitude.

H repeats K’s name and says is this what they call fate

K washes his face and remembers seeing D in the closet again. He says : then – back then – Boon was Esther. Boon? Boon is Esther? How -how can Boon be Esther

Abe comes running over and says he looked into all the circus. and there is no paperwork for who performed that day. K is headed towards D’s room and doesn’t pay attention to him. When K goes in the room D is gone. K asks where she went. Abe says S took her for some air. K asks what? where?

He runs outside and sees S taking his jacket off for her to use as a lap blanket. she smiles up at S. K watches and closes his eyes.

K waits by her room and S wheels her back in. she doesn’t look at K. K walks by and slaps the guard for letting D out cuz she is in custody. the guard says I am sorry.  S goes over and says to K: I asked him. K lists all the rules S broke. S says sorry. K tells him not to come to see her again. K prohibits her from having any visitors from here on.  K orders the guard to take her into the room. She says no and asks S to help her. S helps carry her back inside

H goes to Lee’s home.

Lee’s wife shows the son a suit she got for him to wear to the event and asks him to try it on. He asks if it was for him and not his dad. she says his dad has a lot of clothes in the closet. The son makes a backward insult at her and she calls him son in a condescending way since they are stepson and stepmom. she doesnt like him calling her “Baek Ja wife” since her name is on the family registry as his mom. he says he thought she liked being called that. she tells him to try on the suit. The secretary brings H in and introduces H as the singer Taro recommended. the son seems smitten with H’s looks. H thanks Lee’s wife for letting her have the chance to sing at the club. His wife gets mad at the secretary for letting H in cuz H is just someone who sings and dances. the son pretends to be angry at the secretary too but winks at H. H says sorry and that she only came to drop off the “thank you present” from Taro and says I hope you like it. she left a jewelry box. The son plays with it and opens it. it’s a sapphire broach.  Lee’s wife says put taro on the line

Lee’s wife speaks to Taro. he says I told you you would like H. She compliments H’s style and strong eyes. he says where H studied and that Lee’s wife wont regret keeping her close by her.  she says she will say H is a congratulations present from Taro and he will like H a lot. (not sure who she is giving H to as a present) Taro says he will meet her at the event

Kenji makes a chart of all the people – K and Gak and D and tries to come up with a connection. he wonders if K and Gaksital are on the same side, maybe Gaksital is K’s hyung. No way not that fool

His spy comes and reports that seonhwa went to see S and then right after S went to the hospital. She says S and D defintely know each other.

Seonhwa introduces S to the circus people. She says how S is different from other Japanese cuz he is friends with D. and that S is her younger brother’s teacher. but they say S is friends with K. woman says how can we just trust him. Seonhwa says D trusts S too. S says to her – it’s ok- how could they just trust me. leader Jo asks why S came here cuz you could have just told Seonhwa how D was doing. S says cuz I have something to tell you. I don’t want all of you, D, or K to get hurt. since K now knows that D is my friend, he wont behave that way like in the past. but if you go after K again or try to help D escape, someone will get severly hurt. So please I am asking as a favor. he bows so seonhwa says you dont need to go that. Jo says I didnt know K had a friend like you.  S thanks him

Kenji waits for his brother to arrive. He gets out of his car and goes inside the gate. He asks what relationship S has with D. S: how did you know. kenji: answer me. S: don’t be mistaken. S explains how he met D at the hospital when the nanny was sick and then met D again by coincidence again a few days ago. that’s all.  Kejnji says K and Gaksital. Gaksital and MokDan. Mokdan and K. he said I was stuck there but now I solved it. S:what are you talking about. kenji: the one who saved that girl and the one who saved K. the one who loves korea like his body. The one who made a fool of hundred of police’s skill. I have been trying so hard all this time enduring so much. S asks what he is talking about. Kenji: you think that guy (K) is better than me.(he is referring to S’s friendship with K) Kenji holds a gun to S’s head. S says-no way- you think I am Gaksital. Kenji says prove that you aren’t him.  They start to fight. S has him pinned and is about to punch him but kenji’s lackey shows up. the guy says taro is looking for kenji. Kenji says to get the men ready cuz we are going to catch gaksital tonight. They drive off and leave S there

KS remembers how kenji tried to kill K. he jumps out in front of kenji’s car.  S hears shooting when he goes inside the house. Gaksital fights off the lackey and attacks kenji. Just as he is about to hit K, S calls out hyung. KS looks back at S. S goes after Gaksital but Gaksital runs off.  (Even though S called out hyung to mean kenji, KS is used to hearing that from S so that is why KS turned around cuz it sounded familiar)

S asks his brother are you ok. Kenji yells.

Taro looks at kenji’s injuries and looks mad at him. then Taro tells him to go to Jo’s bank right now. taro says something will be revealed so people will ask for their money back

After taro leaves kenji looks at his chart of names. He seems to realize something (he is back to the idea that Gaksital is K’s hyung) his lackey says you should go but kenji says you  go

The club people are listening to the radio. Lee’s son explains it’s a moratorium. the people cant get any of the money they put in the banks. They realize what was in the papers yesterday didn’t come true – cuz the papers said they could get a lot of interest if they make deposits. the woman says it’s better to trust a girl who cheats – how could you trust the papers. eps that paper. the others ask if that article in the paper was a total lie. another says it was a lie.  the owner lost money so he cries about his lost money.

H shows up at the club and says sort of bows to them

The 5 gather and meet. Jo the banker brings over the money. They divide the money they got from the Korean people into 5 shares.

Korean people outside the bank complain about the money they lost. They chant: Give back my money

Police arrive and start to beat the crowd.

Taro speaks to Jo on the phone. Taro says he heard from the director what Jo was going to do with his money. Taro says he will pass on the message.

Jo tells his secretary to take good care of those crates of money. after the car pulls away, Gaksital jumps down in front of the car. he beats up the driver and the sec runs off. (Gaksital now has the crates of money)

An old woman takes those crates in. KS wore a suit and hat as he dropped it off at her home

Taro opens what he thinks are the money crates but it has rotten fruit inside. he gets furious.

K remembers how D smiled at S and gets jealous.

D takes her IV out and tries to leave but the doors are locked. She tries the windows. She gets it open but she is in pain so she falls back. K runs in when he hears a crash cuz she broke her IV drip container. He asks what she is doing and sees she was trying to leave. he says you did it again. She tries walk over to pick up the broken glass on the ground so he hold onto her arm and says be still. D: Remove your hand. Don’t lay a hand on my body. He says don’t you see the glass on the floor. You will get hurt. She pulls her arm away and says what difference does it make to you if I get hurt or not. K: why doesnt it matter to me.  if you get hurt  – I cant catch Gaksital. (he said that last part looking away cuz that’s not his real reason why it matters to him that she doesnt get hurt)

He picks her up and puts her back in bed cuz she doesnt listen to him. she says let me go.  K: Do you want to die. you better not act childish again. He is about to handcuff her but sees the bruise on her wrist so he doesn’t. he orders the guard to get the doctor and get a new IV drip and someone to clean the broken glass and lock up the window and put a guard on the ground. K sits in the room with her. She stares at him so he uses a newspaper to cover her view.

Abe comes running in and says what gaksital did (about stealing the money crates). he orders Abe not to let anyone in to see D and to guard her. K runs off

Gaksital is going around throwing money into people’s home. The ones who lost their money.

Gaksital sits on the roof and takes his mask off. KS puts the mask into his shirt

KS jumps down from the roof and startles his mom. he was holding his Gaksital clothes and stuff and drops his mask. She says was it you KS? I thought you were a robber. how can you jump down from there. what if you break your leg. Are you ok? Are you not hurt anywhere. He smiles and shakes his head no. she picks up the mask and realizes who he is. he looks over at her and doesn’t pretend anymore.

Kenji and his men are headed to their home. The mom hears them coming and quickly hides the mask and clothes under her skirt. The officers surround them and aim their guns at them. Kenji says KS hid it well. He takes out his gun and says you werent crazy. you pretended to be crazy. you are Gaksital aren’t you? the hyung is Gaksital. his younger brother is an officer with the Japanese. it fits perfectly. His mom says what is this nonsense. You took my normal son. who is the one took my great son away and turned him into a fool. now are you determined to accuse him of being Gaksital to kill him? Kenji says fine I will make it so everything gets solved. he aims his gun to her head so KS takes a step forward. She turns to KS and says: dont fear. dont be afraid.  I am so proud of you at this moment. she shakes her head no as in “don’t do anything.” In his head KS says “mother”. kenji says KS is cold – are you going to let your mother die? until I count to 3 admit it. he counts to 3. She turns and says to kenji go ahead and shoot. She taunts him by stepping forward towards kenji grabbing his gun so he shoots her in the chest. partially by accident. Kenji is startled that he killed her. KS starts to cry and walks over to her slowly. He holds her in his arms. She touches his face. He starts to hit his face and yell. Kenji watches and thinks he had the wrong guy. his lackey comes over and says Gaksital stole Jo’s money just now. Kenji: Gaksital did that? the guy says Taro wants Kenji to go there now. Kenji leaves with his men. KS says mother. She says yes my son – my baby. He cries and says mother. She says “take care of Kangto – your younger brother well” and dies. He yells out.

end

preview:

Baek sees the officers leaving K’s home and KS tells him – that’s the guy who killed my mother. KS tries to go after kenji but Baek holds him back

K says “he put his life on the line 3 times to save you.”

D says : he might be someone i know. what if he is young master (I think she thinks KS is K)

K goes home and sees his dead mother and screams

H says gaksital cant be a hero to the koreans anymore

Lee asks if they caught gaksital -did Gaksital die

Baek helps an injured Gaksital walk

someone says I will tell you everything from start to finish

K asks the other officers : did anyone see who killed my mother. tell me!

S fights gaksital.

This is the beginning of the end of this friendship isn’t it. Already K is becoming jealous of S. Now S said he wouldnt stand by and watch K try to kill D. And in that preview, S is fighting Gaksital. Not even sure who is behind that mask when S fights him cuz it could have been K and not KS. Either way, I really hope S is not the one who ends up killing Gaksital, K’s older brother.

Before this drama began, when I heard H was supposed to be the spy that kills K, I sort of hated her from that description alone. But no one mentioned how kind she is. Now that we get this back story about how K saved her life once, I feel pretty confident she won’t harm K. The more she comes out, I end up sort of rooting for her. Since she came to kill Konno Goji, I hope that doesn’t mean K has to try to kill her. If that other love story with D doesn’t pan out, maybe this is not such a bad second option. The second she harms K though, I am jumping back on that other ship for D and K.

SPOILER ALERT – DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW POSSIBLE ENDING OF THIS DRAMA:

Sparkskey was kind enough to do research for us and translated this from DC

Drama Gaksital is a mashup of the Manhwa-ga’s previous works – Gaksital and Swetongso (Iron bamboo flute). Swetongso was serialized for a while in an adult magazine beofore it ended.

Manhwa Gaksital’s ending ‘Kim Young’ becomes Gaksital following the footsteps of his hyung and come into conflict with Kimura who chases after him. In the end, Kimura dies because of Gaksital, Japanese empire collapses after the America drops nuclear bombs on them. The main character leaves with the woman he loves.

Manhwa Swetongso’s ending The main character is “Lee Kangto’.He is an orphan without parents and siblings, an inspector at Jongno Police Station. His best friend is called Uehara. Uehara = Swetongso Uehara opposes the Japanese imperailist system, a Japanese youth who stands up against his own country.

Also, he and Lee Kangto both fall for the same girl but he hides it from Kangto. Kangto kills Swetongso, then he realizes it is Uehara and wept in grief. Then he takes on the Swetongso identity. He singlehandedly killed the people at Jongno Police Station and set it on fire. He is conflicted by the oath he took to swear alligence to the Japanese and leaves his lover. He roams around Korea and there are various episodes on that, finally he saves a Japanese soldier in danger. Because that soldier looks like Uehara. As he runs away with that soldier he gets shot. That shot was fired by the Japanese soldier he saved Lee Kangto faces death with unexpected courage probably because he had killed many Japanese too. He feels remorse for the deaths he had caused and accepted his death calmly. Then just like in Gaksital, Japan got bombed and everyone forgot about Swetongso.

One sad, one happy ending. Basically this drama can go anywhere.