Rotten Mango - #316: Elite Korean Matchmaking Service For Ultra Wealthy Ends With Marriage, Incest, and Murder

Episode Date: November 29, 2023

Madame Ddu makes money off of love. For every match (marriage) she creates between ultra wealthy families - she gets paid $100k as a matchmaking fee. Madame Ddu united two powerful families through the marriage of their children, and she expected to be compensated for it. When the groom’s side refused to pay their share of her matchmaking fees - Madam Ddu was willing to play dirty to get them to break up. She would anonymously plant seeds within the wealthy families accusing the spouses of cheating. Mother-in-laws started believing incest was taking place. Private investigators were hired. In the end - one would die, and the others would be in jail for murder. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bramble. Better being butterboom. Madam Doe makes money off of love. I mean, technically speaking, marriages are known to be one of the most expensive promises that you can make. Even just the wedding itself, you have so many people that can potentially make a profit. You've got wedding dress designers, florists, venue owners. But if Madam Doe is invited to your wedding, you can expect to pay her $100,000 USD. Who's Madam Doe is invited to your wedding. You can expect to pay her $100,000 USD.

Who's Madam Doe? She is one of the best matchmakers in South Korea. And you really can't put a price on love, can you? Matchmaking services aren't as common here in the US. Like we have dating apps, but you don't necessarily have a company that you go to and you sit down and you say, hey, I'm trying to get married, this is the person I want. But in South Korea, it's a pretty normal thing. There's a whole system built around it.

Even matchmaking companies have their own niche, some focus on the mass middle market, some focus only on the upper class, some only ever take on the upper elites of society. A lot of parents will bring in pictures of their children and just beg the matchmakers to find someone suitable for them to marry. If they take on a new client, matchmakers will run extensive background checks, family background checks.

So not only do you have to have a clean background, but every single person in your family has to have a clean background. It matters not only what university you graduated from, but it also matters where your great grandpa graduated from. Family pedigree is everything in this business. Once they run that preliminary background check, status verification, everyone gets matched into their respective tier within the matchmaking company.

So generally, just across the board for all genders, family background, family net worth, education levels, these three are gonna be the biggest things that the matchmakers take into consideration that's gonna be the basis of their ranking, their tier system. Then there are other things. Are your parents still married? Are they divorced? Do you own property, do you own a car?

What zip code do you live in? For guys, they're judged more based on earning potential. For women, they're judged a bit less on earning potential and a bit more on figure and appearance. And side note, this is kind of crazy, but some matchmaking companies in Kung Nam, so the Beverly Hills of South Korea, they will even partner with plastic surgery clinics.

They will recommend to clients to get specific surgeries done in order to appeal to the opposite gender. They're like, you who want a husband in your same tier or maybe the tier above you, you're going to need to work on this. If you go to the top matchmaking companies in Gangnam, at the very, very, very top tier, you're going to find conglomerate kids. These are the Chebart kids. Top level elites.

Their parents, net worths are likely in the hundreds of millions if not even closer to the billion dollar mark. Even if you join that same matchmaking company that has Tebar Kids at the top, chances are you're never going to meet with them. This is like the sacred group, the unattainables. So those people use matchmaking too? Some do. I guess it's hard to find love nowadays. I guess only it's like 20 companies that they're like swapping between, so I don't know why they would need matchmakers. This, I mean, few and far between, but the rank right below it, this is top tier status.

This is the academic line. You've got judges, attorneys, prosecutors. Interestingly enough, in Korea, their ranked higher than doctors. Judges, law. Then the third rank consists of doctors, surgeons, psychiatrists, maybe a dentist here or there. There's even a joke that the best kind of sun and law for anybody is a job title that ends with Sa. Pansa, judge. ESA, doctor, Pianosa, lawyer, 검사, prosecutor.

Sa's are the most coveted positions for grooms. Then you have- The intro last name to Sa. No, you're- Stephanie Sa. And then you have rank four. Professors are those with positions high up in administration at the IVs of South Korea.

It's like very specific. These are very specific jobs. I mean, I feel like in America, we wouldn't have this ranking system, and if we did, they would not be ranked four. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like how they are so precise. Like, it's like you know exactly where you fall in society.

It's not even about what are you contributing, like, what's your passion, like it's just like you got this job, you are right here. And it's a lot of the jobs are based on prestige, not even earning level because you'll see that entrepreneurs and business owners rank probably lower. But most of them might make more money than let's say someone who works in admin at a nivelique school. so fascinating. Yeah, it's interesting. Then you have rank five diplomats, government employees, but they must be engaged in foreign affairs.

Just regular government employees don't matter. Foreign affairs. Yeah. Rank six. Now these are the technical jobs. I feel like these are the jobs that we kind of covet in the Western world. Coaters, consultants, investment bankers. Then you start heading into what they consider the general population. The rank below

that would be just across the board, anyone who graduated from a university abroad. Now it's very, very interesting, but it's highly sought after in South Korea because it typically indicates two things. When you study abroad, you're not allowed to work at the same time. So that means your family has enough money to not only send you abroad to a private school, pay out of country tuition fees, which are insane, and support your lifestyle while you're in a foreign country. That's a lot of money. And then the second thing is you probably know a second, or potentially even a third language. Then you have the regular office workers, but they must work for one of the big companies in Korea.

Samsung Hyundai SK. It's like anyone here working for Meta Apple Google. Like it's the trifecta, right? Then lastly, the very last year, you've got entrepreneurs, teachers, government employees that get pension, but don't really. They're not the best. Entrepreneurs at the bottom of the, Yes. No freaking way.

Business owners are at the bottom. Oh my God, that's so weird. Most match-breaking companies in Gangnam won't even take anyone below and I say, quote, below this tier. Wait, what's in that tier again? Entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs, government employees and teachers.

Wow. Yeah. that's crazy. One of the more exclusive ones in Gangnam called Best Class, they said, you know, we try to be honest in our approach to matchmaking. If the ability to hunt animals was what made you sought after Bachelor in the Stone Ages, it's economic capabilities that give you the competitive edge today. This agency in particular does not really take men under this status level. Some matchmakers won't even take you unless you have the three keys.

A key to a house, a key to a car, and a key to an office. Some matchmakers make it five, add another vacation home, and a second card to the list. Yeah. Most matchmaking services won't even take foreigners because they said it is impossible to verify the family pedigree and asset ownership if they're not from Korea. They need to verify everything.

This is the foundation of their business, making sure that nobody gets lied to. So once you're placed in a tier within the company, now you finally get to tell the matchmakers what you're looking for in a partner. Personality. Looks. Hobbies. Side note, an interesting thing is matchmaker said, Now you finally get to tell the matchmakers what you're looking for in a partner. Personality, looks, hobbies. Side note, an interesting thing is, matchmaker said a lot of us have degrees in psychology, because you need to be very quick on your feet and understand social cues, because men will sit there and ramble about how they want their wife to be ABC and D, and it all just equals to young and hot.

Woman will ramble, and it all just equals to wealthy, earning potential Woman will ramble, and it all just equals to wealthy earning potential. So you gotta decode it very quickly. So they said that they'll look at all the other clients within the same tier as you to figure out who's the best fit and a matchmaker from Korea said, you know, a lot of people think that joining a matchmaking service is the easiest way to marry rich.

But it almost never happens. You almost always get introduced to someone within your tier. So they're saying you you join this business so you can one day marry a rich man. But likely they're just marrying within their class. Yeah. It's a little bit easier for women to have upward mobility and marriage, but it's very dependent on looks then. And it's a very superficial and I don't think most women want that. And interestingly enough, more men are registered in these services than women. In matchmaking?

In matchmaking. So it said that a lot of wealthy men actually think it's a lot cheaper, more economical in the end, to just go straight to a matchmaker and pay them $100,000 when they're ready to get married. So they've messed around. They've done all that they wanted to do, and now it's time to get serious. Another thing that might play into this,

and I'm giving you guys so much cultural background on this one, I'm so sorry, right? And this doesn't apply to every single person in South Korea, you know, we should never generalize, but in Korea, typically the business world does value figureheads, and I'm sure it's the same in America. When we have presidential races, look at how much they thrust their partner into the spotlight.

A lot of Korean businessmen, it's advantageous for them to have stable marriages that the public can look upon and say, see, he's not evil. He's a family man. So they're like, okay, now I need to get serious because it'll benefit my career and everything else I need to find a wife ASAP. Why waste time trying to naturally bump into someone, go on a bajillion dates that's gonna cost me money, only to find out our values don't add up,

they're not ready to get married, they lied to me, it doesn't make sense. So this is just honestly the cheaper way. Also, this seems to be a thing in wealthier communities, but marriage is about love, yes, okay? But it is also about two families being united through a relationship, not just between two spouses. It's about two families coming together and how both sides can stand to benefit and solidify

their social status through marriage. One matchmaker said, it's not enough for two people to fall in love with each other. It's possible to meet people who match your style and preference, but meeting expectations is something else. What kind of house you're going to live in after marriage? How much income is expected or all realistic details that need to be met before the match? And this is a bit unhinged, but at one point it was not uncommon for parents to come on the dates with their kids. Yeah.

So the fee obviously varies, but for the elites of society, they're looking at around anywhere between $100,000 and upwards if the matchmaking gets all the way to the altar. Mrs. Moon did not mind the fee at all. Honestly, she welcomed it. She went out there and she looked for the best matchmaker in the town, and Mrs. Moon's husband was the founder and owner of a flower factory. This flower factory had now turned into a big distribution company for flower and bread, like gluten and co. They also owned some small hotels and clubs on the side.

The Moon's there as new money as new money gets. She could throw cash around like it was nothing. But her daughter, her daughter marrying someone with a bit more prestige, it would be the perfect way to solidify their status, not as new money, but as a forced to be reckoned with as a classy family. She wanted a saagroom for her daughter. Remember, Judge lawyer, Dr. Prosecutor? Now Madam Dew told her she had the perfect person in mind.

Okay, like a list of people. She whipped out a long list of soon-to-be judges that were clients of hers and told her she had the perfect person in mind. Okay, like a list of people. She whipped out a long list of soon-to-be judges that were clients of hers and told her, it's your pick. I mean, I can't tell you that these men will want to marry your daughter, but hey, we can set them up on some dates. Mrs. Moon was instantly intrigued by 27 year old

by the name of Kim Hyun. We're just gonna call him Hyun. Soon-to-be judge never married no children. He was perfect for her daughter. And I guess everyone agreed, because they were gonna get married. And the fees were very straightforward. $22,000 from each side. The groom will pay the matchmaking company.

The bride will pay the matchmaking company, $22K. So total of $44,000. Now in South Korea, there's something called bride money. This is very, very traditional. In Korea, some wealthier families participate in this tradition, where the bride's family will give the groom's family straight up cash. For someone at the moon family level,

it would be a little over half a million dollars. What? So 10% of that would be around $55,000, plus the $44,000. That's almost $100,000 that Madame Doe is about to make. So, 10% of that bright money goes to the matchmaking. Yes. Wow.

Mrs. Moon had no problem paying. She practically skipped to Madame Doe with a stack of cash. She got exactly what she wanted and she was fine paying market value for it. But Hyun, the soon to be judge after he marries the moon daughter, he's thinking I know the law better than any of these people do. And technically legally speaking, I don't have to pay Madame Doe $22,000. I never entered in a contractual business with her. So I should be fine. What's done is done. We're already married. What is

she going to do for us to get a divorce? She can't do that. This guy had no idea what Madame Doe was capable of. She would do absolutely everything in her power to ruin this marriage. There will be a string of anonymous phone calls, a torture room where people are hung by their limbs so they develop heart problems, accusations of incest, cheating, stalking, private investigators, a milkman that gets hypnotized, and it all ends with a family member dead and another in jail for murder.

Wow. We would like to thank today sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support the national network to end domestic violence. They're a nonprofit dedicated to creating social, political, and economic environments in which partner-related workplace and stalking violence no longer exist.

This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mingos' growing team of dedicated researchers, translators, while they can focus on shedding light from stories from all over the world. We would also like to thank you guys for your continued support as we work on our mission to be worthy advocates for these causes. And by the way, speaking of, we are working on growing our RM team and are currently hiring for full-time in-person researchers who are already based in Atlanta or must be willing to relocate to Atlanta,

Georgia. If you guys are interested, you can apply through the Google form that's going to be linked in the description. As always, Fulshonot's are available at rantamingopodcast.com. This is a Korean case. We had our wonderful Korean researchers and translators who worked really hard to get all the data for this case. They did give me a very ominous warning though that there are parties involved that are wealthy, well connected and very lawsuit happy. An attorney associated with this case has already been sued and the only reason that he did

not face major repercussions was because he changed some of the names associated with the case, which, you know, that's what we're going to do. It's a little bit different in South Korea because you technically can sue someone even if they're telling the truth, but just as a precaution to keep us and our researchers safe, we will also be changing some of the names. And with that being said, with all foreign, or really any case, if there's anything lost in communication, translation, or something we didn't cover, let us know in the comments so that we can see it.

And with that being said, let's get started. She just had a gut feeling that he was cheating. I mean, she could sense it. This was even before she got all those anonymous phone calls. The phone calls that were saying things along the lines of, you know, he wasn't really at a business meeting. Who is this? Why do you think that he's been working out more? I'm sorry, is this a prank?

Don't tell me he told you that he was working late again. She just kept getting these anonymous phone calls back to back to back, and at first she thought it was a weird prank, but the more that she was looking at him, the more that she could see it. He was a lying little cheater. She starts doing some questionable things. At first it was a bit more innocent.

She would try to look over her shoulder anytime he was looking on his phone. She would try to call him at odd hours of the day to ask him where he was, what he's doing, trying to catch him in a lie. But none of it is working. It got to the point where she became almost obsessed with the idea of catching him cheating. It's almost like she wanted him to cheat so that she wouldn't feel like she was losing her mind. She put a piece of thread just outside the front door handle. So if he snuck out and came back in, she would be able to tell that the thread would have

fallen off. But there was no way that she could bring that up as proof that he was cheating. She would just sound like a crazy woman. The piece of thread, I put the piece of thread there and now it's gone. So then she started sprinkling a light layer of sand in front of the door. That way if he stepped out, she would see his footprint in the sand. Wait, she's thinking the husband leaves in the middle of the night, so you really snuck out? Yeah. Wow.

What? But even if she could match up his shoe with the print, it was an evidence that he was cheating. He could say that he's getting fresh hair. So when that didn't work, she installed a secret camera outside their front door, watched for all movements, logged into his work email on her phone so that she could check in real time when he was working and responding to emails. She even hired a worker at the courthouse to stalk him once he became a judge.

But it still wasn't the evidence that she was looking for, she was getting nothing out of this. So she starts upping the sticks, she would dress up in these long pink rubber gloves, colorful floral print flowy pants and a sweater paired with a visor, a disguise. Her new identity was a woman working at the market selling fish. Another favorite disguise of hers was a grey monk robe. She would put on these unhinged disguises lurking around the corner, hiding behind walls, hiding her face behind a basket of raw fish just stalking the man. She felt like eventually he would be caught.

One time she even flew out of the country to stalk him. He was on vacation with a woman, her daughter. But Mrs. Moon did not want her daughter to live out the same fate as she did. She was certain her son-in-law was cheating on her daughter. She was married to a serial cheater, just like Mrs. Moon was. She knew what that life was like.

So the daughter's mother is stalking the son-in-law the whole time. Imagine we're happy, we're doing great, and my mom is stalking the son-in-law the whole time imagine we're happy We're doing great and my mom is stalking you convinced you're cheating on me Right, okay even stalking us on vacation showing up and hiding around in Ajima clothes lurking around the corner and I have no clue I have no clue either Okay, well none of us have a clue what's going on? Mrs. Moon was married to a successful business owner, and she caught him cheating in the

act several times and yet there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't leave him. One time she was driving her car, stopped at a red light, looked to the side, there's Mr. Moon happily smiling in the car with another woman. She slammed her foot down, rammed her car into his, and even after all of this, Mr. Moon still chose to keep seeing his mistress, even fathered a child with one of them. Mrs. Moon didn't want her daughter to go through the same things that she had experienced, so she watched her son-in-law like a hawk.

During one family gathering, he stepped aside to take a phone call, and he's speaking softly into the phone. I mean, he wasn't saying anything crazy or a roller anything like that It was just a very normal conversation and right after hanging up He turns around and boom his mother-in-law is standing inches away from him Who's that? Oh my cousin your cousin

Yeah, my cousin And there it was. The evidence that Mrs. Moon needed. Not only was Hyun, her son-in-law cheating on her precious daughter, but the honorable judge was sleeping with his own cousin. That was the conclusion she came to. That's all. And it would end in murder.

It came to us all. And it would end in murder. We have a county, 911. Hey, I'm on highway 255 and I'm going to a female in the grant. And I don't know if she's unconscious, but the real blood all over the grant, okay? It could have been a border crosser, which is a very common occurrence in that part of the county. But as a patrolman looked further into it, we knew that we weren't dealing with it. You know what this means?

We may have a serial killer on our hands. Welcome back to Gone South. I'm Jed Lapinski, and this is season three, the sign cutter. Turn around, please Sign Cutter. Listen and follow Gone South, an Odyssey original, available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. I just got this feeling that maybe he was the one. He was the one that what? That had been murdering. People think being a private investigator is a thrilling glamorous job, and we're often

then not. If you go on like Reddit and you look at private investigator AMAs, I'm so intrigued by it. They say it's pretty boring, it's pretty mundane. Most of your day is sitting in the car drinking coffee, looking at a house and nothing is happening, or just watching someone sitting in the parking lot for eight hours while they're in work and then having to follow them out. You're almost waiting for them to do something horrendous, but they almost never do. And this was probably one of the most boring jobs that these

private investigators had taken on. If the crazy lady did not pay so much, they probably wouldn't have even bothered to do this gig. First of all, why are they stalking a law student from the prestigious Ivy League University, Elha Women's College? Second of all, all the girl does is study sleep, study sleep, studying is boring, stalking someone who only studies all day is mind-numbingly boring, and not only that she's so morally upstanding, there's nothing to even dig into. They did background checks, nothing.

They did everything they tried to talk to friends, nothing. Most aspiring attorneys that make it to a school like this, they want to join one of the top big law firms because there you can stand to make millions a year as long as you play your cards right. Or maybe you want to start your own law firm one day. Again, a very lucrative business. This girl, she wanted to be a public defender.

The most unglamorous, one of the least financially rewarding career paths, one of the most emotionally mentally physically exhausting career paths for someone who spent the best years of their youth trying to pass the bar. So in Korea, it's very difficult to become an attorney. I don't want to say it's more difficult than the US because I don't have exact figures, but I don't know if it's the population pool. I don't know what it is,

but the bar exam to become an attorney is next level. The competition is insane. There are instances where in the entire nation, only 55 people pass the bar exam. And I mean, these people are smart people. It's not like they're less intelligent than Western counterparts. They're insane. It takes on average five years for people to pass, sometimes even 10 and you're talking

about people that could do some crazy stuff in their heads. The person that they're stalking is going through all of this, just to become a public defender because her core belief is that before the law, everyone should be equal. It doesn't make sense to the private investigators why someone would pay so much money to have multiple private investigators stalk her of all people. It's not like she's a public defender already working on a very controversial case. And all because of what? A phone call? The private investigators were like, you know, that's weird because cousins talk all the time. I mean, it made sense why these two would talk

even more because she had the girl that they're stalking. She's trying to pass the bar. Hyun, the son-in-law, he's already passed the bar and is a judge. Why wouldn't she call him nonstop to get advice? Or just to talk about some of the stress she's having, that seemed very reasonable. What kind of person hears two cousins talking on the phone, having an innocent conversation and immediately jumps to the conclusion that they're sleeping with each other? And it's clear Mrs. Moon really believed it.

She, on top of what she was paying the investigators, she bought $20,000 worth of spy gear, as she called it, gave it out to the PIs to use binoculars, spy cams. One of them said, we had about four cars lying in wait 24 hours around the clock undercover binoculars, hidden cameras, all of it, to stalk a student that did nothing but go to the library. Imagine having four black sedans lined up just, like they're stalking the president or something. Just a college student. One of them said, I felt bad for the girl, honestly.

The most exciting thing in her day was going to the bakery to buy some bread, and then she would immediately go back to studying. I never once saw her even take a sip of alcohol somewhere, never saw her meet up with any guys. It was honestly frustrating stalking her. All we did was tell her from the library to her house to her school and that was it. She didn't even have fun ever. Wow and the girl has no idea. No idea. The PIs

would be eating kimp up in their car rice rolls rubbing their shoulders because they're like sitting in that position 13 hours a day and they're phone wondering and they said that it was Mrs. Moon again and they would have to hold the phone six inches away from their ear because of how much Mrs. Moon loved to scream. She would scream things like, are you sure they still haven't met? There's no way. Are you sure you're even doing your job well? We're absolutely positive.

We have like six eyeballs on this girl. She has not left the house all day and nobody has come to see her. How do you know that she didn't slip away while you were using the restroom? Did you use the restroom today? Then that's a chance that she could have slept away. She stopped letting them use the restroom while they were watching Tee He. Mrs. Moon had a group of P.I.s watching the cousin Tee He. And another group watching her son-in-law Hyun. But when she still hadn't caught them in the act after months and months of this, months of pouring in probably over six figures. She hired another group. Their job was not to watch the cousin or to watch Hyun, but to watch the original PIs to make sure the PIs were doing

their job. She hired private investigators to watch the private investigators to make sure that the original private investigators were doing their job and watching the subjects. Wow, that is out of this world. She also hired police officers to help her stock Hyun's cousin. She made them access both of their phone records because the private investigators couldn't do it. But the police could. She wanted phone records to see if they were secretly communicating somehow texting. They kept all their phone records and it was all clean, but she refused to believe it. Trust me, I know how sneaky they are.

If you go to the basement floor of that girl's dorm building, I bet you there's some sort of tunnel. She's literally thinks that there's a tunnel. This is not me like, yeah, she's probably gone through the tunnel to meet with my son-in-law because she's a whore. If the private investigators or the officers didn't believe her, she would just hire more people

to quote, figure out the truth. Over this span of two years, she had 25 people stalking a college student. She would try and motivate them by saying things like $400,000. $400,000. That's how much you'll make if you can get me a picture of both of them sleeping together. Release a picture of them entering a hotel together. See, I don't get it. What is she trying to do? No one knows because it's okay.

Let's say she gets that photo. Is she going to force a divorce? Is she going to, what is she going to do? There are she gonna, what is she gonna do? There are a few speculations. So the first speculation that came about was that she wanted the bridal money back, now that she assumes that he's cheating. And this would be- But she's spending $400,000. Exactly, that's why most people don't believe in that theory

because she's spending money like it's water. She has no value of money. She doesn't care for money like that. Yeah. So I don't think that's it. A lot of people think that it's the psychology of a parent warning their child of something because it happened to them so much and then they wanted to happen to the kid almost. So they could be like, see? Mommy was right. Only

mommy could have warned you. Okay. It's almost like you tell a kid, don't talk to strangers because strangers are creepy, but maybe your kid doesn't listen to you and your kid is like, you're just paranoid and crazy, mom. So it's just a simple, like, I was right moment. I told you so moment. It feels like she's trying to confirm this idea that she has of men and marriage and the world,

and then also make her daughter see that. Yeah, because this is a behavior she's not trying to keep the daughter and son together. No. But at the same time, I don't know if she wants them to divorce, right? Yeah. It's just really bizarre.

Yeah. She just wants someone to experience what she experienced is a big idea that people have. Because it's not maternal. Whatever she's doing is not in protection of her daughter. Maybe her daughter didn't believe her that her husband is cheating, but it's just odd. So the PIs, they would roll their eyes and continue working and they said, in hindsight,

this was a really bad joke to make. But they would say things like, look, this lady is so crazy, someone's got to die for her to finally give up. They had no idea that that would come true. Chihei and her family knew that something was wrong, long before she disappeared. Chi-he came home one day and told her parents, I feel like there's this creepy man watching me, like stalking me. She said that she kept looking over her shoulder, walking back home from the library, and he

was constantly there, so she did something very smart. She tried taking four left turns just to see if he was still there, because what is four left turns, it's a circle, and he he was still there walking in a circle with her. So she said she walks straight up to the guy and asked, are you following me? He looked taken aback, he didn't respond, he just kind of, and then scurried off. It is so strange. Ever since that incident, being the methodical person that she is, she's trying to be an attorney, she starts jotting down notes of every single creepy person that even glances her way, because

she doesn't know who this could be, why they would watch her. And then the phone calls started. It was almost always the same. Chia's parents would pick up and someone on the other line would ask, is Chia studying at home? Who's this? Why are you looking for my daughter? Are you the one following her? The line would go dead. The creepy thing about this was they said at first the voice sounded like a man's voice, but the longer that they listened, the more it sounded like a woman pretending to sound like a man to hide their identity. Even Chia's friends started getting these bizarre phone calls.

It was usually around midnight. Hi, I was just wondering if you have Chia's new phone number. Uh, who is this? I'm a close family friend of Chia's. It's just weird. They never explained how they even got the friends number and not Chia's number and why they were calling so late. And if you're a family friend,

call a family member of Chia. Why are you calling me? When the friends weren't cooperative because of how creepy it was, the person would get frustrated and hang up. For the longest time, the family would practically jump out of their skin every time their phone rang, but this time it was their nephew. Hyun! So she has cousin, the son-in-law, the judge.

Hey, on, um, did you recently go on a trip to Japan with Tia? Yeah, how did you know? We were just there for a short, like a few days. So we forgot to tell people about it. I don't remember telling you or your parents. Yeah, look, I just wanted to say that you should be careful. I think my mother-in-law is watching you. I think she put a tail on you. I think she suspects there's something going on with me

in Tia for whatever reason. So the speculation is that no one in the family knew that Chiya and her mom had gone to Japan. The mother and law probably assumed everybody knew and let it slip. The son and law was starting to suspect his mother and law and was like, huh, let me just confirm. And once he confirmed it, he's like, okay,

something weird is happening. Chiya's family, they couldn't even begin to comprehend what the hell this means. Like, what do you mean you think your mother and lot thinks there's something going on between you and your cousin? Like, what a bizarre out of this world unhinged assumption to make. Yeah, it's so unhinged. Cheers dad got involved and he told his nephew, look, this is your mother and law. We have no idea why she would even think this

way, but you are the only one that can fix it. Just tell her straight up, you're not sleeping with your cousin, and that is absurd, and honestly, you shouldn't even need to be telling or something like this. Hyun refuses. And this becomes a huge point of contention. Why would he refuse to deny an alleged affair with his own cousin? Because he was the second to be sold by his parents, that's how people see it. Hyun's older brother was a doctor, and Ui's ha, so another's ha.

When he got married, the bride's family gifted them a big lump sum of cash, and now it was Hyun's turn. Honestly, this marriage was more of a business transaction than anything. There were negotiations with potential bride families about how much the bridal money would be, and it seemed like the moons had the best offer, $500,000 for his hand in marriage by a soon-to-be judge. Even she as dad didn't agree with what

Hyun's parents were doing, but he's an adult, and they can't fight his battles for him, right? Hyun was really good at studying, but it seemed like he had no opinion, no direction, no control over his own life. One of his ex-girlfriends probably knew better than anybody else, but they fell in love in college. She gets introduced to Keon's parents, and they immediately reject the relationship. They told him straight up, we don't like her, break up with her. And like a robot, he broke up with her. He just did whatever his parents wanted him to do.

So when they wanted him to marry Mrs. Moon's daughter, he just did whatever his parents wanted him to do. So when they wanted him to marry Mrs. Moon's daughter, he just did as he was told. He was going to marry her, but he also wouldn't be a present or loyal husband. He would just be there on paper. It seemed like he just didn't really care if his mother-in-law thought he was cheating or not, even if it was with his cousin. He's like, whatever. There is a popular theory that Hyun was having an affair, but not with his cousin, because it said that he was caught on the phone with someone and at his in-laws house. Remember?

But it wasn't he he was talking to. So now, in order to conceal his potential affair, he's just not even talking about he had to his mother-in-law. But if he is actually having that here, what did they found out already by all these private investigators? See, that's also another thing that people are saying, like why would he not say anything? How would they not find out?

Yeah. But it's just, I think people are trying to understand why he wouldn't say anything. What is saying, yes, but I must, yeah, I think there's a level of what you're saying, but he probably don't care. Like it doesn't impact him as much, it impacts the cousin. And I think it's such a weird conversation to be asked.

That's what I was about to say. I wonder if maybe the mother-in-law was accusing him of having enough air with another woman. Maybe he would have addressed it. But if there is an adjima out there, accusing you of sleeping with your cousin, you almost like don't even want to address it, perhaps. Maybe she didn't even accuse him.

She's just doing all that in the back end. And he just has to. And he's not showing it. And it's a lot of discomfort to bring it out into the open, even though everyone knows what's going on. Some people thought it was weird though, that he did not confess to it. So regardless, he hunted nothing, and Chihe and her parents were frustrated. But I do think that they were honestly a bit relieved. Maybe they felt a bit more at ease knowing

that it was just a crazy mother-in-law situation instead of, I don't know, human traffickers, organ traffickers, right? Even just knowing who had set up the PIs to watch her, it seemed to bring the family a tiny inkling of, okay, this is still very scary, very odd, but at least we know kind of what we're dealing with. They were still very vigilant though. They got a restraining order against Mrs. Moon, their cousin's mother-in-law, and side note, Mrs. Moon tried to tell the judge that it was against her right to happiness and her right to equality if the court approved this restraining order.

They did not listen. They approved it. It's such an audacious thing to argue, but worse court approved this restraining order. They did not listen. They approved it. It's such an audacious thing to argue, but worse than that, she is dad remembers while they were all in front of the judge. Mrs. Moon turned to look at Chia and she just had this evil, pure evil smile. It was the kind of smile that he said was insinuating. You really think that this is going to stop me? Think again. Chia's parents tried to get Chia to change up her schedule. You really think that this is going to stop me? Think again. She has parents try to get she had to change up her schedule. You know, don't fall into a routine.

Don't be so predictable. But she liked her routine. She spent years crafting this routine to make sure that she could maximize every single waking second of her day and to be the most productive human being alive. At 6am, she would quietly as possible, close the front door behind her,

while it's still dark outside, and she never brings her phone or her wallet, she just runs to the local swimming pool, indoor swimming pool. Swimming was kind of a necessary evil that she fell in love with. Prior to her daily morning swims, she would wake up, sit on her desk, study all day, lay down, go to sleep, repeat the next day, and after a few years, her back pain had gotten so bad she couldn't even focus on studying. They said the best therapy and treatment for back and waist pain from sitting is swimming.

So that's why she chose swimming out of all sports, so that she could strengthen her back so that she could study harder. And as for why she left the house, even before the sun came up, it was just the most optimal time in her schedule. It was what she did every single morning like clockwork until she vanished

The hunt for missing Chih-heist started a few hours after she had vanished her parents wasted no time They rushed to the pool. They started asking employees. Have you seen our daughter Chih-he? And they said no she didn't come in today, which we thought was odd because she comes in every day like clockwork But actually now that you bring it up There was something odd a few days ago. Someone called us asking specifically for Chieha, which we thought was weird, and now you're saying that she's missing. Because that's very odd, who calls an establishment to ask about a patron, not even an owner or an employee, a random guest. They rushed back

to the apartment complex and asked the security guard there if they had seen Chieha since she left for the pool, and they said, no, I haven't. But a few days ago, something strange did happen and we didn't mention it because we didn't think it was a big deal. But someone came asking, a monk came asking about Chih-he, specifically asking to see what time she went to school and came back. Even asking if she was home right now. Do you remember what else they looked like? No, just a monk. Chih-hez parents rushed to the police. They told them everything. The stalking, the mother, and not the accusations of incest, the monk. They said, please, you have to believe me. My daughter is not the type of person to run away. You have to listen to me. The police

did not. They told them she's an adult. She probably got burnt out from school. You're probably putting way too much pressure on her to be an attorney. So maybe, I mean, we've seen cases like this all the time, you know the work pressure in South Korea the starting pressure It's too cutthroat kid snap students break nothing new here. Just wait a few days most of the time they come back She is dad did not have the patience to wait He started passing out flyers in the neighborhood getting everyone in town involved He has the building manager of the apartment to give him the CCTV footage from that day. This was the first big break in the case. He saw Chihe walk out of the apartment out of view for her morning swim session and behind

her, you can make out the shadows of two men following her. This should be enough to show the police that she's being stalked, right? They didn't initially believe him with the CCTV footage. He said he had to convince the police officers to do their jobs. He said, do you know what it feels like to go buy chicken and beer for police officers that don't want to do their jobs? And you have to put a smile on your face and give them food and try to encourage them to work and care about your

daughter. She is dad, did most of the work for them. He asked around if anyone had seen Chihya or the figures in the footage and the milkman, the milk delivery man, he's standing there staring at the poster and he's like, whoa, this is weird. The dad's like, do you remember seeing her? No, not her, but you know, there was this suspicious looking van that was parked in front of your side of the building for a few days before she went missing. No, not her, but you know, there was this suspicious looking van that was parked in front

of your side of the building for a few days before she went missing. And then you're telling me that she went missing like that day. I haven't seen that van since. This can't be a coincidence, right? She has parents brought the milkman into the police station as proof. And you know, look, we're not going crazy. Clearly weird things are happening, suspicious things. And the police said, can you tell us about anyone that was in the van

or the license plate? No. So their way of investigating the case further was to hypnotize the milkman. They didn't really get much helpful information out of this. The milkman just told them that he saw two men, one was skinny and one had pimples.

That was it. A little over a week after she has disappearance, her family got a call. Her body had been found in the mountains, about 13 miles away from where she lived. Her body had been placed in a large garbage bag, her hands and feet were tied with string and her face had been taped up with duct tape. One of our arms was broken in three places and she had been shot in the head six times. Four from the front of her face, two to the back, all close range, so within about four

to eight inches, execution style. This was all over the news. In South Korea, it's incredibly rare to have homicide victims that die of gunshot wounds because in Korea, per 100 people, point two people own guns. That's almost zero. That's almost nobody. Regular uniform police officers don't even have guns. You have to be a detective or high up on the police ladder. In America to give you perspective per 100 people 120 own guns. So I'm assuming that stating that the people who do own guns own multiple guns.

Immediately this case gets everyone's attention for that reason because of how rare gunshot wounds are. But it's quickly explained that she had passed from an airsoft gun instead of a traditional firearm. So airsoft guns, these are guns that use air pressure only to shoot out pellets, so instead of gun patterns, air pressure. They're way less dangerous than a regular gun, so think somewhere on the line of BB guns, pellet guns, airsoft guns. They're less dangerous, but that close, they can still be very fatal.

It's suggested that Chia was shot up close, so they wanted to make sure that the gun worked and actually killed her. Now this was going to be pretty easy for the police to find out who did it. It's hard to get airsoft guns even on the black market in South Korea. If you have an airsoft gun, you have a license. It's for hunting purposes only. It's like a library in Korea. You go to the police station and you have to check in your own gun.

And they keep it and then you come in during hunting season and you can take it out for the day, but you have to bring it back in when you're done. And they check it back in. So when she as parents went to ID her at the morgue, they said, we're gonna get this person. We're gonna track down this gun and we're gonna track down who did this to their daughter. And they said that one of her eyes had fluttered open when she was in the morgue.

They felt it, it was a sign that she was telling them, I can't rest until you get me justice. She has dad remembers leaning in and closing both of her eyes in whispering, close your eyes and rest. Leave the rest up to me and I will make sure that you receive justice to my very last breath. It was a very hard promise to make. The perpetrators fled to Vietnam and then to China. It took

Interpol. She has dad cooperation with international police officers, even local Korean communities in these countries to track down the perpetrators. She has dad kept getting calls every day telling him how someone had just spotted the killers eating breakfast at a restaurant. Another caller said, you know, these suspicious Korean men that resembled the missing persons posters that you're showing us, because like I said, it was very easy for the police to track down who owned the airsoft gun that killed Chia. So, they have the identity of these two men, but they're nowhere to be found. They're going to all these different countries asking around, and it was just frustrating

to constantly hear that they were just out of reach by the time that authorities or Chias dad himself would show up. They were gone. So they're all over the place like different countries running. Yeah, so even though there were 25 PIs working on it, only two of them would be persons of interest in suspects because they were the two that actually killed her. The other ones, they weren't necessarily guilty. All they did was be I did this. Well, they're not private investigators. They're just like shady people. They're hired hitmen basically. It took a full year for the perpetrators to get arrested a full year. Once those two hitmen of sorts were arrested, they quickly gave up Mrs. Moon. They're

like, hey, we have no interest in killing this random college student. We clearly did it because we were getting paid by this woman. Mrs. Moon hired one of the best attorneys in town. And Mrs. Moon was very cocky. She looked the detectives in the eye and basically said, so what? I hired some PIs to stalk her. Is that illegal? And I think so. If you think it is fine, arrest me for that, but nothing else. I didn't kill her. You have no proof. And I'll have you know that my husband is a very influential person. Once I get out, we will remember this forever. To who? To the detectives. Oh, shit. Now, this is where it gets really strange. Mrs. Moon's legal strategy was unhinged.

At first, when people found out who she hired, she has dad, along with the community, was very concerned that they would never get the justice that they wanted. These were top tier rankings at matchmaking companies. This is the level of professionals were talking about top tier big law firm attorneys. In the whole nation, they had power, they had connections, they were willing to play dirty, they had resources. She has dad was so convinced that the attorneys, because in Korea, they're saying that money buys freedom, you know, I'm sure it exists in the US and everywhere in this world, the more money you have, the easier it might be to evade the justice system, evade consequences.

So she is dad, he said that he started practicing. He wanted to prepare himself for the sentence to be read out as non-guilty and that she would get no time. So he would stand on the furthest side of his living room, grab pens and chopsticks, fling them at the wall 12 feet away. And he was trying to fling it so hard it would penetrate deeply enough into the wall that if it were a human brain it would kill the person. He thought the attorneys are going to get her that not guilty verdict. So I'm going to kill her on the spot with a ballpoint pen through the eye. He didn't care if he had to go to jail for the rest of his life to do it. This is what he had to do. But every day in court, he started rethinking

his strategy. It was just odd. Mrs. Moon was putting on a scene. She was yelling at her attorneys in front of everyone. She was yelling at the judge presiding over the case. She was provoking the prosecutors, pissing them off, hurling insults at them, which she, that is in lawyer world, you don't do that. Even if you think the prosecutors are dumb, you are the defense, you do not make it known that you think they're dumb.

That's not gonna help you get a plea deal. That's not gonna help you get less time. She's just that cocky. Yes, she would speak out of turn in the courtroom, which is a big no-no. She would smirk and say things like, you're honor. That guy over there, he's writing novels, fiction, stories, it's lies. She was sitting there smirking the whole time. It felt like watching a bad movie of like a super villain trope.

Lawyers who were fascinated by the case commented that they had no idea what was going on in that courtroom. It was puzzling. Like top attorneys would drop the ball this hard. You had to wonder if there was an ulterior motive. Mrs. Moon's attorneys would put her up on the stand and ask her questions about the crime and her quote, not involvement, but they would ask her questions that would get her riled up.

It's like they were poking the bear. She would have these big emotional outburst in court, which just made her look unhinged, unhinged enough to kill her family member. I have a question. Yes. At the beginning of the story, you mentioned that the husband tried to save 22k. Yes. And this is how this whole case evolved.

I, yes. So basically, Madame Dew had planted all the seeds with the anonymous phone calls with Mrs. Moon saying that Hyun was cheating. And that she planted the seed planted the seed and then walked away. Now had with this murder have happened without Madame Dew planting the seed, we don't know. How do we know that she planted the seeds? We know that she sent anonymous phone calls to break them up. So Madam Dew did not get paid $22,000 by the groom's site. And she thought that Mrs. Moon was heavily involved. I'm sure she could pick up the signs.

This is an overly emotional, overly involved mother. She's the one that facilitated this marriage. So she had someone call with no caller ID to Mrs. Moon and say, Hey, your son and lies cheating, your son and lies cheating. And I think the intention on Madam Do's side was just to get them to break up or just even cause some discomfort in the family because she felt like she was wronged. So why should they all live happily ever after? She started the phone calls, eventually stopped calling because they moved on, but Mrs. Moon was like a dog barking up a tree.

I don't know if she would have gotten to the same conclusion without those anonymous phone calls. I don't know if it only accelerated or egged her on or if things would have played out differently. We have no idea. But in court, Mrs. Moon had no respect for the court. She just had this smug confidence that you just honestly wanted to smack off her face, no offense.

And there's a speculation of why the attorneys failed Mrs. Moon's legal defense so badly. Can you guess? Why what? Why the attorneys would drop the ball so badly? To the point where not even top dog attorneys are looking at this, like, why are they doing that? The attorneys are almost poking the bear.

They're almost making her look worse. Right, so that's a strategy, right? Make her seem a little crazy. Or is it because they're getting paid, not by Mrs. Moon, but by Mr. Moon. He was the one footing the bill. Or technically, they're his lawyers. And it's likely that he wanted to get rid of his crazy

murderous wife who would probably come for his alleged mistress now. Wait, this is a theory, right? A theory, alleged. But is the lawyer paid by the husband or the wife? It seems like paid by the husband. So even though technically they're married, and it's hard to argue which bank account if they're even

separate, he's the one with the power and influence. He's the one that they'll probably continue to do business with. That's crazy. That's a very popular theory. I mean, I think it's like the main theory because people just could not understand why these top dog attorneys are doing this.

It was that bizarre of behavior that not even a single attorney watching it could be like, oh, maybe they're doing some advanced strategy here. It was just odd. During the trial, the hit maybe they're doing some advanced strategy here. It was just odd. During the trial, the hitman's testimonies were used against Mrs. Moon. One of them was her nephew.

Yeah, one of them was her nephew that was employed as her chauffeur. I guess she's fond of the idea of keeping everything in the family even murder. And the other man was a lone shark that her nephew introduced her to. They said that Mrs. Moon just kept pressuring them, ordering them, following hers, not enough. Okay, just get rid of her now. They tried to calm her down because they were scared. They said, you know, we can't just go around killing a college student.

How suspicious with that beach, she has no enemies. The whole town would freak out. The whole nation would freak out. She's a lost student at a prestigious college. Can you imagine the fear, the outrage? If she just vanishes and dies, they try to suggest a different idea. What if we do something that will get her out of the picture without directly targeting her? What would make her cut off the affair with her cousin? Maybe

something traumatic needs to happen. Maybe her dad needs to die. G.S. dad remembers a new potential business partner entering into his life around that time. He introduced himself as an investor who had businesses worth $4 million and that he was looking into partnering with new people. He said that anything that you're interested in, we can check it out. She is dad said it didn't feel like a scam or anything, but it just, it was weird. There was something odd about him. Every business opportunity required a ton of travel is always, hey, there's a new clothing warehouse in Incheon. That's hours and hours away. Like, do you want to come and check it out with me?

The tuna business is going really well. We should fly to Japan to check it out. I have a new idea, but the manufacturers are in China. Do you want to go and check it out? Cheers dad never won with him. And thus, they never had the opportunity to kill him. That's when they decided, let's just kill Chihay to get it over with because they said,

it felt like Mrs. Moon would stop at nothing. Chihay's dad would later say that he feels very guilty. He even cried to the judge and said, your honor, if only I could, I would gladly give up my life just to make sure that these monsters lose theirs now. He said that Chihay was the reason their family was so close. Anytime family members would get frustrated or upset with each other or start fighting, Chia would sit them down and try to get each other to see everybody's side. And by the end of that conversation, it was very hard for them to still be upset. She was the person that reminded everyone, even when emotions were high, that they're

all on the same side, we're all on the same team. We just all want the best for the family. Chia would take breaks from studying to knock on her parent's door, and she would sit on the edge of the bed and massage her mom's feet and tell her about what she's been reading. Then she would hop up and finish her nightly routine where she would grab these probiotic drinks for everyone in the family. She would go room by room, handing them out, and her dad says, he remembers, his very last words to her were, thanks honey, leave it on the table for me.

He said if he had known that that would be the last time he saw his daughter, he would have looked at her longer, memorized every little detail on her face. But now she's gone, and Mrs. Moon is sitting in front of the judge screaming about how unjust this whole situation is. He had to listen to her, and the perpetrators go in depth about how they stalked Chia that morning How it was so inconvenient that there was an old lady selling yogurt on the street. They had to wait for her to pass

They described in great detail how Chia told them that her parents could pay a ransom of $700,000 But they didn't care even though technically this is more money than what Mrs. Moon was offering them They felt like Chia would probably either a get them arrested or be even if they took the money Mrs. Moon is so powerful, she'd probably have them killed. They took her out to the mountains, pointed a gun to her head, forced her to kneel down, tied her up, taped up her head, and then they oddly started hauling her up the mountain, or at least they attempted to, but they kept dropping her. It's suspected that this is where she broke her arm in three places.

They kept dropping her really hard. Eventually, they gave up, dropped her on the ground, and shot her in the head six times. They rushed to a local pay phone, dialed Mrs. Moon and stated, quote, the product has been sold. That was their code for, she has been killed. They went and grabbed breakfast. Yeah, because I guess they can stomach food right now, and then headed straight to the intern airport to fleet of Vietnam. In the end, Mrs. Moon and the two hitmen that carried out the murder received life imprisonment. Mrs. Moon would be locked away so that she could never hurt another soul again. Until two years later, she's basically free.

What? Mrs. Moon was released under a suspended sentence because of health reasons. She wasn't technically free, but she was hospitalized instead of being in a jail. And for whatever reason, the hospital that was treating her, they treated her like any other patient. She would be in and out as she pleased. Sometimes not even coming back to the hospital to sleep at night. This all, despite the fact that she only got this suspended sentence status because she

and her doctors claimed that being in prison would be forfeiting her life because of how bad her health was. So if it's that bad, she should just be bed bound, needing round the clock care, no? Yeah. Gia's dad did some investigating. First, Mrs. Moon is living it up in an expensive VIP suite at the hospital. Even non-murderers, non-criminals, they never get to see rooms like this in hospitals.

This is for the upper elites only. Gia's dad somehow tracked down her medical records and it stated a whole list of health complications and reasons. She had breast cancer in her left breast, Parkinson's syndrome, severe diabetes, asthma, depression, insomnia, cataracts, which fine, it does sound serious, but she has dad took this full medical report, gave it to a panel of independent doctors who have nothing to do with him, nothing to do with Mrs. Moon, nothing to do with the case, and asked them if any of this makes sense. They said, something's odd.

First of all, Mrs. Moon was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer years ago. She had undergone chemo and took the appropriate medical steps to eliminate the cancer. And according to the charts, she's technically cancer-free now. Just because you've had cancer once in your life does not mean that you can never be in prison or else you'll die. With Parkinson's, if you guys know anybody who had Parkinson's, my grandfather had it, it's an incurable disease that I mean, it just makes existing very difficult. It's hard to sit up, get up, walk, even eat.

It's incredibly noticeable, especially when it gets to the point of being bad. It's not something that you can easily gets to the point of being bad. It's not something that you can easily hide from people if that makes sense. But on Mrs. Moon's charts, it literally reads, the current evidence of Parkinson's disease is insufficient. The patient is stating she has Parkinson's. The patient is strongly hoping to maintain her current medication for it. The reason that I bring up the fact that it's very obvious to see if someone has Parkinson's

typically is the medical chart also notes that she eats and chews well. So does she have Parkinson's? Does she not? They're diagnosing her with Parkinson's, but there's no evidence to back up that she has Parkinson's. And then they wrote, she can't be in prison because she has Parkinson's and needs full caregiving assistance. At another point, her medical records read that Mrs. Moon cannot eat without the help

of an assistant, but then somewhere else in the medical record, they're like, she's eating well. Why is she being let out the hospital? Like what's going on? As for diabetes, she's fine, she does not need administration of insulin. Her asthma, the medical records even state it's more like coughing fits, not necessarily asthma. As for the cataract portion, she did have surgery in one eye and is considered to have

normal pressure and stable condition in both eyes now. And this is the wild part, but the medical records heavily emphasized her depression. As if that's a reason to be out of jail. I'm sorry, but jail really isn't a fun, happy place. You know, you killed someone. I would imagine it's not going to be like sunshine and rainbows in there. In her medical charts, there's a quote from Mrs. Moon to her psychiatrist, which by the way, just to preface, I'm not saying that prisons should not be reformed.

I think that there's a lot that we can do for the mental health of prisoners so that we can rehabilitate them. You know, she did not have severe depression. She had like moderate depression and just listened to what she says to her psychiatrist. She said, and this is in the medical chart, I ordered the girl to be followed. I never ordered her to be killed, and I still got a life sentence. After this, I have no hope in the system or people anymore.

I was so shocked, I developed severe depression. It's so unfair that I've been sentenced to life. I just want to die. I just want to be treated in a stable environment and recover my health. And you know, this is is just this is wrong. The psychiatrist wrote down at the age of 67 and an inherently weak constitution, the stress of the life in prison are ought to directly affect the shortening of a patient's life.

So I believe the patient cannot handle in prison. All the other doctors who reviewed her patient charts anonymously, they all unanimously stated, it just doesn't make sense. When reporters tried to track down the doctors who diagnosed Mrs. Moon with all these different ailments and conditions, they were threatened. These doctors just straight up said, yeah, I'm going to sue you. I'm going to sue you for talking to me. Mm-hmm. But if you follow the money, you get a sense of why Mrs. Moon wanted to be at this specific hospital because she requested this hospital. The hospital was exposed for some really, really shady stuff.

That's crazy. She can request hospital. She can request this. Like she can do whatever. It's actually a big conversation in Korea. So it's kind of the opposite. Here the conversation is usually prison conditions are so deplorable, right? In Korea, people are like, wow, the prison conditions most of them?

Live better. Like they're living better than most citizens. They're getting nutritious, free meals three times a day. You know? Interesting. That's the conversation, wow. I mean, there, of course, is prison reform conversations, but this is a conversation that I see popping up

more frequently amongst general general K netizens. Wow. Again, not to say that there is no abuse or deplorable things happening in Korean prisons, but the viral picture of prison food that went crazy on the internet, food was good. In Korea? Yeah, they're like, this is so unfair.

Like we don't even get access to this type of nutritious meals. I just think the fact that she can request hospital is something else. Yeah, she requested, I think there were 28 other hospitals closer to the prison, but she requested this one specifically. Yeah, this hospital, they had a process of making money that didn't involve treating people.

They would go out and start building rapport with the local unhoused population. They would buy the meals, cigarettes, and ask about their families. And then one day casually, as if this was just a new idea that popped into the nurse's heads, hey, you know you could get money from the government if you're a patient at our hospital, right? They would lure them into the hospital, lead them to a windowless room called the stable

room. They were thrown onto a bed and their arms and feet were tied up towards the ceiling. So they're able to lay on their back, but all their limbs are raised above their chest. They would keep them like this for a full week, because this position, all the blood is pumping towards the chest, and it puts a lot of strain on the heart. So after a week of this, what do you know? They do some scans, and the person's heart is weak.

It's not looking too good. It looks like they have a heart condition. They need to be kept in the hospital longer. And because they're unhoused, the government must pay for it, straight into the hospital's pockets. Hundreds of people were hospitalized like this, just based off this torture room tactic.

They were earning like seven figures a year, the hospital, from the government. That is crazy. People died from this. And this is not like a huge thing that people talk about? Because it was a huge thing after I was exposed. People didn't know because they would target on-house populations and they would specifically ask if they had family.

And if they didn't, that's when they were brought in. So with no family around, they're vulnerable already. People didn't even notice that they were missing. Everything was just swept under the rug. But now the hospital was shut down and Mrs. Moon was thrown back into prison, where she made several complaints. She stated she argued with her two cellmates too much. They didn't see eye to eye.

She felt like it would be best for her if she didn't have to coexist with others. She said, I don't think we are the same level of humans, myself mates and I, but I treat them with sympathy. Please stop putting people who worked in the industry in my room. She demanded a private room. She stated because of a herniated cervical disc, she would unfortunately not, you know, with a heavy heart, not be able to participate in the cleaning or laundry of her cell that was required by all inmates. Anytime she came down with a tiny little cough or flu, she demanded to have a full body scan done, quote, from the tip of her toes to the top of her head, all on taxpayer dime.

She kept rejecting food that was given to her because it, quote, had a weird smell. She stated she could not drink water from plastic cups, since she was a cancer patient and plastic cups had endocrine disrupting chemicals. She also requested only drinking vitamin-fused mineral water. She also wrote, here they don't have the bed that props you up like they do in the hospital. There's no humidifier so it's very hard for me. I think I need to go to the hospital for a month.

Please report this to the head office. She acted like she was a guest at the four seasons, and not in prison for murder. Ultimately, the case did result in a lot of divorces. Mr. Moon ended up divorcing his wife while she was in prison. The moon daughter and the judge, Hyun, got a divorce, and even Chia's parents broke up after Chia's murder. They were just coping differently. Chia's dad had thrown himself into the case, trying to catch the perpetrators,

trying to make them go down for the murder. But once it was all over, the stress hit him like a brick. He started developing PTSD. He couldn't be outside near strangers. He had this high-pitched buzzing in his ear that would give him a severe headache, like a radio frequency, but it would never go away. His doctors told him that it was a cause of severe stress.

There was nothing they could do. He tried to bond with his wife, but at the same time, she as mom, she was so miserable, all she did was numb the pain by drinking all day. And she would excitedly talk about Chiye as if Chiye was still alive. She only ever talked about her in the present tense,

and that was really hard for Chiye's dad. Chiye's room and things were kept exactly the same, even 11 years after the murder. Chia's mom was hoarding anything and everything that once belonged to her, even tissues. For her, it was comforting. For Chia's dad, it was terrifying to open the door and see Chia's room exactly the way she left it when she went out for a swim. They had even moved after Chia's passing, so Chia's mom was intentionally setting up the room like this.

To her, this is how she would remember her daughter. Ultimately, she ended up passing away 13 years later. In a letter chia's mom wrote, I want to touch your pretty face, chia. I want to feed you tasty things. I want to buy you pretty clothes. But why is it that even in my dreams, you do not appear? I miss you so much. Mom is having a hard time.

Chia's mom is said to have died of a broken heart and starving. She had completely lost her appetite after losing her daughter and survived mainly on alcohol. She was 83 pounds when she passed. Now, Chia's dad has been diagnosed with cancer, but he said it's a relief. He said I wasn't able to protect my wife nor my daughter, so this is my punishment and in some way it feels relieving Tia once wrote a poem for her mom and it read Mother there is love at your fingertips. I'm only part of you who got life from the spirit of those fingertips Mother, I miss your arms like this as a tree trunk that has grown thick in your arms for a long time. The star in this

sky shine exceptionally brightly looking at me as if they know your heart. And it ends with Omani Omani, which is Mother Mother. And that is the story of Chihay. What are your thoughts on this case? I mean, it was just, I genuinely, I mean, it's so terrifying. I think cases like this, it's stranger than fiction. That's what a lot of people will say to, I guess, real-life happenings that unfold in this kind of bizarre unhinged manner. But I think it's terrifying to know that there are such unhinged, unreasonable, unpredictable people out there that are filled with so much evil.

They're not even filled with good. So you just never know what they're thinking or trying to do to others. So please stay safe, and I will see you guys on Sunday for the mini-suit. Bye. MBC 뉴스 김