Theory: Hide 하이드, 2024
Hide 하이드 is an ongoing South Korean television series starring Lee Bo-young, Lee Moo-saeng, Lee Chung-ah, and Lee Min-jae. It tells the story of a woman who does everything in her means to track down the truth behind her husband’s disappearance and apparent suicide — uncovering secrets intertwined with her husband that may be too much for her to handle.
Here is my theory for the series. Of course, it may change as the story progresses, but I’d just like to put it out there for discussion.
“I need to die for you to survive.”
SUNGJAE is “dead” — he faked his death because he went way in over his head making a deal with the gang to do their bidding. this stems deeper than we see. his family has definitely been making dealings with the gang for YEARS. hence why they wanted his funeral to move so quickly and get the body cremated even when they didn’t know whether the burnt body was their son or not.
He’s been a pawn since the beginning of his and MoonYoung’s relationship — Koreans have that huge taboo of being an orphan so there’s no way a prominent family like the Chas would have been okay with the relationship in the beginning. The gang wanted SungJae to get close to MoonYoung but no one expected he would develop true feelings, getting married and having a child.
YEONJOO — the antihero. She isn’t just the neighbor. It’s evident she cares for Bom and thinks highly of MoonYoung (that’ll eventually work in her favor) — making food for them, remembering Bom’s favorite pumpkin puree.
She’s definitely in line with the gang, either in a high status or the mastermind. In the scene where MaKang is in the elevator getting a call from the director/ceo, I think that’s YeonJoo. She’s been posing as just a helpful caring neighbor to (1) watch over SunJae’s every move (2) watch over MoonYoung (3) to know everything that’s going down now that SungJae is “dead” in case there’s some new revelation.
No matter what she does she won’t hurt Bom or Moon Young, willingly that is. She has her own set of rules that she follows, never breaking them. As seen in the first two eps, YeonJoo is always around watching over the pair — arriving just in time to step in. YeonJoo is going to be MoonYoung’s biggest supporter and protector BUT she’s also going to do something that hurts MoonYoung — she’ll have a redemption arc.
In all the scenes where the camera makes it look like the viewers are watching from a spot hidden from view, I think that’s either YeonJoo or her father Ha JaePil watching the family’s every move.
MoonYoung and YeonJoo’s fathers were “friends”, as seen in episode 1. MoonYoung’s father had dealing with the gang, the reason for their leaving so abruptly from their home in the middle of the night. as well as him saying to MoonYoung that his death will allow her to live.
JINWOO knows more than he’s displaying. At the forefront he gives off villain with his suspicious behavior — having worked for Geumsin Development, lying about his witness stance.
He had been secretly investigating something on his own while working with SungJae on the vehicular homicide case. He knows too much, as a result becomes a target of the gang. He’s going to be a big help for MoonYoung in finding out the truth of what has been going on with SungJae, AND her father.
Everyone around MoonYoung is suspicious in that they’re not what they seem on the surface. Almost every person is connected — stemming back to the gang.
Personally, I think if the writers want to go big or go home, give the audience that WOW! moment — make MoonYoung and YeonJoo endgame. Lee BoYoung and Lee ChungAh have such good chemistry, and the pairing would make such a good storyline — it doesn’t even necessarily have to be a romantic relationship, the pair and Bom living happily together as a family would be perfect enough. Think 2019 Spanish series, El Embarcadero.