Finally, in this series, they appear to be wrapping up the murder mystery. Most of episode 9 is spent on it, which is great, because it’s been sort of dragging on, and isn’t such an integral part of the overall plot that it needs to be stretched out to the end or anything (unless this isn’t really the end of it, and they do decide to reveal something more about it the last few eps of the show).

The beginning starts where last episode left off, with Eom Cho Rong in super detective mode, realizing Officer Yoo has been keeping evidence about Kim Moo Young’s possible guilt and is out with his team to arrest him. Cho Rong is surprised to catch Moo Young following his girlfriend, Yoo Jin Kang, and only becomes more defeated upon discovering that she is one of the people Moo Young calls and texts the most. We see a very assertive Cho Rong as he calls Moo Young out on this and asks him what his plans with Jin Kang are. Does he want her to be questioned in a murder investigation? Moo Young didn’t forsee this possibility, and subsequently decides not to call her later, so that her number won’t be recorded while he is in jail.

Officer Yoo, on the other hand, has finally gotten a solid confession out of Tattoo girl Im Yoo Ri. Yoo Ri was at the scene of the crime at the right time and though she was on medication and doesn’t remember what she did, she is the likeliest killer as it comes to light that the murdered girl was blackmailing her for a long time. Officer Yoo and his previous team member Lee Kyung Cheol but heads, as Lee thinks that Moo Young is the culprit. Officer Yoo again talks to Moo Young, asking him if he’s just playing a game again, but once again, Moo Young doesn’t give him any serious answers.

As far as the larger plot goes, Kim Moo Young is starting to remember the trauma that happened in his childhood, and also is subconsciously connecting Jin Kang to it. Officer Yoo knows the truth, but he’s no longer feeling supportive of Moo Young in any way, because although he finds the young man isn’t the murder, he’s possibly something far worse.  Officer Yoo calls him a devil.

Through their investigation, Officer Yoo and Cho Rong’s team find that Kim Moo Young did indeed meet the murdered girl before she was killed. She was acting the angry drunk at the Arts bar, and Moo Young took her home. They also find that Im Yoo Ri called him the night of the murder because she found herself in the girl’s apartment, but didn’t remember how she got there or why she was there. Instead of coming right over, Moo Young walks in the rain where the car black box catches him with the Arts umbrella, and then goes to a convenience store for almost half an hour, sitting in a spot where he has a clear few of the fated upper story apartment. He claims to actually have heard her fall.

Sensing the darker truth, Officer Yoo calls Moo Young to come to the same convenience store and he tells Moo Young to his face that he is a devil for what must have been going on in his head. Officer Yoo says Moo Young memorized the apartment code and also the route to avoid all cameras, and told both to Im Yoo Ri, knowing she was desperate to get out of being blackmailed. We do actually visit Moo Young’s mind briefly, and Officer Yoo’s idea is the right one. Moo Young found out about the blackmail and basically helped Im Yoo Ri set up the murdered girl, inviting her to the bar where she would drink too much and he, playing the nice guy, would take her home. We see her trying to sleep with Moo Young, but he’s disgusted by how she’s preying on Yoo Ri. He always calls Yoo Ri “pretty” and this seems to be his main reason for having anything to do with her. Perhaps his motive in all of this is to help her, but making it possible for her to commit and nearly get away with murder isn’t what most good people would consider “helping.” It also ends with Yoo Ri being sent to prison for, if not life, a long, long time.

This is why Officer Yoo calls him a devil, and gets extremely upset when he finds out that Yoo Jin Kang has been spending quite a lot of time with Moo Young. He wants to force her to stay away from him, shouting at her all of the reasons Moo Young is bad, especially considering what happened to her friend, the Damsel. Jin Kang asks him, “so you think everyone can change, but not him?” Her pretend brother says, no, Moo Young can’t change because he doesn’t have normal feelings. He is a psychopath, a devil, and a monster, due to his emotional impairment. Moo Young doesn’t know what being good means.

In her heart, Jin Kang knows that Moo Young is risky business, but she is inexplicably drawn to him. She’s overly concerned over his arrest, though really it shouldn’t come as so much of a surprise, and she finally tells Eom Cho Rong that she’s sorry, but their relationship isn’t working. Cho Rong says it’s ok if she doesn’t date him, but please don’t turn to Moo Young. Anybody but him, as he’s bad news.

Jin Kang’s boss gives a defining speech about bad boys like Moo Young as the working trio goes out for a drink. Jin Kang says, “poor, good-looking, complicated men are the worst.” Her boss agrees, and even says, “listen to me on this because I have such a man at home.” She says, “Does a person go in that direction because she doesn’t know she shouldn’t go there? No, it’s that as you’re going, you realize you’ve gone too far to turn back.” You also may get one more chance to turn and, essentially, be saved, and if you run away at that point you will be saved. This thought preys heavily on Jin Kang’s mind, but we already know she’s reached the point of no return, so despite all of the continual warnings, she finds herself again at Moo Young’s rooftop home.

Jin Kang is crying. She knows she shouldn’t be there, she knows that Moo Young is bad and doesn’t know how to be good. Perhaps out of options to have her as his, Moo Young puts forth his last card: “Teach me,” he says, in a desperate tone of voice and pulling out all of the stops as tears appear to spring into his eyes. A bad boy wants to be reformed by a good woman? Oy vey, there’s so many woman that fall for that, and he’s broken through all of Jin Kang’s defenses at this point, plus it’s they have a fated attraction that is impossible to overcome. That will likely be aptly explained if they are indeed siblings. This has happened before in real life, brother and sister meet and fall in love, all the while not knowing they are related. They are devastated when they find out later. Is their attraction merely the familiarity of family genes? Are they genuinely in romantic love? I don’t know, but it’s very tragic.

One player is still left over from the Damsel and CEO storyline, Jang Woo Sang’s sister, Jang Se Ran, who is the new CEO of the company and who made some sort of deal with Moo Young after the accident. A million dollars for his silence. Se Ran is intrigued by Moo Young: he amuses her, and like so many women on this show, she’s probably attracted to him as well. She bails him out of jail and offers to set him up as manager of a new bar she plans to open. Normally, this would be a pretty good deal for Moo Young, but Jin Kang tells him not to take the position and to stay away from that family, as they are toxic. If only she took her own advice. Sigh. Moo Young wants Jin Kang more than he wants the job at this point, so he agrees to turn it down without any hesitation.

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes presents us all of these storylines, yet it is not a cynical story. It is full of hope, laughter, and happiness at the same time. The truth is, people don’t often sense when things are going to end in tragedy. Officer Yoo is perhaps the exception, but both Jin Kang and Moo Young seem to think they will somehow beat the odds. Perhaps this is a ray of hope they built in their minds from the long ago trauma of their childhood? Or is it just the normal hope that humanity in general possesses? We’ll see what happens.