vindicated-truth

[vindicated-truth]

Diving into Yasuda Ken's and Mizukami Koshi's backgrounds really makes me think the casting for Kaibutsu is perfect this time around too.

One had been an aspiring musical / theatre actor who got his dreams cut short when their group was disbanded, but never gave up and through working several part time jobs finally got reunited with his group after several years.

The other had filed a lawsuit against his former agency to terminate his contract because he doesn't agree with the management anymore, even wordlessly moving out of his assigned dormitory in protest, and started using his real name instead of the stage name the company assigned to him.

That's Lee Dongsik and Han Joowon to the core.

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Today I learned that this sweet-looking boy filed a provisional injunction against his former agency and petitioned for the termination of his contract because he doesn’t agree anymore with the company’s president—

And that’s about as Han Joowon as Mizukami Koshi can get. Wow.

Life imitating art imitating life, indeed.

Also, he’s now using his real name instead of the stage name his previous company made for him, and that’s so symbolic of a rebirth and being true to his own self, for once.

Again, as Han Joowon as he can possibly get. Wow.

[vindicated-truth]

AU of Togashi Hiroyuki / Lee Dongsik actually being able to fulfill his dreams of being a musical star

(I’m actually beginning to think they really casted the perfect actors for the characters, wow.)

[vindicated-truth]

Adding this because @fixaidea and I are on the same wavelength 😆

AU of Yashiro Masato / Han Joowon being used as police propaganda due to his good looks

(This marketing campaign of the fashion brand is so clever in its conceptualization AND timing, I can’t get over it)

[vindicated-truth]

Ken straight up admiring and complimenting Koshi’s physicality 😆 and Koshi being all flustered and cleverly deflecting 🥹

Translated by @ synistere at Twitter here.

[vindicated-truth]

AU of Yashiro Masato / Han Joowon being used as police propaganda due to his good looks

(This marketing campaign of the fashion brand is so clever in its conceptualization AND timing, I can’t get over it)

[vindicated-truth]

“POLICE. Audacity wanted.”

The absolute cleverness of the timing and concept of this fashion campaign, considering Mizukami Koshi’s upcoming role as Yashiro Masato in Kaibutsu (怪物).

That’s incredibly smart marketing 👏👏👏

You can find out more about the fashion brand here.

[vindicated-truth]

Yasuda Ken also on the cover of Steppin’ Out, 2025 Summer edition.

The multiple magazine features for the show is insane.

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Yasuda Ken on yet another magazine! This time as the cover of “SKY PerfecTV! TV Guide Premium”, July 2025 issue.

Love all the promos they’re doing for the show!

Screenshots are Google translated, so there may be errors. You can find the original Japanese article here.

[vindicated-truth]

Today I learned that this sweet-looking boy filed a provisional injunction against his former agency and petitioned for the termination of his contract because he doesn’t agree anymore with the company’s president—

And that’s about as Han Joowon as Mizukami Koshi can get. Wow.

Life imitating art imitating life, indeed.

Also, he’s now using his real name instead of the stage name his previous company made for him, and that’s so symbolic of a rebirth and being true to his own self, for once.

Again, as Han Joowon as he can possibly get. Wow.

[vindicated-truth]

Yasuda Ken and Mizukami Koshi will be appearing in two magazines so far! Love that the show is getting all this promo 🥹

[vindicated-truth]

Yasuda Ken and Mizukami Koshi will be appearing in the July issue of CUT Magazine. Japan really is promoting the show 🥹

Excerpt of their interview below. Screenshots have been translated by Google, so there may be errors. Please see the original Japanese article here.

You can also preorder the magazine here.

[vindicated-truth]

Mentioned this song to @complet1st at Twitter and thought of sharing this here too.

No explanation needed really, the lyrics just scream JWDS.

(Also, considering Dongsik originally wanted to be rock star, this type of music would definitely be up his alley too.)

—

It's never easy To stand in front of you Like it's a thriller If something breaks The rhythm It'll start all over again Your eyes growing colder The mood going heavy I’m quietly sitting here In that spot To get back my breath Our words Against each other Are working up Yeah, just shoot me, bang, bang Your bullet, bullet, bullet I'll take it anytime If this is what you want Just shoot me, shoot me Shoot at me, bang, bang That’s even better It's too familiar now If this makes you feel better Just shoot me, shoot me I didn't expect for this What I wanted for Was a bit of romance But reality Hardens often It's a bit of drama "It's over" as in your lines I pray for you that it's not I hope that You merely said it Due to anxiety I'm okay So if you wanna hurt me, baby, just hurt me I'm okay So if you wanna hurt me, baby, just hurt me Each of your bullet (I'm okay) That enters my heart (So if you wanna hurt me, baby, just hurt me) Really hurts so bad (I'm okay) It hurts so bad, so bad (So if you wanna hurt me, baby, just hurt me)

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Yasuda Ken and Mizukami Koshi reacting to the trailer for Kaibutsu (怪物)

From what I can gather, Ken is praising Koshi, telling him how he really likes the way he looks in the trailer, and Koshi is telling him that all of Masato’s (his character) suits are custom made, because Masato is supposed to be rich 😆

If there’s anyone who’s fluent in Japanese, please feel free to translate! ☺️

[vindicated-truth]

Seems like Mnet and KCON misses Yeo Jingoo 😆

[vindicated-truth]

Adding more fascinating discussions with @hhhhhhhhhhhhh-3003, with special mention to Japan's Miss Sherlock because that is actually where I'm basing my expectations and theories regarding Japan's Kaibutsu.

Theories for the upcoming Beyond Evil (괴물) Japanese Remake, Kaibutsu (怪物)

Basing my thoughts on previous Japanese media that I've watched. I'm writing this down to see how much of it will be proven correct (or wrong) when I get back to this after Kaibutsu airs.

One thing the Japanese are very good at is the psychological aspect of their stories. They mess with you mentally, creeping under your skin until you can't shake off the disturbing feeling.

I don't think they'll change anything significant from the Korean original when it comes to the plot, because it's so solidly and meticulously written. However, because Kaibutsu will only have 10 episodes compared to Beyond Evil's 16 episodes, I do think that they will trim down the story into the essential plot.

For one thing, based on the trailer released so far, compared to Beyond Evil's Manyang police substation, Kaibutsu's Hatano station seems to be down one cop. The confirmed characters of Hatano police station so far are:

Moridaira Saburo (Nam Sangbae)

Togashi Hiroyuki (Lee Dongsik)

Yashiro Masato (Han Joowon)

*Endo Yu (Oh Jihoon)

*Kasuya (Cho Gilgu) *exact names yet to be confirmed

This means that it's likely that it's Hwang Gwangyoung's character who's axed in the Japanese version, because Cho Gilgu's character is more essential to the plot.

If Kaibutsu is indeed going to be a more condensed, more tightly written version of Beyond Evil's original story, the axing of Gwangyoung's character already tells me two things:

There will be less red herrings involved, as one of Gwangyoung's purpose as a character is to be a red herring suspect.

There will also be less comedic relief, as Gwangyoung is also written almost like a foil to the seriousness of the other characters.

Whether or not this will be to the benefit or detriment of the story remains to be seen, but it does mean that if not in the core plot, Kaibutsu might differ in the execution.

And here's my theory about how they might achieve that:

Condensing the story means they can't afford to waste too much time with red herrings. How they will still execute the mystery / thriller aspect of it might be through a red herring point of view: through Masato's POV.

Beyond Evil's execution gives the audience a little "cheat" when it comes to the POV: we are already given a glimpse since the very beginning of how good of a person Dongsik is, especially with most of the Manyang gang vouching for him. Because we as the audience are already conditioned to think of Dongsik this way, we are also conditioned to question Joowon, the outsider who knows nothing of Dongsik except what is recorded in his file: a serial killer, suspected of killing his own twin sister.

What I theorize Kaibutsu might do is to portray Hiroyuki through Masato's eyes, in which this time, the audience (especially those watching for the very first time) gets to see Hiroyuki the way Masato sees him, without the cheat of knowing from the start whether or not Hiroyuki is actually a good person.

Whereas in Beyond Evil, the audience is conditioned to think of Joowon as crazy to ever suspect Dongsik, perhaps in Kaibutsu, the red herring will be conditioning the audience to think that Masato is insane to not suspect someone like Hiroyuki.

The precise execution of that plot twist—if my theory will be proven correct—is of prime interest to me, because knowing Japanese shows they actually do excel at this kind of mind games.

And what I'm actually looking forward to as well is that perhaps this kind of execution finally allows the audience to see Joowon / Masato not as the "asshole" that the Manyang POV painted him as, but as the righteous and somewhat reckless cop who is actually insane enough to infiltrate a suspected serial killer's hometown.

That maybe, just maybe, this kind of execution will allow the audience to empathize more with Masato, understanding more why he (and Joowon) made those choices because he doesn't have the "audience cheat code" of knowing Hiroyuki (and Dongsik) is in truth a good person.

[vindicated-truth]

Adding the comment thread with hhhhhhhhhhhhh-3003 here:

Theories for the upcoming Beyond Evil (괴물) Japanese Remake, Kaibutsu (怪物)

Basing my thoughts on previous Japanese media that I've watched. I'm writing this down to see how much of it will be proven correct (or wrong) when I get back to this after Kaibutsu airs.

One thing the Japanese are very good at is the psychological aspect of their stories. They mess with you mentally, creeping under your skin until you can't shake off the disturbing feeling.

I don't think they'll change anything significant from the Korean original when it comes to the plot, because it's so solidly and meticulously written. However, because Kaibutsu will only have 10 episodes compared to Beyond Evil's 16 episodes, I do think that they will trim down the story into the essential plot.

For one thing, based on the trailer released so far, compared to Beyond Evil's Manyang police substation, Kaibutsu's Hatano station seems to be down one cop. The confirmed characters of Hatano police station so far are:

Moridaira Saburo (Nam Sangbae)

Togashi Hiroyuki (Lee Dongsik)

Yashiro Masato (Han Joowon)

*Endo Yu (Oh Jihoon)

*Kasuya (Cho Gilgu) *exact names yet to be confirmed

This means that it's likely that it's Hwang Gwangyoung's character who's axed in the Japanese version, because Cho Gilgu's character is more essential to the plot.

If Kaibutsu is indeed going to be a more condensed, more tightly written version of Beyond Evil's original story, the axing of Gwangyoung's character already tells me two things:

There will be less red herrings involved, as one of Gwangyoung's purpose as a character is to be a red herring suspect.

There will also be less comedic relief, as Gwangyoung is also written almost like a foil to the seriousness of the other characters.

Whether or not this will be to the benefit or detriment of the story remains to be seen, but it does mean that if not in the core plot, Kaibutsu might differ in the execution.

And here's my theory about how they might achieve that:

Condensing the story means they can't afford to waste too much time with red herrings. How they will still execute the mystery / thriller aspect of it might be through a red herring point of view: through Masato's POV.

Beyond Evil's execution gives the audience a little "cheat" when it comes to the POV: we are already given a glimpse since the very beginning of how good of a person Dongsik is, especially with most of the Manyang gang vouching for him. Because we as the audience are already conditioned to think of Dongsik this way, we are also conditioned to question Joowon, the outsider who knows nothing of Dongsik except what is recorded in his file: a serial killer, suspected of killing his own twin sister.

What I theorize Kaibutsu might do is to portray Hiroyuki through Masato's eyes, in which this time, the audience (especially those watching for the very first time) gets to see Hiroyuki the way Masato sees him, without the cheat of knowing from the start whether or not Hiroyuki is actually a good person.

Whereas in Beyond Evil, the audience is conditioned to think of Joowon as crazy to ever suspect Dongsik, perhaps in Kaibutsu, the red herring will be conditioning the audience to think that Masato is insane to not suspect someone like Hiroyuki.

The precise execution of that plot twist—if my theory will be proven correct—is of prime interest to me, because knowing Japanese shows they actually do excel at this kind of mind games.

And what I'm actually looking forward to as well is that perhaps this kind of execution finally allows the audience to see Joowon / Masato not as the "asshole" that the Manyang POV painted him as, but as the righteous and somewhat reckless cop who is actually insane enough to infiltrate a suspected serial killer's hometown.

That maybe, just maybe, this kind of execution will allow the audience to empathize more with Masato, understanding more why he (and Joowon) made those choices because he doesn't have the "audience cheat code" of knowing Hiroyuki (and Dongsik) is in truth a good person.