Stealer: The Treasure Keeper 2023 Episode 5

Episode 5 of Stealer: The Treasure Keeper kicks off with a little bit of Mr. Kim’s backstory. Mr. Kim is nine years old, and he is watching a man (maybe his dad) beat someone for rebelling against the Japanese empire. Later, he is told to give up his Japanese name and change it to a Korean one.

In the present, Mr. Kim finds an ancient book that mentions the rock of eternal life, written by the head of the Japanese army that stole treasures in the 16th century.

Meanwhile, the cultural heritage team comes face-to-face with Skunk. They explain that they want his help. Skunk agrees to help them, but only on the condition that they go after the Mugunghwa Foundation after they find the Joseon treasures. The team agrees, and Skunk tells them that they’ll need to communicate with him via Dae-myung and makes his exit.

Min-woo asks Captain what the foundation does. He explains that it used to be controlled by the military, but now it is in charge of protecting cultural assets. The former Minister of Construction and head of the Mugunghwa Foundation, Mr. Kim, kept discovering and stealing artifacts as he oversaw development projects. There is a rumor that many of the artifacts were used to finance shady business deals.

At Skunk’s home, Skunk and Ms. Lee discuss the former’s new decision to join the team. Suddenly, there is lightning and thunder, and Skunk walks away from Ms. Lee into another room and curls up in a corner, experiencing an overwhelming flashback.

18 years prior, Skunk arrives home on a rainy day to find his family’s bodies lying on the floor, covered in blood, apparently brutally murdered. Ms. Lee walks in, and he tells her that he is fine and asks her to leave.

Captain visits Mr. Kim’s house and notices that some of his men appear injured. Mr. Kim tries to get him to leave, while Captain digs around for information and states that Mr. Kim stole a lot of artifacts when he was minister of construction. Mr. Kim tells him that if he brings a warrant, he still won’t find anything.

Captain brings up Mr. Kim’s pro-Japanese sentiments, and Mr. Kim defends Japan. The chief asks Mr. Kim if he is a coin collector. Mr. Kim slips up and says that there are tons of Joseon tongbo coins, so there is no reason to collect them.

At Mr. Kim’s house, a physician meets with Mr. Kim. She tells him that his liver is failing, and since he had a stomach transplant a year ago, he needs to be careful. Disregarding her concerns about the idea of another transplant, he tells her that he will get a liver donor.

Two con artists are meeting with an elderly couple in a cafe. They ask the couple to invest in their scam, and they agree. After the meeting, the cons are celebrating their scam when Captain walks in on them. He tells them the consequences of them committing another crime and asks them where Dr. Ko is, but they don’t know.

Min-woo meets with Skunk. He gives her a burner phone and lets her know about Ms. Lee, Skunk’s partner. The con artist couple walks out of an office, tearing up papers, frustrated because they were the ones that actually got conned.

Meanwhile, the old couple that conned them get into a car and take off their disguises. They are Dr. Ko and his accomplice and ex-fiancee, Vivian. Dr. Ko gets out of the car, and Vivian drives away.

At the police station, Captain checks out security footage from the café and zooms in on Dr. Ko’s hand, seeing a dragon ring. He realizes it is Dr. Ko.

Min-woo and Skunk find Dr. Ko and handcuff him. Min-woo met Vivian earlier, and Vivian had placed a tracking device in Mr. Ko’s bag. Vivian turned Dr. Ko in because he had abandoned her for 10 years.

Skunk drops off Min-woo in a sketchy area to check out a tip, and someone comes and plants themselves in front of Skunk’s car, pretending to be hit.

Min-woo walks through an alley, and two thugs appear. She takes them on, but a third guy appears and knocks her out.

Skunk grows suspicious of the “injured” passer-by and tells him to stay there while he runs after Min-woo. He doesn’t find her and runs back to his car, tracking her phone. He begins to drive and as he does, Mr. Kim is talking to some young kids at an orphanage, giving them food and clothes.

Skunk drives to where Min-woo is—an abandoned building. She is tied up on the ground inside while at Mr. Kim’s home, he flips through photos and medical reports of the children that he visited earlier. He focuses on a small girl and says that he will “adopt” her.

Captain meets with Dr. Ko. He tells him to hand over the coin and Mr. Ko begins to tell them about the secret of Cheomseongdae.

Meanwhile, Min-woo wakes up, grabs a small piece of sharp metal near her, and uses it to cut the rope around her hands. One of the thugs comes next to her, and she surprises him with a punch and starts to fight all of the men.

Skunk puts his suit on and calls Ms. Lee. He heads into the building as Min-woo is fighting the thugs. Huin-dal, whom the cultural heritage team has now nicknamed Viper, walks in and starts attacking the men, killing many with his pen.

Min-woo realizes who he is and tries to attack, but he gets the best of her. He asks her where the Joseon tongbo coin is. Min-woo doesn’t answer, and Skunk walks in.

Skunk fights Viper until Skunk eventually knocks him out. He picks up Min-woo, but Viper pops up and smashes something on Skunk’s head. Min-woo pushes Viper off a ledge, but he gets up and walks away as the police are pulling up. Min-woo checks on Skunk and slides her fingers under his mask.

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The Episode Review

This was another episode with a great balance of suspense, action, and comedy. So far, this series has had a pretty fast pace and it will likely continue in the rest of the episodes.

It’s still up in the air whether Dae-myung/Skunk and Min-woo will have any romance between them, as neither has given anything away yet to indicate that they like each other, but they certainly are spending a lot of time working together.