K-Drama: What Happens After Death But Before Afterlife?

Missing: The Other Side | 미씽: 그들이 있었다 (2020)

OCN | Missing: The Other Side

Missing: The Other Side is described as a mystery thriller yet it isn’t the type that you may expect. It actually has a humorous side to it, especially with the bromance between the two main characters, Kim Wook (Go Soo) and Jang Pan-seok (Heo Joon-Ho). They meet when Wook witnesses a woman getting kidnapped and forcefully dragged into a car by a gang. He then follows the car but falls from a cliff. Somehow he lands in a tree where Pan-seok finds him and takes him to his house. Upon waking up, Wook decides to explore the area and unknowingly goes into what seems like a normal village.

OCN | Missing: The Other Side

In fact, this is the Duon Village and it is anything but normal. The villagers who lived here have passed away and can’t escape to the afterlife until their body has been found. The catch? The only people that can see them happen to be Wook and Pan-seok. To the unalive people living in this village, they think Wook and Pan-seok have passed away too and for those living outside of Duon Village, the villagers are invisible. Once the villagers’ bodies are discovered, they immediately disappear without a trace.

OCN | Missing: The Other Side

With just twelve episodes, it tells the story of how the villagers, whether they have just arrived in Duon Village or have stayed for a while, are discovered. We meet Thomas (Song Geon-hee) who’s lived in Duon Village for a whole century 😢 There’s also Choi Yeo-na (Seo Eun-soo), the abducted woman witnessed by Wook who has just arrived in the Duon Village. She refuses to believe she has passed away and instead is still holding on to hope for her wedding day. The k-drama is written in a way where each of the villagers has their own stories to tell and how it has led to them passing away. Their story ends when their bodies have been discovered, which is often by Pan-seok. He's been finding out the truth behind their deaths for over 10 years.

OCN | Missing: The Other Side

Pan-seok soon teams up with Wook and Shin Joon-ho (Ha Jun), a passionate detective whose missing fiance happens to be Yeo-na. They work together to find out what caused each of the villager’s deaths, seeking justice for them all and letting them disappear peacefully into the afterlife. This leads to an overarching story that has kept my eyes on the screen every second of each episode. With all of them trying to find the people involved in their death, we soon realise that Yeo-na and Wook’s best friend, Nam-gook (Moon Yoo-kang) were all murdered by the same people. Both being orphans and having no family members, there seems to be more mystery behind the cause of their deaths than what appears on the surface. 

OCN | Missing: The Other Side

A k-drama that incorporates the afterlife in a very intriguing yet heartwarming way makes this one worthy of a watch! Though each villager’s passing may be very sad, the way that this k-drama is written creates a totally different perspective. Duon Village is a place where villagers create their own memories and share hardships together just like a family leaving loving memories before they disappear. For a glimpse into Missing: The Other Side, click here to watch the trailer or start binging here this Halloween weekend!