As the opening scene of Episode 8 of "The Manipulated" unfolds, Detective Hwang and Officer Yoon arrive at Yong-sik's shop, their intentions clear as they attempt to question him about Tae-joong and make a search. However, Eun-bi, with a fiery determination, firmly asserts that they cannot simply breach the premises. She forces them to retreat, and Yong-sik pleads with Officer Yoon to refrain from further visits.
Hyeon-jung returns the "misplaced" phone to a woman in a brown coat, standing near a food stall. But just as the transaction is about to conclude, Tae-joong bursts in on his bike, snatches the phone, and speeds off. At home, he shows Yong-sik the phone, revealing that it belonged to a young male pianist who was brutally murdered. Tae-joong dials the most recently called number and demands money in exchange for returning it. The woman informs her boss, who approves and orders his henchmen to dispatch the thief after the deal.
We see the woman waiting on the street with a bag of cash. Tae-joong calls her and instructs her to give the cash to a deliveryman who stops in front of her. Once she complies, he tells her the phone will be found on top of some mailboxes. As the woman retrieves the phone, Tae-joong follows her on his bike.
Meanwhile, Yo-han learns that his people agreed to pay the thief without his permission. This revelation enrages him, and he orders a Chinese assassin to kill the man in charge. She stabs him through the head with deadly precision. Yo-han instructs her to clean up the mess and departs.
Tae-joong trails the woman to a warehouse where he steals one of the workers' uniforms and follows her. He witnesses other workers collecting DNA and other evidence from everyday household items. He records it on his phone until Yong-sik's call interrupts him, alerting him that the Chinese assassin is attempting to harm Hyeon-jung.
With all eyes on him, Tae-joong is forced into a fight against all the workers. He then rushes to Hyeon-jung's salon and engages in a fierce battle with the Chinese assassin. Tae-joong manages to hold her off long enough for the police sirens to be heard, prompting her to flee.
As Yo-han is delving into the intricacies of Tae-joong's excursion to the warehouse, a visit from Baek Do-kyung and his imposing father interrupts his thoughts. The elder Baek, a man seemingly imbued with an uncanny ability to track down even the most elusive of addresses, issues an ultimatum to Yo-han: clean up the mess Tae-joong has left by the end of the week. The encounter between Yo-han and Do-kyung is fraught with tension, their words laced with underlying hostility.
Meanwhile, Yong-sik and Tae-joong escort Hyeon-jung and her little one to Yong-sik's abode. But safety eludes them there as well, prompting Yong-sik to implore Eun-bi, who shares a flat with a friend, to offer them refuge. Eun-bi presses Tae-joong for an explanation, and he obliges, much to Yong-sik's delight when she慷慨地 shares her father's contact details. As they traverse home, a news bulletin on the murder of a pianist pierces the airwaves. The prime suspect in the case has reportedly taken his own life.
Tae-joong returns to the warehouse, where he discovers a macabre scene – all the workers and the woman in the brown coat are no more, their lives snuffed out in a cruel twist of fate. Among the chaos, he stumbles upon the severed head of the assassin Yo-han had dispatched and an envelope addressed to him, bearing a bundle of cash as if in mockery. Suddenly, a projector springs to life, revealing to Tae-joong that Do-kyung is the elusive mastermind behind his predicament. It then whispers a clue, offering a fragment of Do-kyung's Instagram handle as a guidepost to his whereabouts.
