In Like Flowers in Sand, years after leaving Geosan with her family, Du-sik returns to her hometown as Oh Yu-gyeong, and the secrets of her past are revealed.
The mystery of Du-sik’s past is rooted in an incident that occurred 20 years ago when Du-sik and Baek-du were children.
As they live in a small town, everyone knows them and their families. The townspeople still remember Du-sik as the leader of the village children.
However, the people of Geosan are unwilling to talk about Du-sik. No matter how much Hyeon-uk tries to get them to talk, they never reveal anything.
Even Du-sik’s best friend, Baek-du, does not know why she and her family left the town without a word. Du-sik never said a proper goodbye to him.
Furthermore, she never tried to contact him, and the two did not get to see each other for years until Du-sik returned as Oh Yu-gyeong.
Oh Jun’s fall from grace
When Hyeon-uk starts suspecting that Yu-gyeong is Du-sik, he looks into Du-sik’s past. It does not take him long to figure out what happened.
It is then that Du-sik tells him the whole story. Du-sik’s father, Oh Jun, was once a renowned champion who dominated the ssireum scene in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
The people of Geosan respected Oh Jun. He later became the head coach of the Geosan-gun Ssireum Team.
Shortly after, Joo Cheol-yong, one of the wrestlers coached by Oh Jun, passed away. Suspicions arose that Oh Jun might have been involved in his death.
It was rumored that Oh Jun had tried to fix a match. He had asked Joo Cheol-yong to lose a match.
When Joo Cheol-yong refused, Oh Jun got into a fight with him. The fight ended with Oh Jun killing the wrestler.
Due to these rumors, Oh Jun was charged with murder, but the police found no evidence of his involvement in the wrestler’s death.
While Oh Jun was officially acquitted, people did not believe in his innocence. They kept accusing him, and even a young Du-sik was affected.
Oh Jun went from being a respected champion to a disgraced wrestler. It ruined his and his family’s lives, and he was forced to leave Geosan with his family.
20 years later, Du-sik, now a police officer, returns to town to investigate the murder of Choi Chil-seong, an infamous match-fixer.
Du-sik knows that Choi Chil-seong was in Geosan when Joo Cheol-yong was murdered. She believes that he had something to do with his death.
For Du-sik, Choi Chil-seong’s case is not just any other case; it is personal — it is Du-sik’s chance to prove her father’s innocence.
Also Read: Oh Du-sik/Yu-gyeong: Like Flowers in Sand character explained
