Bridging worlds: 6 similarities between A Killer Paradox and Nam Joo Hyuk’s Vigilante!

A Killer Paradox’s Lee Tang and Vigilante’s Kim Ji-Young might as well be connected through a parallel universe as they literally feel like the same person because of these commonalities!

A Killer Paradox starring Choi Woo-Sik and Son Suk-Ku recently released on Netflix and has been trending at the number 1 position since the past one week. The story is about Lee Tang played by Woo-Sik who accidentally becomes a serial killer one night and everything that unfolds after that is just a series of lies to hide the biggest lie of all. There are many dark themes and sub-genres in it that you will realize as you keep watching the show. But one thing that constantly kept coming to my mind was how similar it is to Nam Joo Hyuk in Vigilante which was released on Disney+Hotstar last November.

The two characters have so much in common and even in the storyline, they merge into each other in major ways. Both Choi Woo-Sik and Nam Joo-Hyuk are actors par excellence who have proved their worth on-screen more times than one. But with their anti-hero roles, both the actors just hit differently. As a K-drama fan, you would’ve never imagined that Baek Ye-Jin from Twenty-Five Twenty-One and Choi Woong from Our Beloved Summer could murder people so brutally and not just get away with it but also make us root from them till the end.

Also Read: Decoding romance: 8 elements that define the charm of K-Dramas!

Here’s why these two characters feel like they're cinematic twins!

The anti-hero trope

Both of them make the perfect anti-heroes. From the very beginning itself you know that they are not the most ethical human beings. But somehow you just cannot help but root for them because of their otherwise innocent face when they’re living their normal lives and their past just breaks your heart.

A troubled past

Lee-Tang and Kim Ji-Young were victims of bullying, abuse and a really traumatic childhood. Lee Tang and his best friend were bullied throughout their high school years; for someone who couldn’t stand up for himself at all in his teenage life, he has now taken justice into his own hands. Kim Ji-Yong saw his mother being brutally killed by a serial killer at a very young age which left him with the trauma of wanting to put an end to every dangerous criminal lurking around in his town.

They killed people who were absolute monsters of society

Yes, they both are termed as serial killers and the way their case is treated by the cops is the same way they would for a serial killer. But the two weren’t killing innocent people. Lee Tang first ends up murdering another serial killer who actually was a bad one. Then he killed a woman who buried her own parents and then his next target was a rapist. Kim Ji-Young went behind the corrupt businessmen and murderers too. Both of these characters gave justice to people who were failed by the law but when it comes to ethics of course their characters are up for debate. The only difference between the two of them is that Kim Ji-Young always wanted to kill the bad guys and Lee Tang accidentally became a serial killer. 

Neither of them have a love interest

There are no anti-heroines for these anti-heroes. Being a Korean drama, it still has no romantic plotline and it makes sense as both shows are gore thrillers and there’s really no space for love to blossom in the middle of that.

They unexpectedly receive help

Kim Ji-Young receives help from one of his ‘fans’ who pretends to be the fake vigilante just so the cops stop chasing the real one. Whereas Lee Tang gets help from the ‘heroes’ group who are basically people who have lost a loved one or faced abuse at the hands of someone and they want to help Lee Tang get revenge for them. 

They're in a 'catch me if you can' situation with a cop

Kim Ji-Young was constantly getting away from Cho-Heon, an intimidating cop who could beat him to a pulp if he wanted to. And Lee-Tang is hiding himself from Jang Nan-Gam, who is the only one catching his pattern of lies and seeing beyond what’s being staged. 

Did you notice any other similarities between the two? Let us know in the comments below!

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