The Rainbow Taxi team takes on one of their most personal and disturbing cases yet, targeting a corrupt idol agency that preys on young dreams. In Taxi Driver Season 3 episodes 9 and 10, which aired on December 19 and 20, 2025, Kim Do-gi and his crew work to save a trainee who has been exploited, drugged, and blackmailed by the very company that promised her fame. Going undercover as a manager, Do-gi discovers a shocking scheme that turns hopeful young idols into victims for profit.
A Shocking Backstory
The story begins when Do-gi picks up a quiet young woman as a passenger. They bond over a Girls’ Generation song playing in the taxi, and she shares her dream of becoming an idol who can heal people with her music. However, after asking to be let out on a bridge, the girl, named Lee Ro-mi, attempts to end her life by jumping into the river. Do-gi reacts instantly, diving in to rescue her just in time and rushing her to a hospital.
At the hospital, Ro-mi’s situation worsens. Her manager from Yellowstar Entertainment arrives and tries to forcibly remove her, even slapping her when she resists. Witnessing this, Do-gi takes dramatic action, deliberately crashing his taxi into the manager to stop the abuse and take Ro-mi to safety. Once secure, Ro-mi tells the Rainbow Taxi team her devastating story.
In a painful flashback, we see Ro-mi and her best friend, Ji-an, as high school students overjoyed to be recruited by CEO Kang Ju-ri. The CEO convinces them to drop out of school to train full-time, leading them to sign predatory contracts with exorbitant fees they believed they could pay back after debut.
Their dream quickly became a nightmare of grueling practices, severe starvation diets, and constant psychological abuse. The worst was yet to come. Ro-mi was drugged by her manager, who gave her spiked water. She woke up disoriented in a strange, upscale bar room. Later, CEO Kang presented her with a compromising video from that night and framed it as a scandal that would ruin her and her group. Kang’s associate then pressured Ro-mi to agree to “date” the man who made the video for a year to keep it secret. Feeling trapped and hopeless, Ro-mi chose suicide.
Do-gi Infiltrates Yellowstar Entertainment
To uncover the full truth and gather evidence, the Rainbow Taxi team devises an infiltration plan. With Ro-mi’s original manager now hospitalized, Do-gi auditions to be his replacement. He presents himself as ruthlessly loyal, even staging a fight with teammate Park Jin-eon to prove his willingness to follow orders. CEO Kang, played by a guest-starring Jang Nara, is impressed and hires him.
As the new manager for the girl group Elements, Do-gi gains inside access. He immediately sees the horrific conditions the trainees endure, surviving on a single piece of kimbap per meal. While maintaining his cover, he shows them genuine kindness, a stark contrast to the abuse they are used to. He also clones CEO Kang’s laptop, finding the exploitative contracts and identifying the location of the bar where Ro-mi was taken.
A critical test comes on the day of Elements’ debut rehearsal. Member Ji-an collapses from malnutrition right before going on stage. With the performance in jeopardy, Do-gi makes a shocking move. Having memorized the choreography from watching their practices, he steps in to perform in Ji-an’s place.
“He does the choreography perfectly and even gets the compliments of the judges,” one recap noted, highlighting how Do-gi’s surprising performance saved the group’s chance to debut.
CEO Kang, however, remains suspicious. To test Do-gi’s loyalty to her cruel methods, she orders him to slap the recovering Ji-an as punishment. Before Do-gi is forced to break his cover, Jin-eon creates another diversion, allowing Do-gi to appear loyal without harming the girl. This act finally earns him Kang’s full trust.
Twisted Motive and Final Revenge Plan
Episode 10 reveals the tragic origins of CEO Kang’s cruelty through a flashback. She was once an aspiring idol herself, but her career ended brutally when a stage accident led to her leg being amputated. Her shattered dream festered into deep resentment.
“She grew to despise the industry that discarded her, and even more, the young idols who still chased the dream she lost,” a review explained. Her company became a twisted mechanism for revenge.
With Kang’s trust secured, Do-gi is brought to a secret meeting. He discovers the horrifying truth: Yellowstar Entertainment is a front for human trafficking. Kang debuts girl groups not to make them stars, but to sell them to wealthy VIP clients through an exclusive club. After being exploited, the girls are discarded into adult entertainment work. Kang even buys herself a pair of designer shoes—shoes she cannot wear due to her amputation—as a trophy for each girl she ruins.
The Rainbow Taxi team presents their findings to Ro-mi and gives her a choice: walk away or seek revenge. Determined to protect her friends still trapped in the company, Ro-mi chooses revenge. The team springs into a multi-pronged operation. When another member, Soo-jung, is selected to be sent to a client, teammates Jin-eon and Kyung-koo disguise themselves and go in her place, causing chaos at the club. Do-gi intercepts the car transporting Soo-jung, flipping it to ensure her safety.
Simultaneously, hacker Ahn Go-eun hijacks a live music broadcast. She airs recorded audio of CEO Kang and a complicit TV producer discussing their illegal dealings, exposing them to the entire nation. The producer is killed in a panicked accident during the broadcast, and the media descends on Kang’s building.
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New Beginning
Cornered, CEO Kang flees to the rooftop, calling Do-gi for help. He is already there waiting for her. He confronts her, telling her that her pain over her own failed dream does not justify destroying the lives of others.
As police sirens approach and drone cameras broadcast the scene, Kang is overwhelmed. Stumbling backward, she falls from the roof’s edge. Do-gi reaches out to save her, but she ultimately lets go, choosing death over facing justice.
Do-gi returns Ro-mi to her dorm, where she is tearfully reunited with the other Elements members. The group re-debuts with Ro-mi as their leader, finally pursuing their dream free from exploitation. The Rainbow Taxi team watches their performance on TV, having become genuine fans of the group they saved. The episode ends with a tease for the next mission, as Kyung-koo is seen taking the driver’s seat of the mission taxi.
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