The latest episodes of the hit Korean thriller The Manipulated have shifted the series into high gear, revealing the shocking origin of Park Taejoong’s false conviction and pitting him against his manipulator in a deadly car race. Episodes 5 and 6, which premiered on November 12, 2025, on Disney+ and Hulu, finally show how the ordinary deliveryman was meticulously framed and throw him into a brutal fight for survival orchestrated by his unseen enemy.
The Mastermind’s Plan Revealed
Episode 5 of The Manipulated opens with a critical flashback to five years ago, finally showing viewers the start of the conspiracy that destroyed Park Taejoong’s life. The sequence begins with a panicked Baek Do-kyung, a wealthy man from a powerful family, calling his father for help after a young woman he was with fails to wake up. To clean up his son’s mess, the father immediately contacts Ahn Yohan, the shadowy fixer.
Yohan begins an elaborate process to manufacture a scapegoat for the crime. Using advanced computer systems and CCTV footage, he identifies Park Taejoong, a deliveryman who frequently delivered to the area, as his target. The episode details the chilling precision of Yohan’s plan. He and his team monitor Taejoong’s every move, even harvesting DNA from discarded items belonging to him and his girlfriend. This genetic material is then planted on the victim. Yohan’s man, posing as a doctor, also killed Taejoong’s brother and planted his bracelet at the crime scene. Every piece of evidence was carefully constructed to secure Taejoong’s conviction.
The episode also highlights Yohan’s ruthless nature in a separate scene where he cuts off the finger of a man who insulted him, embedding it into one of his sculptures—a grim symbol of his control over others.
In the present day, the imprisoned Taejoong remains cautious while other inmates enjoy a feast provided by Yohan. He doesn’t touch the food and makes a brief attempt to escape that night, only to be confronted by Yohan himself. At this point, neither man is fully aware of their connected past.
A Deadly Race for Survival
The next day, Yohan reveals his latest experiment to the prisoners. They are given numbered uniforms and told they will participate in a car race. The winner is promised a massive prize of 5 billion won (approximately 5 million dollars). When one prisoner refuses to participate, Yohan shoots him on the spot, establishing there are no rules and no way out.
The race is presented as a potential business venture to Yohan’s VIP guest, Baek Do-kyung. Yohan plans to broadcast such events on the dark web, allowing global betting on prisoners’ lives. The inmates are taken to a port area and led to garages containing their vehicles, which range from sports cars to dilapidated heaps, making the competition inherently unfair.
As the prisoners prepare, alliances and targets emerge. Another inmate, Deok-su, tells Yohan he is not interested in the money but wants permission to personally kill Taejoong. Meanwhile, inmate Gu Ji-yong proposes a team-up with Taejoong, hoping to win the prize money to buy his grandmother an apartment.
Before the race begins, Taejoong requests a meeting with Yohan. While ostensibly asking about the purpose of the brutal contest, Taejoong uses the opportunity to scout the surroundings from Yohan’s vantage point, carefully analyzing possible escape routes.
When Taejoong asks Yohan why he created this violent game, Yohan simply replies that he finds “fun” in it.
It is during this meeting that a plant in the room, which requires specific vitamins, triggers Yohan’s memory and helps him fully realize that Taejoong is the man he framed years earlier.
Chaos on the Track
The race instantly descends into chaos as inmates clash over better vehicles and target Taejoong. Yohan secretly plants a gun in one car and gives gangs the green light to kill Taejoong during the event. Thinking Taejoong is driving car number 9, multiple inmates target it. In a clever switch, it is revealed that Gu Ji-yong is driving the decoy car while Taejoong emerges on a motorcycle.
Frustrated by Taejoong’s resilience, Yohan changes the rules mid-race. He announces that anyone who captures the biker, dead or alive, will receive double the prize money—10 billion won. This turns every remaining inmate against Taejoong, leading to a violent, high-speed chase involving car crashes and a brutal knife fight.
As Taejoong navigates the chaos, it becomes clear that his earlier meeting with Yohan was a strategic move to plan his escape. He identifies a metal ramp that could be his way out of the enclosed arena. In the final moments, he uses a fuel canister from his bike to create a massive explosion as a diversion and speeds toward the ramp.
The sixth episode ends on a tense cliffhanger. With Taejoong racing toward freedom, Yohan grabs a rifle, takes aim, and fires at the escaping prisoner. The screen cuts to black, leaving viewers to wonder if Taejoong was shot or if he managed to escape the arena.
The intense setup promises an even more explosive continuation in episodes 7 and 8, which are scheduled to release on November 19, 2025, on Disney+ and Hulu.
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