Park Moo Yul, a taekwondo instructor, and Kim Yong Soo, a Manhwa store owner, are two slackers. One day, a lady stumbles upon their quarters, reads the old sign outside ("We’ll take on anything you need"), and believes them to be an investigative agency. She offers them money to find her arrogant cat, Honey. Entranced at the idea of making a quick buck, the two take on the job.

Their neighbor, fortune-teller Jung Hee Kyung, also enlists their help to find out the "ghost" that's making the eerie noise in their building. Turns out to be Honey and her three little ones, who have made a home in the walls. They also come upon three solid gold objects and a withered hand. After reporting it to the authorities, a young woman named Eun Jae comes to them to find out more information about the hand.

Thus begins the Evasive Inquiry Agency (Hangul: 얼렁뚱땅 흥신소), a 2007 KBS2 Korean Drama, penned by Park Yun Sun.


    • In Episode 4 we find out she wears falsies.
  • Accidental Hero: The trope gets the whole plot rolling.
  • Affectionate Parody: The Tag is usually in a different style. The show itself is a parody of Detective Drama.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Moo Yul's "I like you! I don't care if you're rich or poor!" in Episode 3 nets only a "sorry" and an embarrassing silence.
  • Answer Cut: As the characters are talking about regrets, Baek Min Chul says nothing but the scene immediately shifts to his delusional mother sitting alone on Christmas, waiting for him.
  • Armor-Piercing Statement: "Jo Man Ki died in a wall."
  • Armor-Piercing Slap: When they're running out of air, Hee Kyung delivers one to Baek Min Chul while he and Moo Yul are fighting.
  • Aside Glance
  • Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other:
    • The Power Trio, who spend most of their time jabbing at one another, have their moments.
    • When Hee Kyung picks up an unconscious Eun Jae from the therapist office, she chews out the staff for not taking proper care of "our Eun Jae."
  • Bad Bad Acting: Every time the gang, Eun Jae especially, attempt to throw off people by acting.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Moo Yul's reason for why Eun Jae isn't evil is simply "because she's pretty."
  • The Bechdel Test: Passes. Hee Kyung and Eun Jae's main conflict comes from their class differences.
  • Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Emperor Gojong hid his gold somewhere around Deoksu Palace, because he feared a Japanese invasion.
  • Big Heroic Run
  • Bit Character: The series has quite a bunch of these. Take for example, the three taekwondo students who start off the series chasing a cat, practicing taekwondo at Moo Yul's, visiting Yong Soo's manhwa store, etc. -- all random events that are linked to one another somehow.
  • Blind Seer:
  • Bound and Gagged: Eun Jae in episode 3.
  • Brand Names Are Better: Because her closet is stocked with fakes, Hee Kyung is immediately suspicious of Eun Jae's brand-named goods. Also, Hee Kyung has trouble selling to a pawnshop because her stuff is fake.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: To Yong Soo, one of the baduk-playing elders say, "(You) were such a smart kid. How did you grow up to be like this?"
  • Broken Pedestal: Eun Jae finds out that her father .
  • Call Back: Numerous
    • Little taekwondo kid berates teenagers who read manhwa in-store as a Call Back to an earlier scene when Yong Soo demonstrated the Slippery Slope Fallacy.
    • Moo Yul practices his later speeches to make up for his horrible public speaking, which was exhibited in the first episode.
    • Why couldn't Eun Jae couldn't get her windows open? Because the Gold Building is linked to a series of tunnels so the ground keeps shifting!
    • The Tag usually is a callback to a minor plot point in the episode.
  • Can't Reach the TV Remote
  • Can't Spit It Out: Eun Jae
  • Can Not Tell a Lie: Moo Yul
  • Casanova Wannabe: Moo Yul
  • Cats Are Mean: Honey. And Moo Yul has a scratch on his face to prove it.
  • Chase Scene: A rather short one in Case 5
  • Chekhov's Gun/Chekhov's Gunman: Too many. That paper that Yong Soo used to swat a bug a few episodes ago? Yeah, that's a map that shows where the rest of the gold is. The old man who plays baduk with the landlord? Yeah, he can decipher that map.
    • Eun Jae "threatens" 007 that he will never see his daughter again--which fails. Later, Hee Kyung mentions his daughter to get 007 to empathize with Yong Soo. Much later, 007 visits his daughter in the hospital.
  • Clark Kent Outfit: Moo Yul dons one in Episode 6.
  • Claustrophobia: Eun Jae suffers panic attacks and fainting spells due to claustrophobia.
  • Cluster Bleep Bomb: Moo Yul in Episode 4 after he finds out that his dojo has been ransacked.
  • Cold Open
  • Crappy Holidays:
    • The gang decide to celebrate Chuseok together because none of them can go home to their families: Hee Kyung's sister-in-law is Christian so having a Phony Psychic around is uncomfortable; Moo Yul owes his father and brother money; Yong Soo's family fell apart since the disappearance of Jun Soo; Eun Jae's parents are dead and her uncles are having an inheritance dispute.
    • The last couple of episodes, , is set during Christmas--and intercut with scenes of the bit characters having anywhere from awesome holidays to crappy Christmases.
  • Creepy Cemetery: Subverted
  • Daddy Issues
  • Dating Catwoman: Hee Kyung and gangster boss, Baek Min Chul
  • Deadpan Snarker: Yong Soo
  • Deliberately Monochrome: As Yong Soo trails Baek Min Chul, the scene is intercut with black-and-white flashbacks of a young Yong Soo watching his mother cry out "Why?"
  • Demonic Possession: Several times in the story, Hee Kyung is "possessed" by a ghost.
  • Designated Victim: Eun Jae
  • The Determinator: Hee Kyung
  • Love Hurts
  • Malaproper: Moo Yul messes up the old wives' tale of "pretty songpyun = pretty children."
  • Undying Loyalty: 007 won't give up his boss for his young daughter.
  • The Unfavourite: When Yong Soo visits his mother, she immediately asks "Is that you, Jun Soo?"
  • Vehicular Assault:
    • Moo Yul throws a rock at the gangsters' car when they're making off with Eun Jae.
    • Also, the gangsters attack the car in order to kidnap Moo Yul and Hee Kyung.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Eun Jae has a panic attack when the gang is hiding in a subterranean passageway.
  • What Could Have Been: Yong Soo invokes this as he flips through a photo album of his brother, Jun Soo, finally finishing up with "I'm just saying. "
  • What If: The Tag at the end of Case 10 finishes with "How many What Ifs are our lives built upon?"
  • When She Smiles: Eun Jae
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