A comic action drama in which a veiled cultural asset thief 'Skunk' and an unofficial cultural asset recovery team 'Karma' unite against those who cannot be judged by the law.
DirectorChoi Joon-bae
WritersShin Kyung-il, Kang Sook
Episode 1
Apr 12, 2023
Inspector Choi Min Woo transfers to the Cultural Heritage Team of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency after getting into trouble with her superior at the substation. Instead of greeting her at the police station, Tae In, the team captain, calls her to the broadcasting station for her first mission. Meanwhile, Young Chan loses the goods he illegally smuggled to Skunk again, so he joins hands with Chairman Yang, who is looking for the Joseon Tongbo with holes.
Episode 2
Apr 13, 2023
Skunk breaks into Choi Song Chul's house with the help of his assistant, Chun Ja, to steal Volume One of Jikji. However, high-voltage currents run across the rooftops and grounds at his house that can even take one's life once they make a single mistake. Meanwhile, Tae In visits the crime scene at Chairman Yang's summer house in the middle of the night alone to find out about the killer.
Episode 3
Apr 19, 2023
Coincidentally, the cultural assets Skunk sends to the Cultural Heritage Team match the missing assets listed by Dae Myung a while back. Tae In finds the connection rather suspicious and plans to use Dae Myung as bait to lure Skunk in. Meanwhile, the ambitious Kim Young Soo, director of Mugung Art Gallery, puts up a national treasure for auction, and Dae Myung, who was put on a particular task by the Cultural Heritage Administration, heads to the auction. (Source: Viu)
Episode 4
Apr 20, 2023
While investigating a murder case related to Joseon Tongbo, Cultural Heritage Team finds out that someone is collecting all seven Joseon Tongbo. They could be the key to finding the assets lost during the Japanese Invasion of Korea. Cultural Heritage Team decides to dig into this further and ask Dae Myeong for cooperation. (Source: Viu)
Episode 5
Apr 26, 2023
Dae Myeong joins the Cultural Heritage Team as Skunk to find the lost treasures of Joseon and get down on Mugunghwa Foundation. Tae In starts their first project by questioning Kim Young Soo of Mugunghwa Foundation about Joseon Tongbo coins. Meanwhile, Min Woo successfully arrests Doctor Ko and takes off to meet an anonymous informant who knows about Chairman Yang's murder. (Source: Viu)
Episode 6
Apr 27, 2023
Skunk saves Min Woo from Viper and disappears again. Ironically, Doctor Ko joins Team Karma to search for the remaining Joseon Tongbo coins, and Dae Myeong invites the team to meet Chun Ja for the first time. To get into Jang Chun Fung's safe, Team Karma flies to Jeju Island, but an uninvited guest tags along with Dae Myeong. (Source: Viu)
Episode 7
May 3, 2023
Skunk and his team successfully steal the Joseon Tongbo coin at Jang Chun Fung's hotel according to the plan. However, Viper appears out of nowhere to ruin it as if he knows their location. Meanwhile, Young-soo desperately waits for the fated moment to come, and Ae-ri gets into Dae-myung's room at the hotel and finds Skunk's mask.
Episode 8
May 4, 2023
Team Karma safely returns from Jeju Island and looks into traps in Young-soo's secret vault in the training facility of Mugunghwa Foundation. However, they cannot get a signal to it even with the GPS tracker on the fake Joseon Tongbo coin. Meanwhile, Ae-ri joins Team Karma, and her first mission is to get Young-soo's fingerprint.
Episode 9
May 10, 2023
Skunk and Min-woo manage to get inside Young-soo's maze. However, it is their first time sneaking into a secret vault without any information, so they have to make sure they don't get caught in his traps. Meanwhile, Young-soo knew they were planning to break in all along, and he is waiting for them to fall for his deadly trap.
Episode 10
May 11, 2023
Dae-myung and Min-woo reach the last room out of the three traps. The third trap looks like an ordinary room but has a strange-looking clock in it. Meanwhile, Doctor Ko reappears to join Team Karma, and Min-woo gets shot by Young-soo.
Episode 11
May 17, 2023
Dae-myung gets furious when he realizes Viper is the murderer who killed his parents. Viper gets away, and Dae-myung faints when Tae-in and Chang-hoon arrive. Now that the day Kim Young-soo has been waiting for comes, he heads to Gyeongju, and Team Karma tracks him down.
Episode 12
May 18, 2023
Viper is on his way to take revenge on Young-soo. He finds out his sister was killed by Shota, and he has been fooled by Young-soo all along. Finally, the handle of the Big Dipper dips into the well as predicted, and Young-soo is about to get the Bead of Eternal Life in his hands.
ParkMin
@ParkMin
The drama should've been called Karma or Skunk, more appropriate than whatever this mouthful title is. Anyway, the drama was quite average, delivering a forgettable experience that was hard to get excited about. Despite the intriguing concept of treasure hunting, it quickly devolved into a series of predictable and uninspired scenes. The characters and their backstories were bland, making it difficult to care about what happens to them and round them. The dialogue was often stale and lacked the sharpness or humor that could have added some much needed zest. Speaking of humor, while the drama was structured as an action comedy but the latter often fell short on delivering good material, with barely a couple of memorable comedic moments at the end. On the other hand, the action was a constant juggling act between enjoyable performances and half-arsed imitations. The police force in this drama was as incompetent as every other drama involving police work, as expected. They went out of their way to shamefully show how bad the police force was and subsequently made Skunk step down to an equal level just to make the dynamic between the two work, forcefully. The drama had an idea to work with but it barely done anything worthy with it.
MovieGuys
@MovieGuys
Yes Stealer: The Treasure Keeper, is a little schmaltzy and silly, in a way that feels very Korean. That said, you know what, there's a lot to like here too. The back story of a artefact crime and recovery police unit who team up with a Robin Hood style, artefacts thief nicknamed "Skunk", is more interesting than it might seem, on first inspection. Yes the comedy is a bit lame but the back story has lots of action, with some interesting plot twists and turns. Its by no means a boring watch "if" you get beyond the first couple of admittedly, rather pedestrian, episodes. As is usually the case too with Korean series, the acting is more than decent, plus production values are of a high standard. In summary, yes the humour is a little lame but the underlying premise and story are intriguing and enjoyable, with lots of well paced action, to keep things moving along.
