WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Love of Kill Episode 7, "Bullet," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Song Ryang-Ha has boarded the Artemisia cruise ship to stick close to the object of his affection, Chateau Noble, only for disaster to strike. In Episode 6, a mysterious assassin boy stabbed Chateau's boss Euripedes in the neck, and now, in Episode 7, the assassin boy makes a ruthless demand.
The assassin, named Jinon Won, corners Chateau and pressures her to hand Ryang-Ha over to Jinon and his boss, Mr. Donny. Chateau doesn't yet know all the details, but Mr. Donny was once Ryang-Ha's mentor and benefactor, and now there is bad blood between them. The mystery of Ryang-Ha deepens once again, and Chateau finds herself in the middle of it all.
Episode 7 of Love of Kill raises the stakes more than any previous episode, much more so than the battle against Hou ever did. This time, it's not just Chateau's life that is threatened but also that of her foster mother Ann Dankworth, as well as Euripedes and possibly Ryang-Ha himself. The assassin boy, Jinon Won, presents a recording to prove that his team has made contact with Mrs. Dankworth, putting pressure on Chateau to do what Jinon demands of her. Jinon and his boss, the mysterious Mr. Donny, want one thing -- Ryang-Ha, captured alive at the next port on the cruise ship's journey.
This tests Chateau's loyalty to Ryang-Ha, who as a persistent yandere type has done a lot of good for her despite being so obnoxious at times. She owes Ryang-Ha a lot, and handing him over to Jinon and Mr. Donny would be a terrible way to repay him. Chateau doesn't even know what Mr. Donny plans to do if he gets his hands on Ryang-Ha; it could be interrogation, torture or even murder. Ryang-Ha is already backed into a corner, and he doesn't seem to know how to escape this deadly trap. He can't even afford to jump overboard and swim to safety somewhere, or else Mr. Donny will make everyone else pay for it. Mr. Donny isn't the type to play games, that much is certain.
Even if Chateau doesn't know what Mr. Donny intends to do with Ryang-Ha, it's clear that Mr. Donny and Ryang-Ha were once close, and if they meet again under these circumstances, it could lead to a tense scene that would reveal much about both characters. Flashbacks in Episode 7 and earlier episodes show Mr. Donny and a school-age Ryang-Ha together, with Mr. Donny in the role of Ryang-Ha's foster father or guardian. At the time, the two of them got along well, and Mr. Donny looked after the boy and even sent him to a good school. At one point in the past, as the flashback in Episode 7 shows, Mr. Donny asked the adolescent Ryang-Ha to carry out a certain mission for him, and the scene has a sinister air about it.
This suggests that Mr. Donny already viewed Ryang-Ha as a tool back then, and perhaps he always intended to raise Ryang-Ha as an assassin with a deceptive, charming exterior. If so, Mr. Donny is a cruel manipulator and schemer, not a benevolent father figure, and his mission for Ryang-Ha might tie into Chateau's own mysterious backstory. Years ago, Chateau was in the back seat of a car when the driver was shot dead, and perhaps Ryang-Ha himself was the trigger man.
Should that be the case, Mr. Donny may have an invested interest in the Noble family, either as a friend or foe, depending on Chateau's relationship with the ill-fated driver. If the driver was Chateau's guardian, Mr. Donny is hostile to the Nobles, and if that driver had been a kidnapper, Mr. Donny may have sent Ryang-Ha to save Chateau's life. Future episodes may shed more light on this tricky situation, but for now, Mr. Donny stands as Chateau's and Ryang-Ha's biggest threat, whatever his intentions may be.
