The Nice Guy Episode 12 recap: Sang-yeol frames Seok-cheol, Tae-hoon falls into a trap and a brutal stabbing changes everything

JTBC's popular drama series The Nice Guy is heading towards a gripping finale. Episode 12 of The Nice Guy dropped on August 22, 2025, and it turned out to be quite intense.

Previously, in Episode 11 of The Nice Guy, just after Mi-young and Park Seok-cheol broke up, Mi-young's mother passed away during an emergency surgery. After the funeral, Mi-young confessed that she broke up with him just to keep Seok-cheol safe and away from all the troubles. On the other hand, Tae-hoon, who was also in love with Mi-young, tried his best to manipulate her by paying her mother's hospital bills. Seok-hee made a brave decision. She decided to give the money she had saved for studying abroad to Seok-kyung to pay off the home loan. When Dr. Jang learned about this, he offered to accompany her to the States, but she refused.

When Chang-soo met with Seok-cheol's father, he told him about his son's resignation. Seok-cheol's father urged Chang-soo to let his son live a life away from the shackles of crime. It seemed that Chang-soo also agreed to do so. But tragedy struck when Sang-yeol found Chang-soo's unconscious body in the office. Sang-yeol, hungry for power and position, decided to meddle with Chang-soo's treatment after he learned that he had a brain tumor. He asked his men to bring back Seok-cheol. The episode ended with a tense moment when, upon Sang-yeol's orders, his men stopped Seok-cheol between a bridge.

Continue reading to know what happened in The Nice Guy Episode 12.

The Nice Guy Episode 12 recap: Sang-yeol tortures Seok-cheol and tags him as a traitor

The Nice Guy Episode 12 begins on a tense note. The gang, upon Sang-yeol's orders, blocked Seok-cheol’s path and dragged him back to the office. Back in the office, Sang-yeol instructs his men to torture Seok-cheol, but when nobody comes forward to do so, he takes it upon himself.

Meanwhile, we see Tae-hun rethinking his conversation with Seok-cheol and his request to restore their friendship. We also find Mi-young waiting patiently for Seok-cheol to return at the restoration site.

Back at the Myongsan Industries office, Sang-yeol accuses Seok-cheol of being a traitor and frames him for working for Tae-hun. Sang-yeol asks him to take back his resignation and rejoin the gang; however, Seok-cheol stays firm and refuses to do so. When the gang members refuse to hit Seok-cheol, Sang-yeol takes a rod and hits the members instead, and then he brutally attacks Seok-cheol and threatens him.

"You won't be able to leave here in one piece."

At a point, it feels like Sang-yeol is venting his personal vendetta against Seok-cheol. He thrashes him brutally and ties him up. He takes his phone and shows the gang his messages with Tae-hoon. Sang-yeol then lays a trap for Tae-hoon, he sends a text from Seok-cheol's phone and asks him to meet for dinner. Sang-yeol tells him that he plans to kill Tae-hoon first, then Seok-cheol.

The Nice Guy Episode 12 recap: Tae-hoon falls in Sang-yeol's trap, and Seok-cheol gets stabbed

When Tae-hoon receives a text from Seok-cheol's phone, he arrives at the restaurant. Little did he know that he was unknowingly walking into Sang-yeol’s trap. When Tae-hoon gulps the beer, he understands that he has fallen into a trap. He tries to fight off the gang members, and right then, Sang-cheol appears and says,

"It's so nice to see you here. Today's the day you die. I'll make sure to hold a memorial service for you each year. Go on and die."

What follows is a violent confrontation, as Tae-hoon tries to fight back, his gang members arrive on time and help him escape. Tae-hoon misunderstands Seok-cheol and thinks that he is the mastermind behind the attack. His gang locates Mi-young.

On the other hand, a gang member unties Seok-cheol and helps him escape while Sang-yeol and his men are busy fighting Tae-hoon. Meanwhile, a masked man follows Seok-cheol. Seok-cheol meets Mi-young and asks his sir to give a lift to Mi-young to the bus terminal. As Tae-hoon's men arrive, Seok-cheol attempts to escape in a car. He then abandons the car and runs through the subway and manages to board a train.

After a tense chase, he finally reunites with Mi-young at the bus terminal. But unfortunately, he's stabbed by the same masked person who followed him previously. As he succumbs to the wounds, he's rushed to the hospital immediately. Tae-hoon tells the detective that he was not behind the attack. When Mi-young is asked to identify the killer, she finds it difficult to spot them correctly.

In the meantime, Seok-cheol's father visited him in the hospital and blamed himself for his son's condition. After spending days in a coma, Seok-cheol finally wakes up.

The Nice Guy Episode 12 recap: Who stabbed Seok-cheol?

Since Seok-cheol was a part of Chang-soo's gang, Tae-hoon and his men were the major suspects. Even though they repeatedly said during the investigation that they were innocent. When Seok-cheol regained consciousness, he was asked to identify the killer. But even Seok-cheol was not able to say who it was. Sang-yeol also visits Seok-cheol in the hospital. Meanwhile, Mi-young is determined that it must be Tae-hoon and tells the detective the same.

As Seok-cheol tries to rethink the unfortunate incident, he manages to identify the stabber. Turns out Seok-cheol's attacker was Jang Wooseok, a student of Myongsan High School who was desperate to join the gang and even idolized Seok-cheol. He might be working on Sang-cheol's orders.

The Nice Guy episodes 13 and 14 (finale) will drop on August 29, 2025, on JTBC.

Also read: The Nice Guy Episode 11 recap: Seok-chul and Mi-young reunite, Seok-hee sacrifices her dream and Sang-yeol plots against Chang-soo

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Edited by Sezal Srivastava