“Rum = Iori Muga / Wakita Kanenori” Theory Summary (Updated)
Rum bending his knee for his “old man” disguise (like Kid):
Rum carrying two phones (like Fukamachi):
Rum having a monocular vision habit of turning his head often:
Muga inherited his codename "Rum" from his father, who has served the boss for roughly 50 years. Muga is disguising as his father since at least 17 years back after being taught by Vermouth, to maintain his father's influence and control in the organization, without being judged for his young age as the new second-in-command.
Most likely to find and eliminate the one who is behind the “Haneda Kohji murder case” info leaks online that highlights his 17-year-old screw-up (the dying message that exposes the Boss’ surname “Karasuma”), as well as anyone that actively investigates that case.
His first move was most likely to watch/surveillance the actions of Haneda Kohji’s noble family as “Iori Muga” (Butler of the Oooka family), using the Oooka’s close connection to them (since the Haneda family seemingly rely and trust the Oooka household), since they would naturally be the first suspects behind the leaks.
His second move was to investigate the famous detective Mouri Kogoro, who got involved with the “Soul Detective” Hotta Gaito’s Kohji case investigation (File 951-953), as “Wakita Kanenori” (old mystery-loving sushi chef), using Iroha sushi restaurant that is next-door to Mouri Detective Agency as a means to get close to him in order to verify if he is investigating the Kohji case and eliminate him if necessary (File 975-977).
Timeline speculation on Rum’s relevant actions as “Iori Muga” (True appearance) & “Wakita Kanenori” (Fake appearance)
File 981-983:
Rum coincidentally finds Bourbon in Cafe Poirot while tailing Heiji, leading to him becoming suspicious of his closeness to Kogoro, as well as trying to flee from a potential crime scene to avoid further involvement and contact with Bourbon (in his true appearance).
File 1002-1003:
Rum appears to help Momiji, and then is absent for a moment before getting a chance to see Shinichi. After Shinichi and Heiji leaves with Ayanokoji, Rum appears and by chance misses Kudo Shinichi.
File 1005:
Rum sees Kudo Shinichi in the headlines and becomes suspicious of his alleged death.
File 1008:
Rum makes an attempt to get close to the Kudo mansion in order to investigate Shinichi himself, but fails due to the media’s gathering. Rum then sees a suspicious redaction from the blogger, and realizes (after having already confirmed with Momiji that Shinichi was indeed involved in the Kyoto case) that there is a cover up and orders Bourbon by message to investigate Kudo Shinichi, knowing that he works in Café Poirot under Mouri’s home, where Ran (Momiji’s friend who is Kudo Shinichi’s classmate) lives and can easily get info for him. The reason for ordering Bourbon could both have been to lighten the load for himself (as someone working with 2 active identities) and also so he can test Bourbon’s loyalty (due to being close to someone that he suspects is investigating the Kohji case).
File 1011-1012:
Rum gets impatient and stresses Bourbon. He then gets some kind of intel reply from Bourbon (maybe the fact that Kudo Yusaku came to Japan) that is suspiciously lacking.
File 1027-1031:
Rum decides to take the opportunity to investigate Bourbon (as a potential traitor) after finding an opening to join in on Mouri’s case, by looking into his relationship with Kogoro. Instead however, he notices that Conan, who is smart for a kid, is closer with Bourbon than initially perceived (during the Cafe Poirot case).
File 1039-1042:
Rum tells Momiji to involve Kudo Shinichi in her challenge to Heiji, in order to start investigating him himself once more (after not getting anywhere with Bourbon’s help), but then starts noticing that Conan is close with Shinichi too. He then starts observing Conan more closely (to the point of later noticing a shift in his expression) and even rushes Momiji (by telling her about Heiji’s romance plans) into offering him for Kudo Shinichi to rely on so he can directly converse with him and figure out his whereabouts, but fails.
File 1055-1057:
Rum continues his Kogoro investigation, and while solving the case also relies on and acknowledges Conan’s capabilities (after having observed him with Bourbon and Heiji in the past) and decides to test his Kohji case knowledge by referencing the missing shogi piece from Kohji’s crime scene discreetly, in case Conan, the smart kid, got involved with Kogoro’s potential Kohji case investigation, but fails to get a revealing reaction.
File 1058-1060:
Rum sends Vermouth instead of Bourbon to verify whether Kudo Yusaku is an active threat towards the organization (due to his son’s involvement), but still gets no helpful information.
File 1062-1066:
Rum leads and supports his BO subordinates to hunt and kill an FBI agent on the run. He learns that it’s André Camel, who he once encountered 2 years ago while testing Rye’s loyalty (similarly to how he is currently testing Bourbon’s loyalty) while disguised as an old man.
File 1088-1090:
Rum reunites with his former coworker Kuroda Hyoue, who he worked with from 7 years ago (after Kuroda's coma) until 3 years ago while infiltrating the public security, and reveals while talking to Kuroda that he has officially found out about Bourbon's true identity of being an NPA undercover agent.
Rum suspects Wakasa to be the bodyguard Asaka that he failed to eliminate 17 years ago, after she glared suspiciously at him (File 1072), and tries to gain information by asking Conan about her, but fails to get a helpful answer. He later hears about her going to a chess tournament with the kids, and makes an assassination attempt with Chianti and Korn's help, but gets outsmarted by her and confirms that she is indeed Asaka. Rum then considers de-aging his right eye to when it had a photographic memory ability using APTX4869, that he suspects has a de-aging side-effect, which is making his pursuit of the APTX4869 victim Kudo Shinichi all the more a priority.
Rum witnesses Conan's true mature capabilities and competence on par with Heiji (a high school detective) after getting a chance to join in on Conan's and Heiji's plan to outsmart criminals, which further puts Conan's childish oblivious answer regarding Wakasa into question.
Rum decides to investigate Conan and tries to test him, after his recent demonstration of deductive capabilities together with Heiji, and encounters Andre Camel during a case, under the alias of Ando Rekiya, and realizes he failed to eliminate him during his previous FBI hunt with his subordinates. While trying to capture him, after realizing his "Wakita Kanenori" cover got blown by him, he gets ambushed by Asaka Rachel, who tries to capture him instead to exert her revenge, and confirms that she indeed heard his voice 17 years ago. Rum then retreats and leaves Iroha sushi restaurant, along with his "Wakita Kanenori" identity, for good.
Rum sees shrunken Mary in a leaked news photo, similar to Shinichi, and realizes immediately that he has found Mary Akai, who went missing after getting drugged by Vermouth and falling into Thames River. He confirms his suspicions of APTX4869's de-aging side-effect, making his pursuit of both Kudo Shinichi (who seemingly didn't de-age much) and Mary Akai (who shrank considerably) even more a priority in order to figure out the necessary conditions to achieve that effect.
Link to new updates on this theory...
