Mystic Pop-Up Bar episode 4 recap and breakdown

This recap of Netflix K-Drama series Mystic Pop-Up Bar episode 4 contains significant spoilers.

Access all the episode recaps.

How does Mystic Pop-Up Bar episode 4 open?

Episode 4 returns to the previous scene with Kang Yeo-rin protecting Han Kang-bae. She believes he is stalking her. Weol-ju turns up and Kang Yeo-rin asks who they are. Weol-ju pretends they are part of the CIA and the brings in a man, seemingly the director of the CIA (it’s really Guibanjang), to make Kang Yeo-rin believe it. Mystic Pop-Up Bar episode 4 starts off with some comedy before an extravagant chapter begins. Weol-ju is preparing for a party with plenty of food — she’ll need Han Kang Bae for help. Kang-bae is very busy infatuated with Kang Yeo-rin following her home. She notices and asks what he’s doing. She tells him that he makes her feel awkward and uncomfortable.

Annual Dream World Lottery Battle

When Han Kang-bae opens up the Mystic Pop-Up Bar, he enters an afterlife party — it’s the annual Dream World Lottery Battle; a field day for the dead. The winner gets to enter its descendant’s dreams to relay the winning numbers. Weol-ju needs Han Kang Bae because it will be an easy score for her target of 100,000.

Choi Seok-pan is desperate to win the lottery battle to sever the poverty streak in his family. Han Kang-bae asks if he is by any chance related to Choi Jin-dong who works at the Kapeul mart — he confirms he is. Choi Seok-pan asks Han Kang-bae how he ended up here. Kang-bae is then introduced to Death, bringing the character to a real afterlife experience.

The Lottery Battle begins — the ancestors gather in the field. Meanwhile, Choi Jin-dong is spending time with his mother eating noodles. Jin-dong gives his mother money for back surgery but she refuses it. Mystic Pop-Up Bar episode 4 makes poverty and power a theme again just like in episode 2.

Let the battle begin

The Battle begins with a true or false quiz. Choi Seok-pan moves to the next round by getting the question right. Seok-pan also wins the next few rounds, marching through the competition. He reaches the finals and he’s up against nobleman Kim Du-yeong. He nearly loses but he uses his secret weapon, a windmill, and beats the nobleman who falls over. Choi Seok-pan wins the Lottery Battle. He can now give lottery numbers to a descendant’s dream.

Jin-dong gets the numbers

Choi Seok-pan gives Choi Jin-dong the lottery numbers in his dream but then there is a twist. Weol-ju sees a message that Jin-dong is going to die the next day. Weol-ju is worried about her “100,000 number” but Han Kang-bae is worried about Jin-dong. Seok-pan begs with Death to save him. Death says they can acquire good deeds from another dead person but that it’s illegal to acquire good deeds for free — they must give that person something valuable in return. Seok-pan says he has nothing valuable — Han Kang-bae suggests exchanging the lottery numbers but Death says it has to be someone who has something to do with Seok-pan’s family.

Weol-ju tells Seok-pan to give up and give the lottery numbers in Jin-dong’s next life. Seok-pan begs Weol-ju for help. Weol-ju remembers her mother’s sacrifice for her and wells up. Death gives them the time of death — 11:03 am and it will be an accidental death.

A race against time to find good deeds

Back on Earth, the team head to the family register records to find good deeds linked to Seok-pan — the team get a match, Lee Kkeut-sun; she did many good deeds. Weol-ju, Han Kang-bae, and Guibanjang head to an afterlife orphanage to look for Director Kkeut-sun. Weol-ju asks her to share some of her good deeds and tries to give her the lottery numbers for her the father-in-law. Kkeut gives Weol-ju a pouch of good deeds. Meanwhile, when Jin-dong wakes up he writes down the lottery numbers. Mystic Pop-Up Bar episode 4 is quite a crazy chapter, introducing many elements and fantasy-like variables.

While in the afterlife, someone steals the good deeds pouch. While Guibanjang tries to get the pouch back, Han Kang-bae tries to protect Jin-dong at work. Time runs out and Death heads to Jin-dong for his death but Weol-ju delays him, stating the good deeds pouch will arrive soon. Death tries to put Jin-dong’s death in motion but Weol-ju warns him and Han Kang-bae pushes him out of the way of a warehouse accident.

And Death doesn’t give up

Death changes the cause of death to “heart attack” but once again, Weol-ju stops him in his path. As Kang Yeo-rin walks in, Death’s powers stop working — this is an important scene. Han Kang Bae’s powers do not work either around the young woman. Guibanjang then arrives with the good deeds pouch dramatically with his hair wet and in slow motion; Weol-ju looks blown away by him. Jin-dong is saved. Kkeut visits Jeom-rye (Jin-dong’s grandmother) and thanks her for a worthwhile life. Kkeut uses a panacea to heal Jeom-rye’s back while asleep — she used the lottery numbers to buy it. Jin-dong returns home — he doesn’t win the lottery numbers but his grandma shows him how her back is fixed and that it doesn’t hurt at all.

How does Mystic Pop-Up Bar episode 4 end?

Weol-ju is now at number 999,994. In the Mystic Pop-Up Bar, Han Kang-bae collapses and he is burning up — he’s overworked himself. A former colleague tells Guibanjang how the afterlife police are thinking of reinstating him; he said he will think about it. Guibanjang joins his colleague on his latest mission to defeat an evil spirit. Weol-ju puts Han Kang-bae to bed and he grabs her hand, telling her to not leave. She experiences a flashback when she held the prince’s hand. She’s starting to feel human again. The prince vowed that in the next life he will protect Weol-ju. Mystic Pop-Up Bar episode 4 is another highly creative episode, distinguishing the real world and the afterlife in an imaginative way.

Additional points

• In the supermarket, Weol-ju puts all the noodles in her trolley and a woman asks if she can have a few packets. The woman compliments Weol-ju’s youth so she gives her some packets.

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