Summary
Episode 8 provides a few more questions as the trio have to remove another spirit.
Mystic Pop-up Bar Episode 8 opens up with a version of Romeo & Juliet played by our main characters. In the Mystic Pop-up Bar, Guibanjang is reading a popular web novel called Juliet’s Temptations, and Weol-ju teases him. Guibanjang senses that Han Kang Bae has received a kiss from Kang Yeo-rin because he’s so happy. At work, Han Kang Bae asks Kang Yeo-rin if she’d like to get lunch but she’s busy.
As Han Kang Bae checks out an apartment, he hears voices telling him to get out, and he’s confused. When he gets back home, he sees a letter addressed to “Ice Witch,” and then the story reverts to the Romeo & Juliet tale again; in the story, she doesn’t love Romeo, but rather Montague.
Weol-ju and Guibanjang read the web novel together. Episode 8 shows how Weol-ju and Guibanjang have a bond that goes far beyond what we are seeing, and it’s easy to sense there is more to this story.
Wounded
Han Kang Bae and his colleagues enjoy dinner with the prize winnings from the dance competition. Kang Yeo-rin is so confused about why Han Kang Bae is being so nice to her. She takes control and starts eating and drinking in copious amounts, but he keeps calling her amazing.
She gets really drunk, and Han Kang Bae takes her home. Kang Yeo-rin was pretending to be drunk and told Han Kang Bae that she didn’t have feelings for him. Han Kang Bae is very confused and looks winded by the information.
I get the sense that Kang Yeo-rin is not used to a boy liking her back and is purposefully hijacking the relationship.
The author has died
In the web novel, Montague admits to his son that he has cancer and only has three months to live. Romeo is confused and grabs Juliet and demands an explanation. Juliet states that she is now Romeo’s mother. Weol-ju asks Guibanjang when the final issue will be out, but they see an announcement that the author “Ice Witch” has passed away.
I see dead people
Han Kang Bae visits the Mystic Pop-up Bar and is down in the dumps. Weol-ju tells him to forget Kang Yeo-rin and says there’s no point in dating someone who knows nothing about love.
In anger, Han Kang Bae tells a man to leave the bar as he’s drinking too much but he’s shocked to learn that the man is a spirit – Weol-ju and Guibanjang tell him that this is a side effect of flitting between the Afterlife and the Living Realm and it will be fixed once the grudges are done.
Episode 8 does make you wonder whether it will be fixed for Han Kang Bae – what if Weol-ju cannot fix his newfound ability?
Han Kang Bae takes the day off to avoid Kang Yeo-rin and because he’s scared of seeing spirits. Guibanjang gives him the advice to avoid the spirits. When he opens his eyes, Guibanjang isn’t there, and then he sees a woman under his table that scares the life out of him. Guibanjang tells Han Kang Bae that he must ignore the spirits.
Finishing the web novel
Guibanjang asks Han Kang Bae if he has seen a spirit before; Han Kang Bae recalls the time he went to the apartment and heard voices, and then came across the name “Ice Witch.”
Weol-ju and Guibanjang get excited, knowing this is their chance to read the final chapter. The trio heads to the apartment, and they see the spirit in the corner of the room. The landlord has hired someone to exercise the spirit, but he evidently cannot do the job. Weol-ju offers to get rid of the spirit. They speak to the spirit, but she doesn’t want to leave the apartment. Guibanjang is clearly more bothered about the web novel. Han Kang Bae tells her that they are experts at settling grudges and asks her why she has ordered so many items online.
Photo: Netflix
The backstory
Episode 8 then provides a tragic backstory and returns to the series’ usual concept. The spirit (Bo-ra) tells her story about how she became the author of X-rated novels, such as “Ice Witch.” Due to her heart condition, she had to stay home most of the time, so she didn’t have many friends, but she was happy writing novels.
Bo-ra explains further; she met the man who delivers her parcels (Do-yeong), so she kept ordering items so she could see him. They became friends, and he was intrigued by her novels and asked what the genre was. Do-yeong wanted to read Bo-ra’s work and meet more often at restaurants.
Do-yeong then overheard a conversation by Bo-ra when she was on the phone, and she was telling someone that she was using a deliveryman. She hasn’t seen Do-yeong since and explains she couldn’t reveal to him the true nature of her novel. Bo-ra wants Do-yeong to know the truth, and that in the last chapter, she was thinking of him.
Episode 8 then gets to the usual format of using the dreamworld to solve problems. Do-yeong visits the Mystic Pop-up Bar, which is in the way of his truck. Weol-ju tries giving him the final chapter from Bo-ra, but he is not interested – they make him a sandwich and ask him to sit down. They give him milk, which is really the magic juice, and Do-yeong falls asleep.
The dreamworld becomes the Juliet story again. It shows Romeo getting a delivery job, but Juliet is worried about her father’s disapproval; Romeo states he’s happy as long as he has her. Montague turns up, and Romeo is bitter and starts to drink poison, but Juliet stops him. It’s her wedding day, but she wants Romeo, not Montague.
Juliet says she wanted to marry Montague for the money, based on a plan with her father to join the House of Montague and take the money for themselves. Romeo states that the secret must have eaten away at her – Juliet didn’t want him to despise her; they declare their love for each other. Dong-yeong realizes the story is about him and Bo-ra.
Dong-yeong visits Bo-ra in her apartment and talks to her via Weol-ju; Bo-ra apologizes. Dong-yeong gives Bo-ra some jewelry that he was going to give her to state how much he likes her before she died, and asks for forgiveness. Bo-ra didn’t want Dong-yeong to live the rest of his life with regrets over a misunderstanding. Bo-ra feels she can leave now without any regrets. Episode 8 provides that important message of ensuring you do not live with regrets with loved ones.
Flashback
After the events between the author and Dong-yeong, Weol-ju reflects. Weol-ju remembers when the Prince gave her attention, and she is surprised that he wants to spend time with her. The prince shows her the full moon. Kim Won-Hyung arrives and politely joins in on the conversation.
The prince fell in love with Weol-ju, and he came to visit her secretly in the middle of the night, despite the Royal family telling her to stay away. He told her he could protect the woman he loved. Weol-ju alerts Kim Won-Hyung and tells him that her mother has been murdered. There is blood on him, but Wong-Hyung says he chased the assassin and that she cannot see the prince again.
In the present day, Weol-ju is now at 999,997. Weol-ju opens up and tells Han Kang Bae and Guibanjang that she had no one who would listen to her, and one of the two people she trusted the most died — the other had betrayed her. She expresses how she’s listening to others even after she has died and been thanked for it; Weol-ju thinks it’s ridiculous. Han Kang Bae says it isn’t ridiculous and that he is proud of her.
Han Kang Bae and Guibanjang walk the streets, and Kim Won-Hyung follows them. Suddenly, Death grabs hi,m and Kim Won-Hyung says, “Father?”.
Weol-ju looks at the full moon and narrates how she still longs for the prince – as she says this, Guibanjang looks at the moon and uses his hands to put a circle around it, just like the prince did. Han Kang Bae does the same thing. Weol-ju makes a wish – “Please set me free from this misery before I become attached again, okay?”.
Episode 8 provides a few more questions as the trio has to remove another spirit. The question posed is, who is the prince reincarnated? The K-Drama series frustratingly hints that it could be Han Kang Bae or Guibanjang, especially with the moon hint. Bets must be on Guibanjang.
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