Grand Shining Hotel (2024) K Drama Episode 2

Mar 3, 2024

Episode 2 of Grand Shining Hotel begins with Ah-young taking the same road route as Woo-bin before his disappearance, foreshadowing the upcoming events in the show.

Meanwhile, Tae-min and another colleague, Ahn So-jin, talk about the ongoing disappearances. So-jin has been influenced by Tae-min’s conspiracy theories and they agreed to become partners to solve the mystery.

So-jin tells Tae-min that she had posted on the dark web about Woo-bin’s recent disappearance and a user named ‘Berlin 1004’ had replied to her comment.

According to Berlin 1004, the user tells them that she has had the same experience as them and therefore, they had sent So-jin an email. They tell the pair that the disappearances are happening because of a laptop. The laptop has some magical functions. Whoever is accessing the cursed laptop has sold their soul to bring the real world and people into the world of the novel. The missing people from the real world has become characters inside the universe of the novel and the story progresses automatically.

The scene changes and we find Ah-young at Rebecca’s villa. She is reluctantly received by an old woman who says that Rebecca is like her daughter.

The old lady collapses and Ah-young helps her to the bed. She receives a call from Tae-min who tells her about the new information that they’ve gathered but Ah-young does not take it very seriously.

She decides to check Rebecca’s laptop as Ah-young spots the red-ginseng that Woo-bin had bought in the kitchen counter which has confirmed his visit to Rebecca’s house.

Ah-young goes into Rebecca’s room and finds the mysterious laptop with the novel being written automatically in it. Woo-bin has become a character.

Meanwhile a woman kills a man while having intercourse inside a hotel room of the Grand Shining Hotel.

At the same time, Woo-bin arrives at the hotel on the stormy night. Ah-young tells Tae-min that his suspicions were true.

Woo-bin prepares his typewriter inside the novel and hears a thud. It’s the woman disposing of the body in a suitcase. Woo-bin decides to complain about the noise but there is a disruption in the phone line.

He then decides to go to the bar for his complimentary welcome drink and meets the serial murder culprit, Park Hyun-joo who is singing in the bar. Ah-young, Tae-min and So-jin realise that Park Hyun-joo has also disappeared mysteriously from the real world.

Elsewhere, the woman carries her kill in the suitcase and buries the body. She is revealed to be Park Hyun-joo who has disguised herself.

The next morning, Woo-bin and Hyun-joo meet at the elevator and she has her eyes on Woo-bin. She pretends to cough and Woo-bin offers her a handkerchief. She smiles as Woo-bin leaves, her next target already confirmed.

Ah-young relays to Tae-min and So-jin that Woo-bin is in danger and is told that if one dies in the novel, they cannot return to the real world. The characters can only be reset. Ah-young decides to write herself into the novel as someone who Woo-bin loved dearly in the past. She finds herself in the highway and meets Woo-bin.

Turns out that her character had cheated on Woo-bin and left him. Woo-bin takes her to the hotel out of pity and leaves her with his credit card.

Ah-young receives a call from Tae-min and she tells them that she is inside the novel and has retained her memory. She is also able to talk to them through a phone in the lobby of the hotel. The reasons for this are unclear.

Meanwhile, Park hyun-joo applies the blood of her victims from a severed finger as a lipstick. She thinks about reporting Park hyun-joo but realises that she will not be taken seriously since Hyun-joo is a star singer of the hotel.

Ah-young decides to go to the bar. She sees Woo-bin under the spell of Hyun-joo. She realises that at this rate, Woo-bin is sure to get killed. Therefore, she kissed him. Seeing another woman kiss her target, Hyun-joo is momentarily shaken and the episode ends.

The Episode Review

The show is beginning to be mysteriously interesting. Although, there’s nothing really new that has happened yet, the dark, eerie and mysterious atmosphere of the tale makes the viewers feel curious about the future events in the show.

Will Woo-bin get killed? Will Hyun-joo changer her target? What will happen to Ah-young now as she is inside the novel? How can she still retain her memories and how is she able to communicate with the outside world?