Heartbeat (2023) K Drama Episode 15

Episode 15 of Heartbeat begins with In-hae desperately looking for Woo-hyeol. Dong-seop, Sang-hae and Rose do their best to find him as well. Meanwhile, Ki-suk thinks about her conversation with Hae-won. Hae-won had met with her and Gwang-ok, stoking their dreams of redevelopment. She then told them the rumour about Woo-hyeol being a vampire. Ki-suk seems to buy into the rumour, while Gwang-ok remains suspicious.

Do-sik looks at the knife of Hawthorne and silver. He told Man-hwi he needed Woo-hyeol’s blood to escape the curse of an early death. In turn, Man-hwi told him about the knife. Just then, Secretary Ko comes up to Do-sik and tells him that Man-hwi had kidnapped a group of people in the house, including In-hae’s father.

Do-sik meets Man-hwi and confronts him about it. Man-hwi claims it was for his survival and blames Hae-won for ordering him to do anything and everything to get the mansion. Do-sik tells Man-hwi he doesn’t want anything more to do with him.

He can get Woo-hyeol’s blood on his own. Do-sik then visits Hae-won and confronts her about collaborating with Man-hwi. She claims innocence but Do-sik warns her to stop the redevelopment plan. She doesn’t back down. Afterwards, Hae-won calls Man-hwi. She tells him she never asked him to kidnap a person and they argue.

In-hae comes home looking upset and her father tries to find out what happened. She tells him Woo-hyeol has left forever. She blames herself for Woo-hyeol not being able to turn human. And the fact that he’s dying. Ki-suk and Gwang-ok go to the mansion and meet In-hae’s father. They persuade him to think about the redevelopment. Ki-suk brings up the vampire rumour as well but Dong-il laughs it off.

When they leave, Dong-il sits In-hae down and tells her he’s thankful to Woo-hyeol for leaving. He tries convincing her to sell the house and live an ordinary life but she doesn’t want to. Do-sik is driving to the mansion when he sees In-hae walking on the street. He gets her attention and they go to a cafe. Do-sik, too, suggests that she sell the mansion to avoid more suffering. But In-hae stands her ground.

Later, Do-sik gets a call from Man-hwi who offers to kill Woo-hyeol for him, as a favour. When he makes a threat against the guest house and everyone inside, Do-sik rushes over. As Man-hwi approaches the mansion, Dong-il sees him and runs inside, locking himself in his room. Just then, In-hae returns to the mansion. Man-hwi attacks her and threatens her to reveal Woo-hyeol’s location.

Her fear sets off Woo-hyeol’s scar and, of course, he rushes over and reaches just in time, despite being weak. Ki-suk walks by and sees the two vampires fighting. When Man-hwi attacks In-hae again, all of a sudden, Woo-hyeol finds his strength and overpowers Man-hwi. Man-hwi is shocked at the change and leaves before it gets worse.

Woo-hyeol begins to walk away and In-hae asks him where he’s going. Didn’t he promise to stay by her side? Woo-hyeol wraps her up in a hug and apologises. Do-sik sees them embracing and walks away. Meanwhile, Ki-suk rushes back and tells Gwang-ok everything she saw.

Back at the mansion, In-hae confronts Woo-hyeol with the truth. He apologises again and says he wanted to spare her suffering. In-hae convinces him to stay with her and find a way to survive and he promises to stay. They head inside, where Woo-hyeol’s friends are overjoyed to see him. In-hae finds her father hiding in his room and Dong-il confesses that he can’t live in this house anymore.

Do-sik has a drink with Secretary Ko and thanks him for everything. He then reveals that Woo-hyeol is dying and in light of that, Do-sik has made a decision. Elsewhere, Ko Yang-nam hears a news report about the coming eclipse and blood moon. Dong-seop and Sang-hae ask Woo-hyeol how he’s feeling and he says his heart hurts more than expected. They tell him that his sudden departure hurt them deeply.  

In the morning, Woo-hyeol speaks with Dong-il. Dong-il thanks him for saving In-hae. When Woo-hyeol calls In-hae by the name Butler Joo, Dong-il tells him that he wants to leave the house with In-hae. She doesn’t need to carry on any duties as his butler. Woo-hyeol agrees but requests that he get to spend his last moments with In-hae.

At a meeting of the townspeople, Ki-suk tells everyone what she saw. They get riled up and decide to go to the mansion immediately. Hae-won watches, with some satisfaction. Inside the house, Woo-hyeol grows weak and the others take him to his room to rest. While sleeping, Woo-hyeol dreams of the attack on In-hae and his scar lights up. In-hae sees it and comforts him when he wakes up.

In-hae meets with the group of townspeople outside the mansion. In-hae is shocked when they reveal they know Woo-hyeol’s a vampire. Nevertheless, she tells them to leave. Later, Ki-suk admits she should have recorded the incident on her phone. Gwang-ok protests that Woo-hyeol seems like a nice person.

In-hae meets Hae-won, who gloats over the whole situation. In-hae says she will protect the mansion no matter what. Back at the mansion, when Dong-seop and Sang-hae say they should leave, In-hae defends them and their right to stay here. Woo-hyeol wakes up and immediately wonders what he can do for In-hae before his death. He then gets a call from someone who demands a meeting.

It turns out to be none other than Do-sik, who meets Woo-hyeol at the place where he fought Man-hwi. Do-sik blames him for causing nothing but trouble for In-hae. He hands Woo-hyeol the knife but Woo-hyeol refuses to die before fulfilling his promise to In-hae. As Woo-hyeol walks away, Do-sik unsheathes the knife and is about to attack him. But suddenly In-hae turns up.

The Episode Review

Episode 15 of Heartbeat is, again, a fairly slow episode. It’s a bit of a disappointment since the rest of the K-drama has been so high on energy and excitement. And the lack of energy isn’t due to the sorrowful emotions surrounding Woo-hyeol’s death, but rather the lack of movement in the plot. In fact, I rather liked In-hae’s confrontation with Woo-hyeol, about how his running away doesn’t help anybody.

Dong-seop and Sang-hae’s expression of their own feelings was also done very well. But on the other hand, things with Do-sik and Man-hwi and Hae-won seem to be going around in circles. Apart from the riled-up townspeople, not a lot of other plot developments changed a lot. Overall, this was still a good episode but not as exciting as one would expect the penultimate episode to be.