Pyramid Game (2024) K Drama 2024 Episode 3

Episode 3 of Pyramid Game starts with the students waiting for the results of the monthly Pyramid Game. Soo-ji is shocked to learn that she is now a Rank C student with 5 votes and Ja-eun is a Rank D student with 2 votes. Meanwhile, Ji-ae is the only student with 0 votes, making her an outcast, effective the following day.

Soo-ji is relieved by the results but Ja-eun worries about Ji-ae. Soo-ji wonders what could’ve possibly led Seung-yi to betray Ji-ae and tries to understand Ha-rin’s role in this. In class, Ji-ae confronts Seung-yi about not voting for her but the other Rank D students take Seung-yi with her leaving Ji-ae behind.

Woo-yi asks Ha-rin what they should do now that Ja-eun is no longer a Rank F student. Ha-rin tries to shut Woo-yi down and leaves the classroom. On the other hand, Ja-eun calls Soo-ji a fraud for suddenly changing her mind about bringing the game down. Soo-ji reveals that she would rather sit on the side-lines and secure her position as a Rank C student than rebel and become a Rank F student again.

Soo-ji meets Ha-rin who reveals that she had voted for Soo-ji. Soo-ji thanks Ha-rin but wonders what her motive is. The atmosphere in the classroom is very different after the new ranking and Soo-ji also tries to ascertain her power as a Rank C student. She treats the Rank D student badly; recalling how the girl had treated Soo-ji when she was a Rank F.

Just then, Da-yeon and Wo-yi show up to threaten Ji-ae but Do-ah stops them, stating that bullying students on voting day is against the rules. After school, Soo-ji goes to the convenience store when Seung-hwa notices the game on her phone. He reads the messages on Soo-ji’s phone and seems to know all about the pyramid game and its rules. Soo-ji is surprised by his comment and looks at her chat on the way out.

The next day, Soo-ji talks to the Rank C girls in class, pretending to forget all about how they bullied her. She learns that Ha-rin is not going to be in class because she is out on a trip with her family. Meanwhile, Ha-rin is at an orphanage with her grandmother – Byun Cho-soon and her parents. At the orphanage, Ha-rin burns the hand of a little girl and threatens her against saying anything to anyone.

Minutes after, Ha-rin and her family shower the kids with gifts as charity. Mrs Byun tells Ha-rin that the little girl (the one that Ha-rin had hurt) looked like Ha-rin. Seeing the look on Ha-rin’s face after his mother’s comment, Mr Baek excuses himself from the conversation and goes outside. Mrs Byun tells Ha-rin how proud she is of her and asks her daughter-in-law to fulfil all of Ha-rin’s wishes so that she can grow up and run the school.

The next day, Soo-ji notices how the bullies are ignoring her as Ji-ae is their new target. One day, Ye-rim tells Soo-ji that she voted for her because she wanted to help her. Soo-ji wonders what Ye-rim wants in exchange for her vote and is surprised when Ye-rim states that she did it out of kindness.

That night, Soo-ji tries to determine the names of the five students who voted for her. In class, the following day, Mr Lim asks the girls to peer-review each other’s artwork and rank their friends. The entire exercise seems odd at first but as it turns out, the principal had instructed Mr Lim to conduct the exercise upon Ha-rin’s request.

Do-ah asks the girl to review their own work and score themselves according to what they think they deserve to be scored. Unsurprisingly, the Rank D students except for Ja-eun stand beside the 35 mark score. Rank C students except for Soo-ji stand beside the 40 mark score while Rank B students stand beside the 45 mark score. Ha-rin, being the only Rank A student stands by the highest score on the paper – 50 marks.

With the lowest score being 30, the students expect Ji-ae, a Rank F student to stand in her place. Soo-ji realises that the pyramid game ranks had infiltrated the minds of the students of Class 5 to the point that they did not find themselves deserving to score higher than their rank of the month.

The next day, Soo-ji wakes up to a nightmare that she is a Rank F student again. She decides to change things up so that she can stop living in fear of turning into an outcast again. In class, Soo-ji convinces the girls to write down their votes on a sheet of paper so that Do-ah can recount them. She implies that the game, designed by their classmate – Ye-won showed rigged scores.

Do-ah counts and tallies up the written votes, concluding that the app was right after all. Soo-ji apologises to Ye-won for doubting the app and leaves to submit the student work to the staff room. However, when Do-ah is distracted, Soo-ji replaces the stack of votes with a different stack of votes. Do-ah notices the new stack of votes and finds something odd but does not make a big deal out of it.

Soo-ji tries to figure out the 5 students who voted for her and realises that Ha-rin, along with Da-yeon, Wo-yi, and Ye-rim were 4 other people who voted for her other than Ja-eun. Soo-ji concludes that Ha-rin had planned this from the beginning. The next day, Soo-ji works on making connections with fellow Rank C students when Woo-yi and Da-yeon bully Ji-ae, asking her to pretend to be a cat and forcing her to eat cat treats. 

Ja-eun tries to stop them but Woo-yi gets upset and asks Ja-eun to eat the cat treats instead. Just then, Ha-rin stops Woo-yi and scolds her for breaking the rules of the app by trying to bully a Rank D student. Woo-yi is hurt when Ha-rin asks her to apologise to Ja-eun. Soo-ji tries to push her luck and hits Ha-rin with a pen, immediately apologising. She pretend-scolds Ja-eun in front of the class.

Woo-yi tries to hit Soo-ji for hitting Ha-rin but Soo-ji asks Ha-rin to stop Woo-yi as it was an accident. Ha-rin asks Woo-yi to stop and the latter leaves Soo-ji’s collar. Soo-ji then tries to get Ha-rin to use her power to stop the bullying. Ha-rin understands the game Soo-ji is trying to play and states that she is not a person of authority and is a part of the class just like any other student.

The girls are interrupted when the Literature professor – Ms Yoon Na-hee shows up in class. Ja-eun hides Ji-ae from the teacher and the students are all alert. Ms Yoon asks what the students are up to but Do-ah asks the teacher to leave the poster with her as it is break time. The teacher leaves but is suspicious of what is going on in the class.

Soo-ji takes Ji-ae’s phone number and meets Ja-eun on the rooftop a while later. The two decide to team up and attempt to bring the game down to avoid being bullied anymore. That afternoon, the two meet Ji-ae at the convenience store and try to hatch a plan. Soo-ji asks Ji-ae to explain the origin of the pyramid game and learns that it was Da-yeon who had instigated the class to play a game.

Ji-ae states that the game initially began as a way of thanking students for their small merits over the past month by giving them certain petty privileges like standing first in line during lunch and more. Ji-ae explains that the privileges changed over time with students starting to get aggressive with those who were ranked below them.

Soo-ji realises that the girls with the higher ranks slowly started getting violent with the Rank F students. Inside the convenience store, Soo-ji and Ja-eun discuss Woo-ri, the victim from Year 1 Class 5 who had dropped out due to bullying. Seung-hwa overhears the girls talk about Woo-ri but Ja-eun tries to place where she had seen him before.

The next day, Soo-ji meets Do-ah in the library and asks why she didn’t expose Soo-ji for stealing the stack of handwritten votes. Do-ah states that she plays the game not out of her own will but only because she benefits from being a part of the game. She tells Soo-ji that the only reason why she shared the video of Mr Lim and Woo-ri to Ja-eun is because she does not want Soo-ji to pay the penalty for breaking the rules of the game.

Soo-ji tells Do-ah that she was trying to make allies and was looking at other Rank D students to help her. Do-ah tells Soo-ji that she is comfortable in the circle she has made around her and would never step out of it to help anyone. Do-ah also asks Soo-ji to be wary of the fact that Rank D students had connections with students with higher ranks.

Ha-rin, Da-yeon and Woo-yi notice Do-ah and Soo-ji leaving the library one after the other and get suspicious of Do-ah. Meanwhile, Soo-ji, Ji-ae and Ja-eun try to determine which Rank D student had connections with the higher-ranking students. At the same time, Eun-jeong and Ye-rim sit by the pool. Eun-jeong asks Ye-rim if she has feelings for Soo-ji as she is going out of her way to help the new student.

Ye-rim states that Soo-ji was interesting because she was the only one to challenge Ha-rin. Eun-jeong asks Ye-rim to stop paying so much attention towards Soo-ji when there is pin-drop silence between the two girls looking at each other with angst. The girls are interrupted when other students show up at the pool.

Meanwhile, Da-yeon meets Do-ah outside her house and informs her about their next family meeting. When Do-ah tries to dismiss her, Da-yeon tells Do-ah that they are both going to be a part of each other’s life along with Ha-rin because of the connection between the three families. Seol-ha overhears the statement and feels a sense of jealousy. Do-ah tells Da-yeon that she has no loyalty towards anyone and is only playing the game to benefit from it.

That day, Ha-rin and Woo-yi attend an art showing where the former offers to buy a painting for Woo-yi. Woo-yi calls Ha-rin her friend but Ha-rin states that she did not think Woo-yi was her friend. Woo-yi comments about Do-ah backstabbing Ha-rin but Ha-rin steps over Woo-yi’s foot again, asking her to know her place.

Ha-rin adds that Do-ah and Da-yeon were the two people she was going to rely on due to the trust they have built over the years. Woo-yi is embarrassed and apologises for overstepping her boundaries. A flashback from Year 1 shows Ha-rin discussing the idea of a pyramid game with Da-yeon and Do-ah during one of their family gatherings.

The next day, Soo-ji, Ja-eun and Ji-ae meet at the convenience store to discuss their plan of action. Soo-ji states has done the math and claims that they needed 5 votes to be in Rank C. If the three voted for each other, they still needed 3 more from Rank D students who are also looking to increase their ranks.

Soo-ji pulls out a folder with student information that she had stolen from the school office on a busy day. She tells the duo that when there are more students in Rank C than in Rank D, the pyramid will turn into a diamond, eventually collapsing the game altogether. The trio shortlist three girls from Rank D that they will approach over the next few days.

Soo-ji approaches Ye-won intending to talk about the pyramid game application and learns that Jae-hyeong is a K-pop fangirl who loves the boy group – Monsta X. She asks Ja-eun to approach Jae-hyeong but Ja-eun is extremely awkward around the fangirl. In class, Soo-ji notices Eun-jeong being protective of Ye-rim and tries to understand the dynamics of their friendship.

Soo-ji goes about the next few days in school making connections with the rest of the girls while Ja-eun struggles with showing her emotions. One day, Ms Yoon finds Ja-eun and asks her if there was any bullying in her class. However, Ha-rin shows up and takes Ja-eun to class, stopping her from revealing the truth to the teacher.

At the same time, Soo-ji talks to Ye-won about the pyramid game app and tries to rile her up about being a Rank D student despite being the creator of the app. Soo-ji realises that Ye-won is insecure about her rank and decides to use this to her advantage. Meanwhile, Ha-rin tries to threaten Ja-eun about exposing her when Ja-eun gets a text from Ji-ae, causing her phone to vibrate.

Soo-ji passes by the place where Ha-rin is with Ja-eun but does not see the two. A petrified Ja-eun makes it to the rooftop to talk to Soo-ji but does not reveal her conversation with Ha-rin. Soo-ji is reading up the comments from teachers about Ye-won and wonders if there is a way to hack into the students’ phones to ascertain where their loyalties lie.

Ja-eun is not happy with her plan but Soo-ji wonders if she can make friends with Ye-won who knows how to hack into people’s phones. Soo-ji asks Ja-eun to try and talk to Ye-won but overhears Ye-rim talking to Ye-won about her new Apple MacBook Pro laptop. Soo-ji recalls reading that Ye-won was not well-to-do and was the daughter of a bakery shop owner.

Soo-ji realises that since the laptop was expensive, it was Ha-rin who purchased it for Ye-won. Soo-ji tries to call Ja-eun, asking her to stop following Ye-won but Ja-eun doesn’t answer Soo-ji’s call. The episode ends with Ye-won leading Ja-eun into the trap Ha-rin has set up for her.

The Episode Review

At first, I wondered if the actress playing Ha-rin is a K-pop idol but as it turns out, Jang Da-a is IVE’s Wonyoung’s sister. Despite Pyramid Game being her first acting project, she is doing a stupendous job as the evil character. Her presence and gaze are enough to send shivers down your spine; all this while she looks as innocent as a dove.

Ha-rin stamping the students’ feet is an allegory to her walking all over people. I hope Soo-ji uses Woo-yi’s inferiority complex to her advantage because Woo-yi is hurt by Ha-rin treating her like a floormat. There is something odd about Seung-hwa and I worry that he is Ye-won’s brother. He seems to know a lot about the app. Since Ja-eun recognises him, it is clear that he has a connection with the Class 5 students. 

Ja-eun and Ha-rin seem to have some history and I hope Soo-ji does not trust her completely. From the look of it, no character on this show is trustworthy. That being said, I love the romance-angst between Ye-rim and Eun-jeong. I hope this show gives us at least one GL couple because how cute are the two together?