Pyramid Game (2024) K Drama 2024 Episode 4

Episode 4 of Pyramid Game starts with Ye-won meeting Ha-rin in the school backyard where there are no cameras. Ja-eun shows up and Ha-rin points out that Ja-eun’s plan has been busted. Soo-ji spots Ye-won leaving the backyard and shows up there, asking what Ha-rin and Ja-eun are up to.

Ha-rin asks Soo-ji what she’s doing trying to befriend Ye-won and wonders if the two are up to something. Soo-ji lies that she is just trying to make new friends and has no motive behind it. She pretends to be unaware of Ja-eun trying to make friends with Ye-won as well. Ha-rin asks Soo-ji to sit next to her so that they can become good friends but Soo-ji refuses the offer.

Ha-rin is visibly upset by Soo-ji’s refusal and lights up a cigarette that she can smoke. Soo-ji realises how Ja-eun often smelled like cigarettes and recalls never seeing her smoke over the last few weeks. Soo-ji asks how Ha-rin is smoking so comfortably and learns that the place has no surveillance, making Ha-rin comfortable enough to drop her “good girl” act.

Soo-ji notices how uncomfortable Ha-rin makes Ja-eun. Ha-rin asks Soo-ji if she is close to Ja-eun and Ji-ae but Soo-ji implies that she is a low ranker so it is normal for her to make friends with those in the same ranking pool as her. Ha-rin blows the smoke in Soo-ji’s face, making her uncomfortable. She asks Ha-rin to put the cigarette out but Ha-rin does it once more to assert her power.

Ha-rin asks Soo-ji to tread carefully as she is onto her now before leaving the backyard. Ji-ae joins Soo-ji and Ja-eun on the rooftop and worries that Ha-rin is going to ruin their plans. Soo-ji tries to think of a different way to overthrow the game leaving Ji-ae stressed. Meanwhile, Ms Yoon approaches Mr Lim and asks if he is willing to let her hold a counselling session for the girls of Class 5.

She tells him that since he is a man, the girls are probably uncomfortable discussing private matters with him. Mr Lim dismisses Ms Yoon’s comment and states that the girls do not deserve anything as they have never shown him any gratefulness. Mr Yoon is confused by Mr Lim’s comment. Meanwhile, Ji-ae continues to be bullied by the girls.

One day, as she is hiding in the restroom, Seung-yi shows up to meet her. Seung-yi apologises for betraying her during the voting and tries to insinuate that Soo-ji is not a true friend. We see that Seung-yi only does all this upon Ha-rin’s request. That evening, Soo-ji tries to get Seung-hwa’s help with hacking into the students’ phones. She recalls seeing Seung-hwa coding on his computer and wonders if he can help her.

Later that night, Seung-hwa is at home when he hacks into the Pyramid Game app and sees the current scorecard. He gets a call from his sister who is in her bedroom. The girl asks Seung-hwa to leave a bottle of water out and takes the bottle inside without leaving the room.

The next day, Eun-jeong contemplates sharing Eun-jeong’s drink after noticing her lipstick stain on the can. She sips the drink anyway and ends up with a lipstick stain on her lips. Ha-rin notices the stain and wonders if Eun-jeong has suddenly started wearing lipstick. Woo-yi mocks Ye-rim, asking if she is into women and has kissed Eun-jyeong.

Ye-rim does not make a big deal out of the comment and playfully pulls Woo-yi in, threatening to kiss her. However, Eun-jeong is conscious of the comment and gets all serious. Soo-ji also notices the entire conversation and makes a mental note of it. Ji-ae, Ja-eun and Soo-ji meet on the rooftop and wonder who their next target will be as Ye-won is loyal to Ha-rin. She asks why Ja-eun is against picking Yu-rim.

Ja-eun reveals that Yu-rim used to be close to her in the past but had betrayed her, making her lose her faith in Yu-rim. With this revelation, Soo-ji decides that Hae-jun is their safest bet now. In class, Woo-yi tries to bully Shin-ye for being overweight but Hae-jun defends her as a fellow Rank D student. The rest of the girls join in and defend Shin-ye as well.

Woo-yi gets aggressive and looks towards Ha-rin for help. However, Ha-rin agrees with Hae-jun and asks Woo-yi to stop. Soo-ji and Ja-eun are in class when Ji-ae tries to enter without alerting any of the bullies. Da-yeon shows up in class with her whistle and takes Ji-ae away. Ja-eun tries to help her but Soo-ji stops Ja-eun to avoid getting in Ha-rin’s bad books.

Ji-ae makes a note of Soo-ji’s behaviour towards her being bullied as she gets dragged out of the class by her hair. A flashback shows Ha-rin and Ja-eun from 9 years ago as children, playing hand in hand. Present day Ja-eun watches Ha-rin with her new and rich friends. Da-yeon invites Ha-rin to her house for dinner upon her father’s request. Ha-rin declines the offer without a second thought, leaving Da-yeon stressed.

That night, Da-yeon gets back home but her father attacks her by throwing a glass plate on her head. He picks out a golf stick to beat Da-yeon up for failing to convince Ha-rin to have dinner with them. Meanwhile, Da-yeon’s mother and sisters leave the room, ignoring Mr Kim’s abuse.

At Seosim Hospital, Do-ah is with her father, observing the doctors at the hospital operate a patient. Dr Seo asks Do-ah about school and she tells him about Soo-ji trying to mess with the social hierarchy of the class. Dr Seo states the school is a microcosm of the real world and adds that the people in power should do everything in their might to always remain in power.

He makes a comparison of the hospital with the Marxist theory of Capitalism, stating that he would always be a bourgeoisie as he had doctors working for his business. Since he was a business owner unlike the doctors who worked for him, he could provide a hospital for Do-ah to run in the future while the doctors’ children would have to struggle and find jobs on their own merit.

In school, Soo-ji threatens to expose Hae-jun’s votes. She reveals that despite being a Rank D student, Hae-jun had voted for Rank C students and betrayed her friends. Worried about being left out by the Rank D students as well, Hae-jun agrees to team up with Soo-ji and her friends. Meanwhile, Ms Yoon finds Ji-ae crying in the restroom and overhears Soo-ji talking to Ja-eun about their plan.

She confronts Soo-ji and asks what she was up to, wondering what was going on in their class. Soo-ji has a flashback from when Mr Lim assaulted her and tried to take advantage of her situation. She refuses to reveal the truth to Ms Yoon and asks the teacher to stop meddling with the class’ business.

Later that day, Principal Im calls Soo-ji’s father – Lieutenant Sung, inviting him to attend the parent meeting that will be held in school in the days to come. Meanwhile, Soo-ji scolds Ji-ae for trying to reveal the truth about the game to Ms Yoon. Ja-eun asks Soo-ji to go easy on her as she is hurt but Soo-ji goes on, scolding her.

Ji-ae lashes out at Soo-ji and calls her out for not being a good friend to her. Soo-ji scoffs, wondering why Ji-ae hasn’t apologised to her for treating her badly when she was a Rank F student. Soo-ji states that if Ji-ae was a friend, she would’ve taken accountability for her past actions. Ji-ae starts crying and leaves the rooftop. Ja-eun tries to stop her but Soo-ji asks Ja-eun to let Ji-ae deal with her emotions.

Soo-ji tells Ja-eun that with Hae-jun’s vote secure, Jae-hyeong is their next target. Ye-rim finds Eun-jeong talking to her old friends and scolds her for mixing with bad company again. She points out how one of them was hitting on Eun-jeong and threatens her against getting together with anyone else but her. Eun-jeong reassures Ye-rim that she has her focus on the only thing that matters to her – i.e. Ye-rim.

She asks if Ye-rim has a stalker when she finds a suspicious fan account on Instagram. Ye-rim states that since she is still a trainee, she can’t have a stalker just yet.

At his house, Seung-hwa watches his sister have a panic attack while their mother tries to calm her down. The room that Seung-hwa’s sister lives in is in shambles with filth and dirt there. Seung-hwa finds his sister’s tablet and notices thousands of photos of Ye-rim on it. In class, Ha-rin tries to reassure Ji-ae and Soo-ji notices Ye-rim get upset about Ha-rin’s act of innocence.

Later that night, Soo-ji and Ja-eun make their way back home and discuss the events of the day. Soo-ji tells Ja-eun that she knows Ji-ae will come around because she is an innocent girl who is just having a hard time. Soo-ji asks Ja-eun about the self-harm marks on her wrist and wonders why she tried to end her life. Ja-eun states that she does not remember why but spots Seung-hwa entering their school and recognises him.

Soo-ji follows after Seung-hwa while keeping a video call on with Ja-eun. She asks Ja-eun to call the cops if Seung-hwa attacks her. However, Seung-hwa protects Soo-ji from being caught by the school staff. When the call drops, Ja-eun rushes to the class to help Soo-ji. Seung-hwa tells Soo-ji that he is trying to understand all about the pyramid game.

They make their way out of school together and Soo-ji learns that Seung-hwa is Woo-ri’s older brother. Soo-ji tells Ja-eun that she is going to get Seung-hwa to help her hack into the students’ phones so that she can bribe them into joining their plan. Soo-ji tells Seung-hwa that Woo-ri is a victim of school bullying and learns that the girl hasn’t left her room in months.

Seung-hwa decides to help Soo-ji and files a postponement of the military service form to buy a few months before enlisting. He hacks into Jae-hyeong’s phone and learns that she is a pervert who loves taking photos of men and women suggestively. Soo-ji asks Ja-eun to use sensual photocards of Monsta X members – Shownu and Hyungwon to lure Jae-hyeong.

However, her plan fails when Ja-eun is not able to hold a normal conversation about K-pop idols being “sexy”. Jae-hyeong tries to avoid Ja-eun but eventually assumes that she is hanging out with her because she too is a pervert. One day, one of the students catches Jae-hyeong taking suggestive photos of the girls on the school playground.

Ja-eun comes just in time to save Jae-hyeong from being attacked. Jae-hyeong sees Ja-eun as a strong and sexy woman and agrees to join their plan just because of her newfound crush on Ja-eun.

At the same time, Soo-ji teams up with Seung-hwa after school and tries to find dirt on Yu-rim. Seung-hwa tells her that Ha-rin has gotten Yu-rim to win a scholarship in the leading arts school in the country in exchange for her loyalty. In class, Woo-yi, Da-yeon and Seol-ha are picking on Ji-ae. Woo-yi is conscious of Ha-rin’s reaction to her comments, hoping she doesn’t get another earful.

Ji-ae sits crying in the restroom when Soo-ji shows up to console her. The two go to the rooftop and Soo-ji reveals that Ha-rin had tried to get Yu-rim in her team. Ji-ae gets anxious about Ha-rin knowing the truth. She agrees to let Soo-ji use Seung-yi’s help as they do not have many options left. Ja-eun shows up at the rooftop but Soo-ji notices how she smells of cigarettes. Ja-eun tells Soo-ji that she has convinced Jae-hyeong to join their plan.

At home, Haa-rin wonders and tries to determine what the Rank D students are going to do in the next game. She spots her parents leaving to go out and starts humming her tune. Mr Baek becomes conscious of the humming but her mother – Yi-hwa leads him out. That night, Seung-hwa tells Soo-ji that Ha-rin has a very tight PR team as there is not even a single photo of her on the internet. She asks him to look into Seung-yi next as per their plan.

Later that night, Soo-ji gets a call from her father, stating he would be working all night. Lieutenant Sung asks about the parent meeting in school and Soo-ji tells him it is not mandatory so he can skip it. With two days left before the voting, Soo-ji approaches Seung-yi via text and threatens to expose her secret.

The next day, all the parents of Class 5 students show up in school. The parents are taken to a different room while the class continues. Lieutenant Sung shows up out of the blue and Ms Yoon approaches. Ms Yoon asks Soo-ji’s father if he is aware of the school bullying going on in Soo-ji’s class, leaving the rest of the parents and the principal shocked.

Soo-ji meets Ye-rim in private, revealing that she knows why Ye-rim was participating in the game despite being against it. Ha-rin knew how she had feelings for Eun-jeong and agreed to keep it a secret in exchange for her participation in the game.

The episode ends with Soo-ji asking if Ye-rim would be okay with being a Rank F student. Soo-ji wants to see what the bullies will do to Ye-rim who is an idol trainee and comes from an influential family.

The Episode Review

This show is more than just interesting as it keeps you hooked, episode after episode, wanting for more. This is turning into a guilty pleasure that leaves you not wanting to see the horrifying school bullying that Soo-ji endured in episode 1. However, you also want to know what happens next as every episode ends in a cliffhanger.

From this episode, it is clear that Ha-rin is not just plain evil but an abomination because if she can cause her father to shiver just by humming a song, I wonder what she is capable of doing. She is just like a puppet-master who is used to having her way and gets upset when things don’t go according to her plan.

It will be very interesting to see what happens when Soo-ji takes over the pyramid game and brings it to the ground. From what we see in the final moments, Ms Yoon’s comment is going to shake things up in the school for the next few days. Since Soo-ji’s father is an honest soldier, he may try to help his daughter in a way.

I hope Soo-ji does not turn into an evil character because she is too smart for the rest of the class. On the other hand, Da-yeon suffering such physical abuse at the hands of her father clearly shows why she is the way she is. Her blowing the whistle to threaten students of her presence possibly comes from her father’s menacing presence in her life.

The entire conversation between Do-ah and her dad is sinister and it is clear that even if Do-ah tries to be a good human being, he will be there to bring her down with his power-hungry mentality. With all that being said, the only good thing on this show is Ja-eun’s innocence and the lesbian couple – Ye-rim and Eun-jeong. Somehow these two make this traumatising show enjoyable.