The Eighth Sense 2023 Episode 4

Episode 4 of The Eighth Sense starts with Jae-won and Ji-hyun walking from the train station back together. There are moments when the two steal glances at each other. Eventually, Jae-won grabs Ji-hyun’s hand, and the duo spend some time by the Han River. Ji-hyun ignores Ae-ri’s call and talks to Jae-won about his love for sketching. Jae-won asks to see Ji-hyun’s sketchbook and he praises Ji-hyun’s skills.

Ji-hyun asks Jae-won to make a sketch for him and Jae-won tries drawing for the first time as Ji-hyun buys them coffee. The two bond over coffee and Ji-hyun pokes fun at Jae-won’s expense making it a fun late evening. Ji-hyun asks if Jae-won wants to eat ramyeon together (slang for hooking up) and Jae-won is shocked.

After seeing that the countryside boy really didn’t know what the slang referred to, Jae-won agrees to have noodles with Ji-hyun in its literal sense. The two have boxed ramyeon bowls from the convenience store and eat them by the river. Jae-won notices that it’s getting late and calls for a taxi to take Ji-hyun back to the dorms.

Before the cab can arrive, Jae-won pulls Ji-hyun close as if to kiss him. However, once the taxi arrives, Jae-won sits Ji-hyun in the taxi and the two bid each other goodbye for the night. Ji-hyun comes back to the dorms and finds himself looking at the sketch Jae-won made.

The next day, Joon-pyo and Ji-hyun have lunch in the cafeteria. He asks Ji-hyun where he was all night and why he hadn’t come back to their dorm room.

Ji-hyun lies that he had a date and upon Joon-pyo’s prodding, claims that he was with  Ae-ri. Ae-ri joins them at lunch and lies to save Ji-hyun from being embarrassed by Joon-pyo. She claims that she had gotten together with Ji-hyun the night before for some drinks and a walk. Post lunch, Ji-hyun thanks Ae-ri and apologises for avoiding her call the night before.

She asks him what he was up to and guesses that Ji-hyun had spent the night with Jae-won. Ji-hyun is shocked to learn that Ae-ri had caught on that the two were close to each other. She teases Ji-hyun for thinking that she was interested in him and claims that she was only looking for a loyal friend she could rely on. The two bond over their shared secret.

Meanwhile, Tae-hyung is the Teaching Assistant for his class. He is asked to split all students into groups of two for an assignment. Tae-hyung deliberately puts Eun-ji and Jae-won together which pisses Jae-won off. He gets up and leaves the class to confront Tae-hyung in the men’s room. Tae-hyung lies that he had paired them by randomly picking chits but Jae-won is not having it.

Jae-won argues that Tae-hyung knew what Eun-ji had done to him, and as his friend Tae-hyung should have taken his side. Eun-ji, who had followed Jae-won, overhears the conversation and is pissed.

Later that same day, Eun-ji and Jae-won are trying to work on the project at the library. She tries to talk to Jae-won but the latter does his best to avoid hanging out with her more than he should.

Eun-ji promises to not prod Jae-won about their past if he worked together with her for the project. Jae-won is pissed at her and looks around the library to find Ji-hyun at the opposite end of the library. Ji-hyun waves at Jae-won and shows him the sketch he made the night before. Jae-won laughs out loud looking at the sketch and Eun-ji is confused.

Jae-won excuses himself and finds Ji-hyun sitting by himself. Jae-won and Ji-hyun start talking and Jae-won asks what the freshman’s first impression of him was. Ji-hyun calls Jae-won a cool guy which makes him blush. Ji-hyun asks what Jae-won thought of him and the senior calls Ji-hyun a country mouse in the city.

Ji-hyun appears irritated at the analogy and the duo continue to joke with each other. Eun-ji finds Jae-won having a fun time with Ji-hyun instead of her and is pissed. Once Ji-hyun gets to work at his part-time job, his boss notices that he looked extremely happy. She wonders if he was dating someone and Ji-hyun avoids answering her directly.

At the same time, Jae-won is with his therapist. He talks about being overwhelmed by reality now that he was back as a student after his military service. Jae-won mentions how he was not sure what to do in the future when it comes to his career. He adds that he is tired of pretending to be someone he is not when it comes to dealing with people.

Meanwhile, Eun-ji and her friends are guests at the restaurant Ji-hyun works at. Throughout the meal, Eun-ji is a difficult guest to serve and makes it challenging for Ji-hyun. Despite Eun-ji’s berating behaviour, Ji-hyun tries his best to comply with her requests. His boss is infuriated by Eun-ji’s behaviour. Eun-ji tries her best to make Ji-hyun jealous by talking to her friends about Jae-won.

Before leaving, Eun-ji breaks a glass on purpose and makes Ji-hyun clean it for her. Ji-hyun’s boss stops Eun-ji and forces her to apologise to Ji-hyun and thank him for cleaning the mess she made. Eun-ji is pissed at the woman and there is a fight between the two. Ji-hyun tries to break the women apart and the restaurant owner asks Eun-ji to never return to the restaurant.

On his way back to the dorm, Jae-won accompanies Ji-hyun. He asks if there’s something wrong with Ji-hyun and the freshman claims that he has had a hard day at work. Jae-won reveals that he saw Ji-hyun and wanted to be there for him. The two walk back to the dorms hand and hand.

Ji-hyun invites Jae-won for a beer on the rooftop. Whilst there, the two boys share a beer and talk about Eun-ji. Jae-won claims that he dated Eun-ji for two years before breaking up. He jokes that Ji-hyun was a baby for never having dated in the past and the two share a moment. In fact, they’re about to kiss when Joon-pyo rushes to the rooftop and interrupts them.

The Episode Review

If there were two fictional characters viewers were allowed to slap through their screens, I am sure Eun-ji and Tae-hyung would be those from The Eighth Sense. It seems as though the two characters exist to make things hell for Jae-won. The chemistry between Jae-won and Ji-hyun keeps growing on me though! Despite the fact that Jae-won is bad news for Ji-hyun, I still want them to be together.

This show is really one of a kind and I love the way in which the makers have decided to keep the skin-ship between Jae-won and Ji-hyun very intimate. The random hand-holding or hand-touching here and there is so intense. I love how Jae-won clings to Ji-hyun as they wait for his taxi to arrive. These things show the inner turmoil he is going through as he tries not to give in to his feelings for Ji-hyun.

I have Joon-pyo for interrupting the two at the end of this episode because I am sure this kiss would have changed the Korean BL industry given the fact that the sexual tension between Jae-won and Ji-hyun was too powerful. I am as eager to watch the next episode as Ji-hyun is to kiss Jae-won.