'Mystic Pop-up Bar' Episode 4 hints at a history between Kang-bae and Weol-ju and at Gwi being evil
'Mystic Pop-up Bar' episode 4 sees Weol-ju, Kang-bae, and manager Gwi get involved in helping a soul that has already passed as a part of Weol-ju's task to help 100,000 human souls free themselves of their grudges. So the three of them take part in the annual ceremony held by the underworld where a series of competitions are conducted and the winner would get the chance to feature in the dream of one of their family members and give them the lottery number as a gift. So when Weol-ju, Kang-bae, and Gwi realize that one of them happens to be Kang-bae's colleague Choi Jin-dong's grandfather; they decide to help him win the competition by cheering for him.
However, the episode takes a tragic turn when Mr. Death gets a notification to collect the soul of Jin-dong who is expected to die of an accident. If he were to die, then Weol-ju helping his grandfather will not count and she will be one member short of 100,000 that happens to be her target. Kang-bae, on the other hand, is worried about his senior at work and wants to save. The three of them will either have to collect all the goodwill collected by one of Jin-dong's family members to increase his lifeline or let Jin-dong be taken away by Mr. Death.
So the three of them work together. While Kang-bae stays by Jin-dong's side to ensure that no accidents occur, Weol-ju decides to delay Mr. Death as much as possible to give Gwi the time required to collect the goodwill that Jin-dong's grand-aunt has managed to collect through her good karma. In this attempt, Kang-bae gets injured, but they do end up saving Jin-dong. However, something strange occurs then, and Yeo-rin enters the godown to check on why there were noises and disturbances detected. Upon her entrance, Mr. Death is unable to use his powers and it seems as if she might be a neutralizer of otherworldly power.
Kang-bae and Weol-ju had just convinced Yeo-rin that morning that they work for a secret agency, so to come in contact with her at this point would be self-sabotage. So both of them decide to hide from her sight. Meanwhile, Weol-ju is only left with 6 people to help but the nearer she is to achieving her target, the more she is reminded of her past.
Just when the bar employees decide that it is time to celebrate, Weol-ju and Gwi realize that Kang-bae has fallen sick. Weol-ju helps him home, puts him to sleep, and when she is about to leave to get him some medicine, he stops her in his sleep and he tells her not to leave. This reminds her of the first and only man that she had ever fallen in love with. The prince 500 years ago. It is at this point that we see a flash from the past where the prince arrives at the sacred tree with a sword dripping with blood. The tree is weathered all its leaves and stands alone. The prince is in tears and promises his dead lover that in his next lifetime, he will meet her again, and when he does, he will save her soul.
For this flash from the past to occur in the presence of Kang-bae, it makes us wonder if he is the reincarnation of the prince from 500 years ago. Another interesting detail that the episode revealed is the fact that Gwi was a hunter of evil spirits in the past. He seems to be serving punishment for something that he did, however, Mr. Death tells him that he will soon be reinstated. He refuses to accept and says that it is too soon, however, when Mr. Death receives news of an evil spirit nearby and he invites Gwi to go with. What we see next is intriguing. Gwi does hunt down the evil spirit, however, he also seems strangely enamored by the soul bead of the evil spirit. Is Gwi evil? Will he put Kang-bae and Weol-ju in the path of danger?
'Mystic Pop-up Bar' new episodes can be streamed on Netflix on Wednesday and Thursday. The show is originally aired on JTBC.