'Mystic Pop-up Bar' Episode 9 reveals shocking truth about Weol-ju after Kang-bae's emotional outburst
In episode 9 of 'Mystic Pop-up Bar' we see Weol-ju and Gwi figure out a major technical problem that would stop them from keeping their side of the promise to Kang-bae while helping a man who used to be a shaman. Weol-ju and Gwi meet this man who is currently cheating people with claims that he can solve their problems with his otherworldly skills. When Weol-ju and Gwi try to find out why and stop him, they realize that this man's passage to spiritual perception was suddenly shut down. To resolve his grudge and include this as a part of achieving her target, Weol-ju and Gwi travel to this man's subconscious only to realize that they are unable to open the door to this passage.
While trying to resolve this issue at the Afterlife office, Weol-ju and Gwi learn that the Jade Emperor has ruled that no one will be able to operate the doors of this particular passageway after someone (Weol-ju) shut the door of perception of a human who was supposed to grow up to become the most powerful monk who saves humankind. Weol-ju realizes that she is the one who brought about this disaster and tries to find a way around this new rule. This is the only condition Kang-bae had to work with Weol-ju so to not be able to meet this condition would be tantamount to betraying Kang-bae.
When Weol-ju realizes that the Afterlife office won't be able to help them operate Kang-bae's perception, Weol-ju approaches Samsin, the god of conception dreams to help her figure out a way. She learns that the only way Kang-bae would be able to relieve himself of his ability to see ghosts and touch people enough to have them spill their true thoughts is to be with someone who has a strong yang characteristic. Samsin also reveals that a human has been born with the characteristics of a holy stone whose shavings helped humans chase ghosts when imbued into a talisman. Samsin says that if Kang-bae were to kiss this woman sincerely there is a workaround to the door of perception.
However, Samsin refuses to tell Weol-ju who this human is. Weol-ju and Gwi try to hash out the situation with Mr. Death but he is of no use and recently, with his connection to Weol-ju's past, he has been acting strangely. Being the father of Weol-ju and her lover's enemy has put Mr. Death in a tight spot. Instead of harnessing the evil spirit of his son, Mr. Death gives in to the feeling of a sympathetic father and from the looks of it, he might even be working alongside his son to ensure that Weol-ju doesn't complete her mission. If she doesn't, all traces of her will be erased and punished in Hell. We also learned that after Weol-ju's death, the crown prince beheaded his best friend. However, it is still unclear why the crown prince was betrayed.
In the meantime, Kang-bae who is clueless about any of this brings a customer to the bar that Weol-ju can help. This customer's child was kidnapped years ago when she had left him at home to go work for the day. Since that day, the woman has been desperately searching for her child, and now with Weol-ju, Gwi and Kang-bae's help, she finds out that her child went to the US. Turns out that a man who was hitting on her had assumed that if he took the son out of her life, she would dedicate her time to him. So he takes the child and abandons him at an orphanage. Weol-ju solves this after tracking down the man who had kidnapped the child. After this, when Gwi and Weol-ju began discussing Kang-bae's condition, Weol-ju decides not to tell Kang-bae so as not to worry him.
However, Kang-bae who has been manipulated by Mr. Death and has already a seed of suspicion overhears this conversation and misunderstands the entire situation. He blames Weol-ju for using him and abandoning him just like many others and also calls her out for betraying him just like people she hated did. This shocks Weol-ju enough into taking a shocking step. She signs a contract with Samsin that lets her have the information regarding the human female born with the holy stone's characteristics. This contract means that Weol-ju will be sent to Hell of Extinction in return for the information. This shocking step also pushes Samsin to reveal more about Weol-ju's past.
It is revealed that when Weol-ju hung herself from the sacred tree, she was unaware of the fact that she was pregnant. Not only did she kill the sacred tree, in the process, she also cursed her baby to live through 1,000 miserable lives. It is to stop this from happening that Weol-ju took up the mission to help 100,000 souls. When Kang-bae learns of this, he is heartbroken and even tries to convince Weol-ju to not do it but what has been done cannot be undone. So instead, he decides to continue helping Weol-ju while she figures out a solution for his condition.