Race – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

Does It All Go Downhill From Here?

Race episode 4 begins with Eun-Jeong yelling at Yoon-Jo because she asked for a chance to oversee the Earth Comms marketing project for Seyong Cosmetics. All the while, Jae-Min is nearby, watching the entire scene. He feels sorry for Yoon-Jo but doesn’t show it.

Yoon-Jo goes home, but Jae-Min invites her to a karaoke bar. They have fun, and Yoon-Jo’s spirits are lifted a little bit. Jae-Min then encourages Yoon-Jo to vent her anger towards Eun-Jeong for how she yelled at her earlier, and she does. Yoon-Jo also expresses how embarrassed she is because she cried in front of Eun-Jeong when she yelled at her. Jae-Min assures her that it’s okay to cry when one’s upset.

The next day, Yoon-Jo reports to work, all happy and motivated to start the day regardless of what happened the previous night. She then begins activities scheduled to promote the non-discriminatory employment program. This includes having an interview and taking pictures.

Seyong also holds a new employee welcoming ceremony for Yoon-Jo and the other two employees recruited courtesy of the non-discriminatory employment program. Meanwhile, Yi-Jung finally reports to Seyong to officially begin her job.

She meets with Ji-Hyeon, who begins asking her questions about her ex-husband, Ahn Eun-Seok, and daughter Ahn Yoo-Jin. Yi-Jung asks Ji-Hyeon why she’s asking all these questions. Ji-Hyeon tells Yi-Jung that she hired her so they could chat from time to time. Well, at least that’s what Gu-Young thinks.

Yeon-Soo tells Gu-Young what she found out about Yi-Jung. He tells Gu-Young that Ji-Hyeon most likely hired her as a consultant. Gu-Young suggests that the CEO position may be lonely, which is why Ji-Hyeon hired Yi-Jung so they could talk from time to time.

The ceremony is about to begin when Yi-Jung walks into the room. Of course, everyone, especially Yoon-Jo, is star-struck as she is famous. Yi-Jung is introduced to the PR team leaders. She then asks who came up with the non-discriminatory employment program and is introduced to Jae-Min. Yi-Jung tells Jae-Min that if this program were good for publicity, it wouldn’t be effective in improving Seyong’s image if it was a one-off thing.

Jae-Min suggests they make the non-discriminatory employment program a regular thing. However, Yi-Jung doesn’t give her a clear answer as Gu-Young calls.

Later, the PR team leaders invite their team leaders out for dinner because Byung-Man requires the teams to have bonding exercises as there are new employees. The team members in Sun-Tae’s team are especially surprised because Sun-Tae doesn’t interact with his juniors like that. In Team 3, everyone else, except Yoon-Jo, pretends to be busy, so, Eun-Jeong suggests they have lunch the next day.

As expected, Sun-Tae doesn’t have dinner with his team members. Instead, he gives Jae-Min the Seyong corporate credit card to buy dinner for himself and the other team members.

Elsewhere, Yi-Jung goes to meet with Hee-Young. It turns out she and Hee-Young worked together sometime back as reporters. How surprising!

Jae-Min goes to Eun’s bar and finds Yoon-Jo and Eun exercising. Apparently, they over ate and are exercising to make their stomach feel more comfortable. Eun and Yoon-Jo notice something is wrong with Jae-Min, so they ask him.

As a result, they end up talking about their past relationships. Yoon-Jo and Jae-Min seemingly confess their feelings toward each other, but they pretend and say they’re joking. On his way home, Jae-Min looks at a picture of Yi-Jung on his phone. Could they have had a relationship in the past?

Meanwhile, Yi-Jung is trying to contact her daughter, Yoo-Jin, but she doesn’t respond. Elsewhere, Eun-Seok picks up Yoo-Jin from school. She receives a message from Yi-Jung, asking her if she can call her, but she ignores it. It seems Yoo-Jin and Yi-Jung are estranged.

The next day at Seyong headquarters, Yoon-Jo’s interview she had earlier is being played on screens all over the place, and Yoon-Jo seems to enjoy this newly-found fame at Seyong.

Sun-Tae arranges for Yoon-Jo to be in a documentary. All this is a marketing strategy for Seyong to restore its public image after Jaerak-Ma’s article. However, Yoon-Jo doesn’t want to be in a documentary. She instead suggests being interviewed by a popular YouTuber to reach a wider audience, but Sun-Tae refuses.

Later, Eun-Jeong tells Sun-Tae that she isn’t going to force Yoon-Jo to be in the documentary if she doesn’t want to, but Sun-Tae tells her he will.

Dong-Hoon arrives at Seyong headquarters to discuss the marketing project for Seyong Cosmetics. He meets Yoon-Jo, and later finds out she isn’t the one who’s in charge of the project. Dong-Hoon later texts Yoon-Jo, asking her out to dinner, and she agrees.

Just then, news about Yoon-Jo not being chosen by other employees through a blind screening as planned in the non-discriminatory employment program gets out. Rumours start going around that Yoon-Jo’s employment is just Seyong’s publicity stunt to improve its public image.

Jae-Min informs Sun-Tae about the rumours, and he instructs him to put up a statement that the rumours about Yoon-Jo’s employment being a PR stunt aren’t true… but could it be?

The next day, people inside and outside Seyong headquarters are still talking about these rumours. Even Ji-Hyo seems to be enjoying watching what is happening to Yoon-Jo. So typical of her!

Byung-Man meets with the PR team leaders. He then tells them that Yoon-Jo will have to be fired.

The Episode Review

I can’t imagine being in Yoon-Jo’s shoes right now. For starters, the non-discriminatory employment program was set up to employ people based on their experience. So, I wonder why people are against Yoon-Jo because she doesn’t have the academic qualifications to be in her job position at Seyong.

Also, she doesn’t know that Sun-Tae seemingly pushed for her to be employed just for her to be “the face” of Seyong, yet she’s the one being affected by these rumours. Yoon-Jo didn’t ask to be in Seyong in the first place, she just applied for the job like everyone else when there was an opportunity, and she got it.

Surprisingly, Jae-Min and Yi-Jung may share a past. I hope things turn out for the better for Yoon-Jo because she deserves it.