The Midnight Romance in Hagwon — K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

Episode 4

Episode 4 of The Midnight Romance in Hagwon starts with Seung-kyu asking one of his students to meet him in private. He talks to the student about Jun-ho and Hye-jin’s lecture at Daechi Chase and asks him to attend the class. The boy refuses to go but Seung-kyu urges him to join the class as he is a scholarship student. At Daechi Chase, Chung-mi asks Hye-jin to have a drink with her after work.

Hye-jin tries to refuse but Chung-mi insists on hanging out with her. Jun-ho is confused about Chung-mi’s behaviour. That night, Jun-ho has drinks with Seung-kyu and talks about how being a teacher was fun for him. Meanwhile, Hye-jin shows up at the restaurant where Chung-mi is waiting for her. Chung-mi cuts to the chase and tells Hye-jin how she wants to teach Chanyoung High School students.

Hye-jin tells Chung-mi that she was already targeting the school. Chung-mi reveals to Hye-jin that she has a past issue with Professor Pyo and wants to challenge him. She reveals how she had taught a past student of Professor Pyo who had always ranked first. Chung-mi tells Hye-jin that since she was already busy clashing with Hyung-sun from Choisun, it would have been helpful to let her teach Chanyoung High School students.

Hye-jin likes Chung-mi’s confidence. Meanwhile, Jun-ho is distracted by Hye-jin’s meeting with Chung-mi. As soon as that is over, Hye-jin calls her to Daechi Chase to see her. He leaves his friends and rushes back to the teaching academy. Hye-jin tells him that they need to prepare for their joint classes and states that Chung-mi is going to take a shot at tutoring the Chanyoung High School students.

Jun-ho is upset with Chung-mi’s decision but Hye-jin asks him to focus on the upcoming joint lecture they have planned. Chung-mi goes home and looks at the poster of Hye-jin and Jun-ho at the bus stop. Meanwhile, Jun-ho’s parents discuss how odd the poster looks. His mother claims that Jun-ho was even busier as a teacher than he was at his corporate job.

At the same time, Hye-jin gives Jun-ho a bunch of instructions in the middle of his practice lecture which pisses him off. After the practice lecture is done, Hye-jin drives Jun-ho home. The two have another argument in the car and Hye-jin states that as academy tutors, they needed to prepare students for any question that could appear on the exam paper.

Jun-ho feels defeated and asks for Hye-jin’s help. She suggests they practice more the following day and Jun-ho wishes her a good night. At home, Hye-jin crashes on the couch when she gets a call from her friend – So-young. She talks to So-young who praises her for the poster. Meanwhile, Jun-ho spends the night preparing for the class while contemplating texting Hye-jin.

Hye-jin keeps checking her phone for Jun-ho’s message but turns it off while she works on her notes. The next morning, Jun-ho is early to work and practices his notes. At the same time, Ki-sung tells Hyung-sun that about 50 students from Heewon High had enrolled for the class at Daechi Chase. Hyun-tak takes Hye-jin out for breakfast and the two discuss Jun-ho’s progress for the upcoming joint lecture.

At Daechi Chase, Chung-mi tells Seung-hee about her intention to tutor Chanyoung High School students. Seung-hee tells Chung-mi that she needs to be as good as Hye-jin to do so. Chung-mi tells her that she is confident she could do as well as Hye-jin. Hyung-sun hires more TAs for her academy while Hye-jin helps Jun-ho practise his teaching skills.

On the day of the joint class, Hyun-tak is excited to see what happens. He wishes Jun-ho well. At the same time, Hye-jin meets Chung-mi and asks her to add the joint lecture to see how it feels. She apologises for not considering Chung-mi for the same but hopes that they too can work together in the future. The teachers at Daechi Chase wish Hye-jin and Jun-ho well as they walk in for the first joint lecture.

Jun-ho and Hye-jin wish each other well before class. The students from Heewon High don’t show up on time and Hye-jin starts to panic. Jun-ho waits outside and sees how all the students from Heewon High are going to Choisun Academy instead of Daechi Chase. Ki-sung tells Hyung-sun that 99% of their students were in class and that Hye-jin’s class would have to be cancelled.

Hyun-tak and Seung-hee are shocked to learn that no student has shown up. Just then, the boy Seung-kyu had asked to attend the class shows up. Hye-jin leaves the classroom, still upset. Jun-ho follows after her and asks her to calm down. Hyun-tak and Seung-hee find out that Hyung-sun had acted behind their backs to set up a “special lecture” for the students.

Hyung-sun’s class is full of students and she delivers her special lecture. On the other hand, Jun-ho urges Hye-jin to be brave. Hye-jin recalls how she had tutored Jun-ho years ago and decided to conduct the class for the single student who had shown up. In class, she starts talking to the student – Si-woo and gives him a personalised lecture.

The lecture takes Jun-ho back to his days as Hye-jin’s student from years ago. Jun-ho recalls how being close to Hye-jin all those years ago made him feel. He observes Hye-jin with Si-woo and thinks about how they reacted when Jun-ho’s CSAT scores were out. As the lecture goes by, Jun-ho goes in to conduct his half of the session. Chung-mi observes the class from outside.

Si-woo goes back home and the two teachers clean up behind them as they leave. Chung-mi brings in some snacks for Hye-jin and Jun-ho. Hye-jin takes the two new teachers out for drinks at So-young and Choon-il’s restaurant where So-young tries to cheer Hye-jin up.

At the same time, Si-woo talks all about the fun he had in class with Hye-jin at Daechi Chase. The episode ends with Si-woo telling his friends that he might end up switching from Choisun to Daechi Chase.

The Episode Review

The politics between the two teaching academies is taking all the fun out of this exciting drama. We can clearly see that the students themselves were not happy about the surprise lecture which turned out to be extremely boring for them. On the other hand, Si-woo had so much fun with his personalised class that he is contemplating switching to Daechi Chase for good.

The romance between Jun-ho and Hye-jin is brewing now as we can see Jun-ho thinking about all his happy moments with Hye-jin from when they were younger. He was falling for her then and hopefully will realise his feelings for Hye-jin in the episodes to come.

It is also visible how Hye-jin also wanted to talk to Jun-ho as she kept looking at her phone after their argument. I am hoping for the show to be extremely romantic with little to no melodrama because there is nothing that stands in the way of this romantic couple.