4 Mysteries That Are Answered In Episodes 3-4 Of “Moon In The Day” & 2 That Aren’t

“Moon in the Day” is settling into its stride, alternating between past angst and present confusion. It’s doing a great job at peeling back the layers one scene at a time, but the bulk of the magic is still happening in the past more than the present. The opening episodes didn’t answer all questions, and this week provides a little more insight but still keeps us on our toes. Here are some mysteries that were answered and a big question mark that remains up in the air!

Warning: spoilers for episodes 3-4 below.

1. ANSWERED: Who is trying to kill Jun Oh and Young Hwa

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Do Ha as Jun Oh (Kim Young Dae) assumed that the only danger around him and Young Hwa (Pyo Ye Jin) was that which he intended to inflict on her. But after he and Young Hwa are kidnapped and nearly killed by a gang, he realizes that there’s someone else who wants them dead. That person turns out to be Seok Chul Hwan, played by Jung Woong In, who literally always plays villains. Seok Chul Hwan, Jun Oh’s former agency CEO, was also behind the accident which killed the real Jun Oh and allowed Do Ha to enter his body.

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But there’s more at stake than a disgruntled, murderous agency CEO because Chul Hwan isn’t really Chul Hwan! The real man was plagued by voices in his head ordering him to kill and ended up dead while trying to escape them. Then, a spirit enters his body. We’ve got another vengeful ghost in the picture! And he has a serious grudge against Jun Oh and Young Hwa.

2. UNANSWERED: Lord Seo’s link to Do Ha and Ri Ta

The ghost is shown as being Do Ha’s adoptive father Lord Seo (Lee Kyung Young). It isn’t clear as to why Lord Seo hates Do Ha and Ri Ta so much just yet. We know that he spotted Ri Ta as a new, pretty maid, and he eyes her creepily. But it appears that he’s also been trapped in the same cycle as Do Ha for 1,500 years. So how is it that the two ghosts haven’t seen each other? Have they all been hovering around Ri Ta’s reincarnations all these years without crossing paths? Do Ha doesn’t seem to have a clue that his murderous stepfather is possessing people and trying to kill him and Young Hwa.

3. ANSWERED: Whether Young Hwa knows about Jun Oh’s terminal illness

Young Hwa hasn’t been having a very good time of it. First, she’s kidnapped by a gang on Chul Hwan’s (possessed by Lord Seo) orders. And because she’s no damsel in distress, she knocks down four guys before losing to the fifth. He’s about to kill her when Do Ha shows up furious and nearly kills all of them. Young Hwa’s unconscious and doesn’t hear him quietly promise her that she won’t die by anyone’s hands—other than his that is. The thing is Do Ha seems so conflicted about even the thought of hurting her. He could have taken her life right there. He had every chance and could have blamed her death on the gang members. But instead he does this:

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Afterwards, the police blame the gang members’ injuries on Young Hwa, and she’s suspended from work for three months. That means goodbye to her dream of going to the Antarctic. She’s upset but also afraid, wondering why she can’t remember hurting those men. But her reputation is in tatters. And that’s when Do Ha instructs Han Min Oh (On Joo Wan) to swoop in to the rescue. Han Min Oh comes clean with Young Hwa that his brother has only a month to live and pleads with her to be his bodyguard during that duration because it’s literally Jun Oh’s last wish. Young Hwa thinks back to all the times Jun Oh acted like he would die without her and mistakenly thinks that he’s fixated on her as his savior because he doesn’t have much time left. That, plus a soft heart, makes her agree to being his bodyguard. But that’s only the start of their troubles.

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4. UNANSWERED: Why Young Hwa is remembering her life as Ri Ta

Young Hwa’s spate of bad luck continues when Lord Seo/Seok Chul Hwan mindcontrols Goo Tae Joo (Jung Heon) into driving his car into Jun Oh. She leaps in front of him and takes the hit. And Do Ha just freezes. All he can think about is that he promised that she wouldn’t die by anyone else’s hands. And she’s bleeding out in front of him.

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Before with the gangs and now, that is not the face of someone who wants Young Hwa to die. He’s never once been cruel to her, and even now, when he has every reason to hate her, he can’t see her die and for reasons more than his own salvation. This show is incredible. And there’s another layer to this. When Young Hwa falls unconscious, she doesn’t go to sleep. She enters her life as Ri Ta!

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And this is when we see the truth play out.

5. ANSWERED: When Do Ha learned of Ri Ta’s identity

From the start! He knew from day one! The show uses flashbacks to great effect here. The same scene when viewed in isolation ends up meaning something altogether different when put in context. Do Ha hears when Han Ri Ta creeps into his room, preparing to take his life, but his first instinct isn’t to even kill the assassin but to wound her, and even then, to make sure it’s not life-threatening. He only has to take one look at the mark on Ri Ta’s sword to realize that she’s the daughter of the general he just vanquished in battle. And that also means that he hanged the wrong person who’d pretended to be her.

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But in a move that’s wildly refreshing and bewildering for Ri Ta, he does nothing. He literally even tells her that he knows who she is. When she chooses to work for him as a maid in the hopes of attempting to kill him again, he agrees. And he doesn’t use his position to blackmail, threaten, or assault her! He even helps her in her archery lessons, showing her how to kill him. That and the quiet, stoic way he lives (Kim Young Dae being all stoic is just perfection) confuses Ri Ta because he acts like a man with a death wish. She isn’t wrong.

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6. ANSWERED: Why Do Ha fought against the kingdom of Gaya

Do Ha is lauded in court by the king for annihilating the Gayan rebels. But Do Ha refuses all praise and instead directs it toward his adopted father Lord Seo, who very clearly despises his adopted son. Do Ha clearly lacks political ambition and sends all gifts and glory Lord Seo’s way, but that’s not good enough. Lord Seo doesn’t like him, doesn’t trust him, and sends him on war campaign after campaign in the hopes that Do Ha will die in battle and that he’ll get a ton of wealth, power, and pity from the king as a result.

The reason for this hatred isn’t clear as is the reason why Lord Seo would adopt a boy he dislikes so much. But it’s resulted in Do Ha having been emotionally neglected his entire life. He even has to taste-test all his father’s food in case it’s poisoned. Naturally, Lord Seo doesn’t care if it is and if Do Ha dies as a result. Ri Ta is perturbed upon witnessing how Do Ha is treated and even angrier when she sees Do Ha building a secret monument to the fallen Gayan people. She accuses him of trying to earn pity and forgiveness, but he sadly points out that the dead can’t forgive. He was following orders, but that didn’t mean he liked what he did. And he knows there’s no atonement for it. He just wants nothing more than for his suffering to end. Ri Ta realizes that Do Ha wants to die and hopes she’ll do it. She grows furious and refuses to kill him, saying that she would only be doing what he wants and that isn’t vengeance. Rather, she orders him to live. And the moment he wants to live more than anything else in the world is the moment she’ll kill him. Of course, this is when Young Hwa wakes!

Meanwhile, Do Ha’s been standing over her bed, knowing that he’ll probably have no better chance than this to kill her while she’s already weak and comatose. He grips her neck and hesitates and keeps hesitating. Young Hwa opens her eyes, and she calls him “my lord,” just as Ri Ta did. And Do Ha is gone. He’s completely lost. He literally runs but can’t stay away. He waits outside her home. He watches her longingly and wonders who she is and why she would call him the way Ri Ta did. It literally shakes him to his core.

 Can’t blame him. She’s gorgeous!

He knows he doesn’t want to kill her and doesn’t know what to do about it, so he overdoses on meds just to stop himself from hurting. She finds him, struggling to breathe, and thinks that he attempted to end his life because of his cancer. She orders him to live, the same way Ri Ta once did. But can that actually happen this time around?

What a rollercoaster! This show is entirely going to pull a fake out and give us a happy ending or rip our hearts out! Next week promises more of the past and more confusion on why Young Hwa seems to be remembering her life 19 incarnations ago. We also have Jun Oh’s annoying ex Jung Yi Seul (Jung Shin Hye), who doesn’t even want him back, trying to get friendly with him for good PR. But Do Ha and Young Hwa remain the heart and soul of this show, and here’s hoping the focus continues to stay firmly on them and the possibly very ill-fated relationship that’s blooming in the present.

 

cr: Soompi