Bitch X Rich (2023) K Drama Episode 7

Episode 7 of Bitch X Rich starts with Je-na’s father’s mistress telling her that she’s pregnant. Je-na is upset and leaves the family dinner. She goes home to see her mother drunk and talking about how Je-na’s father would finally have an heir to run their family business – something she could never give him.

The next morning, Hye-in asks to borrow some money from her father, and her family is shocked when Hye-in asks for 80,000 won. Her brother scolds Hye-in for being inconsiderate and asking for such a huge amount, despite knowing their financial circumstances. Hye-in goes back to her room and receives a text from Na-yeon who asks her to repay for the dress she had borrowed.

Since the dress is now destroyed because of a wine stain, Hye-in worries that she will be doomed if Na-yeon’s mother finds out. A flashback takes the episode to the night of the sorority party that Hye-in was invited to. After scanning the room once, Hye-in notices that all the members of the sorority are rich brats who all come from money.

She feels out of place at the party, despite wearing the expensive dress that Na-yeon had lent her. When Je-na shows up, she and her minions haze Hye-in while Je-na purposely douses red wine on Hye-in’s dress directly from the bottle.

The girls call Hye-in ‘Do-eon’s Girl’ while Je-na claims that Hye-in needs to know her place and not confuse herself with royalty. Hye-in tries to fight back and teach Je-na a lesson but the hotel staff drag her out.

That night, Je-na orders her chauffeur and personal assistant to have the housemaid fired. Je-na claims that the housemaid messed with her room and adds that things need to stay in the order they are supposed to because she does not like when things go in places where they do not belong.

The next morning, Do-eon meets Je-na and scolds her for bullying Hye-in. Je-na concludes that Do-eon was actually involved with Kim Hae-in and tells him to stop fixating on ‘penniless people’. Je-na claims that the poor usually use people like them as stepping stones to get to the top and dump them for the next best thing, just like Je-na’s father did with her mother.

Later that night, So-mang is shocked to see a video of Hye-in being bullied at the party. At the same time, he spots Hye-in talking to an older man and thinks that the man is a pedophile taking advantage of Hye-in’s naivety and trapping her in a relationship. Hye-in tells So-mang that he’s misunderstanding the interaction and thrifts one of her dresses to the guy.

After the interaction, So-mang and Hye-in have a chat about the rich being oblivious of their privilege and how So-mang thought that Hye-in was dating the middle-aged man only because she was poor. So-mang feels guilty and offers Hye-in a ride back home. Hye-in wonders if So-mang is also poor like her because he was the only one who was hanging out around her.

That night, Hye-in hatches a plan to take up as many part-time jobs as she can in order to pay for a new dress worth 80,000 won. The next day, Hye-in’s teacher tells her that there was a way for her to get another scholarship from the school. The teacher tells her that the scholarship program provides temporary accommodation and other benefits.

Hye-in thinks about the program but meets Je-na on her way outside. Hye-in asks Je-na to pretend like she does not exist and allows her to study in the school. Je-na tells Hye-in that the latter called for trouble by crossing paths with Je-na in the first place. She mocks her about the wine-stained dress, one that she is sure Hye-in rented.

Je-na propositions Hye-in to leave the school in a week’s time and offers to pay for the dress she spilt wine on. The next few days pass as Je-na keeps reminding Hye-in of her proposition and asks her to leave the school voluntarily if she wanted to survive. Two days after the conversation between Do-eon and Je-na, he offers Hye-in a ride back home. He asks Hye-in what was wrong.

Hye-in asks Do-eon if he would be willing to lend her some money to help her out. Do-eon mocks Hye-in for thinking about money when it’s a matter of life and death for Hae-in. However, Hye-in asks to get off his car. She tells Do-eon that she had not gotten to see the face of the person that pushed Hae-in off the roof.

She claims that Do-eon, who loved Hae-in and knew about the Diamond Club’s bullying should have protected Hae-in when she was at the school.

The next day, Woo-jin and Je-na are talking about Hae-in when Yul-hee interrupts them. At the same time, Si-eun takes Hye-in to the art room and offers a solution to help pay for the dress without having to drop out of school as the episode comes to an end.

The Episode Review

While it was clearly a bad idea for Hye-in to have gone to the party in the first place, I am not sure who allows teenagers to drink wine at a public party. It is possible that the world of the rich has different drinking age limits but it seems like the entire party was hosted to ruin Na-yeon’s dress which was not actually that great to look at anyway. Je-na’s outfit was much better in comparison.

Je-na clearly needs mental health help because she is taking her anger with her father out on the wrong things. She needs to think clearly about how her dad was actually at fault for cheating on his mother but he gets a clean chit for committing adultery while his mistress is left taking the blame for having an affair.

So far, Je-na has not done anything scary which makes me wonder if she is even capable of bullying Hae-in. The display of high school bullying in South Korea is not totally accurate in this show because we have seen better from shows like The Glory and Weak Hero Class 1. The show could turn Je-na’s character around to be the person who pushed Hae-in off the roof but so far, that does not look like the case.