Duty After School (2023) Episode 8

Duty After School episode 8 starts with the students at the penitentiary discussing what to do about the prisoners. So-Yoon points out that she saw a red flag earlier and that the prisoners are on death row.

As they talk, the prisoners also beg for their release. The students worry that leaving them behind with no food will be murder. Ultimately, they decide to give the prisoners food and come back when they have fixed the radio and spoken to the military bosses.

They feed the prisoners and refuse to tell them about the current situation outside. Ae-seol notices that one of the prisoners is not eating or moving from his bed. She tries to check if he is sick. He asks her to deliver a message to his sick mom since they are not freeing them.

Ae-seol is touched by his love and takes the picture he handed her with his mom’s number written behind it. The other prisoners accuse the kids of wanting to leave them for dead and being murderers. However, the kids decide to finish their intended search and go back to the base.

They resume their search for a radio or spare parts but Ae-seol decides to go behind the team and release the “sick” prisoner. It turns out he was just manipulating her, he frees the other prisoners and holds Ae-seol hostage.

Bo-Ra is the first one to notice something is off and rushes along with the others to find Ae-seol.  They realize that she is being held as a hostage and lock the main gate out of the death-row cells. At first, the students refuse to let the prisoners use Ae-seol as a bargaining chip but the prisoners threaten to rape Ae-seol and give them ten minutes to discuss their options and open the gate.

As they discuss, the students get an alert from their sphere detector.  They decide to give up their guns and surrender. They release the prisoners but they in turn fail to hold up their end of the bargain and release Ae-seol. The students are left with no choice but to run.

Meanwhile, at the base, Ha-Na, Joon-Hee and Deok-Joong slack off and fail to notice another group of students entering their base. It seems like Deok-Joong likes Ha-Na and wants to indulge her just to see her happy.

The intruders prove to be harmless and after introductions, they share that they are heading to Seoul. They heard that the CSATs have been officially cancelled and broke off from the rest of their team to head back home. For them, they saw no point in staying to fight and wished to return home.

Ha-Na, Joon-Hee and Deok-Joong are surprised to hear that the CSATs were cancelled. They explain that their radio is damaged so they didn’t receive the info. The intruders offer to fix the radio but soon discover that someone intentionally damaged it.

Elsewhere, at the hospital, Chi-yeol tries to muster the courage to confess his feelings to Na-Ra but fails. Na-Ra tries to check up on him and reveals she is struggling. She gives him a chance to say what he feels but he is too shy to take it. In the end, he sort of friend-zones her. Chi-yeol opts to record a video confessing but that also proves to be hard.

He hears raised voices and upon investigating, finds only Soo-Chul. Soo-Chul is acting suspiciously like he is hiding something from the rest of the group. He also has the ballot papers they used to vote on the previous night. What is he up to? He manages to distract Chi-yeol by bringing up Na-Ra and saying he won’t back down until he wins her heart.

Still, at the hospital, Young-Soo has a conversation with Yeon-Joo about why he is studying hard, even in war. Young-Soo comes from a poor family and he needs to get good grades, get into a good college and find a job at a nice company so he can help his family. Yeon-Joo encourages him and finally understands why he is so studious.

The others celebrate finding even medical supplies to last them a long time and treat their current ailment.  They also find a car full of ammo and other resources they need. They don’t question their good fate and organize themselves on how they will transport everything to their base. Young-Soo gets angry when Kwon Il-Ha tries to give him an order. To prevent a fight, Chi-yeol offers to take up the task.

A few minutes later,  the sound of a gun is heard and Soo-chul is seen falling to his death. The students start mourning his death.

The episode ends with a flashback of Soo-chul sitting by himself at the memorial site. He is wondering if what he is doing is right. He wants to put an end to it and seems to be deeply remorseful. However, we don’t know what he is referring to exactly.

The Episode Review

Well, whatever secret Soo-chul was hiding has probably driven him to an early grave. What did he do that he is so afraid he will be heavily criticized? Did he rig the vote and if so why? What happened to him, he was not killed by a sphere. Chi-yeol was on his way to get him, did they meet and fight? We have so many questions.

Ae-seol was extremely frustrating in this episode. She rarely does what she is asked to and keeps dragging her team behind but this time she took it a notch further. She selfishly endangers her whole team because of her sentimentality.

They are at war and she thought it was a good idea to release a man on death row all because he told her a sob story about his mom! She should have listened to what the other members decided. I hope she has learnt her lesson, she owes them a big apology.

Lastly, I wonder what Ha-Na, Joon-Hee and Deok-Joong will do with the new information that someone intentionally sabotaged the radio.