Moon in the Day 2023 K Drama Episode 3

Episode 3 of Moon in the Day starts in the year 1500 and narrates the story of how Do Ha fell for Ri-ta’s trap, eventually falling in love with her. Present-day Do Ha (in Jun-oh’s body) thinks about his past mistake and promises to seek revenge on her in the same way that she did.

The next morning, Young-hwa visits her father’s gravesite before her interview but spots Do Ha (Joon-oh) and Yoon-je in the forest who are going to the monastery to ask about the amulet.

Do Ha (Joon-oh) talks to the monk and tries to find a similar amulet but doesn’t find it. Monk Hae-in hides and tells the older monk that he is worried the saint is in danger. The older monk asks Hae-in to leave the poltergeist alone and mind his business because Do Ha is very powerful.

Meanwhile, Young-hwa gets a call from her senior who asks her to go to the advertisement shoot with Joon-oh as his bodyguard. Young-hwa is annoyed that the actor kept her from giving the interview after which she could have met her boyfriend. She rushes to the ad shoot and goes looking for Joon-oh.

Just then, Joon-oh gets a call from Tae-joo who calls him to the parking lot. Someone drugs Joon-oh and he is knocked out inside the van. Young-hwa finds him inside and scrambles inside to help him. However, the kidnapper knocks her out by hitting her on the head. The two are abducted and kept in an under-constructed building.

At the same time, Min-o learns from the cops that Joon-oh’s drowning did not take place by accident. The cops reveal that Joon-oh was drugged, which was the true cause of his accident. Min-o is startled when Yoon-je tells him that Joon-oh is missing. He calls the cops for help and goes looking for Tae-joo who is surprisingly still in the parking lot, waiting for Joon-oh to show up.

As it turns out, Joon-oh was kidnapped upon orders from Seok Chul-hwan, the former CEO of Beginning Entertainment. The kidnappers that Tae-joo had hired show up at the parking lot and the cops arrest them all for attempting to kidnap Joon-oh.

At the kidnapping site, Young-hwa wakes up and frees herself. She beats the kidnappers up all by herself but the leader of the group kicks her so hard that she falls to the lower floor and gets knocked out. At the same time, Chul-hwan calls the rookie kidnapper and asks him to kill both Young-hwa and Joon-oh.

The kidnapper refuses because of the petty fees he’s received for the crime. As he is debating on trying to make Young-hwa pay for attacking them, Do Ha (Joon-oh) shows up. He beats the entire group very badly and eventually hides away. Young-hwa wakes up at the scene and is confused after seeing all the kidnappers knocked out.

The cops also arrive and are in utter shock after seeing what they assume was Young-hwa’s doing. Young-hwa is interrogated for leaving the kidnappers in a half-dead state. At the hospital, Do Ha (Joon-oh) asks Min-o to hire Young-hwa as his bodyguard because she was the person who saved his life twice after he was drugged with the intention of kidnapping and murder.

Young-hwa goes back home where her roommate helps her. She talks about Young-hwa’s memories and worries for her friend. Meanwhile, Do Ha (Joon-oh) and Yoon-je try to find the person who had ordered his kidnapping. Yoon-je brings the CCTV footage from the phone booth showing Chul-hwan.

At the same time, Chul-hwan dies from jumping off a building after being hounded by a ghost that possessed him. An older man reincarnated from the Silla period watches the news and recognises Do Ha, who was hiding in the body of Actor Joon-oh.

The next morning, Young-hwa wakes up to another nightmare from the Silla period wherein she sees the reincarnated older man trying to flirt with her inappropriately. Young-hwa realises it was the day of her disciplinary hearing. Her roommate shows her the protests that are taking place against Young-hwa and tries to stop her from going outside.

Young-hwa still goes to the hearing and is questioned about her involvement with Joon-oh as well as her actions at the site of the kidnapping. She is suspended for three months which prevents her from interviewing for the position in Antarctica. Embarrassed and irritated by the news articles and texts she was getting, Young-hwa turned off her phone.

Meanwhile, Do Ha (Joon-oh) is at home trying to watch the video of Young-hwa twisting Joon-oh’s arm when Yi-seul shows up. The actress brags that it was she who sent the video evidence to the cops that issued for protests against Young-hwa. She asks Joon-oh to quit the drama but Do Ha (Joon-oh) kicks Yi-seul out after mocking her for breaking up with him.

Attorney Go tells Min-o that he is not okay with Young-hwa working as Joon-oh’s bodyguard. Min-o argues that it was Joon-oh’s decision and adds that there was nothing he could do about it. When the cops show up to interrogate Joon-ho, Yoon-je hides the bloodstained clothes that Do Ha (Joon-oh) had worn while assaulting the kidnappers.

The cops tell Do Ha (Joon-oh) that a bearded man – Chul-hwan was following Young-hwa around. Do Ha (Joon-oh) gets worried and immediately leaves, trying to find her. Min-o calls Do Ha (Joon-oh) and tells him he will bring Young-hwa to him by all means.

That night, Min-o lies to Young-hwa, asking her to come to the hospital because Joon-oh is in danger. When she shows up there, Min-o pleads with her, asking Young-hwa to bear with Joon-oh because he is on his deathbed. Min-o begs for Young-hwa to protect his brother for one month. Young-hwa asks to be taken to Joon-oh’s house. She finds Joon-oh standing over the rocks, which resemble the rocks they played on during the Silla period.

Do Ha (Joon-oh) tells Young-hwa that he has 1 month left to live and adds that he wants to be around her. Young-hwa sympathizes with the actor and agrees to be his bodyguard for one month and signs a contract with Min-o for the same. She tells Min-o that she is still a firefighter and will do her duty of saving a life by making Jun-oh’s last few days comfortable.

The next day, Young-hwa joins Joon-oh’s script reading for the upcoming drama he was a part of. In the women’s room, she overhears the staff discussing how Joon-oh was known to be a clumsy actor who had a hard time reading scripts. She wonders why women like a clumsy person so much.

At the reading, Yoon-je tells Do Ha (Joon-oh) that the director was pissed off and asks him to be careful during the reading. He asks Yoon-je to bring Young-hwa inside and threatens to leave the reading if she isn’t in the same room as him. Yoon-je manages to bring Young-hwa in but Yi-seul enters the room as well. Do Ha (Joon-oh) is infuriated by Yi-seul’s comments but Young-hwa tries to calm him down and forces him to stay.

The entire crew is waiting for Joon-oh to fumble during the reading but Do Ha (Joon-oh) manages to ready with proper enunciation which impresses the director while leaving Yi-seul shocked. Min-o praises Joon-oh while Yoon-je ends up wiping his wet hands on the actor’s jacket.

Do Ha (Joon-oh) asks for a replacement jacket and Young-hwa goes to the car to get it. Do Ha (Joon-oh) follows after her and finds Yi-seul fighting Tae-joo.

Yi-seul tells Tae-joo that his life as an actor has been over for a while and adds that he had no business feeling inferior to Joon-oh because the latter was much more popular with him. Just then, the reincarnated older man, Mr Seok, shows up to meet Tae-joo. Mr Seok possesses Tae-joo while Do Ha (Joon-oh) goes looking for Young-hwa who has still not returned. Young-hwa finds his blood-stained shirt from the kidnapping incident in the van and asks him about it.

The two have an argument after which Young-hwa pushes Do Ha (Joon-oh) away. Do Ha (Joon-oh) notices the amulet is now a bracelet on Young-hwa’s hand and decides to make her take it off so that he can kill her.

At the same time, Tae-joo who is possessed drives his car inside the parking lot and tries to kill him but Young-hwa notices that and pushes him away.

The car hits Young-hwa and she is knocked unconscious while bleeding from her head. She sees a flashback from the Silla period and envisions herself around Do Ha who she thinks is Jun-oh. The episode ends with Do Ha (Jun-oh) worried about Young-hwa not making it back after the accident.

The Episode Review

The show is getting quite interesting and I am sure the connection between the past and the present will be played quite well in this one. From the first episode, I am sure viewers expected Kim Young-dae to play the same old role as he did in Shooting Stars but the “brooding man from the 1500’s who is inside an actor’s body trying to kill his ex” look suits him well.

Young-hwa’s character is turning into a stereotype and her badass fighting skills are no good if all she is doing is giving in to Do Ha/Joon-oh’s trap. This drama would get a lot more interesting if Young-hwa learns about Do Ha’s trap soon and tries to stop him. From the way she is getting flashbacks from the Silla period at the end of this episode, things seem to be shaping up in that way precisely.

Mr Seok is probably the man who loved Ri-ta in the past and it is quite possible that Do Ha got in his way which has prompted him to get Do Ha killed in the present time. I wonder if Chul-hwan too was possessed by Mr Seok, but if not, there could be more people after Do Ha.