One Day Off (2023) Episode 4

May 26, 2023

Episode 4 of One Day Off (or Park Ha-Kyung’s Travels) starts off with Ha-kyung at school, trying to help her dad with his technical issues over a video call. She gives up and calls the tech support team. As she is standing in the hallway on the phone, the art teacher comes by and plucks out one of her grey hairs.

For her day off, Ha-kyung goes to Sokchu. She rides a Ferris wheel while looking at the sea, pondering growing older and remembering her first real vacation. Her dad joined them on that trip. It was their last trip as a family. Her dad lost his job soon after that, and it was a hard time for her family.

Headed home, Ha-kyung sits in a bus station quietly listening to an older man (the same man with the ticket issue at the end of the last episode) complaining about young people and politics. He asks Ha-kyung about her opinion, and she quietly and politely begins to answer his questions, making the point that he is complaining about young people and welfare, but he is actually benefiting from it, and young people are the ones providing it. He shouts at her and calls her disrespectful, boarding the bus in a huff. Ha-kyung boards the bus and sits far away from him as tears well in her eyes.

Ha-kyung falls asleep and later wakes up to the man and his wife receiving a video call from their grandkids, whom they are excited to talk to. When the bus stops, Ha-kyung gets off and watches the elder couple walk off. She suddenly walks over to them and apologizes for speaking disrespectfully. The man is speechless but hands her the sweets he bought for his grandkids.

Ha-kyung goes home, pours herself a beer, eats the sweets, and reads a text from her father, thanking her for helping him with his Wi-Fi issues.

A brief scene displays a woman feeding a cat and a young Ha-kyung opening a book.

The Episode Review

Considering this episode largely consists of a single dialogue scene, it is not super interesting. Although, like in the other episodes, it does have some beautiful scenery and pleasant, gentle music.

It is not 100% clear why Ha-kyung decides to apologize to the rude man, as she made her point with respect and sincerity. Presumably, the man reminds her of her own hardworking father, and she feels compassion for him.

Are you keeping up with this series? Let us know your thoughts about this episode in the comments!