Recap Korean Drama The Heavenly Idol 2023 Episode 9

Episode 9 of The Heavenly Idol begins with Kim Dal confessing that she likes Yeon-woo and him chickening out. Kim Dal reprimands herself for her confession while Yeon-woo’s knees buckle when he gets to the stairs. On another side, we see the silhouette of a person holding a giant camera, and he makes a call.

Elsewhere, Yeon-woo and the other contestants are preparing to make their confessions, and he realizes that one of the contestants has dark magic. He takes Min Seo to his preferred date location and talks quickly, telling her what he practiced with Kim Dal. In the middle of the shoot, Min Seo is shown a dating rumour about Yeon-woo and Kim Dal, and she storms out.

Back in the office, the company CEO asks Yeon-woo and Kim Dal to explain if any of the rumours are accurate, and Kim Dal explains that they did that as a practice for him to do to Min Seo. The CEO then gets a flashback of her and Woo-sil in a traditional restaurant where they had dinner, but she got too drunk and passed out. She starts regretting how she got drunk in front of him. Kim Dal returns to the office and promises to take responsibility for the wrongdoing and solve anything that has happens.

At the shooting of Dear Deity, is asked to go home following his dating scandal as his scenes were reduced. Before leaving, he sees an evil spirit unfastening Maeng Woo-sin’s safety belt before he performs a stunt. He manages to save Maeng Woo-sin from a dangerous fall and everyone is surprised and pleased with him. Particularly, Maeng Woo-sin who believes Yeon-woo is the important person his master talked about. After getting to the hospital, he offers to take Yeon-woo back to Hongwoodaedae to his master, but Yeon-woo tells him that he has some unfinished business and will find him once he is done.

At the Wild Animal dorm, they watch as Min Seo and Raken go on a date. They receive hate messages because of Yeon-woo’s dating scandal and doubt they will make it to the charts again. Sun-ja rushes in and orders them to dress up nicely because they have just found a new investor who wants to meet them and treat them to a meal.

They get to the hotel and their new sponsor turns out to be the Evil One, the vice chairman of RU Entertainment. He requests an audience with Yeon-woo and tells him that since he has saved two lives, he will take two more lives as compensation. Kim Dal calls Yeon-woo and tells him to be a good team member and to promote the group’s single, he asks why, and she explains that she is no longer the group’s manager.

She took the blame for the dating scandal and reporters start hounding her as soon as she leaves the building. The fans also come out to attack her and hit her with eggs. Pontifex finds himself in a hard place when the Evil One tells him that he will cause harm to his group’s manager and the rest of the members if he tries to help Kim Dal. The media bring up Kim Dal’s past connection to Liz Ri and also blame her for Liz Ri’s suicide attempt. The attention shifts from Yeon-woo to Kim Dal.

The following day at Wild Animal headquarters, the group gets offers to appear on reality shows and advertisements. And the new singles had charted to number 15 on the charts.

Later that evening, Kim Dal goes through the internet comments on the scandal but remains unfazed. Pontifex visits and tries to convince her to return to work, but she refuses and tells him to leave. He leaves crestfallen.

The Evil one visits Hongwoodaedae and confronts the master for crossing the line when she sent him a spirit in Lord Redrin’s form. They talk about the deity’s power and how Pontifex’s powers are different. Pontifex’s power doesn’t come from the deity and has no limits. Hongwoodaedae’s master tells the Evil One to prepare for the second coming and Raken overhears their conversation.

Following his talk with Kim Dal, Pontifex remembers his conversation with Kim Dal while other activities are happening around him. Gam Jae hands him a paper containing his instructions; he is to join the Hongwoodaedae through Maeng Woo Sin. Yeon-woo gets his first offer to shoot a commercial alongside Maeng Woo-sin and everyone is elated for him.

As they are shooting the commercial, a member of the Evil Boys appears on set as a goblin, and Yeon-woo follows him and asks him to stand down. He reveals himself as the youngest in the group and explains that he wants to become human. Pontifex asks him to explain in detail how they turned into goblins and the contract they signed. They had sold their souls for success; a religious sect had made that possible.

After the shoot, Yeon-woo requests his phone back from  Maeng Woo-sil as he had borrowed it. The commercial becomes successful, and everyone buys the candy that was advertised.

The next day in the Wild Animal dorm, the members prepare to go to the music show. When they get there, they find they have gained more fans than before, and Yeon-woo realizes that he misses Kim Dal.

In the meantime, the Evil One goes to the top of the building and unleashes dark magic, and people around the country start fainting. Yeon-woo returns to the agency to find people waiting, accusing him of causing their family members to go comatose after eating the candy he advertised. The CEO takes him away and tries to get to the bottom of everything.

Maeng Woo Shin then gives a press conference accusing Yeon-woo of threatening him if he didn’t do as he was told. Evidence on the screen shows conversations between Yeon-woo and the company’s CEO, who manufactured the candy.

Yeon-woo heads back to the dorm, but even there, he is accused of causing the coma. He asks Gam-Jae to take him to the hospital to try and heal the affected but then realizes he has lost his divine powers.

Gam -jae explains that Hongwoodaedae did it, but Yeon-woo doesn’t believe him and believes they can do no evil. He leaves the hospital, goes for a walk, and decides to meet the Evil One. He tells him that he knows he caused the chaos. The Evil One taunts him and tells him to go ahead and kill himself, and he doesn’t deserve to be a Pontifex. This episode ends with Yeon-woo wriggling in pain.

The Episode Review

This time, the Evil One has gone too far. Many people will be coming for Yeon-woo and want him punished for something he had no involvement in. How will he manage to survive this scandal?

Hongwoodaedae is a religious cult and Pontifex needs to stop being so naïve and look at the facts that are being laid bare in front of him. Maeng Woo-sin didn’t hesitate to put him under the bus and there is probably more coming. Pontifex needs to realize who his enemies are before it is too late.