See You in My 19th Life (2023) K Drama Episode 8

See You in My 19th Life episode 8 starts with a flashback to Ji-eum’s life during the Japanese invasion. This is a hard time for her after losing her child and she feels like it is the end of the world. She, however, chooses to persevere because she figured that is how life is; it goes on. 

We circle back to her current life where we left off in episode 7. After learning that she and Seo-ha knew each other in her first life, Ji-eum follows him into the abandoned building as if she is in a trance. Meanwhile, Seo-ha gets there first and sees Ho-sik’s body falling from the top floor. He quickly looks up and spots a man wearing a black jacket and a black mask. He rushes up the stairs and ends up in a fight with three men. 

Unfortunately, he takes a hit to his head and this gives the men enough time to scram. The police soon arrive at the crime scene. We also see a scared Yang-sik watching from a distance while holding a bag. Chang-su is also at the scene, secretly watching the recent developments. 

Later, Mun Jeong-hun is informed that Ho-sik’s death has been ruled a suicide. He then calls Ms Jang and asks her to pass the phone to Sang-hyuk who is having drinks with her.  It seems like he is onto Ms Jang and Sang-hyuk’s plan and wants to have a breakfast meeting the next day.  

Jeong-hun also summons Ji-eum to his house and chastises her for not stopping Seo-ha from getting into trouble. He offers some money to her but she turns it down. She asks him why he is paying her off when as a parent he should be first in line trying to get the men who hurt his kid. He insists that he is protecting Seo-ha in his own way and Ji-eum asks if he knows the mastermind of the accident. He warns her to mind her business.

Elsewhere, Yang-sik decides to leave the bag and a note at Seo-ha’s doorstep. In the note, he explains that Ho-sik didn’t commit suicide and that the evidence relating to the accident is in the bag.  

After meeting Mun Jeong-Hun, Ji-eum heads home and finds Min-ki and Ae-gyeong having some food. She gifts Ae-gyeong the coat she bought while shopping with Cho-won and asks to speak privately to Min-ki. She tells him about the memories she saw from her first life.

She is curious if they are coming back because of the shaman. She also wants to know Min-ki’s intentions and if he was related to her first life. He doesn’t give her any answers but suggests she holds the shaman bells again.

This time, Ji-eum sees more about her relationship with Seo-ha in her first life. He seemed like a good man and they loved each other. She is content with the memories and wonders what it all means. She leaves abruptly even though Min-ki insists that she continue using the shaman bells to get her memories.

He has a flashback of his own and we learn that he was involved in Ji-eum’s first life. By the looks of it, the three of them might have been entangled in a love triangle back then.

In the meantime, Seo-ha goes through the bag and realizes the driver of the truck that caused his accident was Ban Hak-su. He also happens to be Ji-eum’s father. He starts to understand why she said that sometimes family can be enemies from a past life so it is better to cut them off. Learning the truth is not easy for Seo-ha and he contemplates what to do.

As he mulls over this new disturbing truth, he gets a call from Ji-eum who asks what kind of relationship he thinks they would have had in their past lives. He replies that maybe she was a general and he was her pony.

They continue to talk about the kind of backstory their love would have had in their past life and why they met. He is comforted by her words about becoming lovers and finding peace in this life. She jokes it would be their fate but in reality, it is her hope for them. She wants this to be her last life and to spend it happily with Seo-ha.

The next morning, Ji-eum gets a message from Dong-u informing her that her dad is back. Dong-u thinks he will come looking for her to ask for money. Ji-eum is surprised by the audacity of this family and ignores his message. She gets to the office and feels like Seo-ha is acting weird even though he is not pushing her away. 

She then gets a call that her dad is at the hotel lobby. He is causing a scene by demanding that she get him a room at the hotel. He expects her to take care of him and look after Dong-u. She loses her patience when he starts running his mouth about her dating Seo-ha. She drags him out and puts him in a taxi. Seo-ha witnesses this interaction and tells her she did well. He then invites her to dinner at his place later that evening.

Elsewhere, Cho-won and Do-hyun go out for a walk. Cho-won tells him that she is not going to give up her feelings for him. She respects his decision not to date her but she will keep her feelings. She once again confesses her love by giving him a flower ring and he is too stunned to respond. 

Back at the hotel, Han-na drops by and gives Ms Jang some flowers along with a note. She acts as a delivery girl so Jang is not suspicious of her. The flowers used to be Seo-ha’s mom’s favourite and the note asks if she remembers that. Ms Jang is startled but keeps calm.

Evening rolls by, and as Seo-ha prepares them a meal, Ji-eum tells him why she cut her family off. He understands and shares that he has decided to only focus on their relationship. He asks that they put their families aside and she is moved.

After dinner, she heads up to the bedroom. She was hoping to surprise Seo-ha with a miniature wooden horse since he said in their past life he probably was her pony. She ends up being surprised after finding the evidence and learning her dad was the driver of the truck.

She goes back downstairs and hugs Seo-ha from behind. She later leaves and calls Dong-u asking about their dad. Luckily, he is at home so she drives there to confront him. He doesn’t deny the accusations but he is not remorseful either.

He says it was a side job and he was only hired by Ho-sik. He doesn’t know who ordered the hit, he just followed orders and later realized that there was a problem with the brakes of the truck. Ji-eum firmly cuts her ties with him and calls him an animal. 

She later meets with  Han-na and asks if there is anyone from the MI group she suspects wanted to kill Seo-ha. Han-Na thinks it could be Ms Jang as she has a lot of motives to kill him. Ji-eum uses her help to track Jang and confront her. Ms Jang denies doing anything that would ever anger Mun Jeong-hun. She argues that she needs to live and that going against him will only shorten her life. Ji-eum begins to question who else he would try to protect. 

As Ji-eum deals with Ms Jang, Seo-ha opts to burn all the evidence Ho-sik left him. He comes across a tape and plays it on a recorder. He is shocked to learn that the mastermind of the accident is his beloved maternal uncle, Sang-hyuk.  On the other hand, Ji-eum finds the answer to her question when she sees Sang-yuk walk in to meet Ms Jang. She quickly rushes to Seo-ha’s house.

It turns out that Sang-hyuk offered Ho-sik 40 million to get one of his desperate debtors who is a truck driver to cause a minor accident.  Ho-sik suggested Ban Hak-su and hired him to carry out the hit. In return, Ho-sik was to consider Ban Hak-su’s debt fully paid. 

The truth hits Seo-ha hard and he loses it as he feels guilty for everyone who got hurt in the accident. Ji-eum finds him curled in the corner crying and sees that he burned the evidence. He asks her to leave because he doesn’t want her to see him in such a state. He confides in her that he feels guilty because he was the one supposed to die and he feels he doesn’t deserve happiness. 

Ji-eum starts to remember everything she has seen Seo-ha go through, from his panic attacks to the pain he always carries with him. She wonders if telling him the truth will help alleviate his guilt. She starts playing the song she taught him when she was Ju-won.

Seo-ha is surprised as only Ju-won knew that song and claimed that she composed it. He asks her how she knows that song and she replies exactly as Ju-won did. She then proceeds to tell him that she used to be Ju-won.

The Episode Review

Ji-eum tries so hard to protect herself and Seo-ha from her family but they keep messing with her. I can’t even begin to imagine Seo-ha and Ji-eum’s pain because of what their families did. It seems like fate is decked against them and they have every reason to stop loving each other but they opt to hang on. It is tragically beautiful. We can’t help but hope that they will resolve their issues and the mystery surrounding their past lives. They deserve a happy ending.

While Seo-ha and Ji-eum choose love, it seems like Do-hyun is hell-bent on refusing to take action on his feelings for Cho-won. With only four episodes of See You In My 19th Life to go, will they get a happy ending?

It is also a surprising twist to see the mastermind is Sang-hyuk. What drives him to attempt to kill his nephew? We can’t help but also wonder if he had a hand in Seo-ha’s mom getting sick and dying. Why is he working with Ms Jang?  In all honesty, Ms Jang is also suspicious but why is she afraid of Mun Jeong-hun? More importantly, why is Mun Jeong-hun covering up for Sang-Hyuk?