Episode 4 of My Perfect Stranger ended with Yoon-Young and Hae-Joon realizing that they needed to tell each other at least part of the reason why they needed to be back in 1987. Yoon-Young knows now that there is something seriously wrong with Mi-Sook. She was a problematic human being even back in the day, stealing her mother’s work and naming it hers. Finally, she is able to know where the student teacher will be because of what she saw written in Mi-Sook’s book from 2021, meaning she might’ve actually murdered people or at least known about the murders that took place back then.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In Episode 5?
Episode 5 begins with the student teacher in danger, and Yoon-Young knows exactly where to find her. Hae-Jun is confused, but he follows her to the spot, and they are surprised by the shaking and crying Joo-Young. Interestingly, she yells, “It’s not here,” and that she doesn’t know anything before Hae-Joon realizes there is someone who is following her. He chases the man, who is wearing an all-black outfit. Hae-Joon is ready to fight the detective who let Min-Soo go. Hae-Joo is convinced that the detective is incapable of doing the right thing. In the meantime, Joo-Young is hiding something, and the detective follows Hae-Joon to understand what’s going on. Joo-Young is tight-lipped about her whereabouts and continues to lie about having relatives. Hae-Joon lets her go, but he and Yoon-Young follow her until she reaches the motel she’s staying at safely. On the phone, she tells somebody that she knows she’s not safe and that she feels somebody is following her. She thinks her real identity is in danger, and she cannot get involved with the police. Joo-Young is hiding something—a crime she committed—but Hae-Joon is certain she’s a good person. Remember how we thought Ha Ha Cafe was important, and so was the owner last week? Well, haha, it was actually Bong Bong Cafe and half the lettering had fallen off, making things very clear. Hae-Joon and Yoon-Young sit to discuss their dilemma at the very crowded cafe. She tells him about the first script of “the people I killed” and that Mi-Sook is a prime suspect in the crime, but Hae-Joon is not so certain, and he still wants to investigate the three suspects at the time.
Back at home, Mi-Sook laughs maniacally, stating that she’s glad her brother is not home anymore, meaning that he is running somewhere, but she has some serious issues. At the cafe, Yoon-Young overhears her father’s confession to her mother, but it’s a hilarious misunderstanding that is cleared out when Soon-Ae confesses she already has a boyfriend, and to our utter surprise, it is the useless guy Bum-Ryong. Finally, Hae-Joon, who witnesses the debacle, realizes that he just saw Yoon-Young’s family, and so she tells him what happened to her mother that crazy night that they met and time traveled. Hae-Joon connects the dots and gets the full picture in mind. Fortunately, he tells Yoon-Young what he really believes this time: that her mother might’ve been murdered by the same killer 34 years later, and he has come to this conclusion because of the matchbox. Hae-Joon explains to Yoon-Young that her mother would’ve never done such a thing because she definitely knew her daughter loved her so much that she would risk her own existence for her. Hae-Joon, in the meantime, admits that he’s never felt true parental love because he was abandoned by his mother as a baby.
In school, Hae-Joon comforts Joo-Young by telling her that he didn’t tell anybody about the incident last night. Soon-Ae is first in class, and seeing this, she and Yoon-Young have a celebratory dance in the middle of the corridor for everyone to see, and this doesn’t sit well with the bully Hae-Kyung. Now, Hae-Kyung doesn’t really care about grades or anything, but she sees Mi-Sook’s face and creates a ruckus for Soon-Ae, meaning that she has some sort of deep feelings for Mi-Sook. There’s something we don’t know there, and it may give us all the important answers. Additionally, if Yoon-Young is observant, she can figure out that Hae-Kyung and Mi-Sook might be each other’s weaknesses too.
Hae-Joon tells Yoon-Young that there was a guy who met Joo-Young at the cafe and who she argued with the day she was killed. This guy looks very suspicious, and he thinks it’s the same guy he chased after the previous day. Without having a good look at the guy, he can’t be sure if it is Mi-Sook who is killing people and will write a confession 34 years later.
Will There Be A Variable That Will Change The Course Of The Killer?
The detective realizes that Hae-Joon is giving him a message, so he decides to go with his instinct and look for Joo-Young, but to his shock, it is not Joo-Young who needs protection, but she who others need to be protected from. Joo-Young has three prior convictions. Now, it is the day of the first murder in 1987, May 14. Hae-Joon tells Yoon-Young that unless a drastic variable is introduced in the cycle, things will go as expected, and they will be able to find the killer before the first murder. Already, there is a big difference: Detective Baek is at school with his team and is there to catch Joo-Young. She sees them before they arrive and rushes out of school. While Hae-Joon is talking to the detective to understand what’s happening, Yoon-Young runs behind Joo-Young. They reach Soon-Ae’s family shop, where Joo-Young tries to buy a bus ticket for the earliest bus to Seoul. She’s unsuccessful because Yoon-Young reaches her in time. She’s about to tell her that they’re trying to help her and not give her up to the police, but she’s too quick and grabs a knife from the table and holds it to Yoon-Young’s neck. Hae-Joon, too, has reached her by now, and he tells Joo-Young that they are trying to help her and manages to grab the knife from her. They quickly hide as the police arrive, and Yoon-Young’s granddad and aunt (the young versions) explain to the police that they have no idea what they’re talking about.
At the end of the episode, they decide it’s too dangerous to send Joo-Young to the cafe that night, so Hae-Joon decides to go instead just so he can have a glimpse at the face of the guy with the blue cap. Blue Cap happens to be none other than Baek Hee-Seob, Yoon-Young’s dad! If he’s the killer, then in the future, he will have killed his own wife too. In the epilogue, we see that Yoon-Young’s mother definitely saw someone the night she died, and they made her walk into the water. The letter she left Yoon-Young was not a suicide note but a letter to tell her that she would be with her for a long time, so she was definitely killed.
Joo-Young is still a mystery, and when she tries to fight off Yoon-Young and Hae-Joon, she calls them moles, meaning she might be part of something big. That’s why she keeps talking about how she thought she was “alone” when she’s supposed to be part of a team. Nothing is quite clear yet, but Mi-Sook is definitely a criminal of some sort.
