Dear Hongrang – K-drama Episode 7 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

17-05-2025

Episode 7
Episode 7 of Dear Hongrang begins with a young Jae-yi comforting a young Mu-jin when he is first brought home. His gambler of a father sells him to Yeol-guk.
At present, he stays tight-lipped. Yeon-ui offers him two options – starve to death or to die by poisoned beans.
Yeol-guk asks the Grand Prince for his help but it requires a lot of meddling. The prince agrees if Yeol-guk gives that which he has been withholding.
With Yeol-guk refusing to take instant action, Jae-yi decides to clear Mu-jin's name. She overhears Yeon-ui discussing how Yeol-guk has surrendered. In exchange, she has erased all proof of the new guild to maintain the Min Guild's reputation. She is looking for Gyu-ha and Jae-yi has an idea. She almost reveals her hiding place but Hong-rang comes to her rescue. He begs her to stop but she feels guilty for not being there for Mu-jin.
She tricks Yeon-ui to follow a false lead to Gyu-ha. Once the matriarch leaves, the cook feeds the guards laxatives. Once they run off, Jae-yi frees Mu-jin.
A mole shares the plan with Kkot-nim. She believes Jae-yi has learned of Hong-rang's secret and is using him. She wants her dead but Hong-rang offers to deal with it himself.
He stops Jae-yi and Mu-jin from escaping. In a twist of events, Mu-jin reveals that the guild is his only purpose; he cannot leave. They quickly put him back in his cell before Yeon-ui returns.
The next day, Hong-rang announces that Mu-jin will supervise miners in the cold Gapsan mountains. Jae-yi is upset and lashes out at Hong-rang. Exasperated, he accuses her of having an affair with Mu-jin. She claims they are always there for each other but she cannot say the same for Hong-rang.
The cook requests Jae-yi not to be harsh. She reveals that Yeon-ui wanted Mu-jin dead but Hong-rang saved him.
Later, Mu-jin assures Jae-yi that Yeon-ui will call him back soon. She realises that this is Hong-rang's doing as well. A flashback shows the two men talking. Mu-jin returned to his cell to protect Jae-yi from Yeon-ui's wrath. And if he dies, Jae-yi will want vengeance, putting her in danger. For her sake, Hong-rang agrees to keep Mu-jin around.
It is followed by a montage of both men avoiding Jae-yi. Hong-rang is hurt that she is unable to see that he cares for her.
One day, Lord Song's supposedly dead son, Su-nam shows up. His return coincides with Snow Man sightings. Bang-suk is curious when he learns that Hong-rang's assassins and Jae-yi are after the Snow Man.
Meanwhile, Mu-jin gets his hands on a wanted poster. It is of a runaway slave boy from Paju. Fake Hong-rang was seen in that area when he was a kid. Mu-jin questions the owner, Master Yu who reveals that the slave was his human talisman. When Lord Yu died, the slave was sent to the grave to mourn him. He ran away in the first year. Yu also recalls a woman buying the slave and another mute slave boy. The flashback shows that the woman is Kkot-nim and the slaves are Fake Hong-rang and In-hoe. As proof, Yu gives the transaction record to Mu-jin.
Back to the kidnapping drama, Hong-rang and In-hoe eavesdrop on Su-nam who rambles about the Snow Man and being buried alive. In-hoe and Hong-rang recall being buried alive by the Evil Painter as well. Suddenly, the Songs' shaman rings a bell and it triggers Su-nam, Hong-rang and In-hoe. This is enough confirmation that Su-nam faced the same fate as Hong-rang and In-hoe.
At the same time, Du-ryeong is alerted to some trouble. He throws a tantrum and orders the kids to be moved.
Back to Mu-jin, he rushes home to expose Hong-rang to Jae-yi. However, he spots her as she confronts Hong-rang. She knows he is looking for the Snow Man and is hurt that he couldn't confide in her. She ends up confessing that she feels for him. He kisses her, stating this is not a dream.
She runs off and Mu-jin goes to her. Before he can tell her about the record, she confesses her attraction to Hong-rang. She is upset with herself and Mu-jin changes tactics. He asks her to leave with him so she can go back to seeing Hong-rang as her real brother.
Alone, Mu-jin burns the record, the only proof of Fake Hong-rang's identity. His aide tries to stop him but he cannot stand to lose her to Hong-rang.
While Jae-yi gathers her belongings from the cave, she finds something. That night, she curtly tells Hong-rang that she is leaving with Mu-jin. He is hurt that she is choosing Mu-jin over him.
Back in the cave, we see that she finds the real Hong-rang's sachet. It also has his baby teeth that she herself had stored. She realises that the fake Hong-rang gave her a duplicate and Dear Hongrang Episode 7 comes to a close.
The Episode Review
Dear Hongrang Episode 7 finally wraps up the fake incest storyline and viewers can finally stop fretting. And by viewers, we mean us, because it was almost touch and go there when Mu-jin lets Jae-yi believe that she has kissed her brother.
The timeline is pretty muddy as well. It may seem that Hong-rang runs away from Lord Yu's grave, is kidnapped by the Snow Man, escapes again and runs into Kkot-nim. She possibly takes him back to the Yus and buys him. Say In-hoe is kidnapped by the Snow Man at the same time. He isn't present in the flashbacks when Hong-rang escapes from the Painter. There are way too many assumed coincidences to ensure the two boys have the same origin. And how is Kkot-nim able to buy both boys from the Yus at the same time? Hope the show can clarify this soon.
But Mu-jin fans are eating well. He carries this episode with his moral dilemma, clever investigation and unwitting manipulation of Hong-rang. He may have gotten Hong-rang to save his life for Jae-yi's sake, but in the end, he is the one who wins as Yeon-ui clears up the guild mess, takes back her kill order and promises to bring him back into the fold.
On top of that, one cannot truly hate him as everything he does is for the love he has for Jae-yi. Sure, he does refuse to tell her the truth about Fake Hong-rang but that just makes him human and an intriguing character. Self-righteous, pitiable second male leads rarely stand out after all.
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