Longing for You – episode 4 recap and theory, ending explained – what happened to Oh Jin-Woo?

Korean drama Longing for You Episode 4 Plot

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Longing for You episode 4 plot  : Oh Jin-Woo is attacked by a mysterious person in black and falls into a coma. The case is closed as an accident, but Oh Jin-Sung accidentally discovers something unusual at the scene (something that looks very valuable).

However, Oh Jin-Woo’s condition turns out to be more serious than expected. He is brain dead, so Oh Jin-Sung and his mother fulfill his wish to donate his organs. A year passes by, Cha Young-Woon returns to Korea after studying abroad in the United States. During this year, he has undergone significant changes because he frequently wants to invite people out for drinks.

↓Last Episode (Episode 3)↓

Korean drama Longing for You episode 4 recap

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🔺 Korean drama Longing for You episode 4 recap: Continuing from the previous episode, Oh Jin-Woo is attacked and loses consciousness. Go Young-Joo specifically asks Yoo Jung-Sook for help to admit Oh Jin-Woo to the Chenchen Medical Center as an exception because the hospital’s emergency room is full.

After examination, it is discovered that Oh Jin-Woo may experience brain death due to a head injury. Although his condition temporarily stabilizes after surgery, he remains unconscious and becomes brain dead. Hong Young-Hee, who is Oh Jin-Woo’s mother, deeply regrets her past mistreatment of him and blames herself for not cherishing him enough.

On the other hand, Oh Jin-Sung dislikes his mother and has already given up hope on his brother’s survival. He decides to investigate whether Oh Jin-Woo’s situation was accidental or intentional. Even Cha Young-Woon suspects foul play but believes that since Oh Jin-Woo was once considered a suspect himself, he might have had suicidal intentions.

Cha Young-Woon feels guilty and pleads with his mother to do everything possible to save Oh Jin-Woo’s life. However, Yoo Jung-Sook can only say they must wait for a miracle to happen. The case has been officially closed as an accident by higher authorities; therefore no further investigation will be conducted.

The person who reported the incident was a patrolling water police officer, but due to heavy rain at the scene of the crime, all traces have been washed away. However, something unusual is discovered by Oh Jin-Sung at the scene.

Cha Young-Woon inexplicably receives an assignment to study abroad in America which he suspects his mother deliberately arranged for him; he strongly desires to refuse this opportunity but doesn’t think too much about it when Park Ki-Young expresses envy towards him upon hearing this news – although there seems more behind Park Ki-Young’s words. Park Ki-Young dislikes how Cha Young-Woon seems to effortlessly get whatever he wants.

Go Young-Joo firmly believes that Oh Jin-Woo would never leave them like this. In the past, Oh Jin-Woo saved Go Young-Joo when she was in an abusive household and contemplating suicide. He gave her courage and strength to keep going, so now she must stay strong and take care of herself while waiting for Oh Jin-Woo to wake up. However, Oh Jin-Sung does not voluntarily disclose the suspicious item he found at the scene to Go Young-Joo.

In the end, Cha Young-Woon reluctantly accepts his assignment to go to America. His parents even suggest accompanying him on a year-long vacation for relaxation since he is their only son and heir of the fourth generation.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Oh Jin-Sung is unhappy about his brother being moved to another ward and forbids him from visiting. Yoo Jung-Sook acts suspiciously inside Oh Jin-Woo’s room when suddenly he loses autonomous breathing function and falls into a state of brain death.

Just as Go Young-Joo and Oh Jin-Sung were waiting for Oh Jin-Woo to wake up with positive energy, they received the devastating news of Oh Jin-Woo’s brain death. The doctor encouraged the family to consider organ donation since Oh Jin-Woo had signed an organ donation agreement seven years ago, which they had agreed upon after seeing a news report.

At that time, his mother also believed that saving a stranger’s life was not a bad thing. With unwavering determination, Oh Jin-Woo decided to proceed with organ donation as it was his wish. After a series of examinations confirmed brain death, both Oh Jin-Sung and his mother decided to fulfill his wish.

Longing for You episode 4 ending explained

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🔺 Longing for You episode 4 Ending: One year later, Oh Jin-Sung became even more irritable in handling cases and didn’t fear offending gangsters. As for Cha Young-Woon, she was about to fly back from the United States to Korea and coincidentally encountered Bae Min-Gyu on the plane.

Once Cha Young-Woon returned to Korea, she immediately arranged to meet Go Young-Joo and even made plans for drinks together. This surprised Go Young-Joo because she couldn’t believe Cha Young-Woon wanted to drink alcohol.

However, Cha Young-Woon was unaware that Oh Jin-Woo had already passed away since he died shortly after her departure for America; today happened to be the anniversary of his passing. Because their mother missed him so much, she kept all of his raincoats untouched while Oh Jin-Sung hoped their mother would leave everything as it is until they could handle it later on.

Yoo Jung-Sook mentioned giving Park Ki-Young a luxury apartment as a gift and treating him like family but Park Ki-Young felt unworthy of such generosity in his heart. In the evening, Oh Jin-Sung received an anonymous video regarding the night Oh Jin-Woo was murdered.

Longing for You Episode 4 Review and Theory

Who attacked Oh Jin-Woo? What is their objective?

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In the beginning of Longing for You episode 4, the director immediately adds even more mystery to captivate the audience. At the end of Longing for You episode 3 , we all thought that Oh Jin-Woo would be attacked by Jung Woo-No. However, at the start of Episode 4, it turns out to be Park Ki-Young instead.

This perfectly echoes my deduction in Longing for You episode 3 that Park Ki-Young is likely the real culprit but has been manipulating certain individuals. In the previous episode, I also felt that he was secretly observing and documenting Oh Jin-Woo’s actions, just like what happened with Lee Sung-Yong. It seems that both Oh Jin-Woo and Lee Sung-Yong are being manipulated by Park Ki-Young as pawns to prevent law enforcement from catching him. Even Lee Sung-Yong being accused as the true culprit and dying in the last episode seemed orchestrated by Park Ki-Young.

Therefore, when Park Ki-Young attacks Oh Jin-Woo in Longing for You episode 4, I believe there must be other underlying reasons behind his motive. Since Lee Sung-Yong has become a scapegoat allowing this case to be closed by prosecutors, it is clear that the true culprit does not want to be traced back by law enforcement. Thus, they intentionally set up a scenario where their manipulated pawn, Lee Sung-Yong, concludes the investigation into this murder case. However, if this were solely their intention, there would be no need to further attack Oh Jin-Woo and raise suspicions.

Henceforth, there are currently two suspects regarding who might be behind these attacks on Oh Jin-Woo:

❌ Possibility ➊ Park Ki-Young: In the scene, the writer-director only presents the black-clothed person as Park Ki-Young. This is a very intuitive presentation. If Park Ki-Young is the one attacking Oh Jin-Woo, then his purpose would not be to eliminate Lee Sung-Yong and end the serial killing case by silencing him. Instead, it would be to lead Cha Young-Woon and others in a different direction (following his script).

Especially since the attacker’s goal is not to kill Oh Jin-Woo, this somewhat corresponds to Park Ki-Young’s relationship with Yoo Jung-Sook – they have a good relationship but Yoo Jung-Sook makes him feel inferior. So if Park Ki-Young is close with Yoo Jung-Sook, I believe he must know Yoo Jung-Sook’s secret leverage (wanting to use Oh Jin-Woo’s heart for Cha Young-Woon). Therefore, this time when Park Ki-Young attacked Oh Jin-Woo, his intention was likely to lure Yoo Jung-Sook into making a move of misappropriating the heart.

Therefore, in Longing for You episode 3, it seems that Yoo Jung-Sook planned for Jung Woo-No to take action first. However, Park Ki-Young should have acted before Jung Woo-No did so. And Yoo Jung-Sook probably mistook this as a successful execution of Jung Woo-No’s plan and was willing to admit Oh Jin-Woo in treatment~

Moreover, in Longing for You episode 4 there was also an ambiguous conversation between Park Ki-Young and Cha Young-Woon where Park Ki-young said “Cha Young Woon，I envy you” and Cha Young Woon responded with “Are you referring to further studies?” In fact,I think this implies that Park Ki-young is hinting that Cha Young-Woon can obtain a heart in this way~

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⭕ Possibility ➋Jung Woo-No: However, personally I think that the person attacking Oh Jin-Woo should be Jung Woo-No (and the expensive item found by Oh Jin-Sung at the scene seems to match Jung Woo-No’s image of wearing a suit). According to the ending of Longing for You episode 3. Jung Woo-No mentioned choosing a rainy day to take action. This storyline cannot go unresolved, so in Longing for You episode 4, even though the black-clothed person is Park Ki-Young, it is highly likely that Park Ki-Young only witnessed Jung Woo-No committing the crime (as expected, in the ending of Longing for You episode 4, Oh Jin-Sung received a video from the night when Oh Jin-Woo was attacked).

Especially in Longing for You episode 4, Park Ki-Young expressed genuine envy towards Cha Young-Woon and jealousy that “Cha Young-Woon can get whatever he wants”~ If the attacker is Park Ki-Young, logically speaking, Park Ki-Young would not be the one intentionally attacking Oh Jin-Woo to obtain his heart. Therefore, there is a higher possibility that Jung Woo-No is the attacker and has been seen or discovered by Park Ki-Young.

Who is secretly filming and observing Oh Jin-Woo?

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Park Ki-Young is a character who plays the role of a journalist. However, the timing of his appearance and his involvement in the case seem to be related. Currently, I have two suspicious lists of people who may be involved in secretly filming and observing Oh Jin-Woo:

❌ (1) Jung Woo-No, who is close to Yoo Jung-Sook: Because Yoo Jung-Sook herself seems to be constantly concerned about whether Oh Jin-Woo will be arrested or not. In episode 3 “Longing for You,” Jung Woo-No also reports on Oh Jin-Woo’s situation when he was taken to the police station.

This indicates that Jung Woo-No has been observing him all along. However, if Jung Woo-No is the one monitoring Oh Jin-Woo, then it would be related to Yoo Jung-Sook’s motives. Her goal might be wanting Oh Jin-Woo’s heart for a transplant for Cha Young-Woon? So that’s why it’s called “Longing for You.” It is highly possible that what she longs for is Oh Jin-Woo’s heart. This way, Yoo Jung-Sook would have a motive to send someone to monitor Oh Jin-Woo, and that person could possibly be Jung Woo-No.

But based on reasoning, he wouldn’t frame Oh Jin-Woo for murder (only assisting Yoo-Jung Sook with her task of monitoring this potential heart donor). After all, framing Oh Jin-woo for murder goes against Yoo Jung-Sook’s desire to see Oh Jin-Woo released as soon as possible. So, Yoo Jung-Sook is not the one planning to frame Oh Jin-woo. That leaves us with Park Ki-Young.

⭕ (2) Journalist Park Ki-Young: As part of the main cast, it seems unlikely that his role would only revolve around being a journalist. I have some doubts that he might be secretly observing Oh Jin-Woo, but I also have reservations about my suspicions because I can’t figure out his motive for doing so at the moment. Could it be that he has discovered the relationship between Yoo Jung-Sook and Oh Jin-Woo and is secretly investigating the underlying reasons?

He seems to have a good relationship with the Cha Young-Woon family (especially Yoo Jung-Sook), but Yoo Jung-Sook mentioned that he seems to have an inferiority complex towards Cha Young-Woon.

So if he knows some of Yoo Jung-Sook’s family secrets and wants to investigate them, then he would have a motive to observe Oh Jin-Woo. In episode 3 “Longing for You,” it appears as though Park Ki-Young might actually be the real culprit.

Case consolidation

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➊ The killer injected the victim with an anesthetic drug (chloral hydrate, a medication used in dental clinics for sleep therapy) before committing the murder.

➋ They also severed the Achilles tendon (the fact that the victim’s Achilles tendon was cut indicates that the killer is highly skilled in knife techniques or may have a profession related to handling knives).

➌ Furthermore, they drained blood from the victim’s body and hung it on a railing like drying clothes, as if to display it to others.

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🅰 Victim 1 (2022/5/12): Liu Shuxian, museum curator (Bae Min-Gyu’s wife): Bae Min-Gyu has an alibi stating he was singing with an actress at that time. There is footage of the actress singing, but Bae Min-Gyu does not appear in the frame.

🅱 Victim 2 (2022/9/7): Park Ji-hwi: café owner. Similar “salt content” and “trace amounts of blade material powder identified as Japanese steel” were found on this deceased person. This type of weapon is commonly used for slicing raw seafood. Cha Young-Woon discovered that Bae Min-Gyu also possesses a similar set of tools; however, he claims his knife was stolen and has previous records of reporting such incidents. In Episode 1 of “Longing for You,” Oh Jin-Woo went to see a photography exhibition and later waited at a café during nighttime. It seems like he had been waiting for someone who never showed up or perhaps he was “waiting for time.” Additionally, surveillance cameras at his accommodation were tampered with, suggesting an attempt to conceal evidence regarding Oh Jin-Woo’s whereabouts.

🅲 Victim 3 (2022/9/8): Hui Zhu, student. Blood footprints wearing shoes were found at the crime scene indicating that someone walked towards the pavilion railing while bleeding and then took off their shoes. On the night of the incident, Bae Min-Gyu’s car was involved in a collision with a delivery driver in the small town (Episode 3 of “Longing for You” speculates that Lee Sung-yong intentionally crashed into Bae Min-Gyu’s car to enter Yeojin Town). Bae Min-Gyu claims he doesn’t know who drove his car away, and he also appeared in an online live course.

The real culprit may be Park Ki-Young?

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In the third episode of “Longing for You” it completely overturned my speculation because I found Park Ki-Young to be very suspicious! In the second episode, I initially thought that Oh Jin-Woo was either the culprit and deliberately left clues to frame Bae Min-Gyu, making the police suspect him.

Or he was an accomplice helping create an alibi. However, in the third episode of “Longing for You,” Park Ki-Young becomes even more suspicious~ Although Oh Jin-Woo is questionable, he really seems like one of the manipulated pawns. Here is my deduction from the third episode, assuming Park Ki-Young as the culprit (this is just a current speculation; if you have your own reasoning, please go with that):

What could be Park Ki-Young’s motive? Yoo Jung-Sook and Jung Woo-No mentioned that Park Ki-Young seems to have insecurities, which reminds me a lot of Oh Jin-Woo. Although we can’t see his insecurities yet in only three episodes of “Longing for You,” there must be some special connection between him and Yoo Jung-Sook’s family.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t get close enough to Yoo Jung-Sook or cook meals for him~ Additionally, since Park Ki-Young is also part of the main cast and not just a journalist character, it wouldn’t make sense if his role were merely that. He has been consistently interested in knowing about progress on serial murder cases; therefore, it feels highly likely that he might actually be the real culprit intentionally framing Bae Min-Gyu while simultaneously using Oh Jin-Woo who holds secrets within Yoo Jung-Sook’s family (which may explain why I felt earlier that he seemed like someone monitoring Oh Jin-Woo).

Especially considering how eager Park Ki-Young appears to challenge Cha Young-Woon and question her as being responsible during press conferences. So perhaps Park Ki-Young’s insecurities are directed towards Cha Young-Woon (especially since she is a prosecutor who has never failed, making the real culprit want to challenge her).

So Lee Sung-Yong’s role is “Lemon Tree,” the person who sells knives to Oh Jin-Woo. If Oh Jin-Woo is the real culprit and committed premeditated crimes, it wouldn’t make sense for him to leave such clues for the police to investigate. Therefore, the process of selling knives and Lee Sung-Yong himself appearing in Youjin village seems to be manipulated by Park Ki-Young.

It seems like he wants to divert the attention of the police towards these people. That’s why in Episode 3 of “Longing for You,” Park Ki-Young intentionally accuses Lee Sung-Yong as the real culprit. As for Oh Jin-Woo, he was designed to appear at all three crime scenes, making him one of the suspicious individuals according to the police.

Now, why does Park Ki-Young seem to have extensive knowledge about Cha Young-Woon’s investigation progress and direction? In Episode 3 of “Longing for You” there was a joke where Cha Young-Woon mentioned that their office might be bugged. Coincidentally, this episode also happens when Park Ki-Young enters their office (he may have secretly planted bugs while bringing coffee).

It feels like the writer-director is hinting at the existence of bugs in their office or that Park Ki-Young installed them discreetly while delivering coffee. This way, just when everyone starts suspecting Li Xingyong, someone reports his suspicious identity and sets up evidence and weapons at his residence as well as his whereabouts at a hotel.