High School: Return of a Gangster – Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Deal

High School: Return of a Gangster episode 5 picks up where we left off. Yi-heon excuses himself after night classes and says he has to meet someone. He takes a few steps, and he is abducted right in front of Se-kyung. Se-kyung tries to save him, but the car speeds off, and Yi-heon drops his phone. 

Out of deep concern, Se-kyung’s first instinct is to call the police to report the kidnapping. However, a sudden memory of Yi-heon’s plea not to involve the authorities stops him. He quickly hangs up, pretending it was a prank, and starts frantically brainstorming on how to save his friend.

Meanwhile, Yi-heon is brought in front of Dong-soo, and an intense fight ensues. Yi-heon, showing his resilience, manages to hold his own, but he is eventually overpowered and knocked out.

Back at school, the teacher punishes the bullies and asks them to clean the classroom. However, the boys have other plans. It turns out the gang asked them to kidnap Jae-min and bring him to the Sinho Hotel.

The gang wants to teach Jae-min a lesson since he ran away during a mission. Upon hearing this, Jae-min takes off running while the boys chase him. He comes across  Se-kyung, who is contemplating whether to ignore his dad’s message or save Yi-heon. He is shocked when Jae-min pulls and forces him to run along with him. 

They find a hiding spot, and Jae-min explains that the boys want to take him to the Sinho Hotel. He also informs Se-kyung that the boys overheard that the gang will attempt to kidnap Yi-heon’s mom again that night.

Se-kyung tries to convince Jae-min to go with him but the latter refuses, only thinking of himself. Se-kyung chews him out before deciding to go on his own. He takes a taxi and ignores his dad’s messages. His dad is already at the school to pick him up, and when Se-kyung ignores his calls and messages, he uses the phone tracker to get his location.

On the way, Se-kyung uses Yi-heon’s phone to call for more bodyguards at the house. By the time Jong-cheol and his men arrive, the security is too tight for them to try anything. They opt to wait for an opening.

At the same time, Yi-heon wakes up and has a conversation with Dong-soo. He says a few secrets only Deuk-pal would know. Dong-soo is not convinced, but he shares that Mi-kyung hired him to kidnap Yi-heon’s mom and take her to a mental health facility. The gang was also supposed to get Yi-heon out of the picture after she sent him abroad to study. 

Yi-heon asks Dong-soo to break up the gang and offers to open a restaurant for him. However, Dong-soo is conflicted as he can’t decide if Yi-heon is trying to scam him. He is also worried as Chil-sung (the gang leader) fled after getting injured in a gang fight. He owes Mi-kyung a lot of money because she was the only one who offered to pay for Chil-sung’s surgery when the gang was defeated. 

In the meantime, Se-kyung arrives at the hotel, and his dad follows him soon after. He offers to help Yi-heon if Se-kyung promises to cut ties with him. Se-kyung agrees to the conditions as he worries the gang will kill Yi-heon. He is shocked when Yi-heon calmly walks out unharmed.

However, Myung-hyun still keeps his promise and confronts Dong-soo. He uses his position as a senior prosecutor to threaten Dong-soo to leave Yi-heon and his mom alone. This only adds to Dong-soo’s internal conflict; he decides to spy on Yi-heon for the time being.

Of course, Mi-kyung is not pleased to hear this, and she urges Dong-soo to make a move on Yi-heon quickly.

After returning home, Yi-heon is touched that Se-kyung increased the security at his house. He decides to help Se-kyung find his independence from his dad. The following day, Se-kyung secretly meets with Yi-heon and explains the deal with his dad.

Yi-heon apologises for putting him in this position and assures Se-kyung that he did nothing wrong and shouldn’t blame himself. Yi-heon is grateful that Se-kyung did his best to save him and his mom. They plan a secret way to contact each other and agree to continue studying together. Yi-heon even promises to teach and show  Se-kyung a few things he has never done before

For the next few days at school, Se-kyung distances himself from Yi-heon and starts hanging out with  Jae-hoon. Jae-hoon tries to bad-mouth Yi-heon, but Se-kyung quickly comes to his defense.

On the other hand, Yi-heon continues to be oblivious to the girl who has a crush on him. He focuses more on getting Jae-min to return to school and the class photo shoot. Once he learns that Jae-min is working at a convenience store, he visits him and promises to fix things with the gang.

The episode ends with Se-kung calling Yi-heon and subtly confessing he is thinking of killing himself by jumping into oncoming traffic from the same spot Yi-heon did. Yi-heon rushes to him and offers to take him on a trip to calm him down. Se-kyung loosens up when Yi-heon takes him to the beach.

The Episode Review

It must be hard for Se-kyung to live with a father like Myung-hyun. However, why is his mom allowing this treatment to continue? She needs to come back and help her son before it is too late.

Myung-hyun is too obsessed with raising a good kid, and they might end up with no child if this carries on any further. It was heartbreaking to see Se-kyung at the footbridge contemplating suicide and wondering if death would hurt. 

On the other hand, we feel bad for Yi-heon too. He has so much on his plate, and it must have saddened him to see Se-kyung feel so helpless.

Se-kyung has been a good friend to him and the only one who cares about what happened to the real Yi-heon. Without Se-kyung, Deuk-pal would have had an even harder time navigating this new reality.