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| Between Steps Episode 4 Recap. |
Between Steps Episode 4 pushes Yoo-jin and Min-jae into much closer territory, but it does so while giving both characters something more immediate to worry about. Yoo-jin decides to leave fashion and textiles behind for mechanical engineering, while Min-jae struggles with an injury caused by his prosthetic. Her determination eventually gets her into the university’s graduate programme, but the real turning point arrives after a celebratory dinner, when a very drunk Yoo-jin corners Min-jae in an alley and asks him to admit if he does not want what is happening between them.
The episode opens with Mi-young catching Yoo-jin awake late at night, working on a detailed sketch of a mechanical figure. It is hardly the behaviour of someone who has completely given up on her ambitions. Yoo-jin later meets Min-jae and explains that she wants to apply to his lab and study mechanical engineering. She has always enjoyed taking machines apart, knows how to code and has a strong maths background thanks to her double major.
Min-jae, however, is not immediately convinced. He asks what will happen if she discovers she has no talent for mechanical engineering either, just as she believes she lacked talent in fashion and textiles. It is a fair question, although perhaps not the most emotionally intelligent way to encourage someone who has clearly spent the night drawing robots instead of sleeping.
Things become even more awkward when Han-gyeol spots Min-jae talking to Yoo-jin at a café. He tells Tae-ho and Chan-soo, who quickly turn the situation into a full investigation. They assume Min-jae is secretly dating her and demand that he introduce them if that is not the case. Their demands become so ridiculous that they threaten to leave the team unless he calls her, leaving Min-jae with little choice.
Yoo-jin answers and confirms that she is single while Min-jae questions her about her romantic life. The conversation ends abruptly when her mother and brother, Yoo-sung, return home. During dinner, her parents then encourage her to date, with her father offering a rather specific list of requirements for her future partner. Apparently, having all four limbs intact makes the cut. Romance, according to Dad, comes with a surprisingly detailed application form.
Min-jae's evening is considerably less amusing. After eating alone and going for a walk, he notices discomfort around his leg. At home, he discovers red bruising where his prosthetic connects to his body. The problem eventually becomes serious enough for him to visit hospital, where his doctor explains that stress and reduced exercise have caused him to gain weight. His prosthetic has become too tight, resulting in an ulcer.
The doctor reassures him that the problem is manageable and recommends swimming to help him get back into shape. Min-jae takes the advice seriously and returns to the pool, swimming several laps. It is an important reminder that his physical condition remains part of his life even when the rest of his attention is occupied by work, university and one particularly persistent woman.
Meanwhile, Mi-young gives Yoo-jin some relationship advice of her own. She tells her daughter that she should find someone who likes her more than she likes him, then wonders what would happen if Yoo-jin fell for someone who did not return those feelings equally. The comment clearly stays with her.
The following day, Yoo-jin finds Min-jae's handkerchief and carefully irons it before meeting him at a restaurant. Min-jae introduces her to Chan-soo and leaves them together, but his friends have clearly decided that matchmaking is now their group project.
Han-gyeol arrives pretending he has not seen Chan-soo in ages, followed by Tae-ho, who also happens to appear at exactly the right moment. Yoo-jin eventually works out what they are doing and explains that her meeting with Min-jae had only been about applying to graduate school. The three men are convinced she has a strong chance of getting in.
At the university, another potential complication arrives. Kim Se-jin, an electrical engineering student from another college, applies to the mechanical engineering department. Min-jae shows him around and quickly learns that Se-jin already knows about his condition and his history as a competitive swimmer. His reputation, apparently, has travelled rather further than Min-jae would like.
Yoo-jin also gets a glimpse of the lab when Min-jae's friends introduce her to their robot, Danny. They tell her to hit it with a bat while imagining someone she dislikes. She thinks of Min-jae first, followed by Professor Kang, and swings with such enthusiasm that Danny ends up broken.
Min-jae walks in to find the lab in chaos and immediately loses his temper. Yoo-jin leaves in tears, while the others are left to deal with the consequences of their supposedly harmless joke. It is one of the episode's more painful moments because Min-jae's anger is understandable, but Yoo-jin was also being deliberately pushed into an uncomfortable situation by people who knew exactly what they were doing.
His own problems worsen that night when he discovers that his leg is bleeding. The hospital visit provides an explanation, but also forces him to confront how badly stress has affected him. Returning to swimming becomes more than medical advice; it gives him a way to regain some control.
Back at the lab, Min-jae discovers that Yoo-jin has formally applied to the department. Tae-ho admits that the disaster in the lab was their fault rather than hers. He also warns Min-jae about Se-jin, describing the new applicant as something of a loose cannon.
Professor Ahn is seriously considering Yoo-jin's application and arranges for Professor Kang to assess her. Min-jae attends the meeting and is surprised when Kang paints Yoo-jin in a poor light. He cannot reconcile Kang's version of her with the person he knows, particularly after learning more about what happened between Yoo-jin and her former department.
Min-jae later contacts Su-bin, who reveals the missing piece. Young-soo ended up in hospital after Yoo-jin hit him and threatened legal action. Su-bin admits that Professor Kang instructed her to claim she had been dating Young-soo so the incident would not become a bigger issue. After Yoo-jin challenged Kang, people in the department began distancing themselves from her.
That information changes Min-jae's view of the situation. Yoo-jin was not simply someone who abandoned her previous field because she struggled with it. She had also been pushed into a difficult environment where standing up for herself came at a cost.
Yoo-jin nevertheless submits her graduate-school application. Soon afterwards, Min-jae administers an entrance test to both her and Se-jin. After handing in her paper, she apologises for the damage in his lab. Min-jae asks what she will do if she fails.
Her answer says almost everything about her character: she will simply keep taking the tests until she gets in.
When Min-jae and Professor Ahn review the papers, he argues in favour of accepting Yoo-jin. Her test is also shown to Professor Lee, the maths lecturer, who is impressed by her work. Even Professor Kang eventually appears to have little reason to oppose the application.
The result is exactly what Yoo-jin has been fighting for. She gets accepted into the graduate programme, and her family celebrates with her. Later, she meets Tae-ho, Chan-soo and Han-gyeol and proudly greets them as her seniors. Min-jae and Seo-hyun, another former member of the team, eventually join the dinner.
The celebration becomes increasingly chaotic after a few drinks. Yoo-jin is persuaded to sing, performs her song and then promptly passes out. After the group puts her into a taxi, she is still heavily drunk when Min-jae goes into a shop to buy something that might help her recover.
When he comes back outside, Yoo-jin has disappeared.
Her purse is still there, so Min-jae sets off to find her despite the pain in his leg. He eventually discovers her in an alley. Yoo-jin pulls him towards her and tells him that if he does not want this, he should say so. Then she starts counting down from five.
The episode ends before either of them says what the other is hoping to hear. Instead, the camera focuses on their feet as they move closer together, leaving the moment hanging between hesitation and a possible kiss.
The ending works because the episode has spent so much time establishing how complicated their connection has become. Yoo-jin is increasingly certain about what she wants from her career, but much less certain about what Min-jae wants from her. Min-jae, meanwhile, keeps trying to maintain distance while repeatedly showing that he cares about her. The countdown turns that tension into a simple question: will he finally admit that he wants her close?
My take on Episode 4 is that the strongest part is actually Yoo-jin's determination rather than the romance. Her decision to switch fields could easily have felt like a convenient plot device, but the episode gives her enough technical ability and stubbornness to make the move believable. Min-jae's reaction is also interesting because he doubts her while quietly becoming one of her biggest supporters.
The lab disaster is frustrating, although the friends clearly need a lesson in leaving matchmaking alone. The prosthetic storyline gives Min-jae something substantial outside the romance, too, and his return to swimming nicely parallels Yoo-jin refusing to give up after rejection.
Then there is that ending: deliberately unresolved, slightly awkward and very much in keeping with these two. Now the big question is whether Min-jae will actually say what he feels, or whether Yoo-jin will have to count all the way to zero herself. What did you make of the final scene?