'When The Phone Rings' Episode 3 Recap & Ending Explained: What Happens To Hee-Joo’s Dad?

When The Phone Rings might just be 2024’s most dramatic K-drama. The webtoon-based drama is about a married couple that essentially doesn’t know anything about each other 3 years into their marriage. When Hee-Joo gets kidnapped and a seemingly crazy man is after the couple, Paik Sa-Eon decides to get to know his wife better and treat this like an actual marriage rather than an arrangement made for convenience’s sake. The second episode ended with Sa-Eon returning home to a surprised Hee-Joo because there’s been a blast in the building where he works. But, ironically, the thing that truly concerns Sa-Eon is the birthmark on her thigh, because the kidnapper sent him a picture of it. All he needs to do is confirm it’s there. No, he doesn’t find out, but let’s recap the episode to see what’s new in When The Phone Rings.

Spoiler Alert

In episode 3 of When The Phone Rings, we rewind a little bit to see what went down in the office before the blast. The blast occurs while Sa-Eon is on the phone with the kidnapper (Hee-Joo), so he obviously has an accomplice. While Hee-Joo could be considered the accomplice, later in the episode we see the kidnapper texting someone who seems to be his “boss.” I think Sa-Eon has many enemies, and he keeps saying that this kidnapper is someone close to him, but who could it be? Maybe it’s one of his close assistants, maybe a family member? We’ll find out later. But for now, it’s back to him trying to check her thigh, but she stops him with a “What are you doing?” He confirms with her that she doesn’t know what he’s trying to say, and that’s enough for him to trust her. He then takes her phone because he wants to check if it’s been hacked; of course, he takes a peek himself and learns of a lunch meeting with her college senior, who he clearly doesn’t like simply because he’s a man in Hee-Joo’s life she called “a good person.” 

Through her phone, Sa-Eon also learns that Hee-Joo and Sang-Woo are associated with an orphanage called Nuri Dream Center. At the same time, we see Sang-Woo describe the same orphanage to Yu-Ri and the rest of the news team. He says that he grew up there, and 20 years ago there was a massive mansion in the town where the orphanage is, and he met a really rich boy who had all the toys he could dream of. He says that he saw something terrible there one night, but before he can continue the story, he realizes he has a meeting and leaves the room, leaving us hanging. Of course, there’s a childhood connection, and I bet the boy is either Sa-Eon himself, or it could be Hee-Joo’s half-brother, the chairman’s son, who, later in the episode, we learn died when they were young. 

Yu-Ri has a massive crush on Sa-Eon, and it seems she texts him often just to tell him to have a good day, etc. She texts him at lunchtime, and he asks her to join him at the same restaurant where Hee-Joo is meant to meet Sang-Woo. Yu-Ri gets all excited to see the two together, but she tells them not to stare when her guest arrives because it could be a shocker. Comically, she’s the one who is surprised when Sa-Eon greets Hee-Joo first, referring to her as “interpreter.” Now it’s 4 people eating together, and Sa-Eon can’t hide his jealousy for a second. He notices that Sang-Woo is good at sign language, which also upsets him, and he starts to ask personal questions. Eventually, Hee-Joo gets annoyed by the way he’s acting and gestures for him to see her outside. Sa-Eon gets a call from his junior then saying that there’s been a serial arsonist in the area, but he’s certain that the explosion at his personal office was the kidnapper and not some arsonist. The arsonist himself gets interrogated and tells the cops that it wasn’t his doing, but he mentions a fire he saw earlier in the same place that killed a few cats and tells them they should arrest that culprit. Meanwhile, Hee-Joo asks Sa-Eon if he suspects that she and Sang-Woo have something going on. He tells her that he doesn’t trust the guy and asks if she really knows him. He then pivots and asks if she knows anything about him because they’ve apparently known each other for 20 years. Sa-Eon needs to figure out what he wants, because whatever this is, isn’t working in his favor. Both of them have to leave lunch early, Sa-Eon to figure out the fire situation, and Hee-Joo because of work. Turns out she’s got an application for the presidential sign language interpreter. She isn’t as excited as her boss seems to be about it, though. Later at home, she asks Sa-Eon if he really wants her to be the presidential interpreter because that would mean her face would be everywhere and everyone would know her name. She claims she’s the best at the job too. 

On her way home, Hee-Joo encounters a scary incident in the parking lot. The security guard claims he thought she’d left, but this is the kidnapper’s work. Guess he can still mess with her car from outside. Back at home, she has to make the call to Sa-Eon because it’s nearly 10 pm, but he comes home at the same time. She says she’s stepping out to get beer and ice cream, but he goes instead. On the call he asks the kidnapper (Hee-Joo herself) what he’ll gain from Hee-Joo getting divorced, and she, of course, doesn’t have an answer. She just says “you don’t love her, so just leave her.” I guess Sa-Eon’s locked on Sang-Woo as the kidnapper, but anyway, he cuts the call, claiming Hee-Joo is in need of something, i.e., the beer and ice cream. After he returns home, he gets into Hee-Joo’s bed, which leaves her completely confused. This is his secret way of comforting her, apparently because he wants to keep her “safe.” Hee-Joo does get in bed, and he tells her that things are dangerous, so just for this one night she should try to sleep in peace. As soon as she’s asleep, he leaves her alone again. 

In a dream, a teen Hee-Joo is recovering from an accident when her mother asks her why she’s the one who survived the accident. Here we learn that her brother died in the accident and that her sister is deaf. Hee-Joo is talking just fine here, unlike what we’ve been told, and her mum tells her that the only way the chairman will help them is if she pretends to be mute. So, Hee-Joo didn’t actually go mute, but she was forced to by her mother. Hee-Joo wakes up crying, but it seems this isn’t the end of the trauma for the day. She gets a video call from her dad. When she answers the call, it’s the kidnapper talking. Hee-Joo immediately freaks out, but she has to stay calm. The kidnapper tells her that she should continue calling Sa-Eon, because he’s a bad man. After all, they both want the same thing: before the call ends, he shows her 4 teeth with blood on them, as if he’s extracted them from her dad. 

At the end of When The Phone Rings episode 3, Hee-Joo rushes to the hospital to find her dad resting and well. The nurse says she left him just for a moment, and he disappeared; we know this is because the kidnapper took him away. To Hee-Joo’s shock, her dad repeats the words the kidnapper told her: “Call him, unniya.” The kidnapper always refers to her as “sister,” but by the word that girls use for older girls. I guess in a way this is him showing her that she might be safe from him even if nobody else is. We also learn that he has a burn on his neck, and I wonder if this has something to do with Sa-Eon. Anyway, the cops take Hee-Joo from the hospital to give a statement because of the teeth found with her dad. In the middle of the ride, she feels sick because the radio starts acting up in the same way it did when the kidnapper attacked her. She steps out of the car and begins to weep, realizing just how terrible her life has become since the accident. She’s a voiceless doll unfit for happiness. Then comes Sa-Eon to the rescue with a police entourage. He gets out of his car and picks her up, telling the policemen that she’s his wife, shocking everybody, including Hee-Joo herself. Suddenly he wants people to know? What’s going on in his head now? Maybe he finally realizes that he needs to show her he truly loves her.