The Haunted Palace Episode 4 Review: The Dragon Seems To Be Enjoying Way Too Much Amidst the Evil

In Episode 3 of The Haunted Palace, Yeo-ri desperately tries to save Yoon Gap’s soul but is stopped by Gangcheol, who warns her of the deadly consequences. As secrets unravel, Yeo-ri learns she was brought to the palace for a dark ritual, not her skills, leaving her heartbroken.

Determined to save Prince Gwang, she bargains with a vengeful spirit for clues, while Gangcheol navigates palace politics to protect their mission. In a risky exorcism deep in the forest, Yeo-ri and Gangcheol seemingly free the Prince—only to realise too late that the true evil has slipped into the King himself.

This new Korean drama has 16 episodes and will be released every Friday and Saturday.

The Haunted Palace Episode 4 Recap

The episode picks up with the King, now fully possessed by the eight-legged spirit, challenging Gangcheol to a brutal duel. His erratic behavior unnerves his own men, who exchange wary glances, sensing that something is terribly wrong with their ruler. While Gangcheol struggles against the King’s enhanced strength, he grows suspicious—this spirit seems unusually powerful, almost as if someone is aiding it from behind the scenes. Sure enough, we learn that the Queen Dowager’s appointed shaman, a sinister figure named Aguji, has been secretly empowering the spirit with his dark prayers.

During the heated fight, Gangcheol taps into his hidden dragon powers and manages to forcibly expel the spirit from the King’s body. Seizing the opportunity, Yeo-ri uses the spiritual stone to seal the spirit’s influence, successfully driving it out. With the King finally freed, the guards rush to protect him and the young prince, while Gangcheol and Yeo-ri are arrested for interrogation. Meanwhile, Aguji, unaware of the Yeo-ri’s hand in the prayers, mistakenly believes the spirit has abandoned him.

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In the aftermath, the King, relieved to see his son safe, seeks answers. As Yeo-ri tends to Gangcheol’s wounds, her being too close to him causes unexpected stirrings within Gangcheol’s human vessel, Yoon Gap, leading to a confusing rush of romantic emotions. Panicking, Gangcheol shoves Yeo-ri away, bewildered by these unfamiliar feelings. When the King arrives, he demands the truth from Yoon-gap, sword in hand. Gangcheol reveals that Yoon-gap is long dead and that he is merely borrowing his body. He also exposes the shocking truth: the Minister of War is responsible for Yoon-gap’s murder.

Understandably furious and overwhelmed, the King is ready to punish them—until the prince steps forward. He bravely explains how he was plagued by an evil possession and that Yeo-ri and Yoon-gap saved him. Hesitantly, the King agrees to release them, though he remains visibly shaken after hearing from his guards that he too looked different during the duel. The King openly agrees that he has no memory of the duel, shocking his men. However regarding the possession, his pride refuses to fully accept it.

That night, Gangcheol collapses from exhaustion and dehydration. Yeo-ri helps him to the river, where the cool water soothes his spirit. Watching Gangcheol’s more vulnerable side, Yeo-ri offers him a startling proposition: if he promises to save Yoon-gap’s soul, he can use her body as his vessel. Hurt by the idea that she would only offer herself for another’s sake, Gangcheol angrily refuses. For 13 long years, he had sought her acceptance as his guardian—and now that she offers, it’s only to save a “mere human.”

Determined not to let things fall apart, Yeo-ri tries to cheer him up the next morning with pumpkin taffy. Still sulking, Gangcheol demands more effort from her to properly earn his help, insisting on a full prayer ritual. Before they can settle matters, the King’s guards storm in and re-arrest them, claiming ritual items were discovered in the mountains the previous night. Yeo-ri pleads her innocence, begging the King to keep them in the capital for the safety of his family.

Meanwhile, the true villain is revealed: the Queen Dowager herself, who is conspiring to place her younger son, Prince Young-in, on the throne. She schemes with Aguji to ensure the spirit’s curse spares Young-in. However, her plan backfires when the ritual intended to protect Young-in fails spectacularly—his clothes burn to ash, signalling that the spirit cannot be controlled.

Unaware of the Queen Dowager’s betrayal, the King orders Yeo-ri and Yoon-gap’s exile from Hanyang. Surprisingly, Gangcheol seems pleased with the decision—it was he who secretly planted the ritual evidence, hoping to get Yeo-ri away from the dangerous capital. But Yeo-ri refuses to abandon her mission as she’s determined to save Yoon-gap’s soul and give Gangcheol the peace he deserves.

As Gangcheol struggles to understand her loyalty to Yoon-gap, Yeo-ri opens up. She explains that Yoon-gap was the only person who ever believed in her when everyone else saw her as a cursed being. To her, he was a beacon of hope and kindness. Hearing this, Gangcheol, who has protected Yeo-ri in secret for years, feels a pang of heartbreak realising she attributes her salvation to another.

At the palace, Young-in’s own darkness unravels. After being visited by the vengeful spirit of a maid he murdered, Young-in is locked away. When confronted by his mother, he confesses the horrific truth. Disgusted and ashamed, the Queen Dowager slaps him, finally seeing the monster her ambitions have created. Spiralling out of control, Young-in gets drunk, attacks the late maid’s grieving father, and draws the attention of darker forces.

Meanwhile, on their journey out of the capital, Gangcheol and Yeo-ri share a moment of peace by a campfire. Gangcheol teases Yeo-ri, revealing that not a single tiger ever attacked her during her treks because he was always secretly protecting her. Their bond deepens as Yeo-ri begins to truly see the depth of Gangcheol’s silent care.

Their quiet moment is interrupted when Gangcheol realises his treasured pumpkin taffy is missing. He chases the sound of footsteps and finds an old man munching on it. Just as tensions rise, a mysterious Shaman intervenes, leading to a fierce battle. Gangcheol, weakened, is almost defeated—until Yeo-ri steps in to save him.

Later, Gangcheol wakes up in a strange house, furious to find the old man still eating. It turns out they are at the home of Monk Ga-sub, Yeo-ri’s former master. She explains Gangcheol’s situation, asking the Monk if he has any of her grandmother’s spiritual items. He reveals that he buried them for safekeeping on a nearby mountain.

Back at the palace, Young-in, now haunted by guilt and fear, sees visions of the murdered maid. His mind cracks completely when he watches in horror as a horde of centipedes crawls toward him. At the last moment, the maid’s spirit, terrified, retreats from view, leaving Young-in to fall under the possession of the eight-legged spirit, consumed by his own darkness.

The Haunted Palace Episode 4 Review

From the King swinging swords while possessed like a demonic puppet to Gangcheol and Yeo-ri pulling off a miraculous spiritual tag-team, the stakes have never felt higher—or scarier. Meanwhile, Gangcheol is catching sudden romantic feelings mid-wound-treatment? Honestly hilarious—and kind of adorable if you forget for a second that he’s technically a dead dragon spirit squatting in a human body.

But just when you think the danger’s passed, boom, cursed ritual objects appear, secret betrayals are exposed, and the Queen Dowager proves she’s the true boss villain we’ve been waiting for. Young-in’s descent into drunken madness and ghostly hauntings took the creepy factor to another level, especially with the final image of centipedes crawling into frame like something out of a nightmare. Even the emotional moments hit hard—Gangcheol’s realisation that Yeo-ri’s heart belongs to Yoon-gap was a punch to the gut. The Haunted Palace isn’t just serving horror; it’s serving heartbreak, betrayal, and a heavy side of jump scares. And we’re eating it all up.

The Haunted Palace is streaming on Viki.

Also read: All The Haunted Palace Reviews

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