Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Soo-ho confronts Gang-mu over the order to arrest Chung-ya and himself. A new Northern message threatens Soo-ho's sister unless he dies, making cooperation with the South impossible for him to accept on Gang-mu's terms. Gang-mu lowers his weapon, and Soo-ho insists that they have to give Chung-ya a chance. Outside, she discovers the listening device Han-na planted and warns against further surveillance. She later reports that she has secured the money and intends to return. Yeong-ro and Soo-ho talk quietly in the prayer room about the ordinary lives they might have led. He imagines singing, and she imagines coming to hear him in a café.
Bun-ok overhears enough of the plan to identify Chung-ya as a Northern spy and passes the information to Ahn Gyeong-hui. He moves to arrest her, but Han-na intervenes and helps her escape. Photographs exposing Chung-ya's relationship with Tae-il give Ahn another means of advancing himself. Inside the dormitory, Sang-beom reveals Yeong-ro's family connection after learning it from Bun-ok, turning the other students against her. Chang-su offers to help the spies leave if the hostages are released, and Yeong-ro hopes her father will save her friends. Yet the promised rescue conflicts with orders from above and the officials' need to suppress what the students know. By the end, preparations to destroy the dormitory remain in place despite the apparent agreement.