The fourth episode of “Duty After School” had ended with Jang-Soo rushing out to distract the monster and save the rest of the students as they escaped in the van. Meanwhile, Choon-Ho, on his way to save them, disobeyed the direct orders of his commander and, with the help of Won-Bin, had secured a truck to bring them back. Halfway through the city, he discovered that the ones in the barracks had followed him to help rescue their fellow classmates. They had decided to rescue the others instead of sitting around and waiting for news. Except for Young-Soo, who had stayed back, all of the other students had decided to follow Choon-Ho.
Spoilers Ahead
Did All Of The Students Reach The Barracks Safely?
“Duty After School” Episode 5 begins with Choon-Ho leading his platoon in the truck to search for the rest of the members. They finally come across the overturned truck of the other half, and this worries all of them. However, in Episode 4, before they had left for the shelter, Young-Shin had used a rock to draw an arrow to point at the direction they were about to take; this arrow was discovered by Kim Deok-Joong during their search for the truck in Episode 5. But, before they could take that direction and seek out the others, they had to deal with countless miniature monsters.
Meanwhile, Jang-Soo had rushed out of the shed to distract the monster to help the others escape with an injured So-Yeon as So-Yoon drove the van. Jang-Soo had armed himself with a bucket and a stick to cause a commotion, and as the monster chased him around, the others made their escape. Before escaping, the students had drawn straws to decide who would stay back; Hee-Rak had received the shorter end, but Jang-Soo broke his own stick and volunteered to stay back. Hee-Rak’s guilty conscience did not let him escape, as he immediately went on to help Jang-Soo and saved his life. Hee-Rak used liquid nitrogen to freeze the monster, as he had remembered it freezing to death in the convenience store in “Duty After School” Episode 2. As the two of them made their way out of the shed, they were ambushed by another of the monsters, and before the monster could do anything, it was killed off by Choon-Ho, who had arrived just in time to save them. Reunited with the rest of their classmates, the group returned to the barracks, where Choon-Ho was chided by the commander for disobeying his orders. However, his contribution to the military had let him get away without undergoing any disciplinary action.
Were The Students Tasked With The Suicide Mission Of Removing The Spheres?
The students had just begun training and were enjoying their stay at the barracks, but the commander had other plans. He decided to send the student force to Iri-eup on a suicide mission to remove the spheres. He briefed them about the mission the next day while he assigned Choon-Ho the task of getting all of the students to write their wills. Their only reward if they returned from this suicide mission would be extra points to help with college admissions. As the leader of the platoon, Choon-Ho had to take over the debriefing as well as hand them their weapons. Yoo-Jung heard Choon-Ho discussing their plight with Won-Bin and thus took it upon herself to deliver the papers.
The students gathered together as they wondered about their impending doom. They could not have their dinner as they sat waiting for the morning to come. Choon-Ho, realizing that the papers were missing, immediately went with Won-Bin to the students. Choon-Ho and Won-Bin together took it upon themselves to help the students enjoy one last carefree night as high schoolers and not military members. They simply enjoyed their time together as they fooled around, made food, and could simply enjoy being kids after such a long period of time.
Did The Platoon Find Any Survivors?
The platoon left the barracks at exactly 7 a.m., as was required of them. They arrived at Iri-eup, where they ditched the trucks to make their way toward Maesong-si and remove all of the remaining spheres along the way. They adhered to Choon-Ho’s every command and annihilated the first round of spheres. The gadgets they carried could cover a radius of 1 km, letting them know if there were any spheres in the vicinity. They later split up into teams in search of more of those monsters and gauged their intelligence as the monsters threw rocks at them while they ran away. During their search, Ha-Na and Na-Ra were posted as snipers. They supported the ground units with their sniping skills, while Young-Shin became one of the trackers. Won-Bin’s team ended up in an abandoned house with Ae-Seol, Deok-Joong, and Chi-Yeol. They searched for the monsters only to recover survivors from the massacre. In “Duty After School” Episode 6, as they brought Park Yoon-Seo, who seemed to be the sole survivor, out to calm down, the platoon recovered two more survivors on their way to the shelter. Jae-Won, Ji-Min, and Yoon-Seo were the only survivors left in that area.
How Did Won-Bin Get Injured?
Yoon-Seo and the rest of her platoon were discarded by their leader. The students were sent as bait to get the monsters to attack them so their instructors could finish them off. As the situation started getting bleaker, the leader jumped ship and left the students to fend for themselves. Yoon-Seo, scarred by her friends’ deaths as well as their leader’s desertion, could not cope with the situation. She had at first wanted to kill herself, but when Yoo-Jung talked to her about the situation, Yoon-Seo almost put the gun down. However, Choon-Ho’s attempt at calming the situation agitated her the most. She could not trust him and thus attempted to shoot at him. The bullet was intercepted by Won-Bin, whose shoulder was grazed by the round, thus saving Choon-Ho. Yoon-Seo broke down; however, the rest of the platoon could not forgive her for attempting to shoot Choon-Ho and hurting Won-Bin. They soon recovered, as Choon-Ho had later wanted to safely return them to the barracks. They knew that if he did so, he would not be able to escape punishment; however, the thought of the monsters sabotaging another shelter made the students decide to finish off the mission.
‘Duty After School’ Episode 6 Ending Explained: Did Choon-Ho Get Rid Of The Monsters? Is He Dead?
They stayed back to finish off their mission as Choon-Ho figured out a strategy to kill the monsters in one blow. The plan was to take the DU ammunition and wrap it with explosives; then, they would plant these explosives in the school building. Half of the platoon was allotted the duty of planting the explosives while the other half would bring out the speakers, and some of the students from the second half would track while some from the first half would wait until the monsters got in to seal the exits. Because of the monsters’ attraction to noise, the speakers would blare out to attract all the hordes of monsters in the area, and after the platoon was safely inside the building they were tracking from, they would detonate the bombs and kill all the monsters in one fell swoop.
The plan was on track; however, the trackers, who were tracking every movement of the monsters, saw that they were on the move toward another shelter, and thus the timeframe had shortened. They had earlier discovered that the monsters communicated with the spheres in the sky to navigate their way around the deserted areas to find the shelters their food was hiding in. Thus, the plan had to be cut short, and Choon-Ho stayed back until the very end to plant the rest of the explosives. He sent all of the members back and made sure Won-Bin took them to safety. However, as the monsters rushed in, Choon-Ho tried his best to fight against them, injuring himself in the process. He barricaded himself in a classroom, and as he scaled his exits, he realized he would not be able to escape, so he gave Won-Bin the command to detonate the bombs immediately. Choon-Ho died as the monsters broke through the doors of the class, and the bombs went off.
Final Thoughts: Death Toll
I swear to God, why do all of the good action-filled dramas and animes kill off the best characters? Obviously, the plot would not leave Lee Choon-Ho alone because why would the kids need a parental figure? They should learn every lesson the hard way. They should be thrust into the war, and the people who try to keep them alive will be killed first. The last few minutes of “Duty After School” Episode 6 were spent with unease as my anxiety kept ricocheting. Although it seemed that Choon-Ho might make it out of the building, with his fractured leg and the balcony of the building being three floors high, that did not help. The moment he realized there was no way out, he willingly gave up and let himself become the bait.
The scene was very impactful and downright depressing because, with the exception of their teacher’s and classmates’ deaths, Choon-Ho’s death would be the one to most affect the students. The next episodes of “Duty After School” would be more about their survival in the world without the safety net Choon-Ho had provided them with. Won-Bin will step up to the leader’s position; however, there is a high chance that they might be assigned a new leader. This was absolutely cruel; however, it did make the series even more intriguing as the only question that arises amidst the catastrophe is, “Now what?”
