The Witch's Diner week 1: Song Ji-hyo as the manyeo lures Nam Ji-hyun and Chae Jong-hyeop

The Witch's Diner premiered on July 16 and Song Ji-hyo returned to the small screen after her role in Was in Love. In this show, she was introduced as a manyeo (witch) who granted the wishes of anyone who visited her diner.

Hence the title of the show, and in the first two episodes that aired on Friday, it became clear that she was not a witch with a golden heart. Her moral compass in The Witch's Diner was definitely skewed and she seemed to enjoy inflicting pain on humans, especially of the kind that hurt others.

The Witch's Diner week 1 proves that the manyeo has hidden intentions

Every time the manyeo grants a wish, she seeks payment. This could be anything depending on the wish. If it was rooted in greed or vengeance among other things. For instance, in the opening episode of The Witch's Diner, she granted the wish of a greedy father.

This man lost all his money to a scam. He claimed that he wanted to win the lottery to ensure that he could provide for his kids. However, the payment the manyeo sought from him was his eyesight. It was because she liked the way he looked at her.

She fed him the best pancakes he had ever had in The Witch's Diner. In exchange, he won a lottery and lost his eyesight.

The Witch's Diner week 1 sees Nam Ji-hyun get trapped into playing manyeo's assistant

Nam Ji-hyun as Jung Jin clearly had some connection with the manyeo from the past. She kept dreaming of this day when she was asked to choose between two kinds of lollipops by a strange lady and that was the manyeo.

However, she didn't remember and ended up falling for the manyeo's trap. One after another, things began to go wrong in her life after the manyeo took interest in her. She lost her job first, then her boyfriend broke up with her.

As if that was not enough, her mother fell for a scam and took over a hotel that was run to the ground by the previous owner who wanted to shift locations. This led to a massive amount of stress and loss for Jung Jin and her mother in The Witch's Diner.

It is in anger that Jung Jin sought a wish in the The Witch's Diner week 1 episode. She wanted revenge and the manyeo ended up killing the woman who scammed her mother. This taught Jung Jin in The Witch's Diner that even the simplest wish could result in consequences that she may not be capable of facing.

That is why she tried to warn Kil-yong (Chae Jong-hyeop) off of visiting the diner. However, he decided to seek a wish and it was kept a secret from Jung Jin and the audience. Whatever it was, it seemed that the manyeo took a liking to him. She offered him a part-time job and is happy about having brought everyone together.

The question of why remains, and episodes of The Witch Diner in the coming weeks, will reveal more. This will include the connection between the manyeo and Jung Jin.

This is more than paying for a wish, and it would be interesting to see how the manyeo collects her payment from Kil-yong as well.