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Friendly Rivalry, featuring Lee Hye-ri and Chung Su-bin, premiered on February 10, 2025. The mystery thriller, adapted from a webtoon, is set at Chaehwa Girls’ High School, an elite institution reserved for South Korea’s top one percent, where intense academic pressure pushes students to their limits.
Chung Su-bin plays Woo Seul-ki in Friendly Rivalry, an orphan from the countryside who transfers to Chaehwa High but struggles to fit in. In contrast, Lee Hye-ri portrays Yoo Je-yi, the school’s most influential student, known for her wealth, intelligence, and cunning. Je-yi becomes intriguingly fixated on Seul-ki, leading to a complex relationship that balances between friendship and obsession.
In epsiode 7 and 8 of Friendly Rivalry, Seul-ki and Je-yi spend some time together as they strengthen their bond. Meanwhile, Ye-ri and Tae-joon team up to find Do-hyuk's phone. Yoo Je-na also shows up after Je-yi finds a video of her with Do-hyuk.
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Friendly Rivalry episode 7-8 recap: Is Yoo Je-na back?
Episode 7 of Friendly Rivalry starts with a flashback to Ye-ri's childhood. Her mother, who was obsessed with beauty, decided to make Ye-ri into a child actor. She even slept with the director to have Ye-ri pass an audition.
Ye-ri stopped trying to be a child actor and also started obsessing over beauty and luxury brands. She also enjoyed finding dirt on others.
In the present, Ye-ri joins Tae-joon, Je-yi's father, on his morning walk and tells him that she is aware that he is looking for Je-na. She asks him to compensate her for keeping quiet.
As the results of the mid-terms are out, Seul-ki and Je-yi rank first, much to everyone's astonishment. As one of the top 20 students, Seul-ki is signed up for a health check-up.
In this episode of Friendly Rivalry, Byeong-jin, from Seul-ki's orphanage, shows up and asks her to pay him back for the medications she used to take while in the orphanage.
The students go for the health check-up. They lock up their belongings in their assigned lockers and change into hospital gowns. Seul-ki is scared about her tests revealing that she has been taking medications. She gets Je-yi's message telling her that she can help her.
She goes and visits Je-yi and tells her that she will cooperate with her on the lawsuit, but in return, she pleads to her to keep protecting her.
Hearing this, Je-yi tells her that she is not interested in the lawsuit. Je-yi tells her that she has been protecting her and intends to do so and that she was happy that Seul-gi and she were tied for first place.
Seul-gi asks her to keep her promise and tell her how she found her information.
In episode 7 of Friendly Rivalry, Je-yi responds that she found it in her father's office and that her father likely has ill intentions, having collected such detailed information about them. She ties a scarf around her and tells her that she will let her know later what she can do for her.
The students are given sedatives to make them sleep, and Seul-ki dreams of her father looking for her. As everyone fades, Je-yi comes and takes her hand.
Ye-ri wakes up and takes Seul-ki's band, which has the key to her locker. Je-yi sees this and follows her but is stopped by a doctor.
After the check-up, they go to the carnival for students. Here, they are followed by someone wearing a cap. Upon Beom-su's insistence, A-ra provides her the drugs she had asked for. She takes a huge dosage.
Seul-ki and Je-yi have fun as they joke around and look at different stalls. Meanwhile, Byeong-jin looks for Seul-ki at the carnival. Seeing her mother ask Tae-joon to submit the evidence, Choi-kyung tries to call Seul-ki but she does not pick up the phone.
Ye-ri, who has stolen Seul-ki's father's phone, asks Beom-su to fetch her a charger and she will get her in the blind date list. A-ra is asked by Je-yi to keep an eye on Ye-ri. She informs Je-yi that Ye-ri has Seul-ki's phone. Je-yi asks her to get the phone.
Je-yi and Seul-ki get meat and cola from Choi-kyung's mother's stall but are stopped by Tae-joon from eating it. Seul-ki ignores him, chugging down the cola and feeding Je-yi the meat. Ye-ri finds a charger in the blind date booth and puts Seul-ki's phone on charge.
Je-yi and Seul-ki get into the ball pool and have a fun time. Seul-ki tells Je-yi that she had a great time and even though she does not trust her fully, she is also happy that they shared the first place in the rankings in this episode of Friendly Rivalry.
Seeing Ye-ri go somewhere, A-ra follows her and clicks pictures of her meeting with Tae-joon. Ye-ri asks Tae-joon to pay her more since she has to collect a dead person's phone.
As Beom-su is looking for her charger, she sees a person with a hoodie and a cap.
While Je-yi and Seul-ki are sharing a moment, Je-yi gets a message from A-ra informing her about Ye-ri. Just then, Choi-kyung comes looking for her. Je-yi asks her to hang out with Choi-kyung for a while and leaves. Seul-ki realizes that her father's phone is missing.
Having found the location of the phone, A-ra informs Je-yi, who obtains it from the blind date booth. She gets a call in the number but no one speaks on the other side.
Seul-ki looks for the phone and Ye-ri realizes that she has lost the phone. Tae-joon offers to help and also puts Ye-ri to the task. Beom-su comes to Ye-ri offering her the charger but Ye-ri pushes her away.
Meanwhile, Je-yi is able to access the phone and sees the texts her father sent Do-hyuk, threatening him. She also finds a video of Do-hyuk and Je-na together. Je-na seemed to be aware of being recorded.
Meanwhile, Tae-joon offers to help Seul-ki find the phone and also puts Ye-ri to the task. As they are looking for the phone, Beom-su shows up and tells them that she saw Je-na disguised as a boy. Ye-ri again pushes her away. She falls and hurts her arm.
In Friendly Rivalry, Je-yi goes to the room where the video had been recorded. Hearing some commotion outside, she looks out the window.
Beom-su, carrying a knife, walks towards Ye-ri. Choi-kyung's mother tries to talk her out of it but without much effect. Ye-ri provokes her further, and she attacks her. After Ye-ri, she inches closer to Seul-ki and stabs her in the arm.
The person with the cap enters the room Je-yi is in and locks the door. She reveals her face and Je-yi recognizes Je-na as episode 8 of Friendly Rivalry ends.
Next episode of Friendly Rivalry is scheduled to be released on February 24.
