The fifth episode of "The Witch" kicks off with Lee Dong-jin's arrival in his hometown, driven by a mission to amass as much information as possible about Mi-jeong. He commences his inquiry by grilling the village head, who doubles as a realtor, about the fatalities that have plagued the vicinity where Mi-jeong once resided. The village head steers Dong-jin towards a man who had a harrowing encounter with a wild boar. Dong-jin promptly arranges a meeting with this individual, who reminisces about paying his condolences to Mi-jeong but ultimately chickening out of confessing his feelings. As he trekked back, fate took a turn for the worse when a wild boar started chasing him relentlessly.
Later, Dong-jin convenes with his friends, seeking their assistance in unearthing data on Mi-jeong to fend off the eerie accidents that seem to dog his footsteps. Seo Da-eun, one of Mi-jeong's former friends who has since become a teacher at their alma mater, leads him to the school's storage room. There, Dong-jin immerses himself in gathering data, printing documents, and digitizing information, the clock ticking away.
The following day, one of his friends points him towards a mutual acquaintance who harbored a secret crush on Mi-jeong in their younger years and sustained a minor injury as a result of his unrequited affections. Dong-jin then embarks on a search through an apartment building, knocking on doors until he finally crosses paths with another former friend—the boy who once bestowed flowers upon Mi-jeong but was met with misfortune on his return journey. Next, he meets a man who now toils at a construction site, who broke his ankle after mustering the courage to confess to Mi-jeong. Dong-jin's investigation deepens as he interviews a slew of men who have suffered injuries, some tangentially linked to Mi-jeong, others not at all.
To crystallize his thoughts, Dong-jin plots the locations of these accidents on a map, measuring the distance between each affected man and Mi-jeong. He zeroes in on a 10-meter radius as the critical area. After meticulously analyzing the data, Dong-jin formulates a set of guidelines that he dubs "The Rules of Death," shedding light on the eerie pattern that seems to govern these fatal occurrences.
Later, Da-eun visits Dong-jin and confesses with a heavy heart that she was the originator of the malicious rumors about Mi-jeong, fueled by jealousy over her bond with Ik-jong. She humbly entreats Dong-jin to convey her apologies to Mi-jeong in her stead. Through the mediation of Eun-sil, Dong-jin secures a meeting with Ik-jong, but the latter blankly refuses to recall the wasp incident during his conversation with Mi-jeong.
Following this encounter, Dong-jin pays a visit to the cinema employee who had fainted in the subway after confessing his feelings to Mi-jeong. The man reminisces about his frequent sightings of Mi-jeong when she visited the cinema solo. During their discourse, Dong-jin notices a peculiar detail: according to the established rules, this man should have perished—yet he had miraculously survived. This revelation propels Dong-jin towards a crucial insight: Mi-jeong was unaware of the man's true identity; she knew him solely by his professional moniker, Brad.
Upon realizing this, Dong-jin revises the second rule, articulating it with a newfound clarity: "If she knows your name, peril awaits." He then proceeds to measure the distance between his abode and Mi-jeong's residence, approximating it to approximately ten meters when she is indoors. At this very moment, Mi-jeong ventures out for a stroll. As she draws nearer, the tape measure in Dong-jin's grasp abruptly jerks back, leaving a slight gash on his cheek. The episode concludes with Dong-jin retreating, as Mi-jeong returns to the sanctuary of her room.
