Dear X Ending Explained: Helmed by Lee Eung-bok and Park So-hyun, this drama isn’t shy about digging into the messiest corners of ambition and obsession. Based on Ban Ji Un’s webtoon 친애하는 X. At the centre of it all is Kim Yoo-jung, absolutely nailing her role as Baek Ah-jin, a woman whose polished exterior barely hides the cracks underneath. She’s desperate to keep those flaws hidden. Alogside her is Kim Young-dae, playing Jun-seo, Kim Do-hoon brings Kim Jae-oh, Hwang In-youp as Heo In-gang, plus Hong Jong-hyun as Moon Do-hyeok. The supporting cast includes Lee Yul-eum, Kim Yi-kyung, Bae Soo-bin, Kim Yoo-mi, Kim Ji-young and others.
K-drama Dear X Recap
The Korean drama Dear X begins with Baek Ah-jin’s life, which is very unfavourable, as her only purpose was to survive. Her mother abused her with physical violence, while her father manipulated her to use her for personal gain. From the very beginning, Society made sure that she understood she had no one to support her but herself. By the time she reached her teenage years, Ah-jin was not looking for someone to save her; she was taking down everyone who stood in her way by using their secrets against them while using the anger and pain she endured as a shield.
But deep down inside of her was still the frightened child who discovered on the dark stairway that Truth holds no value unless someone has the Power to implement it. Even as she grows into her adulthood, the violence of her childhood and adolescence is still coming back in new ways. She meets up with Choi Jung-ho, a former athlete who has fallen from glory, and Yoon Joon-seo, the one person who actually saw her at her worst and offered assistance. However, all her Relationships are Battlefields. Her Father has reappeared and is using her again for his selfish needs, and she is being stalked. The Police know everything she is doing and are constantly keeping watch on her.
For Ah-jin, fame feels like a happy moment in time that is filled with knives and snares. Each flash of the camera is like someone digging into Ah-jin’s past. While she becomes a part of the world of entertainment, she finds that the same old enemies are now disguised as jealous actresses, detectives who are trying to get money from Ah-jin, and corrupt executives who are only after money. Jae-oh and Joon-seo are still around and continue to be drawn to her dark side, even though both men will ultimately be consumed by it.
Ah-jin has hopes of finding happiness with the highly successful Heo In-gang but knows that secrets and guilt are hidden within the glamour of the world they live in, and they will destroy any chance of happiness. Each scandal keeps Ah-jin trapped in a world where she can no longer protect all that was most important to her.
The arrival of Moon Do-hyuk is like throwing a lifeline to Ah-jin. He offers her the opportunity to start over and maybe have the chance to escape the darkness that is consuming her life. By Episode 10, Ah-jin is standing at the edge of a new disaster, caught in a family that could end up being even more dangerous than the one she left behind.
Dear X Ending Explained
Was Baek Ah-jin able to protect her fame?
The question of Ah-jin’s fame is the one that looms over the entire narrative, and the resolution is rather unpleasant. She not only undergoes the hardships of scandals and betrayals but also survives attempts to terminate her life—every time, she comes out of the ashes and fights her way back to the top. Big agency contracts are signed, and she is in bad company, yet a nomination for Best Actress is the icing on the cake. For an instant, it seems as if she cannot be harmed.
Also Read: Dear X Review: Kim Yoo-jung’s Creepy Charisma Transforms Opening Episodes into a Gorgeous Nightmare
Then the Blue Dragon Awards come, and it all comes apart. While she is holding her award, a film about her criminal activities is being shown to the audience. Old classmates, people she has done wrong to, Jun-seo—all of them come forward. The documentary discloses how she had Sung-hee arrested, her father murdered (in fact, he was her father), Jae-oh controlled her, Ji-sun was blackmailed, and everyone was used by her—the top was her only destination. The cheering stops. The auditorium becomes extremely cold. In the blink of an eye, her whole universe is gone.
She attempts to escape but eventually finds herself having a meltdown in public. Up to that moment, Jun-seo has been trying to help her, but the truth is revealed, and there is no turning back. Her reputation is shattered, and her history finally catches up with her. In the final shot, she is shown to still be living, but she has been totally wiped out, lingering in the dark with her name stained forever.
What happened to Moon Do-hyeok at the end of Dear X?
The end of Moon Do-hyeok’s life story is somewhat ambiguous. Initially, Moon Do-hyuk seems to be nothing more than a powerful CEO who comes to the rescue of Ah-jin and gives her a second chance. You may want to think he is real; however, this is not the case. The act does not continue for too long. With the passing of time, his whole “naturalness” just collapses. As it turns out, he was the one who was behind everything.
He watched her every action, charged her enemies, and made it so she would have no one else to turn to. He also bought the hospital where his ex-wife disappeared, employed Sung-hee as a nurse, placed a listening device in Ah-jin’s car, and was in control of every aspect of her existence.
His intention was not to safeguard her but rather to isolate her. His house did not serve as a home; rather, it was like a luxurious jail, equipped with security cameras, locked gates, and constant reminders that Ah-jin was his property now.
It is only when Jae-oh manages to secure a recording of all Do-hyuk’s wrongdoings—extortion, soliciting, killing, and manipulating—that the empire begins to fall. Ah-jin goes to him, and he reveals his obsession. He aims to possess her, regardless of who has to die in the process. However, when Ah-jin finds the evidence of Jae-oh’s death, the power dynamic changes.
This is after the Blue Dragon incident and the cliff crash. Do-hyuk continually searches for Ah-jin’s corpse during his manhunt. He only ceases to look when he acknowledges that she has completely disappeared. In the Dear X finale, he is deprived of the one thing that he has been trying to possess over the years. What remains is only this pathetic wish that perhaps someday she would return.
How did Jun-seo and Kim Jae-oh die?
In Episode 12 of Dear X, the death of Kim Jae-oh is very painful. He accompanies Ah-jin in every bad thing—money issues, jail time, harassment, and rumours. But when he knows that Do-hyuk’s people are coming, he does not run away. On the contrary, he prepares hidden cameras and a phone that can be tracked, so he collects evidence which will be helpful to Ah-jin against Do-hyuk.
He is trapped like a rat on a rooftop, badly hurt and in a lot of pain, but he still remembers Ah-jin with a smile. They kill him by throwing him off the building. His last deed is tragic and courageous at the same time: he gives up his life for the girl he loved, even though he never had her for real.
The death of Jun-seo is even more poignant as it is mixed up with love and resignation. He is the one who helps Ah-jin crimes to see the light, and, subsequently, he meets her when she is in tatters. He lets her know that he has come to understand her—weaker instincts will never prevail over love. Still, he feels sorry for the girl, and thus he makes that one last effort. When driving at night together, he intentionally has the car wrecked, praying that they will not only die together but also be freed of their mutual destructive force.
But fate does not allow him even that. Jun-seo perishes in the crash, but Ah-jin regains consciousness, manages to crawl out, turns back, and actually smiles at him before leaving him to die a lonely death. That very moment encapsulates the finale: Jun-seo’s love was a gift, whereas Ah-jin’s was merely a means of survival. His death marks the end of a failed relationship and the beginning of a new story.
What does the ending of Dear X signify?
The ending of Dear X kdrama is very frank about Ah-jin’s life. She undergoes everything, but finally, there is nothing left of her. All those who were close to her, Jun-seo, Jae-oh, and In-gang, are gone. The death of all her opponents who wanted to see her fall has occurred. All the agencies that used to be her shield are now foes. All the untruths she thought she had buried come up in the end. She is not Baek Ah-jin, the actress, the survivor, the trickster, or the orphan anymore. She is just a ghost—without name, friendless, liberated but endlessly lost.
The conclusion of the series Dear X illustrates one very harsh truth: fight for your life, but sometimes your fight will strip you of everything that is worth living for. Ah-jin’s entire life was based on instinct rather than feeling; she deceived to survive, played games to last, and took advantage of people because there was no one to protect her ever.
Nevertheless, the ending of Dear X uncovers that the price for living on without humanity is very high; the loneliest of loneliness, which is so total that she can’t get back to the world anymore. Furthermore, there is the subsequent documentary that claims she is alive but cannot be found, which is the final twist; she won, yet roamed without those things that represented winning.
