The WONDERfools Ending Explained: Directed by Yoo In-sik, written by Kang Eun-kyung, and produced by Heo Da-joong, 원더풀스 is the superhero comedy series on Netflix taking place during the last hectic days of the year 1999 in the fictional city of Haeseong. With starring roles played by Park Eun-bin, Cha Eun-woo, Im Seong-jae, Choi Dae-hoon, Kim Hae-sook, Son Hyun-joo and others, the series follows a cast of common individuals who gain supernatural powers and discover the shocking truths regarding the sinister Wunderkinder program. With the final episode featuring betrayal, eternal life, mind manipulation, and a disaster in the entire city, the story leaves its viewers with many questions related to Chae-ni’s Eternal Heart and Ha Won-do’s destiny.
The WONDERfools Ending Explained
Who Had the Eternal Heart in The WONDERfools Kdrama?
The mysterious boy with the Eternal Heart is one of the many children taken by Ha Won-do for his terrifying experiments with Wunderkinder. What made this boy different from others is the fact that, unlike other children, he had the unusual ability to come back to life after death. Completely fixated with breaking the chain of death, Won-do viewed this particular child not as a person but rather as a discovery.
He subjected the child to numerous tests and subjected him to constant suffering in an attempt to discover the secrets of immortality. Throughout the process, the boy formed a deep bond with Un-jeong, another child taken by the scientist. Seeing the repeated torture inflicted upon the child ultimately caused Un-jeong to snap and destroy the laboratory.
While Un-jeong thought that the child had perished in the explosion, the reality of the situation was more gruesome. The boy’s body would revive again and again despite the incident, but his brain was severely damaged and was now incapable of experiencing anything except agony. Meanwhile, Chae-ni was near death due to her heart ailment. In a bid to save her granddaughter, Chae-ni’s grandmother decided to transfer the heart of the immortal child into her. This is how Chae-ni became the whole Wunderkinder. Many years passed since then, and the heart of the girl only awoke when she was exposed to the chemical waste dumped by the defunct lab.
Why Did Un-jeong Betray Chae-ni?
Un-jeong’s betrayal stemmed from the pain he suffered all his life. Since leaving the laboratory of the Wunderkinder, he spent years concealing his special abilities and trying to learn more about his true mother. Being experimented on made him unable to lead a normal life, while the pain of not knowing his origins was torturous for him. In fact, Ha Won-do brilliantly used Un-jeong’s psychological vulnerability. In exchange for help with capturing Chae-ni, he offered the young man access to secret documents related to his mother’s identity. Filled with despair and fatigue after years of search, Un-jeong finally surrendered and handed over Chae-ni to Won-do.
Nonetheless, the betrayal started eating him from within straight away. While Won-do did not truly love Chae-ni, unlike his character, Un-jeong had come to care about her deeply and gradually developed an affectionate connection with her as he helped her embrace her abilities. It was evident that witnessing her incarceration in the laboratory made him realise the repetition of his childhood mistake, putting the lives of innocent people in jeopardy due to fear and guilt, and when Chae-ni’s grandmother apologises to Un-jeong for having unknowingly backed up the experiments that doomed the fate of the Wunderkinder kids, which marks a decisive shift in his mentality.
Finally admitting that he cannot continue running away from himself, Un-jeong decided to oppose Won-do and assisted Ro-bin and Gyeong-hun to free Chae-ni, and eventually sacrifice himself for good.
How Was Ha Won-do Using the Wunderkinders?
The Wunderkinders were considered mere instruments by Ha Won-do in his quest for eternal life and not humans at all. For decades, Won-do kidnapped and experimented on orphans, subjecting them to chemical experiments in order to give them superpowers. His true ambition was not to assist mankind or create any heroes but to become immortal himself and defy death. The children had to undergo several tests that caused them great pain, and some even died. Even when the lab was destroyed and he was captured, he still did not give up.
However, when he escaped, he managed to reconstruct his underground laboratory underneath the Church of Eternal Salvation using the cult as a disguise. The remaining Wunderkinders were instrumental in this process. Utilising their supernatural powers, the cult members managed to instil fear into the populace by convincing them that the end of the world was near with the onset of the year 2000.
While Ju-ran used her psychic manipulation skills to control large crowds of people, the rest engaged in horrifying acts that would elevate the Church of Eternal Salvation to a level close to divinity. As such, their actions resulted in many people joining the cult, providing Won-do with devoted followers and huge monetary donations for his new laboratory.
This cult increased the chances that the group would be able to cover up their abductions and experiments on humans since people from the church followed Won-do blindly, thinking he was preparing them for the end of the world. The surviving Wunderkinders were loyal to him due to a lack of any other option, since they were degenerating due to the mutations in their body.
What Happened to Nam Sun-kyu at the End of The WONDERfools?
Nam Sun-kyu was a rich and influential individual who was backing Ha Won-do in his quest to return to his research after being released from jail. Fearing ageing and death, Sun-kyu was driven by the urge to acquire everlasting youth. Because Sun-kyu felt that his Eternal Heart existed in Chae-ni, he supported Won-do’s research underground and, in doing so, reconstructed the whole process. Sun-kyu hoped that Won-do would perform surgery on him using Chae-ni’s heart, which would enable him to gain eternal life.
Nevertheless, it turns out that Won-do was never genuinely interested in rescuing Sun-kyu. By kidnapping Chae-ni, he managed to extract a special serum from her blood associated with the Eternal Heart and injected the substance into Sun-kyu to test it. At first, it seemed like magic because Sun-kyu’s body quickly became stronger and more youthful. Yet, very soon, it was clear that the effect proved to be rather fatal since the serum caused irreversible damage to his body, and he died as a result of the side effects. Thus, the death of Sun-kyu made Won-do aware of the reality that after decades of experiments, he had not yet learned how to achieve the desired effect.
Were Chae-ni and Her Mate Able to Save Haeseong City?
Yes, Chae-ni and her companions finally managed to save Haeseong City, but it took everything out of everyone involved in that last battle. During the midnight hour on New Year’s Eve of 1999, Ha Won-do was ready to release his experimental chemicals on the city from the huge aerial apparatus concealed among the celebratory preparations at the church. In parallel with that, Ju-ran used her brain manipulation powers over the church members and city authorities, causing chaos in the city.
Everything only got worse when the lab was blown up, and Un-jeong was temporarily under the influence of Ju-ran’s power. Thousands of people who had come to the streets to celebrate the New Year were on the verge of becoming the new phase of Won-do’s human experimentations.
Having found out that the chemical gases were actually stored within the large blimp hovering in the sky over Haeseong, Chae-ni, Ro-bin, and Gyeong-hun came up with a last-minute plan to save their city from destruction. With the help of his immense physical strength, Ro-bin picked up Chae-ni and Gyeong-hun and threw them at the flying bomb, with Gyeong-hun sticking to the blimp using his sticky powers. When Chae-ni understood that they had little time left, she teleported herself and the blimp away just seconds before its explosion. Though alive, she was forced to stay far away from her hometown for several weeks.
Did Chae-ni and Un-jeong End Up Together?
At the end of The WONDERfools, Chae-ni and Un-jeong finally recognise their feelings toward each other that they developed through the course of the show. However, the relationship between these two characters was difficult because both of them were scarred emotionally. On one hand, Chae-ni believed she was delicate and on her last legs due to her condition, while Un-jeong struggled with the guilt of experimenting on the Wunderkinder children and the destruction of the lab some years ago. Despite their developing relationship, Un-jeong also kept emotional distance between the two of them since he did not want to hurt her in any way or make a similar mistake in the past.
Nonetheless, after emerging victorious from the war and having thought that Chae-ni had vanished permanently due to the explosion, Un-jeong realised just how much he had come to rely on her. Upon Chae-ni’s return, who had been isolated from everyone else far away, their reunion provided them with an opportunity to share their true feelings. In the end, the story closes with Chae-ni and Un-jeong embracing their love for each other rather than hiding from their emotions. Although there is no emphasis on romanticism in the ending of The WONDERfools kdrama, it is evident that Chae-ni and Un-jeong have started a genuine relationship despite all the struggles they have been through.
Was Ha Won-do Really Dead?
Even though it seemed like Ha Won-do died during the last battle, it turns out in the epilogue of The WONDERfools that he did survive. Before the lab explosion happened, Ju-ran administered a serum made from the blood of Chae-ni to Won-do while he was unconscious. Previously in the story, this same serum had brought the body back to life for a short period of time, only to kill Nam Sun-kyu; however, this did not happen to Won-do.
At the end of The WONDERfools, the wounds on Won-do begin to heal under all the rubble, and he suddenly opens his eyes. This indicates that Won-do’s body now has the ability to regenerate as a result of the serum. Paradoxically, after years of chasing immortality by means of other humans, Won-do became the very creature he was trying to become.
Will There Be a The WONDERfools Season 2?
However, there is no doubt that the end of the show leaves some openings to create a Season 2 of The WONDERfools despite the fact that the original show was aired as a limited series. First, the fact that Won-do survived implies that the primary threat from the experiment remains unresolved, as well as the threat that the boy could become even more dangerous after acquiring the powers of the child from the first project, including regeneration. Second, the four superhumans, Chae-ni, Un-jeong, Ro-bin, and Gyeong-hun, keep living their ordinary lives with their special skills hidden, which provides great opportunities for developing subsequent storylines.
Also Read: The WONDERfools Review: Quirky Superhero Story With Heart, Humour and Endless Madness
