Revenge of Others — Ending Explained

The Mystery of Park Won-seok’s Death: Park Won-seok did not commit suicide; he was kicked out of the school window by Seok Jae-beom.

The Split Personality Twist (DID): A year prior to the main storyline, Ki Oh-sung pushed Seok Jae-beom off a building roof, putting Jae-beom into a year-long coma. Upon waking with severe amnesia, Jae-beom developed Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)—a dark, violent alter-ego. Jae-beom had no conscious memory of killing Won-seok because the act was carried out entirely by his alternate persona.

Ki Oh-sung’s Master Manipulation: Ki Oh-sung exploited Jae-beom’s amnesia and gaslighted him into believing that Park Won-seok was the one who pushed him off the roof. Driven by this fabricated memory, Jae-beom’s dark alter-ego confronted Won-seok and threw him out of the window.

The Stables Climax & Final Cover-Up: In Episode 12, Ki Oh-sung kidnaps Kook Ji-hyun and attempts to kill both Soo-heon and Chan-mi. At the horse stables, Jae-beom recovers his true memories and realizes that Oh-sung manipulated him into becoming a killer. During a violent struggle on a roof ledge, Ki Oh-sung falls to his death. Rather than exposing Jae-beom’s mental illness to a flawed judicial system, Chan-mi, Soo-heon, and the surrounding students make a pact: they frame Ki Oh-sung’s death as a suicide and attribute all crimes solely to Oh-sung. Jae-beom receives psychological treatment, Soo-heon drops out of school to live his remaining time peacefully, and Chan-mi finally achieves closure.

Viewers and critics have proposed several ways to interpret the series:

• Vigilante Justice as Systemic Catharsis: Many viewers interpret the drama as a direct indictment of South Korean law enforcement, arguing that Soo-heon’s vigilante actions represent a necessary social check when legal systems fail.
• Psychological Allegory for Youth Mental Health: Jae-beom’s split personality (DID) and Soo-heon’s brain tumor can be viewed as physical and psychological manifestations of unaddressed teenage trauma, grief, and societal pressure.
• Cautionary Tale Against Retribution: Others view the tragic unraveling as evidence that vigilantism creates more collateral damage, emphasizing that violent revenge ultimately destroys everyone involved.