VikiNow that the Dear X finale has landed, we know how the K-drama series ends. Given it deviates from the webtoon in a huge way, there are plenty of unexpected twists, including not one but two shocking deaths.
Baek Ah-jin (Kim Yoo-jung) has long relied on Yoon Jun-seo (Kim Young-dae) and Kim Jae-oh (Kim Do-hoon) to keep her carefully built facade from collapsing. In the previous episodes, she agreed to marry powerful CEO Moon Do-hyuk (Hong Jong-hyun), believing he could help bury her darkest secrets.
But she soon finds out that his intentions are nefarious – he’s been messing with her mental state in a bid to exert full control over her. In Episode 11, Jae-oh vows to put a “leash” on Do-hyuk, no matter what the cost.
Readers of the webtoon will already know how this unfolds for Ah-jin, but the K-drama adaptation deviates from the story in a significant way – and there are deadly consequences in the Dear X finale. Warning: spoilers ahead!
Who dies in the Dear X finale?
VikiJun-seo and Jae-oh die in Dear X Episode 12, but both for very different reasons. While Jae-oh is willingly killed by Do-hyuk’s henchmen to give Ah-jin leverage over her husband, Jun-seo dies trying to kill both himself and Ah-jin.
You see, in Episode 11, Ah-jin realizes how Do-hyuk is playing mind games with her, even ordering for the script of the movie she’s starring in – Amen to Nothing – to be changed so that she has to relive the killing of her father, Baek Seon-gyu (Bae Soo-bin).
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When she confronts him, he reveals he’s also been spreading rumors about her to the press. He states that he wants to “tame” her so that she’ll always be by her side, and that this is what drove his ex-wife to madness.
Ah-jin breaks down and calls Jae-oh, who explains that his life’s purpose is to serve her. We see him enact his plan to give Ah-jin the upper hand with Do-hyuk, but we don’t learn the extent of it until Episode 12.
VikiWith the help of his other boss, Ahn Do-kang, Jae-oh sets up a camera on the roof of the shop, as well as spyware on his phone. He tells Do-kang to install the app on his burner phone so he can control Jae-oh’s device remotely.
Jae-oh then leads Do-hyuk’s henchmen to the area with the camera, ensuring he gets video and audio confirming that Do-hyuk ordered his death. Jae-oh is pushed to his death, but it’s a fate he’s accepted – a final sacrifice help Ah-jin.
Ah-jin is able to use this footage as leverage against Do-hyuk and it looks like she has finally gained the upper hand: her husband will stop messing with her, and her new movie, Amen to Nothing, is a huge success.
However, little does she realize that Jun-seo is finally starting to turn, and Jae-oh’s death is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
You see, Jae-oh ensured that the video files were also sent to Jun-seo. He calls Ah-jin and questions her, and she’s as cold as ever, arguing that it’s what Jae-oh wanted.
Viki“How long are you going to keep living like this?” he asks her. She says that while she’s sick of it too, she can’t (or won’t) stop now, before hanging up the phone.
Earlier on in Dear X, Jun-seo was approached by a reporter who spotted the correlation between his book and the rumors about Ah-jin, asking whether he’d be willing to turn it into a documentary.
Initially, Jun-seo shuts the offer down, claiming that his book was pure fiction. But now the rose tinted glasses are off, he’s ready to expose her.
The documentary lays it all out: the manipulation, Ah-jin’s role in her father’s death, how Choi Jeong-ho (Kim Ji-hoon) was tricked into killing him, what happened with Heo In-gang (Hwang In-youp).
What’s more, the team decide to drop it during the Blue Dragon Awards, as Ah-jin is giving her acceptance speech for Best Actress.
VikiShe walks off stage as the crowd turn on her, and behind-the-scenes, she sees Jun-seo being interviewed in the documentary. She screams and runs into the street, only to find herself face-to-face with Jun-seo.
He drives her away, asking where she wants to go. She says anywhere she can disappear. During their drive, Jun-seo says, “I thought if I just waited long enough, you’d change. But you never did. It took me too long to realize that.”
“You’re right,” she replies. “Took you long enough to figure out something so simple.”
Ah-jin says she has “nowhere left to go,” to which Jun-seo responds, “If you really have nowhere to go, why don’t we just go to hell together, Ah-jin?… If you say you’ll stop right now, I’ll stop right here with you. What’s it going to be?”
Ah-jin says he’s her “final shackle,” and they hold hands and stare at one another, as Jun-seo drives the car off the road and into a cliff’s edge, seemingly killing them both.
Dear X ending explained
VikiHowever, the Dear X ending has another twist in store: while Jun-seo’s body was found by the authorities, Ah-jin has disappeared.
Do-hyuk is seen stressed as he tries to find out what happened to Ah-jin. He watches a second part to the documentary in which a video proves she was in the car when it crashed.
“After this video was taken, she vanished completely, and has not been heard from since,” the host says.
A clip then cuts to what is seemingly Ah-jin leaving a flower at her own memorial site, before a flashback shows exactly what happened after the crash.
Ah-jin wakes up, injured, and climbs out of the car. Jun-seo is still alive but hanging on by a thread. Rather than saving him or calling the authorities, she simply climbs up the rocks and looks down at the wreckage, letting out a sadistic laugh.
How the K-drama differs from the webtoon
VikiThis is a significant departure from the webtoon, which ends with Ah-jin, Jun-seo, and Jae-oh alive. After losing everything – her fame, beauty, and power – Ah-jin uses her and Jun-seo’s child to get revenge on him one last time.
You see, in the Dear X pages, Ah-jin discovers that Do-hyuk divorced his ex-wife as she couldn’t give him a child – despite the fact that he’s the one who’s infertile.
In a bid to keep him, Ah-jin decides to break the news that Jun-seo’s biological father isn’t who he thinks he is, knowing it will put him in a vulnerable place. She then drugs Do-hyuk, goes to Jun-seo’s place to “comfort” him, and has sex with him, thereby getting pregnant.
Ah-jin then falsifies paternity test results in order to make Do-hyuk think the baby is his. Even though he finds out the truth, he wants to stay with Ah-jin anyway.
Similarly to the TV adaptation, Jun-seo wakes up to Ah-jin’s true nature, helming a best-selling novel-turned-documentary that exposes her crimes, which sparks the downfall of her reputation.
She flees to Hong Kong with Jae-oh where they open a bar and raise her and Jun-seo’s child. But one day, Ah-jin abandons Jae-oh and her daughter for another wealthy and powerful man.
The man’s daughter doesn’t like Ah-jin, so much so that she eventually pushes Ah-jin down the stairs of their mansion, leaving her horribly disfigured. Not only is her reputation ruined, but her perfect, angelic appearance will never be restored.
Jae-oh tells the whole story to Jun-seo, before asking if he wants to meet their child. “I think so,” he replies, and so Jae-oh gives him a letter, saying, “Ah-jin wanted me to give you this if you wanted to meet the kid.”
Later, at a meet-and-greet for Jun-seo’s next book, a young girl comes up to him asking for a signing. She says it’s for her mom, and when pressed for the name, she reveals it’s none other than Ah-jin.
In shock, he signs the book and the girl walks away. But Jun-seo realizes it must be her, and so he runs out, only to see the back of Ah-jin and their daughter walking away.
It’s at this point that we find out what Ah-jin’s letter really said: she tells Jun-seo that her ultimate revenge is denying him any relationship with their child, ensuring he spends the rest of his life longing for a daughter who doesn’t even know he exists.
She vows to “live” in his mind forever, forcing him to carry the weight of that loss and regret until the day he dies.
The letter exposes the full extent of Ah-jin’s sociopathy, and how she uses love as punishment.
How Dear X ending sets up Season 2
VikiWhile Dear X hasn’t been renewed for Season 2, the finale leaves the door wide open for a follow-up. With Jun-seo dead and Ah-jin vanishing into thin air, multiple characters now have reasons to chase the truth.
Do-hyuk, humiliated and outmaneuvered, is unlikely to let her disappearance go unanswered, especially with the footage that ties him to Jae-oh’s murder. Seo Mi-ri (Kim Ji-young) may also step back into the story, with In-gang’s death still unresolved from her perspective.
Similarly, Im Re-na (Lee Yul-eum) might return to Korea to seek answers about Jun-seo’s death. Then there’s Jun-seo’s mother, who is hardly the type to accept her son’s fate (and his final act of revenge against her).
VikiAnd let’s not forget Shim Sung-hee (Kim Yi-kyung), whose breakdown and appearance in the documentary suggests she could resurface in a future instalment. In short, there’s plenty of directions Season 2 could take if it gets the greenlight.
Until we find out more, Dear X Season 1 is streaming in Viki now. For more on what to watch, check out the new TV shows coming out in 2025, the best shows of 2025 so far, and the most binge-worthy series of all time.