VikiThe Dear X finale is just around the corner, but fans of the K-drama are worried about how it will end after a “major” webtoon plotline was left out of Episodes 9 and 10. Warning: spoilers ahead and some may find this content distressing.
In the latest chapter of new TV show Dear X, Baek Ah-jin (Kim Yoo-jung) manages to fix the damage to her reputation after Heo In-gang’s (Hwang In-youp) suicide, and it’s all thanks to Moon Do-hyuk (Hong Jong-hyun), a powerful and wealthy CEO.
Do-hyuk makes Ah-jin an offer: marry him, and he’ll bury all of her secrets, while also ensuring she reaches a level of stardom she could only dream of. She agrees and they get hitched in Italy, but over time, she realizes there’s a darker side to his character.
As for Yoon Jun-seo (Kim Young-dae), not only does he lose his grandfather, but he finds out his biological father isn’t who he thinks he is. To add salt to the wound, his mother tells him that Ah-jin knew this whole time, and when he confronts her, she’s as cold as you’d expect.
Why is Dear X under fire?
VikiAlthough there’s plenty of praise for the Dear X adaptation, it’s received a number of complaints after the release of Episodes 9-10 for the way it changes the webtoon. Notably, fans are worried about the ending now that it looks like the pregnancy plotline won’t be in the TV show.
For the uninitiated, the K-drama has stayed pretty close to the webtoon up until this point. In the pages, Ah-jin also marries Do-hyuk after In-gang’s suicide, and she similarly finds out about the darker side to her new husband.
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However, in the webtoon, she learns that Do-hyuk divorced his ex-wife as she couldn’t provide him with a child and an heir to his fortune – which wouldn’t be a problem for someone like Ah-jin, except for the fact that Do-hyuk is the one who’s infertile.
In a bid to keep him, she decides to break the news about Jun-seo’s biological father to him. Knowing this would put him in a vulnerable place, she then drugs Do-hyuk and goes to Jun-seo’s place to “comfort” him.
The real reason she’s doing all this is so she can seduce Jun-seo, have sex with him, get pregnant, and pass it off as Do-hyuk’s child. This pregnancy is what sparks the chain of events that lead to the ending of the story.
But the TV adaptation has changed this entirely, with Jun-seo finding out about his dad through his drunk mother, Hwang Ji-seon (Kim Yoo-mi).
It looks like the pregnancy plotline might not happen in the series, especially as Do-hyuk says he divorced his wife after she ended up in a psychiatric hospital, blaming himself for giving her too much of everything.
There’s no mention of infertility here, and with only two episodes left in Season 1, some fans are worried how the show might wrap up.
Over on Reddit, one wrote, “I’m kinda sad they’re starting to really deviate from the webtoon, (spoilers) like the whole pregnancy plotline, that was major, and it seems like they’re not doing that?
Viki“I mean I guess it can still happen but that’s a lot to pack into two episodes, especially because they’ve introduced many new things that need conclusions too, like the secret third floor, is that the replacement storyline?
“Also, Do-hyuk hasn’t mentioned anything about wanting a son, while it was basically his whole personality in the webtoon and reason for marrying her.
“I hope they still include it somehow because otherwise, I don’t know what’s the remaining storyline with Jun-seo.
“In Episode 10 he already found out he’s the illegitimate son, but in the webtoon he heard it from Ah-jin later and it was even more sensitive to him because Ah-jin was pregnant with his child but planning to pretend it was Do-hyuk’s.
“Anyways I don’t know how they’ll wrap this up now because if that’s cut, the ending will be entirely different and also thematically changes everything, but we’ll see.”
Dear X webtoon reveal K-drama has “lost” key element
VikiA number of viewers have pointed to other new plot points, including the fact that high school bully Shim Sung-hee (Kim Yi-kyung) ends up living with Ah-jin, and the fact that Ah-jin should have been far more suspicious of Do-hyuk.
“I totally forgot about the kidney transplant plot! Otherwise, this has fully deviated from the manhwa, nothing else was similar,” they wrote.
“I do not understand why the high school bully is living with Ah-jin. I also wish they would better explain what is the relationship between Jun-seo and the other actress, Re-na. Are they just friends?
“I feel like anyone, but especially Ah-jin, would be hella suspicious of this CEO who says he’ll give her everything…
“I really hope they don’t try to get the mains together. Their relationship is so unsalvageable. She was such a jerk when she told him about his father… Why is Jun-seo living with his mom?”
VikiThey concluded, “No one can predict where this is going because it’s too far from the manhwa now. What I liked about the original, despite it being bleak, was this feeling of Ah-jin building a very precarious house of cards and then it all crashes down.
“I feel like that aspect has been lost. I’ll watch the last two episodes but at this point I’m disappointed. I feel like Ah-jin’s character is confused now. The CEO would have made her suspicious and wary right away.”
Another agreed, “I was thinking the same thing, this is the first episode that was so different from the manhwa and I honestly didn’t expect that considering that even if there were some deviations from the webtoon it still followed its story pretty diligently until Episode 8.”
However, others are actually pleased the TV adaptation is taking a different route, given we already know how the webtoon ends. Plus, the studio may decide to renew it for a second season, in which case the pregnancy plot line might be saved for further down the line.
Viki“I guess it’s a good thing that we’ll get to see a potentially different ending from the webtoon, giving us something to really look forward to in the next episodes,” said one Redditor.
“I also hope they’re able to wrap up the series with a satisfying conclusion, considering how much they’ve strayed from the main plot toward the end.”
Dear X Episodes 11-12 land on Viki on December 4. 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.