Heartbeat Ending Explained: Heartbeat (가슴이 뛴다 / My Heart is Beating) is a fantasy rom-com Korean drama series written by Kim Ha-na and Jung Seung-joo, directed by Lee Hyun-seok and Lee Min-soo, and stars Ok Taec-yeon (Taecyeon) and Won Ji-an in lead roles, along with Park Kang-hyun, Yoon So-hee, Yoon Byung-hee, Ko Kyu-pil, Seung-you and Baek Seo-hoo, alongside other cast members.
Ok Taec-yeon was last seen in 2022’s Blind, wherein he played the role of Ryu Sung-joon while Won Ji-an’s last role was as Ha Joon-kyung in 2022’s If You Wish Upon Me. Heartbeat takes over KBS2’s Monday-Tuesday 9:50 PM timeslot previously occupied by My Perfect Stranger, starring Kim Dong-wook and Jin Ki-joo.
Heartbeat Plot
When vampire Woo-hyeol, on his quest to become a human and experience love that makes his heart beat for the first time, gets sidetracked on his quest, he comes across Joo In-hae, a school nurse who is perpetually down on her luck. Their chance meeting, although spelling doom on their existence, results in them being shoved into a situation where they experience what it is like to live for something bigger than themselves.
Heartbeat Ending Explained
What happened to Woo-hyeol in the Heartbeat finale?
On the night of the blood moon, Woo-hyeol bids goodbye to his friends and loved ones and takes In-hae on a trip to spend one last day with her. That night, having planned with Do-sik previously, he sneaks off, leaving In-hae sleeping, and prepares himself to be stabbed by Do-sik in order to lift his curse and do the last good thing before his life is taken from him. In the midst of Do-sik stabbing him, however, In-hae arrives worried for Woo-hyeol, which makes Do-sik take pause. Woo-hyeol, realising that time is running out, stabs himself instead and dies in In-hae’s arms as Do-sik looks on in shock.
Did Woo-hyeol really die? Whom did In-hae see towards the end of Heartbeat Episode 16 at Shaded Oasis?
Woo-hyeol really did die, thanks to his fate. In-hae imagined Woo-hyeol looking over her, his friends and Shaded Oasis and imagined that he would be proud of everything that has occurred since his demise.
What happened to Hae-won and Man-hwi?
Man-hwi and Hae-won’s transactional relationship comes to a head when, in the midst of her meeting with Do-sik, the former makes an entrance and demands to be paid for all the information that he gave the two of them. Hae-won refuses to comply and asks him to leave. However, being a vampire, he doesn’t take her threats lightly and attacks her to teach her a lesson.
Just then, Do-sik stops Man-hwi and stabs him with his knife (meant for Woo-hyeol), which causes him to die. Hae-won is left traumatised, and after drinking the night away, he meets Woo-hyeol the next day to inform him that she is moving to the USA. However, before leaving, she does tell him that she loves him and wishes to get the love that she craved from him. Woo-hyeol, too, wishes her well and tells her that she will get the love and longing that she deserves some time in the future.
What happens to Do-sik?
Although it is not shown, it is implied that Do-sik does drink Woo-hyeol’s blood and is able to break the curse in his family. He goes on to do many charitable things, including donating money to curse children’s heart disease.
What happens to In-hae?
In the end, In-hae seems to be hopeful about meeting Woo-hyeol in the near future. But in the present, she continues to run Shaded Oasis, which is working wonders. She has a good relationship with her neighbours and has also kept in touch with Sang-hae and Dong-seop.
So, what was the curse all about?
In-hae was actually Hae-sun’s reincarnation and was the reason why she was the only one who could open Woo-hyeol’s coffin and also why she could bite Woo-hyeol and actually harm him. Unfortunately, thanks to Yang-nam, they were tied together with a curse which essentially made it impossible for both of them to live together – Woo-hyeol needed In-hae’s “love filled” blood to survive while In-hae couldn’t be alive if Woo-hyeol lived. In the end, Woo-hyeol decided to sacrifice his life for his love, considering he has already lived for hundreds of years, yearning and waiting for Hae-sun’s rebirth. Now that he has experienced that love, it didn’t make sense for him to see her die.
The K-drama is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in select regions and on KBS2 in Korea.