Posted by Based on a popular webtoon, Death’s Game is the new kdrama series on TVING and Amazon Prime Video: the plot and the ending need to be explained, will Choi Yi-jae escape hell? Let’s discover the series’ meaning and the differences between the TV show and the original webtoon.
We all love a good kdrama, and the streaming platforms know it very well. In 2023, we enjoyed several good productions, like The Glory, Celebrity, Mask Girl, and Black Knight. However, Death’s Game, released in December 2023 on TVING in South Korea and Amazon Prime Video in selected regions, can be considered one of the best releases of the year: the plot is fascinating, based on a popular webtoon published by Lee Won-sik and Ggulchan in 2019, with a significant meaning about life, death, and gratefulness, and an ending that leaves everyone curious. The questions are many, and they all need to be explained accurately: does Choi Yi-jae ultimately escape hell? Who is the guy who follows him in all his lives? And what lesson will he learn?
Many plot twists and aspects will be revealed in Death’s Game plot, especially in Part 2. As usual, we will guide you through the series’ plot without spoiling your fun: in this article, you’ll find the answers you need to enjoy the series better.
Death’s Game, the plot summary: Choi Yi-jae & death
In Death’s game plot, Choi Yi-jae is a young guy who struggles to survive in Korea’s challenging society. He has multiple part-time jobs, trying to make money while studying. He loses all his savings on a financial scam, fails an important job interview, and is kicked out of his apartment. Desperate, one night, he decides to commit suicide, leaving a note explaining that life has been hell for him, and he’s not afraid of death: just the opposite, he sees death as an easy way out from his pain.
He jumps from the roof of a building and wakes up in front of Death in person. Death (interpreted by Park So-dam) is furious about what Choi Yi-jae did: by stating that death is an easy way out, he offended and mocked her. Therefore, Death will have her revenge in an extraordinary way: she allows Choi Yi-jae to live twelve more lives, experiencing the last moments of twelve different individuals before their deaths. However, he will have the chance to avoid death if he acts appropriately. This is the underlying meaning behind Death’s Game plot and how the series has explained the events: by committing suicide, Yi-Jae showed great ungratefulness, so Death will give him a chance to learn life’s value with twelve more chances. This is Death’s Game, as indicated in the title: although Yi-Jae’s actions are more motivated by his intention to escape hell, he will learn the meaning of life through his incredible adventure.
Consequently, episode after episode, Death’s Game plot shows us all the twelve lives Choi Yi-jae experiences and his attempts to survive in each of them. All lives live in the same timeline: he will be the CEO of the company who rejected his job interview, a child bullied at school, a fixer who betrayed his client, a wannabe-wrestler who just went out of prison, a baby abused by his parents, and so on. In one of the most meaningful lives, he’s a model who gets in touch with a novelist who cared for him in his first life, realizing how much pain his suicide inflicted on others.
Therefore, we follow Yi-Jae’s adventure through his additional life until the ending of Death’s Game: the TV series has a Part 1 and a Part 2, with a significant plot twist separating them. Will Choi Yi-jae ultimately avoid hell, and what will he learn?
The differences between the TV series and the Webtoon
It’s important to note that the series presents many relevant differences from the original webtoon. The original webtoon by Lee Won-sik and Ggulchan can be read here on Webtoons.com (you need to download the app, and you’ll be able to read all the episodes using your balance). However, we can already anticipate some details: Choi Yi-jae’s twelve lives in the webtoon are pretty different than the ones we see in Amazon Prime Video’s Death’s Game: they are still intertwined with each other, with many lessons offered in each existence, but the plot has been changed significantly.
For those who desperately want to know more about Death’s Game ending, both in the kdrama series and the original webtoon: the webtoon has a cryptic, open ending and leaves no clear answers, so we don’t really know if Choi Yi-jae ultimately managed to escape hell and come back to his original life. Regarding the series, everything will be explained in Death’s Game Part 2: we will talk about it at the right moment. Until then, let’s discuss some important details about what we watched so far.
Death’s Game Part 1 ending explained: who kills him?
The ending of Death’s Game Part 1 has a massive plot twist that triggered many questions: who’s the man who kills Choi Yi-jae in his sixth life, and why? The series hasn’t explained much to the spectators until Episode 4, but we can draw some conclusions through the short flashbacks at the end of that episode.
The guy who kills Choi Yi-jae at the ending of Death’s Game Part 1 is Taekang CEO Park Tae-woo. He was the one who appreciated Choi Yi-jae for his tenacity after reading about the part-time jobs he had in his CV. However, he’s also the one who decided to reject him after the interview. And through the flashbacks, we see at the end of Episode 4, we realize he’s always been around close to his reincarnations. He runs the car over them as an evil habit: since the first man he killed years ago (the employee we see in the very first scene of the show), he has tried to repeat the feelings he had on that occasion, occasionally killing more people. There is nothing personal in Park Tae-woo killing Choi Yi-jae at the end of Episode 4.
Does he avoid hell? The series’ meaning
At the ending of Death’s Game, Choi Yi-jae enters the most unexpected life: his mother’s. Therefore, he experiences her pain for the loss of her son and starts realizing the consequences of his suicide. Living his mother’s life, Choi Yi-jae has the chance to atone for what he did, embracing his own shame.
Somehow, Choi Yi-jae reconciles with his mom after his own death. He finally understands the pain inflicted on others after committing suicide, and he no longer considers death as an easy escape. Reincarnating his mother, he spends the rest of her life remembering his dead son and living the consequence of his actions on her skin. Ultimately, he almost dies in his mother’s body, but he decides to fight to survive. After his whole journey, he has understood the value of life, and Death rewards him with a long life, recognizing his change of attitude. His mother’s death is natural, and after that, he stands in front of Death, begging her to live again as Choi Yi-jae.
The original webtoon ends without the final answer, whereas the TV series seems to have a happy ending: Choi Yi-jae returns to life right before committing suicide and has the chance to live his life with his new awareness. He succeeds in avoiding hell: his life and destiny are now in his hands.
