Dear Hongrang Ending Explained: Who is Hongrang? Is Jae-yi Finally Able to Find Her Brother?

Dear Hongrang Ending Explained: When the long-lost son Hongrang suddenly returns one fine day, Min Yeon-ui and Shim Yeol-guk are overjoyed and sceptical. However, no one is more sceptical than his stepsister Jae-yi, who has searched for her missing brother for 12 long years. His arrival, however, brings up many complicated feelings within her, and although she refuses to accept him as her own, she soon realises that there are more things at play than just a missing brother.

The series is based on Tangeum: Swallowing Gold by Jang Da-hye and has 11 episodes, each with a runtime of 60+ minutes.

Dear Hongrang Ending Explained

The series starts with a man claiming to be the Min’s long-lost son Hongrang, making an appearance to claim his inheritance. The Mins are highly regarded in the community, especially because they hold the power over an artisan guild. However, after several rejections, they have almost given up hope of ever finding their young son. Patriarch Shim Yeol-guk has adopted a son Mu-jin, to take over the business after although matriarch Min Yeon-ui still holds on hope that her son will return. Yeon-ui, whose father built this empire originally, however, is beside herself with grief and has not taken part in her duties for a long time.

However, when a new man arrives at the house claiming to be Hongrang, things seem to be different. He has no recollection of his memories, but bears a striking resemblance to the young boy. Everyone immediately accepts him as the long-lost son, but Jae-yi, his stepsister, is sceptical. She feels it in her gut that there’s something amiss about this mysterious man who seemingly lost all of his memories.

In the midst of this is Mu-jin, who finds his place in the household threatened after Hongrang’s arrival, since now he is the rightful heir to the vast empire. Mu-jin and Jae-yi, thus, try to catch Honghang in different lies and half-truths, trying to prove that he’s a fraud, but Hongrang turns out to be too good and can match their steps every step of the way.

Who is Hongrang?

It turns out, unfortunately, that Hongrang is not actually the true son of the Mins. He is, rather, a fraud just as Jae-yi had predicted. He was brought up by Kkot-nim to take revenge on Yeol-guk and steal his empire. Kkot-nim and Yeol-guk were in a relationship, and she was pregnant with his child, but when Yeon-ui forced him to choose between her huge empire and his love, he chose to go for the empire. This resulted in Kkot-nim being stabbed, and she survived only because her fetus consumed a majority of the blow.

Since then, she has been in the shadows, biding her time and waiting for an opportunity to end Yeol-guk and Yeon-ui and take everything that they have. She had initially tasked Hongrang to get rid of Jae-yi and Mu-jin, but he fell in love with Jae-yi and refused to do so. At first, he tried to make excuses, but eventually, he came clean about his intentions of fulfilling his promise and then going away with her to live a peaceful life.

Who was the painter? Why did he do what he did?

The painter was the head of this mystery Dear Hongrang, who was behind the abduction of young children. He used one of his henchmen, termed the White Ghost, to snatch kids at night. Hongrang was one of those children who were abducted in childhood. In the end, after much searching, it is revealed that Prince Han-pyeong was the painter who, along with Yeol-guk, had been doing this to fulfil some ritual.

Delusional and full of self-doubt, Han-pyeong was of the opinion that bathing in the blood of young animals, burning a virgin’s hair, preparing grain and liquor and activating 6 talismans and concluding with dissolving these talismans in liquid gold to produce a sound-producing object. To prepare for this Spiritual Ascension ritual, the Prince abducted children and tortured them mercilessly, bathing them in toxic chemicals to cleanse them and then drawing on their backs. These children are the talismans.

He did all this to become more than a human, consumed by greed and hoping to become a god. Yeol-guk knew about all of this and allowed this to happen to have the Prince’s favour and to continue with his illegal activities.

What happens in the end?

In the end, Prince Han-pyeong is killed by Hongrang, who is dying thanks to the toxic chemicals that he had ingested as a child, that has been killing him slowly. Yeol-guk is also murdered, and we finally figure out what happened to the real Hongrang.

Seeing Yeon-ui trying to put a death curse on Jae-yi when they were children, the real Hongrang tried to get rid of the curse, but he hit his head after falling from a height. The maidservant took him away to shield him from Yeon-ui, and by the time she came back with the other servants, he seemingly vanished. It turns out that Madam Gwigokja threw him in the well after seeing his barely alive body, and that is where Jae-yi eventually finds her in the present. She blames him for the hate that she spewed throughout her life, which resulted in her dear brother’s death.

But she refuses to acknowledge it, holding on to hope that he’s still alive and that it’s the fraud Hongrang. However, he eventually sets the record straight, leaving her heartbroken. Two years later, Yeon-ui is left comatose and waiting for her son. Mu-jin, who tried to force a union between him and Jae-yi, dies trying to protect her. In the end, she takes over the entire Guild and her “reign” seems to be full of love and acceptance. All the children who were in Han-pyeong’s grasp were also freed. The last scene is of Jae-yi as she waits for her one true love, hoping to meet him in another life.

What did you think of Dear Hongrang? Let us know in the comments below!

Also Read: Dear Hongrang Review: A Twisted Fate Full of Heartbreak and Longing