“Reborn Rich” Ending Explained- Episode 16 Recap And Review

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Reborn Rich” has wrapped up today, lets talk about its finale, explain its ending and more.

“Reborn Rich” episode 16 recap

Did Do Jun Die?

Yes, he died, he was killed right then and there, and Hyun Woo went back into his own body. He woke up in Turkey in the year 2022. It turns out that Min Young saved his life. He goes back to South Korea with his memories of his past life intact and he finds out they tried to make him the culprit of embezzlement to avoid issues, he was the bait.

Did Hyun Woo Kill Do Jun? Why?

Jin Young-Ki ordered for Do Jun to be killed.

It was revealed that Kim Joo-Ryun was the person who made sure everything was taken care of on the day of Do Jun’s death at the order of Jin Young-Ki. This meant sending Hyun Woo to that location to cause that accident indirectly by parking that car specifically at the location where Do Jun was killed.

Later, Hyun Woo almost reports him to the police but Kim Joo-Ryun offers him a chance to work at Soonyang and get out of poverty, he does that and does not tell anyone about it.

What Happens To Soonyang?

Min Young launches an investigation into Soonyang as Hyeon Woo provides his phone to her which has a lot of evidence of their corruption when he worked for them. She makes sure he’s not arrested for the embezzlement allegations and he goes back to Oh Se Hyeon to get his help to burn down Soonyang.

Oh Se Hyeon hid ever since Do Jun’s death and when Hyun Woo appears, they begin working together to shake the foundation and make sure the family does not have management rights for the succession plan. They stage a hearing where they bring out evidence of their corruption.

Hyun Woo plays a recording he had hidden in his house of the conversation he’s had with Kim Joo-Ryun on the day Do Jun died in 2004. In the conversation, he tapped into his office and we find out that Jin Young-Ki had ordered the kill. The court erupts and Seong-Jun loses his sh*t.

Eventually, the family renounces their inheritance to the group and a management company is hired instead.

Did Jin Young-Ki die?

Yes, in the year 2022, he died after complications of his heart attack.

What Happened To Jin Seong-Jun?

The drama does not elaborate on what happened to him exactly in the sense of whether he was arrested for attempting to murder Hyun Woo or not, but we know he got divorced from his wife who immediately dropped him. He’s been also removed from his position as the vice president of Soonyang.

Did Do Jun And Min Yeong End Up Together?

No, they did not end up together. Do Jun died, she also didn’t end up with Hyun Woo either. But the screenwriter does sort of hint at a possible romance in the future.

“Reborn Rich” ending explained

So, time to explain exactly what the screenwriter was attempting with the ending.

In voiceover, Hyun Woo says it wasn’t reincarnation or a timeslip but something called ‘repentance.’ He says its repentance for Do Jun who died tragically in 2004 and for him too. He says it was a chance for him to make things right basiacally. As in correct the wrongs that have been done.

Hyun Woo didn’t really plan on killing Do Jun as many had thought.

Hyun Woo worked at a factory belonging to Soonyang and his contract was expiring soon. He was sent out to a field by Kim Joo-Ryun, one of the higher-up managers of Soonyang in the future. With his truck parked in a place near a field, and with Do Jun’s car stopping for him, he calls for his manager Mr. Kim who overhears Hyun Woo panicking after realizing a man was hurt and died instantly due to the crash.

When he goes there to confront him, it turns out that somehow he had not only recorded their phone conversation but also recorded the conversations Mr. Kim had with Jin Young-Ki at the office after Hyun Woo left and somehow had kept that for 18 years.

Kim Joo-Ryun followed the orders of Jin Young-Ki to kill Do Jun, he killed him through this accident days prior to him claiming ownership finally and leading Soonyang, he then pinned it on his son through rumors.

Hyun Woo initially refuses to accept Mr. Kim’s offer in exchange for his silence but he then reluctantly does so. He’s then awarded a permanent position at Soonyang and ends up climbing the ladder to lead their finance department.

So in short, all of this was for Hyun Woo and Do Jun’s repentance. Don’t ask why or how because this is the only explanation she attempts to provide for the script she wrote.

“Reborn Rich” finale thoughts

I think I gave the screenwriter more credit than I should have, in hindsight, I was too optimistic. In episode 15 recap, I actually thought the idea she was trying to spin was nice and different, turns out she can’t commit to anything. I expected the script to go down based on other dramas she’s wrote in the past but oh my god, it would have been so much better had she not attempted to make Hyun Woo a good guy, he’s bad, just accept this, its ok, he doesn’t have to be great. Its ok. He does whatever this family tells him to without questioning it including many bad actions as the screenwriter hints only to go around and claim he’s been coerced to do this??

In her way of not vilifying Hyun Woo, she butchers whatever chance that script has. First of all, she makes it so that he’s involuntarily involved in Do Jun’s death, which doesn’t in any way clarify why he ended up in his body until the time of his death, but ok.

Also, Do Jun is the victim all the way, what did that dude do? Nothing, he did nothing bad. Hyun Woo is the one who screwed up but in our book, Do Jun had not done anything nearly as bad as Hyun Woo or even as illegal as Hyun Woo.

She then attempts to spin the narrative that Hyun Woo is not as bad as the Soonyang group by having him turn on them with his memories from his past life intact.

As a result, Hyun Woo walks away free of any charges and free to work in one of the biggest companies just like that. First things first, he did a lot of things for the Soonyang family, can we just assume he’s not charged for those? Also, he still concealed the murder of Do Jun, can he not be charged? Why?

Anyone who wants to explain Reborn Rich ending must do some serious mental gymnastics, and even then, anyone who has been following the drama closely can poke holes in every argument.

Not every screenwriter can write timeslip properly, I think had she made Hyun Woo just utterly bad as a character, she would have been able to salvage a lot of the script and keep the drama’s message intact.

If she made him so he was complicit knowing well he was going to contribute to it, this would have made the reincarnation make much more sense, and by that, he would have paid the price for killing Do Jun by being reincarnated and then dying by the actions caused by his original self. It would have been a perfect cycle. This was my initial prediction.

So many parts of the finale don’t make sense, I don’t even know where to begin, from the voice recording of Hyun Woo’s conversations with Mr. Kim, to him somehow also recording Mr. Kim’s conversation with the Jin Young-Ki just announcing himself like that, I honestly laughed…. Just how was Hyun Woo able to even come close to working with Oh Se Hyeon is also baffling to me, and that dude just accepts him without any questions. I could go on and on but I think you understand my perspective.

So what did you guys think of “Reborn Rich” ending? did you like it? did you dislike it? Lets talk in the comment section below!

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By Jass K.

Hi, I am Jass k. I discuss some of the hottest currently airing kdramas on this site in form of reviews an/or recaps, join me in the discussion~

47 comments

  1. I just finished the series and I have so many questions! Number one for me is the face that the two of them look identical except for a pair of glasses and no one comments on this? Am I wrong for assuming they are identical? Did I miss something? And in the end, the connection with Mr. Oh? The donuts? How does this one know about the donuts! Ahhhhh! So many questions. I loved the series right up until the deadly car accident. What followed that was just a mind boggling mess!

    1. The thing that I don’t get is did hyun woo went back in time? If he did then he went as the 2022 hyun woo self and with his future knowledge he helped do jun to achieve his goals so hyun woo made some changes in the future? . I feel like it’s do jun second life not hyun woo, idk how to explain this but do jun wouldn’t be able to do what he did without hyun woo being from the future and here is the plot twist we don’t whether it’s time traveling or having a second chance or it’s just hyun woo being in a coma.

      The other thing is how didn’t hyun woo know that he killed do jun and how didn’t do jun know when when his gonna be killed and by who?

      1. It’s still HW. We never got to know the real DJ before 1987. HW went back in time as DJ but his memories are still HW’s. The time travel was kinda like a paradox. We can’t know which happened first, DJ’s existence or HW’s bc they’re one and the same. Also, things didn’t really change like what DJ thought at first. Everything happened like it was before and he knew that for sure at ep 15. I think that’s also why, when he was still DJ, he didn’t expect another attempt on his life. He already knew grandma tried to kill him. After that was discovered and resolved, he thought he changed things. But he didn’t.

    2. I loved the ending- I did NOT see the change of scenery back to Turkey coming and just went “wow”. To me that set the scene for Hyun Woo being set up even in 2004, and for him to try and bring the Jin family down. Regarding the recording, I thought chairman Jin’s lines were part of the conversation with Hyun Woo, ir at least said with him still present on the phone. Why did he keep the USB for that long? Because, despite all the vows to never question his employers, to never ask questions, and despite his commitment to Soonyang, he knew (of course) that he’d been part of a crime, and buried it down in the plant soil,kinda, like he buries his remorse deep in his heart. The 2022 events made that remorse re-surface, and the USB along with it.
      Yes, there’s holes and implausibilities, but I thought it was an enjoyable finale and a satisfying ending.

    3. Identical faces; no answer to that cos its just characterisation played by the same actor. there should not be a question for that as it does not impact the plot; thus u did not miss anything. Connection with Mr Oh is simply becos he kept his memory as the rich kid who died so that answers your questions on Mr Oh and his crave for donuts before making a critical decision. The ”mess” ultimately is just why was he not convicted in any way for hiding critical info

      1. Why is it called reborn if he never died, and if this was all a dream then Soonyang would not have changed? I was more connected to DJ then Woo so the novel flipped the script which makes more sense, really someone’s was by a cliff and saved Woo hard to believe.. just a mess..

  2. I feel like the ending is rushed. And 1 more thing is both jin do jun and hyun woo have same faces not even 1 ppl would recognise the smiliarity?? The ending made me to dislike this drama.

    1. Ending seemed rush, i do agree. As for the same faces, lets just say that the production left it as it is because they decided that it be played by the same actor, nothing more than that. Only thing is why was he not convicted of hiding info

  3. I honestly hate the ending in the starting when he woke up in the hospital I still thought he was Jin do jun when was chilling and talking with the prosecutor I was still confused as to what happened to Jin do jun and how he became hyun woo just like that and as the drama progress I despised every scene of it why showing us what he did Jin do jun was the main character the drama was based on him but he just died I mean he was the real victim of that all and things just happened like that Till 18 years after his death what was that prosecutor girl doing who was supposedly in love with him just wearing black clothes to mourn for his death and if his father could bring the driver why not brought him sooner and when he knew who killed his son why was he even in that rotting family I think it would’ve been better if I had only watched till ep 15 and made up a story in my mind

  4. Well… I wouldn’t say it was that bad. After all, it kept us all wide awake late into the night.

    But how come nobody even once say he exactly looks like Do Jun? That is the part that made no sense to me. They could easily have been mistaken as twins. But everybody acts like they are different persons. That was really unbelievable.

  5. First of all big thanks for writing your thoughts on this whole thing. I have to admit that repentance was a very unexpected route to take here. It makes no sense at all in that “hen vs. egg?”-way. It was a really good story up until that was proclaimed as the key to this whole thing. But I’m kinda used to K-drama endings not making any sense, the story telling up until the point where they need to wrap it up is amazing though!
    In this case – can we just take a moment to marvel at the outstanding selective blindness every character has got to suffer from as no one, and I mean no one, realizes how much alike Do Jun Hyun Woo looks? I mean: spitting image which every person seems completely oblivious about.

  6. Yes I totally agree with you.

    I don’t understand why Hyun Woo did not end up in jail. He was basically an accomplice.

    I also don’t understand how Ji Do Jun family did not have the largest share of Soonyang. I mean before dying, Ji Do Jun is the largest shareholder. Where his share go? Why his family did not have inherited them? Does it end up belong to Miracle? But it seems Miracle did not have the largest share either.

    The ending leave a lot of questions.

  7. I think my biggest question is why did Do Jun have to die? It’s heartbreaking having to accept this in like 1 episode. After 15 episodes of loving the guy. It’s a bit unfair. Like what do we get from this? I knew the ending was going to be mind blowing, has the plot was very unpredictable. But this???? He earned his happy ending for sure. I was cheffed way too much grief and questions in the ending. Here I was thinking I’d get some closure. Ion know what’s up, but I’m so over the sad endings of Kdrama 2022 ‍♀️

  8. Disappointed with the ending, the mere fact he was reborn to Do jun’s body he should have put things in order cause he have this second chance I don’t know why the writer have to ressurect Hyeun woo there’s many WHY’S on my head right now.

    1. This is my question too. I really thought Do jun would have a different ending now. so many whys in the last episode. Do jun deserved so much better.

  9. The ending has some flaws. First of all, Do Jun had 15 years of chance to provide money to Hyun Woo’ and his past family. Hyun Woo was literally the witness of his own death, therefore Do Jun should be able to remember his own death and could have avoided it.

  10. I always thought since the early episodes that the best ending will be that Do Jun will become the Chairman, and then he ordered the murder of Hyun Woo in Turkey. “He will kill himself” was my guess for the ending. It just feels poetic after all the scheming and lying that he did for 14 episodes to become the King of Soonyung that he became the very evil that he tried to take down.

    “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” ― Friedrich W. Nietzsche

    So in the end, he did kill himself, but not the rich Do Jun killing the poor Hyun Woo, but the other way around. I think it is a bad idea because the audiences are used to 14 episodes of do Jun and only 2 episodes of Hyun Woo, thus they automatically side with the rich heir instead of the poor hardworking person. But in the end, they are the same person. Neither good nor evil, just human.

  11. Can’t charge him because of statue of limitation. Korean law imitates US law to a point. I would think that. Still how would a panicking kid record the conversation? I don’t believe a flip phone from 1994 can do that. Those phones don’t have memory functions like that. I remember the cameras were first an additional attachment. That’s my biggest gripe about the ending.

  12. I did not like the whole reborn/going back to former self! It totally destroyed very good corporate/family drama to pieces. Another scriptwriter could have written a more sensible plot!
    Yet, I gave a chance for Reborn Rich to redeem itself by having an intelligent last 2 episodes but the effort was dismal!

  13. I totally agree with you. The ending actually left a lot of loose ends. I like the fact that Hyun Woo has realized how much of a sacrifice his dad made as well but first how did the Prosecutor end up following him to Turkey. She could have paid someone to do it instead of flying all the way there on just a hunch. Secondly, I don’t get how Do Jun’s dad ended up being back in his family house. I wouldn’t expect them to welcome him with open arms. It was a very long 1.5 hours without getting real answers for all those questions that the show created. I was okay until episode 15 then everything else went downhill real fast.

    1. i assumed that do jun’s dad recieved the do jun’s shares after his death since do jun didn’t have any kids, so do jun’s aunts and uncles had to consult do jun’s dad since hes a majority shareholder?

      1. He didn’t have a wrap around his head or anything, now after falling off a cliff after being shot in the head you would be in ICU or at least a bandage for a week, no way_ I hated the ended I was so attached to DJ more then Woo. How can he be reborn if he never died.. really someone is waiting by a cliff to rescue him now that’s a dream..

  14. This has been one of my favorite dramas all year, and it’s felt like we’ve got good “twists” throughout—at least ones in helping push Do Jun into the lead against his family—which was so fun and interesting….and then this? Hated the final episode as well. I was routing for Do Jun, not just because of how he’d been killed in his previous life, but because Do Jun himself was an underdog. Seeing him get so close just for this to be the plot? Hated it. And if they were going to gloss over the fact he looks EXACTLY the same, all they had to do was change the image of him on the family tree when he first recalls that he was on it in that past episode. Just have it flash from his face to a different one and back and we all would have understood. Left as is, it’s just ridiculous. So not only is the person we were actually rooting for killed off—because being reborn also changed him as a person—but we’re also left with this weird, unbelievable doppelgänger situation that we’re supposed to believe no one, even the woman who loved him, or the family who literally had him killed, recognizes? Come on. It’s the worst when I love the entire drama and then the last episode ruins it.

  15. 1. Do Jun DIDN’T die at all. All this time, it was Hyun Woo. Hyun Woo almost died in the murder accident at the cliff. He went back in time and inhabited Do Jun’s body, but behind Do Jun’s body, its still Hyun Woo !- who wants to take revenge – in Do Jun’s body. It’s not like Do Jun was doing it, it was Hyun Woo.
    2. Do Jun’s body dies in the car accident. Now, the real Hyun Woo returns to his original self at the present (this soul very hardy, hard to die)..and continues to exact his ‘revenge’.
    3. The similar faces between Do Jun and Hyun Woo is necessarily so we can, as the audience, see the continuity in our hero. But from the story’s characters, they are seeing a DIFFERENT person’s face. While this is not shown to us, it is implied cause no one questioned their look-alikeness. This means, Hyun Woo and Do Jun are TWO different bodies but one single soul.

    If they have gotten a different actor to act as Do Jun (or Hyun Woo for that matter), the audience will feel that ‘something is amiss’. Imagine your fav actor replaced by some unknown actor playing Hyun Woo. We rather much prefer he plays both both characters.

    At the end, Hyun Woo who now inhabits his real body, cannot claim in any way to his supposedly girfriend, that he was actually Do Jun – since he looks different – even though deep inside, its the SAME person. Of course, you can have an epilogue where he tells her all the things that they have done before, blah blah blah, she cries in disbelief, ….etc…well, then this will be for another series.

    But know this…this entire time, it was Hyun Woo. Even though we ‘fell in love’ with Do Jun…inside that body, it’s Hyun Woo.

    1. Fully agree with all of your comments and was indeed surprised by so many of the audience wondering why with regards to the identical physical appearance. Great show for me!

  16. I had very high hopes for this Kdrama why did it have to end with Do jun dying why not him buying Soonyang and why did Hyun woo come back.The thing about repentance is ok but why does Do jun and Hyun woo look alike and also why did Yoon ki continue living among his family when he exactly knew the truth about his son’s death anyways most of the Kdramas this year have had rushed and sad ending .

  17. I agree about the comment how come no one saw the resemblance between the two. Also agree that in a state of panic one cannot remember to record a conversation much less when the phone technology is not yet that sophisticated as today. Also, we were led to believe that Do Jun was doing things right, taking care of distraught employees/entrepreneurs and providing them additional funds and longer payment schemes. Didn’t all these effort to do things right result to change in the outcome? Do Jun bought a property for his real parents, it was not explained how this impacted their life. And the loan extended to his dad how did that change their life?

  18. I actually really enjoyed the full show ! Even the ending. Which Korean drama doesn’t have loop holes? So what if hyun woo wasn’t made the bad guy in the end ? Yea it is weird how people didn’t catch on the resemblance between both, or maybe they did and that’s the reason the Soonyang family treated him that badly !

  19. Do Jun inherited the funds in 2004 before he was killed.. Where did all the money go after his death? How did Hyun Woo withdrew all of it in 2022 when all the money were left with Do Jun prior to his death?..

  20. Firstly I am very surprised by many comments about how identical the 2 characters were in physical appearance. I think the production assumed (perhaps now abit too much) that the audience will just accept or maturely understand the fact that it was played by the same actor, it was just as simple as that. Secondly, for me, I was just lost by the fact that he got away with no punishment whatsoever for covering up a murder? That was a wee bit absurd. Other than that, I think the entire twist on episode 16 was still acceptable, it would have been more straitlaced to have a proper happy ending but it would have been 1000% predictable but sometimes the audience including myself just like to see it that way. haha. Nonetheless, it was a twist no doubt and for sure could have been done better, perhaps showing him telling his loved ones that he is also Jin Do Jun? hahaha, i guess that’s too much

  21. Last ending was too compacted..i don’t agree with HW being inherently bad because that when he was in DJ’s body he proved he wouldn’t go bad. So i get why he confessed but plus it was a key pat to bringing down those who attempted to kill him anyways.

    tbh when the secretary of Do Jun almost thought HW was still Do Jun it made things trippy. I was filling in the gap in my head, where there should have been a scene that showed they were different characters like in a mirror or picture but no there wasn’t. So i too was unsure if they did look alike or not.

    At the beginning i thought of the possibility that the real DJ the “dead son” was in an accident but still alive and paralized or injured.. but by watching the series, because HW entered his body it made more sense that he was the reason why real DJ was exposed to death attempts and end up being murdered.

    Also it still being the case when he returned to his own body i thought the series isn’t a time slip but a fractured soul kind of story. Since the theme is fantasy this is not really that impossible. I mostly interpreted it to HW being the core reason of the chaos that dominoed to his own self. If there was a timeline where DJ did not die because HW wasn’t the one in DJ body. It makes me curious how the real DJ could have lived. The entire series it was HW’s soul that we are witnessing even his signatures we’re all H.W.

    HW was the one that idolized Min Young. HW was the one who knew the future. HW was the one who competed with the management of soonyang. HW was the cause of HW’s death in the present. HW was the cause of HW’S death in the past. He entangled his own self when his soul fractured and lived in another person’s body.
    That’s what I interpreted it as.

    Still the ending wasn’t satisfying in terms of the details. It like eating a bag of popcorn. Light and unfulfilled.

    Making the ceo of miracle recognize him could have been better. Even his signature HW could have made sense.. his name being said.. the connection of the initials and the current person with the intelligent aura. Any indication really that he knew would have tied that loose end. Plus he did tell him at some point that he knew the future.

    Also with Min Young, i just feel sad because HW won’t be able to reach out to her romantically because it would make her grief useless if she found out that it was him she fell in love with and DJ was just a shell of a misplaced soul. Kinda felt like he was a coward when he did not say anything but yeah its best not to.. also i kinda think that minyoung should have been angry even slightly to the idea that HW is an accomplice.. and HW accepting that in his reality they were impossible to be together.

    The family falling from grace was ok but wasn’t as satisfying as it should be unlike when HW made them loose money when he was still DJ. Too many characters left out too. But i still liked the rest of the story.

  22. I actually like the ending.

    1. We are shown two identical faces in the show, yet no one sees the resemblance. I think this is because we are looking through Hyun Woo’s eyes. It’s his narrative, his perspective. So only he sees that they’re one and the same.

    2. It’s always been Hyun Woo, not Do Jun. We never got to know the real Do Jun, if there is one. Remember, he acted old and knew so much when he was still a child because he had Hyun Woo’s memories, not Do Jun.

    3. It was not explicitly mentioned, but I think Mr. Oh knew Do Jun and Hyun Woo may have been the same person because he said the exact same things he said when they first met. Mr. Oh did mention at the ending that Do Jun still got what he wanted without a single share of Soonyang. I think that’s a hint the writers left us.

    4. I do believe Hyun Woo was not evil. He did terrible things while working for Soonyang. But through Do Jun, he was able to see that people don’t just do bad things because they want to. There are other forces that contribute to why people do what they do, most notably extreme poverty. If you see your sibling dying from hunger but you can’t get a job and don’t have money to buy food, what would you do? Worst case scenario, you would resort to stealing. Is that bad? Definitely. But does that make you evil? I don’t think so. So it makes perfect sense to me that in the end, it was about repentance. He now has a better understanding of people, their actions, and motivations. He was able to understand his father. He learned to be fight back and not be submissive. He became a better person.

    5. About him not going to prison. He hid important evidence but he did not deliberately cause Do Jun’s death. I guess he was given leniency because he helped the prosecution to take down the Soonyang family.

    6. I was a bit sad that he and Min Young didn’t end up together. He didn’t pursue her either. But I think just as we’ve seen in the last 15 eps, they will eventually find each other again and hopefully get their HEA this time around.

  23. It has become a cliché when many K-drams knock someone off with a speeding truck or car. We were surprised when it happened in Reborn Rich as well. Writers and directors, please think of a better way to write and film your story. Please be more creative! IMHO.

  24. What confused me is when Hyun Woo found himself reborn as Do Jun, he said he know nothing of Do Jun’s existence, as he is not mentioned in the Grandfather’s book. Then in the finale it is revealed that Hyun Woo was used to help cause Do Jun’s death, which he decided not to go to the authorities about. I found that confusing.

  25. This part confuses me the most. The ending is trying to show us that everything goes in one single timeline and they are in the same universe (not multiverse). But in Hyeon Woo’s world the grandfather died because of plane crash, but in Do Jun’s world the grandfather died from an illness? I thought they all are in the same world since HW indirectly caused DJ’s death?

  26. This part confuses me the most. The ending is trying to show us that everything goes in one single timeline and they are in the same universe (not multiverse). But in Hyeon Woo’s world the grandfather died because of plane crash, but in Do Jun’s world the grandfather died from an illness? I thought they all are in the same world since HW indirectly caused DJ’s death?

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