Strong Girl Nam-soon ending explained: What happened to Shi-oh?
JTBCThe end to Strong Girl Nam-soon leaves a majority of the characters moving on with their lives – but what happened to the central villain fans sympathized with, Shi-oh?
Things took a drastic turn when Shi-oh’s heart was shattered when he learned that Gang Nam-soon is the woman he has developed feelings for. Feeling betrayed, he’s now on the hunt to destroy her and her entire family. It proves difficult as Nam-soon’s extreme super-strength poses a problem despite Shi-oh’s use of the super drug.
Prior to the Strong Girl Nam-soon finale, Shi-oh weakened her by forcing her to ingest heaps amounts of the drug to dampen her powers. But the K-drama will prove family strength runs deep – leaving Shi-oh in trouble as the central villain.
Strong Girl Nam-soon leaves Shi-oh taking drastic measures when his time runs out. Warning: Spoilers ahead!
Shi-oh faces his past and heartache in Strong Girl Nam-soon
Midway through the finale, Shi-oh is back in his hideout and visited by an old friend. Given his first mission by Pavel, Shi-oh must die. Wanting to die on his own terms, Shi-oh dies by suicide starring at Nam-soon.
Weakened by the drug, Nam-soon’s mother and grandmother wield some of their strength to her. She’s able to escape the warehouse to face Shi-oh who has taken the drug to fight her. While Nam-soon’s powers are considerably weak, she still manages to propel a pipe into Shi-oh’s abdomen. He flees when Woo-sik arrives and takes Nam-soon to the hospital. At the same time, Nam-soon’s grandmother is being taken there as well.
Needing to find the cure, Hee-sik finds it at Doogo and administers it to Nam-soon at the hospital before collapsing. Everyone is back to normal as the police find Shi-oh’s location at a boxing gym after tapping one of his calls and threatening the scientist behind the drug. Dressed in his black suit, Shi-oh is visited by someone – Binbin.
Flashbacks reveal them as young boys with Pavel promising to escape to Hungary. It’s revealed Binbin did go to Hungary and was trained by Pavel. He has returned for his first mission – to kill Shi-oh. Shi-oh laments having been betrayed by everyone he has ever cared about, even the person he loves (Nam-soon). Binbin is unable to pull the trigger and hands him the gun.
Police, Hee-sik, and Nam-soon storm the gym and find Shi-oh standing in the center of the ring. He says the words “Die with dignity,” while staring at Nam-soon and holding the gun to his head. He then pulls the trigger. Strong Girl Nam-soon has Shi-oh die by suicide while looking at the woman he fell in love with.
Nam-soon and the others soon shift their focus on finding the antidotes and successfully get the formula from the scientists after promising him a Nobel Prize. Life goes on having apprehended the people involved, with Mr. Chen having fled.
Strong Girl Nam-soon has the detectives get awards for their work and Nam-soon joins the police force. Geum-ju and Bong-go tease possibly getting back together as Nam-soon meets her grandfather. While eating ramen, Hee-sik and the detectives learn the Dogang stationary store owner matches Shi-oh’s DNA as his biological father. It revealed that Shi-oh found him as an adult, and bought him the store, but never told him who he was.
All is well as Nam-soon meets her future in-laws and plans a wedding. But Geum-ju soon learns Bread Song is in fact Nohz and will come after her. Also, Binbin is in possession of Shi-oh’s phone and will also target her. The K-drama ends with Nam-soon stopping thieves at a senior citizen center as Hee-sik arrives.
Strong Girl Nam-soon’s epilogue scene
The K-drama doesn’t end there as Geum-ju meets with a woman named Yun-hui. She wants Yun-hui’s son to work for her. Yun-hui is extremely excited and wants Geum-ju to make something out of her son. She soon calls out to him and the scene shifts to an internet cafe miles away.
While a hooded figure is playing computer games, he hears his name being called before losing the game. In a fit of anger, he punches through the computer – blacking out the entire cafe.
Read more K-drama news here, A Time Called You ending explainer here, Doona! here, and The Worst of Evil here.