Did they live happily ever after?

The monk hinted that something bad will happen if an inexperienced person tries the fake death technique but he never said anything as to what that could be.

Ending 1: And they lived happily ever after …
On Dal will never remember everything but he is actually alive.


Here's the thing: On Dal was shot with multiple arrows front and back … even if you enter the fake death technique, your wounds will not disappear. Those arrows were deadly, no amount of fake death technique can stop his bleeding or heal his wounds _instantly_.

If so, then the only explanation left is… Ending 2: Pyeong Gang is hallucinating.
On Dal did die and never got out of the fake death technique. The monk understood that Pyeong Gang was seeing a hallucination of On Dal just like how On Dal was hallucinating his mother.

Her hallucinating On Dal also acts as her penance for her life as a cold-blooded assassin as well as for losing her way and forgeting On Dal's happiness. It is also her penance for not fulfilling her promise to protect On Dal, the promise she made with On Dal's mother.

If the monk was not there when Pyeong Gang arrived and there was fire, then there's no doubt On Dal is indeed alive. However, the monk came from the house. In addition to that, they never showed a scene wherein On Dal and the Monk are together. The only scenes were Pyeong Gang + On Dal; and Pyeong Gang + Monk.

It's a clue that On Dal is not real and only Pyeong Gang can see him. The Monk knew and simply explained what On Dal tried but failed because he was inexperienced.

Which ending do you like? And why? Or perhaps you have another ending? Please do share!

I watched only last episode to see if it has happy ending or not (before I start watching it). I think the technique that On Dal used is something like a hibernation. He stopped all his body functions to keep himself in living state in hope that the Monk will heal his body and return him into life. He also prevented his soul to leave the body.

So, Pyeong Gang was not hallucinating. The On Dal she met (after some time...not instantly) was real. Because he was inexperienced, the failure caused him to lose all memories,...but the lost is only temporary. He started to remember some things and also Pyeong Gang. 

So I think that it is really "And they lived happily ever after..." :-) And now I can start watching it.

Edit: On Dal went to gather some wood because there were none for the fire near that cottage. I think that it has no other meaning. It is just a reason to have him elsewhere to let Monk and Pyeong Gang talk about things... :)

its ending 1 and that's the only ending. He survived the arrows because he's On Dal. Did you not see him slay several soldiers with one swing of his sword? a dozen or so arrows to the armor is nothing.

The whole concept of the fake death technique was introduced earlier to bring about this ending. Why would the monk be hanging out at On Dal's place if On Dal isn't there? He also doesn't seem much of a dog person.

 kardasx:

I watched only last episode to see if it has happy ending or not (before I start watching it). I think the technique that On Dal used is something like a hibernation. He stopped all his body functions to keep himself in living state in hope that the Monk will heal his body and return him into life. He also prevented his soul to leave the body.

So, Pyeong Gang was not hallucinating. The On Dal she met (after some time...not instantly) was real. Because he was inexperienced, the failure caused him to lose all memories,...but the lost is only temporary. He started to remember some things and also Pyeong Gang. 

So I think that it is really "And they lived happily ever after..." :-) And now I can start watching it.

Edit: On Dal went to gather some wood because there were none for the fire near that cottage. I think that it has no other meaning. It is just a reason to have him elsewhere to let Monk and Pyeong Gang talk about things... :) 

Ahh, "hibernation", that makes sense. By entering into hibernation and slowing down all his body functions to a point that he would appear dead, it would explain why he also lost his memories, he was in a clinically dead state.

I just found this and this is interesting:

Certain surgeries for cerebral aneurysms or aortic arch defects require that blood circulation be stopped while repairs are performed. This deliberate temporary induction of clinical death is called circulatory arrest. It is typically performed by lowering body temperature to between 18 °C and 20 °C (64 and 68 °F) and stopping the heart and lungs. This state is called deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. At such low temperatures most patients can tolerate the clinically dead state for up to 30 minutes without incurring significant brain injury.^[27] Longer durations are possible at lower temperatures, but the usefulness of longer procedures has not been established yet.^[28]

Controlled clinical death has also been proposed as a treatment for exsanguinating trauma to create time for surgical repair.^[29]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_death#Controlled (License: CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported)

Could very well be what the technique was about. Since he was more than 30 minutes in that state, it could be the reason why he had memory loss.

Different people have different tastes. I hate when there are doubts in the ending. Pretty straightforward predictable happy ending is the best for me. Better than doubtful open ending would be good sad ending (original).