'Undercover Miss Hong' Ending Explained & Finale Recap: Will There Be A Season 2?

It’s finally time to say bye to Park Shin-hye’s Hong Keum-bo, and I’m honestly a little bit sad about it. The K-drama fan in me was delighted to see a show that wasn’t shy about integrating serious topics while still managing to be entertaining. But, more importantly, “Happy Women’s Day,” and what better to celebrate it with than a show about women running the world smoothly? Well, in this case, running operations smoothly (same difference, no?). The thing I enjoyed the most about Undercover Miss Hong is the fact that, despite having a main lead, it really emphasizes the importance of collaboration and partnership in functioning so importantly. While the show is set in a different era, it’s got a different message; the thing that really stands out in the show is the friendship between the 4 women. The way it develops and what it becomes at the end of the show. These women may have never known anything about each other, and truthfully, Keum-Bo is the kind of character that would’ve been looked at as a “guys’ girl” in iterations had this show been made a few years earlier. But today, I’m delighted to see how all of a woman’s sides are seen in a show like this one, through different characters and through a collective of them. With that, though, before I make this too philosophical, let’s jump into the finale.

Spoiler Alert

Why Does Choi In-ja Side With the Pirates?

We’ve already gotten hints before that No-Ra was traumatized as a child when she was kidnapped and that the man who kidnapped her was none other than Song Ju-Ran’s pet thug, Bong Dal-Su. After Dal-Su and his thugs (accompanied by Bok-Cheol) bust into Keum-Bo’s parents’ chicken shop to try and essentially kidnap Keum-Bo, No-Ra recognizes him and cowers in a corner, though Bom is there to comfort her. Thankfully, both of Keum-Bo’s parents are basically Taekkyeon masters (they even met at a gym when they were younger) and beat up all the bad guys and send them running, except for Bok-Cheol, who gets arrested. No-Ra finally tells her friends the whole story; apparently, she was never exactly kidnapped.

When she was 10, Dal-Su and his men broke into the house and tried to kidnap her, but she just hid in the basement for 3 days straight, to the point where Dal-Su, backed by Song Ju-Ran, sent a ransom note, believing she might have gone missing or died in a ditch somewhere. By the time No-Ra emerged, Pil-Beom was loudly talking about how he’d never pay a ransom, since he already pays too much in taxes, and he’d rather put a bounty on the kidnappers instead. Once they confirm it’s Dal-Su, Albert tails Ju-Ran around town until she meets Dal-Su in her car, and he snaps a photo of them together. When the photo is shown to No-Ra’s mum, Choi In-Ja, along with the backstory, she’s horrified and takes the photo to show Pil-Beom and ask for justice, but he ignores it, even though Ju-Ran’s excuses are really flimsy. Finally, fully turning her back on him, she goes to Keum-Bo and pledges to let her use her 1% share of Hanmin to serve their purposes.

Why is Bok-Hee in prison? 

The Yeouido Pirates know Dal-Su’s been eavesdropping on them, so they orchestrate a bit of a skit for him. They let slip that Bok-Hee’s been accused of embezzlement at past companies she worked at, and then No-Ra and Keum-Bo get into a yelling match; to make it convincing, No-Ra breaks ties with them and walks off, which he can then report up to Ju-Ran. But the embezzlement thing is used by Ju-Ran to arrest Bok-Hee when the whole team shows up for a meeting at Hanmin the next day, with the specific charges being embezzlement and theft. But it’s okay; they planned for this, and with a smile on her face, she asks her friends to hire her the most expensive lawyer they can find. She does get out of jail for a little bit in the middle, which is when No-Ra gets her tofu as a fresh out of jail meal, except she forgets the soy sauce. By the end of the show, she does end up having to serve a brief term in prison, but she gets over it.

How do the Yeouido Pirates finally dismiss Pil-Beom as chairman?

Right from the start, the plan has been to acquire enough Hanmin stock to be able to take control of the company and actually put the employees first. They’re helped in this by having No-Ra due to getting an extra 9% from her late uncle’s share, bringing her total share to 14% and the Pirates as a whole’s share to 33% combined. Before that can happen, though, the court grants the Yeouido Pirates’ request for an emergency shareholders’ meeting, but Hanmin does everything they can to rig the vote in their favor. They set the meeting for 7 in the morning and brought in burly guards to block all doors, but Keum-Bo has her own tricks. She decides they’re going to bring in every ex-Hanmin employee since they all own at least one Hanmin stock and flood the meeting.

When the time comes, the group of shareholders Albert is leading tries to force their way into the front door but gets stopped. Keum-Bo and the others take the stairs but find the emergency exit shut, except Cha Jung-Il suddenly pops up and says he’s opened the door for them one floor higher. When they get to the meeting room, they’re blocked again, but Division Head So Gyeong-Dong gets them in. Finally though, when all the votes are tallied, the total comes to 41.4% in favor of dismissing Pil-Beom as chairman, with the required amount being 2/3rds, meaning the old man hangs on for now. However, things change when, at Hanmin’s press conference to announce No-Ra’s presidency, she shows up dressed as an entry-level employee and says she’ll work with the Yeouido Pirates to bring down Pil-Beom, also revealing the Swiss bank account under her name exists.

This brings Pil-Beom into court in connection with the slush funds, but he gets his lawyer to dismiss the ledger as a fabrication as long as they keep Yehppee anonymous. This is when Bang Jin-Mok finally takes the stand and reveals that he’d not only created the ledger but 12 backups for it too. The case isn’t resolved immediately, but Pil-Beom’s definitely in hot water, and he starts planning his escape to Switzerland. When he does end up making a break for it, taking Choi In-Ja with him, he’s shocked to find the car has brought him to the police station, not the airport. After Pil-Beom took her for granted, In-Ja turned on the old man, turning in his fake passports and American cash stash to the cops and having him arrested. And just like that, Pil-Beom is no longer CEO. Who’s to take over, though? The Pirates try to offer the role to Gyeong-Dong, but he says he had too much to do with the slush funds, so he points them towards an unlikely candidate: none other than Jung-Il, who almost unwittingly politicized his way into the biggest chair in Hanmin, and all Keum-Bo can say to him is “the position makes the man.”

What happens to Song Ju-ran?

After Song Ju-Ran realizes the slush fund has been drained, she realizes her position is very shaky, and Dal-Su even tries to get her to take what money she can get and run away with him. But she insists on seeing things through, targeting Bok-Hee for arrest and doing all she can to break up the pirates. She has her first close call when In-Ja accuses her of having orchestrated No-Ra’s kidnapping years ago, but she seems to still have Pil-Beom’s confidence at this point, though he gives her a sideways glance. No-Ra’s defection is the next big blow to her working relationship with Pil-Beom. By this point, he’s blaming her for the loss of the slush funds, since she was the only person other than him who knew all the details. When she finally snaps and tries to escape the country with Pil-Beom’s emergency cash, Dal-Su shows up and abducts her, bringing her to Pil-Beom, who says she won’t be forgiven no matter how much she begs.

The murder of the Hanmin employee she’d covered up, Kim I-Gyeong, also comes up at this point. Keum-Bo has a hunch Dal-Su’s involved, and after she tips her cop buddies off, they investigate. They can’t do anything without a warrant, but they follow him to Pil-Beom’s house. Though they can’t go in, Keum-Bo has No-Ra show up with her keys, and they go in to discover Ju-Ran being held hostage in the basement. They get her out of there, but then Keum-Bo has to fight Dak-Su off until the cops show up. Eventually, they discover he’s been collecting mementoes from every murder he’s committed, and it’s not a small number. Among them is also FSS director Yun Jae-Beom’s little brother, Jae-Ung, who’d been thought to have committed suicide.

Ultimately, Keum-Bo talks to Ju-Ran in the hospital, and she makes it clear she rescued her because she deserves to face punishment, but not in whatever way Pil-Beom was planning it. She doesn’t explicitly agree to tell the cops everything, but it looks like she’s going to cave and give them what they want in the end. An inglorious conclusion to 30 years of proud service, but she now has a chance to make up for all the harm she directly caused over her decades with Hanmin, particularly to the company’s female employees.

What Are the Women of The Show Doing Next? 

In Undercover Miss Hong’s ending, the new year of the dragon is here (yes, the same as we’re in currently), and each of the women from room 301 has started a new life for themselves. Keum-Bo is, of course, still working in the world of finance, but her boss is now so impressed that he’s just decided to make her an actual undercover agent. Her next stop is Busan. Also, it’s so cute to see Bom, the new generation, or new voice, telling us what the women went on to do. While so much time has passed since the year in which this show is set, it does feel like not much has changed, and even now, I can say that if I see 4 women go on to become so successful, I’d be proud and also delighted to see it, because it’s still so hard. 

Anyway, on the other hand, Bok-Hee has successfully stepped out of prison, where she was handling money for prisoners, by the way, and is now running her own detective agency that helps women learn about the slush funds of their husbands. How useful! Also, Jang-Mi works for her now (from one scary unnie to another, fun stuff). Meanwhile, Mi-Sook has become a general manager at Hanmin, now scaring off the scary men who once threatened her because of their own mistakes. How cool! No, Rais is now a chef after having gone to Paris (wow, so much happened so soon). This is a show I’d like to see separately. That’s why she was always seen eating chocolate; I didn’t catch her love for food from that, uff. For the real question, the girls only reunite for Bom’s elementary school graduation (I think?), and they likely hang out very rarely. Let’s be realistic; this can’t be an everyday room 301 situation, but I don’t think this is a friendship that can ever be ruined. They’ve all been scarred together, but at the same time, they also did something great together. 

As for the rest of the Yeouido group, Jung-Woo, in the most unusual K-drama conclusion, decides to travel abroad rather than confess his love to Keum-Bo. How shocking to love a non-romantic but lovey-dovey K-drama (because of female friendships). Al’s now bought a house and is working on his video game, whereas Yong-Gi, who is also going into gaming, has bought land in Pongyo. For context, this place was just orchards and farmland at the time, but it’s now literally the Silicon Valley of South Korea, so it makes sense they predict he’d be the smartest of the lot. Oh, and Cha Jung-Il is the CEO of Hanmin now. 

Will There Be A Season 2? 

While nothing has been confirmed or even said about another season of Undercover Miss Hong, I know I’d be reaching to say that there’s a chance we might get another one anyway. The thing with this show is that this character is someone who can wear many hats and do loads of different roles. If What’s Wrong With Attorney Woo can get a second season, I do feel like this show can, too. There’s still so much to explore: Keum-Bo’s romantic side (if she wants one; unnecessary if otherwise), her next mission, and, of course, the women getting together again. I could honestly think of spin-off ideas because every character is so delightful, and it’s just a great show that’s both lighthearted and serious at the same time. But apart from my dreams and wishes, it’s unlikely we’ll actually get another season realistically. Still, I guess we can hope. 

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