'Money Heist: Korea'—Ending Explained

The transfixing new Netflix K-drama Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area concludes with a rollercoaster of dramatic standoffs, narrow escapes and unexpected twists.

The Korean remake of the cult Spanish crime drama Money Heist sees a grand robbery and hostage crisis take place at a mint against the fictional backdrop of a soon-to-be-reunified Korean peninsula.

The gripping finale is dotted with upended operations and hairy near-misses, such as the identity of the Professor (played by Yoo Ji-tae) being nearly revealed to police during a pulsating car chase between him and members of the task force led by the negotiator (Seon Woo-jin, played by Kim Yun-jin). The Professor has been in a romantic relationship with Woo-jin as part of his plan for the heist, while she is unaware of her partner's true identity.

The chase comes to a standstill when the Professor's path is blocked by task force cars, after speeding through several greenhouses of tomato plants. The negotiator attempts to get a closer look at the driver (the Professor), whose face is just barely hidden behind splashes of tomato all over the car windshield, before the car suddenly reverses, making a narrow getaway.

Another heated face-off between the task force and heist team unfolds after Woo-jin is allowed to enter the mint to host a televised hostage survival check to verify the hostages are still alive.

Woo-jin demands the heist team verify the existence of a specific hostage (a policeman who secretly infiltrated the mint posing as a hostage and was believed to have been shot dead) in a bid to show the public that the heist team had killed a hostage.

The demand sparks a shouting match between Woo-jin and Berlin (played by Squid Game actor Park Hae-soo), who retorts the man was found to be a police intruder and that they were acting in self-defense by shooting him.

He later says "we'll just have to hear it ourselves" to settle the matter before a masked hostage is brought out. In a shocking twist, the person's mask is uncovered to reveal he is the policeman, seen earlier being shot by Berlin. Berlin had shot at but not killed the policeman in a bid to honor the Professor's order not to harm any hostages.

Woo-jin later gets drunk with the Professor to commiserate with him after being upended by the heist team. While walking with a tipsy Woo-jin, the Professor is seen torn, realizing he has fallen in love with her. He then asks whether she would consider quitting the mint case (which would make her no longer useful for the heist), noting: "You just seemed exhausted," which sees Woo-jin embrace her partner, moved by his caring words.

The negotiator then suddenly tells the Professor she needs to leave, after discovering the tip of a bill of money in her jacket pocket, which appears to have been dropped off by one of the hostages, Anne (played by Lee Si-woo).

She had earlier attempted to put the note (on which she'd agreed to write a message stating the policeman had died—before it was confirmed he was alive—and outline the heist team's identities and their robbery plan) into Woo-jin's pocket before being spotted by Tokyo from the heist team, who pulled Anne aside upon discovering her attempt.

However, it appeared Anne managed to place a tiny tip of the note into Woo-jin's pocket during a second attempt, as she grabbed the negotiator's arm to blurt out she'd seen the policeman before being held back by the heist team again.

Meanwhile, as the Professor heads back to his place, he is stopped in his tracks by Cha Moo-hyuk (played by Kim Sung-ho), the leader of the North Korean task force who was axed from the mint case but told Woo-jin he was determined to still track the Professor down.

He notified Woo-jin about his suspicions regarding her partner Park Sun-ho (the Professor) after he had broken past security and entered the task force tent in an earlier episode to inform Woo-jin about an urgent call he received from her mother.

The final scene sees Moo-hyuk outside the Professor's home saying "Hello" as the Professor turns around to face him before the scene blacks out.

The heavily opened ended finale leaves plenty of room for more to come from the heist team, who are last seen celebrating their latest one-up against the task force during the hostage survival check.

Adding to the celebrations, Moscow (the heist team member who was tasked with digging a hole in the ground through which the team are planning to escape with their money) revealed he had reached the dirt level—the first sign of their pathway to escape.

Other questions remain, including a mysterious tip-off in the form of a USB stick delivered to a staff member monitoring the televised hostage survival check from a trailer outside the mint. The sender of the USB and the contents of the memory stick were not revealed in the finale.

The Professor is known for his meticulousness, so could raising the suspicions of Moo-hyuk have also been a part of his seamless plan? Is he truly in love with Woo-jin or could getting Woo-jin off the mint case also somehow be a part of his agenda? And what part of Anne's note did Woo-jin get to see?

Hopefully the answers to these questions—and plenty more—will be revealed over the next episodes to come, the release date for which have yet to be revealed.

Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area is available to stream now on Netflix.