Death's Game: Ending and season 2 renewal possibility explored

The highly anticipated fantasy and thriller drama Death's Game finally released the four remaining episodes on January 5, 2024, leaving K-Drama fans with a meaningful ending. The protagonist of the story finally realizes his wrongdoing and the suffering he has caused to his loved ones by committing suicide.

The official synopsis for Death's Game is as follows:

"Facing hardships and contemplating suicide after a series of setbacks, a man is confronted by Death and tasked with experiencing death over and over again through 13 other lives to earn the chance to live."

In Death's Game, Seo In-guk played the role of Choi Yee-jae, Kim Mi-kyung portrayed the role of Choi Yee-jae's mom, and Park So-dam played the role of Death.

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Choi Yee-jae wins against Death after he successfully lives in his mother's body for thirty-two years in Death's Game

In the last episode of Death's Game, Choi Yee-jae wakes up in his mother's body, where he realizes he was unaware of his mother's dreams, aspirations, struggles, and how she lived her life. He realized how his mother was a blessing in his life, handling herself alone even after Yee-jae's father passed away or when she had to do odd jobs after getting fired.

As he experiences his mother's last memory, he realizes how his mother had to suffer after his suicide and how death left an unbearable scar on his loved ones. He also became aware of how his mother's co-worker used to ostracize her, treating her gifts as a bad omen because his son had died.

Yee-jae realizes Death's words and comprehends how, after suffering twelve painful deaths, it was the death of his significant others that caused him excruciating pain in Death's Game drama.

Subsequently, he started living his mother's life, where he observed how she traveled alone on the metro, did her job of cleaning offices, and came across a savings account passbook that she had saved for building their future home.

One day, Yee-jae's mother gets down at the station and visits his columbarium, where he learns how his mother visited his columbarium every day after work. He sees how she regrets being his mom and asserts that she won't be his mother in his next life. She wishes that he is born into a rich family and will be able to live until the end of his life, unlike his present life, where he committed suicide.

Yee-jae cries desperately, wanting to tell his mother that he wants to be born as her son in his next life, but he cannot as he has already died, and Death will always stop him from expressing such feelings and words.

Yee-jae, in his mother's body, decided to go to Mount Obong, the hiking place she used to visit with his father and wanted to visit with her son as well. He wants to show his mother the place she has always desired to be. She gets to see the natural beauty after climbing the mountain.

As dawn breaks, Yee-jae's mother climbs the mountain in darkness and trips, resulting in severe injuries. Eventually, she wakes up in the hospital the next day, and Yee-jae feels relief that his mother was able to survive.

He realizes how desperately he wanted to see his mother alive after tripping the last night. His mother must have felt the same pain when she saw his corpse in the morgue and apologized for making the grave mistake. He decides to live his mother's life until the end so that he will be able to continue his life as Yee-jae according to Death's Game's rule.

He lived for thirty-two years as his mother in the memory of his loved ones. He finally realizes, after living in his mother's body, that he has been living his life as Yee-jae as a coward and in constant fear in Death's Game.

Afraid of others not recognizing his worth and falling behind, he ended his life only to realize later that pain was nothing but a small part of life. He further explains how a rainy, windy, or clear day is a part of different moments of life and that life is an opportunity given to live, not thrown away.

As his mother finally passes away, he wakes up in hell again, encountering Death once again, and states he missed him. He desperately begs Death to shoot him again and provide him a chance to live as Choi Yee-jae.

Death asks him the reason, to which he replies he wants to hug his mother one last time.

Death announces that he has beaten her in her game and survived the last life, receiving his punishment in full. She further explains that God will announce the judgment.

Surprisingly, she takes out another bullet and states he will get another chance if the gun works. She hands him the gun, and he shoots himself, waking up as Choi Yee-jae. He finally wakes up at the moment he was standing at the edge of the cliff, where he wanted to commit suicide in Death's Game's first episode.

Choi Yee-jae decides not to end his life this time and picks up his mother's call, providing a happy ending for the protagonist in the last episode of Death's Game.

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Will there be a second season for Death's Game?

The ending of Death's Game showcased Choi Yee-jae winning against Death in the survival game and finally getting a second chance to live as himself. The drama provided a perfect closure and ending for K-Drama viewers. There is also no official statement regarding the renewal of the Death's Game for a second season.

The Death's Game succeeded in elaborating on the meaning of life as an opportunity provided to everyone alive and how they can still live happily despite the small storms arriving in their life in the form of pain, angst, suffering, and others.

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The eight-episode fantasy drama Death's Game is available to stream on Prime Video and TVING.