Our Beloved Summer ending explained: Yeon-su and Ung find happiness individually before they do together

The first thing that strikes audiences as they watch the final episode of Our Beloved Summer is the fact that this is no cheesy romantic comedy. There is profound thought which has been put in the finale and this gives the viewers a stunning experience as well.

For as long as rom-com lovers can remember, happy endings have always been together. It is always a couple riding off into the sunset together, irrespective of whether their individual inner trauma has been healed.

That is where Our Beloved Summer, based on the popular webtoon of the same name, differs.

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Ung confesses his interest in college abroad to Yeon-su in Our Beloved Summer

Kook Yeon-su (Kim Da-mi) and Ung (Choi Woo-shik) have finally become mature in understanding their individual needs in Our Beloved Summer. When Yeon-su’s grandmother falls sick, she hurries to the hospital and is unable to make it to Ung’s art exhibition.

After taking care of her grandmother, she tries to reach out to Ung, but there is no response. She believes that she has made a mess of everything again, just as she had done in the past.

She waits for Ung to return home, outside his door, in freezing cold. The moment she lays his eyes on him, she breaks down, and allows Ung to be there for her during a tough time. She never did this in the past, but she is now more secure with herself and her relationship.

She is able to open up to Ung as never before. Similarly, Ung too realizes that he can share his needs, wants, and ambitions with Yeon-su.

Initially, he hesitated because he did not want to stay away from Yeon-su. However, in the finale of Our Beloved summer, he decides to open up to her about his interest in an architecture course abroad. He also requests Yeon-su to go with him and confesses that he needs her.

The question now is whether Yeon-su will agree to leave her grandmother alone.

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Yeon-su’s decision doesn’t surprise Ung in Our Beloved Summer

Yeon-su seeks more time to make a decision about Ung’s proposal in the finale of Our Beloved Summer. She ponders on it deeply. She also gets an opportunity to work in Paris at the same time.

One would think that this is perfect, and she could live with Ung while she works in Paris, which is where his college of interest is located. It is a brilliant opportunity for her to explore. Above it all, though, Yeon-su comes to an important realization. She has an epiphany about her life and the people in it.

Yeon-su realizes that the one who had made her feel lonely in life is herself. She confesses this to her grandmother, who wants Yeon-su to live her life while putting herself at the forefront of it.

She tells her grandmother that her life so far has technically been great. She has had friends to stand by her, colleagues who have complete faith in her, and a life worth exploring further in Seoul.

So she rejects Ung’s proposal to go abroad with him in Our Beloved Summer. Ung is not taken by surprise. Instead, he contemplates how much thought Yeon-su has put into coming to this important conclusion. He worries about the future of their relationship.

When Yeon-su tells him that she will wait for him until he is done with his studies abroad, his worry transforms into strength and that is how the two of them go their separate ways to find happiness individually.

They make long-distance work, and between yearning for each other and bickering with each other, the two fall in love again. When Ung returns after a couple of years, he is able to tell her that he loves her. This is something that he had been unable to do all this while because he was not certain that he would not be abandoned again.

He had safeguarded his heart against being hurt, like the time when he was a little boy. He had been abandoned by his biological father before he was adopted by his current parents. Now, however, he has dealt with his insecurities of not being biologically related to his parents.

He is also given an opportunity to have a heart-to-heart conversation with his mother about this too. This conversation frees him in a way nothing else could have, and it helps him relieve the pressure that he has been living under all this while.

He is finally able to sleep peacefully as well. So the two of them heal completely with each other’s help before they find their happy-ever-after together.