The Wonderfools Ending Explained: Does Chae-ni Die?

Netflix’s ‘The Wonderfools’ presents a fresh twist on the superhero genre by following the adventures of a group of misfits. The eight-episode season takes the audience into a small Korean town in 1999, where the talk of an impending apocalypse is picking up, especially as the New Year inches closer. Meanwhile, the lives of three people are changed forever when they develop superpowers, though they have no idea how they got them. The search for answers leads them to unravel a 20-year-old mystery, the fallout of which shook the town to its core. And now, it seems history is poised to repeat itself. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Wonderfools Plot Synopsis

Chae-ni has a weak heart, and the doctors have told her she is going to die. Years ago, she had a surgery that was supposed to make her better, but the illness persisted over the years. The only regret Chae-ni has is that she never got to leave her town and travel the world. This is mainly because her grandmother refused to let her out of her sight. Now that she knows she doesn’t have much time left, Chae-ni decides to get the money. She conspires with her childhood friend, Ro-bin, and a grumpy flower seller, Son, to fake a kidnapping. However, in the midst of making a ransom video, Chae-ni’s heart gives up, and she dies.

Worried that they will be arrested for the crimes they did not commit, Ro-bin and Son decide to dump her body. The dumping place has the chemical waste coming out of a building that used to be the site of illegal experiments on children 20 years ago. Now, it is owned by a church, whose followers claim that the world will end on the last night of 1999. What the townsfolk don’t know is that Won-do, the scientist who conducted those experiments two decades ago, has returned to finish what he started.

Meanwhile, a civil servant named Lee Un-jeong looks into the complaints about the dumping site, where he catches Ro-bin and Son disposing of Chae-ni’s body. By accident, the dead Chae-ni falls into the chemical waste, and so do Ro-bin and Son. Soon after, Chae-ni comes back to life with a healthy and superpowered body. Ro-bin and Son also develop superpowers. The trio, guided by Lee Un-jeong, starts to look into the origins of their powers, what the apocalypse is really about, and how to stop the evil scientist and his experiments before it destroys their beloved city.

Does the Apocalypse Happen?

The show begins with the promise of an apocalypse, and it finally arrives in the finale, when Ha Won-do’s plan is carried forward by his disciples. It turns out that all that talk about the apocalypse by the Church of Eternal Salvation wasn’t all lies. Won-do’s previous experiments with a limited number of children confirmed that it was possible to create a Child of Eternity. This child would have the superpower of not being able to die, though in certain circumstances, it would turn into a curse. Still, with the blood sample of just one child, Won-do was able to make significant progress in his experiments. So, he wondered if the creation of another such child could be replicated, but he would need a much bigger pool to increase the chances of success.

Won-do’s plan was to release the superpower-inducing drug on the entire city of Haeseong. Like the first experiment, half of the people would die because of the drug. The other half would survive and develop superpowers, and due to such a large number of test subjects, there would be at least a few people, most likely kids, who would have the power of not dying. This is the apocalypse that the church people had been talking about, and they weren’t lying when they said some people would burn in hell while the others would find salvation. Once Chae-ni and her team discover this, they decide to do whatever it takes to save their loved ones. They discover that the drug will be spread from the sky.

In place of the firecrackers, the church people will drop the drug on the entire town. When Chae-ni and Ro-bin try to stop the trucks, which they think are carrying the drug, they are disappointed to discover that they actually have firecrackers. The drug, meanwhile, has been sent away in a giant balloon that now looms over the city, ready to burst. When everyone else has given up, Chae-ni encourages her team to keep fighting. She gets Ro-bin to throw her and Son high up, so that they can reach the balloon. Son will help Chae-ni get to the top of the balloon and then drop back to the ground, where Lee Un-jeong will catch him. Meanwhile, Chae-ni will teleport the whole thing, the balloon and the drug, to a faraway place, saving the entire town.

Does Chae-ni Die?

As impossible as it sounds, the plan succeeds. Chae-ni uses all of her powers to teleport as far away from Haeseong as possible and ends up in Africa. Kilimanjaro looms in the background as blown pieces of the balloon are seen on the ground. The blast also takes a toll on Chae-ni, but due to her superpower of not dying, she eventually comes back to life. The problem is that she has teleported too far away. She was able to do it because of the stressful circumstances, but having used all of her strength to teleport so far, she is now unable to teleport back home. To make it worse, she has no idea where she is, and more importantly, she doesn’t have her passport or any travel documents to get back home legally and safely.

Chae-ni spends the next three weeks finding her way back home. She has to stowaway on a ship and make sure she is not caught and thrown in prison, because then she’ll never make it back home. Meanwhile, the others expected her to return immediately. Lee Un-jeong was ready to catch her since she would teleport back to the same spot in the sky. However, she never falls back. Once the town is saved, the memories of the apocalypse are removed from their minds. They go about their lives, while Chae-ni’s loved ones spend the next three weeks waiting for her. Her grandma refuses to believe she is gone, but the people around her start to believe that Chae-ni died in the explosion.

As days pass by and there is no word from Chae-ni, it is decided to have a funeral for her. Though there is no dead body, custom dictates that a grave should still be made for her, as she died away from home. After the funeral, the whole town gathers at her wake to remember her. Ironically, this is when Chae-ni returns home. She discovers that there is a party going on at her grandma’s place. Not having eaten well for such a long time, she is hungry and goes straight for food, which is where her grandma realizes that her granddaughter is alive and well. Everyone erupts in joy and relief, and the mournful wake turns into a joyous celebration.

Are Ju-ran and Ho-ran Dead?

While the villains and unlikely heroes are established early in the show, it turns out there is no clear line between good and evil. The villains, particularly the trio with superpowers, were also, in a sense, victims. Pal-ho, Ju-ran, and Ho-ran were torn from their families and thrown into Won-do’s experiments. They were lucky enough to survive the drug, but then the fire happened, and they were forced to go on the run. Because they had spent enough time under Won-do, they saw him as their Father. He also told them he was trying to find a cure for them so they wouldn’t suffer an ailment every time they used their powers. This, however, was a lie. Won-do didn’t really care about the kids. He just cared about his experiment.

Unfortunately, the trio doesn’t realize this in time, and all three of them end up dying for a cause that was never theirs to begin with. Pal-ho dies while fighting Lee Un-jeong, which breaks Ju-ran’s heart. Ho-ran doesn’t find out about it until later because Ju-ran decides to keep this loss a secret from her. And then, Won-do also dies, thanks to Lee Un-jeong. This completely unhinges Ju-ran, and she becomes even more adamant about seeing the apocalypse through. She uses her powers to control the townsfolk, whom she pits against Chae-ni and her team. However, in doing so, she also keeps pushing herself to the extent that it starts to drain the life out of her. Her hair starts to turn white, which shows that she is nearing her death with each move.

When Ho-ran finds out that Pal-ho and Won-do are dead, she wishes to leave the whole thing and go on to live her life. But she stays for Ju-ran, who wants to see the whole thing through. For Ju-ran, Ho-ran disguises herself as Chae-ni to get close to Lee Un-jeong. She stabs him in retaliation for killing Pal-ho and Won-do. However, one of the church fanatics sees her as Chae-ni and stabs her in anger. The strike is fatal, and she dies of the wounds, apologizing to Lee Un-jeong and wishing things hadn’t been so bad between them.

The final loss pushes Ju-ran off the edge, and she uses every last bit of her power to bring all the townsfolk out on the street, so that everyone is bathed in the drug that falls from the sky. But then, Chae-ni and her friends foil the plan. Instead of the drug, the real fireworks burst out in the sky, and the noise brings everyone back to their senses. They are no longer in Ju-ran’s control. She cannot use her powers on them anymore because she has already exhausted herself, and in the end, she falls to her death, having lost everything and failed in executing the apocalypse as Won-do intended.

Why Doesn’t Anyone Remember New Year’s Eve? How Does Mr. Son’s Daughter Remember?

With everything that happens in the finale, the entire town is subjected to the horrors of the villainous superpowers that push them to do and see things they could never have imagined otherwise. They also watch Chae-ni and her friends use their superpowers to save everyone and are in awe of them. With all the destruction that happens in front of them, one would think that this is something none of them would ever forget. But then, when Chae-ni teleports away the balloon and the drug, and the noise of the firecrackers rings out in the sky, every person in the town is released from Ju-ran’s hooks.

They all watch the display of lights in the sky with wonder, which they already knew was going to happen. But shockingly, none of them celebrates the fact that they literally escaped an apocalypse and survived to see another day. Son, Lee Un-jeong, and Ro-bin are surprised to see that no one remembers what just happened and how they, with Chae-ni, saved their lives. The reason behind this is that Ju-ran’s powers not only allowed her to control people’s minds but also to brainwash them. Every time she controlled someone and made them do things she wanted, the person would forget all about it once she was done and they were free of her.

We see this happen multiple times throughout the show, and sure enough, the whole town forgets all about the battle they just went through once Ju-ran dies. The only people who remember what happened are the ones who weren’t in her control. This includes Chae-ni’s grandmother and Son’s daughter. Grandma had arrived a little late to the scene, and by that time, Ju-ran had already taken control of almost every person in town, so she didn’t have the capacity to consider the fact that Grandma was not in her control. Meanwhile, Son’s daughter had headphones on, which saved her from Ju-ran’s powers.

Previously, Won-do and Pal-ho used earbuds to prevent her from getting inside their minds. Son’s daughter is also saved because of this trick, making her one of the few people who know the truth about the apocalypse that almost happened. This might come in handy the next time, since the mid-credits scene reveals that the real villain, Won-do, is not really dead yet. The drug that Ju-ran gave him came into effect a little late, but he is alive again and healing from his wounds, confirming that he succeeded in perfecting the drug. This also means that he will eventually return to finish what he started.