I will take ending #2! Many viewers have mentioned that it is realistic for a relationship not work out. I just can't accept that THIS relationship ended like that, with no possibility for make-up. Our Beloved Summer had much better ending.

Yes it wasn't just the realistic breakup but how it was executed, how it quickly fell apart in 2 episodes while building it up for 14 episodes and how it does not align with Hee Do's character all along. She is a strong willed fighter but gave up rather easily in Yi Jin's case. The more I read about the finale of 2521, the more my opinions changed. I was initially okay with the ending but I realized I wasn't actually wholly satisfied. Only after reading other's comments I could gather why that's happening. It isn't about the realism but the show and the characters not looking like the one we saw all along. That said, one thing remains constant, I would never take Yijin dying. Yes this show is primarily about HD but YJ suffered way too much to die at the end. I was glad that he could bring his family back at least. So in that case, I too think number 3 would've been better. HD already being divorced at maybe not 61 but 41 i.e. the present timeline and giving their love a second chance. Yeah kdramaesque but maybe more inline with the characters than them taking a sudden u turn.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. 😭💔

As much as I want to change the ending, #1 won't make the cut. YJ dying would be to painful.

I totally agree how the last two episodes felt rushed and all that build up on our OTP was for nothing. I'm all for realistic ending but honestly, no contact after all those years with THAT bond? It breaks my heart. With that, I'll go with either #2 or #3.

Of these possibilities, I guess I would take #2. I hate the idea of Yi-jin dying and I also hate the idea of him still being single at 65. I wouldn't mind #3 if the open ending was when they were 40 and 44. I really was satisfied with the ending as is though.

I agree with your reasons why the 2521 ending didn't work. Also, as I think about it more, I'm really frustrated with the writer that the mother got a free pass. She was a terrible mother to Hee-do and a terrible friend to the coach (I loved the coach!). Even if she wanted to break that story about the coach, she could have asked the coach her side of the story to make sure what she was reporting was accurate, or at least, fully informed. And as a friend, she could have warned her, as BYJ warned KYR. And even when she's asking Hee-do about whether she can take BYJ not showing up, she's asking in the context of herself - how come you can't understand me? Aargh. I definitely didn't want BYJ to die, but I feel that would have given the writer the nostalgic "but at least we had that summer" memory feeling and it's good that time makes you forget pain etc. that she seemed to be going for. Otherwise, I think that the writer created Hee-do as too vibrant and forceful a character to be living with regrets and keeping the memory of 2521 as the name of her store and not doing something about it. And as others have written, I think that the writer was aiming for a first love, but she created a forever love.

Unfortunately, there's a long list of dramas with spoiled endings. This is one of the top. Such a great and loving couple, last 2 eps made zero sense. Why do they do this?

How can I like this article a million times??,you literally put into words how I felt,how I am still feeling, I am a big crier for dramas,my friends have a running joke about it, for 2521, I was prepared to cry,I was ready to accept them not ending together,what I can and will never accept is an ending that made me hate a drama I loved with just one episode, it's been weeks and I still can't accept that ending, thank you for this,it dosent take away the bitter taste of the ending but at least I feel I have someone who understands exactly how I felt about 2521.

I was already traumatized by 41-year-old Hee-do that I don't think I could stand 46- and 61-year-old Hee-do's. I was grateful that we never met adult Yi-jin, so Baek Yi-jin can forever be Nam Joo-hyuk in my memory. For me, Twenty Five Twenty One ended in Episode 10 with our friends on the beach because that moment did last forever.

I'd take ending #3 please! I'm not sure if they would have worked out as a married couple but how could they not be friends?! How could they not keep in contact even just a little given the strong bond of their friendship before they got together romantically where they barely even dated enough to get serious? And their breakup was amicable. They don't have to hang out all the time, but a happy birthday or happy new year text would be nice! An invitation to Heedo's wedding too (I'm 99.9% sure he was not on her wedding guestlist in the show) It hurts to think they were practically strangers to each other after the breakup.

I'm not sure if I want them to get together romantically in their twilight years. I wouldn't mind if Yi-jin marries someone else too and then their kids can be friends or their kids can get married. I just want them to be in each other's lives.

Ending #3 gives me 'Same Time Next Year' vibes!
I'm curious about how everyone turned out though....maybe more so than Hee-do and Yi-jin.

You and I are on the same page, @sailorjumun. If you see my comments under @kathystrobos ending, I asked the same questions. Hee-do was such a fighter! Why would she give up so easily on one of the most important relationships in her life? Yi-jin was her friend before he was her boyfriend. They lived through a separation before, when he and his brother moved. That was before cell phones and, I’m trying to remember what we had in 2001, was it skype? So why couldn’t they have endured a separation now????
Yeah, no way Hee-do would have forgotten the beach trip. Especially because that wasn’t just about her and Yi-jin, but her other friends too.
And if the ending was the right one, why was her husband working abroad? She broke up with Yi-jin to avoid long separations but married a man who’s job took him away from his family? How does that make sense?
And finally, if breaking up had been the right thing to do, present day Hee-do would have been happy. Memories of Yi-jin might be bittersweet, but not painful. When I think back on my first love, it’s with fondness, not regret. Regret is one of the worst emotions of all.

I'm actually still in therapy. 😅 I'm actually expecting that they wouldn't end up together from the time that I discovered that Minchae's last name was different. I was already bracing myself for that. But like most, I felt that the last 2 episodes were rushed and badly executed. I get that absence does not make the heart grow fonder, that people change. LDR in real life is much harder. I would have preferred ending 3, but more bittersweet. I want something similar to On Your Wedding Day, then put that re-imagined scene of them in the tunnel as re-told in the diary. I think the only character that came out well with the writing in the ending was Ko Yurim. This I commend the writer as normally the ones that get this type of storylines are second male leads.

THANK U FOR WRITING THIS - and allowing other 💔 disgruntled unhappy fans to continue to commiserate n mourn tog!! It’s the healing we all need 😭

This perfectly summarises how I felt. I even picked ending #1 during the hot take post as soon as the drama aired because I was pissed at how rushed everything had been.

Endings #2 and #3 are definitely more in line with the characters we grew to love during 14 episodes

Thank you @sailorjumun ❤️
Ending #2 or #3 for me, please 😊

I agree that the writer didn't manage the graph of her drama very well. It's kinda like Park Hae Soo's courb of life in Prison Playbook. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxP4QrJrIO0&ab_channel=Beyza)

But I don't think the break-up wasn't out of characters. Hee-Do was the kind of people to take a decision and won't wave ever. It wasn't easy to break up for her, but she decided it and nothing could change her mind. We could see neither of them were totally happy in this relationship anymore. Keeping contact was very difficult as a couple, so it made sense they didn't even try as friends. First, it would have been awkward. Secondly, it's why they broke-up, it was too energy-guzzling. Maybe when BYJ came back, but it looks like they didn't need each other after years like they did in the past. BYJ had his family back with him and Hee-Do formed hers.

I think the end made sense but the drama had some misleanding issues with the title, the plot and didn't manage very well the balance of the story.

Oooh I like the multiple endings angle! Similarly, I kind of accepted the ending at first, then got more and more frustrated that it didn’t feel right. The 14 episode build up/ 2 episode crash and burn (over 2 time-skip years) felt really unbalanced.
I’d probably choose #3 as I feel it’s the most in line with the themes of timing / eras / choices / dreams. Thanks for scratching the itch @sailorjumun !

Really liking the ideas that fans can submit fixes for drama disasters and hoping that writers actually look at our ideas!

Ending #1 is a logical way to explain the disconnect in this drama's plot. It takes away the bitter while leaving the sweet. Bitter: With the actual plot, I hate YiJin's hollow treatment of HeeDo and their relationship. He really dropped her like a hot potato when he went to NYC. I especially disliked that tag scene with YiJin at the computer to show that he remembered HeeDo was stupid since it was known he had lots of girlfriends in high school. Sweet: the times when he seemed sincerely in love with HeeDo--as a woman.

Ending #2 feels like it fits with the plot, characters and tone established in the drama. The romance plot that was established appears to be like KathyKat observed--presented as "a forever love rather than a first love."

Ending #3 doesn't seem to fit their characters.

Thank you for these endings @SailorJumun. It is possible and realistic that what feels like fated love at 25-21 leads to a break-up, loss of contact and ends up as a footnote in a person’s life. The problem with this drama is that we get 14 episodes of a fated soulmate love, and then when it ends, instead having years to get over it, as we would in RL, and as it presumably happened for HD and YJ, we get slapped in the face with a husband, a daughter and a pretty lifeless 2022 Hee-Do in the next hour or so. The effect is devastating. So inconsistency is this drama’s great flaw. Any of your endings would be better, but I vote for the rosiest one, #2. I feel HD and YJ sticking together is the most logical ending for these characters as they were sold to us through the most of the show.

I agree that ending didn’t work. Adult Hee Do seemed lost and defeated. My suggestion would to be scrap the present timeline. Rather than trying to tie up all the loose ends, instead end with 2009 interview as cliffhanger. Let the audience decide how it panned out.

For Hee-Doo to fight so hard for her goals in fencing but to give up so easily and not bother to fight for what she wanted seemed so out of character? Both suffered terribly while apart before but now suddenly they are fine with it? YJ turning to smoking and sleeping pills from stress rather then turn to Hee-Doo after everything he lived through man him seem weak. He'd destroy himself first on a job rather then pursue his own happiness for once? Hee-Doo was retiring from fencing the distance / traveling thing would no longer be a issue with him then being in a set position at work and even in the 90's we're suppose to believe he's the only news anchor at the station. I thought with 9/11 it would have a change in him for the better to wake up and go after what he really wanted. His only real life happiness and joy was with Hee-Doo, the one person who kept him chasing dreams was Hee-Doo. All I can hope is China, Japan, and all the countries in between make their own version, because by the time a drama hits Thailand they fix the endings. Sadly it won't be this cast and they deserved better. We deserved better for them...

I could not agree more regarding the unique quality of the relationship. It wasn't based on fantastic chemistry, although that was there, it had a far broader, deeper scope for both of them. It is inconceivable that they would have hugged goodbye over a suitcase and parted forever. Either the writer fooled us about the measure of the relationship or was too lazy to put in a proper ending. And I also agree that there was absolutely no connection between Hee Do and her allegedly grown-up self: they might have been different nationalities for all the connection. And I too was completely sucked into this magnificently acted, fascinating drama, and the ending made me feel quite sick. It cheapened the whole relationship.

Tooo sooooooooon. Maybe in ten years I'll chime in with more depth. 😭

I think Ending #1 with YJ ending is even worse than the ending. I would have been really mad if they killed him.

2 weeks… and I am still haunted by the ending, to the extent I sincerely believe I have no life, so it is with great comfort that I find others who feel the same.
I am with sailorjumun here. I gaped and cried at the ending, how could a ‘forever love’ be dismantled, crash and burn in less than an episode? I then tried the route of reluctant acceptance, in the name of realism, but personally gave up. The Baekdo I know would not have given it up without fighting tooth and nail. But IF we really have to keep in line with the writer’s vision of separation…..
But yet at the same time to ameliorate the hurt, fanfic ending #1,
Toss out Kim Minchae. Heedo’s mum finds her diary when she is renovating her house. She reads it. We arrive at Yijin and Heedo in tears at the bus stop and they do indeed separate. Years later, they run into each other at the same bus stop/tunnel/square (where she tells Yijin she has to have him) and reconnect. It is a Heedo who is more mature, less brash and impulsive, perhaps divorced or never married and who is retired. It is also a Yijin who is less compelled to be wedded to his job after reunifying his family and attaining professional success. Flashback to present day, doorbell rings and Heedo and Yijin walks in hand in hand. Yijin asks, “eomeoni, can I help you with the boxes?’ And we don’t need no new set of actors. KTR and NJH are perfectly capable of portraying Heedo and Yijin in their early 40s.

Fanfic #2,
If it is really not meant to be, I need to know Yijin is happy. Years later, Heedo and Yijin run into each other in the park. They talk, enquire about each other, perhaps reminisce a little about their past. They introduce their respective child to each other who are playing at the playground. After, the kid asks NJH, ‘appa, who is she? NJH replies, ‘ a dear friend from the past who has helped appa a lot when he was having a difficult time, let’s go back now, eomma is waiting for us to have dinner’. Similar lines for KTR. At least, this will be bittersweet, to see they have still found happiness respectively even if they did not end up together.
Right now, it is just so BITTER. Urghhhhh!!!!!

Ending number 2 all the way! A happy ending would have made this prime rewatch material but alas.....now it's just a painful reminder of the ephemeral.

Ending #2 please!!

I had finally plucked up the courage a few days ago to watch the finale episode, with an inkling that it would not be the ending I was hoping for, that I would cry and be sad. But I never expected to feel like I was hit by the truck of doom! I cried through most of the episode...only the cute proposal by Ji Woong made me smile. And I woke up the next morning with a sad ache in my heart.

Why did the writer have to break our hearts so ruthlessly? To console myself, I think in reality their relationship should not have worked, as Hee Do said. It always felt that Hee Do was fighting for their relationship while BYJ was the passive one. In contrast, Ji Woong and Yu Rim both were honest about their long distance relationship and BOTH parties fought for it.

Nevertheless, 2521 has a special place in my heart and ranks as one of my favourite dramas and Na Hee Do, one of the coolest female leads ever!

I'm on the same boat trying to accept the ending but failing miserably because to me it really didn't made sense at all. It's been two weeks and I still have the same thoughts. It gives me so much comfort knowing that I'm not the only one who thinks that the writer didn't really do justice to our OTP Yi-jin and Hee-do. I watched it twice the same night livestream and Netflix, and I'm so floored how the hell it ended that way.

And I love how some of us took time writing about how they would have wanted the drama to end. To be honest I won't want #1 as an alternate ending as I've had such a soft spot for Yi-jin, the poor guy had been through so much, and he deserves to be happy after all the sh*t he had to go through. So I guess I would either have to go for #2 and #3, though I have another ending in mind if we were to go the breaking up path with the writer's perspective. Though in my mind it could be a much more justifiable break-up.

A few things I would like to insert if we're to choose #2 and #3 ending

Hee-do and Jae-kyung - This needs closure I didn't think their relationship as mother and daughter had that full circle closure after visiting the grave of Hee-do's dad. I do believe Hee-do needs to know her mother's side of the story to better understand how she coped up losing her husband, raising her daughter, and juggling her career. This is such an important part of the story since this was one of the reasons why Hee-do has issues about not being prioritized. I feel that unless this gets resolved there's no way that we could go full circle with the happy ending we all wished for. Jae-kyung was a terrible mom from the get-go I wanted for her to atleast redeem herself. She will also pave way for Hee-do to fully understand Yi-jin's side given they're both on the same field.

Tunnel Scene - What I think the change should be is that instead of Hee-do walking out is that they actually be more vulnerable even there could be ugly tears. The Tunnel was such a special place for the two and I think it's so cliche to use that place for them to break-up. I would want instead for them to actually talk to each other given that both had been hurting. They're both brutally honest with each other so I figure that there should be a chance for them to fully explain these feelings. This is where they actually make an effort to understand each other.

When I first heard Jaurim’s song in the fountain scene at the end of ep 2, I had a foreboding that BYJ may die at the end of the drama. I am so glad that the writer did not choose that ending: that would have been so tragic for both BYJ and NHD: imagine NHD’s father dying when she is 13 and her lover dying when she is 21. How terrible is that! Besides, I really liked the way the writer developed BYJ’s character in the last 2 episodes, and wouldn’t want to be deprived of that.

I was one of those people who were heartbroken by the break up: I randomly burst into tears for a couple of days and my sleep was disturbed for much longer. I wish that the leads stayed together, but I also think the break up and the aftermath were portrayed in a way that is consistent with the characters.

For NHD, there is BYJ’s job as a reporter that perpetuated her childhood loneliness from having a busy mother. Another factor is that, NHD lost her father to an illness as a child, and it seems that he did not have the heart to tell his young daughter that he was dying (HD expected him to recover). One can imagine that NHD was unprepared for his death when it came, and why it is so important to her that BYJ share his hardship and grief as well as happiness, and why it is so difficult for her to tolerate his absence and silence. While they were still friends in ep 5, BYJ’s sudden disappearance and lack of communication did not affect her so strongly, but once they are romantically involved, the feelings associated with her most traumatic event are reactivated. A child’s psyche cannot distinguish between a parent’s death and being abandoned, and the fear it evokes is of her own annihilation. People respond differently to fear of abandonment: some cling on more desperately; NHD deals with the intolerable pain by leaving BYJ.

BYJ, on the other hand, does not share his hardship in order to spare NHD pain when there is no solution to his problem. During their fight BYJ says that “I didn’t want to complain”; the Korean word used is closer to ‘whine’ or ‘cry like a baby’, and that reminded me of his mother crying and complaining and the sense of helplessness BYJ must have felt in his inability to change the situation for her. To be fair, BYJ does share how he is doing in NY: on a particularly difficult night, he says to NHD that the city is like hell, he has nightmares, there are no survivors, only dead bodies, and the senior reporter with 20 yrs under his belt says there is no hope, that the world is only getting worse. In response NHD says think of it as growth. I winced when she said that because, although she meant well, such platitude is not helpful in situations like this and only makes the person feel not understood and reluctant to share further. Also, NHD ended each phone call with the word of encouragement “Be strong” (Netflix translated it as “hang in there”). That is the same phrase from BYJ’s high school broadcast where he said, “Sometimes,...

Thank you for so eloquently stating the weaknesses with Twenty-five Twenty-one's ending and so creatively fixing them. You've clearly given this conundrum plenty of thought and honored Hee-do's strength of character so much more faithfully than the actual writers did. I personally vote for #3, and for 44-41, which could take place write after Min-Jae finds the journal in the current timeline. You rock, SailorJumun!