The intense K-drama series Night Has Come concluded on December 21, 2023, with its twelfth and final episode on U+ Mobile TV and Viki. Directed by Lim Dae-Woong, the show follows a group of high school students trapped in a perilous real-life “mafia” game.
Featuring Lee Jae-In and Kim Woo-Seok as the main leads, Lee Yoon-Seo and Kim Joon-Hee, the series delivered a storyline filled with suspense, betrayal, and survival. The finale offered shocking revelations and emotional depth, ensuring the story ended on a high-stakes note.
Over the course of the series, the students endured terrifying challenges, witnessing the gruesome deaths of their classmates. However, the finale turned expectations on their heads by revealing that none of the students had actually died. Instead, the events were part of a complex psychological game.
The last episode began with Oh Jung-Won, one of the mafias, keeping Yoon-Seo and Joon-Hee alive while deceiving others about their deaths. This discovery led to a series of confrontations, heightening the tension as the characters grappled with the game’s rules and their survival.
Night Has Come (Photo: Studio X+U)A Rooftop Confrontation
The climax takes place on the rooftop, where Da-Bum, a mafia, holds Yoon-Seo hostage and demands Jung-Won sacrifice herself to save her. Jung-Won tried to manipulate Da-Bum by convincing him that mafias could not kill themselves. This led to a brutal struggle among the remaining students. The fight ended with Da-Bum’s death, but not before Yoon-Seo was gravely injured.
In a final act of selflessness, Jung-Won jumped off the rooftop, sacrificing her life to save Yoon-Seo and seemingly bringing the deadly game to its conclusion.
Following Jung-Won’s sacrifice, Yoon-Seo woke up in a completely different setting, marking a major turning point in the narrative. It was revealed that the “mafia” game was not real but a psychological experiment designed by the grieving parents of Park Se-Eun, a girl who had died by suicide due to bullying. The parents created the game to make the students experience the pain and fear of death repeatedly. Additionally, Jung-Won was disclosed to be a fictional character, symbolizing Park Se-Eun and her unresolved emotions.
Night Has Come (Photo: Studio X+U)Yoon-Seo’s Appeal for Mercy
Confronted with the truth, Yoon-Seo made an emotional plea, offering herself in exchange for her classmates’ release. Her willingness to sacrifice herself moved Park Se-Eun’s father, who urged his wife to free the students. However, Se-Eun’s mother, still consumed by grief and anger, rejected the plea and placed Yoon-Seo under a sleeping spell once more. This tragic moment highlighted the lingering pain of loss and the difficulty of finding closure, leaving viewers with a deep sense of unease.
The series concluded with Yoon-Seo waking up on the school bus from the first episode, now aware of the truth behind the “mafia” game. However, the game itself had not ended, as the story implied that the students were still caught in the cycle of punishment. This haunting conclusion reinforced the show’s themes of guilt, revenge, and the inescapability of past actions. Night Has Come left its audience with lingering questions and emotional resonance, solidifying its status as a standout thriller in K-drama storytelling.
