“Reborn Rich” Ending Explained- Episode 16 Recap And Review - JazmineMedia (2025)

“Reborn Rich” has wrapped up today, lets talk about its finale, explain its ending and more.

“Reborn Rich” episode 16 recap

Did Do Jun Die?

Yes, he died, he was killed right then and there, and Hyun Woo went back into his own body. He woke up in Turkey in the year 2022. It turns out that Min Young saved his life. He goes back to South Korea with his memories of his past life intact and he finds out they tried to make him the culprit of embezzlement to avoid issues, he was the bait.

Did Hyun Woo Kill Do Jun? Why?

Jin Young-Ki ordered for Do Jun to be killed.

It was revealed that Kim Joo-Ryun was the person who made sure everything was taken care of on the day of Do Jun’s death at the order of Jin Young-Ki. This meant sending Hyun Woo to that location to cause that accident indirectly by parking that car specifically at the location where Do Jun was killed.

Later, Hyun Woo almost reports him to the police but Kim Joo-Ryun offers him a chance to work at Soonyang and get out of poverty, he does that and does not tell anyone about it.

What Happens To Soonyang?

Min Young launches an investigation into Soonyang as Hyeon Woo provides his phone to her which has a lot of evidence of their corruption when he worked for them. She makes sure he’s not arrested for the embezzlement allegations and he goes back to Oh Se Hyeon to get his help to burn down Soonyang.

Oh Se Hyeon hid ever since Do Jun’s death and when Hyun Woo appears, they begin working together to shake the foundation and make sure the family does not have management rights for the succession plan. They stage a hearing where they bring out evidence of their corruption.

Hyun Woo plays a recording he had hidden in his house of the conversation he’s had with Kim Joo-Ryun on the day Do Jun died in 2004. In the conversation, he tapped into his office and we find out that Jin Young-Ki had ordered the kill. The court erupts and Seong-Jun loses his sh*t.

Eventually, the family renounces their inheritance to the group and a management company is hired instead.

Did Jin Young-Ki die?

Yes, in the year 2022, he died after complications of his heart attack.

What Happened To Jin Seong-Jun?

The drama does not elaborate on what happened to him exactly in the sense of whether he was arrested for attempting to murder Hyun Woo or not, but we know he got divorced from his wife who immediately dropped him. He’s been also removed from his position as the vice president of Soonyang.

Did Do Jun And Min Yeong End Up Together?

No, they did not end up together. Do Jun died, she also didn’t end up with Hyun Woo either. But the screenwriter does sort of hint at a possible romance in the future.

“Reborn Rich” ending explained

So, time to explain exactly what the screenwriter was attempting with the ending.

In voiceover, Hyun Woo says it wasn’t reincarnation or a timeslip but something called ‘repentance.’ He says its repentance for Do Jun who died tragically in 2004 and for him too. He says it was a chance for him to make things right basiacally. As in correct the wrongs that have been done.

Hyun Woo didn’t really plan on killing Do Jun as many had thought.

Hyun Woo worked at a factory belonging to Soonyang and his contract was expiring soon. He was sent out to a field by Kim Joo-Ryun, one of the higher-up managers of Soonyang in the future. With his truck parked in a place near a field, and with Do Jun’s car stopping for him, he calls for his manager Mr. Kim who overhears Hyun Woo panicking after realizing a man was hurt and died instantly due to the crash.

When he goes there to confront him, it turns out that somehow he had not only recorded their phone conversation but also recorded the conversations Mr. Kim had with Jin Young-Ki at the office after Hyun Woo left and somehow had kept that for 18 years.

Kim Joo-Ryun followed the orders of Jin Young-Ki to kill Do Jun, he killed him through this accident days prior to him claiming ownership finally and leading Soonyang, he then pinned it on his son through rumors.

Hyun Woo initially refuses to accept Mr. Kim’s offer in exchange for his silence but he then reluctantly does so. He’s then awarded a permanent position at Soonyang and ends up climbing the ladder to lead their finance department.

So in short, all of this was for Hyun Woo and Do Jun’s repentance. Don’t ask why or how because this is the only explanation she attempts to provide for the script she wrote.

“Reborn Rich” finale thoughts

I think I gave the screenwriter more credit than I should have, in hindsight, I was too optimistic. In episode 15 recap, I actually thought the idea she was trying to spin was nice and different, turns out she can’t commit to anything. I expected the script to go down based on other dramas she’s wrote in the past but oh my god, it would have been so much better had she not attempted to make Hyun Woo a good guy, he’s bad, just accept this, its ok, he doesn’t have to be great. Its ok. He does whatever this family tells him to without questioning it including many bad actions as the screenwriter hints only to go around and claim he’s been coerced to do this??

In her way of not vilifying Hyun Woo, she butchers whatever chance that script has. First of all, she makes it so that he’s involuntarily involved in Do Jun’s death, which doesn’t in any way clarify why he ended up in his body until the time of his death, but ok.

Also, Do Jun is the victim all the way, what did that dude do? Nothing, he did nothing bad. Hyun Woo is the one who screwed up but in our book, Do Jun had not done anything nearly as bad as Hyun Woo or even as illegal as Hyun Woo.

She then attempts to spin the narrative that Hyun Woo is not as bad as the Soonyang group by having him turn on them with his memories from his past life intact.

As a result, Hyun Woo walks away free of any charges and free to work in one of the biggest companies just like that. First things first, he did a lot of things for the Soonyang family, can we just assume he’s not charged for those? Also, he still concealed the murder of Do Jun, can he not be charged? Why?

Anyone who wants to explain Reborn Rich ending must do some serious mental gymnastics, and even then, anyone who has been following the drama closely can poke holes in every argument.

Not every screenwriter can write timeslip properly, I think had she made Hyun Woo just utterly bad as a character, she would have been able to salvage a lot of the script and keep the drama’s message intact.

If she made him so he was complicit knowing well he was going to contribute to it, this would have made the reincarnation make much more sense, and by that, he would have paid the price for killing Do Jun by being reincarnated and then dying by the actions caused by his original self. It would have been a perfect cycle. This was my initial prediction.

So many parts of the finale don’t make sense, I don’t even know where to begin, from the voice recording of Hyun Woo’s conversations with Mr. Kim, to him somehow also recording Mr. Kim’s conversation with the Jin Young-Ki just announcing himself like that, I honestly laughed…. Just how was Hyun Woo able to even come close to working with Oh Se Hyeon is also baffling to me, and that dude just accepts him without any questions. I could go on and on but I think you understand my perspective.

So what did you guys think of “Reborn Rich” ending? did you like it? did you dislike it? Lets talk in the comment section below!