20th Century Girl is a coming-of-age romantic South Korean movie that takes viewers on an emotionally heavy ride. It premiered on Netflix on October 6, 2022. The movie stars Kim Yoo-Jung and Byeon Woo-Seok as the central characters, Na Bo-Ra and Poong Woon-Ho.
It chronicled a tale of heartwarming friendship and first love. However, 20th Century Girl had one of the most tragic and heartbreaking endings. Despite the immense love between the two characters, Poong Woon-Ho and Na Bo-Ra, they could not reunite in the end as destiny kept them apart.
Let’s find out how the movie ended below.
20th Century Girl K-Movie Ending: Byeon Woo-Seok was unable to reunite with Kim Yoo-Jung
Set in 1999, 20th Century Girl follows the budding love story between two young individuals, Na Bo-Ra (Kim Yoo-Jung) and Poong Woon-Ho (Byeon Woo-Seok). At that time, both characters were high school students. Their story unfolded when Na Bo-Ra’s best friend, Kim Yeon-Du, asked Bo-Ra to keep an eye on a boy named Baek Hyun-Jin at their school. Kim Yeon-Du developed a huge crush on that boy before going to the U.S. for medical surgery.
Na Bo-Ra, being a good best friend, kept her promise to Kim Yeon-Du. She followed Baek Hyun-Jin everywhere and gathered as much information as possible about him. She even collected his pager number for Kim Yeon-Du. While doing all this, Bo-Ra developed a friendship with Baek Hyun-Jin’s closest friend, Poong Woon-Ho. From their interactions, it was clear that the two started to develop romantic feelings for one another.
In the meantime, in 20th Century Girl, after seeing Bo-Ra being curious about him, Baek Hyun-Jin thought that she liked him. Thus, he asked Bo-Ra out but was immediately rejected. Soon, he realized that Na Bo-Ra and Poong Woon-Ho had feelings for each other. Soon, the three of them became close friends. Bo-Ra started to spend one-on-one time with Poong Woon-Ho. The two even shared a kiss.
Later on, Kim Yeon-Du returned to South Korea after her surgery. Bo-Ra was ecstatic to see Kim Yeon-Du. However, her happiness soon turned into despair when she found out that Kim Yeon-Du had feelings for Poong Woon-Ho instead of Baek Hyun-Jin. She was somehow mistaken about their names. Bo-Ra tried to tell Kim Yeon-Du the truth about her feelings but couldn’t as she worried about her health conditions. Then she started to distance herself from Poong Woon-Ho and made him go out with Kim Yeon-Du.
Towards the end of 20th Century Girl, Kim Yeon-Du learned from Baek Hyun-Jin that Bo-Ra and Woon-Ho liked one another. It made Kim Yeon-Du extremely upset as she never thought that her best friend would lie to her. Kim Yeon-Du did not like that Bo-Ra sacrificed her feelings for her sake. The two then argued, but soon reconciled. Meanwhile, Poong Woon-Ho was trying his best to communicate with Bo-Ra as he was returning to New Zealand, where his mother and younger brother lived. Thus, he wanted to talk to Bo-Ra before leaving.
When Poong Woon-Ho told Bo-Ra about it, she lied to him and told him that it was good news. It broke Woon-Ho’s heart. The night before his journey to New Zealand began, Woon-Ho waited for Bo-Ra outside her house. However, Bo-Ra was at the hospital as her brother suddenly got sick. The next day, at school, Kim Yeon-Du encouraged Bo-Ra to go after Woon-Ho at the station.
Thus, Bo-Ra ran to see Woon-Ho before he left. The two met at the station in an emotional moment and expressed their romantic feelings for one another. They embraced each other before letting go. Before leaving for New Zealand, Poong Woon-Ho promised Na Bo-Ra that he would return to Korea soon.
At the end of 20th Century Girl, Poong Woon-Ho never returned to Korea. Thus, he and Bo-Ra could never reunite. Many years later, an adult Na Bo-Ra found out from Woon-Ho’s younger brother that he had passed away in 2001. Bo-Ra completely broke down after learning the news. The movie ended on a heartbreaking note with Bo-Ra watching the videotape made by Poong Woon-Ho, where he talked about returning to Korea for Bo-Ra.
Viewers can watch 20th Century Girl on Netflix.
