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After My Second Watch, I Finally Understand the Ending

Twenty-Five Twenty-One: After My Second Watch, I Finally Understand the Ending — A Happy Ending for Her, a Lifetime of Regret for Him
The first time I watched Twenty-Five Twenty-One in 2022, the ending broke my heart. It stayed with me for weeks, and after that, I avoided watching dramas with sad endings because I didn't want to experience that kind of heartbreak again.
Recently, I watched Four Hands, Two Sonatas, and its happy ending reminded me how satisfying it can be when a love story gives its characters the happiness they deserve. That encouraged me to rewatch Twenty-Five Twenty-One. I wanted to experience the story again, and perhaps understand the ending differently this time.
After my second watch, I realized something: I still love this drama, but my feelings about Baek Yi-jin have changed. I no longer see the ending in quite the same way. This time, I felt that Na Hee-do deserved better.
Baek Yi-jin: A Good Person, but the Right Man for Na Hee-do?
Baek Yi-jin is not a bad person. He is hardworking, responsible, and someone who has endured enormous difficulties. I understand the pressure he faced because of his family's financial problems and his career. I understand that he wanted to succeed and rebuild his life.
But understanding his struggles doesn't mean I have to agree with his decisions.
Na Hee-do loved him sincerely. She supported him, believed in him, and shared some of the most important moments of her youth with him. Their relationship wasn't just a romance; it was built on friendship, encouragement, laughter, and growing up together.
That's what makes their ending so painful. They had something beautiful, yet he couldn't protect it.
The New York Decision Changed Everything for Me
The second time I watched the drama, Baek Yi-jin's decision to go to New York affected me differently. I understand why he went. His career mattered, and he was dealing with difficult circumstances. However, I couldn't stop asking myself why he and Na Hee-do couldn't have faced that decision together.
Why couldn't he have talked to her about it? Why couldn't he have tried to make their long-distance relationship work?
A long-distance relationship would have been difficult, especially given everything happening in their lives. But difficult doesn't automatically mean impossible. They could have discussed their fears, made a plan, and decided together whether they were willing to try.
What hurt me most was feeling that Na Hee-do was left to accept a decision that changed their future without being given the chance to fight for their relationship in the way I wanted to see.
I know Baek Yi-jin had his own pain, but Na Hee-do had feelings, dreams, and fears too. She deserved to be part of that conversation. Love shouldn't mean that one person quietly decides what is best for both people.
Na Hee-do Deserved to Be Chosen, Too
Na Hee-do was young, passionate, and determined. She worked hard for her dreams, and she loved Baek Yi-jin with her whole heart. She wasn't asking him to abandon his ambitions or forget his responsibilities. I wanted to see him make an effort to find a way for their love and their individual dreams to coexist.
What hurts is that their relationship seemed to become another sacrifice she had to accept.
I wanted Baek Yi-jin to fight for her, to tell her honestly what he was going through, and to give their relationship a real chance before letting it go. I wanted them to make that decision together.
Na Hee-do deserved someone who chose her—not someone who loved her but ultimately allowed circumstances and career decisions to separate them without trying hard enough, in my eyes, to preserve what they had.
And What About Baek Yi-jin?
This is where my imagined ending differs from the drama's ending.
I wish the series had shown us Baek Yi-jin in his forties: successful in his career, perhaps having achieved everything he once worked toward, but still single and carrying the regret of losing Na Hee-do.
I want him to remember her for the rest of his life. I want him to remember their conversations, their promises, their happiness, and especially the New Year promise that meant so much to them. I want him to look back and understand that success cannot replace every person we lose along the way.
In my imagined ending, he never marries someone else. He spends his life regretting that he didn't fight harder for the woman he loved. He realizes that he could have tried to make things work, that he could have communicated better, and that he made a choice he can never undo.
Some might say this is a harsh ending for him, but that is the ending I wish the story had given him. I wanted him to understand the weight of losing Na Hee-do—not just as a memory from his youth, but as the person he will always wish he had chosen differently.
My Happy Ending for Na Hee-do
Na Hee-do, on the other hand, deserves happiness.
I imagine her moving forward, healing from the heartbreak, and eventually meeting someone who chooses her wholeheartedly. Someone who communicates with her, stands beside her through difficult times, and doesn't make her wonder whether their relationship is worth fighting for.
I imagine her getting married and raising her daughter in a loving home. Her life continues, and she discovers that the end of her first great love isn't the end of her chance to be happy.
That is the ending I wanted for her: not a life spent waiting for Baek Yi-jin, but a future filled with love, peace, and the kind of commitment she deserved.
And perhaps, one day, Baek Yi-jin sees that she has built a beautiful life without him. He sees that she is loved, that she has a family, and that she has found the happiness he failed to give her. He can be proud of her achievements, but he must also live with the knowledge that he lost his chance to be part of that life.
In my version, Na Hee-do gets her happy ending, while Baek Yi-jin carries his regret for the rest of his life.
Final Thoughts
Even after my second watch, Twenty-Five Twenty-One remains a memorable drama. Its characters, friendships, youthful dreams, and emotional storytelling make it special. I understand why the ending was written the way it was, and I know that life doesn't always give us the love story we want.
But understanding an ending doesn't mean I have to like it.
My second watch changed how I see Baek Yi-jin. I can sympathize with his struggles while still believing that Na Hee-do deserved more effort, more communication, and a partner who would fight for their relationship alongside her.
I still wish the drama had shown us an older Baek Yi-jin, alone and successful but forever regretting losing Na Hee-do, while she had moved on and found the happiness she deserved.
Maybe that isn't the ending the writers intended, but it is the ending that would have given me a different kind of closure.
For me, Twenty-Five Twenty-One will always be a beautiful, heartbreaking story about first love, growing up, and the people we lose along the way. But after watching it again, I know exactly what ending I wanted: a happy life for Na Hee-do, and a lifetime of regret for Baek Yi-jin.

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