irmar

He was none of those. He learned about how the world of hagwons works. At the beginning she needed no saving at all, he was just there for love - also ambition. She taught him how to navigate that shark-infested world .
Then, after understanding what was required of him, after the initial shock, he started rebelling and trying to find ways to make teaching more meaningful. Thus he brought a breath of fresh air, reminding her of what she was at the start of her career. She used to be an idealistic and passionate teacher as well, but she had buried that and lost her way because of the demands of the business.
So he was a catalyst for her evolution and she was a catalyst for his evolution.
After the scandal broke out, there was more evolution. She initially crumbled, but still held her ground (she never considered breaking up with him or denying the rumour) and, seeing that, he started reflecting more on the consequences of his actions on other people and understood that he was no saviour or knight but in the contrary he was the reason her career was ruined (that realization made him burst into tears).
Through that ordeal, she also realized the fickleness of that business and that the path of a hagwon teacher had led her to an alienated existence, a puppet of unreasonable parents and greedy directors. She didn't want that life anymore. It wasn't worth the struggle to come back... to what? Something that she didn't value anymore?
After all those realizations, they both sat down as collaborators, as allies, and devised a strategy together to at least save the school and remaining teachers. For the sake of those who were loyal friends to them (like miss Nam) and also for his sake, since he wanted to continue in that path.
She overcame her dejection and gave us a taste of her old fighting self in the brilliant scene with the Grey Witch, just as he made Ms Wu writhe in the restaurant scene.
The plan worked and gave them the satisfaction they wanted. The school was saved, (also thanks to the secondary characters). Then our two leads went on to do what they wanted professionally, and pledged to get married as soon as she got her law degree or something like that.
It was a mutual thing all along. So I didn't see at all what you saw, this saviour and knight thing. Even if he deluded himself at some point that he could play that role, he realized well enough that it was just his idea, not the reality.

I agree with you on everything, except it didn't feel like an open ending at all. We foresee the future of our hagwon, we can pretty much guess the future of the rival hagwon, we have been told the future plans of everybody, both in career and in personal life. What else should be spelled out?

We have seen her liking miss Nam and finding her promising, all over the drama. Now she has one more reason to like her. Otherwise, realistically speaking, she is the least experienced in the hagwon, there would be no reason to choose her over one of the experienced team leaders. But, whatever the motivations, Manager Kim wouldn't trust her with that position if she were no good, because she'd be losing her money. She's not that stupid!
Generally we have seen the drama explore good sides and less good sides of people in a realistic way, and I liked that.

Hagwons cannot embrace this idealistic system too much, realistically speaking, Korean parents won't allow it. If she wants to teach like that, it should be elsewhere.

Didn't you notice she had still kept her law books? I thought this was tell-tale. And, the sassy queen showed herself again once she recovered from her first shock. Didn't you watch the scene with the Grey Witch?
I agree she is a talented teacher and it would be a waste to put an end to this. But given the hagwon culture, she wouldn't be able to teach in the best style she wanted. Whereas if she gets a law degree, she can become an awesome university professor teaching law one day. University professors are more respected and have more freedom in teaching methods.

Well, that video of the two directors wasn't enough for you to understand what impact the incident would have on the rival academy?
The two academies will continue to be rivals, but now Daechi has an advantage, and is starting afresh. It's obvious, why do we need to have it spelled out for us?

It seems that we all know where the plot will go. The cynic and the idealist will clash but they will both grow and influence one another and become great friends and allies bla bla bla. It's so rare to see a plot that hasn't been done and redone. Of course one can hope for fresh side stories, and solid acting, but still... Reading about it doesn't excite me.

No, I remember from another drama. Exile was the second harshest sentence after death. They are sent to a remote place like Jeju where life was harsh and lonely without any luxuries and lived in detention, their shabby house surrounded by a fence of thorns (wirianchi punishment). There was a young heir to the throne in another drama, and they brought him poisoned porridge and the poor lad died.
https://www.kf.or.kr/kfNewsletter/mgzinSubViewPage.do?mgzinSn=10977&mgzinSubSn=11019&langTy=ENG
https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220804000718
https://issuu.com/museumofkorea/docs/nmk_v50/s/12154352

If it's not death and it's not fleeing to safety with their child, then what could the writers come up with? Prison? Probably worse than death.

I agree with you. They could try to escape to a faraway place, maybe even China or something, and start a new life. But see, you say that but you also say that you didn't want a happy ending for them, and so did a very large chunk of the audience, so the writer made sure they both die to satisfy the public.

He's a bit green but yes, I agree with you, he has potential and a great stage presence (if one can say that for a video, LOL)

GP did get his punishment, didn't he? He had to bid goodbye to his carefree life. If they killed the QD the innocent baby would have been punished as well. This way was the best. The QD died, to appease the audiences who asked for her punishment, it was also realistic since she went through a lot while pregnant, and was no spring chicken either, the adorable baby was safe, and the ex CP, ex king, now Secret Inspector was able to show his noble heart. I think it was an intelligent choice.
Yes, GP isn't as fit to be a king as his brother, we all agree with that! But we can safely assume he consults him, and there's also their father, who is now in good health, to consult as often as needed. Would they leave him alone? And we can also assume he has matured a bit more after going through all these things.

If you need an explanation of the family ties, you can see them here:
https://kisskh.at/discussions/the-crown-prince-has-disappeared/125291-queen-dowager-and-the-royal-family-tree
There are a few spoilers of the first 4-5 episodes, though, so if you are one of those people who absolutely doesn't like spoilers, wait for a couple more episodes before reading it.

As I said, the enjoyable part was one night. All the rest of the days were just stress.

The ending was well done, leaving nothing to be desired, I think. Not rushed, not dragged, and even with a touch of humour, finally.

They only enjoyed one night together. All the rest was stress and more stress. Yes, he was scheming, as you said, but it's not what I would call enjoyable.

The only interesting romance is of the two antagonists, not the main leads.

Two, with the last episode. But they are so bland that they don't count at all.

Well he also thought it was because of him and that's why he said what he said. But come on, it's not the same thing as taking the sword and killing her!

Not exactly sympathize but understand, get context for why everything happened. It's good that even antagonists have some motivation and are not "just evil", ... because! It gives depth and interest to the story when the characters are not black and white.