The King: Eternal Monarch: Ending Explained

The two worlds and the broken flute

Emperor Lee Gon rules the Kingdom of Corea, while a mirror reality holds the Republic of Korea, where detective Jung Tae-eul lives. The doorway between them was opened by Lee Gon's half-uncle, Lee Lim, who assassinated Lee Gon's father and seized one half of the mythical Manpasikjeok flute, the object that lets its holder cross between realities and move through time. Earlier in the story Lee Gon shatters the flute into two halves with his sword, forcing Lee Lim to flee into the parallel world, where the traitor murders his own counterpart and plots to reunite the flute and master both dimensions.

Going back to the night of treason

The finale's masterstroke is that Lee Gon stops solving the problem in the present and instead attacks its root. He and his loyal guard Jo Yeong travel back to the night of the 1994 treason, the very moment Lee Lim murdered the king and stole the flute. After a gunfight with Lee Lim's men, Lee Gon corners the younger Lee Lim in the bamboo forest, calls him a traitor, and executes him on the spot. By killing Lee Lim before he can escape with the complete flute, Lee Gon rewrites history so the entire cycle of crossings and murders is undone at its origin.

Tae-eul's sacrifice and the cost of the fix

While Lee Gon strikes in the past, Tae-eul keeps the present Lee Lim trapped at the gate between worlds, waiting for the execution to take effect. When the change lands, the traitor in the present simply vanishes, proof the rewrite worked. The cost falls on the lovers. Undoing the timeline means Tae-eul loses her memories of Lee Gon, and traces of the affected characters are erased from photographs and history. Lee Gon is left to chase a woman who no longer remembers him, the victory carrying a steep personal price rather than a clean triumph.

Loving across every door

Rather than ending on loss, the finale becomes a vow. Lee Gon searches every single door in the universe, across worlds and years, until he reaches Tae-eul again in 2021, and against the odds she remembers him, greeting him with the words that she had finally arrived. Because their counterparts still exist in various realities, the couple cannot simply settle in one place. They agree to meet every weekend across different timelines and parallel worlds, dodging their alternate selves. The series closes on their clasped hands aging into an old couple's, signalling they spend their whole lives wandering the dimensions together.

The Final Image

Two young hands clasped together slowly become the wrinkled hands of an old couple, implying Lee Gon and Tae-eul grow old crossing parallel worlds side by side.

Lingering Questions

How is Lee Lim finally defeated in The King: Eternal Monarch?

Lee Gon and Jo Yeong travel back to the 1994 night of treason and Lee Gon executes the younger Lee Lim in the bamboo forest before he can flee with the full flute, erasing the villain from both worlds at the source.

Why do Lee Gon and Tae-eul have to meet only on weekends?

Because their counterparts exist in many realities, the couple cannot live openly in one world. They travel across different timelines and parallel dimensions each weekend to stay together while avoiding running into their alternate selves.

Sources

• The King: Eternal Monarch — Wikipedia
• The King: Eternal Monarch season 1 episode 16, the finale explained — Ready Steady Cut

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