‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ Ending Explained: Who is Youngwoo’s brother? Does she leave Hanbada?
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ has finally come to its end with episode 16 on August 18. The ending was pretty satisfying for K-drama fans as it recorded its highest viewership rating with 17.5% nationwide. Well, here is the ending explained and everything that went down in the finale from who is Youngwoo’s brother to if she gets back together with Lee Junho.
Being true to its slice-of-life genre, the K-drama ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ finale does not prolong the suspense and shows us that the hacker who messed with Raon is Tae Sumi’s son and a coding genius – Choi Sanghyeon. Like his half-sister Youngwoo, he likes ‘gimpbaps’, has similar habits like wearing a sleeping mask and his obsession happens to be with Rubik cubes. After feeling guilty he tells Sumi that he is the hacker and that he wants to go to the police. Sumi disagrees as it might affect her campaign as Minister of Justice. An angry Sanghyeon then confronts her by asking about Youngwoo.
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Youngwoo caught between CEO Han and Sumi
‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ then sees CEO Han of Hanbada in action as she joins Attorney Jang and the rookies on the Raon case. Meanwhile, ex-wife Jisu starts looking after Attorney Jung who is recovering after his successful surgery. He tries to get back with her and she gives him an ultimatum -- leave Hanbada to be with her.
We then have Kwon Minwoo meeting Sumi to share that he will not try to get Youngwoo fired and to live foolishly and bravely after he gets inspired by Sooyeon. However, actor Ham Tae-im does a cameo as the Taesan employee who tries to get Youngwoo to go to their Boston branch. An overwhelmed Youngwoo is then told by her father about CEO Han’s plan to expose her relationship with Sumi to the public. He tells her about CEO Han’s plan to hide Youngwoo and feels Sumi’s Boston offer is a better option. However, Youngwoo doesn’t understand why she has to hide or run as she has nothing to do with Sumi who is just her biological mother.
Youngwoo’s brother Sanghyeon confesses
A guilty Sanghyeon comes to meet Youngwoo and reveals that he knew all along that he was her brother. He tells her he is the hacker and Raon’s co-CEO Chanhong told him to do it. He had befriended Chanhong after he met the CEO as a judge at a coding competition.
After Raon’s other CEO Incheol tries to poison himself from the pressure of the lawsuit, Chanhong becomes the independent CEO. We then get a flashback of Chanhong convincing Sanghyeon to do the hack as he simply wanted to teach a lesson to Incheol and remind him they were developers first and wanted to work on their security system.
Sanghyeon tells Youngwoo he gave the hacked data encrypted to Chanhong who wants to decrypt and probably sell it. He reveals that he even went to the police but they didn’t listen to him because Sumi is very powerful. He is upset that Sumi is using her influence instead of doing the right thing. Youngwoo is touched and ready to help Sanghyeon who wants to confess.
She gives Sanghyeon’s recorded confession to the Hanbada team. CEO Han wants to use the video to hurt Sumi so that it affects her chance to become Minister of Justice. Youngwoo comes up with a plan which impresses the CEO and she decides not to expose Sumi as Youngwoo’s mother to the public.
The Raon case
Youngwoo's plan ropes in Raon who removes Chanhong as CEO to hide from their users that the CEO had hacked and taken their personal data. Hanbada represents Raon who is being sued by the users for the personal data breach and not Chanhong so there is no conflict of interest in exposing him. Incheol recovers and agrees to the decision and the Hanbada team plays Sanghyeon’s confession in court. But the court does not accept Sanghyeon’s recorded confession. Youngwoo decides to meet and convince Sumi to not send her son to USA and instead testify in person.
Junho is inspired by Youngwoo and confesses his feelings. He says he is fine with unrequited love as it made him happy. He asks her not to break up with him and she agrees. They get back together before she leaves to meet Sumi.
Youngwoo meets Sumi and starts off by sharing she will not go to USA because even if her life is unusual and peculiar, since it is valuable and beautiful in South Korea. Like she is not running away, she hopes Sumi will not send away her son due to the hardships. She tells Sumi not to betray Sanghyeon’s belief that she’s a good mother for her own benefit and hopes that even though she was not a good mother to Youngwoo, she could be a good one for her younger brother.
‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ ends well
Sumi agrees to let Sanghyeon testify on three conditions including that Youngwoo should be the one to question him. Sumi also steps down as the candidate for Minister of Justice. The trial ends well as the lawsuit filed by the users against Raon is dropped after Sanghyeon's confession. The Hanbada team have a celebratory dinner at Hairy’s Pub and Youngwoo shares that she likes working at the law firm.
The next morning, Youngwoo tells her father that she is experiencing a new emotion as she is promoted to a full-time lawyer at Hanbada. He is proud of her as she leaves for work. Youngwoo goes through the revolving door at the Hanbada HQ and succeeds for the first time. Lee Junho joins her and she understands that she is experiencing a sense of fulfilmente just like the viewers who watched the ending of ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’.
All 16 episodes of the K-drama 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' is on Netflix.