Karma ending explained: Who survives, who dies, and what it all means

The climax of the crime K-drama Karma solves the puzzle of what happens to the burn victim introduced at the very start. The drama opens with a man burned critically in an accident and being rescued by ambulance to the hospital at Guhoe in South Korea.

The doctor who resuscitates him, Lee Ju-yeon, is left speechless by his identification—he is Park Jae-yeIn. By the final episode, it is revealed that the man in the hospital is not Jae-yeong but Kim Beom-jun, a former convict and accomplice in several crimes, including murder and sexual assault.

The conclusion weaves together several plot strands of six main characters bound by a single past offense and the consequences of their actions. The choices of each character create a chain of events, ultimately leading to their destruction. The last episode illustrates how Beom-jun's impersonation gets him into the clutches of an organ-harvesting operation of a loan shark.

The surgeon who conducts the operation is Ju-yeon's boyfriend, Jeong-min, who unwittingly bestows upon Beom-jun a destiny reserved for another. By the end, all the characters who are part of the main crime are punished, either by death, exposure, or guilt. Ju-yeon alone decides to leave, turning away from the violence that had characterized the lives of the people around her.

The last scenes of Karma bring the narrative full circle, connecting the past trauma to current consequences, and illustrating how karma unfolds throughout each character's journey.

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Beom-jun's identity switch revealed

At the end of the last episode of Karma, it is established that the man who had been introduced as Park Jae-yeong is indeed Kim Beom-jun. He had assumed Jae-yeong's identity after murdering him and burning down the Guhoe warehouse as a disguise for the crime. Beom-jun had already fled after murdering Han Sang-hoon, a doctor caught in the middle of the complicated blackmail scheme.

The identity switch is what leads Beom-jun to Ju-yeon's hospital, initiating the series. Ju-yeon thinks Beom-jun is Jae-yeong, the man who was involved in planning her sexual assault years back. When the past comes back, Ju-yeon starts investigating the man who claims to be Jae-yeong, and this leads to a series of events that culminate in the ultimate confrontation.

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Ju-yeon's revenge plan

After Ju-yeon thinks Jae-yeong has come back, she sets out to take revenge. She changes his pain pills to fentanyl with the assistance of a detective agency. She stalks him to Dong-sik's church, where he is attempting to receive a payout from a life insurance policy.

He discovers that the money instead went to the church and is gone. Strolling down the same alley in which Dong-sik was run over, Ju-yeon accosts him with a scalpel in her hand to murder him. Beom-jun attempts to clarify that he is not Jae-yeong, but Ju-yeon won't listen.

She overheard him telling her that he was the son of Dong-sik and interpreted this as more evidence. Just before she can go through with it, her boyfriend Jeong-min interrupts her. He persuades her not to destroy her life. Ju-yeon chooses to leave. Eventually, when the detective agency determines that the man is not Jae-yeong, she insists she doesn't care. She takes comfort in being free from such worries.

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Beom-jun's ultimate fate

Beom-jun manages to survive Ju-yeon's act of revenge, but he is not out of trouble. The loan shark who initially gave Jae-yeong 30 days to pay his debt mistakenly identifies Beom-jun as Jae-yeong. Beom-jun gets kidnapped and is brought to the organ-harvesting facility. The black-market surgeon is Jeong-min, Ju-yeon's boyfriend, who is doing one last job to pay off his debts and get married.

Jeong-min knows the man as the burn victim from the hospital, but does not know who he is. Assuming him to be Jae-yeong, he conducts the operation. As a warning, Jeong-min says to him,

"Just think of this as bad karma."

Beom-jun passes away on the operating table, punished for his wrongdoings with a false identity.

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The significance of the Rolex Watch in Karma

A Rolex watch makes appearances at various important moments in the series. It was originally owned by Dong-sik and stolen by Jae-yeong. Jae-yeong was killed by Beom-jun, and he took the watch. The loan shark kidnapped Beom-jun and took the watch. At the series' conclusion, he presents it to Jeong-min as a gift when he is leaving.

The watch is representative of how identities and repercussions are circulated in Karma. It passes from one character to the next, each time symbolizing a different crime or deception. Its last positioning with Jeong-min weaves together the destinies of all the people involved and marks the end of the story's loop.

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Karma's influence on Ju-yeon

Ju-yeon's character development is the emotional heart of the conclusion. She starts the series traumatized by what happened in her past and sensitized by the reappearance of someone she holds responsible for it. Her choice not to murder Beom-jun makes her different from the rest of the characters, who react to hurt with violence. By deciding against acting on anger, Ju-yeon ends the cycle.

She also denies closure in the guise of facts. Even being informed that Beom-jun was not Jae-yeong, she refused to look at the evidence. For Ju-yeon, it does not matter anymore who he was. She is finished with allowing the past to rule her. Her peace is not in knowing, but in choosing to move on.

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Karma employs the theory of karma as both a religious and secular concept. The characters reap what they sow. Dong-sik's death, which kills five others, is a consequence of his prayer for punishment instead of his son's sins. This introduces a religious dimension to the plot. Dong-sik's prayer for punishment ultimately leads to his own death and the deaths of five others.

Concurrently, the conclusion can be interpreted from a secular perspective. The characters are not punished by God but by each other. Their choices result in betrayal, violence, and death. Actions have consequences, not due to fate, but due to human connection and reaction.