Husbands in Action Ending Explained: Who Arrives at the Airport?

The Korean crime comedy film ‘Husbands in Action’ (Originally titled ‘Nampyeondeul’ revolves around an unlikely duo who are pushed into a dysfunctional team-up. Si-nae’s ex-husband, Choong-sik, is a police officer who is all about arresting bad guys and bringing them to justice. Her current husband, Min-seok, is much younger in age, a veterinarian, and, surprisingly, a total adrenaline junkie. After Si-nae’s ex makes a particularly high-profile arrest, she and her daughter, Yeon-ju, end up getting abducted by a dangerous crime organization. As a result, her two husbands, past and present, must work together despite their differences and general dislike for one another in order to bring their family to safety. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Husbands in Action Plot Synopsis

During the period of gangster Yong-gang’s incarceration, the city of Incheon has changed drastically. Gone are the days of old-fashioned drug empires. Now, a new player is in town. A married couple, Do-jun and Hya ran, have taken over the city with their AI-powered operations that market and sell their narcotic substances all over the city through chatrooms and online transactions. As a result, when Yong-gang finally gets out of prison and tries to establish his hold on the city again, he’s sorely ill-equipped to handle the new reality of the local underground crime scene. However, Do-jun and Hya ran’s reign only lasts so long before one of their warehouses is raided in a police operation led by Choong-sik. The officer arrests the husband, effectively shutting down the ring’s operation.

While Choong-sik’s professional life is flourishing, the same cannot be said for his personal life. The divorced single dad only gets to see his young daughter, Yeon-ju, every once in a while. More often than not, he’s running late for these meetings and usually finds himself competing with her younger and more successful veterinarian stepfather. Eventually, Si-nae’s two husbands meet at one of Yeon-ju’s school performances. As expected, the meeting is tense and hostile. However, their petty competition gets shelved when Choong-sik receives an unnerving phone call. As it turns out, Hya ran has kidnapped Si-nae and her daughter in an attempt to use them as a bargaining chip for the cop to break her husband out of jail and bring him to her.

Given the gravity of the situation, Choong-sik agrees to the deal and prepares to undertake the jailbreak mission. Unfortunately for him, Min-seok insists on tagging along, arguing that the safety of his stepdaughter and apparently pregnant wife is just as important to him. Thus, the two come up with a plan to snatch Do-jun during the relocation drive to the prosecutors. Despite the blunders along the way, their plan works. However, they also gain a shadow along the way: Yong-gang, who seems to be after Do-jun to take revenge and eliminate his competition from the game. As the husbands work on bringing Do-jun to his wife, Hya ran puts in a new condition and sends them on an errand run to pick up Nabi, the AI unit, from the crime ring’s old lair. While they successfully retrieve Nabi, the priceless object also ends up on Yong-gang’s radar.

Consequently, after a failed attempt to steal Nabi from the husbands hismelf, Yong-gang decides to kidnap Hya ran, Si-nae, and Yeon-ju. Once Choong-sik and Min-seok receive the expected ransom call, they decide to team up with Do-jun to rescue their families. Meanwhile, A–ra, the cop’s journalist friend, learns about the situation. After looking through his locker, she finds a smartwatch that seems to be receiving an SOS signal from Yeon-ju. This helps her locate the gangster’s lair, rescue the kid, and stash herself somewhere safe, but not without getting caught herself. Afterward, the husbands’ plan of attack also fails, leading to them getting caught as well. As such, in the end, it simply comes down to Choong-sik, his eccentric family, and the crime couple’s ability to fight back and destroy Yong-gang at his own game.

Husbands in Action Ending: Who Arrives at the Airport?

After the bad guys have been defeated, people have been rescued, and amends have been made, an unexpected addition arrives on the scene. As the story concludes, we see one of Yong-gang’s men waiting to pick someone up at the airport. A woman, effortlessly carrying a powerful and domineering air about her, arrives. When one looks closely at the placard that the bodyguard is holding, the woman’s identity becomes clear. She is Mrs. Kim Yong-gang, the wife of the old-school gangster. In the film, we see husband-wife duos consistently appearing as power couples. In the case of Do-jun, his wife, Hya ran, appears to be more capable and calculated than he and, in fact, seems to be the real head of operations.

Similarly, despite being held hostage for most of the story, Si-nae doesn’t automatically fall back on the damsel-in-distress archetype. She tries to manipulate her kidnapper, fights for her daughter’s escape, and later joins her ex and current husbands in their fight. Therefore, even though we don’t know much about Mrs. Yong-gang yet, certain assumptions about her can be made through this context. She already seems to be a woman who is in control of her surroundings and is aware of the power she weilds. Furthermore, her highlighted and climactic entry suggests that she is an important player who might go on to play an important role in the story in the event of a potential continuation. Thus, it’s likely that Mrs. Yong-gang, much like Hya ran, is also well-versed in the world of criminality and will either seek revenge on her husband’s behalf or attempt to take over the city in the future.

Do the Husbands Save Yeon-ju and Si-nae?

Throughout the film, saving Yeon-ju and Si-nae remains at the top of Choong-sik and Min-seok’s list of priorities. It’s the only reason they team up together and put in an effort to actually get to know each other and bond as partners who are undertaking a shared mission. Therefore, by the time the duo finds themselves locked up in Yong-gang’s freezer, they have warmed up to each other in a unique way. Although the gangster could have killed them instantly, he’s eager to give the officer who arrested him a slow and cold death. Hence, the freezer. Unfortunately, in doing so, Yong-gang only manages to give the husbands a chance at survival. Since they’re only fighting the elements, the duo simply has to escape from the freezer in order to escape their demises.

By working together, Choong-sik and Min-seok are able to come up with a maneuver to free each other from their constraints. Afterward, they work together to break the locked freezer doors to escape to the other side. This proves to be a much more difficult task, and the duo almost gives up. Nonetheless, they’re able to pump each other up enough that the seemingly impossible task becomes possible. As a result, they’re able to break free and attack Yong-gang and his men in the center of the warehouse. Ultimately, this devolves into a bigger fight, pitching Choong-sik and his ragtag team against the gangsters, with the former group emerging victorious. Yet, while this secures the adults’ safety, Yeon-ju still needs to be reunited with her family.

Earlier, Si-nae and Hya ran had managed to work together to give the young girl a window to run away. Afterward, she fortunately ran into A-ra, who stashed her away in the underdeck of a parked yacht near the warehouse. Therefore, while the violent fight breaks out, the kid is safely tucked away on the boat. However, she runs into some bad luck soon enough. After the fight, Do-jun and Hya ran flee from the scene. They know that despite their last-moment team-up with the cop, they’re not actually safe around him. Therefore, they bolt from the scene and steal a yacht to make their great escape. Unfortunately for them, it’s the same yacht with Yeon-ju inside. Thus, her two fathers soon track the couple down, catching up to their yacht by paragliding across the sea. In the end, Yeon-ju is reunited with her family. The experience helps her three parents learn to settle into their unusual family dynamics and get along with one another better.

What Happens to Nabi?

Even though Nabi doesn’t play an active role in the plot, its existence is a big reason for most of the misfortune that unravels in the story. The highly complex AI and its algorithms are the only reasons Do-jun and Hya ran have been able to grow their drug business to such heights. Consequently, the tech is a key reason behind the conflict between the couple and Yong-gang. The latter is an old-school gangster who returns to Incheon after serving a long sentence in prison. When he gets out, he’s expecting ot be met with a similar world that he had left behind. For the same reason, Nabi and its impact on the city’s drug ring becomes a point of major contention for him. Still, even though he may not know much about the tech, its value cannot be ignored.

Even if Yong-gang never uses it himself, he can find a lucrative market for it and sell it for millions of won. Nonetheless, once the gangster gets his hands on the machinery, he doesn’t seem much interested in squeezing out any profit from it. The gangster hates Nabi because it represents the unknowable change of the future that has rendered him obsolete. Therefore, he has no interest in selling it to the highest bidder. This would present the risk of potentially losing his status as the top dog again. Instead, he instantly destroys the AI tool, emptying his gun magazine into it. In the end, Do-jun and Hya ran’s means of success is destroyed. Although the latter, an IT genius, can possibly craft another, it would require time and resources that she no longer has. Ultimately, the device seems to be gone at least for now.

Does Choong-sik Arrest Yong-Gang? What Happens to Do-jun and Hya ran?

Initially, when Choon-sik’s colleagues at the police station learn of his involvement in jailbreaking Do-jun, their first instinct is to assume that it’s a part of the great detective’s plan. They assume that he’s playing along in service of a bigger scheme. Therefore, the chief lets him know that he has the force’s support should he need it for anything. However, as the day goes on and Choong-sik gets himself in more trouble, it becomes harder and harder to believe the theory. Inevitably, the chief has no choice but to conclude the officer has turned. Nonetheless, it isn’t long before the latter clears the air himself.

Once it becomes evident that Choong-sik will be walking into a potentially dangerous plot set up by Yong-gang, he decides to alert his colleagues about the same. Still, he knows that he can’t walk in through the front doors with the police without putting his family at risk. As such, he sets up a plan to alert them of his location in a few hours as a contingency plan if his own rescue fails. This means that by the end, Choong-sik and the others succeed in bringing Yong-gang’s troops down, and the police are soon to arrive on the scene. Likewise, in the aftermath, as Choong-sik and Min-seok catch up to Do-ju and Hya ran, they also fail to escape from the clutches of the law. Even though the latter helped CHoong-sik near the end, it doesn’t quite erase their crimes. Thus, even though there’s no explicit mention of the same, it’s fair to assume all three criminals inevitably get what’s coming to them and likely end up serving time in prison.