Love Untangled Ending Explained: Do Se-ri and Yun-seok End up Together?

Originally titled ‘Gobaekui Yeoksa,’ Netflix’s ‘Love Untangled’ is a coming-of-age romcom about a high school student’s luckless love life. The Korean film, set in 1998, centers around 19-year-old Park Se-ri, who is in an eternal battle with her untamable curly hair. Consequently, when she decides to confess her feelings for the most popular guy in school, Kim Hyeon, she also vows to find a permanent solution for her hair. Fortunately for her, the new transfer student in her class, Han Yun-seok, just so happens to be the son of a salon-owner whose business is known for working hair magic. As a result, Se-ri and her friends inevitably end up befriending the aloof new student, roping him into their everyday misadventures. However, as the time nears for the high schooler’s big confession, her feelings begin to sway, forcing her to re-evaluate everything from her hair to the secrets of romance. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Love Untangled Plot Synopsis

Park Se-ri has made many love confessions in her life, but none have been particularly successful. For the same reason, in her last year of high school, she decides to swear off them for good. Nevertheless, her resolve only lasts so long, especially after a chance meeting with the dreamy Kim Hyeon at the beach. As the boy begins acknowledging her presence in the hallways, the teenager can’t help but grow optimistic about her chances at finding true love. However, the fact that almost every other girl in the school has the same delusions certainly doesn’t help. Still, she goes out to her secret spot on the beach in hopes of running into Hyeon again. This time, instead of her crush, she ends up crossing paths with a different guy. Their first meeting remains chaotic as the latter nearly drowns, and Se-ri ends up saving his life by dragging him out to the coast.

The next day at school, Se-ri realizes that the stranger from the beach is Yun-seok, the new transfer student, who is a year older than everyone else in class. After nearly drowning in the ocean, the boy seems to have hurt his leg, having to walk around on crutches. Thus, Se-ri and her friends end up reluctantly helping him, inadvertently inviting him into their group. Around the same time, Flintstone, the one girl in school with hair as helplessly curly as Se-ri’s, shows up with pin-straight hair. Her secret turns out to be a special and expensive straightening treatment from Seoul. Coincidentally enough, the owner of this new salon that offers the service turns out to be none other than Yun-seok’s mother. As a result, Se-ri devises a plan to earn the perm in exchange for helping Yun-seok by offering him her friendship and company.

Even though Yun-seok tends to be a bit reserved and oblivious, he quickly assimilates into Se-ri’s friend group. He even manages to score an open invitation to the girl’s secret hideout: her father’s storage unit, populated with countless comics and photography equipment. Inevitably, like her other friends, he also gets roped into helping her orchestrate the perfect plan to make her confession to Hyeon. Eventually, as her class prepares to go on their end-of-the-year trip, Se-ri has everything set in place, including her now silky smooth straightened hair. However, when the time comes and she’s faced with Hyeon, she realizes she has had the wrong idea all this time. In the process of trying to change herself to become worthy of Hyeon, Se-ri has somehow fallen in love with Yun-seok, who seems to genuinely like her for herself.

In the aftermath, it takes some time for the two teenagers to arrive on the same page. Initially, Yun-seok remains avoidant around Se-ri, but that quickly changes once he realizes she isn’t interested in Hyeon any longer. On the other hand, the latter continues to wonder at her friend’s feelings, especially when he continues to go out of his way to fulfill her every whim and make her happy. Eventually, the duo ends up aimlessly returning to the beach where they first met. There, Yun-seok finally reveals how drastically Se-ri has changed his life, bringing hope and happiness to his days. Thus, the duo’s friendship seamlessly turns into something more as they begin dating. Yet, as Yun-seok’s past catches up to him in the form of his abusive father, things rapidly go out of control. In the end, the couple’s paths end up diverging in the wake of a devastating breakup.

Love Untangled Ending: Do Se-ri and Yun-seok Get Back Together?

After its friends-to-lovers arc, Se-ri and Yun-seok’s love story undergoes a notably challenging time. The pair’s early foray into dating remains magical since their routines are already so intricately woven together. Their pre-existing friendship strengthens their bond, forming a reliable foundation for their new relationship. Unlike her crush on Hyeon, Se-ri’s feelings for Yun-seok run deeper than simple surface-level attraction. Likewise, the boy’s affections for her come easily to him since he’s never really tried to hide them before. Nevertheless, while the inner workings of their relationship remain without complications, the same can’t be said for outside forces influencing their lives. For the same reason, after a whirlwind few months of dating, Se-ri ends up breaking up with Yun-seok over the phone while the latter is in Seoul, where his mother has been hospitalized.

Thus, for better or for worse, the couple’s paths become severed. Down the line, Se-ri graduates from high school and embarks on new adventures in college as a marine sports major. Although she hasn’t had any contact with her now ex-boyfriend, she remains close friends with her other high school buddies, who are all aware of her unfortunate luck in love. Still, they encourage her not to give up on romance and even set her up on a blind date. It’s evident that Se-ri has lost her romantic streak ever since her breakup with Yun-seok. Even so, she agrees to give the date a chance, at least at first. Yet, she inevitably changes her mind and ends up leaving the cafe before the guy arrives. However, while out on the beach, her blind date reaches out to her through texts and a phone call.

Initially, her date’s persistence annoys Se-ri as she’s bound to jump to the wrong conclusions. Nonetheless, all her assumptions are proven wrong when she realizes who her blind date actually is. In a surprising turn of events, the man on the other side of the phone, who is now standing in front of Se-ri, is Yun-seok. Despite their brutal breakup and all the time they have spent apart, the boy never moved on from his first love. In fact, as he reveals through a big jar of origami crane eggs, folded in Se-ri’s memory, Yun-seok never actually stopped thinking about her. Thus, back on the beach, which has meant so much to the duo over the years, they finally find their way back to each other, willing to give their love a second chance.

Does Se-ri Learn to Love Her Curly Hair?

A notable aspect of Se-ri’s narrative remains tied to her complicated relationship with her hair. The beauty standards of the time and around her town compel the young girl to grow up detesting her curls. The fact that her perfect twin sister, Hye-ri, has pin-straight hair definitely doesn’t help matters. For the same reason, she internalizes the rhetoric that she needs to get rid of her curls in order to be desirable and wanted. Hence, she becomes obsessed with the idea of permanently straightening her hair at Yun-seok’s mother’s salon before confessing her feelings for Hyeon. Yet, while she continues chasing after this unrealistic, idealized version of herself, who can be worthy of the most popular guy in school, a softer and more gradual romance brews in the background.

Throughout their friendship, Yun-seok continues to show his love and affection for Se-ri regardless of the state of her hair. He’s often confused about why she’s so eager to alter her curls and insists that he likes her hair as it is. Simultaneously, he also continues to love and accept her for every other aspect of her personality. He likes Se-ri’s more boisterous persona and even supports her in her pursuit of impressing Hyeon. Consequently, by showing her that she’s deserving of love without changing anything about herself, Yun-seok plays a crucial role in her journey toward self-love. For the same reason, Se-ri can be seen accepting her natural hair after their breakup. By the end of the story, once the high schooler has turned into a college student, she completely embraces her curly hair, no longer trying to tame it or hide it away.

Why Did Se-ri Break Up With Yun-seok? Does He Move to America?

Se-ri and Yun-seok’s relationship faces a prominent complication when the latter has to travel back to Seoul after his mother faces a medical emergency. The Han family’s past before arriving in Busan has always been a mysterious thing. The boy and his mother notably seem to be on their own with no added family. Furthermore, the former’s turbulent academic life, despite his evident intelligence, paints a curious picture. Eventually, everything becomes clear, days after Yun-seok’s departure and continued radio silence, Se-ri learns that his mother’s salon is closing down. The fact that neither Yun-seok nor his mother has any direct involvement in the sale of their home in Busan naturally seems suspicious to the girl.

Therefore, recalling past neighborhood gossip, Se-ri realizes her boyfriend’s sudden exit from town must have something to do with his father. Although she knows next to nothing about the man, she has heard rumors about how abusive he had been to his wife and kid. As the story goes, he is jealous of Jang-mi’s profession and regularly bullies Yun-seok about his studies. In fact, he’s the reason the boy had initially decided against taking his CSAT exams. Once Se-ri makes the connection between Yun-seok’s bleak relationship with his father and his mother’s unexpected medical emergency in Seoul, the truth of the matter inevitably reveals itself to the girl. Thus, without any preamble, she gathers the last of her savings and hops on a train to Seoul.

Instincts take Se-ri to the hospital, where Yun-seok’s father is rumored to be a doctor. As such, she finds her boyfriend sitting beside her mother’s sickbed. Coincidentally, she manages to eavesdrop on their conversation about moving to America in order to escape the father’s relentless abuse. Yet, despite his aunt’s insistence on the move, Yun-seok remains reluctant to leave. Instead, he wants to return to the life he had in Busan. Se-ri knows that her boyfriend had been in a dark place before meeting her. In fact, he had been considering suicide on the fateful day when the two met on the beach. Therefore, she understands how difficult it is for him to choose between Busan and America. At the same time, she also knows that one of the two options is marginally safer for him and his mother. For the same reason, instead of revealing her presence to him, Se-ri decides to leave a message for him from a nearby phone booth, ending their relationship. In doing so, she breaks both of their hearts but ensures that the love of her life can remain safe away from his father’s abuse.

How Did Yun-Seok Find Se-ri Again?

Although Se-ri and Yun-seok’s reunion is a heartwarming conclusion to their story, one can’t help but speculate how exactly the latter managed to find his way back to his high school sweetheart. While no explicit time period is given for the time jump that takes place between their breakup and their reunion, it’s evident that at least a year has passed since the duo’s high school days. In that time, Se-ri started college, confident in her passion for swimming and marine sports. However, while she seems to have settled into her new life, her friends remain privy to her dimmed excitement and zest for life. They can tell that she’s still heartbroken over how things had to end between her and Yun-seok.

Meanwhile, Yun-seok remains equally heartbroken over the end of their relationship. On the fateful night of their breakup, Se-ri left him a message telling him how, after thinking things through, she realized she didn’t have any feelings for him. The message is brutal and blunt, meant to give the boy the final push to cut his ties with Busan. However, before sending this message, Se-ri recorded another where she had revealed how dreadfully she missed the boy. Even though she cut the call off, the phone booth ended up sending the voice message to Yun-seok. As a result, all this time, he had known about the sacrifice Se-ri had made, trading her happiness for his safe future. Therefore, when the time comes, when the danger of his father no longer governs Yun-seok, he reaches out to his old high school friends, Baek Seong-rae and the girls, who ultimately help him make his way back to Se-ri.