The ending of K-Pop Demon Hunters was all about Huntrix stopping the demon king, Gwi-Ma, from consuming the souls of the people of South Korea, and re-establishing the protective barrier, also known as the Honmoon, which kept ghouls from entering the mortal realm. Since the 17th century, a trio of singer-warriors have been selected to protect the country from Gwi-Ma with the help of their voice, camaraderie, fighting skills, and the support of the people. The trio for the 21st century was Rumi, Zoey, and Mira. They were this close to converting the regular Honmoon into the Golden Honmoon, thereby permanently shielding mankind from the demons. But that was when Gwi-Ma sent Jinu and the Saja Boys with the aim of chipping away at Huntrix’s popularity and its fandom and making the people susceptible to some good old soul-sucking. That process was made easy by the fact that Rumi’s secret, as well as her relationship with Jinu, were destructive enough to break up her band from the inside. Was Rumi able to come to terms with her identity? Did she and her sisters defeat Gwi-Ma? Can we expect a K-Pop Demon Hunters 2 in the future? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Gwi-Ma Was Defeated
K-Pop Demon Hunters didn’t delve too much into Rumi’s past, but her godmother, Celine, revealed that Rumi’s mother was a Hunter, and her dad was a demon. That’s why she had the voice that could create or maintain the Honmoon, and she also had the jagged patterns on her body that hinted at her demonic side. Celine assured her that as soon as the Golden Honmoon would be established, those patterns would go away, and she’d be alive to “live freely.” But until that happened, she had to keep her true identity a secret. Jinu discovered this, but instead of threatening to expose Rumi, he decided to help her with her endeavor because he wanted freedom from Gwi-Ma’s clutches. However, Gwi-Ma reminded Jinu that he had sacrificed his mother and sister to live a life of luxury and subservience; hence, he wasn’t allowed to betray him in this lifetime. So, on the day of the International Idol Awards, Jinu walked back on his pact with Rumi and exposed her demonic patterns to Zoey and Mira. On top of that, Jinu used 2 demons to pose as Zoey and Mira and act out a tiff between the members of Huntrix to break the morale of their fans.
Since Huntrix and its followers had hit rock bottom, the Saja Boys ushered the fans into a stadium, put them in a trance, and began feeding their souls to Gwi-Ma. Rumi went to Celine for advice, but she was like a broken record, going on and on about repairing the Honmoon and covering up the patterns. Therefore, Rumi decided to perform once again, but this time without hiding who she really was, in the hopes of defeating Gwi-Ma. Mira and Zoey joined her in her battle against Gwi-Ma and his demons after realizing that, despite her demonic origins, Rumi was still their sister. Jinu knew that Gwi-Ma wouldn’t set him free, and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if the demon king killed the love of his life. That’s why he chose to sacrifice himself and give Huntrix a fighting chance. Jinu’s gamble worked, and Huntrix was able to send Gwi-Ma and his army back to the underworld, seemingly on a permanent basis, by creating the Golden Honmoon. The popularity of Huntrix reached new heights after that stunt, and the status quo was re-established. That said, the ending of the film left us (well, at least it left me) with a bunch of unresolved plot threads that I suppose I should address.
Identity Crisis
Rumi’s whole identity crisis can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, she was a child born out of wedlock, which was why it was important to keep her origins a secret. South Korea is an extremely conservative country. I mean, as recently as 2024, there was a huge scandal over the fact that an A-list actor and a model had a baby without marrying each other. So, it’s possible that it was paramount for Celine to hide that fact from the public, because if that became the central focus of the “discourse,” it’d break the country apart way before Huntrix began building the Golden Honmoon. The patterns on Rumi’s body could be interpreted as the trauma that’s inflicted upon a child when they are constantly reminded by a regressive society that their parents’ love was a mistake, and hence they don’t deserve to walk amongst humans. Now, the movie didn’t exactly delve into what it meant for Rumi to “wear her scars” at the end. The general public had no idea about the existence of this battle between the hunters and the demons or Rumi’s “controversial” past. So the significance of Rumi’s patterns was lost on them.
Secondly, if you see this subplot through the lens of body image issues or queerness, Celine’s repeated comments about “covering up” and “fixing one’s true identity” make sense. There’s an unspoken rule that K-pop idols need to be flawless and straight, even though it has nothing to do with one’s talent. And the older Rumi got, the more prominent her supposed “flaws” became, thereby making it impossible for her to suppress her innermost emotions. Now, again, when she began “wearing her scars,” did it mean that the audience accepted her not-so-flawless appearance or her sexuality (there was a lot of bisexual lighting going on in the movie)? I don’t know, because the movie didn’t focus on it at all. All I know is that Mira and Zoey embraced her wholeheartedly, which definitely allowed Rumi to be true to herself and focus on her art instead of worrying about how people would react if her “secret” got out. To be honest, I found the film’s decision to keep the general audience oblivious to the whole demon-hunter affair a little stupid, as it reduced the impact of its own themes and allegories. Turning Red did a much better job, as it used the evolution of its characters as a reflection of the larger societal change that was happening over the course of the narrative.
Fandom Culture
K-Pop Demon Hunters puts a lot of focus on fandom culture, how fickle it can be, and how important it has become for stars to strike some kind of a balance between filling up stadiums and appeasing the internet. Throughout the movie, we saw the fans switching between Huntrix and Saja Boys, but Bobby continued to be loyal to the girls because that’s what he was being paid to do. But when that performance at the International Idol Awards happened, it seemed like the whole country, including Bobby, began deifying Saja Boys and left Huntrix in the dust. And then when Huntrix “banished” Saja Boys, they just switched back without even questioning how hypocritical their actions were? Yes, yes, I know this isn’t that serious a film. However, it’s my job to overanalyze everything that’s happening on the screen to unearth some deeper meaning. And it’s not like I’m overanalyzing stuff out of thin air. The movie itself calls attention to the fact that the love that these “fans” have towards the pop stars is incredibly superficial, and until and unless they fix that, society will always be running the risk of being hijacked by antisocial elements.
Now, the movie does not explicitly say if it wants people to be more loyal to their idols or if they want folks to bring their parasocial relationship to said idols to an end, probably because they don’t want to irk K-pop fans by making a statement that might be deemed “too radical.” Hence, they just leave it to our interpretation. The way I see it, artists should be judged on the merit of their art. Their art should be held to a high standard so that they get the push to constantly improve. If they falter in terms of delivering a project that they had hyped, they should be critiqued appropriately. Their politics should be scrutinized because, news flash, all art is political. Their personal lives should be kept out of bounds until they do something illegal or morally reprehensible, and I’m not talking about being gay, having a kid out of wedlock, or doing not-so-hard drugs. Deification of artists should stop because it is not productive in any shape or form. If we can build a culture around progressing music (or any other art form) in a positive direction, I think the world will be a better place. But that’s just me, and I am pretty sure that a lot of K-pop fans will disagree with me on this topic.
Sequel Expectations
Gwi-Ma was definitely defeated at the end of K-Pop Demon Hunters. But does that mean that he was killed or simply banished to the underworld? I think it’s the latter, because Gwi-Ma didn’t seem like a villain-of-the-week kind of antagonist. He has been around for centuries, feeding on the insecurities and mistakes committed by mankind. You can’t just defeat such a threat by singing very passionately, in my opinion. So, if there’s a sequel, I think Gwi-Ma will make a triumphant return, this time with some new tricks up his non-existent sleeves. He has seen that creating a rival band won’t cut it, because Huntrix is really talented. Brute force is also not a viable option because Rumi, Mira, and Zoey are great warriors. Hence, he has to come up with a plan of action that’s subtle enough to not set off any alarm bells while also being impactful enough to bring Huntrix to its knees. Rumi’s past is a big question mark, and I expect a potential sequel to unpack what happened to her parents.
I mean, who doesn’t want to watch a doomed romance between a demon and a human being, right? It’ll not only allow the film to flesh out the character of Rumi but also shed some light on Celine’s role in all of this. She was both disinterested and deeply invested in Rumi’s journey, which was confusing. Did she play a pivotal role in Rumi’s mother’s death? Did she betray her? I want to know all about it. In addition to all that, I am eager to learn more about Mira and Zoey. I mean, Rumi is a nepo kid, and that’s why she has a superpowered voice and demon-killing skills. How do humans like Mira and Zoey become hunters, though? That’s something to think about. Anyway, those are just my 2 cents on the ending of K-Pop Demon Hunters. Do you have any opinions on the same? Feel free to share them in the comments section below.
