Mantis’ ending was centered around the three-way fight between Han-ul, Jae-yi, and Dokgo. Why did things come down to that? Well, in the first installment in this franchise, Kill Boksoon, the titular assassin went ahead and killed her boss and CEO of MK ENT, Min-kyu, as well as the director of the company and Min-kyu’s sister, Min-hee. Given how MK ENT had a monopoly on the assassination entertainment business, these deaths led to chaos. As a result, all the mid-to-low-level assassins’ futures got affected. One such assassin was Han-ul. Now, in order to earn money—and also keep his friends Jae-yi, Dong-young, Su-min, and Bboombye employed—Han-ul decided to set up his own company. Han-ul used his contacts from his time at MK ENT to get jobs; things were going fine, but they needed to level up. So, Han-ul approached his old mentor, Dokgo, to back him up. But he was busy resurrecting MK ENT, and he wanted Han-ul to abandon his company and rejoin the organization. Han-ul and co. then approached Benjamin, of JB Entertainment, to ask him to be their sponsor, but his weird demands were too much for them to handle. Hence, everyone except for Dong-young walked away from Benjamin. That said, since Han-ul was too selfish with the assassination assignments, Han-ul and Jae-yi had a falling out, which led to Jae-yi joining Benjamin and Han-ul crawling back to Dokgo. That wasn’t enough for Benjamin, though. He wanted Dokgo out of the picture. Hence, he fanned the flames of ambition, revenge, and ego raging in the hearts of Han-ul, Jae-yi, and Dokgo, hoping to come out on top after these three killed each other. Well, did Benjamin succeed, or did his plan completely backfire? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Han-ul Tried to Pacify Jae-yi
In the universe that Kill Boksoon and Mantis exist in, sending a bloodied knife means an invitation to a one-on-one battle. So, when Benjamin couldn’t convince Jae-yi to kill Dokgo so that JB Entertainment could have a monopoly over the assassination entertainment business. Despite her differences with her former mentor, Jae-yi didn’t want to kill Dokgo. Hence, Benjamin slashed his assistant’s hand with a knife and sent the blade to Dokgo, thereby making it seem like Jae-yi was inviting Dokgo to a duel. In the meantime, Dokgo had assigned Han-ul to go and kill Bae-soo, an old associate of Han-ul and Jae-yi’s, because he was doing hit jobs without the express approval of MK ENT. Knowing that it’d incite Jae-yi into doing something brash, Han-ul faked Bae-soo’s death and told him to stay hidden. When he learned about the knife, he convinced Dokgo that it wasn’t Jae-yi’s doing; Benjamin had done it. Hence, he met Jae-yi at Bae-soo’s “funeral” to advise her to take the knife back and avoid getting into any kind of a fight with Dokgo. Both of those plans backfired on Han-ul because Bae-soo came out of hiding and Jae-yi refused to take back the knife. Therefore, Dokgo decided to kill both Jae-yi, for sending the knife, and then Han-ul, for messing up the task that had been assigned to him. On Boksoon’s advice—yes, the infamous Boksoon made a sweet cameo appearance—Han-ul sent the knife to Jae-yi and invited her to a fight at the MK ENT headquarters and set that as the venue for his own battle with Dokgo. Now, Han-ul was clearly under the impression that since Jae-yi had known him longer than Dokgo, she’d side with him and take down Dokgo. But this was where things got really complicated.
Jae-yi’s Ambition
You see, back in the day, when it came down to choosing between Jae-yi and Han-ul as the top trainee assassins of MK ENT, Min-kyu went for Han-ul. Dokgo then expelled Jae-yi from MK ENT because—much like Master Shifu feared Tai Lung’s potential—he feared that this decision, in light of her spite and ambition, would cause her to hurt Han-ul. Additionally, Dokgo, echoing Min-kyu’s words, said that in a proper fight with blades, Jae-yi would “never” be as good as Han-ul; hence, it was pointless to exhaust MK ENT’s resources on her. In response to that, Jae-yi wanted Dokgo to orchestrate a rematch with Han-ul with real blades. That wasn’t allowed, but given how she had expressed this sentiment back then, it meant that nothing and nobody mattered to Jae-yi until and unless she was at the top of the proverbial ladder. Yes, Jae-yi and Han-ul saw each other as friends—they probably even had romantic feelings for each other—but when it came to being the ultimate assassin, Jae-yi was evidently ready to slice through Han-ul. Surprisingly enough, this didn’t temper Han-ul’s love for Jae-yi one bit. Even though his instincts said that Jae-yi won’t side with him, he still hoped that when she’d see him facing off with Dokgo, she’d join hands with him, take down Dokgo, and take over MK ENT. Therefore, you could only imagine his disappointment when he saw Jae-yi not only going after Dokgo during the battle but him as well.
Jae-yi killed Dokgo
I mean, I totally understood where Jae-yi was coming from. Her whole career as an assassin was ruined because of Dokgo and Han-ul. She had to wear this mask of gratitude just because Dokgo and Han-ul were arranging hits for her and her friends. However, that mask began to slip when she realized that these 2 men would never allow her to reach her true potential. Hence, when she got the opportunity to take both of them down, that too in the very room where she metaphorically got her rejection letter, she took it. Now, as the seniormost person in that room, Dokgo should have found a way to resolve this situation in an amicable fashion. They were rewriting the rules of MK ENT anyway. So, Dokgo didn’t have any reason to abide by the law of the bloodied knife. That brings us to the topic of the chip on Dokgo’s shoulder. First and foremost, Dokgo was envious of the fact that he wasn’t as good as Min-kyu. Secondly, and this is a personal theory of mine based on how Dokgo described his dynamic with Min-kyu, saying that he couldn’t “keep away” from him, I feel that he had romantic feelings for his boss. So, Dokgo’s inability to get Min-kyu’s love or his position as the head of MK ENT turned him into a villain who couldn’t be the bigger person while dealing with two people half his age. He decided that if he couldn’t have Min-kyu, he’d be Min-kyu, no matter the cost, which was why he chose to kill both Jae-yi and Han-ul. Since Han-ul revered Dokgo a lot, he incapacitated him during the three-way fight, but Han-ul delivered the killing blow.
Jae-yi and Han-ul’s Complex Feelings
A few seconds after killing Dokgo, Jae-yi expressed regret. She was aware of the fact that her need to be the best assassin had brought her to this moment. Maybe, instead of seeing Han-ul as her ultimate rival, she should have just been friends with him and focused on improving her skills. She felt that she had misinterpreted Han-ul’s help as his way of pitying people and looking down upon them, whereas the reality was that Han-ul didn’t have any sense of disrespect for his friends. He reserved all his arrogance for his targets, not for his friends. He had a decent assessment of them all, and he knew what assignments they should get and when they should get them. Maybe his way of communicating those thoughts made him seem like a douchebag, but he genuinely cared for those in his innermost circle. Realizing that if he hung around Jae-yi too long, she wouldn’t be able to process all the complex feelings she was experiencing, Han-ul left the MK ENT headquarters. It seemed like that was it for Han-ul and Jae-yi. However, at the end of Mantis, after taking over MK ENT on behalf of JB Entertainment, we saw Jae-yi outsourcing the hit on Benjamin to Han-ul.
Han-ul Probably Killed Benjamin
It’s pretty obvious why Benjamin needed to be assassinated, right? He had lied about that bloodied knife, thereby exacerbating an already tense situation between Han-ul, Jae-yi, and Dokgo. On top of that, Benjamin had no morals or ethics. He was an immature little idiot who wanted to earn money by hook or by crook. So, it was necessary to throw him out of the picture. Was Jae-yi outsourcing the hit to Han-ul a sign that they were on good terms again? Well, I think it’ll take a lot of time for them to resolve their personal feelings for each other. But as the head of MK ENT and probably JB Entertainment as well, I guess she thought that it was okay to maintain a professional relationship with Han-ul. Both of them wanted some level of flexibility when it came to assassinations, and if there were two groups who led by example, others would be bound to follow. Maybe, some time in the future, we’ll see them becoming friends again. As for whether or not Han-ul has killed Benjamin—because the golden rule of motion pictures is that unless you see a dead body, you shouldn’t assume a character is dead—I think he completed the task. He doesn’t have any reason not to. If Jae-yi takes over JB Entertainment and MK ENT, he can talk to her for opportunities. He has no real reason to betray Han-ul. So, yeah, I’m going to go ahead and say that Han-ul has killed Benjamin. That said, in a potential third entry in this franchise, if it’s revealed that Benjamin is still alive and is financing Han-ul through some secret bank account so as to chip away at Jae-yi’s empire, I won’t be surprised. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the ending of Mantis. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
