You And Everything Else’s ending left me so shattered that I had to rethink my life for a second. I’m only half joking, but the 15-episode show definitely has an effect on you and hits you out of nowhere. Similar to When Life Gives You Tangerines, the show shifts timelines between our protagonists’ childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. It’s a heartwarming tale about friendship, but more importantly, it’s about the resentment one feels towards friends when they do better than you. As harsh as it sounds, it’s a realistic sentiment that we don’t often bring up. In You And Everything Else, Eun-Jung might objectively be a good person, and a kinder woman than Sang-Yeon, but she also feels bested by her friend often and dislikes her. In truth, this dislike might as well be another lead in this story. I can’t say I understand Sang-Yeon’s behavior towards Eun-Jung, despite her circumstances, but I suppose she was just looking for something to blame, and in that pride, she lost the only person who cared deeply for her. Fortunately, they reconcile at the end of the show, but why? And what is the big request Sang-Yeon has of Eun-Jung? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Why Do Sang-Yeon And Eun-Jung Have A Friendship Breakup?
Interestingly, the Korean title of the show simply translates to “Eung-Jung and Sang-Yeon,” because, as the name suggests, it’s simply a show about two friends. But you’d never imagine what kind of turn a show like this can take, and how the ending will leave you in pieces. The first time the girls have a “friendship breakup” is when Sang-Yeon moved away without a single word to Eun-Jung. It was her pride that was shattered at the time. Sang-Yeon always believed that she could never “beat” Eun-Jung, because she was genuinely the nicest person she knew. Sang-Yeon was always stubborn and let her pride come in the way of most things. Eun-Jung had no idea they had gone bankrupt, or what exactly had happened to Sang-Yeon’s brother. But even Sang-Yeon didn’t know what happened to her brother, and instead of holding onto that friendship, she pushed the only person who could console her away.
Later, when they meet again as college students, Sang-Yeon pretends she didn’t know Sang-Hak, her brother’s namesake and online friend, and Eun-Jung’s boyfriend. I feel like if Sang-Yeon had been honest from the beginning, things might’ve worked out a little better. Sang-Yeon and Eun-Jung’s reunion is unexpected and a bit shocking. Now the one who was rich is poor, while Eun-Jung and her mom are finally doing better for themselves. Sang-Yeon and Kim Sang-Hak’s relationship initially is innocent. There’s nothing weird about it, and though Sang-Yeon is in love with her best friend’s boyfriend, she doesn’t say anything. But, eventually, the resentment surfaces, and though she’s keeping secrets from Eun-Jung because she wants to learn about her brother from him first, it’s a bit unfair to involve Sang-Hak and not tell Eun-Jung anything about it.
I don’t think Sang-Hak ever really had feelings for Sang-Yeon; it was the circumstances that made him “sway” towards her. It was more out of pity than anything else. If only Sang-Yeon had allowed herself to be vulnerable with Eun-Jung, she wouldn’t have made such a mess of the whole thing, allowing Eun-Jung to misjudge the situation and think the whole thing was just about Sang-Hak’s love. Finally, the falling out comes after Sang-Yeon learns the truth about her brother and why he killed himself, but she doesn’t get to tell Eun-Jung until after the big breakup. Eun-Jung left Sang-Hak because he admitted to feeling something for Sang-Yeon, whether it was extra concern, or actually liking her a little bit, or just the fact that she was the sister of a person he really liked, we can’t be 100% sure. But Eun-Jung can’t bear the fact that it was Sang-Yeon specifically, and that’s the bit that hurts her the most, so she can’t forgive him. Even after learning the truth, she still feels like she’s lost.
What Happens On The Set Of “Good Man”?
Many years later, the trio end up working together on the movie “Good Man.” Again, in this case, Sang-Yeon essentially “steals” the movie from Eun-Jung because a famous director will only work on the movie if she agrees to work on it too. It’s all quite messy, and then, to add to the mess, Sang-Hak is taken on as the cinematographer. Ironically, all three of them have parts to play in what the other ones are doing today. Eun-Jung probably went into movies because she enjoyed photography with Sang-Hak back in the day. Sang-Yeon survived her mother’s death because Sang-Hak told her not to get burned out, and Sang-Hak went to art school because Eun-Jung inspired him.
It is terribly unfortunate that Sang-Yeon continued to be in love with Sang-Hak after everything that happened all those years ago, because the latter is still completely smitten by Eun-Jung. He’s now clearer about it than ever before. However, Sang-Yeon finally comes undone and confesses her love to Sang-Hak, but he turns her down. But then she goes and tells Eun-Jung not to date him again, because she was the one who found him first. This is the breaking point for Eun-Jung, because Sang-Yeon is finally being completely honest about her hatred towards her former friend. Sang-Yeon admits to being jealous, but that jealousy has now literally turned into an obsession, and Eun-Jung doesn’t hold back in letting her friend know. Now, they’re meant to be working together, and ironically, despite being upset with Sang-Yeon for thinking Eun-Jung built her life on luck, Eun-Jung actually goes and tells Sang-Hak that she can’t get back with him! But the thing is, she’d been considering going back to him the whole time. To make matters worse, Sang-Yeon decides to stop talking to Eun-Jung and not hide it at work, even though they’re meant to be co-producing the movie together.
She then does the wrong thing by getting down on her knees and apologizing to the lead actor for Sang-Hak’s sake. For context, the actor hit one of the crew members and expected him to apologize. Eun-Jung tells her that this makes it too obvious to the crew that she’s biased towards Sang-Hak, but it’s too late, and ultimately the crew boycotts the film until Sang-Yeon leaves. Despite Sang-Hak and Eun-Jung trying to get the crew to understand Sang-Yeon’s side of things, she decides to quit by herself, because she feels frustrated and possibly suffocated by this situation, seeing as Eun-Jung still cares for her. This is why she initiates her biggest betrayal move yet: she decides to steal the script that Eun-Jung was working on with a small-scale director she was fond of, specifically to spite her. Eun-Jung ended up quitting her job within 6 months, and Sang-Yeon went on to become a massive success in the production world, off the back of Eun-Jung’s hard work.
Why Did Cheon Sang-Hak Kill Himself?
This K-drama takes a unique turn and gives us something we almost never see in Korean media: transgender representation, even if it then goes on to ignore said character’s pronouns (this is also why I continue to refer to Cheon Sang-Hak as “he” for the sake of this article). Throughout their childhood, Sang-Yeon felt distant from her brother, and assumed he didn’t like her. She also believed her mother hated her and preferred Eun-Jung, but if she had just looked away from the mirror for once, she might have noticed there was something much worse happening with her brother. When it was revealed that Sang-Hak had died, Sang-Yeon blamed herself, because she was the one who shared the letters with her mother and got her brother in trouble. However, this was obviously not the case. Sang-Hak had met a woman he could be free with. The “M” in his diaries simply stood for Moonie, which was his own name in the online chatroom. So, many years later, after Eun-Jung and Kim Sang-Hak became friends, the latter helped the former find out who the woman was that her brother was writing to. It turns out Sang-Hak felt like a woman on the inside, and this is something his parents just could not accept. So the only way out for him was suicide, before he was shipped off for his compulsory military service. I suppose it was because he felt the worst while thinking about the army, as it would’ve forced him to be more masculine, and he’d have felt humiliated in that situation.
Later, Sang-Yeon finally told her mother the truth about Sang-Hak. I’m not sure what transpired between the parents and the boy, but it was never Sang-Yeon’s fault. Mrs. Yoon also felt guilty for her son’s death, and this forced her to leave Sang-Yeon lonely. She ended up isolating herself further because she thought her mom hated her and only loved her brother, who died. The whole thing is terrible, but at least Mrs. Yoon was able to apologize before she passed away from cancer.
How Does Sang-Yeon Die?
In You And Everything Else’s ending, Sang-Yeon returns to Eun-Jung’s life with a bang, no warning. Turns out she’s dying of cancer, and this has made her realize how much she really wronged her friend. Truth is, had Sang-Yeon not been sick, she may have never admitted she was wrong in hurting Eun-Jung, who always cared for her despite being jealous. Their reaction to each other has always been Eun-Jung being warm and open, with Sang-Yeon icing her out. So this is exactly why the ending of the show will leave you weeping on your bedroom floor. I feel like if the roles were reversed, Sang-Yeon may have never bothered listening to Eun-Jung or giving her another chance. But Eun-Jung, who still loves her dear friend, can’t bear the thought of her being sick and in pain.
So the biggest reason Sang-Yeon resents Eun-Jung is that the latter had the one thing she never had—love. When they first met, Sang-Yeon was rich, and she lived a great life, with two bathrooms in her house, something that Eun-Jung, who lived in a semi-basement apartment, couldn’t fathom. But Sang-Yeon’s hatred wasn’t because of material things; it was emotional, which made her more hostile towards Eun-Jung. But I suppose the statement the show is trying to make is: live your life without regrets, or you’ll get a cancer diagnosis that’ll remind you of how alone you are. Eun-Jung never hated Sang-Yeon; she only disliked her for what she did to her. Sang-Yeon hated Eun-Jung because she believed she stole her luck and, in turn, the love she deserved. But this made her miss the main thing: that Eun-Jung always loved her.
Ultimately, Sang-Yeon apologizes to Eun-Jung and sets everything straight. The latter is now a writer, not a producer, and she’s doing great for herself, but she will also end up writing their story, because that way Sang-Yeon’s memory will live forever. This makes you wonder, almost, if this is all a true story and you’ve basically been watching a meta drama, but that’s not the case. It’s just a well-written story that’ll remind you not to resent your friends and to try to be there for them even if you don’t want to. Ultimately, the duo goes to Switzerland for Sang-Yeon’s euthanasia. She tells Eun-Jung that if such a thing were available for her brother or her mother, she’d have happily held their hand through the process, because sometimes there’s no way out except death. Eun-Jung will never get over Sang-Yeon’s death, but writing their story might at least give her a way to channel her sorrow. It’s a terrible thing to do, leaving her after they’ve just become close again, but Eun-Jung is just too kind not to help her friend. Finally, she likely scatters her ashes at the same sea that Sang-Yeon scattered her mum’s ashes, so we can imagine the mum and daughter finally hug wherever they’ve ended up. I’d like to imagine Eun-Jung and Sang-Yeon will meet again, and this time, they’ll never leave the other’s side.
