Spoiler warning: This article reveals the ending of The Affair Was Just the Beginning, including the truth about the hit-and-run, Na Do-soo’s murder and the outcome of the police investigation.
The finale of The Affair Was Just the Beginning confirms that Min-seo was driving the car during the hit-and-run, with Ye-ji in the passenger seat. After Na Do-soo kidnaps the two young women and continues blackmailing their families, Kyung-hee, Soo-jung, Jae-hong and Bo-sung kill him at the vacation home and conceal his body beneath concrete.
None of them is caught. Evidence recovered by the police leads the investigation in another direction, allowing both families to keep the hit-and-run and the murder hidden. The ending is deliberately bitter: money, influence and a shared lie prove more powerful than the truth.
What really happened in the hit-and-run?
The final episode reveals that Min-seo was behind the wheel of Jae-hong’s car when the hit-and-run occurred in the demolition area. Ye-ji was beside her as they fled the scene.
Na Do-soo, often called Na-do, discovers their involvement and uses the information to blackmail the families. He later breaks into the house, takes Min-seo and Ye-ji hostage and brings them to Kyung-hee’s family vacation home.
Kyung-hee and Soo-jung follow their daughters’ trail and eventually find the property. Their first instinct is to negotiate. They offer Na-do money in exchange for the young women’s freedom and his silence, but he refuses to give up the leverage he has over them.
Under pressure, the two mothers turn on each other. Instead of confronting what their daughters have done, each tries to place more responsibility on the other girl. Their argument reveals how far both women are prepared to go to protect their own families.
Who kills Na Do-soo?
Jae-hong and Bo-sung arrive at the vacation home hoping to help, but Na-do quickly overpowers them. With their daughters still in danger, Kyung-hee and Soo-jung attack him using shovels and other tools found on the property.
The confrontation escalates, and the four adults become responsible for Na Do-soo’s death. What begins as an attempt to rescue Min-seo and Ye-ji turns into a killing that links the two families more closely than the affair ever did.
How do the families hide Na Do-soo’s body?
Once Na-do is dead, the adults understand that calling the police would expose not only the killing but also their daughters’ role in the hit-and-run. Rather than confess, they decide to protect one another.
They prepare cement and bury Na Do-soo’s body beneath a layer of concrete in the vacation home’s yard. From that point on, they are no longer connected only by infidelity, blackmail and their children’s secret. All four now share responsibility for concealing a murder.
Why does the police investigation move away from the families?
The case changes direction when the police find Na Sol’s car submerged in a reservoir. Investigators recover footage from the vehicle’s dashboard camera, which reveals important details about what happened before Na Sol and her brother disappeared.
The recording shows that lawyer Choi Sang-cheol killed Na Sol and also connects Go Du-sik to the pursuit of Na-do. Based on this evidence, the police begin treating the deaths and disappearances as the result of a conflict among criminals.
That theory draws attention away from Kyung-hee, Soo-jung and their families. Because the evidence supports another explanation, investigators never discover what happened at the vacation home or search beneath the concrete.
How does Kyung-hee turn the case into an affair scandal?
When the families are questioned, Kyung-hee acts before the police can uncover more damaging information. She admits that she hired the illegal investigation agency, but claims she did so only to look into the relationship between Jae-hong and Soo-jung.
The admission gives the authorities and the public a convincing motive for her contact with the agency without exposing the hit-and-run or Na-do’s murder. Kyung-hee later appears before reporters and apologizes publicly for the scandal involving her husband.
As coverage of the affair takes over, the far more serious crimes disappear behind a story that is easier for the media to understand and sell to the public.
Do the two families get caught?
No one in either family is arrested for Na Do-soo’s murder or for Min-seo and Ye-ji’s involvement in the hit-and-run. The evidence found by the police supports a different theory, while the crime committed at the vacation home remains hidden.
Life gradually returns to normal. Soo-jung goes back to treating patients at her aesthetic clinic, while Kyung-hee preserves the home, wealth and public position she worked to build.
The relationship between the two women has changed, but it cannot simply end. Despite the betrayal and resentment between them, Kyung-hee and Soo-jung are now bound by a secret that could destroy both families. Jae-hong and Bo-sung also appear more wary of their wives, while Min-seo and Ye-ji remain outside the investigation.
What does the final scene mean?
The last scene sharpens the drama’s social commentary. As narration with the tone of a children’s story plays, Kyung-hee calmly returns to her mansion. On television, a sensationalist program presents competing theories about the missing siblings, turning a tragedy into entertainment while the real answer remains buried.
The contrast is the point. The public is given a scandal, the police are given a plausible criminal dispute and the families are given the chance to continue their lives. Everyone receives a version of events that appears to make sense, even though none of it reveals the whole truth.
This is why the conclusion feels more unsettling than a conventional punishment would. Kyung-hee and Soo-jung do protect their daughters, but they do so by committing another crime and ensuring that Na Do-soo’s death will never be properly investigated.
The ending of The Affair Was Just the Beginning therefore offers no clean victory. The families survive, but their freedom depends on permanent complicity. The final images underline the drama’s bleakest idea: wealth and influence do not erase the truth, but they can keep it beyond the reach of justice.