‘Following’ Ending Explained & Korean Movie Recap: Did Gu Jeong-Tae Clear His Name?

The freedom provided by the virtual world is as liberating as it is scary. It allows us to hide our true selves without fearing judgment, to pretend to be entirely different persons altogether. But what happens when the concocted reality reaches its breaking point as the fear of being exposed overwhelms everything? The Korean thriller Following, directed by Kim Se-hwi, tries to seek an answer to that question by following a stalker who finds his illicit habits leading to grave, unexpected repercussions—making him a pawn in his own game. The premise of Following is pretty simple, and the ending too takes predictable turns—the way the narrative is handled is interesting in parts, but nothing to write home about. Overall the movie feels like old wine in a new bottle, as a plotline similar to old school investigation-noir movies is rehashed in a present-day, social media-influenced setting, which works well for the most part, except for the final unraveling.

Spoilers Ahead

Why Did Gu Jeong-Ta Get Convicted In Han So-ra’s Murder?

Following introduces viewers to Gu Jeong-Tae, a mild mannered realtor who has a rather troubling hobby of stalking people, and whose profession allows him to entertain this kind of tendency freely. Jeong-Tae lives alone, but spends more time in the houses of his clients than his own, secretly going through their lives instead and taking pleasure in knowing them intimately. Jeong-Tae doesn’t consider his actions of breaching others’ privacy to be immoral, as he intends no harm to anyone, and usually takes a souvenir from their home to add to his collection in his warehouse. Jeong-Tae feels a delight in the fact that, in some ways, he knows much more about the people than the rest of the world. The situation has escalated to such length that Jeong-Tae goes on to infiltrate the houses of random people he comes across in his daily life, and at this point he meets Han So-ra, a local social media influencer, who catches his attention. Stalking her on social media at first, Jeong-Tae learns that So-ra used to be a high profile lifestyle advertiser, and only recently has become a much more grounded, charitable person, who raises funds for strays and takes care of their adoption program. However, she still continues brand advertising on the side, something which doesn’t quite match with her present lifestyle. After observing her for several months, Jeong-Tae becomes curious, but he isn’t able to infiltrate her house due to her apartment being keycard protected. 

However, Jeong-Tae miraculously gets the much-coveted opportunity after So-ra one day arrives at his office to put her apartment up for sale and gives her keycard to him. Things take a drastically horrible turn when, on the second occasion he breaks into So-ra’s house, Jeong-Tae finds her brutally murdered, and fearing repercussions, he decides to flee from the scene. He knows that he should probably go to the authorities to report the incident, but his fear of getting exposed stops him from doing so. The next day, Jeong-Tae takes two interested clients to So-ra’s apartment and fears for the worst, only to discover that So-ra’s corpse isn’t there any more. Before he can even get a chance to think things through, Jeong-Tae finds himself entangled in a crooked conspiracy as someone anonymously starts to threaten him with pictures of So-ra’s final moments and Jeong-Tae infiltrating her apartment on previous occasions. This unknown third party apparently knows Jeong-Tae personally as well, as they try to get under his skin using memories of his late mother and on one occasion even try to run him over. Jeong-Tae discovers what it is like to live in fear of someone watching over your shoulder.

Police officer Oh Young-joo arrives at Jeong-Tae’s office to investigate about So-ra after one of her friends, Holugi, a YouTuber, reports her being missing. Officer Oh doesn’t find anything suspicious in Jeong-Tae’s statement, but the realtor decides to investigate the perp/ the anonymous blackmailer on his own. Jeong-Tae finds out Holugi used to imitate So-ra’s virtual presence and used to slander her on her channel. As  Jeong-Tae infiltrates Holugi’s home – he learns she has been a victim of the anonymous blackmailer as well. Holugi’s hate comments on So-ra’s posts have been documented and sent to her as proof of cyberbullying, where a known username grabs Jeong-Tae’s attention. The username leads him to Lee Jong-hak, a perverted fan of So-ra who used to leave lecherous comments on her posts on a regular basis, and Jeong-Tae suspects him of being another possible stalker and the perpetrator behind all this. 

Jeong-Tae’s suspicion seemingly is proven true when he gets assaulted by two helmet-clad delinquents at his own apartment, and one of them turns out to be Lee Jong-hak. Jeong-Tae somehow manages to flee with his life and returns with Officer Oh to secure the perimeter, only to find Jong-hak hanged to death. The anonymous blackmailer has left another letter at the crime scene with evidence that frames Jeong-Tae as the killer of So-ra and Jong-hak, which prompts Officer Oh to arrest him. However, Jeong-Tae manages to free himself and flees from the scene, determined to prove his innocence. 

Why Did So-ra Fake Her Own Death?

However, the truth about So-ra’s death turns out to be far more complex and heinous than the evidence or events indicate. Jeong-Tae’s possible involvement in the dastardly crimes becomes news overnight, thanks to Holugi suddenly starting to gaslight her followers on social media to convince them of his guilt. Having his career and entire life destroyed, an enraged Jeong-Tae goes to Holugi’s house to demand answers about her involvement with perpetrators, only to find out that not only is So-ra alive, she had actually instructed Holugi to threaten Jeong-Tae in the first place. Holugi reveals that So-ra had even paid her to post hate comments to form a strong narrative on her support as a victim, leading her to gain sympathy from people online. 

Officer Oh comes across So-ra’s elder sister, who reveals the influencer’s true face by mentioning she was a scamster who went on to even sell her own daughter, resulting in their family denouncing and evicting her. Officer Oh was not convinced with the way the investigation had progressed anyway and suspected some internal botchups, and this statement changed the direction of her investigation entirely. 

Was Gu Jeong-Tae Able to Clear His Name?

Following’s ending revealed that So-ra was a failed model who wanted to make a career out of lifestyle marketing and eventually realized that gaining sympathy by faking her online persona was a much more lucrative way of making a living. She brought in stray animals to get online donations for the adoption program, only to poison them to death and embezzle the money for herself. However, as she noticed for the first time that Jeong-Tae had started to stalk her, So-ra feared for her life, and stalked him on her own to learn about his habits, background details. Jeong-Tae got outplayed in his own game, when So-ra lured him into her house, only to frame him for murder by planting evidence. She even tried to kill him by taking help from Jong-hak, whom she had convinced to help by taking advantage of his lecherous tendencies, and when the perv decided to go to the authorities after their home invasion ended in failure, So-ra killed him in cold blood. 

Jeong-Tae decides to confess his stalking crimes to Officer Oh, with the hope that she will trust his words and work together to bring So-ra to justice. The officer chooses to trust Jeong-Tae after everything he has gone through, and the duo set a trap for So-ra by threatening to expose her truth in the same way she had done, planting false evidence and blackmailing. Getting out of hiding, So-ra meets Jeong-Tae and manages to incapacitate Jeong-Tae while boasting about her crimes, including mentioning the fact she had killed one of her past acquaintances, a karaoke singer, and that her fear of getting exposed for that crime led her to target Jeong-Tae from the beginning. Officer Oh apprehends So-ra just in time to take her into custody, and with her statement being recorded in detail already, there is no chance of her escaping anytime soon. Jeong-Tae is arrested as well, as even though his crime is lesser in gravity, it is a crime nevertheless. Later, the karaoke singer’s corpse, and carcass of all the strays So-ra had killed, is exhumed from a walker’s trail – thanks to Jeong-Tae identifying the area where he had observed So-ra to visit frequently.

Months later, So-ra is seen serving her time in prison, and as a journalist interviews her, he questions her about her lifestyle out of all queries, which serves as a strong jab at society’s preoccupation with glamorizing criminals. Jeong-Tae gets released on parole and goes to Officer Oh to thank her for trusting him when he was in the most vulnerable situation in his life. The officer advises him to change his life for the better, as second chances are hard to come by anyway, and Following movie ends on a cautionary note.