K-drama lovers old and new have united in their love for the Netflix original My Demon. The show, which stars Song Kang and Kim Yoo-Jung in leading roles, has been at the top of the charts ever since it started airing in December. We’ve all got to figure out what we can do to fill the void that’s going to be left behind by the show. The show follows an immortal demon, Gu-Won, and the woman who leads to him losing his powers in a story of past lives and love. As the show progressed, we slowly learned about how Gu-Won became a demon and found Do-Hee. Gu-Won’s story begins with his past human life as Seo Yi-Sun. Yi-Sun’s life began in luxury, as he belonged to the family of a nobleman. Yi-Sun was never one to care for formalities, though. He simply wanted to explore the world around him and be free. One day, Yi-Sun found a woman named Wol-Sim during his escapades. He instantly fell in love and decided he would be happy only with Wol-Sim for the rest of his life.
Wol-Sim was a courtesan, and even though she liked Yi-Sun too, she could never face the consequences of their love, so she tried to stay away from him. However, Yi-Sun and Wol-Sim grew closer by the day. When Yi-Sun learned about Western practices, he noticed that they didn’t discriminate between social classes. Yi-Sun had the naive notion that this could save him and Wol-Sim; however, it made things worse because his friends and family were against the whole idea. They sent Yi-Sun away so they could blame Wol-Sim for converting Yi-Sun and putting the wrong ideas in his mind. Ultimately, Wol-Sim was made the scapegoat, leaving Yi-Sun furious. Yi-Sun vowed not to go to heaven because the God that was meant to protect Wol-Sim ended up getting her killed. This is how he became a great demon.
Demons used to be guardians until they were considered evil. When Gu-Won meets Do-Hee, he goes back to becoming a guardian, protecting Do-Hee from the person who is trying to kill her. Gu-Won slowly starts to lose his many powers when he’s with Do-Hee. We learn later that this is because she’s Wol-Sim from his past life, and he’s come full circle now, so only one of them can survive an ultimate battle against time. However, somehow, Gu-Won manages to survive and save Do-Hee by getting back his powers as a demon, something that even God herself couldn’t have predicted.
Spoilers Ahead
What Are Gu-Won’s Powers, And How Do They Work?
Gu-Won’s powers are almost unlimited in terms of what he can do for anyone who signs a contract with him. He can keep his powers and remain immortal only if humans sign a contract with him stating that after 10 years from that particular day, they will go to hell. The only thing Gu-Won can’t do is bring somebody back to life and kill someone. Whatever other needs the “clients” have, Gu-Won can grant with a simple snap. If he doesn’t have contracts, then he will spontaneously combust. In Gu-Won’s office, there’s a room that is filled with clocks; they’re all assigned a name, showing how much time each of his clients have remaining in the contract. Additionally, Gu-Won’s powers allow him to teleport, and he can do so with Do-Hee as well. He can also find people from memory, so that’s how he can help Do-Hee catch the criminal trying to take her life.
Gu-Won starts to remember his past life after regaining powers as a sign that it’s time for him to go back to human form. By that time, he’s been with Do-Hee long enough to like the human ways (200 years is nothing compared to 6 months with your lover), and so he starts to get dreams of his past life. Eventually, we learn the whole tale about Yi-Sun and Wol-Sim, as does he, leaving him devastated because it means he’ll only ever bring hardship to Do-Hee.
Unfortunately, Gu-Won doesn’t have the power to prevent the negativity around Do-Hee all her life. While he is determined to stop anything bad from happening to her, he realizes soon that all that was meant to happen has already occurred. Gu-Won then decides to leave Do-Hee for good because that’s the best way he can protect her from anything bad happening because of him. But Suk-Min returns from the dead and tries to kill her, which is when Gu-Won shows himself again. He almost kills Suk-Min, but Do-Hee stops him, knowing that it would mean his own death because he’d be breaking a rule from the demon manual.
How Does Gu-Won Save Do-Hee?
Somehow, Suk-Min escapes and brings out a rifle when Do-Hee and Gu-Won are busy telling each other how much they missed each other. Suk-Min shoots at Gu-Won, but Do-Hee comes in the way, causing her to die instantly. Gu-Won has the choice to save her, and he does so even if it means spontaneous combustion for himself. Gu-Won speaks out to whoever it is that controls his powers and allows him to do the things that he does. We can assume it’s God at this point. He then plants a kiss on Do-Hee’s lips in the very old-fashioned true-love kiss kind of way, saving her life and ending his own. I suppose Gu-Won is technically God’s assistant, and he kind of cleanses the earth of the bad guys and sends them to hell in a neat file. So, this is probably another wish granted by God to Gu-Won—the power to bring back a dead loved one.
Ultimately, though, since Gu-Won won the bet against God, she grants Do-Hee’s wish to bring him back. All his powers are also restored, and he remains a demon, which means eventually Do-Hee will die and he’ll be left all alone. But, until then, they’ll be happy together and fight and be at each other’s throats while still being deeply in love.
