The second last episode of See You In My 19th Life is packed with information, as it should be! Of course, all we can hope for is a happy ending for everyone. Just as much as Min-Gi has been desperate for Ji-Eum to remember her first life, we have been wanting to know what exactly happened that made her remember all her lives too. We’ve had enough hints, and finally, in episode 11, we have the answer! Hopefully, the last episode is not as sad as this one for Ji-Eum, and everything gets sorted out by the end. Episode 11 did feel a little bit overlong with the number of times the scenes from her first life kept repeating, but there were some adorable things that were worth it in the end. 

Spoilers Ahead

What happened in Ji-Eum’s first life?

Ji-Eum and Cho-Won were sisters in Ji-Eum’s first life too, but Cho-Won was the older one. Her name was Seol, and she was very sick, so much so that she was coughing blood. We also see Seol pass by Do-Yun at the time, and this means they are destined to be together at some point. Ji-Eum, who was called Su, was preparing fabrics for a shamanic ritual to be performed by Cheon-U (Min-Gi), who was from a higher-class family than her own. Desperate to save her sister, Su would go to any lengths, even committing crimes. When the doctor tells her that there is some medication that can save her, Su will have to sell the shaman bells to another village that is in drought.

Ironically, Su is delivering fabrics to be tied to those same shaman bells, and on the night before the ritual, she stole them. On their way to deliver the bells, Su and Seol got stopped by Cheon-U’s men. He was unwilling to let them go, and here is when things get a little blurry for Ji-Eum. She doesn’t really see who pulled the sword out and killed her sister, but the assumption is that it was Han-Ya (Seo-Ha). A low life like Seol isn’t above the Heavens, so she didn’t deserve to live on if it meant the ritual could not be done on time. Su had promised to kill the guy who killed her sister, and that’s when Seo-Ha interrupted her vision.

Back to the 19th Century

Ji-Eum tries to choke Seo-Ha, thinking he’s Han-Ya, before Seo-Ha is able to wake her up from her trance. She mumbles some words about the vision but then tells him to leave because she needs some alone time. Min-Gi and Seo-Ha meet up at a cafe in the meanwhile, and Min-Gi asks Seo-Ha to help Ji-Eum become “normal”; he thinks Seo-Ha is the only one who can make her do so. At Cho-Won’s shop, Do-Jin visits her to talk about his brother. He says that the night that Do-Yun made it clear to Cho-Won that he was not going to act on his feelings, Do-Yun cried after she left.

Do-Jin just wants to make sure Cho-Won knows that Do-Yun’s feelings were just as deep as her own. Seo-Ha talks to his father about why he had to make things public and finds out that his dad knew who was behind the mess from the beginning. He was only trying to protect Seo-Ha and the company, so he never made it such a big deal (your brother tried to kill you?). It turns out Ju-Won’s mother knew too, and just like Seo-Ha now, his father had apologized on his knees back then. Ju-Won’s mother knows how hard it would’ve been for Seo-Ha and just comforts him by saying she wanted to protect the one who lived.

Min-Gi hands over the bells to Ji-Eum in the hospital and tells her to remember who made her keep her past lives in her memory. If she remembers her first life fully, she can save her family and friends from danger. Min-Gi says she should come to find him after remembering everything. Ji-Eum meets Cho-Won at an art gallery, where Cho-Won tells her it’s time to give up on Do-Yun. Ji-Eum doesn’t think so at all, though, and she immediately calls Ha Do-Yun and warns him that if Cho-Won gives up, he will be the one to regret it forever. Seo-Ha tells Ji-Eum that he will be by her side through it all, and Ji-Eum tells him that if she forgets her past lives, everything will be fixed. They’re really not realizing that she might forget Seo-Ha if she forgets her past lives, but we can figure that out later.

Who really killed Seol?

Ji-Eum finally takes the bells in her hands for the last time to remember every detail of her first life. Han-Ya and Su may have been interested in each other romantically even back then, but they only watched each other from afar (not in a stalkerish way). Han-Ya had tried to convince Su that she was making a mistake when they caught them running with the bells, but that’s when Cheon-U took a sword and slit Seol’s throat. Ji-Eum’s enemy was Min-Gi, not Seo-Ha. Later, when Su tried to stab Cheon-U and kill him, Han-Ya came in the way and was stabbed instead. He told Su to take care of herself, but she could only see red, so she pushed him aside and tried to stab Cheon-U again. At that time, she was shot in the back with an arrow. Before she died, Su picked up the bells and promised to remember what Cheon-U did. She would never forget her rage and be born again to get her revenge. We’re expecting a happy ending for Ji-Eum in her 19th life with her loved ones, but it may come at a small price.