Mercy For None Ending Explained: Did Gi-jun finally seek revenge for Nam Gi-seok's death?

Netflix's Mercy For None finally premiered with seven episodes that follow the ex-mobster Nam Gi-jun as he sets out on a path of revenge after his little brother's puzzling death. As a man with nothing to lose, Gi-jun's only goal is to figure out who killed his brother and kill anyone and everyone involved. He does not care about surviving this journey, making him even more dangerous.

By the end of the seventh episode, Gi-jun manages to uncover the secrets that lie behind the curtains and kills the person responsible for Gi-seok's death. Here's what happens at the end of the mystery thriller, Mercy For None.

Netflix's Mercy For None: A Tale of Revenge and Family

Gi-jun had taken dire steps, even slashing his Achilles' tendon, to leave the criminal world behind him and had managed to do it for a decade. However, finding out that his brother was mysteriously killed pulled him right back, smack dab in the middle of the two major gangs, setting him on a bleak path of revenge.

Gi-hun finds himself between two mobs, one of which is ruled by Lee Ju-woon and the other by Koo Bong-san. Gi-seok was Ju-Woon's right-hand man, and he wanted to pass down his business to Gi-seok, despite the fact that Ju-Woon had a son of his own. The events of Episode 1 made it look like Koo Bong-san's son, Koo Jun-mo, was the one responsible for Gi-seok's death. However, things weren't as simple as they appeared to be.

Mercy For None later reveals that it was actually Lee Geum-son, Ju-woon's son, who was looking to dethrone his father by force and take over his gang while having the public image of a prosecutor who ordered the hit on Gi-seok. Geom-son is backed by Cha Yeong-Do, a police officer who feeds both gangs information about the force but over the years has come to be a trusted right-hand man to Geom-son. In a way, he controls Geum-son's ambition and uses it to wreak havoc between the two gangs so that, through Geum-son, he can take over both gangs whenever he desires.

Yeong-Do kills Ju-woon and makes his son Geum-son believe that it was actually Gi-jun who killed his father. Geum-son is successful in taking over his father's gang and forcing a merger between the two gangs, but just as he is celebrating his victory, his empire falls around him, and he's face-to-face with Gi-hun, forced to confront his actions. Just as Geum-son is announcing to the gangs how he'd like to build a plaza and make sure everybody gets what they want, it is revealed on the news that he is suspected of murder.

This is Gi-hun's doing, as he has tracked down Yeong-Do and forced him to reveal dirt on Geum-son that links him to murder. Gi-hun gives these recordings to Cheon Hae-Beom, the guy who was always by Gi-seok's side, to hold on to in case Gi-hun doesn't make it out alive. This was, in a way, the one merciful act that Gi-hun performs in Mercy For None because he's effectively killed everyone else he comes across on this vengeful path. Hae-Beom sends these recordings to the press, who waste no time before making them public, causing Geum-son's kingdom to come crumbling down.

Mercy For None finally leads to a final confrontation between Gi-hun and Geum-son, and in a final ode to the title, Gi-hun refuses to let Geum-son shoot himself and instead kills him with his knife, making him bleed to death. Gi-hun is shot multiple times in this altercation, and he dies in the woods, imagining his brother beside him in a dream-like stance.

Mercy For None ends with Gi-hun having completed his vengeful path. However, Gi-hun isn't feeling victorious or content after having killed everybody involved; instead, he still blames himself for ever letting his brother work for Ju-woon all those years ago. Gi-hun feels defeated and breathes his last alone.

All seven episodes of Mercy For None are streaming on Netflix!

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