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[Theme of the Month] Choose your own epilogue

So a drama ends, and you’re not quite ready to let it go. You relive (and replay) your favorite parts over and over, and you dream of what happens after the characters exit from our views. Maybe you think of all the ways to put more cherries on top of a perfect ending, or maybe your epilogue gives a properly satisfying wrap-up to a drama that didn’t quite get there on its own.

We talked about alternate endings last year, where you rewrote unsatisfactory endings and fixed major errors to dramas that really dropped the ball. This time, it’s less about fixing huge flaws or rewriting drama canon, and more about basking in a drama’s afterglow and maybe helping to extend it.

Ever wonder what happened to beloved drama characters after the final credits rolled? What do you think happened? What should have happened?

 
(Note: We prefer personal stories and essays to fan fiction. We have nothing against fan fiction! We just prefer when you speak in your own words than in a character’s.)

 
To submit:

  • Email your submissions to hello@dramabeans.com. If you have a registered Dramabeans account, include your handle so we can link to it.
  • Include at least 1 image, though more is preferred.
  • Suggested length: Between 500 and 1,000 words.
  • Deadline: We will post these on a rolling basis, so we’re taking submissions now. We will cut off accepting submissions on October 26. If you miss this month, join us for a new theme next month!

 
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Why does anything remotely implying rewriting and editing a drama just scream CITT to me? It's a huge task, one am not ready for. But I look forward to reading everybody else's entries. Go crazy beanies!!

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Already writing...

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Is it about the OTP of Your Honour breaking up? Because then I don't have to.

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Maaybeee... i'd like to see that show deal with her rship with his brother. But I could see something about doomed ship epilogues working.

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I was actually thinking of a whole set of 'uncomfortable family lunch' epilogues...

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Like CHAHM? Do it!

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CAHM would obviously be the best...

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I hate the twin bro part of that show and think it is the worst use of a twin ever. I mean, I usually hate the twin trope because one of them dies and the other one pretends to be him. But I think for this show, it would've made sense if a near death experience made him have a personality change.

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Nooooooo, you can't!

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Write? Or write about Your Honour?

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About Your Honor! XD
I don't know, one part of me wishes Twin Bro was more involved, but the other side is glad he never got involved in the romance and made things weird.

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I have the epilogue of one drama that I've been writing in my head for years. I started writing it down at work and was basically about to run home to start it for real. So of course my boss calls with a new case. Listening to its OST now and outlining in my head as I go home now.

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*glancing at Life*

Given how I still miss those characters (especially Sun-woo), maybe I should go ahead and write something for them.

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Yes, please!

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Yes pls! I immediately thought of Life after reading this month's theme.

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Lee Joon-hyuk's appearance in the final episode of LIFE was the best cameo of the year for me.

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Sun-woo going on a date would make a great epilogue...

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Everytime there's mention of re-writing or adding something to a drama, my mind immediately screams out "Scarlet Heart: Ryeo" and "Criminal Minds - Korea".... Yes, there's trend here (Lee Joon Gi dramas!!), but it's all just coincidence, I swear lol It's not because I dislike the guy, it's just wasted potential T.T

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Scarlet Heart is the one I thought of that would benefit most from an epilogue over a different ending or another season. It did kind of get hashed out with the Season 2 theme though.

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Gu Family Book, Bring It Ghosts, Tree with Deep Roots, Arang and the Magistrate, Dr. Jin, Suk-- Scandal, as I started contemplating I realized there are very few dramas I DON'T fix after the final episode.
Okay. I should think of some that ended well. (And by well I don't mean "happily ever after" I mean in a logical manner. Healer, Rebel, the Thief who stole the people, The Princess' Man, History of a Salaryman, 2 weeks. . .okay. I suppose there are a few I've been satisfied with as the last credit rolls by. (I would have to add Mr. Sunshine to the "ended well" list. I WISH it would have ended differently, but I totally understand why it ended like it did.)

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I have no talent in writing but Im already excited to read an alternate ending of Mr Sunshine

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Is this my chance to write about the 4th rower in 17 again? @egads

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Do it. Please do it, because 4th rower deserves to be heard.

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LOL. Yes, do. That poor guy. He didn't even receive one of those gifts (back packs I think) that Mr. Gong gave to Chan and his 2 buddies.

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LOL!!!😂😂😂😂

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Please @justme , give him justice

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Ri-an too! A girl who quotes Cicero and wears a paper bag out of embarrassment deserves a fitting ending! She was just forgotten in that last episode!

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I thought it was decided that she and the 4th rower ran away together?

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To be seen ;)

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*nods* This is canon.

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I always try to credit you but usually my computer won't permit me to tag.

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..more about basking in a drama’s afterglow and maybe helping to extend it

Uum.. I'm still a little bit confused with the theme.. Does that mean I can't rewrite a dead character to be alive at the end of the story?

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I think it's more like you imagine what happens next at the actual end and not making another end.

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I, of course, immediately thought of Mischievous Kiss (or rather ISWAK and remember that isn't K and then thought of MK). I have an epilogue in my head for that drama (of course I do) but I don't know how to write it without it descending into fanfiction madness.

and *looks innocently around* I may have thoughts on the ending of APAD. But, we've already descended into fanfiction madness there...

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Hehehe the ending of APAD is exactly what struck me too! ^^ Except I wasn't a MinHoYounger & quite happy with the Ye Liner choice Bo Young made. 😄 So we'll be writing different things about the same drama if we go there.

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At this point I mostly want to forget that the drama existed. SIGH.

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Oh for old times sake one more time:
Min-ho narrating (from ep.14) the poem Lily Magnolia by Do Jong-hwan. Sorry this is what I could come up with on short notice (with Indonesian subtitles):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ9PnCHIjeA

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Where? Where? Where are the fan fiction ones so that I can read them?????😬😳

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And by way I was a Yeliner all the way... 😊

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It’s LONG. Several of us wrote or it. So tread carefully and have at least an hour to descend into the abyss. http://www.dramabeans.com/members/raonah/activity/488601/#acomment-488609

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I am/was on the MinHoYoung line and somehow I missed this fanfic thread that @raonah put together. I took a quick peek and it looks like it was a lot of fun. I will go down memory lane and check it out later.

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@marcusnyc20 that reminds me, I never quite finished that fanfic. It just kind of stopped 😬 Maybe I'll try to give it a better ending by the end of the year. Have fun reading!

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@raonah it was my turn but I was stumped! Stumped I tell you!

It would be nice to go through and put it in a Google doc for readability. I may do that

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That would be great 🙂

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It has already been done for Mischievous Kiss- which is slightly incomplete due to the untimely death of the author of the Manga. However, her husband disclosed the general outline that she had told him and the complete story was actually done in the Anime version of the story "Itakiss". The story ends with the birth of Naoki and Kotoko's first child. A true epilogue was then added with a 25th episode where the couple take their now five year old daughter to visit his grandparents- and once again meet his Great Great Great Grandfather's ghost.

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About Time: TOD gets another chance

Prime Minister and I: They go on an actual date

Oh My Venus: She tells him to quit obsessing about her weight, especially when she's pregnant

King 2 Hearts: 6 years later, the American president comes for a state visit, and the Korean royal family children "accidentally" reveal his hair is a horrific wig during a news conference. Resulting in international love and acclaim for the otherwise unruly crew.

Pasta: Seo Yoo Kyung decides to go to Italy to study despite the protests of her boyfriend. Telling him it is the 21st century with phones, computers, and airplanes that make keeping in touch possible, so she is not passing up a once in a lifetime opportunity for him.

Big: Cut to a shot of Gong Yoo asleep on a couch, a script clasped in his hands. Opening his eyes, he sits up and looks at the script title, Big. With a grimace, he shakes his head, and pitches the script into a nearby wastebin saying, "Why would my agency give me this piece of garbarge?"

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One big fat ol' YES to the Big epilogue. I need that in my life.

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THAT BIG EPILOGUE! I could have saved myself from so much stress if that was an actual epilogue.

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An About Time epilogue where the ToD broods over a beer because of his failure and then goes back out to finally succeed at this vital community service sounds great. We can really get inside ToD's head here and get a feel for how important he views his task. A final sentence where those two assholes are nothing but smears on the pavement rounds it out. Perfecto!

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Big had already tried to convince you it was all a weird fever dream. Now it's a dream in a dream? I love it.

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Lol at imaging Gong Yoo dreaming the entire script!!!

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In your epilogue for King 2 Hearts, this might be the ONE time that hiring a terrible American actor for the part of the American president would be perfectly on point.

May the epilogue also reveal that our bodyguard didn't actually die and comes back healthy and happy? Pretty please?

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@kimbapnoona our bodyguard didn't die. It was actually his North Korean doppelganger who was placed as a spy, and Shi-kyung was secretly kidnapped and taken north. Shi-kyung escapes from North Korea a few years later, bringing with him a wife and mini Shi-kyung who will be the perfect stoic foil for the unruly royal children.

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😍 @egads for President of Joy Epilogue Club!!!!

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Wait but... Shi-kyung and the princess is still a thing. So maybe she has a secret relationship with him and couldn't let her brother know because of the many dangers.

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You're right, I forgot about that. I'll revise.

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Ah, your Big epilogue made me do a spit take with my tea! Such a great way to rethink about that drama.

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I hated the ending of the Prime Minister and I. Bringing the 'dead' wife back really destroyed the whole story- what she had done was awful and she should simply have been treated accordingly, period.

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I feel the same way about PM &I.

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Well, let me write one for Lingerie Girls' Generation then. Let's bask in the afterglow for four more episodes. Hahahuhu

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Oh yes, write about that one, please. I need more of my adorable puppies being... well, adorable puppies.

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Epilogue: Adorable Puppies Being Adorable Puppies

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I love this theme of the month.❤️ I'm all ready to read the awesome entries of this month. It'll be so much fun.
There's are lots of dramas that I'm hoping gets an extended ending.^^
To all the beanies who are going to write- Fighting!!
*Heart hands*

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Great topic. Finally I can try to share something! And the first drama that comes to my mind is "My Ajusshi". Excellent, amazing, one of the bests if not the Best of all, but we simply needed MORE🙋😍😖😄😅

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Yes!!! Please, please write what happened to Ji An and Park Dong Hoon after that very meaningful handshake.

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I will read it if someone write their story before and after that handshake. My imagination has already wild.

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yesss,,MORE My Ajusshi pleasee 😍
lol at that ‘warning’ from @javabeans about not writing fanfics, because I can see how many My Ajusshi fans basking on the afterglow of the drama’s ending by writing ‘unrated’ fanfics, and if only that materials posted here on DB 😂

anyway, look forward to your version of ‘not-so-fanfics’ epilogue of My Ajusshi, @javinne and all My Ajusshi’s fans!

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I tried to write it but my writing skills are just not enough. Somebody please write an epilogue for Come and Hug Me that focuses more on Hyun-moo and Moo-won!

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Their epic untold love story?

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Your poems are so amazing though! Please try and write something. I’ve got nothing inspiring to write this month!

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Aw, thank Ally! I'll post when I get the inspiration! It's just so hard to find these days.

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Is it too much to ask for a Chilbongie-inspired epilogue? 😅

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I love that idea!

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I would be delighted to see an Age of Youth epilogue where the girls eventually enter Age of Adulthood and become grandmas in Age of Seniorhood.

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I need THIS epilogue to forget THAT epilogue which left a wound that still hasn't healed!!!! 😭😭😭

Wae Writer-nim? Waeeeeeeee?

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What epilogue? I didn't see any epilogue. *backs away quietly*

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I have not watched season 2 because of the epilogue of doom. I have a suspicion the writer did it to cut off any chance of season 3.

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Season 2 is really good though. Again, what epilogue?

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I don't know where you watched it but in S2, the mini epilogues at the end of every episode ah... revealed some things we really wish they hadn't.

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Yes, I wasn't being obvious enough. I saw it and then immediately erased it from my mind.

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Can I insert myself into the dramas whose endings I hate?

CiTT : Yoo Jung comes home, and meets me at the intersection. I pass him a cheese sandwich. The end.

Scarlet Heart; Wang So teleports to modern world, and guess who he meets when he lands in the swimming pool. Me. The end.

Goblin: He sits on the bench, hears a footstep, and turns. Hey, it's me, and I say, "Dude, I got you a new sword, and it's a lightsabre, it's way cooler, and lighter than your sword." The end.

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😂 Perfect! Javabeans does say that she prefers personal stories!

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Oh I have one!

Queen In-hyun's Man: Boong-do comes back to the present one last time, but instead of Hee-jin, I'm waiting for him in the phone booth. I grab him by the tie and he kisses me. The End.

I do love me a man with a sexy... brain.

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Perfect "The end" when you get the boys in all of your epilogues.

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Rewatching I remember you atm. It could use an epilogue with lee Hyeon and cha ji an. Lh unbending a bit and showing ji an just how much he cares for her. And him and his brother being cute and trying to figure out the future. That show was so stingy with the feels. Tease!

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How about an epilogue where they catch Lee Joon-young the genius evil 3 years after the ending, and finally live happily together, waiting for Min to come out of prison.

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I want to write a couple of epilogues featuring the Second Lead (m/f) being happy and doing cool stuff, even though they didn't end up as part of The Couple.

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Why not

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And Ode to Jisoo?
But not because I may have an idea for.... [redacted]

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I wasn't thinking about Jisoo actually, so if you want to write an Ode to him, go right ahead.

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It's obviously not an ode to Jisoo but there is a second male lead epilogue I'd like to write that has him in it.

Still... Jisoo getting the girl? That messes with reality on a fundamental level. Maybe it's... wrong...

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I just finished Sassy Go Go and Ji Soo needs and deserves The Girl. I don't know who she is, but she better be FANTASTIC!

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"Jan-di jerks Joon-pyo around by the feelings one too many times, so he dumps her for good and finds a girl worthy of him."

There, done.

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This is more or less my feeling about Heirs, but in reverse. Tan gaslights and is controlling one too many times with Eun Sang, and she ends up going it alone for a few years to focus on her career and become a real badass. At which point she meets Young Do who has learned from his experience with her, and they have a really lovely friends-to-lovers arc.

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What about an ending for Jung Hwan?? We never got to find out how his story ended :( :(

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I hope someone writes a epilogue for CITY HUNTER.

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Here is a chance to make my pitch again. It is a simultaneous sequel: HEALER meets CITY HUNTER (or CITY HUNTER meets HEALER if you prefer).
When Lee Min-ho and Ji Chang-wook finish their Army service I would love to see them together as leads in the same drama.
What the story line would be, I have no idea.

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I meant “an” epilogue. @marcusnyc20 That’s a real great idea! Love it!

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LOL. OK, you are looking for a short story not a novel.
Btw. CH was my sixth kdrama and first with LMH of course. That is also where I became a LJH fan.
I enjoyed it. I hope you get your epilogue.

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Sungmin confesses to Ssong Ji Won sometime after the end of the last episode, and they date and get married and have five children and Ssong doesn't die by the age of 30 and they live happily ever after. The End.

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YES. But we all know this happened, since this isn't fanfiction, it's canon.

Also, could be taken as canon that Ssong sunbae fakes her death around age 30.

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But we didn't SEE IT. I needed to SEE IT Cocoa *cries*.
Brah I hope she fakes her death. Dramaland needs more faking of deaths and eloping to remote islands...

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I don't know about the rest of you but I would love a longer epilogue for Miss Hammurabi to provide more closure.
And an even fluffier ending to Girl's Generation 1979. :D
Just to satisfy the squeals...
I'm sure there's others, but my brain is drawing a blank. heh

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anyone cab write on RinSan from Kings love.. thats the only story i'd love to read as an epilogue.

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I don't have time to write, edit and submit; it so I'll say it here:

In my alternate universe, 9 Ends 2 Outs is the prequel to The Liar and His Lover. Nan-Hee and Hyung-Tae get engaged after dating for some time. Ultimately, though, Nan-Hee flakes out again and goes abroad to attempt being a writer leaving Hyung-Tae officially scarred.

Hyung-Tae takes on a new persona as Choi Jin-Hyuk and, after two heart crushing relationships, decides his only constant love is music. Thus, he becomes music producer who dates the young female artists that he meets at the agency. His only real goal is to heal his aching heart caused by Nan-Hee and Sung-Ah.

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