Let's Break Down That "All of Us Are Dead" Season 1 Ending

The Korean Netflix original "All of Us Are Dead" has made quite a splash since its Jan. 28 premiere. Adapted from the webtoon "Now at Our School" by Joo Dong-geun, the K-horror series follows a group of high school students who strive to dodge the zombie outbreak that originated in their very own science lab and spreads like wildfire across the globe. The contagion virus — dubbed the Jonas Virus — stems from the mind of a desperate father who, in a last-ditch effort to protect his timid son against ruthless bullies, puts his scientific knowledge to dangerous use, unwittingly wreaking havoc on the world in the process.

Consisting of 12 episodes, each clocking in at about 60 minutes, "All of Us Are Dead" takes its sweet time developing the central teen characters as they fight to survive, but the season finale seems somewhat open-ended. So if you're looking to decipher the ambiguous ending of "All of Us Are Dead," read ahead for a breakdown.

How Did On-Jo and the Gang Escape the School?

In the eleventh episode, Cheong-san gets bitten by his former classmate and now half-zombie, Gwi-nam. Knowing that he won't be able to make it out alive, he chooses to stay behind and distract the zombies, sacrificing himself to ensure his friends get out of school in time before the oncoming military airstrike. And though the group manages to make a narrow escape, the airstrike seems to have taken out Cheong-san along with the rest of the zombies in the school. Following the explosion, the camera shows Cheong-san lying among the dead bodies, seemingly dead himself. When a heartbroken On-jo goes back to the construction site to look for her best friend, Nam-ra, who — as a human/zombie hybrid — now has a heightened sense of smell and hearing, tells On-jo that she doesn't feel anyone living around the building.

With the time brought by Cheong-San's sacrifice, the students finally make it out of their school and head for Yangdong, the evacuated city adjacent to their hometown, Hyosan. As they trudge along the way, they're guided by the ribbons tied on the mountain trees by On-jo's late firefighter dad, Nam So-ju (Jeon Bae-soo). Finally, they reach the secluded streets of Yangdong, where a horde of a dozen zombies attacks them. While the gang fights valiantly and defeats them all, one of the undead claims the life of Wu-jin (Son Sang-yeon), the brother of Ha-ri (Ha Seung-ri) as he tries to save his sister.

Is Cheong-san Really Dead?

Given Cheong-san's track record on the show, he has escaped several close brushes with death. Could it be that he somehow managed to get out of the construction site before On-jo gets there in hopes of finding him? Or perhaps he's turned into a human/zombie hybrid like Nam-ra, hence why she couldn't sense anyone "living." Only a second season will answer this question.

Why Did Nam-ra Leave the Group on "All of Us Are Dead"?

Along with Nam-ra's newfound zombie super-hearing and super-sense of smell, she also occasionally craves human flesh. Overwhelmed by her insatiable urges to devour her friends, she decides to part ways with them for good before the group, at long last, reaches the military men who take them to quarantine zones.

What Happens After the "All of Us Are Dead" Time Leap?

The show leps four months into the future in the final episode, at which point martial law in Hyosan has been lifted for the first time since the outbreak, providing the quarantined residents some freedom. Still traumatized by the horrifying experiences they lived through, On-jo (and the rest of the group's survivors) deals with insurmountable grief and survivor's guilt by visiting the makeshift memorial for her friends.

During one of those visits, On-jo notices a campfire in the distance, which she assumes is the rooftop of their high school. She remembers Nam-ra, an outcast before the zombie outbreak, wishing she could have another campfire night with her newfound friends. On-jo conveys this to Su-hyeok (Park Solomon), and, together with the rest of the survivors, they go see if Nam-ra is camping out at the school. As the students step back onto their demolished old school premises, they relive the horror they experienced there. But sure enough, their suspicions that Nam-ra is living there turn out to be true.

Nam-ra greets them and seems to be doing well, having adapted to the half-zombie life. When On-jo asks the former class president to join them back at the camp, she turns down the offer, assuring them that she isn't alone. "There are a few more like me," she says, referencing the half-zombie humans. Nam-ra's prescient hearing then kicks in, telling her that people like her are back, and she jumps off the roof in a swift motion as the camera pans over her friends watching in surprise and awe.

What Does the "All of Us Are Dead" Ending Mean?

The ending of "All of Us Are Dead" is hopeful, yet brimming with possibilities. And while "All of Us Are Dead" season two hasn't been ordered by Netflix yet, the show might take a number of directions if it returns. For instance, it could follow the long-lasting repercussions of the epidemic, which is not entirely eradicated, not to mention documenting Nam-ra's (and maybe Cheong-San's) journey as she navigates this new world as a half-zombie. In addition, intelligence officers who investigated and examined the survivors were seemingly gathering information to weaponize the virus, which could play a big role in a second season.

We'll have to wait for another season — if it gets one — to find out the answers to "All of Us Are Dead"'s fans' pressing questions. "All of Us Are Dead" is available to stream on Netflix.