Popular K-drama Twinkling Watermelon aired episode 16 (final episode) on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 8:40 p.m. KST on tvN and Viki. The series follows the story of a gifted CODA (child of deaf adult) student who travels back in time to meet a few high schoolers and creates a band – Watermelon Sugar. While at it, he also meets his parents from the past and sets things straight with them.
Episode 16 of Twinkling Watermelon ended on a bittersweet note. Eun-Gyeol (Ryeoun) couldn’t avoid his father, Yi Chan’s (Choi Hyun-Wook) accident. However, the latter ended up graduating and leading a well-known guitar band. Yi Chan has Cheong-Ah (Shin Eun-Soo) by his side, who also graduated, as well as his band members. Eun-Gyeol became popular in the music industry and reconciled with Eun-Yu (Seol In-Ah) in the present. As for Eun-Yu, she started living a better life for herself with Eun-Gyeol.
Twinkling Watermelon episode 16 ending: What happens at the end?
Episode 16 of Twinkling Watermelon begins with Eun-Gyeol taking his father, Yi Chan, to the hospital after the accident. He feels apologetic for not being able to protect Yi Chan when it was needed the most. In the operation theatre, Yi Chan dreams of graduating college and fulfilling his promise to his grandmother. He is also surrounded by his friends Cheong-Ah, Eun-Gyeol, and Eun-Yu.
Meanwhile, Eun-Yu meets Grandpa Viva while sharing details with the police. Grandpa Viva discovers Yi Chan’s cassette and enquires Eun-Yu about it. He, however, thinks that his daughter Choi Se-Kyung has returned from the past. Eun-Yu asks him a question that her mother has longed to ask him, “Why did you abandon me?”
Grandpa Viva explains how he though Se-Kyung was happy with her adoptive parents. However, Eun-Yu confesses that wasn’t the case, and that Se-Kyung always had to compete with her step siblings to prove her worth. She asks Grandpa Viva to burn the cassette in hopes of that changing the events of the time. Eun-Yu also leaves, promising that this is the most she could do with her time travel journey.
Both Eun-Yu and Eun-Gyeol receive a call from the Master. The latter asks them to wrap up their journey and reach the same destination they arrived after their time travel. Eun-Gyeol isn’t ready to leave Yi Chan, but the Master explains that his existence in the past can have severe repercussions as he doesn’t belong in this world.
Meanwhile, Yi Chan’s surgery was successful. As he rests, Eun-Gyeol apologizes for his behavior in the present. However, the following day, Eun-Gyeol discovers that Yi Chan has lost his hearing. The latter’s grandmother breaks down after the diagnosis, and Eun-Gyeol leaves to find out who caused the accident. Eun-Yu arrives in time to tell him it is Cheong-Ah’s stepbrother, Yoon Ju-Yeop.
Eun-Gyeol fights with Ju-Yeop at the police station, but Eun-Yu drags him out. She tells him they should return to the present and leaves things as they are. Eun-Gyeol feels guilty to have time traveled as he wouldn’t have been the reason for his father’s accident. However, Eun-Yu explained that he saved her and rescued Cheong-Ah from her stepmother, fulfilling most of his missions.
Cheong-Ah’s father asks her to accompany him on a trip through sign language. Cheong-Ah sends Yi Chan a fax informing him of the positive development and thanking him for making it happen. While her father plans to send her abroad for further studies, Ji-Mi can’t leave the country and is in custody for tax evasion.
Eun-Yu comes face-to-face with her mother, Se-Kyung. She asks her to live her own life and meet her father, Grandpa Viva. Se-Kyung is shocked and runs away in disbelief. Meanwhile, following Eun-Yu’s advice, Eun-Gyeol meets Grandpa Viva, teaches him the meaning of CODA, and asks him to reconcile with his daughter. He bids final goodbye to Grandpa Viva and leaves with Yi Chan’s cassette.
Eun-Gyeol breaks down after listening to Yi Chan’s gratitude towards him. He meets his father, and encourages him to overcome all hardships. Yi Chan asks him not to feel guilty about causing the accident as it wasn’t his fault. Eun-Gyeol eventually meets the Mater, who welcomes him with lavender tea and returns his guitar. Upon asking about his identity, the Master reveals that he is a joke from God and open to interpretation.
As he leaves the music shop, he turns back to see Grandpa Viva from the present, who’d passed away. It looks like it was all his doing. Like this, Eun-Gyeol returns to the present. However, he ends up in the guest room of the Jinsung family. He sees a portrait of his family and rushes to Eun-Yu’s house. However, she isn’t to be found. He wonders if she isn’t able to return to the present.
He soon realizes that he is a part of the famous group SPIN9 as a group of fans follow him. Eun-Gyeol meets his group members, who tell him they’ll perform as Yoon Dong-Jin’s support band. He discovers they are MJ Entertainment’s artists and endorsers of Jinsung’s musical instruments. He meets his mother, Cheong-Ah, the band members in the present, and discovers how each of them has achieved success.
Eun-Gyeol realizes that his father has mended his relationships with the band members. At the launch of a guitar line, he discovers that Yi Chan is the director of the brand. Yi Chan gets up on stage to deliver a speech. He speaks in sign language and confesses to losing his hearing in an accident. Yi Chan recalls how he was about to give up but didn’t do so because he would remember the sounds from his first 18 years.
Eun-Gyeol is satisfied with his father’s achievement and establishment of the Goliath brand. He envisions the Yi Chan from the past. He meets his father in the present and hugs him, promising that it is his turn to shine. As he leaves, she drops the cassette, and his father picks it up, only to see that it was the cassette he’d made in the past.
Eun-Gyeol performs as part of the group SPINE9 and sees Eun-Yu. The two share a sweet moment after discovering each other in the present. The scene moves to a flashback when Eun-Yu meets the Master and gets her cello back. She assures him of living a good life.
Although Eun-Gyeol couldn’t avoid the accident, he still encouraged his father to lead a good life. He rescued his mother, Cheong-Ah, from her abusive stepmother, reconciling her with her father. He also met Eun-Yu. As for the latter, she promised to lead a better life with Eun-Gyeol by his side. Both their time travel journeys were successful.
All episodes of Twinkling Watermelon are available to stream on Viki.
