‘Unlocked’ Ending Explained: Who Is Jun-Yeong, and Why Does He Kill?

Welcome to the Ending Explained for Unlocked, a new South Korean thriller now available on Netflix. The film tackles the subject of surveillance, privacy, and how many people out there are willing to exploit it and harm others. In an age where everyone and their phones are basically one and the same. It seems hard not to be the prey of these people who are using the information we so easily and freely deliver on social media to do harm and take advantage of others.

The film is very well-made and fits into the standard of South Korean production that has exploded in the last five years. The South Korean film industry has always been massive, and they have some of the best thrillers in their library. Unlocked is nothing outstanding within the genre and is mostly predictable. However, the performances are solid and serve as a one-time watch movie. You might forget that you saw it hours after seeing the credits roll, but you can be entertained for at least two hours.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Unlocked. Read at your own risk.

How Does Jun-Yeong Hacks Na-mi’s Smartphone?

The film begins with the introduction of our main character, Na-Mi. She is a very jovial and hard-working girl. She has many friends and seems to be having a great life. She enjoys baseball games and playing first-person shooters on her phone, and she loves going out with her best friend Eun-ju. One day, after partying hard with her friends, Na-mi returns home but doesn’t realize she has lost her phone on the street. Someone finds it and picks it up, but unfortunately, the person who found it is the worst possible person.

The person who has found the phone is a mysterious young man. He uses the messages sent to the phone to search on social media and learn as much as possible about its owner. When someone finally calls, he uses some pre-recorded phrases in a woman’s voice to convince Na-mi to go to a sketchy smartphone repair store. There he repairs Na-mi’s phone, but first, he installs an app that allows him to control the phone remotely and watch and record everything she does with it.

Na-mi is happy to have her phone back, but soon she will discover that this is just the beginning of a nightmare. The young man keeps searching through all the things that Na-mi likes, and he starts appearing at the Café she works in. Na-mi’s father runs the place and isn’t very trusting of this new guy who has started talking with his daughter. He warns her that he believes this young man is sketchy and that she should be careful. However, Na-mi dismisses his father’s concerns.

Na-mi works at a startup for beauty products, and they have been doing amazingly well so far. Na-mi has been promised a big paycheck once the company goes public, but she needs to maintain some details on the products, such as secrets. Sadly, the mysterious man records all of this and posts a very damaging post on Na-mi’s social media. She is fired and humiliated in public. It all seems to be going bad. She then fights with her best friends after suspecting she was the one who did the post. Now, Na-mi is all alone.

Who Is Jun-Yeong, And Why Does He Kill?

Alongside Na-mi and her story, the movie presents our villain, the mysterious young man whose name is, Jun-Yeong, who would later call. Jun-Yeong is handsome and apparently very smart. However, he is also a serial killer and chooses his victims through social media. He then hacks their phones, ruins their lives, and kills them. We are also introduced to Detective Ji-man, who, after seeing the body of a female victim in the woods, discovers a piece of evidence that might link the scene of the crime to his son, Jun-Yeong.

Ji-man searches tirelessly for his son, but it appears Jun-Yeong doesn’t have a phone. Some documents say he owns a phone repair shop, but no one knows where it is. It is revealed that Jun-Yeong ran away from his home two years ago, and his Ji-man hasn’t seen him or talked to him in all that time. It is quite sad. Jun-Yeong watches how Ji-man enters his apartment and avoids him. Ji-man discovers all types of evidence in the room and makes a recording of everything.

However, Ji-man is conflicted because it would mean that his son is a murderer and that he will have to arrest him or worse. Na-mi finally realizes that the spyware on her phone was installed while Jun-Yeong repaired it. She goes back to the store and finds Ji-man’s and his associate searching for it. They come to an agreement. Na-mi will serve as bait, inviting Jun-Yeong to her home, and Ji-man will arrest him. They execute their plan, but when Ji-man is about to arrest Jun-Yeong, he doesn’t recognize him as his son.

Later, Jun-Yeong seems tired of waiting for Na-mi and reveals his true intentions. He is not doing this for any particular reason. He does it because he finds it fun. Jun-Yeong has captured Na-mi’s father, and he drowns both of them in a bathtub. Ji-man and his partner arrive and capture Jun-Yeong, who is actually revealed not to be Ji-man’s son. Actually, the real Jun-Yeong is dead, and Ji-man’s finds a picture of him in the criminal’s phone. Na-mi picks up a gun a shoots him. He doesn’t die, though; the police wait for him to wake up to learn his real identity.