Pyramid Game (2024) K Drama 2024 Episode 10 (Final Episode)

Episode 10 of Pyramid Game starts where we left off with Soo-ji joining Ja-eun to meet Ha-rin at the elementary school where Ha-rin and Ja-eun studied. Ha-rin accuses Ja-eun of bullying her as a child and ruining her life. Soo-ji is shocked at the accusation but a flashback shows Ja-eun and Ha-rin as children. 

What happened to Ha-rin (So-woon) as a child?

Ha-rin recalls how she had revealed to Ja-eun that she was an orphan in confidentiality. However, when Ha-rin (then called So-woon) became the class favourite, the students started maltreating her. Ja-eun watched Ha-rin get bullied by their classmates for being an orphan. Ha-rin held a grudge against Ja-eun for revealing her secret.

As time passed, Ha-rin noticed how the Pyramid Game played in her school creating a hierarchy where the top-ranking students got more food and access to other amenities while she had to sleep without a blanket. One day, Ha-rin overhears the news of the Baek family wanting to adopt a child from Ha-rin’s orphanage.

Ha-rin impresses Cho-soon with her dance recital and is adopted into the Baek family. However, she does not receive any acceptance from Mr Baek and Yi-hwa. After being under the scrutiny of Cho-soon for years, Ha-rin realises that impressing her adoptive grandmother was the only way to make sure she would stay in the family. Ha-rin started reading the Bible like Cho-soon and made sure she would never be sloppy.

Why did Ha-rin want to punish Ja-eun?

Ha-rin reminds Ja-eun of how they met in the first year of High School. Ha-rin claims that she never forgave Ja-eun for what she did to her but Ja-eun forgave herself after seeing that Ha-rin was adopted by a rich family. Ha-rin wanted to ruin her life which is why she decided to start the Pyramid Game and put her in Rank F.

Soo-ji dismisses Ha-rin’s allegations against Ja-eun and states that Ja-eun did nothing that demanded Ha-rin treat her so badly. She calls Ha-rin a psychopath and tells her that she could’ve changed her life for the better but instead chose to hurt people with her actions. Just then, Ha-rin takes a bunch of pills and passes out in the foyer. Minutes later, the building burns down.

What happens to Soo-ji?

Despite the fire spreading rapidly, Ja-eun pulls Ha-rin out as she and Soo-ji leave the premises. After the fire, there is a lot of tension in school. News reports spread of Soo-ji being one of the bullies and she is investigated for starting the fire in Ja-eun’s old elementary school which was now owned by the Baek group. Ye-rim and the other girls realise that Ha-rin’s family was trying to pin the blame for the incident on Soo-ji.

News spreads about Ha-rin being admitted to the hospital. Yi-hwa realises that this was Dr Seo seeking revenge for how she didn’t help Do-ah. The live stream video is clipped and spread online where Soo-ji is called out for pushing Ha-rin onto the wall. All this prompts Miss Choi, another professor to come to Soo-ji’s help.

How do the students help Soo-ji?

The professor tells Miss Yoon that she filmed Da-yeon, Woo-yi and Seol-ha beating Soo-ji up one day. The video of Soo-ji being a victim is spread online and there is more solid evidence of School Bullying in Baekyeon High School. Ye-rim takes her name back from her pre-debut team. She uploads a video online confessing that she too was a bystander in the school bullying because she did not help the victims. Ja-eun also shares her experience with bullying using a reporter to help Soo-ji.

This gives Woo-ri the courage to share her story. Seung-hwa helps Woo-ri film her testimony wherein she states that Ha-rin had started bullying her because she stepped on her foot by accident. The Baekyeon High School is under police scrutiny after multiple witness testimonies were spread online. Soo-ji’s father – Lieutenant Sung is hurt to see the video and apologises to Soo-ji for the comment he made when he visited her class.

What happens to Baekyeon High School?

From the documents found on Mr Lim’s computer, Soo-ji and Seung-hwa concluded that he was not qualified to be a professor. They also found that the question papers were also manipulated and the grades of the students were tampered with at the school. Soo-ji uses Miss Yoon’s help to spread the documents online and the school is investigated for corruption. Principal Im, Yi-hwa and Mr Lim are all questioned and the school is shut down indefinitely. 

What happens to the bullies?

Due to the video, Da-yeon is traumatised and attempts to end her life but her father barges into her room to beat her up further. Woo-yi is diagnosed with psychopathic tendencies. Seol-ha is expelled from the school and is not able to participate in sports competitions. Other students are also expelled. Eun-byeol is exposed for cheating on her exams and for tampering with her grades. She protests outside Hankuk University asking them to withdraw their dismissal of her application. Do-ah is expelled from school for conducting the Pyramid Game. Dr Seo is upset with Do-ah and asks why she did what she did. Do-ah tells him that she is done being treated as an object and wants to live her life on her terms now. 

What happens to Soo-ji and her friends?

Soo-ji and her friends feel liberated now that most of the bullies are punished. However, they also wish that Ha-rin had received some sort of punishment as well. Soo-ji and Do-ah meet and the former thanks the latter. Ye-rim tells Eun-jeong that she is okay with not debuting as she needs to suffer for not taking a stand against the bullying.

What happens to Ha-rin at the end of Pyramid Game?

After causing so much trouble for the family, Ha-rin is abandoned by Cho-soon and the Baek family. Mr Baek gets back in Cho-soon’s good books and makes a public announcement. Mr Baek reveals that they were not aware of Ha-rin’s psychopathic tendencies and have finally revoked their adoption of her. 

He also announces that the Baekyeon group is going to stop all funding activities for educational institutions to make sure there were no more discrepancies involving their business. Ha-rin wakes up in a hospital bed and lives with a pseudonym. Soo-ji narrates that Ha-rin would now be neglected because she did not have the support of an influential family.

How does Pyramid Game end?

Soo-ji and Ja-eun take a stand for other bullies instead of being bystanders. Two months later, the school is taken over by a new company and the girls are now Year 3 students. The Baekyeon Girls School is now called Miryo Girls School after being taken over by Miryo Group.

Jae-hyeong, Ji-ae, Ye-rim, Soo-ji and Ja-eun are all still friends. Seung-hwa finally bids Soo-ji farewell and enlists in the military. He leaves 5 tickets to the festival for Soo-ji to go with her friends. Soo-ji and her friends attend school as a group and the Miryo twins are introduced to the class.

In the teacher’s office, the Miryo twins decide they would like to play the Pyramid Game as well and the show ends with Soo-ji looking at the new girls.

The Episode Review

This episode was confusing from start to finish. There is so much that happened here but I wish it was narrated more linearly. There are a lot of flashbacks in this show to ensure that viewers are surprised but that also calls for a lot of confusion. It is clear that the makers tried to give the drama a more realistic ending as it did not stick to the ending of the webtoon Pyramid Game is based on.

The webtoon sees all the bullies in prison but the show leaves room for a potential Season 2. Given the popularity of the show, I see that Pyramid Game Season 2 is quite possible. The girls’ remaining friends despite all the chaos around them are the highlight of this episode. It is also nice to see that good teachers like Miss Yoon are still a part of the school.

The introduction of the Miryo twins and their hope to play the Pyramid Game leaves the show on an open ending with hopes of renewal as they are both put in the same class as Soo-ji. We will see what the makers decide to do with the show in the months to come.