In a coda, the protagonist looks back on his life. He had graduated from a prominent university, but had declined to work with one of the "chaebols", which he viewed as authoritarian, hypocritical and corrupt. He had taken a job in sales, but that job was also dependent on the chaebols. Disillusioned, he had become a private institute (hagwon) lecturer of humble means. At that point, he learns that his fellow students have met with varying levels of success. Some have done quite well, without logical reason. As described in a scholarly review by Jini Kim Watson, he "feels as if 'I had been thrown into a cruel kingdom that ran things as it wished'. What is striking is that this 'cruel kingdom' now no longer refers to student monitor's regime, nor the new teacher’s violent reforms, nor even the chaebol businesses. In the coda, corruption, lack of freedom, and the arbitrary rule of hypocrites turn out to better describe the normative conditions of the postcolonial nation under globalized post-Fordism." At the end, he chances to see the monitor being arrested as a petty crook. The protagonist cries but is unable to determine why. His confusion also leaves the reader unable to determine the appropriate allegory.