Chicken Nugget ending explained: Does Min-ah become human again?

Netflix’s Chicken Nugget K-drama is a wild ride for any fans that leads Min-ah to become a piece of fried chicken due to a machine, with her father and his employee desperate to turn her human again. But do they succeed by the ending?

The title of the K-drama is only part of the bizarre yet tantalizing story based on a webtoon. Choi Seon-man and his employee Go Baek-joong are in a rather big pickle. An unknown machine turns Seon-man’s daughter into a deliciously golden and crispy chicken nugget.

Weird right? But that’s only one part of the bigger story, as the hunt to find answers to turn her human again leads to a slew of comedic and complex truths. Within the 10 episodes of the K-drama, Baek-joong and Seon-man uncover the hidden mystery behind the unknown machine.

By the end of Chicken Nugget, Seon-man and Baek-joong are faced with an upsetting decision on how to save Min-ah. Here’s what happens. Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

Does Min-ah become human again in Chicken Nugget K-drama?

No, she doesn’t. By the end of the K-drama, the alien Baek-jung returns to Earth to report he couldn’t turn Min-ah back to being human. Instead, he gives Baek-jung a chance to go back in time to before Min-ah became a chicken nugget.

Part of the K-drama’s storyline is the reveal that the employees of Baekjung Chicken Nuggets are aliens from a distant world. They arrived 200 years ago in the two machines seen in the K-drama. After using them to become human, they were misused by someone else and lost. They were left stranded.

Chicken Nugget Episode 10 culminates with alien Baek-jung realizing he must return to their home planet to atone for having killed a human in the past. As well as for using his powers against Baek-jung, Seon-man, In-won, and Tae-man. Having learned to love, he promises to take Min-ah with him to turn her into a human again with the help of people from his planet.

Seon-man has no choice but to tearfully let his daughter go to save her. But the K-drama time jumps 50 years into the future with Baek-jung now a famous singer like he’s always dreamed of. One night, he wakes up and finds the alien Baek-jung in his living room.

With him is Min-ah, but as a chicken nugget. He reveals that after his group was stranded on Earth 250 years ago, his planet banned all travel to Earth. Why? Because Earth had created weapons of destruction. As a result, all travel machines were destroyed, but alien Baek-jung arrived in the only remaining machine with Min-ah.

The problem is that alien Baek-jang needed one day to recharge the machine to turn her human. But one day on their planet is 50 years on Earth. If he succeeded, no one would be alive to remember Min-ah when she returned. Alien Baek-jung gives Baek-jung a choice.

He can go back in time to when Min-ah was human and erase all his memories. The fate of billions of people in the current timeline will still happen per fate, with Min-ah’s added. When Baek-jung calls for Seon-man to come and see him to decide, Seon-man gets dressed in a suit and peacefully dies when he arrives.

Chicken Nugget ends with Baek-jung telling Min-ah she deserves to live the time she should have spent with her father. The final scenes are of Min-ah as she arrives at her father’s company with the chicken nuggets.

Chicken Nugget is available to stream on Netflix and is one of the many K-dramas released from Netflix in 2024. If you’re interested in more Kim Yoo-jung K-dramas, head here.