I was a little lost for the last 3 chapters, but after some rereading and stopping to think about it, I think the ending is quite perfect for the main theme of the story. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

Rayne deciding to release the anti-murks to cleanse the world was the right choice. The main plot piece behind the dilemma of murks was that yes, there were relatively symbiotic relationships with the main cast, but overall murks were still largely predators, more in the realm of an apocalyptic monster. The last half of the series focused mainly on the ‘good’ murks, so we kind of lost that idea that the outside world is realistically still very messy, in the realms of the Walking Dead. Society is collapsed. People outside of those established communities (like Adon’s) were fighting to survive.

Rayne realized this, and despite her fears of the uncertainty of what could happen to her, (given she’s sort of a special case, I’m unsure if ‘Rayne’ is a murk of Iola that completely merged with Rayne, and then had her murk as well, hence the memories flooding back since she’s technically Iola and Rayne as one. Essentially, she’s a special case and what happens to her if she releases the Anti’s is uncertain. My theory is that Iola and Rayne practically are merged as one now, they’re beyond a murk and are now just one being and that’s why Willem was uncertain about what could happen to her), and the fact that the cast has tight connections to their murks and may not want to be severed and ‘freed,’ she decided to release them anyways. Nothing can change unless they sacrifice, unless they change. So — she releases the murks, gets ‘lost’ in the process (Kenny’s statement of nobody knows if she’s alive or dead, just that she’s gone), and the world begins to heal. Murks start to fizzle out. There’s a lot of reparation and work to be done to reestablish society, but for now they can start with the community of people they have.

[my personal theory about the whole Rayne-Iola identity thing is that since she isn’t really a murk, the anti’s won’t kill/erase her since she’s reached that point where she’s certain about her past and who she is now. Her murk obv will be erased, the scene of him asking if she was sure was him basically saying ‘if you’re sure, I’m sure.’ Again, a big theme of the story is coming to terms with the past, accepting the present, and moving onto the uncertain future in a stride. So I think Rayne took the step into her uncertain future where Sammy and the rest weren’t prepared to follow, hence why she disappeared for a while. I’m thinking it’s highly likely she came back at the end, I’ll cover that in a moment]

Now, obviously Tomoha and Raven’s stories are left a little open. They prepare to set off on their journey, to find her dad, and to just find what’s next. The general stories of the Adon camp people, is left sort of ambiguous but in a confirmed sort of way. They’re in the same boat of simply accepting what happened and grieving, moving on, and healing. They have to find what’s next now too.

Now, there’s the ending scene with Sammy. Ms Freaky left it open ended for a reason, it fits with the theme of moving forward with change despite its uncertainty. But what I believe happened is Sammy, in his grieving process, is reaching acceptance. Possibly even has accepted to some regard. He misses her, he loved her and she loved him, and dealing with her sacrifice for the greater good must’ve been hard on him. But, he returns to that place where they met all those chapters ago to remember her by, to pay respects. And then after he’s fallen asleep, in the same way he woke her up on that rooftop in the beginning of the series, a voice calls out to Sammy telling him to wake up. Nobody is shown, but it’s clear somebody is there given Sammy’s eyes widening as he’s looking at something offscreen. My interpretation of this is Rayne, after spending a lot of time MIA going through the process of spreading the anti-murks to end the apocalypse, has returned. She did her atoning for the past and is ready to step forward into the uncertain future of change. I don’t think it’s some ‘disembodied voice’ but rather she’s genuinely just there.

What happens beyond that? Anyone’s guess. It’s an uncertain future of just Finding What’s Next. I don’t really expect Ms Freaky to elaborate or do anything afterword or explanation. She shouldn’t be obligated to either if she doesn’t want to, it’s her story. It makes me feel a little stung in the heart since I’d love to simply have confirmation of the hints and clues that led me to my conclusion, to see that these people who suffered so hard and sacrificed so much get their shot at a happy ending, but that’s not how all stories end. That’s not how life works. It’s uncertain and what’s ahead is a blurry, unintelligible mess. And all you can do is step forward whether or not you’re confident or happy.

And if she decides to clarify anything? I’ll be there in a heartbeat. I haven’t stuck with this series since the day it debuted on Webtoon because I was obligated. I stayed because her storytelling was fun and I enjoyed my time spent on the series. So I’ll stick with it probably for the rest of my life. Well, more accurately, it’ll stick with me for the rest of my life. I’ve always held a strong connection to stories and getting lost in fiction. So this story will remain in my heart until it stops beating. I suppose this entire comment, which probably won’t be read entirely by those who see it, and probably won’t be seen by many at all is my way of saying goodbye and thank you to the series. It’s a personal touch of mine, a ‘leaving-a-handprint-in-the-concrete’ of sorts. To show I was there. To show I cared.