Minjae barely had time to blink before the wave of chaos fully crashed across the internet.

As the end credits of Episode 15 rolled in silence, without music and just the haunting sound of heartbreak—the live chat was no longer just full of shocked gasps. It had become a virtual scream room.

The fans were collectively losing it.

"I AM CRYING. UGLY CRYING. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW STUDIO?? 😭😭😭"

"Whoever wrote this episode, meet me in the parking lot. I just want to talk."

"I THOUGHT THIS WAS A ROMANCE, NOT A GREEK TRAGEDY."

"They didn't even yell. They were so quiet and sad and I'M DESTROYED."

"JiwOo pLease TURN BACK 😭😭 TaEyUNg is trying so HARD."

"I'm suing. I'm writing a letter. I'm making a petition. I'm filing a grievance."

"The STUDIO needs to pay for my therapy after this."

"WHY DIDN'T HE CHASE HER HARDER 😭"

"THEY WERE SO CLOSE. THE MISUNDERSTANDING HURT MORE THAN A FIGHT."

"This is why I have trust issues."

"@GlobalStudios, I hope your pillows are warm on both sides tonight."

Fan pages began spamming every official account they could find—studio, actors, writers, even the network itself. The comment sections were overflowing with dramatic reactions:

"@GlobalStudios GIVE THEM A BREAK. GIVE US A BREAK."

"How dare you drop a heartbreak bomb on a Friday night."

"You'll regret this when your fans cry themselves into oblivion."

"We've made peace with Episode 14. Now you ruin everything in 15???"

"You can't do this to us. NOT AFTER THE ROOFTOP LINE FROM LAST WEEK."

"Fix it. I don't care how. JUST FIX IT IN EPISODE 16."

"@Nm_Minjae how dare you cry like that and expect me to go on with my life."

"@Y_ra if you don't come back next week I will NEVER forgive you (but I still love you)."

Some fans tried to make sense of it.

Some just cried harder.

Others began editing new clips within minutes: soft piano covers layered over Taeyung breaking down, scenes from earlier episodes replayed in black and white with subtitles like

"You're the only thing I want."

There were fake therapy group signups being posted under hashtags.

"Hi, yes, I'm here for the #StarsSecretEp15 support group. Do we cry together or individually?"

"Our Roman Empire. Our Red Wedding. Our Marley invasion."

"At this point, I just want Taehyung to be happy. I don't care with who. Actually, I do. It's Jiwoo. It has to be Jiwoo."

"He was begging with his eyes and she still walked away. I need a moment."

"I paused the episode halfway and just stared at a wall for ten minutes."

Within an hour, major fan accounts had compiled breakdowns of the scene, frame by frame.

"See the way Taeyung's hands clenched when she said 'I don't belong in your world'? That's not acting. That's devastation."

"Yura's eyes in the final shot. She didn't want to leave. But she did."

"It's the silence for me. No music. Just breathing. Just heartbreak."

Minjae, still on his couch, watched the world burn.

But despite all the screaming, the heartbreak, the tears from the fans, he was laughing instead.

It was funny how much they cared about it.

Not just about the characters. But about the story. The nuance. The choices.

Though I hoped that with this episode, everyone was able to see that sometimes, people can grow apart, even when they love each other.

And that… meant everything.

Minjae leaned back, rubbing his hand over his face. He hadn't expected that scene to hit so hard. He remembered shooting it. He remembered how real it had felt. How raw.

He thought he had let it go after they yelled "cut."

But now… he wasn't so sure.

His phone buzzed again.

[Yura:] I haven't checked my notifications yet. Are we trending?

[Minjae:] We broke the internet.

[Yura:] ...Uh oh. It seems like the fans are in chaos.

[Minjae:] It's good.

[Yura:] I was holding back tears reading the script. Now I'm crying because of the reactions.

[Yura:] They really weren't ready.

Minjae smiled faintly.

[Minjae:] We weren't either.

He locked his phone again and stared at the screen, where the credits had long since ended.

Minjae readied himself to bed afterward. However, despite him already finding peace after that scene, the fans didn't.

Instead, the chaos didn't stop after the credits. It only got worse as more people watched it over the course of the night.

As the night deepened, fan reactions grew louder, funnier, and more intense.

The entire internet felt like it had entered collective mourning.

Sleep schedules were abandoned, group chats were revived, and emotional damage memes flooded every platform imaginable.

The fans were already losing their mind.

"This isn't just a breakup. This is an extinction event."

"It's 2:37 AM and I'm still thinking about the way Taeyung collapsed."

"I have three meetings tomorrow but all I want is to stare at my ceiling and feel pain."

"I am NOT okay. Please check on your friends who watch The Star's Secret."

The #StarsSecretEp15 tag remained trending all night, top three globally. Even international fans across different time zones joined the outcry of fans all around the world.

"I just finished the episode and my heart is in pieces. Korean dramas should come with a warning label."

"Je suis dévastée."

"Chorando igual criança. Obrigada por nada."

Fan edits were uploaded by the minute—some of them using grainy filters and tragic ballads, others leaning into the melodrama for comedic relief. Just to relieve the pain of what the saw.

"Me watching Taeyung sob on the floor while my popcorn goes untouched."

[Video of someone closing their laptop dramatically and whispering, "I can't do this anymore."]

"I knew Episode 15 would be bad but I didn't know it would be WAR."

There were even fancams of Minjae's crying scene already making rounds online, captioned in oversized text:

"When you give your everything and it's still not enough."

"THE WAY HE DIDN'T EVEN NEED A SINGLE LINE TO DESTROY US."

Some fans even started an online poll:

💔 "How should Episode 16 begin?"

23%: With Jiwoo running back31%: With a time skip (they meet again at a concert 😭)46%: With a hug. Just a hug. Please.

Meanwhile, Global Studios' official page had to temporarily limit comments because they were getting flooded by it.

News outlets picked up the online frenzy. Articles were posted under dramatic titles like:

"The Breakup Scene That Shook the Nation: The Star's Secret Hits a New Emotional Peak"

"Nam Minjae's Raw Performance Garners Praise from Critics and Fans Alike"

"K-Drama Fans in Meltdown as #StarsSecretEp15 Leaves Hearts Broken Worldwide"

Even Yura's name trended for hours after the episode aired.

In the morning, Minjae, reading all of this in the dim light of his living room, couldn't stop smiling. He should've felt bad—but instead, he felt proud.

The team had created something that moved people deeply. It wasn't just about love—it was about timing, about hurt, about how not every story flows in a straight line.

And then, just when the fans had barely begun to emotionally recover…

Minjae posted.

He uploaded a single photo to his account—a shot of him seated at a piano, facing away from the camera. The lighting was soft, hazy, just like the tone of the most recent episode. His fingers hovered above the keys, frozen in thought.

The caption was simple.

"How will it end?"

That was it.

Five words. That's all it took.

Within seconds, the post was swarmed.

"WHY WOULD YOU POST THIS NOW 😭😭😭"

"DON'T DO THIS TO US MINJAE 😭"

"IS THIS A HINT?? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING???"

"You posted this like we didn't cry ourselves to sleep last night."

"He WOKE UP and CHOSE VIOLENCE."

"Y'all. He's at the piano. He's going to write her a song. I FEEL IT."

"He's asking like he doesn't know the ending. SIR, YOU FILMED IT."

"I'm shaking. I'm crying. I'm calling my therapist."

"Don't play with us, Nam Minjae. Just don't."

In less than ten minutes, the post had over 500,000 likes and 80,000 comments.

By mid-morning, "How Will It End" became a trending phrase across multiple platforms.

The drama's marketing team, realizing they had struck gold, quickly reposted the image with the caption:

📺 "Don't miss the final chapters of The Star's Secret. Only two episodes left."

More panic. More screaming.

Even Jihoon sent him a text.

[Jihoon:] YOU'RE EVIL.

[Jihoon:] YOU POSTED THAT PICTURE???

[Jihoon:] You love this. Admit it.

[Minjae:] I'm an actor. I serve the story. 😌

[Jihoon:] I'm gonna block you and rewatch Episode 10 when they were happy.

[Minjae:] You do that. Just don't skip the pain. That's where the growth is.

[Jihoon:] Ugh. You're unbearable.

Minjae laughed, then set his phone down and leaned back against the chair near his window.

Outside, the day was warm, clear, and calm—so unlike the storm he and Yura had unleashed on screen.

But somehow, that made it even better.

Because this was what storytelling was. It was laughter and pain and all the in-between. It was late-night edits and early-morning tears. It was fans yelling into the void because they cared.

And he wouldn't trade it for anything.