The Judge from Hell ending explained — does Kang Bitna aka Justitia die in Park Shin Hye and Kim Jae Young’s legal fantasy thriller K-drama?

In The Judge from Hell Ep 16 — which you can watch on Disney+ Hotstar — it’s revealed that Kang Bitna is not dead. Instead, it’s Oh Mi Ja (Kim Young Ok), angel Gabriel's (Kim Hyun¡ Mok) human disguise, who sacrifices herself for Justitia. When Justitia is called to Hell for legally sentencing Jung Tae Gyu (Lee Kyu Han) aka J to death instead of killing him herself, Gabriel swoops in to save the day and instructs Bael to send Justitia back to Earth. The tender-bickering mark of respect between Bitna and Oh Mi Ja was served as a cherry on top of this delicious watch.

In an ironic twist of fate, Tae Gyu manages to escape from prison after taking a special leave for his half-brother Jung Seon Ho’s (Choi Dong Goo) funeral; a death he’s also indirectly responsible for. While Han Daon and his detective squad are in hot pursuit of Tae Gyu, Kang Bitna and her Hell’s Angels — including Gu Man Do aka Valak (Kim In Kwon) and Lee A Rong aka Venato (Kim Ah Young) — are subsequently hunting him down.

As expected, Bitna wins the race against time and captures Tae Gyu at his vacation home, exacting sweet revenge on behalf of J’s victims, including late detective Kim So Young (Kim Hye Hwa), and the victims’ surviving family members, particularly Daon. Her meticulously orchestrated revenge plan sees Tae Gyu first being chased down a forest and hit multiple times by Bitna's arrow gun. In Hell, Bitna gives the imprisoned Satan (Park Ho San), who has taken the human disguise of Tae Gyu’s cruel father Jung Jae Geol’s (Kim Hong Pa), a chance to duke it out with Tae Gyu for getting him captured by the inferno.

The blood-curdling duel shifts gear to Daon’s childhood home, where Tae Gyu massacred the detective’s family. Gifting Tae Gyu an eye for an eye and exacting revenge on behalf of her loved one, Bitna chops off the serial killer’s left hand, arm and foot as a symbol of the brutality he inflicted upon Daon’s family while they were still alive. Eventually, Tae Gyu’s painful dream culminates back in his vacation home alongside Bitna, who brutally condemns him to death. Han Daon and his team find Tae Gyu the next day, hanging atop a cross while his victims’ severed body parts are returned in coffins to their families.

Bitna successfully completes her mission to punish Tae Gyu and is rewarded with three more years on Earth, after which she has to return to Hell as Bael’s only heir. Given how Bitna’s legal sentence to death for Tae Gyu was met with a strongly divided reaction, she’s transferred to a coastal region as a small-time judge.

Two years later, Kang Bitna and Han Daon’s romance remains stronger than ever while the demon judge is finally transferred back to Seoul Central Court. Bitna checks up on all the survivors, who were influenced by her judgments and finds them steadily healing from the past wounds, with some even moving on.