By completing the "Work" (the extended film), the characters become self-aware and escape into our reality as actors. The final shot is the actors, not the characters.
When you , you are not just killing time. You are engaging with a philosophical text dressed as a romance. You are accepting an invitation to cry, to think, and to perhaps question your own eternal attachments.
Through flashbacks set in the Nguyễn Dynasty, we learn that the original Minh Khang was a Mandarin who betrayed his village to save Hà My, resulting in the death of 1,000 people. A shaman cursed them: "In every life, you will find each other, but you will never have peace."