The story is similar to John Wick, Nam Gi-jun used to be a feared gang enforcer, but he's been hiding out for eleven years. He left the criminal world to protect his younger brother Gi-seok from getting in trouble for a murder. The twist is that Gi-jun didn't actually kill anyone - his brother did, but Gi-jun took the blame to give Gi-seok a clean life. When Gi-seok gets brutally murdered, Gi-jun comes back for revenge. This isn't him being reluctant about it - he's going straight into hell mode.
Right from the start, this show makes it clear it's not your typical kdrama. No romance, no funny side characters, no cute moments. It's just blood, pain, and more blood. It commits to this brutal tone completely, and it works. Everyone keeps comparing it to John Wick, but John Wick itself took the formula from Korean movies like The Man from Nowhere, A Bittersweet Life, and New World. John Wick only made it more western.
This had more grief, more raw emotion, and more genuine heartbreak than John Wick ever did. John Wick lost a dog that reminded him of his wife - tragic, but Gi-jun lost the only person he lived for, the brother he sacrificed everything to protect. Every punch he throws carries that weight.
So Ji Sub gives what might be his best performance ever. He barely talks, but when he does, every word feels heavy. His fighting is amazing - he's limping and bleeding through most scenes but never looks weak. The sadness he fights with comes through in every punch. He's like a slow snail that kills you when it touches you - methodical and absolutely deadly.
The action scenes are incredible. This is easily the best action kdrama since My Name. It's like John Wick on steroids. There's this amazing scene where Gi-jun fights a hallway full of gangsters with a custom bat that's scary good. Another moment that stood out was when he killed an assassin the exact same way his brother died. The satisfaction I felt watching that, was perfect.
But the action does get repetitive sometimes. Did he forget how to fight between henchman number 40 and number 41? His plot armor becomes ridiculous too - he survives stab wounds and gunshots like nothing happened. Gi-jun must be immortal. But honestly, I think he couldn't die until his revenge was done, so it works story wise.
What makes this more than just fighting is the sadness underneath. Gi-jun isn't looking for redemption - he wants to die. He only lived for his brother, and once Gi-seok died, he had no reason left. The ending where he imagines meeting his brother again broke me completely.
This is a story about toxic masculinity eating itself. There are almost no women in it, and that's the point. These men only know how to talk through violence. Even friendship looks like beating each other up, it fits the world they're showing.
At seven episodes, I loved that it didn't drag on. It felt like a 16 episode drama packed into seven hours. No filler, just pure story. But it does move too fast sometimes - minor characters blend together and it's hard to remember who belongs to which gang. I had to keep checking who was who.
The final villain reveal was pretty obvious. I guessed it in episode one. I also wished we got more emotion about the brothers' relationship and at least one strong female character who mattered.
Gi-jun finishes his revenge, imagines one last moment with Gi-seok, then dies. He's dead, all the old gangsters are dead, it's over.
This is revenge done raw, real and absolutely devastating.
Watch on Netflix