The film’s raw energy stems from its real-world inspiration. Set in 2005 around the industrial pockets of Cheonan, South Korea, the screenplay borrows from an actual series of indiscriminate roadside stabbings that baffled local authorities. Lee Won-tae’s script takes those factual murders and inserts a distinct fictional catalyst: what happens when the killer targets the wrong victim and attacks a powerful criminal kingpin?
Don Lee stars as Jang Dong-soo, an imposing underworld boss who survives a surprise knife ambush in the rain. Left bleeding on the asphalt with severe puncture wounds, Dong-soo suffers an injury to his personal brand that threatens his control over his territory. Detective Jung Tae-suk, portrayed with frantic grit by Kim Mu-yeol, realizes the attack matches a pattern of unsolved homicides across Chungcheong province. The cop lacks forensic resources; the mobster lacks legal authority. They form an uneasy alliance with one unyielding condition: whoever corners the killer first decides his fate.
Kim Sung-kyu rounds out the central trio as Kang Kyung-ho, the cold-blooded predator known colloquially as "the Devil." Kim dropped significant body weight for the role, creating a skeletal, erratic silhouette that contrasts starkly against Don Lee’s massive, imposing frame. That contrast turns every physical encounter into a collision between chaotic sociopathy and calculated brute force.
