In a tense boardroom in Tokyo, a small company's executives announce mass layoffs as fierce market competition squeezes profits. Takashi Kiguchi, Keiji Sada, a weary salaryman, reacts with shocking desperation, pulling a gun to his temple and declaring that he doesn’t care what happens to him so long as his colleagues aren’t left to the mercy of their uncertain future. A single shot echoes through the room, leaving Takashi wounded but alive after a few days in the hospital.
From this moment, a completely new plan begins to unfold. Yuki, Mari Yoshimura, a sharp-eyed employee in the advertising department of a large life insurance company, sees an opportunity to turn Takashi’s tragedy into a powerful marketing tool. She envisions him not as a broken man, but as a symbol of resilience and renewed hope for ordinary workers facing economic precarity. At first, Takashi is reluctant to become the face of a campaign, yet the pressure to pay rent and keep a roof over his head gradually nudges him toward acceptance. As he agrees, the campaign takes on a life of its own, and Takashi’s public image shifts from damaged employee to a national beacon of optimism.
The plan gains momentum as Harada, Shin'ichirô Mikami, a keen observer at a sensationalist weekly magazine and an old acquaintance of Yuki, sets his sights on destroying Takashi’s carefully crafted image. Harada begins by undermining the fragile peace around Takashi’s personal life: he seduces Ikuyo, Takashi’s wife, portrayed by Kaneko Iwasaki, and arranges for nude photographs to circulate. Takashi buys back the images, clinging to what little control he has left. But Harada stays intent on sensational headlines; he enlists his lover Yōko to pose nude with the inebriated Takashi, and the scandalous photos are published, sending Takashi’s carefully built persona spiraling toward collapse. The insurance company, shocked by the breach of trust and the escalating controversy, cancels the campaign and fires Takashi.
Empowered by stubborn pride and a sense of betrayal, Takashi returns to the executives with a gun pressed to his temple, seeking accountability that remains elusive. The confrontation ends in violence once more—a second shot rings out, and Takashi dies from his wounds. In the wake of his death, the company’s campaign is dismantled, and the world that once celebrated him now watches as the dream fades. The final image lingers on a stark truth: Yuki and Harada stand side by side, witnessing a giant billboard bearing Takashi’s portrait being lowered, a stark gesture that marks the end of a man who briefly became a symbol—and the uneasy commentary on the power of media-driven myth.
