No Other Choice

Man-su is an award-winning veteran employee of papermaking company Solar Paper. Well paid, he has purchased his childhood home, living happily in luxury with his homemaker wife Mi-ri, his teenage stepson Si-one, their young daughter Ri-one, an antisocial neurodivergent cello prodigy, and their two dogs. However, Americans buy out Solar Paper and fire many employees, including a devastated Man-su. After informing his family, he vows to resume papermaking within three months.

Thirteen months later, Man-su does low-paying retail work due to unsuccessful papermaking job applications. His family has minimised spending, including giving their dogs to Mi-ri’s parents, to Ri-one’s distress. Ri-one’s teacher recommends Ri-one for expensive advanced cello classes. Unable to pay the mortgage, the family risks losing Man-su’s beloved home to buyers such as the parents of Si-one’s best friend Geon-ho. Mi-ri starts working as a dental assistant to suave male dentist Jin-ho. Man-su suffers a toothache that he ignores.

When trying to join the company Moon Paper, Man-su is humiliated by manager Seon-chul. Wanting Seon-chul’s job, Man-su nearly kills Seon-chul using a potted plant, but abandons the attempt when spotted by the company’s owner. Man-su buys the plant, using it to release a fake advertisement to identify his papermaking job competitors. Receiving job applications, Man-su identifies two men whose credentials exceed his own: Beom-mo and Si-jo. Man-su retrieves his father’s Vietnam War gun, deciding to kill Seon-chul, Beom-mo and Si-jo.

Man-su begins spying on unemployed drunkard Beom-mo and begins the murder attempts, but suffers a snakebite and is saved by Beom-mo’s dissatisfied wife A-ra. Man-su and Beom-mo separately discover A-ra’s infidelity. Man-su confronts Beom-mo at gunpoint, with Beom-mo mistaking Man-su as A-ra’s lover. Man-su, Beom-mo and A-ra struggle over Man-su’s gun. A-ra shoots Beom-mo dead, and Man-su barely escapes her. Man-su rushes to a costumed dance party, where he watches Mi-ri dance with Jin-ho as Man-su was late. Angered, Man-su returns to Beom-mo’s residence, where A-ra and her lover have buried Beom-mo and the gun. Man-su retrieves the gun. Man-su and Mi-ri accuse each other of infidelity before reconciling.

Man-su visits Si-jo, who sells shoes and speaks of his young daughter. Man-su meets Si-jo on a highway and reluctantly shoots him dead, hiding his corpse in Man-su’s car. Meanwhile, Si-one and Geon-ho steal iPhones to resell from Geon-ho’s father’s store, but police arrest them. Man-su and Mi-ri blackmail Geon-ho’s father, who had used the store for his own infidelity, to having Geon-ho take responsibility and letting Si-one go. Detectives visit Man-su to warn him of Beom-mo and Si-jo’s disappearances, which police linked to their common circumstances. Si-one witnesses Man-su trying to dismember Si-jo’s corpse. Failing to do so, Man-su buries the corpse in his garden, alongside Si-one’s stolen iPhones.

Man-su visits Seon-chul’s home to befriend him. While plying Seon-chul with alcohol, Man-su is forced to break his own sobriety, leading Man-su to forcefully extract his cavity-filled tooth. Si-one tells Mi-ri about what he saw. She digs up Si-jo’s corpse but lies about it to Si-one to protect him. Mi-ri calls Man-su and shares her concerns, but Man-su refuses to change his path. Man-su suffocates Seon-chul and makes it seem that a drunk Seon-chul choked to death on his own vomit.

Moon Paper then decides to hire Man-su to replace Seon-chul. Man-su’s employment secures his home, and the family reunites with their dogs, reducing Ri-one’s antisocial behaviour. The detectives visit Man-su, revealing that A-ra has implicated Beom-mo as a gunowner and potentially Si-jo’s murderer, thus lifting suspicion off Man-su. At work, Man-su celebrates alone in the modern paper mill run by machines instead of workers.

Last Updated: December 21, 2025 at 09:43