The Man Standing Next

Park Yong-gak testifies before a United States Senate Committee, detailing abuses of the regime. He warns that publishing his manuscript could topple the government. The revelation prompts the President to act, sending Kim Gyu-pyeong to stop him from publishing.

Kim Gyu-pyeong travels to Washington to confront Park Yong-gak and demand the manuscript. He meets Yong-gak and secures the document, while Yong-gak hints at the President’s corruption through offshore Swiss accounts.

Yong-gak hands over the manuscript as promised. He implies the President’s corruption by noting offshore Swiss accounts backing Park, signaling a broader conspiracy.

Kim Gyu-pyeong returns to South Korea and finds himself at odds with Kwak Sang-cheo, the President’s bodyguard, over how to handle the fallout. The tension foreshadows a power struggle within the KCIA and the presidential circle.

A wiretapping plot against the President is uncovered, triggering suspicion around who authorized it. Kim interrogates a professor present during the search, hinting at an internal breach of orders within the KCIA.

Kim dispatches KCIA agent Ham Dae-yong to Paris to further investigate the wiretapping affair and the larger conspiracy behind the President’s circle.

In Paris, Ham Dae-yong uncovers via wiretaps that Kwak Sang-cheo ordered the assassination of ex-Director Park, not acting on his own initiative. The discovery points to a coordinated power play within the KCIA.

Two teams—a Kwak-led unit and a Kim-led unit—prepare to kill ex-Director Park in Paris. Park Yong-gak’s aide, Deborah Shim, is used as bait to facilitate Kim’s capture operation.

Kim’s team nab ex-Director Park and drive him out of Paris, attempting to prevent his escape. Park momentarily hides in a nearby town, but is tracked and pursued.

Ham Dae-yong locates Park in the vicinity and shoots him dead. Park Yong-gak’s body is disposed of by being ground up in a hammer mill at a chicken farm and turned into chicken feed.

Kim is unsettled by the outcome and remains displeased with how the ex-director was handled. The unresolved financial trail leaves Kim doubting Park’s trust in him and strains their fragile friendship.

Pro-democracy protests erupt in Busan and Masan, raising fears they could spread to Seoul. Kwak urges a hardline martial approach, while Kim advocates restraint and a measured response to the unrest.

Park holds a series of ribbon-cutting ceremonies for a dam in Sapgyo. Kim attempts to join on the helicopter with Park and Kwak, but Kwak blocks him, escalating the tension between them.

That night, Park invites Kim to a dinner that is meant as an apology, but Kim remains unmoved. He retrieves a pistol, informs his subordinates of his intention to kill Park, and tensions reach a breaking point.

A violent confrontation ensues: Kim shoots Kwak in the arm before turning on Park, and his subordinates eliminate the remaining guards. Kwak and Park are killed, and Kim flees to decide between the Army Headquarters or Namsan. The film ends with a subtitle revealing Kim Gyu-pyeong was arrested at the Army Headquarters and hanged for Park’s assassination, accompanied by voices that echo the real-life figures involved.