West 32nd

In Koreatown's neon-lit room salon, Chun Jin-ho runs a money-laundering hub for the Korean mafia, keeping customers entertained and transactions hidden. Sook Hee is introduced as his mistress, moving with practiced warmth through the room. The scene establishes a delicate balance of control, danger, and calculated charm that defines Chun's world.

Chun is killed as a car ambush erupts; an attacker cuts him off and gunfire erupts in the street, ending his life in the passenger seat. The fatal moment shatters the underworld's balance and triggers a legal and personal unraveling. The city hums on as the power vacuum forms a new battleground.

The ambitious young lawyer John Kim agrees to defend Kevin Lee pro bono, stepping into a dangerous case against a criminal empire. He brings quiet optimism but understands the weight of challenging a powerful network. The decision pulls him into a frontier he has yet to fully navigate.

Kim sits down with Kevin's older sister, Lila Lee, at the Lee family table, hearing of the personal cost and the stakes. He carries a cautious optimism while sensing looming consequences for both families. The encounter marks the start of a tense, uneasy alliance.

Kim encounters Juhn, a mid-level operator who knows the room salon's power structure, in a bar and begins to see him as a potential ally. Their dialogue hints at mutual benefits and hidden dangers. They trade information and press for leverage as the case deepens.

Detective Park keeps a wary eye on Kim and Juhn, reminding them that his territory is dangerous and outsiders don’t belong. His guarded presence foreshadows a hard-edged vigilance that frames every move. The tension between law and underworld authority becomes palpable.

Hee, Chun's former confidante who speaks no English, is guided by a translator to recount the night of the murder. The carefully reconstructed testimony links Juhn to the crime scene and unsettles Kim's assumptions. The process exposes how memory and silence shape the case.

Lila spirals as Hee's testimony implicates Juhn; she contemplates exposing him but chooses to shield her brother to protect the family. This decision fractures the family’s loyalties and reshapes Kim's strategic calculus. The personal cost of truth tests every alliance.

Saeng and Juhn's crew launch a coordinated raid on the Room salon, triggering a brutal firefight that leaves Kyuc and Detective Park dead and Danny wounded. Juhn commands Saeng to seize the money while racing to locate Hee, aiming to erase a crucial thread of truth. The underworld's grip tightens as the stakes rise.

Hee vanishes in the aftermath of the raid, and Juhn conducts a brutal personal search. He ultimately confronts and murders Hee at her home, erasing a key source of truth that could unravel his operation. The violence leaves Kim with fewer anchors and a harsher path forward.

Kim receives a late-night, terrified call from Danny about the day’s chaos. He learns of Hee's fate, and the cascade of consequences deepens the rift between Kim and Lila. The case becomes as personal as it is legal, with loyalties under severe strain.

Juhn reveals enough about the murder to cast doubt on Kevin's guilt, while Kim secures a recording that could shift the entire case. These revelations raise the stakes and complicate any clean-cut path to conviction. The balance of power begins to tilt toward truth, but at a high personal cost.

Kim pushes to convert a key witness into a cornerstone of truth as the legal battle tightens around what is real and what is convenient. He edges closer to a procedural victory, but the path remains fraught with risk and shifting loyalties. The courtroom becomes a battlefield for both evidence and will.

Lila arrives with a box of tangerines as a gesture of thanks for sparing her brother’s future, and Kim discards it, signaling that personal loyalties and professional necessity have become inseparable. The moment crystallizes the uneasy truce between family and justice. The dynamic underscores the film’s theme that truth is often filtered through relationships.

Juhn regains control of the Room salon, resuming the old rhythms of power and risk as the city watches. His phone rings unanswered, and he stares into the rearview mirror, the future bending toward an uncertain, possibly irreversible fate. The closing image leaves the moral landscape unsettled and the line between legality and crime blurred.