Woman of Fire

Police discover Dong-sik and Myeong-ja dead with multiple stab wounds near a poultry farm. They treat the scene as a robbery gone wrong and suspect Jeong-suk, Dong-sik's wife, as a person of interest. The case quickly shifts from a simple crime to a web of secrets and motives.

A crazed man confesses to a robber's role, but the investigation uncovers discrepancies that cast doubt on the confession. Investigators notice a letter that appears to come from the dead Myeong-ja, suggesting manipulation and lies. Attention centers on Jeong-suk as a possible mastermind behind the killings.

Backstory reveals Myeong-ja came to work for free at the family farm, drawn by a trauma from an attacker and a desire to escape rural roots. She is comfortable dealing with pests and even squashes a rat, showing a harsh practicality. She seeks not money but a chance to find a suitable husband, shaping her later choices.

Dong-sik is a songwriter under constant pressure from would-be female suitors who want him for themselves. This pressure informs his fragile relationships and responses to conflict. He relies on his wife Jeong-suk to manage work and public image while he churns out songs.

When Jeong-suk goes on business, she tasks Myeong-ja with guarding Dong-sik, setting up a fragile power dynamic. The arrangement intertwines their fates and foreshadows later confrontations. The guard duty places Myeong-ja close to the center of the couple's secrets.

Myeong-ja prevents Hye-suk from making advances on Dong-sik, but he mistakes her for Hye-suk and drunkenly rapes her. The assault results in Myeong-ja becoming pregnant. This event shifts the balance of power and amplifies the stakes among the characters.

When Jeong-suk learns of the pregnancy, she forces Myeong-ja to have an abortion. The forced abortion deepens Myeong-ja's trauma and seeds her desire for revenge. The episode crystallizes the moral rot in the relationships surrounding the couple.

Myeong-ja uses the pregnancy as leverage to exact revenge, blackmailing the couple with the knowledge she carries a child that should not exist. The threat tightens the circle around everyone and escalates the danger. The plot thickens as secrets become weapons.

Another person entangled in the web is found dead by blunt force trauma, raising the stakes and complicating the case. The body count climbs as the web of deceit tightens around the main characters. This murder pushes the narrative toward its brutal culmination.

Tired of the game, Dong-sik and Myeong-ja drink rat poison together. Dong-sik survives long enough to arrange for the truth to be masked by a stabbing incident, instructing his wife to stage the death. The act reveals his willingness to sacrifice himself to preserve the lies.

Dong-sik goes to his wife to urge her to make the death look like stabbing rather than poisoning. This moment underscores the extent to which he will manipulate those around him to control the narrative. The cover-up cements the tragedy that follows.

In the film's final sequence, Jeong-suk exits the police station and collapses, losing a shoe that washes away in a gutter. The image leaves the audience with a haunting sense of consequences and unresolved guilt. The ending ties together the film's themes of deception and ruin.

As new clues surface, the investigation reopens and the police begin to piece together the complex motives behind the killings. The film emphasizes how hidden pasts and manipulation drive the violence. Tension builds toward a definitive, though perhaps incomplete, reveal.

The dynamic between Jeong-suk and Myeong-ja shows how vulnerability, control, and desire can entangle families. The farm becomes the focal point for these revelations, exposing the moral compromises behind the crimes. The threads of loyalty and revenge converge in the climactic moments.