Lee Won-jae
Tae-su, a detective fighting organized crime, returns to his hometown for his high school friend Wang-jae's funeral. There, he meets his old friends Pil-ho, Dong-hwan and Seok-hwan and they reminisce. Suspecting something fishy about Wang-jae's death, Tae-su and Seok-hwan start investigating it, each in his own way. Their investigations lead to a land development project that Pil-ho is directing.
This is a powerful period piece murder mystery about disgrace, conscience, and the impossibility of justice. In 1808 the imperial investigator Won-kyu arrives on the idyllic island Donghwa in order to investigate a grisly murder series. The superstitious rural population belives that a ghost is taking revenge for a wrongful execution of seven years ago. However, inquisitor Won-kyu suspects there to be a rather rational explanation for the crimes.
Chang-sik lives strictly by the freeloader's handbook, doing the rounds of free samples in department store food sections and sponging off of his older brother. Mi-young nurtures grandiose dreams of becoming a TV actress but has failed every audition because she just can't act. The two unemployed with similar schedules and living in the same neighborhood are bound to run into each other, and they do. One day, Chang-sik and Mi-young are walking around distractedly when they end up in a head-on collision. Chang-sik's coins spill out from his hands and scatter all over the ground. His precious coins! He chases after every single one but ends up 10 cents short. He viciously turns to the Mi-young but she refuses to give him 10 cents...
This is the story of Hong Guk Young; his dreams, ambitions, ideals, and desires. His intelligence and resourcefulness served him well in his struggle to overcome adversity in the palace, eventually earning him the coveted position of right-hand man to King Jeongjo.
