Bloodhounds takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time etched into our memories. Along with the mandatory mask rules, Bloodhounds brings to focus the struggle of the lower income group, especially with the loan sharks dominating the streets. With businesses shutting down, many resorted to loans from questionable sources. Even if they managed to survive the pandemic, the loan sharks made it impossible to live peacefully. A sincere and honest individual, Gun-woo, uses his boxing skills to fight for the right reasons.
When a drunkard was stopped from entering a public bus, he tried to attack the driver. Gun-woo helps pacify the situation by bringing the drunk man under control. He was extremely apologetic for restraining the man, but he did what he had to to protect the crowd. As soon as Gun-woo stepped onto the bus, the crowd cheered for him. Gun-woo believed in doing good for society, and he was happy that his effort was appreciated.
Spoilers Alert
‘Bloodhounds’ Plot Summary: What Is The Series About?
Boxing brought discipline into Gun-woo’s life. He respected the sport but did not believe in completely destroying his opponents. Due to the pandemic, his mother struggled to keep her cafe business running, and he tried to help her with the money he received from boxing matches. Gun-woo had watched his alcoholic father abuse his mother, and from then on, he was determined to become stronger and fight for his mother’s respect. Gun-woo met Woo-jin at a boxing match, and he managed to defeat him. Woo-jin was surprised when Gun-woo requested that they have lunch together. He initially believed that Gun-woo was rubbing his victory on his face, but Woo-jin soon realized that Gun-woo was genuinely interested in getting to know him. After one lunch together, Woo-jin and Gun-woo realized that even though they were different, they enjoyed each other’s company.
As small businesses suffered during the pandemic, loan sharks tried to take advantage of the situation. Smile Capital, owned by Kim Myeong-gil, was gaining prominence at the time. He was a conman who tricked innocent business owners into signing agreements that had hidden clauses, which he later used to extract money from them. Gun-woo’s mother fell into Myeong-gil’s trap when she signed his agreement. Myeong-gil’s men ransacked her store and threatened to kill her if she failed to pay them the money she owed. While Gun-woo managed to tackle most of Myeong-gil’s men, his right-hand man, In-beom, was almost impossible to knock out. Eventually, Gun-woo lost the fight, and Myeong-gil carved his face after he disrespected him. Gun-woo survived the injuries, but the scar on his face remained. He not only had to deal with Myeong-gil’s men but also had to find a way to pay back the money he owed them. Woo-jin found out that Smile Capital had conned many business owners by forcing them to sign the agreement. Since Woo-jin used to work with loan sharks before becoming a Marine, he tried to contact loan sharks willing to help Gun-woo. While they did find help, in exchange for the money, they were asked to work as bloodhounds for a couple of years. Gun-woo was not ready to strip away his honor for money, and he decided to walk away from the offer. Luckily, there was a man searching for ex-marines to work as bodyguards for his granddaughter.
Who Was President Choi?
An ex-loan shark, President Choi was known for his benevolent nature. Unlike most loan sharks, he was popular for being considerate of the borrowers’ situations. Even after his business came to an end, he continued to offer interest-free money to sick individuals and allowed them to return it whenever the time was right. Needless to say, he did not make money out of his generosity, but he did it because he felt happy knowing that his money helped someone heal. Choi’s granddaughter, Hyeon-ju, struggled to comprehend Choi’s theory. She was particularly concerned when she realized that innocent people were being scammed by a large company. She wanted Choi to take action, but he refused to get involved in it. Hyeon-ju was not biologically related to Choi. She was an orphan at an orphanage Choi founded, and he gradually started to take an interest in her. She became his family, and he could risk everything to protect her. When Choi noticed Hyeon-ju’s wounds, he decided to hire bodyguards to keep her safe. Choi was impressed by Gun-woo and Woo-jin, but it ultimately came down to Hyeon-ju to make a decision. She did not believe she needed a bodyguard, let alone two of them. But when Gun-woo discussed how Smile Capital duped his mother, she took an interest. Gun-woo was indebted to Choi for helping him pay off his debt by offering him two years’ salary in advance. He desperately needed the job, and Hyeon-ju finally agreed to appoint the two as her bodyguards.
How Was Myeong-Gil Scamming The Loan Sharks?
Gun-woo, Woo-jin, and Hyeon-ju immediately started working to find out how Smile Capital operated. After tailing Yang Jae-myeong, they found out that his group dressed as underprivileged people met people living on the streets. They convinced the homeless people that they came from a charity that was funded by the city. Jae-myeong discussed how the government wanted to help them and was ready to offer jobs along with a monthly stipend. To avail themselves of the benefits, the group asked for IDs from the homeless. Jae-myeong and his men used the stolen IDs to form shell corporations and seek money from loan sharks. They never returned the money, and most loan sharks in the city were suffering because of the scam. They were also helpless since they could not ask the police for assistance. Myeong-gil was behind the entire operation, and most loan sharks were afraid of dealing with him.
What Was Choi’s Connection With Myeong-Gil?
Through a flashback scene, we learn that President Choi had a past connection with Kim Myeong-gil. Myeong-gil was an ex-convict, and even after knowing his past, Choi decided to hire him. Myeong-gil took advantage of Choi’s sympathy, and in his absence, he would blackmail Choi’s clients and roughen them up in case they failed to pay. He used Choi’s identity to make money. When the company was about to shut down, Myeong-gil and his men decided to rob the company safe. At night, Choi was informed by Mr. Oh that there were men at his office. Choi arrived at his office and fought the two men present. While he somehow managed to tackle them, he was suddenly attacked with a knife from behind by Myeong-gil. He was stabbed multiple times, but during their scuffle, he managed to carve a scar on Myeong-gil’s face, a scar that he had to live with for the rest of his life. When In-beom came to his senses, Myeong-gil asked him to throw Choi out of the window, and In-beom followed his order. Choi fell to the ground, and the incident left him crippled. Myeong-gil and his men stole the money from the safe and burned his office down. Myeong-gil started his illegal business using Choi’s money, and he went on to terrorize more innocent people.
‘Bloodhounds’ Ending Explained: How Did Gun-Woo And Woo-Jin Defeat Myeong-Gil?
While Myeong-gil had killed three of Choi’s five knifers, the remaining two were the most skilled and dangerous ones. While Choi was not supportive of Hyeon-ju’s plan, he realized that he had no other choice but to fight back against Myeong-gil and his men to protect his granddaughter. He called in his two best men to get the job done. But soon after the attacks on his men, Myeong-gil realized that Lee Du-yeong and Hwang Yang-jung had returned. Using CCTV footage, he found out where Choi lived and attacked him. That morning, only Choi and Woo-jin were at the house, and even though they tried their best to defend, it was impossible. Myeong-gil was determined to invest money in the hotel business, but he was short of 50 billion won. After murdering Choi, he took all of his money to start his next business venture. By the time Gun-woo and Hyeon-ju returned, the house was on fire. Woo-jin’s condition was critical, but with Gun-woo by his side, he recovered. After Choi’s death, Hyeon-ju went to Rome since that was where her grandfather wanted to go after dealing with Myeong-gil.
Meanwhile, the boys stayed with Mr. Oh. They trained rigorously to fight Myeong-gil and his men. Even though Mr. Oh was against the idea, he eventually decided to allow them to follow their hearts. Gun-woo and Woo-jin connected with the director of the Lil Hotel Company, Mr. Hong. Myeong-gil wanted to invest in the company to build a casino on the top floor of the hotel, and he aimed to make a hundred billion out of it. The casino would attract gamblers who could not travel abroad due to the pandemic. Myeong-gil wanted to make a profit out of the casino business, and when it dried up, he would hand over the secretly captured gambling videos to the police. The hotel would lose its value after the video leakage, and that was when Myeong-gil planned to buy the entire building. The problem was that Mr. Hong did not trust Myeong-gil. He was not ready to take an investment from a thug, but Myeong-gil was not ready to give up. He locked Mr. Hong in a garage, when he went there to get his car washed. He was physically assaulted, and Myeong-gil’s men forced him to strip naked in front of the camera. Myeong-gil used the explicit video to blackmail Mr. Hong into signing the contract. Gun-woo and Woo-jin proposed a plan to destroy the video. When Myeong-gil entered his office building to sign the contract, Hong’s expert technical team would tap into his phone and activate the safe app that would destroy the hard disk permanently. Even though getting it all done was not an easy task, Mr. Hong gathered up his courage and managed to execute the plan. The data from his phone was extracted, and they had a list of his victims.
Mr. Hong’s cousin, policeman Gang-Yong handed over the list to his colleague, who happened to be in contact with Myeong-gil. Myeong-gil now knew the people involved in destroying his hard drive. To teach Woo-jin and Gun-woo a lesson, he abducted Mr. Oh. Meanwhile, he revealed that he had a copy of Hong’s video. Even though Woo-jin and Gun-woo held In-beom captive, he refused to spill a word and to defend himself, he bit his own tongue. Gang-Yong was a little surprised to not find Gun-woo’s mother at the cafe, and instead, there was a new barista. Immediately after consuming the coffee, he knew he had been poisoned. The barista was gone, and he found Gun-woo’s mother tied up in the adjacent storeroom. He somehow managed to find salt in the neighboring store and get the poison out of his system. Myeong-gil believed that he had killed Gang-Yong and his right-hand man, Han-gu, and he assumed that his problem would be solved once he killed Woo-jin and Gun-woo. He called them at the fish farm, and they found Mr. Oh there.
Myeong-gil’s men attacked the two best friends, but they managed to tackle them with the help of Da-min. After Da-min shot Myeong-gil with her arrow, he was taken away by his men. Mr. Oh was rescued, and Gang-Yong got hold of Myeong-gil’s associates. Police arrested Myeong-gil’s men from the fish farm and they collected evidence to incarcerate him. His phones were confiscated from his house, and the police had a strong case against him. Even though he was not captured, Gang-Yong believed he would not return to threaten Mr. Hong with the video. But Mr. Hong was not ready to rest until Myeong-gil was arrested. Woo-jin and Gun-woo were ready to risk their lives for justice. They contacted an ex-member of Myeong-gil’s gang, Im Jang-do, (he was held hostage by Choi’s men and gave away a few crucial pieces of information but after Choi was killed, he went into hiding) to gather information on Myeong-gil’s plan. In exchange for a billion won, they learned that Myeong-gil was escaping to Vietnam in a cargo ship with gold bars. He provided them with the name of the cargo ship and the container number.
Bloodhounds ending reveals that Woo-jin and Gun-woo are finally able to track Myeong-gil down after boarding the ship. They managed to knock Myeong-gil and In-beom out of their senses. Gang-Yong was informed about it, and he contacted Interpol to arrest the perpetrators. Mr. Hong finally had Myeong-gil’s phone in hand, and he was impressed by Woo-jin and Gun-woo. With the gold bars they retrieved from the container, they requested that Hong start a welfare foundation since that was what Mr. Choi would have wanted. Mr. Hong agreed with their proposal and offered to set up a hospital as well. Mr. Hong offered Woo-jin and Gun-woo a billion each for their efforts. Even though they were hesitant to take it, he insisted that it was for a job well done. Woo-jin and Gun-woo returned home, and Gun-woo was finally reunited with his mother, who now worked at Choi’s orphanage. Even though they lost too many people on the journey, at least they brought some justice to the world. They had to pause their dream of becoming boxing champions and were forced to cover their hands with blood, but in the end, they were able to solve a greater problem that threatened society.
