In 1895, Japanese assassins infiltrate the palace of Joseon and brutally murder the Queen, leaving the nation with resentment and terror. In revenge, a young man named Kim Changsoo beats an armed Japanese ronin to death and it leads him to death sentence. Plunged into despair, he keeps fighting with other prisoners he looks down on, until he finds out most are wrongly convicted because they are impoverished and uneducated. He begins to teach them letters so that they could cl...more

In 1895, Japanese assassins infiltrate the palace of Joseon and brutally murder the Queen, leaving the nation with resentment and terror. In revenge, a young man named Kim Changsoo beats an armed Japanese ronin to death and it leads him to death sentence. Plunged into despair, he keeps fighting with other prisoners he looks down on, until he finds out most are wrongly convicted because they are impoverished and uneducated. He begins to teach them letters so that they could clear their false charges. He gradually becomes the hope in the prison. But one day, Changsoo and his fellows get assigned to a large Japanese construction site where nothing but the ordeal worse than death is waiting.less