No Breathing 2013

Won-il, Seo In-guk, was once a rising swimming prodigy who seemed destined to break records. The sudden deaths of his father during a grueling competition—where he specialized in a move known as “no breathing”—and his mother’s passing soon after push him away from the pool and into a life that feels empty and reckless. He drifts through days with little hope for tomorrow, and the threat of expulsion from school hangs over him as he searches for a reason to swim again.

To pull him back from the edge, his father’s longtime friend Jae-seok, Park Cheol-min, drags him to a physical education–focused high school, hoping the discipline of sport will rekindle his love for the water.

At this new school, Won-il re-encounters his long-standing rival Woo-sang, Lee Jong-suk, who in the past had always trailed behind him. Now a national swimming star after Won-il’s absence, Woo-sang faces a setback when he is disqualified from national tryouts for trouble, forcing him to start over at the same school.

With Woo-sang’s ascent halted, the two young men become direct competitors again, each bringing a distinct temperament to the pool. Woo-sang is single-minded about winning, while Won-il grapples with doubt about his own place in the sport and in life.

Into this tense mix steps Jung-eun, Kwon Yu-ri, the daughter of Jae-suk, who captures both swimmers’ attention and rekindles the spark of romance while complicating the rivalry.

The two begin training for an upcoming competition, pushing through setbacks and testing the limits of their friendship. As they chase a shared goal, their rivalry gradually yields to respect, and the journey becomes a true rite of passage that asks them to redefine what it means to grow up together.