Set Me Free 2014

In Isaac’s Home, a group home where a fragile father once entrusted him, Yeong-jae grows up under a roof of contradictions. Now sixteen and told he is too old to stay, he crafts a plan to prolong his stay by pretending to seek a priestly path and a Catholic boarding school. In truth, he has learned to rely on himself, not believing in God, and he even secretly steals donated goods to resell them. To project outward faith, he participates in masses and rituals, all while flattering the facility director Kang Shin-chul and the curate Park Keun-rok. His only friend at the home, Beom-tae, disapproves of the act but also understands the pressure Yeong-jae is under, because he himself has reached the home’s maximum age and has felt the constant pressure to secure his own future.

Having found nowhere else to go, Yeong-jae’s feigned piety becomes a desperate attempt to remain, even as the director grows suspicious. He retaliates by turning away from Beom-tae, sacrificing their friendship to protect his fragile lie. The tension in the home intensifies as the line between faith and deceit blurs, and Yeong-jae’s inner world—built on self-reliance and a hard-won independence—begins to crack.

Then, a new turn: his father returns, visiting the group home with a troubling purpose—this time to leave his younger brother Min-jae Min-jae there. The revelation of this plan triggers a surge of rage and despair in Yeong-jae, pushing him toward a breaking point that will test loyalties, family bonds, and the fragile hope he has clung to for so long.