The Man Standing Next 2020

Park Yong-gak, a former KCIA director, testifies before a United States Senate Committee about the South Korean regime. With the threat that he might publish his manuscript, Kim Gyu-pyeong, the current KCIA Director, is sent to Washington to stop him. In a tense exchange, Kim demands the manuscript; Park hands it over but subtly implies the President’s corruption by suggesting that President Park is being financially backed by offshore Swiss accounts. This reveal sets off a chain of political maneuvering that stretches across continents and into the heart of Seoul’s power structure.

Back in Seoul, Kim returns to face resistance from Kwak Sang-cheon, Park’s hardline bodyguard, who is suspicious of Kim’s loyalty and intent. A wiretapping plot on the president surfaces, and Kim grows wary of a professor present in the presidential office during the inquiry. Through persistent interrogation, Kim uncovers that a KCIA agent acted not on his orders but under someone else’s direction, prompting him to dispatch an agent, Ham Dae-yong to Paris to dig deeper into the conspiracy. A sense of betrayal and secrecy tightens as loyalties blur and the stakes rise, with an implied danger that someone in the inner circle is manipulating events from the shadows.

In Paris, via wiretaps and covert inquiries, Ham Dae-yong discovers that the KCIA agent has acted under orders from Kwak Sang-cheon, revealing a plot that reaches higher than Kim anticipated. The investigation uncovers that Kwak has authorized the assassination of ex-Director Park, who will be visiting the French capital. President Park grants Kim the freedom to pursue the issue, but Kim refuses to be outmaneuvered and resolves to eliminate Park Yong-gak as a way to end the danger once and for all. The moral weight of these decisions weighs heavily on Kim, who is torn between loyalty, duty, and the consequences of eliminating a former ally.

Two separate teams in Paris prepare to strike: Kwak’s team aims to lure Park Yong-gak into a trap inside his hotel room, while Kim’s team plans a covert kidnapping that ends in a swift kill. With the crucial help of Park Yong-gak’s aide, Deborah Shim, who acts as bait, Kim’s team manages to seize Park Yong-gak and force him to move away from Paris. Park Yong-gak makes a momentary escape to a nearby town, but the chase is relentless, and Ham Dae-yong closes in and kills him. The body is disposed of by being ground up at a hammer mill, its remnants used as chicken feed—a grim, methodical end that underscores the brutal calculus at play.

Park is displeased with Kim’s handling of the affair, noting that the financial questions surrounding Park Yong-gak remain unresolved. The relationship between Kim and the President strains further as trust erodes and the two men drift apart under pressure. Kim, deeply conflicted by what he has done to a former friend, begins to crack under the weight of the killings and the ethical implications of wielding such power.

Shortly after Park Yong-gak’s death, the country faces a wave of pro-democracy protests in Pusan and Masan, with the potential to spread to Seoul. Kwak adopts a hardline stance, advocating swift military intervention and martial law. Kim counsels a more measured approach, urging the President to avoid declaring martial law, but the President ultimately sides with Kwak and moves forward with a declaration that changes the political landscape.

As tensions simmer, Kim learns that Park intends to host a banquet but has not invited him this time, only Kwak. Undeterred, Kim attends the dinner and uses the moment to confront the power dynamic at the heart of the regime. He leaves to fetch a pistol, regrouping with his subordinates to plan a decisive act. A tense confrontation unfolds in the dining room, culminating in Kim shooting and wounding Kwak in the arm before turning the weapon on Park. The room erupts in chaos as Kim’s team stages a coordinated assault on the compound’s security, neutralizing the remaining bodyguards. The pistol jams at a critical moment, forcing Kim to seek another firearm from an ally. When the lights flick back on, Kim returns and kills Kwak and then Park with a headshot, executing a brutal, cinematic coup.

Kim and his subordinates escape with the remaining dignitaries, facing the grim choice of where to go next. The Chief Presidential Secretary advises heading to the Army Headquarters, a hint at the precarious future that awaits Kim’s fate. The screen fades to black, followed by a text revealing that Kim Gyu-pyeong was arrested at the Army Headquarters and hanged for the President’s assassination. The film closes with a somber note, underscored by the voices of the era’s real-life figures, leaving viewers with a stark meditation on power, loyalty, and the human cost of political turbulence.