How ‘Mercy for None’ Ends

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Mercy for None.

Bloody and brutal, the backstabbing in Mercy For None is both figurative and literal. Based on a webtoon called Mercy For None: Plaza Wars, the Netflix noir follows the vengeance campaign of Nam Gi-jun (Doctor Lawyer’s So Ji-sub), a former key member of Seoul’s criminal underworld. When Gi-jun’s little brother, Nam Gi-seok (Vigilante’s Lee Jun-hyuk) is killed, he returns from exile to bring those responsible to justice. 

However, determining who is behind Gi-seok’s murder is not so simple. Gi-seok had been caught up in the delicate web of power and deceit that holds Seoul’s two major gangs—the Juwoon Group and the Bongsan Group—in place. While Gi-jun left his life of crime behind a decade ago, Gi-seok was in line to inherit the Jowoon Group from chairman Lee Ju-woon (Bloodhound’s Huh Joon-ho). 

Unbeknownst to Chairman Lee, his intention to pass the baton to Gi-seok would lead to Gi-seok’s death and, in Gi-jun’s vengeance, the deaths of an entire generation of the criminal community. Let’s talk about the twisty and twisted ending of Mercy For None…

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The fall of Beomyeongdong

Mercy For None’s story begins over a decade ago, when Seoul was ruled by one gang: Beomyeongdong. Controlled by Chairman Oh, Lee Ju-woon and Gu Bong-san (A Shop For Killers’ Ahn Kil-kang) were his right-hand men, and Gi-jun was their most effective fighter. Under this dream team, Beomyeongdong’s power and wealth grew, leading to rumors that Chairman Oh was planning to pass the organization on to Ju-woon and Bong-san after his death. These rumors didn’t sit well with Oh’s son, Seung-won. He ordered hits on Bong-san and Ju-woon. 

Meanwhile, dirty cop Cha Yeong-do (Our Blues’ Cha Seung-won), known in the crime world by alias Mr. Kim, saw an opportunity to grow his control within the organization. He told Gi-seok (at that time, a rookie member of Beomyeongdong) that Oh Seung-won planned on killing his brother, Gi-jun. Gi-seok killed Seung-won, sending the organization into further chaos. In order to protect his brother, Gi-jun encouraged Ju-woon and Bong-san to stage a coup. He helped them overthrow Oh, and the gang was split into two: the Bongsan Group and the Juwoon Group. 

Still, someone had to pay for upsetting the balance. Gi-jun took the fall for it all, leading people to believe that it was him, and not his little brother, who killed Oh Seung-won. Ju-woon and Bong-san owed Gi-jun a lot, so they made a deal: If Gi-jun left the business and never came back, they would let him live. To prove his commitment, Gi-jun sliced his own Achilles tendon, diminishing his ability to fight, and disappeared into the countryside. Before he left, he made Ju-woon promise to look after Gi-seok.

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The Graveyard hit

Initially, the death of Gi-seok is blamed on a group of young hooligans, who pick up the job of killing Gi-seok on The Graveyard, a kind of gig economy app for the criminal community. In the first episode, we see the ragtag group of wannabe gangsters attack Gi-seok in a parking garage, getting in some good hits, but ultimately not finishing the job. Later, we find out the hit was ordered by Chairman Gu’s dangerously entitled son, Gu Jun-mo (Way Back Love’s Gong Myung). 

Gu Jun-mo is a thorn in his father’s side, causing chaos within the Bongsang Group, and rarely facing accountability for his actions. When Jun-mo hires some foreign thugs to kill a fellow Bongsan manager encroaching on his share of the business, Chairman Gu asks old friend Chairman Lee for his help. He needs to make it clear to his son that his behavior is unacceptable, but thinks it will look bad if it comes from him. In exchange, Gu promises to help Lee with some of his land acquisition troubles. Lee agrees to the deal, and sends Gi-seok to rough Jun-mo up. Jun-mo takes out the hit on Gi-seok in retribution.

When the truth of Jun-mo’s hit against Gi-seok surfaces, the carefully maintained peace between the Bongsan Group and the Juwoon Group is threatened. They turn against one another, and Ju-woon comes out on top, with a little help from Ju-woon’s prosecutor son, Lee Geum-son (The Trauma Code’s Choo Young-woo), who greenlights a raid on the Bongsan Group. Ju-woon kills Bong-san, the man who was once his colleague and friend, but his victory will be short-lived. 

Meanwhile, Gi-jun’s rogue mission to find justice for his brother has led to Jun-mo’s death. Gi-jun fights through dozens of men to do so, and kills Jun-mo even after realizing that it was not Jun-mo’s hired thugs who dealt the killing blow on his brother. For Gi-jun, it is enough that Jun-mo tried.

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The plot behind Gi-seok’s death

Gi-seok’s death was envisioned as the catalyst for a gang war. The person behind it all? Chairman Lee’s son, Geum-son. For his whole life, Geum-son has been intentionally kept from the criminal world by his father, who wanted a better life for his son. When we meet Geum-son, he is a prosecutor in the Seoul Central District Attorney’s office, living his life on the right side of the law. 

However, Geum-son dreams of running a criminal organization like his father, and will do anything to make it happen. He hatches a plan to take over both the Juwoon Group and the Bongsan Group. He recruits Cha Yeong-do, whose plan led to the fall of Beomyeongdong 11 years prior, to help. Together, they put into motion the death of Gi-seok, and the plan to pin it on Jun-mo. To ensure that Gi-seok actually dies, Geum-son sends assassin Shimane to finish him off. 

When the dust settles on the gang war that follows, Ju-woon has killed Bong-san, Yeong-do has killed Ju-woon, and Geum-son is in charge of the organization.  

Gi-jun’s relentless rampage

But Gi-jun doesn’t care about power; he only cares about his brother. While Chairman Gu, Chairman Lee, Cha Yeong-do, Gu Jun-mo, and Lee Geum-son fight for control of the criminal organizations, Gi-jun cuts a relentless, ruthless path through their ranks. He kills Jun-mo, Shimane, Yeong-do, and eventually Geum-son for their roles in Gi-seok’s death. 

Before Gi-jun kills Geum-son, they discuss the plot that would lead to so much death and destruction. Geum-son feels no remorse, but he also isn’t sure if it was worth it. Gi-jun has leaked Yeong-do’s recording of Geum-son, implicating him in the murder of Gi-seok, to the press. Geum-son has lost everything, including his father. 

“Everyone feels that way,” Gi-jun tells him, offering insight but no mercy. “They’ll do anything to get there. But when they finally do, only emptiness is left. Because they can only go down from there.” Geum-son tries to shoot himself in the head, but Gi-jun stops him, hacking into his wrist. “You don’t get to die like that,” he tells Geum-son, before slicing his throat and killing Geum-son himself.

After Gi-jun kills Geum-son, he returns to the campground he runs. As he sits dying from the many bullet and stab wounds he accumulated during his rampage, he remembers his brother. 

Gi-seok visited Gi-jun shortly before his death, and they sat by the campfire. “Should I just come work with you here?” He remembers Gi-seok asking—later, Gi-jun will find books on the business of camping that imply Gi-seok was really considering it. Gi-jun tells him to do it, and the brothers laugh together. They both already know that there is no leaving the organization behind—not really.