Inspector O has been wrenched from retirement and ordered back to Pyongyang for a final assignment. The two Koreas, he learns, are now cooperating - very quietly - to maintain stability in the North. Stability requires that O lead an investigation into a crime of passion. O is instructed to make sure that the case goes away. Remnants of the old regime, foreign powers, rival gangs - all want a piece of the action, and all make it clear that if O values his life, he will not get in their way. O isn't sure where his loyalties lie, and he doesn't have much time to figure out whether it's better to be noble or be dead.