Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Jason Kim, Netflix’s ‘Bloodhounds,’ also known as ‘Sanyanggaedeul,’ returns with its second season to step away from the world of loan sharks and return to Kim Geon-woo’s true passion: boxing. Now a successful martial artist, Geon-woo, alongside his best friend and coach, Woo-jin, leads the life of his dreams, until the arrival of Baek-jeong. A fiercely powerful boxer in his own right, Jeong challenges Geon-woo to a battle where there are no rules, but several times the profit. When things don’t go as he expected, Baek-jeong snaps out of control, unleashing every trick in his book to force Geon-woo into submission. However, Geon-woo is not the kind to ever bend the knee, especially when the lives of his loved ones are under threat. As such, the ending of this Korean action thriller series pits these two titans of combat against each other, with only one victor emerging on the other end. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Bloodhounds Season 2 Plot Recap
‘Bloodhounds’ season 2 begins with Geon-woo reaching a career high point, as all of his training pays off in a title match with an Uzbek boxer named Adik. Although Adik seems to know all about Geon-woo’s trick, the latter surprises him with a brand new technique, and ultimately wins the bout. Behind closed doors, however, Adik’s defeat seems to have infuriated some powerful gangsters, who then take him to an underground boxing tournament known as the IKFC, or Iron Knuckle Fight Club. There, Adik faces a mysterious boxer named Baek-jeong, who doesn’t even break a sweat while beating his opponent to a pulp. This entire match, broadcast illegally, ends up making billions, but also results in Adik’s death. Eager for more money and a better opponent, Baek-jeong then sets his sights on Geon-woo.
Things seem to be looking up in Geon-woo’s life, as with his earnings, he now has a lavish house, and Min-beom’s hospital is also well under construction. However, that changes when Baek-jeong waltzes into the house one night, demanding Geon-woo’s participation and offering billions of won in return. When Geon-woo rejects the offer, Baek-jeong immediately goes on the offensive and launches a plan to kidnap Geon-woo’s mother and smoke his opponent out. That night, attackers storm the house, but Geon-woo and Woo-jin manage to defeat them just in time. With an all-out war now confirmed, Geon-woo has no choice but to get help from his circle of friends, which brings Senior Marine Kwang-moo and Inspector Min Kang back into the picture. After the family is shifted to a safe hotel, the team begins a long investigation into who these criminals might be and learns that they are operating under an international criminal racket.
While Kwang-moo and Woo-jin try to investigate matters by themselves, Baek-jeong sends a whole team of ruffians to kidnap them, only for Geon-woo to come in at the last minute and take them out all by himself. This comes at a cost, however, as Kwang-moo takes serious blows to the head, whereas Woo-jin’s left hand is cut severely. The attacks also extend to Min-beom himself, who is given a near-fatal poison that causes hallucinations. Lastly, Baek-jeong’s crew tortures one of the hotel bodyguards to get the location of Geon-woo’s family out. Even when the police are able to arrest Baek-jeong and one of his teammates, Yun Tae-Geom, turns on him, things don’t stay on their side for too long. A horde of contract killers helps Baek-jeong escape, following which he gets his team to kidnap Geon-woo’s mother. With this, there remains only a single way to get things back to normal, and Geon-woo decides to step into the ring with Baek-jeong at last.
Bloodhounds Season 2 Ending: Who Wins Between Kim Geon-woo and Baek-jeong?
The second season of ‘Bloodhounds’ ends with Geon-woo defeating Baek-jeong and freeing his mother, solidifying his position as the best martial artist in the series. While Baek-jeong crushes his opponents with his signature iron knuckles, Geon-woo refuses to wear them in both of the fights. What is different this time, however, is his technique, as it is now tailor-made to turn Baek-jeong’s strengths into his weaknesses. After Geon-woo and Woo-jin meet Baek-jeong’s former coach, they learn that what makes this ambidextrous beast of a fighter unique is not the power behind his punches, but his ability to switch pacing. It is an unpredictability not unlike Geon-woo’s, and he soon realizes that the only way to beat Baek-jeong is to strike at the precise moment he is assured of landing a finisher.
In many ways, Geon-woo’s first fight in the season against Adik is a narrative precursor to how he tackles Baek-jeong, as in both cases the climaxes overlap. By now, everyone in the martial arts world knows about Geon-woo’s lethal right-hand strike, but just when Adik tries to anticipate it and land a counter, Geon-woo surprises him with a liver shot. In the final fight, this sequence is almost reversed, as it is Baek-jeong who defaults to his sure-footed, but predictable southpaw attacks. Thanks to Woo-jin, Geon-woo knows left-handed boxing from the inside out, and this is why he is able to shock Baek-jeong by punching him right at his knuckles, crushing his arm. The knuckle shot is also important on a symbolic level, as it is with that specific augmentation that Baek-jeong has won against several fighters in the past.
Once Baek-jeong falls to his knees, Geon-woo lands the finishing strike and wins the fight with no resistance. At the same time, however, the police pull off a parallel mission, that being the rescue of Geon-woo’s mother, Yoon So-yeon. Surprisingly, Du-yeong makes a reappearance, finally gathering the courage to face Geon-woo for the first time since Choi’s death. With him in the ranks, the team has enough firepower to take down the IKFC gang, and as the fight between Geon-woo and Baek-jeong rages on, Du-yeong silently beats several ruffians along the way. While he is dealt a serious blow at the end, he survives. Meanwhile, Woon-jeong kills Man-bae and saves So-yeon. This conclusion also has a poetic angle to it, as earlier in the story Woo-jin dubs Woon-jeong a part of the “Woo” trio, and this victory all but seals the deal.
Why is Baek-jeong Spared? Who is Paichit Chaichana?
While intelligence officers Choi Shin-hyeong and Seul-gi are tasked by Min-beom with killing Baek-jeong and his accomplices, the final moments of the episode reveal that an entirely different plan is at play. Instead of taking Baek-jeong out, Choi fakes his death and turns him into an informant for a much larger mission in the making. Although the picture sent to Min-beom clearly shows a bullet lodged in Baek-jeong’s head, we learn that all of this is simply makeup, and the real Baek-jeong is safe, but entirely tamed by the NIS. After holding him at gunpoint, they get the name of his handler in Thailand, who had prepared a safe exit for the group. This man, known as Paichit Chaichana, turns out to be one of the most sought-after terrorists by the NIS, and with Min-beom under their control, they have a very real shot at capturing him.
What is perhaps the most shocking detail about this scene is not the twist itself, but how effortlessly Shin-hyeong is able to take control of the situation. In a series about fist-fights, police activity hardly escalates beyond tasers, but when it comes to guns, even seasoned fighters such as Baek-jeong are helpless. In a flash, the NIS turns him into one of their informants, or “bloodhounds,” now tasked with infiltrating the criminal network in Thailand to take down Paichit. The latter appears to be in charge of a larger drug trafficking network, and while this doesn’t clash with Geon-woo’s storyline on the surface, it is entirely possible that Paichit is the next threat in line for our boxing prodigy.
The fact that Baek-jeong ultimately survives this entire ordeal is perhaps the worst-case scenario for Geon-woo and his family. Though Baek-jeong might be under the NIS’s control for now, it is unlikely that his hunger for revenge will subside anytime soon. As we see in the case of In Beom, ‘Bloodbounds’ doesn’t shy away from bringing back previous antagonists into the fold, and it is entirely possible that Choi Shin-hyeong is playing a chess game that goes well beyond the control of even the likes of Min-beom. While Choi does send all of Baek-jeong’s money to Min-beom, he doesn’t exactly hold up his end of the deal either, which means that he can just as easily be hiding a much larger conspiracy. To that end, Geon-woo’s final scene, where he brings up his fear of Baek-jeong returning, might just be an ominous piece of foreshadowing for what’s to come.
Who is the Man at the Morgue?
In the post-credits scene of the ‘Bloodhounds’ season 2 finale, we see a mysterious soldier walk into the morgue where Yun Tae-Geom’s body is being kept. While not a single word is exchanged in this entire scene, it is clear that the sight leaves the soldier equal parts shaken and furious. Thus, it is entirely possible that a revenge storyline is in order. We know that Tae-Geom came from a heavy military background, and it is not surprising that he might have friends in the system to this date. What’s more unusual about this introduction is that we don’t know who the target of this man’s rage is. It is possible that the rest of the team still believes that Baek-jeong has escaped of his own volition and can return at any point. What this soldier doesn’t know, however, is that to beat Baek-jeong, he might have to go toe to toe with the NIS itself.
Given that the man is skilled enough to track down where Tae-Geom’s body is being kept, it is likely that his next goal is to track down the ex-soldier’s family. This means that a clash between him and Geon-woo is all but imminent, but it doesn’t necessarily have to go the wrong way. From what we know, Tae-Geom’s mother and his daughter are living with Geon-woo’s family, who have come to share a rather unique bond, which means that this soldier might just team up with our boxer duo to track down what Baek-jeong is really up to. It is a fact that Man-bae still has several assets within Korean institutions, including the military, and this might be the soldier’s only shot at taking them out before the system collapses of itself. The last we see of Geon-Woo and Woo-jin, however, is not a look of preparedness like last season, but a much more humane moment of two friends trying to share each other’s burdens.
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