Note to reader: If you have already seen the blockbuster movie The Man From Nowhere written and directed by Lee Jeong beom, you may skip this and proceed straight to the next chapter.
 

Former black operation agent for the government, Cha Tae-shik withdrew from society after witnessing his pregnant wife being crushed to death by a truck. It is evidently by an enemy connected to his work. Living a reclusive life running a pawnshop in a dingy, little apartment he has no friends, nor foes…except for quirky little Jung So-mi who is unfazed by his ambiguous personality. So-mi lives close by with her mother, Hye jeong, an exotic dancer in night clubs and a heroin addict. Thiers’s is a curious relationship as Tae-shik who seems to want to keep away from people subtly encourages the friendship. For instance, he intentionally draws her sight to the sausage he bought and So-mi un-abashedly invites herself in for lunch. It is hinted that Tae-shik already knew about the girl’s love for sausage.


 

Also, when her mother had ‘friends’ come over, she runs to Tae shik who lets him sleep at his place for the night.

“Really…I’ll go home once omma’s friends are gone.” She swears. “I won’t make a noise.”
He doubted it but didn’t mind.
“Ahjussi, do you know what your nick name is?”
He is curious but doesn’t show.
“Pawnshop ghost.” She says and chuckles. “And guess what mine is?”
Realizing that she wanted him to be curious, he plays along. “What is it?”
“I won’t tell you.” She answers and turns away.
She probably wanted him to coax it out of her but he simply hands her a pillow.
“Garbage can.” She tells him eventually. “A pawnshop ghost and a Garbage can. Sounds like IDs on the net, doesn’t it?”
He says nothing. A right pair, we are, he thinks to himself as he turns off the light. The next morning he woke up to a note on his door and a fingernail on his left hand diligently painted in yellow with a cross-eyed face upon it- her nail art.

 Hye-jeong steals drug from a powerful drug dealing ring and sells the bag containing the drugs to Tae-shik without his knowledge. So-mi and her mother are eventually kidnapped and while the mother is killed, with her organs harvested and sold on the black market, So mi is sold to a drug smuggling chain that employs children to deliver their packages. On realizing that So-mi could also be in danger of being an involuntary organ donor, Tae-shik sets out on a 'roaring rampage' to rescue her. What ensues is a messy game of manipulation and brutal assasiantions. He eventually manages to get to the ring leader but is shown a container holding a pair of eyes and is told that they are So-mi’s. Driven to a point where he could no longer see sense, he kills off the entire group in a bloody medley. Finally alone by himself, Tae-shik ws about to resign to his fate by shooting himself when a scared and dirty So-mi emerges from the darkness. She was saved by one of the assasins who took to her kindly and had killed the surgeon accomplice instead to take out the eyes.

She cautiously approaches him. "Ahjussi, are you here to save me?"
She is searching his face for an answer but he is instead worried about his blood-stained hands. 
"Don't come any closer." He warns.
Regardless, she runs up, throws her arms around him and burst into tears.

The detectives and the police eventually finds them. Before he is taken away by them, Tae-shik asked to stop at a convenience store. He picks up a fancy backpack and fills it up with fancy school stuffs, much to her delight.
Tae-shik tells her that she'll be alone henceforth and before he leaves, could he hug her once? She willingly opens up her arms, and as they embrace, he allows himself to finally cry.