Seoul Vibe follows Dong-wook and his rag-tag gang through an intricate heist to unravel the Korean money laundering scheme amidst the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Starring Yoo Ah-in as Dong-wook, the spirited racing enthusiast leading his team of amateurs, the Korean action drama is set right before the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Manoeuvring through fast-paced car chases, layered heists, Korean bureaucracy and politics, and a riot of intervening action and comedy, Seoul Vibe promises a fast-paced action film with comedic intervals intervening to lighten the mood.
Directed by Hyun-Sung Moon, Seoul Vibe also stars Park Ju-hyun, Ong Seong-wu, Lee Kyu-hyung, Go Kyung-Pyo, Moon So-ri, Kim Sung-Kyung, and Oh Jung-se in supporting roles.
Seoul Vibe Story Summary
Park Dong-wook (Yoo Ah-in) and Joon-gi (Ong Seong-wu) return to their hometown in Seoul amidst the 1988 Olympics preparations when they successfully execute an arms delivery for Mr Yoon in Saudi Arabia. Reconciling with their friend Bok-Nam at the airport, their reunion is cut short when prosecutor Ahn (Oh Jung-se) and his officials begin to chase Dong-wook.
Returning to their neighbourhood in the mostly-demolished Sanggye station, Dong-wook momentarily evades the chasing officials with a spectacular display of his car-manoeuvering skills. The trio sneak into a garage where Dong-wook reunites with his sister Yoon-hee (Park Ju-hyun) and friend John Woo-sam (Go Kyung-Pyo).
However, Prosecutor Ahn soon catches up to the gang. Explaining how he can easily jail them for their illegal goods transportation and violations of the Foreign Exchange Control Act, Ahn offers a counter-proposal.
Ahn reveals that the president of the loan-shark industry Ms Kang In-sook (Moon So-ri) and the former defence security command Director Lee Hyeong-gyun (Kim Sung-Kyung) manage the former government’s secret fund and are implicated in one of the largest money laundering schemes in the country.
Finding ideal spies in the group of unidentified stray kids, Ahn proposes they join Kang’s team as her mules to extract information and expose the wanted murderous Dictator. The gang agrees to spy for Ahn in exchange for erased criminal records and American visas.
Facing a high-intensity race the next day, Dong-wook and his team prepare for Kang’s secret selection for her new mule drivers. Handed a film canister, the rag-tag team chaotically races four other spirited teams from Daehan Cinema to Namsan Hotel.
Dodging distractions, formidable competitors, and civilian obstacles throughout the course, Dong-wook’s team emerges victorious in the race as the victors get invited to Ms Kang’s party.
The team is officially inducted into Kang’s squad and presented with the job conditions. A massive incentive of 10 million Won per delivery shocks them, which Dong-wook manages to hike up to 40 million upon completion of their first five tasks.
When Lee torches their car in a fit of rage after seeing the gang drunk and irresponsible, the team upgrades their car with Ahn’s help. Chief Prosecutor Jung Woong-in expresses his doubts about the scrappy team, but Ahn reassures him, having faith in their vigour and capability.
As the operation gets underway, the gang is assigned with the disposal of 5 billion Won through sanctioned purchases. Beginning their deliveries, the team narrowly evades the Seoul police while withering under Lee’s surveillance.
As the gang completes deliveries efficiently, Kang rewards them with keys to a 100 million-Won apartment. However, a raucous celebration finds the troop drunk and semi-conscious in a nightclub at Itaewon, subsequently getting caught in a TV raid, much to Ahn’s annoyance.
When Yoon-hee and Bok-nam impulsively visit a SoBangCha performance in the city, Lee intercepts the duo. The team is shaken up by Lee’s crazed threats when he fires a gun at Dong-wook. However, the gun is only loaded with paint as Lee laughingly reveals his scare tactics to have been a test, presenting the team with a table clock as a reward for their resilience.
Meanwhile, John tricks Kang’s assistant Kim Yoon-jae and obtains the imprint of the master key, allowing him to access Kang’s slush funds ledger from the penthouse.
Thoroughly shaken up, Dong-wook’s infuriation at Lee’s hostility and concerns for his team’s safety lead him to Ahn’s door, wishing to quit. Falling out with Ahn and John about their future in the scheme, Dong-wook resigns while the team continues with their scheme to retrieve the ledger.
As John distracts the guards, Yoon-hee, disguised as a maid, sneaks into the penthouse and retrieves the ledger. Narrowly escaping the alerted staff, Yoon-hee is guided to safety by Dong-wook in a nail-biting last-moment escape. Content with their discovery, the gang drives to Ahn’s office.
Unbeknownst to them, Lee’s table clock is a recording device, revealing their alliances with prosecutor Ahn to an incensed Kang and Lee.
When the gang eagerly attempts to visit Ahn, they find his desk ransacked and their visas scattered. Collecting their visas and deciding to make a run for it, Dong-wook and John are alerted by voices of distress when suddenly Ahn’s bloody and lifeless body is dropped from the fourth story onto their car. An enraged Lee captures the injured John while Dong-wook reluctantly drives off to safety.
Downcast and hopeless, the team returns to find their garage torched by Lee. News reports indicate the entire blame for Ahn’s death publicly shifted onto the youngsters.
Lee brutally tortures John while Kang leverages his burgeoning relationship with Kim Yoon-jae, displaying her severed hand in a bid to extract information from John.
When Dong-wook distractedly plays a mixtape in Ahn’s car, the tape reveals a secretly recorded conversation between Kang and the Public Prosecutor General. Approaching Chief Prosecutor Jung Woong-in with the incriminating ledger and mixtape, Dong-wook concocts a plan to trap Lee and Kan and recover the laundered money.
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Seoul Vibe Ending Explained
Following Lee and Kang to the Grand Namsan hospital, Dong-wook sneaks into Lee’s procession, overhearing their plan to smuggle their last load of laundered money on the day of the Olympics opening ceremony.
Confronting Lee, Dong-wook demands John’s release as he reveals Ahn’s tape. Initially dismissing it, Lee is shocked when the tape record discloses Kang’s plan to leave Lee behind as she and the corrupt officials escape to the USA with the stolen money. Dong-wook takes advantage of Lee’s fury to trick him into jointly planning to take down Kang and retrieve the cash.
Does Dong-wook’s plan succeed?
Employing the aid of his neighbourhood nemesis Galchi and his lackeys, Dong-wook lures Lee and his men away as Yoon-hee frees the trapped John from Lee’s clutches. With John ushered to safety, Dong-wook’s plan unfolds concurrently with the Olympic opening ceremony celebrations.
Revamping their car in Olympic style, Dong-wook is chased through the Soeul streets by a maddened Lee. With Bok-nam running interference with his taxi, the three cars struggle for domination as they break into the Olympic celebrations where Galchi disorients their pursuers with a smoke truck.
When Lee is cornered by the Chief Prosecutor and his forces, an explosion kills the corrupt general. Meanwhile, Bok-nam is narrowly saved from injury when John extracts him from his upturned vehicle right before it explodes.
With Bok-nam and John’s help, Dong-wook mounts onto Kang’s aircraft with his car as an altercation breaks out between the two forces. Secretly recording their tussle, Dong-wook provokes Kang to admit her corruption and plan of absconding with the laundered money. When an enraged Kang attempts to shoot Dong-wook, he drives out of the aircraft, pulling the carrier containing the laundered money with him.
Barrelling towards the earth at terminal velocity, Dong-wook manages to deploy the parachute in the nick of time as he crash-lands on the ground with money from the aircraft raining all over him.
Kang is publicly apprehended by the prosecutor and exposed as the master of the loan sharks and president of the underground economy, laundering over 50 billion Won in cash. Further investigations expose people linked with her with the aid of the ledger and reveal her additional crimes in real estate speculation and tax evasion.
Having successfully executed their plan, the gang visits Ahn’s grave to pay their respects. John and Bok-Nam’s meagre pickings from the shower of money are dismissed when Dong-wook reveals a bag full of stolen cash. The gang rejoices as Dong-wook looks forward to “upgrading” before heading toward Los Angeles.
A mid-credits scene set a year later at the money-laundering temple reveals the frustrated Dictator embittered from the disastrous loss of his money. In a final instance of natural justice, a flock of birds leaves the Dictator in shambles as the corrupt ex-leader writhes in defeat, covered in bird droppings.
Seoul Vibe is now streaming on Netflix.
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