The film follows , a corrupt ex-detective turned pimp who notices that several of his girls have vanished without paying off their debts. When he dispatches an ill call girl, Mi-jin, to a client, he realizes a terrifying detail: the client’s phone number matches the final call location of all his missing girls. What ensues is a frantic, 12-hour race against time across the rainy alleys of Seoul to stop a sadistic, hammer-wielding serial killer named Jeon Yeong-min.

The police are depicted as bumbling, overly concerned with public relations, and bound by red tape that actively protects the guilty.

The film is notoriously brutal and not for the faint of heart, often compared to other Korean giants like Oldboy and I Saw the Devil . The Chaser (2008)

: While there isn't a high-budget "new" feature film specifically titled The Chaser based on this story recently, the theme of "the monkey's paw" (getting exactly what you want but with a curse) is a recurring trope in modern Georgian-dubbed thrillers.