Mercy For None is a Korean series of action, revenge, and crime drama, starring Kim Mu-yeol, in which the protagonist, Gi-Jun, embarks on a spiral of violence after the murder of his little brother, regardless of the consequences. The story moves between two rival gangs, Juwoon and Bongsan, each led by a patriarch and their respective children, who aspire to inherit control. But the apparent calm jumps through the air when Gi-Seok, Gi-Jun’s brother, dies at the hands of a professional assassin. From there, everything becomes a battlefield without rules. “Without forgiveness, without mercy… only revenge awaits”. With this phrase in mind, Nam Gi-Jun returned to that criminal world he left behind a decade ago; his objective: to make the person responsible for the death of his younger brother Gi-Seok pay. ¿Did you succeed? Next, I explain the end of “Mercy for None”, the action series, intrigue, and crimes that caught me over seven episodes.

In “Mercy for None”, we get fully into the Korean criminal world through the gaze of Gi-Jun, a man determined to settle accounts after the death of his brother Gi-Seok. But what begins as an individual crusade soon turns into a fall into the abyss of conspiracies, betrayals, and excessive ambition. In this bloody Netflix thriller, there is no redemption possible: everyone loses when revenge dominates everything. History begins in the present, but soon returns to the past, revealing ancient covenants and buried betrayals. And as the number of corpses increases, so does the confusion: names, faces, and alliances that relentlessly intersect in a violent whirlwind. Before I warn you that if you have not seen or finished this thriller, which has been available on Netflix since June 6, 2025, I will launch a series of spoilers; therefore, it is your responsibility to continue reading.

Mercy For None Ending Explained: Who Killed Gi-Seok? What Happened to Yeong-Do

The big twist is revealed towards the end: Gi-Seok wasn’t killed by one of the gang members chasing him, but by Kaneyama, a hitman wanted by Interpol. Kaneyama had been hired by Yeong-Do, a corrupt police officer working in the shadows with both gangs, and who, in turn, responded to the schemes of Geum-Son, Lee Ju-Woon’s son, and a prosecutor by profession. His ambition leads him to orchestrate everyone’s downfall to take the throne of crime. Geum-Son plays a double game throughout the series: he feigns innocence while manipulating from within the judicial system and the criminal world. His ambition knows no bounds, and when his father tries to prevent him from entering that world, he interprets it as contempt. With Kaneyama’s help and by blackmailing Yeong-Do, he manages to eliminate all his obstacles. But he doesn’t count on Gi-Jun to go all the way.

Gi-Jun takes down those involved one by one: first Kaneyama, then Yeong-Do, and finally Seong-Cheol, the faithful servant of Geum-Son’s father, who tries to defend him to the bitter end. Only the true instigator remains: Geum-Son. The two engage in a final confrontation where Gi-Jun makes it clear that his purpose was not respect or leadership, but pure fear. Geum-Son attempts suicide, but Gi-Jun prevents him and gives him an even more humiliating death, leaving him to bleed to death in the very chair he dreamed of occupying as chief. He dies without redemption, unable to ask for forgiveness, faithful to his character to the end.

Who Killed Gi-Seok? Although many thought that Gi-Seok was killed by one of the people who cornered and persecuted him that night, the truth is that he died at the hands of a subject they call Kanemaya, an Interpol-wanted killer who has worked for Lee Geum-Son; that is, this prosecutor is the mastermind of the crime. Not only that, Geum-Son is known to have asked corrupt police officer Yeong-Do, who works for both criminal gangs, to end his father’s life to take power. It is worth mentioning that under his image of someone disinterested in leadership, a Machiavellian subject ready for anything was hidden; so he did not hesitate to cause problems in both gangs, something, of course, nobody knows. In the end, Gi-Jun becomes the material author of the murder of his loved one, but that does not stop there, because it goes for the others.

¿What happened to Yeong-Do? These corrupt police officers are the ones who orchestrated everything so that Geum-Son has the leadership of both sides, but he took it upon himself to keep them apart by blaming Gi-Jun for it. Although it is the brain behind it all, it has no weight or hierarchy to keep people under its control; for that reason, it decides to secretly record them and use this material when necessary. These tests that incriminate Geum-Son are found by the protagonist, who hands them over to Hae-Bom (Gi-Seok’s friend), asking him to take care of his life and preserve them. The life of this officer also ends at the hands of Gi-Jun.

¿Does Geum-Son assume leadership of the gangs? After his father’s death, at the hands of Yeong-Do, something he had longed for, he assumes leadership of both criminal organizations, but his victory is short-lived. It turns out that in the news, they report that when suspected of a crime, he must leave his position as prosecutor, so he automatically becomes a nobody to everyone. In a fit of helplessness, he unleashes his anger on the rest, but makes them see reason. Seong-Cheol, a man who served his father for many years and who was also killed by Gi-Jun.

What Finally Happened to Geum-Son? In the end, the protagonist meets Geum-Son, the mastermind behind his brother’s crime. Amidst a crossroads, the now ex-prosecutor tells Gi-Jun that he deserves his father’s position because he inspires respect and power, to which his opponent replies that the only thing he has is fear. To escape the protagonist’s hands and avoid facing justice, Geum-Sin tries to kill himself with a shot, but is stopped by Gi-Jun when he cuts off his wrist, because he wants me to apologize for Gi-Seok’s death, while he sticks a knife in his throat, but he replies by stammering that he should not say what to do. This is how this individual died: in the same place where he longed to be in control, as his father.

And what happened to Gi-Jun? In his confrontation, Gi-Jun is also shot multiple times while imagining his brother. In the final scenes of “Mercy for None”, the protagonist appears sitting alone in front of a campfire, although Gi-Seok is at his side. Although many may think that he must be calm because he managed to avenge the death of his loved one and it is all over, he regrets letting his brother work for Ju-Woon, so he feels sad and breathes his last breath in solitude.

What Message Does “Mercy for None” Leave?

The series poses a key question: Is revenge worth destroying oneself? Gi-Jun manages to kill all those responsible for his brother’s death, but he is left empty, without purpose, without a future. In the final scene, we see him in front of a bonfire, apparently accompanied by his brother, in a symbolic farewell that suggests Gi-Jun is also dying. There are no winners. All that remains is the memory of what could have been a simple life, far from violence, if the brothers had chosen another path.

Final Reflection on “Mercy for None“

“Mercy for None” is a brutal descent into the hell of crime and ambition. A story where no one is spared and where blood ties are not enough to stop the machinery of revenge. The true message is clear: when only hatred remains, you have already lost everything else.