The Plotters by Un-su Kim Review: a Dark Adventure into Free Market of Assasination

The Plotters' Indonesian cover

Business competition is a normal thing. But, how about competition in contract killing? Does it involve activities of killing each other? That’s the plot of The Plotters, a crime novel written by South Korea author Un-su Kim.

Reseng, the main character, was stuck in a contract killing competition between Old Racoon, his foster father and also a veteran in this field, and Hanja, a rookie as well as a former Old Racoon’s subordinate. Such competition had taken his friends’ life, and it’s not impossible that he would become the next victim.

The competition began when South Korean military dictatorship had transformed into democratic government. The moral boundaries of democracy resulted in politicians couldn’t arbitrarily use soldiers to finish their opponents off. In consequence, contract killing services rose significantly. The problem was many clients merely trusted Old Racoon, and Old Racoon was deemed reluctant to share his client lists with Hanja and his allies.

Reseng began to realize that he had become the next victim when he found out a tiny bomb in his apartment’s lavatory. After being tracked down by his friend Jeongan, it turned out the bomb was planted by Mito, a planner having ambition to bring Old Racoon-Hanja rivalry into an end, and also finish both of them off in order to round off contract killing business by using Reseng. The bomb was a bait to lead Reseng to meet Mito, so Mito could reveal her plan. Despite his skepticism to Mito’s ambition, Reseng still helped Mito to realize her ambition.

Reseng had abnormal life if compared with most people in real life. When he was a baby, he was found in a dump in front of a nunnery and eventually taken care of in an orphanage until he was four years old. Afterwards, he lived with Old Racoon, a librarian and also hitmen agent, in a library named “The Doghouse” until he was seventeen years old. He grew up without obtaining formal education. The only one his source of knowledge was the library's books, which became the escape from his solitude as well.

He knew he couldn’t escape from his fate as assasin, so he bore it in his mind: one day he likely became the next target. He got tired of killing somehow—when he was assigned to kill a retired high-ranking military officer, and a prostitute. However, because he was indoctrinated by his fate, there weren’t other ways to do. His books weren’t adequate to drive his guiltiness away, so he had a habit, more like a ritual though, after carrying out assasination: getting drunk on beer.

Un-su Kim, the author, could present his crime fiction with amusing style. He brought the humors through his choice of words. I spontaneously laughed when reading this sentence: “… as well as all the Teletubbies, their arms in the air as if they were about to lead everyone in a round of calisthenics.” Humors were like a light in the midst of a murky crime story. The Plotters reminded me of Eka Kurniawan’s works, which also brought tragedy and comedy altogether.

However, my curiosity, and also maybe other readers', was not answered. How could a lame librarian like Old Racoon become a prominent person in hitmen business? It seemed Kim deliberately led the readers to enjoy thoroughly Reseng’s story which was full of tragedy. Because Old Racoon was “uninterested in Reseng as he was in his own life.” (p.103).