The movie is set in a dystopian 2034, where
South Korea has been ravaged by a deadly flu.
It is said that this virus is 10 times deadlier
than COVID-19, resulting in hundreds and thousands
of deaths.
The condition is so severe that even birds
are shot by the military, so that they don’t
transmit the disease to other countries.
As a result of this flu, people die on the
streets, cars crash into each other, and in
short, the city has gone into chaos.
When there is no place left to bury the dead
bodies, the government piles them up like
trash in a large stadium, and burns them at
once.
This is the peak of the flu.
But to know how it began, let’s go back to
a few weeks earlier.
It all started in Hong Kong, where a shipping
container full of illegal immigrants is being
readied for transport to Bundang, South Korea.
As the incharge inspects the people inside,
someone suddenly starts coughing vigorously.
Despite this, he gives the all clear, and
the container is dispatched on its journey.
Elsewhere, in Bundang, a woman named Kim In-hae
is involved in an accident, and now her car
has fallen into a construction hole.
In no time, the rescue squad arrives, but
the car has been stuck in such a spot that
only one person can go inside at a time.
A guy named Kan Ji-Koo takes the initiative
and slowly makes his way down to Kim.
The situation is so precarious that if they
make too much movement, the car will plunge
further down.
Despite this, Ji-Koo uses his experience and
eventually rescues Kim.
After the successful rescue operation, Ji-Koo
approaches Kim and tries to initiate a conversation,
but the latter simply ignores him and leaves
in the ambulance.
That night, Kim calls Ji-koo and asks to meet
at the same spot where the accident took place.
Ji-Koo is excited, believing that Kim has
called him to appreciate his efforts, however,
on reaching, he gets dejected to find out
that she has simply called him to retrieve
her bag from the hole.
He initially refuses, claiming that it is
against their protocols, but after Kim leaves,
he enters the hole and retrieves the bag with
the help of one of his colleagues.
After this, he searches through the bag and
finds an identity card, which shows that Kim
is a doctor.
Just then, the phone inside starts ringing,
and Ji-Koo answers it hesitantly.
Kim’s daughter, Mi-reu is on the other side,
and after a small chat, Ji-Koo agrees to meet
her after school.
Meanwhile, two brothers, Byung-Ki and Byeong-Woo
approach the container with the illegal immigrants.
When they open it, they are taken aback to
find everyone dead, except one.
There is also a very powerful stench inside
the container.
Confused about what to do, the brothers take
videos of the scene and put the lone survivor
inside their truck.
After a while, they stop at a grocery store,
and Byung-Ki heads inside to get some supplies.
Sensing the opportunity, the survivor makes
a run for it.
When Byung-Ki returns from the store, he notices
that the man has escaped, and that his brother
is coughing profusely.
He tries chasing the survivor, but ultimately
gives up and instead takes his brother to
a clinic.
There, the doctor gives Byeong-Woo some normal
prescriptions and asks him to rest, but Byeong-Woo
cannot stop coughing.
He spreads his droplets to all the people
in his vicinity.
Elsewhere, Ji-Koo visits Mi-reu outside her
school and tries to start a conversation but
just like her mother, Mi-reu refuses to interact.
She simply takes her mother’s bag, and Ji-Koo’s
business card before leaving.
As Ji-Koo is heading home, he notices some
people coughing vigorously on the bus nearby.
Following this, we are shown a montage of
how the virus is slowly taking over the city
of Bundang.
Later, when Kim reaches home, she gets ecstatic
to find that her bag has been returned.
She hugs her daughter with joy and also thanks
Ji-Koo for his help.
Just as the mom-daughter duo is bonding, Kim
gets a call from her hospital, informing her
that there has been a sudden emergency.
Left with no options, she leaves Mi-reu in
the care of her grandmother.
When Kim arrives at the hospital, she notices
that everyone is scared.
She immediately heads into the emergency room,
where Byeong-woo, the patient, is in a critical
state.
He has coughed up a lot of blood, and has
red rashes on his body.
Kim deduces that it is Avian Flu, and tells
her seniors about it, but they are not convinced.
Soon after, the doctors get a hold of Byeong-Woo’s
phone and find the footage of the container
filled with dead bodies.
They are sure that the virus originated from
there, and approach the patient’s brother,
Byung-Ki to ask about it, but he remains silent.
Suddenly, an emergency alarm starts blaring,
and this makes Byung-Ki anxious.
Despite the doctor’s warning, he wrestles
everyone and rushes into the emergency room,
only to find that his brother has passed away.
Devastated, he breaks down and hugs his brother,
causing his hands to get stained with blood.
Byung-Ki then touches several of the doctors
with his hands, but after a long struggle,
he is finally subdued.
In the next scene, Mi-reu gets bored and ventures
out of her house alone.
She is almost hit by a vehicle, but Monssai,
the survivor from the container, saves her.
Mi-reu notices that he is hungry, and provides
him with some food.
As they talk, Monssai warns the little girl
to stay away from him since he is sick, but
Mi-reu continues talking to him.
A while later, Monssai starts coughing, prompting
Mi-reu to get some aid.
She calls Ji-Koo for help, but by the time
he arrives, Monssai is already gone.
By this time, thousands of people in the city
have become infected by the virus, resulting
in the hospitals becoming overcrowded with
patients.
On the other hand, Kim, along with a team
of the KCDC (Korea Centers for Disease Control
and prevention) locate the container and incinerate
all the dead bodies inside.
However, a large swarm of rats, that had been
feeding on the corpses, manages to escape
into the city.
Meanwhile, a medical team consisting of top
doctors from around the country hold an emergency
meeting.
After a heated conversation, the team concludes
that the deadly virus is a modified version
of the H5N1 strain, which can kill its victims
within 36 hours.
They also instruct the higher officials to
quarantine the city, or else it may spread
to the whole country, and even the world.
Elsewhere, Ji-Koo has taken Mi-reu to a supermarket.
There, they have lunch and start bonding,
while sharing some of their secrets with each
other.
After a while, as they prepare to leave, chaos
begins to unfold.
People start coughing up blood and fall unconscious.
Some of them even die on the spot.
Ji-Koo notices a woman about to fall from
the escalator, and saves her, but in the process,
he loses sight of Mi-reu.
Back at the emergency meeting, the doctors
and politicians get into an argument, as some
of them deem the quarantine unnecessary.
During this time, a series of accidents occur
outside, resulting in mass casualties.
Now, the virus is spreading at such a rapid
rate that the hospitals and communication
systems have become overwhelmed, and the quarantine
is forcefully initiated.
Fearing for their lives, the politicians and
doctors decide to fly to Seoul and continue
their research there.
As the researchers plan to evacuate the city,
Dr. Kim informs her colleagues that she will
join them later, after she finds her daughter.
She calls Mi-Reu, but Ji-Koo picks up and
briefs her about the situation in the supermarket.
Wasting no time, she reaches the place, but
gets devastated to find that her daughter
is missing.
Soon, the situation gets out of control when
people start looting the stores, and fighting
against each other.
As a result, the army is deployed and a huge
brawl ensues.
Kim and Ji-Koo search for the little girl
amidst the chaos and after a while, finally
find her.
The three then get out of the supermarket,
just before the shutter is closed.
Once they are out of danger, Kim requests
Ji-Koo to leave the city along with them,
but he refuses, claiming that it is his duty
to help the people.
He then hands Kim his car keys, and sends
them away.
After a while, he teams up with one of his
colleagues and releases the people trapped
inside the supermarket.
Meanwhile, Kim and her daughter reach the
airport and pass the security checks.
But just as they are about to head towards
the final chopper to Seoul, Mi-Reu starts
coughing, and as a result, they are denied
entry.
That night, the Korean Army along with the
US forces and the KCDC reinforce a strict
lockdown throughout the city.
All the residents are relocated to a quarantine
camp.
At an emergency meeting in Seoul, the politicians
team up with national and international physicians,
and come to a conclusion that the citizens
will be tested, and then segregated as infected
or uninfected.
One of the physicians claims that mixing the
two sets of people will result in an even
bigger spread of the virus, but the others
tell him to remain silent.
Their plan is to release the ones who don’t
show any symptoms, while the infected will
be treated in a separate ward.
Meanwhile at the camp, Kim arrives with her
daughter and notices the dilapidated state
of the place.
People barely have space to move, let alone
live.
Some of them are already coughing up blood,
while others live in constant fear that they
will be infected soon.
Later, while Kim is tying her daughter’s
hair, she notices red rashes on her neck.
Despite this, she takes Mi-reu through the
examination room, and into the quarantine
camp.
The next morning, on the government’s orders,
some soldiers gather on rooftops and shoot
at the birds, fearing that they will transmit
the virus to other places.
Down in the camp, Monssai is finally discovered
by the authorities.
After examining him, the doctors are taken
aback to find out that he has somehow overcome
the virus and developed an immunity.
They then call Kim to start working on an
antibody, as she is the only doctor in the
camp who knows about the virus.
A few hours later, Kim is successful in extracting
the antibody from him.
However, when she presents the idea of injecting
the antibodies directly into a patient, her
seniors reject it.
Later that day, while Kim is trying to smuggle
her sick daughter out of the place, a couple
of quarantine staff arrive there, trying to
locate Mi-reu, using her tag number 2066.
They mention that her results came out positive,
so they are there to take her.
Kim is devastated that she is going to be
separated from her daughter but just then,
Ji-Koo steps forward and introduces himself
as number 2066.
With this, the guards take him away to the
infected zone.
Later, one of his friends spots him, and cleverly
uses his own card to take Ji-Koo out.
Elsewhere, Kim enters the special tent where
Monssai is being held.
Even though the higher authorities instructed
her against injecting the antibodies directly,
she proceeds to use it on Mi-Reu, who has
now become extremely sick.
Kim starts a transfusion between her daughter
and Monssai but a few moments later, the troops
notice her and barge inside.
They then put her to sleep and take the infected
Mi-Reu away.
In the next scene, Ji-koo witnesses guards
transporting a child’s body into the contaminated
zone and assumes it is Mi- reu’s.
He pursues the men and discovers Mi-reu’s
headband along the way.
Soon after, he reaches a place where thousands
of infected corpses are being wrapped up in
plastic.
Some of them aren’t even dead yet.
As Ji-Koo continues searching for Mi-Reu,
he comes across a horrific sight.
A large crane is grabbing a pile of dead bodies
and dumping them into a stadium, which has
now become an incineration pit.
Fearing the worst, he immediately heads down
to the pit and starts looking for the girl.
As a large flame burns the bodies, Ji-Koo
suddenly hears a ringtone, and realizes that
it belongs to Mi-reu.
He rushes to the location and finally discovers
the little girl wrapped in plastic, still
alive.
Meanwhile, the tension inside the quarantine
camp has reached a boiling point.
When an officer fatally shoots an infected
soldier, the crowd goes wild and erupts out
of the camp.
On their way out, they notice Ji-Koo saving
Mi-Reu from the burning pile of corpses and
deduce that the infected are being incinerated
alive.
Because of the public outburst, the medical
personnel decide to leave the place and continue
their research on Monssai elsewhere.
They ask Kim to accompany them, but she refuses,
claiming that she has to find her daughter.
As they are heading out, Byung-Ki notices
Monssai and fatally stabs him as vengeance
for the loss of his brother.
At the same time, Kim desperately searches
for her daughter around the camp, but fails
to find her.
As a result, she reluctantly leaves with the
medical staff.
Back in Seoul, the President witnesses the
city of Bundang in a state of utter pandemonium.
He is under constant pressure by a member
of the UN; Schnyder, to eliminate the infected,
so that they don’t cross the border.
Despite this, he orders the army to stand
down, until an antibody is made.
Schnyder and the Vice President aren’t happy
with the decision, but they decide to wait
for the antibody.
Unfortunately, things take a turn for the
worse when Monssai dies in the ambulance,
and with this, their hopes of develo[ping
an antibody also dies.
When the Vice President learns of this, he
secretly instructs the army to stop the outraged
civilians from entering the Seoul border.
While several civilians are killed in the
shootout, Ji-Koo somehow escapes the place
with Mi-reu, who, by this time, has started
to feel better.
She is even able to speak, implying that the
antibody worked on her.
Elsewhere, Kim rushes to meet her daughter,
but she is stopped by the armed soldiers.
She repeatedly mentions that her daughter
has the cure, so one of the soldiers takes
her to their base, to communicate with the
president.
Back on the streets, a man overhears Ji-Koo
saying Mi-Reu has the antibody, so he goes
after them.
When the girl is alone, he takes her to an
isolated room and tries to extract her blood.
Fortunately, Ji-Koo arrives with his friend,
and the three engage in a brutal fight.
At last, Ji-Koo manages to kill the man, but
his best friend is severely injured in the
fight.
In the meantime, Kim talks with the president
and informs him that her daughter has totally
been cured of the virus, and may have the
antibody to it.
Hearing this, the president orders his soldiers
to hold their fire, but Schnyder isn’t convinced,
and he tells them to keep shooting.
After a while, Kim reaches the border and
when she sees Mi-Reu among the infected, she
runs towards her.
Unfortunately, as she tries to take her daughter
over the containment line, she is shot, as
per the orders of Schnyder.
But before the soldiers can do further damage,
Mi-Reu shields her mom, and repeatedly tells
the men to not shoot.
This warms the hearts of everyone, including
the soldiers, and they stand back.
Even the infected people get renewed motivation
and they start running towards the border.
On the other hand, when Schnyder sees the
soldiers refrain from shooting, he calls an
airstrike.
This enrages the president, and he orders
his men to shoot the fighter planes, if they
enter Bundang.
As a result, the two get into a heated confrontation,
but at last, Schnyder backs down.
After the danger is averted, the president
goes live and announces to everyone that he
will find a cure, and do whatever it takes
to save his people.
In the last scene, Mi-Reu is sent to Seoul
to create a vaccine, while Kim and Ji-Koo
stay behind.
The movie ends as a reporter announces that
the vaccine has become successful, and the
people of Bundang will be the first ones to
receive it.
