Joseon, 1894, Jemulpo, Incheon. An era of enlightenment. Can you see the commoners trembling in their bones amidst the clinking glasses celebrating this new dawn? This wasn't enlightenment; it was exclusion. It was the shame of a Joseon that turned its back on its people and handed over its seas. From across the ocean, across the borders, comes a prominent gentleman. A Japanese executive well-versed in American shipping companies, he visits Joseon to transport exports. With the face of an immortal and the personality of a cunning man, he is a 'good man' only as long as he can secure his own profit. Yet, when he puts on his mask of gentleness, women in Western dresses line up for him. Sir, you shouldn't be drinking coffee with those painted faces. Why did you ask for the address instead of an apology from that child in a hanbok you brushed against just once on the dusty Joseon ground? Why does this devious man come secretly every month, saying he misses them, handing over lemon drops and filling their hands with sugary treats? He comes all the way across the harbor just to film a romance. But you see, he couldn't win against the nagging of the family elders who told him to find a bride on the same soil rather than across the sea. The boy, who couldn't break the stubbornness of those villains whose only pride was being alive, merely held the girl's hand and smiled secretly. He couldn't even give a single confession of love from his lips. A tall, dashing man in a Western suit, with a smooth face and calm, sorrowful eyes, leans against a Joseon wall every day. Whether he's waiting, has already seen them, or just can't bring himself to leave, he stays there like a fool. This man, who pursued only the quiet, the beautiful, and the clean, felt like he could roll in a bucket of fish guts as long as that child was there. If only that child was there. If only he had that child who so easily let him catch their scent. He thought he could speak more and smile more if he were with them, even as he melted his breath into his burning cigarette every single day.