Black Knight depicts a dystopian future where people depend on elite deliverymen. A renowned deliveryman helps a refugee realize his dream as a bigger conspiracy unfolds. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
A comet collision 40 years changed the world completely. Most of the continents were submerged, and the Korean peninsula turned into a desert. Only 1% of the world’s population survived, giving rise to a new order.
The polluted air everywhere led to the invention of Air Core, which converts oxyanium into oxygen. Humans must wear oxygen masks before stepping out, which common citizens rarely do.
Due to the scarcity of resources, the population was divided into General, Special, and Core; they live in separate districts and are distinguished by QR codes on their wrists. There is another category of people — the refugees.
The refugees are the people who were not chosen to be among any of the three districts. As the refugees do not get access to food, oxygen, and other necessities, some of them become hunters, who steal these necessities through violent means.
It is the elite deliverymen who protect the supplies that keep people alive from hunters and deliver them on time to the people in the three districts. Becoming a deliveryman is the only hope for refugees to become a part of the above three districts and live a decent life.
The show introduces a refugee boy named Yoon Sa-wol, who has been living with Major Jung Seol-ah of the Defense Intelligence Command and her sister, Seul-ah, for nearly ten years.
He was saved by Seol-ah years ago. The sisters consider him family, even though it is illegal to harbor refugees. Sa-wol wants to leave them to keep them safe, but Seul-ah does not allow him to do that.
Sa-wol wishes to be a deliveryman and often sneaks out to meet his refugee friends named Dummy, Dumb-dumb, and Useless. During one such outing, he tries to steal from a delivery truck, not knowing that it is the truck of the legendary deliveryman called 5-8.
5-8 used to be a refugee. He is a survivor of a refugee crackdown that took place nine years ago and went on to become the best of the best. Apart from being the strongest deliveryman, he is also quite popular.
He now leads a secret group of deliverymen who used to be refugees before becoming deliverymen. The group helps refugees in whatever way they can. 5-8 is a beacon of hope for the refugees.
When the world turned upside down 40 years ago, Chairman Ryu of the Cheonmyeong Group built this new world. Cheonmyeong Group is now constructing District A, which will allow the government to relocate the people of the gloomy Special District that lies underground.
While Chairman Ryu wants the government to handle the relocation, his son, Ryu Seok, the CEO of Cheonmyeong Group, does not want to do that, as the government will also relocate the refugees.
One day, when Seol-ah is not home, Seul-ah is attacked. Sa-wol comes to her defense and kills as many attackers as he can, but Seul-ah still gets shot and dies. Sa-wol is also shot in the head and left to die.
5-8, who had been to their house moments ago to deliver supplies, hears gunshots and rushes to help them. To his surprise, he finds Sa-wol alive, despite getting shot in the head. He takes Sa-wol away from there and provides him with medical treatment.
While investigating her sister’s murder, Seol-ah meets 5-8 and finds out that he saved Sa-wol. Once Sa-wol recovers, he comes to visit Seol-ah, who tells him that he can now go and live with his friends like he always wanted but could never do because of Seul-ah.
It turns out that Ryu Seok is ill and dying. To find a cure for his disease, he has been kidnapping refugees. He has started kidnapping adolescents from the General District, whose parents worked in the oxyanium mines, and using them for experiments.
He has been using deliveryman 5-7 to break into people’s houses easily and kidnap them. His men went to Seul-ah’s house to kidnap her since her father was a mine’s manager. Sa-wol’s presence there resulted in a struggle, and Seul-ah died.
After her death, a devastated Sa-wol returns to live with an old man who protects Sa-wol and his three refugee friends. He treats them like his grandchildren, so they call him grandfather.
5-8 knows Sa-wol’s grandfather; he keeps bringing him soil for his experiments. Through him, he finds out that Sa-wol’s father worked in an oxyanium mine, where there was enough radioactive material.
5-8 figures out that Sa-wol is a mutant, as he had seen his bones of metal when he was injured. That is why the bullet bounced off his head and could not kill him. Apart from having metal bones, he also recovers fast.
5-7 does not want to kidnap children knowing that they are being used for experiments, so he tries to kill himself. However, 5-8 finds him, and 5-7 tells him about the experiment. Before he could tell him more, he is killed by Ryu Seok via a device placed in his head.
After that, Ryu Seok decides to put on a show to hire a new deliveryman and organizes Deliveryman Recruitment Tournament. When Sa-wol hears about this, he approaches 5-8 and asks him to train him.
5-8 meets his group of deliverymen at an old training facility and tells them about Sa-wol being a mutant. Seol-ah, who is still suspicious of 5-8, and her team find out about the meeting and decide to go there.
5-8 informs her about the kidnappings, and Seol-ah starts investigating with her team. She is even asked by the defense minister to hand over the personal data of the people to Ryu Seok.
Chairman Ryu, who supports the president’s decision, wants everyone to be included in the relocation plans, but Ryu Seok only wants a select few. He needs the data to choose people. When his father refuses to listen to him, he takes matters into his own hands.
At the training facility, 5-8 and his organization start training Sa-wol. With their help, he clears the two rounds and makes it to the final round. For the third round, there will be a boxing match between the two finalists.
Ryu Seok decides to telecast the match live and even sends big screens to the Refugee District. Everything goes according to his plan, as the refugees gather around to watch the match. Ryu Seok’s men then plant bombs at these places to kill hundreds of refugees.
Sa-wol defeats his opponent and wins the tournament. However, people everywhere see his bleeding wound, which exposes his metal bones. Sa-wol is the new 5-7, but everyone, including Ryu Seok, now knows that he is a mutant.
Sa-wol is given his own house and is no longer a refugee. 5-8 finally tells him what Ryu Seok has been doing to kill the refugees, and Sa-wol becomes a part of 5-8’s group of deliverymen.
On the other hand, Ryu Seok, who now plans to use Sa-wol to cure his illness, pretends that he has accepted the relocation of the refugees. He starts a vaccination drive for them; this vaccine is meant to kill them.
5-8 earlier found out about the bombs because he had captured one of Ryu Seok’s men. Through him, 5-8’s group as well as Seol-ah’s team reach Director Oh, Ryu Seok’s right-hand man. They force Director Oh to keep them informed about Ryu Seok’s activities.
5-8 also finds out that Cheonmyeong has been deliberately polluting the air to keep the people dependent on them for oxygen. 5-8’s group then plans to assassinate Ryu Seok but fails to do so, as they are betrayed by Director Oh.
While the deliverymen fail to kill Ryu Seok, Seol-ah meets with Chairman Ryu and tells him about Ryu Seok’s crimes, which makes Chairman Ryu take drastic measures.
Black Knight ending explained in detail:
What is Ryu Seok’s plan?
After everything that his son has done, Chairman Ryu knows that he will keep trying to exclude refugees from the relocation plan, even if it means killing them, so he decides to sign over the relocation rights to the president.
On top of that, he plans to get Ryu Seok arrested. An angry Ryu Seok asks his father to kill him, but before Chairman Ryu could do that, the defense minister, who had come to arrest Ryu Seok kills Chairman Ryu, as he has been working with Ryu Seok.
Their plan also included staging a coup, so they capture the president. They also declare the deliverymen, who tried to assassinate him, terrorists. The deliverymen are forced into hiding. Ryu Seok puts a stop to all deliveries until they are all captured.
Does Ryu Seok capture Sa-wol?
With Chairman Ryu dead, Sa-wol’s grandfather, who had worked with Chairman Ryu in the past, gives 5-8 the Core District’s blueprint. He also figures out that the vaccine is killing people and informs 5-8’s group about it.
The group tries to disrupt the vaccination drive. Two of Sa-wol’s friends also go to get vaccinated, and his third friend, Useless, goes to save them. He is stopped by the authorities, and Sa-wol is forced to come out of his hiding place to protect him.
When Useless tries to stop Sa-wol, he gets shot and dies. Sa-wol is also captured and taken to Cheonmyeong because Ryu Seok needs his blood to cure himself.
Is the coup successful?
When Seol-ha finds out that Sa-wol has been captured, she joins the deliverymen to save him and stop Ryu Seok. She helps them get to the Core District without being recognized and fight Ryu Seok’s men there.
While Seol-ha’s team goes to find the president, 5-8’s group searches for Sa-wol and Ryu Seok. Seol-ha’s team successfully saves the president and arrests the defense minister for treason. The rest of the insurgents also surrender.
Is Ryu Seok dead or alive?
Ryu Seok receives a direct blood transfusion from Sa-wol but has to stop when they are attacked. 5-8’s group kills Director Oh, and 5-8 finds the kidnapped children.
When Ryu Seok realizes that there is no way out, he overloads Air Core, which will cause a blast. 5-8 arrives at the scene and admits that Sa-wol is important to him. He shoots Ryu Seok with tears in his eyes and rescues Sa-wol.
People rush to evacuate as the blast nears, and 5-8 takes an unconscious Sa-wol away without looking back. However, despite getting shot in the head, Ryu Seok is still alive. Seconds later, he gets caught in the blast and is assumed dead.
What happens after the Air Core blast?
After the events at the Core District, the government takes over the resident relocation once District A gets completed. The refugees finally get relocated.
The government also removes the system of classifying and dividing the population into districts and reforms the residential and oxygen supply system so that all citizens could live equally without discrimination.
Three months later, Sa-wol has recovered, but he is still not allowed to get back to his job. 5-8 comes to deliver supplies to Sa-wol and takes him on a ride in his truck. The two observe that the air is cleaner and the sky is much clearer now.
