He has secret meetings with his wife Shin Jeong-soon (Kim Sun-jae), who is pregnant with their first child and is also trying to form a trade union at her place of work.
To use his time productively he is working on the biography of Jeon Tae-il (Hong Kyoung-in), a garment worker who committed suicide five years ago to draw attention to abuses of labour rights.
Kim Yeong-su has contacted Jeon Tae-il's mother, and travels around the city having clandestine meetings with the activist's friends and former colleagues, interviewing them for material for his book.
This is a street in the city lined with many similar businesses where workers are forced to work long hours, to do unpaid overtime in poor conditions with no holidays or benefits and very low pay.
From his father Jeon Tae-il learns that there are laws regarding workers rights, so he researches the subject and begins to press the business owner on fair treatment for his staff.