Jo Pil-seong is an idle detective who spends his time scratching off lottery tickets in his office, while his wife and children work in a manhwa shop.

Pil-seong secretly takes his wife's emergency money of ₩300,000 and tells his friend to bet it on a bull named Gomi in a bullfight.

Before leaving, Gi-tae takes out his knife, stabs Pil-seong's right hand, and warns him that the next time he'll kill him if he tries to capture him again.

Suffering from public humiliation as well as being kicked out of the house by his wife (because of her money), Pil-seong decides to train himself to fight Gi-tae.

Realizing that Pil-seong has the money and Jaeseok's cell phone, Gi-tae calls him and tells him that he is next to the manhwa shop where his family works.

Holding a gasoline tank, he gives Pil-seong one hour to meet him and bring the money, or else he'll destroy the manhwa shop with his family inside.

Running Turtle opened in South Korea on June 11, 2009 and topped the box office over its first weekend with a total of 480,293 admissions.