In Seoul, Nam is subjected to a series of incessant interrogations and torture, but the strong indoctrination carried out by the North Korean regime on its citizens causes him to resist.

The officials from the South then decide to leave him alone in a crowded street in Seoul to push him to act in case he is actually a spy: after an initial disorientation, in which he refuses to even open his eyes due to extreme loyalty to his regime, he looks for a street food stall that another North Korean he had met in the detention facility and who had committed suicide had told him about, and he meets a prostitute who was beaten by her pimp.

His prolonged absence had confirmed some secret service agents' suspicions, but a young official, also originally from the North, takes his side and tries to help him.

After the news of the other North Korean's suicide leaks to the press, the authorities decide to release him, also giving him a new engine for the boat, a stuffed animal for his daughter and a sum of money.

In North Korea, the press and television celebrate Nam because he remained patriotically loyal to the regime; however, the military detains him for several days and tortures him much more violently than their counterparts in the South, even confiscating the money he had hidden in his rectum.