| “ | Don't tell me what to do, you fucking bastard" | „ |
| ~ Lee Geum-son's last words after Nam Gi-jun fatally stabbed him the throat. |
Lee Geum-Son is the main antagonist of the 2025 Korean action drama series Mercy for None. He is a scheming prosecutor and the son of Lee Joo-woon, the head of Joo-woo criminal syndicate that ruled half of Seoul underworld.
Estranged by his father's decision to exclude him from the life of crime, he manipulated his father top enforcer Nam Gi-jun and corrupted police superintendent Cha Yeong-do to eliminate anyone in his way for the seat of mob boss of the Joo-woo criminal syndicate, including his own father.
He was portrayed by Choo Young-woo.
Background[]
Lee Geum-son's father, Lee Joo-woon used to be the capo alongside his close friend, Gu Bong-san who serves under original crime syndicate that ruled Seoul, the Beomyeongdong syndicate. After some time, the boss decided to choose either Joo-woon or Bong-san to be his successor instead of his son, Oh Seung-Won as he deemed his son unfit to rule the syndicate. Enraged at his father choice, Seung-Won planned for the death of both Joo-woo and Bong-san but thanked to the help of Joo-woo's top enforcer Nam Gi-jun, they survived the hit and decided to join force to get rid of their boss together. Corrupted police officer Cha Yeong-do manipulated Nam Gi-seok, Gi-jun's younger brother to kill Seung-Won by lying that Seung-won was targeting his older brother.
After Joo-Woon and Bong-San killed their boss and split Seoul underworld into two territories ruled by the two them, the Yakuza who allied with the old boss came for revenge but Gi-jun killed them all, ensuring the takeover went smoothly. However, as the Yakuza sent more reinforcement from the mainland, Bong-san cut off Gi-jun's tendons as a gesture of peace to stop the Yakuza from coming. Tired of bloodshed, Gi-jun retired from the life of crime to live a life of a hermit in the mountain near Seoul.
Gratitude with Gi-jun's actions in enabling them rose to power, Joo-woo promoted Gi-seok to be underboss. Under Gi-seok's influence, Joo-woon gang became rich and powerful.
Joo-woo and Bong-san have their own son as successor. Bong-san failed to groom his son, Gu Jun-mo properly and he became a spoiled brat. Joo-woon decided to exclude his son, Lee Geum-Son out of the gang as he wanted to give his son a normal life outside the life of crime, despite Geum-son's desire the seat of power. Joo-woon's decision eventually estranged him and his son, Eventually, Geum-son became a prosecutor.
Cha Yeong-do became a mediator between two gangs and withheld incriminating evidences to dismantle the two syndicates so they can do his biddings.
Mercy for None[]
As Joo-woon was approaching retirement, he named Gi-seok to be his successor. Geum-son was utterly anger by this decision and decided to get rid of Gi-seok with the help of Cha Yeong-do. The opportunities came when Gi-seok humiliated Jun-mo and Jun-mo sent thugs to kill him out of impulsiveness. After Gi-seok fended off his attackers, a Japanese hitmen hired by Geum-son successfully killed him and the blame fell on Jun-mo. Jun-mo thought his thugs killed Gi-seok and happy with it only to be slapped down by his father who scolded him for being a moron for killing the brother of the man that made them like they are today. Bong-san then ordered Jun-mo to be taken away into hiding and approached Joo-woon for help but Joo-woon refused since Joo-woon stated that Jun-mo must pay for his crime per agreement between the two of them that if anyone from their sides harm the others that person must pay the pride.
Too arrogant for his own good, Jun-mo naively and foolishly though that his goons and hired thugs would make him invincible and disposed Gi-jun easily. However, his delusion of power eventually backfired on him as Gi-jun killed all his goons and hired thugs and cornered him. Fearing for his life, Jun-mo intended to bribe Gi-jun with a large sum of money only for Gi-jun to turn his head into smithereens with a baseball bat. As he left the scene, an assassin sent by an unknown party crashed into his car with the intention to kill him but Gi-jun was discovered and rescued by his brother's loyal subordinate. Gi-jun suspected his old boss, Joo-woo wanted him dead so he met his boss to clear the situation. Joo-woon then revealed the existence of Cha Yeong-do who served as power broker between Joo-woo and Bong-san.
After his son's death, Bong-san was convinced that Joo-woon orchestrated Gi-seok's death and framed his son since he thought Joo-woon wanted his son to inherit his criminal Empire not Gi-seok and to eliminate Bong-san and his empire as a whole. Consequently, Bong-san declared war against Joo-woon and his group, forcing Joo-woo to take actions. The war ended with Joo-woon killed Bong-san and crippled his syndicate. At the same time, Geum-son took advantages of his position as prosecutor and tip offs from Cha Yeong-do to push legal actions against his father and Bong-san's gang to weaken Joo-woon's position for the takeover.
Joo-woon eventually figured out that his son was the mastermind before the death of Gi-seok and the manipulation of both Gi-jun and himself to lead to the destruction of Bong-san's syndicate. Confronting his son, Joo-woon expressed his disappointments toward Geum-son for his actions and firmly reminded him that the reason why he sidelined his son from the family business so far was to protect him from the utter miseries of being a crime kingpin. However, his father words fell in Geum-son's deaf ears and he was more determined to eliminate his father for the position. Cha Yeong-Do wanted to turn Geum-son into a puppet so he came and killed Joo-woon and framed Gi-jun for it. During interrogation, Yeong-Do revealed that he was the one that manipulated his brother to kill the old boss's son so he could marionette Joo-Woo and Bong-san for his own benefits after they took power as well as the fact that he and Geum-son was in cohort in the death of his brother. Yeong-do then ordered Gi-jun to be killed in the tunnel by his group of corrupted police to tie off loose ends only to fail as Gi-jun escaped the attempts.
Gi-jun then attacked Yeong-do's hideout and successfully killed him. Gi-jun then gathered all the incriminating evidences regarding Geum-son's crime collected by Yeong-do as insurance and gave it to Gi-seok's loyal subordinate so he could give it to the media. At the funeral secession for his father, Gi-jun unexpectedly came to pay his respect. Gi-jun questioned why he orchestrated the death of his brother, his father and the rival gang. Gieum-son scornfully stated that he worked hard for the family business only for his father to discard him like trash and choose an outsider like Gi-seok to be his successor than his own hardworking fresh and blood
With his father death, Lee Geum-son became the boss of the Joo-woon's syndicate and absorbed Bong-san's syndicate to create the sole criminal empire in Seoul. He then started gather powers by bribing multiple high-ranking officials to his side. As he celebrated his victory, the media exposed all his crime to the public, causing all government officials to cut tie with him immediately. Enraged, he ordered his men to kill Gi-jun once and for all but Gi-jun fended them all off and chased after Gieum-son to his office.
Gi-jun mocked Gieum-son for failing to understand that Joo-woo did what he did out of love for him as the life of a crime boss are both dangerous and most of the case, very short. He then elaborated that the seat of power only gave Geum-son respects from others mostly out of fear not true and genuine respects like he expected all the time. Finally, Gi-jun called out that Gieum-son should have just stayed as a prosecutor since he could have had a better life, instead of choosing a power that he would never be able to hold it for long.
As the two engaged in a fierce fight, Gieum-son was defeated. He then tried to kill himself to deny Gi-jun's the pleasure of killing him but Gi-jun was faster and stabbed Geum-son to dead. As he is dying, Gi-jun demanded Gieum-son to apologize for his actions but he scoffed off that he had no right to tell him what to do. Geum-son then stumbled down and died, sitting on the seat of power which he carved so much all his life. Mortally wounded, Gi-jun went back to his home in the wood and hallucinated of his brother who once told him, his desire to leave the life of crime. Gi-jun then died peacefully in his sit.