Kill Boksoon

Byun Sung-hyun's Kill Boksoon follows a woman who lives two very different lives. In the daylight she is a renowned assassin who completes contracts with clinical certainty. When she comes home, she steps into the role of a mother to a teenage daughter, navigating school runs and homework with a calm, steady presence. Killing comes easily, but parenting is what tests her most. The job's demands pull at the edges of family life, forcing decisions that could endanger the ones she loves. As the gap between her worlds widens, she fights to keep her professional code from destroying the personal life she wants to protect, a hard line she refuses to bend. In quiet moments, she weighs the cost of each decision against the fragile stability she fights to protect.

Released in 2023, Kill Boksoon is directed by Byun Sung-hyun with an original screenplay. Jeon Do-yeon leads as a female assassin who hides her dangerous work behind everyday motherhood, delivering a restrained, thunderous performance. The production favors sharp urban visuals.

Box office figures were not widely publicized, reflecting a release that leaned on streaming and selective theatrical showings in some markets. The film found most of its audience online, with theater numbers modest in many regions, and reflects viewing habits.

The film has sparked discussion about the pressures of balancing a dangerous profession with motherhood, and Jeon Do-yeon's performance has become a touchstone for portrayals of female agency in Korean thrillers. Its sharp tension between private vulnerability and public violence invites conversation about gender, power, and choice that linger afterward.

Critics highlighted the tension between intimate family stakes and high voltage action, framing the film as a meditation on duty, loyalty, and personal autonomy. The narrative threads procedural thriller beats with quiet, grounded scenes of motherhood and lets Jeon Do-yeon carry the weight of tough choices that resonate for audiences.