The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion

A young girl escapes from a mysterious laboratory after a violent incident that leaves many dead. Two members of the group that run the lab, Dr. Baek and Mr. Choi, discuss her escape and decide that she is too young to survive on her own and consider her dead. The girl makes her way to a farm where she is discovered unconscious by its owner, Mr Goo. Mr. Goo and his wife nurse the girl back to health and adopt her as their own.

10 years later the young girl, now named Ja-yoon, is living a normal life on her parents farm without any memory of her past life. Her family are struggling financially, her mother is showing early signs of dementia, and Ja-yoon herself is suffering from periodic bouts of intense migraines. In an effort to earn some money, Ja-yoon decides to attend a local audition for a national singing contest that promises a large reward for its winner. Ja-yoon impresses the judges with her singing and her special talent - the ability to make the microphone levitate. This display draws the attention of Dr. Baek and Mr Choi, who realize that Ja-yoon is the girl that escaped, and send men to recapture her.

On her way to Seoul for the second round of the audition, Ja-yoon is approached on the train by a young man named Nobleman. Nobleman claims to know Ja-yoon and is surprised to learn that she does not recognize him. Later, Nobleman kills a man on the train for bumping into him, and throws his body off the train with superhuman strength.

After the audition Ja-yoon narrowly avoids an abduction by Dr. Baek's men, and later runs into Nobleman in her home town who makes vague threats regarding her parents. A few days later a group of armed men enter Ja-yoon's home and hold her and her family at gunpoint. Entering into a trance, Ja-yoon dispatches the men with superhuman strength and speed. Ja-yoon is left shaken, not understanding what she was able to do. Nobelman appears in her home and demands that Ja-yoon accompany him or he will kill her parents, and promises to explain her past. Ja-yoon agrees and she is taken back to the laboratory to speak to Dr. Baek.

Ja-yoon is restrained and Dr. Baek explains that she created Ja-yoon, genetically modifying her to have her powers. She reveals that Ja-yoon's headaches are a symptom of a disease that will eventually kill her without the proper treatment. She has Ja-yoon injected with a blue serum that will stop the disease for a month, leaving Ja-yoon dependent on new doses and stopping her from escaping again. After the injection Ja-yoon's demeanor changes and she reveals the truth - she never lost her memory and has always known who and what she is. After heading to a doctor by herself, and being told that without a bone marrow transplant by a blood relative she only has a few months left to live, she decided to track down Dr. Baek to look for the cure. With no way to know who and what she was looking for, she purposefully revealed her abilities during the audition to draw the attention of those who created her.

With the serum restoring her to full power, Ja-yoon easily escapes her bonds and kills her guards. Holding Dr. Baek at gunpoint she demands to know the location where the serum is produced. Nobelman interrupts and does battle with Ja-yoon. Nobleman is defeated but Dr. Baek is killed during the skirmish. Gathering the remaining serum left in the laboratory, Ja-yoon leaves and burns the building down.

Ja-yoon visits her parents in the hospital, and provides her father with some of the serum to give to her mother to help slow the spread of her dementia. Her father alludes to having always known what Ja-yoon could do, and wishes her luck in whatever she needs to do next.

3 months later Ja-yoon appears in the home of Dr. Baeks twin sister, who is reviewing documents related to the children developed in the lab. She gives Ja-yoon further vials of the serum. A mysterious young woman, whose face is covered in scars, approaches Ja-yoon. Ja-yoon threatens to kill her if she touches her before the screen goes to black.

• Kim Da-mi as Ja-yoon[10]
• Jo Min-su as Dr. Baek[11]
• Choi Woo-shik as Nobleman[12]
• Park Hee-soon as Mr. Choi[11]
• Go Min-si as Do Myung-hee
• Choi Jung-woo as Teacher Goo
• Oh Mi-hee as Teacher Goo's wife
• Daeun as Girl with long hair
• Kim Byeong-ok as Police Officer Do
• Lee Joo Won as CEO Sung

• The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion at HanCinema
• The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion on IMDb
• The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion at Daum (in Korean)
• The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion at Naver (in Korean)
• The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion at Cine 21 (in Korean)