Bloodhounds1 Episode 1 opens in December 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Kim Gun-woo trains intensely in the boxing ring. A disciplined and naturally gifted young boxer, Gun-woo is preparing for an important match while trying to support his mother, who runs a small café. On his way home, Gun-woo encounters a drunk passenger causing trouble on a bus. Despite the man's aggression, Gun-woo uses his boxing instincts to restrain him and protect the other passengers, immediately showing that he is not someone who uses his strength to bully others. When Gun-woo returns home, however, he discovers that his family is facing a much more serious problem. His mother has fallen into financial trouble and is struggling to repay money connected to a loan. At the same time, the episode introduces Kim Myeong-gil, the ruthless head of Smile Capital. Myeong-gil sees the economic uncertainty created by the pandemic as an opportunity to expand his illegal lending business. He approaches struggling businessmen with promises of easy money, while secretly using harsh contract conditions and intimidation to trap them in increasingly impossible debts. Myeong-gil's ambitions become clear when he becomes involved with the owner of an unfinished hotel project. After a bank refuses to provide additional funding, Myeong-gil steps in and offers an alternative loan. He also begins using his connections with politicians and powerful businessmen to strengthen his influence. Behind the appearance of legitimate business, however, Smile Capital operates through threats, manipulation, and violence, turning desperate borrowers into targets. Gun-woo's situation becomes personal when Myeong-gil's men arrive at his mother's café to collect the debt. They insist that she must pay the principal along with enormous interest and additional charges hidden inside the loan agreement. When she refuses to cooperate and threatens to call the police, the collectors become violent and begin destroying the café. Terrified, Gun-woo's mother calls her son for help. Gun-woo immediately rushes to the café and finds the men threatening his mother. His calm personality disappears when he sees her being attacked. Using his boxing skills, he takes on several of the loan sharks by himself and manages to overpower them despite being heavily outnumbered. His ability impresses even the people working for Myeong-gil, but the fight also makes Gun-woo a direct target of the loan shark's attention. Kim Myeong-gil soon arrives personally and studies the young boxer. Rather than being frightened by Gun-woo, Myeong-gil sees his toughness and determination as something that could be useful. He tells Gun-woo that someone with his strength and courage should work for him. Gun-woo refuses and makes it clear that he has no intention of becoming part of Myeong-gil's criminal operation. Myeong-gil then orders one of his strongest men to fight Gun-woo. The difference in experience and physical power quickly becomes obvious. Gun-woo fights with everything he has, but his opponent is far more powerful and eventually overwhelms him. Gun-woo is beaten badly and collapses in front of his mother, leaving her terrified and helpless. Meanwhile, the episode also introduces Hong Woo-jin, another talented boxer. Woo-jin competes against Gun-woo in a boxing match, where the two young fighters initially treat each other as rivals. Their intense battle quickly reveals that both possess exceptional fighting ability. Even though they begin as opponents, they develop an immediate sense of mutual respect, laying the foundation for the close brotherhood that will become central to the story. By the end of Episode 1, the conflict between Gun-woo and Myeong-gil has become deeply personal. Myeong-gil again tries to recruit the young boxer, but Gun-woo refuses and openly disrespects him. Enraged by Gun-woo's defiance, Myeong-gil responds violently and slashes his face with a knife. The brutal attack leaves Gun-woo injured and humiliated, while revealing just how dangerous Myeong-gil and Smile Capital truly are. Episode 1 establishes the two sides of Bloodhounds1: the friendship and fighting spirit of two young boxers on one side, and the ruthless world of predatory lending on the other. Gun-woo's loyalty to his mother puts him directly in Myeong-gil's path, while his meeting with Woo-jin begins an unlikely friendship that will soon pull both men into a much larger battle.