The Major Mid-Film Twist: For its first 45 minutes, Project Wolf Hunting presents itself as a standard crime action film similar to Con Air. Jong-du and his gang overpower the guards, take the bridge, and begin executing officers. However, when blood from a victim seeps down into the ship’s lower deck onto the face of a chained, dormant man named Alpha, he violently reanimates and breaks his restraints.
The True Identity of Alpha: Alpha is revealed to be Choi Seok-woo, a Korean man captured in 1943 during World War II by Imperial Japan's Unit 731 in the Philippines. Japanese military scientists injected him with concentrated wolf genes and superhuman serum, making his body bulletproof, immensely strong, and functionally immortal, but leaving him in near-mindless agony. After WWII, Aeon Genetics acquired the subject and kept him in stasis.
Indiscriminate Slaughter & Jong-du's Death: Once active, Alpha slaughters gangsters and police officers without distinction. The presumed main villain, Park Jong-du, confronts Alpha but is easily overpowered and brutally killed when Alpha smashes his head.
The True Identity of Lee Do-il: As Alpha slaughters the remaining survivors (including Officer Lee Da-yeon), quiet prisoner Lee Do-il steps in. It is revealed that Do-il is also a genetically modified superhuman from the same era. Unlike Alpha, Do-il retained his human intellect and emotion. Decades prior, Aeon Genetics murdered Do-il’s wife and abducted his infant son to force Do-il into submission.
The Climax and Ending: Aeon Genetics sends heavily armed mercenaries led by Oh Dae-woong to retrieve Alpha and kill all witnesses. Dae-woong (who also possesses altered biological traits) neutralizes Alpha by slitting his throat. Do-il confronts Dae-woong in a brutal brawl on deck and overpowers him, hurling him into the ocean. Do-il survives and swims to a nearby island. The film closes with a reveal showing Aeon Genetics Director Pyo holding Do-il's now-grown son alive in stasis in a secret laboratory.