In episode 4 of Black Knight, Sa-wol, or Refugee 034, took the potentially disastrous choice to forgo winning the Deliveryman tournament. He forfeits his guaranteed second-place finish in order to save Hyeon-su's life at the end of Episode 3.
See Also: Black Knight - Season 1, Episode 3 Recap
The Cheonmyeong Group doesn't want a situation like that to become complicate. Because of that, Sa-wol is eliminated and Heyon-su advances to the next round.
Hyeon-su, however, is unable to proceed because of a fractured arm. To offer the refugees hope, the Deliverymen, led by a very frazzled 5-8, vote to reinstate Sa-wol. Ryu Seok concurs, believing that the story will make it simpler for him to carry out his intentions.
Ryu Seok is trying to create another mass exodus of refugees. He relocates selected residents to his newly built district based on private personal information and bio-data. He wants to seed a new world with hand-picked, genetically-advantaged citizens, which is worryingly close to eugenics.
And he wants Seol-ah and the Defense Intelligence Command to help him do it, despite her obvious personal moral opposition, while his supposedly well-meaning father is out of the loop. This creates a division at the top of Cheonmyeong and in the most upper echelons of government.
How the kidnappings and apparent experiments with the mutation tie into all this isn’t immediately clear. However, a sensible guess would be that Ryu Seok is trying to develop a private superpowered army to control his new world.
Sa-wol advances to the next round of the tournament. Seol-ah keeps attempting to find out more about the men with triangle tattoos following 5-8's tip-off as 5-8 and his squad blow up a generating unit headed for District A.
While he prepares to face Joo Gyeong-nam, another finalist, he gets some temporary housing and a mentor who turns out to be 4-1. However, nobody is aware of their prior relationship.
The fight will take place in the Core District, where the air is breathable. But, it’ll be broadcast live everywhere else. The refugees will go out into the open in huge numbers with promises of food and compressed oxygen. This is simply for their attendance.
Sa-wol and Gyeong-nam are to have essentially an MMA fight with five-minute rounds that only ends with a knockout.
The fourth episode of Black Knight intercuts the final of the tournament with 5-8 uncovering Ryu Seok’s plan out in the districts.
When several guys with triangle tattoos ambush 5-8, he kills them all but saves one. He does this by rapidly removing the explosive device from the back of his neck to prevent him from committing suicide. He pulls up all the details of the refugee relocation plan and the strategy to herd the migrants out in large numbers by live-streaming the tournament final by looking via his phone.
Does Sa-wol triumph in the contest?
Sa-wol triumphs in the competition, but it is fleeting. After taking a beating in the opening rounds, a big cut on his forehead opens, exposing his metal skull underneath. While he is enjoying himself, Ryu Seok notices it.
At the same time, 5-8 races into the districts, but he doesn’t make it in time. When Sa-wol is announced the winner, bombs go off in the various clusters of refugees. They kill the vast majority of the population.
Black Knight is now streaming on Netflix.
