SEOUL – South Korean actors Son Suk-ku and Choi Woo-shik will raise a philosophical question – whether it is just to condemn evil through murder – in A Killer Paradox, now streaming on Netflix.

The eight-part drama series, released on Feb 9, revolves around Lee Tang (Choi), a college student who, under extreme stress, murders those who antagonise him.

After discovering that all his victims were serious evildoers “worth killing”, Lee comes to believe that he has a supernatural ability to identify evildoers. Detective Jang Nan-gam (Son), suspecting Lee to be behind the murders, pursues him.

Lee Chang-hee, who has directed South Korean thrillers such as the hit series Strangers From Hell (2019) and film The Vanished (2018), said A Killer Paradox deviates from conventional shows centred on characters who operate outside the boundaries of the law to eliminate evil.

According to the South Korean film-maker, the protagonist is constantly asking himself whether he actually possesses the supernatural ability to identify evildoers, or whether he happens to be killing people that turn out to be evildoers.

“Lee Tang is a highly passive character. The situations he finds himself in just happened to him, and such factors make it difficult for the audience to predict or imagine what choices Lee will make in the future,” said Lee Chang-hee during a recent press conference held in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

In order to play the complex character, Choi said he focused on portraying the storm of emotions that Lee Tang experiences as the story progresses.

“There are moments when Lee grapples with guilt, being haunted by illusions or becoming ensnared in fantasies,” said Choi, who starred in the hit films Train To Busan (2016) and Parasite (2019).

“He goes through a slew of emotional and psychological changes. I focused on portraying those aspects, and I hope the viewers can catch those nuances,” added the 33-year-old.

Son, 41, focused on portraying the psychological dilemmas Jang grapples wit...