CIA Agent Lacey arrives at the boys' apartment, and proposes that Dave and Aaron assassinate Kim using a transdermal strip that will expose Kim to ricin via handshake, facilitating a coup d'état; they reluctantly agree. Upon their arrival in North Korea, one of Kim's bodyguards discovers the ricin strip and chews it, believing it to be gum. Lacey airdrops two more strips from an UAV and Aaron smuggles them into the palace.
Dave spends the day with Kim, playing basketball and partying. Kim persuades Dave that he is misunderstood, and they become friends. While driving a tank, Dave discovers that Kim loves the song "Firework" by Katy Perry. At dinner, the bodyguard exposed to ricin has a seizure and inadvertently kills Kim's other bodyguard before dying. Dave feels guilty as he believes that Kim is in fact a misunderstood good person and that North Korea is well-maintained. The next morning, he discards one of the ricin strips, and then thwarts Aaron's attempt to poison Kim with the second, final strip. After a dinner mourning the death of Kim's bodyguard, Dave discovers Kim's malicious character and that the nearby grocery store is merely a façade.