Hopefully, this little tidbit helps demonstrate how "Chronicle of a Blood Merchant" doesn't exactly adhere all that well to modern standards of sexual politics. Or familial politics for that matter. After the courtship phase of the movie, the greatest bulk of emphasis is placed on how Sam-gwan abuses his son Il-rak (played by Nam Da-reum), on the basis that biological paternity is what's important, not who's actually been raising the kid for the past eleven years.