Father to Son

The Prologue introduces Sonmi, an elderly woman from Sinanju’s shaman family who rows into West Korean Bay, scatters inherited herbs and jumps overboard. The narrator says she is dead. A warm, blood-red patch later appears in the bay and a dead-looking man rises alive; the source does not initially explain the cause or connection. Remo faces the Hour of Judgment while Chiun begins the Time of Succession. Remo and Chiun travel through England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia and the Middle East to meet rulers and their chosen assassins; several contestants disappear, and Benson Dilkes is shown as an organizer working with others. After Pullyang is murdered, Chiun returns to Sinanju.

Armed outsiders abduct Hyunsil and the villagers; a man appears to be the Lost Master, and Chiun concludes that his nephew Nuihc has returned. Mark Howard’s visions and Jeremiah Purcell’s backstory reveal Purcell’s role in the conflict. Rebecca Dalton traps Remo beneath an Iraqi palace and releases lethal agents into the sealed complex; Remo escapes. Chiun believes Sinanju has been destroyed and encounters the Great Wang, while Smith and Howard reach the village and discover that Purcell’s projection made it appear devastated. Remo returns with a new inner strength and fights Purcell, whose projection presents as Nuihc; Remo kills Purcell, ending the illusion. Remo kills Dilkes before entering the coastal caves, where he frees the abducted villagers.

He ends the succession and is invested as the new Reigning Master. Chiun’s final tale recounts the Lost Master’s history, curse and prophecy; the narrator then identifies Sonmi’s body as the spirit’s host and says the Forgotten One no longer animates it. Chiun interprets Remo as fulfilling Wang’s prophecy. Smith and Howard leave by submarine, and Remo and Chiun remain at Sinanju.