In colonial-era Korea, a beggar king hosts a regional performance tournament to select elite Gakseoli performers to purge corrupt vagrants from Gyeonggi-do. Two rivals—Chungcheong martial artist "Jindo Dog" and Jeolla rhyming wit "Goldfish"—tie for victory and are sent on a joint mission. After clearing a haunted house bounty and exposing a rogue extortion ring run by a fake beggar king, the duo meets Park Ji, a woman evicted by a pro-Japanese magistrate due to her father's secret funding of Korean independence fighters. Although Jindo Dog and Goldfish use their earnings to clear the family's debt, the bitter fake king frames them as rebel financiers. Captured and tortured by colonial police, the beggars are saved when Goldfish—secretly an outcast aristocrat's son—uses his wit and status to orchestrate a daring trick. Following a tragic, violent showdown, Goldfish is forced to sacrifice his own happiness for Park Ji's future.
