Old Boy is a manga series by Japanese writer Garon Tsuchiya. First serialized in 1996 and then published in its first collected volume in 1997, it tells the story of a man released from a decade of illegal imprisonment as he attempts to learn why he was confined and who is responsible.

As Volume One begins, takeout food is delivered to a mysterious building. It is brought to floor 7.5, which can only be reached by simultaneously pressing seven and eight in the elevator. There, it is passed through a slot in one of the doors.

Behind that door, an unnamed man in his mid-thirties sits in a bare room with only a bed and a TV. He eats and then watches the news while intensely exercising.

One day, three men arrive, inform the man that he is free, then give him clothes to wear. As he changes, revealing his muscular body, they remark that he does not look like he has been locked up for a decade. Not many people can live with the guilt of killing someone, they explain, so this private prison exists as an alternative. They chloroform the man, and a fight breaks out in which he shows his strength but eventually succumbs. They pack him into a suitcase, then leave him in a city park with a small amount of money.

The man wakes confused and wanders the streets. He carefully chooses an order of sushi—all he can afford—and picks up a half-smoked cigarette from the ground. Pretending to be drunk, he initiates a fight with a group of young men, beats them, and takes their money.

At a restaurant, he buys some food—and his first beer in ten years. While drinking, he reflects on how he knew young men attacked people for fun because all he did while imprisoned was watch TV. The memory leads him to wonder who had him imprisoned and why. The young waitress at the restaurant notices he is bleeding and puts a band-aid on his face. When he goes to leave, she follows him outside and invites him home.

Inside her apartment, she introduces herself as Eri. The man says he has abandoned his old name and has not yet decided who he is, so she elects to call him “Mister.” They have sex, after which she explains that it was her first time. Though he does not say it, he is in a similar situation, having not touched another with love or affection in ten years. Outside the building, a smoking man phones someone to say that Mister is inside with a girl.

On the other end of the phone, a man reacts angrily. On the way to a business meeting, this unknown man drifts off in the car and remembers the events of ten years earlier.

In a flashback, he meets with the representative of a private prison company who tells him the cost of imprisonment per night, along with that of the kidnapping. His request for ten years of imprisonment shocks the representative, who has never handled such a lengthy term. During their conversation, the unknown man reveals his name, Dojima, and his occupation, real estate.

At Eri’s apartment, the alarm rings for her shift, but she takes the night off. The mismatched pair go out for food and to an arcade, where Mister considers telling her his story. At a fairground, Eri enjoys herself, but Mister is quiet and melancholic. Eventually, he tells her about his imprisonment and how what kept him sane was the realization that other prisoners came and went—meaning his captivity would...