Backed into a political corner, with a hostile parliament and tanking approval ratings, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol opted for the nuclear option.
In a late-night televised address, the beleaguered president and former prosecutor announced he was imposing martial law.
"To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements … I hereby declare emergency martial law," Mr Yoon said in his address to the nation.
"Through this martial law, I will rebuild and protect the free Republic of Korea, which is falling into the depths of national ruin."
It was a shock decision that had not been made since South Korea was ruled under a military dictatorship.
The move would impose a military-style government and sweeping restrictions on the public, including the press and parliamentarians.
All military units in the South, which remains technically at war with the nuclear-armed North, were also ordered to strengthen their emergency alert and readiness postures, local media reported.
And then, just as surprising, the president announced a humiliating backdown a few hours later, after the leader of the country's largest opposition party, Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party, called on his MPs to converge on parliament to prevent martial law from going ahead.
A desperate scramble with security forces ensued at the National Assembly in Seoul, until 190 politicians voted to scrap the declaration, deeming it invalid.
Some soldiers and police were seen leaving the compound shortly afterwards as the country reeled from the dramatic turn of events.
It left many wondering: what on earth was the president thinking and what decisions led to this stunning political moment?
How Yoon won power with an appeal to men
Mr Yoon was voted into power by the slimmest margins in March 2022.
It was a divisive victory that set the tone for the years ahead.
He tapped into cohorts of disenfranchised young men, who believed efforts for "gender quality" under the previous administration were giving women a free pass.
Women, for example, did not need to complete compulsory military service, and businesses took efforts to hire more women in their ranks.
President Yoon pledged to dismantle the Minister of Gender Equality, stating structural gender discrimination did not exist.
But, as the president quickly learned, being the nation's leader does not necessarily mean you get what you want.
The opposition, the left-leaning Democratic Party, controlled the parliament and stifled his ambitions to abolish the ministry.
So, the president was set with a challenge.
He needed to ensure his conservative party, the People Power Party, could win back the parliament in crucial mid-term elections.
But a series of scandals cost his ambitions dearly.
Dior and Australia scandals embroil the president in controversy
Mr Yoon's approval rating has steadily fallen since he came to power, with voters citing a lack of communication and economic issues as well as controversy surrounding the first lady.
His wife, Kim Keon Hee, was caught accepting a luxury Christian Dior handbag worth 3 million won ($3,400) from a pastor, who had secretly filmed the exchange.
Some members of Mr Yoon's conservative People Power Party (PPP) had urged the president and his wife to apologise in the hope of resolving the matter.
But the scandal threatened to fracture the party.
She had already come under controversy for allegedly not paying taxes, manipulating stock prices, taking kickbacks for hosting art exhibitions and for over-egging her resume.
Another saga embroiled Australia.
The president chose his embattled Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup to serve as the country's ambassador to Australia.
The decision was made while the minister was under investigation for allegedly interfering in an investigation about a Korean soldier who drowned during search-and-rescue operations.
The public accused Mr Yoon of trying to shield his ally from justice, and the decision was soon reversed.
In the days before an election in April, Mr Yoon demonstrated he did not know the price of a spring onion, a staple in South Korean cooking.
It was a sign of how "out of touch" the president was with the people he wanted to lead.
The Democratic Party not only won the mid-term parliamentary elections but strengthened its position in a landslide.
A parliamentary stand-off left Yoon a lame duck
Mr Yoon has since been at loggerheads with the parliament and struggled to implement his agenda against the opposition-controlled parliament.
He has vetoed legislation 12 times since coming into office, including a bill that would investigate allegations against his own wife.
The parliament has also shown it is unwilling to pass the president's bills and has filed 22 impeachment motions against administration officials since May 2022.
Most recently, Mr Yoon was forced into accepting a trimmed-down budget.
The opposition slashed approximately 4.1 trillion won ($4.4 billion) from the government's proposed 677 trillion won budget plan.
The government's reserve fund was cut as well as activity budgets for the president's office, the prosecution, police and the state audit agency.
At the same time, the Democratic Party also voted to impeach some of the country's top prosecutors — including the head of the government's audit agency — for failing to investigate the first lady.
With the president's agenda stalled, he took to a podium on Tuesday night and unveiled his plan for martial law.
Within hours, helmeted troops and police holding guns were deployed to the National Assembly parliament building and helicopters were seen landing on the roof.
But Mr Lee of the liberal Democratic Party called on ordinary South Koreans to show up at parliament in protest.
Hundreds of protesters heeded the plea, gathering through the night outside the parliament building and demanding Mr Yoon be impeached.
They then returned the next morning in parts of the capital city to make the same request.
Will the president be forced to step down?
In declaring martial law, Mr Yoon justified his decision by citing North Korean threats but did not go into detail about what they were.
He is a hawk and believes the opposition is too kind, or soft, on Pyongyang.
Under his administration, relations between the neighbours have hit rock bottom.
North Korea routinely fires ballistic missiles, sends rubbish-filled balloons across the border, plays loud disturbing noises towards border villages, and has sent troops to help Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But, it was not clear what specific threat had arisen to prompt a dramatic escalation into martial law.
The president accused the country's political opposition of controlling the parliament, sympathising with North Korea and paralysing the government with anti-state activities.
Political pundits believe it was, in fact, an extreme step to try and break the deadline with the opposition.
A move that ultimately backfired, given the opposition broke through military barriers and voted down the declaration.
Mr Yoon has suffered low approval ratings for much of his tenure. In recent months, it has hovered between 17 and 20 per cent.
Why he thought imposing martial law would provide him much-needed reprieve is unclear.
Political commentator Kim Joonil said the martial law was announced just before the parliament was due to impeach the chief prosecutor of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, over their failure to prosecute the president's wife.
"The president seems to feel isolated and that his power is under threat," he told the ABC.
"He is the type who makes decisions spontaneously. He often gets angry, so there is no one around him who can give him advice."
Unable to achieve his agenda, the president was a lame duck.
Now, after imposing martial law, the question is whether he'll be able to remain in power.
