Reborn Rich: Episodes 9-11
by mistyisles
Our hero’s enemies strike back, putting him on the defensive and throwing every possible wrench into his plans. Fortunately, however, he’s gained a few allies in this timeline as well — and some in surprising places.
EPISODES 9-11 WEECAP
This week Do-joon’s new timeline crosses over into the 21st century, which of course means facing down Y2K concerns. Unsurprisingly, Do-joon is prepared to use this to his advantage, too: at his recommendation, Chairman Jin promises to compensate Soonyang employees should the feared catastrophe occur. Since the new millennium arrives safely and the compensation goes unneeded, Chairman Jin gets to look generous without having to pay up.
By now, Do-joon and Chairman Jin have settled into an interesting, if unstable, relationship. Rather than outright enemies, they still interact as grandfather and grandson, and Chairman Jin still listens to Do-joon’s advice (as in the case of preparing for Y2K). And as this week’s episodes progress, Chairman Jin seems to develop a deeper respect — and maybe even fondness — for Do-joon, despite their lingering mutual distrust.
Meanwhile, the stocks Hwa-young invested all her money in run their course. As her debts pile up, the value of her shares in Soonyang plummet and are automatically forfeited to Miracle as per the contract she signed with Se-hyun. Hwa-young begs everyone she can think of to bail her out — her brothers, her husband, Se-hyun, Do-joon, even Chairman Jin — but they all say much the same: her only hope is to sell the rest of her shares to pay back the money she borrowed and lost. Which is exactly what she doesn’t want to hear.
Do-joon, in the meantime, reaches out to Min-young, effectively (and finally!) pulling her into the main story. She’s now officially a prosecutor, but is stuck doing photoshoots and interviews so her superior can brag about championing gender equality without actually putting her on any cases. Min-young is pleased to have Do-joon reappear in her life, and though she knows he must have an ulterior motive for coming to her, she’s even more happy to have something to do. So she jumps straight in to investigate Hwa-young.
But Hwa-young isn’t going down without a fight. When Min-young summons her for questioning, she accuses Do-joon of using his personal connection with Min-young to give a false tip. That throws Min-young for a bit of a loop, but she presses forward determinedly.
While Min-young hunts for evidence either for or against Do-joon’s tip, Do-joon meets with the one person who knows the truth: Hwa-young’s finance manager, DIRECTOR IM (Oh Ji-hye). She’s tough to convince, even after being told to her face that Hwa-young will make her take the fall for everything. But Do-joon understands her loyalty on a very personal level. When he asks her to testify against Hwa-young, it’s like he’s talking to his former subservient self. Every day she chooses to stay loyal to Hwa-young, he says, she’s actively betraying herself.
Ultimately, Director Im agrees to help. She disappears the day the board is set to vote on dismissing Hwa-young, but not before she sends Min-young a recording of Hwa-young ordering her to invest company funds. That’s evidence enough to prove Do-joon’s tip was legitimate. With no other options left, Hwa-young signs the rest of her shares over to Do-joon so she can pay her debts and avoid jail time.
The case is taken from Min-young and wrapped up without further marks against the Soonyang name. Incensed — and disappointed in herself for secretly being relieved at how easy it is to just let it go — Min-young takes out her frustrations on Do-joon. She throws his unfulfilled predictions — Seo Taiji’s return and her becoming a great prosecutor — back in his face. But as luck (or fate?) would have it, that’s the very night Seo Taiji returns to Korea.
Do-joon runs after her and excitedly shows her the news. He expects her to be happy, but he’s not prepared for her to be so happy that she kisses him (though it only takes him a moment or two to process what just happened and go back in for more).
In light of their kindling romance, Do-joon promises she won’t have to investigate him for any crimes… so of course that happens immediately. Several Soonyang family members conspire together to accuse Do-joon and Miracle Investments of manipulating the stock market and turn public opinion against them. The result is devastating for Miracle, especially as Dong-ki convinces Chairman Jin to let him acquire Miracle to protect the family name. But only Do-joon knows that something even more devastating is coming: the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York.
That knowledge enables Do-joon to shed investments that will become worthless overnight (dooming Dong-ki’s plans) and scrape together an investment campaign that not only saves Miracle from bankruptcy but causes their revenue to soar. Add to that the fact that the accusations against them are proven false, and Do-joon once again comes out on top by using his enemies’ own schemes against them.
Every time Do-joon outwits a family member, Chairman Jin takes notes. He’s preparing to launch a new finance subsidiary, and everyone knows that the person he chooses as its head will become the new owner of Soonyang itself. But as Chairman Jin watches Do-joon clear each and every economic hurdle — and watches his own children crash and burn time and time again — he can’t deny it any longer. He wants Do-joon, and no one else, to succeed him.
The rest of the family can see it, too. And someone is so enraged that they commission a Truck of Doom to take out the car that Chairman Jin and Do-joon are traveling in together. Only now, in the split second before the truck plows into them, does Do-joon remember why he didn’t know anything about Jin Do-joon when he was Hyun-woo: he never needed to, because Do-joon died before Hyun-woo started working for Soonyang.
For a while, we, along with the rest of the family, are led to believe that Chairman Jin ends up in a coma following the wreck, and Do-joon’s fate is left up in the air. But the truth is that both Chairman Jin and Do-joon emerge from the wreck with only minor injuries. That’s because Do-joon’s driver — the one Dong-ki placed to spy on Do-joon but who has come to respect and admire Do-joon instead — rammed his own car between theirs and the truck, taking the brunt of the impact.
Much as he doesn’t want to believe it, Chairman Jin knows one of his children was responsible. Only a select few people (none of them family except Do-joon and Do-joon’s parents) are let in on the secret that he’s awake and well. That way, the person who tried to kill them can continue preparing to take over Soonyang and Chairman Jin can catch them in the act.
Whether he’s the one behind the murder attempt or not, Young-ki is definitely preparing to take over Soonyang. While the others would prefer to hold off on launching the finance subsidiary, Young-ki argues that they must keep the company moving forward in the chairman’s absence. And as the eldest, he volunteers to fill in for Chairman Jin until he wakes up.
Meanwhile, Chairman Jin’s people and Min-young investigate the truck driver (who died in the wreck). The money trail leads to a valuable painting from Hyun-min’s gallery, which she claims was stolen. But “stolen” in this case means Sung-joon moved it out of the gallery without asking permission. Something he’s never done before.
Both Do-joon and Chairman Jin put up a strong front in each other’s presence as they try to piece together clues. But when Do-joon returns to his room to find Min-young waiting and worrying about him, he melts into her embrace and finally lets himself break down.
Likewise, Chairman Jin is not handling this as well as he appears to be. His distress gradually becomes more evident each day, as does his intention for Do-joon to take his place. With absolute sincerity, he warns Do-joon not to trust anyone and to take care of himself.
But a few days later, it gets even worse. In the mist of a strategy session, he suddenly turns on Do-joon with terror in his eyes. He doesn’t recognize Do-joon at all, and scrambles around the room trying to hide, convinced that Do-joon wants to kill him.
I have a feeling Chairman Jin isn’t going to be around long enough to catch the person responsible for the wreck, and it’s a testament to Lee Sung-min’s performance — and the rapport that was built between Chairman Jin and Do-joon this week — that I actually feel somewhat sad about that. He’s watching his hopes and dreams implode before his eyes and destroy his family, and losing his mental and physical health at the same time. That’s extremely tragic, though it doesn’t negate the suffering of people he’s taken advantage of or stepped on to make those dreams a reality in the first place.
One thing I wish we had a bit more clarity on, though, is how and when Chairman Jin died in the original timeline. I understand wanting to keep us in suspense of whether he and Do-joon would pull through this car wreck, but the tradeoff is that we’re left not knowing if Do-joon has managed to change anything.
If they were both supposed to die, but Do-joon earning that driver’s loyalty saved their lives and changed history, that’s potentially huge! But if they were always supposed to survive this particular incident and die later, then Do-joon is still stuck letting history run its course. Either way, it would help to know what is and isn’t still at stake.
But while this week had a lot of forward action — spanning a couple of years and touching on major world events alongside big happenings within Soonyang — my favorite scenes were the small, quieter conversation moments. For all the betrayals and plotting going on and family members angling to be as petty and awful to each other as possible, we also got a lot of sincerity, with the common factor in most of those interactions being Do-joon.
From his budding relationship with Min-young, built on mutual respect and admiration instead of power, to his guidance of Se-hyun’s decisions for Miracle Investments to his slowly but surely earning the trust of everyone else’s staff, he stands in direct contrast to everything that has made Soonyang what it is — and yet, at the same time, he’s still beating them all at their own game. But the question is: for how long?
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Reborn Rich: Episodes 9-11
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily
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