In 2022, a low-level 996 worker who served a large Korean chaebol family was shot dead because he was involved in the internal fighting of the chaebol family.
20 years ago, his father lost his job due to a series of bankrupt acquisition policies by the chaebol. His mother lost all her family's savings for many years because of the chaebol's manipulation of the stock market and committed suicide in despair...
During the seven days when this low-level worker was in a coma in the hospital, his soul traveled back to 1987 and was reborn as the youngest son of the third generation of the chaebol family. Since he has the memory of his previous life, he can predict the future. From then on, the male protagonist turned on his golden finger and launched a revenge plan against the chaebol family.
This is the story told by the popular Korean drama " The Youngest Son of the Chaebol Family ". In addition to the interesting points of revenge drama, the profoundness of this drama is that the male protagonist's revenge experience is closely combined with the 1980s. The political transformation of South Korea in the 1990s, as well as the transformation process of global economy to the technological era after 2000, through the political events and business wars that happened in South Korea in those years that the male protagonist personally experienced, we can get a glimpse of the "operational secrets" and "succession battles" of South Korea's large chaebol families.
The details in the play all allude to the "succession battle" of the Samsung family:
In 1987, the first democratic election after South Korea's political transformation, the male protagonist suggested that his grandfather burn the cold stove and invest in the unpopular Lu Taewoo , thereby gaining his grandfather's attention and receiving a piece of land as a reward. This land later became the second most expensive area in South Korea. Land speculation allowed the male protagonist to accumulate the first pot of gold. Later, he invested in an unknown small website selling books, which later became Amazon .
The young male protagonist also guided his grandfather to avoid the plane crash in 1987, and supported his grandfather's investment in semiconductors in the 1990s.
Later, the 18-year-old male protagonist was admitted to the law department of Seoul National University. He also guided his father, the fourth son of a chaebol who loves movies, to introduce the American movies "Home Alone " and "Titanic", making a lot of money.
Do you feel that the above plot seems familiar?
Yes, the chaebol that can control the political direction of South Korea in the play is South Korea's Samsung Group. The prototype of Chen Yangzhe, the scheming first-generation chairman in the play, is Lee Byung-cheol, the founder of Samsung Group. After the
male protagonist traveled to a chaebol family, his fourth son father who did not like business and loved movies corresponded to Samsung the second generation president Lee Kun-hee .
Of course, reality is often more exciting than fiction. Here is a brief review of the "succession battle" between the second generations of Samsung -
Lee Kun-hee has two older brothers. Originally, according to South Korea's primogeniture system, it was not his turn to inherit the family business anyway.
But "good words can't wake up the damn ghost." Some people are just impatient to seek death.
In 1966, Samsung Prince Lee Mong-hee reported to South Korean President Park Chung-hee that his father, Lee Byung-cheol, was smuggling fertilizers and saccharin. Perhaps inspired by his eldest brother, the second oldest brother, Lee Chang-hee, later reported to Park Chung-hee that his father, Lee Byung-cheol, had a small treasury overseas.
At this time, President Park Chung-hee was trying to suppress Samsung, but could not find a suitable tool. Samsung's two biological sons rushed to dig my grave. Park Chung-hee just used these two people to suppress Samsung , and nationalized Samsung's fertilizer industry.
After Park Chung-hee achieved his goal, he shook hands with Lee Byung-cheol and made peace.
After Li Bingzhe smoothed his political connections, he began to free up his hands to clean up the family. Naturally, the two unfilial sons were permanently deposed, while Li Jianxi, the younger son who had no hope of inheriting Samsung, was cultivated as an heir. Is
exciting? Accident or not?
In fact, the Chinese people are not unfamiliar with this drama of seizing power. After all, Emperor Kangxi's "Nine Sons Seize the Directed " has already performed similar dramas that are bloodier and more cruel.
Turn on the golden finger and start the "class war":
Back in the play, because of the ability to predict the future, the thoughtful male protagonist began to beat up his two older uncles and his domineering aunt at a young age.
When acquiring Han Dou Steel, the male protagonist used clever tricks to easily provoke a civil war between the two uncles. In order to prevent the eldest brother's acquisition, the second uncle threw an olive branch to rival Daewoo and jointly raised the acquisition price. Although the eldest uncle finally completed the acquisition, he spent a huge amount of money and was saddled with huge debts. As a result, the second uncle also lost the opportunity to inherit. Although the eldest uncle barely kept the inheritance rights, he also lost his father's trust.
During the financial crisis in South Korea in 1998, Kia Motors, where the hero's father worked, went bankrupt and reorganized. The hero's father in the previous life was laid off and injured while participating in a strike. The hero's mother in the previous life died under multiple stimuli.
In this life, the male protagonist insists on acquiring Kia Motors because he wants to prevent his father from being laid off and losing his job in the previous life.
To this end, the male protagonist started a competition behind the scenes with his contemporary grandfather, chaebol chairman Chen Yangzhe, to "acquire Kia Motors."
However, the wily Chen Yangzhe asked the media to write a press release saying "The acquisition of Kia Motors by a US-owned company will cause the loss of South Korea's national assets", inciting nationalism and causing the hero's acquisition plan to fail.
However, due to financial constraints, Chen Yangzhe was almost intercepted by his competitor Daewoo Motors in the process of acquiring Kia .
Just when his grandfather Chen Yangzhe ran out of ammunition and food, the male protagonist negotiated with his grandfather through his agent and was willing to provide Samsung with sufficient ammunition to acquire Kia, on the condition that Samsung Motors 17% shares would be obtained, and Samsung must remain a Kia employee.
This wonderful acquisition battle corresponds to the real event of the merger of Kia Motors and Hyundai Motors in 1998.
Then, the male protagonist traced the reason why his mother committed suicide in his previous life. It turned out that his mother lost all his family fortune because of investment losses in stocks .
The background of this matter is that during the financial crisis in South Korea in 1998, the government required the chaebols to deal with their poorly managed enterprises. They could no longer rely on the government to ensure income during droughts and floods as before. In order to show weakness to the Korean government, Chen Yangzhe dissolved his subsidiaries. But through capital operation, he made retail investors pay for .
This part reveals the inside story of the capital operations of chaebols. Huge amounts of assets were transferred through foreign foundations. The chaebols did not suffer any losses, but thousands of retail investors who paid for it were ruined. The male protagonist of
launched a revenge plan for this. He wanted to snatch a piece of land with his grandfather Chen Yangzhe, which later became the "Seoul Digital Media City". This is a gathering place for South Korea's IT industry and entertainment and culture companies. It is also one of the most expensive jurisdictions in Seoul today. The male protagonist of
formed an alliance with his uncle through an agent, invested heavily in supporting his uncle to become the mayor of Seoul, and used his uncle's acquisition of Diya Construction as a shell to compete with his grandfather for the leadership of the development of Sangam-dong, and then encouraged his uncle to gain public opinion by exposing the corruption of the chaebol.
However, Jiang is still too old. Faced with the fait accompli that the male protagonist has obtained the development of a new town in Seoul, Chen Yangzhe took advantage of Shunyang's status as an advertiser for most entertainment companies and TV stations in South Korea and demanded that these entertainment companies not enter the digital media city developed by the male protagonist. This creates an embarrassing situation where the male protagonist has development rights but no carrier.
Chen Yangzhe once again used "Seoul New Town Development" as his son-in-law Mayor Choi's first important political achievement after taking office. Mayor Choi must not sit back and watch the development failure and regain control of his son-in-law.
Faced with such a powerful opponent, the male protagonist also learned from his grandfather to use whatever means necessary. He found his grandfather’s rival, President Daying, and asked President Daying to understand the acquisition of online TV shopping channels and control sales. Sales channels can develop supporting logistics, allowing Daying Logistics to surpass Shunyang Logistics, and persuaded Daying's president to enter the entertainment media. In return, Daying allowed its companies and controlled media to enter the digital media city developed by the male protagonist, thus retaining the male protagonist's right to develop a new town in Seoul.
It can be seen from this fight that Chen Yangzhe's vision, ability and experience are far better than that of the male protagonist. If the male protagonist does not have the golden finger to predict the future, it is impossible to compete with the grandfather in this life.
Through several battles between the male protagonist and his grandfather, it also reflects the huge difference in the three views between the two - because the male protagonist was born in the grassroots in his previous life, he has great empathy for the lower class people, while his grandfather is a capitalist who advocates the law of the jungle and believes in the supremacy of money. Money is his eternal belief. For this reason, he can even abandon family ties. Employees are just consumables in his eyes. He personally educates the male protagonist not to sympathize with employees.
The "class war" between the two camps in this part is the most exciting part of the whole drama, catering to the hatred of the rich among ordinary viewers. The male protagonist's compassion for the vulnerable groups makes people feel very empathetic. When watching the drama, on the one hand, I sympathize with the people at the bottom who are fooled and played by the upper class. On the other hand, when I see the male protagonist who represents the bottom class cheating all the way and attacking the top plutocrats who control social resources, I feel very happy and happy.
Conclusion:
"The Chaebol's Younger Son" is dressed in the shell of "a revenge drama with a reborn male protagonist". It not only shows the grievances of wealthy families, but also shows the class war. The important plot is closely combined with the real historical events of Korea, which further shows that the drama is rich in connotation and profound in thought.
It’s a pity that in the second half of the plot, the chaebol grandfather Chen Yangzhe and the hero’s grandson are deeply in love. Through several encounters with the grandson, Chen Yangzhe discovered that the grandson is the one who is most like him. The two of them actually developed a "hero cherishes the hero" ", his grandfather decided that instead of giving the huge and huge family fortune to the mediocre eldest and second sons, it would be better to pass it on to those who can really hold on to and expand the family fortune. Therefore, Chen Yangzhe no longer insisted on the primogeniture system, but divided his children into their own subsidiaries, and then let them compete with each other, using the law of the jungle to select the winner. No matter which method is chosen, whoever wins will be the well-deserved heir. After that, the descendants of the Chen family started a succession drama in which father and son fought, husband and wife killed each other, and siblings killed each other.
