In 2022, a low-level 996 worker who served a large Korean chaebol family was shot dead because he was involved in the internal struggle of the chaebol family.
20 years ago, his father was unemployed because of a series of bankruptcy acquisition policies of the chaebol, and his mother lost all the family savings for many years because of the chaebol's manipulation of the stock market. Back in 1987, he was reborn as the youngest son of the third generation of the chaebol family. Because he carried the memory of his previous life, he was able to predict the future. From then on, the male protagonist opened the golden finger and launched a revenge plan against the chaebol family.
This is the story of the hit Korean drama ", the Youngest Son of the Chaebol". In addition to the highlight of the revenge drama, the profoundness of this drama is that the hero's revenge experience is closely combined with the Korean culture in the 1980s. Political transformation, and the transformation process of the global economy to the era of technology after 2000. Through the political events and business wars that took place in South Korea in those years that the male protagonist personally experienced, we can get a glimpse of the "operational secrets" and "Battle of Succession".
The details in the play allude to the "battle of succession" of the Samsung family:
In 1987, the first democratic election after South Korea's political transition, the male protagonist suggested that his grandfather burn a cold stove and invest in the unpopular Lu Tae-woo, thus winning his grandfather He attached great importance to it and got a piece of land as a reward. This land later became the second most expensive area in South Korea. Land speculation allowed the hero to accumulate his first pot of gold. After that, he invested in an unknown small book selling website, which later became Amazon .
The young male protagonist also instructed his grandfather to escape the 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, and he instructed his father, the fourth son of a chaebol who loves movies, to introduce American movies " Home Alone " and "Titanic", earning a lot of money .
Do you feel that the above plots seem familiar?
That's right, the chaebol who can control South Korea's political trends in the play is the South Korean Samsung Group, and the wily and calculating first-generation chairman Chen Yangzhe in the play is based on the Samsung Group founder Li Bingzhe. After the male lead of
travels to the chaebol family, his fourth son's father who doesn't love business and loves movies corresponds to Li Jianxi, the second-generation chairman of Samsung , .
Of course, reality is often more exciting than fiction. Here is a brief review of the "battle of succession" between the second generation of Samsung—
Li Jianxi has two older brothers. Originally, according to the eldest son inheritance system in South Korea, it was his turn to inherit anyway. family business.
But "good words can't wake up the damned ghost", some people just want to die impatiently.
In 1966, Samsung prince Li Mengxi reported to Korean President Park Chung-hee that his father Li Bingzhe smuggled chemical fertilizer saccharin. Maybe it was inspired by the eldest brother, and then the second child Li Changxi reported to Park Zhengxi that his father Li Bingzhe had a small treasury overseas.
At this time, President Park Chung-hee was trying to suppress Samsung, but he couldn't find a tool at hand, and the two sons of Samsung rushed to dig Lao Tzu's grave. Park Zhengxi 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 out his political relations, he began to free up his hands to clean up the family. Naturally, the two unfilial sons were permanently abolished, and Li Jianxi, the youngest son who had no hope of inheriting Samsung, was raised as an heir. Is
wonderful or not? Accident or not?
Actually, the Chinese are no strangers to watching this drama of seizing power. After all, Lord Kangxi’s " Nine Sons Seize the Inheritance" has already performed a bloodier and crueler similar drama.
opened the golden finger and launched the "class war":
returned to the play, because of the ability to predict the future, the thoughtful male protagonist started to hang two older uncles at a young age, andDomineering aunt.
When acquiring Han Dao Steel, the male protagonist cleverly used a trick to easily provoke a civil war between the two uncles. In order to prevent the elder brother from taking over, the second uncle offered an olive branch to his competitor Daewoo and jointly raised the purchase price. Although the uncle finally completed the acquisition, he paid Because of this, the second uncle lost the opportunity to inherit. Although the uncle barely kept the inheritance right, he also lost the trust of his father.
During the Korean financial crisis in 1998, Kia Motors, where the father of the male protagonist worked in his previous life, went bankrupt and reorganized. The father of the male protagonist was laid off in his previous life and was injured during a strike.
In this life, the purpose of the male lead's insistence on buying Kia Motors is to prevent his father from being laid off and losing his job in the previous life.
For this reason, behind the scenes, the male protagonist started a competition for "acquisition of Kia Motors" with his contemporary grandfather and chaebol chairman Chen Yangzhe.
However, the scheming Chen Yangzhe asked the media to write a press release saying "The acquisition of Kia Motors by an American company will cause the loss of South Korea's national assets", which incited nationalism and led to the failure of the male protagonist's acquisition plan.
However, due to financial constraints, Chen Yangzhe was almost cut off by his competitor Daewoo Motors in the process of acquiring the Kia .
When the grandfather Chen Yangzhe ran out of ammunition and food, the male protagonist negotiated with his grandfather through an agent and was willing to provide Samsung with enough ammunition to acquire Kia, on the condition that he would obtain 17% of shares in Samsung Motors, and that Samsung must remain as an employee of Kia .
This wonderful acquisition battle corresponds to the real event of the merger of Kia Motors and Hyundai Motors in 1998.
Next, the male protagonist traced the reason for his mother's suicide in his previous life. It turned out that his mother lost all his wealth because of investing in stocks and .
The background of this matter is that during the Korean financial crisis in 1998, the government asked the chaebols to deal with their companies that were not doing well. In order to show weakness to the South Korean government, Chen Yangzhe dissolved its subsidiaries. But through capital operation, he let retail investors pay the bill. This part of
exposes the inside story of the chaebol capital operation. Huge assets are transferred out through foreign foundations. The chaebol has no loss, but thousands of retail investors who paid for it have their families ruined. The male lead of
launched a revenge plan for this. He wants to snatch a piece of land with his grandfather Chen Yangzhe, which will later become "Seoul Digital Media City". One of the most expensive jurisdictions. The
male protagonist formed an alliance with his uncle through an agent, invested a lot of money to support his uncle as the mayor of Seoul, and used his uncle to buy Diya Construction as a shell, competed with his grandfather for the leadership of the development of Sangam Cave, and then backhandedly encouraged his uncle to gain by exposing the chaebol. public opinion.
However, Jiang is still old and hot. Facing the fact that the male protagonist has won the development of a new town in Seoul, Chen Yangzhe took the bottom line and used Shun Yang as an advertiser for most entertainment companies and TV stations in South Korea to demand that these entertainment companies not enter A digital media city developed by the male lead. This caused an embarrassing situation where the male protagonist has the right to develop, but no carrier.
Chen Yangzhe also used the "Seoul New Town Development" as the first important achievement of his son-in-law Mayor Cui after he took office.
Facing such a powerful opponent, the male protagonist also learned to use unscrupulous methods from his grandfather. He found his grandfather’s competitor, Chairman Daying, and asked him to understand the acquisition of online TV shopping channels, control sales channels, and develop supporting products. Logistics, and then made Daying Logistics surpass Shunyang Logistics, and persuaded the chairman of Daying to enter the entertainment media. In return, Daying let its subsidiaries and media controlled enter the digital media city developed by the male protagonist, thus preserving the male protagonist's new Seoul. Town development rights.
This fight shows that Chen Yangzhe's vision, ability and experience are far superior to the male lead. If the male lead doesn't have the golden finger to predict the future, it is impossible to wrestle with his grandfather in this life.
Through the several contests between the male protagonist and his grandfather, it also reflects the huge difference in the three views of the two—because the male protagonistIn his previous life, the Lord came from a grassroots background, and he had great empathy for the people at the bottom, while his grandfather was a capitalist who advocated the law of the jungle and believed in money first. Money is his eternal belief. In his eyes, it was just consumables. He personally taught the hero not to sympathize with the employees. The "battle of classes" between the two camps in this part of
is the most exciting part of the whole play, which caters to the general audience's hatred of the rich. The male protagonist's compassion for the disadvantaged makes people feel very substituting. When watching the drama, on the one hand, I sympathize with the bottom-level people being fooled and played by the upper-level. On the other hand, I feel very happy when I see the hero representing the bottom-level man hanging out all the way and attacking the top-level chaebols who control social resources.
Conclusion:
"The Youngest Son of the Chaebol" is dressed in the shell of "revenge drama of the reborn hero". It not only shows the grievances of the rich and powerful, but also shows the war of classes. The important plot is closely combined with the real historical events in Korea. It shows that the play is rich in connotation and profound in thought.
It’s a pity that in the second half of the plot, the plot begins to show the deep love between the chaebol grandpa Chen Yangzhe and the hero’s grandson. Unexpectedly, he gave birth to the respect and appreciation of "heroes cherish heroes". Grandpa decided that instead of passing on the huge family property of the invincible country to the mediocre eldest and second sons, it is better to pass it on to those who can really keep and expand the family business. Therefore, Chen Yangzhe no longer insists on the eldest son inheritance system, but divides his children into their own subsidiaries, and then lets them compete with each other, using the law of the jungle to select the winner to be the king. No matter what method he chooses, whoever wins will be the one who deserves it heirs. Afterwards, the descendants of the Chen family started a grand succession drama in which father and son fought, husband and wife killed each other, and brothers killed each other.