I just finished watching 24 episodes of a very thoughtful Korean Drama called "The Empire of Gold". The film tells about a story of some people who fight against each other to get the highest position in a huge company. Those people sacrifice everything in their life in order to take over the company after the owner passed away. Those who struggled were the ones that very close to the owner himself, which are his wife, his children, and his nephew. Even the people around him that used to help running the company, also eager so badly to reach the golden seat.
The company owner, Choi Dong Sung, even didn't know that his wife, Han Jung Hee, was marrying him for 27 years with a plan that someday she will replace the position. He just knew it when he was about to die. She could bearly hold the ambition within herself without anyone knowing by showing somewhat like a sincere looking face to the whole family. Choi Dong Sung has three children from the first wife, and then he married again to the second wife which is Han Jung Hee, after the first one deceased. Han Jung Hee has one son from her previous husband that she brought secretly into her new family by making them believed that the son she carried was her son with Choi Dong Sung. Her motive that drives her to chase the highest seat is to take revenge for the lost of her previous husband that caused by Sung Jin Group, Choi Dong Sung's huge company. She's able to act like she really likes the people in the family by showing kindness in front of them though she hates them the most.
At the first match of getting the highest seat, the match was occured between Han Jung Hee, Choi Dong Sung's youngest daughter named Choi Seo Yoon, and Choi Seo Yoon's cousin Choi Min Jae. Then the other person from outside of the family, Jang Tae Joo, suddenly came as well to get the position. The fourth of them have their own motives in getting the position. Han Jung Hee as mentioned before, she wants to take revenge of the lost of her previous husband. Choi Seo Yoon, the owner's daughter, also has her own motive. She thinks that she is the one who deserves and has the right to get the position because she is the heir of her beloved father, so she has to protect her family's wealth no matter what. Choi Min Jae, the cousin, has his own perspective that lead him to think that he also has the right to own the company since his father is the owner's brother. And the last fighter Jang Tae Joo, his own motive arose from the death of his father that caused by the company as well as happened to Han Jung Hee's husband.
By the time they're struggling, their greeds have blinded them to distinguish between the good and the bad. Each and one of them don't have any conscience anymore toward others around them. They only want to win that they would do anything to get rid others who might become obstacles. Sometimes when people chase for gold, they forget people around them and everything they already have. Until all those precious things in their life gone, they just realized that they lost everything by the time they reach the destination which what-so-called success. This what happened to those four people who fell for money and power.
Han Jung Hee lost her precious life time for over 27 years for her never ending revenge and greed. Thus she lost to spend time together in happiness with her only son, Choi Sung Jae. Her son kept asking her to stop from doing whatever she was doing, and just leave Sung Jin Group family's big house together with him somewhere they can spend their life with smile and laughter. But she didn't listen until her son went to jail, became the victim of her own greed. Then she regrets it 'till finally she faced the death and realized everything is too late, yet she didn't have anymore time to spend.
In the other hand, Choi Min Jae is not different either. He lost his wife, his father got to jail to help him covering his faults, and by the end he had to suffer himself in prison as well. Though once he won the position of chairman, he still didn't satisfy when he had to left the position. With his greed he still want to have the glory as long as he could.
Jang Tae Joo, the ordinary man who came from poor family, had successfully climb up the life status to top managerial position in the company with his clever brain. And he's able to enter the Sung Jin family's big house by marrying Choi Seo Yoon, although it's just a deal marriage for business purpose. Yet he still not satisfy, at the time he swam deeper and deeper to dig the gold, he got blinded as well. He committed a murder by accident and also responsible in giving order to demolish a building which caused several people injured and one death. Not only those, he also lost his girlfriend, Yoon Seol Hee, the one who used to support him. The good thing is by the end he realized he had lost everything. Might be trigger by the situation that put his girlfriend in danger and no matter what he still loves her, with his conscious mind he returned everything. He gave up all the things he had and return to his home taking care the family. But maybe due to unbearable guilty and sin, which in fact he has killed several people, in the end of story he decided to jump off the cliff to the deep ocean.
"Well... I'm not going to heaven. I don't know anyone in heaven anyway. It's true that Sung Jin Group household is hell. But Seol Hee...if you survive hell... then that place will become heaven." — Jang Tae Joo
Finally Choi Seo Yoon, the heir to the throne. She won the competition to own most of the company shares, thus it gives her the power to rule the company. She's not taking it for granted, she throw her life and every little things she had to struggle. Since the company established by her own father, she has the right to own it. Now we know that it's not an easy thing to maintain things that already built than to start it from scratch, even it's been settled and we just need to run it accordingly. Although Choi Seo Yoon has a good intention actually to save the family's inheritance from outsiders, but she made a hard decision to get rid of her other siblings from the battle. She's indeed had a choice to divide the power equally, but she couldn't do it in order to win the majority of company shares. It might seems that she won the battle, but in fact she lost as well as the other three people. Nobody wants to be with her because she looks horrible to others. At the end, the winner stands alone, just like Paulo Coelho said.
"Only when they are discriminated against, they demand equality. When they're discriminating, equality is brothersome isn't it?" — Choi Seo Yoon
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At the first seeing this film, I wasn't interesting at all. I really don't like the film setting that looks old fashion, from the furnitures to the clothes. And even more, the expression and gestures of the role players are too stiff, extremely serious and tense. But my mom kept telling me to watch it because the story is very good, disregard all the film settings and expressions.
Then I realized she's right, this film is really good. You must watch it yourself. It's a very thoughtful drama with meaningful scripts. The players also fused with the roles, they played the characters well. They didn't move that much, only by playing face expressions they could draw the mood. It's not an easy one to understand, but once you do, it will teach us many good things about life.
I keep thinking more and more after watching this serial drama. I could barely see that even in reality gold blinded people just like Goblin in The Lord of The Ring movie, who keeps saying "my precious.. my precious.." when seeing the golden ring. In the end the precious ring vanished in the volcanic mud and as well as he, jumped off himself to the mud after the ring. The precious turned Goblin to nothing.
"Some people smile even they're in hell, but you walk around looking for gold even in heaven." — Yoon Seol Hee
Seeing Han Jung Hee role's in this movie that amazingly she could have double face, the true one full of grudge she hid for herself and the other one appeared nice to people, makes my mom said that in reality this kind of people might exist in this world. But though you really don't like someone, don't treat them badly. Because you never know today they might be your enemy, but the other day they might be the one who could help you. Just becareful to this kind of people, keep a distance from them, not too close not too far. Close enough to see what they're look up to. Sometimes we need to come up with strategy to face different kind of people. That's what my mom advised.
I salute Choi Seo Yoon's role, the daughter of the company owner that several times had made some tough decisions. Despite her coldness leading the company herself without any sensitive emotion, she still have heart towards others. She didn't take revenge to Han Jung Hee who treated her badly before. She didn't repeat the same act when she was prevented by Han Jung Hee to see her father in hospital at the end of her father's life. She still let Choi Sung Jae to meet his mother, Han Jung Hee, for the last time of her life. Even she promised her that she would take care of her son as her own brother and give him a good position in the company. She did that because she doesn't want Choi Sung Jae to feel the way she feels being treated bad.
Not many people can do this. Only those who have a heart of a king that could forgive and return the bad with good deeds. Only those whose heart as wide as an ocean.
If I'm being asked whether to live the life as Choi Seo Yoon's living in the empire of gold, I don't think I'd be able to do it. It's not the kind of life that I want to live. I found some nice quotes here which draw nicely the idea of a simple and modest life that I've been imagined. Hope we can find a real happiness from what we already have.
“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
— Alexander Supertramp (from 'Into The Wild' movie)
"I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such is my idea of happiness."
— Leo Tolstoy (Family Happiness and Other Stories)
"There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more."
— Lord Byron
“Hapiness is real when shared”
— Christopher McCandless
