Empire of Gold
We... cremated Dad.
We were going to take him to a memorial house...
But mom said... Dad's a countryman from Busan... so he likes the ocean.
So we scattered him on the pier.
The funeral didn't cost much... because there were no guests.
And you weren't there, either.
Choon Ho... will find a lawyer.
I'm going to quit school.
I'll work at a restaurant.
They'll give me money... and food.
Why are you not saying anything?
You said you'd take care of everything.
The noodle shop, the house, and my college...
You said you'd take care of it all.
Tae Joo...
Tae Joo!
Tae Joo.
You should eat.
Father.
Father...
I'm sorry.
I'm really sorry.
Don't be.
Tae Joo, I lived the entire 60 years of my life like a fool...
And all I'm leaving behind is a burden on you.
I'm the one who's really sorry.
Tae Joo...
You have to win.
In this world where I never won...
try winning at least once, Tae Joo.
I'm sure my Tae Joo can do it. Because you're my son.
Right?
Tae Joo...
Tae Joo, I'm leaving. You eat.
Father.
Father!
Father...
Episode 2
[Choi Yong Jae of Sung Jin Group, Sentenced to 5 years for stock price manipulation]
Yes, yes, sir. The thesis will be done by tomorrow.
Hey, 4192.
One pack today, and one more pack when you finish my boss's thesis.
People who studied a lot have good fortune.
Even in prison, they make money by just moving around fingers.
Corrections administration, correctional social work...
they're in the library.
Hey, get the books on your own...
You said I have to finish this by tomorrow.
I'll bring them.
Dad...
Are you okay?
Do you know how worried I was?
- Deposit? - Sent it.
Have Yong Jae's blanket washed and dried in the sun.
And tell Mrs. Chonan to pickle some good uni.
After a couple of days, it tastes just...
Hey! Congressman Kim!
- Vice Chairman. - Bow later, let's eat first.
Grill a few snails...
and for wine, the oldest and most expensive one.
I'm sorry.
Special pardon on Constitution Day will be difficult.
Three cups of coffee.
Secretary of Civil Affairs called me and told me my Yong Jae's name was included...
He was dismissed today. The new secretary is Vice Minister Min Byung Gi.
Vice Minister Min Byung Gi is...
Yes, he's on Chairman's side.
I'll look into release on bail from illness. I'll also talk to the prosecutors. And you...
The advisory clinic submitted an opinion to the Ministry of Justice...
that his health is good enough to carry out the sentence.
I believe Chairman handled it.
Even if I use money... or power, there is no way to get Yong Jae out?
- Is that what you're saying? - I'm sorry, Vice Chairman.
I'll change the legal team.
- To friends from my school... - Don't bother.
I was in the military for 30 years.
I crossed the Han River twice.
When I took off my uniform, I took this with me.
Min Jae, I'll give one to the person I hate, and I'll eat one myself today.
Father.
Mom went to the hospital for her heart checkup.
Thanks to you, Mom's getting a special examination.
Get the CT scan and angiography, too.
I'm sure she can get better if we find the cause of her chest pain.
Okay, I will.
Register for an afterschool starting next month.
You're okay with Korean literature, so register for English and Math.
Tae Joo...
I'm not going to college.
You're here and Mom's sick.
Tuition is... really expensive.
Don't worry about money. You should study.
I don't want to! Dad's not around, so I should at least earn some money.
Hee Joo!
The day you started the trade school on scholarship...
Father cried all night.
Because he was sorry.
You could've gone to a regular school...
You could go to college, too...
Tae Joo.
He couldn't send you to college pushing a cart.
That's why he started the noodle shop.
Hee Joo.
When you get into college, let's go to our Father together and say hello.
Choon Ho, when she's done with afterschool, it'll be late at night.
It's dangerous to get home on the hill through the alley.
Okay buddy, I'll escort her safely.
I bought a motorbike.
It's made in Japan... and it has a short name...
You're 20 and still can't put on a tie?
Because you always do it for me.
I asked Professor Kim to come over on Saturday.
Money and Banking. That seems useful, so you should learn.
I go to the ranch on Saturdays.
Chairman Jo's son is in the hospital. Go visit him.
He fell off a horse and hurt his leg.
I'll quit horse riding.
Done!
It's ready, please come out.
Don't look after my personality, your mom will be worried.
Bro, I'm here.
You don't need to bow. I didn't come here for you.
Father and Mother, your pitiful son Dong Jin is here.
Min Jae's here, too.
But...
my Yong Jae couldn't come.
In the middle of the war... when I was shining shoes and paying for your tuition...
I shined two, three when everyone else was shining just one.
If I shine one more of these, my brother can buy a book.
If I shine one more, my brother can pay the school fee.
I shined shoes so fast...
Even now...
I'm pretty fast with my hands.
Give me my Yong Jae.
Special pardon will be good...
Release on illness is good, too.
If you don't want to, I will shoot you once...
and I'll eat one and leave.
Director Park.
About the window dressing accounting books from Sung Jin Construction...
hand them over to the Secretary of Civil Affairs.
Yes, Min Jae will get hurt.
What could I do? He should've run the business within the law.
Dong Sung!
You and I might be gone...
but the documents that went to the Secretary of Civil Affairs will remain.
When the Blue House makes a move, it'll be hard to last without his father.
Take care of Min Jae, Dong Jin.
Father, Mother...
I don't think I'll be back next year.
Let's go.
You'll be out next week, as a special pardon on Constitution Day.
Min Jae!
I'll tell your wife.
Is Ji Yong's first birthday coming up next month?
Yes. I heard he started walking.
Does Ji Yong still cry when he sees Grandpa?
He should be able to hold his grandson at the birthday party.
He can't go.
Father and I are going to the states.
We won't be able to come back for a very long time.
Min Jae...
We'll hand over all of father's shares and my stake...
under the condition of getting you out.
Have a nice life, Yong Jae.
Don't listen to your friends and invest overseas.
Don't touch the company fund to make up for the loss.
And don't manipulate stock prices to make up for the company fund!
Don't ever do that again...
and have a nice life, Yong Jae.
Don't go, Min Jae.
I don't need to leave here.
Father comes to see you three times a week.
I'm sure you'll cry like a baby every time and tell him you want to get out.
And Father will be shaken up again.
I won't do that.
I'm sorry, Min Jae.
I'll take care of myself from now on.
Go with plan B on the construction of the shopping mall.
And come up with a detailed plan by next week.
While I was cleaning Director Choi Yong Jae's office...
It's imipramine, an antidepressant.
He was treated by Dr. Kim at the clinic.
It's serious, so he recommended hospitalization...
But Director Choi was arrested suddenly.
What's wrong?
Hurry, hurry!
Pull yourself together, 3884!
3884!
Pull yourself together, 3884!
Mr. Jang Tae Joo?
He even refused a visit at the wake.
Not yet...
Leave Yong Jae's office as is.
Uncle must've stopped by again yesterday.
What's the hometown again?
Are you hearing me through your nose?
Not your hometown, Chancellor Kim Gap Soo's hometown!
Gyungsang Province?
Then call Chungwongak and have a few girls from Gyungsang Province sit in the room...
Have them play the Korean harp and stuff.
Father.
There is no merchant who died from a beating...
but there is a truckload of them that died after being run over by tax.
My poor brother...
Losing money and sending his child to prison...
You were involved in the fake exports of Sung Jin Corporation, too.
It's been a while since I had bean rice.
I'll go to prison with Won Jae hand-in-hand...
I drew up fake letters of credit and Won Jae was going to come up with money...
so he blew horns and cracked stairways...
Father...
If it's gas from a grenade, we'll all die together.
The Office of Civil Affairs from the Blue House is making a move.
That's more than enough to handle.
- Father, if you wait a little... - I've waited 10 years!
Yong Jae is crying.
Yong Jae cries in my dream...
I try to hold him to say goodbye...
But my arm is too short, I can't reach him.
My child died.
I have to at least send his child to prison.
I'm Yong Jae's father.
Then Father, do what Yong Jae wants.
There is someone who heard Yong Jae's last words.
He's on his way here, Father.
I'm Choi Min Jae.
I'm thinking...
Total sales from last year were 970 billion, net profit 87.2 billion...
President of Sung Jin Construction, ranked at fourth in domestic subcontracts...
Last words from the only brother...
The price of it...
[Average price of apartment in Seoul surpasses a hundred million.]
Should be about that much.
My name is Jang Tae Joo.
The condition was to get you out on reprieve.
You're not the type of businessman who keeps his promises.
If you need more time, I'll give it to you.
But my memory is weak...
I'm afraid I might forget what Choi Yong Jae said in a day or two.
I'm just worried.
Shut your mouth!
He's had asthma since he was six. I've seen it hundreds, thousands of times.
When the asthma attack starts, he can hardly breathe. Last words?
You didn't hear anything. Nothing.
Even if you had to steal glasses from a dead person...
did you want to come out to the world that badly, like a bat?
Did you want to make money by making up last words you didn't hear, like a wild dog?
Give him twice the amount he's asking for.
If he wants a job, find one for him.
If he needs a place, find him an apartment.
Do you need anything else?
Then I'll tell you what I need.
Migrant protestors climbed the steel tower.
The police is saying the crackdown will be difficult, so negotiation would be...
Call those guys.
There were too many casualties in the demolition at the test complex...
To use the hired help is a bit...
I make the order. And I'm the one taking responsibility.
Get rid of the building by today.
And ask for police assistance.
Yong Jae said this before he died.
Reconcile with Uncle, Chairman Choi Dong Sung...
You just have to say exactly what I said to my Father.
I will.
He had difficulty breathing, so he couldn't say much.
Sure...
He repeated the same thing over.
To Uncle Choi Dong Sung...
he asked for revenge on him.
He wanted his father to wipe his tears.
Sure.
Make Uncle cry the same tears that he shed.
That's what Yong Jae said.
I got it.
Yong Jae!
Father.
Min Jae...
I'll do what you said.
I'll do what Yong Jae asked me to do.
I'll wipe my child's tears with this.
If he touches Choi Won Jae now, he'll get hurt, too.
And once Chairman makes a move, you too will...
What about Chancellor Kim Gap Soo?
Contact him. We have to stop it from leaking outside. Now!
Who are you?
A bat that wanted to come out to the world with the glasses from a dead person?
A wild dog that wanted to make money from the last words he didn't hear?
My brother died.
- And you are... - Everyone dies.
Some die in prison from shortness of breath...
Some die in a fire trying to protect a noodle shop.
Oh, you asked who I was?
I'm the son of Jang Bong Ho who died in the fire at the test complex...
I'm Jang Tae Joo.
Thank you.
I heard you sent flowers to my father's funeral.
A real big bouquet.
You must've given the order back then, too.
Then you should be the one taking responsibility, too.
Everyone dies.
Some leave inheritance...
Others leave poverty.
What did your father leave you?
Me?
What a waste.
He could've left a big sum of money.
If you mentioned your father sooner...
and if you did what I told you to do...
I could've given you ten times the amount.
- You thought wrong... - You don't get to judge what's wrong.
The winner gets to decide.
I won this time.
Mom! Hee Joo!
Tae Joo!
There is this place called Anchang Village in Busan...
it's a nice village for the poor.
If we find a room there and sell acorn jelly, we should be able to live...
I like it. I heard men from Busan love women who speak with a Seoul accent.
Mom, I'm not going to Busan.
Just wait a year, I'll get a rental...
Tae Joo, I can't live in Seoul anymore.
Mom.
When I get on the subway...
I think of your father who used to sell pens and gloves.
When I see Yeouido on my way to the hospital...
I miss your father who worked at construction sites...
When I go to the market...
I feel bad for your father who used to make deliveries in his cart from dawn...
He couldn't stand any heat...
But in the fire...
Father's sweat on the subway, in construction sites in Yeouido, and at the market...
Mom...
I'll get money for all of it.
The noodle shop and our place, too.
I'll send Hee Joo to college, too.
Where will you get that much money?
Big men make big money.
Mom, I'll become really big.
I promise you.
Get rid of the outdated export record from Sung Jin Corp.
- Yes, I'll do it tomorrow morning. - Do it right now!
Get rid of the letter of credit copies.
Call the Office of Civil Affairs...
and tell them I'll come as soon as he lands...
whether it's in the middle of the night or early morning.
Rub drinks on newspaper reporters' underwear...
Shove money in the mouths of TV reporters...
What about the investigation team meeting?
The prosecution said they won't get involved in the family matter of a big corporation.
But congress starts the general hearing on the government next week.
Just blocking the media and the prosecution won't resolve...
I'll do it.
There is a dedication ceremony for the auto manufacturing plant tomorrow morning.
The Secretary generals from both parties will be there.
Arrange a meeting with them, tea or lunch.
I'll also meet with Senior Secretary of Civil Affairs.
It's hard to get Min Jae's window-dressing accounting under the business law.
I'll look into the special law on additional penalties and see if that can be applied.
I'll call for the general shareholders' meeting too, Dad.
We postponed Ji Yong's first birthday party.
I went to Sungbuk-dong yesterday.
He's already talking.
Mom...
Dad...
The boy likes dolls. Just like Yong Jae.
He played with a doll house until he was in elementary school.
Min Jae.
I have a favor to ask.
Can we have Ji Yong as our son?
Yoon...
You know I can't get pregnant.
I heard... her family considers Ji Yong a burden.
She didn't marry him for love...
She considered divorce when she was pregnant with Ji Yong.
If you play with Ji Yong and I raise him well...
Yong Jae will be at peace in heaven.
Please, Min Jae.
Thank you, Yoon.
I wanted to impress my husband only once a year...
but I failed again.
Yoon!
I'm sorry. I messed up today's waffle.
Min Jae.
She has something to tell you, so I asked her to come.
Let's go outside.
Was I six?
I asked Yong Jae to draw me a dog...
I cried after seeing his drawing.
It looked like a worm.
It had a long neck with a thin body.
That rascal Yong Jae practiced drawing for a week and drew it again for you.
I went as far as the gate of the prison.
But I just came back.
I couldn't face Yong Jae in prison uniform through the bars...
I should've seen Yong Jae.
I'm coming from meeting with the Senior Secretary of Civil Affairs.
You'll be indicted soon under the special law on additional penalties.
It won't be easy to hold the indictment.
Insider trading was added on top of window-dressing accounting.
It won't be easy to get out.
There is no evidence for insider trading...
Director Yoon... got promoted to President of Food.
Maybe because he started in the accounting department?
He remembers everything.
People's minds change so easily.
I need time. About a month.
I'll convince my father.
I'll drop the lawsuit...
and I'll hand over the company stake at a reasonable price...
No.
Seo Yoon.
I regret it.
If I was a little stronger at the executive meeting...
and if I dismissed Uncle and you...
Yong Jae would still be happy with Ji Yong...
- I'm going to end it now. - Seo Yoon.
The general shareholders' meeting will be summoned
and Uncle and you will be dismissed from the board of directors.
Thank you for all your effort for Sung Jin Group so far...
President Choi Min Jae.
I'm glad you came.
Secretary General is not answering the phone. Why don't you try...
The general shareholders' meeting has been summoned.
There is an empty land of 2,100 pyung in Zone B.
There is another 1,200 pyung of federal land close by.
And if we buy up another 700 pyung of neighboring private lands...
we can build the biggest shopping mall in Asia.
Once the land purchase is complete, I'll secure the business rights.
Using the business rights as collateral, I'll get a loan.
We don't have enough time.
No matter how much we rush, purchasing land alone will take a few months...
Get it done in a week.
What's the market cap of Sung Jin Construction based on today's price?
It's about 700 billion.
If you exclude the stake from insiders, related companies, and institutional investments...
It's about 400 billion for the shares traded in the market.
I'll buy back shares at double the current market price.
If we have 800 billion, we'll be the owners of the general shareholders' meeting.
President, that might be a stretch...
If you're going to whine, leave.
Min Jae, what can I do?
Get in touch with an official in charge of licenses and permits.
We have a month until the general meeting.
One week for land purchase...
Another week on securing the business rights and getting a loan...
and tender an offer to repurchase shares for the remaining two weeks.
That's my plan.
Alright, let's cross the Han River one more time!
The goal is 700 pyung. The number of owners is 42.
If the rumor gets out, the price will skyrocket.
I'll have them sign before they smell anything.
The notice of sale on 1,200 pyung of federal land will be posted tomorrow.
Please make it a private contract.
Your daughter will have a great view of the Han River from her room.
It has a sizable living room, too.
Please.
We purchased 50 percent of the land.
But I think it's impossible to finish the land purchase within the time limit...
Nothing's impossible in this world...
though there are incompetent people.
You have two days, please hurry.
He bought 1,200 pyung of federal land under a private contract this morning.
They're acquiring private land, too.
Director... I worked in construction for 30 years.
Buying the land, getting the permits and getting the loan...
It doesn't go as easy as people think.
If Min Jae lived the way we think, he wouldn't have come this far.
Find a way to stop him from getting the business rights.
Ma'am, there are many people who regret getting married...
but there are no women who regret buying land.
Yes, yes... think about it again.
I'll go get my perm done tomorrow.
Stupid woman has a lot of thoughts.
Yeah. Swallow then spit out... I think it'll only take a few more days of heating.
If she finds out there's no license on the building, the deal will be over...
Have a fake notarized copy of the registration ready. Okay.
It's the compensation for Tae Joo's father.
Close your mouth when I'm counting money.
It's five million!
I'm okay with an auction or a redevelopment sticker.
I want to make money.
Good thinking. Make it.
Was it the owner of a beauty shop in Nonhyun-dong? The one you just talked to?
The money she saved all her life from the beauty shop...
will be tough to lose on a building with no license.
- Don't you agree? - My Tae Joo, you grew up.
You even know how to make a threat.
Pay the security deposit with five million to bid on an apartment of 12 pyung.
Pay the balance with a private loan...
You divide the stake in half then you have two ownerships on the lot.
Pay back the private loan with one and you eat the other.
My Tae Joo... you're so lucky.
How could you have such a nice friend like me?
I hold your hand to the bidding office, and drive you to a private loan office.
You must be thankful.
'Thankful' is when someone takes care of a request.
Get up, get up.
Get up!
Sit up straight.
Sang Goo, how many days did I eat hospital food?
Eight weeks of treatment, then physical therapy. You were in there for four months.
It was delicious.
- Make him eat there for a couple of years. - Yes, sir. Get up!
Get up!
[Registered Owners of Shopping Mall Construction]
Yes?
Thanks for the delivery.
Tae Joo is a gift. The successful bid letter is a show of gratitude.
Now that we've cleared our misunderstanding...
when will you let me get back into bidding again?
Thank you.
Seol Hee, did you hand over Tae Joo to Pil Doo?
He really wanted to see Tae Joo.
Hey!
Hey, you should close the door!
You, be part of my family.
Work together, eat together.
Sang Goo...
Make room at the hospital.
And reserve a funeral home for him.
President Jo Pil Doo!
As a way of apology, I'd like to light your cigarette for you.
Wait wait! Wait!
Either let me go or reserve two funeral homes.
Cigarettes are not good for your health. You should quit.
Tae Joo, get on!
Looks like there was a misunderstanding.
Actually, those bastards...
I have a list of land owners of the shopping mall site.
Can I make money with this?
Tae Joo, Seol Hee handed you over to those gangster bastards.
And you almost died!
I don't need good people, honest people make me gag!
Choon Ho, I need this kind of person right now.
I'm asking if I can make money with this!
A lot.
About the same as my Tae Joo's weight in 10,000 won bills?
He liked white chrysanthemum, so remember that.
Mom, today...
It's his birthday. What would be a better gift than showing yourself?
You've grown well, my son.
You have to go to the hospital tomorrow.
You have a lot of tests to go through.
- I'll have dinner ready soon. - Don't bother.
Do I have room to get hungry when I'm taking pills and herbal tonics all day?
Seo Yoon asked me...
how many times you smiled at me in the 20 years I've lived with you.
Don't worry, I didn't answer.
Would she believe me if I told her you never smiled at me even once?
You smiled a lot when you were young...
After getting tricked by friends and hurt by people you trusted...
your heart has been hurt for decades...
and you're afraid it will shatter, so you don't get close to family or friends.
I didn't tell her you're that kind of coward, either.
Did Seo Yoon say anything else?
The school dean called me.
Seo Yoon wants to start her doctorate degree.
I think she'll leave after this one.
Make her stay.
She doesn't listen to me, but she usually listens to you.
Give her a break, two or three years.
She must've been really hurt after Yong Jae left.
Let her take a break.
The grudges she holds against you... when they go away, she'll come back.
She's your daughter, she won't leave you.
How many years did it take you?
How many years did it take you for your grudges against me to go away?
They've been going away for 20 years. There is still more than half left.
I'll have to tell Seo Yoon... that you smiled once.
Get dinner ready.
I will.
The dinner table feels empty. Call Sung Jae to come home.
And make the pickles that he likes.
Sung Jae is not the only one.
He even has the same eating habit.
I'm here.
Happy... birthday...
Father.
We purchased 698 pyung of private land.
We have two pyung left. We just need a little more to complete the purchase.
Leaving out two pyung is the same as not even having one pyung.
Don't you know that?
We have to purchase the whole land to receive the business rights.
Yes, I know.
But the land owner is...
In prison right now.
Four records of violent crimes.
He used his fists even in prison, so he's in solitary confinement.
You can't meet him.
Which prison?
It's tough to visit an inmate in solitary confinement.
If the correctional services find out about the chief's thesis written by Tae Joo...
Hey!
If you let us see him, I'll give you this much more.
Go to the bank.
Could I get your wife's contact information?
They called several times again today... to convince me to sell it to them.
Okay, then I will see you at seven tonight.
They're going to sell.
They'll say the price in person...
It doesn't matter.
Five times... no, even if it costs ten times more, buy it.
I only drank coffee from a vending machine until three years ago.
But now I drink coffee in hotels at least twice a week.
Tae Joo.
Do you want to drink this coffee with me forever?
I won't work for someone else.
And I don't put sugar in my coffee.
There are hundreds of bids a month at the bidding office in Seoul.
And I can eat a hundred of those.
But I only eat ten of them. Why?
Because I only have two hands.
Tae Joo, let me use your hands.
Okay.
Let's be partners.
Fifty-fifty on work and money.
I don't do partnerships.
How much should we eat?
The face value of two pyung is ten million.
Maybe one to two hundred million per pyung?
Is that too much?
You can keep two hundred million.
Regardless of how much we get, the rest is mine.
It's been a while.
As soon as the purchase is over, a copy of the land registration will be faxed.
They're on standby at City Hall.
Once they sign and make a copy, we'll get the business rights immediately.
- The Chairman of the bank... - I'm having dinner with him.
We'll get eight hundred billion by tomorrow.
We have fifteen days until the general meeting.
My brother had a good life as the Chairman in the playground I built.
This time, I'll try playing in the playground my brother built...
Did you purchase it?
Hold on...
This is Jang Tae Joo.
Total sales from last year were 970 billion, net profit was 87.2 billion.
President Choi Min Jae of Sung Jin Construction ranked fourth for domestic subcontracts.
The one who came with your order said this...
He'll give me ten times.
But that's too bad...
I'm not selling this land to you!
President Choi Min Jae's camp...
reserved an ad on the lower section on the front page of Joongang Paper tomorrow.
[Sung Jin Group's Tender Offer]
Institutional investors are also in touch with Vice Chairman.
At this rate...
Hello.
Hold on.
This is Choi Seo Yoon.
532-4 in Zone B. The empty lot of two pyung next to the parking garage.
Do you need that land?
I own that land.
Let's meet. Right now!