신입사원의 탈을 쓴 회장님, 최성그룹의 판을 뒤흔드는 ‘영혼의 연대’ > K-wave Trends

At the center of the play is the conflict and reconciliation between Hwang Jun-hyeon, who contains the soul of Chairman Kang Yong-ho, and his youngest daughter, Kang Bang-geul, whom he so desperately wanted to protect. In the beginning, their suspicion and wariness towards each other reached a peak, leading to a situation where they grabbed each other by the collar on the rooftop, but this was an essential process of understanding each other's identity and building trust. Kang Bang-geul was constantly suspicious of his unidentified intern classmate Hwang Jun-hyeon, and Hwang Jun-hyeon also sensed his daughter's deep-seated desire and thirst for recognition and carefully approached her to win her over to his side. As a result, the two discover a common goal of confronting the ambitions of half-siblings Kang Jae-kyung and Kang Jae-seong. Their relationship goes beyond simple colleagues and evolves into a strategic partnership to take back the company, raising the tension of the play to its peak.

The revenge board designed by Junhyeon Hwang is very elaborate and bold. He is not simply driven by personal emotions, but uses advanced strategies that exploit the physiology of the organization by digging into the corruption structure within Choi Sung Group. In particular, he provoked a battle of pride between the materials team and the sales team, which exploded the conflict between departments, and the way he put pressure on the outsourcing company, which was Jae-seong Kang's slush fund channel, clearly shows the aspect of a seasoned manager. The process of the materials team employees, led by Manager Park Bong-gi, shaking up the scene and finding clues to corruption, provides viewers with a thrilling catharsis. This proves that Jun-Hyeon Hwang is demonstrating clever leadership by taking advantage of his weakness as a new employee and bringing about change from the very bottom of the organization.

The intervention of external forces revealed in the process of tracking slush funds further deepens the conflict in the play. When Hwang Jun-hyeon and Kang Bang-geul witness Kang Jae-seong's executive director heading to the Taeha Group residence, they realize that there is a huge amount of collusion between politics and business and betrayal between companies beyond simple internal strife. The fact that Kang Jae-seong is also connected to Taeha Group to protect his slush fund suggests that Choi Seong Group's crisis is much deeper than expected. However, Hwang Jun-hyeon does not make the short-sighted choice of immediate disclosure here. He is a person who envisions a bigger picture than just destroying Kang Jae-seong, and shows cool-headed judgment by focusing on securing reliable ammunition for his future counterattack.

Hwang Jun-hyeon's meticulous plan ultimately led to securing a huge slush fund of 300 billion won, completely turning the game around. He made it clear to the executive director that he was nothing more than a discarded member of Taeha Group, and carried out psychological warfare to induce him to steal only the core code for sending slush funds. In the end, the scene of the car exploding right after handing over the slush fund clearly shows the ruthless power relationship surrounding Kang Jae-seong and also means that Hwang Jun-hyeon is now completely in control. This series of processes recorded the highest viewer rating per minute of 8.1%, proving how enthusiastic viewers are about revenge dramas like Hwang Jun-hyun's Cider.

The development of the play is now accelerating from episode 3 to episode 4. The alliance between Hwang Jun-hyeon and Kang Bang-geul will pose the biggest threat to Kang Jae-kyung and Kang Jae-seong, who control Choi Sung Group. So far, the unique setting of a new employee with the soul of the chairman has provided a variety of entertainment, going back and forth between generational comedy and tense corporate thriller. Now that they have passed the stage of simply hiding their identities and entered into a real power struggle, the point of interest is how the two main characters will reorganize the group and prove their qualifications as true successors. Viewers are now showing high expectations about what kind of ripple effect the 300 billion won in funds secured by Hwang Jun-hyun will have in the future and how he will bring back Choi Sung Group.