Recap Korean Drama "Reborn Rich" Episode 9

Episode 9 of Reborn Rich starts with a terrified Hyeon-joon watching the news unfold about the Y2K scare. An issue about computers failing to recognize the 2000s led to possible malfunction and world catastrophe. The next day, Hyeon-joon takes his mother to the supermarket to buy bulk and prepare for the possible disaster.

Elsewhere, Mr Lee reports to Chairman Jin that customers were highly interested in an unlimited compensation policy offered by Soonyang Group to affiliates possibly affected by Y2K. In contrast, Young-ki’s secretary and Dong-ki think the promotional move is risky. We find out that the promotion is Do-jun’s idea, and he tells his grandfather that if Y2K passes without any issue, Chairman Jin will owe him a favour.

Count down the year 2000. Chairman Jin calls to check on the affiliates and finds that everything is fine. Chairman Jin earned more than 10 million dollars thanks to Do-jun and hence owes him a favour.

Hwa-young’s secretary prepares the office just as Hwa-young walks in. she cancels an important meeting to meet with the manager of Soonyang investment. She expresses satisfaction that she had earned so much money from trading stocks than department store sales.

The secretary advises her to stop investing in stocks, to which she insists the stock price of New Data Technology would go up to 300 dollars. During the meeting with investment managers, they knew that the current stock price rise is a bubble that could plummet anytime.

Do-jun and Se-hyeon are following the New Data Technology stock price, which has risen to 280 dollars. While Se-hyeon thinks the price will continue to increase, DO-jun tells him to sell all the shares of New Data Technology bought by Miracle Investment. News is in, the owner of New Data Technology is arrested for accounting fraud, and the company falls through.

Seo-min is a newly appointed prosecutor at the Seoul District Public Prosecutors office. She confronts the chief prosecutor for failure to assign her any cases. Her job description involves having interviews to improve the image of the prosecutor’s office. She receives a call to meet Do-jun. Hwa-young is on a drinking spree since she lost all her investment in New Data Technology.

Do-jun informs Prosecutor Seo Min-young to investigate the embezzlement of company funds by CEO Jin Hwa-young. Upon Investigation, Prosecutor Min-young and her team find proof of possible money laundering. They, therefore, seized and searched the Soonyang department store and subpoenaed Hwa-young. She asks for help from Chang-je, who is enraged and asks her to beg her father for help.

Hwa-young chooses to seek assistance from Se-hyeon. He asks to buy all her shares of the Soonyang department store under borrowed names amounting to 25 %. Miracle investment already owns 30 % of Soonyang’s distribution under a conditional clause included when lending her the 400 million dollars. If the stocks fall below 15 % and the repayment period lapses, the shares will be transferred to Miracle investment. Do-jun blushes her off when she attempts to use the family card to get a favour from him as the majority shareholder of Miracle Investment.

Dong-ki brings to Hwa-young’s attention that someone with a stake in the company might be involved in her predicament to plummet the share price of the Soonyang department store and buy it cheaply. She flashes back to her interactions with Do-jun and Se-hyeon and realizes they had fooled her. Dong-ki offers to help her in exchange for her shares in the Soonyang store. She goes to beg her father for help. Chairman Jin fails to help her out.

Hyeom-min accompanies Hwa-young to the prosecutor’s office and informs her that Min-young and Do-jun went to the same law school. Hyeon-min tells her to deny all the allegations and accuse the informant of providing a false report. The case hits a snag since it was based on Soonyang Deco being a paper company, which they realize is not.

Min-young starts to think that Do-jun might have used her and starts investigating the possibility that he gave her a false report to interfere with Soonyang’s stock price to buy the company cheaply. Since using the prosecutor falls through, Do-jun attempts to get Hwa-young removed from the CEO seat through the board.

The suppliers and creditors of the Soonyang department store were suffering, and in flashback, we are taken back to the poor life of Hyeon-woo and his father. He remembers seeing his father steal from a supermarket to feed them. He was forced to give up school and start working to help his father with the bills.

Do-jun visits his grandfather and asks for the favour that he owes him. He asks for a board meeting for the dismissal of Hwa-young as the CEO. While discussing the issue with her secretary, Hwa-young tells her that she intends to make the secretary take the fall since she was the one who was directly involved with the slush fund. As the finance director, she watched Soonyang lose all the money implying dereliction of duty. She dismisses her.

Director Im is depressed and seems to have a pen recorder. She gets a call and meets with Do-jun, who suggests she betrays Hwa-young. She initially refuses, but he manages to convince her, it seems. On the day of the meeting, at prosecutor Min-young’s office, she proved that the tip was false.

Hwa-young testifies that Do-jun sent a false report to the prosecutor’s office to make the stock price drop. Do-jun intended to steal the shares held by Miracle investment as collateral and had managed to become the majority shareholder of the Soonyang department store. When asked to respond, Do-jun tells them someone is coming to prove that Hwa-young is lying.

Outside the department store, Se-hyeon is waiting for someone. Director Im arrives and then disappears right in front of Se-hyeon. Se-hyeon calls Do-jun to inform him. Hwa-young informs the members that Min-young was investigating the false report and the truth behind the accusation of embezzlement. Min-young walks in; she walks to Hwa-young and tells her they have solid proof that the tip is false. Do-jun and Min-young stare into each other.

The Episode Review

This episode concentrated on Do-jun’s strategies to take over the Soonyang department store. Hwa-young went through a vast emotional drain from the loss of the investment in New Data technology and the realization that Do-jun carefully orchestrated her loss.

I’m glad that Chairman Jin did not get involved since he had already announced that whoever wants Soonyang should either buy it or prove their worth. Hyeon-min seems to be someone to look out for as she poses a considerable threat to Do-jun’s plans. What solid proof does prosecutor Min-young have that the report was false?