| The Golden Era |
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Summary and ending of The Golden Era: (Many thanks to fellow addict Helene for graciously sharing this summary with us. KoreanWiz welcomes others to share info about this and other dramas.) Kwang-chul and Jae-hoon were both stowaways on the Ikimaru going to Japan. Kwang-chul to find his father who went to Japan to work and Jae-hoon to enter a violin contest in Tokyo. They become fast friends. A tragedy occurs in Japan while they are there involving both families. By chance they both leave Japan on the Ikimaru and meet in the cargo room. They promise that they woud study hard and meet at Baejae Junior High School in Kyongsang to take the entrance exams. Back in Korea, Kwang-chul runs away from his father because he saw his father push Mr. Kim (the bank president who befriended Kwang-chul in Japan) over the railing. He knew that his father was poor and desperate to get money, not only for Kwang-chul's medicine, but for getting them back to Korea to care for his sick mother. However, Kwang-chul cannot forgive his father. Kwang-chul heads for Wonsan, making a new friend, Sang-man, on the way there. They find jobs at Wonsan Fertilizer and get close to the owner, Mr. Choi, and they become a family. One day when Kwang-chul and Sang-man are on their way home on the train, a little 6-year-old girl attaches herself to them. No one knows who she belongs to so they take her home. She becomes Hee-kyung Choi, another member of their family. Kwang-chul goes to Kyongsang on the day of the entrance exams but is met outside the gate by Director Han who, on President Lee's orders, warns Kwang-chul to stay away from Jae-hoon. Kwang-chul goes back to Wonsan without taking the exams. The family moves to Kyongsang because Mr. Choi loses Wonsan Fertilizer to the bank under President Lee's orders. Mr. Choi is determined to make money to get his business back. They open a food stall at the open market. Kwang-chul goes to apply at Sunwoo Techinical School to learn the abacus, accounting and bookkeeping. Seventeen years later Kwang-chul becomes an instructor at the school. He goes to Kyongsang Bank to ask the bank to hire his students; otherwise they will be drafted into the war. Jae-hoon has left to go on a dangerous mission to close down the bank's branch in Shenyang, China and bring back the gold buillion. He is headed for a trap. Chairman Lee (now owner of Jaeil Fertilizer, formerly Wonsan Fertilizer) and President Han (he is now president) make a deal with Kwang-chul. If Kwang-chul goes to Shenyang to save Jae-hoon, the bank will hire all future graduates of Sunwoo School. Kwang-chul goes. He and and Jae-hoon both return after a close encounter, with the help of Hee-kyung who had gone to help Kwang-chul. Because the bank is in a crisis of mishandling of monies, Jae-hoon asks Kwang-chul to work at the bank and help him. At first Kwang-chul refuses saying that they have different paths to take; but after much thought, decides to accept the offer. If the bank is in a crisis, Kwang-chul wanted to help in repayment for the kindness the late bank president, Mr. Kim, gave him in Japan when he was a little boy. The investigation proves that President Han took the money. The disciplinary committee ousts him and Jae-hoon becomes the president. Jae-hoon has visions of making Kyongsang Bank a big national bank but it will be at the expenese of the poor vendors. Kwang-chul fights Jae-hoon all the way because he believes the bank belongs to the people of Korea. For all these years, Jae-hoon has been looking for the "sister" he lost when he was a boy. Hee-kyung has been wondering who her real parents are and why they abandoned her. One day Jae-hoon calls Hee-kyung and asks her if she could be his little sister for a day. He takes her to Changkhong Palace where he and his "sister" went with Assistant Yu when she disappeared. While there, Hee-kyung starts having visions and then faints. At the hospital, Jae-hoon tells Kwang-chul that Hee-kyung is in psychological shock and that she remembered something. When Hee-kyung wakes up, she tells Kwang-chul to take her back to the Palace because she has this strange feeling. When they go back, she starts remembering and goes back to the time a man took her from the bathroom and how she ran away from another man. She tells Kwang-chul that she is Mr. Kim's daughter. He is happy for her but is apprehensive because he knows that his father killed Mr. Kim in Japan. Kwang-chul tells Hee-kyung that she must now take her place in life, against her objections. She wants to stay with the Choi family but goes to the Lee's house with him to tell them that she is the long lost Hee-kyung. Chairman Lee is upset and tells Mr. Han that something must be done to get rid of Kwang-chul or they both will be in trouble. Mr.Han goes to see the detective on Mr. Kim's "accident" and tells him that it was not an accident and gives him a sketch of Mr. Park, Kwang-chul's father. Chairman Lee shows Kwang-chul the file and asks him what it would do to Hee-yung if she found out the truth. Kwang-chul sends for his father to come to Kyongsang to identify the man who hired him to kill Mr. Kim. Mr. Park identifies Mr. Han as the man who changed his life and took away his son. Hee-kyung overhears the story about how Mr. Han hired a desperate Mr. Park to kill Mr. Kim and how Mr. Han kidnapped Hee-kyung when she was little before she ran away from the man he hired to take her to Japan. Hee-kyung is heartbroken but knows that if she tells Kwang-chul that she knows the truth that he will not be able to stay with her and will leave, so she doesn't say anything. She talks to her father's picture telling him that he is important to her but now Kwang-chul is even more important and that she cannot lose him. Go to next page of summary. Return to The Golden Era Copyright (c) 2000 by KoreanWiz. All rights reserved. |