This is the first time wherein I have watched several KDrama series in a year. Normally, I just settle for one series for the first half of the year and another one on the second half. However, due to the extension of the quarantine, it gave me ample time to watch newly released series, finished those suspended shows and first on some pilot episode. And when all is cleared, you found yourself refreshing yourself with some good old shows in the past.
Fifteen years ago, SBS My Girl got me into this hallyu world. Hallyu is the term coin to the gaining popularity of Korean drama. It was around this time that I got heavily invested by a series. I have watched its predecessors like Endless Love and Lovers in Paris but not on a daily basis or shall I say nightly basis like My Girl.
Spoiler alert, there is nothing much to spoil. ♥ This post will mainly revolve on one of the character in the show. I almost did not notice how the characterization was built for this person if not for the dedication and focused I poured into the series. My Girl story starts the moment this person went into his deathbed. They say that when someone is on the brink of death, you will see flashes of your life unfolding before your eyes. You are fortunate enough to see beautiful memories before the lights went out or misfortune if on your dying moment you will take away those painful visions of your past.In the case of My Girl, President Seol experienced the latter. But instead of succumbing to the painful truth, he wishes to change and seek redemption of his previous decisions. He asked his grandson to search and look for his long-lost granddaughter.
President Seol is on his prime years already. He is the head of the L’Avenue Hotel, a top honcho as they say. He is known for his wise decisions and making sure that the hotel will not perished in the hands of its stiffest competitors. We know a little of his past other than the fact that he once denounced his daughter for not following his wishes. This very little yet crucial detail implies that his quest for power led him to abandon the importance of kinship. That power in the palm of his hands feels much better. He grip tightly on this fleeting power thinking that as long as he has it, his family’s hands will just consciously hold unto him forever. This trait defines President Seol as a power-hungry and controlling persona in the world of My Girl.
As someone sitting at the top of the food chain, President Seol is used on looking down to the people beneath him. His words are absolute and every decision must be carried out by any means. With this, even on his dying moment, he mustered to give a command to look for his granddaughter. This event is hinting us of a sudden change of heart. That his iron-clad heart had soften and time had corroded its toughness. In this very moment, his grandson dedicated himself in finding the lost granddaughter to prolong the life of his beloved grandfather. In an effort to at least grant a dying wish, he hires a ‘fake granddaughter’ just to give his grandfather that feeling of serenity in the soul and his conscience.
Unexpectedly, the deception was not cut short because President Seol’s conviction to make things right branches out a new hope for his existence. The weak and fragile persona miraculously got invigorated. The withering life flourished and is now a sight to behold to as he overwhelmingly showered his granddaughter with love and care. He grieved on the knowledge on how his granddaughter had battle hardships on her life and he tried to compensate them all by spending the rest of his life as her granddaughter’s shoulder to rely on. In this once in a lifetime chance moment, President Seol felt happy and contented on what he become. He spent days playing board game, arranging official meeting to introduce his granddaughter to the world and even fixing marriage for her. He wanted nothing for himself now and all the best for her granddaughter.
And just like any other secret, time has its own way of making it crawl out in the open. The news came in uninvited, and the only thing President Seol had in mind was to dispose his fake granddaughter. He loathed every moment he spent with her and requested for her banishment. He could not fathom the idea of being fooled, maybe not to someone as big like him. His old self rose from the grave and he is now back as the narcissistic fool he once was. His big of an ego is of utmost importance and he disconnects any feeling of empathy for others in an instant. He then secretly looked for his real granddaughter and plotted a scheme to separate the main protagonists. When he found his daughter’s daughter, he hid the fact from his grandson and he let him live in agony for two years.
Conclusion:
President Seol’s existence is blessed with good fortune, loving family and repetitive second chances. A luxury that is only given to a few. However, in this bountiful world of second chances, his constant reply to the kindness of his world is greediness. He is too greedy for his own self happiness and ignoring the fact that he got to live again fixing his mess and just to commit the same mistake again. He failed to turn a blind eye for the mistake of his grandson and held him caged for years in his hands. He is nothing but an ungrateful character that deserves no second chances.