- Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang
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Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang 
쾌걸 춘향
豪杰春香
(Kwae-geol Chun-hyang)Genre Drama, comedy, romance Produced by Ji Byung Hyun Network KBS2 GMA Network Original run January 3 – March 1, 2005 No. of episodes 17 Original time slots Mondays and Tuesdays at 9:55 p.m. }}
Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang Hangul 쾌걸 춘향 Hanja 快傑 春香 Revised Romanization Koegeol Chunhyang McCune–Reischauer K'oegŏl Ch'unhyang Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang also known as Sassy Girl Chun Hyang, is a Korean television series about two high school students, Chun-Hyang and Mong-ryong, who accidentally spend a night together and are forced into marriage. The series is based on the 2005 interpretation of the folktale Chunhyangga.
Contents
Synopsis
Lee Mong-ryong, son of a famous chief of police, is transferred from Seoul to a high school in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, because he is a trouble maker. He accidentally bumps into Sung Chun-hyang, shoots embarrassing photos of her and ends up swapping her cell phone with his. As a result, they are constantly in touch with each other and find out they attend the same school. Mong-ryong constantly bullies Chun-hyang and thanks to him, she becomes slightly sick. Feeling guilty, he visits her, only to mistakenly drink a whole bottle of wine, assuming it is juice. He immediately falls asleep on the only bed in the house, which consequently is the one Chun-Hyang is sleeping in. Thus, they spend the night with each other. Nothing sexual occurs, but thanks to their best friends, who know what happened and accidentally announce it on the school intercom, they are forced to marry each other in order to save their families' reputation, seeing as everyone at school assumes they have slept together. They eventually fall in love with each other, but Mong-Ryong's previous crush, Hong Chae-Rin, after rejecting him, then discovering his marriage, becomes jealous and tries to win him back. There is also the problem of Byun Hak-Do, an extremely successful talent agency director who falls in love with Chun-Hyang.
In order to help him get to college, Chun-Hyang helps him to his study so that he could be with Chae-Rin at Han-guk University, the most prestigious university in Korea. They are both accepted, but she does not reveal that she can not pay the tuition, and so she does not attend and lies to her family-in-law, telling them she will meet them in Seoul, not revealing that her mother is actually on the run. When Mong-Ryong finally does find Chun-Hyang, he tries again and again to reveal his feelings for her, while unearthing her feelings for him by moving into her new location. When he finally confesses outright, she denies him, claiming she never loved him, because of Chae-Rin's harsh statement that Mong-Ryong was merely pitying her and wished only to pay her back.
When the two finally do confess to each other, there is still one more problem. Byun Hak-Do, being rich, handsome and successful, assumes he could have any woman in the world, but when Chun-Hyang rejects him, he attempts to take her by blackmail. Several days before the real wedding between Mong-Ryong and Chun-Hyang, Mong-Ryong witnesses a woman being assaulted and attempts to save her. It turns out to be a plot, and so Mong-Ryong is now a criminal on the run. Byun Hak-Do carries an edited video of the security camera, putting Mong-Ryong in a bad light, and threatens Chun-Hyang that unless she goes to him, he will expose the video to the world. Chun-Hyang agrees and so Mong-Ryong is freed, but now, Chun-Hyang pretends to want to divorce him immediately to keep her end of the bargain. When the divorce is complete, she goes to Mr. Byun and the two of them prepare to travel to Japan, but at the last minute, she runs off and hides from both Mr. Byun and Mong-Ryong.
Several years pass and Mong-Ryong is now a famous prosecutor, the District Attorney of Seoul. Chun-Hyang has snuck off to Busan and now owns an accessories factory. Mr. Byun has just returned from Japan and people assume that his "fiancee" is still there as well. At the wedding of Mong-Ryong's and Chun-Hyang's two best friends, Bang Ji-hyuk and Han Dan-hee, Chun-Hyang sneaks in to drop off a present, and as she leaves, Mr. Byun sees her. In a rush to leave, she accidentally scrapes the car next to her, which is consequently Mong-Ryong's car. The two start a heated argument through Chun-Hyang's assistant, Kim Dong-Su, who goes to pay Mong-Ryong the money they owe for his car. Several crooks who follow assume Kim Dong-Su to be an informant and kidnap him. When the police rescue him, they discover the wedding picture from high school between Mong-Ryong and Chun-Hyang and show it to Mong-Ryong. When he sees it, he uses it to find Chun-Hyang again, but she still acts unhappy to see him, still frightened from knowing what Byun Hak-do has.
Finally, Byun Hak-do realizes that there are just some things in the world that he can't have, and finally releases the full unedited version of the tape so that everyone can see Mong-Ryong's true intentions.
To add to the happily ever after, Mong-Ryong re-proposes to Chun-Hyang and the two are married again. And they live happily ever after.
Characters
- Sung Chun-Hyang- Han Chae Young
Because of poverty, Chun-hyang has to hold several part-time jobs to make enough money to support herself and her mother in a small apartment since her father died when she was two. She delivers newspapers, cleans ponds and works as a photographer. She studies hard at school and achieves the status of the top student of the school, as well as the school beauty. She is regarded as the beauty queen of her school. She is seen as a usually sweet, gentle and kind girl, but when angered, she throws away the sweet side and immediately begins to take action. One day, she meets Lee Mong-Ryong, an irresponsible boy which she ends up getting in trouble with and being forced to marry. She eventually falls in love with him.
- Lee Mong-ryong - Jae Hee
Lee Mong-ryong is a tough but very simple-minded and hot-tempered guy. Although he is the son of the police station chief, he always gets into trouble in school. With the help of Chun-hyang, he enrolls into a prestigious university, achieving both love and career success at the same time. However, his love toward Chun-hyang is put to test when he meets his first love, Chae-rin.
- Byeon Hak-do - Uhm Tae-Woong
In the classic "Legend of Chun-hyang", Byeon Hak-do is a corrupt public official. But in this drama, he is the CEO of an entertainment company, who helps Chun-hyang whenever she gets into trouble, reminiscent of the "Daddy Long Legs" character.
- Hong Chae-rin - Park Si-Eun
Chae-rin was Mong-ryong's high-school senior. She is the first love of Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang's rival. As an opportunistic character, she knows that Mong-ryong likes her, but keeps ignoring him until Mong-ryong gets married. Chae-rin begins to feel jealous, and eventually tries to win him back. She is a sinister character, who interferes with the relationship between Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang, eventually making them break up with each other.
- Han Dan-hee - Lee In Hye
Dan-hee is Chun-hyang's best friend, and dreams of being a successful actress.
- Pang Ji-hyuk - Moon Ji Yoon
Mong-ryong's best friend in Namwon, and is in love with Dan-hee very much.
- Kong Wol-mae - Kim Chung
Chun Hyang's mom, she is a cabaret singer who loves her daughter, but hates Chun-hyang's nagging. She wants Mong-ryong to be her son-in-law.
- Mong-ryong's father - Ahn Suk Hwan
Mong-ryong's dad, and the chief of Namwon police station. He believes that Chun-hyang can change his son from a simple-minded, irresponsible, hot-tempered, son, to a responsible, smart,and not a trouble-maker son. He approves of Chun-hyang and Mong-ryong's wedding, and takes care of Chun-hyang very well.
- Mong-ryong's mother - Choi Ran
Mong-ryong's mother, and very protective of her son. Unlike her husband, she disapproves of Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang's marriage, and prefers Chae-rin as her daughter-in-law. She often gives Chun-hyang a hard time in their house.
Four of the cast were featured in My Girl, with Ann Suk Hwan and Choi Ran as the main stays and Jae Hee and Han Chae Young as cameo roles at the final episode.
Production
- This drama says they wanted to present a whole new image of Chun-hyang in line with modern times as she is an attractive female character who showed courage in choosing her love in the Joseon period, when the caste system prevented inter-class marriage.
- This fusion-style drama makes various new attempts in terms of genre, such as mixing rap with Pansori
for background music.
- My Girl, a Korean drama, is believed to be the spin-off of this series because of the special appearance of Han Chae Young's and Jae Hee's characters in the ending of the said series.
Awards
- 2005 KBS Acting Awards: Excellence in Acting (Um Tae Woong)
- 2005 KBS Acting Awards: Best New Actor (Jae Hee)
- 2005 KBS Acting Awards: Popularity Award (Han Chae Yeong)
- 2005 KBS Acting Awards: Best Couple Award (Jae Hee and Han Chae Yeong)
External links
Categories:- Korean Broadcasting System television dramas
- Comedy-drama television series
- 2005 television series debuts
- 2005 television series endings
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