The Brave Yong Soo-Jung ~ A Model For Overcoming Adversity

“The Brave Yong Soo-Jung” is a Korean drama series released in 2024, with 100+ episodes, and categorized as Romance, Comedy, and Revenge. Episodes started airing in May 2024 and will run through October 2024.

♦ Does Fortune Really Smile on the Brave?

In “The Brave Yong Soo-Jung”, we meet Yong Soo-Jung, a young girl who sort of lives like a princess. That means she lives in a beautiful home with loving parents who dote on her. But all is not perfect in her life. Her mother is suffering from cancer. The parents are going to go away for the mother to get medical treatment. It’s only for 10 days and they promise they will come back. While they are gone the parents leave her in the care of another woman called “Auntie” who has a daughter about the same age as Yong Soo-Jung. The mother is covetous of everything the parents have and her daughter, Choi Hye-Ra, is envious of everything Yong Soo-jung has.

As children are prone to do, one day Choi Hye-Ra and Yong Soo-Jung fought. Of course, Auntie sided with her daughter and literally kicked the child out of her own house. Fortunately, a kind man saw Yong Soo-Jung sitting outside her house, offered her charity, and then sent her back home. Her parents were not there but she knew the house was her home and Auntie and her daughter had no right to it. She was a child but bravely tried to stand up for her rights.

One day they get information saying that the parents have gone missing. “Auntie” seizes the opportunity to take everything away from the young child. Even though the reports said that both parents were missing and presumed dead, Yong Soo-jung’s mother came back home. When she returned she wanted to see her daughter. Auntie had locked the child up in a room that had candles that were lit and the child accidentally started a fire.

The mother broke into the room to save her child, while Auntie and her daughter made their escape. Sadly, Yong Soo-jung’s mother died trying to save her daughter from the fire. Some say that fortune favors the bold or rather fortune smiles on the brave. Yong Soo-Jung was now all alone in the fire, but she was fortunate. The kind man who had helped Yong Soo-Jung once saw that the house was on fire, and rushed in to save her. From that day forward he cared for her as if she was his own daughter. She was very fortunate but had to continue to be brave.

♦ Fortune Smiled on the Brave … Again?

Joo Woo-Jin is an illegitimate son and will become owner of the Masung Group when his father passes away, and also when his living grandmother leaves the business entirely in his hands. Joo Woo-Jin’s stepmother could not have any children, so she accepted him as her son, but not because she was kind. Joo Woo-Jin was just a means for her to access her husband’s wealth.

The stepmother created enmity between Joo Woo-Jin and his grandmother. She told him that the grandmother hated his real mother and put her out of the house. The stepmother planned to manipulate him and use him as a weapon against the grandmother. Of course, she did not tell him that she knew who his mother was and planned to murder her.

Joo Woo-Jin’s real mother was pregnant with his brother and the wicked stepmother tried to kill her and the unborn child. But the pregnant woman was determined to be brave to protect the life of her unborn child. Fortune smiled on the brave again.

Miraculously, she survived the murderous attempt on her life. It was also a miracle that Yong Soo-Jung and her adoptive father came across the woman in the forest. She was crying out in pain as she was about to give birth. Yong Soo-jung’s adoptive father helped the woman deliver her child. Then he took her to a Buddhist temple where they cared for both the mother and her baby. The baby was named Yeo Ui-Joo. Although she survived the attempt on her life, his mother had become intellectually disabled.

♦ Life Carries on and Children Grow Up

Meanwhile, the wicked stepmother thought she had gotten rid of her rival and the years passed quickly. Yong Soo-Jung, Yeo Ui-Joo, Joo Woo-Jin, and Choi Hye-Ra, are now young adults. The dots on their life timeline that had become disconnected were about to be reconnected.

Joo Woo-Jin’s father was about to die, and he called the name of the woman he loved, i.e. the mother of Joo Woo-Jin and Yeo Ui-Joo. The father had written a will leaving a fortune to her.  When the stepmother found out, she had the will destroyed.

The Masung Group owned and operated a home shopping channel. Joo Woo-Jin’s grandmother put him in charge of that part of the business because it was failing. Yong Soo-Jung worked as a model for the home shopping channel. Was that a coincidence or was her good fortune continuing? Yong Soo-Jung unintentionally crossed paths with Joo Woo-Jin and kind of developed a crush on him. But she isn’t a gold digger who wants to go after him for his wealth. On the contrary, she has her own ambitions and goals that she wants to achieve, on her own. Working as a model for the home shopping channel is just a stepping stone.

Yeo Ui-Joo had completed his mandatory military service and returned home. At the temple where his mother lived, Joo Woo-Jin, his stepmother, and his grandmother were attending a memorial service. Is that a coincidence or is fortune continuing to favor his brave mother? An uninvited guest also showed up at the service and caused trouble. Yeo Ui-Joo stepped up and got rid of the troublemaker. He defended the grandmother from the attack and she was grateful.

• But she had no idea that he was her other grandson.
• Joo Woo-Jin had no idea that he was his younger brother.
• The wicked stepmother had no idea that Joo Woo-Jin’s real mother and his baby brother had survived.

Joo Woo-Jin and Choi Hye-Ra attended the same college in the USA. She had her eyes set on him but he got involved with another woman, got married, and is now a father. Choi Hye-Ra missed one opportunity to become a part of Joo Woo-Jin’s life but created another opportunity for herself. She found a way to become the Director of the Home Shopping Channel. This would put her in direct contact with Joo Woo-Jin because she would work closely with him.

By contrast, Joo Woo-Jin shows no romantic interest in either Choi Hye-Ra or Yong Soo-jung.

Additionally, Joo Woo-Jin does not know his mother and his brother are both alive nor does he know the evil plans his stepmother has devised to ensure that his father’s will is not carried out.

Now that Joo Woo-Jin’s father had died, the only person standing in the way of his stepmother’s greed was Joo Woo-Jin’s grandmother. It was clear that the grandmother and the wicked conniving stepmother despised each other. The grandmother was not aware of her son’s will but she was aware that the stepmother would stop at nothing to take over the Masung Group. They both kept their eyes on each other.

Since the dead body of Joo Woo-Jin’s pregnant mother was never found, the stepmother sent her henchmen out to make sure she was dead. She had already destroyed his father’s will. But if his real mother was still alive, the stepmother’s plans would be completely ruined.

Yong Soo-jung, Yeo Ui-Joo, Joo Woo-Jin, and Choi Hye-Ra experienced a lot of drama as children. As adults, the drama was starting and heating up all over again.

Main Characters:

• Yong Soo-jung (played by Uhm Hyun-Kyung)
• Joo Woo-Jin (played by Kwon Hwa-Woon)
• Yeo Ui-Joo (played by Seo Jun-Young, “Missing 2”)
• Choi Hye-Ra (played by Lim Ju-Eun)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: out of 10 stars (No Rating)
• My Drama List: out of 10 stars (No Rating)
• Viki viewers rates this series 8.6 out of 10 stars

My personal rating is the same as the Viki viewers: 8.6 out of 10 stars.

“The Brave Yong Soo-jung” is cute and clean, despite all the family drama. This is another one of those G-rated series that are like the old-fashioned Disney shows where viewers have no problems distinguishing between good and evil. Because it’s so easy to tell who the nice people are, you immediately choose their sides and root for them all the way.

Yong Soo-jung is the main character and something terrible happened to her at a very young age. Fortunately for her, an angel came into her life during her time of crisis. The storyline is wholly focused on this young woman, but there are other main characters whose stories must be told. The combined stories are more than enough to be spread over 100+ episodes.

This K-drama has the typical life timeline tropes:

• people who are family but don’t know they are related and
• people who met each other, got separated and then somehow reconnected later.

Eventually, the dots on the timelines come together and for some, it a good thing; but for others, they probably wish they could have erased the dots.

‘The Brave Yong Soo-jung’ is a perfect soap opera K-drama for when you want to lay around all day watching TV but you are not in the mood for anything too intense!

♦ PopGeeks Reviews of Other K-Dramas With 100+ Episodes

PopGeeks has published reviews of several other Korean dramas with 100+ episodes. Some are cute and sweet. Others involve some intense clawing and scratching.

• The Elegant Empire
• Su Ji and U Ri: Physician, Heal Thyself!
• Unpredictable Family: Do You Know Who Your Relatives Are?
• The Two Sisters: Sisters Separated by Divorce Meet Again

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• Uhm Hyun Kyung Is A Charismatic And Confident Home Shopping Host In Upcoming Romance Drama | Soompi
• 10+ New Highly-Anticipated K-Dramas Releasing In May 2024 | KPOP HIT (“The Brave Yong Soo-jung” is Number 6 on this list)
• Uhm Hyun-Kyung’s K-Drama Brave Yong Soo Jung Trailer Reveals Release Date on MBC | ComingSoon.net (“The central storyline follows an outspoken and strong woman, Yong Soo-Jung, who dreams of becoming a modern business magnate.”)

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

TiViu. “The Brave Yong Soo Jung (2024) 용감무쌍 용수정 | Korean Drama | Uhm Hyun Kyung, Seo Jun Young | MBC.” YouTube Video. YouTube, April 26, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVR_mhhI35s.‌