RECAP: Moon Dong-eun was only getting started with her revenge in 'The Glory' Part 1
Bullied protagonist Moon Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo) was only getting started with her revenge in The Glory's first installment.
This time, she finally plays for real in Part 2—set for release on Friday, March 10.
It's ready, set, go for her slow-burn vengeance that she's planned against her tormenters who have left her traumatized since youth.
To refresh everyone's memory, PhilSTAR L!fe prepared this recap of key events in The Glory Part 1. Spoiler alert!
Yeon-jin is the dream
Moments and meters away from taking her own life, Dong-eun has a sudden change of heart. She is saved by her newfound resolve to dedicate the rest of her lifespan to enacting revenge against her bullies, primarily Park Yeon-jin.
Much to the surprise of the group of young villains, the main character returns voluntarily to the same gym building where they tortured and humiliated her. She is back only to ask everyone's dream and then declare her own.
"You," Dong-eun tells Yeon-jin without flinch or stutter. "Starting today, my dream is you. I really hope, we'll see each other again," before smiling and then laughing at Yeon-jin, who returns a weak, nervous smile.
This scene is important because it reminds viewers that ultimately, Yeon-jin is Dong-eun's main target. Everyone else among Yeon-jin's family and friends, including the other bullies, are merely pawns in the big picture.
Dong-eun plans to destroy them all but has made it clear that Yeon-jin is saved for last, with all of her loved ones eventually turned against her.
Kill them with suspense
Joo Yeo-jeong, then a medical intern, meets Dong-eun and teaches her how to play Go.
They play season after season, but he is not the one she wants to beat. He is a good player and the perfect mentor for Dong-eun, as his explanation of the game makes the protagonist realize that it's coincidentally a metaphor for her lifelong revenge.
"To sum up Go in one sentence, the person who has more territory wins. So, you start near the end and move toward the center. While building your own territories, you destroy your opponents, tightening the boundary slowly. A battle fought fiercely, in silence," he explains.
She simply but mysteriously replies, "I like that," which will keep Yeo-jeong hooked for many years to come.
This is relevant to the storyline because it foreshadows Dong-eun's tension-filled Go rivalry with Yeon-jin's husband, Ha Do-yeong. It also follows the exact same structure as Dong-eun's revenge plot against Yeon-jin herself.
The last laugh?
Dong-eun is having a private conversation with Kang Hyeon-nam, her personal sleuth who is helping her fulfill her revenge in exchange for killing her abusive husband.
"You think a b*tch who gets beaten up doesn't know how to laugh? I might get beaten up, but I'm a cheerful b*tch," Hyeon-nam says, which makes Dong-eun laugh involuntarily.
That upsets the main character, who admits that she doesn't want to experience joy as it might derail her revenge plans.
"You see, I don't want to laugh... I'm afraid I'll forget what I should be doing if I start laughing," she distances.
This brief slice-of-life moment shows Dong-eun that she can still choose a life of happiness if she allows it. After all, The Glory writer Kim Eun-sook said that as much as possible, she wants Dong-eun to choose success as revenge, but only Part 2 will tell how her story will end.
Crowning moment
At their school's 2022 Proud Alumni Awards Ceremony, Dong-eun causes a scene while Yeon-jin accepts her award onstage.
"From now on, every single day will be a nightmare. They'll be provocative and terrifying. You can't stop or make me disappear. I'm planning on becoming a very old rumor of yours, Yeon-jin," Dong-eun thinks to herself without breaking eye contact with her main bully.
After the initial applause dies down, Dong-eun claps very noticeably and catches the rest of the auditorium's attention.
"Go, Yeon-jin! Bravo! You're amazing, Yeon-jin!" she cheers sarcastically, which gets the crowd applauding again, but not Yeon-jin and her friends who already know something's up.
Aside from Dong-eun finally letting all of her bullies know that she will do revenge against them and there's nothing they can do about it, this also is a precedent for the protagonist who will scandalize Yeon-jin (and possibly Do-yeong) by publicly revealing the physical scars that they inflicted on her as students.
The Joker pulls out 'ace'
Upon learning that her victim is also her daughter Ha Ye-sol's elementary school teacher, Yeon-jin shows up in Dong-eun's classroom.
"How about now we discuss what actually brought you here? About your daughter. Ye-sol is innocent, soft-hearted, and kind. I guess Ye-sol will really be your punishment after all," Dong-eun, who clearly has the upper hand, gloats at her childhood bully.
Yeon-jin grabs Dong-eun by the top and threatens her, "I'll f—king kill you. If you even touch a hair on Ye-sol's head, you are f—ked."
Unmoved, Dong-eun channels her best Joker from the interrogation scene of The Dark Knight, telling Yeon-jin that there's nothing left she can be threatened with: "I'm so curious. What will you do? You've already broken my whole body. You've already crushed my soul. Is there anything left for you to do?"
She then without breaking gaze flicks aside the hand of Yeon-jin, who is left speechless. The implications for this scene are obvious as Yeon-jin has everything to lose while Dong-eun's stake remains ambiguous, at least to Yeon-jin, by the end of Part 1.
Endgame?
Dong-eun is quite the shark, playing her Go rival Do-yeong for his money... or possibly even more.
"All of your answers are so unexpected," he tells her, then raises the wager to get her to keep playing. "How about one more game?"
After a scripted staredown on Dong-eun's part, she pretends to give in to his offer. "That would count as gambling," she warns.
"By the way, Yeon-jin, do you want to know the real reason why I like to play Go? When you play go, you display your desires in silence. You seduce and get seduced. You strip each other bare," Dong-eun thinks to herself.
The possible romance between Dong-eun and Do-yeong shows how far the former is willing to go to spite Yeon-jin, even if it might eventually conflict with her own budding love with Yeo-jeong, at this point a full-fledged doctor.
Knight in shining armor
To shut up any moral ascendancy that Yeo-jeong might have, Dong-eun bared herself in front of him, scars and all.
Yeo-jeong is taken aback after scanning his love interest from head to toe.
"I'm already in complete ruins, with no dignity left. So, go back. I'd like to stay faithful to my rage and vice," Dong-eun warns.
Instead, he decides to stay by her side, committing himself to her revenge for the long haul.
"I'll do it. I'll be your headman. I'll join the sword dance. Tell me. What do you want me to do first? How do you want me to do it? Who do you want me... to kill first?"
Love is (color) blind
Dong-eun has also set into motion a bubbling conflict between Yeon-jin, Do-yeong, and one of her other bullies Jeon Jae-joon.
The color-blind Jae-joon is the father of Ye-sol, not Do-yeong, since he has been having an affair with Yeon-jin.
Meanwhile, Yeon-jin has a scar on her foot noticed by her assistant, who observed that it's taking a while to heal. This injury could be related to her possible murder of the missing Son Myeong-oh, one of Dong-eun's other bullies who went missing shortly after they started collaborating.
After being tipped by Yeon-jin's friend Choi Hye-jeong, who is being blackmailed by Dong-eun, Do-yeong finally initiates a confrontation with the bullied protagonist, who finally discloses all of his wife's wrongdoings.
Part 1 ends with Do-yeong catching Yeon-jin "in the act" in Dong-eun's room, with all of the bullies' pictures hung up on the walls. What will happen? Only Part 2 will tell.