Sassy Girl Chun-hyang

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Sassy Girl Chun-hyang
Poster of Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang.
Also known as Delightful Girl Choon-hyang
Written by Hong Jung-eun
Hong Mi-ran
Directed by Jeon Ki-sang
Ji Byung-hyun
Starring Han Chae-young
Jae Hee
Uhm Tae-woong
Park Si-eun
Country of origin South Korea
Original language(s) Korean
No. of episodes 17
Production
Producer(s) Lee Deok-geon
Cinematography Lee Ja-seong
Running time Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 (KST)
Release
Original network Korean Broadcasting System
Original release January 3 (2005-01-03) –
March 1, 2005 (2005-03-01)
Chronology
Preceded by I'm Sorry, I Love You
Followed by 18 vs. 29
External links
Website
Sassy Girl Chun-hyang
Hangul 쾌걸 춘향
Hanja
Revised Romanization Koegeol Chunhyang
McCune–Reischauer K'oegŏl Ch'unhyang

Sassy Girl Chun-hyang (Hangul쾌걸 춘향; RRKoegeol Chunhyang; lit. Delightful Girl Chun-hyang) is a 2005 South Korean television series starring Han Chae-young, Jae Hee, Uhm Tae-woong and Park Si-eun.[1] It aired on KBS2 from January 3 to March 1, 2005 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 17 episodes.

A modern retelling of the classic Korean folktale Chunhyangjeon ("Tale of Chunhyang"),[2] the romantic comedy series was called "fusion-style" for, among others, mixing rap with pansori in the background music.

This is the first Korean drama written by Hong Jung-eun and Hong Mi-ran (collectively called the Hong Sisters), and remains the highest-rated in their filmography, with a peak viewership rating of 32.2%.

Synopsis

Lee Mong-ryong, son of a decorated chief of police, is transferred from Seoul to a high school in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, due to his constant fighting. 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 eventually makes her fall sick due to his prank. Feeling guilty, he visits her, only to mistakenly drink a whole bottle of wine, assuming it is juice. He later falls asleep on the only bed in the house, which 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 knew what happened, the information is accidentally announced over the school intercom. In order to save their families' and the school's reputation, they are forced to marry each other. They eventually agree to marry each other after Mong-ryong's crush, Hong Chae-rin rejects him. After being dumped by her boyfriend, Chae-rin discovers Mong-ryong's marriage and tries to win him back out of jealousy. 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 into the prestigious college Chae-rin is studying in, Chun-hyang helps Mong-ryong in his studies. They are both accepted, but after Chun-hyang's mother got cheated of a large sum of money, Chun-hyang was not able to attend college; however, she does not reveal this and lies to her in-laws, 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 rejects him, claiming she never loved him, because of Chae-rin's harsh statement that Mong-ryong merely pities 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 win her through blackmail. Several days before the real wedding between Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang, Mong-ryong witnesses a woman being sexually assaulted and attempts to save her. He chases the assailants but the woman was in on the scheme and immediately accuses him as the assailant when an actor employed by Byun arrives on the scene. Mong-ryong escapes but becomes 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 Byun and the two of them prepare to travel to Japan, but at the last minute, she runs off and hides from both Byun and Mong-ryong.

Several years pass and Mong-ryong is now a famous prosecutor, a district attorney in Seoul. Chun-hyang has been hiding in Busan and now owns an accessories factory. 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, Byun sees her. In a rush to leave, she accidentally scrapes the car next to her, which is incidentally Mong-ryong's car. The two start a heated argument over the phone. Chun-hyang's assistant, Kim Dong-soo, ends up meeting Mong-ryong to pay for the damages to his car. Several crooks who have been trailing Mong-ryong assume Dong-soo is an informant and kidnap him. After Mong-ryong and the police rescue him, Dong-soo leaves with Chun-hyang. Mong-ryong is informed that the wedding picture from high school that Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang took was among the documents Dong-soo had. He suddenly realizes that Chun-hyang was Dong-soo's boss and was not with Byun all this time. He eventually finds Chun-hyang again who spurns him as she is still worried about Byun's threats.

In the meantime Mong-ryong starts investigating Byun's company. Byun's partner who has mafia ties tries to stop him from doing so by threatening to reveal the doctored video tape. Finally, Byun 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 and allows Chun-hyang to go back to Mong-ryong. In a rage of having his plans ruined, the thug kidnaps Chun-hyang. With Byun's cooperation, Mong-ryong saves Chun-hyang and arrests the thugs.

Mong-ryong proposes to Chun-hyang again, and the two remarry and live happily ever after.

Cast

Her father died when she was two years old. So because of financial straits, Chun-hyang has to hold several part-time jobs to make enough money to support herself and her mother in their small apartment. 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. Usually sweet, gentle and kind, but feisty when angered. 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 is a tough but very simple-minded and hot-tempered guy. Although he is the son of the chief of police, he's always getting 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 towards Chun-hyang is put to the test when his first love, Chae-rin, returns.
In the folktale Tale of Chunhyang, Byun Hak-do was a corrupt magistrate, but in this drama, he is the CEO of a talent agency. Initially, he helps Chun-hyang whenever she gets into trouble, reminiscent of Daddy Long Legs. But he soon becomes dangerously obsessed with her.
A few years older than Mong-ryong, Chae-rin was the Lees' neighbor and family friend in Seoul. She is also Mong-ryong's first love. An opportunistic character, she knows that Mong-ryong likes her, but keeps leading him on then ignoring him. But when Mong-ryong gets married, Chae-rin begins to feel jealous, and eventually tries to win him back. She interferes with the relationship between Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang, persistently trying to make them break up.
  • Lee In-Hye as Han Dan-hee
Dan-hee is Chun-hyang's best friend, and dreams of becoming a successful actress.
  • Moon Ji-yoon as Bang Ji-hyuk
Mong-ryong's best friend in Namwon, who is in love with Dan-hee.
  • Kim Chung as Gong Wol-mae
Chun-hyang's mother, and a cabaret singer. She loves her daughter, but hates Chun-hyang's nagging.
Mong-ryong's father, and the chief of police in Namwon. He believes that Chun-hyang can change his son from being a hot-tempered slacker into an intelligent and responsible man. He approves of Chun-hyang as his daughter-in-law, and become a caring father figure to her.
Mong-ryong's mother, who is very protective of her son. Unlike her husband, she disapproves of Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang's marriage, and prefers Chae-rin to be her daughter-in-law. She often gives Chun-hyang a hard time in their house.
  • Joo Ho as Kim Dong-soo
Chun-hyang's loyal assistant at her accessories factory.
  • Hong Ji-young as Mi-san
  • Son Il-kwon as Kang-min
  • Lee Ji-hoon (credited as Lee Gun) as Director Baek
Byun Hak-do's subordinate.
  • Yoon Yong-hyun as events company president

Awards

2005 KBS Drama Awards

Ratings

Date Episode Nationwide Seoul
2005-01-03 1 14.4% (11th) 14.8% (11th)
2005-01-04 2 14.1% (12th) 14.1% (13th)
2005-01-10 3 18.2% (8th) 18.8% (7th)
2005-01-11 4 17.3% (11th) 17.4% (11th)
2005-01-17 5 23.6% (2nd) 24.9% (2nd)
2005-01-18 6 25.9% (2nd) 27.1% (1st)
2005-01-24 7 26.2% (2nd) 26.7% (2nd)
2005-01-25 8 25.9% (1st) 26.9% (1st)
2005-01-31 9 29.1% (1st) 29.9% (1st)
2005-02-01 10 26.4% (1st) 26.0% (1st)
2005-02-07 11 22.0% (3rd) 20.5% (4th)
2005-02-14 12 25.1% (1st) 24.2% (1st)
2005-02-15 13 25.9% (1st) 26.3% (1st)
2005-02-21 14 26.4% (1st) 25.9% (1st)
2005-02-22 15 30.1% (1st) 29.4% (1st)
2005-02-28 16 30.7% (1st) 30.2% (1st)
2005-03-01 17 32.2% (1st) 32.1% (1st)
Average 24.3% 24.4%

Source: TNS Media Korea

International broadcast

It aired in Taiwan on GTV beginning June 4, 2005.[3]

It aired in the Philippines on the GMA Network in September 2005. This Tagalog dubbed version was re-aired on GMA Life TV from March 13 to May 7, 2014, and again from September 22, 2014 to November 14, 2014.

It aired in Japan on cable channel KNTV from December 24, 2005 to February 18, 2006 under the title Sassy Girl Haruka (快傑春香?),[4] followed by re-airings on MXTV and satellite channel So-net in 2006.[5][6]

Trivia

Han Chae-young and Jae Hee made cameo appearances in the final episode of My Girl (2006), another series by director Jeon Ki-sang and writers Hong Sisters.

Remake

An Indonesian remake titled Cinta Remaja aired from 2006 to 2007.

References

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External links