Let Us Wilt.
Before we begin, the author wants to remind the readers that this is indeed an analysis of the elements of the Korean series, The Glory. Needless to say, there will be spoilers. There are two things the reader could do — put this article on hold, watch the first episode, then come back here, or say ‘frick it’ and read it anyways. The author also wishes that the readers do not curse them out later if they proceed even after the spoiler warnings. The author also does not know why they write in the third person.
The typical picture that arises when you hear the word “South Korea” is of lit-up and bustling streets, beautiful nightlife in the alleys of Hongdae, mouthwatering cuisine, and, well, of course, Korean pop culture. In modern days, Asian culture, East Asian culture especially, is being romanticized all around the world. The youth of today seems to have envisioned East Asian countries, South Korea in this case, as the epitome of perfection, a shiny first-world country with cosmopolitan cities and almost doll-like K-pop idols.
However, we forget that South Korea is just another country with a government, a judiciary, and, well, citizens — people, good and bad. As of 2023, South Korea has a crime index of 25.5, and while that is extremely low, we must consider the factors that go into calculating the crime index and the various loopholes in the South Korean judicial system. Firstly, the age of criminal responsibility is fourteen in South Korea! This implies that children younger than fourteen could commit the most heinous of crimes and get away with it. These children are called criminal minors and usually are subjected to community service — regardless of the intensity of the crime.
Now you’d think — that’s fine, they’re kids, it’s not like they’re going to murder someone. Hah, and that’s where my dear reader, you’re wrong. One of the more eminent crimes in South Korea is bullying. And no, not high school bullying — middle school bullying. This means the perpetrators all fall within the age range of 10–13! One peculiar thing is criminal records of minors will almost permanently be erased, and you would never find a trace of them on the internet. This is because South Korean law does not consider crimes committed by children below the age of 14 — theft or even murder, as actual crimes!
Now, let’s talk about the current hot topic in entertainment, Korean dramas, or K-dramas. A recent K-drama that took the world by storm, owing to its complex storyline and worldbuilding, is called The Glory. A few discretions to every reader planning to watch this drama. The Glory contains explicit visuals and imagery of bullying, torture, gore, and assault and should be viewed cautiously. This enticing drama follows the life of Moon Dong-Eun, a homeroom teacher in an elementary school in Seoul. However, she has an extremely dark and miserable past, and for the last eighteen years, she has been plotting revenge against those who wronged her. Oh, and before I start analyzing this beautiful drama, a not-so-fun fact for the readers — this drama is based on a real-life bullying case that happened in South Korea in 2006.
The Glory aims to shed light on the bullying problem that South Korean children face. And no, their bullying isn’t limited to shoving kids in lockers, oh no! Bullying in South Korea goes as far as assault, torture, and even eventual murder. Before we get into analyzing the drama, let’s talk about the spine-chilling and gruesome bullying case of a middle school girl in South Korea that inspired this show.
The Cheongju bullying case of 2006 — the mere name of this case would send chills down the spine of every empathetic South Korean citizen. I say empathetic because even after nearly 17 years, the bullies still show no remorse. To protect the victim’s identity, let us call her Student A. Student A, a middle-schooler at the time, was bullied by a group of classmates over a period of 20 days. This group was led by “Kim,” who was 15 years old at the time. They had beaten victim A with a baseball bat, burnt her hand with a curling iron, and scratched her chest with a clothespin. They even went so far as to pick the scabs off her wounds constantly. Student A is said to have suffered second-degree burns, a protruding tailbone, and life-long trauma and required 5 to 6 weeks of hospitalization!
A question still remains unanswered. Why was Student A bullied? It all started one day when A was waiting at the train station to go home when the group of bullies approached her. They asked her a question, but Student A was so shocked and terrified of these girls that she was speechless. After all, this group of girls was the oh-so-popular clique, and A was just a timid 15-year-old girl who tried to stay out of trouble! Annoyed and agitated by Student A’s silence, the bullies decided to take action. Thwack! A loud slap reverberated off A’s cheek.
Since that day, Student A’s hell on earth began just like that. Every day, the bullies would ask her for money, and when her allowance got exhausted, they would compel her to beg her parents for even more money! That’s not the end of it, either. For days on end, they would “abduct” Student A and lock her up in Kim’s house while they verbally and physically tortured her. The bullies lied to A’s parents and said that A had “run away” from home, that she would commit suicide if she came back home, and that they were “taking care of her.” The bullies also threatened Student A, saying that if she didn’t follow them to Kim’s house, they would find her younger brother and assault him instead.
After twenty days, Student A finally had to be urgently hospitalized because of her severe injuries. When her parents arrived and finally took in their daughter’s horrifying state, they frantically asked her what had happened. Yet, the only line she kept repeating was, “You HAVE to let me transfer to another school!”, “Please let me transfer to another school.”
You must be thinking, a crime this heinous definitely had a heavy punishment, right? Wrong. The most they got was — take a guess, just TWO years of community service. All because, firstly, they had rich, powerful, and influential parents, and two, they fell into the “juvenile” category. Need I say that the juvenile justice system in South Korea is nothing but an utter joke? We all agree that torture is torture regardless of if a juvenile or an adult commits it. Clearly, if the bullies had the consciousness to torture and assault a classmate in such a horrific way, they should be treated the same way grown adults are treated, right?
Regardless, this is just one of the many severe “bullying” cases in South Korea. I say “bullying” because something to this extent is clearly assault. It has been 17 years, and the victim, Student A, still suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder from this incident. She refuses to wear short-sleeved shirts and flinches whenever a hairdresser brings a curling iron close to her hair. And the bullies? Some of them are working as nurses, others as “social service workers.” Ironic, isn’t it?
Now if you’re wondering, “But dear author, you promised us a review! This is just a recollection of a criminal case!” That’s just where you’re wrong. As I said, this real-life case did inspire the plot of The Glory. What you just read is nothing but a synopsis of the first episode!
Twenty years after dear Moon Dong-Eun leaves her parents and school behind, she moves into a new apartment, ready to exact perfect revenge with the pretense of starting a new life. We see her stapling the pictures of all her bullies on a board, an act of reminding herself of the reason she decided to live on and not take her life — revenge. We are then taken through her inner monologue — she visualizes Yeon-Jin, her bully walking into the room, taking in the pictures on the wall, and realizing the revenge trap she’s fallen into. Instantaneously, Dong-Eun hits her on the back of her head, and Yeon-Jin falls to the floor while Dong-Eun gets ready to take her life, or worse, torture her till she pleads for death. Dong-Eun imagines that maybe, even at a point like this, Yeon-Jin still wouldn’t be remorseful of her actions.
We have already been introduced to the main bully of the series — Park Yeon-Jin. Let us get acquainted with her four little minions as well. Firstly we have Lee Sa-ra, a drug addict pretending to be an artist, and Jeon Jae-jun, a cold, heartless man, who has a little secret with Yeon-Jin. Then we have Choi Hye-Jeong, who has a poor background but somehow manages to become Yeon-Jin’s puppet. She is extremely envious of YeonJin, is deeply in love with Jae-jun, and wishes to marry rich. Finally, we have Son Myeong-oh, who’s more or less just Jae-jun’s lap dog. Apart from the bullies, we have Han Do-Young, Yeon-Jin’s husband, who is ready to take unexpected turns, just to protect his daughter.
Now, we come to the beautifully woven revenge plan. Dong-Eun has orchestrated her life in such a way that she becomes the homeroom teacher to Yeon-Jin’s daughter. She meets multiple people on her journey, Seong-hui, her friend from the textile industry, who tries to make her stop her revenge plan, and Joo Yeo-Jeong, an intern doctor who falls in love with her. Dong-Eun cleverly colludes with Yeon-Jin’s housekeeper and plots with her to take Yeon-Jin down. In exchange, the housekeeper asks Dong-Eun to kill her abusive husband. And just like that, Dong-Eun starts moving her pawns all across her revenge chessboard. She even manages to use Hye-Jeong and Myeong-oh as scapegoats and gets them to her side. Don’t worry; she has their servings of vengeance set aside for them. She creates an intensive web of people, all connected to each other, and walks herself through each step of her revenge plan.
What slowly unfolds in the following episodes is an extremely complex yet genius plan of vengeance, with a deep-seethed desire for revenge. If the author is being honest, it was quite difficult recounting such a gruesome act of violence in writing. As it was to sit through this brilliantly raw yet excellent drama. The author reckons they need a break. And maybe so do you! This seems like the perfect intermission for you to go and watch the rest of the series, no?
