TV CHOSUN weekend miniseries 'Confidence Man KR' Park Min-young, Park Hee-soon and Joo Jong-hyuk delivered a satisfying thrill by publicly executing illegal art critic Lee Yi-kyung.
On the 14th, the TV CHOSUN weekend miniseries 'Confidence Man KR' (written by Hong Seung-hyun and Kim Da-hye, directed by Nam Ki-hoon, produced by TME Group) episode 4 revealed the dark truth of star art critic Yoo Myung-han (played by Lee Yi-kyung) when Yoon I-rang (Park Min-young), James (Park Hee-soon) and Myung Gu-ho (Joo Jong-hyuk) exposed his corruption and staged a massive con that publicly stripped Yoo Myung-han of his money and fame, giving viewers catharsis. In addition, 'Confidence Man KR' ranked among Coupang's top three popular works this week.
First, Yoo Myung-han, who reported Kim Yong-bok (played by Choi Hong-il), a master of Korean forgeries, gained even more fame from that incident, and Yoon I-rang felt conflicted when she confirmed she had been used by Yoo Myung-han.
Yoon I-rang announced a plan to find the "Yoo Myung-han list," the art transaction ledger that was also the root of illicit slush funds in politics and business, and set the charity auction party as D-day. On the day of the charity auction party, James, disguised as a security company employee, lured the guest singer and manager (Rowoon) and put them to sleep with a special gas before making a surprise transformation into the guest singer himself. Yoon I-rang and Myung Gu-ho entered the party disguised respectively as Olivia Kim, head of Wonderby Asia, the world's top auction house, and LHC heir Choi Seung-chan, and they noticed that the secret auction run by Yoo Myung-han was actually a setup to arrange favors, discovering that Yoo Myung-han was earning hundreds of millions in fees in a single night through that secret auction.
After the secret auction, at the after party Yoon I-rang seduced Yoo Myung-han into moving to his office, and Yoo Myung-han signaled the sound of opening the safe to Myung Gu-ho. Having obtained the password, Myung Gu-ho immediately transformed into a waiter, gave drugged champagne to the control room staff and erased the CCTV footage, and when Yoon I-rang went outside with Yoo Myung-han, he found a USB in Yoo Myung-han's safe and quickly copied its contents. But when Yoo Myung-han noticed a light toward the office and Myung Gu-ho was about to be discovered, James provoked audience reaction with an explosive performance, allowing Myung Gu-ho to secure an escape route.
Back at their hideout, Yoon I-rang paused in surprise while searching through the USB contents Myung Gu-ho had retrieved from Yoo Myung-han, and the 'Team Confidence Man' members who examined the files on the USB were horrified to witness Yoo Myung-han feeding drugs to unknown artists including Kim Bo-ra (played by Jung I-joo), abusing and assaulting them, and operating a forgery factory. The next day, Myung Gu-ho visited the hospital where Kim Bo-ra was admitted and heard of Yoo Myung-han's atrocities from her, and while eating the side dishes Kim Bo-ra's mother had packed, Yoon I-rang was struck with an idea after James said, "It's art. Art."
For the next plan, Myung Gu-ho met Yoo Myung-han and requested appraisals of several artworks and ceramics, and upon seeing the 1933 piece "Sea Landscape" by artist Cheon Myeong-sin among the works Myung Gu-ho had asked to appraise, Yoo Myung-han exclaimed in admiration and immediately put it up for auction. As Yoo Myung-han built the atmosphere, Yoon I-rang shouted "100 million!" at once, drawing attention to Cheon Myeong-sin's work, and Yoo Myung-han mulled over Yoon I-rang's remark, "Would this artist's work really exist in only one piece? When you put this single work up for auction, there are probably other plans," and began searching for other works by Cheon Myeong-sin.
Eventually, following an address found at an antiquities shop that contacted him, Yoo Myung-han went to meet who turned out to be James disguised as an old rural gentleman named Cheon Jong-yeob. James revealed that Cheon Myeong-sin was his aunt, showed a photograph of Cheon Myeong-sin from 1919 and the poignant story behind it, and produced roughly 30 works. Thrilled as he examined each painting, Yoo Myung-han offered 100 million and said he would buy them all, but when Cheon Jong-yeob played hard to get he raised the offer to 300 million. Just as the contract was about to be finalized, Yoon I-rang suddenly opened the door and appeared, asking, "How about 3 billion, sir?" and Myung Gu-ho, who said he would invest with Yoon I-rang, also showed up, flustering Yoo Myung-han. In the end Yoo Myung-han called 5 billion and sealed the deal to buy all of Cheon Myeong-sin's works.
To commemorate the historic day of discovering a new art world star, Yoo Myung-han opened an auction featuring Cheon Myeong-sin's works and introduced the artist with smooth eloquence. But at that moment, Kim Bo-ra's mother (played by Park Myung-shin) suddenly stood up and shouted, "That's mine?" and then said, "I am Cheon Myeong-sin. I'm not a genius painter who died young; I run Cheon Myeong-sin store on the beach as a self-employed person," baffling Yoo Myung-han. At the same time, Kim Bo-ra took off her hat and hit Yoo Myung-han with, "How did you appreciate my paintings so well?" then told everyone that all the works were painted by her, throwing Yoo Myung-han into panic. It was revealed that Kim Bo-ra, encouraged by Yoon I-rang's words, "Whether you fall apart or rise again depends on you, Bo-ra," had completed Cheon Myeong-sin's paintings herself using the oven in forger Kim Yong-bok's studio.
When an enraged Yoo Myung-han approached threatening Kim Bo-ra, her mother immobilized him by kicking his groin, and as Yoo Myung-han lay writhing, footage of his forgery factory and scenes of him verbally and physically abusing Kim Bo-ra were shown, followed by video of him acting ridiculous in the bathroom, provoking shock and ridicule. Ultimately, Yoo Myung-han, who had been screaming, was arrested on charges of kidnapping, confinement, extortion and threats, and drug distribution and sales, delivering satisfying catharsis to viewers.
Meanwhile, unlike the peaceful Myung Gu-ho, Yoon I-rang, driving endlessly down the highway, discovered Yoo Myung-han's file on USB containing Yu Gang-il, and with trembling hands she deleted the file and emptied the recycle bin, recalling the act with a dark expression. Yoon I-rang then entered the abandoned mansion after taking a deep breath while James watched her from a distance, creating a meaningful atmosphere. Flashbacks showed young Yoon I-rang being kidnapped and James carrying her through bushes at the scene, raising questions about Yoon I-rang and James's past connection. Above all, in the final ending, Yoon I-rang stared fixedly at frame marks in the mansion's hallway, and when the missing painting appeared before her eyes she trembled and shed "fearful tears," heightening curiosity.
Viewers reacted, "It's so satisfying to see the villain properly fall! My old chest congestion totally lifted!" "Park Min-young looked hottest today! I fell for her when she proposed revenge for Bo-ra!" "Park Hee-soon's commitment to makeup was the best! Thanks to him it was so fun" "Joo Jong-hyuk struggled again today! The youngest is the best!" "Next weekend's Saturday and Sunday are 'Confidence Man KR'" and similar comments.
Meanwhile, 'Confidence Man KR' is released simultaneously on TV CHOSUN and Coupang Play, and globally it is available in 240 countries and regions excluding Korea via Amazon Prime Video.
[Photo] 'Confidence Man KR'
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