The Heirs

Chapter 19

The Jeguk family arrives at Tan’s birthday party, and by family I mean the entire dysfunctional brood including Chairman Dad’s own siblings and nephews. There’s a lot of false concern for the chairman’s health and superficial smiling, which seems like par for the course for all these heirs.

Our high school cast is mostly present, and Bo-na lights up in surprise to see an unexpected face: “Oh my god, Oppa?” She goes off after a very spiffy-looking Lee Hyun-jin (cameo!) and Chan-young furrows his brow. It’s so cute how he gets pissy, particularly when Bo-na links arms with Oppa and brings him over for introductions.

Chan-young starts in on her right away and crossly tells her to drop the linked arms, only to find out that Oppa is her real oppa, as in brother. Heh. Immediately Chan-young adopts a contrite demeanor and speaks politely.

Won arrives to see that his parents are sitting with his would-be fiancée, which isn’t a welcome sight as he has no interest in marrying that heiress. He asks where her boyfriend went and she says that he’s too poor to bring to places like this, and when asked whether he has a girlfriend, Won freely admits it. Not-Quite-Fiancée smirks that their similarity is why they’ll get along well, which he flatly contradicts.

Now Tan makes his grand entrance with Eun-sang, and the paparazzi go nuts. With flashbulbs going off madly around them, Tan takes her hand and tells her it’s an honor to be here with her, and in they go with heads held high.

It’s a sight that immediately hardens the faces of Chairman Dad and Madam Jung, while even Won looks stunned at the ballsy move. I have to say this does make a really nice point, because Won and his heiress both have “commoner” honeys but it didn’t even occur to them to break convention—they’re dating in secret, even if they say there’s no shame involved—while Tan is all, Fuck ’em all. I do have to admire that message.

Tan and Eun-sang head straight for the parents, who have no choice but to shut up and look pleasant for the sake of the cameras. Tan thanks his father for the lovely party, and Eun-sang offers a polite greeting. Tan then greets his uncles and cousins, and introduces Eun-sang to them as well. The wall of reporters clamors for a statement, but Chairman Dad says they’ve gotten their photos and has them ushered out.

Dad wastes no time pulling the two kids aside so he can yell at them, but Tan stands firm. He states calmly that he isn’t afraid of his father, nor does he desire the things Dad wants him to have above Eun-sang, and therefore asks for Dad to give his approval. Perhaps the chairman finally sees that Tan isn’t going to budge, or perhaps he’s got other thoughts in mind, but he grudgingly tells Tan to go ahead and date the girl. He says it’s not an approval and believes that both kids will regret it later, saying, “Don’t ever think I lost to you. I’m just letting you off the hook."

But he leaves it at that, and Tan breaks into a huge smile of relief, telling Eun-sang that all of Dad’s bluster was to preserve his pride, and that they’ve passed one great hurdle. I’m not so sure this is a victory, but that may be a fault of the writing because this scene is no different from all the other showdowns we’ve seen and doesn’t feel like it’s arrived at any sort of resolution.

Tan and Eun-sang accept it as good news, though, and he takes her up to Mom’s new apartment to visit her, since she wasn’t allowed to his birthday party. Tan presents her with a cake and a gift—a necklace with a key pendant—that brings tears to his mother’s eyes.

Adorably, Madam Han asks after Mom, and the next thing we know a fancy car pulls up to Mom’s neighborhood. Mom lights up to see her, and Madam Han gives her a great big hug. Madam Han chides Mom with leaving so abruptly and asks if she missed her. Aww, I love this relationship. They’re gonna be the best moms-in-law ever.