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Dong-eun's Group

Comprised of a former bullying victim-turned-elementary school teacher, a plastic surgeon, and a housekeeper, this unconventional trio work together to put Dong-eun's plans in motion, using a combination of their intelligence, resources, and underhanded tactics to put down her bullies for good.

In General

Anti-Hero Team: While they are undoubtedly the good guys, they are more than willing to get their hands dirty to get justice. Considering who they're up against, they look like pure saints in comparison.
Dysfunction Junction: Let's see, there's a woman who bears emotional and physical scars from being aggressively bullied during her final school years and devoted most of her life to avenging the perpetrators, a plastic surgeon whose father was killed by one of his patients and fantasizes about killing that same patient, and a wife of a domestic abuser that will protect her daughter at all costs.

Moon Dong-eun

Played by: Song Hye-kye, Jung Ji-so(youth)

The main protagonist; Her life and body were ruined by her high school bullies, so she spent her life plotting revenge against them. Almost 20 years later, she works as an elementary school teacher, while meticulously planning out her revenge against her bullies—particularly Park Yeon-jin.

Abusive Parents: Mi-hee is outright awful to her, abandoning her at her worst, taking her money, causing a scene at her school to get her fired, and burning her apartment down simply to make her beg. What's truly horrible is that she never takes any responsibility for her actions, which is further amplified by her alcoholism. It's no wonder that Dong-eun decides to commit her to a mental facility.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She's a very beautiful woman as an adult, with many of the characters (including her bullies) commenting on her beauty. However, because of her Dark and Troubled Past, she's distant and reserved towards people.
Anti-Hero: Make no mistake, while she is the protagonist of the story, she is willing to do some outright illegal things to succeed in her plans, up to and including blackmail, stalking, theft, and more. She occasionally reminds characters that she isn't really a "good person."
The Atoner: She regretfully admits she didn't do anything to help So-Hee when the latter was targeted by the bullies before she became a victim herself. Part of the reason she's so determined to see her vengeance through is to get justice for So-Hee and the other victims who were targeted in the past as well as herself.
The Chessmaster: Her plans manage to work against all odds because she knows how to manipulate people into doing her bidding, which allows her to strategize the best plan to put into action.
Dark and Troubled Past: What drives the plot. She was bullied horribly when she was in high school, leaving her body covered in burn scars. Her teacher beat her when she tried to report it, fearing it would damage his career, and her mother signed a settlement with her main bully's mother just to line her own pockets and abandoned her afterwards. This has all led to Dong-eun's path to revenge for almost two decades.
Defrosting Ice Queen: She's initially cold and reserved in her behaviour due to her Dark and Troubled Past, but she gradually begins to warm up and be more open after spending time with her allies.
Determinator: Despite all the almost-foiled plans, she refuses to give up on putting all of her bullies in their place.
Earn Your Happy Ending: All of her bullies alongside everyone who collaborated in her suffering got a form of comeuppance and she has Yeo-jeong by her side in the end. Although previously settling to commit suicide after her revenge, she decides against it thanks to Yeo-jeong's mother, and is shown to be making progress in moving on from what happened to her. She ends the series in a healthy, loving relationship with a wealthy man.
Everyone Has Standards: She uses her position as Ye-sol's homeroom teacher to torment Yeon-jin with how close she is to her daughter—even flashing a pair of scissors next to Ye-sol's neck when she sees Yeon-jin watching. But she later tells Do-yeong that she's never targeted Ye-sol outright because that would hurt him, who is not one of her targets.
Grin of Audacity: She often sports one when she successfully carries out her plans and watches her bullies suffer.
It Amused Me: Following Young-ae's murder of Seok-jae and her eminent conviction for it, Dong-eun approaches her with an offer: if she gives Dong-eun Yeon-jin's nametag (the key piece of evidence tying her to the scene of So-hee's death), then Dong-eun will see that she doesn't see prison time. Yeon-jin walks in just in time to witness her mother handing it over, throwing her own daughter under the bus. And then Dong-eun reveals that, after all the clamoring that everyone had been doing for the name tag, it is completely useless as evidence, because it was found much later than the crime. The only point of the deal with Young-ae was so Yeon-jin could see how her own mother abandoned her like what Dong-eun's mother did to her.
Nay-Theist: She doesn't see any use in praying, because God has never done anything for her. She also believes that since she has no religion she'll definitely go to Hell when she dies, and even takes a twisted comfort in it since it means that she can do whatever she wants while she's alive.
Not So Stoic: Dong-eun keeps up a cool demeanour throughout enacting her revenge, even when faced with the bullies who would physically assault her daily in the past. However, when faced with her mother, her stoic facade gives way to barely concealed anger and sadness due to considering her mother to be the "first" perpetrator of her suffering. She also breaks down in private after a personal meeting with Jae-Joon (the most physically violent and aggressive of her bullies) and has a PTSD attack after hearing and smelling meat sizzling on a barbecue grill because it reminds her of the bullies burning her with a curling iron. On the flip side, she gets visibly emotional or touched whenever someone compliments or encourages her to go through with her vengeance, like in the case of Hyeon-nam and Jung-mi (the school nurse who had tried to help Dong-eun in the past).
Oh, Crap!: After all the meticulous, painstaking planning she'd put into her revenge plan, Dong-eun is thrown off-guard by Yeon-jin reaching out to Dong-eun's abusive, alcoholic mother to get her fired from the school.
The Power of Hate: What's been fueling her life since the day she dropped out of high school; several people around her tell her it's not too late to just let go and move on. But furious at their lavish, consequence-free lives Dong-eun refuses, planning out her revenge 18 years later.
Scars Are Forever: Has burn scars from her time being bullied in high school, and they have remained in adulthood.
Single-Target Sexuality: It's understated due to the trauma she went through as a teenager making her cold and reserved as an adult, but she only shows sincere romantic interest towards Yeo-jeong. She awkwardly compliments his physical attractiveness and kind heart a couple of times, and in the finale she admits that she left him seven years ago because she started to sincerely care for him and didn't want to drag him into her schemes.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: As Dong-eun spends time with Yeo-jeong and sees how much effort he puts into making her feel at home (considering how she grew up) along with respecting her and treating her with kindness (also considering how she was sexually assaulted by Myeong-oh and Jae-joon), she starts reciprocating her feelings for Yeo-jeong.
Took a Level in Badass: Her Dark and Troubled Past sees her going from a meek young woman to The Unfettered, meticulously planning out her revenge against her bullies.
Trademark Favorite Food: Kimbap of any kind. It's implied to be so since it can be eaten cold and won't trigger any panic attacks since grills, extreme heat and other cooking appliances remind her of how she got her burn scars.
Trauma Button: She understandably has quite a few after her Dark and Troubled Past;
- She Hates Being Touched due to her scars.
- Camera flashes or having her picture taken remind her of the school nurse taking pictures of her burns and other wounds as evidence of her bullies' abuse but being unable to help her.
- Heat, the sound and smell of sizzling meat are reminiscent of her getting burned.
- Jae-joon roughly grabbing one of her scar-covered arms and coldly threatening her when they meet up leaves her visibly shaken to the point of having a breakdown in the school toilet.
- Her mother coming back into her life, since her abandonment led to Dong-eun being forced to drop out of high school and fend for herself.
The Unfettered: The reason that Dong-eun is so effective in her revenge scheme is that she can and will do anything to ruin the bullies' reputation, having the smarts to know how to cover up her dirtiest plans. Despite this, she rarely gets her hands dirty, opting to simply lay out the pieces for the villains to play into her hands.
When She Smiles: Her smile is absolutely beautiful for the rare times she does it genuinely. Hyeon-nam tells her as much the last time they meet up.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: She frequently assures Hyeon-nam she deserves better whenever the latter starts self-deprecating due to her husband's abuse, and even advises her former high school friend Kyung-ran to move on from her own Dark and Troubled Past when they meet up to handle evidence from Yeon-jin's 'murder' of Myeong-oh.

Joo Yeo-jeong

Played by: Lee Do-hyun

A plastic surgeon who met Dong-eun during medical residency training. The two strike up an odd friendship when he starts teaching her how to play Go. After seeing her scars, he offers himself as Dong-eun's "executioner."

Anti-Hero: While undoubtedly one of the good guys, as Dong-eun's "executioner", he's willing to do some rather unscrupulous things to assist with her plans, including exploiting his position as a doctor.
Beware the Nice Ones: While usually friendly and quite pleasant, there are times he shows a bit of an unhinged side. Namely, his psyching out of Yeon-jin which helps contribute to her declining sanity. Along with having a rather noticeable knife collection on him, which he occasionally uses to fantasize about killing his father's murderer. He also isn’t above threatening Jae-joon with running him over with a car after asking a vulgar question regarding his relationship with Dong-eun.
Dark and Troubled Past: His father was killed by a serial killer during an operation. Afterwards, the killer regularly wrote to him just to torment him further.
Dissonant Serenity: He rarely wavers as he's psychologically manipulating people, even having a small smile at times.
Green-Eyed Monster: Lightly parodied. When the news starts circulating that Ha Do-Yeong is getting divorced he jokes about not liking that because he knows that the business mogul is also in love with Moon Dong-Eun. Their rivalry never becomes more than that and in the end he gets the girl.
Lady and Knight: The knight to Dong-eun's lady, although a bit of a darker version since she wants an executioner, not a prince or a knight. Yeo-jeong agrees to be so anyways for her.
Momma's Boy: A positive example, in that he and his mom have a healthy and close relationship, as shown through their enjoyable interactions during lunch break. She also doesn’t pressure him in his decisions.
Noble Male, Roguish Male: The noble male along with Do-yeong to Jae-joon’s and Myeong-oh’s roguish male in that both Yeo-jeong and Do-yeong are loyal to their significant other while Myeong-oh and Jae-joon sleep with many women. Unfortunately for Do-yeong, he was cheated on by his wife.
Only Sane Man: While still coming off as unhinged (somewhat justified considering what happened to his father and the trauma he went through), he’s the only character in the show with a loving family and without personal insecurities that push his Berserk Button.
Single-Target Sexuality: He doesn't show romantic interest in any woman other than Dong-eun, even after Dong-eun disappeared from his life for seven years.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's quite tall, with black hair and youthful good looks, which are complimented by several people. The normally quite reserved Dong-eun favorably comments on his height and attractiveness a couple of times, and Yeon-jin assumes when she first meets him that he must have a girlfriend (or several).
You Killed My Father: His father was murdered by a patient he saved when no one else wanted to do it. He then makes sure to become a doctor so he could kill the killer once he has the chance.

Kang Hyeon-nam

Played by: Yeom Hye-ran

A housekeeper who worked at the home of Semyoung Foundation's president. She allies herself with Dong-eun in exchange for the promised murder of her abusive husband so that she and her daughter will be free of him.

Birds of a Feather: She and Dong-Eun bond over the fact that they're both victims of abuse who will do almost anything to bring down those responsible for their pain.
The Dog Bites Back:
- She eventually gets her evil husband killed by giving him information to blackmail Yeon-jin's mother, fully knowing he'll be silenced.
- After her husband's death, she goes to confront Yeon-jin, slapping her twice and threatening that she'll double any further suffering Yeon-jin inflicts on her or her daughter.
Domestic Abuse: Her alcoholic husband regularly beats her and her daughter, and has threatened to kill her other family members should she try to escape him.
Establishing Character Moment: Her first scene with Dong-eun involves catching the latter in the act of rooting around for blackmail material in her employer's garbage, revealing she had been secretly observing and recording her for six months and offering to help if Dong-eun can get rid of her abusive husband. It's very telling she becomes quite an impressive spy once Dong-eun recruits her.
Genki Girl: A downplayed example, but Hyeon-nam begins showing off a happier, more confident and easily excitable side of herself once she starts working for Dong-eun. She even admits she's a naturally cheerful person despite her circumstances, only now she's able to show it openly because Dong-eun gave her hope for a better life with her daughter.
Mama Bear: Do NOT threaten her daughter, EVER. Yeon-jin learns this the hard way when Hyeon-nam gives her a double Armor Piercing Slap and threatens to leak incriminating material linking her to her other crimes and/or doubling any future suffering if Yeon-Jin continues to harass her.
Plucky Comic Relief: She provides most of the few but memorably hilarious moments throughout the series, be it from her antics while meeting up to share info with Dong-eun or while stalking the bullies and their associates.
Smarter Than You Look: She proves to be quite the detective and spy when working with Dong-eun, providing copious amounts of useful information by simply observing the people around her. She's also quite the capable actress, playing the other side like a fiddle by playing up her naïveté.

The Bullies

Five students, three of whom are from rich and influential families, who bullied Dong-eun endlessly throughout their high school days. As adults, their demeanour has barely changed; resulting in all of them making enemies throughout their lives even without Dong-eun's interference.

In General

All Love Is Unrequited: Sa-ra is basically the only bully that doesn't fall into this trope.
- Myeong-oh is implied to have feelings for Hye-jeong when he invites her to join him in Russia to escape possible arrest when the police reopen So-hee's case. However...
- ...Hye-jeong is implied to have feelings for Jae-joon, to the point where she calls off her prior engagement to another wealthy man when Jae-joon asks her to become his wife/girlfriend so his biological daughter will have a mother figure. Unfortunately...
- ...Jae-joon seems to only truly want Yeon-jin, the biological mother of his daughter Ye-sol. He even goes as far as to pressure her to divorce Do-Yeong and Do-yeong to disown Ye-sol so he can gain custody as per Korean law. Sadly for him...
- ...Yeon-jin prioritizes her marriage with Do-yeong, much to Jae-joon's frustration. Whether she genuinely loves him in some way despite her affair with Jae-joon, wants to keep Ye-sol away from Jae-joon's violent temper or fears the potential backlash their divorce would cause for her reputation (or all three) is up for debate.
Asshole Victim: By the time Dong-eun's done with them, they're either dead (Myeong-oh and Jae-joon), in jail with their reputations destroyed (Yeon-jin and Sa-ra) or suffering from probably permanent physical impairment (Hye-jeong). Given their monstrous actions in both the past and present, however, it's safe to say nobody is going to feel sorry for them.
Beauty Is Bad: All five are played by attractive actors. Not that they hide the fact that they are monsters on the inside. It is more evident with Yeon-jin and Hye-jeong, women who are extremely well-groomed and beautiful.
Big Bad Ensemble: The main threats of the series, whom Dong-eun plans to take revenge on.
Divided We Fall: Part of the reason of their individual and collective downfall. Even before Dong-eun enacts her revenge, its members are backstabbing each other purely for their self-interest. After Dong-eun arrives and learn the backstabbing acts of its members, she uses them to make them fight against each other as shown with Sa-ra and Hye-jong's brutal confrontation at Myung-oh's funeral for pettiest of reasons. And Yeon-jin sleeping around with Jae-joon while the latter is still in relationship with Hye-jeong, who is engaged to a rich scion. Not to mention the rich members' crappy treatment to Hye-jeong and Myung-oh, in which Hye-jeong finally has enough of their crap and fights back, but not without paying the hefty price for associating herself with them.
For the Evulz: They would torment other students, mostly girls, simply because it amused them and they could get away with it.
Hate Sink: All are despicable human beings with little or no apparent good qualities. Even those who are lower in the group's hierarchy (Hye-jeong and Myeong-oh) display a sense of superiority to those lower down on them and seem to take out all of their disdain for their superiors on them. That's without even getting into the extreme bullying they did to other students when they were younger, for which they don't show the slightest bit of remorse.
Karma Houdini Warranty: While Dong-eun ended up permanently damaged for the rest of her life, they all managed to grow up and more or less fulfill their dreams without facing any punishment for their school violence. Part 2 shows each and every one of them finally getting what they deserve.
Men Are the Expendable Gender: By the end, Jae-joon and Myeong-o, the male bullies, are the ones who are outright killed.
No Honor Among Thieves: When things go south for them, they won't hesitate to betray one another just to cover their own hides.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Three of them (Yeon-jin, Jae-joon and Sa-ra) come from wealthy families and many of their actions were ignored by school authorities largely for this.
Seven Deadly Sins: It is unsurprising that at least one fits perfectly into one.
- Wrath: Applies to every single one of them, most demonstrated in the bullying they committed back in their younger years. The ones that seems the most Hot-Blooded are Jae-joon, a Domestic Abuser that instils fear in both Dong-eun and Myeong-oh, and Sa-ra, a neurotic drug addict that is shown to be prone to violence when upset, especially if she's suffering from withdrawal.
- Sloth: Works in both the Lazy Bum and Lack of Empathy sense of the word. Since most of them come from rich families, hard work has had little to nothing to do with most of their achievements (Sa-ra hires other people to do her work and Jae-joon got his degree due to Myeong-oh going to classes for him). Hye-jeong and Myeong-oh, the ones from less wealthy backgrounds, seek money and status by, respectively, marrying rich people and illegal activities or blackmail.
- Lust: Yeon-jin had cheated on her husband with Jae-joon, who also had slept with Hye-jeong and a bunch of other women. Hye-jeong herself also sleeps with Jae-joon while being compromised with other men and had an affair with her gym teacher back in the day. One of Sa-ra's scenes implies she had an orgy while Myeong-oh also recorded her giving him oral sex while she was high, with him also having sexually assaulted one of their victims.
- Greed: Like mentioned before, both Hye-jeong and Myeong-oh wants to be wealthy like everyone else of their group and the means they choose for it are far from ethical.
- Gluttony: Most fitting for Sa-ra, the drug addict of the group.
- Envy: Again, since they are the lowest in status within the rest, Hye-jeong and Myeong-oh both seeks to have their lives. This is more strong for the former that desires to have everything Yeon-jin has, to the point of even buying the same green shoes of hers.
- Pride: They all have some sense of superiority over each other and everyone else and none of them wants to take responsibility for what they did to Dong-eun, which would probably make things easier for them if they did.
Slobs vs. Snobs: Myeong-Oh and Hye-Jeong, who are of low/working-class backgrounds, are the Slobs to Yeon-Jin's, Sa-Ra's and Jae-Joon's Snobs.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Jae-joon and Myeong-oh are also both rapists.
Teens Are Monsters: They were real nightmares during their school days. Their antics include: burning Dong-eun, beating her, sexually assaulting her and even breaking into her home so they could further torment her.
Villain Ball: Dong-eun observes that she merely set up the board and sat back and watched as they destroyed themselves.
Villainous Breakdown: The series is more or less a slow burn towards this as Dong-eun gets her revenge and they begin acting destructively in response.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Even on their best behaviour, they can barely go five seconds without insulting each other.
With Friends Like These...: Dong-Eun doesn't even need to get her hands dirty to get them to backstab each other. All she needed to do was goad them in the right direction.

Park Yeon-jin

Played by: Lim Ji-yeon, Shin Ye-eun(youth)

The unofficial leader of the five, having personally targeted many of their victims. The mother of Ye-sol and wife to Do-yeong, she is currently working as a weather caster.

Asshole Victim: Anyone else going to jail for a crime they didn't commit could be pitied, but since Yeon-jin has already gotten away with several other crimes, no tears are shed.
Abusive Parents:
- A very subtle example with Ye-sol. While she's shown being loving and caring to Ye-sol, some scenes present the implication that Yeon-jin is grooming her daughter to be more like her, down to the narcissistic and sociopathic behaviour, though thankfully, Ye-sol is taken away from her before this can escalate further.
- Played straight with Yeon-jin's mother Young-ae; While keeping her daughter safe from avoiding jail time, her equally awful personality would take no genius to see why her daughter ended up thinking that she is above reproach and can get away from her atrocities. Not to mention that she won't hesitate to throw her daughter off the bus if that's what it takes for her to avoid imprisonment and doesn't seem to regret it. In the last scene they share, Young-Ae willfully ignores her presence when both of them are behind bars, all but implying she disowned her own daughter for not killing or getting rid of Dong-eun when she had the chance..
Alpha Bitch: The head bully of the group, and the one who stomps everyone under her heel.
Ax-Crazy: She has always taken sadistic pleasure in torturing others—she always sported a delighted smile as she burned Dong-eun with a curling iron. Before Dong-eun, she targeted So-hee, going as far as to ''set her on fire'' just for accidentally wearing the same clothes as her.
Big Bad: She is the biggest target of Dong-eun's schemes since she primarily targeted Dong-eun in their high school days.
Break the Haughty: As the Alpha Bitch from high school all grown up with a reputable job and glamourous lifestyle, she is reduced to a broken Empty Shell of her former self by the finale who's now pushed around by her fellow inmates in prison.
Broken Smile: In the final episode, while sitting in a prison cell, motionless with tears in her eyes, Yeon-jin is asked about the weather by an inmate. She quickly puts on an act as a weather forecaster just like she was before, fake smiling while visibly tearing up and nearly sobbing because she lost everything; her job, husband, daughter, mother, and freedom, finally getting the feeling of the pain she inflicted on her victims. But unlike them, her pain is completely deserved and she has nothing to blame for but herself, if she ever admits it.
Compulsive Liar: Despite one by one of her sins have come to surface, she insists to defy all of her crimes/sins. Even when she finally does a press conference for a public apology (including her involvement in So-Hee's death) after her daughter, Ye-Sol, disowns her, she still claims herself as a victim.
Et Tu, Brute?: She has a tearful breakdown when one of Dong-eun's schemes shows her that her mother Young-ae would rather save herself while throwing her under the bus instead of taking the fall for/with her, with the latter even scornfully admitting that they never had a good relationship to begin with. And again when they both end up in the same prison and Young-ae doesn't even acknowledge her presence.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being implied to groom her into taking after her narcissistic and superficial tendencies, she seems to genuinely love and care for her daughter Ye-sol in her own way. Case in point, she's visibly distraught when Ye-sol disowns her after learning about her bullying nature.
Evil Is Petty: Despite indirectly killing So-Hee, she attacked and bullied So-hee long before that happened all because So-hee accidentally wore the same outfit as her when they walked into each other. It's also implied So-hee became a target simply because of her mother's deafness.
Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: She is a cruel sociopath played by beautiful and sweet-faced actresses such as Lim Ji-yeon and Shin Ye-eun. It helps that both actresses were previously known for heroic and lovable roles, with Yeon-jin being the first villain role they've played.
Fatal Flaw: Her Never My Fault attitude and compulsion to double down on her lies instead of coming clean when they are exposed end up becoming this for her. Dong-eun and Do-yeong give her a few chances to admit her wrongdoings and when she refuses/rejects them, they end up ruining her reputation even further and leaving her, respectively. Her actress explains perfectly why her flaws become this trope that leads to Yeon-jin's downfall:
Lim Ji-yeon: She will keep thinking that she does not deserve punishment, and that, I think, is the worst kind of punishment. She cannot be forgiven by anyone and she cannot make due redress for her wrongs. Yeon-jin will forever be cursed in that way.
Gold Digger: Purposefully marries Do-yeong because of his wealth and status. However, in the finale of Part 1, she realizes that she does actually love him for real. Though whether she loves him romantically or as a trophy husband is up for debate.
Hated by All: She ends up utterly despised by everyone, including her husband and daughter, by the end of the series. Even her mother, who was the most active in helping her cover up her crimes, ends up disowning her when they both go to prison, blaming her for not getting rid of or killing Dong-eun when she had the chance.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: As a famous wealthy and influential family, she, along with her mother, Young-Ae, thought they could forever be untouchable as they spent season 1 and earlier episodes of season 2 "buying everyone's silences" to get away from their crimes. Even she ever gloated to Dong-Eun that no matter how hard the latter tries to seek help and justice, Dong-Eun would remain a loser. Nevertheless, when their crimes/sins start to surface, Yeon-Jin eventually loses, one by one, everything she holds dear or takes pride in; her career, her colleagues, her friends, her own family; her husband divorced her and her daughter disowned her. Even her mother eventually decides to sell her out when Dong-Eun blackmails the former, much to her chagrin. To rub salt into her wound, despite she and her mom being sent to the same jail and running into each other, her mom consciously ignores her (implied to have disowned her), much to Yeon-Jin's utter dismay. Thus, she ends up utterly alone in jail.
Hypocrite: Unsurprisingly, she is this:
- She claims she wants to be a hyunmoyangcheo (a Korean phrase meaning good wife, wise mother); To get a job that's just noteworthy enough, get married at the right age, and have a few kids. Of course, a good wife wouldn't produce a kid out-of-wedlock with another man and then pass said kid off as her husband's biological daughter.
- She claims that her marriage with Do-yeong is over the moment the latter meets up with Dong-eun. As shown in the bulleted entry above, that's quite rich coming from her. She and Jae-joon already had an involvement a long time ago enough to give birth to Ye-sol before the start of the series, while Do-yeong just met Dong-eun during the show's run and although they start off on the wrong foot that leads to suspicion to both sides, eventually it becomes friendly with no romance or sex involved once the misunderstandings are cleared. It helps that Do-yeong can see how of a monster his wife is, further validating Dong-eun's credibility.
I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: After she ran into So-hee wearing the same outfit as her, Yeon-jin cornered her on a rooftop and lit her clothes on fire, resulting in So-hee falling off the edge. Yeon-jin immediately panicked and called her mother for help, and insists to the present day that she didn't mean to kill her.
Irony: By series end, she and Dong-eun have basically switched places. Yeon-jin has been abandoned and disowned by her mother and family, her dreams and aspirations are shattered, and she's implied to now be a victim of bullying from the tougher inmates in prison. Meanwhile, Dong-eun is in a dedicated, healthy relationship with a wealthy, successful man from a good family. Adding insult to injury is the fact that Dong-eun also managed to steal the heart of the man Yeon-jin fell in love with.
Jerkass: Even as an adult, she demeans her coworkers and insults them to no end; unsurprisingly, this resulted in a lot of whispers and insults behind her back. When her past comes out on public, her co-workers aren't even surprised and look quite amused that she finally resigns.
Mama Bear: Zigzagged. She threatens Dong-eun that she'll kill her if she so much as lays a hand on a single hair of Ye-sol's, but it's clear she cares more about herself, best shown when she complains about Do-yeong arguing with her rather than the fact that Ye-sol was exposed to brutal violence.
Mask of Sanity: She puts up a front of a well-adjusted woman in her day-to-day life, but it's clear through her interactions with Dong-eun and the rest of the bullies that she is far from sane.
Never My Fault: Refuses to acknowledge any of the horrible deeds she's done, either blaming her victims instead, or deflecting any blame. When Dong-eun asks why she tormented her so, Yeon-jin just replies that she doesn't have to have a reason. Even after given another chance by her husband who finally gets the full picture of how horrible she is, she still claims to be the victim. This prompts him to divorce her for good.
Not Me This Time: Although she did hit him twice with a heavy wine bottle, it is later revealed that Myeong-oh was still alive when she left the dressing room and that it was Kyung-ran who dealt the fatal blow, meaning that she was arrested for the only thing she was not fully responsible for.
Sanity Slippage: When her bullying gets revealed, Yeon-jin becomes increasingly erratic throughout Part 2, as she gradually loses what is most dear to her, being completely broken by the end of it.
The Sociopath: She is incredibly narcissistic and manipulative, using her status and charm to get what she wants while showing zero remorse for what she's done.
Thousand-Yard Stare: She gradually starts being unable to do anything more than stare blankly off into the distance near the end of Part 2 as her life and reputation begin falling apart, to the point it becomes her default expression when she ends up behind bars.
The Unapologetic: It's even on her promotional poster. When her husband, Do-yeong, confronts and ultimatums her either to confess her crimes and sins as well as to apologize or to be divorced, she would rather choose the latter. Thus, her husband divorces her and the news about their divorce immediately go public, much to her humiliation.

Jeon Jae-joon

Played by: Park Sung-hoon, Song Byeong-geun(youth)

The heir to a country club who is affected by colourblindness and glaucoma. He is arguably the most violent of the five, attacking anybody who even slightly provokes him.

Asshole Victim: Perhaps the most violent of the bullies, and speculated by Dong-eun to be So-hee's rapist. At the end of the series, Hye-jeong gets her revenge on him when she swaps his glaucoma medication for cleaner. He puts it in his eyes and is blinded, allowing Do-yeong to kill him.
Ax-Crazy: Even moreso than Yeon-jin, being an extremely violent thug who goes berserk at the slightest provocation. When his latest paramour makes an oblivious remark about his colourblindness, he immediately gets violent with her.
Berserk Button: He'll go completely nuts if he thinks someone is making fun of his red-green-colour blindness, as one unfortunate student finds out.
Cruel and Unusual Death: He puts the cleaner fluid that Hye-jeong swapped his glaucoma medication for in his eyes while driving, rendering him blind. He comes to a complete stop in an intersection whereupon he gets hit by a truck. Blind and bleeding, he ends up on a construction site in a state of panic, and is then pushed off a ledge by Do-yeong, the adoptive father of his daughter, to his death in a pool of liquid concrete.
The Dreaded: Despite Myeong-oh being The Big Guy of his clique, he never tries to defend himself when Jae-joon attacks him, mostly because of his status if not because Jae-joon could actually be stronger. Dong-eun also shows some reluctance to be alone with him (which turns put to be well-founded when he leaves her shaken to the point of a breakdown afterwards), and this comes from a woman who faces even Yeon-jin, the de facto leader, without so much as blinking.
Domestic Abuser: He attacks Yeon-jin, someone whom he has an affair with, and also aggressively grabs the hair of one fling of his. He also has no qualms against roughly grabbing Dong-eun and coldly threatening her when they personally meet up.
Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much for him to start shouting, cursing and/or beating someone up.
Never Found the Body: His body apparently stayed in the concrete and was never found, since Dong-eun and Yeo-jeong wonder what fate he had. Dong-eun does believe that someone else had finished the job.
Foil: He’s one to Yeo-jeong in that both are wealthy, own a business, and sometimes are involved with their family’s business. However, they are polar opposites in many ways:
- Jae-joon had many flings while Yeo-jeong has eyes only for Dong-eun. Jae-joon is also a rapist who impregnated at least two women, while Yeo-jeong is respectful of Dong-eun's boundaries and even apologizes for accidentaly touching her shoulders while covering her with a blanket.
- While Jae-joon inherited his family’s golf course, Yeo-jeong has no plans follow in his parents' footsteps and become the director of his family’s hospital.
- Yeo-jeong is a gentleman who doesn’t talk about Dong-eun in a vulgar manner, which is what Jae-joon does when confronting Yeo-jeong about his relationship with Dong-eun after Yeon-jin revealed So-hee’s pregnancy.
- While Yeo-jeong loves Dong-eun unconditionally despite her scars, Jae-joon was willing to dispose of Hye-jeong after getting her neck stabbed and losing her voice).
- Regarding the Noble Male, Roguish Male trope, Yeo-jeong is the noble male to Jae-joon’s roguish male.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Hye-Jeong was actually reluctant to swap out his eye drops with cleaner fluid, but a couple of snide remarks and insults about her damaged vocal cords pushed her to replace the entire bottle for good measure.
Oblivious to His Own Description: After Yeo-jeong’s subtle threat, Jae-joon responds that Yeo-jeong doesn’t have manners, and that makes sense coming from a family. Jae-joon swears a lot and comes from a rich family, but doesn’t realize he described himself.
Papa Wolf: When he finds out that Ye-sol is his biological daughter he's genuinely elated and does everything in his power to get custody of her, which does not work because of how Korean law handles such matters. The one sympathetic thing he does in the show is beat the crap out of a predatory teacher at Ye-sol's school who had been getting upskirt shots of some of his students. Of course, this plays into his downfall, as this makes him easy to manipulate.
Pet the Dog: Zigzagged. He seems to genuinely love his pet dog Louis, and is quick to accept Ye-sol as his actual daughter and genuinely wants her to live with him. Given his personality and attitude, however, it may be less about parental love and more like treating her as a possession.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: It is implied that he sexually assaulted Dong-eun at some point, considering how extremely nauseous and shaken she is after meeting him. (By comparison, Myeong-oh forcibly kissed her and made her stand in the rain just to expose her breasts, in which case Jae-joon was present, but Dong-eun only shows coldness in her interactions with him). In Part 2, it's revealed that he had raped Yoon So-hee, Yeon-jin's murder victim, and she was pregnant when she was murdered. Upon learning this, Dong-eun and Yeo-jeong decide he needs to die.
Really Gets Around: He's shown to have slept with both Yeon-jin and Hye-jeong plus another girl who seems to be some kind of fling. There could've been even more girls that we are not shown, since Myeong-oh immediately assumes that Dong-eun had a kid with him when she asks him to make a paternity test with something with Jae-joon's DNA. He's also implied to have raped So-hee shortly before her death.
The Worf Effect: After beating down several characters, he gets his ass kicked by Do-yeong, while hardly getting a punch in. Do-yeong later ends up killing him in the finale.

Lee Sa-ra

Played by: Kim Hi-eora, Bae Gang-hee(youth)

The daughter of a church pastor who sings in his choir. She became an abstract painter, while hiding away a rampant drug addiction, being unable to paint without it.

Ax-Crazy: She viciously stabs Hye-jeong in the neck with a pencil in a fit of rage and insanity, which permanently destroys the latter's voice.
Brilliant, but Lazy: "Brilliant" may be an overstatement, but she is at least a decent painter who prefers to hire other people to paint for her.
Black Sheep: Behind closed doors, her father doesn't hide how much he loathes having a drug addict for a daughter. The only reason he hasn't disowned her or checked her into rehab yet is because of the resulting negative press and scandals that would affect his reputation if he did so.
Caught with Your Pants Down: Her drug-induced haze in the church basement (courtesy of Dong-eun) culminates with her touching herself between her legs, all in front of a crowd of churchgoers recording it on their phones and devices.
Churchgoing Villain: While it's never made clear exactly how sincere her worship is, she frequently acts as if her faith has absolved her of all her sins.
Engineered Public Confession: Sa-ra receives a text message from 'Myeong-oh' stating he left her a secret stash of drugs in the church basement. Shortly after she gets high as a kite, the congregation at her father's Mass are informed of a 'special worship session' downstairs and they arrive just in time to see her masturbating as she hallucinates having sex with Myeong-oh.
Expository Hairstyle Change: Bleaches her dark brown hair and eyebrows blonde while she's being investigated for drug abuse. It's implied to be so the authorities won't be able to find evidence of her drug usage in her hair samples because bleach destroys any signs of buildup. She also starts wearing it in a bun held in place with a pencil, which she uses to stab Hye-jeong in the neck after the latter posts an explicit video of her in the bullies' group chat.
Functional Addict: Played with. Even though she can keep a steady job as a painter and a normal life in general, she’s also shown to be very aggressive and neurotic especially when Myung-oh goes missing and thus relieves her of her drugs to the point of breaking into his house to look for some.
The Hedonist: She's frequently seen smoking weed at home, and is quite a Big Eater when she gets nervous or the munchies from her drug usage. One of her scenes in the present involves her mother and staff dealing with and sobering her up from what's implied to be the aftermath of an orgy.
Holier Than Thou: Given her bullying attitude and father's vocation as a priest, she's unsurprisingly this. She even goes as far as to smugly say to Dong-eun that she's absolved of all her sins simply because she's repented them.
Hypocrite: When Dong-eun extorts her for money, Sa-ra shouts that she must be on drugs. Dong-eun dryly points out that it's quite the accusation, coming from Sa-ra. She even goes as far as smugly telling Dong-eun to repent for her sins, which is rich coming from a bully to a former victim.
Nervous Wreck: She gets very anxious and/or aggressive under pressure when she's suffering from withdrawal, either panicking or lashing out depending on the situation.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Had she not attempted to kill Hye-jeong by stabbing her in the neck in a public space, she would have walked away with only a very damaged reputation and a light probation at best instead of directly going to jail for two years.
Sanity Slippage: A combination of drug withdrawal, public humiliation, and imminent jail time wears Sa-ra down bit by bit, until the last the audience sees her, she's laughing madly while being handcuffed after stabbing Hye-jeong in the neck.
Stealing the Credit: Zig-zagged; She's capable of painting a few works of art, but the majority of her paintings are produced by a team of art students she keeps medically sedated in her house so they're more submissive and compliant to her demands. It's implied to be because she and her father, when he's eventually arrested for using her galleries for tax evasion, focuses more on quantity over quality because more paintings to sell equals more cash to gain.
Taking You with Me: She leaks a video of Yeon-jin's past bullying online after she becomes convinced (thanks to Hye-jeong's gossip) that Yeon-jin set up her Engineered Public Confession scandal to cover up when Dong-eun releases an anonymous public letter implicating Yeon-Jin's past behaviour, proclaiming that she's not going down alone. Said video ends up being the main catalyst for Yeon-jin's downfall since it forces her to resign from her forecasting job to save face and causes her daughter Ye-sol to disown her.
Token Religious Teammate: She’s consistently shown going to church, though it’s more because of her family than actual faith. The only time she mentions actually believing in religion is when she's using it as an excuse for her actions.
Villainous Breakdown: She has a couple of moments.
- She has an epic temper tantrum when her parents confront her while she's suffering from withdrawal, demanding she be sent to Paris or the Netherlands (She reasons that her drug use would be considered legal there). When they refuse, they leave her writhing and screaming on the floor.
- When an explicit video of her giving a blowjob to Myeong-Oh while high is leaked in the bullies' group chat, she goes ballistic and assaults Yeon-jin when she suspects she was responsible for leaking it. When she realizes it is Hye-jeong, she gets eerily calm before stabbing the latter in the neck with a pencil and laughs madly afterwards as she's being arrested.

Choi Hye-jeong

Played by: Cha Joo-young, Song Ji-Woo(youth)

A flight attendant whose parents work at a self-service laundromat. She has the lowest authority within the group due to her modest background, which makes her an easy target for Dong-eun's plans.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Dong-eun's presence threatens to ruin her chances at marrying a wealthy man, she immediately gets on her knees and starts grovelling and pleading for forgiveness, saying she's willing to do anything for Dong-eun to make up for her past grievances.
Bad Influencer: Her side hustle during her off hours from her flight attendant job. Part of why she wants a Gold Digger marriage is to have the cash needed to maintain a glamorous image.
The Dog Bites Back: After all the times Yeon-jin and Sa-ra have intimidated her, threatened her, and talked down on her, Hye-jeong finally stands up to them and refuses to do any of their biddings or take their crap anymore, even getting them to turn on each other. And after Jae-joon callously abandons her after she is attacked by Sa-ra and loses her voice, Dong-eun gives her cleaner fluid to replace Jae-joon's glaucoma eye droplets, which leads to his blindness and death.
Freudian Excuse: She collaborated with the bullying of Dong-eun and other girls because, otherwise, she would be the target. Not that it spares her from Dong-eun's blackmail.
Gold Digger: She wants to marry into a rich family to rise from her relatively low social standing.
Karma Houdini: Downplayed. After Sa-ra attempts to murder her by stabbing her in the throat, Hye-jeong survives but will probably never be able to speak right again, and is probably considered damaged goods to put an end to her Gold Digger ways for good. Still, things end better for her than her bullying peers, who all end up either dead (Myeong-oh and Jae-joon) or serving long sentences (Sa-ra and Yeon-jin) in prison by the end of the series. She also gets her revenge on Jae-joon for abandoning her after her injury, thanks to Dong-eun's help, by switching his glaucoma medication with cleaner which blinds him enough for Do-yeong to kick him down to his death. She might be free on paper, but like her peers, she is in a personal hell of her own making.
Love Makes You Dumb: It's implied she remains in the group despite their mistreatment of her because she has feelings for Jae-joon. She even goes as far as to break off her previous engagement to another wealthy man when Jae-joon wants her to become his girlfriend/wife so Ye-sol will have a mother figure in her life. After she suffers a stab to the neck from Sa-ra that leaves her vocal cords irreparably damaged, Jae-joon callously dumps her after deleting the explicit video she had leaked to humiliate the former. Which leaves her with no job, no husband, no wealth, and no blackmail material to get any of those three back. Had she chosen to write off Jae-joon as a lost cause, cut contact with the group, and get the hell out of Semyeong after doing what Dong-eun told her to do (since she isn't actively trying to harm Hye-jeong at this point, it would be in her best interest for Hye-jeong to take advantage of Dong-eun's benevolence to save herself), she may have had a chance to escape unscathed from all the shit that would happen later on and still keep her Meal Ticket to elevate herself from her lowly status.
The Mole: Attempts to invoke this so Dong-eun would spare her from any punishment. When she tells Yeon-jin's husband about Yeon-jin's past, she even asks him to tell Dong-eun he heard it from her.
Ms. Fanservice: The most curvy and busty of the female cast, and the camera (as well as her wardrobe) makes sure it's well known, up to being the only character with a topless scene. Rather fittingly, her ultimate fate is getting injured and disfigured in a way that her beauty will never be the way it was ever again.
Only Sane Woman: Downplayed as she's still an evil sociopathic bully, but Hye-jeong is the only one who rarely resorts to unhinged means like the others and even ends up becoming a victim of her peers' craziness. Just ask Sa-ra.
Replacement Goldfish:
- Jae-joon asks her to become his wife/girlfriend when it's clear Yeon-jin won't leave Do-yeong for him. She doesn't mind because:
  - 1. She seems to have feelings for him.
  - 2. He's very wealthy.
  - 3. It allows her to get back at Yeon-jin for mistreating and looking down on her, given that Jae-joon intends to ruin Yeon-jin's and Do-Yeong's marriage so he can gain custody of his and Yeon-jin's biological daughter Ye-sol.
- Likewise, the mother of her Meal Ticket fiancee at the start of the series considers her to be this for her son, lamenting that she would have preferred Dong-eun (who she's on very good terms with) marry him than her.
Suddenly Shouting: She's prone to yelling/raising her voice whenever she gets angry or upset.
Too Dumb to Live: Sure Hye-jeong, gloat that you're going to post an explicit video of Sa-ra, who gets easily agitated and aggressive while suffering from withdrawal and has physically assaulted you before, at her father's church lobby, to her face. That definitely won't earn you a pencil in the neck.
The Unintelligible: She suffers an attack from Sa-ra that leaves her vocal cords damaged, losing her ability to speak comprehensibly.

Son Myeong-oh

Played by: Kim Gun-woo, Seo Woo-hyuk(youth)

An errand boy to Jae-joon and drug dealer to Sa-ra, born out of his lack of financial privilege. Like Hye-jeong, he has the lowest authority within the group.

All Men Are Perverts: He loves to takes selfies while half naked, his tablet password is 696969 and tries to blackmail Yeon-jin into having sex with him, along with many acts of sexual assault.
Developing Doomed Characters: He receives more or less the same amount of character establishment and backstory development as the other bullies, but gets killed not even halfway into the series.
Embarrassing Nickname: Sa-ra mockingly calls him 'puppy', while Jae-joon has his number listed under 'Son Of A Bitch' in his phone. Even Hye-jeong calls him the former when she refuses to follow him to Russia, asking if he's decided to become a 'sled-dog' there.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Downplayed. He confesses to Hye-jeong that he loves her in what would later be their last call. This contrasts with everyone else, who he either blackmailed (Yeon-jin and Sa-ra) or cut contact with (Jae-joon). He also asks her to come with him to Russia, claiming he fears she will be dragged into Yeon-jin's mess once the police start to investigate So-hee's murder again.
Even Evil Has Standards: When Jae-joon is beating the hell out of one of his classmates, he approaches him and tries to say that is enough. This only makes Jae-joon go for him instead.
The Friend Nobody Likes: From what’s seen of the group, he’s always put down a lot and left out. He wasn’t even in Yeon-jin’s wedding photo. He’s only kept in because he’s useful for brute force and running errands (which makes sense considering he wants to be wealthy and is willing to do anything to get a lot of money).
Future Loser: When talking about the dreams or possible futures of everyone in the group, Dong-eun doesn't even bother to say his, which makes him feel offended and then he promptly clarifies that he wants to be a millionaire. Fast-forward to the present day and Dong-eun seems to have a good instinct: he's currently an errand boy for Jae-joon and a drug dealer for Sa-ra, being constantly mistreated and abused by them. Even Hye-jeong, the other person beside him not from a rich background like their peers, has managed to achieve her dream of becoming a flight attendant and gets recently engaged to a man with good wealth.
Hidden Depths: He reveals that he attended college classes for Jae-joon in his place when the former couldn't be bothered to, so he's technically overqualified for his current job.
Lower-Class Lout: Out of all the bullies, he fits this trope the most. Tattoos? Check. Delinquent Hair? Check. Punk clothes? Check. Living in a small, dingy apartment? Check. Does most of the dirty work for the others, including providing drugs for Sa-ra and sexually assaulting at least one of their victims in the present? Double check.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He forcefully kissed Dong-eun and it's later revealed that he filmed a high Sa-ra giving him oral sex without her knowing afterwards and sexually assaulted Kyung-ran, the boutique worker, at least once. Dong-eun assumes with good reason that he's the one who raped So-hee, which she outright says is worse than anything the others have done (although she later discovers that it was more likely Jae-joon).
Tattooed Crook: He has numerous tattoos on his body and currently works as a drug dealer, along with being Jae-joon's errand boy.

Park Yeon-jin's Family

Ha Do-yeong

Played by: Jung Sung-il

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ha_do_yeon.png

Yeon-jin's husband and CEO of Jaepyung Construction.

Beware the Nice Ones: He may be a little bit on the aloof side, but compared to his wife, he is reasonable enough to listen to Dong-eun's side even if he doesn't agree with her methods. But that doesn't mean that he will let certain actions, especially actions that will harm his daughter slide. He doesn't hold back on beating Jae-joon after the latter gloats that he's Ye-Sol's real father. He also angrily shouts at Yeon-jin when she was upset at him arguing with her rather than Ye-Sol being exposed to violence from Jae-joon beating up a teacher to a bloody pulp in front of her. He even gives said wife the chance to clean up her act and repent for her wrongdoings despite knowing how horrible she is and when she doesn't, he effectively divorces her. He is also the one who kills Jae-joon in the final episode.
Did Not Get the Girl: He divorces his wife after she refuses to make amends with the people she's hurt, and he'd only entertained the idea of staying with her as a way of keeping his daughter happy. By series end, he's seemingly given up on Dong-eun, the woman he really loves, and leaves the country in order to wash his hands of his ex-wife's infamy.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After being strung along by his adulterous wife, finding out that his daughter is actually the result of said wife's affair, and overall getting wrapped up in Dong-eun's revenge scheme, he heads to the UK with Ye-sol and leaves Yeon-jin far behind him.
Nice Guy: Compared to his wife, especially. The moments he has with Dong-eun and So-hee's mother highlight that he's nothing at all like his wife and he simply wants to know the full truth of what's happening.
Papa Wolf: Even though Ye-sol isn't his, he still clearly loves her and she's his main priority, even angrily snapping at his own wife if her past and her current actions will compromise Ye-sol's happiness. Eventually, he divorces her and moves to the UK with Ye-sol, far away from Yeon-jin. He also kills Jae-joon to keep him away from the child.
Ship Tease: With Dong-eun. He first meets her in a GO game club and seems interested in her. Of course she was planning these meetups on purpose because he's Yeon-jin's husband. After doing a match with her, he can't stop thinking about her. It probably helps because she is pretty, but is intellectual and gave unexpected answers to his questions. When he finally sees the burn scars on her arms and when she bluntly tells him she wants Yeon-jin's fall and to see him leave her, he states he won't leave his wife... but he wants to meet Dong-eun again. The director states the scene at the convenience store where he eats the same kimbap Dong-eun offered him when they first met was when Do-yeong realized he loved her.
Spotting the Thread: Little hints (Yeon-jin and Jae-joon smoking the same cigarette brand, both of them assuming Myeong-oh threatened him when he asks them about him, Ye-sol being unable to tell which of her soccer teammates is wearing pink socks, etc.) throughout the series allowed him to put two and two together about his wife's affair and true colours, leading him to divorce and abandon her completely.

Ha Ye-sol

Played by: Oh Ji-yul

Yeon-jin's daughter. She is a part of Class 1-2 of Semyeong Elementary School, which is "coincidentally" the same class Dong-eun teaches.

Break the Cutie: The poor girl witnesses Jae-joon brutally beat up a teacher in front of her eyes, later becomes convinced that her parents are fighting because of her, and eventually discovers her mother is a sociopathic monster, to her disgust.
Broken Pedestal: She eventually learns about Yeon-jin's crimes and is rightfully furious and disgusted at her mother.
Like Mother, Like Daughter: She almost falls into this as it's implied her mother intends to groom her to be just like her. But, thankfully her stepdad divorces her mom, thus it's not too late for him to raise and educate her well to become a decent person.
Morality Pet: To Jae-joon, as she's actually his biological daughter. When she's around, Jae-joon noticeably tries to watch his language and his actions, with him even getting horrified when she sees him beat up her teacher Mr Chu to a bloody pulp.
Nice Girl: She's naturally sweet, kind and polite most of the time. Dong-eun even states she's everything Yeon-jin pretends to be.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: The only time she's shown this was when she threw her laptop into a bathtub after being unable to tell the difference between a red apple and a green one. All while staring at it in the water blankly. Like parents, like daughter. Thankfully, Yeon-jin and Jae-joon are removed from her life before this can escalate further.
You Are Not My Father: She disowns her mother after learning that she is an unrepentant and violent bully.

Other Characters

Jung Mi-hee

Played by: Park Ji-ah

Dong-eun's abusive and alcoholic mother.

Abusive Parents: She is an extremely evil and pathetic excuse of a mother to Dong-eun, abandoning her, stealing her money, ruining her job, and even burning down her apartment.
The Alcoholic: She's seen drunk or acting in a loud and obnoxious manner in most of her scenes, and it's heavily implied she used her bribe money solely for booze since her situation doesn't seem any better in the present before Yeon-Jin reaches out to her again.
A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Mi-hee all too happily gave her signature to a settlement that absolved her daughter's bullies in favour of making her daughter's withdrawal reason "maladjustment," for a hefty bribe by Yeon-jin's mother. Dong-eun later gives her signature to commit Mi-hee to a mental facility.
Ax-Crazy: By far, the single most deranged character in the series, beating out even the likes of Yeon-jin and Jae-joon (whose sole redeeming qualities seem to be their genuine love and care for their biological daughter Ye-sol). She goes as far as to set an apartment on fire for no other reason than to torment Dong-eun (which would be a grave mistake for her later on). She's later committed to a mental facility after being diagnosed with alcohol dependency and intermittent explosive disorder.
Evil Redhead: Dyes her greying hair a garish bright orange before coming back into Dong-eun's life again to ruin it on Yeon-jin's orders.
Hate Sink: She is every bit as evil and despicable as the bullies, with absolutely no good qualities whatsoever.
Hoist by Her Own Petard: Her attempt to burn down Dong-Eun's apartment was recorded by a hidden camera set up by Yeo-jeong. This provides the evidence needed for a doctor to diagnose her with alcoholism, intermittent explosive disorder, and the need for a lengthy (if not permanent) stay in a mental facility which is approved by Dong-eun.
Hypocrite: When she gets institutionalized by her own daughter, she angrily lashes out, yelling how could she do this to her own mother. She should ask that to herself when she let her daughter's bullies harm her and take bribes from them just to get money to sate her addiction.
The Heavy: While she's not the Big Bad, she is the biggest threat to Dong-eun's plans, and Dong-eun's defeats early on are because of her. When she's finally disposed of, Dong-eun's plans go through very smoothly.
Lower-Class Lout: She's loud, rude and obnoxious while sober, nevermind when she's drunk. She's also not above stealing Dong-eun's money for her own use and attempting to burn down her apartment tto make her beg for forgiveness she doesn't deserve.
Parental Betrayal: She won't hesitate to harm and betray her daughter just to get her kicks.
Super-Persistent Predator: Openly gloats to Dong-eun that no matter where she runs to, she will find her. Dong-eun finally manages to dispose of her once and for all by permanently locking her up in an insane asylum.

Kim Kyung-ran

Played by: Ahn So-yo

A girl that works at the boutique owned by Jae-joon.

All for Nothing: It's implied she broke off her friendship with Dong-eun after the latter became a bully victim so she wouldn't become a target as well. She ended up becoming one anyway once Dong-eun dropped out of high school, well into adulthood.
Broken Bird: She became the next target of the bullies after Dong-eun left and works for them years later, still subjected to their mistreatment. She's also sexually assaulted by Myeong-oh and, by the end of the series, has to live with guilt after she murders him.
The Dog Bites Back: It turns out she delivered the killing blow to a severely injured Myeong-Oh's head after Yeon-Jin left him for dead. Given that Myeong-Oh sexually assaulted her sometime before, one can hardly blame her for reacting the way she did.
Foil: To Dong-eun. They were both victims of the bullies when they were teenagers but, while Dong-eun kept a distance from them before she came back for vengeance, Kyung-ran works under them in her adulthood, which makes her still a target for them, and she doesn't seem able to find a way out of this until Dong-eun shows up. Also, while Dong-eun doesn't care about leading her targets to their death, she never causes them directly. Kyung-ran, on the other hand, murders Myeong-oh and despite saying that he didn't deserve to live, she feels guilty for having his blood on her hands.
Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Implied to be the case when she tearfully thanks Dong-eun for helping her and apologizes for abandoning her when the latter was bullied in high school. Dong-eun simply responds that she's not helping her as much as she is framing Yeon-jin and points out that her punishment is to bear the guilt she feels from killing Myeong-oh. However, she does advise Kyung-ran to move on and not dwell on the past before she leaves.
Sympathetic Murderer: She is revealed to be Myeong-oh's real killer seconds after the audience finds out that he sexually assaulted her.
We Used to Be Friends: She was Dong-eun's friend before she started getting bullied, after which Kyung-ran broke off their friendship. Dong-eun doesn't even bother acknowledging her presence even after running into her several times, and makes it clear she's not helping Kyung-Ran as much as she is framing Yeon-jin when she handles evidence that would link her to Myeong-Oh's murder. That being said, however, she does advise Kyung-ran to move on from her own Dark and Troubled Past now that their bullies are unable to hurt them any more.

Kang Yeong-cheon

Played by: Lee Moo-saeng

A serial killer who is already in jail at the start of the show. He murdered Yeo-jeong's father.

Be Careful What You Wish For: He killed Yeo-jeong's father and sent him and his mother taunting letters from prison afterwards just so he could grab their attention, smugly confident they cannot harm him directly due to their doctor oaths. It's implied in the last episode that Yeo-jeong's attention (and revenge) will solely be on him when he becomes the newly appointed doctor to the prison he's been transferred to.
Lack of Empathy: He seems incapable of feeling bad for causing harm.
Laser-Guided Karma: The latter half of the final episode reveals that Yeo-jeong has become his prison's head doctor, he likes giving free medical care to the families of inmates who were imprisoned for sympathetic reasons, and that he's gotten some of them to torment Yeong-cheon as thanks.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Him murdering Yeo-jeong's father and subsequent taunting of his family breeds an intense desire for revenge in him. This makes him sympathetic to Dong-eun's cause and turns him into one of her most useful allies, and in turn she helps get both of them into the same prison for Yeo-jeong to exact his revenge on him.
Oh, Crap!: His face says it all when he realises Yeo-jeong is the new head doctor for the prison he's been transferred to.
Ungrateful Bastard: He murdered Yeo-jeong's father as the man was trying to save his life. Not to mention this was after numerous other doctors refused to treat his wounds due to his reputation as a serial killer.

Characters / The Glory

Dong-eun's Group