(Contains spoilers) Episode 16 of Korean drama Queen of Tears dropped on Netflix at around 8.15 pm India time on April 28. By then, social media was flooded with spoilers on whether Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun) survives his car accident and what shape and form the expected happy ending takes. Regardless, there are a few things that become apparent only when you see the show.
Financial fraud in Queen of Tears plot
It all begins with the creation of a slush fund, squirreled away by the patriarch of the family that owns the fictional Queens Group department store, Hong Man-dae (Kim Kap-soo).
When discovery of the slush fund seems imminent, Mo Seul-hee (Lee Mi-Suk), Hong Man-dae's companion since the death of his wife years before, offers to take the blame and go to jail in his stead. A conservatorship of some kind is signed, making Mo Seul-hee Hong Man-dae's legal guardian and heir with rights to make health decisions in case he is incapacitated. Murder and mayhem ensue, as Mo Seul-hee poisons Man-dae and takes control of his stake in the company and family wealth.
While Mo Seul-hee looks for the slush fund of 900 billion won (roughly Rs 5,432 crore), the mother and son commit more crimes to generate funds and consolidate their power over the company. To get the board members on their side, Mo Seul-hee and Yoon Eun-seong offer them unrealistic gains on land deals which they double book. They start buying up shares in the Queens Group. They also plant informers within the conglomerate family, to get information on deeds and decisions.
Mo Seul-hee then finds the slush fund of 900 billion won (roughly Rs 5,432 crore). She could have easily made off with the cash, except she wanted prestige as well as wealth - the income inequality that is at the heart of Squid Game plays out here as well, as Mo Seul-hee articulates: this is her time to live the life of luxury. She hopes to become chairperson and instate her son Yoon Eun-seong (Park Sung Hoon) in a position of power in the company.
The duo partners with a shell company to launder the slush fund and buy even shares from non-institutional investors. Towards the end, the mother-son duo acquires an additional 13.3 percent stake to surpass the Hong family's holding to become majority shareholders. It is then that Baek Hyun-woo takes Mo Seul-hee to court to nullify this stake sale.
How Queen of Tears ends
Early in the show, we found out that Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won) had an inoperable brain tumour. As the episodes unfold, treatment options are presented, weighed and then finally accepted despite the cost - not just in terms of money, but also memories: because Hong Hae-in must undergo an operation that affects the part of the brain that store memories, she must re-remember everything.
This does two things in the show: First, it offers Yoon Eun-seung one last chance to win over Hong Hae-in, the love of his life, even if it is through trickery. And, as Hong Hae-in re-remembers her past, it helps her recontextualize problems that seemed insurmountable before.
And as Secretary Na (Yoon Bomi) says, in the end, love, loyalty, friendship win out. Everyone gets their happily ever after. Hong Hae-in, despite being diagnosed with terminal cancer at the start of the show, lives to almost 84. When she dies in 2074, Baek Hyun-woo visits her grave - ostensibly in the German town where they honeymooned and rediscovered their love for each other. It all ends in a touching refrain - it's all doable, and bearable, as long as we are together.
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