Perfect Crown (21세기 대군부인)

THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION

CHILD ACTORS AND ANIMALS WERE FILMED SAFELY

The unyielding throne of Joseon

stood firm for 600 years…

Before fading under the constitutional monarchy.

Though its prestige endured, it became largely ceremonial.

Power became class.

Class became hereditary.

And it held on…

Tenaciously.

Make way, make way.

I said, move.

2009 ROYAL ACADEMY SPRING EXAM RANKING

SEONG HUIJU, JUJAK HOUSE

RYU MINSEOK, CHEONGNYONG HOUSE

It's that brat again?

You said you'd win.

And yet you lost again.

Only fools flail desperately over trifles.

Aren't you exhausted yet?

Hmm?

Was it hard for you?

I didn't find this exam difficult at all.

You've lost. Learn to accept defeat.

Don't run your mouth and embarrass yourself.

You're not even a noble.

Know your place.

Watch your mouth, you noble prick.

Do you want to be written up?

Damn it.

You should put some effort into it next time, Minseok.

Okay?

How is it you lose every single time?

You're an esteemed nobleman, after all.

Just look at this mess of a uniform.

Is Huiju the top laureate for the ninth grade again?

Yes, sir.

The morale in Jujak House must be through the roof.

Everyone's spirits are high.

Seong Huiju.

- Yes? - Are you aware of our founding philosophy?

- Pardon? - Why the Crown established this school.

Well…

Equal opportunity and…

That's right. Equal opportunity was very much the objective.

Seonggyungwan is great and all,

but limiting admission to noblemen's sons has obvious limits.

Right.

Do you know who invented this?

That's right.

A masterpiece of its era, commissioned by King Sejong

and crafted by Jang Yeongsil.

Isn't it?

He may have been the son of a courtesan,

but he had a brilliant mind.

Here. Take this.

PERFECT CROWN

EPISODE 1

You said we'd win,

but we lost.

Lost?

We remain the industry leader,

and we also ranked first in the preference survey.

You know how underhanded their promotional tactics can be.

They're offering 50% off as part of their launch event.

And you know Lee Yungyeong, who made a comeback?

They managed to create some buzz with that celebrity endorsement.

So,

you're confirming we lost

in terms of sales.

My apologies, ma'am.

Let's start digging.

Who shall we dig into exactly?

Don't tell me you want us to dig into their CEO.

That's asking for trouble.

That would be a complete waste of time.

Of course.

Lee Yungyeong turned us down and became their spokesperson.

Dig into her.

Understood. Pardon?

When a single ad blows up like this, there are bound to be issues.

Where there are issues, trouble follows.

It shouldn't be too difficult to spin them into a full-blown media storm.

No… …it shouldn't be difficult, but…

If it's not difficult, then do it.

Play dirty and cheap.

- Yes, ma'am. - Logistics.

Yes, ma'am.

I'm the logistics manager.

What?

You two could be twins.

Anyhow, let's cut outbound volume.

- By half. - That much?

Spark fear of missing out in consumers and push the products to sell out.

Make it go viral.

As quickly and loudly as possible.

- Yes, ma'am. - Wait, hold on.

That's not as easy as it sounds. The units have already been produced.

- Toss them. - Pardon?

Bury them or burn them.

The possibilities are endless.

But we'd take a huge loss…

Gosh, look at our logistics manager.

Sounds like you save every penny just to pinch it harder.

Yeah. My goodness.

I hope all that saving makes you ridiculously rich.

I will decide

what I do with my money.

- Whose phone is that? - Unbelievable.

That's five minutes. We're done.

Hold on. We have one more item.

Traffic downtown is already nuts. You don't want to be late.

I get it!

Why did His Majesty have to be born today of all days?

You all know I'll be at the palace today.

I'll be drumming up some serious buzz for us.

So I expect all of you

to work just as hard.

- Yes, ma'am. - Of course.

What exactly should we...

Write up articles. Articles.

- Articles. - Yes. Articles.

Articles…

"Castle Group successor gets invited to His Majesty's Royal Birthday Banquet."

Killer headline, don't you think?

You're the successor now?

- No. - Then why did you lie?

The ones who claim they're all that rarely are.

They all say it, hoping to will it into existence.

Do you know nothing about PR?

THE ROYAL FAMILY GATHERS FOR THE KING'S ROYAL BIRTHDAY

…PREPARES FOR A ROYAL CELEBRATION…

ROYAL BIRTHDAY BANQUET AT GYEONGBOKGUNG PALACE…

Your Royal Highness, you must make haste.

- Your Royal Highness! - Excuse me.

I'll handle it from here. You all can go.

Your Royal Highness, it is Hyeon.

Come in.

Your Royal Highness.

Have you prepared a gift?

After seeing blood all morning…

…I remain fervid.

Fervid, I see.

- Shall I get you some tea? - No.

- I need to catch up on sleep. - Wait.

Your Royal Highness,

as if hunting today were not bad enough, now you wish to take a nap?

That will not do.

- I mean, out of all days... - Choi Hyeon.

Aide Choi Hyeon.

But today is His Majesty's Royal Birthday Banquet!

Please wave this way!

- Look over here! - Please look over here!

I'm currently standing outside the palace,

where the Royal Birthday Banquet is being held.

Distinguished guests of the royal family

are arriving one after another.

Ms. Seong, please look over here!

Did Seong Huiju really wear red to come to the palace?

You know she's a clout chaser.

Can't deny she's beautiful.

- Go on. Take pictures. - All right.

Get to work.

All right! Ms. Seong has grabbed their attention.

What do we do now?

Now we begin!

Go on! Get to it! Hurry up!

We must sell out of everything she's wearing!

Type faster!

Find all the photos and articles she's featured in.

You will find them if you look.

You must keep searching, and you must type faster.

That's the spirit! We can do this, people!

We are Castle Group!

SEONG HUIJU'S RED SUIT STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT

RETHINKING RED SUITS NOW…

…SOLD OUT ALREADY…

THE CUT OF THAT SUIT IS INSANE!

Seong Huiju's suit! Seong Huiju's bag!

Seong Huiju's shoes!

That's so pretty.

Those are just too cute. I can't even.

Sold out!

SHE WEARS IT, IT SELLS OUT

"Castle Group successor gets invited

to His Majesty's Royal Birthday Banquet."

Have you been well?

That's her, right?

- The second child of Castle Group? - Second? As if.

They didn't even know she existed until she was ten.

What do you mean?

The mistress raised her,

and when she was about ten,

she was sent to Chairman Seong.

A commoner, born out of wedlock, no less?

Yeah.

That would explain her various shortcomings.

No sense of honor or dignity.

Obnoxious and without a shred of sense.

So on and so forth.