Lim Ji-yeon was captured as a runaway slave by the Office of Special Affairs.
In the JTBC weekend drama ‘The Tale of Lady Ok’ (written by Park Ji-sook, directed by Jin Hyuk and Choi Bo-yoon), which aired on the 19th, Ok Tae-young (played by Lim Ji-yeon) and Cheon Seung-hwi (played by Choo Young-woo) faced a shocking crisis of identity revelation. As a result, the viewership ratings recorded 10.8% in the metropolitan area and 9.8% nationwide, with the peak rating reaching 11.5% in the metropolitan area and a target rating of 3.8% among viewers aged 20-49, making it the number one show across all channels on Sunday (according to Nielsen Korea's paid household data).
Ok Tae-young realized that the recent Man-su-sam incident was connected to Park Jun-ki (played by Choi Jung-woo), with whom she has had a long-standing feud since the illegal ginseng harvesting incident at Unbong Mountain seven years ago. On the other hand, Park Jun-ki attempted to exploit the information that Ok Tae-young was a runaway slave to seize her weakness, but he ended up losing ground in the power struggle with the people of Cheongsuhyeon.
Meanwhile, Ok Tae-young and Cheon Seung-hwi found a way to save the starving people of Cheongsuhyeon. They discovered that the herb they had been raising at Ok Tae-young's house was a valuable medicinal herb through the unintentional capture of the real Heo-soon (played by Yoon Byeong-hee). Therefore, the two decided to distribute the herb for free to the townspeople in an effort to revive the struggling Cheongsuhyeon.
Ok Tae-young and Cheon Seung-hwi even secured a sales contract for the herb in Hanyang, but they found themselves in a precarious situation where they could lose all the valuable herbs due to the schemes of the local governor Kim Nak-soo (played by Lee Seo-hwan) and Park Jun-ki, who caught the scent of money. Kim Nak-soo attempted to seize the land where the people of Cheongsuhyeon were cultivating the herb by creating forged documents for his own profit, but Ok Tae-young discovered evidence from her late father-in-law Seong Gyu-jin's (played by Seong Dong-il) belongings that proved this was false, and the land finally returned to its rightful owner.
However, this was not the end. Cheon Seung-hwi, along with the local officials, petitioned for the impeachment of Kim Nak-soo, who had not hesitated to commit harsh acts against the people and even forged official documents to exploit them. As a result, Kim Nak-soo was captured and taken away, ultimately meeting his demise during the execution of his sentence. In this way, Cheon Seung-hwi took the lead in delivering a satisfying sense of justice, relieving the long-standing grievances of his wife Ok Tae-young and providing a sense of catharsis to the viewers.
Thus, it seemed that the two had successfully wrapped everything up, but they soon faced the biggest problem they never wanted to confront. Suddenly, the officials from the Office of Special Affairs barged into their home, calling out, “Criminal Song Seo-in and Gu Deok, come out immediately to receive your summons,” mentioning Ok Tae-young and Cheon Seung-hwi's past names, and Ok Tae-young signaled Cheon Seung-hwi to escape before being captured alone.
The people of Cheongsuhyeon were shocked to see Ok Tae-young, who had selflessly helped them, being captured, and Cheon Seung-hwi watched from a distance, writhing in agony. While it was known that Ok Tae-young was a runaway slave, suspicions arose that the ruthless actions of Park Jun-ki were strategically exploiting this fact. As Ok Tae-young and Cheon Seung-hwi found themselves cornered, all eyes were on what choice they would make.
The JTBC weekend drama ‘The Tale of Lady Ok’ will air its 15th episode on the 25th at 10:30 PM.
[Kim So-yeon, Star Today Reporter]
