East of Eden

the business/politics side of this show is becoming an issue for me. at first, although it was confusing, it seemed fairly unimportant to the plot. now, however, i see the need to really understand all the business relationships and projects. so i will try to explain it. and then maybe someone can help me to fix my explanation, bc i will probably make errors.

okay. first of all,

the big main characters…

President Oh – myung hun’s grandfather. he is pretty much the only rich guy with good morals in the show. His company, TaeSung Group is mainly involved in construction. He has kind of disappeared, as he is now living at Jeju Island because of his health. I guess he is kind of retired.
President Min – hye rin’s father. a big guy in the newspaper industry. His newspaper, HanSeh Newspaper, is very influential. the other rich guys want him on their side so that he can say good things about them in the news. HanSeh News is currently struggling financially due to the break up of Hye Rin and Sung Hyun, which lost the financial support from Sung Hyun’s family’s company.
President Gook – young ran’s father, dong chul’s boss. his main thing is casinos and the International Hotel. He is huge in the gambling world, both with the high government officials and with the underground gang leaders. He is trying to buy TaeSung Electronics.

under them are…

Shin Tae Hwan – he expanded their construction into building a port in macao in the hopes of getting a hotel there. president gook saw this as a threat, and since then they have basically been business enemies. under him are kyung tae, myung hun, and ji hyun. Shin Tae Hwan is unbelievably driven to get power. Currently, his business is falling apart due to attacks from HK Bank (Rebecca/Nurse Yoo). He is being forced to sell a branch of his company, TaeSung Electronics.
Lee Dong Chul – i think we all know him xD As president gook’s right hand man, he led president gook’s part of the fight for the slot machines. He is now trying to gain a little independence and is attempting to purchase TaeSung Electronics. His only competiton? President Gook.

other supporting business characters…

Janice – an international lobbyist and Steven Packer’s daughter in law. she is helping shin tae hwan with the macao port project but also seems to be on President Gook’s side. She supports Dong Chul as well. As requested by Young Ran, Janice may end up helping Dong Chul finance his take over of TaeSung Electronics if he can purchase it.
Steven Packer - not really a character in the drama, but his presence is there. Mike’s father, Janice’s father in law. He is the rich powerful guy in Macao. he is incharge of the Macao Bay Project, for which shin tae hwan is in charge of constructing the port.
Mike - Young Ran’s husband. He is trying to gain all the power in Hong Kong, but that is not going well for him. He is involved in a huge fight with his siblings because they all want to inherit everything from their father.
Nurse Yoo/Rebecca – an investment bank representative for a Hong Kong bank. Obviously anti-Shin Tae Hwan, she supports Dong Chul. Nurse Yoo now has frequent business dealings with Dong Chul. She is president of HK Bank and has been buying stock in TaeSung Group (Shin Tae Hwan’s company) in an attempt to secretly take over.
Mr.Chun – originally a lawyer, he is now a high governement official. He describes it as “working at the center of power.” However, due to the change in power in the government, mr.chun has lost all his power. He still supports Dong Chul, but is no longer in a position from which he could help him.
Chancellor - He tries to help Shin Tae Hwan get casinos. He is a Shin Tae Hwan supporter. Also called “the chief,” lobbyists and opportunists “line up to talk to him” according to Shin Tae Hwan. He has kind of disappeared from the show.
Yang San Baek - called the “king of Pusan” by Dong Chul, I assume he is one of the “Pusan Big Four.” (the main gang leaders in the Pusan area.) Yang’s company controls the entire harbor in Pusan, and he is a supporter of Shin Tae Hwan. Or at least, he was one until Dong Chul bribed him over to the other side. Dong Chul offered him slot machines and a golf course, and Yang San Baek immediately joined Dong Chul’s team. No longer an important character because we are done with slot machines.
Myung Hun – named as successor to TaeSung by his grandfather, President Oh. Shin Tae Hwan put him in charge of TaeSung Electronics, which is now being sold. Poor Myung Hun.

There are other random politicians/businessmen who are bribed/bribe others. But we don’t really know them.
——————–
this is all as of episode 32. i realized it was kind of out of date. but lately there hasnt been too much business stuff really. or i left out a lot :/