Star-studded child cast. That isn’t an overstatement. We have moon girl, killer boy, young Bi Dam, Jin Sae Yun’s child version, and reluctant Maru-oppa.

One thing I’m griping at this drama is the ridiculous amount of characters, children to be specific. Fathers have son, son has sisters, sister has little sister, and little sister has a pregnant mother! Gee! If I messed up some names in here, forgive and inform!

Plot Summary:

The Big Betrayal: Every makjang drama has this, which sets off a chain of events such as baby-switching, parents dying, and ultimately years and years of separation. The parent who’s going to die in the first five minutes is a world-renowned petroleum scientist, Yoon Hak Soo (Sun Woo Jae Duk) because his trusted hyung, Jang Do Hyun (Lee Duk Hwa), wants to possess his scientific findings for selfish reasons. In the end, he kills Hak Soo, with their helpless friend, Park Gi Chul (Kim Gyu Chul), witnessing the murder and pleadingly begs for mercy, “I will do anything that you ask from now on.” Thus begins Butler Park’s days of dirty-hand work, like an unwilling minion.

As if the death of her husband isn’t enough of a shock, Do Hyun wants to crush the hopes of Hak Soo’s wife, Lee Geum Hee (Yang Mi Kyung), by ordering Butler Park to make her young daughter, Yoo Jin, disappear. Fortunately, Butler Park has a conscience and instead he sends the 3-year girl to his army friend, Chun Hong Chul (Ahn Nae Sang), to be raised as his daughter, outside of the prosperous city of Ulsan. As for Geum Hee, the miserable woman is lured into Do Hyun’s manipulative, bloody grip. His wife died some years ago, leaving two young kids behind. He appeals to her child-less motherhood and she accepts to be the mother of his children. So messed up.

11 years later. With his debts piling up, Hong Chul is forced to enter Ulsan with his family to seek help from Butler Park. Little Yoo Jin is now called Chun Hae Joo (Kim Yoo Jung), the middle child; her older brother is a lazy good-for-nothing kid, Chun Sang Tae (Kim Dong Hyun), and their youngest sister is named Young Joo. She’s adorable. Is something missing? Ah! Why yes, of course, we can’t NOT have a loud-mouthed, mean-spirited stepmother, Jo Dal Soon (Geum Bora), thrown into the mix to make our heroine’s life pitiful. The more she despises Hae Joo, thinking that this girl is the evidence of his husband’s infidelity, the more Hong Chul adores her. Why not? Hae Joo is the cookie cutter of a perfect daughter. She’s positive, hard-working, and thoughtful.

New home. New school. New friends. First, let’s talk about the girls since they’re always interesting (read: catty). It’s Hae Joo’s first day of class and she meets Jang Do Hyun’s little princess, Jang In Hwa (Hyun Seung Min) the one who can’t see past her shiny, golden nose. Because she’s a pearl in her dad’s hand, everyone is naturally on her side, even the teacher punishes Hae Joo alone for slapping In Hwa while the little spoiled brat gets away for starting the slapping shenanigan first.

I rolled my eyes in this scene and sometimes at Hae Joo. Why are writers so keen in making their heroine so PURFECT? As in she delivers speeches about not wasting food, she’s super nice, she’s hardworking, she never complains, and she skips meals for her family’s sake. WHY so purfect?

The boys (many of them!): This is my favorite scene in episode 1. While Hae Joo deals with the bratty In Hwa, her brother, Sang Tae, is faced with In Hwa’s big brother, Jang Il Moon (Seo Young Joo). Like brother like sister, Il Moon has an ongoing competition for the coveted first spot in math against Butler Park’s son, Park Chang Hee (Park Gun Tae). Butler Park places all his hopes and pride in Chang Hee, and the poor boy sadly becomes his father’s best plan to get out of his oppressing life under Jang Do Hyun. Do you see where this is going?

Since Il Moon is the class president, he gets to order the boys around, and abuses his power and superiority to assign cleaning jobs for Chang Hee, who has recently ranked first again. Chang Hee is a studious kid, but his being Butler Park’s son makes him feel inferior to Il Moon, who is the son of his father’s boss. What else could he do? He can’t make life harder for his dad and so he quietly accepts all forms of humiliation and verbal bullying.

Just when we think this is a cliché scene for every high-school, a head pops up from his daydream (I seriously didn’t notice his divine sleeping position at all). Meet the boy whose expertise is sleeping in class, Kang San (Park Ji Bin). Unexpectedly, all the boys, including snotty Il Moon turns their volume down several notches and gulps in fear as Kang San complains, “Let me sleep! Do you guys not have any feelings for me? Imagine if you were woken up just before you’re about kiss, would you like that?” Turns out this cheeky boy is the grandson of Kang Dae Pyung (Go In Bum), the big leader in the shipbuilding industry.

The Love Triangle: Is going to kill me. So good. Could these kids play their parts forever? Because once Chang Hee grows up, I know I’m going to lean toward Kim Jae Won’s Kang San. I like Park Gun Tae’s portrayal of Chang Hee. He’s pitch perfect for characters like this (look-wise, similar to his role as Yeo Woon in Warrior Baek Dong Soo). Character that requires one to look fragile yet determined, beautiful yet tragic. I can see why Hae Joo would fall for him first, he’s quiet and aloof, a whole border of difference from her bright personality. As for Park’s acting, there are fine moments and scenes of rawness, I have no major complaints; he did well in that pour-water-for-my-father scene. It’s different if Il Moon were bullying him, but seeing your parent’s integrity being trampled over and over again, which kid could keep a sane mind?

Moving on with Kang San, you can’t hate this kid, he’s naturally adorable and charming, and I can tell he feels strongly for Hae Joo already. What’s more that I appreciate is he admires her because she’s gutsy and skilled, he sees potential in her nimble hands and wants to groom that talent. He acts like a kid CEO. heh.

The other highlights were scenes of Hae Joo and her foster father, Hong Chul. It breaks my heart that he desperately wants to point her to the right direction but he’s struggling against the crashing waves, “But father has lost his way.” His inability to get a decent job and his selfless conviction to love a child of not his own gets me right here (❤).

Yes, I’m going to keep watching for the kids. Ships, boats, I have no interest in.