Kim Gyeong-Ran is one of the victims of bullying by the same group of monstrous students who torment the show’s protagonist, Moon Dong-Eun. As The Glory proceeds, Gyeong-Ran’s role grows more and more in prominence.
Moon Dong-Eun serves as the central protagonist of The Glory, with her story of revenge being the plot in focus. However, as the story moves forward, it’s revealed that she was not the only victim of her bullies.
Throughout the show, a total of three victims are shown, one of whom ends up dying as a direct result of the bullying, while one tries to die and fails, and the third one — Kim Gyeong-Ran — can’t escape her bullies even as an adult, until she does.
The third victim
It’s revealed early on in The Glory, that the bullies — Park Yeon-Jin, Lee Sa-Ra, Jeon Jae-Jun, Hye-Jeong, and Myeong-O — used to torture another girl before Moon Dong-Eun became their daily subject of torment.
Before Moon Dong-Eun, it was Yoon So-Hee who received the absolute worst from the group of bullies, and fate would also have the worst for her out of all bullying victims, as Yeon-Jin would end up killing her after bullying her one night.
After Dong-Eun was done being the victim and left school, she was replaced as the group’s punching bag by her former friend, Kim Gyeong-Ran. She would now receive all the abuse that Dong-Eun before her, and So-Hee before Dong-Eun received.
A trauma inescapable
Kim Gyeong-Ran isn’t able to escape her tormenters even when she grows up, as she works for Park Yeon-Jin, as her daughter’s caretaker as well as the Siesta shop clerk.
It was the same Yeon-Jin who bullied and tortured her during their school days and even if Gyeong-Ran isn’t abused like before, her job is anything but dignified. However, she wishes to make the most of it.
Gyeong-Ran’s inability to move on and move away from her bullies might as well be a consequence of her still being mentally stuck in her high school days. She has never quite mustered up the courage to rebel as Dong-Eun did.
Meanwhile, Gyeong-Ran is also incredibly regretful of the past, of the distance that she started keeping between herself and Dong-Eun when the latter was being bullied by the group.
The two used to be friends once but when Dong-Eun approached her after getting bullied, Gyeong-Ran distanced herself from Dong-Eun, most probably out of fear of the group, which did eventually come to be true.
In the present day, Kim Gyeong-Ran meets Dong-Eun and Apologizes to her for her treatment back in that day during their high school. Dong-Eun asks her to leave that gallery in the past and leave that past behind her, just like she did.
Overcoming past & pain
By the end of The Glory, Kim Gyeong-Ran ends up overcoming much of her trauma by taking a little revenge of her own.
She does it by inflicting damage on three of her bullies — Jae-Jun, Myeong-O, and Yeon-Jin. In the case of Myeong-O, it’s Gyeong-Ran who deals him the final blow that takes him out and kills him for good.
In the case of Jae-Jun, it’s she who meddles with the proof and hands him the wrong piece of the hard drive when he wishes to find the footage of the Siesta shop changing room.
Finally, in the case of Yeon-Jin, Gyeong-Ran hides the liquor bottle that the former uses to attack and kill Myeong-O. This liquor bottle is later planted back at the scene of the crime as Dong-Eun tips off the police about it, leading to Park Yeon-Jin’s arrest.
Also Read: The Glory part 2 ending explained: Does Dong-Eun get her revenge?