‘Remarriage & Desires’ is a Korean drama revolving around a widowed woman who wants to get revenge for the wrongful death of her husband by joining a well-renowned marriage agency that connects high society.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Seo Hye-seung was in a happy marriage with her husband, Kang Nam-sik for many years and even had a daughter together. However, Nam-sik throws all that down the drain after having an affair with a lawyer at the corporation he was working at.
That lawyer, Jin Yoo-hui, is embezzling funds from the company and she was using Nam-sik as the scapegoat for her crimes. When the company faces an audit and her crimes appear to catch up to her, she pins it all on Nam-sik and accuses him of rape.
Choi Myeong-woo was the chairman of another company that Nam-sik’s company acquired and Yoo-hui convinces him to lie that Nam-sik had accepted bribes from him when in reality, that money went to Yoo-hui instead.
All of these allegations cause Nam-sik’s life to fall apart around him and he commits suicide. Because of his tarnished reputation, Hye-seung is forced to give up all their possessions including their house and car.
Hye-seung is forced to move to a smaller place and is just getting by while raising her daughter by herself. Her mother signs her up with the REX marriage agency, a high-profile club that matches people together, even divorcees and widowers.
Yoo-hui also joins the club because she wants to find a rich and successful husband so that she can live an easy life. She’s willing to go to any lengths for what she wants and bribes her manager to give her an edge when matches are made.
Lee Hyung-ju is the CEO of a very successful gaming company and a divorcee as well. His mother approaches the CEO of REX, Choi Yoo-sun, to find a match for Hyung-ju.
Once word spreads that Hyung-ju is a potential match, the sharks begin to circle. Yoo-hui makes it her mission to win over Hyung-ju, while there’s also a political angle that comes forward.
Congressman Son Pil-young is a frontrunner for the Presidential elections in Korea and his secretary, Ae-ran, meets with Ms Choi to get her daughter, Jing Mi-jin, to the front of the line for Hyung-ju.
Yoo-hui is also Pil-young’s illegitimate daughter and she takes this information to Ms Choi to get her some favours as well. Ms Choi is a businesswoman who only cares about her agency and is ready to make choices that benefit her regardless of the client’s history.
When Hye-seung finds out that Yoo-hui is a member of REX, she’s insistent on getting revenge and making sure that Yoo-hui suffers the same way that she did. She constantly tries to thwart her efforts to win over Hyung-ju.
Yoo-hui is married to Chairman Cha Yong-hwan, the head of a very big company. She’s after his net worth and has been playing the long game, waiting for the right moment to strike. The reemergence of his son, Cha Seok-jin, proves to be an obstacle in her path.
Seok-jin is a professor who works with Mi-jin at the same university. Hye-seung is also an adjunct professor at that university and she and Seok-jin were a couple when they were in college before he suddenly left to study abroad.
Hye-seung, Yoo-hui, Hyung-ju, Mi-jin and Seok-jin are all members of the REX club and meet each other during an eventful masquerade party. Mi-jin and Yoo-hui try to win over Hyung-ju while Hye-seung is there to embarrass Yoo-hui.
She misses out on her chance but makes an impression on Hyung-ju. Through various circumstances, she becomes close to Hyung-ju but Yoo-hui tries everything she can to hinder this union. So many different factors contribute to a very difficult life for Hye-seung.
The only people looking out for her are Seok-jin who is still in love with her after all these years, and Hyung-ju who has fallen in love with her after spending so much time with her.
Even after Yoo-hui’s truth about embezzlement comes out, she’s released thanks to congressman Son’s influence and she tries to use that influence to bring down Hyung-ju and Hye-seung after they caused her initial arrest.
Remarriage & Desires ending explained in detail:
Does congressman Son become president?
After Hye-seung finds out that Yoo-hui is the illegitimate daughter of the congressman, she goes to him and tells him to make sure she rots in prison for everything she’s done.
He’s more focused on his political career and asks Ae-ran to have Hye-seung killed. Hye-seung makes a deal with Ae-ran and convinces her that killing her won’t be beneficial so Ae-ran turns on the congressman.
The evidence that the congressman was involved in attempted murder leaks out and he is arrested by the police, bringing the curtain down on his career.
Does Jin Yoo-hui get what she desires?
Jin Yoo-hui goes too far in her quest to hurt Hye-seung after she hires someone to hurt Hye-seung’s daughter, sending the young girl to the hospital.
She also orchestrates a hit job on Hyung-ju’s reputation causing his company’s stocks to fall drastically and leaving his future as the CEO of the company on unsteady grounds.
She tells Hyung-ju that the only way to stop all this is to marry her, and has congressman Son back her up. He invites her to a hall that’s set up for a press conference so that he can announce their marriage. He also arranges for her to get dressed up in a very grand outfit.
When the reporters gather, Hyung-ju reveals the news breaking of congressman Son being accused of attempted murder and with it, the news that Yoo-hui is his daughter and plotted with him to defame him and his company.
She is sent to jail where Hye-seung tells her to repent for her sins but Yoo-hui claims that this isn’t the end, she’s just getting started. n
Who does Seo Hye-seung end up with?
Seo Hye-seung agrees to marry Cha Seok-jin so that Ms Choi will get what she wants and help Hyung-ju fight off the accusations against Yoo-hui.
After the congressman and Yoo-hui are arrested, Hye-seung is set to be married and she meets Seok-jin at a church. While Seok-jin was initially happy with her decision, he realises that she’s doing this out of her love for Hyung-ju.
He tells her that he only wants to see her happy and graciously steps aside and Lee Hyung-ju arrives and asks her to marry him.
What happens to Ms Choi and her REX agency?
Along with the news about the congressman and Yoo-hui, it was revealed that the REX agency was involved in their schemes and had intimate knowledge but didn’t do anything about it.
Ms Choi is successful in getting her husband’s company after making a deal with Seok-jin but REX has to be shut down.
As she’s getting ready to leave the place for one last time, she’s visited by a young stranger who tells her that he needs her services and that she can use this as a chance to begin anew.
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