Overview of Cinderella and the Four Knights
‘Cinderella and the Four Knights’ is a South Korean television series directed by Kwon Hyuk-chan and Lee Min-woo, starring Park So-dam, Jung Il-woo, Ahn Jae-hyun, Lee Jung-shin, Choi Min, and Son Na-eun.
A bright and good-hearted high schooler Eun Ha-won (Park So-dam) is sent to live with three wealthy entitled, young men who happen to be cousins, in the hope she can mould them into better people. Ha-won is hired by the three young men’s grandfather and, in need of money for her college education, she embarks on this interesting and sensitive journey.
Profile
- Drama: ‘Cinderella and the Four Knights’
- Directors: Kwon Hyuk-chan and Lee Min-woo
- Writers: Min Jin-eun and Won Young-sil
- Network: tvN
- Episodes: 16
- Release Date: 12 August 2016 –1 October 2016
- Language: Korean
- Country: South Korea
Cast
Main
Cinderella
Park So-dam as Eun Ha-won
A bright, athletic high school student. Ever since her mother died, she feels lonely and lives a terrible home life because of the ill-treatment from her stepmother and stepsister. For funding her college downpayment, Ha-won accepts an invitation to the Sky House and gets entangled with the Kang cousins.
She met Kang Ji-woon (one of the Kang cousins) at their mothers’ funerals and exchanged warm gestures of kindness. She gave him her white ribbon hairpin and he gave her his white armband. Their friendship was a brief one, and they were unable to recognize each other when reunited after 10 years. Being the absolute perfect mix of sweet, cheerful, and strong, Ha-won works through her difficulties with a positive attitude.
The Four Knights
The middle cousin went from an orphan living in poverty to royalty overnight. Covering up with wild and rebellious nature on the outside, Ji-woon is a soft-hearted, extremely lonely and sensitive person on the inside. He makes advances towards Ha-won in order to protect Hye-ji, who likes Hyun-min.`
However, getting to know Ha-won makes him fall in love with her. Ji-woon originally met Ha-won at his mother’s funeral at Ha-won’s mother’s funeral, and gave words of comfort and his white armband to her, while she gave him her white ribbon hairpin. It shows that their friendship was a brief one as they could not recognize each other when they were reunited after 10 years.
Ahn Jae-hyun as Kang Hyun-min
The eldest cousin is a haughty playboy who thinks he deserves everything. He is adamant that he can win any woman. He initially shows interest in Ha-won and poses as her fiancé. He is still in love with Hye-ji, his childhood buddy and the sister of his deceased best friend, but he keeps it a secret and decides to push her away because of his traumatic trauma.
As the moment arrives, he acknowledges his stupidity in pushing Hye-ji away, repents to her, and returns to his first true love. He has a troubled relationship with his mother due to her constant pressure to be Haneul Group’s successor, and abandoning him when he was young.
The youngest cousin, a popular singer-songwriter. He is a sweet, playful guy who is affectionate towards Ha-won and starts developing feelings for her. He is sensible and gives up his first love as he becomes aware of Ha-won and Ji-woon’s relationship. In the final episodes, it is hinted that he possibly ends up with Ja-yeong.
Choi Min as Lee Yoon-sung
Assumed as the fourth knight Yoo-sung is Chairman Kang’s secretary and bodyguard to the three Kang cousins and Ha-won. He treats Ha-won nicely and assists her in coping with her new surroundings at Sky House.
He defends the Haneul Group by voting against Chairman Kang’s removal, going against Chairman Kang’s fifth wife, who turns out to be his mother. He has a hard time letting go and having fun, but Ha-won can bring out that merry part of him every now and then. He is devoted to the Kang family and does everything in his power to protect them.
People around the Four Knights
-
Son Na-eun as Park Hye-ji
-
Kim Yong-gun as Chairman Kang Jong-du
-
Kim Hye-ri as Ji Hwa-ja
Supporting
People around Cinderella
-
Seo Hyun-chul as Eun Gi-sang
-
Choi Eun-kyung as Park Soo-kyung
-
Go Bo-gyeol as Choi Yu-na
-
Cho Hye-jung as Hong Ja-yeong
Others
-
Jo Mi-ryung
-
Kang Eui-sik as Hyun-min’s friend
-
Kim Sun-woong as Hyun-min’s Friend
-
Kim Seon-woong as Hyun-min’s friend
-
Shin Dong-mi as Park Ok-seon, Ha-won’s mother
-
Jin Hye-won as Hye-ji’s friend
-
Jung Young-joo as the housemaid
-
Kim Jin-tae
-
Jo Kyung-hoon as Ji-woon’s boss
-
Kim Kang-hyun as Seo-woo’s manager
-
Lee Ah-hyun as Seo-woo’s mother
-
Son Seon-geun
-
Park Kyu-jeom as Director Kim
-
Gong Da-im
-
Park Hyo-jun as a customer in the car centre.
-
Kim Kwang-seop
-
Jo Eun-suk as Hyun-min’s mother
-
Gong Jung-hwan as Kang Young-jin
-
Jin Ju-hyung as Jun-su, Hyun-min’s friend
-
Na In-woo as Joon Soo, Hyun-min’s friend
-
Kim Ji-sung as Han Ji-seon, Ji-woon’s mother
-
Kim Young-jae as Ji-woon’s father
-
Kim In-ho as the doctor
-
Jun Hye-young
-
Kim So-hye
-
Song Ha-rim
-
Kang Seok-ho
-
Song Woo-suk
-
Kim Su-in
-
Seo Han-gyul
Special Appearances
-
Moon Se-yoon as a convenience store manager
-
Park Young-soo as Butler Kim
-
Choi Dae-sung as a man in a cloth store
-
Park Eun-ji as a TV reporter
-
Seo Bo-ik as a reporter
-
Chun Yi-seul as Kang Hyun-min’s blind date
-
Park Gwi-sun as a monk
-
Kim Dong-gyun as a plastic surgery doctor
-
Hyun Suk-hee as an orphanage’s headmaster
-
Choi Kyu-hwan as Carry Hong
Park So-dam as Eun Ha-won and Jung Il-woo as Kang Ji-woon in “Cinderella and the Four Knights” (2016). Credit: Pinterest
Synopsis
Life is not at its best pace for resolute high schooler, Eun Ha-won (Park So-dam). After losing her mother in a tragic accident ten years ago, she finds herself alone in the world. Ha-won’s absent father Eun Gi-sang (Seo Hyun-chul), who is a truck driver, is distant and cold to her for some unknown reason. Living with her stepmother and step-sister, Ha-won receives the meanest and coldest treatment from them.
Ha-won is a bright student and dreams to become a teacher. Ha-won’s stepmother steals her college funds and she is left to toil away at part-time jobs in order to meet her college downpayment. Nearing closer to her goal, she learns that her dear mother’s urn was removed from the cemetery because of non-payment and she decides to use her savings instead. All the while, Ha-won’s stepmother and step-sister were just out-and-out ugly and cruel to her but put on a happy family face whenever Ha-won’s dad was around.
However, none of this deterred her from her goals. Always with a kind and happy attitude, she keeps on doing what she has to do and gives her best in everything she does.
Just like luck had something in store for her, one fateful day, Ha-won is hired by a rich young man named Kang Hyun-min (Ahn Jae-hyun) to be his date for his grandfather Kang Jong-du’s (Kim Yong-gun) fifth wedding.
Kang Jong-du is the Chairman of the Haneul group. At the wedding, Kang Jong-du notices Ha-won’s fiery disposition and no-nonsense personality and decides she would be the perfect live-in housekeeper for Kang Hun-min and his two cousins.
There’s a middle cousin Kang Ji-woon (Jung Il-woo), the silent brooding one, the eldest cousin Kang Hyun-min (Ahn Jae-hyun), an arrogant playboy with a penchant for smooth-talking, and the youngest cousin Kang Seo-woo (Lee Jung-shin), the sweet singer-songwriter. As Chairman Kang’s grandsons, all three are in line to be the successor, since his sons had all passed away.
Chairman Kang persuades Ha-won to move into the Sky House mansion and live with these billionaire cousins. The three cousins are stubborn and arrogant and only cohabit without ever speaking to each other. Ha-won’s task is to bring the three grandsons together under one roof as a family. In return for the favour, she is offered the opportunity to join her desired college and a hefty sum of money to secure her future by Chairman Kang.
Hesitant at first, but still desperate for money, she agrees and sets about trying to tame the three spoiled young men.
As Ha-won develops a friendship with the cousins, love starts to bloom at different paces. All three of the cousins appear to have developed feelings for her. Ha-won finds herself in the centre of the most passionate love quadrangle to ever occur in a contemporary fairy tale. Ha-won’s presence slightly becomes natural in the house and with her kindness and charming personality, she discreetly becomes the person who brings the three cousins into the same room without them realising it themselves.
Along with these interesting characters, the chairman’s secretary Lee Yoon-sung (Choi Min), who orchestrates and organises Sky House and Park Hye-ji (Son Na-eun), a girl who has been neighbours and in love with Hyun-min since childhood rounds out the chaebol lifestyle in the Sky House mansion.
Theme
Judgements are easy to make. We often arrive at conclusions without having a proper grasp of the situation. By the time, we arrive at a sense of realization of the true nature of the events, it could be too late to reverse the situation. Many lives can be built and also destroyed by the judgements, decisions and conclusions we make.
Cinderella and the Four Knights present in front of us a theme of the ‘necessity of thoughtful decisions and realizations in life.’ The series is a fluff piece on the surface but digging a few inches, we can see pearls of wisdom. Gi-sang’s (Ha-won’s father) doubts regarding his dead first wife’s fidelity explain his indifference towards his daughter. His theory was disproved by Kang Young-jin who was mistaken as Ha-won’s biological father. By the time Gi-sang realizes his wife’s sanctity, many years got wasted brooding over a misconception.
Ha-won was denied the warmth of a father’s love for no reason. However, in the end, he realizes his conclusions were groundless and there is a heart-warming conversation and union between the father and daughter. At that point, he realizes the value of the time lost and the greatness of his wife’s sacrifice.
Another relevant example the story serves to justify the theme is Chairman Kang’s realization of his mistake in forcefully severing Ji-woon’s parents based on some vain theories. His conviction in the impossibility of co-existence between people from different social classes acted as a catalyst for some of his hasty and uncompromising decisions. However, those negligent decisions were sufficient in destroying a family and leaving a child bereft. The unfairness and loneliness Jin-woo endured in his life explain his rebellious and stoic nature.
Chairman Kang’s eyes open when Jin-woon kneels down and begs to acknowledge Ha-won and their union. Chairman Kang ponders over Ji-woon’s question of whether he wants to pass down the saga of heartbreaks to the second generation as well.
He realizes the gravity of the mistake he made years back and its impact on fragmenting a happy family. He comes to the perception that ‘love and understanding’ between two people matter more than any shared social status. Upon this realization, he happily consents to the union of Ha-won and Ji-woon and makes new resolutions in his own life as well.
Awards
- 9th Korea Drama Awards(2016)
Top Excellence Award, Actor (Ahn Jae-hyun)
Global Star Award(Ahn Jae-hyun) - 7th Macau International Television Festival(2016)
Best Actor (Ahn Jae-hyun)
Interesting Facts about Cinderella and the Four Knights
- The “Sky House” in the K-Drama ‘Cinderella and the Four Knights’ is the clubhouse of the luxury golf resort South Cape Owners Club on the southern coast of Changseon Island in Namhae County in Southern Gyeongsang Province in South Korea.
- The K-Drama, ‘Cinderella and the Four Knights’ is based on a web novel with the same title published in 2011. The web novel is about a group of passionate young people living together in their 20s.
- The K-Drama ‘Cinderella and the Four Knights’ aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters like KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS.
FAQs
- Who are the directors of the K-Drama ‘Cinderella and the Four Knights’?
Kwon Hyuk-chan and Lee Min-woo. - How many episodes are there in the K-Drama ‘Cinderella and the Four Knights’?
16 episodes. - What is the genre of the K-Drama ‘Cinderella and the Four Knights’?
Romantic comedy. - What is the Instagram ID of the Park So-dam and Jung II-woo?
imsodamm – Park So-dam and jilwww – Jung II-woo.
