Strong Girl Nam-soon is a much-awaited spinoff series from the Strong Girl Do Bong-soon universe. The characters in the new series feature an entirely new cast. So if you've started watching Strong Girl Nam-soon, you might be wondering where Hwang Geum-ju's wealth comes from.
And there are lots of good reasons to ask this, especially since the show presents her as a billionaire with humble roots. But from the start, their family wasn't well off. They didn't grow up with rich parents. So how did Geum-ju become so rich?
Where Does Hwang Geum-ju's Wealth Come From?
In one of the episodes of Strong Girl Nam-soon, Seo Jun-hee (played by Jeong Bo-seok) asks Gil Joong-gan (played by Kim Hae-sook) this question.
Mrs. Gil explained that the hotel and restaurant they were at were part of Geum-ju's businesses. She also explains that all of her daughter's properties have a Hangover Soup restaurant to honor the family's roots.
Joong-gan knew Geum-ju was never good at school so she allowed her to stop studying. Joong-gan took her daughter to her Majang-dong butcher shop to handle the money at the counter. She found out that money is what her daughter understood.
After high school, Joong-gan gave Geum-ju a hundred million Won for college and everything she earned from the butcher shop. She was allowed to do as she pleased with that money.
Geum-ju promised to turn that money into a billion within three years and in five or four years, another five billion. Joong-gan originally thought she would do it through insider trading or tax fraud.
Geum-ju shared her plans to buy all the beef bones at the butcher shop for her Hangover Soup joint, which cost 30 million Won.
The other 30 million Won was used to buy stock. She also bought a forest with the rest of the money. The Hangover Soup restaurant was a success.
Meanwhile, the stock that she purchased increased by 10 times in three years. As for the forest, a developer purchased it to build an apartment complex. She didn't just sell the forest, she built the high-rise and founded her own construction company on her own.
By the age of 24, Geum-ju had a net worth of 10 billion. Joong-gan returned the money that Geum-ju gave her to invest in her daughter. She told Geum-ju to return 10 billion to her within five years.
Her condition was to quit the butcher shop in five years and get a 50 million Won a month allowance from her daughter until she died.
Gang Bong-go (played by Lee Seung-joon) and Geum-ju also took a vacation to Kenya together because the kids wanted to see elephants and lions.
While on their vacation, the taxi driver they had was a regular at their Hangover Soup joint. He was also a chauffeur who drove Korean diplomats around.
He told her about a fire that broke out at the ambassador's residence. Geum-ju decided to purchase the property to build a summer home.
While building a new home on the land, which turned out to be an oil deposit. After that day, her wealth took off to a whole new level.
What are Geum-ju's Businesses?
We already know that Geum-ju has a franchise of Hangover Soup restaurants in her properties. She also owns a hotel, a hospital, and a money-lending business called Gold Blue.
It is through Gold Blue that she learns about the drug problem in Gangnam, which she starts to investigate on her own.
She also has a newspaper publication just so she could continue to publish articles and ads that would help her locate Nam-soon.
Geum-ju also has an international competition for the strongest women in the world. This is her way of meeting Nam-soon one day.
Does Geum-ju have other businesses we failed to include here? Let us know in the comments below.
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