Pinocchio ( 피노키오 ) ~ Korean Drama

 Pinocchio ( 피노키오 )

Cast

Main Cast
Park Shin Hye as Choi In Ha
- Noh Jung Ui as Choi In Ha (young)
Lee Jong Suk as Choi Dal Po / Ki Ha Myung
- Nam Da Reum as Choi Dal Po / Ki Ha Myung (young)
Kim Young Kwang as Seo Bum Jo
Lee Yoo Bi as Yoon Yoo Rae

Supporting Cast
Byun Hee Bong as Choi Gong Pil
Lee Pil Mo as Hwang Gyo Dong
Jin Kyung as Song Cha Ok
Shin Jung Geun as Choi Dal Pyeong (In Ha’s father)
Yoon Kyun Sang as Ki Jae Myung
Min Sung Wook as Jang Hyun Kyu
Kang Shin Il as Lee Yeong tak
Kim Kwang Kyu as Kim Gong Joo
Kim Hae Sook as Park Ro Sa
Lee Joo Seung as Ahn Chan Soo
Kim Young Hoon

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Family
Episodes: 20 (To Be Confirmed)

Synopsis

It is 2000, and Ki Ha Myung (Nam Da Reum) is leading a happy life with his parents and older brother Jae Myung (Yoon Kyun Sang), until his father Ki Ho Sang (Jung In Ki), the captain of the firefighting squad, dies in a factory explosion during a rescue attempt along with several of his men. When Ho sang’s body is initially missing, the media sensationalizes the case by scapegoating him. In a battle for ratings, cold and calculating MSC reporter Song Cha Ok (Jin Kyung) alleges that Ho Sang survived the blast, and is currently in hiding because he was responsible for the deaths of his men. This causes the Ki family to become outcasts in their neighborhood and objects of national scorn. Ha Myung’s mother attempts to kill herself and her younger son by jumping off a cliff, and Jae Myung blames their deaths on the media, particularly Cha Ok.

korean drama Pinocchio ( 피노키오 )

But Ha Myung is alive, having been rescued from the water by Choi Gong Pil (Byun Hee Bong), a kindly elderly man who lives on Hyangri Island. Gong Pil, who may either have Alzheimer’s disease or trauma-induced memory loss, believes that Ha Myung is his older son Choi Dal Po, a simpleton who had died thirty years ago. Ha Myung, who has no one else in the world, embraces the deception and treats Gong Pil as his father. Gong Pil officially adopts Ha Myung, now named Dal Po, and places him in the family register as his eldest son. So five months later, when Gong Pil’s younger son Choi Dal Pyung (Shin Jung Geun) moves to the island with his daughter Choi In Ha (Noh Jung Ui), they are flabbergasted to be told by Gong Pil to address a mere boy as their “older brother” and “uncle,” respectively. In Ha has “Pinocchio syndrome,” which causes her to hiccup whenever she tells a lie. She idolizes her mother, and hates living on the island after her parents’ divorce. The fledgling friendship between Dal Po and In Ha is dashed, however, when he learns that In Ha’s mother is none other than Song Cha Ok.

Five years later, Dal Po (Lee Jong Suk) and In Ha (Park Shin Hye) are high school seniors and classmates at their small town high school in 2005. Dal Po, who is actually a genius, pretends to be dumb (like the real Dal Po) and gets all zeroes in his test scores. With his last place class standing and scruffy, country bumpkin hair, Dal Po is friendless at school while In Ha is the most popular girl. Dal Po secretly likes In Ha, and he is forced to join a televised quiz show at first to prevent an admirer from confessing to her on national TV, then later to protect her from losing a bet. At the TV studio, he runs into the show producer Hwang Gyo Dong (Lee Pil Mo), who had been a YGN reporter and one of Cha Ok’s rivals, but changed careers after what happened to the Ki family. After seeing Dal Po on TV, and knowing that her Pinocchio syndrome limits her career choices, In Ha decides to become a journalist.

In passionate pursuit of the truth, In Ha and Dal Po later become newbie reporters at a current affairs news desk. Among their colleagues are Seo Bum Jo (Kim Young Kwang), who comes from a rich chaebol family, and Yoon Yoo Rae (Lee Yoo Bi), once an idol sasaeng fan who now uses those obsessive and determined traits in her new job.