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| “ | Tonight's protagonist is me, me~ Babel group is actually mine, mine is mine~ | „ |
| ~ Joon Woo Jang when he confesses that he is the true owner of the Babel group. |
Joon-Woo Jang (In Korean: 장준우, Jang Joon-Woo) is the main antagonist of the 2021 Korean crime noir drama television show, Vincenzo.
At first he appeared to be a bumbling lawyer from the Wusang firm company who had comedic traits and seemed to worked closely with Hong Cha-young. However, it was soon revealed that he is actually the de-facto leader and supreme chairman of the nefarious Babel Pharmaceuticals Group. Furthermore, his real name is Han-seok Jang and that he is the true mastermind behind all the illicit drug trade activities that Babel Group had perpetuated in Korea. He is also the older brother of Chairman Jang Han-Seo, who is externally known as the official chairman of Babel Group at the time. He also seeks the Guillotine file to blackmail South Korean politicians for power.
He was portrayed by Taec-yeon Ok.
Personality[]
Joon-Woo Jang initially came across as the rather bumbling assistant of his no-nonsense superior, Hong cha-young, when the pair worked together at the Wusang firm organization. Throughout their interaction he seemed to care about her, to the point where he even expresses an attraction to her and can be argumentative when she rebuffs his objections to any plan she comes up with that he then deems to be too dangerous for her.
Later on, however, his apparent dimwitted character was revealed to be a facade; Joon-Woo Jang is actually a calculating, narcissistic, manipulative, sadistic, unpredictable, and psychopathic mastermind through and through. He is the true leader and de-facto chairman of the Basel Pharmaceuticals company, thus being the one responsible for all the crimes and illcit activities that the organization itself has perpetuated. A hedonistic and cunning schemer behind the scenes of those who are unaware of his true nature, Joon-Woo Jang is not above hurting or even killing anyone who may unravel his elaborate plans.
Adding to his masterly of manipulation and cruelty is his relationship with his family, specifically that of his own half-brother Han-seo Jang. Over the course of the series, Joon-Wong Jang constantly traumatized and abused his brother on several occasions; he would assault his younger brother with a hockey stick whenever he fails to do his job, and even goes as far as to murder their father as penance. All in all, Joon-Wong Jang lacked the true value of family or even humanity in general; he just simply comes across as a conniving monster who takes pride in making people fear him whenever they discover his real identity.
As time went on, however, more of Joon-Woo Jang's character came to light. At first he didn't seemed to be afraid of anyone or anything, that was until he learned that protagonist Vincenzo Cassino was a mafia mobsman and ended up experiencing the feeling of fear for the first time. He tried to kill Vincenzo in an attempt to pull his own ease at rest, but in the end he instead met his own downfall - when Vincenzo defeated and later executed Joon-Woo Jang for every heinous act he committed.
Biography[]
Past[]
He was born the eldest son of a rich tycoon family and was diagnosed with an psychopathy at the age of 16. At some point during his childhood, he murdered six schoolmates and got away scot-free for the murders thanks to his father. But then their relationship turned sour when Joon-Wong blamed his father for having an affair with his young secretary for leaving his mother, and the resentment was resolved by killing his father. Up until this point he seemed to have had affection for his family, but now he seems to have completely cut off his bond as a family - going as far as to constantly abuse his brother both physically and psychologically.
Main Story[]
In the early to mid-early period, he was the only ally of Hong Cha-young within the idol group led by Han Seung-hyuk. He called Hong Cha-young a senior, openly liked her, and acted as an assistant saying that he didn't do much for the idol, or he is the only one in charge of computer-related work that he is told that he handles well. He is also described to having very good computer skills, as evidenced when he was able to fix Han Seung-hyuk's computer right away when it gets infected with a virus and breaks down.
However, all of his silly and funny appearances were turned out to really be a facade; in actual reality he was the true chairman of Babel Group, a drug syndicate masqueding as a pharmaceutical company, and all the crimes the Babel Group has committed so far have been led by him. Furthermore, he got his younger brother Jang Han-Seo to become the official chairman of Babel Group in order to protect his true identity - so much so that Han-seo Jang would be forced to go to prison for all the crimes that his older brother had committed should they come to light. It soon became clear that while having only the power of Babel Group, he didn't have much authority for those outside his organization and is also a civilian who lacked any responsibility whatsoever.
Soon enough, he comes into conflict with a Mafia consigliere and legitimate mob lawyer named Vincenzo Cassano as the latter strives to help Cha-young bring Babel Group to justice following the company's involvement in the death of her estranged father Hong Yoo-chan after he uncovered Babel illegal activities. When both Vincenzo and Cha-young finally learn the truth about Joon-Wong and his role as the de-facto leader of Babel Group, they conducted an elaborate campaign to bring him down - with Vincenzo vowing to kill Joon-Wong once his company has been dismantled for good. During this time, he learns that Vincenzo's Chinese business partner who owed a building called Geumga Plaza had stored a vast fortune of gold bars underneath the building along with the USB called the Guillotine File that containing incriminated evidence of high-ranking South Korean politicians, which he uses as insurance policy. He then seeks to obtain the golds but most of all the Guillotine File to blackmail South Korean politicians for immunities.
Vincenzo's campaign against Joon-Wong and Babel Group works successfully as time goes on, much to Joon-Wong's frustration as he attempts to get one over Vincenzo with the help from both his psychotic legal counsel Choi Myung-Hee and her colleague Han Seung-Hyuk from the latter's company - Wusang Law Firm. Together the trio and initially Han-seo Jang gained several allies such as Prosecutor Jung In-Kook. After learning about Vincenzo's status as Mafia consigliere of the Cassano Family from Italy, Joon-Wong arranges for the family's appointed leader and Vincenzo's estranged adoptive brother Paolo Cassano to try and have Vincenzo killed. However, Vincenzo survives the assassination attempt and continues to sabotage all of Joon-Wong's business affairs. Joon-Wong responds by planning to have Vincenzo's residential black of flats, the Geumga Plaza, destroyed and bribes Kim Seok-Woo into colluding with his plan.
Eventually, Joon-Wong manages to get one over Vincenzo by locating the latter's estranged mother Oh Gyeong-ja at a hospital before ordering Myung-hee to have her killed. In retribution, Vincenzo confronts Joon-Wong and shoots him in the ear before vowing to kill him in a slow and painful death once he has finished off Babel Group. By the time Joon-Wong had recovered in hospital, he attempts to continue manage his business affairs; however, Vincenzo and his allies from Geumga Plaza all work together to successfully bring Babel Group to justice for good as well as foil his plan to destroy Geumga Plaza. At one point Joon-Wong is forced to turn himself into the police in order to avoid retribution from Vincenzo, though not before learning that Han-seo Jang has betrayed him out of disgust for his maliciousness.
Afterwards, Vincenzo proceeds to murder Prosecutor Jang as he begins to eliminate all of Joon-Wong's allies one by one before going after Joon-Wong himself. However, Choi Myung-hee manages to trade places with Joon-Wong in prison so that he can go after Vincenzo. Thereafter Joon-Wong has Cha-young abducted and personally kidnaps his brother at gunpoint. He then forces Vincenzo to confront him after revealing his location, and that both Cha-young and Han-seo Jang are held in his captivity. When Vincenzo arrives unarmed, Joon-Wong attempts to force Han-seo Jang to kill Vincenzo - otherwise he would personally kill everyone.
However, Han-seo Jang instead tries to attack his brother and gets shot in response. Joon-Wong then turns to shoot Vincenzo, but the shot ends up hitting Cha-young instead. Joon-Wong attempts to use this opportunity to kill Vincenzo, but is stopped by Han-seo Jang - who refuses to let his brother kill him and denounces that he should never have been born due to the extent of his cruel nature. This provokes Joon-Wong into shooting his own brother, killing him in the process. He then flees just as Vincenzo rushes out to stop him.
Following both his brother's murder and Cha-young's hospitalization, Joon-Wong becomes a wanted fugitive as his crimes become public knowledge in Korea. He contacts Choi Myung-hee just as Vincenzo has her released in his plan to target them both for assassination. The villainous duo plan to flee the country to Mexico, though not before Joon-Wong has Seoung-hyuk murdered for turning against him a few days ago. He also readies himself with weapons and an army of henchmen to help him escape the country. However, Vincenzo manages to locate him shortly after tracking down and killing Choi Myung-hee.
He arrives just as Joon-Wong and his henchmen are confronted by members of Geumga Plaza, who each dispatch all of the henchmen before Joon-Wong gets attacked by one of the Plaza members - Lee Chul-wook. At first Joon-Wong is able to overpower Lee Chul-wook by stabbing him in the leg and then in his chest. He prepares to kill him when Vincenzo arrives, shooting Joon-Wong in both his legs before fellow Plaza tenant Tak Hong-shik knocks the villain out unconscious. The plaza tenants all help Vincenzo escape from the authorities with Joon-Wong as his captive, successfully done after the tenants force the authorities to stop and help Lee recuperate in hospital.
Later on, Joon-Wong awakes to find himself tied-up in a disused warehouse and held under captivity by Vincenzo himself. Vincenzo tells Joon-Wong the extent of Han-seo Jang's betrayal, clarifying that it was the latter's critical thinking before his death that allowed Vincenzo to hunt Joon-Wong down all along. After Joon-Wong curses at his late brother for betraying him, Vincenzo proceeds to show Joon-Wong his method to kill him - a piercing drill that would ever-so-slowly impale Joon-Wong's body, thereby resulting in a torturously long and excruciating death for him. Once Vincenzo has demonstrated the torture method, Joon-Wong starts to panic and he fearfully begs Vincenzo for his life to no avail. Joon-Wong continues to try and reason with Vincenzo with several offers before requesting to be executed with a head shot, but Vincenzo reminds Joon-Wong of his promise to kill him in a slow and painful death.
As Vincenzo prepares to leave Joon-Wong to die, he takes the latter's watch as a trophy case for his murder and also tells Joon-Wong to go and apologize to his brother for everything he did to him. Thereafter Vincenzo activates the drilling machine automatically and leaves his nemesis to die as Joon-Wong screams in agony from the impact of his torture. By the next day, Joon-Wong is still alive - albeit in profusive pain. He could only watch in fear as a crow appears and begins to feast upon his cut-up body parts. It is then Joon-Wong had likely died from the extent of his injuries later on, finally getting his comeuppance as the murders of both his brother and Vincenzo's mother along with Joon-Wong's other heinous crimes have all been avenged.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- It is unclear if this would've counted as a redeeming factor, but he seemed to have liked Young Cha Hong overall; at first she had similar tendencies as himself, though it later became clear that she had regrets over her harshness whereas Joon-Woo Jang was totally unrepentant from start to finish in the end.