In one night, Gun-wook lost everything because of the Hong family. They took him in, believing he was President Hong's illegitimate son Tae-sung, and then cast him aside into the streets when it turned out to be a mistake. Years later, Gun-wook returns for revenge, taking down the Hongs and their Haeshin corporation step by step. The real Hong Tae-sung and sisters Mo-ne and Tae-ra are all chess pieces in his impeccable revenge plan, but he never planned on meeting and falling in love with the smart and equally ambitious Jae-in.
In analyzing his character Gun-wook, Kim Nam-gil described him as "an innocent but bad guy," saying, "You can't hate him because while his actions may be based on vengeance; he's actually lonely and is longing for love." About portraying the pretty, smart and ambitious Moon Jae-in, Han Ga-in said she "accepted the role in the drama because I wasn't scared to brush off my goddess image from commercials." Hong Tae-ra's mundane life is shattered when she falls for Gun-wook, and Oh Yeon-soo admitted feeling nervous about her love scene with Kim. Regarding the racy kissing scene between him and Oh, Kim commented that "Actually, I thought it would be good if it were steamy. I wanted to give this married woman with a child and a family a dangerous fantasy, or even a vicarious sense of satisfaction." He added that he prefers working with married women than single ones, saying, "The difference between shooting a melodrama with married and single actresses are they themselves seem to feel more comfortable and talk openly. It gives us a chance to become close and talk about this and that while not having to worry about getting involved in a scandal. In a way, married people are my seniors in life so I can learn a lot from them. I want to shoot more melodramas with married actresses from now on." In the middle of filming, Kim received his draft notice for mandatory military service. He applied for a deferment in order to wrap up the shoot for the series, but it was not granted. Kim shot as much as he could until July 13, then entered the army two days later on July 15, 2010.
Ratings
International broadcast
Renamed as Black and Red in Japan, it first aired twice on cable channelNHK BS Premium dubbed in Japanese. It was later broadcast in its original Korean audio with Japanese subtitles on the main terrestrial channel NHK starting September 4, 2011, airing two episodes a day from Monday to Thursday for a total of two weeks. NHK was also one of the drama's investors. It aired in Taiwan on Gala TV beginning October 5, 2011. It aired in Thailand on Modern Nine TV every Monday to Friday at 1:00 p.m. starting from March 2, 2012.
