Sweet, Savage Family

Plot

Yoon Tae-soo (Jung Joon-ho) struggles to balance his life as a kind loving father who heads his family while hiding his mob identity from them. Hoping to gain the respect of his grown-up children and hold his head high in front of others, Tae-soo tries to legalize his construction company to incorporate his gang into proper, clean businesses only to meet obstruction from his biggest rival, Baek Ki-beom (Jung Woong-in).

Main characters

Jung Joon-ho as Yoon Tae-soo (42, male / Choongshim Gang boss)

He manages night clubs, gentlemen's clubs, illicit gambling parlors, liquor distribution as the boss of the Choongshim gang. When he was only in his late teens, he already made a name for himself as a tough streetfighter in Daejeon. But he had to support his mom and siblings so once he finished high school, he started working at a paint factory where he had to deal with noxious fumes every day at work. But despite his hard work, the factory boss never paid him his salary. He needed money to support his siblings, so out of anger, he assaulted his boss. His boss pressed charges but offered to drop them if he were to agree to work at the factory for a year without pay. His friend Ki-beom and Byung-nam, who were members of the Choongshim Gang, heard about his plight and did extensive damage to the paint factory. Their gang handled the blowback from their rampage. After this incident, Tae-soo naturally joined the Choongshim gang.

Moon Jung-hee as Kim Eun-ok (42, female / Tae-soo's wife)

Her husband is a gang leader and her mother-in-law is a sociopath who torments her at every chance. Her daughter is constantly getting in trouble at school for bad behavior. Her life is terrible on so many levels. She is not happy with her husband’s occupation but she gets to live in a big, expensive apartment, and the money he makes is good so she is not complaining. But when Tae-soo does not answer his phone when she calls or comes home late, she gets very irritated and will nag him like nobody's business.

Jung Woong-in as Baek Ki-beom (42, male / President, Choongshim Construction)

Chairman Baek Man-bo's only son. Ki-beom is the future chairman of Choongshim Construction and currently works as the president. This is not what he wants but his father did not want his son to be involved in gang activities. His mother left the family when he was a young kid and this scarred him permanently. In the following years, he had different stepmothers, who he would treat with scorn and malice until they went away. This gave his dad a lot of headaches on top of his bad behavior at school. In high school, he picked fights with Tae-soo and Byung-nam but always got beaten. But the three of them forged a friendship and they were invincible around the streets of Daejeon. Due to his fiery temper, he got into a lot of trouble at school and was finally expelled by the principal. After that, he joined a gang.

Yoo Sun as Lee Do-kyung (female / Ki-beom's ex-wife)

Kim Eung-soo as Baek Man-bo (70, male / Chairman, Choongshim Construction)

He is the gang boss who held onto power the longest in Chungcheong Province and was a legendary boss in his prime. In the 1990s, he retired from his gang leader position but since he was able to amass a large fortune during his reign, he still wields power in the gang he founded. After retiring, he kept a low profile and appointed Tae-soo as the gang boss who oversees his many business interests in the underworld. His son Ki-beom oversees his real estate holdings and construction company while Hee-do, who has an MBA degree, is the brains who manages investments and bookkeeping.

Lee Minhyuk as Yoon Sung-min (18, male / Tae-soo's son)

He has an easy-going personality and is popular at school because he is approachable and friendly. He excels academically and constantly ranks near the top of his entire grade at high school while also performing his duties as the class president. He started taekwondo, judo, and kendo at an early age under his dad’s coaching so he is physically strong and athletic. Unlike his dad, he is academically inclined and is rather innocent about many things for a kid his age. His mother, Eun-ok wishes to see him go to one of the top universities in Seoul and has arranged for him to transfer to a high school in the big city soon.

Bang Minah as Baek Hyun-ji (18, female / Ki-beom's daughter)

She was a member of a girl band that never took off and you have to be pretty to get picked up by a talent agency so it goes without saying that she has great looks. After her parents divorced five years ago, she was forced to move to Seoul to live with her mom and this was against her wishes. She signed on with a talent agency and enrolled in their talent training program because of her mom. She made an effort in learning how to dance and sing but there were so many talented girls in the program that she never got her shot. But what caused her a lot of grief was being bullied at her school.

Supporting characters

Ji Su-won as Oh Joo-ran

Jo Dal-hwan as Bong Jin-wook

Kim Kwon as Lee Joon-suk

Oh Mi-yeon as Lee Choon-boon

Kim Ji-min as Yoon Soo-min (Tae-soo's daughter)

Son Ga-young as Kim Eun-shil

Choi Min-chul as Kang Sung-goo

Kim Shin as Song Young-il

Kim Won-hae as Son Se-woon

Kim Dae-ryeong as Ma Hee-do

Ga Deuk-hee as Park Sun-young

Jo Ji-hwan as Jang Beob-kyu

Park Hee-jin as Choi Kyung-mi

Seo Hyun-chul as Seo Chul-joong

Kim Byung-choon as Jo Dong-Choon

Kim Byoung-ok as Chairman Goo

Ratings

In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. NR denotes that the drama did not rank in the Top 20 daily rankings.