Into The Ring (2020)

Goo Se Ra is well-known at the service center of Mawon-gu Office for her endless civil complaints. Seo Gong Myung, who has recently been demoted for being on the chief’s bad side, is appointed to take care of the complaints. Although Se Ra does what’s right for people and the neighborhood, people seem to dislike her for her efforts. Eventually, she becomes jobless again.

This time, Se Ra loses her job because of the formal employee who has recently decided to return to the company. Devastated to see his daughter in a jobless situation, Se Ra’s father asks a favor from his old friend, Chairman Cho Maeng Duk. On her way back from rejecting the unrighteous employment, Se Ra sees a recruiting poster from Mawon-gu District Assembly.

Se Ra is determined to run the elections and take it as an opportunity. She gathers her friends around and starts campaigning with them. But things are not easy. Her parents are against it, her boyfriend is against it, and even one of her best friends, Woo Young passes her by.

The construction of a distribution center near an elementary school enrages the citizens of Mawon-gu. Se Ra and her friends seek this as an opportunity to gain votes. She stands in front of the protestors and shares her experience working as a part-timer stenographer, who was against the passing of the construction bill.

Knowing that Se Ra once tried to get a job in an unlawful way, people started to turn their backs on Se Ra as a district representative. Although she considers it’s time for her to let go of the election, Candidate Son Eun Sil understands that Se Ra has a higher chance of getting elected. Eventually, Se Ra does everything she can to win over people’s votes.

Now that the campaign is over, Se Ra goes into hibernation to recover from the long hours of a continuous campaign. When she wakes up from her sleep, she realizes that the difference in the number of votes isn’t that great. The result shows that the votes were tied, but the opponent requests a recount.

Se Ra starts her first day at work as the district representative. The day begins with an unpleasant welcoming tour led by her ex-boyfriend, Min Jae. Things get worse as she steps into her first meeting. All of the assemblymen and women ignore her and completely disregard her as a fellow representative. Mustering up her last courage, she requests a welcoming party and waits patiently at the reserved restaurant.

Mawon-gu goes under a dire financial crisis and the assembly decide to vote for the motion to issue municipal bonds. The conservative and progressive party try to win Se Ra’s heart by changing their initial attitude toward Se Ra. Se Ra soon realizes that she holds the key to the passing of the bill and ponders on her decision.

As Chairman Cho suggests the district representatives to defer their monthly salaries until the issues with Mawon-gu’s budget are recovered, Se Ra finds it difficult to pay for her living expenses. Meanwhile, people’s misunderstanding Se Ra’s vote for the motion to issue municipal bonds allows her for a chance to come up with an ordinance bill along with Yoon Hee Su.

While helping Se Ra with her ordinance bill at Se Ra’s house, Gong Myung bumps into Chairman Cho, his biological father. Somehow feeling uncomfortable about the situation, Gong Myung leaves the house. Meanwhile, Se Ra successfully records the unacceptable deal regarding the ordinance bill offered by Go Dong Chan and exposes it to the District Assembly.

Se Ra sees Gong Myung getting off Hee Su’s car and gets jealous. Hee Su also sees Se Ra noticing them and provokes her. One day, Se Ra receives an urgent complaint from a resident. It is about golf balls thrown from a nearby golf driving range. Se Ra finds out something dubious about this complaint not being taken care of for a long time and decides to get to the bottom of it.

Everyone tells Se Ra that the complaint on flying golf balls is next to impossible to solve and Se Ra finds out who is blocking the complaint to be handled. Gong Myung tells Se Ra that he is not in any relationship with Hee Su while Se Ra starts to realize her real feeling towards him. And Se Ra finally comes up with a solution for the complaint.

Se Ra manages to successfully settle the complaint against Chief Won regarding a driving range. With this being the case, Se Ra then continues on to take care of another complaint concerning the employment stability support fund for guards at Jayu-dong Apartment. However, it is under the impression that Se Ra must win over Shim-Jang-Si’s hearts to fulfill the good deed.

Se Ra must win at the sports festival in order to lead Shim-Jang-Si into voting in her favor. The last event remains with the tying score on the board as Se Ra participates as a player herself. While winning this very last event may seem like the last step in settling the complaint, the fact that Se Ra broke up with Min Jae somehow annoys Gong Myung.

It's a total mess at the National Assembly where Se Ra's supporters turn against her and tear up their memo. As a result, Se Ra's promises get broken, and she ends up getting a 30-day suspension. Meanwhile, Gong Myung tracks her down to her secret place to console her but rejects her instead.

The chairman position is up for grabs, and Go Dong Chan and Yoon Hee Su want it more than ever. However, Se Ra's name keeps popping up. Although she has no intention of becoming the chairman, a strange string of events leads to a very unexpected result.

Se Ra becomes the chairman purely because of Maeng Duk’s plans, and it is obvious that this plan of Maeng Duk's is to control Se Ra as he wishes. However, Gong Myung and Se Ra team up to keep the upper hand. Meanwhile, Se Ra is wondering why Gong Myung voluntarily decided to become her secretary.

After accepting the position as a chairman, Se Ra struggles to adapt to new duties and responsibilities while dealing with her schedules. At the groundbreaking ceremony of the Smart One City, Se Ra gets humiliated in front of the crowd when Chief Won intentionally excludes Se Ra from the introduction speech. Realizing how the incident made him upset, Gong Myung decides to confess to Se Ra.

Se Ra and Gong Myung become an official couple under some ground rules. They are to keep their relationship confidential. One day, Se Ra receives bundles of letters opposing the name change of Sarang-dong. Will Se Ra accept the petition of Sarang-dong’s name-change when the Smart One City project is already planned out?

Se Ra and Gong Myung work on putting a hold on the Smart One City project to keep the name of Sarang-dong and possibly use the funds to support the district’s welfare. However, the rest of the representatives argue the name change being a minuscule matter. Se Ra stands strong, visits the neighborhood and finds out something fishy about the name-change votes.

Se Ra and Gong Myung stumble upon the discovery that Chief Won was behind the forgery of the consent form regarding the renaming of Sarang-dong. Accordingly, Se Ra schedules a meeting to confront Chief Won to reveal the truth. Just when the meeting was about to go south, the village leader halfheartedly shows up to confess his secret deal.

Se Ra believes that Gong Myung, who was recently replaced by Yong Gyu after a fight with Se Ra, had helped her out in persuading the village leader to confess. But in fact, Chairman Cho is behind the scheme, controlling Se Ra as his puppet. Meanwhile, Chief Won thinks the vote is definitely in her favor until Hee Su decides to reconsider her say in the matter.

Se Ra is frustrated at the final result of the name change of Smart One City. Due to Vice Chairman Yoon’s decision, Mawon-gu couldn’t keep the names Mideum, Somang, Sarang by falling short on one vote. Going against the stream of older representatives isn’t easy, and she encounters yet another surprise as Min Jae walks into Chief Won’s office.

Construction workers of the Smart One City site protest demanding a secure safety measure after having their fifth accident. Chief Won avoids them and the protestors end up coming to Se Ra’s office. Listening to their stories but with no one to help, Se Ra and Gong Myung decide to infiltrate into the construction site themselves to find out the root of the cause.

On a stakeout to reveal the corruption regarding the Smart One City Project, Se Ra and Gong Myung find a memorial of those who were lost in the Sarang Resort fire. Eventually, Se Ra and her gang successfully capture the circumstantial evidence, which verifies the illegal transaction as well as its ties to Chief Won.

When Chief Won sues Se Ra for defamation, Se Ra asks Hee Su for help. Unfortunately, Hee Su turns down Se Ra’s request, and Se Ra looks for leads to completely bring Chief Won down. Meanwhile, Se Ra is questioned for her involvement in a corrupt deal with Mawon Credit Cooperatives. Although she pleads not guilty, the majority votes for her deposition.

Se Ra is kicked out of the office as chairman, but still wants to commemorate the victim memorial from the Sarang Resort accident. Cho Maeng Duk is touched and convinced to initiate on the relocation of the memorial and signs the agreement papers himself. Meanwhile, Min Jae decides to refuse Cho’s offer to come back and work for him.

Leaving only one victim family’s agreement to the relocation of the Sarang Resort memorial, Se Ra finds out from Ms. Yoon what Cho Maeng Duk is really trying to do. Se Ra and Gong Myung also find out one particular factor that only Area Six of all Smart One City projects has.

The public calls for a vote to force Se Ra to step down from her representative position. However, Se Ra believes she still has lots to offer both the fellow representatives and the residents of Mawon-gu. On the day of the vote, Se Ra delivers what may be her last speech as a representative.

It was a long shot, but Se Ra wins. While going through Representative Yang’s notes, she discovers a memo regarding a burial. This gives her the upper hand to bring down Cho Maeng Duk, but he strikes back hard, resulting in Mr. Bong’s voluntary resignation. After a series of defeats, Se Ra prepares her very last attempt to do what's right.

The regional election is back and Cho Maeng Duk runs for office again. People around Se Ra continue to encourage her, but she finds someone else who’d be a perfect fit. She reaches out to Son Eun Sil and promises to help her out for the elections. As the voting day draws near, Gong Myung also find ways to support and finally makes a huge decision.

Se Ra moves on from her political days and begins her new life. Years go by and many things have changed. Certain blocks are being called with new names and Woo Young became Mawon-gu’s representative. Se Ra enjoys her new life as a freelancer and promises herself to never do politics. One day, a special party visits her office to ask a special request.