With the fate of the country on the line, a dangerous game begins
Money Game
When Jeongin Bank faces bankruptcy, the Financial Services Commission aims to preempt Korea from another economic meltdown as it did in the 1997 financial crisis. With the Korean government having a substantial stake in the bank, things get serious. Chae Yi Hun is the chief of financial policy at the FSC. He hides the fact that renowned economist Chae Byung Hak is his father. Heo Jae is the chairman of the FSC and has ambitious intentions of fortifying the country's financial infrastructure. Lee Hye Joon is a girl who came from nothing. She works at the Ministry of Economy and Finance and wants to see the utopian economy with change. The money game begins now.
Episodes
The National Policy Committee puts the chairman of the Financial Services Commission in the hot seat after the Corruption Task Force reveals fraud of five billion dollars involving Woojin Industries and Jeongin Bank. Due to Chae Byung Hak's bold statements during the hearing, Heo Jae becomes a candidate for the chairman position. Meanwhile, Lee Hye Joon starts her first day at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Yi Hun's father, Chae Byung Hak, dies, and as the funeral progresses, Heo Jae's guilty conscience haunts him. However, Heo Jae becomes the chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and soon becomes in conflict with Yi Hyun over the Jungin Bank issue. Although Yi Hun's Disposal Plan lands on Heo Jae's desk, Heo Jae's idea to fabricate BIS's capital ratio to find the highest bidder goes against Yi Hyun's morals.
Na Joon Pyo, the director general of the International Finance Bureau, rebuts Chae Yi Huns' statements claiming Jungin Bank's BIS capital ratio was wrong. And when Yi Hun refuses to keep his mouth shut, Heo Jae, now the chairman of the FSC and who is pushing forward with the sale of the insolvent Jungin Bank, transfers him to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. There, he meets Hye Joon and soon learns of the piece of evidence in her possession that could change the fate of Jungin Bank.
Na Joon Pyo figures out that Lee Hye Joon was the one who leaked Jungin Bank's BIS analysis report, and he reports it to Heo Jae. With the press disclosing the government's manipulation of Jungin's BIS capital ratio, Heo Jae resorts to the Blue House for support. Meanwhile, the focus shifts to Hye Joon regarding the leak, and she gets arrested.
At Hye Joon's disciplinary hearing, Yi Hun makes a bold confession. Later, Hye Joon gets in contact with Seo Yang Woo, the director of Strategic Planning at Jungin Bank, regarding the fabrication of Jungin Bank's BIS capital ratio, but he doesn't say a word. However, soon after negotiation talks with Bahama end secretly, Seo Yang Woo realizes the severe mistake he had made and calls Yi Hyun to disclose everything.
Amid Seo Yang Woo tragic death, amid the quieting focus on Jungin Bank's manipulated BIS capital ratio, amid Eugene Han's list of insolvent companies owned by Jungin Bank, and amid the secret selling of high-priced power shifting defense technologies to China, the Korean economy faces peril head-on.
Problems arise, and the government splits for and against Heo Jae, the chairman of the FSC. With Kim Ho Joong, the deputy prime minister, urging Chae Yi Hun to bring down Heo Jae, stands Lee Hye Joon at the other end, who at no volition of hers gets brought into a smoothing operation by Na Joon Pyo. Meanwhile, Woojin's Shipbuilding Special Business Division's Aegis radar equipped technology patent gets leaked to the press, putting Bahama's purchase of Jungin Bank in jeopardy.
Eugene Han suffers a tremendous loss with the exchange rate because of Lee Hye Joon. He confronts her but gets stopped by Chae Yi Hun. Later, with a recording in hand, she warns Na Joon Pyo not to put her up to any more scandalous tasks. Meanwhile, Heo Jae pursues to knock down Kim Ho Joong, the deputy prime minister, using his apartment and promotion expenses as leverage.
The MOEF gets shocked when they see Chae Yi Hun become the newly-appointed deputy prime minister Heo Jae's right-hand man. Especially Lee Hye Joon, who mistakes his promotion as a deal made with Heo Jae using the incriminating recording concerning Seo Yang Woo's death against him given by her. Meanwhile, Heo Jae realizes Eugene Han's plan for a quick turnover of Jungin Bank while Chae Yi Hun and his selected task force members try to figure a way to stop it.
A fierce race against time between Eugene Han and Chae Yi Hun for the passing of the Tobin tax bill presses on. Will Eugene sell Jungin Bank before the bill gets passed? Or will he succumb to Yi Hun's preemptive move based on his late father's work? Meanwhile, Eugene Han begins to develop something special inside for Lee Hye Joon.
The government does everything in its power to stop Eugene Han's plan to sell Jungin Bank. However, the government faces a crisis due to Eugene and an influenced assemblyman. Meanwhile, as the conference of finance ministers and central bank presidents of the ASEAN countries plus Korea, China, and Japan commences and Deputy Prime Minister Heo Jae tries to entice foreign investment, Eugene Han appears at the conference.
Eugene Han takes a bullet protecting Lee Hye Joon of an unexpected attack from Sumar's former president's bodyguard. Amid all the unforeseen events happening around Eugene Ha, Chae Yi Hun becomes disoriented. However, he learns of one crucial fact that Eugene's accomplice exists in the MOEF.
Heo Jae faces a crisis of the plummeting depreciation of the Korean won brought upon by Eugene Han's trickery and attempts to stop it. However, no one in the government wants to take on the task. Meanwhile, Eugene Han's mole's identity inside the government slowly starts to show its face.
After winning the foreign exchange battle with Yi Hun's help, Heo Jae quickly rises to the ranks of a presidential candidate. Seo Yang Woo's conversation over the phone right before his death reveals who was behind it all, and to resolve the issue of his deceit, Yi Hun strikes a deal with Heo Jae.
With the ongoing Jo Hee Bong investigation by the prosecution connecting Eugene Han in the scheme of things, Eugene starts to lose his support from Bahama and elsewhere. Meanwhile, a video exposing Chae Byung Hak's death surfaces right when Heo Jae first starts to trust Yi Hun out of Jo Hee Bong's resolution.
Deputy Prime Minister Heo Jae gets arrested under suspicion for Professor Chae Byung Hak's murder. While Bahama takes measures to sue under ISDS, the Korean government faces another crisis. To prevent a catastrophe, Lee Hye Joon visits Heo Jae behind bars and receives what could be the final hand played in their fight against Bahama.
