The Penthouse: War in Life[7] 

(Korean: 펜트하우스; RR: Penteuhauseu; lit. Penthouse) is a South

Korean television series starring Lee Ji-ah, Kim So-yeon, Eugene,[8] Um Ki-joon, Yoon Jong-hoon,
and Park Eun-seok.[9][10] The series, directed by Joo Dong-min and written by Kim Soon-ok,[11] spins
the story of a real estate and education war, a desire to be number one. It depicts the solidarity and
revenge of women who turned to evilness to protect themselves and their children.[12][13] It premiered
on SBS TV on October 26, 2020.[14] The first look teaser was released on September 29, 2020.[15] The
teaser for season two was released on January 12, 2021.[16][17] The teaser for season three was
released on May 27, 2021.[18]
At the end of the first season, the series with 5.354 million viewers is placed at 9th rank in the Top
50 Korean television series per nationwide viewers.[19] The series achieved the number-one position
in all-channel mini-series, 21 times in a row from its first broadcast on October 26, 2020 to the last
episode on January 5, 2021.[20]
As of the ending of the second season on April 2, 2021, the series with 5.69 million viewers is placed
at 8th rank in the Top 50 Korean television series per nationwide viewers.[21] The series achieved the
number-one position in all-channel mini-series, 13 times in a row from its first broadcast on February
19, 2021 to the last episode on April 2, 2021.[22]

Contents

 1Series overview
 2Synopsis
o 2.1Season 1
o 2.2Season 2
o 2.3Season 3
 3Cast
o 3.1Character appearances
o 3.2Main
o 3.3Supporting
o 3.4Others
o 3.5Special appearances
 4Production
o 4.1Development
o 4.2Casting
o 4.3Filming
o 4.4Release
 5Original soundtrack
o 5.1Season 1
o 5.2Season 2
o 5.3Season 2 and 3 Score Album
o 5.4Season 3
 6Reception
o 6.1Commercial performance
o 6.2Audience viewership
 7Awards and nominations
 8References
 9External links
Series overview[edit]
Originally aired
Seaso Avg. viewership
Episodes Time slot
n (millions)
First aired Last aired

Monday–
Tuesday at
1 21 October 26, 2020 January 5, 2021 3.35
22:00
(KST)

Friday–
February 19, 202 Saturday at
2 13 April 2, 2021 4.67
1 22:00
(KST)

Friday at
September 10, 202
3 14 June 4, 2021 22:00 3.39
1
(KST)

Synopsis[edit]
Season 1[edit]
Penthouse tells the story of wealthy families living in Hera Palace and their children at Cheong-ah
Arts School.
Shim Su-ryeon (Lee Ji-ah) is an elegant, wealthy woman who has a tragic past. Her husband is Joo
Dan-tae (Uhm Ki-joon), a successful businessman. She later learns that he is hiding a secret from
her.
Oh Yoon-hee (Eugene) comes from a humble family background. She has had bad blood with
Cheon Seo-jin (Kim So-yeon), a famous soprano whose father is the head of Cheong-ah Arts
School, since high school. They get involved in a love triangle relationship with Ha Yoon-cheol (Yoon
Jong-hoon).
All of them have grand ambitions and desires for their children and would do anything for them.
However, their lives begin to crumble as a young mysterious girl named Min Seol-ah (Jo Soo-min)
falls to her death during a party at Hera Palace. While the Hera Palace residents try to cover up the
fact that she died on the premises, they cannot help but suspect each other for the murder.

Season 2[edit]
Penthouse 2 focuses on Shim Su-ryeon's secrets and the aftermath of her death, Oh Yoon-hee's
revenge, Cheon Seo-jin's downfall, and the Hera Palace kids who want to be the best and win the
grand award at the Cheong-ah Arts Festival.
After successfully framing Oh Yoon-hee for murder, Cheon Seo-jin and Joo Dan-tae decided to get
married. Their engagement party is interrupted by Oh Yoon-hee and Ha Yoon-cheol, who have just
come back from the United States. As the secrets unveil, the relationships among the people at Hera
Palace are entangled, yet another mysterious figure appears and confronts them.

Season 3[edit]
Penthouse 3 focuses on the residents of Hera Place after their trials and their kids who prepare
themselves to take the college entrance examination.
Just when Shim Su-Ryeon, who faked her death in Season 1, thinks she can finally live happily,
Logan Lee (Park Eun-seok) dies right before her eyes. Meanwhile, the Hera Place residents get out
of prison and attempt to get their lives back together. This starts the final lap of greed, corruption,
justice and redemption.

Cast[edit]
Character appearances[edit]
Season
Character Portrayed by
1[23] 2[24] 3[25]

Main

Shim Su-ryeon Main

Lee Ji-ah
Na Ae-kyo Main

Cheon Seo-jin Kim So-yeon

Main
Oh Yoon-hee Eugene

Recurring

Joo Dan-tae/Baek Joon-ki Um Ki-joon Recurring

Ha Yoon-cheol Yoon Jong-hoon

Lee Kyu-jin Bong Tae-kyu

Kang Ma-ri Shin Eun-kyung

Go Sang-ah Yoon Joo-hee

Joo Seok-hoon Kim Young-dae

Joo Seok-kyung Han Ji-hyun

Ha Eun-byeol Choi Ye-bin

Bae Ro-na Kim Hyun-soo

Yoo Jenny Jin Ji-hee

Lee Min-hyeok Lee Tae-vin

Secretary Jo Kim Dong-kyu

Ma Doo-ki Ha Do-kwon

Wang Mi-ja Seo Hye-rin

Logan Lee

Gu Ho-dong Park Eun-seok Recurring

Alex Lee Guest

Jin Bun-hong Ahn Yeon-hong Recurring

Yoo Dong-pil Park Ho-san

Guest Recurring
Baek Joon-ki / Joo Dan-tae On Joo-wan

Joo Hye-in Na So-ye Guest Guest

Anna Lee/Min Seol-ah Jo Soo-min

Guest
Cheon Myung-soo Jung Sung-mo

Kang Ok-gyo Ha Min

Guest
Cheon Seo-young Shin Seo-hyun

Minor

Yoon Tae-joo Lee Cheol-min

Suryeon's ex husband, Seol-ah's father Ki Tae-hwa

Guest

Detective in charge of Oh Yoon-hee's

Kim Sa-kwon
investigation

Journalist Kim Jung-min Ki Eun-se Guest

Choi Won- Guest

Bae Ho-cheol
young

Yoon-hee's mother-in-law Hwang Young-

 hee

Seo-young's husband Ahn Tae-hwan

Main[edit]
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 Lee Ji-ah as Shim Su-ryeon / Na Ae-kyo

Shim Su-ryeon: A graceful, dignified woman who is humane and kind, despite her immense
wealth who has a tragic past. She and her husband, Joo Dan-tae live in the penthouse,
making her the queen of the social clique at Hera Palace. Despite knowing about her
husband's affair with Cheon Seo-jin, she is determined to take revenge for her long lost,
daughter Min Seol-ah. She was murdered by Joo Dan-tae at the end of season 1; however,
in season 2, she has been alive by living as Na Ae-kyo since the real Na Ae-kyo and her
switched identity in last minute before falling in Joo Dan-tae's trap. In Season 3, she plans
her final revenge on Dan-Tae with Oh Yoon-Hee and Cheon Seo-Jin. Also, she becomes a
chairwoman of Cheong-Ah Arts School. Later, it was revealed by Yoon-hee that she is Seok-
kyung's biological mother. She was originally carrying twin daughters before Joo Dan-tae
murdered her previous husband, gave birth to them while she was in a coma, and believed
that one of the twins died through miscarriage. After Yoon-hee's death, she is determine to
take revenge for Yoon-hee by teaming up with Kang Ma-ri and posing as Na Ae-kyo once
again. She meets, reunites and teams-up again with an alive Logan, swearing to take
revenge on Dan-Tae once and for all. She died at the end of the series, finally bringing
justice to Cheon Seo-jin and Joo Dan-Tae. Although she took revenge on Dan-Tae by fatally
shooting him, with her last act of revenge, she purposely let Seo-Jin push her off the cliff
(same fashion as Yoon-hee's death) and was drowned.
Na Ae-kyo: Business partner and mistress of Joo Dan-tae, lover of Jung Doo-man as well as
the biological mother of Joo Seok-hoon. She bears a striking resemblance to Shim Su-Ryeon
and has a butterfly tattoo on her back. In Season 2, it reveals that she offers to switch places
with Shim Su-ryeon so that she can see the twins one last time, but she got killed by Joo
Dan-tae whom he thought was Su-ryeon.

 Kim So-yeon as Cheon Seo-jin

A wealthy woman who is the epitome of showy and arrogant and who harbors warped
ambitions. She is a woman who would do anything for power, money and pride. She and Oh
Yoon-hee have been rivals since their childhood. She pushes her daughter, Ha Eun-Byeol,
to sing well to beat Oh Yoon-hee's daughter, Bae Ro-na, who is better than her. Although
Seo-jin pressures her daughter to become a perfectionist, she loves her daughter and willing
to risk her life to protect her daughter. She had an affair with Joo Dan-tae behind her
husband's back, but she decides to revenge against him due to framing her daughter for
injuring Oh Yoon-hee's daughter, Bae Ro-na. In Season 3, after her hardship in prison, she
reluctantly joins forces with Su-Ryeon and Yoon-Hee to take down Dan-Tae. She allegedly
murdered Yoon-hee who saved her daughter from abduction by pushing her off the cliff due
to her reminiscence of their past feuds. She covers up Yoon-here's death by brainwashing
 Eun-byeol by erasing her memory. She was then ultimately revealed to be the secret person
who recruited Ha Yoon-chul to perform surgery on a mysterious fatal patient that she has
saved, which turned out to be Logan Lee, who survived Dan-tae's bombing. However she
reveals her true motive for saving Logan: money which causes Yoon-chul to disobey her
orders and actually save Logan. She continues to be an evil character for the remainder of
the series, continuing to go against Su-Ryeon and Rona. She later faces bankruptcy and
poverty due to Joo Dan-tae failed to payback the debt. She was arrested for her crimes and
sentenced to life imprisonment for Yoon-hee's murder in the finale of the series. Later on,
she committed suicide after seeing her daughter is as happy as she can be.

 Eugene as Oh Yoon-hee
A woman whose dreams have been stunted by her lack of money and power. With gritted
teeth, she has had to take on any job and humiliation to support her daughter's ambitions.
Oh Yoon-hee and Cheon Seo-jin have been rivals since their chilhood. She does everything
in her power to move up socially so that her child, Bae Ro-na can enter Cheong-ah Arts
School. She was framed by Joo Dan-tae for murdering Shim Su-ryeon and determines to go
revenge on him. In Season 3, after she was released from prison, she joins forces with Su-
Ryeon and Seo-Jin to take down Dan-Tae. She has been helping Logan Lee to search for
Su-ryeon's missing twin child and has to keep this secret from Su-ryeon until she finds out
that child is still alive. Later on the series, she uncovers Joo Seok-kyung is Su-ryeon's
biological daughter. However, shortly after she recovers the DNA results, she witnesses
Seo-Jin's daughter, Ha Eun-Byeol's kidnapping by Dan-Tae and Jin Bun-Hong, and while
attempting to rescue her, she was allegedly murdered by Dan-Tae, but it turns out to be Seo-
Jin, due to her reminiscence of past feuds, who killed her. As a result of killing Yoon-hee,
Seo-jin was eventually jailed for life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Penthouse:_War_in_Life