History Series / ThePenthouseWarInLife

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:With the major threats Dante and Seo-jin dead, and everyone living out their own lives and careers peacefully. However, several major characters (except Ma-ri, Kyu-jin and Sang-ah) are dead and never got a chance to see their children fulfilling their dreams or a chance to be together like Logan and Su-ryeon. The final scene is Logan's soul reuniting with Su-ryeon and going to the afterlife together to meet new people.]]

The residents of the Hera Palace are the epitome of the Korean 1 percent; rich, ruthless and willing to do anything to go higher in life. Their turbulent but relatively stable lives hits a snag when during a costume ball, a young high schooler known as Min Seula dies within the building's premises.

* AbsurdlyDividedSchool: Cheongha Arts in a nutshell. The Little Hera Palace has every student under their thumb, and everyone not named Min Seola or Bae Rona bow and kowtow to their every whim; likely because of the Hera Palace adults having so much of an influence on their futures. Unfortunately for said clique, they're not actually very popular and the other students are quick to turn against them on a dime.
* ArchEnemy: Oh Yoonhee and Cheon Seojin. It's apparently a hereditary trait, as their daughters also have this relationship.
* TheBadGuyWins: By the end of season 1 at least.[[spoiler: Suryeon is dead, Yoonhee is presumably dead, and Yoonchul is forced to temporarily move overseas. Meanwhile the Joos, Seojin, Eunbyeol, the Yoos, Kangs, and Lees get off scott-free and even celebrate with a private party. As such, Seula's death is once again swept under the rug.]]
* TheBeautifulElite: Especially the queen bees of Hera Palace, Suryeon and Seojin.

** Seojin, an alumna of Cheongha Arts, went on to become South Korea's prima donna. However, Yoonhee has an even better singing voice than her, a fact that plagues Seojin. [[GenerationXerox Their daughters inherit their singling abilities, and also become rivals.]]
** Seokgyeong, Jeni and Minhyuk.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: No family in the Hera Palace is stable, except for maybe Yoonhee and her daughter Rona.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:With the major threats Dante and Seojin dead, and everyone living out their own lives and careers peacefully. However, several major characters (except Marie, Kyujin and Sangah) are dead and never got a chance to see their children fulfilling their dreams or a chance to be together like Logan and Suryeon. The final scene is Logan's soul reuniting with Suryeon and going to the afterlife together to meet new people.]]
* BullyBrutality: The children especially. [[spoiler: In season 1, after Anna Lee is revealed to be Seola, [[KidsAreCruel they physically push her around on a daily basis and even go as far as to nearly kill her at the junkyard.]] Their parents aren't much better, with Dantae and Seojin tying her up and torturing her after she blackmails them about their affair.]]

** Played with: [[spoiler: When Yoonchul goes to Dantae's villa and sees him with Seojin, he grabs a literal gun that we see hanging on display every episode, going in and killing them both. However, [[AllJustADream this turns out to be a fantasy; he puts the gun back and leaves instead.]]]]
** Seojin loses her voice right before a really important performance. [[spoiler: She's then diagnosed with nodules and a tumour, but we don't hear anything about it again. Fast forward three years, and we see that she's receiving treatment for laryngeal cancer.]]
* ChronicBackStabbingDisorder: Essentially the main trait of pretty much everyone minus Rona. [[spoiler:Initially, anyway.]]

* EducationMama: All of the parents, given how large amounts of the plot revolve around the competitive nature of Cheongha Arts School. However, some of them take it to the extreme (like Seojin, who also happens to be the school's Director).
* EvenEvilHasStandards: PlayedWith. While they do try to sweep it under the rug, the Hera Palace adults are furious when they discover just what their kids did to Seola; the incident at the junkyard that almost lead to the poor kid dying in a car explosion.

* EveryoneIsASuspect: The main plot of season 1 is trying to figure out who killed Seola, as everybody besides Suryeon acts incredibly guilty, and all had some part to play in how miserable her life was when she was alive.

** [[spoiler: We're left to think Suryeon is dead in season 1, killed by Yoonhee. However, it's revealed that she's very much still alive, and that it was Dantae not Yoonhee. He actually killed Aegyo, thinking she was Suryeon.]]
** [[spoiler: Logan Lee was killed in an explosion in the season 2 finale, but it turns out he was kept alive by Seojin, who blackmailed Yoonchul into treating him.]]
** [[spoiler: In season 2, Rona ends up in a coma after being slashed with a trophy by Eunbyeol, making Eunbyeol think she is responsible. Then Yoonchul tampers with her life support, apparently causing her to flatline, leaving viewers to think he's the one who ultimately killed her. However, Rona's life-threatening injuries actually occurred when Dantae found her soon after her fight with Eunbyeol, and stabbed her in the head with the trophy (turns out Eunbyeol only slashed her shoulder and had no idea about the head injury). Dantae later cuts off her life support; turns out Yoonchul couldn't bring himself to do it. Suryeon, who's been lurking nearby, reconnects her life support and rescues Rona. However, everyone still believes she's dead for little a while after that, including a grieving Yoonhee.]]
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: The Little Hera Palace may rule Cheongha Arts but they're not very well loved monarchs. It's all but stated that the staff, faculty and students only obey their word because of their parents' power and influence.
* HelicopterParents: Many parents commit bribery and fraud for their children to pass their exams. A prominent example is Seojin, the director of Cheongha Arts, abusing her authority multiple times on behalf of Eunbyeol. [[spoiler: Yoonhee even killed Seola so that Rona could take her spot at Cheongha Arts.]]

** The [[LoveTriangle love triangle]] between Yoonhee, Yoonchul and Seojin.
** Seokhoon and Rona start dating in season 2. [[spoiler: At the end of the season finale of season 3, we see that they are still together even after three years and despite careers that land them in different countries from one another.]]
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Seojin and Eunbyeol may act smug, but it masks a deep insecurity over how Yoonhee and Rona got their talents without money or connections.

** [[spoiler: A chandelier lands on Seojin, ending the episode on a cliffhanger as we wait to see if she survives, but in the subsequent episode we can see that she's more or less completely recovered.]]

* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler: the Hera Palace club frame Seola's death as a suicide by moving her body and faking a suicide note, but she was actually murdered.]]
* OrphanageOfFear: Neither the orphanage Seola grows up in [[spoiler: nor the place Dantae sends Seokgyeong in season 3]] are loving, nurturing environments for kids, let's just say that. [[spoiler: Especially when the Seola's orphanage manager begins selling the children to wealthy families for organ harvesting.]]

* PrivilegeMakesYouEvil: True throughout the series for most of the Hera Palace club members and their children, especially in season 1. Their greed drives them to do terrible things [[spoiler: like profit from Seola's death, bribe and blackmail politicians in order to manipulate land value, and steal from one another given half an opportunity.]]

** Seojin with Yoonhee
** Jeni and eventually Eunbyeol with Rona in season 1; Eunbyeol thereafter
* RedHerring: [[spoiler: Dantae and Seojin seem like the most obvious culprits responsible for Seola's murder, and Suryeon spends most of her time and resources pursuing them. However, it turns out to be Yoonhee, who didn't even know/remember she did it at first, even helping Suryeon on her quest to find the killer.]]

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: The all-but-stated life motto of the Hera Palace. Yoonhee and Rona's initial problem is their lack of money and being forced to play on an uneven field compared to the other families.
* StageMom: Seojin forces Eunbyeol through a grueling routine of singing practice in order for her to beat Rona and continue the family legacy; the pressure she places on Eunbyeol ends up taking a huge toll on her mental health and their relationship. [[spoiler: This is intensified by the fact that Seojin and Yoonhee are childhood archrivals, and Seojin is plagued by the fact that she never was able to truly beat Yoonhee.]]
* TeensAreMonsters: ALL of the Hera Palace kids. Even the TokenGoodTeammate Rona isn't above methods to screw the rest of the kids over, given their bullying of her.

** [[spoiler: Seola had only been adopted into Logan Lee's family to provide him with bone marrow, in order to treat his bone marrow cancer. He makes a full recovery, but at some point during the three year time skip in the show's finale, the cancer returns; too grief-stricken about Suryeon, Logan forgoes treatment this time around and succumbs to the condition.]]
** [[spoiler: We see in the time skip that Seojin has been receiving treatment for larygneal cancer while serving time in prison.]]
** Even dogs aren't exempt. In season 1, Seola takes her dog to the vet and discovers it has a cancerous tumour that she cannot afford treatment for. After she dies, Rona ends up taking the dog in, not knowing that it is sick; it dies shortly thereafter.

** Seokgyeong feels overlooked as a step daughter, compared to Suryeon's "real" daughter Hye-in. [[spoiler: This turns out to be the opposite of the truth; we find out Seokgyeong is actually Suryeon's bio daughter, while Hye-in is technically her step daughter, having been baby swapped with Seola, Seokgyeong's twin.]]
** Eunbyeol resents the attention Rona gets from Yoonchul, especially as she is "just" his step daughter [[spoiler: although it turns out he's the biological father of both.]]
** Even the adults aren't exempt - Seojin and her half-sister Seoyoung were constantly compared to one another as children, and Seojin definitely senses that she is not her stepmother's favorite.

* WhiteCollarCrime: Rife among the Hera Palace club members, particularly Kyujin, Dantae and Seojin.

* MeddlingParents: Every parent on the show.
** The Black Hawk is the norm, with characters regularly committing bribery and fraud for their children to pass their exams, and with Seojin, the director of Cheongha Arts, abusing her authority multiple times on behalf of Eunbyeol. [[spoiler: Yoonhee even killed Seola so that Rona could take her spot at Cheongha Arts.]]
** The Projector also shows up frequently throughout the series; Seojin forces Eunbyeol through a gruelling routine of singing practice in order for her to beat Rona and continue the family legacy; the pressure she places on Eunbyeol ends up taking a huge toll on her mental health and their relationship. [[spoiler: This is intensified by the fact that Seojin and Yoonhee are childhood archrivals, and Seojin is plagued by the fact that she never was able to truly beat Yoonhee.]]

* RedHerring: [[spoiler: Dantae and Seojin seem like the most obvious culprits responsible for Seola's murder, and Suryeon spends most of her time and resources pursuing them. However, it turns out to be Yoonhee, who didn't even know/remember she did it at first, even helping Suryeon on her quest to find the killer.]]

* RedHerring: [[spoiler: Dantae and Seojin seem like the most obvious culprits responsible for Seola's murder, and Suryeon spends most of her time and resources pursuing them. However, it turns out to be Yoonhee, who didn't even know/remember she did it at first, even helping Suryeon on her quest to find the killer; Logan Lee never ruled her out as a possibility even if Suryeon did.]]

* OutsideContextProblem: For a while, Logan Lee and his corporation, in regards to building the casino with J-King Holdings.

* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler: the Hera Palace club frame Seoula's death as a suicide by moving her body and faking a suicide note, but she was actually murdered.]]

** [[spoiler: In season 2, Rona ends up in a coma after being slashed with a trophy by Eunbyeol, making Eunbyeol think she is responsible. Then Yoonchul tampers with her life support, apparently causing her to flatline, leaving viewers to think he's the one who ultimately killed her. However, Rona's life-threatening injuries actually occurred when Dantae found her soon after her fight with Eunbyeol, and stabbed her in the head with the trophy (turns out Eunbyeol only slashed her shoulder and had no idea about the head injury). Dantae later cuts off her life support; turns out Yoonchul couldn't bring himself to do it. Suryeon, who's been lurking nearby, reconnects her life support and rescues Rona.]]

** Seojin, an alumna of Cheonga Arts, went on to become South Korea's prima donna. However, Yoonhee has an even better singing voice than her, a fact that plagues Seojin. [[GenerationXerox Their daughters inherit their singling abilities, and also become rivals.]]

* EducationMama: All of the parents, given how large amounts of the plot revolve around the competitive nature of Cheongah Arts School. However, some of them take it to the extreme (like Seojin, who also happens to be the school's Director).

** Played with: [[spoiler: When Yoonchul goes to Dantae's villa and sees him with Seojin, he grabs a literal gun hanging on display, goes in and kills them both. However, [[AllJustADream this turns out to be a fantasy; he puts the gun back and leaves instead.]]]]