The Empress
Bar hostesses are invisible women who are only there to provide mindless entertainment to the powerful men who want their company. Growing up, Seo In Hwa (Jang Shin Young) saw her mother, who owned a hostess bar, get trampled and mistreated by these drunk and disrespectful men. While studying to become a painter at a prestigious university, In Hwa vows that she will live her life very differently from her mother’s difficult life. But when In Hwa’s mother tragically dies, In Hwa develops a new mission in life. She goes to work as a bar hostess, becomes the best in her field, and sets out to exact revenge on the powerful men who destroyed her mother’s life. “The Empress” is a 2011 South Korean drama series directed by Choi Do Hoon. It is based on a manga written by Ryo Kurashina that also was made into a 2007 Japanese drama called “Iyotei – The Empress of Ginza.”