Broke Zoo Uses Employees As "Fake" Animals To Fool Visitors

Hi, Mystery Recapped here. Today I am  going to explain a comedy drama film called “Secret Zoo.” Spoilers  ahead! Watch out and take care! Kang Tae-Soo works a dead-end temp position at a  renowned law firm JH. Tae-Soo dreams of one day landing a permanent position at the firm but so  far he has been unsuccessful. Tae-Soo’s law firm has been hit with scandals after scandals.  Currently, its vice president Min Chul Hyun is in prison for stock manipulation and  embezzlement. A group of protesters

have been camping outside the JH Headquarter for more  than a week to protest against the firm for being unjust and exploitative. Tae-Soo’s college friend  Song also works at the firm as an associate. The latter always invites Tae-Soo for drinks on the  weekends but Tae-Soo doesn’t want to face his friends who are a lot more successful than him.  One day, JH’s CEO Mr. Hwang is mobbed outside the HQ by the protesters. The protestors hurl  obscenities at Hwang, which aggravates him and he gets int

o a fight with the mob. The mob easily  overpowers Hwang and seeing his boss in trouble, Tae-Soo puts himself in the line of fire to  save him. The CEO takes notes of Tae-Soo being manhandled by the crowd as he drives away. Impressed by him, Hwang invites Tae-Soo for dinner, where he meets Rakwan group’s  Vice President and Hyun’s sister Min Chae-Ryung. After Ryung leaves, Hwang gets to  know more about Tae-Soo. Hwang promises to give Tae-Soo a permanent position at JH if he manages  to revitali

ze a failing zoo called Dongsan Park, that one of JH’s UK-based clients Gabrield Inc.  has acquired. Tae-Soo couldn’t be more excited and accepts the deal immediately. However, Hwang  gives him an ultimatum and says that he has exactly 3 months to revitalize the failing zoo. In the next scene, Tae-Soo quickly heads over to the zoo and lo and behold, he learns that the zoo  has no animals except for a troubled Polar bear and some other animals that no one would pay to  see. Tae-Soo talks to the

remaining zoo staff and they reveal that the zoo’s animals  have been taken away by the loan sharks that the zoo’s previous owners owed money to.  The zoo staff consists of former director Seo, Veterinarian Han, Hye-Kyung, and Gun-wook. After  learning that Tae-Soo is the new director of the zoo, Seo proceeds to leave but Tae-Soo convinces  him to stay, saying his experience will be needed to bring this zoo back to life. Tae-Soo proposes  buying animals but he is told that one can’t buy endanger

ed animals. They could seek special  permission for research and breeding from the government but it could take well over 3 months. Later that night, while returning back to his living quarters inside the zoo, Tae-Soo is given  a scare of a lifetime by a stuffed animal which he mistakes for a real tiger. One of the laid off zoo  staff reveals that he is taking the stuffed toy to sell it for some money. The next morning,  Tae-Soo relays his problem to Hwang but the latter tells Tae-Soo to return

back if he can’t  make it work. Realizing that he may no longer have a future at the company if he fails to deliver,  Tae-Soo promises to make it work at any cost. Tae-Soo then notices pictures of the zoo’s annual  soft toy contest on the wall and suddenly, an idea strikes him. He proposes the idea of having  the zookeepers dress up as animals. He stresses that people won’t be able to tell the difference  between a realistic animal costume and an animal from a certain distance. The zoo staff qui

ckly  get on board in the name of saving the zoo but Han refuses to partake in the foolishness. However,  Tae-Soo plays with Han’s heartstrings by bringing up the story of her becoming a vet because of the  zoo’s polar bear Black Nose, eventually persuading her. Tae-Soo then contracts a Hollywood costume  designer to design a realistic Lion, Gorilla, Sloth, and polar bear costume. Within two weeks,  they receive the costumes and Seo suggests hiring actors for the job but Tae-Soo turns down the 

suggestion, saying their secret could get out. Left with no choice, Han, Hye-kyung, Gun-wook and  Seo become the Lion, Sloth, Gorilla and Polar Bear respectively and the rehearsals begin. Soon,  the zoo’s gates are opened to the public and it receives groups of kindergarten kids and senior  citizens. The zoo staff initially struggle but eventually get the hang of their new job, managing  to fool the visitors. Their effort manages to attract 75 visitors in a week but the numbers are  not enough t

o keep the zoo open so Tae-Soo insists on getting a giraffe to lure more visitors. Meanwhile, Hye-kyung’s boyfriend Sung-min dumps her after wasting 5-year worth of her savings  on a convenience store near the zoo. Seeing Hye-kyung crying, Gun-wook storms into the store  wearing the gorilla costume and destroys it. Sung-min reports the gorilla to the police but  he is brushed aside as a lunatic. The next day, Sung-min shows up at the zoo, where Gun-wook again  attacks him as a gorilla, exposing

their secret in the process. After learning about Tae-Soo’s  scam, Sung-min threatens to report them to the police but Hye-kyung convinces him against  it and asks Gun-wook to apologize to him. Later that night, Tae-Soo visits his costume  designer but to his dismay, he learns that he has taken off with the deposit, leaving behind only  the head of the giraffe in the warehouse. However, Tae-Soo refuses to give up and he uses the head  of the giraffe to trick his visitors. Soon, Seo falls sick f

rom sitting out in the sun in the hot  costume so Tae-Soo takes over his role. He quickly learns that cosplaying an animal at a zoo isn’t  an easy job as some unruly visitors keep throwing stuff at him. Tae-Soo also gets tired of sitting  in the sun and when no one’s looking, he grabs a coca-cola bottle thrown by one of the visitors  inside the pit and drinks it to quench his thirst. However, some visitors manage to capture  Tae-Soo gulping down the coca cola bottle. That day, a representative f

rom JH  arrives at the zoo and reveals that Tae-Soo’s request for animal purchase has been  approved. After giving him a tour of the zoo, Tae-Soo manages to send the rep off. That night,  Tae-Soo gets a call from Song, who tells him about his plans to visit the zoo with his kids. After  seeing JH spending so much money and effort to keep the zoo up and running, Tae-Soo asks Song  about Gabriel and Song reveals that Gabriel is Hwang’s own shell company that he uses to manage  his slush fund much

to Tae-Soo's astonishment. The next day, a crowd of people show up at the  zoo and Tae-Soo learns that his polar bear has gone viral after the video of the polar bear  drinking coke hit the internet. Tae-Soo and his team couldn’t be more excited and thanks to  the polar bear, the zoo becomes a massive hit. Hundreds of people flock to the zoo everyday to  see the bear drinking coke and over the weekend, the zoo makes a massive profit of $100,000. One day, Gun-wook finds Hye-kyung despairing by he

rself and talks to her. She is still  reeling from her breakup and Gun-wook offers to take her out on dinner. Meanwhile, Tae-Soo  notices Black Nose roaming outside in the pit. He then finds Han watching an old childhood video  of Black Nose by herself. She reveals that she let Black Nose out of the cage so he could get some  fresh air. The two then talk about Black Nose’s worsening behavior. She says that no matter how  spacious the zoo is, it is still a cement cage for the polar bear. She reve

als that she once had an  opportunity to send the animal to Canada where it could live in the wild but she decided to keep it  around, hoping that if she did her best, it would get better. She laments her decision and thanks  Tae-Soo for saving the zoo before parting ways. The next day, Hwang offers Tae-Soo a permanent  position at JH. Tae-soo is ecstatic at the news but his happiness soon turns into disappointment  when Hwang reveals his plans to bulldoze the zoo and build a resort. Rakwan Grou

p had purchased  over 25 million square feet of land around the zoo and they also wanted to buy the zoo itself  but Hwang’s shell company Gabriel swooped in and bought it up. Hwang then ordered Tae-Soo  to revitalize the zoo so Gabriel could sell the land to Rakwan Group at a much higher price. Tae-Soo tries to convince Hwang against selling the zoo but Hwang dismisses him. Dejected,  Tae-Soo returns to the zoo to deliver the bad news but he is surprised by Han and others  with a success party.

Former employees of the zoo also join the party and thank Tae-Soo  for giving them their livelihood back. Seeing them so happy, Tae-Soo can’t bring himself  to break the bad news. However, a former employee of the zoo from earlier in the movie arrives and  reveals Rakwan’s plans to build a resort on top of the zoo. Tae-Soo confirms the news and the former  employees leave disappointed. Han and others feel cheated by Tae-Soo and refuse to hear him out. Left with no choice, Tae-Soo returns to his

new job in Seoul and gets on with his life. However,  he still regrets what’s happening to the zoo. When the Rakwan group’s team arrives to demolish  the zoo, Seo gets into an altercation with the company staff and injures himself in the process.  The zoo staff reunite in the hospital and Han proposes a solution. She suggests opening  the zoo and putting Rakwan on blast publicly for trying to demolish it. The public campaign  works and the media and environmental activists get all over Rakwon li

ke a bad rash. The  development enrages Rakwan’s vice president Ryung and Hwang promises to remove the miscreant  employees from the zoo premises. However, it fails to calm Ryung down as her attempts to  revamp the image of the company have tanked badly. Hwang promises to resolve the problem as soon  as possible and leaves. Hwang is later visited by Hye-kyung’s ex-boyfriend Sung-min, who tells  the CEO the truth about the fake zoo animals. Tae-Soo notices Sung-min leaving Hwang’s office  and fig

ures out that he has ratted them out. Hwang and his assistant immediately leave for  the zoo and they are closely followed by Tae-Soo. Before Hwang gets to expose them, Tae-Soo alerts  Han and others about the development. Han stops Hwang from going into the room where the  polar bear is kept. Shortly afterwards, Tae-Soo joins them and Hwang warns him to  tell him the truth about the zoo animals but Tae-Soo continues to feign ignorance.  Enraged, Hwang forces his way into the room and finds Blac

k Nose sleeping. Mistaking  the bear for a fake one, Hwang challenges the animal, almost getting himself killed in the  process. To calm Black Nose, Han lets him into the pit while Hwang proceeds to leave. However,  Hwang returns to check the polar bear again when he becomes certain that the giraffe is  fake. Hwang gets into the pit with Black Nose and challenges him again. Black Nose attacks  him and Hwang passes out. To save his boss, Tae-Soo puts on the polar bear suit and  lures Black Nose a

way from Hwang. It works and Hwang is brought back to safety but at  the expense of Tae-Soo who is attacked by the bear. The angry bear tears Tae-Soo’s  suit open, exposing him. But fortunately, Tae-Soo manages to run to safety just in time. After the public debacle, Tae-Soo apologizes to his team and offers to take all  the blame to protect them. However, Han and others oppose the idea, saying they  all are as guilty as him. Hye-Kyung wishes outloud that they could do something about  Black Nos

e and other remaining animals. Suddenly, an idea strikes Tae-Soo yet again.  He claims he can save the zoo and goes to meet Rakwan’s Vice President Ryung. He proposes to run  an ecological park for Ryung’s resort where the animals could live. This would not only remove the  roadblock stopping the construction of the resort, but it would also save Rakwan’s image from being  tarnished further. Ryung agrees on the condition that Tae-Soo gets Gabriel on board. Through his  friend Song, Tae-Soo retri

eves hard evidence of Hwang laundering money using Gabriel. Tae-Soo  then threatens to leak the documents to the press and police if Hwang doesn’t agree to sell the zoo  to Rakwan. Reluctantly, Hwang agrees to the deal. Several years pass by and the movie cuts to a  scene of Ryung presenting a video of the Rakwan eco park consisting of various real wild animals.  Seo and others have been hired by Rakwan Group. Moreover, Black Nose has immigrated to Canada.  The movie ends with Tae-Soo and Han vi

siting Black Nose in his natural habitat. Subscribe for more videos like this, turn on the notification, and leave a like to help  the channel out. Thank You for watching.