My Royal Nemesis: Episodes 7-8
by Unit
It’s another week for our chaebol male lead to fly his flag of loserism. But meddling third parties and a scandal threaten his romance with our transmigrated heroine. His biggest stumbling block might actually be our heroine’s self-doubt, but there may be hope for their romance if she can muster up some courage.
EPISODES 7-8
We open with a replay of last week’s beach scene, but from Se-gye’s POV this time. Turns out he was only pretending to have given up after rejection #3. He never had any intention of letting Dan-shim go, and she played into his hands when she grabbed his wrist. Sadly, we do not get a replay of the wrist kiss. Post-main kiss, Dan-shim notes some “strange” memories (of her and the grand prince in Joseon) floating around in her head. And now I’m thinking she hasn’t clocked Se-gye’s resemblance to the grand prince not because of the mask, but because she has lost all her memories about the prince himself. Anyway, Se-gye would rather Dan-shim not remember any of her ex-boyfriends because he’s a self-proclaimed “super jealous type.” Pfft. Not him getting jealous of his Joseon-era self. This man is on another wavelength, y’all!
The next morning, Dan-shim panics when she wakes up alone on the beach with Se-gye — who just wants to know if they’re official now. “You can call me your husband, if you like,” he grins. Looool. Se-gye is already crazy in love, and the kiss made him crazier. Side note, I loved how he used the Joseon word for “husband.” Dan-shim doesn’t recall the events of last night (Girl, how could you forget?? I spent all week replaying the wrist kiss in my head!), but that’s none of Se-gye’s business. He tells her not to think about playing the blacked-out card or running from him. “You will never be able to take back what happened yesterday.” Ouuuuu. That was insanely hot! “You’re mine whether you like it or not,” he continues, and suddenly the heat is coming from this red flag statement. Good thing he’s THE Cha Se-gye and I’m color blind.
The Dynaestie shoot in Jeju wraps, and everyone returns to Seoul. Se-gye is still high on the beach kiss when he sees in the news that Chairman Cha has announced a business deal with Tae-hee’s family. The media buzzes with marriage speculations between him and Tae-hee, but he wastes no time telling Tae-hee to lose his number. He will not be marrying her, thank you very much. And as it turns out, Se-gye is not the only person against the union. Mun-do — who is merely an acquaintance of Tae-hee, phew! — is strongly opposed to the marriage because an alliance with Tae-hee’s family will give Se-gye the ultimate edge in the Chail succession wars.
Se-gye’s aunts, CHA JOO-RAN (Jung Young-joo) and CHA JOO-MI (Baek Eun-hye) are also opposed to the marriage, and it’s funny how everyone is fighting an inheritance battle that Se-gye has repeatedly said he wants no part of! Dan-shim’s name pops up when Joo-ran does some digging into Se-gye, and she heads to Dan-shim’s with a fat envelope. Dan-shim has watched enough dramas and expects this to be “stay away from Se-gye” money. But plot twist, this is “stick with Se-gye and ensure Tae-hee does NOT get a space in his heart” money. First it was Mun-do, and now it’s Joo-ran wanting to pay her to date Se-gye? Dan-shim is offended by how little Se-gye’s family members think of her, and she chases Joo-ran away.
Up next on Dan-shim’s rooftop is Tae-hee and her one-sided claim that Se-gye is her man. And it’s her audacity to suggest that she can “tolerate” Dan-shim as Se-gye’s side piece. Girl, you are the unwanted other woman. Dan-shim has no intention of being a plaything, but Tae-hee also has no intention of getting chased away like Joo-ran. She brags about what she can offer Se-gye, then asks what Dan-shim can do for him. But jokes on her, because all Dan-shim needs to do for Se-gye is exist. I mean, the man is having a blast admiring Dan-shim’s photoshoot pictures, and planning a surprise birthday event for her that involves a rented-out theme park, a drone show, and ten thousand flowers! If Over the Top were a person, it’d be Cha Se-gye.
Unfortunately, Tae-hee gets into Dan-shim’s head, and our heroine starts having all these feelings of inadequacy. So when Se-gye shows up on her rooftop (she needs to start charging for access to this place), she puts the brakes on what’s brewing between them. Se-gye is hurt when he realizes Dan-shim remembers what happened on the beach. Truth is, shyness made her feign a blackout. But now she tells him she faked it because she doesn’t want further entanglement with him. “Am I never going to be the one for you?” Se-gye asks. “No,” Dan-shim replies. “I am enough for myself in this world. And if I were to ever need a man, it will never be you.” Damn! I understand Dan-shim’s self-preservation—induced noble idiocy, and my heart breaks for her and Se-gye.
It’s hurtful enough that Dan-shim breaks up with Se-gye even before they officially get together, and he can’t celebrate the Dynaestie brand launch with her. Then Mun-do makes things worse by leaking CCTV footage of Se-gye drinking last week’s chaos wine in Jeju, and then driving out of the hotel with a mystery woman. Se-gye actually switched the cups and drank water, but nobody cares about the truth — especially since there was a hit and run in the area, and the public needs someone to blame. Jae-han suggests Dan-shim as a witness to quell Se-gye’s DUI allegations since she’s the mystery woman in question. But our leading man prefers to take all the heat and keep his crush out of the press.
Meanwhile, Dan-shim is currently preoccupied with Seo-ri’s grandmother — who collapsed from a cardioembolic stroke, and has all but been officially diagnosed with onset Alzheimer’s. In a conversation with Dan-shim, Halmoni shares that she was at her lowest when Seo-ri was born. Seo-ri, which means “frost flower,” came into Halmoni’s life like a miracle, and Halmoni tells her (Dan-shim) to be like the frost flower that falls in the height of summer and flies freely. But Dan-shim doesn’t believe in happiness or miracles, because “no god will grant the wishes of an imposter.” And this imposter syndrome makes her believe she cannot do anything for Se-gye when she sees the news about his DUI.
Dan-shim arrives home from the hospital to discover that Se-gye has fixed the lights in her building’s stairwell and on her rooftop. (And this is why we’ll not charge him for access. Heh.) He also left her a music box for her birthday — he actually listened to Jae-han’s advice to ditch the over the top plans! — alongside a happy birthday note wishing for her night to shine a little brighter than yesterday. How romantic! It’s also quite thoughtful and very much needed since Dan-shim is afraid of the dark. Dan-shim’s resolve to stay away from Se-gye wanes at this point, and she runs all the way to his company. And when Se-gye asks why she came, she replies that she’s here to protect him. *Swoon*
Dan-shim informs the press that Se-gye didn’t drink. And as her agency’s CEO, he merely accompanied her to the beach in a management capacity to return some beach stones for conservationism purposes. Oh my, when did Kang Dan-shim graduate from PR school?! She even sweetens the story by announcing that Se-gye will donate half the profit from the Dynaestie campaign to conservation of Jeju’s natural heritage. Cue: a shocked Se-gye and Jae-han, because there is no such plan in place. LMAO! Now, Dan-shim could have ended things on this note. But no, she had to go overboard and declare that she already has a “beloved,” in order to kill the romance rumors between her and Se-gye. *facepalm* Girl, did you drop out before graduation? Loool. Anyway, the DUI scandal dies down, and our OTP’s relationship is back in a good place.
While Dan-shim publicly denies a romantic entanglement with Se-gye, Tae-cannot-take-no-for-an-answer-hee publicly “confirms” her engagement with him. Smh. But Tae-hee is the only one in this delulu engagement, because Se-gye is busy making sure he’s the “beloved” that Dan-shim was referring to. Loool. Dan-shim grants Se-gye permission to explore a situationship with her — LMAO! What?? — and Se-gye accepts it because anything is better than the friend zone. I can’t even! Honesty is Se-gye’s policy even in situationships, so he tells Dan-shim about the business engagement with Tae-hee. I love that he told her straight up to prevent any misunderstanding that could arise from her finding out from someone else.
I also love that while Se-gye acknowledges he stands to gain substantially from a union with Tae-hee, he point blank tells her he’s choosing Dan-shim regardless. Tae-hee does NOT take this well, and she drags Dan-shim in the media as a washed-up child actress who failed to seduce a chaebol heir. How pathetic! Se-gye warns Tae-hee to lay off his woman — who, unsurprisingly, can also take care of herself. Dan-shim beats up a paparazzi duo tailing her, then she uses them to expose a swindling cult leader and turns all the negative publicity about her into positive ones. Okay, maybe she did graduate from PR school after all. Heh.
As the week winds to a close, Mun-do sends a minion to Dan-shim’s to summon her (okay, screw charging for access to the rooftop. Someone, put a lock on that place!), and he threatens her with Halmoni to break up Se-gye and Tae-hee’s engagement by whatever scandalous means necessary. Smh. Back in Joseon, the crown prince also cooked up a scandal about the grand prince’s illicit affairs with court ladies. And he forced the grand prince to submit to an arrest after threatening him with Dan-shim’s life. To worsen matters, Dan-shim was made to stand witness at the trial because the crown prince threatened to only spare the grand prince’s life if she testified against him. The grand prince took one look at Dan-shim’s tears and he could tell her betrayal was not by choice. So he admitted to the illicit affairs in order to spare her from lying and hurting any further. Oh my heart!
In the present, Se-gye wakes up. He has finally seen the face of the girl from his Joseon dreams, and it’s Dan-shim! Se-gye recalls Dan-shim’s quirks and all her statements he assumed were merely Joseon cosplay/method acting, and the pieces begin to fall in place. Da-dun! Se-gye immediately heads to a Dynaestie event and pulls Dan-shim away from Tae-hee (who’s busy fighting for her right to be his date at the event) with a “we need to talk.” The subject of the conversation is, “Kang Dan-shim. Who are you?” Omo! Memories unlock in Dan-shim’s head as she stares at Se-gye in shock, and it looks like she finally remembers the grand prince!
Show has basically confirmed that Se-gye is a reincarnation of the grand prince. And now I’m thinking Dan-shim truly died after her poisoning and was reincarnated as Seo-ri. Seo-ri probably suffered a psychotic break while filming the poisoning scene, remembered her past life like it was yesterday, and came to believe that she’s Dan-shim. It’ll be nice if this was the case, so that our heroine can stop feeling like an imposter in Seo-ri’s body.
I continue to enjoy everything about Dan-shim and Se-gye, and I love that their coupling hasn’t given them a personality switch or made their dynamics less interesting. Yay for an OTP that maintains their individuality and spark even after becoming an official couple! Se-gye did become more loser-y, though. That man is in loveeeee!! He cannot physically contain the surge of emotions coursing through him, and I believe Se-gye’s body expels some of said emotions via those big, fat grins on his face when he’s with/thinks about Dan-shim. “Screw this damn world, and let your heart flutter with me.” Whoa! The man has lines for dayyyys! Se-gye is so loud about his love for Dan-shim, and I love it!
However, I don’t like that Dan-shim still hasn’t told Se-gye about Mun-do’s offer and threats. That bastard is the weapon fashioned against them in both past and present lives, and he must not prosper! We already know he’s evil, but I was still shocked at the crown prince’s insinuation that he killed his older brother/the previous crown prince. His greedy ass clearly has a history of using underhanded methods to steal other people’s positions, and he still hasn’t changed centuries later. Smh.
This show had a solid first half, and there’s more to look forward to than our OTP’s romance in the second half. I’m curious about Mun-do and his secret family (he mentioned having a son this week). I also want to see how much more pathetic Tae-hee can get in her unrequited pursuit of Se-gye. Plot wise, it’s nice that she’s on a separate villainy arc from Mun-do since their interests don’t align one bit. But that can change if her petty ass decides to ruin Se-gye because she can’t have him. There’s also Ji-hyo’s hilarious misassumption that Gwang-nam is Dan-shim’s rich boyfriend. Lol. There’s potential for a ship with these two, and that’ll make Gwang-nam a successful fan because he’s a big fan of Ji-hyo.
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