Heo Nam-jun and Im Ji-yeon Share a Passionate Kiss Despite Knowing Each Other's Past Lives: "Whoever You Are, Just Look at Me" ('Brave New World')
In "Brave New World," Heo Nam-joon and Im Ji-yeon shared a passionate kiss amid a crisis, confirming their true feelings for one another.
In the ninth episode of the SBS Friday-Saturday drama "Brave New World," which aired on the 5th, Cha Se-gye (played by Heo Nam-joon) and Shin Seo-ri (played by Im Ji-yeon) were shown struggling with the revelation of their past lives.
At the launch party for the brand B.O.J., Cha Se-gye suddenly asked Shin Seo-ri, “Who are you? Gangga Dansim. Who are you?” catching her off guard. He then poured out his confusion, saying, “A certain woman keeps appearing in my dreams. A palace maid with no friends and no family. At first, I thought it was just a dream. But it’s strange. That woman looks exactly like you. Am I going crazy?”
In response, Shin Seo-ri retorted, “Who are you to ask me that out of the blue? Did you have a drink in the middle of the day?" She added, "You can’t even tell the difference between a crazy dream and reality. Seeing you show up looking like that and rambling about dreams, you’ve clearly lost your mind," trying to sound calm while inwardly feeling deeply unsettled.
The two kept replaying their conversation over and over in their heads even inside the party hall. Just then, Cha Se-gye’s fiancée, Mo Tae-hee (played by Chae Seo-an), appeared and asserted her claim, saying, “What are you doing, Se-gye? In an official setting, I’m the one who—” Shin Seo-ri calmly retorted, “Right, you’re his fiancée. I’ll give you permission, so go hold his hand and take a lap.”
When Cha Dal-su (played by Yoon Joo-sang), Cha Se-gye’s grandfather and the chairman, appeared shortly after, Shin Seo-ri pulled out all the stops with her charm, calling him “Grandpa” and engaging in a battle of wits with his fiancée, Mo Tae-hee. Cha Se-gye tried to stop them by saying, “Enough already,” which drew laughter from everyone. Shin Seo-ri retorted, “You used to nag me to call you ‘CEO’ at first, so is being so sensitive about titles like an old fogey a family trait?”
Later, while reviewing the script for the drama *Queen of Women 2*, in which Shin Seo-ri stars, Cha Se-gye discovered a scene depicting Joo-sang and the noblewoman’s “consummation” and flew into a rage. He threw the script down and ordered, “Director Son, contact the advertising team. Now,” and, leveraging his massive product placement budget, had the entire scene replaced with a “silk-rearing ceremony” scene that included indirect advertising for cosmetics.
Cha Se-gye even visited the set in person and warned the male lead (played by Ahn Chang-hwan), “I’m the one who’s poured a lot of money into this drama, so I have a question. Are you sure the intimate scene with Shin Seo-ri has been cut?” He added, “There won’t be any intimate scenes from now on. So please refrain from any unnecessary physical contact." When the co-star asked who she was, she caused an uproar with the absurd reply, "Me? Shin Seo-ri’s stalker."
When Shin Seo-ri, seeing this, scolded him, “What am I supposed to do if you keep barging in like this without warning?” Cha Se-gye explained, “I think I’m so stressed from worrying about every little thing that I’m even having dreams about it. I need to live more comfortably," explaining that he had changed the script to protect the actress from the troublemaker. When Shin Seo-ri thanked him, saying, “Thanks to you, I nailed that scene,” Cha Se-gye retorted, “Just words?” He then snatched the eye-shaped candy Shin Seo-ri had pulled out, popped it into his mouth, and smiled, remarking, “It’s disgustingly sweet.”
Later, Cha Se-gye underwent surgery to have his impacted wisdom tooth extracted. Under anesthesia on the operating table, he had a dream about the past once again. In the dream, Lee Hyun, longing for Gang Dan-sim, wrote a poem and muttered, “I just can’t bring myself to tell her this.” When Cha Se-gye woke up from the anesthesia and didn’t see Shin Seo-ri by his side, he was disappointed, calling her a “heartless woman,” but soon spotted Shin Seo-ri, who had walked through the rain with bare hands to buy ice for him, and his face lit up with relief.
Shin Seo-ri, troubled by the dream Cha Se-gye had mentioned, asked him about its contents, and he replied, “He called me ‘Grand Prince.’” Realizing that the Grand Prince Lee Hyun from her past was actually Cha Se-gye, Shin Seo-ri despaired, thinking, “A bad feeling is never wrong.” Contrary to her expectation that Grand Prince Lee Hyun would have resented her, Cha Se-gye sincerely told her, “He was in love with a woman named Gang Dan-sim,” making Shin Seo-ri’s heart skip a beat.
Cha Se-gye dropped a bombshell, saying, “I’ll take care of Grandfather and settle the political marriage myself.” When Shin Seo-ri sarcastically retorted, “Are you giving up already? Why not milk it for all it’s worth? You seem really scared of Grandpa’s reaction,” to which she bluntly confessed, “He’s just doing that to look good in your eyes.”
Before heading home, Shin Seo-ri warned, “Be careful of Choi Moon-do (played by Jang Seung-jo). Don’t trust anyone,” she warned. When Cha Se-gye brushed it off, saying, “I’ll handle it myself,” she offered concerned advice: “Do you think the world is that easy? You don’t know when or where a knife might strike—do you really want to play at love so carefree?” Cha Se-gye retorted, “The world is easy for me. But you’re the one who’s hard. Just don’t show up in my dreams,” to which Shin Seo-ri asked, “What if it’s not a dream? What if I’m that kind of woman? A woman who would give up anything to survive?” leaving Cha Se-gye unsettled.
Shin Seo-ri visited the history museum and fell deep in thought while looking at the painting she had created. Just then, a student preparing a thesis approached her and showed her a painting in the museum that resembled Shin Seo-ri. This painting depicted a heart-wrenching love letter that Prince Lee Hyun had once left for Gang Dan-sim. Shin Seo-ri wept, saying, “Unable to even deliver it, agonizing like a stone, my heart rotting away. What kind of love is that? Love my ass.” Then, as if she had made up her mind, she sprinted off at full speed. Unlike her past self, who had foolishly let Lee Hyun slip away, she resolved to charge headlong toward Cha Se-gye in this life.
Toward the end of the episode, when Choi Moon-do’s hidden camera was discovered, he threatened Cha Se-gye by pulling out a photo of Shin Seo-ri. Cha Se-gye went to find Shin Seo-ri and lashed out at her, asking, “Why didn’t you tell me you met Choi Moon-do?” But in the end, she kissed her, saying, “No matter who you are or where you came from, I believe you completely, so forget about all the other guys and just look at me.”
About Brave New World
Brave New World is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931, and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by the story's protagonist.