'My Royal Nemesis' Episodes 9-10 Recap: Will Seo-Ri Leave Se-Gye?

The latest two episodes of My Royal Nemesis remind me why we initially fell in love with K-dramas. Somewhere down the line, we got sucked into boring tropes that left us wondering why we were watching K-dramas anymore at all. But My Royal Nemesis calmly subverts some of the major tropes that we’ve been hating lately in the best way possible, while still being an interesting comedy that delivers a compelling story. Other k-dramas should definitely be taking notes. Anyway, these two episodes focus on the new relationship between Se-Gye and Seo-Ri, while simultaneously showing us a different side of Mun-Do. But I won’t waste any more of your time on my thoughts, let’s dive straight into episodes 9 and 10.

Spoiler Alert

Does Se-Gye Believe The Past Life Situation? 

In My Royal Nemesis episode 9, Se-Gye confronts Seo-Ri about being Dan-Sim in his dreams. He is now starting to wonder if they’re dreams or actually scenes from his past life. Seo-Ri panics at the time, and tells him that they’re just dreams and he should forget about them, but later in the episode, she decides to tell him the truth. She even goes to the shaman to ask her if Se-Gye might actually be a reincarnation of the Grand Prince. Despite everything, I feel like Dan-Sim is too smart to need to check with the shaman if he’s the guy or not. In his next dream, Se-Gye sees the Grand Prince writing a love letter to Dan-Sim, while simultaneously telling her to leave him alone. Later, in the present day, Seo-Ri finds that painting, and learns that the Prince genuinely loved her. This is what makes her decide to love him unconditionally in the present day. Especially after being reminded of a time when she wanted to give the Prince a lightning-struck jujube bark because it would bring him luck, but the King stopped her, calling her out for betraying him. Despite knowing the truth about the past lives and Mun-Do trying to cause a stir between the two love-birds, Se-Gye is determined to keep Seo-Ri happy. It’s quite endearing. Though he jokes about wanting to take her to a doctor about the whole past lives thing, he’s sweet about it, too. When he has to get his wisdom tooth surgically removed, he sees the kind of poetry the Prince wrote for Dan-Sim, and maybe he feels like it’s the same way he feels about Seo-Ri, too, making him all emotional. Later, they spend some time at Namsan Tower, doing couple-y things, and they’re both very happy to be doing normal, cute stuff together. 

Does Mun-Do’s Scheming Work? 

But Mun-Do’s not done scheming yet. At the beginning of the episode, he’s frustrated that the Dynastie event is a success. Se-Gye even officially introduces Seo-Ri to his grandfather, but it’s all quite embarrassing to watch. At the same time, Tae-Hee is there too, but Se-Gye continues to make it abundantly clear that he’s not going to choose her. We see her get crap from her mother as well, so we understand why she’s determined to marry this guy and keep her independence. Anyway, Mun-Do can’t even spare the time to look after his ill son, who is in the US, but decides to take one weekend off to go see his son (which never ends up happening). At the same time, when Se-Gye’s grandfather asks him to come up with a position for Se-Gye at the company, Mun-Do recommends sending him off to the US branch. 

Much to his surprise, the old man pulls a shocker on him and announces that he’s going to be the branch manager in the US. At the same time, the nurse goes missing from the hospital and even sends a recording to Se-Gye that Mun-Do made her poison him. At the end of the 9th episode, Mun-Do and Se-Gye have a showdown, in which Mun-Do reminds him that his father was a great disappointment to his grandfather because he chose the wrong woman. He threatens to tell Se-Gye’s grandfather about Seo-Ri. He also tells him that he had to work really hard to get to where he is, but Se-Gye was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. I don’t fully understand Mun-Do’s villain angle. He seems like he could’ve been an ordinary guy, but there’s something really stupid about this fight he’s fighting and constantly losing. After all this, Se-Gye meets Seo-Ri and tries to tell her to leave him because his problems would be solved, but he can’t do it because he’s basically locked in. 

What Happens To Se-Gye’s Grandfather and Seo-Ri? 

In My Royal Nemesis episode 10, Seo-Ri is especially nice to Se-Gye, and is trying her best to look after him health-wise. She gets him herbal medicine and fancy apples, too. She also visits her grandmother and promises her she will now live for herself. She even makes boxes for her colleagues, but they throw them out, which she ends up seeing later, while her costume has also been torn up and trashed in the same bin. On the other hand, Se-Gye goes to the office to show everyone he’s not going anywhere, but Mun-Do is determined to get rid of him, scheming with the other members of the board. Later, Se-Gye goes to visit Seo-Ri’s grandmother and introduce himself to her. She’s delighted to see the handsome man, who’s so confident in himself, but more importantly, he promises to look after Seo-Ri. Her grandmother says she grew up too fast, so she never got to experience a young life. So now, she might be an efficient grown-up, but she’s still a child on the inside. He’s happy to oblige, but at the end of this conversation, he sees a contract between her and Chail. Mun-Do had her sign the papers when she had no idea what was going on. Earlier, Seo-Ri had visited, too, but her grandmother had gone missing. Fortunately, she came back before it got dark, but Seo-Ri also noticed the papers. She immediately goes to see Mun-Do and confront him. But before the conversation can go anywhere, Se-Gye barges in and punches the guy in the face. He’s got to show how macho he is. But instead of thanking him for showing up, Seo-Ri gives him a good lesson in boundaries, and understanding how not to treat her like a kid and give her her own agency. He realises his mistake and decides to go apologize to her the next day. Additionally, she reflects that she didn’t have to be that harsh on him, but I think he totally deserved it. 

In the ending of episode 10, Seo-Ri meets Se-Gye’s grandfather in their usual restaurant. It’s just the two of them, and he tells her that though he likes her, he doesn’t want Se-Gye to be with someone who is as lonely as him. When Se-Gye lost his parents, his grandfather couldn’t give him enough love. Now what he needs is a family that will have too much to give. Unfortunately, he uses material success in Tae-Hee’s family as the metric of judgment, but he’s a rich old man, so there’s nothing else we can expect of him. I suppose Seo-Ri ends up seeing his point. She too wants Se-Gye to be happy, they’re both not realising that all that requires is her in his life. But to everyone’s shock, a speeding mini-truck heads straight into the shop, smashing into the table they’re sitting at. Both people that Se-Gye cares about are unconscious on the floor, within walking distance of him. This has got to be Mun-Do’s doing, of course, but will Se-Gye’s grandfather survive? With 4 episodes left of the show, there’s still a lot of time for a happy ending. Additionally, it looks like Dan-Sim is going to go back to her past life out of the blue. I wonder if she will change something there. 

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