I've seen a lot of Kdrama and witnessed some amazing dialogue, but the most recent Kdrama Cheongdam-dong Alice just triumphed over every single scene I have been amazed by.
In context, Cheongdam-dong Alice is the story of Se Kyung, who is the Alice of the story. She is poor and loves fashion. One day, she decides to enter the Wonderland of Cheongdam and become a famous designer. In order to do this, she takes advice from a former enemy in High School who has achieved the finer life and has invented a formula to make it happen. She is the Queen of Hearts in the story She tells Se Kyung that she must find a "white rabbit" to escort her into the finer life.
Enter Seung Jo, the mad hatter character who poses as Secretary Kim to avoid being treated differently by Se Kyung. Once he falls for her, he eventually has to reveal this secret. He has gone from the bottom of the ladder to the top as president of Artemis, a well known and famous fashion brand.
Because Se Kyung doesn't know he is the president Jean Thierry Cha, she seeks another White Rabbit and succeeds in becoming well known to a famous designer who becomes the White Rabbit. Misunderstanding Se Kyung's intentions, the White Rabbit believes that she is a gold digger out for an opportunity for money. This continues once he discovers that Secretary Kim is Jean Thierry Cha, and he believes that Se Kyung has known this all along.
At the same time, Se Kyung's friend tells her who Secretary Kim is, before he does, and begins to feel guilty after he finally admits to the lie, and confesses his feelings for her. So she does what anyone racked with guilt would do, she avoids him and runs away. She also tells him that he is too above her in status.
Meanwhile, the White Rabbit won't let her relationship with Jean Thierry Cha go without consequences, and he bribes her to leave and go to a fashion school if she will stay away from him. After the contract is laid out in front of her, Se Kyung proceeds to tell the White Rabbit that her feelings and Seung Jo's feelings are genuine, but the White Rabbit doesn't listen and tells her that she is dirty because she is a poor person in love with a rich person.
Se Kyung is left to choose, leave for France, or be with someone she loves, but she is still racked with guilt, and every attempt Seung Jo makes to get close to her, she runs away. Seung Jo doesn't give up and prepares a major dinner to confess directly, but Se Kyung doesn't show up. After a pep talk from both his friends and Se Kyung's friends, he decides to find her.
After they track her down, Seung Jo finds her at the bottom of a stair well. He runs down the stairs (symbolically showing that he has left the pedestal of his status) and stands in front of a surprised Se Kyung, ready to confess. When he does, this is what he says:
"Don't go! Today I was going to confess to you. I was going to play a really cool movie ,and following the script ,I was going to do a really cool confession! I used too think that love was something you felt only at first sight. I didn't know that you could drown in it slowly . If love had a time limit, I want my love to last ten thousand years. Until the day I die, will you love me? I don't want ththat. Until the day I die, I will love you! And, well ,I was going to confess using this cool script, But none of this is right. That kind of stuff isn't me. I am a coward, because the person I love might throw me away. They might leave me. I am afraid. I get scared! When I was little, my mother let go of my hand and left me. Once, the person I loved suddenly packed her bags and left. These things haunt my dreams. Sometimes I'm so afraid that I turn the lights on. Now you know. I am not a cool CEO. I am not a prince who can save you. I'm just someone who loves Se Kyung. An ordinary man. Se Kyung, I love you to the point of being annoying. So if you are able to accept a person like me, decide, Ms Se Kyung. Please, instead of abandoning me, instead of running away. Se Kyung, rescue me."
After hearing this, Se Kyung begins to cry and asks him if he can wait for an hour. She runs back to the White Rabbit and tells him:
"You said love is like a name. Like the thousands of thousands names in the world, doesn’t matter what you call it, it is the mind of the person saying it. You’re right. My feelings for Cha Seung-Jo are ugly. But ugly love is still love. So, from now on these feelings of mine for Cha Seung-Jo, I will call it ugly love. You said I could call it whatever I like so I will. It may be ugly, but it’s my love for Cha Seung-Jo. So YOU give up. I will never give up my ugly love."
These monologues are absolutely amazing!
As a side note: These actors do a great job, and they are so cute together.
