EPISODE 11
THE MELTING
OF
THE ICEBERG KIM SUNG YEOL
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Gorgeous vampirish eyes
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Intense look: sexy Phoenix eyes
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A man of mystery
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sexy long-haired vampire
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very hot vampire
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The mysterious vampire
THE MELTING OF THE ICEBERG KIM SUNG YEOL
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huge iceberg
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iceberg about to melt
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melting iceberg
At the opening of Episode 11 of the saguek drama,“The Scholar Who Walks The Night”, there is a breath-taking panoramic view of the wide expanse of amazing mountains. The picturesque scene is beyond spectacular. Jo Yang Sung, a broken, ragged doll, is standing on rocky terrain high above the valley. Her mind must have been quite foggy. Being flooded with sorrowful memories, Jo Yang Sun is not in full possession of her faculties. If gravity has taken over, she would have fallen off the cliff’s sheer face. As the panicky viewers watch, they half expect the rock she is standing on to give way.
THE DEATH THEME
Kim Sung Yeol, played by Lee Joon Gi, suddenly appears and miraculously saves Jo Yang Sung in the nick of time. He questions her as to whether she was contemplating death. What has actually happened that justifies her wish to end her life? She is mourning the death of her adoptive father.
When she tells him that she wishes to die, he stares intensely at her puffy, tear-streaked face. Fury is evident in his eyes and his intensity threatens to swallow her whole. He is furious about her wanting to take her own life over such irrational logic, and he harshly dismisses her silliness.
Does she really have a serious death-wish? He berates her for wanting to die or not caring about herself, and she was properly admonished.
Viewers are trapped in that gaze that he gave her. Kim Sung Yeol has that lethal look - his passionate eyes seem to burn into her.
Jo Yang Sun does not want to live
He says that since she insists on dying, he will bring her to a place where she can die. He seems so cruel but one has to be cruel to be kind. The place surrounding a lake is the place where spirits roam. It has the elements of wind, water and sun.
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Kim Sung Yeol: Faraway look in his eyes
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Lee Myung Hee: Kim Sung Yeol's past love
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Clearing the cobwebs of time
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Nostalgia
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Closure for Kim Sung Yeol
His tone changes and he tells her gently and sadly that the spirits including her adoptive father’s, will not leave the place for the other world but roam the place if the living cling to their sadness. He explains that her father, in sacrificing his life to protect hers, has left behind a precious gift for her, so she should cherish her life.
With a forlorn, faraway look in his eyes, he shares with her that he, too, suffers from the death of the people he loves, and he lives in agony and despondency, and yet, he has to live. He asks despairingly, ‘Why must I live and for what must I live?’ Kim Sung Yeol’sdejected voice communicates so much misery that viewers commiserate with him.
That moment stands still. It seems to last a lifetime. Something wrenches the viewers’ hearts. One tries, through sheer will, not to cry.
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Closure for Jo Yang Sun
When it dawns on her that her sense of hopelessness is not her licence to commit such folly, she knew that her careless act was dishonouring the death of her adoptive father. Death is not the solution to life’s bitter problems. Why waste one’s life by throwing it away? She should distance herself from such fleeting thoughts. She has a destiny and a purpose for living. She is duty-bound to find and realise them.
He tenderly advises her to live for the sake of her dead adoptive father. Upon Kim Sung Yeol’s compassionate encouragement, she summons her dead adoptive father’s spirit, says her goodbyes and commands him to go in peace. It is exactly the kind of closure she should have, thanks to Kim Sung Yeol.
CLOSURE FOR KIM SUNG YEOL
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Closure for Kim Sung Yeol
At that instant, a thunderbolt hits Kim Sung Yeol and makes him realize that he dearly loves Jo Yang Sun and is scared of losing her.
He, too, needs closure in his romantic life. Lee Myung Hee has, previously, been the love of his life. Lee Myung Hee’s death 120 years ago lives in the shadowy recesses of Kim Sung Yeol’s consciousness and has haunted him. She has sacrificed her life to save his and he cannot get over her. The fire and the warmth in him is extinguished and his heart has become a block of ice and he puts on a frosty demeanour which is impossible to infiltrate. He has become the proverbial iceberg. Kim Sung Yeol is emotionally disconnected from reality, and having a romantic relationship is not his priority. What is of utmost importance to him is to get his hands on the diary that contains the secret to destroy Gwi. Now that the diary is in his hands, he has more time to dwell on love.
He cannot undo the past and has to accept that if a life is gone, it is over. Moreover, he has met Choi Hye Ryung, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lee Myung Hee. But, Choi Hye Ryung is a cold, frigid young lady, whose attitude and character is at variance with Lee Myung Hee’s character, so he figures out that they are not the same person.
Finally, he is over Lee Myung Hee. He tells Lee Myung Hee’s spirit to forgive him because he has another person in his heart. It is, therefore, closure for him too. He is now willing to let go of the past. Lee Myung Hee will be past tense to him.
Jo Yang Sun is the only one who can draw him out of his past and back into the present. When he admits the truth, his heart heals him. The sadness and the memory of his former love have weighed down his soul, and now that his sadness has been purged, his soul is cleansed.
Kim Sung Yeol, the iceberg, has finally melted. He finally realises that without Jo Yang Sun, he is just an empty shell. He is not complete without her, the oxygen in his lungs. His vampire life seems to make sense after all. She is his destiny.
LOVE ON THE REBOUND
How does Jo Yang Sung stack up against Kim Sung Yeol’s priorities?
At first, perhaps Jo Yang Sun is just the substitute love for Lee Myung Hee. It is love on the rebound for him, especially after he meets Lee Myung Hee again. Choi Hye Ryung and Lee Myung Hee are not the same person.
Choi Hye Rung does not recognise him. Although he pleads with her to acknowledge him, she would not. He turns to Jo Yang Sun for solace.
At first, Kim Sun Yeol tries to run away from the pain by replacing Lee Myung Hee with Jo Yang Sun. He is on the rebound and is not capable of making a genuine emotional connection with Jo Yang Sun. He has some emotional baggage from the past. The lingering feelings for Lee Myung Hee are now resolved and the emotional scars are healed. He is on the way to emotional recovery.
His relationship with Jo Yang Sun is ridiculously complicated. They are complete opposites, like night and day. The cold vampire has fallen for her bright and sunny nature but has kept her away at arm’s length because he knows one day she might leave when she realises he is the killer of her father, Professor Seo Jeong Do of Sungkyuwan.
But for the moment, he confronts the real truth of his feelings for her and begins to warm up to their relationship.
VAMPIRE-HUMAN LOVE
When they finally leave the lake at twilight, Kim Sung Yeol squats and offers to bring her back home piggy-back style. Is he saying he is going to carry her, his burden of responsibility, all his life? She rejects his offer.
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Kim Sung Yeol wants to give her a piggyback ride
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He gives a nod
He gives her a questioning look. They locked eyes. He nods. He takes his fill of her with his eyes. She gazes at him like a little puppy waiting for some milk. She is like putty in his hands.
The vampire – human romance heats up and gets more interesting.
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Such a romantic piggyback ride
JO YANG SUN IS ‘A SLAVE’
A SLAVE TO LOVE
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Couple in love
Jo Yang Sun meekly follows Kim Sung Yeol back to his residence since she has nowhere to go.
He tells her in no uncertain terms that he is her master or owner as he has in his possession her slave ownership document so she is not allowed to leave his house. After she recovers emotionally, she has to start working.
He dictates to her the terms of the relationship. She is not allowed to ‘fall sick’, to harm her body but to take care of herself. She, he stresses, cannot go anywhere without his permission.
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teasing smile
He spells out the relationship very tenderly. His gentleness towards her speaks volumes. With this ambiguous master and slave relationship, he is chaining her to him.
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Blissful: Life in Kim Sung Yeol's household
Her master, Kim Sung Yeol, has paid for her freedom, so the least Jo Yang Sun can do is to repay him. She sweeps the premises, wipes the floor, washes his clothes, tidies up the house and cooks for him. She seems like a regular wife to him except that they do not end up in bed together.
When Ho Jin, his aide, protests, Kim Sung Yeol waves him aside and allows her to continue with her tasks because she needs some form of distraction, and some time to think about her purpose in life.
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Jo Yang Sun makes herself useful in Kim Sung Yeol's house
She is, of course, not a real slave but the beloved of her master.
THE FIGHT KIM SUNG YEOL v. BAEK INHO Crown Prince Lee Yoon sends vampire-hunter, Baek Inho, his martial arts teacher, and a close friend of both professor Seo Jeong Do and Crown Prince Sadong, to lure Kim Sung Yeol out and hunt him down.
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Hand-to-hand combat: Kim Sung Yeo v. Baek Inho
Both men meet in a hut in the forest. Baek Inho believes that Kim Sung Yeol has deliberately murdered Seo Jeong Do, so, he wants revenge and goes for the jugular. Kim Sung Yeol manages to throw the vampire hunter out of the hut. The vampire hunter knows thatKim Sung Yeol is not an ordinary vampire because unlike Gwi, he can walk around in broad daylight.
There is a palpable tension in the air. The vampire hunter tries bringing him down with a sansa dagger.Kim Sung Yeol jumps up, and with his right leg, he is able to impressively deflect the sansa or hawthorn dagger thrown at him with his tornado kick.
Baek Inho throws another weapon squarely at his enemy’s chest but Kim Sung Yeol soars through the air and, in a jaw-dropping display, makes an amazing somersault. He fires at him with his gun. Kim Sung Yeol knows he is no match with the gun, and even when he tries jumping into the air to avoid the bullet, he is brought down anyway. Baek Inho has the upper hand but luckily, Kim Sung Yeol manages to escape. Soo Hyang tends to his injuries after he drags himself home. But then, vampire hunters cannot dispatch vampires with silver bullets, can they?
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Behind the scenes: The Fight - Kim Sung Yeol v. Baek Inho
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Not an ordinary bullet: The vampire scholar is injured
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The bullet is taken out by Soo Hyang
DEGUSTATION MEAL
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Degustation menu: Kim Sung Yeol tastes Jo Yang Sun's dishes
Jo Yang Sun cooks a degustation meal for Kim Sung Yeol. A sampling of an array of small dishes of vegetables and soya-based food is served. The dishes look like a scrumptious meal although the fare is simple.
Perhaps the camera should have shown clearly each dish and viewers should be introduced to each delectable morsel of food. Viewers would have gone away more aware of Korean food, if they have not tasted it, perhaps, also salivating and gushing over the dishes.
Kim Sung Yeol’s instincts warns him something was wrong because he suddenly gets up and tells her to wait.
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Kim Sung Yeol lifts up Crown Prince Lee Yoon
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Kim Sung Yeol meets Crown Prince Lee Yoon in the forest
Kim Sung Yeol meets Crown Prince Lee Yoon in the forest and they thrash things out. The prince does not mince his words and tells Kim Sung Yeol to his face that he fears that he, Kim Sung Yeol, has his own ambitious designs of ruling over the Joseon world after destroying Gwi. Kim Sung Yeol, enraged by the Crown Prince’s defamatory words and scathing verbal attack, unceremoniously lifts the Crown Prince up in the air. Unexpectedly, Jo Yang Sun appears. Kim Sung Yeol has to drag her away from the scene to protect his own identity.
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Kim Sung Yeol drags Jo Yang Sun away
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