The Bali Story

Ballieseo Saengkin il a.k.a. The Bali Story

SBS drama (2004) - 20 episodes
For SBS homepage for this drama (in Korean), go to: tv.sbs.co.kr/bali/
Aired in Korea: January 3, 2004- March 7, 2004 on SBS Saturday & Sunday nights.

Cast:
Lee Soo-jung (25): Ha Ji Won (Damo/Beautiful Life/Secret)
Kang In-wook (29): So Ji Sup (Glass Slipper/Delicious Proposal)
Jung Jae-min (27): Jo In Sung (Shoot for the Stars/Piano)
Choi Young-joo (25): Park Ye Jin (Since We Met/Four Sisters)
Cho Sang-bae (Soo-jung's boss in Bali): Kim Ha Kyoon (Piano)
Mi-hee (Soo-jung's friend/roommate): Shin Yi
In-wook's mom: Lee Mi Young (The Marrying Type/ Yellow Handkerchief)
Jae-min's older brother: Kim Il Woo (This Is Love/Scent of an Apple)

For more information (in Korean) on the cast from SBS, go to: tv.sbs.co.kr/bali/intro/bali_IntroActor_1.html.

Staff:
Screenwriter: Kim Ki Ho
Producer: Choi Moon Suk (Legends of Love)
Asst. Producer: Lee Myung Woo (All In)

Learn Korean:
Balli (Bal-li) = Bali (loanword)
eseo (e-seo) = at
saengkin (saeng-kin) = happen/occur/take place
il = event/incident

Also known as :
What happened in Bali
Something happened in Bali
Hearts in Bali

Synopsis : (Spoilers)
Lee Soo-jung is an orphan who works as a tour guide in Bali. She has a useless brother that constantly gets into trouble and needs her to bail him out all the time. She struggles to make ends meet and aspires to be rescued out of her current predicament by a rich & wealthy man.

Jung Jae-min is the youngest son of the wealthy Chairman of the Pax Group. He is uninterested in business, irresponsible, arrogant, childish, self-centered and a playboy. Jae-min is constantly put down by his elder brother and beaten up by his father, but he is immune to all these treatments. He is engaged to Choi Young-joo, who comes from a comparable wealthy and powerful family. Both Jae-min and Young-joo are not in love with each other and he continues to sleep around. Jae-min is of the opinion that even with marriage, it should not affect how both of them are to lead their lives.

Young-joo in turn is still in love with her ex-boyfriend Kang In-wook whom she left so that she can be engaged to Jae-min (as per arranged by both parents). Kang In-wook comes from a broken family, his parents are divorced and his mother opens a small restaurant. He is a capable person at work but he has a cold exterior and it is difficult to read his mind.

Young-joo visits In-wook who is working in Indonesia, and asks him to spend some time with her where no one knows them. They take off to Bali only to be greeted by Jae-min at the airport who had tracked Young-joo down from Seoul. Young-joo claims that In-wook is an ex-classmate whom she met on the place. Jae-min invites In-wook to join him and Young-joo on the Bali trip. Soo-jung is the tour guide hired by Jae-min for the city tour. The tour was tense for Jae-min, In-wook and Young-joo. Soo-jung tries to figure out how the 3 are connected, and suspects In-wook to be the rich and wealthy one amongst them.

Jae-min find out that In-wook is working for his family’s factory in Indonesia, and his relationship with Young-joo. At the end of the tour, Jae-min gets drunk and unruly, and starts to throw insults at Young-joo and In-wook. A disgusted Young-joo leaves the drunk Jae-min behind and heads home for Seoul. Soo-jung takes Jae-min back to his room and realise that Jae-min is the rich one amongst the 3. In his half-drunken state, Jae-min asks Soo-jung to spend the night with him. Although Soo-jung calls Jae-min a bastard, she agreed to stay and told him to pay whatever he deems fit. However, Jae-min throws money at Soo-jung and tells her to leave.

In-wook returns to his room in Bali half drunk as well. He is hurt by the day’s event. He hears someone crying in the next room, and see Soo-jung sobbing over the humiliating incident she had just encountered with Jae-min. She is also lamenting about her unfortunate and unlucky life. He overhears her phone conversation with her brother and learns a little about Soo-jung’s pathetic situation.

In-wook returns to Jakarta and is told that he is to be transferred back to the head office in Seoul. Soo-jung also sets forth to return to Seoul to track down her colleague, Jo who had ran away with her money. They meet on the plane on the way back. Jae-min’s scheming brother places In-wook under Jae-min. Jae-min’s brother lures In-wook to his camp to devise a financing plan to pump money from his father for an external investment.

Soo-jung puts up at her friend Mi-ya’s place. She decides to try her luck with Jae-min for a job. However, he has forgotten about her and chases her out of her office. Soo-jung’s brother gets into trouble and “sells” Soo-jung to his debtors. Soo-jung ends up working in a nightclub as a human signboard touting business for the nightclub.

In-wook moves into the apartment next to Mi-ya. Soo-jung and In-wook reunites outside the nightclub when Mi-ya invites In-wook to the club. Somehow, Jae-min also tracked In-wook to the same nightclub that faithful night and their meeting turned into an ugly brawl with the club’s gangsters. Soo-jung knocked the leader of the gang out while trying to save the 2 guys. They ran away and manage to escape the gangsters. Jae-min buys Soo-jung an expensive coat to thank her for her help and leaves. But because Soo-jung offended the gangsters during the fight she was taken back to the nightclub and forced to be a bar hostess.

Jae-min checks up on Soo-jung’s background and learns that she has been relegated to a bar hostess. He brings his friends to the nightclub and asks for Soo-jung. He wanted to take her out for the night but Soo-jung refuses and tells him to take the other girls instead. Jae-min leaves her his name card and tells her to call him if she changes her mind.

After her second humiliating meeting with Jae-min, Soo-jung meets In-wook on the way home. She takes him out for a drink. And over the conversation, she sobs to In-wook about her situation and tells him of her aspiration to marry a rich man to end her misery.

Unable to bear with working as a bar hostess, Soo-jung eventually looks Jae-min up and borrowed KRM 30 mio to pay off her brother’s debts. She offered to sleep with Jae-min as a last resort but Jae-min told her that he is not interested in her. He lends her the money anyway and Soo-jung promises to find a job and pay him back. Jae-min tells Soo-jung to look him up if she fails to find anything. Soo-jung pays off her debts and parted ways with her brother. She told her brother not to look her up unless he finds Jo and get her money back. She resisted asking for a job from Jae-min and vows to find a job on her own. However, Soo-jung is unsuccessful in her job search, and ends up working in a karaoke bar.

Jae-min gets restless when he did not hear from Soo-jung after giving her the money and he decides to look her up at Mi-ya’s apartment. He finds Soo-jung in In-wook’s apartment where they were sharing a drink and chatting. Jae-min chides Soo-jung as irresponsible and asks why did she not call to let him know that she’s got the money. He tells her to report to work the next day at his office.

Meanwhile Young-joo continues to stalk In-wook at his apartment seeking reconciliation. She tries to call off the engagement, where Jae-min happily agrees. Young-joo is puzzled at Jae-min’s willingness to call it off, and starts to feel unwanted. However, In-wook is not willing to take Young-joo back as he feels that she does not love him but rather wants to possess him out of her own selfish reasons. In-wook also starts to work with Jae-min’s brother closely on the investment plan. Jae-min’s brother in turns introduces In-wook to participate at the senior board meetings.

Jae-min and Young-joo’s engagement was not called off because Jae-min’s mother blackmailed Young-joo with intimate photographs taken of Young-joo and In-wook. Young-joo is resigned to her predicament and plays along with the arrangement of both parents on the engagement.

Soo-jung starts work at Jae-min’s company as a receptionist, but feel asleep in the office on her first day of work. She leaves the office late and runs into Jae-min who was hiding in the nearby meeting room from his tyrant father (aka the Chairman). Jae-min takes Soo-jung for a fancy dinner to celebrate her first day at work, but Jae-min’s good mood was ruined when Soo-jung mentions In-wook during dinner. She feels that it is through divine intervention and fate that she keeps meeting In-wook e.g. he was her neighbour in the hotel in Bali, they sat next to each other on the plane to Seoul, and now he is her neighbour and colleague. Jae-min is unhappy to hear about Soo-jung and In-wooks’s encounters and promptly leaves the restaurant. He tells Soo-jung to go home on her own and she is puzzled by Jae-min’s response.

In-wook also starts to ask Soo-jung out, he brings her home to see his mother and they even spent a happy afternoon at the movies. Jae-min works late in the office and is locked out in the building. Coincidentally, Soo-jung is also stuck in the building. She fell asleep in his office and when she left in the morning, Jae-min asks her whether meeting him is also a kind of destiny for Soo-jung as well. In-wook sees Soo-jung leaving Jae-min’s office.

In-wook returns home to see Young-joo waiting for him. She asks In-wook to be her lover. In-wook takes Young-joo into his apartment and starts to take off his clothes. Young-joo asks In-wook what he is doing, and he retorts: “Isn’t this what you want?” He leaves the apartment in a fury. Young-joo leaves as well. In-wook’s mother visits In-wook and finds the apartment empty. She leaves food with Soo-jung and Mi-ya for In-wook. Soo-jung could not sleep and decides to take the food over to In-wook’s apartment. In-wook return to his apartment and finds Soo-jung there. He confesses to Soo-jung that he likes her and gave her a kiss. Soo-jung lays on In-wook’s bed, and he bends over to kiss her. But all is interrupted when they hear Jae-min knocking at Mi-ya’s door asking for Soo-jung.

Soo-jung jumps at hearing Jae-min’s voice. As they stay silent in the dark apartment waiting for Jae-min to leave, both felt awkward at what had happened. The next morning, In-wook apologises to Soo-jung for his actions and suggested that perhaps he had too much to drink.

Young-joo finds out about Jae-min’s affliation with Soo-jung. She goes to Jae-min’s office to warn Soo-jung to stay away from Jae-min and tells Soo-jung that she is out of his league. But Jae-min had already asked Soo-jung to go to his apartment so as to tell her the whereabouts of Jo. Unfortunately, Jae-min’s mother and Young-joo were at Jae-min’s apartment and saw Soo-jung there. Jae-min’s mother is furious and slaps Soo-jung and calls her a cheap trash. Jae-min pushes his mother down in the tussle and runs off with Soo-jung.

Because of this incident, Soo-jung is fired from her job and is once more jobless. To make ends meet, she goes back to the karaoke again with Mi-ya. Young-joo finds Soo-jung, and offers her a job at Jae-min’s mother’s gallery. Soo-jung decides to take up the offer. Jae-min is upset with what Young-joo had done to humiliate the woman he loves. He tells Soo-jung to quit the job and told Young-joo that he is determined not to marry her. Young-joo in turn tells Jae-min that she is beginning to like Jae-min and will not call off the engagement. She dares Jae-min to call it off if he has the guts to go against his parents. Young-joo decides to stay over at Jae-min’s apartment, but Jae-min leaves the apartment in disgust. He gets drunk and calls Mi-ya’s mobile for Soo-jung in his drunken state.

In-wook and Soo-jung finds a drunk Jae-min outside the apartment. In-wook takes Jae-min in for the night. Jae-min wakes up and looks for Soo-jung at Mi-ya’s apartment. He takes Soo-jung out and buys her a mobile phone. Jae-min calls Soo-jung on the mobile and asked to meet her.

Young-joo is caught drinking by herself at a hotel bar by Jae-min’s friends. She calls In-wook over. As Young-joo is too drunk, In-wook checks her into the hotel. They met Jae-min at the lobby (he was tipped off by his friends), and Soo-jung walks into the lobby (she was tipped off by Jae-min). In-wook takes Young-joo up to the room, and Jae-min also leads Soo-jung to another room. He wants her spend the night with him, and told Soo-jung that it is an opportunity for Soo-jung to try and replace Young-joo. She takes up the offer, and as she undresses Jae-min asks Soo-jung whether she can at least pretend to like him, and whether she agrees to spend the night with him to spite In-wook. Soo-jung asks Jae-min why did he let her see In-wook with Young-joo is it for revenge as well. She leaves the room and at the corridors bumps into In-wook.

Young-joo went to Jae-min’s apartment. She asks Jae-min whether he is jealous with what he saw, and ask him not to make use of Soo-jung. Jae-min tells Young-joo that he likes Soo-jung the same way she likes In-wook. Young-joo is shaken with Jae-min’s confession.

In-wook asks Soo-jung to leave Young-joo’s employment and Soo-jung asks In-wook whether he is ashamed about her job. She tells In-wook that she is used such treatment and it is ok to be working in such a cushy environment even though it is under such humiliating circumstance.

In-wook is promoted and he calls Soo-jung to have dinner with him. Soo-jung agrees but her conversation is overheard by Young-joo. Young-joo throws Soo-jung’s phone in the water. Jae-min looks for Soo-jung in the gallery but was caught by his mother. As he tries to pacify his mother, Jae-min admits that he finds himself going insane when he does not get see Soo-jung even for a day. Soo-jung is shocked by Jae-min’s admission of his affections for her. Jae-min sends Soo-jung home and asks Soo-jung to stay by his side.

In-wook calls Jae-min and asks him whether he is with Soo-jung. Jae-min passes the phone to Soo-jung and In-wook is upset that she stood him up for dinner.

Jae-min takes Soo-jung to an apartment and told her that she can stay there while she makes up her mind about his proposition. Soo-jung decides to accept Jae-min’s offer and moves out of Mi-ya’s apartment. She asks Jae-min what are his conditions. Jae-min agrees to give her anything she wants but marriage.

However, their cohabiting relationship was cut short when Young-joo’s mother finds out about Soo-jung. She bashes Soo-jung at the gallery. Soo-jung leaves the apartment after a row with Jae-min and returns to Mi-ya’s apartment. Soo-jung falls ill and In-wook takes care of her. Jae-min turns up to apologise but end up in a fight with In-wook. Jae-min warns In-wook to stay away from Soo-jung as she is his woman.

Soo-jung quits her job at the gallery, and is insulted by Young-joo. Soo-jung returns to the apartment and dresses up. She asks Jae-min out for a romantic dinner. After their wine and dine, both a little high from wine returns to the apartment that Jae-min arranged for Soo-jung. Soo-jung decides to leave and Jae-min begs her to stay. Soo-jung sobs and apologise to Jae-min about her greed. Jae-min kisses her and they ended up in bed. A heartbroken In-wook moves.

Jae-min’s father finds out about Soo-jung and beats Jae-min to a pulp, threatening to harm Soo-jung as well if he does not go ahead with the wedding plans with Young-joo. Petrified by his father’s warnings, Jae-min stays away from Soo-jung. Soo-jung finds out about Jae-min’s wedding on the paper. She calls him to ask him out but Jae-min (while breaking down on the other side of the phone) refuses, remembering his father’s threats.

In-wook is double-crossed by Jae-min’s brother, as he is being taken away from the investment project altogether. But he has already built his alliance with the investors and they refuse to continue the deal with any other project team leader, other than In-wook.

Both Jae-min and Young-joo are miserable after their wedding as Jae-min can’t stop thinking about Soo-jung, and Young-joo realise that she has married a walking corpse. Jae-min turns cold on her every time he sees her and he is constantly drunk to drown his thoughts of Soo-jung. Jae-min learns from Soo-jung’s brother that Soo-jung is seeing In-wook again, and that thought kills him through and through.
Jae-min finally announces his determination to have a divorce and abandon everything for Soo-jung. He asks Soo-jung to wait for him. Jae-min’s father sends some men to take Soo-jung to him but was intercepted by In-wook. Soo-Jung takes refuge at In-wook’s apartment. In-wook asks Soo-jung to leave Korea with him. Soo-jung accepts In-wook’s offer and they left for Bali to start a new life.

Jae-min’s brother finds out that In-wook has embezzled all the funds from the investment project, passes out and is hospitalised. Jae-min finds out that In-wook has eloped with Soo-jung and tracks them down to Bali.

In-wook lies in bed with Soo-jung. He tells Soo-jung that she is free to go anywhere as he can see the sadness in her eyes. Soo-jung cries and tells In-wook that she wanted so badly to give him her heart, but she can’t. Then Jae-min walks into their room, with a loaded gun. He shoots In-wook and Soo-jung. In-wook dies immediately and Soo-jung as she breathes her last, tells Jae-min that she loves him. Jae-min completely breaks down, walks to the beach and commits suicide with the same gun.

Review: (Spoilers!)

I always believe in writing down my thoughts immediately about a drama the moment I finish it (of course for those that doesn’t affect me in any way, I can’t even begin to start writing). But I am having difficulty penning my thoughts about this one except that I am so confused with the story and I am in love with Jo In Sung (JIS). SBS really know how to dress their men (Remember Lee Byung Hun in “All-In”)! It really takes a certain kind of attitude for a man to carry off fur, and I have found that with JIS. OK, before I sidetrack too much into my JIS craze, the main reason for catching “The Bali Story" was actually Ha Ji Won (HJW). I was so touched by her performance in “Damo" that I had to get more of her (14 episodes for Damo was NOT ENOUGH!).

This review will not be complete without dedicating a large portion to talk about the role of Lee Soo-jung. I think either Lee Soo-jung is purposely made out to be a confused person or HJW put up a really poor performance, because I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED (And I am beginning to think that HJW has a thing for picking roles that requires her to die at the end). What does she wants? Who does she loves? What did she try to achieve? Is it love or is it money? Is she greedy? Does she have any pride or dignity? What kind of a character is Lee Soo-jung? All these questions were spinning in my head as I toll through the night trying to find the answer as I watch the series.

Lee Soo-jung started out as a bubbly and worldly girl (sometimes a little thick skin) trying to make a decent living as a tour guide. But she was resilient and her positive attitude to life makes for an energetic and optimistic person. But all that sunshine is lost the moment she returns to Seoul. On one hand Lee Soo-jung is suppose to be so poor and battered that dignity should not mean anything to her anymore. Yet she is constantly crying and struggling to reconcile her actions with herself. The realities of life has crushed her so much that she will do anything to rid herself of her situation yet sometimes she turns those opportunities away, which makes for a very inconsistent exhibit of character. It can be confusing for the audience (me!) to read her mind and decipher what she wants. The writers had HJW deliberating, going back and forth between her 2 leading men. It almost drove me crazy trying to figure out whom is she going to pick.

As I ponder and try to make sense of Lee Soo-jung’s actions, I concluded that she loved both men (at different times). She knows that In-wook is good for her, and she is touched by his sincerity. But Jae-min is the one that she aspires to be with, the dream coming true for her. When she is faced with the surreal truth that Jae-min IS crazy about her, she can’t help but walk that path that she thought she would never have the opportunity to do so.

Soo-jung was able to accept Jae-min’s money shamelessly when she did not love him, but when she finally did give her heart and her dignity to him, she could not accept money from him anymore. And Soo-jung only realised how she felt deep inside after she left with In-Wook to Bali. It is really a strange relationship, and it took me quite some time to begin to comprehend. Many were appalled with Soo-jung's last scene, uttering, "I love you" to Jae-min as she breathes her last while still naked in In-wook’s arms. Yet somehow, I did not feel that Soo-jung was mixed-up in doing so, rather I see it that she finally sorted out how she feels but it was all too late.

Although I really like HJW, I felt the producers should not have cast HJW in this role, as her cute and angelic round face is not really convincing as the poor Lee Soo-jung who is struggling with the realities of life. I also felt that with her superb performance in “Damo”, the directors were not very successful in bringing her into the role. (And I really hated the fact that they made HJW bawl so much!)

The story focused almost completely on the complicated and dark relationships of the 4 main leads. Set in a modern and materialistic cosmopolitan city, “The Bali Story” depicts a tale of the type of games that people play, how conniving and manipulative humans can be in love or at work. It also shows how each character struggled with what they should do and what they want to do.

I can’t even use “a love story” to describe this drama as I can’t classify the relationships the leads shared as “love”, rather I would term this drama as one about the madness of greed. Greed for money, greed for love, greed for acceptance, greed for freedom. How far can you go to satisfy that greed? Every character in the series had a selfish and dark side that eventually sucked them into a dramatic end that leaves each with nothing but remorse and regret. Think about it:

1. Lee Soo-jung - Because of her love for money, she was willing to give up her dignity to be with Jae-min. She can be manipulative at times, using Jae-min against Young-joo.
2. Jung Jae-min - He loves Soo-jung so much that he was initially fine with having her body but not her heart. As his obsession with Soo-jung eats away his sanity, he loses everything including his life.
3. Kang In-wook - He ruined his career and his life with embezzling the company’s money. He pays the price, as he does not win Soo-jung’s heart in the end either.
4. Choi Young-joo - Lost both Jae-min and In-wook because of her twisted possessive and manipulative nature. She should not have married Jae-min in the first place.
5. JJM’s brother - Lost all his money to In-wook and ends up in the hospital because of the shock he suffered from losing all that money
6. JJM’s parents - Lost their favourite son because of the marriage arrangement they forced him into
7. CYJ’s mother - Did you see the way she beat Soo-jung? One moment she was this dainty dame, and next moment, she was this psychotic animal who will get rid of anyone who stands in her way! My gosh, she was the scariest woman in this serial

My favorite actor in this drama is JIS. He gave an outstanding performance as the arrogant(yet weak!), childish and playful Jung Jae-min. Jae-min is disinterested in his career, and towards the end, I noticed that the usually silly Jae-min showed a flicker of intelligence, and I suspected he behaved in a laissez-faire manner at work to distract his scheming brother. How I wish the writers made Jae-min to be a stronger and smarter person in life, versus focusing this character on Lee Soo-jung alone!

Jae-min loves Soo-jung hopelessly, and it is like an addiction that he can’t get rid of. Yet Jae-min does not know how to express his feelings and turn his love into something more beautiful and less destructive. He may be rich but he is equally trapped in a situation that he can’t break out from. As he slowly treads the tight rope between sanity and insanity, his obsession slowly gobbles him up and he acts with dire consequences.

JIS is young (23) yet he managed to embody the role of Jung Jae-min from one who is so flawed and so weak into a character is so darn desirable (Drool!). The realistic portrayal of the childish (the comical scenes when he falls asleep on his table and his expressions on his face when his father asks him questions are really brilliant) and mad Jung Jae-min will grip your heart every time he breaks down. Especially the scenes after he gets married, you can just see his mind wearing away as he sees Soo-jung slipping away. You will be moved every time you see him sitting in his office, with tears slowly trickling down and thinking about Soo-jung (How can a love that is so strong turned out so wrong!). JIS really deserves the Baek Sang Award for the best actor with "The Bali Story".

I have never seen So In Sup (SIS) in any drama before this, but his performance was very good as well. When I checked him out prior to watching the series, I thought he wasn't very good-looking (he had such sleepy looking eyes on the VCD cover). But his on-screen charisma impressed me from his first scene (when he was exercising in his Jakarta apartment!), and there was no looking back at the casting decision for the role of Kang In-wook.

Playing the straight faced yet passionate Kang In-wook SIS gave a credible performance against JIS. Jae-min’s emotions were much more powerful, explosive and straightforward to deliver. I find Kang In-wook more difficult to execute, as his emotions tend to be hidden and more internal. SIS was able to build that strong protective shield to the character and at times peel off enough for the audience to see the fire inside.

Park Ye Jin (PYJ) really aged for the role of Choi Young-joo, although she is the same age as JIS, she looked the oldest amongst the 4. Her role also requires a fair amount of control, and striking a balance between her cool exterior and that internal rage and jealousy that roars within her as she loses both Jae-min and In-wook. It was amazing that that both male leads were pinning for Choi Young-joo initially but both lost their lives in the end because of Lee Soo-jung. Such a dramatic turn of tides! Perhaps the chemistry between HJW, JJM and KIW were just too over powering that they completely over shadow PYJ’s performance.

Although I felt HJW was not well cast in this serial, I must say she looked really compatible with both her leading men, and she sizzles with both of them (which helped to make up for a lot of times I was frustrating during the series). I think that is the main draw that kept the audience going. The writer also toyed with the audience on the “When is Soo-jung going to sleep with Jae-min?” question. I think there were at least 5-6 cliffhangers on that theme towards the middle - end of the series.

Although I knew from the start how it was going to end, I had hoped that there might be some tender/positive moments between the 4 leads. Or they may change for the better, e.g. making better decisions about life, be a better person in the end. But the writers will deny the audience of any such moments. I did not find the dialogue particularly outstanding, but credit should go to the 4 leads for successfully portraying 4 very complicated, confused, dark and somewhat sick characters.

What I don’t understand :
1. Was Soo-jung going to sleep with In-wook the first time he kissed her?
2. Why was Soo-jung so happy with the mobile that Jae-min bought her? Was she materialistic? Or was she happy that JJM likes her?
3. Why did Soo-jung walk out of the lift when Jae-min offers her the opportunity to replace Young-joo? Who did she love then? Was it to spike In-wook?
4. Why did Soo-jung work for the gallery? To prove that she does not need dignity? Then why did she not accept Jae-min’s money after he got married? To prove that she has dignity?
5. Why did Soo-jung sleep with Jae-min? Did she love him?
6. Does Soo-jung need physical consummation to confirm her feelings? She gave her heart to Jae-min after she slept with him, and she realise she still love Jae-min after she slept with In-wook ??????
7. What kind of a father beats up him son like Jae-min’s father does?

My favourites

1) The goofy scenes of Jae-min attending meetings, answering his father about work and falling asleep on his desk
2) Jung Jae-min’s wardrobe! (DROOL!!!Slick! Sexy!)
3) Jae-min asking for Soo-jung at the nightclub
4) The first time Jae-min force a kiss on Soo-jung in his room
5) In-wook and Soo-jung going out for a movie
6) In-wook kisses Soo-jung in the dark
7) Jae-min running down the stairwell after one late night at work because he heard a woman’s cries and thought that it was a ghost
8) Jae-min asking Soo-jung whether his meeting with Soo-jung is fate as well
9) Jae-min screams for Soo-jung to stay and not leave
10) The 4 leads meeting at the hotel lobby
11) Jae-min storming into his mother’s gallery screaming at LSJ, why is she working there
12) Jae-min storming into his mother’s gallery telling her that he goes crazy if he does not see Soo-jung for a day
13) Jae-min cooking for Soo-jung a terrible tasting breakfast after her hangover
14) Jae-min and Soo-jung’s dinner date and both getting drunk with wine
15) Jae-min kneeling down and begs his father to let him love Soo-jung
16) In-wook taking a cab to see Soo-jung, just to give her a kiss and leaves
17) Jae-min breaking down
-after meeting Soo-jung from his trip with Young-joo
-Soo-jung calls him to congratulate him about his wedding
-he goes through Soo-jung’s bag and finds that his number is not the first number of the quick-dial
18) Jae-min tells Soo-jung to wait for him while he tries to get his divorce

I think this serial is a "should-watch" as the story deviates from the conventional Korean drama. The intensity of the relationships that the leads shared was exceptionally captivating, especially the sexual tension built up between Jae-min and Soo-jung. The pace was also quite fast moving and balanced keeping the audience at the edge of their seat, luring you to chase the story to completion.

P.S. Noticed that JIS is always seated in the serial, as he is much taller than his other co-actors.

P.P.S. Despite the sexual tension built up, I noticed that there was no hugging between Jae-min and Soo-jung (OK, there were 2 kissing scenes and 1 bed scene, BUT no hugging). I think it is because JIS is too tall.

P.P.P.S. Heard that SBS is going to do a sequel to "The Bali Story" - "The Tokyo Story"! Omo, omo, more JIS please!!! And please don't kill the leads AGAIN!!!