Yeliners accused Minho of being petty but I would contend that THEY were the petty ones, not MinHo. He was actually… admirable in his response.

pwahahaha. 😈

Let me explain.

First of all, after he discovered the odd couple hugging in the dark, he confronted Boyoung in a calm manner. He must have been raging inside but she didn’t know it until the end when she cajoled him to keep their secret his secret, too. That was when he showed his anger.

MH: Hey.
BY: You startled me. What are you doing outside here? 
MH: Are you dating Dr. Ye? 
BY: What? (She was going to lie to him.)
MH: Are you dating Dr. Ye?
BY: What are you talking about all of a sudden? (She was going to deny it.)
MH: I just saw you with Dr. Ye.
BY: Oh, did you? (Gotcha.) Yeah. I’m dating Dr. Ye. (She started grinning ridiculously.)
MH: Since when?
BY: Do you remember when you wanted to tell me something but I was busy? I met up with Dr. Ye that night. He confessed that he liked me. That’s when it started. By the way, what did you want to say? You said you’d tell me later.
MH: Forget it. I don’t remember. (He was lying of course.)
BY: What the heck? It sounded really important. Anyway, you’re the only one who knows about Dr. Ye and me. It’s a secret from everyone else. Okay? (She didn’t sense he was angry here.)
MH: (He stood up.) A secret? Then you shouldn’t have let me catch you. (His eyes flashed with anger for the first time.) You shouldn’t have let anyone catch you. (He walked away.)
BY: Why is he mad?

Not long after he stepped into his room, she was texting him. He didn’t reply. He just vented to himself.

BY: What’s wrong with you? You should congratulate me. Why are you mad?
MH: Why? If you were going to like him again, why did you cry in front of me? Why did you say you misjudged him, that it was good that you were rejected and that you would be able to get over him easily? You gave me false hope. And you made me into a fool.

Then he spotted Boyoung’s book, “A Season of Good Rain” he had intended to give to her.  This scene reminded me of the time when Dr Ye saw BoYoung’s book, “It’s Okay If You Don’t Like Me” lying on his desk.

I think the book titles indicated their states of mind. Back in Episode 10, Dr Ye looked at his book with regret but he was fine not pursuing Boyoung until MinHo posted their picture at the beach. On the other hand, MinHo was looking at his book now and was probably regretting his decision to bide his time until she was emotionally ready to accept him.

That’s the difference between the two. MinHo didn’t want to rush her because he wanted her to heal first, while Ye rushed BoYoung because, as his colleague advised him once before, once he found a sincere woman, he should hold onto her without hesitation. There’s NO denying this: MinHo was patient whereas Ye was precipitous. He made a sudden u-turn and a mad dash for her.

Here’s the poem as a refresher.

Good Rain: A Night in Spring
by Du Fu

The good rain knows its season,
When spring arrives, it brings life.
It follows the wind secretly into the night,
And moistens all things softly, without sound.
On the country road, the clouds are all black,
On a riverboat, a single fire bright.
At dawn one sees this place now red and wet,
The flowers are heavy in the brocade city.

The following day, MinHo was reluctant to join the office overnight trip. In stark contrast, Boyoung showed up chirpy and became even chirpier when she learned that Ye was joining them. It was obvious that she’d forgotten that Minho was mad.

BY: What’s up? Where’s NamWoo? (She didn’t ask him if he was feeling better.) 
MH: Why? Do we always have to go together?(He snapped at her and walked away.)
BY: What’s wrong with him? He’s so grumpy these days?

At the meeting site, he was disgusted to witness Dr. Ye’s charade and BoYoung’s coyness. I agree with him. I don’t get the need for the secrecy. What’s wrong with being open about their romance? I thought Ye said they should act “naturally” so why continue with this deception?

To add to his revulsion, Minho was dragged to become party to their subterfuge because Boyoung TOLD him to keep it secret.

People perceived MinHo’s next move to be petty, but I disagree. I thought grabbing her spot in the minivan was the right thing to do. Why? Because it literally and metaphorically put BoYoung in her place and reminded her that HE was still mad with her after last night.

See? It was as if she suddenly remembered that he’d been angry with her since the previous night and he’d ignore her text.

To me, she had dismissed his anger so readily and she took for granted his complicity in her and Ye’s secrecy. She knew he was mad at her dating, yet she wanted him to get over it, and assist and abet them with their deception. His feelings didn’t count as long as SHE got her way.

Again, to be quite frank here, Boyoung is like an fake friend who would order chicken feet for dinner, and then make me PAY for it, when she knew very well that I abhor chicken feet. Ugh. 

To me, BoYoung DESERVED to be rebuked. Eating her fish croquette (or whatever that moldy looking thing was😂) was a small compensation for her presumptuousness that MinHo would get over his anger quickly.

Then, after the fish croquette incident, Minho spotted Ye observing BoYoung admire a $15 bracelet. He knew that Ye would give her the bracelet surreptitiously because Ye didn’t have the balls to declare himself out in the open.  That was why he looked at them with scorn and derision. BoYoung was going all the way out for Dr Ye who 1) didn’t even want to comfort her when she was hurting, and 2) was now keeping their relationship clandestine as if it was something shameful.

Hence, MinHo cock blocked Ye at the ATV rental. Again, many viewers thought MinHo was simply being petty. But to me, MinHo was forcing Ye to do something here…to MAN up.

If Ye truly loved BoYoung, he should have been UNAFRAID to declare her as his girlfriend to their colleagues instead of keeping up this stupid CHARADE. Remember: MinHo declared his feelings to his friends way back in Episode 8 and subjected himself to ridicule. He faced his friends’ teasing but Ye thought too highly of himself to be subjected to friendly teasing. Minho turned the spotlight on both Boyoung and Ye.

Ye: Then, Dr. Woo, you can —
MH: No. Dr. Woo can come with me. I don’t want to ride alone.
BY: Yah, Shin MinHo. Just ride by yourself.
MH: Why? Is there a reason why you have to ride behind Dr. Ye?
BY: What? No. Let’s go. This will be fun.

See that? He gave them an opening to come clean but they kept quiet. Minho pointedly glanced at Ye who kept silent. 

It only dawned on BoYoung to ask MinHo again why he was so upset after the ATV incident.

BY: Hey, be honest. Why are you mad at me? Why are you screwing me over like this? What did I do wrong?
MH: I’m like this because it’s such a waste.
BY: What?
MH: After Doctor Ye rejected you I spent my time listening to you vent and took you to the beach to comfort you. All the time I spent worrying about you is such a waste. After you took so much of my precious time, after you made me worry about you, you changed your mind and dated him secretly. I find that despicable. I hate the sight of it.

Of course, he couldn’t tell her that he loved her so he mentioned his “wasted” time.

And of course, the YeLiners thought that MinHo was being a petty jerk again. lol. Obviously, they would never get his POV because they were in such a rush to demonize him in order to canonize their guy.

So I’ll explain as clearly as I can.

Our life is made up of finite years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Our time is our life.

When MinHo gave his time to Boyoung, he was – in a poetic sense – giving a part of his life to her. He didn’t need to read poetry to understand this, but unfortunately THIS same understanding eludes BoYoung’s grasp. She didn’t appreciate and value what MinHo had given her.

MinHo might not have told her in POETIC WORDS that he loved her, but in giving her the most precious gift that he had, his time, he was showing her in tangible and concrete ACTIONS that he loved her.

And that’s why I approved of MinHo hurling the bracelet into the water.

Bravo!

The bracelet is a trifling. A doodad. It only cost Dr. Ye a piffling $15 to purchase, and less than TWO MINUTES of his time to buy at a rest stop. Yet BoYoung considered it the most precious thing to her. She said, “I’ll cherish this with all my heart. This is my number one treasure starting today. It’s so pretty.”

Gee, BoYoung. Really???!!

When she said that, I felt heartsick. I knew she didn’t get it. She was paying lip-service when she said that she was grateful to MinHo for bringing her to the beach and being there for her when she needed comfort. To say that I was disappointed with her would be an understatement. She valued a $15 trinket more than the priceless gift of time.

And – when you think about this – so did a lot of viewers. Those viewers who were appalled at MinHo’s action did NOT get MinHo either. When BoYoung chased after that trinket, she was afraid that it would get lost. But she didn’t think much of Minho’s gift to her. She even gave him a children’s poetry book 🙄😒🤦‍♀️ as thank you for the beach trip. (Nice! I didn’t know that a gift could be insulting and thoughtful at the same time.😂) Moreover, MinHo couldn’t even chase after his lost time because it was gone forever. Wasted on a shallow girl with shallow priorities. 😆

To me, there are three main characters in love in this drama: Dr. Ye, BoYoung, and MinHo. However, the one who clearly understands love at its most elemental and at its purest form is the one whom many people regard as a jerk and a choding, MinHo. The bitchy side of me approves of him hurling a hundred more of those bracelets into the lake. I would cheer him on loudly in the sideline. But the pragmatic side of me questions whether BoYoung is even worth the pitcher’s arm pain from lobbing a cheap trinket a hundred times. Once should be enough.

I’ll have to explain the poems soon….