Because @FGB4788 🙂 has nagged us that this drama isn’t just about shipping wars,

here are some life lessons from Ep 4.

1. Believe in miracles.

2. Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can help make the world a better place for somebody else.

Look at the smile on her face.

And this was why Director Ju gave him a “heart” in Episode 3. He was impressed with JWan’s philanthropy and ambition.

3. Let life unfold at its own pace.

In Songhwa’s words…

Songhwa: Just wait. Something will come along. My ex-boyfriend and I fought a lot too. Every time we fought, I wanted to patch things up quickly, so I took time out of my busy schedule to call and see him, and have long discussions. It was exhausting.

This was the writer’s POV. People in their forties would find this kind of volatile relationship exhausting (and I’m looking at you, JW, the Pabo Guy).

Songhwa: But there’s something I learned naturally with age. As long as you both want to make it work and aren’t too far apart, just wait and see. There something will come along.

We analyzed Songhwa’s character correctly. At the end of Season 1, Episode 12, we figured out that she was the Queen of Waiting.

link: Hospital Playlist: Ep 12 On Waiting

Songhwa: So many things can happen even in the span of a day, you know. Things happen, whether they’re good or bad. And sometimes, you have to call and meet up because of something that happens.
SB: (nodding head)
Songhwa: He’s probably very busy at the moment, learning new things and meeting people at his new job. And you’re busy, too. The best thing to do now would be just keeping busy. Just focus on your life, and naturally, something will come along, and you’d have to call and see each other.

And she was speaking from experience. The Daddy-Long-Legs project just dropped out of nowhere.

SB: You’re right. Maybe I’ll get in trouble and end up calling him.
Songhwa: It could be the other way around, too. So relationship-wise, just let nature take its course. Let’s get some work done. I think I’ll be late for my surgery.

4. Be assertive when you need to. Trust your judgment and stick to your guns.

In Songhwa’s words again, “You should have fought him earlier. You should have pushed ahead with your decision if you believed so. You’ve been closely monitoring the patient. That means you know best when it comes to that patient. So you should have trusted your judgment and fought for it.”

She put SeonBin in the hot seat for being hesitant and indecisive.

5. You can’t play Cupid. You are not the god of the universe.

This is where IkJun made the fatal error. High on the belief that he successfully played Cupid for JW and Jang, he tried to fix JWan’s problem, only to end up making it worse.

I told you that there’s a running joke in this drama that IkJun is Dr. Romantic-cum-Darth Vader. He’s Dr. Romantic because he was often out of touch with reality and likes to believe in fantasy and improbable things.

Take for instance his college rivalry. Everybody but him knew that he had a “rival” in med school, and that his rival’s uncle was a Buddhist monk, not a club owner. He was the last one to find out.

IkJun was good at snooping on other people’s business, but he couldn’t see the obvious things right under his nose.

And because he was Dr. Romantic, he causes a disturbance in the force ala Darth Vader.

You didn’t think this costume was random, did you? Nothing is random with this Director.

This is JWan’s conversation with Iksun. Note that he has the phone to his ear. This means she wasn’t on speaker phone and only JWan could hear what she was saying.

JWan: You’ve been having headaches and a fever, too? You need to see a doctor.

IS: I did, last week. I also got a blood test and a chest X-rya while I was there. I bet it’s that accident.
JWan: (rubs his eyes)
IS: I took some meds, so I’m okay now.
JWan: Are the test results out yet?

IS: No, of course not. This isn’t Korea, you know. They won’t get the results back until next week. You sound a little down today. Did something happen? Is your patient not doing well?
JWan: No, I’m fine. The patients are fine too. I’m on duty, so I was reading a book in my office.

IS: Oppa, by the way, that test.
JWan: Yes?
IS: I got the highest test score.
JWan: Really? Congratulations, seriously. You said you bombed the test.

IS: I lied. Everyone in my family does that.
JWan: My goodness. Congratulations. The highest score in your class or in the entire school? Well done, seriously.

Comments:

a. They were sharing news like a regular couple in a long-distance relationship (LDR).
b. IS wanted to hear about his patients, too. She wasn’t indifferent to JWan.
c. I just took screenshots of JWan’s responses. If IkJun had been listening in, this was all he could hear because IkSun wasn’t on speaker phone.
d. But from here on, we (the audience) also stopped hearing IkJun’s voice on the other end of the phone conversation. We began hearing only JWan’s replies.

JWan: (continuing) Euh. Euh. Sure. Sure.

I suspect that, at this moment, IkSun transferred the phone to somebody else – most likely, her male roommate.

Note: JWan’s tone of voice changed considerably. He sounded like he was trying to be a cheerful and jovial although he was rubbing his neck. And that’s because he was speaking to the ROOMMATE.

Note as well: If JWan and the roommate could speak to each other on the phone, it meant that IkSun wasn’t hiding her relationship with the roommate from JWan anymore. To me, this signified that she wanted the two men to get along.

However, this is when the shadow of IkJun’s head appeared at the doorway.

JWan: Oh, hello. I’ve heard so much about you. (rubbing his neck) No, right. Of course. (laughing) I see. No, I’m not busy at the moment. Right. I see.

Two possible scenarios:

A. IJ could have been eavesdropping from the start. He concluded that conversation was one-sided, based on JWan’s excitement over the girlfriend’s test results.

B. IJ could have listened in only at the latter end of JWan’s phone conversation. He got the wrong impression that JWan’s forced gaiety was for his girlfriend…and not the roommate.

Either way, IJ had no way of hearing his sister’s voice on the phone. He still had NO clue that JWan was dating his sister. He was being Dr. Romantic again because after hearing only a brief, one-sided conversation, he gave free rein to his imagination that Jwan’s girlfriend was mistreating him.

Later that evening, IJ talked with his sister on the phone.

IJ: Aigooo. Sister, how’s it going?
IS: Oppa, anyeong. How’s everything? How’s Uju?
IJ: Uju’s doing great. You don’t look great.
IS: I’m just tired from all the studying. (rubbing her eye) Looks like you’re still at work. Are you on duty too?

Note: she said “Too” so IJ had to ask who else did she was on duty that night.

IJ: I sure am. Wait, you know someone else who’s on duty tonight?
IS: Oh, my friend. (looking to the side = lying. She meant JWan, of course.) My roommate also has a night shift today. How’s everyone? How’s Songhwa doing?
IJ: Songhwa’s doing great.
IS: Are Jeongwon and Seokhyeong doing well too?

IkSun was being sneaky. She didn’t want to show her interest for JWan so she asked IJ about the “non-essential” friends first. This is why it was hard for me to believe that she’d fallen in love with her roommate.

IJ: Everyone’s well. Since when did you care so much about my friends? They’re all doing great. Just take care of yourself. Is everything well with you?
IS: Yes, I’m happy and healthy. Right, how’s Junwan oppa? Professor Kim is doing well too, right?
IJ: No, not really. (sighing) He’s stressed out. Too many surgeries. He’s overworked. I’ve never seen him so stressed out.
IS: Did something happen to him?
IJ: No, but it seems like a bunch of things are stressing him out. And I think his girlfriend is adding to his stress. Looks like his girlfriend is very selfish.

Sigh. He only heard one side of the conversation, didn’t he? Although he voiced what I’ve been grumbling all along in this blog (lol), he made a snap judgment of his mystery girlfriend based on a one-sided conversation.

IS: I see, his girlfriend…Why do you think that?
IJ: I really don’t know much. But I think she’s very inconsiderate. She’s self-centered. Jun-wan is under a lot of stress these days, but he’s so busy walking on eggshells around her that he can’t even vent. Sounds like she’s always busy talking about herself.

Look: IkSun did strike me as self-absorbed. But it was JWan’s business to either assert himself or have a heart-to-heart conversation with her to air his grievances (if he had any). IkJun was gossiping about something JWan’s private matters, and his rumor-mongering boomeranged on him (and his loved ones). He stirred the pot with his interference, and created misunderstanding between the couple.

After hearing her brother deliver a damning assessment of JWan’s mystery girlfriend, Iksun felt awful. She was guilt-stricken.

IS: Oppa, I’m running late for my study session.
IJ: All right. Watch out for cars and don’t skip breakfast. Call me right away if you run out of money, okay?
IS: Alright. You take care of yourself too.
IJ: Bye.
IS: Bye.

The following day, IkJun had no clue that he had instigated the break-up for his sister and best friend’s relationship.

Songhwa: (tapping JW) Is something up with Junwan? He’s lost so much weight.
SH: Could he have broken up with his girlfriend?
JW: I don’t know everything about Junwan. Do you guys know what’s going on?
IJ: You should know because you two live together.
JW: Still, I don’t know everything.

This is ironic. IJ should actually know more than JW because IkSun was his sister. But since he was still in the dark about his sister’s dating life, he looked indifferent the whole time they were discussing JWan.

He only figured it out in the end when Iksun told him not to tell JWan, no matter what.

Sidenote: I’m baffled how viewers could still NOT read IkJun’s personality and interpret his facial expressions. Are people really this slow-witted? It’s been 16 episodes already. They thought he knew all along that his sister was dating??!!!

Didn’t I say that he was Dr. Romantic?

This is the face of IkJun realizing that he’d been a big idiot all along.

Perhaps the actor isn’t very good at emoting without body gags (like straws in the nose or pelvic thrusts) if so many viewers didn’t get what he was expressing here. Or perhaps viewers allowed their bias for his character cloud their judgement. For me, it was clear that he shouldn’t be playing Cupid when he couldn’t even get his own family affairs in order.

6. When you tell too many lies, your truth becomes untrustworthy.

The following day, Iksun called JWan up to break up with him.

JWan: Hey, isn’t it still early there? Did you stay up all night?
IS: Can you talk now?
JWan: Yes, I just finished my last appointment. What’s up?
IS: When you’re in your office…Go to your office and call me. I’ll wait for your call.
JWan: Sure, okay. I’ll call your right back.

Back in his office:

JWan: Hey, I’m in my office now. What’s going on?
IS: Well…
JWan: Iksun. Something’s happened, right?
IS: I’ve fallen for someone else.
JWan: (stunned)
IS: I’m sorry.
JWan: What do you mean?
IS: I’m sorry.
JWan: Is it Se-Gyeong?
IS: (not answering and tearing up) Oppa, I’m sorry. I have to go.

I doubt that she actually fell in love with her roommate, but she has a credibility issue, given her propensity to lie and mislead. I really don’t care for IkSun but I’m resigned that she’s going to be rehabilitated by the writer in order to be the endgame for JWan.

I let @GB speak for me. She wrote:

I believe this episode has shown us why IS’s relationships cannot last. She began already with the mindset that it would likely end. Hence she never informed her brother, that she was dating.

If it’s true that IS and JWan have telephone conversations everyday and end off with “Saranghae!” Then it is shockingly abrupt that the next and last conversation, she says she’s fallen for someone else. JWan will likely gather that she is lying now or has been lying to him in all those previous conversations. We can imagine the pain he is in.

It took IJ’s criticism of JWan’s girlfriend to get her to suddenly stop what she’d been doing with or to JWan. I wondered if the ‘reality’ of her selfishness only just hit her. However her default reaction seems to be, not to confront herself, or admit the error of her ways, but to run away. She seems to have begun the relationship with a toe in flight mode, and to jump entirely into flight mode when things get uncomfortable. She may have known that she was ill as well, but her main motivation seems to be to save herself, save face, hide away, … perhaps, if only she didn’t need IJ’s help, she might even have kept the news from her own brother.

Noble idiocy has the element of misguidedly (at times), putting the interests of the other party first. I’m not sure if that’s true in IS’s case. Does she want to protect JWan from the betrayal of keeping her health and other couple things private, instead of letting him share in them with her? Does she want to keep him from being hurt or worried? Perhaps partially. But I sense that the greater motivation is to cause enough pain to make JWan stay away from her, so that he won’t find out the secrets she’s been keeping. It feels to me, more like self preservation than love and being noble.

I agree @GB.

a. IS has a defeatist attitude. She didn’t expect this LDR to survive.
b. She had the WRONG response to IJ’s criticism of JWan’s mystery girlfriend. She was the one in that relationship, not Ikjun. She understood the dynamics of that relationship better than anybody else.
c. True, noble idiocy meant sacrificing one’s happiness for the other person. But here, IkSun was breaking up because it was the easiest way out of her.

7. If you care enough for your relationship, you have to fight for it.

Songhwa’s advice to SeonBin to fight for her patients also applied to personal relationships.

Songhwa: No. You should have fought him earlier. You should have pushed ahead with your decision if you believed so. You’ve been closely monitoring the patient. That means you know best when it comes to that patient. So you should have trusted your judgment and fought for it.

Songhwa: (continuing) Had anything bad happened to him, it would have been all on you. His condition worsened because you wasted time being hesitant and indecisive. You’ve been working hard to study the case and monitor him, so fight hard. That’s the only way you can save your patients.

Let me reword this for Iksun –

She should have pushed ahead with her relationship with JWan if she believed in them. She was the one deeply involved in it so she knew best how to advocate for their relationship. Not IkJun. She should have trusted in her judgment and fought for it. Had anything bad happened to JWan, it would have been all on them both. She worsened the situation because she became hesitant and indecisive. She should have fought hard. That’s the only way to save their relationship.

8. Mature love = commitment 

“Love in your forties” would neither be the cringe-y, doting attention that JW displays for Jang nor the straw-in-the-nostril, attention-seeking buffoonery that IJ displays for Songhwa.

It’s a commitment. This Daddy-Long-Legs/Mommy-Short-Legs project is the outward manifestation of Songhwa’s commitment to JW. It shows that her unshakeable belief that she’d be there for him in the long haul. It shows her mature understanding of love.

Flower Gardeners have long-recognized that this golden standard of love applies only to Songhwa. But in this episode, we’re beginning to see that it also applies to JWan.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

There should be more life lessons, but I’m stopping here.

Life lessons from Ep 5 coming up tomorrow.