As predicted, the baepsae Dr. Kang got his comeuppance in this episode, and I’m loving it!

Karma came knocking on his door to teach him a lesson about his divo attitude. Since Dr. Kang’s fangirls will likely gloss this incident over and wonder why their oppa was the only one whom Nurse Oh lectured, let me again state the obvious.

A. First, there was Dr. Park.

He wanted Dr. Kang to apologize to the strikers and call them back. To me, this was a sign that Dr. Park agreed with the strikers, and believed that Dr. Kang overstepped his bounds.

But Dr. Kang refused for dubious reasons.

Park: Bring the Trauma Center staff who are on strike in the lounge right now. Look how the Ministry of Health and Welfare sent someone. Also, the provincial budge officer is watching us like a hawk.
Kang: Do you think I can make any negotiations?
Park: You should at least go beg on your knees if you can’t. Aren’t you prepared to do that much as the future head of the Trauma Center?

Unlike the arrogant Dr. Kang, Dr. Park wasn’t afraid to admit that he’s wrong when he’s made a mistake. Unlike the egotistic Dr. Kang, he doesn’t let his pride get in the way of the common good. Anybody can see that saving the Trauma Center is more important than protecting one’s pride. Plus, from Ep 12 “The Courage to be Ordinary,” Dr. Park learned the hard way that pride goes before a fall — or as the original proverb says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Dr. Kang had yet to learn this.

Kang: Why should I have to grovel? And I haven’t seen anyone be convinced by such tactics either. This is why you were blindsided by Assemblyman Ko Kyungsook.
Park: (stunned, realizing that Dr. Kang witnessed that scene)
Everybody else: (stunned, because this is probably the first time that they heard about this)

My Comments:

Dr. Kang is still a jerk. I showed you how he was a jerk in Ep 12, didn’t I? He was a jerk back then, and he’s still a jerk now.

1. His tactics should be recognizable by now. To get his way, he seeks out victim’s Achilles’ heel, and attacks it.

He did this with Dr. Seo in Ep 13 “The ‘Baepsae’ Paradox.” He knew that Dr. Seo’s injured hand was his weak spot so he deliberately brought it up. He told Dr. Seo, “The only person who can be like Master Kim is Master Kim himself. Don’t hurry after him, trying to keep up with his pace. You might lose something else and not just your hand next time.”

He thought he could distract Dr. Seo by calling him a “baepsae” and needling him about his injured hand. But Dr. Seo ignored him. Obviously, the reason he attacked Dr. Seo was because Dr. Seo was correct. Master Kim had trained his pupils to prioritize saving lives. As medical professionals, saving lives is their number one job. Dr. Kang, on the other hand, was prioritizing the enforcement of the “system” he designed. He didn’t care that his system and management style were overtaxing the Doldam Hospital’s ER, shortchanging the kind of care patients received, and deflating the medical staff’s morale. It was his way or the highway.

Here, he brought up the Assemblyman Ko’s incident. Just like he tried to humble Dr. Seo by reminding him about his injured hand, he brought up Dr. Park’s failure to embarrass and silence him. In both cases, he wanted to show the doctors that a) he was superior to them, and b) his superiority gave him the right to lead over them.

Simply put, his modus operandi is to put people down by embarrassing or disparaging them in public. By putting people down, he could lift himself up as their leader.

2. To me, it’s obvious that bringing up Assemblyman Ko at that particular time and place was the WRONG THING to do. I mentioned this in my criticism of him in Ep 13. I said, there’s a right time and place for fault-finding a colleague. Interrupting Dr. Cha’s surgery to yell at her for “disobeying” his order was the wrong thing to do. At that time, she needed to focus on her patient.

In this scene with Dr. Park, he was once again displaying the same lack of discretion.

True, he succeeded in shutting up Dr. Park by mentioning Assemblyman Ko, but any intimation of financial/management backroom dealings like this should not be disclosed in public by the “interim” head of the Trauma Center. Especially when there was a representative from the Ministry of Health and Welfare within earshot. To me, Dr. Kang was shooting himself in the foot.

3. I was cheering when Dr. Park turned the tables on Dr. Kang and put him in place.

Kang: (addressing Nurse Oh) Ms. Oh, have we heard back from Doldam about the backup request?
Nurse Oh: I told them it was urgent, so they should be joining us soon.
Park: You’ll have to explain this situation later on, Dr. Kang.
Kang: Let’s talk about it once we’re safely past this situation.

See what I said about choosing the right time and place? Dr. Park was reminding him that he needed to take responsibility for the fiasco he created because of his management style and decision. And Dr. Kang didn’t like it. He didn’t like that Dr. Park was distracting his attention from the crisis he needed to deal with. He wanted Dr. Park to discuss his decision-making later.

Hmph!

Dr. Kang should be thankful that Dr. Park didn’t yell at him like he did with Dr. Cha, or call him a try-hard “baepsae,” like he did with Dr. Seo.

4. I like that Dr. Kang was finding out who the real baepsae was. Back in Ep 12, he believed he could beat Master Kim. He believed himself to be better than Dr. Seo whom he regarded as “baepsae” trying hard to catch with the stork. But as I told you all, Dr. Kang was the real baepsae. He couldn’t handle his first-ever crisis on his own — and it was crisis of his own making.

B. Dr. Kang = Dr. Yang

I know that most fans of this drama detest Dr. Yang. But in this episode, he was a useful idiot.

Yang: So, go tell Kang Dongju to come and kneel before us. Why are we the only ones considering the patients? If Kang DongJu also considers the patients, he should come and kneel before us first. Isn’t that right?
Cha EunJae: Senior Hojun. That can only mean you want to use patients for your pride.

Dr. Kang was no different from Dr. Yang. He didn’t want to grovel because a) his pride wouldn’t allow it and b) he didn’t believe groveling would work.

But as it turned out, he was wrong on both counts. One, groveling would have worked since Dr. Yang et al. were ready to go back with an apology from him. Two, he was using the patients, and jeopardizing their care because of his pride…just like Dr. Yang.

Dr. Kang and Dr. Yang are just two sides of the same coin.

C. Dr. Seo took the lead without putting anybody down. 

Dr. Kang might be the “interim” head of the Trauma Center, but the real leader of the Trauma Center was Dr. Seo. (Eat your hearts out, Dr. Kang’s fangirls!! 😂)

1. I liked the way that Dr. Seo brought back the striking doctors, nurses, and staff back to the Trauma Center. Once at the Trauma Center, he took immediate control of the situation because Dr. Kang didn’t know how to manage the situation.

2. This was Dr. Kang’s baepsae look.

In contrast, this was Dr. Seo as the stork.

I like how he strode towards his patients (the actor has long skinny legs, like a stork) and simply took over the command from Dr. Kang.

+100 points to Dr. Seo for his commanding presence.

Notice how Nurse Oh’s face registered relief that he was there. And everybody in the room felt the same way.

And I also liked the way that he confronted Dr. Kang about the boycott.

Note his tone of voice. He didn’t have to raise his voice to mean serious business with Dr. Kang. Though Dr. Kang was his “superior,” he had no trouble speaking his own mind.

Also, note the time and place. He chose a place where there was only two of them present. He didn’t seek to publicly humiliate Dr. Kang. In his usual calm demeanor, he put Dr. Kang on notice that their grievances against him were only temporarily deferred. His composure beats Dr. Kang’s temper and volatility any day. Seriously, who wants to work for a boss like Dr. Kang?

Seo: I hope you’re not misunderstanding.
Kang: (flippant as always) That you were moved by my surgery? Or that you came here?
Seo: Just because I’m back doesn’t mean I will compromise. The staff came back for the patients and our colleagues. We don’t intend to gloss over the problem. Don’t get the wrong idea.

+1000 points to Dr. Seo.

Master Kim would have been proud of this moment. His most cherished student was on his way to surpass him.

Then, when Dr. Kang questioned the presence of non-trauma patients in the Trauma Center, Dr. Seo was ready with his justifications. His ready answers indicated that a) he had studied Dr. Kang’s nature, b) he was ahead of the game, and c) he wasn’t intimidated by Dr. Kang’s bossiness.

Kang: (annoyed) Nurse Oh. Why are the regular injuries here?
Nurse Oh: They’re getting a lot of gas exposure patients at Doldam. We decided to take the regular injuries here.
Kang: Who did?
Seo: I did.

I like how Dr. Seo stepped in and claimed responsibility for overriding Dr. Kang.

Kang: I though I said we’ll only take severe trauma cases.
Seo: I know, but there was an exception. In cases of disasters, we can accept a wider range of patients.
Kang: Do you also know we can’t use the facilities and equipment from the Trauma Center for regular patients?

Again, I like how Dr. Seo was prepared to throw the book at Dr. Kang on proper Trauma Care directives. He must have read the finer points or the specific details of how to run a legit Trauma Care Center.

Seo: In cases of inevitable circumstances like, “lacking emergency surgery facilities beyond the Trauma Center, or when doctors who can use certain equipment are only in the Trauma Center, they make an exception.” Did that answer your question?

+1000 points to Dr. Seo. He just cut down Dr. Kang to size…to his natural baepsae size.

Seo: Did that answer your question? If you have more questions, let’s set a time to discuss them later. I have an urgent patient right now.

+1000 points to Dr. Seo. He essentially told Dr. Kang to sit down and shut up. Saving lives was HIS priority while being a hall monitor was Dr. Kang’s.

What’s a hall monitor? It’s a busybody patrolling the corridors for fellow students’ misdemeanors, and reporting them to faculty. 😂😂

Dr. Kang knew Dr. Seo got him soundly beat.

D. Finally, Nurse Oh gave Dr Kang some home truths. 

Oh: See? I told you he was pretty good.
Kang: It sounds as if you’re sticking up for your youngest son.

Again and again! I told you that Dr. Kang’s defense mechanism when he’s caught doing wrong is to attack what he perceives as the weakness or the Achilles’ heel of the other person. Here, he was accusing Nurse Oh of playing favorites.

Oh: (chuckling) I feel the same way about all the doctors here. Including you, Dr. Kang. I know you want to do well, but I think how you do well is also important.

If you have to leave with one lesson from this kdrama, it should be this: the ends do NOT justify the means. Not only do the motives, ambitions, and goals have to be good and noble, but the method of achieving the goals must also be good and noble.

Oh: What we need now isn’t a single hero.

Ha! Remember what I said in my criticism about Dr. Kang in Episode 12, “The ‘Baepsae’ Paradox”. I said,

He had an arrogant “lone gunman” complex. He thinks he can act on his own, without needing others.

Oh: It’s a leader who can unite us as one. “Follow my lead!” You should stop doing that. You should be a leader who can tell people to join you. The work that we do is impossible without everyone’s cooperation.

There! She said her piece.

After Nurse Oh walked away, Dr. Kang observed Dr. Seo hard at work.

I’d like to think that he was mentally eating his humble pie. At Doldam, Master Kim was obviously the leader who was a “uniter.” But in his absence, Dr. Seo was the clear leader who could unite everyone and move people to join him. Not this try-hard baepsae Dr. Kang.

As for that scene when Nurse Oh shouted at the patient, she was obviously talking about patients who think they could ride roughshod over the doctors and nurses. But on another level, her tirade also applied to Dr. Kang who thought he could ignore his colleagues’ opinions and feelings and used his power as “interim” chief to do whatever he wanted.

Nurse Oh: I said let him go! There’s a forest fire spreading! Didn’t you hear him? You should be evacuating in order! How dare you grab a doctor by the collar and cause a scene?
Patient: Lady! How dare you raise your voice at me? Do you know who I am?
Nurse Oh: Who on earth are you? I’m dying to know who you are too. Tell me your name! Who on earth are your parents, and what do you do? Tell me that! What kind of life have you led that you’re this rude, shameless, and brazen? Tell me that! And tell me where you work too. I will go to your boss and ask him what his standards were for hiring a guy with a terrible personality like yours. Tell me. Answer me right now!
Dr. Jung: Ms. Oh. Please calm down.
Nurse Oh: The paramedics who were lying there all got hurt while saving you people. While trying to save your lives, their intestines were crushed, their livers smashed, their bones broken, and some even died. Is it so upsetting that we treated those urgent patients first?

There! Although she was addressing Dr. Kang here, she could have been talking to him. Would it upset him that the Doldam medical staff treated people who were non-traumatic cases, like the paramedics who were merely designated as “urgent” care patients, and trauma cases?

Nurse Oh: How is it that our dedication and sense of duty is such a given for you? How can you so brutally take someone’s sacrifice for granted?

Again, she could have been addressing Dr. Kang here. He also took for granted the sacrifice of Dr. Cha and the nurses to make the Trauma Center work. He demanded that their dedication and sense of duty be given to him and his vision (or his “system”), unquestioningly.

Do you see it now? Nurse Oh’s frustration was directed at the patient.

The way I see it, her frustration began with Dr. Kang’s high-handedness. But she restrained herself from pushing back at him because he was the “interim” chief, and she was tasked by Master Kim to observe and support Dr. Kang’s decision-making process. She had no choice but to repress her anger because she had to continue working at the Trauma Center while the other nurses were on strike.

But the patient’s imperious demands on the staff was the last straw. Her anger at the patient seemed excessive because she was also taking out on him her suppressed anger and frustration with Dr. Kang.

So who’s the Game Changer in this episode?

Let me discuss this.

There were several people who changed their game plan.

1. There was the female anesthesiologist who changed her plan to go home and rest and went to the hospital instead to help out.

2. There was the owl-looking nurse who changed her mind about the boycott because she realized that Nurse Oh couldn’t handle a disaster situation on her own.

She recalled her conversation with Nurse Oh shortly before their boycott.

Nurse Oh: No, I don’t think I can join you.
Owl-looking nurse: Aren’t you on our side?
Nurse Oh: Of course. I’m always on your side. But for you to step away from your jobs more comfortably, someone will have to stay here and work your parts, too. We’re fighting against the unjust system, not the patients.

There! Even Nurse Oh thought Dr. Kang’s imposed system was unjust. She gave her blessing to the junior nurse to stage the strike, while she held down the fort for them.

Nurse Oh: (continuing) But still, don’t hesitate to make your voice heard. A society where you can’t make your voice heard is a sick one. Go and confidently say your piece. I will try my best to fill the places that you guys leave behind.

The owl-looking nurse understood that Nurse Oh was supporting the strikers by staying behind. But by the same token, they needed to support Nurse Oh and each other by returning to the Trauma Center.

3. There was Dr. Cha who also changed her mind about the boycott after realizing that Master Kim was right. She learned that a) a boycott was not the right method to accomplish her rightful grievances against Dr. Kang, and b) that she could indeed find numerous possible solutions to the problem of Dr. Kang if she understood him and herself better.

Remember what he told her in Episode 14 “The Addiction to Success”?

Master Kim: I’m not saying it’s wrong to be angry. You can go against it if it’s unfair. However, as you get older and go through life, to beomce the adult at you are now, instead of nitpicking and asking, “What’s wrong with you?” you need to ask, “Why are they doing this?” and put yourself in their shoes. Once you understand them, there can be endless possibilities for a solution to the problem.

Ha. Master Kim only presented the kinder, gentler version of General Sun Tzu’s famous strategy in “The Art of War.” He instructed the military scholars to “Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be in peril of a defeat. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle.”

And there were two people who didn’t change their game plans:

Dr. Yang and Dr. Kang.

In this episode, they were the “Dumb and Dumber” pair of Doldam Hospital.

So who’s the game changer?

It’s Dr. Seo.

Don’t let the fans of Dr. Kang convince you otherwise. Lol.

Dr. Seo was the game changer in this crisis. He entreated his colleagues to reconsider their boycott and led them back to the Trauma Center.

Seo: Didn’t you get the emergency text? It’s a forest fire. Those who were injured while putting it out will be here soon.
Yang: So what? What do you want from us? Don’t you see we’re on strike right now?
Seo: I know.
Yang: Then, shut up and get out. Our rights are just as important as survival.
Seo: (speaking to the staff) I know that. I also know why you’re doing this. The patients always take priority over our rights.

True. Let’s just consider the working hours of the staff. They have a right to normal working hours but when there’s a patient in life-or-death situation, they can hardly go off on time, right?

Seo: (continuing) And our desperate voices only sound selfish to the world.

True. Nobody would understand their sacrifice (e.g., missing out on family time, the toll of their work hours their marriages, etc.) and to mention their sacrifice would be regarded as self-pitying, self-aggrandizing, or self-centered. Patients just take their service for granted and expected the best service at all times without realizing that doctors and nurses are human, too.

Seo: And whenever that happens, we wonder “What are we devoting ourselves for? We get hurt, become dejected, and feel doubtful. I know all that.

True. He knows it, too, from first-hand experience. Plus, he saw Prof. Cha’s disenchantment with some of his patients. Prof Cha believed that doctors weren’t treated with dignity anymore.

Seo: But we can keep fighting. The trauma patients arriving soon can’t fight without us. Without us, they don’t have a future.

True. He means that it’s not the end of their fight for dignity, respect, and fairness, even if they end with the boycott right there and then. Unlike the trauma patients. The trauma patients’ fight for life ends right there if the doctors and nurses continue with the boycott.

Then, Dr. Yang and Dr. Cha argued their points.

Seo: In the meantime, our colleagues will have to work that much harder. Someone has to fill in the lack of medical care.

Unlike that try-hard baepsae, Dr. Kang, Dr. Seo knew how to rise above the fray. He empathized with the medical staff, and understood their plight. He diffused the situation by appealing to their better nature. He didn’t tell them that he knew better than them, thus they should follow him. He only reminded them that they were better than this, and so they heeded him.

Last words. If you look at the sketch for the Epilogue title, you’ll see a diplodocus eating the top of the tree while three giraffes are eating under the diplodocus. These animals are known for their height, long necks, and gentle disposition. I think this sketch alludes not only to Dr. Seo’s height but also to his personality. He won people over because he’s unfailingly calm, polite, and nonbelligerent. Unlike Dr. Kang.

There’s a wide gap between the two doctors in terms of leadership abilities. I highly doubt that Dr. Kang will be able to catch up to Dr. Seo this season. But he really shouldn’t try to keep up with Dr. Seo lest he rips his short legs apart.