Heo Jun episode 12 The Secret Medical Book

Heo Jun’s workmates are fuming that he has been promoted ahead of them and their jealousy even leads one of them to attack Dr Yoo! They think they can walk all over Heo Jun but he is turning out to be a tough cookie. 🙂 But even though he is starting to get recognised for his medical skills his family is still going hungry …

Busanpo is fuming that Heo Jun has become the warehouse manager before him. Every else looks grumpy too – the only one who is pleased about his promotion is Ye Jin.

Heo Jun returns home still unaware that Da Hee is in labour. Yang Tae is waiting for him anxiously but (even though he’s training to be a doctor) Heo Jun waits outside the house while his mother acts as midwife inside! Da Hee gives birth to a son and Heo Jun’s mum hands him a letter from his father. The letter has just two Chinese characters which read ‘Heo Gyun’ – the name his father has chosen for his son. Heo Jun is moved as he remembers the last words his father said to him before they parted –  status doesn’t matter, it’s how you live your life that matters…

Heo Jun is promoted to warehouse manager and then returns home to find his wife in labour

Everyone is grumbling about Heo Jun’s promotion. Do Ji’s mum is worried that he will be able to steal money now that he’s in charge of the medicines. So she tells Do Ji to watch him. The workers don’t want to work under Heo Jun and decide to go to the tavern instead of collecting herbs in the mountain. At first Koo Ilsu is pleased that Heo Jun is the warehouse manager because he hopes to sell him medicines and get a ‘good’ price. But Heo Jun is very honest and will only offer the right price. So now Koo Ilsu is upset too as he got a better deal when Oh Gun was in charge!

Nobody (except Ye Ji) is pleased about Heo Jun’s promotion!

The drunk workers return to the clinic with empty bags. They think Heo Jun can’t stop them going on strike. But they underestimate him. He is furious and grabs Busanpo by the collar. Busanpo is the most upset in the group as he feels humiliated that Heo Jun has been promoted above him when he has been at the clinic more than twice as long.

Busanpo throws a wobbler over Heo Jun’s promotion and Heo Jun has to put his foot down with his workers! 

The Secret Medical Book

Busanpo remembers the rumour of a secret medical book (full of every possible prescription) which they believe Dr Yoo keeps hidden. He wants to get the book and sneaks into Dr Yoo’s quarters with a knife, wakes the doctor up, and demands the secret book! (How desperate can he get?) Dr Yoo says there is no such book and that having a book doesn’t make you a doctor. Busanpo is so full of rage that he threatens to kill Dr Yoo and raises his knife. Just in time Heo Jun rushes up and drags him away. Heo Jun and Dr Yoo both blame themselves for Busanpo’s behaviour. But Dr Yoo doesn’t regret his decision and tells Heo Jun that he put him in charge because of his kind heart not because of his medical skills.

Busanpo attacks Dr Yoo in the night and Heo Jun steps in to stop him

Busanpo has quit and now the others complain that they aren’t being fed properly. (But the whole country is starving). Youngdal tries to steal medicine to buy food and drink at the tavern but gets caught by Heo Jun who orders him to put the meds back. But back at home there is no rice for Heo Jun’s family either. His wife and mum pretend they have eaten so that he can eat. When he realises this, he cries.

Heo Jun realises that his family is going hungry

But even though Heo Jun has been promoted, the others can’t understand why he still carries water every day and washes the bloody towels. Oh Gun relies on Heo Jun for prescriptions. He sees haemorrhoid patients but doesn’t know what to prescribe so he has no choice but to ask Heo Jun. He manages to save face by pretending that he is simply testing Heo Jun!

Now the rivalry really begins between Heo Jun and Do Ji (Do Ji has started taking Heo Jun more seriously. 😉 ) The tension builds when Dr Yoo questions them about various treatments. Do Ji quotes from medical books but Heo Jun believes that you can’t just follow the book – treatment depends on each patient.

And now just to remind us that Heo Jun may have been promoted but he is still in a low social class, he gets home to discover that Da Hee is being beaten by a local yangban for ‘stealing’ their silk hanbok. She denies the accusation saying the hanbok was her own. Heo Jun steps in to help but gets beaten too. Because yangban can beat low class people whenever they feel like it. 🙁

Da Hee gets beaten for ‘stealing’ 

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What an idiot Busanpo is! He’s lazy and doesn’t study but expects to be promoted just because he has been at the clinic the longest. Then he wants to take a short cut and avoid actually doing ANY studying by stealing the ‘secret book of prescriptions’ that will magically transform him into a doctor who can cure any illness! (He’s been reading too many fairy stories.) If only life were that simple. I wish it were. 😉 Dr Yoo blames himself for Busanpo’s attitude and behaviour. And I have to agree. I think it is partly Dr Yoo’s fault for not training the men properly or encouraging them to have any sense of self-worth or pride in their work. 

We’re starting to see a tougher, upright Heo Jun now who won’t compromise for anyone – he won’t even give Koo Ilsu a good deal on the medicines he buys from him. But this hard-headed, uncompromising attitude will be tough on his family later and means they will sometimes have to go hungry. I don’t know how I feel about this really. On the one hand it’s good that he won’t take bribes but on the other hand his family will suffer as he won’t break any rules to get them food. And so I say the same thing again at the end of every episode: he should NEVER have got married. 🙁 

I was shouting at the screen again at the end of the episode when Da Hee gets beaten up for ‘stealing’. Those cheeky Yangban think they can do what they like to the lower classes. It’s OUTRAGEOUS! 👿