Heo Jun episode 27 An Untreatable Disease

 Dr Yoo reveals he is terminally ill with stomach cancer but wants this kept secret from Heo Jun. A plague breaks out in a nearby village and it’s all hands on deck. 

Min Se rushes in to check Dr Yoo who is coughing up blood. Ye Jin is in tears, but Dr Yoo seems indifferent to his illness and admits that he has known for a couple of years that he has stomach cancer (there is no treatment for it yet because doctors need to cut open the patient and take a look inside the stomach – and that is still illegal.)

Dr Yoo reveals he knows he has terminal cancer

Oblivious to what is happening to Dr Yoo, Heo Jun celebrates at home after curing the blind lady. But he’s confused about Dr Yoo’s motives for instructing him to do a treatment that is a no-no in oriental medicine ( applying acupuncture and moxibustion together). Da Hee believes he did this to save Heo Jun’s reputation which took a beating when rumour spread that he had given extra strong medicine to his patient who then went blind. Heo Jun was forced to go against Dr Yoo’s instructions and get his reputation back. So obviously Dr Yoo isn’t bothered about his own reputation any more.

Heo Jun’s perceptive wife understands Dr Yoo’s behaviour

Dr Yoo orders all his medical books to be taken into Do Ji’s room which is now to become Heo Jun’s study! Meanwhile at the palace Dr Yang gives lectures to the trainee doctors. Do Ji makes up his mind that there is no middle ground and he must become the King’s personal doctor. (Um, Hello, I thought you said you weren’t ambitious, Do Ji?) He invites his teacher to his home for dinner (probably to butter him up). During dinner the subject of marriage comes up as his teacher offers to matchmake for him. Do Ji seems to have no choice but to agree to the arranged marriage and he sends a messenger to tell his father about this. (That was quick. And the two haven’t even met yet.) But Do Ji secretly asks the messenger to ‘stop by’ the mountain temple and give a letter to Ye Jin. (Stop by the mountain? Not so easy when travelling on foot hundreds of km all the way from Hanyang! Poor messenger! 🙁 )

Do Ji’s marriage is arranged and a messenger sent to tell Dr Yoo

Heo Jun sees Ye Jin making medicine for stomach cancer and asks who the patient is. But she just starts crying (she’s been instructed by Dr Yoo NOT to tell Heo Jun that he is sick). Nosy neighbour – Koo Ilsu’s wife – turns up and sees them together with Ye Jin in tears and she thinks there is something going on between them. Of course she runs off to tell Da Hee straight away. But Da Hee refuses to take it seriously.

Heo Jun realises Ye Jin is keeping something from him – nosy neighbour looks on

A patient arrives at the clinic with symptoms of the PLAGUE. He dies in the hospital room and Dr Yoo demands they burn the corpse immediately. (The patient’s poor wife is distraught) The magistrate is informed of the situation and the plague infected village is put in quarantine. So when the messenger from Do Ji arrives with his letter, he can’t get through the village. Dr Yoo and Min Se are allowed into the village, but other doctors are too afraid to go. All the houses have to be burnt. Dead bodies are strewn all around because the locals have been relying on lucky charms from the shaman rather than going to the doctor.

Min Se and Dr Yoo arrive at the village to deal with the plague

Heo Jun arrives back at the clinic wondering where everyone is – he had been sent by Dr Yoo to look after terminal patients with stomach cancer, so that he could learn that he can’t cure everyone. When he hears about the plague he rushes to help – even though Dr Yoo left instructions that he should stay away …

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I like the way we can now flip back and forth from the village clinic to the royal hospital. Do Ji reveals his true ambition – to become the King’s personal doctor. But to do this he also needs to become a respectable married man. Do Ji’s marriage is decided very quickly but this seems to be the norm at the time for aristocrats – they had arranged marriages and the bride and groom didn’t even meet before the wedding. But it seems that he still hasn’t given up hope yet about Ye Jin. (She’s going to say NO again, Do Ji.) He may achieve his professional goal but I don’t think that Do Ji is ever going to be truly happy or content. He’s given up a lot to go to the palace – he doesn’t even know that his own father is dying. 🙁