Heo Jun episode 38 Medical Gisaeng

Heo Jun and Do Ji both have serious cases to deal with but solve them very differently. Heo Jun has to treat a patient for a serious infectious skin disease. He gets infected himself but manages to find a cure. Meanwhile the King’s consort Gong Bin goes into labour a month early and there is a big problem with her pregnancy. Do Ji has no idea what to do but his neck is on the line so he rushes off to ask a nurse who knows all about midwifery. She tells him what to do and the birth is a success. But is he going to give her any credit. I doubt it. Meanwhile Ye Jin has her own problems as she discovers that there is another job for the nurses: Not only are they nurses and police ladies. But sometimes they are gisaeng entertainers too. 🙁  

The seriously ill patient at the welfare clinic is one of the selfish workers who was accepting bribes and grassed Heo Jun up for running a makeshift clinic at his own house. The worker has caught a serious and very infectious skin disease – if they don’t get rid of the infection it will spread around his body and kill him! The other doctors don’t want to treat the patient – not after the way he treated Heo Jun – but to Heo Jun he is ‘just another patient’. Heo Jun goes off into the mountains to find special medicine for him. But he spends so much time with the patient he ends up becoming infected with the skin disease too.

Heo Jun treats the worker with the skin infection but ends up getting infected too

Meanwhile at the palace Do Ji is begging the nurse Hong Choon to tell him what to do about Gong Bin’s difficult pregnancy. She is upset and doesn’t want to help him because she feels she was unfairly demoted from the palace and punished to protect the doctor who was really to blame for the mistake. But she finally agrees to help him and explains what to do. Standing outside Gong Bin’s chamber, Do Ji repeats what Hong Choon told him.

Hong Choon agrees to help Do Ji who repeats her advice to the court nurses

Thanks to Nurse Hong Choon, Gong Bin gives birth to a healthy son. Lord Yang is very relieved – his neck was on the line too – and he congratulates Do Ji who will no doubt be promoted. But of course Do Ji doesn’t mention that actually he had no clue what to do and that it was Hong Choon who knew. (Heo Jun would DEFINITELY have given Hong Choon all the credit. This is a very unattractive part of Do Ji. He doesn’t say a word. He just laps up the praise. Duh! 🙁 )

Do Ji is relieved and congratulated after the successful birth of the prince

The nurses are putting on makeup getting ready to attend a banquet. Ye Jin is told to prepare to go too, as the nurses are ‘yakbang gisaeng 약방기생’ medical entertainers. (Oh dear. Looks likes there are even more surprises in for Ye Jin and her career as a ‘nurse’). Ye Jin is mortified and doesn’t want to go. But other nurses are excited and looking forward to the banquet hoping to catch the eye of a nobleman. Chae Sun has even been practising her dancing …

Ye Jin is mortified at the thought of entertaining the noblemen. Other nurses are excited! 

The nurses (or rather yakbang gisaeng) arrive at the party where Sir Lee is also enjoying himself. But his face falls when he sees the unsmiling Ye Jin standing before him and he too becomes uncomfortable. The head of the party chooses Ye Jin to sit by him and her silence makes him more interested in her – he likes the ‘ones who play hard to get.’ yuck.

But as the evening progresses the head of the party starts to lose patience with Ye Jin. Her demure attitude was attractive at first but now it seems to be annoying him. SO we come to a VERY INTENSE MOMENT as the leader of the party starts getting impatient with Ye Jin who refuses to even speak. And she certainly has no intention of pouring him a drink. Tension grows until finally Sir Lee steps in and tells his superior to stop harassing her. (Awkward.) The head of the party stares angrily for a while, but then decides to just laugh off the situation. It could have got ugly since Sir Lee is his junior. Ye Jin leaves in tears.

Ye Jin refuses to act like a gisaeng and gets into trouble. Sir Lee stands up for her. 

And now for another intense scene as Sir Lee finds Ye Jin and reveals his feelings: His wife died 3 years ago and he thought he could never love again. But things have changed. 😉 He promises to look after Ye Jin if she will have him.

Meanwhile, Heo Jun eventually manages to cure the patient with the skin disease (and himself!) The patient begs Heo Jun for forgiveness and promises to change his ways. But there is more drama later when Heo Jun is on night duty and is informed that someone has hung himself…

Heo Jun cures the now very grateful worker. But another serious problem arises – a suicide?

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The situation with Consort Gong Bin shows another way in which Heo Jun and Do Ji are so different. Heo Jun is happy to share information about medicine and will give credit to others when it’s due. For example he always gives credit to his teacher, Dr Yoo, rather than taking credit himself. And I’m sure he’s given credit to others when they have come up with a solution to cure patients.  

But Do Ji is just sneaky and sly. Here he laps up the glory even though he HAD NO IDEA what to do. Maybe later he will admit that it was Hong Choon who told him what to do. I’ll get a bit of respect back for him if he does that. But I have a feeling that he won’t say anything. Poor Hong Choon has had to take the fall for a doctor’s mistake. No wonder she has a chip on her shoulder. And she deserves credit here. But Do Ji just wants to be promoted and doesn’t care if he makes it because of his own skills or someone else’s. Very unattractive and annoying, Do Ji. Very. 🙁  

I think Sir Lee is rather hypercritical here too as he seems be quite happy at the party knowing that the nurses (or yakbang gisaeng) will soon be attending. It’s only when he sees Ye Jin that he feels uncomfortable. This suggests that he doesn’t mind spending time with  nurses who, like Ye Jin, may also not want to be there. 🙁

We hear about Sir Lee’s situation – he is a widower but clearly this doesn’t mean that he can’t remarry. He is at liberty to find another wife or have relationships with gisaengs etc. This is a sharp contrast to the lady criminal we met earlier who was arrested for ‘adultery’ even though she was a widow! So women have to remain pure even after their husband’s death! (Well aristocrat ladies do anyway) Such double-standards.

I still think Sir Lee is a better man than Do Ji.  But perhaps not good enough to sweep Ye Jin off her feet away from Heo Jun. 😉 But she could do a lot worse. He seems like a decent man at least.