Heo Jun episode 40 The Banmyo Poison Smugglers

Heo Jun goes back to his old life as a smuggler just for one night and teams up with Sir Lee to find out who bought banmyo, the poisonous herb. Sir Lee arrests the criminal but it’s not going to be easy to prosecute him when when it seems he has high level officials behind him.

Heo Jun informs Sir Lee that he believes his friend was poisoned to death by banmyo -a poison that is not readily available in Joseon and not easy to detect. Heo Jun discovers that the herb is being smuggled in from China so he decides to become a smuggler again – one last time – to find out who bought the poison from the illegal traders. Heo Jun tells SIr Lee about his plan. Sir Lee will hide while Heo Jun deals with the smugglers. And then they will arrest them …

Sir Lee hears that his friend was probably poised

Over at the palace one of the nurses has a crush on Do Ji. (what?) So she burns herself on purpose so that he will pay attention to her! Chae Sun gets into trouble (since she is useless) and gets told off by the head female doctor. In the end Chae Sun can’t stand life there and scuttles back to the welfare hospital and her old friends!

After getting told off at the palace Chae Sun scuttles back to the welfare department in tears

Sir Lee is called by his superior (the one who tried to chat up Ye Jin at the party in the last episode) and he tries to bribe Sir Lee with a promotion if he will join him and be loyal to his side. But Sir Lee refuses. He says he doesn’t want to become ambitious and use his power dishonourably. His superior is displeased and looks like there’s trouble ahead for Sir Lee.

The political situation is getting more intense but Sir Lee doesn’t want to take sides

The stranger who was following Ye Jin is a servant from her brother’s house. She is happy to finally see her brother again but he’s shocked and disappointed to hear she has married beneath her (couldn’t he tell from looking at their house and her clothes that her husband is not a yangban?) He wants to help her financially – and they certainly need money – but Da He (probably sensitive to Heo Jun’s feelings) refuses any help. But she does ask him one favour – find a decent school for her son…

Da Hee meets her brother who’s disappointed to hear she married beneath her

Heo Jun takes Sir Lee and a team of police to the port where they will meet the illegal traders. Heo Jun is back wearing his old clothes from his days as a smuggler and when he meets with the men he puts on an act acting tough just like the old days.

As soon as he gets the men to admit they know about the poison, Sir Lee and his men burst out of the bushes and arrest everyone. Later the criminal who bought the herb is arrested but he is smug as he clearly has powerful officials behind him and it looks like Sir Lee is making enemies.

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Heo Jun helps Sir Lee catch the criminal but he has friends in high places

And finally, there’s a big problem for Do Ji when he hears that Heo Jun has discovered that the official died of poisoning and not as Do Ji said ‘side effects of diabetes’.

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I have to take it all back about Sir Lee. I thought he was not up to Heo Jun’s standards but he clearly is an honourable man who wants to do his best. And like Heo Jun he does not want to have power so that he can abuse it. With time he probably can win Ye Jin’s heart. I just don’t have a good feeling about his investigation. Going against his powerful superiors like this? It can’t end well. 🙁

BTW Many of the actors reappear again and again in similar roles in sageuk, don’t they? Im Ho, who now plays SIr Lee the honourable police Inspector, played King Jungjong in Dae Jang Geum. But I find these two roles quite similar – although the king is obviously higher in rank, both characters are noble but their power is weak and they can’t achieve what they want. They are also losers in love – in Dae Jang Geum the king falls for Dae Jang Geum but she has feelings for Sir Min. And here too, Sir Lee falls for Ye Jin but she is in love with Heo Jun.

Another example of similar roles is in this scene where we are introduced to Sir Lee’s guard who has ‘exceptional martial arts skills’. He also plays the guard of the baddie doctor Myunghwan in Horse Doctor and he also plays a guard in Dae Jang Geum too! (and probably other dramas) Talk about being typecast! But according to his profile , he is an actor and stuntman. That must be why he always seems to play guards!