As our heroes deal with the aftermath of their breakup, they learn some important life lessons about trusting others and asking for help. For two overachievers who relied on their success to form their sense of self, stripping away their title has forced them to face their insecurities and fears. While it may be hard, it’s finally time for our heroes to discover who they truly are.
EPISODES 9-10
The reason Ha-neul broke up with Jung-woo boils down to her inability to trust, all thanks to a certain jerk. When she was still a bright-eyed resident, she opened up her heart to Kyung-min who seemed like a caring and attentive mentor. By the time she saw the signs of manipulation, he had stolen her work and spread malicious rumors about her. Though she called him out on his lies, the professors saw her as the problem, instead.
While being with Jung-woo makes Ha-neul happy, a part of her worries that he will betray her, too, so in her current state, she can only envision a relationship where they bring each other down. After getting his heart torn in two, Jung-woo accepts Dae-young’s offer and moves to a temporary studio closer to his new workplace. To Ha-neul’s family, it looks like he is leaving Ha-neul behind, but even so, they fill his hands with food and well-wishes.
Seeing Ha-neul mope after Jung-woo’s departure, Mom assumes her heart must be broken, so when Busan Aunt calls about a blind date, she goes against her better judgment and accepts. She lies to her daughter about meeting someone for work-related advice, and Ha-neul arrives at a café completely blindsided by the rude punk who insinuates that she is a gold digger. The part, though, that hurts Ha-neul the most is neither the stranger’s callous remarks nor her aunt’s degrading comments — it’s the fact that her mom must also see her life as pathetic like everyone else.
Ha-neul cools off on the rooftop after her fight with her mom, and her uncle comes up, not to defend his sister but to lend his niece an ear. They curse out the jerk together, which cheers Ha-neul up a bit, and her uncle tells her that he wishes he knew how to support her. He says that her mom is the same and points out the cabbages she planted because she heard they were good for depression. In their own little ways, her family has been trying their best to help her.
Thanks to a little teamwork between Ha-neul’s uncle and brother, they get Mom and Ha-neul to meet up and make amends. Mom apologizes for what she did and hands her daughter a bankbook from her dad. It was meant as a wedding gift, but now seems to be a better time for it. She tells Ha-neul that she shouldn’t feel guilty for anything — especially not for missing her dad’s call because even in his final moments, he was proud to be her parent. They were both so happy to raise her, and now, Mom hopes Ha-neul will be happy, too.
On their stroll home, Mom asks about Jung-woo, revealing that she always had a soft spot for the handsome doctor with a sad face. She noticed that he was struggling just like Ha-neul, so she prayed that the two of them could lean on each other and learn to love themselves. Though Ha-neul shares the same sentiment, she can’t bring herself to admit it, so her subconscious does it for her with a clingy text to Jung-woo: “Are you asleep?” (The embarrassment! This is worth at least a fortnight of blanket kicks.)
Despite the humiliation, the text does the trick, and Jung-woo comes over to meet Ha-neul. He tries to act the part of a cool ex-boyfriend, but it lasts as long as you can imagine. Since she was clingy first, it’s his turn to pine, and he asks if it would be all right if he waited for her. He tells her that she can come back whenever she is ready, and Ha-neul smiles to herself, a look of relief and gratefulness etched on her face.
With one problem resolved, it’s time to return to another (i.e., Jung-woo’s PTSD). With the news of his return, patients swarm the clinic, and Jung-woo does what he does best: put other’s concerns above his own. Pushing himself, he immediately jumps into the operating room on his first day back, but the sight of a scalpel makes him panic. Dae-young asks if Jung-woo needs some time off, genuinely offering help, but Jung-woo only sees this as his failing and promises to do better.
The next morning, Jung-woo gets to work like before, but inside the operating room is Ha-neul. Whether her presence helped or hindered him is unclear, but regardless, Jung-woo manages to complete the surgery. Afterwards, he learns from Dae-young that Ha-neul heard about his panic attack and wanted to be there for him. Though she had good intentions, her assistance made him realize his own inadequacies, and Jung-woo tries to quit. Just as Ha-neul and Jung-woo start to fight, their old homeroom teacher shows up, and their argument is put on hold.
The four of them go out for lunch (Dae-young tagged along), and their teacher brings up the time Ha-neul ate spicy peppers in class because it helped her focus. Jung-woo remembers Ha-neul getting a stomachache as a result, and when she tried to eat them again, he took them away, citing that the school nurse banned them after he copied her and got sick. In reality, he lied so she wouldn’t be in pain, and Jung-woo tells Ha-neul that he didn’t even like her back then so think about how he feels now.
He knows that Ha-neul is only working for his sake, so he can’t accept her help when she should be taking a break. Ha-neul says that she won’t leave him alone while he is in pain, but Jung-woo points out the hypocrisy of her actions. When he wanted to share her burden, she threw their relationship away, but now that he is the one who needs help, she wants to be by his side. He calls her selfish, and though his words are harsh, they ring true.
In the midst of his conflicting emotions, Jung-woo overhears Hong-ran talking about Ha-neul’s falling out with Kyung-min, so he drops by his office to ask him directly about what he did. Kyung-min calls Ha-neul a liar who blames others for her shortcomings and advises Jung-woo to forget about her since she’s useless. In response, Jung-woo punches him, and the other doctors rush in to break up their fight.
While eating cabbages with her family, Ha-neul recognizes from her mom’s actions the importance of quiet comforts and calls Jung-woo. She asks if they can meet, but he’s already here since he wanted to see her. Ha-neul immediately notices his wounds and fusses over them, but Jung-woo is more concerned about her and hugs Ha-neul, apologizing for not knowing what happened.
As she treats his injuries, Jung-woo admits that he was glad to see her in the operating room that day and missed her a lot. She asks why he was so mean, then, and Jung-woo tells her that he was really hurt when she dumped him. He felt worthless, and those feelings only worsened when he kept shaking during the surgery. Ha-neul tells Jung-woo that he will always be incredible to her even if he never picks up a scalpel again, and just as he taught her a world outside of work, she wants to show him, too.
To start off the night, Ha-neul takes Jung-woo clubbing — the first of many activities she hopes to share with him — and explains how she never returned the favor. She realized that she was projecting her problems onto him and pushing him to overcome his trauma because she tied her own recovery to his. Thus, she stepped into the operating room that day to help him but also herself, so if he really wants her to quit, she will.
After giving it some thought, Ha-neul informs Jung-woo that their teacher visited the clinic because of a lump on his back but didn’t mention it in case it pressured him. Hearing about the situation, Jung-woo decides to give it a try and tells Ha-neul that if he needs a reason to overcome his trauma, then she is his best motivator. They agree to operate together, and the day of the surgery, Ha-neul leaves Jung-woo a note, telling him to remember last night and forget his fears one step at a time.
The operation goes smoothly, and though Jung-woo’s still needs more time to heal completely, he’s in the process of recovery. Luckily, Ha-neul is now at his side since she will be joining the clinic, too, and the staff welcome them both with open arms. During their party, Dae-young suggests a game, and the new recruits get chosen to answer questions. Ha-neul is asked if she has a boyfriend (her answer is no), and Jung-woo is asked about his last kiss (he says that it was ten years ago).
As Ha-neul and Jung-woo step out, they ask each other why they lied at the party. The show goes back to the scene where Ha-neul treated his wounds, and in that moment, Jung-woo leaned in for a kiss. Returning to the present, Ha-neul and Jung-woo kiss again as they decide to give their relationship another chance.
The communication between Ha-neul and Jung-woo is so refreshing to see because their conflicts reflect their characterizations and their resolutions stem from mutual growth. Because the show focuses heavily on it characters rather than some overarching plot, it spends time exploring their thought process and the reasoning behind their actions. The show explains that Ha-neul broke up with Jung-woo because she was afraid to trust again, and this fear made her feel like a burden which is why she did not want to hold him back. Since the problem came from within rather than from him, the only way Ha-neul could truly make up with Jung-woo was if she faced her own flaws and fears.
However, like with so many things the show touches upon, Ha-neul’s path towards reconciliation is neither simple nor quick. It takes her multiple attempts and epiphanies to realize her mistake and apologize — but once she does, the show makes her growth evident through grand gestures as well as subtle changes. One of the things I particularly liked was at the end when Ha-neul was finally ready to talk about Kyung-min and why she quit. She allowed herself to be vulnerable to Jung-woo — letting him see even the parts she wished to hide — because she realized that he wasn’t going to use her pain to hurt or judge her, and he also deserved her honesty if she expected the same from him.
What makes Ha-neul and Jung-woo’s relationship so wholesome is that both characters are flawed, and as a result, they both try to improve in order to be better for the person they love. Their relationship isn’t lopsided where one side receives all the love and patience in the world while the other side is expected to give unconditionally. Instead, everyone benefits because they each grow and learn from their mistakes. Just as Ha-neul chose to be selfish when breaking up with Jung-woo, he also hurt her knowingly during their fight after the surgery. Jung-woo struggles with feelings of inadequacies because his parents tied his worth to his success. Even during his conversation with Dae-young, all Jung-woo can think about is taking responsibility and not disappointing people. Hence, when Ha-neul saw him shaking in the OR, he lashed out even though he was happy to see her because it confirmed his worst fears. Not only did she see him failing, but his failings became her burden.
Even though Jung-woo may have been right about Ha-neul’s hypocrisy, he acknowledges his meanness during that argument and genuinely apologizes for it later. He tells her the truth and agrees to try again without letting his fears cripple him. Like Ha-neul, Jung-woo makes progress towards unlearning his childhood baggage and treats her the way he wants to be treated — with compassion and trust. While it would be completely fine for either of our protagonists to move on from medicine because their careers do not define their identities, it’s also obvious that they love it. Thus, the lesson here is not finding a new passion but allowing our downtrodden heroes a chance to enjoy their vocation without any of the societal expectations. As Ha-neul’s mom hoped, I can’t think of a better person for either of our protagonists to go on this journey together of self-discovery and love.