#ikjun

Hospital Playlist S2E3

Some quick thoughts on Ikjun before I go to sleep.

I was wondering why there was so much focus on the partnership between Ikjun and Baek Hyung-Do last week. The main (and only) reason Ikjun had contacted him was to discuss the DLL case (which Ikjun had undertaken as a favour for Songhwa). But the show decides to take their involvement with each other further by having Ikjun send his chief over to assist in a liver transplant in Hyung-Do’s hospital on the opposite side of the country.

What purpose did this serve? Ikjun goes as far as cashing in what was meant to be a ‘personal’ favour from his senior, for the sake of a patient’s life. As well as to support the efforts of “trailblazers” in rural areas so that patients don’t have to travel long distances for essential treatments.

Hence, the show establishes Ikjun as an inherently altruistic person, someone whose motivations for performing surgeries and taking on difficult cases lie in a desire to ultimately better people’s lives. We already know that Songhwa is this kind of person because of her clear passion for DLL, and her goal to expand the program Korea-wide and provide financial assistance to as many people as possible. When Songhwa approaches Ikjun to ask him to look at the case, we assume he does so more out of courtesy for Songhwa, than out of actual vested interest in the DLL program. But as the show takes painstaking efforts to show much Ikjun cares about helping the less fortunate and increasing equity in health HIMSELF, we see that his involvement in DLL is going to be just as self-motivated as driven by a need to support Songhwa in his endeavours.