📍 Working-Class Mr. Ahn’s Unscheduled Visits to Dr. Yeon’s Clinic continues…
⚠️ Just a casual warning – if you’re following along with Asuka and Jen’s fictional arc and delusion interior series, consider yourself warned. Everything under my fanfiction tab is totally fictional. There’s no need to get overly serious about any of it.
defenseless
Hi Jennie,
Thanks so much for your appreciation as always, and such a sincere, effusive, and insightful commentary.
I have to appear backstage in 4 hours so I can’t talk much, but I need to know, were you picturing dear Park Jihoon in his defenseless bed poses for 呈仕 Citer’s September issue?
(My phone is stuffed full of photos from that like some deranged stalker hahahaha) Ah that boy…
Yes some of those photos were the inspiration for this gochu jabchae.
Of course so was the photo of Choi Hyunwook in his braces. That glittering smile gleamed its way into my central nervous system and won’t be purged.
The majority of this pot was made at a bar seat in a fine, darkly lit Japanese restaurant, over a large pot of houjicha.
The head chef would have never known someone else was cooking something quite spicy right in his establishment.
It gave me quite a kick to be honest hahaha
Asuka, off to prep
Hi Asuka,
Yesterday I feasted on gochu jabchae , and my whole mind was in an excited state HAHA
I stayed up all night and slept in late but didn’t mind it at all
Monday is unilaterally approaching me again and I’m spending the remaining Sunday sending you this reply, which makes me simply happy
That Photo
Oh, I also saw that photo shoot picture.
I was stunned for about 2 seconds and then I started laughing
When they had him take that pose, the photographer must’ve given some ‘direction’
Wasn’t that direction really ‘GOCHU JABCHAE’? Hahaha
‘Hold each corner of the pillow with both hands, yes yes, gently grip with your index fingers and thumbs from both hands. Yes yes, and lightly bite the end of the tie in your mouth, good’
My god, and then he took such an ‘oppa’-like photo
I think it was posted on Instagram, that natural photo taken between the cracks of cave rocks showing Jihoon’s usual free-spirited, easygoing self…
Hyun-wook usually cares about fashion this way and that, while Jihoon seems to not care at all and just throws on whatever’s comfortable and convenient
It’s the opposite of the image we usually know, so that gap moe always makes him look more lovable, I think.
(oh, I’m rambling on again)
Misaeng
Yeah, the ‘Misaeng’ drama’s original is a webtoon
The artist who drew that webtoon said in an interview that he’d never experienced corporate life at all.
The artist’s imaginative power was so excellent that I actually got slight ptsd haha, watching that drama, so it was a bit difficult to watch till the end.
(I also did Korean-style corporate life for a while after graduating college)
I think I studied English harder because I hated, in order to escape…
Internationalization
Yeah, when s2 came out at the end of April, directors Yoo and Han did simultaneous interviews with many media outlets, and this is part of a newspaper article:
Reducing the weight considering overseas viewers was also effective.
Director Yoo said,
“Since more countries are watching through Netflix, we tried to make the atmosphere itself not too heavy or emotionally draining, making it as comfortable to watch as possible”
We can’t judge based on just these few lines, but I think they reflected fans’ opinions that s1 was emotionally draining.
‘Emotionally draining’ probably wasn’t negative feedback, though.
Anyway, if s3 ever comes out, I really hope Director Yoo gets to say whatever he wants to say freely.
Without any catering to any audience.
Buddhism
Actually, one of the reasons my foreign friends and colleagues want to come to Korea is because of the ‘temple stay’.
If you go to ‘Gangwon’ province in Korea, there are many quiet and beautiful temples, and though it would be a different feeling from the ‘Asuka’ temple in Japan you mentioned, when you go near temples, your heart becomes peaceful and you feel like your troubled mind gets purified.
And I see a lot in the media about quite many westerners being drawn to Buddhist practices like you, either for mental cultivation or to maintain peace of mind.
I don’t have a particular religion, but I vaguely believe in God’s existence, which I find curious about myself.
There were several dangerous moments in life where I thought ‘I might have lost my life’ and seeing how I was able to continue living without incident in those split-second moments, it was hard for me not to believe in God’s touch.
And like you said, I too have felt that human nature to organize ‘classification’ and ‘hierarchy’ in all religions.
I have a somewhat skeptical view of religious groups.
So I laughed heartily at the part in this gochu jabchae you made where Suho subtly described members of religious groups as ‘hypocrites’
Not contempt or hatred, but you might understand – I’m extremely individualistic, so I didn’t fit well with Korea’s unique collective culture from childhood.
Whether it’s church or cathedral, wherever you go, the collective community solidarity is strong, so even while believing in God’s existence, I think I tried to avoid and not get involved in communities that follow that God from childhood.
And actually many very devout Christians around me mostly use religion as community activity for mutual benefit, which made me even less want to go to such ‘energy-draining’ places.
Rather, on precious weekends like this, it’s better to invest time in things I like – like exchanging with wireless friends like you who are completely immersed in the same work.
Anyway, what I’ve always been criticised for since childhood is being too individualistic and somewhat considering practicality and efficiency, so I think I was more comfortable working in western culture – it suited me well.
Being a foreigner was inevitably lonely, but I even welcomed that loneliness.
Jeon Do-yeon
She’s an actress who needs no words.
‘Kill Boksoon’ movie itself was decent as a time-killer, and I thought the narrative was fairly well-constructed.
Even if the scenario had been much more straightforward and dry, surely, like you said, she would have added depth.
Once Jeon Do-yeon appears on screen, that movie gains depth.
I watched ‘The Mantis’ recently, and hmm, Benjamin’s screen time was too little, so I lost motivation to make a separate analysis video.
He literally appeared as a rude, clueless sociopathic CEO, and it was too intuitive what kind of character the director wanted to create.
🔗 A childish little CEO, no different from a ‘child’
Wearing fancy clothes and liking sweets.
Since he’s still a young actor, I hope he appears in better projects as he expands his filmography.
I wonder if he could take on a better role than Suho, but I still hope so.
Forgiveness
It’s still an unresolved task for me, too.
Would Suho forgive Beomseok
I’ve looked at so many reviews since the accident at whc 4 months ago.
I always felt distance from interpretations that only saw Beomseok as just an Instagram attention-seeker or a pitiful child consumed by inferiority complex.
So, occasionally, when I meet people in my YouTube comments or like you, who deeply understand this character, I start wagging my tail like a fish in water.
Especially in your email early yesterday morning,
‘And he will kick this acknowledgement into Suho’s skull again if need be.’
This sentence gave me enough HAHA inspiration to paint the exterior walls of huge buildings in future dark arc interior design.
Even setting aside the fact that he’s the culprit who stole the most brilliant 2 years of life, like you said, for Beomseok who needs to ‘matter’ to Suho, what greater punishment is there than Suho’s indifferent disinterest in not even bothering to delete that kid’s contact number?
How cruelly delicious is this premise!
Why don’t so many people know this taste hahaha
In deluluverse, Beomseok has gotten a bit smarter so this time even without physically kicking ‘acknowledgement’ into Suho’s skull, he’ll shake Suho’s skull or heart wildly through other kicks, in a more clever way…
(my fingers are tingling again 😂)
(Stacking more bricks around the delulu building before Monday comes)
Since the ‘boogeyman’ first appeared in Dr Yeon’s clinic, for several months, the patient who attended Dr Yeon’s clinic’s last Friday appointment became Beomseok.
He even postpones his business schedule to return to the Philippines.
An allergy patient who comes regularly at 5 PM on Fridays.
Friday afternoons drinking beer together at Suho’s house watching baseball games, then going to the bedroom for more fun activities when night deepens was the routine and hobby of the two adult puppies (full-grown dogs?)
after their reunion, but for the past few months there are always problems at Si-eun’s house suddenly his mother feels unwell or his father has urgent business to handle on Friday evenings, that is.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
Every time he asks, Dr Yeon, smiling and acting like it’s nothing serious, let’s be together on weekends, at first, Suho thinks it’s probably nothing serious, but one Friday afternoon, Suho ends up going to Si-eun’s clinic.
His walk-in is during lunch time, but for his friend who seems to be overworking lately, he wants to surprise him with a surprise visit around the time Friday afternoon clinic hours end.
Because the same appointment patient has been visiting at 5 PM Friday for several months and after that, Director Yeon instructed not to take any more appointments, the youngest nurse was already in weekend mood on Friday afternoons and had left, so when Suho arrived at the clinic, the clinic interior was quiet and no nurse was at the desk.
Walking carefully toward the consultation room with both hands thrust in his pants pockets, the consultation room door is slightly open.
Since it could be greatly rude if a patient consultation is in progress, he quietly sits on a simple chair in front of the room waiting for the patient to end, but through the door crack he hears voices with a different atmosphere than usual.
Not the tone a doctor uses when treating patients, but affectionate and warm…
Hahaha, among various bricks, rather than Dr Yeon being dragged around by Beomseok’s ‘wide feet’ if he feels nostalgia for Oh Beom remembering Byeoksan High days while feeling some other kind of emotion different from the absolute love he has for Suho, what would that be?
I’m swimming in the sea of delusion with my tiny brain, swimming wrong and flailing, then coming up to the surface gasping for air.
Seriously, for Dr Yeon to have ‘some tender feelings’ for Oh Beom, it would have to be some different, deeper emotion than teenage nostalgia or guilt, but what would that be?
It’s no help to my life at all, but I’m spending the weekend excitedly matching bricks for delusions that are fun to imagine * cackle *
Like you said, Si-eun’s core has innocence, warmth, and vulnerability, and wouldn’t Beomseok have some ‘nucleus’ that wildly stimulates this?
I was thinking deeply about what that might be.
Anyway, looking at the original work, one of the various bricks is that Beomseok was also Si-eun’s first love.
I’m trying to get inspiration by looking at photos of the actual actor who plays this kid, who’s been actively working on various projects lately.
Old House
The brick crafting seems to be going deep, I find myself funny too, but if I were to send you my crafted bricks to lightly amuse you before Monday comes…
Suho would have had to receive rehabilitation at the hospital for about 2 years after waking up, so returning to Byeoksan High immediately after waking would’ve been realistically impossible.
And after 2 years of rehabilitation, he’d already be 21, and at 21, Si-eun would be in his 2nd year of medical school.
So rather than returning to Byeoksan High, I thought he would have taken the ‘qualification exam’
It’s an exam that gives graduation qualifications equivalent to high school graduation even for people like Suho who have circumstances and didn’t graduate high school.
Suho would have taken that qualification exam and kept his long-standing promise with grandmother.
And at the point when the rehabilitation ended, grandma who used to press her cheek against Suho’s cheek once a day, giving him the unconditional love he should have received from his parents, would have closed her eyes.
Seeing her grandson running around energetically even if not as much as before, she would have closed her eyes peacefully and happily…
That would have been exactly 2 years after Suho’s post-coma, after the seal was broken from being Sleeping Beauty, in ‘spring’ and at this time I hope Suho inherited that old house grandmother left behind and went to see it.
The house would need repair work to sell or rent out, but an extremely old house left as is because there’s no big money for construction.
So I imagined in detail Suho getting help from Young-i, starting part-time work that could accumulate large sums relatively quickly, fixing things one by one, from broken boilers to rusted water pipes.
After it becomes a ‘livable’ space for people to enter, Suho asking Si-eun ‘want to live together?’
That would have happened when the two puppies turned 21, in summer, when Si-eun’s 2nd year medical school summer vacation started, wouldn’t that be the beginning of them living together for the next 5 years…
Asuka! I hope you enjoy the approaching Monday holiday with a glass of single malt. I hope you successfully completed your remaining relatively light projects, too.
I’ll email again after the boogeyman Mon-Tuesday passes.
Your wireless brick-layer Jen
p/s
The photo is from a movie called ‘Architecture 101’
This is exactly what I pictured for grandma’s only inheritance, that ‘old house’
Want to see where Scheherazade’s tale begins? 🔗 Click here to jump to Part 1
Leave a Reply