If His Old Jealousy Returns
Working-Class Mr. Ahn's Unscheduled Visits to Dr. Yeon's Clinic continues...
Missed Part 1? Start here → PART 1
Warning: this post deals with some heavier psychological topics and dark fictional elements. Everything here is totally fictional.
If His Old Jealousy Returns
Asuka's running commentary on the fiction continues.
'His Eunjang gang all know the best way to contact him is to call him directly...'
J: Imagining Si-eun getting dragged to karaoke by Baku and Gotak is so adorable... I'm melting. Jun-tae would probably giggle while singing Japanese anime theme songs. But Si-eun? I picture him standing perfectly straight, gripping the mic with both hands, chanting dance songs like Buddhist prayers lol.
Asuka: Hahaha I suspect Juntae is his closest friend at Eunjang, so maybe Si-eun joins the anime club. Maybe he becomes some grand guildmaster, the glory of the Eunjang Anime Club, famous throughout Seoul's nerd underground for knowing the complete plot lines of 100 series and for having actually stabbed jock bullies, the natural enemies of comic nerds.
Hey, It's Been a While
'Hey it's been a while'
J: How many times did Si-eun imagine getting this reply... and then it actually came... so perfectly Suhoish... 'It's been a while...'
Asuka: Poor baby deserves all the happiness in the world.
'He races ahead faster than ever before'
J: Such a beautiful, clean line... Remember Si-eun panting as he came in last during PE at Byeoksan? This kid... he's good at everything when it comes to Suho...
Asuka: He was mocked and then avenged by a flying shoe.
'At first Si-eun smiles with shiny, misty eyes'
J: Saw some comment going 'Why are these guys getting all teary-eyed lmaooo' — made me laugh because if that commenter was a guy, he probably felt moved by the scene but expressed it sarcastically because he was embarrassed.
Asuka: Sounds like such a teenaged guy comment hahaha.
J: Saw a tweet recently about Suho seeing Si-eun's soup and saying 'I feel dirty' — that scene went viral on Twitter. The tweeter said 'Suho talks exactly like a hetero boy that age would — expressing his crush on another guy so roughly, it's so authentically what a straight boy that age would say. Calling his feelings for his male friend 'disgusting' — so honest.'
Asuka: They really do talk like that. When I was in college, one of my guy friends told his other close guy friend "You know if you were a girl, we would have f*cked." And then they laughed about it hahahaha. Boys…
The Texts He Read All Night
'He collapses against the bigger boy'
J: At this moment, Si-eun probably said everything he wanted to say, so unlike his usual self. To his hyung. I read Director Yoo's interview about this — Suho contacted Si-eun long after waking up. I get why... still wanting to look like a 'hyung.' Still can't walk properly but... my heart's hurting again.
Asuka: Totally agreed.
'And before he does that, he reads every single one of Si-eun's texts'
J: OMG just wrote about Director Yoo's interview and here it is...
Asuka: Yep, exactly hahaha. I imagine it took Suho the whole night. And that was a night when Si-eun didn't come by for a visit. (If Si-eun did come by, and saw Suho up and reading texts, and Suho just turns around and nonchalantly says 'how's it going?', all hyungish… I imagine the shock would have been so great, and would have turned into tears even quicker. Kind of like those 'soldiers come home' surprise videos.)
J: Yeah, I imagined this scene too... Si-eun's perfectly spelled long texts... maybe written thinking Suho might never wake up... like diary entries... like confessions... and 'childishly whining and acting spoiled'...
Asuka: I imagine reading these texts convinces deluluverse Suho that he will never be this loved by anyone else, and makes plans to shift Si-eun into his home hahaha.
This Sort of PTSD Is Totally Real
'Incidentally this sort of PTSD is totally real'
J: Totally agree. I don't think anything in Si-eun's future will traumatize him as much. In our delulu universe, Si-eun goes to Iraq as a military doctor, but even witnessing cruelty there won't surpass what happened to defenceless Suho — especially Beom-seok's kicks. They only knew each other around 40 days, such intense emotions came and went so fast, in the cruelest way.
Asuka: You mentioned Suho was already unconscious and wasn't aware of the cruelty done to him, but Si-eun sees everything. It's truly awful. The psychological wounds may never close. Imagine seeing a video of your favorite person getting kicked to death, and he's helpless and you are also helpless to stop it. Plus this person was someone you looked up to, someone like an invincible older brother and now he's just become meat. To top it off, this atrocity was committed by someone close, someone you also loved in a way. It's too much. No wonder Si-eun snapped and did his iconic pure-murder catwalk. It's to his own credit, and also thanks to the life-support system that is the Eunjang gang, that Si-eun didn't become institutionalized.
J: Si-eun secretly checking if Suho's real while he sleeps... I think our personal experiences inevitably creep into our arcs HAHA.
Asuka: Oh yes haha.
J: The priest would demand detailed recipes for why one puppy tastes like sea salt caramel and the other like milk.
Asuka: It's probably due 1% to a healthy diet and 99% to winning the genetic lottery.
J: Such an amazing compliment, I'm not sure I deserve it. Thank you for your warmth.
Asuka: You're most welcome Jennie. Read that newspaper article, yeah, I always felt Director Han was a storyteller interested in systems. Military, school... now I hear he's planning something about 'workplace.' Hyun-wook got cast.
Asuka: Congrats to him, and to all his fans (including myself). I hear Mantis is coming out very soon on Netflix. I wonder if he's going to be in a brutal death scene…
J: Both directors are clearly smitten with him. (Hope Hyun-wook grows as an actor who can show various emotions — love, pain — on his face. Your previous comment about people wanting sex appeal from him while expecting him to be a pure saint was so spot-on. If they want sex appeal, naturally he should love more and hurt more... but the public... hopeless HAHA)
Asuka: Yes, it turns out there are actually many people more deluded than me… They want Hyun-Wook to showcase his full range, but where his personal life is concerned, they want him to limit himself to absolute purity. Any kind of male itch he gets is to be purged with ascetic self-discipline. So they want both Actor Hyun-wook and Abbot Hyun-wook. Definitely some kind of control fetish lurking somewhere.
Si-eun's Paranoid Streak
J: Happy that interior design has become a side gig. No reply pressure, yeah? (Starting to worry I might be messing with your projects.) A few topics I wanted to get the bricks laid for quickly.
Si-eun's never been officially diagnosed with mental illness. Like most people in this country, he'd probably resist treatment. Never been diagnosed, so why do I automatically assume he's got something brewing? Paranoia and Si-eun fit together like matching pajama pants, though.
This boy won't get treatment. Wouldn't have during med school either. He'd figure therapy's unnecessary — Suho's right there beside him. Still think he needs a therapist though. Otherwise, if Suho's cough doesn't stop for half a day, Si-eun will drag him straight to a lung MRI. Can't have these overreactions every single time.
Si-eun's love for Suho and his paranoia are separated by tissue paper... These intense, dark emotions definitely fuel my darker arcs.
The two otters in the bathtub worked up quite a sweat. But puppies drunk on this much happiness got their cold shower — preferably one that left them homeless and drenched to the bone.
Oh Beom
J: Feel guilty about inviting Beom-seok into my dark arc, but since this is a completely different universe from canon, I'll give myself a pass.
In my previous email's interior renovation, I chose to make Oh Beom smarter about leveraging his adoptive father. So he'd have access to power and money. Necessary for the dark arc buildup.
"What, you showing off for me? Want me to pay you an allowance?"
Beom-seok picked those words like a needle, knowing exactly where to stab Suho. He'd been carrying that cruelest line in his heart, saving it for the boy he loved most.
When he arranged the pumpkin carriage and glass slippers for the awakened Suho, those would have been genuine gestures. Apologies his money could buy. Hope that his influence might earn forgiveness. Like a genie in a lamp, wasn't it? Pull me from this darkness and I'll give you everything I have. Ten years of waiting like that.
Of course, during that waiting period, the sticky business with photos his assistant secretly took of Suho would have become habit.
When Oh Beom finally knelt to apologize, wouldn't he have imagined Suho's coldly gleaming hazel eyes thousands of times? That dismissive little laugh, those jelly-soft lips letting out a deflated chuckle? He'd have run simulations. Practiced building immunity so he could withstand even the most finger-numbing reactions.
Parks his car near Suho's place. Waits under the yellow streetlight so he won't startle Suho by appearing suddenly. Anxious.
And finally, on a dark evening, he stands before Suho returning home. Oh Beom's heart hammering like it might burst.
But then he hears a familiar voice. Si-eun's.
In his simulations, there were only Suho's cold brown eyes. The 'expectation' that he might growl a low "get lost." Or perhaps 'the hope' that he'd grab his collar and shove him against a wall. Or even the delusional wish that he might quietly embrace him. The simulations contained only Suho, so Si-eun is a variable now.
"Beom-seok-ah..."
Eyes wide with undeniable surprise and joy, approaching Oh Beom. What if this was a scenario that never played in any of Oh Beom's simulations?
As Si-eun steps toward Beom-seok, Suho's hand darts out, snatching Si-eun's waist and drawing him back into his embrace. The movement mirrors how Suho used to jolt awake at his desk, arms flying up in instinctive defense when someone stirred him from sleep. In the hundreds of scenarios Beom-seok had rehearsed, there was no such guard from Suho. And certainly not one that shielded Si-eun.
This protection — wouldn't it sear deeper than any sneer ever could?
Eventually, we'd get to see Suho beg.
J: Jen under a dark corner on Wednesday.
Oh Beom (2)
J: Sending you a fire extinguisher for yesterday's sparked flames. It's a bad habit — having to capture ideas before they evaporate. No pressure to reply quickly!
Your delicate, literary vocabulary curation conjures core images instantly — I'm in awe. Word curation has become my own obsession, too. Since English isn't my native language, selecting vocabulary to weave idea-threads feels like an amazing curatorial process. (Picture McGonagall rapturously waving her wand.)
Suho locks Si-eun in his embrace and disappears into the house. Si-eun glances back at Beom-seok standing under the streetlight. Their eyes meet, but Si-eun can't read Beom-seok's expression.
For a week after, the two happy otters become rain-soaked puppies, barely speaking. Neither asks questions nor broaches topics first. As if they'd never seen Oh Beom at all.
Then, one Friday afternoon, a familiar name appears on the clinic monitor: 'Oh Beom-seok.' The last patient.
Beom-seok enters with a smile, looking undeniably polished and affluent — his fortunes clearly improved. You can hardly miss the scent of wealth and success on him. Dr. Yeon, mouth slightly agape and defenseless against this sudden visit, gets swept into Oh Beom's embrace.
For the next month, Beom-seok visits weekly — Friday afternoons — for allergy treatments. Claims living in hot climates triggered various sensitivities. Since personal feelings can't interfere with patient care, Si-eun maintains professional examination standards.
Naturally, past conversations emerge. Oh Beom pours out confessions about the regret and guilt he's carried regarding Suho. Beom-seok was also his first love, after all. Si-eun holds him close.
Si-eun keeps these month-long meetings from Suho, hoping someday he might persuade Suho to hear Beom-seok's confessions. Without realising it, Si-eun begins hoping Suho's forgiveness might ultimately become a cure-all for their peaceful well-being.
Today marks Oh Beom's final examination. While waiting, Si-eun experiences strange deja vu.
Oh Beom mentions returning to the Philippines soon for business. Si-eun hasn't arranged anything between Suho and Beom-seok yet.
Like their first appointment when Beom-seok suddenly embraced his shoulders, Oh Beom hugs Si-eun tightly in farewell. Si-eun reciprocates, but Beom-seok whispers something in his ear:
"By the way, Si-eun-ah... can you be certain I won't kick Suho's head again?"
Such a monotone delivery. Beom-seok's face pure as a child's. "I'm genuinely curious. You're a doctor, Si-eun-ah."
Si-eun's paranoia about Suho-related risks operated through cause identification and preemptive response. But Oh Beom himself can't be controlled. How do you eliminate unknown causal factors?
Suppressed nightmares gain substance. The boogeyman, never before seen in the examination room, cackles mockingly at Si-eun: "Drunk on happiness all this time? Thought you could escape? Dream on."
Without Beom-seok's complexity, I never would've fallen this deep into WHC. As Director Yoo said, Beom-seok is the story's core. Disgustingly realistic. My favorite character in Korean drama history.
Viewing S1 solely from Beom-seok's perspective — it's almost Beom-seok's begging. Wanting Suho's love, exhausted from begging. Still can't process ep.7 — kicking his most beloved boy's head. Too intense. Could this not be love? That's why Beom-seok reminds me of praying mantises. Females devour males' heads during mating to prevent escape.
Twins with Different Faces
J: So very Oh Beom-like. Complex. He probably cried every single day wanting to tangle with Suho. Even when Suho was barely clinging to the ventilator, he must have felt self-disgust for those feelings. Complex and dangerous and pure and foolish. What a character.
Since even Beom-seok doesn't know what he might do, Si-eun can't preemptively eliminate the danger. So the solution Si-eun conjures up all night with the boogeyman on his back? Treatment. Because he's a doctor.
Si-eun and Beom-seok once shared the same mirror, didn't they? Deep loneliness. Affection starvation. Si-eun was the only one who recognised the kid's solitude. Twins with different faces.
Beomseok loves the traces of Suho lingering all over Si-eun's body. Could be bruises. But he's particularly fond of the scent. That's the secret reason Beom-seok loves holding Si-eun tight — burying his nose in shoulders, armpits. Si-eun carries Suho's scent. Years of steeping, naturally.
So Si-eun starts meeting Oh Beom in secret. Behind Suho's back. Maybe he can cure Oh Beom? Could be a complete misdiagnosis as a doctor, who knows. Then Suho discovers the whole truth.
I remember some subscriber once asked about Throuple and I shot it down because different social classes make it impossible. And here I am now, listing out fetishistic plot points HAHA.
Evangelion
Asuka: Wow Jennie, in your exploration of dark BL you have hit upon ideas I have only seen in top-flight stories.
Si-eun's comforting of Beomseok because of the union of neurosis with nostalgia is believable and in fact quite likely. I see from how he talks to his mental projection of Beomseok (in S2), that Si-eun doesn't lay all the blame at Beomseok's feet, even though those were the feet that did the unthinkable. He seems to blame himself mostly. This warm child with so much guilt. Madeleine Miller develops similar themes ever so lyrically in her Song of Achilles, and that book is really at the upper echelons of fiction, let alone BL.
Beomseok experiencing boy-urges while feeling guilt and sorrow for Suho on life-support has been explored, and even animated, by the revered Evangelion. In the infamous End of Evangelion hospital scene, Ikari Shinji (who has aspects of Si-Eun and Beomseok) grieves over his comatose friend on life support. Evangelion fans raise this profound question: should ultimate power be granted to what is basically an animal? I raise this equally important question: does that room smell of raw almonds? Incidentally, the pretty friend on the bed is named Asuka… I may or may not have some complexes to wrestle with.
Si-eun being steeped in Suho's scent is just the most gorgeous possibility hahahaha. You know, since they say you are what you eat, Si-eun must be subtly redolent of caramel; and whenever Suho wafts past some smitten nurses, they realize he comes with the most alluring vanilla note. These are perfumes of forbidden provenance that Beomseok has never known, but he too is drawn to them.
Ah… and that frosty scene where the trio finally meet outside Suho's house, and the AhnYeon besties walk on awkward eggshells around each other for a week, and Si-eun falls for Beomseok's manipulation and hides his meetings and causes a heartbreak for Suho… Oh god, I can just picture Suho's wounded face. It's delicious.
Jennie, you are the finest architect of the boys' nightmares. All Si-eun's and Suho's sleep demons acknowledge the heart-piercing tip of your tail hahahaha.
And yes, I do love the vibe of old temples. Speaking of sacrilegious, in Thailand, some of the younger monks were really cute with their shaved heads and toned deltoids saying 'hi' from their half-sleeveless saffron Theravadin robes. This badly affected my meditation practice and I left before I ripened some cursed karma, if I haven't already…
The oldest Buddhist temple in Japan is, by the way, in Nara and is called Asuka Temple. I am not making this up. Actually I wanted to visit Kyoto this November, but autumnal Kyoto with its seas of red has oceans of tourists, so I opted for good old Tokyo instead. This decision had nothing to do with the BL cafés in Tokyo. And it was all before I learned of the Anguk option, which is likely to materialize next year. Got to breathe in Jongno's September air, and giggle to myself. Hope I don't frighten the occasional jogger.
Yours very warmly, though on iced coffee, Asuka, almond-free.
Who is Jennie? Bricklayer. Local correspondent for the Yeon Clinic deluluverse. A sous chef who checks whether the soup actually tastes like Seoul. A specialist who designs this kitchen to hold more than Suho's coma — philosophy, history, society, culture, stacked one recipe at a time.
Who is Asuka? Head nurse and main chef of the Yeon Clinic. A Scheherazade who sings the Song of Achilles she found shelved next to a book on Zen Buddhist masters. Fluent in several languages, conversant in single malts and the precise emotional damage of Weak Hero Class 1. Signs off as ASL. (Always starch linen.)
This free ebook will ruin you. In the best way. A character analysis of Si-eun, Su-ho and Beom-seok that goes beyond what subtitles can carry. Take it — it's free → DOWNLOAD HERE
This post was originally published on Jennie's blog in the autumn of 2025. The original blog has since moved to Blogger due to hosting changes — welcome to the new home.
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