The Baek family secretary (Mr. Min) mentioned that a “Mr. Baek” had surgery. There have been a lot of comments…
My understanding was that when Mr. Min told HHJ that “Mr. Baek” had eye surgery to correct heterochromia when he was young, he was referring to Presidential Candidate Baek Eui Yong. Not the male lead (the replacement BSE) or the kidnapper (the real BSE).
My reasons:
First, Mr. Min refers to the current male lead by his title (“the spokesperson”) on one occasion and to the 15-year-old version of the male lead by his full name (“Baek Sa Eon”) at another point in that exchange. IMO, it would be unlikely that he would also use “Mr. Baek” to refer to the male lead in the same short conversation.
Second, Mr. Min was asking HHJ what the male lead knew about the kidnapper and his heterochromia. It wouldn’t make sense for Mr. Min to ask if the male lead knew about a surgery that *the male lead himself* had when *the male lead* was young.
Third, I have seen some viewers speculate that Mr. Min was fooled by the Baek family into thinking that BSE suddenly didn’t have heterochromia anymore (because the male lead, who didn’t have heterochromia, replaced the real BSE, who does have heterochromia) as a result of BSE undergoing surgery. However, Mr. Min recalled what the male lead was like when he originally joined the household and replaced the real BSE. Mr. Min knows that the male lead is not the real BSE. Since he told HHJ about what the male lead was like when he arrived at the Baek household, after he left the room when HHJ was speaking with Baek Eui Yong and Sim Gyu Jin, Mr. Min might have overheard enough of what HHJ said to realize that she already knew that the male lead is not the real BSE and that he replaced the real BSE around the age of 15.
Fourth, Mr. Min said that "Mr. Baek" used to have heterochromia when he was young, before he underwent eye surgery. After the eye surgery, his eyes were no longer different colours. The kidnapper / the real BSE still has heterochromia (his eyes are still different colours), so obviously Mr. Min wasn’t referring to the real BSE.
Fifth, the purpose / impact of this information lends additional clues. At the beginning of episode 9, HHJ learns that the male lead is not the real BSE because a DNA test shows that he is not Baek Eui Yong’s biological son. HIA also commented that everyone knew that Baek Eui Yong had a son, but no one (including HIA, who lived next door to the Baek family) ever saw him before the age of 15 and HIA speculated that perhaps there had previously been a biological son who was replaced by the male lead. HHJ also knows that the kidnapper has heterochromia, that he is targeting the male lead, that he said that ‘the one who knows BSE best’ is him, and that he wants everything to go back to the way it was before. By telling HHJ that Mr. Baek Eui Yong was also born with heterochromia (like the kidnapper), but that it was corrected through surgery when he was young and that most people don’t know about it, Mr. Min helped HHJ realize that the kidnapper is Baek Eui Yong’s biological son (the real BSE) that the male lead replaced, and that is why the kidnapper has been targeting the male lead. The male lead also recently figured this out (thanks to the fisherman’s tip that “he’s alive”), but if he hadn’t then Mr. Min’s hint would have allowed the male lead to figure it out too, if HHJ passed the information on to him.
The fact that Mr. Min mentioned that "this is a little known fact" also helps the audience understand why the male lead did not realize or even suspect that the kidnapper was the real BSE even after HHJ told him that the kidnapper had heterochromia. In addition to thinking that the real BSE was dead (until the fisherman advised him otherwise), the male lead also didn’t know that both the real BSE and the real BSE’s biological father (Mr. Baek Eui Yong) had heterohromia from birth.
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The secretary and HHJ had the following exchange:
Mr. Min: Excuse me. How much does the spokesperson know about the person making threats?
HHJ: What do you mean “how much”? Everything he told the police.
Mr. Min: So nothing more about the heterochromia?
HHJ: What should he know?
Mr. Min: When Mr. Baek was young, he had eye surgery. It’s a little known fact. Since then, his eyes were no longer different colors.
…
Mr. Min: When Baek Sa Eon first came to this house, he was like a scared, stray cat. I’ve never seen him smile comfortably in this house. I’ve always felt sorry for him.
-----
As HHJ recalls Mr. Min’s words in her car, HHJ thinks of the kidnapper and the things he said. She realizes that the kidnapper is the real BSE / Mr. Baek Eui Yong’s biological son and she realizes how much danger she put the male lead in by collaborating with the kidnapper and not immediately reporting the kidnapper to the police or giving the police her testimony + the phone as evidence to help find the kidnapper. So, right after going to see the male lead in the hospital, she goes home to get the phone and brings it to the police station. Of course, the male lead stops her from going inside. During her exchange with the male lead in front of the police station, HHJ tells the male lead that she knows who the real BSE is (i.e., he’s the kidnapper with heterochromia, like his biological father, Baek Eui Yong, had before it was corrected through surgery).
The Baek family secretary (Mr. Min) mentioned that a “Mr. Baek” had surgery. There have been a lot of comments and questions about which Mr. Baek he was referring to.
My understanding of which “Mr. Baek” he was referring to is set out below.
Baek Eui Yong is not the President of South Korea. He's going to run as a candidate for President in the upcoming…
Idk what's typical in South Korea. Maybe he'll get some kind of extra security when the election cycle actually begins in July 2024? As of episode 9, it's still only June 18, 2024 in the drama.
But really, this type of K drama becomes less enjoyable if we focus too much on illogical points like this. We have to enter "suspension of disbelief" mode. ^^
Which part? If you are referring to ep 9's ending pls see below:⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOILER AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T…
Please use the spoiler tag for any comments with spoilers!
And for comments with novel spoilers, please include an extra text warning so that drama viewers who want to avoid novel spoilers can avoid reading them.
Mr baek got eye surgery is the real BSE thats why his eyes are in different colors
No, the Mr. Baek that got eye surgery was Baek Eui Yong, the real BSE's biological father. Originally Baek Eui Yong's eyes were different colours, just like the kidnapper's eyes, and the surgery "corrected" it so that his eyes are now the same colour. That information allowed HHJ to realize that the kidnapper was the real BSE / Baek Eui Yong's biological son.
Dojae is the twin? Who is his brother? did he die? did the real saeon kill him?colored eyed dude is the real saeon?…
Thank you for saying that. ^^
To clarify, BSE does not have a twin in the novel or the drama.
Baek Jang Ho confirmed that the real BSE killed several kids who were younger than him when he was a child and the fisherman took care of the bodies. As sachapz mentioned, the male lead went to the graves that the fisherman dug for those children and there were four graves (which matches up with the four missing orphans). The male lead basically told JSW / the audience that the real BSE was the one who caused the orphans to go missing (when he said that JSW needed to keep the fisherman alive because he was a key witness that provided a vital clue in the missing orphans case by revealing that the real BSE was still alive).
Novel spoilers ahead.
In the novel, Park Do Jae did not have an older twin brother, he had a younger sister. Park Do Jae's sister went missing when she was a child and the novel confirms that the real BSE was the person who harmed / killed her.
I don't think anyone has mentioned him here before :)Maybe one of the reasons he hasn't shown up in the drama…
True, that would've been satisfying to see. I suppose it's not too late - perhaps we'll get a glimpse of him and his awfulness in the remaining episodes?
Now you're making me think... I wonder what he and his family were told when the engagement / marriage didn't end up happening? I wonder how far along HHJ's mother got with the discussions, and how she explained herself when HHJ was no longer available?
I don't think anyone has mentioned him here before :)Maybe one of the reasons he hasn't shown up in the drama…
IMO, demonstrating that HHJ would have been forced into a different political engagement and marriage with a horrible man if BSE didn't marry her first helps provide an explanation for why BSE chose to marry HHJ. To create that explanation, they needed to mention the other horrible guy and the fact that he was horrible, but that's it. No need to flesh out that character any further.
As BSE mentioned, marrying HHJ was not part of his plan. He was going to marry HIA until she tried to call off the wedding. And clearly BSE didn't marry HHJ with the intention of having a real and lasting romantic relationship with her. Wanting to protect her from a much worse marriage helps explain his choice (which would otherwise be quite confusing given how he behaved / given that he didn't try to have a romantic relationship with HHJ for the first three years of their marriage, and even actively maintained distance between them).
Dojae is the twin? Who is his brother? did he die? did the real saeon kill him?colored eyed dude is the real saeon?…
Sounds like you're following and understanding all the reveals.
Yes, Park Do Jae is one of the twins from the orphanage. His older twin brother is dead. Yes, he was killed by the real BSE when the real BSE was a kid. Yes, the kidnapper with heterochromia is the real BSE.
The male lead (YYS / the replacement BSE) is not one of the twins from the orphanage. We will probably get more information about what Baek Jang Ho meant when he said he never gave the male lead a name in future episodes, but it implies that he has known the male lead since the male lead was born and that he was in a position to give the male lead a name if he wanted to and that he had a reason to decide not to. For example, the male lead might be his illegitimate son by a younger mistress that he decided to keep secret.
Yes, it seems like Park Do Jae is trying to avenge his brother and that he mistakenly thinks that the male lead is the one who killed his brother.
Yes, Sang U grew up in the orphanage. He met the real BSE and saw the cat that he killed, but got away and was not one of the real BSE's human victims. It seems that he is genuinely investigating the disappearance of the other orphans and wants to uncover what happened to them and who covered up the truth.
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Edit: Thank you! ^^
My reasons:
First, Mr. Min refers to the current male lead by his title (“the spokesperson”) on one occasion and to the 15-year-old version of the male lead by his full name (“Baek Sa Eon”) at another point in that exchange. IMO, it would be unlikely that he would also use “Mr. Baek” to refer to the male lead in the same short conversation.
Second, Mr. Min was asking HHJ what the male lead knew about the kidnapper and his heterochromia. It wouldn’t make sense for Mr. Min to ask if the male lead knew about a surgery that *the male lead himself* had when *the male lead* was young.
Third, I have seen some viewers speculate that Mr. Min was fooled by the Baek family into thinking that BSE suddenly didn’t have heterochromia anymore (because the male lead, who didn’t have heterochromia, replaced the real BSE, who does have heterochromia) as a result of BSE undergoing surgery. However, Mr. Min recalled what the male lead was like when he originally joined the household and replaced the real BSE. Mr. Min knows that the male lead is not the real BSE. Since he told HHJ about what the male lead was like when he arrived at the Baek household, after he left the room when HHJ was speaking with Baek Eui Yong and Sim Gyu Jin, Mr. Min might have overheard enough of what HHJ said to realize that she already knew that the male lead is not the real BSE and that he replaced the real BSE around the age of 15.
Fourth, Mr. Min said that "Mr. Baek" used to have heterochromia when he was young, before he underwent eye surgery. After the eye surgery, his eyes were no longer different colours. The kidnapper / the real BSE still has heterochromia (his eyes are still different colours), so obviously Mr. Min wasn’t referring to the real BSE.
Fifth, the purpose / impact of this information lends additional clues. At the beginning of episode 9, HHJ learns that the male lead is not the real BSE because a DNA test shows that he is not Baek Eui Yong’s biological son. HIA also commented that everyone knew that Baek Eui Yong had a son, but no one (including HIA, who lived next door to the Baek family) ever saw him before the age of 15 and HIA speculated that perhaps there had previously been a biological son who was replaced by the male lead. HHJ also knows that the kidnapper has heterochromia, that he is targeting the male lead, that he said that ‘the one who knows BSE best’ is him, and that he wants everything to go back to the way it was before. By telling HHJ that Mr. Baek Eui Yong was also born with heterochromia (like the kidnapper), but that it was corrected through surgery when he was young and that most people don’t know about it, Mr. Min helped HHJ realize that the kidnapper is Baek Eui Yong’s biological son (the real BSE) that the male lead replaced, and that is why the kidnapper has been targeting the male lead. The male lead also recently figured this out (thanks to the fisherman’s tip that “he’s alive”), but if he hadn’t then Mr. Min’s hint would have allowed the male lead to figure it out too, if HHJ passed the information on to him.
The fact that Mr. Min mentioned that "this is a little known fact" also helps the audience understand why the male lead did not realize or even suspect that the kidnapper was the real BSE even after HHJ told him that the kidnapper had heterochromia. In addition to thinking that the real BSE was dead (until the fisherman advised him otherwise), the male lead also didn’t know that both the real BSE and the real BSE’s biological father (Mr. Baek Eui Yong) had heterohromia from birth.
-----
The secretary and HHJ had the following exchange:
Mr. Min: Excuse me. How much does the spokesperson know about the person making threats?
HHJ: What do you mean “how much”? Everything he told the police.
Mr. Min: So nothing more about the heterochromia?
HHJ: What should he know?
Mr. Min: When Mr. Baek was young, he had eye surgery. It’s a little known fact. Since then, his eyes were no longer different colors.
…
Mr. Min: When Baek Sa Eon first came to this house, he was like a scared, stray cat. I’ve never seen him smile comfortably in this house. I’ve always felt sorry for him.
-----
As HHJ recalls Mr. Min’s words in her car, HHJ thinks of the kidnapper and the things he said. She realizes that the kidnapper is the real BSE / Mr. Baek Eui Yong’s biological son and she realizes how much danger she put the male lead in by collaborating with the kidnapper and not immediately reporting the kidnapper to the police or giving the police her testimony + the phone as evidence to help find the kidnapper. So, right after going to see the male lead in the hospital, she goes home to get the phone and brings it to the police station. Of course, the male lead stops her from going inside. During her exchange with the male lead in front of the police station, HHJ tells the male lead that she knows who the real BSE is (i.e., he’s the kidnapper with heterochromia, like his biological father, Baek Eui Yong, had before it was corrected through surgery).
My understanding of which “Mr. Baek” he was referring to is set out below.
And no worries! Thank you for editing the comment to tag it for spoilers! ^^
But really, this type of K drama becomes less enjoyable if we focus too much on illogical points like this. We have to enter "suspension of disbelief" mode. ^^
And for comments with novel spoilers, please include an extra text warning so that drama viewers who want to avoid novel spoilers can avoid reading them.
Edit: Thanks for hiding it!
Beyond that... drama logic. ^^
To clarify, BSE does not have a twin in the novel or the drama.
Baek Jang Ho confirmed that the real BSE killed several kids who were younger than him when he was a child and the fisherman took care of the bodies. As sachapz mentioned, the male lead went to the graves that the fisherman dug for those children and there were four graves (which matches up with the four missing orphans). The male lead basically told JSW / the audience that the real BSE was the one who caused the orphans to go missing (when he said that JSW needed to keep the fisherman alive because he was a key witness that provided a vital clue in the missing orphans case by revealing that the real BSE was still alive).
Novel spoilers ahead.
In the novel, Park Do Jae did not have an older twin brother, he had a younger sister. Park Do Jae's sister went missing when she was a child and the novel confirms that the real BSE was the person who harmed / killed her.
Now you're making me think... I wonder what he and his family were told when the engagement / marriage didn't end up happening? I wonder how far along HHJ's mother got with the discussions, and how she explained herself when HHJ was no longer available?
As BSE mentioned, marrying HHJ was not part of his plan. He was going to marry HIA until she tried to call off the wedding. And clearly BSE didn't marry HHJ with the intention of having a real and lasting romantic relationship with her. Wanting to protect her from a much worse marriage helps explain his choice (which would otherwise be quite confusing given how he behaved / given that he didn't try to have a romantic relationship with HHJ for the first three years of their marriage, and even actively maintained distance between them).
Yes, that comment from the secretary required a lot of context clues to figure out which Mr. Baek he was referring to!
Yes, Park Do Jae is one of the twins from the orphanage. His older twin brother is dead. Yes, he was killed by the real BSE when the real BSE was a kid. Yes, the kidnapper with heterochromia is the real BSE.
The male lead (YYS / the replacement BSE) is not one of the twins from the orphanage. We will probably get more information about what Baek Jang Ho meant when he said he never gave the male lead a name in future episodes, but it implies that he has known the male lead since the male lead was born and that he was in a position to give the male lead a name if he wanted to and that he had a reason to decide not to. For example, the male lead might be his illegitimate son by a younger mistress that he decided to keep secret.
Yes, it seems like Park Do Jae is trying to avenge his brother and that he mistakenly thinks that the male lead is the one who killed his brother.
Yes, Sang U grew up in the orphanage. He met the real BSE and saw the cat that he killed, but got away and was not one of the real BSE's human victims. It seems that he is genuinely investigating the disappearance of the other orphans and wants to uncover what happened to them and who covered up the truth.