Oh My Ghost Clients: Episodes 3-4

by solstices

Our hero finds himself landing in the hospital more often than not, which provides the perfect opportunity for our second ghostly client. This time, the approach our spirit takes is a tad different, opting to take matters into her own hands until our attorney unravels the truth.

 
EPISODES 3-4

Apparently a near-death experience is indeed the admission fee for an audience with Bo-sal, who points out that Mu-jin signed a six-month contract. Oh, and he’s expected to be on-duty 24 hours a day. Cue Mu-jin’s complaints, to which Bo-sal points out the special article — except Mu-jin can’t read the hanja in time before the mischievous Bo-sal snatches the contract back.

If the glimpse I caught is anything to go by, though, here are the clauses. First, the contract is immediately void if Mu-jin halts, or fails to complete, any task. Second, Bo-sal can send Mu-jin straight to hell if he falls short of fulfilling any condition of the contract. And last of all, Mu-jin isn’t allowed to request any attorney fees from the clients. HA, okay, this one’s funny.

In any case, the high-voltage shock lands Mu-jin in the emergency room yet again, where the attending doctor PARK HYUN-WOO (Shin Joo-hyup!) declares him medically fit. Aside from a few false alarms in which Mu-jin’s paranoia has him scared stiff by patients that are very much still alive, it seems he’s in the clear. That is, until he gets startled by fleeting visions of his second specter.

She’s the nurse JO EUN-YOUNG (Hwang Boreumbyeol), who takes a direct approach by straight up possessing our attorney. Mu-jin begins hyperventilating during the taxi ride to the hospital, and how much do I love that Hee-joo piggybacks this fully grown man into the emergency room?

Once again, he’s examined by Doctor Park, and Mu-jin — or rather, Eun-young — immediately grabs him in a chokehold, demanding to know why he “did that to her.” Then she follows after Doctor Park, repeating the harsh words he once spat at her and slapping him so hard he goes sprawling to the ground. It’s only after security forcefully evicts Mu-jin from the premises that he finally regains lucidity, much to Hee-joo and Gyeon-woo’s wary concern.

Thoroughly spooked by the loss of agency that a possession entails, our crew embark on a mission to appease (read: chase away) the ghost. First up on the agenda is a visit to a shaman (cameo by Lee Mi-do), who’s unnervingly spot-on with her readings — but she immediately proceeds to undermine her credibility by hawking her talismans at discounted rates, ha. Next up is a priest (cameo by Song Young-kyu) and then a temple monk, though neither has a solution. Eventually, our trio grow tired of the futile attempts and resolve to clear the ghost’s grudge instead.

With that, Bo-sal makes Mu-jin experience Eun-young’s story firsthand through her eyes. In her lifetime, Eun-young was a nurse who was driven to suicide, ultimately jumping off her hospital’s building. Not only had she been constantly overworked through consecutive overtime shifts, but she’d also been subject to harsh verbal abuse from the spiteful senior NURSE LEE (Ok Ja-yeon). As it turns out, Nurse Lee recently suffered a miscarriage, but the hospital higher-ups told her to wait before trying again — because another nurse is on maternity leave and they can’t afford the staffing shortage. That’s why Nurse Lee is taking out her frustrations on the easiest target, which just so happens to be Eun-young. Oof, it’s certainly no excuse, but that’s an awful situation to be in.

The straw that ultimately breaks the camel’s back, and the reason Eun-young’s vengeful spirit beelined straight to beating up Doctor Park, is a case of medical malpractice. When an additional IV drip administered by Eun-young — under Doctor Park’s orders — sent the patient into cardiac arrest, Doctor Park pinned all the blame on Eun-young. No one believed the department rookie, and so she took the fall. Suffocated by the requirement that she must tough it out for at least one year in order for her work experience to count, Eun-young saw no other way out.

Alas, there’s no hope for recourse through official channels. The law firm that represented Eun-young dropped her case, and the detective in charge is more interested in disparaging suicide than properly investigating. Ultimately, it’s Mu-jin’s memories that hold the key — he’d noticed that Eun-young’s report of workplace bullying ended up slipping under a shelf during a confrontation with Nurse Lee.

That means it’s time for Gyeon-woo to go undercover again, though he spends more time winking at the nurses and admiring how a doctor’s coat looks on him. Needless to say, it isn’t long before he’s found out, prompting a hilariously low-speed chase of our trespassing intruder. A passing nurse: “The handsome doctor!” Gyeon-woo: “Thank you!” HA. Never change, Gyeon-woo.

Afraid of being exposed, the cowardly Doctor Park shirks responsibility once again, blaming Nurse Lee’s bullying as the primary cause of Eun-young’s death. That only compounds Nurse Lee’s guilt, especially now that it’s her turn to be ostracized by her fellow nurses. Distraught and dazed, she trudges up to the rooftop, which just so happens to be where the intruder Gyeon-woo and the blacklisted Mu-jin escape to. They rush to save Nurse Lee from jumping off the edge, and that’s when Eun-young possesses Mu-jin again, urging her former mentor to live and tell the truth.

Rescued from the brink of death, Nurse Lee turns in Eun-young’s medical order record proving that Doctor Park had been responsible for the medical mistake. The full truth comes to light, including how the hospital has been complicit in covering up the case. Justice is served, spurring calls for structural reforms regarding the medical sphere, such as its hierarchical culture and excessive workload. As for Doctor Park, he ends up consulting a psychiatrist for hallucinations and debilitating anxiety, plagued by the unforgiving public scrutiny.

Our case of the week wraps up with Mu-jin stopping to tie his shoelace in the middle of the road, which might as well be a casting call for a Truck of Doom. Sure enough, a drowsy bus driver zigzags his way straight to Mu-jin, fulfilling Bo-sal’s summoning service.

Even though the case-of-the-week storylines are fairly predictable, the execution is so consistently good, and I always find myself tearing up at the ghosts’ final goodbyes. That scene of our labor trio paying their respects to Eun-young in front of her memorial felt deeply poignant, with Eun-young smiling as if finally at peace. Once again, the drama touches upon topics that are all too relevant to today’s society, calling out toxic work environments and the factors that engender the abuse of power all too easily.

On a side note, I laughed at the epilogue scene lampshading the dramaland trope of pulling a character back up onto a rooftop, and the sheer strength needed to make that possible. Here, it turns out a superhuman factor is indeed at play — we see Bo-sal floating below the rooftop, casually pushing Nurse Lee back to safety without breaking a sweat. This drama continues to strike gold with its playful sense of humor, and I’m anticipating the antics our crew will get up to next week — especially now that Gyeon-woo’s channel has made it to the trending videos list. Yay!

 
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