Seo In-Ho is among the many Doctor Cha characters who lead double lives at the risk and expense of the pain of unsuspecting or already hurting loved ones.
Doctor Cha revolves around four main characters — Cha Jeong-Suk, Seo In-Ho, Choi Seung-Hi, and Roy Kim. The first three characters are in a vicious triangle of cheating, affair, and infidelity.
While most characters have some grey in them, In-Ho has surfaced as one with the most diabolical shade of grey in him, and the topic of speculation inside many fans’ minds is if he will end up with his wife or his lover of many years.
Seung-Hi deserves better
Choi Seung-Hi was cheated on by Seo In-Ho during their medical residency. Seung-Hi was away for a while and during a trek, Jeong-Suk got hurt; a chivalrous In-Ho carried her to a room where they found themselves alone for a while; the situation gradually evolved into one where the temperature arose, and so did the sexual tension between the two, leading to sex.
Jeong-Suk got pregnant as a result and in a shocking move that impressed some at that time, In-Ho stepped up and decided to take responsibility for Jeong-Suk’s child and ended up marrying her, leaving Seung-Hi reeling with the pain of getting cheated on.
Well into his marriage, In-Ho went to America for some time for his training, where he ended up stumbling upon Seung-Hi. The flame of old love got rekindled and the two ended up conceiving of a child that Seung-Hi decided to not abort.
Over the years, In-Ho would visit Seung-Hi in America and continue to do so when she’d move back to Korea with her daughter. Despite her demands that In-Ho hurries up with his decision to divorce Jeong-Suk and marry her, In-Ho would continue with the charades of a secret affair and the cowardice/incapability of fathering Choi Eun-Seo.
Seung-Hi suffers through a lot of torment even before her affair with In-Ho is hit by the risk of exposure. Her daughter has come to be resentful of the state of life that her mother leads, claiming she’s been reduced to a mistress by In-Ho who isn’t brave enough to marry her or be a proper father to his daughter.
While Seung-Hi isn’t exactly who one would call a beacon of ethics and morality, her actions in the story can be justified as the consequences of her utter solitude and pain that comes with it, and In-Ho has contributed much to that, along with the family that disowned her because she decided to carry In-Ho’s child.
In return, all she’s gotten thus far is a coward and insecure man whose affection towards her can mostly come across as a by-product of physical infatuation or even the thrills of promiscuity. Seung-Hi definitely deserves someone better than In-Ho, who’s arguably even run of time for a redemption arc at this point.
Doctor Cha deserves the world
Cha Jeong-Suk has been subjected to a grueling, thankless job of a housewife who lost her wings and discontinued her medical residency to take care of children. Gradually, she was relegated to the household chores and playing the perfect housewife who’s only good for assisting others.
In-Ho completely and devastatingly abandons his wife while living under the same roof with her. Birthday gifts are elements of fantasy, he doesn’t even show her any sort of physical affection. They haven’t had sex in ten years.
When she suffers from liver failure, In-Ho is the ideal donor whose blood type matches hers. However, he finds it egregious to go through with it, and his reluctance is made more formidable by his mother and lover’s protests. At one point he decides to go through with it but grows cold feet when it comes to taking the initiative.
When another donor emerges, he takes a big sigh of relief while Jeong-Suk witnesses the shameless cruelty her loved ones are capable of. She decides then to resume her medical residency, which is met by significant protests and warnings by In-Ho. After becoming a medical resident, her professional and personal lives are made hell by In-Ho.
Except for her son, no other family member seems to be understanding or supportive of her dreams and decisions. Meanwhile, In-Ho continues his affair with Seung-Hi amidst Jeong-Suk’s rapidly increasing suspicions.
In rare moments, In-Ho displays some semblance of care and affection but they only end up making his conscious decision to continually cheat on his wife and lover that much aggravating.
Cha Jeong-Suk has supportive kids, a mother, and friend(s), not to mention a love interest in Doctor Roy Kim. She deserves to have them in her life, along with the dreams she has realized. She did not deserve the poor excuse of a man that is In-Ho when she married him, nor does she deserve to tolerate him now.
In-Ho deserves neither
Seo In-Ho cheated on Seung-Hi and continually deprived her of marriage or unyielding loyalty. He also deprived his daughter with her of a father who’s there for her like other fathers are for their children. Eun-Seo is shown to be almost apathetic toward him at this point in her life.
Seo In-Ho cheated on his wife and kept her in the dark about Seung-Hi and Eun-Seo, all while treating her like a housemaid robot who he would not even gift physical affection or intimacy, much less materialistic gestures like other couples.
Seo In-Ho must provide Choi Eun-Seo with a father figure she’s never had, even after having an alive and well father, given he has the courage, drive, and humanity to still be wanting to do that.
Meanwhile, his decades-long life of cheating, promiscuity, infidelity, and poor parenting make him a man deserving the least in the entire show, much less capable, strong, and resilient women like Choi Seung-Hi and Cha Jeong-Suk.
Also Read: The love triangle in Doctor Cha explained