[Episode 45 Spoilers ahead]
I am so happy that Kim Joon Ha is not a Gong – because, unless writer-nim changed the original plot, this means he is definitely TK’s brother. I’m still betting on fraternal twins, but I’ll be happy with sibling (half) brother if that’s the way it turns out.
Before the drama began, actor Jung Eui Jae said “Joon Ha’s family “is not known yet . . . it’s a secret. If you WATCH TO THE END, you will know.”
Well, as of Episode 45, we are not yet to “the end”. Right now (Ep. 45) these are FACTS:
1. TK birthdate is June 4, 1990. JH birthdate is July 1 1990. Less than THIRTY days apart. Korea law requires that registration must occur w/in 30 days of birth – certified by a doctor/hospital/mid-wife. The birthdates for TK and JH are the only two birthdates that have been shown in this drama. THE ONLY TWO.
2. The two men have shared a visceral hatred for each other from the moment they first met on the elevator. When I watched them scuffle on the ground (episode 6 or 7?), they were like young brothers fighting – not grown men. (It was one of the funnier scenes overall as YD sat in a café, drinking tea while the fight was in the background).
3. JH was 16 years old when his [adoptive or bio] father died. [I find it interesting that one photo in the columbarium showed all 4 family members, but the father was not in the second photo].
4. TK was approximately 17 years old (“11th grader”) when Chairman Gong married TK’s mother and formally adopted him into the Gong family. In other words, JH’s father was dead before In-ok married Chairman Gong. (Speculation: TK’s father supposedly died before TK was born (how convenient). There was an indirect hint that he was a “playboy”. If TK's bio dad was actually alive, then In-ok could not allow TK to be adopted w/out the bio dad’s consent.)
5. Both men are extremely intelligent (JH is MENSA; TK is physician which means top 1% to attend Korea medical school).
I’m not even going to bother with the matching suits or car stuff – writer-nim was having fun with the viewer.
Th brother connection (fraternal twins or half-siblings) was the original plot. Strawberry was a diversion. For a couple of weeks, I was only 75% certain they were brothers, but soon thought that it might be both (brother and Strawberry’s son). But once Strawberry’s daughter identified JH as her brother in Episode 42, It was simply TOO EARLY – it wasn’t “the end” of the show yet.
It’s possible that writer-nim decided to simply throw out the entire plot involving Joon-ha’s family history because viewers “hate” the character – except that the hatred was intentional from the beginning (actor Jung Eui Jae said that he would be portraying a character that viewers would hate).