I’m currently re-watching Hospital Playlist. It occurs to me that the portrayed age difference between Gyeo-wool and Jeong-won is pretty significant! Jeong-won was born in 1980, so he’s 40 (international age) in season 1. Gyeo-wool is a third year resident. Assuming she entered university at age 18, that would mean she’s 27 (international age). 13 year age difference!

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    That makes me a bit uncomfortable but then Gyeo Wool is a mature adult so I am less icky about it

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    It depends how things are on every country, in mine she would be one year older (6 years for the degree, one year at least to pass the exam to choose speciality and then three years of residence). She can be around 30. I don’t like that age gap but they are both grown up adults and don’t have a direct teacher – student relation.

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      Yeah, I’ve just assumed it was right around a 10 years age difference. That seems like a lot, but at least they are both adults.

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        I think it’s probably closer to 13 tbh. My understanding is that, in Korea, it takes 6 years after high school to complete medical education. Assuming she entered university at 18 (not an uncontroversial assumption, since it’s not uncommon for Korean students to enter a few years later in order to get through the competitive university admissions process), she would be done formal schooling at about 24. Assuming the intern year is year 1 of residency (that’s how it works in North America, at any rate), she would be 26 or 27 in her third year of residency.

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          But isn’t it that they finish high school when they are 20? At least that’s what I learned from all the dramas I watched…

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            Well, 20 or 19 in Korean age, which is about 18 in international age.

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    The last time I rewatched this weeks ago I realized the same thing. When Ik Jun said something about being 40… and then it hit me that Jeung Won is also 40 and since Gyeo Wol is still a resident she would be 29 or 30 for sure… there is a 10 year age diff for sure. Kinda irked me a bit but then since GW is an adult I kinda overlooked it the other way.

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      Once you get into your 30’s, age gaps don’t really bother me. I’ll just assume she’s 29 or 30.

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        My parents have are about 12 or 13 years apart in age, so its not a big deal (although my mom got married when she was 18 or 19 and had my brother when she was 21, so ummm). That said, I think age differences don’t matter to me much if they’re on the order of like five or six years. But a 10+ age difference is pretty big IMO, even in your thirties.

        Tbh, though, the age difference is probably less concerning than the fact that he’s a professor (and her sometimes boss) and she’s just a resident. That seems a lot more concerning. He has the power to influence the trajectory of her career. Hardly seems like situation of relative equality. When the age difference gets thrown in, it starts looking super concerning.

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          Yeah i’m more concerned about the workplace romance because of the boss – staff/jr dynamics. I don’t mind age gaps much unless it’s of the below age variety or the really young to really old range like 20s with 40s or 50s. But that’s mainly becos i worry about the power dynamics of the couple or if they have ulterior motives.

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        There gap between 20 and 30 is bigger than the one between 30 and 40 or 40 and 30.
        I always say this: I’m only four years younger than my sister, but that age gap was huge until I was more or less 20c and then suddenly disappeared.

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          Hmmm, I’m five years younger than my brother and now officially in my late 20s. The gap still seems pretty big with us, although part of this may have to do with the fact that my brother and I are not very close.

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            My oldest and youngest siblings are 7 years apart and it’s still a big deal for them even though we’re all in our 30s, but I think that’s more to do with the kind of people they are than the age gap itself. I’m five years older than the youngest and it was huge when we were kids but it’s nothing now.

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            Yes, I imagine it differs from sibling to sibling. I think one thing about having a bigger age difference is that it potentially multiplies the possibility that there will be less common ground between siblings. Thus, when older, even when the age difference itself is less significant and even when the siblings may be at similar places in life (when I was young, a five year age difference meant I was in elementary school when my brother was in middle school, in middle school when my brother was in high school, in high school when my brother was doing his undergrad, in undergrad when my brother was in med school, and in law school while my brother was working as a resident; however, now in my late thirties, my brother and I are both in a stage of our lives where we’re working adults who’ve completed our schooling), the cumulative effect of that lack of common ground can often mean the siblings end up being very different people. Any way, that’s how it is for me and my brother.

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            Sorry, the above comment was directed at you, @beffels, although of course I always welcome your thoughts as well @eazal

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            in my late 20s***

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            @smaltwalt 😂 suddenly aging yourself ten years!

            Yeah agree – that lack of common ground can be hard to bridge, in my family the oldest would have been at university while the youngest was still at primary school, and then away working so they would never have spent that much time together, and they are very different people so they don’t spend much time together now.

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          When i entered uni at 18 i thought the 21/22 yr old seniors were old and called them eonni eventho we were friends in the same class. A few years later i was the senior with younger classmates calling me eonni and suddenly i realised being in 20s is not old at all 😅

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