Yoon Seo Ha’s life started as the unintentional victim of a socially unacceptable love story. Seo Ha’s father, Yoon Myung Ho, had abandoned her and her mother when she was very young and gone on to have his own family. Seo Ha says that he left her with a mess of emotions, and none of them were clearly black and white. In one particular flashback from Seo Ha’s childhood, she is seen coming back home to her mother and her boyfriend, who is leching at her. Seo Ha’s mother wants to marry him because of his money and move into his house. She asks Seo Ha what she thinks of the man when it should have been clear to her that her daughter was uncomfortable. One look at the man talking to Seo Ha, and it becomes obvious that he is a predator. Maybe Seo Ha’s mom wanted to ignore that or let her daughter fend for herself because of the desperate situation, but it is clear that she was not on Seo Ha’s side.
Contrary to her mother, Seo Ha’s father was not in her life, but he had kept up his communication with her. He sent her cards, wishing her luck for school and perhaps a lot more, showing that he still cared for her. For a young mind like Seo Ha, she was probably not able to understand why someone who seemed to care about her would abandon her this way. She goes to talk to him and finds him happily playing with his son. Seo Ha must have felt jealous, because why wasn’t he doing that with her? She tries to tell him that she is better off with her new family when the exact opposite is true. Between both parents, only her father had asked her whether the new man in her mother’s life treated her well. Seo Ha must have been bursting to tell him the truth, but her pride did not let her, which is why she lied about being alright.
Another facet of Seo Ha’s childhood had to be her superstitious mother. Myung Ho was subjected to a few exorcisms, but The Bequeathed never gives us a reason for that. Perhaps Seo Ha’s mother knew of his affair and thought some demon had possessed him to do that, or maybe it was a genuine misunderstanding. Seo Ha remembers how her father immediately halted his violence when her mother pointed out to him that his daughter was watching. A man who doesn’t care for his child wouldn’t care. At some point in time, Seo Ha must have questioned whether her mother was the reason her father abandoned them. He had to have loved the new woman he was with, and that meant that he did not love his first wife. Were her superstitious beliefs the reason for his lack of love? Seo Ha must have hated her mother for putting her in close proximity to the man she wanted to marry after Myung Ho left. Maybe that hate extended to Seo Ha blaming her for her father’s leaving. Basically, Seo Ha grew up unable to count on either parent. To no one’s surprise, she ended up surrounding herself with people like that, even in the future.
When Seo Ha’s husband, Jae Seok, cheats on her, she doesn’t bat an eyelid. The only time Seo Ha is seen being visibly disappointed is when she doesn’t get the job of the professor that she so desperately wanted. In both cases, she was cheated, but she only cared about one. Jae Seok says that he married her because Seo Ha had said that she was going to be a professor. Even Jae Seok must be doing financially well for her to have sought this arrangement, since he mentions that she doesn’t make a lot of money. This means that Seo Ha and Jae Seok’s relationship was based on mutual benefits and possible companionship. Additionally, Seo Ha never let go of her pride when married to him. She spoke to him as she wanted, and more importantly, she did not invest more feelings than she was getting back. However, in the case of the job, she had poured in her body and soul, and it was a real emotional blow when she was passed over.
Seo Ha was aware that her chance would probably never come. She blamed herself and the choices she had made for the current state of her life, and she knew they had started with her abandonment issues in childhood. When Seo Ha heard her colleague say that her family was strange, Seo Ha did not confront her because if the colleague had continued with her argument to score a point, Seo Ha may not have had a response. Instead, she just refused to accept her bouquet at the funeral. The only time Seo Ha finally acted out was when the professor made a pass at her, and her colleague tried to blame her for it. This was one situation where Seo Ha knew that she was completely blameless, and the disrespect was extremely apparent and intolerable, which is when she hit back at them.
For Seo Ha, the funeral home had become her lifeboat in a world where she did not have anything else to turn to. She just needed to move on in her life, and that is why she agreed to sell it. It was a surprise when Seo Ha agreed to kidnapping and coercion to convince Young Ho to sign the papers, because the way he had been acting convinced her that he was guilty, and Seo Ha already blamed the police for not taking action against him. In Seo Ha’s mind, she was once again all alone, dealing with people letting her down.
When Seo Ha came to know that Myung Hee was her aunt and Young Ho’s mother, she was disgusted, which anybody else would be, and she blamed Myung Hee for her life going haywire. If Myung Hee hadn’t been involved with her brother, Seo Ha would have grown up with her father, and her life would have been infinitely better. Towards the end of the show, Seo Ha realizes the sacrifices that Myung Hee had to make, and though it had affected her, she found herself able to forgive her aunt. Seo Ha also saved Young Ho because she recognized that he was just as much a victim as she was. Even he did not get the love of his parents, and his situation was definitely worse than Seo Ha’s, who may have received derision but had also received sympathy in equal measure, which Young Ho was always denied.
At the end of The Bequeathed, Seo Ha simply understood that it was what it was, and she couldn’t let it define her life. She wouldn’t inherit the mistakes of her ancestors. Seo Ha makes sure that Myung Hee and Myung Ho’s ashes are buried together, and maybe it was impossible to give their relationship a name, but they were certainly family. Seo Ha is also open to talking to Young Ho when she has made peace with herself and everything that they have been through because of the people that connect them. She has had a transformative journey, one that has taught her to leave some burdens in the past where they belong.
