Heo Im (Kim Nam-gil) is a Joseon doctor of Traditional Korean medicine, specializing in acupuncture. He worked at a clinic for the poor during the daytime, and earned a fortune by making secret visits to nobles and high-ranking officials' houses at night. After gaining notoriety for his great skills, he was tasked to help treat the king's migraines. Unfortunately, his anxiety got the best of him and he was charged with treason. Unwilling to accept jail, he escaped capture, but was chased by soldiers. He was eventually cornered into a river and fatally shot by arrows, and fell to his supposed death.
Death never comes and he awakens in modern Seoul-Korea, realizing he has somehow time traveled. Dazed, lost and confused, he runs into Choi Yeon-kyung (Kim Ah-joong), a cardiothoracicfellow surgeon at Shinhae Hospital, and begins an unlikely relationship across time and space.
Cast
Main
Kim Nam-gil as Heo Im (Child: Moon woo-jin)/ Heo Bong-tak, an acupuncturist who time travels to Seoul 400 years later when he was about to drown.[8]
Kim Ah-joong as Choi Yeon-kyung, a female surgeon who goes clubbing after work to relieve stress.[8]
Supporting
Moon Ka-young as Dong Mak-Gae, Heo Im's loyal assistant who has dreams of becoming a doctor just like her boss.
Kim Myung-gon as Ma Sung-tae, a renowned but greedy doctor who is the director of a renowned Eastern medicine hospital in Seoul. He is also the grandfather of Yoo Jae-Ha (Yeon-kyung's childhood friend).
Ahn Suk-hwan as Shin Myung-hoon, the director of the hospital where Yeon-kyung works and consequently her boss/ Minister of War (Joseon), an unnamed corrupt war minister of the Joseon dynasty during the Imjin War.
Lee Dae-yeon as Professor Hwang, her teacher and superior at the hospital.
Oh Dae-hwan as Doo-chil, one of the servants of the corrupt Minister of War of Joseon.
Tae Hang-ho as Min Byung-gi, one of the nurses at Yeon-kyung's grandfather's oriental medicine clinic.
Kim Byung-choon as Kwon Ji
Yoo Min-kyu as Yoo Jae-ha, a young doctor of oriental medicine who is Yeon-kyung's childhood friend and Sung-tae's grandson/ Yoo Jin-oh (Joseon), a nobleman from the Joseon Dynasty who has a beef with Heo Im.
Jin Seon-kyu as Yeon-i's father, the father of Yeon-i (one of Heo Im's patients)
Yoon Joo-sang as Choi Chun-Sool, a renowned acupuncturist who owns the Haeminseo Oriental Medicine Clinic and is Yeon-kyung's grandfather.
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.
This series aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).
Notes
^On some websites (such as Korea JoongAng Daily), the pronunciation of Kim Chung-seon's original name (i.e. his Japanese name) is Sayaga (with the letter G in place of K)
^The reason why Sayaga/Sayaka or Kim Chung-seon defected from Japan to Korea was due to the fact that he doesn't want to kill the innocent people of Joseon, in addition to having always revered the culture of Joseon and China.
