Jin Hyuk (
Song Seung-heon) is a gifted neurosurgeon who was born into a family of doctors. His success rate in surgery hovers at 100%, with his ability to quickly analyze any situation and extremely steady hands. Due to his personal pursuit of perfection, he has a cold attitude and lacks compassion.[5] He is planning to give his girlfriend Yoo Mi-na (
Park Min-young), also a doctor, a ring as a gift from their mother when after an argument, Mi-na gets into a car accident and goes into a coma.
After surgically removing a foetus-shaped tumor from a patient's brain, a mysterious power causes Jin Hyuk to travel 150 years back in time to the year 1860 during the
Joseon Dynasty, when medical technology was still in its infant stages. He begins treating people of the era, but the lack of necessary implements and rudimentary medical knowledge of the period forces him to develop medical devices and medicine by himself, and seek new ways to aid the sick. He meets young noblewoman Young-rae (who looks like Mi-na), who is betrothed to her childhood friend Kim Kyung-tak (
Kim Jaejoong) but is not in love with him. Through this challenging process and with the help of Young-rae and Lee Ha-eung (
Lee Beom-soo), Jin Hyuk becomes a true doctor. But his actions start interfering with history and Jin Hyuk is faced with hard choices.
A 21st century doctor who finds himself trapped in the Joseon era following a tragic accident that puts his girlfriend, Yoo Mi-na, into a coma. After he arrives in Joseon, Jin met Hong Young-rae, a noblewoman who was an incarnation of his girlfriend.
Hong Young-rae came from a noble family and she is a kindhearted woman who dreams of becoming a doctor after she meets Jin when he saves her rebel brother.
The illegitimate son of The Minister Kim and his concubine, he is a military officer who is in love with Hong Young-rae, the sister of his friend Young-hwi.
A mysterious
gisaeng. She fell in love with Jin when he saved her as child in the modern era, revealing that she is a time traveler herself. She is the girl with the Rubix Cube.
The series was filmed at
MBC Dramia in
Gyeonggi.[17] This marked Song's return to television in 15 months since My Princess in 2011.[18] It was also
Kim Jaejoong's second drama since Protect the Boss in 2011, as well as his first historical drama.[19][20] The series was initially planned for 20 episodes, but there were talks of an extension in July as reportedly both the production and actors felt that the 20 episodes were not enough to tell the full story.[21] However this was strongly objected to by the actors' agencies citing low viewership ratings, the story's slow pace and future schedules.[22]
Reception
According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, the first episode that aired on May 26, 2012 received a nationwide viewership rating of 12.2 percent, which was 1.9 percent behind its rival A Gentleman's Dignity on
SBS.[23]
Episode 21 wasn't aired on Saturday August 4 due to broadcast of the
2012 Summer Olympics in
London,
United Kingdom. This episode was aired on Sunday August 5, 2012.
Episode 22 wasn't aired on Saturday August 11 due to broadcast of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. This episode was aired on Sunday August 12, 2012.
Japan: DATV – May 25, 2013 onwards with Japanese subtitles for 22 episodes. However the relationship between the main characters of Jin Hyuk and Yoo Mi-na in the present (played by
Song Seung-heon and
Park Min-young respectively) was changed from lovers to siblings. Thus their love scenes were edited out, and to flesh out the sibling relationship, new scenes with child actors as well as narration by Song were added.[33]