Heo Im (Kim Nam-gil) is aJoseon doctor ofTraditional Korean medicine, specializing inacupuncture. 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), acardiothoracicfellow surgeon at Shinhae Hospital, and begins an unlikely relationship across time and space.
Moon Ga-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 corruptwar minister of the Joseon dynasty during theImjin 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 renownedacupuncturist who owns the Haeminseo Oriental Medicine Clinic and is Yeon-kyung's grandfather.
In the table above, theblue numbers represent the lowest ratings and thered 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 andEBS).
^On some websites (such asKorea JoongAng Daily), the pronunciation of Kim Chung-seon's original name (i.e. his Japanese name) is Sayaga (with the letterG in place ofK)
^The reason why Sayaga/Sayaka orKim Chung-seon defected fromJapan toKorea 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 andChina.
