Despite everything, the popularity of Doctor X is burning hot. At the center of that popularity are the passionate performances of lead actors Kim Ji-won and Lee Jung-eun, but the supporting characters who infuse the show with vitality are receiving just as much positive response.
These days, the SBS Friday-Saturday drama ‘Doctor X: Era of the White Mafia’ (written by Pyeon Seung-geun, directed by Lee Jung-rim) is at the center of attention. Breaking its own highest viewership ratings every episode and nearing 20% viewership within just six episodes, it has successfully box-officed. Although controversy arose due to the use of historical events in medical verification and the Japanese original work, the response remains fiercely hot.
With its box office success, the cast members are also receiving attention. Protagonists Gye Su-jeong (played by Kim Ji-won) and Jang Hee-sook (played by Lee Jung-eun) as well as the surrounding figures are playing their parts perfectly by bringing fun to the drama. Above all, the tiki-taka of the surgical trio forming an opposition to Gye Su-jeong—Do Yoon-sik, Bae Heung-gon, and Ma Seong-gyu—is counted as one of the laughter points of ‘Doctor X’. Rather than simply opposing Gye Su-jeong, they add entertainment with their eccentric and delightful chemistry. They are the surgical ‘hated trio’ who shout ‘Down with Gye Su-jeong’ and throw tantrums, only to be defeated every time.
Do Yoon-sik, played by actor Kim Min-min, is a general surgery professor who became a professor through research and papers rather than surgeries. He is a character who dreams of becoming the next hospital director by faithfully assisting his mentor and newly appointed hospital director Bu Seung-gwon (played by Son Hyun-joo). Do Yoon-sik is a character so adept at maneuvering that he is called a ‘surgical sycophant,’ quickly reading the flow of power within the hospital despite lacking surgical skills.
Falling behind Gye Su-jeong in surgical skills, he looks at her with jaundiced eyes and joins junior staff in attempting to make her an ‘outcast in surgery,’ but that does not mean he is purely evil. The funny thing is that he doesn’t really care whether Gye Su-jeong becomes an outcast or not. Only Do Yoon-sik, Bae Heung-gon, and Ma Seong-gyu are conscious of Gye Su-jeong, making their chemistry even more entertaining to watch.
Bae Heung-gon, played by actor Lee Sung-wook, is a complex character. He is a dual-board specialist and professor of general surgery and neurosurgery at Guseo University Seonam Hospital, and is self-proclaimed and recognized as the ‘god of laparoscopy.’ He possesses great skills and strong loyalty to the organization, which leads to his confrontation with Gye Su-jeong.
Bae Heung-gon also views Gye Su-jeong, who suddenly appears and walks her own path, with suspicion and displeasure, yet he also admires her skills. Together with Do Yoon-sik, he glares at Gye Su-jeong and attempts to completely exclude her from the surgery department, but he is also a figure who feels deep guilt over a death incident inside the hospital and desires organizational change more than anyone else. As a skilled surgeon who cannot completely let go of his belief and hope that reality will change, attention is focused on whether his relationship with Gye Su-jeong will undergo changes in the future.
Ma Seong-gyu, played by actor Kwon Seung-woo, is a final-year general surgery resident who is called part of the ‘surgical sycophant’ trio alongside Do Yoon-sik and Bae Heung-gon. Because there are many vacancies and he figures he will obtain a professor position by simply hanging in there, he chose surgery and hopes the conservative organization will be preserved. Therefore, Gye Su-jeong, who appeared like a bulldozer, is a thorn in his side. To him, who shouts ‘Doctors are people too,’ Gye Su-jeong—who points out that she is ‘someone who is only a doctor’—does not look good at all.
Ma Seong-gyu well portrays the image of a resident exhausted from busy hospital life with his fast, dry tone and indifferent expression. Above all, he naturally possesses workplace survival skills, reading the mood swiftly in front of superiors and hoping for a peaceful hospital life. Together with Do Yoon-sik and Bae Heung-gon, he takes Gye Su-jeong’s desk in the surgical staff room, yet he also admires her skills. Naturally, as a person with strong vigilance, he remains a figure who shouts ‘Down with Gye Su-jeong.’
