‘Hitmaker’ Lee Min-ki will appear as the ‘Relief Pitcher’ for a KBS drama.

Lee Min-ki has solidified his position as a hitmaker in the broadcasting industry by consecutively leading JTBC‘s ‘My Liberation Diary’, ‘Hip-Hop’, and ENA’s ‘Crash’ to box office hits. In particular, ‘Crash’, which ended in June, recorded the second highest viewership rating (6.6%) in the history of ENA dramas, and with the confirmation of production of Season 2, he has the opportunity to once again impress upon viewers his prowess.

He is determined to keep this momentum going and make the first episode of KBS 2TV‘s Wednesday-Thursday drama ‘Face Me’ a success, which aired on the 6th. KBS, which has not been able to release any particularly popular dramas this year, is revealing its determination to create a surprise ahead of the year-end awards ceremony, relying on the power of Lee Min-ki, who has led several ‘reversal hits’.

Lee Min-ki plays the role of Cha Jung-woo, a specialist in both emergency medicine and plastic surgery, who hates interacting with others and only performs cosmetic surgery at a plastic surgery clinic. As he supports reconstructive plastic surgery for crime victims for some reason, he unexpectedly collaborates with Han Ji-hyun, who plays Lee Min-hyung, a passionate detective in the violent crimes unit.

The process of Lee Min-ki guessing the circumstances and cause of a case just by looking at the patient’s facial scars or bone fractures is refreshingly depicted, drawing attention. The drama also boldly looks into the extraordinary world of plastic surgery, stimulating viewers‘ interest. A top star who has a problem with her butt implants, a college student who shows a photo of her face that was altered with Photoshop and urges ‘to get plastic surgery like this’, and others make viewers laugh.

Thanks to this new material that caught Lee Min-ki’s attention, ‘Face Me’ was born. At a production conference held at The Saint in Guro-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the same day ahead of the first broadcast, Lee Min-ki said, “There are many dramas that feature doctors or deal with investigations, but I haven‘t seen a character dealing with plastic surgery,” and “I have a new approach to the story that has the charm of medical dramas and investigations coexisting.”

The only way to survive the plastic surgery scenes was “practice”. He looked back, saying, “I went to an actual plastic surgery clinic with Lee Yi-kyung, who plays my high school friend and fellow doctor, to meet the doctors, and I watched surgery videos over and over. I also practiced the hand movements for suturing surgery at home without resting.“

He said, ”I’m grateful“ for being able to star in two dramas back-to-back this year, and expressed his confidence that ”drama that deals with both the outer and inner stories will ask questions about happiness.“ In particular, he emphasized that ”Episode 10,“ where Cha Jung-woo, who usually has a blank expression, starts smiling brightly, will be the drama‘s climax, and added, ”Please watch with me until then.“


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com