Live Up to Your Name

Live Up to Your Name^[5] (Korean: 명불허전) is a 2017 historical time travel South Korean television series. It brings Heo Im (a medical scientist from Joseon portrayed by Kim Nam-gil) to present day Seoul, where he meets the surgeon, Choi Yeon-kyung (Kim Ah-joong). The series marks Kim Nam-gil's small screen comeback after four years. It aired on tvN from August 12 to October 1, 2017.^[6][7][8]

Live Up to Your Name
Promotional poster
Also known as	Live Up to Your Name, Dr. Heo[1][2]
Hangul	명불허전
Lit.	Deserving of the Name
RR	Myeongbulheojeon
MR	Myŏngburhŏjŏn
Genre	Fantasy Medical drama Historical period drama Romance comedy[3]
Created by	Studio Dragon
Written by	Kim Eun-hee
Directed by	Hong Jong-chan
Starring	Kim Nam-gil Kim Ah-joong
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Executive producers	Moon Suk-hwan Oh Kwang-hee
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	70 minutes
Production company	Bon Factory Worldwide[4]
Original release
Network	tvN
Release	August 12 (2017-08-12) – October 1, 2017 (2017-10-01)

Its final episode recorded a 6.907% nationwide audience share according to Nielsen paid platform, making the episode one of the highest rated in Korean cable television history.

Synopsis

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 cardiothoracic fellow 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.^[9]
• Kim Ah-joong as Choi Yeon-kyung, a female surgeon who goes clubbing after work to relieve stress.^[9]

Supporting

• 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).
• Um Hyo-sup as Heo Jun, a legendary physician from the Joseon period who was active during the reigns of King Seonjo and King Gwanghae.
• 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.
• Maeng Sang-hoon as Yoo Chan-sung
• 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.
• Byeon Woo-seok as Heo Jun's assistant
• Kim Sung-joo as Kim Min-jae
• Roh Jeong-eui as Oh Ha-ra, a young girl with heart problems whose life is saved by Heo Im.
• Lee Do-yeop as Oh Ha-ra's father
• Lee Ga-ryeong as Gisaeng
• Shin Rin-ah as Yeon-i, a sick girl and one of Heo Im's patients during the Joseon Dynasty.
• Yeom Hye-ran as Restaurant owner (ep. #4)
• Hiromitsu Takeda as Sayaka (Joseon)^[a] / Kim Chung-seon (Baptized name after Imjin War), a Japanese general who originally commanded the Japanese Right Army for Kato Kiyomasa before defecting to Korea^[10] during the Imjin War.^[b][11][12]

Ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		Nielsen Korea		TNmS
		Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide
1	August 12, 2017	2.715%	2.855%	3.2%
2	August 13, 2017	3.995%	4.536%	3.3%
3	August 19, 2017	4.541%	5.227%	3.6%
4	August 20, 2017	5.998%	6.572%	5.0%
5	August 26, 2017	4.347%	4.659%	3.7%
6	August 27, 2017	5.617%	5.968%	4.7%
7	September 2, 2017	5.541%	6.064%	4.2%
8	September 3, 2017	6.357%	6.712%	4.8%
9	September 9, 2017	5.965%	6.802%	5.3%
10	September 10, 2017	6.520%	7.688%	6.0%
11	September 16, 2017	5.889%	6.636%	5.3%
12	September 17, 2017	6.164%	6.848%	5.0%
13	September 23, 2017	5.590%	6.516%	5.4%
14	September 24, 2017	5.364%	6.142%	3.4%
15	September 30, 2017	4.959%	5.641%	3.9%
16	October 1, 2017	6.907%	7.888%	5.5%
Average		5.404%	6.047%	4.5%
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

1. 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)
2. 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.