Taepyeong Kim was a brilliant, elite modern-day general surgeon in South Korea whose life came to an unexpected end. Instead of crossing over, he wakes up in 19th-century Victorian England, occupying the body of a young medical student from the late Joseon Dynasty who has traveled across the globe to attend London Medical School.
To a modern medical professional, the peak of Victorian era "cutting-edge medicine" is nothing short of a horror show. There is absolutely no concept of sterilization, operations are treated as public spectacles performed with rusty tools in front of jeering crowds, and bloodletting or "balancing bodily humors" remain the default prescriptions. To complicate matters, Taepyeong must constantly navigate severe, period-typical xenophobia from his peers. Realizing he has to survive in a time where hospital visits are practically a death sentence, Taepyeong decides to turn his foreign background into an advantage. Cleverly rebranding hidden micro-organisms and modern hygienic science as "mystical Eastern energy balances" to appease the superstitious locals, he sets out to drag 19th-century British medicine kicking, screaming, and fully sanitized into the modern age.