The “Sunshine Intern” Beside Kim Ji-won Picked Up a Pillow: Kim Woo-seok

Featured photo: Kim Woo-seok at the press call for the musical “Thrill Me,” April 2021. Still from StoryJ Company’s YouTube video, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Kim Woo-seok’s charm is that he can warm the whole screen with one sunny smile, then send a chill down your spine in an instant with the very same face. In SBS’s “Doctor X: Mafia in White,” streaming worldwide on Netflix, he’s Park Tae-kyung, the new intern who tags along after Kim Ji-won everywhere. And in the last scene of Episode 10 on November 7, that “sunshine intern” pressed a pillow down on a sleeping patient’s face (OSEN).

For an actor who debuted in a web drama in 2017, “Doctor X” is the turning point that arrived in his tenth year (TenAsia). His older brother, Kim Min-seok of the duo MeloMance, once said of him, “To me he’s the most handsome person in the world and my one and only little brother” (Wikitree). Honestly, this fall, I’ve been nodding along to those words every week as a fan.

Fall 2026: Park Tae-kyung in “Doctor X”

“Doctor X: Mafia in White” is based on the Japanese TV Asahi drama that ran for seven seasons from 2012 to 2021 (Wikitree). It follows Gye Su-jeong (Kim Ji-won), a freelance surgeon who operates on a corrupt medical establishment with nothing but her skill. Lee Jung-eun and Son Hyun-joo co-star, and Episode 4 hit a nationwide rating of 18.5%, with a per-minute peak of 20.8% (TenAsia). On Netflix, it reached No. 1 among global non-English shows in its first week (Ilgan Sports).

• The role the director agonized over most. Director Lee Jung-rim said Park Tae-kyung was the part she struggled with most in casting. She remembers Kim Woo-seok walking into the audition room and saying, “I’m… the intern?” and called him an actor who “was showered with love by the senior actors and staff the moment I yelled ‘cut'” (Ilgan Sports).
• The intern they call the “tamer.” Park Tae-kyung wins over prickly Gye Su-jeong with food, a running bit that earned him the nickname “tamer” from viewers. Kim read him as someone who “doesn’t close his heart to people even though he has scars,” and said he “tried to give endless love to the people he opened up to” (same article).
• A past told with a smile. In Episodes 9 and 10, sitting at a bus stop, Park Tae-kyung calmly tells, with a smile, how he grew up in an orphanage and was adopted. Before a disciplinary committee, he says, “I don’t regret taking part in this surgery” (OSEN).
• And then the pillow. At the end of Episode 10, that face turned. Gye Su-jeong rushes in to stop Park Tae-kyung as he holds a pillow over patient Kim Seung-hyo, and Kim Seung-hyo opens his eyes and greets her: “Long time no see, Doctor X” (Kizmom). In the Episode 11 preview, Park Tae-kyung asks Gye Su-jeong, who’s taking on the operation, “Could you fail, please?” (Wikitree)
• What’s left. Episode 11 airs Friday, November 13, and the finale, Episode 12, airs Saturday, November 14, both at 9:50 p.m. Korea time, which is 7:50 a.m. the same day on the U.S. East Coast (Top Star News).

Where to watch: Netflix (U.S. and Korea; also TVING in Korea, JustWatch, checked November 10, 2026).

In the same season he also returned to the stage. At the press call for the musical “Majesty,” his first musical in about five years, he laughed, “I’m so happy ‘Doctor X’ is doing well” (Celeb Media).

Filmography: from the “refreshing senior” to Park Tae-kyung

• 2017, “Love Playlist.” He debuted in Season 2 of this web drama about college romance and became known as senior Choi Seung-hyuk in Seasons 2 and 3 (Wikitree). Fans greeted him back then with comments like “So refreshing” (Top Star News).

Where to watch: Free on the official Playlist Originals YouTube channel (checked November 10, 2026).

• 2022, “Military Prosecutor Doberman.” In this tvN drama starring Ahn Bo-hyun and Jo Bo-ah, he took on his first villain: Noh Tae-nam, an arrogant third-generation chaebol heir (TenAsia, Gukje News). That’s why Park Tae-kyung’s sunny-to-sinister twist doesn’t feel foreign on him.

Where to watch: Netflix (U.S. and Korea), plus Amazon Prime Video and Viki in the U.S. (JustWatch, checked November 10, 2026).

• 2022–2023, “The Forbidden Marriage.” His first lead role on network TV. As Lee Shin-won, friend of King Lee Heon (Kim Young-dae) and an officer of the royal investigation bureau, he wavered between friendship and a tender love for So-rang (Park Ju-hyun) (TenAsia). After the finale he said, “I was happy to meet Lee Shin-won. I hope you’ll remember him for a long, long time” (Asia Today).

Where to watch: OnDemandKorea and Kocowa (Amazon channel) in the U.S. (JustWatch, checked November 10, 2026).

After that, he enlisted in April 2023 and completed his military service (TenAsia), and the first drama he came back to after all that waiting was “Doctor X.” So this Friday and Saturday, when we finally learn why Park Tae-kyung picked up that pillow, I’ll be holding my breath as a fan of the “sunshine intern.”