Initials "DN" Carved Into a Patient's Liver Link to Surgery 15 Years Ago in Doctor X: The Age of the White Mafia

During open surgery, Gye Su-jeong found the initials "DN" on a patient's liver, a mark that appears to date from an operation 15 years earlier. The discovery, with Kim Ji-won at the center of the scene, adds a new mystery to Doctor X: The Age of the White Mafia.

A surgery that nearly did not happen

In the SBS Friday-Saturday drama episode that aired on the 17th, Kwon Chung-hyeon, a figure tied to Na Dae-il's hidden past, was in critical condition, and Gye Su-jeong ended up operating herself. Kwon had collapsed with cholecystitis and needed prompt treatment. But interests inside and outside the hospital and personal circumstances got in the way, and the operation stalled.

By Friday, when Kwon was brought into the hospital, his condition had worsened to the point that he could not have lasted until Monday. Na Dae-il was with members of the Magnolia Society at the time. When the hospital told him Kwon had been transferred, he first tried to hand the operation to another doctor. His attitude changed when he heard that Gye Su-jeong would perform it herself and that severe adhesions made open surgery unavoidable. He went straight to the hospital.

After checking the patient, Gye Su-jeong began open surgery without hesitation. During the procedure she found the initials "DN" carved into Kwon's liver. The spot had been assumed to be an ordinary post-surgical adhesion, and the unexpected mark raised new questions about what happened to Kwon 15 years ago. It also drew attention to how the initials might relate to the past operation Na Dae-il had mentioned.

"A god, or a monster?"

The warning had come earlier. Na Dae-il, who was gaining the trust of the Magnolia Society and widening his influence, approached Gye Su-jeong and proposed a meal together. She drew a firm line. "I don't do socializing. And patient Kwon Chung-hyeon won't last until Monday," she warned. As a doctor who read the patient's condition more accurately than anyone, she made clear that treatment came before unnecessary relationships.

She then asked Na Dae-il whether he had seen Kwon's photos. When she said she had spotted an odd mark near the liver, he answered, "It must be adhesion from the scar tissue that formed when he was operated on 15 years ago." Gye Su-jeong took this as an unverifiable guess. "That's a guess," she said, holding that only opening him up would show whether it was a tumor or something else. The exchange showed that Na Dae-il knows something about the past surgery, but how much remains unclear.

Na Dae-il also showed interest in her coldness. "You're just like a god. Or a monster?" he said, and asked what she was running toward when she looked only ahead. "I was curious what's ahead of you. Or is it behind you? What's there that makes you look only forward?" His question suggested curiosity about both her single-mindedness and the past and wounds behind it. Gye Su-jeong gave no answer and walked on.

Who "DN" refers to, and who left the initials on a patient's organ and why, has not been revealed. Still, Na Dae-il mentioned the past surgery, and Gye Su-jeong then found the mark in the operating room, so the two scenes interlock meaningfully. Whether the mark is simply a trace of the past or a clue to an event someone tried to hide has become the key to what follows.

The debt between Kwon and Na Dae-il

Kwon Chung-hyeon, who works for a pharmaceutical company, has a special bond with Na Dae-il that goes back to their military service. Kwon was then tormented by senior soldiers and his life was threatened. The man who saved him was Na Dae-il, who served as a military doctor.

Na Dae-il not only saved Kwon's life with surgery but also testified before a military committee against those who had bullied him. To Kwon, Na Dae-il was more than the doctor who treated him. He was a benefactor who saved his life in a desperate situation and stood up to an unjust reality. Gratitude and respect for Na Dae-il also lay behind Kwon's later career in the medical industry.

Yet now that Kwon is suffering from severe cholecystitis, Na Dae-il's attitude was cold. Medical staff stressed the urgency of surgery, but Kwon said he could not have it right away because of work, including sales appointments. That he had to put work first even with his life at stake was painful to watch, and it deepened the question of what had changed between the Na Dae-il who once saved him and the Na Dae-il of today.

What the two letters may unlock

Gye Su-jeong is focused on saving the patient, Na Dae-il seems to hold secrets from the past, and Kwon Chung-hyeon carries a trace of 15 years ago in his body. As the relationships among the three begin to tangle in earnest, Doctor X: The Age of the White Mafia has added mystery to the tense surgery scenes of a medical drama. If the meaning of the two letters Gye Su-jeong found comes to light, the truth about Na Dae-il's past and Kwon Chung-hyeon's life is expected to enter a new phase, as is the secret between her and Na Dae-il, which also involves Jang Seung-jo.

Read the original (Korean)