Friends: Episode 2 Kim Do Kyun's Daily Life

Popping Korean Medicine doctor Kim Do Kyun from Heart Signal 2 reveals his daily life on this episode of Friends.

MCs: Lee Sang Min, Heechul, Seunghee (Oh My Girl), Shindong

Kim Do Kyun's Daily Life Reveal

Current time is 9am. A new house is introduced. The living room is neat and tidy, and there are unusual props. The friend this time is Korean Medicine doctor Kim Do Kyun from Heart Signal 2. "Hello~ Long time no see!"

Dokyun wakes up without an alarm, popping straight up and out of bed. The MCs are surprised to see him just get up so easily like that. As he leaves the bedroom, his cute Sesame Street character pajamas is seen. Without even understanding, he watched the videos a lot when he was young. "I like wearing that kind of character pajamas," he says with a grin. Shindong cracks up laughing. And Heechul teases, "He's a child."

Dokyun's Healthy Morning Routine

The first thing Dokyun does is head into the kitchen to grab some things. Like a robot, he pauses to look around in case anything may have been forgotten. Then he sits down at the dining table to prepare a morning cup of hanyak (herbal medicine), swirling it around in the mug until cool enough to drink. The herbal medicine is custom-made for himself based on his body, so he drinks it every morning for health benefits. He finishes up the hanyak in one shot, and grimaces due to the bitterness. Even to a Korean Medicine doctor, hanyak tastes bitter.

Dokyun enters the bathroom next. He thoroughly washes his face but with only water. No soap or face wash. After applying lotion, he massages the forehead and around the nose. In the book Donguibogam by royal physician Heo Jun who had interest in longevity, Dokyun says "forehead and nose" is the overlapping thing among his words. It is closest to the brain and nerve stimulation is important. A massage is a great method to gently wake the brain.

Next, he also gently massages his face around the jaw joints. Although he says, "This is more of a cosmetic thing." It is to prevent the face from getting wider. To keep his face slim, he massages it a lot. Plus, it feels good after. 

After the meticulous skincare routine, Dokyun picks an outfit and gets ready for work. But before leaving, he heads into the living room. He sits down on the couch, and lights a scented incense stick. Heechul feels the culture shock watching Friends, as there are so many things he knows nothing about.

Q. Why do you burn incense before going to work?

Dokyun says, "There was a documentary about the mind. They said stress goes down like water flows. There is a destination in the end. I think my profession is the destination. It is not without fatigue. For my mental health, to try to improve on that aspect... I must organize my thoughts."

To become a better doctor, this is Dokyun's morning routine. After organizing his thoughts, he puts on glasses and leaves for work. 10:30am, he arrives at the medical clinic. The sign on the office says Director/Doctor. He changes into a doctor gown and busily spends the day seeing patients.

Day Off on the Weekends

The weekend arrives and it is snowing outside. Dokyun is staring at the snow outside the window. Does a memory come to mind? On that snowy winter day 3 years ago, the "Got Signal?" message on the window for Hyunjoo. The production staff asks if he remembers it snowing. He sure does while chuckling and poking his eyes shut. He says, "I must have been insane. Why did I do such a thing? At the time, I became really sentimental." Reminiscing about the time in the Signal House, he says... "Since it's winter, I'm feeling a bit of the emotions from that time again. The feelings will still appear." Like Shindong says, "They all have memories about winter." Thanks to Heart Signal.

After the trip down memory lane, Dokyun prepares lunch in the kitchen. A big pot of miyeok-guk (seaweed soup) is being reheated on the stove. It is not for his birthday. The miyeok-guk was made 3 days ago on Thursday. He likes to cook a lot of food at once in a big pot, and eat it for a long time. There has even been an instance where the pot of soup took over a month to finish. As he scoops out a bowl of soup, Seunghee says it looks delicious. "If you add rice to the soup and eat it with gat kimchi [mustard leaves kimchi], it's so good!" A simple and neat meal consisting of rice, soup, and kimchi. Quite a nice combo!

Dokyun starts eating, one bite at a time, slowly. Shindong is surprised by how quiet it is since people would usually turn on some music or watch TV. Heechul jokes, "Is he practicing silence?" Turns out, he does not even have a TV in the living room. He prefers to focus on the task at hand. Even when eating, he focuses in order to taste the food a little better. Plus, it is also helpful for digestion. "It makes me happy to eat like this," he says.

After lunch, barista Dokyun makes his own coffee. He grinds whole beans with a hand coffee grinder and prepares a cup of pour over coffee. He enjoys drinking coffee more but would never drink it during workdays when he needs to treat patients. Coffee makes his hands and feet get cold easily, which might feel uncomfortable to the patients. It also makes his hands feel less sensitive. To endure, he started drinking tea instead. He happily says, "I get excited when I can drink coffee on the weekends. To hurry up and drink it." And will ask himself, "Should I brew it myself or go out to drink it?" Shindong says, "The more I watch, the more I want to become friends with him." Dokyun enjoys the coffee while sitting in bed watching TV. A relaxing afternoon~

Making Handmade Herbal Tea

Later in the day, Dokyun enters the kitchen again and starts taking out a bunch of bowls from the cabinet. Then he opens another cabinet to reveal the jars full of various medicinal herbs. After hearing he could meet up with Jaeho, Jangmi, and Youngjoo, he wanted to make custom herbal tea for them. Heechul jokes, "If I have a friend like this, I can live long too." After selecting the ingredients, he carefully scoops each one out into separate bowls. These are mostly ingredients he drinks often: cinnamon, jujube, ginger, peppermint, gardenia, and mandarin orange peel. 

To make the tea, he pounds each ingredient with a pestle to crush it up into finer pieces. Next, he divides it up and scoops it into individual tea filter bags. The main ingredients for Gyejitang, a herbal medicine that boosts immunity, are cinnamon, ginger, and jujube. Using the three as a base, he makes custom tea for each person. For Jaeho, he adds peppermint which helps alleviate stress. For Jangmi, he adds gardenia which reduces stuffiness and pent-up heat in the body. For Youngjoo, he adds mandarin orange peel which helps boost metabolism.

After finishing making the teas, he writes down some important words in Hanja (Chinese characters) using a brush pen. For Jaeho, simply "cha" which means tea. For Jangmi, "chimibyeong" which is to take care of the body before getting sick. Lastly, "jeonggi" for Youngjoo which means vital energy. The gifts for friends are done.

A present arrives in the studio. Dokyun made herbal teas and wrote down a Hanja phrase for each of the MCs too. For Sangmin, "ansin" which means to calm the mind and body. For Shindong, "gam" which means to reduce (as in diet effectiveness). For Seunghee, "yungwang" (glossy smooth skin). Lastly for Heechul, "pungseong" (abundance in hair). A custom tea bag that suits each of their tastes. The MCs enjoy the healing tea, feeling thankful to Dokyun who personally made it for them. "This is so nice," says Seunghee while sipping on the tea.

Who Will Be Dokyun's New Friend?

While Dokyun is in bed watching TV, the phone buzzes with a message alert about a package delivery. He gets up to check and cautiously opens the door. Ooh~ The "Pick a Friend" capsule toy vending machine! The MCs chuckle about how clumsy he is trying to get it out of the box. After seeing all of the names, his face darkens with worry. He sighs and says, "I was really nervous... I couldn't really control my facial expression." His #1 pick is Gyubin, and #2 Jaeho... As for the rest, he can only scratch his head...

Finally, the time comes... He turns the knob with one hand while covering his eyes with the other. The capsule rolls out. Dokyun picks it up and sighs... So nerve-racking! He musters up the courage, and pops open the capsule with one hand. Sangmin shouts, "Who is it?" x3... The name is revealed... Huh?! "A new friend?"

The identity is unknown. What kind of new friend will Dokyun meet? Find out on Episode 3 of Friends!