Ji Chang-Wook And Sooyoung Grant Wishes In ‘If You Wish Upon Me’

For fans who wished to see Ji Chang-wook in a new drama, that wish has been granted. In If You Wish Upon Me, he plays Yoon Gyeo-re, an ex-con with few options. Gyro-re grew up an orphan and now that he’s done his prison time has no one to turn to, no home, no job and no reason to live. His only connection in the world is an acquaintance from the orphanage and an older adopted dog, whose health sadly seems to be failing. Also Gyeo-re must dodge the murderous thugs who pursue him.

While trying to escape his pursuers Gyeo-re gets into a car accident involving an ambulance driven by Kang Tae-sik, played by Sung Dong-il. Instead of paying the settlement ordered by the court, he eventually accepts Tae-sik’s offer to donate volunteer hours at the hospice, where Tae-sik works. It’s the same hospice where Tae-sik uses the ambulance to help terminally ill patients fulfill their final wishes.

The drama is based on the real life story of a Dutch retired ambulance driver Kees Veldboer, who heads the Ambulance Wish Foundation. Volunteers at the organization—including chauffeurs, doctors and nurses—drive terminally ill patients to visit meaningful places.

While the real-life organization has almost 300 volunteers, the fictional one, led by Tae-sik in If I Wish Upon You, has a smaller volunteer staff. Tae-sik relies on the kindhearted nurse Seo Yeon-joo, played warmly by actress and Girls Generation member Choi Sooyoung. Tae-sik and Yeon-joo are officially Team Genie, granting whatever final wishes they can.

Drama segments set in the hospice occasionally settle for being very sentimental, but Ji’s tough-yet-vulnerable character brings a sense of gravity to the scenes he appears in. Perhaps volunteering in a hospice is the ideal job for someone who thinks he has no reason to live. Perhaps, if he sees how desperately hospice patients wish for a few more moments and the chance to realize one final wish, Gyeo-re might appreciate the gift his own life is.

Ji has appeared in a variety of Korean TV dramas, including The Sound of Magic, Lovestruck in the City, Backstreet Rookie and Melting Me Softly. Sung appeared in Ghost Doctor, Hospital Playlist and Sisyphus: The Myth, as well as the film, Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure. Sooyoung can be seen in the TV dramas Move To Heaven, So I Married An Anti-Fan and Run-On.

A+E Networks financed and distributed the drama.