Episode 5
My story. My first words.
(Namjoo's point of view)
My name is Daniel Kang, and I graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine and became a doctor. I changed my name. My real name was Kang Eui-geon.
Everyone says I'm great, but I don't think so.
I am neither great nor ordinary.
What I've wanted since I was born is to be 'normal'.
If I were to tell you about my unusual days, it would be very long.
Because I wasn't ordinary from the moment I was born...
People and friends disliked my unusual appearance, so I couldn't fit in with society.
During my school days, my friends who noticed my differences started to ostracize me, and I gave up on high school.
A common outcast and bully in dramas. That was me.
I made up my mind after dropping out of high school and my grandmother passing away.
I want to become a doctor, and I want to help many people by becoming a doctor.
After that, I studied like crazy and was able to enter Seoul National University Medical School.
Even if I say this much, there will probably be only a very small number of people who would say I am ordinary.
But those who know a little about you will want to know more about you, more about yourself.
That's why I don't talk to anyone.
Because humans are animals that like to find people who are inferior to them and elevate themselves.
Today, I introduce myself for the first time.
At this point, everyone must be curious about the 'difference' that I have been abandoned by others.
So today, for the first and last time, I'm going to reveal my difference. To be honest, it's been incredibly difficult and frustrating to hide it until now.
My 'difference' is one of my abilities.
I was born with abilities that others don't have.
And, I and other humans called that ability 'superpower'.
I can read the minds of living things.
I could tell what people were hiding in their hearts.
So I know what others think of me. I just keep it buried deep inside and don't reveal it. Those words sometimes sting me, but they happen so often now that I don't care.
Also, I have the ability to stop time.
I often use it to avoid situations I'm in.
For example, when you encounter someone you don't want to see at the end of a hallway, time stops for a moment and passes briefly. Or, in an emergency, it can be used to prevent the situation from progressing any further.
And the most dangerous of all my abilities.
Levitation ability.
I can move objects without using any part of my body.
This ability is the most dangerous to me.
Because it's the easiest for others to find out.
In middle school, it was also because of this ability that my ability was discovered.
When they saw me levitating objects, everyone called me a 'monster'.
That's right. I was a monster to them. Because I was different from them.
People say anything different from themselves is wrong. In fact, there's no standard for what's right or wrong.
My existence brought fear to others, and so I was unable to respond to those who called me a monster, and buried it in my heart.
Revealing this much will clear up any questions you may have about my painful past.
I was different from others because I had 'superpowers'.
That's why I was abandoned by people, even my parents.
The person who took care of me in that situation was my grandmother.
I lived with my grandmother, and the year I dropped out of school, even my grandmother, the only one who cared for me, left me.
My grandmother left me these words:
'Eui-geon, Grandma doesn't think that people say bad things about you because they dislike you.
Everyone will like you. But I think they avoid you because your abilities are unfamiliar... People assume something is wrong with someone who's different from them. That's a bad habit.
Grandma, I hope that even if others avoid you, you won't.
Your abilities can be both useful and dangerous. You must keep that in mind.
Ui-geon, will you grant your grandmother's last wish?
Grandma would love for you to use your special and precious abilities to help others.'
And then, my grandmother passed away forever.
I decided to become a doctor because I wanted to fulfill my grandmother's last wish.
I decided to become a doctor and use my abilities to help others. You might think that decision was easy, but for me, it was by no means an easy one.
Helping those who abandoned me... When I first heard about it, I thought it was impossible.
However, I made that difficult decision for the sake of my grandmother who loved me.
If you've decided to make your dream come true, it's like making a dream come true.
I never gave up on my dream and achieved it, and even after becoming a doctor, I still live up to my grandmother's wishes.
Abandoned at a young age, quickly learning the cruelty of this world, I didn't believe life was truly a happy thing. So, when I didn't want to live, it was my grandmother who embraced me and gave me a chance to live. I resolved to dedicate the remaining days to her.
As I was living each day like that, one day a woman appeared in front of me.
"Excuse me! Wait a minute!"
A woman comes running out of breath in the morning.
As I said, I hate talking to other people or getting involved with them.
So I pretended not to know.
The woman ran persistently and finally got into the elevator.
'Is it great...?'
The sight was truly absurd.
The whole time I was riding the elevator, I felt like someone was staring at the back of my head.
I was embarrassed, but I held it together. I turned around, and if our eyes met, I'd see what she was thinking.
Because I don't really want to hear other people's thoughts.
If that woman were a doctor at our hospital, it would be a real hassle.
Not long after I had this thought, I met the woman again.
"Hello, nice to meet you."
He was a resident at our hospital. And in our department, at that.
I wondered what the situation was.
It seemed like I wasn't the only one who felt that way.
I wasn't mind-reading, but strangely enough, I could tell just by looking at her expression. Her heart.
'You look like you've eaten a ton of shit... Am I shit?'
'I don't know what's good...'
Well, there were some strange encounters, but nothing really changed.
It wasn't that strange of a thing I'd experienced before, so I just let it go.
And just like with other people, I intentionally avoided running into them. Well, it wasn't intentional, we just never ran into each other.
Because I'm originally a lab, operating room, operating room, lab person.