The medical licensing exam, which spans over two days, was the final hurdle to clear after six years of medical school life, a rite of passage to be reborn as a doctor. In the biting cold of early January, my breath fogged up beneath my nose with every exhale. The exam venue was a high… Read More »A Child with Heart Disease Becomes a Doctor ..read more

It was a world I had never experienced before. The classroom was filled with students known for their academic excellence from all over the country. Not only were their abilities exceptional, but their backgrounds were impressive too. It wasn’t rare to hear about someone’s parent being the director of a general hospital or another’s father… Read More »Choosing Not to Hide Anymore ..read more

Fathers share a common sentiment: the desire to pass on the most valuable lessons from their past experiences to their children. In the winter of 1999, my father wanted to show something special to his son who had recently completed the college entrance exams. It was the heart of Seoul, a city he had helped… Read More »Not as a Giver but as a Receiver ..read more

As time passed, winter vacation came, marking the transition from the second to the third year of high school. Facing the third year, significant changes occurred in the dormitory. Students began moving out to live on their own, as communal living became inconvenient during a period demanding full dedication to university entrance exams. Around the… Read More »Soaring Again Whenever I Wish ..read more

It was my second spring since becoming a high school student. The weather was becoming warmer day by day. Several months had passed since I had returned to my everyday life after leaving the hospital. I was doing my best to adapt to school life, fighting off the drowsiness that overwhelmed me every afternoon. Every… Read More »Even If I Can’t Run, I Can Walk ..read more

We are always worried about the future, fearing that the unsatisfactory aspects of our current situation may continue. The anxiety that life might turn out to be unremarkable if things go on as they are now sweeps over us. Even when we are somewhat enjoying the present, we cannot be at ease, worrying whether we… Read More »The Promise of That Day ..read more

I was born in Jamsil, Seoul, right next to where the tallest building in South Korea now stands. However, I didn’t spend much time there. Around the age of three or four, my family moved to Gangdong-gu, not too far from Jamsil. My father was a banker, and I moved into an apartment in Gil-dong,… Read More »Can I Too Live a Life I Want ..read more

Within each of us lies a memory, distant yet vividly lingering. The familiar pathways throughout the apartment complex of my childhood, the hills behind the neighborhood where I’d chase insects with friends, clutching our nets, and the stationery store we’d dash to with New Year’s money to buy plastic models—these are spaces belonging to a… Read More »For a Child, the Hospital was More Familiar than School ..read more

I am on a medication called warfarin. This drug prevents blood clots by stopping blood from coagulating. Medications like warfarin are known as anticoagulants. In simpler terms, a blood clot is what you get when blood coagulates. While coagulation is a vital bodily response that stops bleeding when we’re injured, clots inside blood vessels can… Read More »Ensuring Peace of Mind, Doctor or Not ..read more

『The Catcher in the Rye』, written by Jerome David Salinger in 1951, is a novel that is invariably mentioned when discussing modern American literature. It tells the story of a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who, after facing difficulties with his studies and personal relationships, is expelled from his boarding school, Pencey Prep, a few… Read More »The Catcher in the Rye ..read more