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Focus only on your own growth.
GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
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© tvN
※ Please note that the above character Binggrae is a role from the tvN drama and is not a real person.
Last year’s drama "Reply 1994" sparked a 1990s retro craze and was dearly loved by viewers. Interestingly, the age group that showed the most interest in this drama was not the X-generation who experienced college life in the ’90s, but current college students. This is likely because the college life of the X-generation from 20 years ago still resonates strongly with today’s students. While all the main characters in Reply 1994 evoked sympathy among college students, Binggrae—who vividly portrayed the wanderings of youth—received particularly much affection, perhaps because he seemed the most similar to real people like us.
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© tvN
Binggrae (Kim Dong-jun) Male / Medical School, Year 1
Born 1975, 20 years old / currently 39 / Goesan County, Chungcheongbuk-do
I'll only attend medical school for one semester~ because it's my father's dream...
Binggrae is the top elite from Goesan County who entered Yonsei University Medical School. How did he feel when he entered college? Newly 20, Binggrae left his hometown and felt both the novelty and anxiety of being alone in an unfamiliar place. Although he enrolled in medical school to fulfill his father’s wishes, he became uneasy because the coursework did not suit him at all. Strange feelings he sensed toward 'Sseuregi', whom he admired like an older brother, also confused him. Binggrae gradually began to drift, started skipping classes more often, and eventually took a leave of absence. Thus began Binggrae’s gap year.
After taking a leave, he started working part-time. He worked hard at anything—convenience store, coffee shop, bar, even a job cleaning corpses. Until then, living off money his parents earned and focusing only on his studies, Binggrae experienced his first real glimpse of society by receiving a paycheck. Although part-time work during the gap year was probably very tough, he was likely happier than in the early college days when he was confined by academics and merely wandering.
© tvN
He did not simply work part-time during his gap year. Binggrae also took action to find his dream by entering the college song festival. He had always loved music and even worked at a bar so he could listen to music as much as he wanted. But the dream of becoming a singer was not something his father would welcome. Perhaps that is why Binggrae kept quiet and enrolled in medical school to follow his father’s wishes. For the college song festival, his boarding-house friends cheered him on and helped a lot, but sadly he was eliminated in the preliminary round.
He did not give up on his dream. Binggrae tried again: he met with a record company to produce an album and even invested money, but the company took the money and disappeared. Binggrae was defrauded by the record company. In the present, 39-year-old Binggrae became a dermatologist, which is opposite to the career he originally wanted. Although he failed, he has no regrets because he actually challenged his dream rather than merely studying with a vague wish to make music. That is what a gap year can be: it does not have to result in success. The experience of earnestly trying and tasting failure is itself part of a gap year.
In the end, he decided to enter medical school, and that decision was also made during his gap year. For Binggeure, the gap year was a time when he could step away from his studies and think more about his family. Because he had been so focused on his studies, Binggeure did not realize that his stern father's demeanor was actually a form of love. However, during the gap year, Binggeure saw his father living in the hospital due to poor health, yet still consistently sending tuition money for Binggeure even though the hospital bills were a burden. Feeling this family love that he would not have noticed if he had only concentrated on his studies, Binggeure resolved his doubts about why he should attend medical school and whether he needed to study harder. He then endured the hardships of medical school and became a fine dermatologist.
Binggeure's gap year was a time that helped him overcome the aimlessness he felt after entering university. Current college students are like a wandering Binggeure. A major may not suit them, they might not know what kind of job they should pursue, and they may not know why they should study. So how about taking a gap year like Binggeure? Perhaps university students would also overcome their uncertainty just as Binggeure did.
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GUNGUN. Editor
jh30228@naver.com