Meteor

Zero

It was four in the morning when Han Yu Jin woke up to get ready for his flight from Busan to Seoul. The sky was cloaked in darkness and the temperature was so low that he could feel the icy, piercing bites through his thick hoodie. He definitely did not want to get out of his bed then. Nobody would want to if they were him. But he had no other choice than to wake up this early, otherwise his parents, especially his father, would never let him leave the house.

Yu Jin's parents were lawyers and owned a huge law company, while his older sister was studying law in the UK. Hence, it was not surprising that his whole family also wanted him to follow their footsteps, to become a lawyer.

However, that was not what Yu Jin liked. His biggest dream, and perhaps, his only remarkable goal in life was to become a doctor. He had been loving biology since he was in primary school and watching doctor dramas so much that he became deeply inspired to pursue a career related to medical science. In addition, he knew that he was not born to be a lawyer. Humanities were never his strength and he struggled to just even pass the abstract subjects like politics, literature or social studies. Considering that, he knew for sure his life was going to become utterly miserable if he had to study law and he was extremely pessimistic about the possibility of him graduating law school. Even if he did somehow graduate, he could easily imagine his pathetic self being outplayed by his rivals in every single trial, which could not be a bigger shame. He had no talent for such things, which had been very apparent since his secondary school time when he was always the worst performer in his debate club. As a result, his stand was clear: he would rather die than study law.

Living in a well-off family, his monthly allowance was higher than most of his peers. However, Yu Jin did not use too much of that so he had pretty decent savings. Coming up with a rebellion plan, he spent some money to buy a flight ticket to the capital city Seoul where many good medical schools were located. He also aimed for a scholarship, in the best case a full scholarship, as he was fully aware how expensive studying medicine was, otherwise he could never afford his university fees. Personally, Yu Jin found getting a scholarship feasible for him as he had just graduated high school with quite impressive CSAT results for maths and science.

It was about half past four that he had finished all of his preparation, put on a jacket and crept down the stairs, carrying a rucksack on his back and lugging a huge suitcase. He did not bring along with him so many things, just clothes, some basic personal belongings, the money that he had spared and books, not the law books which he was forced to memorise and recite every week, but the biology and science books that he bought on his own.

When he reached the ground floor, a middle-aged female housekeeper of his family was already standing there waiting for him.

"A...are you sure that...you want to leave Mr. Han, your parents will be very worried?" She stammered.

"Don't be nervous Mrs. Choi, it's gonna be fine. My parents are too busy worrying for my sister already, they are not gonna be disturbed by this too much," he chuckled.

The housekeeper looked at him, nodded her head and gave him a coy smile. From her demeanour, it seemed that she was not happy for him, but utterly anxious.

"Don't worry, if my parents scold you, just tell them that you didn't know I went out. When they call me, I will tell them that I secretly got into your room and stole the key. It is not your fault, OK?" He patted her shoulder and winked his eyes.

Yu Jin, together with the housekeeper, carried the luggage onto a cab which was waiting for him. He intended to have some sleep on the way to the airport. Yet he was so keyed up about the new life in Seoul that he could not sleep even just for a second. All he thought about, oddly, was not how he would get tens of calls from his mom and be yelled at by his furious father. Thoughts of aspiration filled up his mind. He could vividly picture himself working in a bustling hospital in Seoul, just like the doctors in the K-drama "Hospital Playlist", who he admired really much.

******

He arrived at Seoul in the early morning, at about half past seven. As he had predicted, his phone screen showed 17 missed calls from his mom. And just a few minutes later, he again received a call, this time from his sister.

"Where the hell are you Han Yu Jin?" She shouted out loud before he could say anything, and the sound of her scream was deafening.

"What's up UK undergrad?" He tried to stay calm and answered her in a placid manner.

"How can you still be so unruffled in this situation? Mom has been calling you countless times, you know that? She even called me and asked if I knew what happened to you. Where are you?"

"Come on, don't be so anxious. I am in Seoul now, OK?"

"What? Seoul?"

"Mom and dad are not gonna lemme apply for med school, so I am going to Seoul and study medicine by myself. I will go to SNU or KU and prove them wrong."

"Are you out of your mind? Come back home right now! Can you stop being so childish?" Her voice got louder and louder after each of his replies.

"To me, letting my parents decide how my life goes seems more childish than leaving home to pursue my dream, to be honest. Stop worrying about me, will you? And tell mom and dad also. I will be fine no matter what. By the way, you should go to bed, it's nearly eleven o'clock in the UK now, right? I gotta go, so bye, see ya!" He said and hung up.

Yu Jin sighed and went on to pull his luggage towards the place where the taxis were standing. He thought that he would not be disturbed anymore, but unlucky for him, his tranquil time only lasted for five minutes. He got another call from his mom. At first, he did not want to pick up, but he did not have enough patience to listen to the phone ringing for more than half a minute either.

"Hello mom, it's me."

"Why are you going to Seoul? Do you know that your dad and I were very worried about you?" Never had he seen his mother being flustered like this time.

"..."

"Are you still OK?"

"Don't worry mom, I am still alive."

"Your sister told me everything. Does studying medicine matter that much to you?"

"Mom, I already told you, no matter if you and dad support me or not, I am going to med school. That's why I am going to Seoul."

"Stop talking nonsense and go home right now. Let's talk about this when you come home, alright?"

"I won't let him get into our house ever again. From now on he is not my son anymore," he suddenly heard his father shouting at the phone, showing a burning anger.

"Your father is really angry right now, I will try to appease him and call you back later. We are not gonna let this slide," his mom said and hung up.

She was actually right. His father was in a terrible mood, and talking to him right now would be just the same as adding fuel to the fire. He could just let time solve his problem, that sounded way simpler.

Unfazed by the mess that he created, Yu Jin headed straight to a taxi and told the driver to bring him to a small one-room house that he intended to rent.

His new life in Seoul had just started...

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