A popular TV drama named Twenty-Five Twenty-One ended on April 3rd. The drama enjoyed a lot of attention before airing because the name of the drama was the same as the title of a hit song, which was sung by the famous band Jaurim. Therefore, people were curious about the connection between the drama and the song. I also like the song, so I was really interested in the drama and I watched it faithfully.
  The song Twenty-Five Twenty-one was released on October 14, 2013, and Kim Yoon-a, who is the vocalist of Jaurim, composed and wrote the lyrics. The song was hot at that time and regained attention because she sang the song in Begin-again 2, which is a busking program aired in 2020. She expressed the song as “Which was what I once had, but I didn’t know that at the time. It’s about things that can’t be undone now.” In Begin-again 2, she added that she named the song Twenty-Five Twenty-One, but the song is for all youth, and not limited to age. As a youth, what do I have now that Kim Yoon-a expressed as “Something I had, but didn’t know at the time?” I guessed the answer through the drama Twenty-Five Twenty-One. What I have unconsciously is the ‘strength to restart.’
  There are two characters in the drama. A female main character named Na Hee-do, and a male main character named Baek Yi-jin. Na Hee-do started fencing, by chance, and was good at fencing. She liked it so much, she entered the school fencing club, and she poured her passion into it. However, she fell into a slump and simply couldn’t overcome it for a long time. Her coach even said to her “I’ve never seen a student like you who have not improved.” What was worse, the school fencing club disappeared because of IMF. Her mother also told her to quit it, but she even transferred to a school with a fencing club and believed that her efforts would someday pay off. She continued to concentrate on it. As a result, she was selected for the national team and won her third consecutive Olympic title.
  Baek Yi-jin lived a rich life, to the extent that his father ran a company. When he was in high school, he lived as an announcer in the broadcasting club and a member of the band club, doing everything he wanted to do. Also, he entered a prestigious university. However, because of the IMF, his father’s business went bankrupt, and he was forced to live in Seoul, pestered by creditors, and even ending up in a small town in Pohang. While selling fish at Pohang Market, seeing Hee-do, who became a national team member, ascend the podium, Yi-jin came back to Seoul with deciding not to be afraid of doing something new. Although he couldn’t return to university due to a lack of money, he started studying media. As a result, he became the first high school graduate reporter in the broadcasting station, and became an anchor at a young age. What the two main characters above have in common is that they jumped into what they like, dove in, failed, were frustrated, and overcame failure and started again.
  I also had something I liked, and I jumped in just to experience frustration, but I haven’t overcome my failure nor started again. I enjoyed various hobbies, worked as an academy instructor because I liked children, liked studying semiconductors because I was interested in semiconductors, and liked to hang out with people. At first, I was excited to jump into what I liked, and everything I did was so much fun. However, as an electronic engineering student, I only did the bare minimum, lost interest in semiconductors and stopped studying or preparing for a job. As an instructor at an academy and a member of an English newspaper, I bumped into people a lot, and I hurt people a lot and got hurt by people while arguing over big and small things. I just started it because I liked it, but I think I’m tired of the gap between the ideal I imagined and the reality I experienced. I was tired of starting something anymore, and I didn’t want to do anything. Hearing people say ‘Cheer up’ was often burdensome to me. I played the piano to organize my thoughts, but I was more annoyed when my hands hardened and I couldn’t play as I wanted. I thought running nonstop was living hard, but I wondered if it was right to drag around without any results. While watching the drama, I thought, ‘Can I succeed like that if I start again?’ Plus, like Hee-do practiced fencing when she first started fencing and Yi-jin studied to become a journalist, I thought ‘Will I be interested again if I study semiconductors from the basics? If I start developing hobbies like playing the piano again, would this dreadful lethargy end?’
  Throughout the drama, I asked myself countless similar questions, and by the end of the drama, I felt, ‘Let’s start from the beginning!’ If I sat down like Kim Yoon-a said, I felt like I could never turn back, and whenever this situation came, I thought I would overcome the situation in this manner. No longer questioning myself, ‘Can I do that?’ I believed that I would have the stamina to start again, and decided to approach what I liked, such as studying semiconductors, playing piano, and working part-time jobs. I believe that my determined heart could overcome this frustrating time and the frustration will not be in vain.
  There are many people who are frustrated because they jump into what they like and fail, and they wonder if they can overcome their failure and restart like me. The moment you fail or fall into a slump, you may think that the same meaningless day will last for a lifetime. However, I think a big leap will be waiting for us if we endure that long time. Therefore, don’t be too afraid, and let’s turn our steps around and start all over again. Even if we fail again, we have the ‘strength to restart’ even if we don’t recognize it at the moment.