If You Wish Upon Me follows the story of Yoon Gyeo Rye, a young man familiar with misery and misfortune all his life. Physically abused while still a young boy, he runs away to an orphanage where he is also mistreated. As an adult, he spends some time in prison, and when he gets out, he finds himself at the end of his rope, wondering if there is anything to life or if it is better to end it once and for all.
A chance encounter leads him to cross paths with Kang Tae Shik, a middle-aged man who leads a volunteer team at a hospice hospital. Team Genie, they are called, and their job is to grant dying patients their last wishes. Yeon Gyeo Rye finds himself serving his community service at the hospice hospital. There, he meets Seo Yeon Joo, a young nurse, and the odd assortment of members who call themselves Team Genie.
With his dying puppy, a somewhat psycho, adopted sister, a gang that keeps breathing down his neck, and a mysterious guest in one of the hospital rooms, Gyeo Rye has a lot to deal with. Will working at Woori Hospice Hospital help him, or is it too late for healing to come around?
Read this story of healing in Chinese drama, The First Frost.
Hospice—”A Place of Rest for the Weary”
This 2022 Korean drama’s unique setting is a hospice hospital.
Hospice, as defined by the National Cancer Institute, is “a program that gives special care to people who are near the end of life and have stopped treatment to cure or control their disease.”
A hospice hospital provides comfort care for those who no longer choose curative options—either because they have chosen not to or have learned that the side effects outweigh the benefits. It is, in short, a place where people have accepted that there is possibly no getting better.
Yet, interestingly enough, it is in this hospital and among the staff and even the patients where a lot of characters find their healing. Hospice also comes from the Latin word hospitum, which means “hospitality or a place of rest and protection for the ill and weary.”
Healing—A Central Theme of If You Wish Upon Me
Take away the emotional scenes of angsty Gyeo Rye or the rather chilling scenes of the mysterious guest of Room 403, and you have one of the main themes of the drama: healing. And not just from physical ailments. Many of the characters’ journeys in this series involve seeking—and finding—healing at one point or another.
Healing in the Life of Kang Tae Shik
The drama reveals Kang Tae Shik’s character and backstory bit by bit. We learn that he lost his wife and son in a tragic accident and was involved in shady business dealings. Later, it reveals that his “business partner,” or the person who scammed him into investing his money in the wrong businesses, is Yoon Ki Chun, the father of Yoon Gyeo Rye.
Tae Shik’s life, leading to the point when he arrives at Woori Hospital, was probably a series of regrets and if-onlys:
“If only I hadn’t met Yoon Ki Chun…”
“If only I hadn’t invested my money in that business…”
“If only I hadn’t let my wife and son take a taxi because Yoon Ki Chun was calling me to go to him…”
The frustration and regret are there, and perhaps one way for him to atone for his past mistakes is through his work—fulfilling the wishes of others. As Captain of Team Genie, Tae Shik finds the purpose he lost after his wife and son died. It is here where his healing begins and continues.
Healing in the Lives of the Hospice Patients
The dying patients’ last wishes vary. There are a few simple ones—those who want to see the sea or the first snowfall one more time before they die. Those who wish to be reunited with estranged family members.
Some of the patients, however, have last wishes that could also be a form of healing.
One patient, in particular, insists on finding the man he indirectly imprisoned while under pressure to give a false testimony. The patient’s desperation to find the man shows how he wants to atone for his past mistakes, even if there is no undoing what he did.
When Team Genie locates the man, it is too late. The man has died, leaving behind a wife and a daughter. Upon seeing the man’s grave, the dying patient breaks down—overcome with guilt—while Kang Tae Shik reads the letter he wrote out loud. There is no going back, there is no changing the past, but perhaps at this moment, in finally saying the words he has always wanted to say, he can find the healing he so desperately seeks before passing.
Healing in the Life of Jang Seok Jun
This childhood friend turned thug of Gyeo Rye has an equally tragic life. Orphaned as a young child, he seems to have ended up with the wrong crowd—eventually becoming part of the gang that keeps trying to look for Gyeo Rye. He struggles with being at the bottom of the gang food chain and wanting to do something for Ha Joon Kyung, Gyeo Rye’s adopted sister from the orphanage, whom he secretly likes.
Later, we learn that Seok Jun arrived at the orphanage at the same time Ha Joon Kyung did—both survivors of a building fire—the very same fire that Seok Jun’s brother ignited to commit family suicide. Seok Jun, it seems, feels guilty for surviving, for wanting to live.
At the end of the series, Seok Jun serves some time in prison. He tries to act all tough with Joon Kyung, telling her that, because she didn’t die after trying to jump from the roof, perhaps just perhaps, she was meant to live. She counters him with the same argument—the fact that he survived a car crash probably signifies that he was meant to live, too.
Would There Also Have Been Healing for Yoon Ki Chun?
Yoon Ki Chun’s storyline begs the question—would there have been healing for him, too?
We see Yoon Ki Chun’s past just as the series starts wrapping up. He has always been jealous of the success of others, particularly that of Tae Shik. He is jealous of Tae Shik’s family, his diligence, and how lucky he is.
Instead of using Tae Shik’s success as a motivation to work harder himself, Ki Chun tries to destroy what Tae Shik has and what others have.
When he finally wakes up after his accident, we wonder if he has changed, but soon enough, we learn that he is just as ruthless as ever. He is possessive of Gyeo Rye and will stop at nothing to make his son follow him.
Ki Chun’s life begs the question—is healing a little too late for others, especially if they fight against it? Could Yoon Ki Chun have been redeemed, given a little more time?
Different Kinds of Healing
From the diverse stories of the characters in If You Wish Upon Me, we learn that everyone has a different way of healing, a different period, a different journey.
It is reminiscent of the series My Roommate is a Gumiho, where we learn that there are different ways of obtaining humanity. A gumiho (nine-tailed fox) isn’t exactly known for being humane, especially since they don’t know what it is like to be mortal and are often more aloof and distant.
In My Roommate is a Gumiho, we meet two gumiho. One is Yang Hye Sun (played by Kang Han Na), who obtains humanity through a heartbreaking event, which she describes as something like a sharp, cold wind. The other is Shin Woo Yeo (played by Jang Ki Yong), for whom obtaining humanity was more like shedding off winter clothes in anticipation of the arrival of summer.
The Girl Who Was Never Abandoned
Like Gyeo Rye and Seok Jun, Ha Joon Kyung’s past is just as troubled. Most of the time, we see her acting up—flying into a fit of rage, trying to force Gyeo Rye to like her romantically, threatening to die. The reason, we find out, is tied to a single statement from the past that dictated the course of her life: “She’s so pretty; who would abandon her?”
Her relationships are always chaotic, particularly that with Yoon Gyeo Rye. She wants to live as his sister, but she also wants to be more. And if he doesn’t do as she wishes, she threatens to die or kill both of them. In fact, she is the reason they ended up in prison the first time around—because she started a fire in an attempt to kill them both.
When she reappears in his life and takes him from the hospice hospital, Gyeo Rye goes with her, afraid she will take her own life. Most of his decisions where she is concerned has to do with her guilt-tripping him into it, saying she would have been adopted into a family if he hadn’t stepped in and offered that they be siblings instead. Gyeo Rye hates their relationship and is honest about how he feels, but he is terrified that leaving his sister means she will kill herself.
Later, when Tae Shik is in the hospital getting treatment for his cancer, he crosses paths with Joon Kyung again. It’s the same hospital where she was admitted after trying to jump from a building. He asks her what her wish is, and she says she wishes her family would never abandon her again.
In response, Kang Tae Shik pulls out a folder containing newspaper clippings of the fire. Joon Kyung flips through the pages and sees an article about a woman who embraced her six-year-old daughter so tight so she wouldn’t get burned by the fire.
Understanding mingled with relief washes over her, and the release of all those years of anger and bitterness is almost instant. As she weeps, healing comes to her. She only needed to be told that her parents loved her and didn’t abandon her. The moment she learns that her mother’s love for her was so great, her healing begins right away.
The Boy Who Became Just Like His Father
Among all the characters in If You Wish Upon Me, there is none quite as complex as that of Yoon Gyeo Rye, brilliantly played by Ji Chang Wook. As the story unfolds, we catch glimpses of Gyeo Rye’s painful past. We learn of his abusive father. We see how alone and abandoned he felt at the orphanage, where the other kids laughed at him while the director mistreated the orphans, too. We see bits and pieces of him as he grows up and gets involved with a gang. We see his chaotic and toxic relationship with Joon Kyung, a girl he met and “adopted” as his sister.
For Yoon Gyeo Rye—despite the kindness, the warm meals, the banter with fellow hospital staff, the odd, funny ways Tae Shik watches out for him—healing takes a long while.
It starts with Grandfather Yoon, a patient whose last wish is to die in the home where he, his wife, and daughter used to live. At first, Gyeo Rye doesn’t understand what Team Genie does and how it helps the patients. He grumbles at his duties but later cannot stop tearing up when Grandfather Yoon clasps his hand and thanks him for helping.
This act of kindness is only the start, and Gyeo Rye’s journey is still a long one. His soul doesn’t warm up immediately, even at the kind words of others looking out for him. Rather, he wears his bitterness closely like protective clothing—which he sheds off, bit by bit, as the story progresses.
When Gyeo Rye enters Kang Tae Shik’s life, Tae Shik recognises him almost instantly, especially when he sees the scar on Gyeo Rye’s back. He takes Gyeo Rye under his wing—or rather, attempts to, but the two of them get on each other’s nerves a lot, which seems to be their unique way of expressing love and concern for each other.
Just before the story ends, Gyeo Rye learns all about the patient in Room 403. The moment he sees the man’s face, the past he’s been running from catches up with him. The mysterious patient is none other than Yoon Ki Chun, his father, who is awake and keeps trying to mess with his mind.
Gyeo Rye struggles a lot in the last few episodes, especially when he wonders how much like Ki Chun he really is. At one point, he is done and gives up, agreeing to go with his father if Ki Chun will just leave everyone at Woori Hospice Hospital alone. Gyeo Rye feels like the only way out, the only way to protect those he loves, is to become like his father.
Gyeo Rye’s healing reaches its highest point with Kang Tae Shik’s last wish. Tae Shik, on his deathbed from his recurred cancer and slamming his ambulance into the car that almost took Gyeo Rye’s life, wants to give Gyeo Rye something he never had—a birthday and the love of a father.
In the epilogue of the series, approximately one year after Gyeo Rye’s first birthday and presumably Tae Shik’s passing, we see Gyeo Rye making his rounds in the hospital as the new captain of Team Genie. The scenes are somewhat familiar—Gyeo Rye waking up in an ambulance, entering the hospital, and pushing a wheelchair back in place while muttering that people never return things where they got them. He arrives late to breakfast and gets scolded by the hospital cook, Yeom Soon Ja, who tells him something that makes him smile: “You are just like your father.”
