A young man with black hair and brown eyes walked along an empty road. A faint smile rested on his face as he moved down the quiet sidewalk. He wore a well-fitted navy blue suit that contrasted with his thin frame. Though he was slender, the neat clothing and confident posture made him look handsome.
Adrian, a twenty-four-year-old medical graduate, soon reached the intersection near a hospital. He was on his way there for an interview for the position of a junior doctor.
As he approached the building in the distance, a sense of pride welled up in his chest.
His life had not been easy.
Adrian was an orphan. His parents had died when he was eight years old. Their car had been rammed by an out-of-control truck. The driver had been drunk and was later punished by the law, but that punishment meant little. His parents had died instantly at the scene.
After the accident, Adrian had been taken in by his grandfather.
The old man raised him, cared for him, and managed the small property his parents had left behind. His grandfather had always been proud of him—especially when Adrian had finally managed to enter medical school.
Adrian was by no means a genius.
He didn't possess extraordinary talent or dazzling intelligence. What he had instead was stubborn determination. He worked hard, day after day, hoping to make his grandfather proud.
While he never achieved remarkable academic glory, he consistently remained slightly above average.
During medical school, he had been surprised to discover just how talented some people could be. Compared to them, he was simply ordinary. His days often followed a simple rhythm—study, eat, sleep, and occasionally read webnovels to relax.
Thinking back on those years brought a nostalgic smile to his face.
Just then, his phone vibrated.
Adrian reached into his pocket and glanced at the screen.
It was his grandfather.
He immediately answered the call.
"Hello, Adrian."
"Yes, Grandpa."
"Are you on your way to the interview? Have you eaten? Are you wearing the clothes I sent?"
Adrian chuckled softly.
"Yes, yes, and yes, Grandpa. And thank you for the suit."
While he was talking, the traffic light turned green.
Adrian stepped forward and began crossing the road.
"Be confident," his grandfather continued from the other end of the call. "Don't slouch your shoulders while talking. Answer what you know, and don't embellish things you're not confident about."
"Don't worry, Grandpa. I remember everything you taught me," Adrian replied reassuringly.
While he was talking on the phone, Adrian suddenly felt a violent shove from behind.
He stumbled forward in surprise.
Before he could regain his balance, his foot slipped off the curb and he fell into the road just as a speeding SUV entered the intersection.
There was no time to react.
The vehicle struck him from the side.
The impact sent his body crashing onto the hood, his head slamming hard against the windshield with a sickening crack.
His phone slipped from his hand and clattered onto the asphalt.
Adrian felt as if his skull had been struck by a hammer. A burst of blinding pain exploded behind his eyes.
The SUV screeched to a halt a few meters ahead.
His body slid off the hood and collapsed onto the road.
He tried to move.
Nothing happened.
His limbs felt distant and heavy, as if they no longer belonged to him. His vision blurred, and a sharp burning pain spread across his face.
From somewhere far away, he could hear his grandfather's voice through the fallen phone.
"Hello… Adrian? What happened?"
"Are you okay?"
"HELLO?!"
Adrian couldn't answer.
Blood pooled beneath him on the cold asphalt.
Shattered glass from the cracked windshield had cut into his face, leaving several wounds. Tiny fragments remained embedded in the skin.
Within moments, people began gathering around the scene.
"Call an ambulance!"
"Someone help him!"
"Quick, the hospital is right there!"
Fortunately, the accident had occurred directly outside the hospital.
Paramedics rushed out with a stretcher and medical equipment.
Adrian's broken body was carefully lifted and rushed toward the emergency department.
He drifted in and out of consciousness.
Voices echoed around him, urgent and chaotic.
He could only catch fragments.
"Pupils are fixed…"
"Don't move the neck!"
"He's bleeding from the right femoral artery—clamp it!"
"Avulsion of the right foot!"
"Possible spinal cord injury."
"Blood from the left ear—suspected intracranial bleeding. Prepare for transfusion and take him to CT!"
Adrian had come here today for a job interview.
Instead, he was now the patient.
The medical terms being shouted around him were words he had spent countless nights studying. Words he had memorized, analyzed, and practiced.
Now those same words described his own body.
His chances of survival.
His vision faded into darkness.
Below his hip, he felt nothing but cold emptiness.
He didn't want to die.
Not now.
Not when his life was finally about to begin.
After losing his parents, Adrian had struggled for years before slowly rebuilding himself—with his grandfather's support.
His thoughts drifted weakly toward the old man. A man who had already lost so much. His wife to cancer. His son and daughter-in-law were in a car accident.
And now…
It seemed he was about to lose Adrian, too. His consciousness continued slipping away. Memories blurred and fractured like broken glass.
Adrian was afraid.
He had never imagined his life would end like this.
What would happen to his grandfather?
He had dreamed of getting a stable job, earning money, and giving the old man a peaceful life after everything he had sacrificed.
But now…
All he would leave behind was grief.
As the staff rushed him toward the CT room, Adrian could no longer form a single coherent thought.
Then he heard the final words.
"We lost the pulse."
"Start chest compressions."
And with that—
Darkness swallowed everything.