Does motivation truly exist?
If it does, then why does it vanish in failure and blaze in success?
Some say discipline replaces motivation.Others admit they do not know the answer at all.
Perhaps perseverance is the truth.
I was an orphan.
No education.No dreams.No ambition.No money.
I survived through odd jobs—whatever paid, whatever fed me. I grew up on the streets, fighting for food, for shelter, for existence itself. In a world too busy to care, I searched for something people spend their entire lives chasing.
A dream.
Yet I did not even understand what a dream was, or how one was obtained.
I believed time would grant me an answer.It never did.
By the age of fourteen, I had nothing.No family.No past.No future.
I lived in an orphanage until I was nine, then fled. Not because I was mistreated—but because I refused to remain small. I wanted to become something greater. I wanted to live as a proud, self-reliant man, not as a nameless orphan forgotten by the world.
That was the beginning of my journey.
I had seen movies on roadside televisions—heroes who chased dreams, endured hardship, and emerged great. I did not know if those stories were lies.
But I wanted to believe.
Did I have resolve?Did I have conviction?
I would find out.
I would surpass myself.I would move forward.I would update myself every day.I would evolve—until I became the greatest version of myself.
From that day onward, a spark ignited within the mind of a child who had nothing.
I would become like the characters on the screen.
I had to.
Year 2078 — Seoul Sector, World Providence
Adrian stood before a massive public screen in the center of the city. His small frame was lost among towering structures of steel and glass—buildings modern in design, yet scarred by the remnants of war.
His blue eyes glittered with curiosity.
By day, Adrian worked in a small street business, performing labor too insignificant for most to notice. By night, he returned to this place, where dramas were projected onto the outer walls of a colossal building—miniature films for a broken society still healing.
Technology had advanced, yet the world had not recovered.
War had taken too much.
One night, fate shifted.
Adrian met someone he had only ever seen on the screen.
She was a famous actress—Na-Dyhun—a model who starred in a popular drama. In the series, she portrayed a woman who balanced corporate life with the identity of a secret agent. Strong. Capable. Unbreakable.
To Adrian, she was unreal.
She was everything he was not.
As she prepared to enter her car, Adrian approached and knocked on the window.
The glass lowered.
"Yes?" she asked, surprised.
"Miss… no—Madam Alphea," Adrian said, using her character's name.
She paused, then smiled.
"Oh? Are you my fan?"
"Yes," he replied softly, excitement trembling in his voice.
Her manager interrupted urgently, warning of a tight schedule. Yet Na-Dyhun noticed the boy's condition—the worn clothes, the hunger hidden behind discipline.
She understood immediately.
"Thank you for being my fan," she said gently, handing him money. "Buy yourself food. Clothes."
Adrian hesitated.
"Miss… may I ask one question?"
She nodded.
"How do you do it?" he asked."How do you rise from nothing and handle everything? How can someone be ordinary and exceptional at the same time?"
The question silenced her.
After a moment, she smiled.
"That's a difficult question."
"Then… can you answer it simply?"
She laughed softly.
"All right. Simply?"
"Yes."
"You act."
"Act?" Adrian repeated.
"Yes. You act—until the role becomes real."
That single word carved itself into the boy's soul.
No one could have imagined how far that answer would carry him.
The World After the War
In 2058, the Third World War erupted—the most devastating conflict in human history. AI weapons, autonomous vehicles, and nuclear arms erased one-tenth of the global population. Humanity's progress regressed as countless scientists, engineers, and visionaries perished.
Ten years of blood followed.
By 2068, the world rebelled.
Citizens, soldiers, and scientists rose together, overthrowing governments across the globe. Many died—but the old world died with them.
From the ashes emerged a single authority.
World Providence.
One world.One law.One leader—elected anonymously by global majority.
Humanity survived through unity.