A Man Who Was Superman

Lee Hyun-suk believes he is Superman because of two traumatic events in his life. As a boy during the Gwangju Democratization Movement, his father was killed and he was shot in the back of the head, surviving with the bullet still lodged in his skull. Years later, his wife died in a car accident while his daughter survived. In the burning wreckage, he told his daughter to count to one hundred so he could become Superman to save her, a promise he carried as a fragile identity he could not abandon.

The Gwangju scene establishes how childhood trauma became intertwined with his superhero fantasy, planting the seeds for his adult conviction.

As a child during the Gwangju Democratization Movement, Lee Hyun-suk witnessed his father being killed in a skirmish. He was also shot in the back of the head but miraculously survived, with the bullet remaining lodged in his skull for the rest of his life. His father had told him that counting to one hundred would transform him into Superman, a belief that became the foundation of his psychological identity.

This childhood trauma directly explains why he clings to the Superman fantasy and why the phrase 'count to one hundred' carries such weight in the story.

The seizures are caused by the bullet lodged in the back of his skull from his childhood during the Gwangju Democratization Movement. The bullet remains inside his head throughout his life and triggers seizure episodes, most notably during the critical moment when he tries to rescue his daughter from a burning car. The seizure prevents him from saving her as the vehicle explodes.

The X-ray scene earlier reveals the bullet, setting up the fatal seizure that prevents his rescue attempt.

Counting to one hundred is a phrase Lee Hyun-suk's father told him during the Gwangju Democratization Movement, promising it would make him Superman. Later, in the car accident that kills his wife, Lee tells his daughter the same words, that if she counts to one hundred, he will become Superman to save her. This childhood promise becomes the psychological mechanism through which he sustains his superhero identity, believing the counting ritual grants him powers.

The repeated phrase connects his childhood trauma to his adult delusion, reinforcing how deeply the fantasy is embedded in his psyche.

Yes, Lee Hyun-suk dies at the end. After rescuing a child from a burning building, he jumps from a window with the child and strikes his head. The film shows him appearing to travel back in time to save his younger self from the childhood bullet, but this is revealed to be a dying dream. He never wakes up from the head injury, and the crowd that previously refused to help him now watches as he dies.

The fall from the window mirrors his childhood head wound, creating a tragic circularity in his story.

When Lee Hyun-suk tries to rescue his daughter from the burning car, he suffers a seizure triggered by the bullet in his head. The vehicle explodes before he can reach her, and the crowd stands by watching without intervening. This inaction hardens Lee's belief that he must be Superman, the world needs a hero because ordinary people will not act. It becomes the pivotal moment that fuels his public rescue persona.

This failure contrasts sharply with the later rescue where the crowd finally joins him, showing the evolution of community response to his mission.

Soo-jung transforms from a cynical, ambitious producer willing to fabricate stories for ratings into someone who values genuine human connection. After Lee's death, she begins helping an elderly woman in her neighborhood and recalls his words: 'Strength doesn't open big iron doors but a small key.' This realization shifts her away from calculating ambition toward compassionate, meaningful action, choosing to make a real difference rather than chase sensational success.

The key phrase 'small key' was introduced early in their relationship but gains profound meaning only after his sacrifice.

The phrase 'Strength doesn't open big iron doors but a small key' means that true strength lies in small, thoughtful acts of kindness rather than grand, dramatic gestures. Lee Hyun-suk lives by this philosophy, performing modest rescues in his community. For Soo-jung, the phrase becomes the key to understanding his legacy, she realizes that his 'superhero' acts were not about dramatic spectacles but about consistent, small acts of help that collectively mattered. She adopts this wisdom, moving from pursuing big ratings to helping people directly.

This line is introduced when they first meet, but its full significance emerges only after Lee's sacrifice.

The X-ray scene reveals that the man claiming to be Superman has a bullet lodged in the back of his skull. This discovery exposes the real trauma behind his superhero delusion and marks a turning point for Soo-jung, who begins to question the ethical boundaries of her fabricated documentary. The X-ray serves as the bridge between the whimsical 'Superman Saves the World' story and the tragic reality of a man shaped by unprocessed trauma.

This medical discovery sets up the later explanation of his seizures and justifies the seriousness of his condition.

Soo-jung decides to make the documentary after being saved by the mysterious man in the Hawaiian shirt and witnessing his unconventional heroism. She sees the footage as a potential breakthrough story that could finally secure her future at the company, she's been unpaid for months and desperate for a hit. With some creative editing and fabrication, she spins the footage into 'Superman Saves the World,' a sensational documentary that becomes a ratings success, though it raises questions about truth in storytelling.

The fabrication foreshadows her eventual moral awakening and the price of pursuing success at the cost of honesty.

Lee Hyun-suk displays clear signs of trauma-induced delusion rooted in untreated psychological wounds. His belief that he is Superman stems from surviving a childhood shooting and the subsequent loss of his wife. The bullet in his head causes real medical seizures, but his superhero identity is a psychological construct, a protective fantasy created to cope with unbearable grief. The film presents his condition with empathy rather than clinical judgment, showing how his delusion, while fragile, drives genuinely helpful actions for his community.

The film weaves his flashbacks seamlessly with present-day events, illustrating how the past continuously shapes his present behavior.

The final tragedy is triggered when Lee Hyun-suk enters a burning building to rescue a child. As the structure collapses, he jumps from a window with the child in his arms. He appears to fly and travel back in time to save his younger self from the childhood bullet, but this is revealed to be a dying hallucination. In reality, he strikes his head upon landing and never recovers. The bullet that has been inside his skull since Gwangju finally causes a fatal head injury.

The final rescue mirrors his childhood trauma, his death comes from the same type of head injury he survived as a child, completing the tragic cycle.