I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK

Young-goon cuts her wrist and connects the wound to a wall outlet in a desperate bid to 'recharge'. She is admitted to a mental institution, where she begins to display cyborg delusions, refusing to eat, licking batteries, and talking mainly to machines while listening to a tube radio for guidance. The setting and routine in the ward frame the rest of her offbeat experiences.

She refuses to eat, preferring to lick batteries, and attempts to shock herself with electricity. She mainly converses with appliances and tunes in to her tube radio for instructions on becoming a better cyborg. This behavior defines her reality inside the hospital.

The head doctor interviews Young-goon’s mother to uncover the roots of her psychosis. The mother claims ignorance, but it’s revealed she knew more than she admits. She also reveals that Young-goon’s grandmother had been institutionalized for delusions of being a mouse, a trauma echoed in Young-goon’s own fantasies.

The revelation about the grandmother’s institutionalization sparks Young-goon’s own lapses from reality as she fantasizes about finding her grandmother and taking revenge on the men in white who took her away. The fantasy reinforces her sense of persecution and separation from the world outside.

Il-soon arrives as a patient, described as anti-social with kleptomania. He becomes fascinated with Young-goon and develops a routine of wearing handmade rabbit masks. His cold detachment is contrasted with his later softening interest toward her.

Il-soon steals other patients’ traits with a strange, almost magical accuracy, returning them when asked. He also fears shrinking into a dot and is seen compulsively brushing his teeth when nervous. These quirks underscore his unsettling connection to Young-goon and the hospital’s microcosm.

Young-goon convinces Il-soon to take away her 'sympathy' so she can kill the 'men in white.' She slips deeper into hallucination as she imagines a rampage through the hospital. This alliance marks a dangerous turning point in their relationship.

When she refuses to eat, the doctors subject Young-goon to electroshock therapy. She believes the treatment recharges her, even as her physical condition begins to deteriorate. The episode deepens the tension between her delusion and the hospital’s care.

As her health declines, the medical team orders force-feeding to sustain her life. The procedure underscores the clash between her autonomy and the doctors’ obligation to preserve her safety. Her dependency on medical intervention grows explicit.

Il-soon hatches a plan to help Young-goon eat by installing a food-to-electric-energy conversion unit—called a rice-megatron—in her back. He believes this device will allow her to convert meals into power for her cyborg existence. The plan blends science-fantasy with his strange sympathy for her.

After her first meal, Young-goon confides her secrets to the head doctor and contemplates a recurring dream involving her grandmother. She interprets a lip-reading message as a clue about her purpose. The moment bridges her personal history with the present crisis in the hospital.

The lip-read message propels Young-goon to believe she is a nuclear bomb awaiting a bolt of lightning to detonate. She and Il-soon head into a storm to test her transmission channel—the radio antenna acts as a lightning rod. This marks the film’s crescendo of fantasy and danger.

In the storm, the wind tears their tent apart and they scramble to protect their supplies. Unseen by Young-goon, Il-soon slides the missing cork atop the improvised lightning rod, shielding her from the strike. The moment reveals his protective, if ambiguous, resolve.

As the storm ends at sunrise, Young-goon and Il-soon sit together and share a quiet embrace. The rainbow overhead offers a strange note of hope amid the chaos of their journey. Their bond marks a fragile peace after a night of delusion and danger.