Father locks refrigerator to protect 160kg son with autism

He is a robust 27-year-old man, but his mental age is only about two. The story of writer Jeon Gyeong-cheol, who has spent over 20 years caring for his son with severe autism alone, is once again touching the hearts of viewers. Known as the 'Peter Pan Father,' his life is defined by a love for his child as deep as his fear of what will happen to his son once he is gone.

The 355th episode of tvN's 'You Quiz on the Block,' airing on the 12th, features a 'Dreams are Powerful' special. Lee Sun-min, director Christopher Nolan and Matt Damon of the film 'The Odyssey,' and Jeon, who searched the country for his son's future while battling illness, will meet Yoo Jae Suk and Jo Se Ho.

Among the guests, Jeon's story transcends simple emotion. It moves beyond the familiar narrative of parental love to face a primal human anxiety: 'Can my child survive after I am gone?'

Jeon has cared for his 27-year-old son, Jeon Je-won, alone for over 20 years. After his first birthday, the son moved through various hospitals before being diagnosed with autism. Though it was a difficult reality to accept, Jeon eventually learned to understand his son's world and how to live within it.

The journey was never easy.

As his son's weight increased to 160kg, Jeon had to wage a daily battle over food. To protect his son's health, Jeon even placed chains and a padlock on the refrigerator. While such a choice might seem extreme to some, it was a desperate necessity to save his son.

However, it was not something grand that allowed him to endure these grueling moments.

It was his son's small smile.

For a son who finds it difficult to express emotions through words, the brief smiles and small changes he showed were a happiness for Jeon that nothing in the world could replace. In this way, Jeon has endured 27 years, accepting his son's life exactly as it is, despite deviating from society's standards of 'normalcy.'

The challenge then became his own aging.

While battling illness and caring for his mother, who suffers from cerebral infarction and dementia, Jeon was confronted with a terrifying question: 'How will this child live after I die?'

This was not merely a vague worry. Jeon personally set out to find a place where his son could live in his absence. For more than a year, he knocked on the doors of approximately 1,000 facilities across the country.

To some, 1,000 places is just a number, but to him, it represents the total weight of his search for his son's future. Every time he was rejected, or a facility's conditions did not match, he faced repeated despair.

Nevertheless, he continued to the next facility. To a father, this was not a choice, but a duty.

After his story was shared through a broadcast last March, a surprising change occurred: a home for his son was finally secured. For a father who had lived with his son his entire life, sending him to a facility was not a simple 'happy ending.'

Rather, it was the moment he had to finally let go of the hand he had never fully released for 27 years.

While the independence he so desperately wanted became a reality, Jeon was met with a sense of relief mixed with the heavy sorrow of parting.

Then, a special moment arrived for the two of them. For the first time in 27 years, Jeon went camping with his son and spent a night together. The father, who sacrificed everything to protect his son, is now spending time with him in a different way.

This scene forces a reconsideration of 'parental love.' Love does not always mean holding someone close. Sometimes, the most painful form of love is letting a child out into the world so they can survive without you.

The reason Jeon knocked on 1,000 doors was simple: he didn't just want to protect his son while he was alive; he wanted to build a world where his son could live even when he could no longer protect him.

In this sense, his story transcends the reality of families living with disabilities. It is a story about 'absence,' a reality every human must eventually face.

Parents cannot protect their children forever. Consequently, parental love inevitably includes the practice of parting. For Jeon, that practice arrived much earlier and in a much more cruel form than for most.

This broadcast will also reveal Lee Sun-min's journey from obscurity to success, as well as behind-the-scenes stories from the production of Christopher Nolan and Matt Damon's 'The Odyssey.' However, it is significant that Jeon's story serves as the conclusion to the 'Dreams are Powerful' special.

For some, a dream is making a global film or becoming a beloved star. But for one father, a dream is much simpler and more desperate: "That my child can live safely even when I am gone truly."

That was the dream Jeon refused to give up for 27 years. And as he finally nears that dream, his first camping trip with his son feels like a quiet, warm celebration after a long struggle.