kh

there's a certain humiliation that comes with admitting to internet addiction. kang hyuk is all too familiar with it. two years after he'd been booked and charged with a form of online coercion, his mind continues to whirl over the regret of not heeding his mother's warnings. the nights he'd stay up until dawn engaging in the provoking and tormenting of individuals on online communities, the times he'd hack personal systems for the short-lived amusement he got out of people's panic; it's terrible regret now, and his mother had always known it would be. the duration he'd spent detained for the offence has rendered him socially inept — not to be mistaken, though, his ability to socialize hadn't been remarkable prior to incarceration, either. although he'd like to settle on the belief that the general disinterest towards him is attributed to his shabby clothes, or his habitually messy hair, he's entirely aware that's not the case. he knows it can correctly be credited to the fact that he's never learned to communicate suitably without a keyboard in hand. still, he believes he has time to make it right; a distinct motivation to figure it out. he's only twenty-three; that’s the basis of his hope. only twenty-three, and by twenty-five, he'll get it. his juvenile mistakes will no longer haunt him. he’ll become a kang hyuk who, like everyone else, finds enjoyment in the simple things in life; a cup of coffee, comics, or a sitcom. not one who's tickled by eliciting fear in people through a screen. what will happen until then, he isn't sure, but come twenty-five, he'll have it right.