A New Paradigm in Information Security Education Through Korean Cultural Sentiments
"Sssss... haa... yeah, this is it..."
Han Sewon double-checked the fictional scenario she'd crafted all night long, her trembling fingers typing each word one by one. To pull this off, she'd announced three days of hiatus, hacked into Seoul National University's admin server, and even used AI to create a meticulous contingency plan. Sewon calmed her nerves, telling herself she'd done her absolute best. Now, all that was left was...
To see the results...!
With a resolute expression, Han Sewon hit the 'Send' button.
The message that went out was as follows.
Grad school! Han Sewon was playing the 'grad school' card to dodge her mother's 'job offer' push!
It wasn't long before a reply came flying back.
Her mother, Lee Soo-jung, responded with worry and questions at her daughter's choice to pursue grad school over a job.
Good. Right on script so far... Han Sewon fired off the pre-planned reply.
A straightforward, principled response about wanting to study more. But this very basic reply would carry the most persuasive power.
Her mother, Lee Soo-jung, held a master's degree... Though it was in humanities, a totally different field.
Han Sewon pushed her stance as per the script.
Yes...! Sewon let out a deep sigh of relief at her mother's complete buy-in.
...This would extend her 'academic credential forgery' a bit longer.
That held true until her mother expressed her 'willingness to support.'
"What...?"
Han Sewon frantically typed, insisting it wasn't necessary—but it was too late.
Recalling her own grueling grad school days, she vowed never to let her daughter go through that—and immediately put thought into action.
Desperately trying to refuse the support, but...
How do you stop a mother's love like that...? Especially from someone overflowing with money, time, connections, and power...!
With that final message urging her to rest, she sprang into action.
The wife of a major corp CEO, only daughter of a global private equity founder, only daughter of a New York real estate tycoon, and Han Sewon's mother—Eleanor Crystal Lee.
Unleashing unlimited support via her bottomless wealth and human network worth its weight in gold...!
"..."
In that moment, Han Sewon truly realized.
"I'm fucked...!"
That her life was moments from total ruin...!
How did Han Sewon grow into a hacker? There's a backstory for that.
First, her Harvard-grad father and Stanford master's mom gave her the brains. Second, her impossibly high family standards—her brother running a mid-sized firm without parental help, her sister skipping grades to Harvard early. Third, that Korean cultural sentiment where you can't just leave a starving person be.
Sounds like bullshit? But as everyone knows, up north there's that economically barren, poverty-stricken armed puppet regime—not even a real country—where folks starve daily, pitiful, backward, and diplomatically rude.
Driven by Korean culture and ethos, our entrepreneurs want to donate endlessly to those poor souls starving every day. But legal and systemic barriers block it, leaving them in tears.
So, our entrepreneurs thought: 'If we intentionally leave corporate servers insecure... couldn't they at least scrape by a bit?'
Otherwise, why would they leave cyber security lax with a nationwide illegal hacker collective up there desperately scraping bitcoin, state secrets, and personal data daily?
And look at that entrepreneur who swapped wives for 2 trillion won—his massive personal data "donation" got a slap on the wrist. Clearly state-sanctioned.
Thus, most Korean firms, per their unique culture and ethos, keep cyber security laughably lax. For newbie hacker Han Sewon, her family's company server (Dad's) was perfect practice difficulty.
These repeated hacking drills turned her into a proper hacker.
The 'chaebol VTuber hacker' Han Sewon. What was she doing now?
Bzzz— bzzz—
"Kyyyaaaaah—!!!"
She was panicking at the nonstop interview offers from professors, screaming and dashing around her luxury mansion apartment (3rd floor, with live-in housekeeper service)...!
"Nooo! I don't want to! Stop it!"
What a pathetic, pitiful sight...
Wasting her incredible hacking skills on something as absurd as faking credentials within the family.
But hey, maybe it's a blessing. Better than using them for real crime by a hundredfold?
Though it doesn't solve her current mess.
"I-I'm done for... Totally screwed...!!!"
Exhausted from sprinting around the house, Han Sewon collapsed, spewing despair-laced terror.
Her 7-year web of lies was on the verge of unraveling. As her near-obsessive facade crumbled, her brain amplified the existential catastrophe with endless anxiety...!
"Ugh... I'll have to leave this peaceful apartment for a private room in Mom's massive estate with a yard, force-fed gourmet health meals daily, dragged to top-tier personal training without rest, lunch schmoozing with fellow chaebol heirs at social parties, and evenings enduring Mom's endless soul-crushingly boring VVVIP department store shopping marathons...!! I hate that future!!!"
...Good thing the housekeeper had clocked out. If she'd overheard, it might've turned into a murder scene in the mansion.
["...! ...!!! ...!!"]
Sniffling on her plush premium mattress, Han Sewon perked up at a sudden voice.
And there...!
["Han Sewon! You idiot!!!"]
A fox-eared spirit in shaman garb, wearing a cute expression...!
Somehow spouting Teto-powered rough speech...!
"Y-You're Hoshigami Meru...?!? Aren't you supposed to be from ancient Japan?!?"
["That's not the point! My daughter... Why'd you stop here? Is that all the weight your freedom carries? Your pussy-ass attitude is making me sick!"]
"B-But what more can I do here?!? I'm not top of my class! Not quantum physics! Not even Seoul U! Not a college student! What the hell can someone like me even do???"
["Oh... Han Sewon. Stop overthinking. You're crushing yourself with fear right now."]
"Keeping the lies going this long was already a miracle... I can't sustain this life forever...!"
["You're damn right! There's no 'but' in life! If you tack 'but' on everything, you'll never get what you want!"]
"!!!"
["Falling once doesn't ruin your life! Not even after dozens of times! There's only one moment life is ruined...!"]
"Then...?"
["Despairing at reality and giving up, sitting on your ass. That's the only moment life ends."]
"N-No way..."
["Han Sewon... Listen to the voice in your heart... What is it saying...?"]
"I-I...! I...!"
At Hoshigami Meru—no, 'Gigameru’s' words, Han Sewon tuned into her inner voice.
It was screaming. Shouting.
"...I want."
Her dreams! Her hopes!
"I want to live like this!!!"
Once the floodgates opened, fear crumbled like a breached dam. And with it, her true feelings poured out unfiltered.
"I want to wake up late afternoon, nuke yesterday's pizza, stream virtual broadcasts like crazy, hack servers on the dark web till early morning, doomscroll Shorts and TikTok till my brain melts, then crash—that's the life I want!!"
Belting out her honest desires, Han Sewon felt an unparalleled liberation.
And... Gigameru responded to the heartfelt outburst.
["Oh shit... Han Sewon... Isn't that a bit much?"]
"Eh."
Um... isn't that a bit extreme?
Even so, delivery for every meal and abusing your brain till dawn? Sure, you're young so it's 'fine for now,' but give it a few years and your body's wrecked. You haven't been caught yet, but unauthorized server access is illegal? That hobby's risky, no?
["Han Sewon... Please give that stuff up and turn back..."]
"Gi-Gigameru?"
With those words, Gigameru vanished.
As if nothing had been there from the start.
"Gi-Gigameru...? Gigameru!"
Han Sewon called her name endlessly after, but the Teto-charged fox spirit 'Gigameru' had no intention of returning.
"Gigameru..."
She whispered the name one last time, softly, after dozens of futile cries.
"..."
Han Sewon slid off the plush mattress and stepped out of the bedroom.
Click—
Beyond lay a vast space. Warm sunlight filtering through masterfully designed windows. Heating precisely at 24°C. Pristine air from round-the-clock purifiers, dust-free.
She'd seen this for over four years, yet why did it feel so alien now? So peaceful? So heart-wrenching?
"Ugh, sob sob... sob..."
Tears rolling down, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve, steeling her resolve.
Clenching her fist tight...
She marched straight into the workspace and powered up the desktop beast: RTX 5090, 128GB RAM, 24-core CPU—overwhelming specs!
It booted lightning-fast, screens flashing to life with a blue dragon logo.
Kali Linux! The pro OS tailored for hacking...!
"That's it...! Gigameru knew I could overcome this disaster myself!"
Gazing at her serene home, Han Sewon realized.
She couldn't give up this routine.
No matter the sacrifice, she wanted to protect this fake peace...
Even if she failed miserably, she'd exhaust every option first...!
That's what Gigameru wanted from her.
Gigameru would do the same.
Gigameru was always closer than her own heart, watching over her...!
"Gigameru!!! Watch over me!!!"
Screaming the name of her nonexistent inner character, Han Sewon dove into work.
Could Han Sewon protect her fabricated daily life?
Could she pull off a bold, flawless deception to fool everyone?
And above all... could she avoid committing a crime this time...?
Eh... who knows.