Over the past five years, my life has changed in ways I never expected.

I used to work in video production, creating educational content for children. I loved making cute and meaningful content, and I truly cared about the company I worked for.

After about two years, the company went bankrupt. I never received around four months of salary or my severance pay. During that difficult time, I had to rely on my family just to get by, and I knew I needed to find a new path forward.

I decided to start over by studying illustration. In Korea, we have digital stickers and emoticons that people use to express emotions in messaging apps. I enjoyed learning and creating them, and for the first time in a while, I felt hopeful again.

However, while I was trying to rebuild my life, I was scammed by someone I trusted deeply—my closest friend. As a result, I fell into serious debt and damaged my credit. The pain I experienced during that time is difficult to describe with words. When life becomes overwhelming, everyone has dark thoughts at some point.

Money is not everything in life, but having financial problems affects more than just one person. It places a burden on the entire family.

Even so, I did not want to give up.

I wanted to continue studying, improving my skills, and building a future through my artwork. Recently, I have been trying to promote my work on social media, especially Instagram. The results have been slow, but I continue to learn and try new things.

The problem is that even promoting my work requires money. Whether it is advertising, software, equipment, or simply having enough stability to focus on creating, everything costs more than I can currently afford.

I planned to keep this story short, but it became longer than expected.

More than anything, I hate the feeling that a lack of money prevents me from doing the things I know I can do. I still want to move forward. I still want to create. I still want to build something meaningful.

I do not know if anyone will read this.

But if you have made it this far, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you.