When I was young, I used to answer calls from unknown numbers.


    There was a subtle hope lodged in my untainted heart that the owner of an unknown number might be someone dear to me, someone I had forgotten.


    But as internet scams and advertisements became rampant, and people increasingly shifted to using social media or messaging apps instead of phone calls, unknown numbers grew distant from me. By the time I returned to Korea, I almost never answered them.


    Most of the time, answering meant dealing with pointless calls like advertisements or surveys. Occasionally, there were unsettling offers that bordered on treason or criminal activity.


    Somehow, there were people who knew personal information about me—details that should have been top secret—and called me directly. These were likely Chinese agents or brokers working under their orders, contacting me on my old number with the generic proposal of visiting China.@@@@


    But those calls never caused me much trouble.


    Unlike before the war, it’s now nearly impossible to deduce someone’s identity just from their personal identification number.


    Let’s assume there’s someone out there.


    This person knows the Professor-era Park Gyu but is unaware of the Skelton-era Park Gyu. They don’t even know that Park Gyu uses the internet.


    If this mysterious person were to contact me via the K-Walkie Talkie that issues personal identification numbers, they’d likely try to reach me with an ID like PROFESSOR.


    If that doesn’t work, they might add numbers after "Professor," or attach my birth year, or maybe my cohort number from school.


    But under no circumstances could this person deduce that my personal identification number is SKELOTN.


    The same applies to me.


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