Yoo Seung-gyu, founder of Not Scary Company, laughs while talking with young residents at the organization’s shared housing in Seoul's Samyang-dong. Korea Times photo by Choi Ju-yeon
Lee Myung-sun was 27 when he withdrew into his room.
“I just stared at job applications,” he said. “Convenience stores, cafes, PC rooms, restaurants — I couldn’t bring myself to apply anywhere. I was scared. I kept thinking, ‘People will think I’m pathetic working part-time at this age.’”
Until a few years earlier, isolation had seemed a remote problem. His first job was at one of the busiest hotel buffets in Seoul, where he worked more than 80 hours a week starting at 4:30 a.m. Initially dissatisfied with his skills in the kitchen, Lee pushed himself —until his chronically weak right wrist was injured while training in Australia.
Despite surgery, his wrist never fully recovered. Rehabilitation felt meaningless, and so began a period of reclusion that stretched to three years. He tried to return to work several times, but each attempt ended after a few months and each failure deepened his anxiety.
When he quit his job at a Vietnamese food company, anxiety and paranoia began to overwhelm him to the point that the thought of ending his life crept into his mind.
What eventually drew Lee back outside was an unusually named organization: Not Scary Company. A friend in similar circumstances suggested they visit together. For someone who found the world frightening, the name alone was disarming.
As it turned out, Not Scary Company was a group that calls people like Lee “masters of isolation,” promising to turn their experience into a form of qualification rather than stigma.
Participants take part in Not Scary Company’s “Masters of Isolation” program, held annually since 2022 to train young people with experience living in isolation as peer supporters for other reclusive youth and their families. Courtesy of Not Scary Company.
530,000 young Koreans hidden in their rooms
Source: Korea Times News
