Chapter 80
This was somehow more awkward and humiliating than I’d imagined. I scrambled to justify myself.
"It’s not what you think. I was just looking up someone’s name... Anyway, no new posts showed up. Is it my settings?"
― "If you didn’t ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ mess with your filters, then there probably aren’t any new posts. How the hell am I supposed to know if you won’t even tell me what you searched?"
Hyun Dowoon clicked his tongue, clearly unimpressed, and added:
― "Or maybe you got soft-blocked, so regular searches won’t show the posts anymore."
"Soft-blocked?"
― "Basically, it’s when people tweak their posts so people like you can’t find them. If you were searching a name, for example—say yours—they could add special characters in between, or mess with the syllables, like writing it as ‘Suh*u’ or swapping consonants and vowels."
As his explanation dragged on, I found myself getting more and more confused. Eventually, I had to ask the root question.
"But... why do they even do that?"
― "...It’s just internet culture. You don’t have to get it."
"Culture?"
― "Or the account could be private. If it is, no matter how much you search, you’re not gonna find anything. So just give up."