"I Hated Myself as Much as I Craved It"... Even a Mother's Tears and Brilliant Dreams Were Shattered [ChwiYakGukga] ⑦

■ Part 2. Drug Crimes Target Teenagers

Interviews with Five Young Adults Who Started Using in Their Teens
Secondary and Tertiary Victimization, Becoming Low-Level Droppers
"Bugs Crawling All Over My Body... Agony Like Being Hit with a Hammer"

'At an age when we should have been dreaming, we bought hallucinations; at a time when we should have been planning for tomorrow, we faced death.'

This is the confession of five young people who encountered drugs during their teenage years, as told to The Asia Business Daily. Some were introduced to drugs by seniors they admired, while others turned to drugs after enduring relentless academic stress. The outcome was uniformly devastating: crushing debt, hallucinations, the agony of organ paralysis, and even the deaths of loved ones. Here, we share the belated stories of those whose futures were entirely seized. Their accounts serve as both a warning for those tempted by dangerous curiosity and a desperate plea for help.

Stock photo unrelated to the article. Getty Images

Case 1. Repeated Drug Use, Surrendering the Soul

A (21) is still stuck in time—seventh grade, that day. Although she was one of the top students, bullying twisted her outlook. The bullying eventually spread to the friend who stood by her side. One day, she lost that friend, who had confided her pain to her on the rooftop. Left behind, A tried to soothe her broken heart with alcohol and cigarettes. Time passed, and in the winter of her second year in high school, a message arrived like a trap: "Want to try Chan○?"

A recalled, "It was an adult living in Busan. Since my friend and I had already planned a trip to Busan, I thought, 'While we're there, why not try this cold ○ drink?' and didn't think much of it." After checking into their accommodation and reaching out, she quickly received a reply. She was told to come alone to the next room. When she entered, unfamiliar tools and a tourniquet were scattered on the table. She realized it was drugs, but by then, the man had already injected her arm.

"It felt like my head was being run over by a car tire." She woke up after a 10-hour blackout. The man was sleeping peacefully, wearing a bathrobe. Her daily life started to collapse. She began to have outbursts and even experienced delusions. She had a seizure after seeing a woman with a sky-blue face sitting in the living room. The craving was stronger than fear. Haunted by this vivid memory, A sought out the man again.

The drug use and subsequent harm repeated. It was a process of losing vitality. She injected drugs several times a day. To get more drugs, she even moved in with a dealer in his 40s. When she ran out of money, she posted coded messages on social networking services (SNS) seeking drugs. Many men messaged her, and she continued relationships dependent on drugs. Hallucinations were joined by phantom smells. Each time she blinked, the person beside her changed, and suddenly, she would smell rotting fish.

She is now fighting a precarious battle in a private rehabilitation facility. A confessed, "The hardest thing is knowing I keep making my parents worry," and added, "So much time has passed, but I have nothing to show for it—I feel immense guilt."

Case 2. The Agony of Thousands of Crawling Bugs

B (25), who once dreamed of becoming a rapper, encountered a 'devil' in the studio he had always longed for at the age of nineteen. Older boys he looked up to invited him to the studio. He went, filled with excitement. But instead of music, what awaited him were drug paraphernalia and unfamiliar substances: fentanyl. He fell for their sweet whispering, "It's all for you."

He felt lethargic. Even the panic that always made him anxious disappeared, but it lasted only 10 minutes. Then his entire body began to itch and he started vomiting. B explained, "It wasn't the skin, but the muscles underneath that itched so badly I felt like I was going crazy," adding, "The sensation spread to my arms, legs, and chest—it felt just like bugs crawling under my skin."

The tragedy was meticulously planned. B said, "After the first dose, I didn't realize it was a side effect and just wondered, 'Why am I feeling so bad?' On the seventh day, just as if sent by the devil, someone appeared." That someone was a famous rapper who had shown interest in him. Acting generous, he gave B more drugs. Once B started getting addicted, the rapper revealed his true nature: he preyed on juniors, getting them hooked and then extorting money for drugs. "Later, I found out he charged seven to ten times the non-insured hospital price for fentanyl," B said.

His body deteriorated rapidly. Because the drugs contained anesthetic ingredients, his organs were literally paralyzed. Not being able to use the bathroom for over a week became the norm. He repeatedly suffered from stomach cramps and intestinal obstruction. When the drug wore off, he writhed in pain as his muscles cramped. He could only eat with the help of drugs.

B warned, "The culture among some musicians that glamorizes drugs is driving young people toward death. Willpower alone is not enough to escape." He has clung to his faith and has been sober for more than three years. He prays that other young people will not fall for 'people sent by the devil' as he did.

Case 3. "When I Stop Using, It Feels Like Being Hit with a Hammer"

At just seventeen, C (24) was too young to be independent. Dreaming of becoming a singer, she moved to Seoul. Living on her own, away from her parents' protection, felt liberating—but left her vulnerable to ruin.

She started using marijuana with friends. She even dropped out of school for music, but her dream soon faded. "After marijuana, I tried painkiller-type drugs. At first, I just swallowed them, but then I copied how others injected them," she said. The hallucinations from LSD were so intense that even now, she finds them terrifying to recall.

Even more frightening were the withdrawal symptoms. "With painkiller-type drugs, the withdrawal is intense," C recalled. "It felt like being beaten all over with a hammer." She continued, "The moment you experience it, you realize you should never do drugs, but the problem is, you've already taken them. When you don't use, the pain becomes unbearable, and the fear of that pain drives you back to drugs."

Even her family's devotion was not enough. Her mother battled stomach cancer and did everything she could to save her daughter, even completing a rehab program herself. When C was detained, her mother traveled long distances for visits. Yet, even as she watched her mother, C couldn't stop thinking about drugs. She went to dozens of hospitals, even used her younger sister's name. "After getting probation, I used my sister's identity to get drugs," C admitted. "It was truly unforgivable."

She hated herself as much as she craved drugs. Her family's devotion only turned into guilt. She kept spiraling into dangerous thoughts. Eventually, her family tricked her into going for outpatient treatment and had her forcibly admitted to a closed ward, where she spent a full year. "Drugs may seem tempting, but endless suffering awaits," C warned. "Your health, emotions, and relationships will all collapse, and you'll hit rock bottom in life."

Case 4. The Boy Who Chased 'Dangerous Random Boxes'

D (18) was a top student. But the world he encountered in high school was fiercely competitive. A disastrous report card weighed heavily on his shoulders. As he struggled with stress, a senior from a nearby school handed him synthetic marijuana, almost as if he had been waiting for it. Late at night, teenage boys gathered in underground parking lots and crossed the line.

He thought it would be a one-time mistake. After the first semester, D decided to drop out to focus on the regular college entrance exam. Was leaving school a mistake? The studies he once enjoyed became harder to pursue, and he began to fall into drugs with friends. To pay for drugs, he turned to illegal gambling.

When he ran out of money, he took to the streets. After buying drugs through Telegram, he searched for hiding spots where dealers would 'drop' the goods. He scoured alleyways in distant areas like Seoul, Incheon, and Suwon. "When you find the drugs, they're wrapped in tape, and you never know what you'll get," D said. "At first, it was only synthetic marijuana, but then, like a random box, methamphetamine and ketamine started appearing, and I ended up trying everything out of curiosity."

When he first took LSD, his surroundings turned into a desert. Suddenly, he felt compelled to buy food, but then heard a voice telling him not to, so he ran out of the shop. Methamphetamine was even worse. Right after injecting, he collapsed and hit his head. He even suffered from amnesia, and couldn't sleep a wink for five days.

The devil's grip was relentless. "While trying to quit, I joined a Telegram channel and dealers posted celebrity photos with quizzes," D said. "If you won, you'd get free drugs, so I started using again." A friend also dragged him back into the swamp, pulling ketamine from his pocket during a quit attempt. "I thought drugs would make me special, but now I realize how pathetic it all was," D said, bowing his head.

Case 5. Family Held as Collateral... A Teen Turned 'Low-Level Cell'

Admiration, curiosity, or the excuse of relieving stress sometimes turn teenagers into the lowest cells of massive drug trafficking networks. E (19) was an ordinary student struggling with exam stress. Now, he's a 'dropper' (courier). When we met him at Seoul Station's waiting area, he looked far too young to be associated with drugs.

The first person who gave him drugs was a friend from his cram school. He thought of it as a brief escape from harsh reality. But with liquid marijuana cartridges costing hundreds of thousands of won each, his pockets soon ran dry. "The friend who first gave me drugs said there was a part-time job to make good money and gave me a Telegram account," E said. It was no different than a slave contract. The dealer, known as a 'location dealer,' demanded his ID, family registry, and family members' contact information. He even extorted a 2 million won deposit as collateral.

The distribution process was meticulous. E would pick up bundles of drugs wrapped in black plastic at coordinates given by his boss. These large packages were called 'bundles' or 'tongs.' After bringing them back, he repackaged the drugs into small zip bags as instructed by the dealer. "You have to hide them in inconspicuous places, like apartment electrical boxes or air conditioners on building exteriors," he explained. When asked what kind of drug it was, he said, "It was white powder, called salt. I'm not exactly sure, but I think it was ketamine."

After hiding the drugs, he sent a map screenshot and a photo as proof. Once the buyer confirmed receipt, he would get a commission of only tens of thousands of won per delivery. "I did up to 20 deliveries in one day, but it's not something you can do every day," E said. "If the dealer finds out I'm using drugs, I'll get fired, so I hide my use from them."

E remained extremely anxious throughout. He repeatedly said things like, "A detective is after me," and alternated between holding his breath and gasping for air. When asked why he continued using drugs, he replied, "Because it makes my mind go blank." The boy, hood pulled over his head, looked like a disposable part in a giant gear.

Special Reporting Team｜Jang Heejun, Oh Jieun, Park Hosu, Lee Jiye, Park Jaehyun, Reporters

If you are struggling with difficult problems or have a family member or acquaintance experiencing such difficulties, you can receive 24-hour counseling from a specialist by calling the suicide prevention hotline at ☎109 or via the suicide prevention SNS counseling service 'Madeleine.' For problems related to drug addiction, you can call the 24-hour counseling number ☎1342 for help.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.