'Star instructor' Lee Ji-young's 21-year-old Knowledge iN answer goes viral, offers heartfelt advice to a senior in high school

[Financial News] A past answer that star instructor Lee Ji-young left on Naver Knowledge iN has recently spread online and is drawing attention.
According to the IT industry and other sources on the 6th, a new "Knowledge iN" button was added to the Naver People Profile page on the afternoon of the 4th. In the process, some of the old answers that well-known public figures had posted on the Naver Knowledge iN service were exposed and then circulated online.
Among them was a reply that social studies star instructor Lee Ji-young wrote in 2005 to a post by a senior in high school, which has now become widely known to the public.
At the time, the student poured out their worries, saying they were suffering deeply because of their family's financial situation and conflicts with their parents.
The student wrote, "My family is so poor. Five of us live in a place like a hillside slum with just two rooms," and added, "My father is a civil servant and my mother is a homemaker, but we have no money for college tuition."
The student continued, "I really want to study well and get into a good university," saying, "I've been studying on my own since middle school, but now I'm just exhausted."
They went on, "I'm sick of living in a house that feels like it's about to collapse, and I'm frustrated because my grades just won't go up," lamenting, "If I die anyway, at least the cost of feeding me will go down and that would be better for everyone."
Lee Ji-young, who was in her early twenties at the time, left a long message of comfort for the student who had written the post.
Lee wrote, "When I was a student, whenever things were hard and painful, I often thought about wanting to die, and it seemed like the only solution," and added, "But someone once told me, 'Thinking that you want to die actually means you're that attached to your own life.'"
She went on, "There are people who live carelessly and still manage to get by, so wouldn't it be unfair if someone like you, who truly wants your life to turn out well, ends up with a shorter life than they do?" She emphasized, "I know you are struggling a lot because of conflicts with your parents and your family's financial situation, and you may feel like you're at rock bottom, but never forget that the most precious person in this world is yourself."
She then advised, "Succeed. Don't be too fixated on the gate called university, and try to go to a school where you can live far away from your parents," adding, "That's what I did. Once you live apart, the resentment slowly fades. You can always find a way to earn money. Please never despair over money, family conflicts, or school grades, and love yourself just as you are."
After the post resurfaced, Lee Ji-young captured a related article and uploaded it to her Instagram Story on the 5th, writing, "Naver... I can't believe it has brought back a post from 21 years ago that I had forgotten about... I hope the person who was struggling with that worry 21 years ago has grown up well, and that our paths might cross again someday."
The exposure of these old answers is reported to have occurred when the account used by Naver to register or edit people information suddenly became linked to Naver Knowledge iN content.
After controversy erupted, the problematic Naver account was deleted, and all links to the Knowledge iN site were removed from Naver People Profile pages.
Naver stated, "The Knowledge iN service team is re-examining all related settings and the overall connection process with other services to ensure that the same problem never happens again," and added, "We deeply apologize for the significant inconvenience and concern this has caused."

newssu@fnnews.com Kim Soo-yeon Reporter