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[Alexandr Korol]

After all, it’s not a gang of criminals — it’s the government. Why not help it? And if I was somehow unique, then that’s great. Maybe together we could achieve some kind of progress in science or something else. That was my mindset. I just didn’t feel like I belonged among my classmates or college peers because they were all busy with nonsense, and I literally couldn’t understand it. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been interested in something unique, and they weren’t. They only thought about buying chips and going to the movies. That’s why I was eager to meet Big Alexander as soon as possible. Valentina warned me about the consequences and asked if I really needed it. I said, “I don’t mind at all. I could spend my whole life in a lab. If that’s what it looks like, what’s the problem?” I wasn’t afraid. I remember telling my mom back then that I wanted the intelligence services to take me in. She got scared — just like everyone else always does. She said:

– No.
– Why? I don’t understand. That’s awesome — it’s better than being just another lazy, aimless person like most people.
– You don’t understand. If the intelligence services take you, do you think you’ll be free? No. Let’s say they tell you to work in McDonald’s your whole life — for 10 years. And no matter what unique knowledge or amount of money you might have, you’ll still be working there. Because maybe you’re undercover. And no matter how much money you might have, you’ll never be allowed to show it. And to no one — not even to us — will you ever be able to say that you’re some kind of spy. So what’s the point of being a spy if you can’t tell anyone about it?

And that’s roughly how my mom tried to explain it to me at the time — I remember, this was also back in 2009. But I still believed — probably because I really had watched too many movies — that it was cool. That exact word: “cool.” It fit my age and that period perfectly. I thought it was cool, I was having fun, while everyone else looked at me with fear in their eyes, completely baffled about what I wanted. And honestly, throughout my whole life, I hoped and waited for some Men in Black to come and take me away. But I never thought they’d take me because I was bad. You know how in movies they show geniuses — hackers or someone else — who go against the law or authority,