He didn’t have the money for a Creative Cloud subscription. Desperate, he typed a familiar string into a search engine: “Download Adobe Illustrator CC 2015 Full Hướng Dẫn.”

Underneath the list was a timer counting down from sixty seconds.

As the timer hit zero, his screen went black. In the reflection of the dark monitor, Minh saw his own tired face—and the realization that some "free" tools cost more than the retail price.

Suddenly, the screen flickered. The cursor moved on its own, sliding slowly to the top left corner of his desktop. "Just a glitch," Minh whispered, his heart hammering.