South Korea Visa got rejected - help
So I planned to go to SK in July to visit my sister (she is a PhD scholar there, staying since 2016), on a birthday trip. For context, I have been there thrice before, in 2016, 2017 and 2019. My intended trip was for 9 days.
I got rejected with '8. Your current status (family and economic conditions) does not prove your return'
I applied for the C-3-1 visa from VFS Delhi and provided all necessary documents, viz;
Cover letter, with full itinerary + clearly stated that I am self funded and only my stay is with my sister and I am returning to India to join my workplace.
Invite from sister.
2L in balance + salary slips (I stated 2100 USD as my limit) (I get 53k pm as my salary in hand after deductions like CPF, plus free housing since mine is a government employment. I did shift some money from my mom's account to meet the requirement, but my salary slips have been consistent)
1 year ITR + Explanation for not two years (I entered workforce and started earning in 2024, so don't have full ITR yet)
Employment letter in prescribed format.
Dummy ticket with return clearly stated (I did not provide hotel stay but I clearly stated in cover letter that this was because I intended to stay with my sister).
What do I do? A few of my friends were planning to travel from different cities/countries to celebrate birthday with me and visit Korea (else who will go thsre in July of all months?!) and their visa was approved and flights booked. Meanwhile I am the very reason they booked it and I got rejected lmao. At this point I really need to get there, not for me but the other folks.
I know Delhi has no visa cooldown, so I can reapply, but what can I do differently here? A friend suggested reapplying using tourist visa. Would that work? Really need help here.