New hire wears earphones ALL day and refuses to talk. Am I the problem??

So this happened recently and I genuinely don't know if I was wrong or if this new hire is just built different in the worst way.

I'm Sujin, 7-year corporate veteran, team lead at a small IT company. And last month we got a new hire. Let's call him Minho.

Minho. Does not. Take his earphones out. Ever. Like from the second he walks in until he leaves. He's got some fancy AI noise-cancelling things that apparently block out everything around him. Cool tech. Horrible coworker behavior.

The problem is he decided this setup means he gets to completely opt out of all human communication. You call his name from literally one desk over? Nothing. You have to physically tap him on the shoulder. EVERY TIME. And when you do, he pulls one earbud out and looks at you like you just interrupted surgery.

Then one day he actually said this to me, his team lead. He said:

"Actually, I'm in AI focus mode right now. If it's urgent, just send me a message on the work chat and I'll reply when I can. Face-to-face conversations break my workflow and I find them inefficient."

I'm sorry. INEFFICIENT. He said that.

Okay fine. I tried to be chill about it, like maybe this is just how the new generation works or whatever. But then lunch. He sits there with both earphones in, eating, completely ignoring the rest of the team. Someone tries to talk to him, he just doesn't react. And I started thinking... this isn't a communication style thing anymore. this is just rude.

And then yesterday it all blew up.

Our CEO suddenly called an all-hands meeting, totally unannounced, to talk about team bonuses. I was standing RIGHT NEXT to Minho's desk telling him to come to the meeting room. Multiple times. Nothing. I also sent him a message on the work chat but apparently he had notifications off because he was in his precious focus mode.

So the whole team files into the meeting room. Minho stays at his desk. Alone.

CEO notices immediately. Asks where he is. I explained the situation.

Meeting ends, everyone's filling out the bonus paperwork. THEN Minho realizes what happened and sprints over to me, acting all hurt like why didn't anyone tell him??

And I just. Responded to him the exact same way he always responds to us.

"Oh, I was in focus mode prepping for the meeting so I couldn't come over. I did send you a message though. You not checking it isn't really my responsibility, right? Also this conversation is kind of breaking my workflow."

He went bright red. Didn't say a single word. Just walked back to his desk.

He missed the deadline to submit for the bonus. So he's not getting it this round. After that he started keeping one earbud out at work, so. Progress I guess.

But the team vibe is still awkward.

Was I being petty? Or was this the kind of lesson you just have to learn the hard way???