Never pay for ransomware - increasingly ransomware is being released that doesn't actually save the encryption key, and so the extortionist just says whatever they think will get you to pay the most money.
Of course, just taking the money and running is a much higher-margin business, but it relies on that established reputation-building. Maybe a good analogy is counterfeit sellers on Amazon.
Even if the ransomware is removed/disabled after payment, you are more likely to be re-targeted either by the same group or that group may resell your information to rival ransomware groups.
I'm not entirely against paying, but it's a risk calculation and you should know all of the risks.
The guy asked my hijacked friend for the equivalent of 200€ in bitcoin. I don’t see anyone spending time specifically on his case for that amount. A skilled hacker able to « target » someone could make much more money actually developing real software.