seonsong

[seonsong]

Daeseong

I never understood quite how it happened. One moment I was bitterly drinking the horrors away in an old bar and the next I had Soonhee to care about. She was so strong, so unwavering, so sincere. She truly cared, but she needed care so much herself. I couldn’t help but be attached, couldn’t give up now that the fight had become about her. I wanted to see her happy, settled, safe. I had to stay alive, one foot in front of the other every day until the war ended. I survived the atrocities only because of her.

[seonsong]

Soonhee

It had just been me and Sookja for so long. Fighting to stay alive, to save everyone we could. Losing many. But suddenly, there was Daeseong. He was fighting too, had been fighting every day of his life — and yet he remained so gentle. He listened to me, talked to me, made me feel light for the first time in years. Soon I could no longer picture a life without him. My heart would drop every time he’d leave on a mission. Every kiss could’ve been our last, yet — miraculously — none of them were. Somehow, we survived.

[seonsong]

Okay so I have an OC named Eun-joo (은주), and in Korean naming conventions, a name can have different meanings depending on which Chinese characters it’s based on. I looked up the possible meanings for Eun-joo’s name and have narrowed it down to two. Whichever one I choose will influence what she chooses as her Western name later in the story. So help me choose one:

(Her surname is Kang, if that helps)

[seonsong]

haha, one of my favorite lines 🙈

unlikely ally, chapter 1 twinkling watermelon, episode 9 word count: 623 | rating: pg alternate timeline: se kyeong stays in seoul

He disentangles his feet from the life preservers and offers his hand to Se Kyeong.

“Are you okay?” he begins to ask, but in a split second she’s upon him, and his back slams into the lockers with an echoing bang.

“Hey, you jerk!” she snarls at him, and Eun Gyeol thinks he’s never been this afraid for his life. “What’s with you? What are you doing right now?”

“Well, the teachers were chasing us and I didn’t want you to get in trouble. I was trying to help—”

She pushes him back again. “Not that.”

“Not that?”

She’s looking daggers at him, but the adrenaline rush has finally begun to wear off, and he remembers why the trouble began in the first place. He suddenly feels very small.

“Oh. I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have confessed my love publicly like that.”

“No kidding!” Her face looks hot and red. “Do you know why I hated when you and Yichan showed up at that concert?”

“W- why?”

“Because just like every other man, he can’t take no for an answer. I didn’t realize you were just as bad as he was, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by someone who hangs around him so much.”

Eun Gyeol blinks. “Then you’ve told him no?”

“Of course I have!” She stops a moment and checks her volume. “Let me make this perfectly clear to you. I have a boyfriend. I love my boyfriend. And neither you, nor Ha Yichan, nor any other jumped-up little trophy hunter is going to make me change my mind.”

“You really mean that?” asks Eun Gyeol, suddenly flooded with optimism.

“Completely.” (Through gritted teeth.)

He brightens then, and takes her hands enthusiastically. “That’s great! Then please continue to date him—”

The unexpected contact does not please her. She pushes him away savagely, and he shrinks back into himself.

“I simply can’t understand you, Ha Eun Gyeol,” she says after a moment. “You declare your love for me in front of the whole school, you get into a fight with your best friend over me, yet when I tell you I’ll never date you, you get happy?! Are you mentally ill?”

“Not that I’m aware.”

“Then what are you playing at?”

He sighs, running through all the options as quickly as possible in his mind. “You want the truth?”

“Please!”

“Fine, then. I don’t like you. I don’t think you’re particularly attractive, and you have a personality like the inside of a refrigerator.”

“Ha!” she scoffs out, eyes wide. Then, more calmly — “Paradoxically, that’s the most refreshing confession I’ve gotten in the last month.”

She folds her arms across her chest. “Well, go on, then. What’s your angle?”

“I was just— trying to use the situation to make Yichan stop hanging around you.”

“But why? What do you gain from that?”

“I was…” Eun Gyeol sighs. He’s cornered. Now that he’s begun to tell the truth, he can’t find where to draw the line. “It’s because I think he should be with Yoon Cheong-ah.”

Se Kyeong’s entire expression changes; her scrunched forehead relaxes and her mouth falls slightly open. “Wha— Cheong-ah? Yoon Cheong-ah whom you live with?”

“Yes.”

“But why? What does that matter to you?”

Oh, that’s where to draw the line. “Look, I can’t explain it. I just happen to know that they need to be together. It’s important.”

She scoffs. “What are you, some sort of fortune teller?”

“Hey! You two!”

They both gasp and turn like deer in headlights.

They’re caught.

[seonsong]

unlikely ally, chapter 1 twinkling watermelon, episode 9 word count: 623 | rating: pg alternate timeline: se kyeong stays in seoul

He disentangles his feet from the life preservers and offers his hand to Se Kyeong.

“Are you okay?” he begins to ask, but in a split second she’s upon him, and his back slams into the lockers with an echoing bang.

“Hey, you jerk!” she snarls at him, and Eun Gyeol thinks he’s never been this afraid for his life. “What’s with you? What are you doing right now?”

“Well, the teachers were chasing us and I didn’t want you to get in trouble. I was trying to help—”

She pushes him back again. “Not that.”

“Not that?”

She’s looking daggers at him, but the adrenaline rush has finally begun to wear off, and he remembers why the trouble began in the first place. He suddenly feels very small.

“Oh. I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have confessed my love publicly like that.”

“No kidding!” Her face looks hot and red. “Do you know why I hated when you and Yichan showed up at that concert?”

“W- why?”

“Because just like every other man, he can’t take no for an answer. I didn’t realize you were just as bad as he was, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by someone who hangs around him so much.”

Eun Gyeol blinks. “Then you’ve told him no?”

“Of course I have!” She stops a moment and checks her volume. “Let me make this perfectly clear to you. I have a boyfriend. I love my boyfriend. And neither you, nor Ha Yichan, nor any other jumped-up little trophy hunter is going to make me change my mind.”

“You really mean that?” asks Eun Gyeol, suddenly flooded with optimism.

“Completely.” (Through gritted teeth.)

He brightens then, and takes her hands enthusiastically. “That’s great! Then please continue to date him—”

The unexpected contact does not please her. She pushes him away savagely, and he shrinks back into himself.

“I simply can’t understand you, Ha Eun Gyeol,” she says after a moment. “You declare your love for me in front of the whole school, you get into a fight with your best friend over me, yet when I tell you I’ll never date you, you get happy?! Are you mentally ill?”

“Not that I’m aware.”

“Then what are you playing at?”

He sighs, running through all the options as quickly as possible in his mind. “You want the truth?”

“Please!”

“Fine, then. I don’t like you. I don’t think you’re particularly attractive, and you have a personality like the inside of a refrigerator.”

“Ha!” she scoffs out, eyes wide. Then, more calmly — “Paradoxically, that’s the most refreshing confession I’ve gotten in the last month.”

She folds her arms across her chest. “Well, go on, then. What’s your angle?”

“I was just— trying to use the situation to make Yichan stop hanging around you.”

“But why? What do you gain from that?”

“I was…” Eun Gyeol sighs. He’s cornered. Now that he’s begun to tell the truth, he can’t find where to draw the line. “It’s because I think he should be with Yoon Cheong-ah.”

Se Kyeong’s entire expression changes; her scrunched forehead relaxes and her mouth falls slightly open. “Wha— Cheong-ah? Yoon Cheong-ah whom you live with?”

“Yes.”

“But why? What does that matter to you?”

Oh, that’s where to draw the line. “Look, I can’t explain it. I just happen to know that they need to be together. It’s important.”

She scoffs. “What are you, some sort of fortune teller?”

“Hey! You two!”

They both gasp and turn like deer in headlights.

They’re caught.

[seonsong]

Maybe it took the equivalent of seven or eight lifetimes for the universe to fashion another man I could love completely, but it did so nonetheless, and furthermore, it permitted me to see him and to hold him and laugh with him into the small hours of the night.

except from my WIP, Hardwick House

[seonsong]

I still have to write the last chapter but here’s an idea of how it might go

I'm trying to picture Eungyeol introducing his brand new girlfriend to his parents after the concert and they're both like 🤨

[seonsong]

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing [what would happen between earth and the moon if the earth stopped spinning as illustrated by xkcd randall munroe]

[seonsong]

you’re 13 and the boy you like is sitting across from you at the restaurant table. he’s talking to his friends, mostly unaware of you, and his new haircut is ugly but he’s somehow still so dreamy, and your friend elbows you in the ribs to stop with the heart eyes. you stare down into your lap and try not to think of it. to him you’re a little sister, never anything more.

you’re 15 and all you want is to be noticed a little, for the well-dressed boy in the corner of the room to see you and remember you from that brief interaction last winter and offer you a smile, perhaps a greeting. but it won’t happen — he’s got actual things to do, and despite all the pages he takes up in your book, you were scarcely a footnote in his.

you’re 17 and you’re thinking of the boy with the sad, kind eyes of night. you already liked him when he was sad, but the day he smiled, your whole world shifted. he keeps appearing in your dreams, waking and sleeping. you wait and you wait. surely someday — someday he’ll notice you. someday you’ll have the courage to speak to him. someday. someday.

you’re 19 and you’re just getting comfortable with solitude, just starting to embark on your new goals, when the boy you like says he likes you back. and you curse it all, the confession that you’d began to think you’d never hear, and the timing, and the way you can’t be with him right now, even though you want to. oh lord, if you’d only met later.

you’re 21 and you’ve been in the college library for two hours, and you push yourself away from the computer and sigh — done — and your shoulder knocks against your best friend’s, and neither of you move for a moment, appreciating the warmth of touch. he breaks off a piece of his cookie and shares it with you, and you bite into it with a smile and you think it’d be so lovely, if it could always be like this, with him. you don’t know yet, that in his pocket is a charm bracelet, with your name and his encased in a heart.

[seonsong]

brainstorming so hard on how Seon-hwa would realistically deal with the prospect of arranged marriage a second time around, what her thoughts are approaching it as both a woman who's lived her whole life in a world where marriage Just Works Like That but also as someone who's more recently been exposed to the ideals of the modern world and love matches and imagining a life where she can be okay even if she doesn't get married again, and it's still far from all being clear to me but I think I'm getting closer

[seonsong]

“I thought you said you’d never marry for money.” “Well, I wouldn’t, not to suit my family. But if I genuinely liked the guy. Marriage of convenience to lovers, I think they call it.” He furrows his brow. “Violet.” “What?” she asks, looking at him with innocent sparkling eyes. “I thought I told you to stop staying up til 3am reading fanfiction.” A smile that he can only describe as sneaky overtakes her face. “Well, a woman can have one vice, can’t she?”

silly drabble number 283773

[seonsong]

Thank you so much for your comment!! 🥰

Eun Gyeol calling her CSK was probably a little ooc but I just found it too funny to not include 🤣 Eun Ho IS a menace and we love him for it

I actually didn’t originally plan to include that mini introspection on Eun Yoo and Cheong-ah’s friendship but that’s just sort of where the story led me, so I’m glad you liked it <3

Thank you!! I’m taking a tiny break before the next chapter, working on a couple of one-shots, but rest assured it will come soon and I hope you’ll love it too !!!

Chapter 2 is up now!!

Preview:

His eyes widen and he looks at his father for an explanation as Eun Yoo takes both his hands and shakes them enthusiastically.

‘I knew her mother in high school,’ explains Yichan. ‘I’ve just happened to run into her and found out she was a fan of yours, so I thought I’d bring her to meet you.’

“Ah… I see.” Eun Gyeol looks back at Eun Yoo, who's fixed him with a look that's both gleeful and… almost predatory.

[seonsong]

Chapter 2 is up now!!

Preview:

His eyes widen and he looks at his father for an explanation as Eun Yoo takes both his hands and shakes them enthusiastically.

‘I knew her mother in high school,’ explains Yichan. ‘I’ve just happened to run into her and found out she was a fan of yours, so I thought I’d bring her to meet you.’

“Ah… I see.” Eun Gyeol looks back at Eun Yoo, who's fixed him with a look that's both gleeful and… almost predatory.

[seonsong]

anyway. have this snippet from a story i may never end up writing properly

[seonsong]

It’s a beautiful summer day in 2023 when Ha Yichan spots a startlingly familiar face.

“Choi Se Kyeong?”

But it can’t be. Choi Se Kyeong is his age, and this is an 18-year-old girl.

[seonsong]

And I do like you. Much more than I had given myself permission to, actually. I don’t have any particular intentions, but I’m quite happy to say that I’m glad that you exist.

[seonsong]

The lush, ruffled sky—rose gold clouds turning purple in their folds, then wearing thin to reveal an otherworldly turquoise. I fumble for my pen, hoping to describe the bewitching expanse, but I look up again and the gold has vanished—in its stead remain clusters of floating violet wool.