#Like Lee isn't important enough so they are part of the background

[neon-catarina]

couldn't a reason Mind and Heart hate each other be because of whole's love interest (sung in Haiku and Hidden In The Sand), like how Whole really liked them, but he thought that they would never love him, so basically his Heart wanted to ask them out and pursue a relationship, but his Mind refused thinking they would never love him. And its mostly because of that Whole split into three in the first place, so they both blame each other for it, and that's why they hate each other?

[beggars-opera]

Ok, so I live in one of the more liberal areas of the country. Our governor is a lesbian and I literally did not even know until after she got elected, because it was that much of a nonissue.

Lately, I'm seeing more and more local institutions doing things for Pride. Institutions that don't necessarily have to, or do so awkwardly, but they're trying to be good allies. And, even here, I see people foaming at the mouth. This thing is ruined. Unprofessional. Political. Sexual. Boycotting, disgusted, bye.

And a part of me is like, "Why would a random store, a museum, a restaurant, do this?" Part of my mind has been so corrupted by the idea of rainbow capitalism that the thought of someone just...trying to be an imperfect ally is a cash grab.

It's not. Every bit counts, and especially as we see pushback, and see some of those corporations beginning to rethink their rainbow capitalism, the places that continue to speak up are so, so important.

I'm reminded of a rant by Illustrious Old White Man Historian Gordon Wood a few years back where he lamented how fragmented modern history is. Why do we need ANOTHER book about women, about enslaved people, about the poor? Why are we focusing on these people instead of George Mount Rushmore Washington?

And it was an interesting framing, because he insinuated that these micro histories were bad not because they existed, but because they didn't give the whole story, which in Gordon's mind was a story in which they were the side characters instead of the mains. To that end a biography of G Wash that features the bare shadow of Billy Lee in the far distance is a complete history, all that needs to be said, because one of those figures is a God Amongst Men and the other does not deserve to be fully fleshed out as a full, autonomous human being with a family and a profession and a beating heart. And a biography of William Lee, war aid, professional valet, and person closest to the first president of the United States, with the shadow of George in the background, would consequently be Bad History, because no one is saying that this man didn't exist, but his story isn't the whole story. It's backwards; he should be a footnote, and if he's not, that's bias.

But for me, as a historian, I know that the reason these microhistories exist, and are so important, is that they didn't exist before. Before someone can be truly, purposefully, tactfully inserted into the historical narrative, you need to know who they are. Not just as a name, not just as an archetype. You have to get to the point where there are so many books flooding the market about women and children and immigrants that it's no longer controversial to be talking about them, where learning about them instead of someone else is normal.

THEN you can feel good about rewriting the more general narrative. THEN you can actually have the information you need in order to put things into their proper context, to rethink the most important figure in each story, to assess what the full milieu of the time is.

And that's where we're at with Pride. We are still very much living in a time where queer people are shadow characters in the background. They are people that many will admit exist, but for god's sake, don't make them important, don't make them real, don't make them normal. And until we can shove rainbows down everyone's throats to the point where being queer is no longer seen as a thing that is Other, until we convince people that we're not going away, we will never be able to fully assimilate queerness into society.

We can't just be normal about Pride, because normal isn't loud enough to not get drowned out.

[onlyjaeyun]

𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 – 𝟓

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨

↬ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐱 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

↬ 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬!𝐀𝐔, 𝐂𝐄𝐎!𝐉𝐚𝐲, 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

↬ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟒.𝟒𝐤

↬ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐬/𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭

↬ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 ��𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐥'𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐄𝐎.

"Oh, my God!"

Your sudden exclamation of excitment startles both of your friends, their pretty eyes quickly shifting from their plate of snacks to your face, waiting for you to continue.

The alcohol has already made its way into your system and different than both Aeri and Jimin, you're more of a lightweight, so it didn't take more then three shots for you to get tipsy. But after a week, especially this particular dad, so exhausting and challenging, you're more than just ready to let it all go and enjoy yourself.

Working for Park Jongseong has definitely been...an experience. Your schedule isn't as demanding and physically exhausting as your previous part time jobs, yet the responsibility being a secretary comes with has definitely taken its mental toll on you. The urge to do everything as perfect as possible, just because you're genuinely afraid of disappointing your boss is a lot more than you thought and at this point you're not quite sure if you can actually handle it all.

To your luck, you've got something similar to a week off, due to Park Jongseong's physical absence, yet you're pretty sure you'll still have enough to do until he's back. It's not like you don't actually enjoy your job, it's more about your subconscious desire to please and satisfy your boss to gain his validation and approval.

Before you can actually get to the part where you curse at your father for not being part of your life, you turn your phone to show your girls the chat between you and Park Nayeon, your self proclaimed guardian angel, who is about to head over to the manifesto as well, leaving all three of you incredibly excited.

"That's so cool", Aeri giggles and takes a sip from her cute little cocktail, "I really hope she spends some time with us, too. I sound like a pathetic school girl who wants to be friends with the school's IT girl, what the fuck."

Her self awareness has you all chuckling, the music blaring in the background as you're all too comfortable to actually get up and dance. But neither one of you cares enough as the drinks do exactly what they're supposed to do and the need for sexual satisfaction from earlier has almost completely disappeared.

"Apparently it's Lee Heeseung's birthday", you say after reading Nayeon's next messages, "and Seoul's big four are headed here to celebrate. Yeonie said she's gonna try and have us invited into the VIP section as well."

It's this particular statement which has the three of you stop in your tracks. Just the thought of spending a night at the club with the four most important men of the company you all work for seems a lot less inviting than a single addition to your girls' night.

Jimin takes a deep breath and from the way she nervously puts her drink down, you can tell that the anxiety has yet to lose the fight against the alcohol in her system.

"I'm out", she quickly says and looks around, "I can't even look Mr. Park in the eyes when we happen to get into the same elevator at the company, there's no way I'm going to party with him. Or whatever he does at a club like this."

With a soft nod you agree with her words, feeling quite similar about your boss' presence, especially after the praising incident from earlier today.

"Let's just head out and have some beef at Ruby's", you say and start looking around to find one of the pretty waitresses who played a huge role in the greatness of your night.

"Oh, come on, babes!" Aeri suddenly says and looks at the two of you with her pretty lips pushed into a faux pout to gain your sympathy.

"Just an hour", she says and scoots closer to you on the little couch you're both seated in, "and then we'll leave and the meat's on me, I promise."

Jimin quickly shoots you a look of uncertainty, which you simply mirror as you start nibboing on your bottom lip.

You really don't want to run into your boss and his friends, no matter how nice they are, they're still your superiors and you can't help but feel like you're under constant observation when it comes to them.

On top of it all you really, really don't want Park Jongseong to look at you and remember the things you had said a few hours ago, the embarrassment and humiliation still very prominent in your guts.

But you're also more than aware that there probably won't be another opportunity like this for you to spend time with Nayeon, since she's a lot busier than she claims to be and you're usually too shy and hesitant to hit her up.

"I'm so tipsy already", you whine and roll your eyes once you realise you've all silently agreed to stay in this very moment, "I guess I just won't speak. Please don't make me embarrass myself even more, I'm begging you."

"Don't worry, Babe", Aeri says and holds her drink up with a big smile and excitement gleaming in her eyes, "we're going to have a great time!"

Just as you're about to join your best friend, the music suddenly stops and the crowd on the dance floor underneath the three of you as well as everyone else starts cheering, "Happy Birthday" replacing the previous hip hop song and that's when you realise who just arrived.

With big, curious eyes you watch Seoul's most known and loved Bachelors walk into the club, all of them dressed simply, yet as classy as one might expect.

With the owner of the club, TPC's very loved and appreciated CMO and today's birthday boy leading their pack, Lee Heeseung looks as charming and cool as ever. All four of them are dressed in simple dress shirts varying in colors, with their classic slacks, yet adding their own charms to the outfits with individual pieces of jewelry you know cost more than your monthly salary.

You don't even realise who your gaze has shifted to, until his dark eyes meet yours through the crowds of people, as if he felt your presence before actually seeing you.

Park Jongseong.

With your heart thrumming in your throat, you try to calm yourself down, yet as soon as you notice the way his usually so cold and stoic gaze starts roaming your face, you can't stop your brain from remembering your conversation from earlier, jolts of weird excitement and anticipation rushing through you. Maybe you'll actually have a good time with each orher tonight.

"Oh, no, not her."

You don't even get the chance to properly process Aeri's comment as your focus shifts from the CEO to the angel like women on his arm.

Her face is small and petite, shaped like the one of an ancient goddess and for a moment you actually forget to inhale.

Yoo Shiah, one of Seoul's biggest fashion influencers, who just so happens to be the daughter of famous and influential business man Yoo Yongho, one of The Park Company's biggest and most important partners to this date.

You physically can't stop yourself from staring at her and it doesn't take you long to realise it's mostly because of how close she is to your boss, rather than her beauty.

A weird feeling starts spreading in your tummy and like a child caught doing something forbidden, you quickly lower your head. You hate how much the sight of them so close together has affected you within just a few minutes.

You're surprised at your own behavior, since you, just like the entirety of South Korea, knows about the close bond those two share with each other. They're not titled Seoul's couple of the future for nothing after all.

"Let's just say Hi to Yeonie and then leave, please", you say and gulp harshly, too ashamed of the emotions your body's currently trying to process.

You genuinely don't understand where these feelings of envy and jealousy come from. You've only known Park Jongseong for about six weeks and besides the fact that he's never talked to you about anything that's not work related – with today as an exception – there's absolutely no reason for you to feel and think all of these things.

With a soft sigh, you try to hide the sudden wave of sadness overwhelming you, right before you actually curse your absent father for putting you into this situation in the first place.

If he had actually kept his promise and showed up when you needed him to, you wouldn't have gotten your hopes up from a single, simple verbal praise from your boss.

"Yeah, I really don't wanna be around that annoying bitch", Aeri adds casually and downs the rest of her cocktail in one go.

Jimin remains completely silent and for some reason you find comfort in your shared anxiety regarding this particular situation.

By the time the celebration song comes to an end, the four business men as well as their few friends have made their way to the VIP section, finally giving you the room to breathe, only for the loud call of your name have everyone's attention shift to you.

"There she is, the prettiest girl I've ever seen!"

Park Nayeon's voice is filled with excitement, slightly slurred and despite the discomfort of being stared at by your boss and his friends, you can't help but mirror your new friend's big smile as you hand Aeri your glass and get up to approach her.

"I'm so glad we finally got to see each other again!" Her voice is loud and you can feel everyone's eyes boring into you from all sides, but without actually hesitating, you pull the sweet brunette into a tight hug.

"Me too", you say and chuckle at the way she actually places a soft kiss on your cheek, "you look amazing."

"Says you! How does it feel to sit at the table for the sexiest girls in the club?"

Nayeon doesn't miss a beat as she throws her arm over your shoulders and turns to look at your best friends, waving at them with her pretty lips stretched into a bright smile before she introduces herself to your girls.

"Why don't you guys join us in the b-", "Thank you so much, Yeonie. But unfortunately we were just about to leave!"

You're quick to interrupt her to make sure your boss, as well as his friends who have actually approached the four of you as well, hear exactly about your departure.

"Happy birthday, Sir", you say once your gaze lands on the the handsome face of Lee Heeseung, who just thanks you with a soft smile.

"All three of you are sincerely welcome to join us", Sim Jaeyun says and casually shoots you a wink, his plump bottom lip pulled between his teeth and for a moment you can't hide how flustered you get.

The sudden clearance of a throat gains your attention and slightly confused you let your gaze fall to the tallest of the men in front of you.

"Hi there, sweetheart", Park Sunghoon, the company's head lawyer says, his voice just loud enough to reach you through the music and you physically can't stop yourself from smiling even bigger.

"Hi, Hoonie", you smile back and push a strand of hair behind your ear, enjoying the way he seems so genuine when you both know about his reputation.

You'd never sleep with him, not because of the things everyone has to say about him or because he's not your type, but because you'd rather not be part of the girls on his long, long list.

For some reason, your conscience forces you to also verbally acknowledge the main reason for your discomfort, so with a bit of an uncomfortable smile, you turn to look at your boss, who just so happens to have his eyes fixated on you already.

"Good evening, Sir", you say and hate how much you crave his approval, only to be disappointed when Jongseong doesn't deem you worthy of a verbal response. All you get is a nod.

A fucking nod.

"Are you guys sure?", Yeonie asks with genuine sadness in her eyes, yet it's not enough for you to change your mind. You have to leave right now or the mixture of alcohol and anxiety is going to embarrass you to the point of no possible recovery.

"I don't think it's appropriate for us to join you", you suddenly reply way too honest, surprising all of them, including the CEO, with your response, "I know how strict Mr. Park is about keeping things between himself and his employees strictly business, so it's better if we leave now."

Aeri and Minie don't add anything but head movements to your little explanation, too flabbergasted to speak and too overwhelmed to react otherwise.

You have no idea what's gotten into you, the sudden urge to be petty just taking over without giving your brain the time to overthink.

"Well, you're not my employee and these two don't give a fuck about that, too", Sunghoon chuckles and looks at you with amused eyes, "three beats one. We'd love for you all to spend some time with us."

"Come on, Y/N", Lee Heeseung suddenly says and leaves you absolutely defenceless, "are you really going to leave me hanging on my birthday?"

With a quick look to your girls and a nod in response to your silent question, all you can do is shake your head and accept their offer.

The following hour passes with a lot more laughter and silly jokes as well as old high school stories from your boss and his friends than you would have expected, and despite the fact that said superior has yet to acknowledge your existence, you're actually having a good time.

By the time 1AM rolls around, you feel the exhaustion and tiredness of the past week finally catch up on you and with a soft smile, you excuse yourself to go to the ladies' room, refusing your best friends' offer to join you, since you can feel the urge to be by yourself slowly take over you.

After giving yourself five minutes and touching up your lipstick, you make your way back to the group, only for your plans to be stopped as you run into a strong chest.

"What the – Changuk?"

Your ex boyfriend's name leaves your lips almost instinctively as you look up at him and manage to recognize the face you had loved for over a year.

Overwhelmed by the sudden run in, it takes you a good moment to realise that he's wearing a suit, a tiny little label clipped to his chest which approved your assumptions.

"You're a security guard?"

"Well, hello to you too, pretty one", he chuckles and for some reason you forget about your shared past for a single moment. You haven't seen each other in several months, six to be exact. And as your slightly clouded brain tries to stay focused on the most important things, you can't help but somehow feel a sense of comfort hit you.

"Congratulations", Changuk sudddnly says with his pretty lips stretched into a genuine smile, "I heard you got a job at The Park Company."

"Thank you, Chanie", you sigh and try to remain as composed as possible, "I guess I can only give that one back. How come you started working here?"

The two of you catch up a little, your ex boyfriend never once missing the opportunity to start a few flirting attempts, which you determinedly shut down to make sure he doesn't get the wrong message.

You made the mistake of going back to him once, you're not about to make it seen like you'd ever do something as stupid as that again.

As your conversation with the security guard continues, you don't even notice how much time passes, yet you're quite sure nobody would actually notice the length of your absence.

Little do you know that Park Jongseong's eyes have been glued to the very back of the VIP section for the past ten minutes.

And with every additional minute, it seems to get more and more difficult to keep his composure.

Jongseong doesn't understand what it is about you, yet the urge to not only keep you close to himself but also make sure you're alright and well taken care of in general has slowly overtaken every single pore of his body.

He doesn't care about you. He shouldn't. The rules he's set up for himself with your employment are as clear as possible, yet they don't seem enough to stop him from getting up.

With a made up excuse, Jongseong casually makes his way to the very back, knowing he would never forgive himself if something actually did happen to you, even if the possibilities are small.

As he slowly approaches the toilets, Jay can't help but wonder at what point he decided to act on these stupid urges and how he threw all of his plans of keeping everything between the two of you as professional as possible out of the window.

Maybe it's the few glasses of whiskey finally settling into his system or maybe it's his natural protector instinct, but for some stupid reason, he can't help the way he feels about you.

Knowing you've never had a man give what you've obviously been longing for has given him these false hopes that maybe he's the one to do just that.

He's been thinking about your reaction to his little comments about your phone conversation for the past eight hours and the fact he found himself fucking his fist to the thought of you kneeling between his legs, looking up and quietly asking for nothing but a few sweet words of praise and affirmation definitely didn't help with the chaos in his head.

Jay's never had these issues with an employee before. For fuck's sake, he's never had these kind of thoughts about any women before and he absolutely despises it.

You're twentyone years old, way, way younger than the women he usual goes for. On top of it all you work for him, a fact which is usually more than enough for him to ban you from his mind, but here he is.

And as his eyes finally find your pretty figure, Jongseong can't comprehend the amount of annoyance and jealousy flooding his body as he watches the way you chuckle and giggle about whatever the fuck that guard's just said to you.

With his jaw tightly clenched and his hands balled into fists, the CEO tries his very best to calm himself down because there's absolutely no reason for him to react this way.

"I'm glad you're doing so well, pretty one", the guard says softly and slowly lifts his hand to graze your cheeks, sending another hot jolt of jealousy right into the pit of Jongseong's stomach, only for the way you're quickly moving away from his touch to suffocate the flames in one go.

"We're not together anymore, Chanie", you say and push a strand of hair behind your ear, "let's keep the distance that comes with, yeah?"

That's my girl.

The first thought to cross his mind is to claim you, when he hasn't even said a single word to you the past two hours.

At this point Jong feels like laughing at himself for his pathetic behavior.

"Oh, come on, Babe", the tall guard suddenly says and leaves you no room to escape as he cages you in with his hand against the wall, right next to your head, "we're still a dream team, why can't you see it?"

Jongseong carefully and attentively watches your reactions and besides the obvious discomfort, sudden anger grazes your face, a sight he hasn't seen before and can't help but feel intrigued by.

"I don't think one party of a 'dream team' could claim that title after cheating on the other", you spit back at him, brows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line.

So, turns out your previous boyfriend wasn't only a headache in bed but also a god damn cheater.

For a moment, Jongseong struggles to maintain his composure, the thought of all the pain and heartbreak you went through because that stupid fucker couldn't keep it in his pants simply makes his blood boil.

Despite your reaction, Changuk doesn't seem to be very fazed by it and with an awkward chuckle he just grabs your chin and pulls you closer to his body; his sudden use of strength surprising you to the point where you can barely push your hands against his chest to move away from his touch.

"I've always liked that mouth of yours", he casually replies and nudges his nose against yours and for a moment Jongseong's vision actually turns completely black, the fact that man dared to not only verbally disrespect you but also seems to give absolutely no fucks about your lack of consent leaves him absolutely flabbergasted.

"Back the fuck off, Changuk", you say and struggle to push your ex boyfriend away, forcefully turning your head to the side to escape his attempt of a kiss and as soon as he somehow finds his way back to reality, Jongseong's body acts on his anger before his brain can even give it a single thought.

With just a few steps, your boss appears right behind your ex boyfriend, his brows furrowed and nothing but deep anger lingering in the usually so empty brown of his eyes.

A little yelp escapes you in response to Park Jongseong harshly grabbing the back of Changuk's collar and forcefully pulling him away from you. You don't even get enough time to realise what's happening when Jongseong turns his back on you and gives his full attention to the security guard on the floor.

"M-Mr. Park?"

Because of your boss's height you can't really see your ex boyfriend's expression but just from the shaking of his voice you can tell how genuinely scared he is. As he should be.

It's been about time he finally learns what it means to back off when he's told to.

"If I see you bother her again I'm going to turn you into a plastic surgeon's biggest nightmare, got it? Take your things and get the fuck out of here. Don't bother talking to Mr. Lee about this, I'll do that for you in great detail. Now fuck off and pray to whoever you believe in that we don't run into each other anymore because I won't hold back the next time. Pathetic piece of shit."

You don't know, if it's the meaning behind his words, this particular choice of or just the fact that they have given you a sense of protection in a way you've never experienced it before but for some reason you feel your heartbeat slowing down and a wave of calmness overcoming your anxious system.

Jongseong doesn't say anything else, just waits for Changuk to get up and walk away before he finally turns around to face you and the softness and worry grazing his pretty features definitely surprises you.

"Are you okay, Y/N?" His voice is gentle, his eyes nervously roam your face to look for any kind of discomfort or pain and you hate how much you love the way he looks at you. It's like he'd do anything to keep you safe and protected, comfortable and at ease; something you've never felt with anyone before. And it really had to be with your boss, of all people.

"Yes", you whisper and finally meet his strong gaze, losing yourself in the sweet brown of his iris quicker than you woukd have ever expected, "I mean – Yes, Sir. Thank you so much for stepping in."

"Of course", Jongseong replies quickly, the urge to take your pretty face into his hands and just pull you into his chest taking every bit of oxygen out of his lungs.

"I'm sorry for causing you so much stress and discomfort tonight. It won't ever happen again, I promise. The girls and I are gonna leave now so you can also enjoy the night with your friends and girlfriend."

As the words leave your mouth, you feel a wave of shame and embarrassment hit you yet again; the thought of being the reason why your boss couldn't even enjoy his best friend's birthday like a troubled kid definitely makes you want to disappear forever, yet there's no point in overthinking it.

"Shiah isn't my girlfriend", is the first ghing he clarifies and for a moment you're simply confused as to why he felt the need to do that, "and you didn't cause me any discomfort or stress. I enjoyed tonight and your company really changed things up a bit. Don't be so mean to yourself, Y/N."

"Oh." You physically can't stop the sound from escaping your lips and with big eyes you look up at your boss, only then realising just how close he is.

You can't help but wonder how it might feel to be held by him. The question if his embrace feels even safer and more protective than his presence lingering in the back of your busy mind.

"Thank you, Sir", you whisper and finally get yourself to look away. Your heart not strong enough to lose itself in any more false hopes as it is your boss you're currently looking at.

"Good", Jongseong has to physically bite down ln his tongue to stop himself from crossing a line he's been so adamant about drawing between the two of you by adding a single word, and as he watches the slight shinmer of anticipation dying down in your eyes, he knows he did the right thing. No matter how much it hurts his heart.

The young CEO simply can't do anything which might give you the wrong message. He won't sleep with you and despite the disgusting need to give you verbal affirmation and make you feel good about yourself, it's never going to go past that.

And after so many years and meeting different kinds of women, Jongseong knows why you're looking at him like that. You want what he can absolutely give you, yet for the first time in his life he can't bear the thought of the possible outcomes.

"I'm gonna call my chauffeur so he can drop you off at home and please text me once you've arrived. I wanna make sure you're all safe."

Those are his last words before he finally forces himself to turn his back on you again, not realising that his lack of self control regarding you is going to be a bigger problem than he could have ever imagined.

← 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 — 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 — 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 →

(A/N: and here we are! different than the other two smaus this one started off pretty esrly with the written chap but i felt like it was needed to understand their thought process for the following chapters! i hope you guys enjoyed it and thank you so much for all the love and support, i love you so much 🥺 feedback and reblogs are always appreciated!!!!🧸🤍)

TAGLIST CLOSED: @soonigiri @xrr-s4sha @kwiwin @heelcvr @deobitifull @kpoprhia @doodlelibrary @abrazosolorcereza @certifiedmoa @sleeping-demons @heerinnie @ohmy-moonlightx @starlightmkl @heeswif3y @hoonieluv @fakeuwus @jjaeyuns @cheybabey @ineedsomezzz @super-amberlynn @kshoshi @tinie03 @soiimo @mimikittysblog @primroselover @heebrry @jebetwo @donghyckl @07myonlylove @enhamysunshines @quemirasboboandapaya @lostwonderwall @seuomo @enhaz1 @teawithbucky @beomgyusonlywife @dammit-jjk @lhsvibez @azurez @boutyouwonu @finchyy @ocyeanicc @jaylaxies @glitterssim @in-somnias-world @zerasari @spookyauthorspopmusictrash @capri-cuntz @fluerz @3amstarlight

[ivorypiano]

rating various doublecastings in assassins 👍

balladeer/lee harvey oswald: THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND!!! no one's doing it like them... i think it's really important to the show because of the running theme that anyone could end up like the assassins, and the balladeer being a representation of the audience getting turned into an assassin is really powerful imagery. i LOVE the way the 2021 off broadway revival stages the costume change because instead of the assassins forcing the balladeer into it it feels more like the balladeer has been pushed to the point where he does it willingly. and im so normal about that!!! i looove the broadway revival's staging of the assassins surrounding the balladeer to reveal him as lee harvey oswald because it feels a lot more surprising/shocking . i also saw a production that had the assassins force the balladeer to change at gunpoint, which was interesting. 1000/10 (the only drawback to this is the one production i found that had a female lee harvey oswald which. was a choice.)

proprietor/john wilkes booth: i'm ok with it! i think my main problem with this is that the proprietor to me represents the disillusionment with america turning into violent passion against it, so having him also be a person feels weird to me. also i think it gives too much power to booth, and i think it's important to show that like everyone else, john wilkes booth was never really that special. also i like it when the proprietor is influencing other scenes and if he's doublecast with booth he's only really in the opening number. it doesn't really affect the show on a surface level though. 5/10

bystander #3 or #5/emma goldman: i don't really have that many thoughts on it, low score because i don't think it detracts from the show but it doesn't really add to it either. i prefer them played by separate actresses but like 100% of the time they're doublecast because the ensemble isn't big enough. also when they're played by the same actor they have to costume change during what does a man do, and i think it's a little distracting for what's meant to be a powerful rally. 2/10

ensemble/the assassins: not a fan, i think it detracts from the assassins feeling like outcasts from what the ensemble represents as society. i guess it could represent the assassins being people/blurring the lines between us vs them?? i think the balladeer/lee harvey oswald doublecast is a more effective way to do that. i dunno, i think it's too distracting to be worth it but also i really like some productions that do this so it doesn't really matter that much. 1/10

bystander/lee harvey oswald: OK i'm going to do something unheard of and talk about the watermill theatre production. i think this doublecasting is really effective in a specific context, like how watermill theatre sets it up. for some background they don't have an orchestra, so all the instruments are played by the assassins and the ensemble. one side effect of this is that the ensemble is on stage a LOT more than they normally are, and for the most part they don't have costume changes, so each ensemble member is very recognizable and you feel like you know them. because of this, when one of the ensemble members is turned into lee harvey oswald, it has the same affect as double casting the balladeer and oswald. it feels like a representation of the audience is being turned into an assassin, while avoiding the ramifications of the balladeer (who is female in this) being oswald. the only negative drawback is that this ensemble member wears a high school letterman jacket for most of the show so it makes oswald feel a lot younger. this is something most productions do but booth feels much older then oswald, who in real life was a year older than him. oswald feels like a kid being manipulated by an older person who knows what they're doing, but i think it's important to show that he's also a grown man who fully knew what he was doing when he chose to shoot jfk. anyways in any other production where the ensemble isn't on stage a lot it doesn't have the same affect, oswald feels like an entirely new person who you have no introduction to, because most people won't recognize him as one of the actors in the ensemble. 10/10 for watermill, 1/10 for everyone else

balladeer/the proprietor: so i've only seen one production that does this and i have a lot of mixed feelings on it. for context this is a college production that has the entire ensemble play both the proprietor and the balladeer. i think this gets rid of the duality between the proprietor and the balladeer, especially in another national anthem when they're supposed to be fighting but instead the same people are singing both the proprietor and the balladeer's lines. i think the only good thing about this is that the proprietor and the balladeer feel a lot more like forced of nature/ideas rather than individuals. 3/10

[heinzpilsner]

Okay, I'm back, and this is another part of 'Overanalyzing beach Maiko' series! ... Which means we'll try and focus on overanalyzing beach Maiko goddamit as opposed to all the other tempting beach psychological stuff. Yay.

Anyway, today we're going to find out who of the pair actually screwed up the most. Isn't it exciting?

(Spoiler: the answer can be a bit unexpected.)

So, in the last part, Mai broke up with Zuko, and now they're about to meet again in the company of Azula and Ty Lee after... some time (somewhat between twenty minutes and a couple of hours, really).

The pair had an opportunity to calm down and reflect on what happened (and in Mai's case, probably to hear the other girls' opinions), so I'm sure they are different people now!

They both have analyzed their wrong attitudes and relationship mistakes, and now they are wiser, and stronger, and fre...

Zuko: "Where is your new boyfriend?"

Zuko: "My life hasn't been that easy either, Mai." Mai: "Whatever!"

...Nevermind.

But let's not get ahead of events here.

The scene begins with the royal siblings approaching the girls. Zuko walks past Mai with sad expression on his face while she is glaring at his back. Then she looks away with resentment. But then...

Mai: "Hey."

Well, it was very... minimalistic. But it's good to know that Mai reevaluated at least some things here!

...Which ones exactly is an important question though. What if among them was the belief that nice butt is not a reason enough to stay with a guy who can innocently ask you one evening whether you prayed tonight or not?

Okay, okay, I know.

This butt joke was not very minimalistic.

Seriously though, if we leave alone the fact that Zuko is not exactly in the best state for romancing anyone due to him being a cringe-worthy disaster his major inner crisis...

And the fact that Mai clearly should try and find for herself some sources of endorphins which wouldn't depend on how far from a mental breakdown or a high treason her trainwreck of a prince currently is...

And the fact that this whole relationship wasn't such a great idea from the point of compatibility in the first place...

Who of the pair should've made a first move towards reconciliation in the perfect scenario?

Yep, that's a really important question here

I mean, at first it seemed obvious to me that it must be Zuko - since he was acting like an idiot and screwed up the loudest, but...

When I actually tried to analyze the situation through this paradigm, something in the picture didn't really add up. This pesky elusive something kept breaking the general logic, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it for quite some time, you know.

But I think I finally managed to figure out what it was about.

Mai's reluctant little "hey" is the key here, actually.

(It will be a long way, but I hope it will worth it)

Let's look at the totality of facts:

For the whole day, Mai's behavior indicated she doesn't value Zuko all that much.

On this background, he showed her all his ugly sides and gave her not just one, but several good reasons for a break-up.

Just now, he walked past her without stopping to apologize for his words or behavior.

She is clearly still angry at him.

And after all this, Mai, an egocentrical girl with perhaps a bit too much pride, still initiates contact with Zuko.

Doesn't it seem at least a little bit weird to you? It sure does to me.

And, in my opinion, it most likely means one thing...

It was really freaking cold on that beach at night.

... Okay, okay, sorry.

Azula was also a firebender, bad hypothesis.

It means that as soon as Mai got the opportunity to look at her life without Zuko, she suddenly felt that she needs him much more than she thought previously. Like, much more. So much, in fact, that even her pride, resentment and common sense couldn't really beat it.

And yet, she was treating him like a gum that stuck to her shoe. She wasn't grateful for that he gave her nearly enough and took his affection for granted.

So, you wanna know how badly Mai screwed up exactly?

Take the intensity of all cringe-worthy shit Zuko demonstrated today, add to it a little 'hey' multiplied by Mai's pride - and that will be your answer.

Math is so fun.

I always was bad at it though.

I doubt though that Mai herself realized even half of it - otherwise she wouldn't look that angry. I suspect it was mostly her need in itself that made her forget how to be "smart and proud" for once and make a first move.

Except that she probably rationalized it as "Since I'm feeling very generous tonight, I'll give this idiot another chance."

And she is still hoping for Zuko's apologies, so she could graciously forgive him and accept him back.

...Pfffft.

Good luck with this one.

Even though Zuko chilled out quite a bit since the party, until he sees the central belief on which his whole course of actions was based as misconception, he can't apologize for his behavior.

Well, technically he can, but...

"Hello, Mai, Zuko's here. Of course, you treated me like dirt and tried to freaking cheat on me on top after I fed you all the stuff you wanted and almost broke my brain by trying to find at least something about your negativistic ass to compliment... but I a little bit overreacted here. Calling you a big blah was a bit too much, I guess. You're only a small blah. So, yep. It's all I wanted to say. Take care here."

The thing is, Mai didn't really make it clear that she's loyal to Zuko when he doubted it. She only yelled at him for "blowing up over every little thing" without addressing the topic of jealousy directly, and then everything just gone to shit.

And as far as Zuko's knowledge goes, Mai could call her cheating "a little thing". So how exactly he's supposed to understand his mistake if Mai refuses to talk to him properly?

"He could simply use his brain", I can hear someone thinking loudly. Well, it doesn't really seem to be an option at the moment, does it?

You can thank the writer for this.

Mai here is smart though, and smart girls don't explain themselves to their stupid boyfriends even when it actively harms their relationship, apparently.

Fortunately for Mai though, this stupid boy is also lonely as heck. And despite Zuko's "Where is your new boyfriend?" line (which indicates he still resents Mai for her "infidelity" and probably has been imagining in all vivid details how she and Ruon-Jian feed each other fruit tarts since he left the party), he all but runs to her in response to a slightest hint he is still wanted.

Damn, I clearly need to think of some new Mai-related stuff to crack bad jokes about, don't I?

Zuko: "Are you cold?"

So... You're a good caring boy here, Zuko, there's no question about it. But... goddamit.

Is it physically possible to be more love-starved? You could take a leaf out of Mai's book about how to be proud, you know.

I mean, the hell are you doing getting all cozy with her? She just broke up with you! Oficially! After she supposedly tried to cheat on you! Yes, you were an idiot for believing so, but you don't know it yet (otherwise you'd be ashamed of your previous stupidity and wouldn't accuse her again like this).

Even if your reaction was... unnecessary scandalous that's one way to put it, cheating attempt is still a serious transgression (just like breaking up with a partner is a serious act). You can forgive her if you like, but you can't just 'are you cold' it off! You're supposed to talk about it, goddamit!

Perhaps if Zuko just waited a little bit longer instead of moving towards her, Mai would actually overcome her pride and explain the situation to him.

But when his relationship needed it most, Zuko's self-respect vanished. Again.

And now Mai knows that she can whistle at any moment and he'll run to her no matter what (not as fast as she'd prefer, admittedly, but they can work on it). Yep, that's exactly the message you need to give a girl who supposedly looks at other guys and believes it's okay to use you as a free service.

(No.)

How do you think you ended up in such a situation with her in the first place, boy? Give this girl an inch and she'll take a mile!

Ugh, whatever. I guess it doesn't make much sense to expect such an awareness from a lonely 16-year-old in his first relationship.

Naturally, getting in response to her huge gracious 'hey' just a pathetic show of care and forgiveness (as opposed to expected tearful repentance), Mai pushes Zuko away again, and thus concludes this segment of beach Maiko interactions. Yay.

The next dialogue of the pair centers around Mai's personality and demeanor, so I guess this is what we'll talk about next time. And... Mai fans, I warn you: it's not gonna be pleasant~ (when it ever was with me though, lol?)

Thanks for your attention!

(By the way, all you've just read could be  total bullshit, because the topic is quite complex and that in fact was my third attempt to analyze the situation, muhahaha! Take it or leave it.)

I ignore all notifications.

P. S.: I just realized something. Why it's zutara but Maiko for me? It's kinda contr-intuitive given my preferences, I suppose.  But I just feel like this. Maybe it's about difference between something familiar and alien. I'm not gonna change anything anyway - it would be too stressful for my autistic brain right now, lol.

R.I.P., Akira Toriyama.

[utilitycaster]

I agree with you that the traitor Baru Cormorant was not quite what I hoped for. what are other political scifi books you would recommend?

I'm going to be repeating myself a bit here because I'm working on building up my reading habits after grad school+pandemic and new job shot them to hell, but:

Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota. I've read the first 3 books but my hold on the 4th came in during my work conference/moving hell period this July and I didn't finish it, but it's incredibly good. Ada Palmer is a historian herself and understands how politics work. It takes place on earth, about 500 years in the future, as war breaks out in what was never truly a utopian society.

The Vorkosigan Saga, again; truly a beloved series of mine, this has everything: interplanetary politics, military sf, a comedy of manners, spy intrigue, romance. The core family of the books is among planetary nobility so there's always a lot of politicking involved, even in the more classically military SF novels (but also military SF that doesn't suck is usually heavy on the politics).

Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee, a new favorite I picked up by chance this year. It's very much a series that throws you in the deep end and expects you to figure it out but it's truly just nonstop intrigue peppered by a cool sf system and a lot of Thoughts About Gender/The Body One Has.

Thessaly by Jo Walton is another series I've only read part of (the first two books of a trilogy) and the first two books are only vaguely SF but it is very political, based on the premise of "what if we made Plato's Republic from people across the entirety of human history". The third book, which I hope to get around to shortly, is from what I understand much more explicitly SF.

Also some honorable mentions to:

Becky Chambers' books are much more about life in space, but there are political elements, and if Baru Cormorant left you a bit cold because of the lack of investment into deep character dives, this is all character and background politics.

Technically, The Locked Tomb series is intensely political and one day I shall kneecap whoever was like 'what if we just yelled Lesbian Necromancers In Space nonstop and alienated readers who were looking for something deeper.' The politics really kick in during the second and third books, and the fourth isn't out, and there's a whole lot of other stuff going on, but the politics are intensely important and in my opinion an under-explored part of the series in fandom.

It's been a LONG time since I read Asimov's Foundation (like...15 years or something, I read it in high school) but I remember really liking it and meaning to revisit it some day. I feel like it's going to hit some of the same themes as Baru Cormorant but just...as I said, I'm interested enough to read more to know what happens, but Dickinson's writing style is a little too spare in a way I'm not sure is entirely deliberate, and Asimov is spare in a way I know is on purpose.

Also, it's technically fantasy, but I have just read the first two books of the Kushiel's Legacy Phedre trilogy and am waiting to get a copy of the third from my library, and they are very political intrigue heavy, while also having a much stronger literary style and voice. (Note: this series is 1. very sexually explicit, by design of the world and concept - basically, what if instead of Christianity a bunch of angels who were like 'you know Take Me to Church by Hozier? what if that was literally how worship worked' landed in Fantasy Medieval France and now it's the Fantasy Renaissance Era, and 2. extremely from the early 2000s, which is to say, very progressive for like 2001 but somewhat dated now.)

[alltimefail-sims]

random question but erwin gives Lana stan vibes and same lolz but then i wondered what music your characters from strangerville story all listen to?

First off I am so happy to answer this question for you!! Thank you for asking! I love love love music and love this question!

That being said, before I begin I want you to know that I'm so sorry to burst a personal headcanon you've made about my version of Erwin Pries...but he has probably never heard a Lana Del Rey song in his entire life lmfao (I'm assuming that's who you're talking about). But Erwin is an EA premade, so if your Erwin is a Lana Del Rey stan I love that for you and that's valid!!! My Erwin just isn't haha (but his sister Maggie would like her music!) Anyway!!!

Very long response below the cut! ↓

Erwin mostly listens to older music: he loves music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s and listens to everything on vinyl or cassette (he is very passionate about the preservation of physical media, he is the Paranoid ass king after all). His favorites are Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Queen, David Bowie, Abba, Neil Diamond, Jim Croce, Billy Joel, John Denver, James Taylor, Elton John, The Mamas and Papas, Johnny Cash, and so on. He also has a not-so-secret love for musicals and claims that the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack is one of the best pieces of composition to ever exist (he also likes Godspell, Rent, Xanadu, and many more) Get him drunk enough and he will talk about how Mamma Mia is "Literally a transcendent work of art with whimsy and heartbreak and joy and a tender ass storyline at the heart that quite literally fucks so hard. Fucking Meryl Streep. Fuck!" Direct quote. That man hardly listens to anything post-1990, with the exception of "Queen Florence Welch" (Florence and the Machine).

Zoe appreciates all kinds of music, but has a deep love for the soul music that she heard around the house growing up. She likes music with feeling and depth, and the lyrics are most important to her but if the song isn't deep, it better have a good beat that she can dance to! Her personal favorite artists include Otis Reading, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Dionne Warwick, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Rhianna, Lauryn Hill, The Temptations, Roberta Flack, Janelle Monáe, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and so on!

Beckett's looks deceive him because he loves pop music. He is listening to the current hits, think Billboard 100s exclusively lol. He might have listened to a few rock or rap songs to get "pumped up" back in his football days, but for the most part he is always listening to pop - he even likes boybands, but won't willingly admit that lmao. He's a Swiftie through and through, and he will fight for her honor on any Twitter thread or in-person discussion. He also has a love for 90s and early 2000s country artists like Shania Twain, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack, and The Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) because of cleanin' and cookin' Sundays with his momma <3

Junia doesn't care about music that much! She doesn't have any favorite artists, she's never even bought a CD and probably couldn't tell you 5 bands or artists off the top of her head. She's one of those people who will listen to anything that "has a good beat" while she's working out, and it doesn't even have to have words. She's listening to music more for background noise as opposed to being passionate about it or seeking it out.

Anwar listens to alternative music mostly! Bands like the 1975, The Strokes, Paramore, The Clash, Fall Out Boy, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, The Neighborhood, and so on. He definitely went through a pop-punk, Hot Topic, combo of emo and scene phase in his teen years in the 2000s. (Iykyk, if you don't... look it up lmao. It was a time to be alive.) If they could play at Warped Tour, he listens to them lmao. But he's cool with most pop or radio music, he's not like a music snob or anything.

Tashia listens to pretty much everything, but she also loves metal music. Idk if you've seen the Pixar/Disney movie "Monster's University" but there's a scene in there where the mom of one of the main characters drops them off at Monsters Inc. and she's like "I'll just be listening to my tunes until you get back" in like the sweetest voice and then as she's rolling up the windows you can hear metal music blasting through the speakers and she's just like... calmly vibing like she's listening to elevator music or smooth jazz lmfao. It's very funny. That's how I imagine Tashia's music taste to be and it concerns everyone around her <3

[consumeronionbulletin]

Once Upon a Small Town (2022)

It's hard to dislike this show, even if it's the TV equivalent of a giant fluffy bag of cotton candy. It's short, sweet, safe, and uses a bunch of familiar tropes. It feels like Hometown Cha x 3 only with a smaller budget, and way more farm animals.

There's a meet cute, followed by a long lost Childhood Connection, with both leads having an Orphan Family Story, as well as a Double Love Triangle with a Surprise Ex-Girlfriend. The writing feels lazy, but they manage to do just enough work that it doesn't feel like pandering. You know from the beginning that the OTP will make it okay, and that the love pentagram will be complete, with everyone important paired off just in time for the last episode.

The Performances

Park Soo-young (aka "Joy") as Ahn Ja-young. Park Soo-young has an entire career as part of a K-pop group (which I know nothing about), but she's started to branch out into acting. She's pretty good in this. I think it helps that this is a small series with no one there to outshine her, but she's onscreen with kids, and animals, and (despite the cliche) she isn't completely upstaged. I even felt genuine feels a couple of times from her performance.

Chu Young-woo as Han Ji-yul. The other lead is also a very young actor, but kept enough of my interest that I never got bored with him. Again, it helped that his character was a bit of a stoic, but he was obviously trying his best and had a few good moments, especially the episode with the Old Man and the 30-year-old Bull. I wouldn't say his chemistry was off the charts, but this was basically the Korean equivalent of a Lifetime Movie, so it didn't have to be.

Park Ye-ni as Young-Sook. I picked this show up because I enjoyed watching her play a side character in You Are My Spring. The writers didn't give her much to work with until the end, but she did a good job with it and was able to bring out a few good moments in the last 3-4 episodes when they gave her something to do. Still funny and fun to watch.

Baek Seong-cheol as Lee Sang-hyeon. Normally, this character is the boring third wheel, and his/her job is to help the OTP figure out their feelings and then disappear. One of the smarter things the writers did was to make this character be a childhood friend who is a pretty decent guy. Instead of just getting dumped on, he was helpful and supportive of Ahn Ja-young. He just wanted something that she didn't. The downside to this choice is that it can make all of the characters seem indecisive and wishy-washy, but the acting (especially from Baek Seong-cheol) was good enough that you felt like you understood and respected the characters instead.

Everyone else. The Auntie brigade was fun. The small town cops were okay. The little kiddos were largely okay, and even good in a few places. All of the side characters (including Old Guy With 30-year-old Bull) were good. The actor who played the ex-girlfriend was very new but didn't mess things up. So there's no big complaints.

TL; DR:

It's a cute show that you can just put on with dinner or in the background and not worry about it. It knows what it's trying to do, and it manages to accomplish most of those goals without screwing up. If you like fluffy romance stories, you'll probably enjoy this.

[mhaynoot]

you can always employ the tried and true ‘ramble about the story idea without actually writing it down’!

thank you for your encouraging words hehe!! it's been a while since you sent this in (sorry!) but i'm pretty sure I wrote this idolja idea around the same time and took your advice actually HAHAH ramble story idea always coming in clutch

can't find where i posted this so i'll just shove it underneath the page break cause i do really like this idea and might come back to it later

... but imagine idolja did an action drama one day and everyone goes: he doesn't look powerful at all, in fact isn't he just getting beat up by the male lead? but why is he so captivating still? ... maybe cause he looks really good in pai-

he's an unpopular idol and he's only acting a side character in the drama and everyone thinks he's gonna flop but surprisingly... he's pretty good? he can match the seasoned actors around him and ... his mouth has always been very charming 

his singing is okay but his talking skills are wow he's unmatched in variety shows fr, he’s really good at speaking and riling up the audience in a way an idol really really shouldn’t

by extra character I really do mean extra character role, like kdj is not introduced until like the last quarter of episode 1 as a part of the male lead's background entourage and the hijinks with the female lead are already underway or something (don't worry about it, the drama's plot is not important). It’s like he’s there to like make up numbers of pretty faces on a show.

but he does have plot relevance enough to have actual scenes and while they're written like throwaway scenes that wouldn't mean much, when netizens watch them they can't help thinking "oh? these two characters have a surprising lot of chemistry together!" or "wow I can't stop replaying this scene!" and then type away gushing about the cool FL and handsome ML.

But behind the scenes, it's noticed and his energy with the other way more seasoned actors is surprisingly on par. but he doesn't overshine them or anything, in fact he eerily seems to match them exactly where they need him to make sure they grow. unlike with the male lead who's aggressive methods and outstanding capabilities blows others to either match him or get dusted. screenwriter hsy, revises the script a little, some extra scenes until KDJ slowly becomes a side character and then a secondary character.

so yeah in a cast of famous actors, kdj was expected to fade into the background especially as an unpopular idol who had a "controversial" past (canon events) but the scene that made him and the show blow up was the pivotal fight with the ML where hmm

well when his voice goes a little low and he's breathing is strained as he gets beat up by the ml heh well some netizens point out that he sound really really submissive hehehehe

 well like i said his mouth is very charming

(some extra bg i wrote: the show is already predicted to be a hit before it aired because of the star power and production behind it. Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Seolhwa as the main leads and their guaranteed chemistry from other dramas they've starred in has already racked in the CP fans. Not to mention award winning, most marketable and highest-selling author and screenwriter, Han Sooyoung.)

[retvenkos]

ahhh okok— i have to say, i am team suho for ju kyung, buut that doesn’t stop me from absolutely adoring seojun ( i like to say that he is for the viewers ). i actually prefer the show over the comic! i feel like it stays more true to its original theme and the overall development in the story is *chef’s kiss*

nonetheless, the comic still holds a place in my heart as it is just so fun despite its flaws and its so easy to be drawn in. my quarrel with it tho is it just drags on so long 😭 ( doesn’t stop me from reading it tho as im too far into the hole lol )

nixie, all of your opinions are so valid!!!!!!!! i am team suho in the comic (the way his growth is sO. IMPORTANT TO ME), but for the show i'm team seojun despite knowing how it's all going to end, and for sO! MANY! REASONS! (which you know i'm going to get into under the cut,,,,) i mean,,, how can you not be team seojun when he’s doing that!!!!! when he’s singing that!!!!!!!! when he’s looking at jugyeong like that!!!!!!!

and yes, i agree that the show handles a lot of the overarching themes better (esp. the like,,,, bullying, and the antagonism between suho and seojun over seyeon, etc.) and i think it's in a large part due to the fact that the story is more strapped for time, and so they're forced to bring up Important Plot Points sooner than in the comic. the show also benefits from a lot of Knowledge in that, at times, the comic adds flashbacks that come out of left field with little ceremony or buildup. The show, however, is pretty up to date with character backgrounds, and so they're able to flesh out characters a little more maturely, often with that backstory in mind. i also think the show worked wonders when it brought in additional characters like jugyeong's dad (!!!!!! he was sorely missing from the comic and his every appearance brings me joy.), as well as amalgamated 2+ characters into one for ease of storytelling - yoo tae-hoon as both lee taehoon and aiden kim my beloved <3, sujin as both sujin and chaerin my heart <3.

and omg,,,,,,, the length of the comic,,,,,,,,, i have too many thoughts, so they're all going under the cut:

TLDR; as it pertains to the comic, the overall narrative of true beauty suffers because jugyeong is a poor choice for the main pov protagonist. she suffers from a perfectionist lens where consequences for her actions are never realized, and her arc is stagnant throughout the majority of the story as it has a simple resolution with no confounding choices or missteps.

as it pertains to the show, hindsight and a shift in the narrative structure was able to create a more dramatic, more concise storyline that makes for a more invested viewing.

okay.

so, to begin, i think the comic drags for one primary reason, and it's not the insane number of installments (although that is deserving of recognition as well, asdfghgf). the #1 most damning thing about true beauty is that, im ways more than one, jugyeong is a terrible protagonist.

now, i don't mean she's a bad character - she definitely has something special going on in that she was bullied mercilessly and still chooses to see the good in people rather than the bad, and her whole "i have a secret that no one can know about and i will go to any lengths to keep it that way" is fun and interesting to engage with! ..... but as a side quest. the problem with jugeyong as a protagonist is that she's far too squeaky clean. her big lesson from this comic is to learn to love herself - bare face and all - so that she can accept the love of others sans doubt. that's a fine lesson in and of itself to learn, but the problem is that it's a little too straightforward, and it's a little too easy - especially for the slowburn, 200(+) episode format. there's just not enough there to be substantial, and the author isn't keen on making jugyeong's story any more complicated than it has to be.

i mean, the biggest stakes after suho and seojun make up (which we will talk about in good time) is "when will seojun see jugyeong's bare face?" and that is just an eventuality. there's a bit of mystery in how he will react, but there's only one right answer in the eyes of many viewers, and so jugyeong's main theme and main storyline is without real investment.

and the author clearly knows this, because she continues to tack on dramatic subplots, which are all plausible, but hinge a lot on jugyeong being naive or pleasing, and not learning the lesson from the last time she was victimized. the only way to bring investment is to create these elaborate plots, where everyone is bashing their heads into the wall, asking "jugyeong wHY?" and tuning in to see if she finally gets the hint this time.

and so, the comic version of true beauty suffers a lot, because we can't have progression in jugyeong's thematic storyline without the story being finished, and yet the author doesn't allow jugyeong to regress in her plotline or make morally dubious left turns, in order for progress to then be made.

and i want to touch real quick (real quick, i say, as though any of this is concise) on what i mean by allowing jugyeong to regress or make a hard left. jugyeong has this secret that she desperately wants to keep... and yet the story never backs her into a desperate corner where she has to make dicey and consequential decisions to keep it.

whenever there's going to be consequences for jugyeong deceiving people, or not trusting those she's in a relationship with due to her insecurities, those get swept under the rug in the face of acceptance........ and they never stew or come back to cause problems.

in the jugyeong/seojun breakup, there is no room to think about or address the way that jugyeong not trusting seojun damaged their relationship, or the way that jugyeong avoiding situations to keep up the ruse led to some of their downfall. because of the framing of the story, the fault lies entirely with seojuns new career (and, incidentally, his reasons for needing this career are never brought up to jugyeong - or, at least, she never considers them).

this plot armor to protect jugyeong goes as far as the time skip - which exists almost exclusively to show that jugyeong had time to ~mourn the loss of suho~ before she fell in love with seojun. timeskips in a show are used to jumble character arcs and change the status quo - there's supposed to be new mysteries and marked changes to characters. if you think about it, the true beauty time skip..... really didn't deliver any of that. we got (1) suho going radio silent, (2) seojun having to provide more financially for his family, and maaaaybe (3) jugyeong and seojun spending more time together. nothing else really changes! and arguably, those three things did not require a timeskip to address.

imagine the conflict, if jugyeong were to move on from suho to seojun faster. if readers were to see her moving on, and think "??? jugyeong... isn't that a little fast???" and her entire narrative being "no way! i've always liked seojun, and he's present, and he's here, and he's willing to love me as i am - or, at least, the version of me that he knows." already, we have so much more conflict! the layers of jugyeong's deception! she's taken a hard left! she's regressed a bit! now we have a more compelling way to push the story forward - they both have increased guilt over the situation, jugyeong's deception will amount to something when they're aired, and tension will ensue!

jugyeong severely lacks from a perfectionist lens wherein she does nothing unambiguously wrong, and her ambiguous choices are reframed so they're out of the picture, when conflict arises.

which brings me back to my original point, being that the comic drags because it has no interesting narrator.

if you've read this far, you're already humoring me, so just imagine real quick how interesting it would have been if our main narrators were suho and seojun.

because they both have such strong feelings about each other, and all that happened with seyeon, they would both be a little unreliable in their storytelling at the beginning. suho would start the story, ofc, and instead of it beginning with jugyeong's bullying, it begins with the duality of the girl at the comic shop and the girl at school. suho learns about her double life, and then the reason for such grand deception can be a bit of a mystery - lightly hinted at, as always, but the true form of it never learned until jugyeong and suho are much closer. and then, you have the added mystery of suho and his father's distance, whatever happened to seyeon - that boy people only mutter about when suho is around - which would be a very slow burn mystery with lots of tension, and finally, whatever the hell is going on between seojun and suho.

and!!!!!! when it's finally seojuns turn to be introduced into the story, he can become a narrator as well. perhaps, at the end of some of the earlier episodes, there were hints at who this character is - for the last few panels of some installments, there's this other mystery narrator who has the same pictures as suho but seems to have a very different life. when we finally get in deep with his pov, we see suho as this callous young man rather than this awkward, lonely boy. the duality of their pov's could be so interesting!!!!

then, because true beauty makes a habit of having one or two episodes being in another character's pov entirely, we get the occasional pov of jugyeong where we can really highlight the mistreatment she faces, and how she's good, despite.

and hey! if we want to keep the time skip in, shift pov's then, to it primarily being jugyeong's story. or the other way around! keep jugyeong's pov in the beginning, but introduce suho and seojun's narration at the time skip.

a shift in pov would be great justification for a timeskip, and i'd be behind it, then.

i think the story of true beauty works great, but it would be elevated if it focused more on interpersonal drama, the messiness that comes when insecurities intersect with love, the way that one's past influences then, and how people can still become friends and mend broken ties, if they approach a situation with acceptance and forgiveness.

which brings me to the show. (preface saying that i’m only 10 minutes into episode 10)

the show flows better than the comic for many reasons, but here are the most important three, imo.

the stakes are higher than in the comic. not only is there more physical fighting and aggression, but the bullying jugyeong faces is more imminent and raw, - as there’s the rooftop scene, as she transferred rather than age into high school, and as her bullies come out of the woodwork again and again. in the show, it’s fine that jugyeong drags a bit with her arc because the conflict is more present, the story is more concise, and the story (thus far) has taken place entirely in high school, where drama is Heightened in a way it functionally isn’t in adulthood. all these characters are stuck together in the same space for the majority of the day, so of course jugyeong’s secret is a more imminent threat.

the show slowly develops the lives of side characters. this goes back to my (much) earlier comment about the show having Knowledge of who the characters are. in the comic, the backstories of other characters are revealed in a sort of hit-and-run manner, the way that backstories are often presented to real people in real life. we know nothing of sujin’s past, and then, in an episode that’s well into the 150 mark, we suddenly learn that sujin was childhood friends with suho before they had a falling out, that she was a harp protege, and that she has many parallels to jugyeong as well. the same happened with suho and seojun. suddenly, we’re introduced to facets of their character that were simply Not Present before. with some of the characters, there was foreshadowing and mystery. with many, there were not. the show fixes this by slowly fleshing out these characters, rather than doing a drive by at the end of their arc. we also have the inclusion of juyoung having a crush on gowoon, jugyeong’s parents, the heegyeong/joonwoo relationship, and the tae-hoon/suho friendship which puts emphasis on other characters besides jugyeong.

suho’s growth is exponentially slowed down. now, don’t get me wrong - i hate this aspect of the show with my dying breath - but, credit where credit is due, slowing down suho’s character development does wonders for the slow burn of jugyeong’s plotline. now that jugyeong is not alone in being the only character who hasn’t grown, her slowness is seen less as a flaw of the story and more of a fatal character flaw. suho is a markedly reserved character. it makes sense, then, that his growth would be slow and painful. the problem in the comic therein laid when suho surpassed jugyeong in growth. by all accounts, jugyeong should grow faster and easier than suho, because she’s more open to it (and because she’s a main character with relatively few flaws but like,,,,, we already know that) when, in the comic, she grows slower than suho, it’s clearly a flaw of the writing. in the show, jugyeong is still not growing any faster than her comic counterpart, but suho is growing slower (much to my chagrin), and so jugyeong’s arc is strengthened by proxy. of course, slowing suho’s growth feeds into problems all of their own (literally seojun is doing the MOST in this show and it’s a shame he's being overlooked for suho, who can’t even be kind for an extended period of time), but at least it makes the main character more bearable to handle.

the show, due to its concise nature, and the power of hindsight, is able to create a more fulfilling story than the comic, as it’s not spread so thin, and it can fix a lot of the structural problems of the comic.

however, as i’ve already mentioned, it degrades suhos arc by slowing the pacing and painfully dragging him along, while seojuns arc is walking briskly by his side and shining in the sun. seojun is such a compelling character in the show as he recognizes his feelings sooner, acts on them with the same pace, has still yet to resolve his conflict with suho leading to maximum angst, and still manages to be the More Present love interest in a story where suho is not yet Gone. despite the fact that the show has a clear endgame ship, and seojun is the second love interest, there’s more stakes and intrigue in the story, due to its structure and pacing.

(it’s also arguably a stronger “which one?” ship war, as they’re both actively and genuinely vying for the same girl at the same time. in the comic there’s a lot of “you just missed the conflict! she was with seojun two episodes ago, and only now are you, suho, actively pursuing jugyeong!” like,,,, for realistic relationships, it’s better that they have a swell in one relationship just as the other whimpers, but for the drama and enjoyment of audiences, a more active ship war can lead to more engagement.)

okay,,,, i haven’t even said everything i think about true beauty, but i’ve thoroughly exhausted the topic, and won’t push my luck any farther, lololol.

[dee--eer]

I'm gonna join and ask; Higo and Shiho

Because coai is cute in a mature way, but I can never get enough of Ai being blissfully happy with her celebritiy crush and I want to see her that happy everyday for the rest of her life 😆

Ahhh this one is a hard one because I'm very conflicted about it 🤣🤣🤣 on one hand, I very much agree with that sentiment! I'm willing to literally give anything for her as long as she's happy, and if Higo truly could made her happy then so be it!

But on the other hand... well, it is a celebrity crush, and for me a celebrity crush is, well, just that, a crush. It's like imagining Kogoro getting together with Yuuko, in that the affection is completely one-sided. And well, the nature of a celebrity crush is that it's simply unreachable, like it's just something to daydream about to make you happy in the moment but you know that it's just your brain playing imagine.

Of course, there are lots of cases where celebrity crush can develop to genuine relationship. Easiest example that I could think about for now will be Harry and Ginny. However, there are 2 important element in their case: 1) We as a reader know Harry personally. As a main character, we get to look at how his mind work. We know about his characters, his temper, his habit, etc etc. And 2) Ginny got a chance to be acquainted with him personally, as the sister of Harry's best friend and as his junior. And so by the time they do start going out, it's no longer a celebrity crush because at that point they're already friends.

In Higo and Shiho case, both of these elements aren't present. All we know about Higo is pretty much just like what we know about, say, Ariana Grande, for example. Or in short, only things that the media is able to report. Sure, we get a glimpse about his character from that case where he was involvedーbut all we got from that is that he's a good guy who's willing to go around asking his old classmates to give a gift for their old teacher.

The problem with shipping Higo and Shiho for me is that celebrity crush are pretty much superficial by its nature. She doesn't know him personally and vice-versa. Having a celebrity crush implied that the one you like is the 'public image' of said crush, i.e the persona that they chose to show to other people. Will she still be as enamored if she gets to know him personally?

I know that Shiho start to get interested with Higo after that whole 'traitor to the team' incident and she feel a sense of kinship between them, but again, it's pretty much superficial. It's kind of like saying I sympathize with, say, Lee Taemin (Shinee) for getting bullied when he was in highschool. And yeah, that's part of the reason of why he's my favorite. But does that mean that I know him personally? Does that mean that I genuinely thought that if we get to meet we'll be immediately 'connected' and able to form a genuine relationship? Like, just because we share a moderately similiar situation doesn't mean we automatically bonded to each other, right?

According to dcw site, so far Higo only made 17 appearances, and among all 17 the one where he's physically around are just 4 timesーliterally on one case. The rest are either a TV appearances, a flashback, or just mentioned in a passing. I didn’t watch the anime so idk if there's more material there, so for now I'll only use the manga as reference point. There really isn't enough information about him for me to start seriously considering him in any ship, really. In conclusion.... I might be willing to be more open about them only if we get to know more about Higo personally or if both of them get to be acquainted personally.

I'm okay with it as a crack ship tho! Crack ship is basically a fan playground after all. It will require completely inventing Higo's background and personality and how he interact with Shiho, of course, but if I found a story that can pull that off nicely I won't be opposed to read that! But shipping them for real will be a no for me, at least for now 😅

(I kinda feel like Elsa to Anna and Hans ajsjskkska sorry this got too long, but I love to discuss anything if it's concerning Shiho 😆😆)

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on Book 3, Chapter 14

• Apologies for the delay, guys. Still recovering.

• It's time for our Ball! YAY.

• ...and for Hana's parents. Not so yay.

• Every LI in the group has at least one not-very-ideal parent. For Liam and Maxwell it's their dads (though Bartalemy seems to be the best of the four) and for Drake and Hana it's their mums.

• Title: Welcome, One and All!

• Alternate Titles should include This Chapter Is Brought To You By Jeffery.

• For those who don't remember the TRR pre-release interviews, Jeffery is the dude who loves hats:

I'm pretty sure this chapter is his baby.

• So technically Xinghai and Lorelai have not kept in touch with Hana since her fight with Xinghai in Shanghai (that rhymes). There is a hint that she might have tried to reach out to them before the tour if you were getting engaged to her (she asks Ana de Luca to send the copies of her shoot to an address, which I presume was her home in Shanghai).

•

You bet I slammed that last option.

• There's also not a lot of difference in this scene between the Hana playthrough and the non-Hana one, and there should have been. The dynamics of this discussion will - should - be different if you're Hana's fiancée. They have Lorelai and Hana's dialogues change if you're marrying her at the end, but technically that's unavoidable. There should have been an obvious difference in dialogue here as well.

• Bertrand has returned. Again.

• AND HE'S LATE. Apparently because his son needs to be coached on proper cutlery placement through the babysitter.

• We have a brief tete-a-tete about Savannah and Bartie before moving on to our OOTD:

Tbh I think I'm okay with both. I had my reservations about the neck but I also like capes so I will take it. The traditional dove one makes you look like Red Riding Hood.

If you choose the phoenix gown, you also get to don a humongous hat, and you get the option to take it off anytime.

Esther loves hats. She's a happy happy camper xD She may not have said those 'fancy hat's comments to Regina in Book 1 but you bet she was thinking them! So Esther - and I as Esther's creator - feel validated and vindicated and all other sorts of v words 😄

• Also yes, Esther, I'm pretty sure that hat ate every other hat in Cordonia before making its way to your head.

• It's now time for our Ball, and our LIs are waiting for us to make our entrance. Liam calls you 'a heroine of myth and song', Maxwell tells you you're 'on fire', Drake asks him if you're trying to give him a heart attack, and Hana settles for a very simple 'you look gorgeous'.

• Okay yadda yadda announcements, yadda yadda speech, yadda yadda complimentes from guests esp if you chose the phoenix decor, yadda accolades all around.

• Basically the main conversations taking place at the Ball are with Madeleine, Kiara, Regina, Mara and Olivia.

- Madeleine: Mainly to close the main loop of Madeleine's role as press secretary. The previous conversation with Liam/Drake at the Lythikos Ball is implied when you choose to call her a snake, even though she sees that as a compliment.

- Kiara: You get to either call her brave, or to ask her about her well-being. Thankfully, she is able to at least sleep at night now. They're definitely wrapping up Kiara's story here. Which is okay, I'm pretty certain it wasn't meant to be manifested in the first place and I suppose I'm expected to be grateful she got some attention. But I won't be, because she deserved this - and perhaps better. I couldn't care less for her brother and would rather not see him again but at least they had the decency to wrap up her storyline first this time rather than ignore it in favour of him completely.

- One of my favourite sequences is the one with Regina. She's clearly affected by Constantine's death and still hasn't recovered enough to get used to the idea of attending a Ball without his presence yet. But you also see her struggling with the stoicism she's been brought up on, and chastising herself because she can't. You have the choice of either asking her what Constantine would have told her if he were alive (like hell I'll choose that option!) or telling her she should allow herself to grieve. I thought her parting words in this conversation were beautiful.

- Mara: From Mara we learn that the Nevrakis family had connections with the Sons of Earth, and that in fact Anton is the son of the leader of that group. I've seen some interesting theories around this, one of which is (I believe this one is @alicars theory) that he is Francesco's son. Which...would make that first meeting in Italy quite interesting, as well as the reveal that Francesco was friends with Liam's mother. Will Liam's mother's background be brought up in future chapters??

- Olivia: So this is what all our efforts to win Olivia over culminates into! I have such Diavolos vibes with this scene (not the betrayal bit, but the winning their trust bit. Olivia I think sticks by Liam's side whether she likes you or not), because if you look at the TCaTF ally chart in Book 3, Diavolos' name is the last on the list of people to join you, even though he has spent time with you as an ally and been part of the rescue mission to save Mind Control!Dom. In a lot of ways, while Olivia has a huge connection to Liam and becomes your ally on that score, it requires effort and some ice-breaking to get her to fully support you.

• Say hello to my new pets y'all!

As of now Esther has a horse named Celestia, a corgi names Joy, a visiting hawk named Tiberius, a black panther named Cava and two red pandas she has named Hansel and Gretel.

• I wonder if you have the ensuing group scene if you don't choose to accept the red pandas (I'd see for myself but the red pandas have really adorable sad faces).

• The group scene is alright, it's a lot like the one in Shanghai with the pandas. Liam is adorable and holds them like a pro, Maxwell is super super SUPER excited, Hana is shocked by their lack of manners (Hana they're animals!) in comparison to pandas and Drake is a mean meanie. You have Zeke on the side giving us factual animal info.

• We're now back at the estate, and Hana's folks have arrived.

• TO TAKE HANA BACK???

• Hana puts up a good fight against her mum (let's be honest, Xinghai hardly seems to have a say in this. He looks sad about this and barely gets in a sentence. This show is all Lorelai's), and refuses to come with them, at which point Lorelai insists on taking her belongings away since they belong to the Lee family, and she isn't a Lee anymore.

• You know what I want Hana to say?

"FINE KEEP THE CRUMMY LUGGAGE MOM LETS SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE ANOTHER WHOLEASS CHILD OUT OF THAT"

• Please tell me she gets to kick Lorelai's ass this chapter. Please.

• So the Ball and festival will continue this chapter, and I'm guessing that any drama might happen later on in the Capitol if we go by the trajectory of the previous books. The places most closely connected to the MC - Ramsford, New York, Valtoria - are usually where you forget briefly the tension in the books, before being plunged into complete and total chaos.

• I still think there's a LOT we have left to find out. A LOT.

• There is a possibility that Hana will get a diamond scene post her confrontation with her parents. And as far as I can see it, this is the culmination of her entire journey, her entire struggle. This is the last shot the writers have at doing justice to her character, and giving her a good scene. If Hana doesn't get an extremely fulfilling, nuanced scene - one that has a marked difference between her as a fiancee and her as a friend - then I doubt she will get another one. They will have lost their chance to be fair to this character.

• And if they fail to do justice to this character...I'm afraid that will be the end for me. I may be chapter reviews and essays, I may still write stuff inspired by this book...but whatever love I still have for TRR will be lost for good.

• Because you know what you're telling me, a brown woman with an upbringing not entirely unlike Hana's? Who loves this character and has to now try to relate to her because her own writers didn't give me enough material? You're telling me that you don't think stories like Hana's - stories like mine - are worth attention, worth nuance, worth telling properly, worth telling with heart. You're telling me women like Hana are alright as tokens, but not important enough as characters. You're telling me you want the accolades that go with using women of colour in your stories, but don't want to put in the work. In fact...you're already telling me that. You've been telling me that for the last two books.

• I'm sincerely hoping this will change with the chapter I will play now, and that I and other Hana stans don't walk away from this chapter disappointed. I really, really do. It won't completely make up for the lack of care they have given this character...but it will be SOMETHING.

• With that, I'm going to go into this week's chapter, folks. Seeya!

[sakuurae]

Thank you so much for your writing tips! After reading your works, I wanted to find out if you have tips for people like me and I was so elated that you had this really long post dedicated to it. My native tongue isn't English but I'm more comfortable with writing in English and your tips are helping me so much! I have a question though regarding the introduction to a series because honestly I'm really bad at it and I'm lacking ideas on how to write it entertaining enough. (1)

It would be really nice if you could give some tips on that topic as well. Of course only if you find the time for it. Thank you in advance♡ (2)

Aaah, thank you for reading the post !! ^~^ Im happy they were helpful in some sort of way, haha. Its also really great knowing that youre comfortable in writing in english *~* Im not really sure how to answer this or give proper advice, but ill do my best !! ^~^

I find the introduction to a series or any work in general imperative to the story. Basically the introduction is the exposition, which gives information about the setting and characters—which is pretty important to know at the start of a story ! For the introduction as a whole i would introduce a main character and the setting, and hint at the main personality traits of the protagonist that eventually creep up to one of the conflicts. For example, in my fic ‘midnight drive’ the setting and oc are introduced almost immediately. Though, introductions can also be historical contexts of the entire piece. For example, my series ‘after hours’ has a prologue that states the main points of the story.

I focus on this because sometimes theres a lot of information dumping in introductions and its a lot for readers to catch onto. Personally i think it is better to gather information along the way over squeezing everything in the introduction; of course, it makes a fun read to find more out about the story later on ! I tell myself, whenever i information dump, that as long as i have the basic exposition im fine !! For example, this is from a fic i gave up on about a pirate!taeyong running into a mermaid!oc that lives at the tide pool of prince!dongyoung’s castle, i dont have to introduce all three characters in the introduction or jump to the main conflict of the oc leaving prince dongyoung to explore the sea. The way i would, and did, start is with the oc swimming in the ocean heading to prince dongyoungs castle, and at the first mention of dongyoung id provide information about him. Taeyong comes in way later. (i hope this example makes sense *~*)

Its great to have a hook for your introduction; for me, i tend to open with a single sentence then explain that single statement for a couple of paragraphs ! Though, there are multiple ways to open up your story like starting with a brief conflict, action (the even that triggers the conflict), a character introduction, describing the setting, a back story, etc.

Some short examples of first paragraphs;(I thought of these off the top of my head so im sorry if theyre not the best !)

Action/conflict: It was one run around the city in search of an exit; it was another to get caught an dash from the cops. Ever since children were separated from their families to get trained for the war there was nothing but despair circulating the town. Children struggled to accustom to the new lifestyle; some accepted it easily while others did not. Renjun was more of the latter; though, it was because of his recklessness and unwillingness to cooperate that got him stuck in that situation.Expeditiously he turned the corner that led to an alleyway devoured by darkness, blending with the shadows to save his own life.

Character Introduction: Waking up before noon was not a part of her daily routine. Falling asleep when she saw the first light of dawn was a quality of hers she struggled to ease out of. It explains the short days she experienced and the tiredness she felt throughout the duration of the sun peeking out. To be honest she believed there was nothing problematic with this pattern; in fact, she would sleep all the way to three o’clock if she could.So why did she end up waking up before her typical time at one o’clock in the morning?Because her roommate Lee Taeyong is a dick.

Setting: Once the sun sets in the distance, the city started to come to life. With the sun dips at the horizon, the little beams of lights slowly fading to nothing, the view morphed into a surreal painting. Night dripped on onto the sky bit by bit, transforming the strawberry hues and altering its color to a flawless aegean blue. It allows the golden splatters to shine on its navy canvas, and it provided a mythical glow towards the vehicles that started to flicker on their headlights. The illumination from purring cars weaved their way through the city’s body in a hasty manner; they were the city’s veins, humming with a single story, and you ached to capture each one.Of course with your camera, it was possible to.

If youd like novel examples of introductions then check out...

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (describes the setting)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (starts off with background)

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (starts off with a character)

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison (starts off with backstory)

The 5 ws are good to remember for writing an introduction !! Hahaha. Did you introduce the characters ? What are they or were they doing ? Did you include the setting ? Etc.

Usually you would know whether or not if you have written a solid introduction because you would be proud of it, or at least thats how i feel. If i feel as if i did a good job in the introduction then i included my main points; if i included my main points then i usually feel like i did a good job.

What helps is outlining !! I outline my entire fic, but outlining an introduction to start really aids this journey. This way you have a map on what to write, include, etc.

I have to cut this short because i have to head to class now, but i hope what i included is helpful enough as is !!

[lizzybeth1986]

There used to be a lot of things that puzzled me about Hana Lee.

This was, of course, way back when I refused to spend any diamonds on any book, much less a possibly-cliche-romance-spoinoff that featured a Prince Charming, his best friend and one of his suitors as potential love interests.

From whatever I'd read, Hana seemed like a fairly nice girl. Extremely talented, eager to make friends, very well-versed in social graces but also naive and sheltered when it came to the outside world. A loner: someone who had tea parties with imaginary friends because she was never allowed toys. On and off, she would give us a few vague indications of how controlling her family was, and how much her parents expected of her. She is a woman who comes to Cordonia hoping to win Prince Liam's hand, but falls in love with a fellow suitor instead.

But unless we explore her diamond scenes, we can never clearly understand Hana. We can never understand her fears, her pain, the newly-developed emotions that confuse her so much. We can never understand what a struggle it is for her to finally walk up to the MC at the end of this book, and to say "I care for you". To be able to fully appreciate her journey to that moment, we need to explore her background.

We first meet Hana in Chapter 2, while she is still getting dressed. The MC can choose to be nice to her - either by apologizing or complimenting her when she enters, and later by helping her into her outfit. It is after the MC helps her get ready that the above two panels appear.

Hana clearly has very few friends in Cordonia (she tells us during her time at the cronut run that she hasn't been invited to any parties since she arrived), and we find out later that despite her caring nature and many talents, she has never had close friends at all. So when the MC, a fellow suitor who should be viewing her as competition, offers her unconditional help - she is baffled, but grateful.

Chapter 3, however, shows us a different Hana. A Hana who is still haunted by her past. A Hana who came to Cordonia to escape the scandal of a broken engagement. A Hana whose so-called 'reputation' followed her all the way to Europe.

The MC, on hearing this, is justifiably angry. She comes from a worldview where people can make their own decisions regarding their relationships, and can part ways without repercussions. Where breakups are a sad but sometimes necessary part of normal life. To Hana, this worldview is not just unheard of, but positively alien.

Hana comes from a largely traditionalist society. One that treats her mostly as an extension of her parents. She isn't always allowed the space to mingle with a lot of people. There is a constant emphasis placed on her duty towards her parents - even at the cost of her own self-actualization. This seems to be a society where respect to parents is tantamount, where even your associations and friendships are scrutinized and vetted by your family, where honour is something that is placed squarely on a woman's shoulders.

When Hana's engagement falls apart, it is not Peter - her fiance - who faces the brunt of it even though he initiated the breakup. It is Hana who suffers. Her suffering is made even more painful by her upbringing: one that conditions her to believe that a loveless marriage is better than a broken match, that the honour of her family rests on her shoulders...and that, by letting him go, she is solely responsible for the 'loss' of that honour. Look, for instance, at her parents' response to the broken engagement:

Note how the focus moves so easily from how the scandal hurt her, to how it hurt her parents. Hana's feelings barely seem to count here. Her own sense of failure, or the way their shaming has affected her, takes up no more than maybe a line of dialogue before she shifts to how it affected her parents. Her life seems to revolve around ensuring that they are happy, that their family name is upheld. When she "fails" to do that, she - like everyone else around her - blames herself.

Which is why - even as the MC acknowledges the sheer cruelty of Olivia's words - Hana agrees with her instead.

Imagine the kind of conditioning that allows you to blame yourself this way. It makes you consider yourself "damaged goods" because someone else called off your engagement (granted, we find out later that Peter did it because he realised Hana didn't love him). It makes you believe that you are nothing if you aren't able to attract or keep potential matches. It definitely makes you feel like your self-esteem doesn't count, your feelings don't count, you don't count.

Peter breaking the engagement wasn't damaging in and of itself. It was damaging because she has been brought up to believe her whole life that her worth lay in someone else's hands (and she actually does say this in Book 2, Chapter 2: "if I'm so great, how come I don't attract all the good matches like Liam does?"). The breaking of the engagement casts doubts on her character, makes people believe there is something wrong with her. And her parents - instead of trying to help their daughter cope with this - throw her into another match and pressure her into winning the hand of another man she doesn't love. Hana has been conditioned to believe that in not being engaged she has brought shame to her family, and that wanting to have a say in her life choices is selfish. For her to finally understand that her needs are most important would take a tremendous change in the way she thinks itself.

That kind of transformation doesn't happen overnight.

The MC has two options to help Hana. The first option is to boost her confidence, by stating that Olivia is threatened by her. To us now, this seems naive because the MC has no idea how cut-throat the competition is, nor what the Council is actually looking for when it comes to choosing a future Queen, but it does tell Hana something interesting.

MC: It's no wonder Olivia is threatened by you.

Hana: But you're not.

MC: I'm not like Olivia.

Remember how Hana tells us, after telling Olivia off at the coronation ball, that it was cathartic because she grew up around girls exactly like her? I wouldn't be surprised if Hana was so used to the sight of girls bringing other girls down that she is genuinely surprised to see a woman who doesn't need to. If anything, I think this dialogue shows how impressed she is that that MC is so self-secure, and decides to emulate that in some way - especially by coming to her aid when the MC doesn't understand certain things.

The second option is to convince Hana to toughen up, by telling her that Olivia senses weakness. Hana agrees, and we do notice that the only person she really lets her guard down to is the MC herself.

No matter which option the reader chooses, it is clear that Hana's transformation has already begun.

Think back to Book 2, Chapter 4, where Hana impresses two potential suitors at the picnic. They may leave the place intrigued by her beauty and talent, but Hana openly confesses that she feels nothing. In public. In front of the other ladies of the court. She feels no shame in admitting this, she doesn't blame herself for not being grateful enough. She states it as a simple fact. She has finally begun to accept, in some small ways, that there really is nothing wrong with her.

Hana Lee has, indeed, come a long way.

Your View

1. If you don't take any of Hana's diamond scenes, what impression would you be left with of her character?

2. How significant do you think Hana's change has been over the course of Book 1, and what we have seen of Book 2? What else do you think is in store for her?

(This is the first in a series of essays on Hana Lee's diamond scenes in The Royal Romance. The questions at the end are optional)