#min already failed step 1

[pharawee]

"Who are we kidnapping?"

—KIDNAP THE SERIES · Episode 01

[ktownshizzle]

Nerd & Nerdier | Chapter 6

✎ ˎˊ˗ Pairing: Min Yoongi x reader, Jeon Wonwoo x reader; endgame? x reader ✎ ˎˊ˗ Genre: Fluff, Attempt At Comedy, Roommates au, Love triangle

✎ ˎˊ˗ Summary: Moving in with two introverts should have been easy. Not when it’s Min Yoongi and Jeon Wonwoo, who decide they both want you. Unhinged, awkward, and nerdy as hell, they proceed to compete for your attention in the most unnecessarily dramatic fashion that culminates into a… rap battle.

✎ ˎˊ˗ Warnings: Wildly gratuitous, 100% chance you’ll fall in love with both of them so that’s a problem, no mxm dynamics to be expected

✎ ˎˊ˗ Chapter Warnings: Kissing, angst, hearts will be broken - sorry :(, wonwoo’s request is kinda fucked up and MC should NOT have done it tbh but alas this is a fanfic, we’re coming close to the end :(

✎ ˎˊ˗ Word count: 1.9k ✎ ˎˊ˗ Posting date: March 22, 2025

✎ ˎˊ˗ Notes: OmG writing this made me kinda sad, but angst-lovers, do enjoy this mild slice of UGH! Thanks, Cathy Jae and Aqua for your feedback <3

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5

Of all days for Wonwoo to emerge shirtless from the bathroom, it had to be today. Today when you had told yourself that a decision had to be made. It wasn’t like you to drag things out. Not when, in your heart of hearts, you already knew the answer.

“Wonwoo,” you start, your eyes failing to stop itself from trailing that bead of water from his jaw down to his pecs. You clear your throat. “Do you have time to talk later?”

“Umm.” Wonwoo doesn’t meet your glance, rubbing a towel against his damp hair. You don’t miss the way his shoulders stiffen ever so slightly like he already got a sense where you were going with this ‘talk’. 

“Yeah, sure.” If that ain't the most non-committal sure you’ve ever heard.

“We can get coffee later? In that place you really like…” you suggest.

“Mhm. Later…”

Except later never comes and it’s been three days of Wonwoo actively avoiding you.

He’s been holed up in his room for longer than usual. He suddenly has a thousand things to do. Streaming late into the night, conveniently stepping out whenever you’re in the living room, suddenly having plans whenever you suggest one. It’s actually becoming annoying.

This afternoon, you promise yourself to rip the band-aid off and corner him as soon as you can.

Yoongi comes home in three days from his writing bootcamp, and there’s nothing else you want to do than surprise him with good news. But you need to talk to Wonwoo first.

The moment Wonwoo’s door creaks open, you don’t hesitate. You stand from the couch, determined, walking straight toward him.

“Jeon Wonwoo.” You had to whip the government name out.

His eyes go wide—like a deer caught in headlights. “Noona!” His voice pitches slightly, and you can see the exact second he considers turning back into his room.

You grab his wrist. “Stop avoiding me, please,” you pout slightly, letting him go to place your arms across your chest. “I’m this close to attempting to chat with you during your stream, but I don’t want to be flamed by your fangirls.”

Wonwoo exhales sharply, like he knew this was inevitable. He walks back inside his room, tilting his head for you to follow.

You don’t come into Wonwoo’s space a whole lot, but what you always liked are the shelves he put up with his toy collection. It told a lot about his playful personality, even though on the outside he seems a little reserved. A pair of headphones is resting on his desk beside his monitor, screensaver flickering dimly in the dark. A hoodie—one you’ve seen him wear a hundred times—draped over the back of his chair, sleeves twisted like he’d taken it off in a hurry. His bed is unkept, like he just rolled out of it before you pounced on him.

“So…” he starts, patting the cushion beside him, a gesture for you to sit.

You do. But now that you finally have his attention, your throat dries up. Where do you even start?

Wonwoo sighs, leaning on his palms behind him. “I feel like I know where this is going, noona.”

You swallow audibly, eyes glued to the swirly screensaver on his monitor as you try to recall what you meant to say. The words are there, waiting, but they feel impossibly heavy.

Still, you inhale sharply and press on.

“I really care about you, Wonwoo. I really do. You’re so kind, so thoughtful—” You hesitate, throat tightening, but you know you have to finish. "But I—"

“No.”

Huh?

He stands up suddenly, jaw clenched, and then he points at you with a slight huff. “You owe me, noona.” The shift in his tone makes your stomach turn. He’s not angry. Not accusing. But there’s something raw in his voice—something desperate, something pleading.

He meets your gaze, unflinching.

"You promised you’d owe me for that book we got."

“What?” You blink. Then it hits you. The bookstore non-date. The way he ambushed you by paying for your novel before you even reached for your wallet.

But why is he bringing this up now?

“I’m cashing in on the favor,” he says, voice softer. “Just one more date. Let me try again.”

You’re unable to speak. This was not how you imagined this to go. He kneels in front of you, gripping your arms gently, firmly. “Please?”

Your heart squeezes.

Because you should say no. You should be firm, clear, honest. One more date won’t change anything. You know it.

And yet, the way his eyes flicker with the tiniest bit of hope makes something inside you crack.

Your mouth betrays you. “…Okay.”

The next day, Wonwoo takes you somewhere quiet—somewhere with no distractions, no Yoongi, no impending decisions waiting to be made.

It’s a hilltop just outside the city, the kind of place you wouldn’t have known existed if not for Wonwoo. Above you, the sky stretches wide, an expanse of dark velvet dotted with stars that feel just a little closer than usual.

He lays out a blanket, sits beside you, and pulls out a tiny telescope he borrowed just for the night. You watch as he carefully adjusts the lens, angling it toward the sky. He gestures for you to take a look, murmuring something about a nebula just faintly visible this time of year.

But your mind is elsewhere. To Yoongi’s picnic date.

You try to focus on the constellations, they’re gorgeous, but you can’t ignore the way Wonwoo keeps looking at you instead.

You try to enjoy the drinks and sandwiches you bought from the Compose you stopped by along the way, but the sandwich is a bit stale and the iced coffee’s gone watery.

You try. Really, you do.

His lips part, hesitating—like there’s something he desperately wants to say but keeps swallowing back down. 

And then, finally, he lets out a resigned breath. "Is there really no chance for me?"

His voice is softer than usual, but the weight of his words feels heavier than anything he’s ever said to you before.

You turn your head, and he’s already watching you. You open your mouth, but the words stick in your throat. Because no matter how you say it, the answer is the same.

"I’m so sorry."

He exhales sharply. A quiet, humorless laugh escapes him as he tilts his head back toward the sky.

"I knew," he murmurs, nodding to himself like he’s confirming what he had already suspected. "I think I always knew."

You don’t say anything. What could you possibly say?

But when he reaches for your hand, lacing his fingers through yours, you don’t stop him.

His grip is firm, but there’s a slight tremor there, like he’s holding on as tightly as he can before he has to let go.

So you let him. Just for tonight.

Your drive back to the apartment is quiet. Not uncomfortable, not awkward—just a silence heavy with the knowledge that this is the end. When you reach your apartment’s parking lot, the night air is cool, crisp against your skin, but it’s not the reason you feel like you can’t quite catch your breath.

Wonwoo’s fingers get tangled with yours again and even though you both know this shouldn’t be, neither of you moves to break the contact.

The apartment is dark when you step inside, lit only by the faint glow of the city lights filtering through the window. You don’t know why neither of you turned on the lights. 

You both hesitate, standing in the living room like neither of you knows what to do now. Like this is where the change happens. Like the moment you do turn on the lights, a new era begins.

Wonwoo exhales, shifting slightly, rubbing the back of his neck before finally turning to you. His eyes flicker over your face, and for a moment, he just looks. Like he’s trying to memorize every last detail before it’s too late.

"Noona."

His voice is barely above a whisper, but it’s enough to send something trembling through your chest.

He swallows hard, hesitating—then his lips part again, voice lower this time. 

"Pretend I’m him."

You almost flat-line.

"Can you?" His voice wavers slightly, and there’s something desperate in the way he says it. "Just this once. Please?”

You stiffen. "Wonwoo—I can’t. We shouldn’t…"

"I just… I just want to know what it’d feel like if you loved me, too."

His hands curl into fists at his sides, like he’s fighting the urge to reach for you. But the way he looks at you—it’s almost unbearable.

Because just like yesterday you should have said no. You should stop this before it gets worse, and you hurt him more than you already have.

But wouldn’t it be a mercy if you did as he asked?

For the last time?

So you do.

You pretend.

You step closer, lifting your hand to cup his cheek, your thumb brushing gently against the smooth plane of his jaw. His lashes flutter at the touch, and his breath hitches—like this alone is enough to unravel him.

You whisper the words meant for someone else.

"You make me feel safe."

Wonwoo’s throat bobs. His grip on you tightens, fingers digging into your arms.

"You make me feel alive."

His breathing is shaky now, eyes flickering between your lips and your eyes, searching.

"I knew from the start… it was you."

A harsh, uneven exhale leaves him. His hands tremble.

And then, before you can take it back, before you can stop it, Wonwoo kisses you. He grips your face tightly, like he’s afraid you’ll be gone before he can remember this. You want to pull away, you really do. But then you feel something warm against your cheek.

A tear. Wonwoo is crying.

And your heart breaks.

Because if this is all you can give him—one last mercy, one last lie—you let him have it.

So you kiss him back. Soft. Slow. Not real, but kind enough to feel like it. His fingers press into your skin, trembling slightly, and for the first time, you feel just how much this means to him. How much it’s going to hurt.

When you finally pull away, a draft suddenly chills your skin, seeps into your bones.

Wonwoo shivers. You frown slightly.

And then, your gaze drifts… 

To the wide open door. To the two bags. To the bundle of flowers abandoned by the hallway.

Your stomach drops.

Wonwoo follows your gaze and his entire body stiffens.

And just like that, you realize.

You weren’t alone.

Yoongi was here.

And now—he isn’t.

Chapter 7: The Finale >

A/N: Dun dun dun!!! WHERE THE FUCK HAS YOONGI GONE?? And is he gonna want to surface soon? (When art imitates life ffr...)

Tell me what you thought about the chapter? Wonwoo baby I am SO SORRY but... yeah, I have no reasons....

Actual footage of Wonwoo being mad at me for this chapter:

Permanent Taglist: (the rest to follow in a reblog)

@wonh0oe @hyukaluve @glossdebut @kiki-zb @kookiewithluv

@agustblog @maryhopemei @perfectiondazesworld @kimsaerom @kam9404

@00-sleepdontweep-00 @tea4sykes @mggv97 @marnz1990

@whydoeyecare @pastelmin @tarahardcore @minjenna @chimmchimmm

@aaclariww @mar-lo-pap @tinytan-gerine @vesperbells @butterymin

@eve1633455 @baechugff @lilkittenjenjen @wobblewobble822 @coffeedepressionsoup

@futuristicenemychaos @jadestonedaeho7 @granataepfelchen @whoa-jo @annyeongbitch7

@chimmisbae @sexytholland @idkjustlovingbts @kpophosblog @tinyelfperson

@yoongicatagenda @codeinebelle @parapiop7 @diame93 @janeelizabeth1216

@withmuchluv-tannie @abadiimm @angellekookie

Divider by: @cafekitsune (thank you!)

[soleauclub]

How to Pull Yourself Together in 24 Hours: The Emergency Glow-Up Guide

by Soleau Club

There are two types of hot girls in this world: the ones who never fall apart, and the ones who know exactly how to pull it back together like nothing ever happened. This is for the second group. Because sometimes life hits—breakup, burnout, big meeting, bad lighting—and you’ve got 24 hours to go from why me to watch me.

Here’s the Emergency Glow-Up Protocol: zero fluff, full effect.

Step 1: Hydrate Like You’re Training for the Victoria’s Secret Comeback Show

First things first—internal cleanup.

Chug water with electrolytes (we like LMNT, coconut water, or bougie mineral drops).

Add a green juice or chlorophyll water. Optional but it makes you feel like Gwyneth.

Avoid sugar and dairy today. This isn’t a moral thing—it’s a puffiness thing.

You’re flushing. You’re cleansing. You’re already glowing from the inside out.

Step 2: Scrub Off Yesterday (Literally)

Your shower today? It’s a transformation chamber.

Dry brush before you hop in.

Double exfoliate: first a scrub, then an AHA body wash. You’ll feel brand new.

Hair mask + scalp massage while you shave your legs like you’re in a slow-mo movie montage.

End with a freezing cold rinse. It’s rude, but effective.

Step out of that shower like a rebranded celebrity.

Step 3: Skin So Good You Don’t Need the Filter

It’s not about looking “done”—it’s about looking expensive.

Ice your face. Trust me. Wrap cubes in a washcloth or use those trendy frozen face rollers.

Do a sheet mask while you sip tea like you’re too famous to be stressed.

Layer your skincare like a dewy parfait: mist → serum → moisturizer → oil → SPF (if it’s daytime).

Don’t forget a bit of highlighter on your collarbones. Yes, you are that girl.

Step 4: Outfit That Screams ‘I Have My Life Together’ (Even If You Don’t)

We’re dressing for the plot twist.

Choose something structured but effortless—think clean lines, neutral tones, crisp vibes.

Add jewelry that clinks and perfume that lingers. Bonus points for sunglasses indoors.

If all else fails: slicked-back bun, oversized blazer, and a lip gloss that means business.

You don’t look like you’re trying. You look like you just are.

Step 5: The 10-Minute Mental Reset That Changes Everything

You’re not just glowing—you’re recalibrated.

Journal one page, even if it’s just “WTF is going on.”

Do breathwork or a 10-min meditation on YouTube (search: “high vibe reset”).

Listen to one song that makes you feel like you’re walking into your villain origin story.

Because your energy is the outfit.

Step 6: The Bare Minimum Beauty Boost

You don’t need a full beat—just a few power moves.

Concealer, cream blush, brows, and lip liner.

Curl your lashes and set your face with mist so dewy it looks illegal.

Hair? Either fresh blowout or intentional “I didn’t try” bun. There’s no in-between today.

Step 7: Nourish, But Make It Chic

Your meals need to support the glow-up, not sabotage it.

Breakfast: protein smoothie with healthy fats and a greens powder.

Lunch: salmon, avocado, and a huge hydrating salad.

Dinner: something warm, grounding, and light.

Snacks? Think berries, dark chocolate, and magnesium mocktails.

Eat like you love yourself—even if you’re just pretending for now.

Step 8: Nighttime Reset So Tomorrow You Wake Up Radiant

Your nighttime routine is a closing ceremony.

Magnesium, ashwagandha, or whatever adaptogen makes you feel like a calm billionaire.

A hot bath if possible. A hot shower if not. Clean sheets, candles, main character lighting.

Put your phone on Do Not Disturb. You’re busy becoming your favorite version of you.

You don’t need a whole week. You need one focused day, a little discipline, and the belief that you can come back stronger, softer, hotter than ever.

Crisis who?

Follow @soleauclub for more glow-up blueprints for every single version of you.

[adviceformefromme]

💖 YOUR NEW YEAR PRE-LUDE (33 DAYS TILL 2025) [GLOW UP SERIES] 💖

If you’re still waiting till 1st Jan 2025 to change your life, then sweetie you’re already ten steps behind. The ladies that have been following this series know we been on this GLOW-UP since September!!! Which means there has been plenty of time for trial and error, plenty of time to join the gym, slack off and then get back into and fall off again, because by the 2025 arrives we already in our NEW ROUTINE. ELEVATED. CEMENTED. But if you’re late to the party fear not, I’ve got the goodies. This period is all about finding your ENERGY LEAKS and fixing them. It’s one thing to want to start a new business, loose weight, meet the love of your life…But what if you keep failing before you even start? What if when the evening comes you have no energy for the gym, what about if you try to loose weight but keep eating those free cakes in the office? To fix the issues, you’ve got to identify where you’re slipping up and to do this you need to start REFLECTING. Reflection is going to change your life, it allows you to take a birds eye view of your current situation and assess your shortcomings and make necessary changes. With this knowledge you can...

IDENTIFY THE SNARES (a snare is discreet trap to catch and kill)

Example 1: 

You’re still entertaining Mr Mixed Signals (you want to trace back the steps to see how/when you got into this situation, maybe you misread the signals, forgot to ask him his intentions because he wasn’t clear with you and this is the trap. He wasn’t clear and you didn’t ask. The trap was you not asking questions which is ESPECIALLY important when you’re dealing with confusing men. They will confuse into the wilderness, causing you to loose your track of your own life, wasting time and precious energy…for what?? Now if you done already learnt this lesson and identified the SNARE come 2025 you will not be falling for the same trap. And this is the power of reflection and identifying the snare.

Example 2: 

You’re struggling to not check your phone in the morning. You go to sleep with your phone on your bedside table. You’ve realised the snare is waking up with the phone within arms reach, but if your phone is in the other room and your watch is on your bedside, there is no slipping up. You practise this continuously for the next few weeks, so by the time we are in 2025, morning scrolling will be a thing of the past. 

Example 3: 

You hate mid-week cleaning period. But you know how much a dirty bathroom impacts your clean aesthetic. So when the bathroom sink is getting a little grimy by Tuesday and needs a clean but you don’t have cleaning spray stored in the bathroom, because its kept under the kitchen sink…You’ve realised this is the trap. So you’ve invested in some cleaning wipes on your next supermarket run that you can easily store in your bathroom cabinet, and now your bathroom is quickly wiped and cleaned looking immaculate daily...

Do you see how important this time is PRE-2025? You get to figure out why you can’t stay on top of your cleaning, why you keep skipping the gym, you reflect and understand where the snare has killed the life and soul of your vision. ~Your vision to live in cleanliness, your vision to meet the love of your life, to wake up and have you-time before you check in with the world.

Homework: I recommend setting aside 30 mins to do some reflections in a notepad, reflect on your goals, identify the snares killing your goals from being realised and get a new plan. Be one step ahead, we are not playing in 2025. We are healed, thriving, energised, and abundant. Use these 33 days wisely. Be one step ahead.

[theyellowhedgehog]

Ripple Effect AU FINALE

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Warning: some cusses

Jason's arrival to the family was the same as cannon, he arrived by stealing a bat-tire. Damian did not react badly to Jason's adoption at all. He was busy with attending university, majoring in toxicology.

However, one stupid mistake made the relationship between him and Jason became unmendable. One day, Damian came home from school to find Jason and Stephanie playing dressed up. Damian is not someone who would react badly by children playing play-pretend. But no, Damian stride up to them and yanked on Jason.

"Where the fuck did you find this?" Damian seethed, as he glared at Jason who was in his old uniform. The uniform at he failed to save his bestfriend. He wanted to locked it away so it would not see light. Then he would not have to think about his regret.

"It was in a box!" Jason tried to shook off Damian's grip.

Stephnie quickly stood up, "Damian, Let go."

"Take it off!" Damian started to aggressively pull off the cowl from Jason's head.

"What the fuck,dude!" Jason started to struggle frantically.But Damian's iron hold wouldn't budge.

"Damian!" Stephnie got in between them. The cowl was pulled off and Stephnie pushed Damian a few steps away.

Jason hid behind Stephnie and glared at the older boy. "What the fuck, dude. We were just playing. If I knew it was yours, I wouldn't even touch it, you jerk!"

Damian just fisted the cowl tightly and scolding his facial expression to a poker face. Stephnie noticed it and immediately mediated between them. "Now, now it was just over a cos-!"

But before she could finished it, Damian already stomped out the room.

Jason scoff, "Possessive freak..." as he sniffled back his tears. Stephnie knelt down and faced him. "Well, we were at wrong too. We took his uniform without his permission." she comforted.

"I'm not going to apologise over something so dramatic! He isn't even Batboy anymore! Gosh, he moves on already!"

Bruce noticed the cold atmosphere when he came back from work but he didn't say anything. But he did noticed Jason being extremely sheepish and tense around Damian.

When he asked Jason, the young boy confessed about the fight over Batboy's uniform. Bruce sighed tired after he tucked Jason back to bed. Batboy is a sensitive topic for Damian. For Jason, Batboy is someone to admire and worship. But for Damian, Batboy was someone who was not good enough. Bruce decided to observe a few more days to see if the boys will resolve it themselves.

Jason has expected Damian to lash out at him after that petty fight. However, instead of antagonising Jason, Damian rarely came home and the time he was home, all he gave was cold shoulders and icy glares. It became worse when Damian heard about the news to Batboy running around Gotham at night.

The relationship became more strain when Joker escaped from the Arkham and Jason disobeyed direct order to stay put.

Cardinal glared at Batman with all his might when he saw Batboy touch down on the roof with Spoiler. Batman got the hint and address the protégé.

"Batboy, didn't I give you order to stay in the cave?"

"Ya,well... but I thought the more help, the quicker getting Joker back behind bars..." Batboy replies hesitantly. He looked at Spoiler for help. Cardinal saw the signal the boy was sending at and gritted out a command.

"You better made sure he's alive by the end of this night, Spoiler. Or else you better prepare yourself to drag back his cold dead corpse."

Batman didn't even got a chance to scold Damian when the hero already left.

They spreaded out to search the location of Joker but all of them were order to refrain from confronting the clown.

Unfortunately, Batboy and Spoiler were the one who found Joker's whereabout first.

"Batman, we have located Joker. Near the dock." Spoiler report into the comm.

"Stay hidden, do not engage." Batman said over comm. "I'm coming over there. ETA 10 mins."

Batboy and Spoiler decided to stay put and observe the clown. That's when they noticed shadows surrounding Joker and rush straight to attacking him.

"Batman, Joker is being attacked." Batboy reported.

"Yeah, it seem like armed assissin. And they seem to be trying to capture Joker!" Spoiler filled in.

"Do not Engage!" This time it was Cardinal. "Whatever thinks they can take down Joker is a bigger threat. ETA 4 mins. Stay on your fucking ground!"

"Yeah, but whatever have Joker under their control is more dangerous!" Batboy jumped down.

"Batboy!" Spoiler screamed for the boy to no avail.

"The trait that makes Batboy rebellious to sticking to order is going to get him real dead soon if he doesn't learn how to fucking listen." Cardinal murmured under his breath.

Spoiler was now regretting letting Jason talked her into taking him out.

When Batboy interfered the assassins, all of them started to attack him.(go figure,Jason 😑)The assassin were quick, and Batboy wasn't prepared for it. Just when the knife was just about to crush into his skull. All the assassin stopped and head snapped to a certain direction.

Just when Spoiler reached to them and was ready to throw punches, all the assassin pulled off and retreated.

When Cardinal and Batman arrived, the assassin were already gone and Joker has already made his escape.

-

Winter holiday came. Damian only came to the manor on Christmas Eve due to the old butler's persistence request.

Damian opened the door and stride in not sparing a glance at Jason or Stephanie. He went straight to Bruce.

"Father, I need the new strain of fear gas that Scarecrow released. Do you have samples?" Damian said as he went into the living room.

Jason shrinked behind the kitchen counter and grumpily whisked the eggs. He was so uncomfortable with Damian's presence that when the doorbell rang, he took the first chance to run to it. "I'll get it!"

Jason opened the door to find a lanky and tall teen at the footstep. The younger boy saw an ugly scar on his cheek and asked in skeptically, "Can I help you?"

The teen gave him a cold smile and asked, "Is Alfred or Bruce here?"

"How may I help yo-" Alfred stopped his sentense as soon as he saw who was at the door.

"Master Tim!" This startled exclaim was heard by both Bruce and Damian.

"Just Tim, Alfred. Nice to see you again." This time Tim gave a warm smile. "Can I come in?"

Alfred regained his composure from the surprise and nodded, "Of course, come in."

Tim walked into the dining room and kitchen to see a blond girl he's never seen before. And from the corner of his eyes he saw two figure come out from a room.

"Bruce, Damian." Tim walked up to them with a small smile. "It nice to see you again." Both father and son were stunned in place to see that it really was Tim. Both of them were shocked to see Tim so different. Tim had shaved off his hair to a fade bald and this makes people able to really see his scar more prominently.

Bruce recovered first and held out his hand in delight, "Tim! You came back?" as Tim returned a handshake.

"Yes, I have somethings to take care of." Tim then turned to Damian. "Hey."

The Damian's eyes were stuck on the healed scar on Tim's left cheek. Damian dumbfoundedly copied, "Hey..."

Tim gave him a sad smile and turned back to Bruce, reaching into his coat and holding out an envelope.

"Here, I would like to invite you to the Gala of Drake's company reopening." He handed Bruce the invitation. "You can bring a plus 2." Tim then looked at the two stranger in the room. "You can bring them if you like too."

Bruce accepted it, "Oh, for sure Tim. Also, my condolences for your loss."

Tim shurgged, "It's fine. Then I'll be seeing you then."

"Are you not staying for dinner?" Bruce asked.

"No, thank you, Bruce. I've already eaten. I'll be going then." With that the reunion was over.

Cold and Empty.

-

The next afternoon, Damian came out from his school lab bearing a massive headache from the research he was conducting. He noticed students were crowded at the school gate and whispering. As he got closer he realised why.

"Isn't that the Drake Heir?"

"Oh my God, isn't that scar due to Joker?"

WhiSPer wHispEr WhiSper

Tim Drake, in all his glory, leaning on his black porsche, one hand in pocket and the other scrolling on his phone. He looked up to meet with Damian's confused eyes.

Damian went to Tim when the younger boy waved at him.

"What are you doing here?" It was blunt. It sounded like Damian doesn't want him there. And Tim was fine, because he already expected Damian to react like that.

Tim tilted his head to his car, "Get in. I have something to talk about."

Damian got into the car. And as they drove off, a thought came to Damian that Tim still have a passion for race cars.

They drove miles out of Gotham. Tim didn't seem like he'll be stopping anytime soon as they drove past snow covered fields and pasture.

Damian couldn't help himself but asked, "Why are you back?" At that moment, he knew he worded it rather harshly, "I mean-!"

"It's okay. I get it." Tim smiled sadly as he continued driving.

"Why would someone who left Gotham for good came back to a city that still have an active clown terrorist? Why would someone come back if he can continue Drake Enterprise from places other than Gotham?"

Damian immediately into went vigilante mode. "Are you being threatened to come back?" He asked.

This time Tim give a real smile and a glance from the corner of his eye, "Good job," He paused for a moment, "Cardinal."

"Have you heard of the Court of Owl?"

"They are merely children story, aren't they?"

Damian noticed Tim's grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"I wish they were," Tim spat out in distaste. "My parents were involved with them. Old money power and shit."

They finally came to a stop. A small slope with a dry tree overlooking deserted rocks and fields. Tim got off and Damian follows.

"What do they want from you?"

Tim look at the setting sun, "They want me to keep on living the Drake's legacy."

Damian looked at Tim confused, "Can't you decline with some excuse?"

Tim sighed, "I could've." He then met Damian's eyes. "I could've but I can't after I found out what they were doing." This got Damian tense, expecting the worse.

"The missing Grayson from the circuit." Tim watched Damian's reaction closely, "They are using that child as an experiment. To make killing machine, Talons as they call it."

Before Damian could interrupt, Tim held up a hand for him to stop. "The Court of Owl is an ancient cult. It won't go down with just an intervention." Tim put his hand on Damian's shoulder. "I need you to help me gain their trust and becoming the Grandmaster."

Damian stepped back away from Tim's hand. "And why should I trust you to not go down the same road. I do not want to put a friend down."

"I won't." Tim give a childish grin. "You will be keeping me in check after all. But Damian, If it's not me. Even after a new Grandmaster is chosen, they would still revert to their old methods. I do not like using people as an experiment." Tim fisted his hand and turned away. "I think, I'm the best chance for change."

The silence was thick. Damian carefully observed his long-estranged friend's back. He took a deep breath.

"What do you want me to do?"

Tim sighed in relief, "The child is safe for now. They will perform a ritual for me after Drake enterprise's reopening. I'll send you the location. You better made sure to time it right to give me a chance to make them trust me."

With that they both drove back. Tim parked at the gate of the manor and as they sit in silent for a while.

Damian was about to get off when Tim started.

"Thank you."

"Hhn?"

This time, blues met green eyes straight on. "Your pills, they helped. A Lot." Tim pulled out an almost empty pill bottle.

"I used to get nightmares of him but now they stopped. My hair also only used to grow green. But now the roots are regaining its natural color. So, Thank you, Damian. And I'm sorry I said those words to you. I never should have. I was an asshole to you back then."

Damian just sat there -eyes widen just by a fraction, but Tim noticed.

It fell into an awkward silence, when Damian finally replied, "I thought you shaved your head to antagonised me."

This made Tim burst into tiny laughter. The laughter was not like Joker's at all, it was an authentic Tim's giggle. "Come on, I may be petty but not that much, Dami." hitting the steering wheel from the laughter.

"I'm glad," said Damian.

"hm?" Tim questioned.

"I'm glad that the pills helped." Damian continued.

"Yeah," Tim smiled. He raised up his fist, "Friends?" He asked.

Damian, who is always posh and well mannered, copied the movement. "Friends."

-

On the day of the Reopening of Drake Enterprise, Bruce came to Damian's room to see him fidgeting with his cufflinks. Bruce stepped in to help.

"Have you talked to Tim?"

"Yes, father. We made up."

"Good. Saw him one time in Montana, he looked very guilty to meet my eyes." Bruce smiled. "Now, let's get going before your brother decided to take off his "death trap" as he called it." Damian didn't even retaliate when Bruce called Jason, his brother. This how in a good mood Damian was.

The party was lively and sophisticated with many high end aristocrats attendee. Jason grumpily stood at the corner near a pillar bad mouthing, "Stupid rich people and their stupid death trap tuxedo!"

Stephanie beside him beamed as she twirl her long beaded eggplant purple dress. "It's not so bad."

"You are also one of the rich people now." Both of them startled in surprised to hear Damian behind them.

Jason felt brave and retaliated, "You can take the kid of out of the alley but you can't take the alley out of the kid, Wayne." and immediately regretted it.

Surprisingly, Damian didn't even sneer. "Yeah, you are a Wayne too kid." and left.

Both Stephanie and Jason were left dumbfounded. They faced each other in disbelief, "Did he just?"/ "Are you hearing this?"

-

The reopening of Drake enterprise was successful.

That night, the bats and birds were ready.

Batman, Batboy, Signal, Spoiler, Batgirl and finally Cardinal landed on the rooftop. A battle for the throne was about to begin.

That night, a new heir was crowned Grandmaster and a new member was added to the Bat family.

----

Mainstory completed!!

Thank you for reading along! Sequel might be released.(not sure 🤷‍♀️) It might be about exploring the relationship between other characters.

I'm so excited I finished this! I am also relief this is over. So I can start a new AU ehhehehe

If I grow old and found this to be nostalgic, then I say I did a pretty good job writing this

My story progression of Ripple Effect AU!

[cottonlemonade]

A Simpler Life [Part 2]

word count: 1621 || avg. reading time: 7 mins.

pairing: post-time skip Kita x chubby!Reader

genre: fluff, slice of life, mutual pining, slow burn

warnings: spoilers

synopsis: In pursuit of a calmer, simpler life you flee the city to move to the countryside - only to fall in love with your neighbor.

[part 1]

Kita‘s steps quickened when your house came into view, his eyes searching the veggie patch for your straw hat but nothing. His shoulders drooped but he was glad to see the tomatoes doing well.

Maybe he should just knock and ask if you could spend dinner again together but he decided against it. You were probably busy or had better things to do. A light went on in your house and through the window he saw you lean over a small table with a mirror, applying some lipstick. From the little he could make out you wore a pretty black dress that hugged your curves so beautifully, his thoughts were temporarily disconnected. He had to swallow. You were going out. Looking down at his own dirty work clothes and touching the sweaty towel around his neck he let out a deep breath. Just as well. And feeling like he was being intrusive with his stares he continued his way home. As he walked along the dusty road, he remembered a seemingly endless discussion the twins had with Suna back in school that he was close enough to overhear. They talked about leagues and how Suna clearly was not in the same one as a girl he fancied. Back then Kita didn‘t quite understand what they meant since their volleyball team was amongst the best. How much more successful was that girl‘s team that Suna shouldn‘t even talk to her? But now it started to make sense. Rounding the bend, he entered his courtyard and spotted his dog on the porch, eagerly sniffing a familiar looking bundle.

But he had dropped it off this morning, he was sure. With a frown he walked over and picked it up. A note was tucked underneath the knot. “Seems like I made too much again - oops! Could you take this off my hands, neighbor? Y/n“

The bundle smelled heavenly and feeling the disappointment subsiding ever so slightly, he carried it inside.

The next couple of days were the same. He would walk by your house, maybe catch a glimpse of you through a window, sometimes he could talk to you for a few minutes when you were in the garden but unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to bring himself to outright ask for your company and since you didn’t bring it up either he concluded that first time had just been a slip of your tongue.

But every evening without fail he came back to a new bundle of goodness, still warm, waiting for him on his porch under the watchful eyes and nose of his dog.

A new note accompanied each delivery and they already formed a small stack in his dresser drawer.

Every morning he would then drop off the cleaned box and bundle by your door, the same words as his first message written neatly on a sheet of simple, pretty paper.

“I tried a new dish with a recipe from one of the grandmothers in town. I hope you like it! - Also a quick question to a professional: I think my strawberries are dying. Their leaves are all crunchy and no matter how much I water them they seem to wilt. Thoughts? - Y/n”

He got up even earlier the next morning than usual and headed to his smaller greenhouse that kept some fruit and veggies he liked to have growing year round for his own personal use. After swiftly filling a basket with strawberries, he made his way to your home to drop them and the bundle off alongside a detailed note on what could be done about your plants before he headed to work.

“Kita-saaan!“

The young man stood up, looking around to see who called for him.

His stomach flipped when he saw your lovely figure standing on the road at the side of his field, waving. Today was another scorching hot day. You wore a light summer dress and your straw hat that he found so endearingly bewitching. He returned your wave and held his breath when he saw you pushing your bicycle along the narrow trampled dirt path between the neighboring field, obviously not bothered by dirtying your sandals a little. He waded out of the rice paddy to meet you.

“I ought to be mad at you.“, you said as a way of greeting him and he stopped short. Then you reached into the basket of your bicycle and took out a small bag.

“Those strawberries must be worth a fortune and there were so many of them, I can hardly finish those by myself.“

He relaxed and began to breathe again. You had cut some of the strawberries into bite-sized pieces while others topped freshly baked pastries. Lastly, you took out a glass bottle of milk, dyed slightly pink by the strawberry puree gathered at the bottom. “Do you think you have time for a short break?“

The pastries were, of course, delicious. He didn‘t expect anything else from whatever you prepared at this point. But as you two ate in the shade of a tree his mind was trying to figure out how to ask you about the other night. About you in that dress.

“Are you alright?“

He looked up from his cup of milk and met your eyes.

“What have ya been up to this week?“

“Hmm, nothing much.“, you said, spearing one of his strawberries on a skewer and pushing it between your lips. He could watch you enjoy his produce for hours, would happily spend the rest of his life feeding you just to see that blissful look in your eyes.

“I went to a friend’s birthday in the city. Let me tell you, even though I haven‘t been here long, I already missed the peace and quiet as soon as I got out of the taxi. It was the right decision to move. I‘m… so much happier here.“

He was pretty sure he had never been this relieved in his whole life. Looking at his cup of milk again he tried to hide a smile. “I‘m glad to hear that.“, he said.

Comfortable silence stretched between you like a cat in a sunbeam.

“I was wondering…“, you said eventually, “if you‘d like to come over for dinner again. Of course, if you‘d rather have the evening to yourself th-“

“Yes.“, he interrupted, then cleared his throat and continued, “That sounds great. I‘ll bring by the materials for that planter and set it up for ya.“

He was rewarded with another of your dazzlingly bright smiles.

The wheelbarrow gently wobbled over the many rocks and divots on the dirt road leading to your house. In it wooden planks as well as extra soil were stacked expertly and six little sugar snap pea starters were swaying back and forth on top.

When he arrived you were already waiting in your front yard, dressed for work, saluting when he halted. It took him a moment to collect his thoughts again.

“Alright, where do we start?“

“This‘ll only take 10 minutes.“, he waved you off.

“But if I help it might only take 9. Or… 30, depending on how much I slow you down.“

Kita laughed.

“Okay, but ya‘ll need gloves. The wood could splinter.“

“Oh. I don‘t have any.“

He reached into his back pocket and took out his pair, holding it out to you.

“What about you, though?“

“I‘ll be careful.“

It really didn‘t take long to connect the four pre-cut pieces with each other. Kita drove the long nails efficiently into the wood while you held the planks, trying not to get too distracted by the muscles in his shoulders and forearms. How could someone be this kind and generous? And handsome! And single!? Were the women in this town blind? But then again you did bring down the age average quite significantly…

“Y/n-san?“

His voice snapped you out of your thoughts. He held his hand out to you. For a confused moment you didn‘t know what to do and just took it. And Kita… he blushed.

“I asked for the other nail, please.“

“Oh my gosh, yes. Sorry. Uhm, here.“ You hastily pulled your hand away, your face burning bright red, and handed him the next nail.

Soon you were filling up the space with the soil he brought and planted the little starters. Using bamboo sticks and twine a makeshift trellis was quickly added and you stood up to admire your handiwork. You grinned and took off his gloves, holding up your hand for a high five.

When he raised his right you squinted and took it in yours.

“You did get a splinter!“, you scolded, “Man…! Come on.“

And you dragged him inside.

Kita thought he might explode at any second if you kept touching him. After carefully washing his hand and holding it under a steady stream of lukewarm water you pulled him over to your couch and asked him to keep his hand under the light of a small lamp on the side table. Rubbing down a pair of tweezers with some sake from your pantry you knelt in front of him, bringing his hand so close to your face he could feel your warm breath tickle his skin. It was quite maddening. Never had he felt such a strong desire for action. His whole body was tense like a taut bowstring. He held his breath while you worked, soft careful fingers rubbing and squeezing his calloused hand. He didn’t even notice the sting when you disinfected the spot after. But his skin burned when you applied a bandaid, gently smoothing out the corners.

“All done.”, you announced and got up to put the supplies away. He let out his breath, flexing his hand.

art: coloring done by @keiko-chan

[part 3]

[blanketorghost]

A taste of Something New (Pt. 3)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

The new taste is heartbreak, actually <3

This third one was supposed to have the resolution included but I realized this chapter was already 3000 words, also the last part is written in both Azul and Yuu's perspectives so perchance it is best that its separate from this one. Anyways stay tuned for the fourth maybe fifth parts. I may take less than a whole six months this time to write it!

Summary: Against his better judgement, Yuu wants to bring Azul a meaningful souvenir from the scalding sands.

Pairing: Yuu Fujisaki x Azul Ashengrotto (one-sided?), Azul Ashengrotto x Jamil Viper (implied, one-sided)

Timeline: During/Post Al'ab Narya and Ch. 4. Pre Ch. 5

Notes: Azul may be OOC? Have never been good at writing him convincingly imho

—

With a pep in his step and a nervous smile, Yuu exited the light music club. He'd mulled over it in class, planned his speech during lunch, and agonized over the details after school. He didn't even play anything during club time, even after an eternity of Kalim whining and goading him to join in with the rest of the members.

The light music club was just right across the board game club, and even if he would've spent time in there anyway, today all he could do was anxiously look at the slightly ajar door a few steps away. Would it be too weird if he just came in and gave him the book?

Yeah... definitely.

Honestly, the best option here was to just hand it to him after club session's over. He just needed to casually greet him and give him the book as the guise of a souvenir. He could explain the details later.

But what if he came out with a friend? He didn't really trust on his guts enough to think he could give him the gift then, he'd have to brainstorm new possibilities for encounter.

He clutches the piece tightly against his chest, wrapping paper crinkling to his touch.

"Wat'cha looking at, Yuu-chan?"

Cater's voice takes him out of his trance, rudely interrupting that vicious cycle of what-ifs and but-thens he'd already crafted in his brain about optimal gift-giving times.

"Oh, uhm..." He hides the package under his blazer and looks at the ground, hoping to find a good excuse inside the cracks on the floor. "I needed to ask for Azul's help for something about the gourmet club. I was hoping if I gave him something in return, he might say yes more easily."

"Really? Well, good luck with that." Cater raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "I've heard around the grapevine that Azul-kun's been super stingy about creating his famous contracts now. It's a shame. I was totes hoping we could do some sponsorship deal where I advertised the lounge on Magicam for free meals..."

"Huh. I guess he really turned a whole new leaf with that whole..." Yuu trails off as he smiles in spite of himself. He wasn't very sure that that was the reason Azul had stopped, but he could at least pretend maybe he had caused a positive change. A bit of wishful thinking never hurts anybody. "Never mind, I mean- Thanks for the warning. But I think he would be really interested in what I have to offer." He waves Cater off.

"Well, I mean, if you wanna you can use the points I've been saving up at the lounge to get a meeting, I honestly get them mostly for the discounts on seasonal meals, but I don't min-"

"Oh, I already have enough points for a meeting." Yuu takes his loyalty card from his pocket. Usually, he used the points to get some tutoring sessions for Grim or get him a study guide. It was convenient, and Azul's teaching method was the only one that actually worked. Yet, he had decidedly started to save up for a private meeting right before the City of Silk trip. He knew Azul was busy and stingy with his time, but if all other attempts to talk to him failed, he had to at least hear him out If he used his points, right?

"Aw, you're all prepared and everything! Gotta give it to Yuu to always be one step ahead." Cater gives him a smile, then checks his phone and sighs, cheerful demeanor diminishing slightly. "Welp. I gotta go to my dorm now. It's my turn to feed the flamingos. Good luck with your Gourmet Club business stuff!"

"Yeah, thanks." Yuu waves at all the members of the light music club, and, one by one, the classroom was left empty.

It feels like an eternity before the classroom adjacent to him opens its door, and he waits and waits for the students inside to tidy up and put back everything in their shelves until finally, the members of the Board Game Club also say their goodbyes for the day.

He could hear someone ranting inside the classroom to seeminly no one in particular, some students groaning or shaking their heads as they left the room. Some time later, Azul's voice rises through the chatter to retort to that one ranting, most likely. He scans the crowd until he finally sees a white tuft of hair exit from the room, black gloved hand raising to say his goodbyes to the people that were still inside.

He was always so outwardly nice and polite, he really just had a way of charming people, really. If only he used that power of his for better purposes... still, he couldn't deny the fact that that scheming was also attractive. Very much so, in fact. There was a reason why Yuu ended up falling for him so fast, after all.

“Yuu-san?” Yuu doesn't even notice when Azul turns to see him, his eyebrows arching in surprise.

“Ah- Uh– Azul-” He can barely string out a coherent sentence as he scrambles to hide the package behind his back— wait, what was he doing?! “I just… wanted to say hi.”

“Well then, hi.” Azul flashes him a smile. “It's nice to see you. Perhaps we could talk more at length later, though. I have to get the lounge ready for openin-—”

“Wait!”

Oh dear, that came out louder than what he intended.

Yuu clears his throat, taking a second to look down at the floor to compose himself. “Can't you spare a couple of minutes? It won't take long.”

“I'm sorry, Yuu-san. But I need to help Floyd prep the ingredients for today's menu and make sure Jade doesn't tamper with any of them, I'm sure you understand.”

“I see…”

“If you want, though, I could maybe clear up some time later?”

“I was actually hoping we could meet today… If you have time.” It's like Yuu's body was working on its own, completely overriding the script he'd had so carefully prepared. He was supposed to just give him the gift. “I wanted to talk to you about something important.”

Oh dear sevens, now he was making things sound way more serious than needed. Just give him the gift already!

“Ah.” … Did Azul just blush right now? Maybe he was seeing things. “I think I am free, but I'll ask Jade to schedule you.” He purses his lips. “I'll… Send you a text with the details later this evening.”

“Alright.” Yuu holds his breath as he hands Azul the card, who then rips it in half to signify it's been redeemed. “I’ll… Be waiting, then.”

With that, Azul flashes him another small smile and nods.”I’ll see you later, then.”

“Yeah… see you later.” 

Azul gives Yuu a small wave as he walks away, looking back just once to examine him before turning his heel towards the hallway at the left. And when Azul is out of view, he feels his nerves give out just a little bit…

just a little.

...

What... was he thinking?!

In his panic, he had used up what was supposed to be his hail mary. Sure, Azul was a busy guy and maybe he wouldn't be able to talk to him in a couple of days, but the recipe book could wait!

Giving the book to him after club activities was just a first option, he could've come up with others later. Save his points too!

Ugh, he really needed to learn not to blank when being alone with Azul.

~ 

It’s only 5:00 PM when Yuu receives that fabled message from Azul. 6:00 to 7:00 PM.

Huh, he thought meetings were only supposed to last 15 minutes. Perhaps Azul was feeling generous today. He wouldn’t be needing all that time, though.

Still, Yuu felt one hour to prepare was nearly not enough. Now that his initial courage waned after his first failed attempt, all he could feel was a growing pit in his stomach as he got ready. He didn’t want to keep Azul waiting, though. And before he knew it, he was already at the door of Mostro Lounge. Five minutes early, too.

“Good evening, Yuu. Here for your meeting?” Jade bows as he approaches, and Yuu reflexively bows to him as well. “I hope your conversation is productive.”

“Ah… yeah. Is Azul still in a meeting? I can wait if need be.”

“Oh, not really. Azul only accepted your request for today. You’re the only client he’ll be seeing.” Jade gives him a wide, closed-eyed smile. If his aim was to soothe him, it had the exact opposite effect on Yuu, getting a small jolt of adrenaline course through his body when he bares witness to that creepy grin of his. “In fact, you can go in now, if you’d like.”

“... Right.” Yuu slowly nods and starts walking towards the door, allowing Jade to open it for him. It’s not like the VIP lounge was an unfamiliar sight. In fact, he often found himself hanging out with Azul there, doing homework or chatting the afternoon away while Azul filled out some paperwork. It was a pleasant, quiet environment. Something Yuu severely lacked in his daily life.

As soon as the door opens, Azul looks up from his desk and smiles, lowering his right hand and placing his pen down. “Yuu-san. You’re early.” He states, then uses his left hand to gesture at the chair in front of him. “Take a seat. Do you mind if I continue working while we talk?”

“Hi…” Yuu gives his crush a sheepish smile as he walks over, Jade closing the door behind him. As he sits down, he can now feel a paradoxical heat irradiate from his chest. Wasn’t he just feeling chills before? “And no, of course not. Please continue.”

“Thank you. How was your weekend? Jade mentioned that you and some other students went to a festival.”

“Oh, yeah. Kalim-kun invited us to the firelit festival at his hometown. The Silk City at the Scalding Sands.” Yuu explains, trying to get more comfortable in the leather-bound chair. It usually felt so plush, but now he couldn’t seem to find a good, comfortable position. “Viper showed us around town.”

"So I trust you had a pleasant trip, then?" Azul lifts his head up from his papers and flashes another friendly smile.

It took Yuu weeks of careful observation and millions of failed attempts to discern a genuine smile from Azul Ashengrotto. But once he got that first laugh, that first smirk or chortle, he committed it to memory. It wasn't too different from his all-business one— he still crinkled his eyes and kept his mouth shut. But there was a way in which his lips curled outwards too much, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly when he would pretend.

He was glad Azul would naturally smile more around him.

"It was very fruitful," Yuu leaves the package on his lap, and leans forward. He rests his chin on the back of his palm as he glances at Azul's writing. "Can I ask what you're working on today?"

"You can, and I'm just taking some notes after receiving the most recent customer reviews." Azul keeps smiling as he resumes scribbling at the margins of what Yuu can now see are printed out screenshots of some website. "What brings you here today? If you're looking for a position, permanent or temporary, I unfortunately have no spots open right now."

"Pity." Yuu hums as he eyes some of the comments. The amount of hate had certainly decreased in the months after his overblots. "I could help with accounting if you'd like. I used to do that sometimes."

"I've got that covered. I actually quite enjoy doing the math myself." Azul's smile turns into a small smirk. Cute know-it-all pout included. "I really do mean it when I say I have no spots today. It's a shame, though. I do enjoy you being around the lounge."

Right there, Yuu's heart does a flip.

"Thank you. But actually, that's not the only reason I'm coming here today." He would've liked to. If anything, most of Yuu's time was spent thinking up excuses to come to the lounge more often and not become broke in the process, but today was more of a do-shit-and-dip kind of deal. "And I'll preface, I've used my loyalty points for this meeting. So you have to hear me out."

Azul's eyes widen slightly in surprise, and he looks up once again, placing his fishbone pen on its holder. "Ah, right. You did tell me you had something important to tell me.” He purses his lips, and a hint of pink appears on his cheeks once more. “I'm listening."

Yuu has to consciously stop himself from taking a deep breath and betraying his nervousness. Instead, he straightens up and moves his hands to hold the book. "Well, I've been told that you've been looking for ways to freshen up the menu for this coming month, and..."

"If Grim has somehow convinced you to try and pitch me a tuna-themed menu, tell him I'm still not interested." Azul’s expression tenses as he  speaks in a serious tone, but Yuu can't help but snort at the answer.

"No, no. It's not that." Yuu covers his mouth with a hand as he regains his composure. "Has he actually tried to do that? Or— wait, I'm getting off-topic. But it's not Grim nor tuna related, promise."

“He may have once or twice.” He says nonchalantly as he places the papers aside, and, upon hearing Yuu's response, Azul's placid smile returns, and his posture relaxes a bit, crossing his arms. "I'm all ears, then.”

"Well, during my trip to Silk City, I had the opportunity to sample some of the popular dishes," Yuu starts. He'd created this pitch before he even got to writing the recipes down themselves. He knew that, with Azul, he needed to make his offer to actually look alluring— appetizing, even, if he were to even entertain the possibility of a novice cook gifting recipes to him. "And I've found some interesting recipes you might like." Azul opens his mouth to speak, but Yuu quickly starts again. "And before you tell me that I am in no position to pitch you any possible dishes, or that you've already stocked up on Scalding Sands recipe books, I'd like you to take a look at what I've brought first."

He slowly takes the wrapped book from his lap and hands it to Azul with both his hands. It takes Yuu all his self-control to keep his hands from shaking as Azul, now perplexed, and perhaps curious, takes the package and examines it. 

Their hands touch.

Please, for everything that's sacred, please don't let him blush.

Azul stares at it blankly for a few seconds before he takes off the tape that holds the bottom fold of the package together and slides the notebook from its wraps. And as soon as he does, the aroma of various spices strike both their nostrils. Cumin, Saffron, Paprika— all generously donated by the Asim's cooks.

It also strikes Yuu for the first time just how humble the notebook looks compared to the luxurious office. It looked out of place, foreign, and Yuu couldn't help but purse his lips in slight embarrassment. "I... Um..." God, this wasn't the time to start stammering!

"I... Interviewed the staff from Kalim's kitchens... and gathered as many recipes I could find." As Yuu steadies his voice, Azul starts turning the pages. Expression completely unreadable. "Most of these, they told me, were passed down through generations of trial and error, and I- well, I also documented each dish as best as I could."

"The Asims were kind enough to also allow me to sample their spices. Each is paired with a dish, but I made sure to gather enough for you to experiment if you wish to." Yuu's eyes leave Azul's face and look down at the pages, goodness knows he needed to take a break from trying to figure him out if he didn't want to just faint right then and there, and he was already feeling that annoying lump in his throat that threatened another mistake in his speech. "I know it'd be futile to just buy you a recipe book, since you'd probably have many, so I tried my best to gather as many recipes as possible from a variety of sources.... I, um..."

“I can't accept this. I'm sorry."

Yuu's eyes widen as he gains that same blank expression. His words hit him like a truck, and nothing could've softened that punch to his got nor the sense daze he was struck by. "... Huh?"

“I appreciate the effort you put into this, but… if you were strapped for money, you didn't need to get me anything.” A sharp, stinging pang pierces right through his chest, and Yuu feels mouth go dry. His body is somehow tense yet limp, and he just now notices how cold the VIP room is. "Jade probably mustn't have told you. But it's a personal policy of mine not to accept any gifts." Azul's brows furrow, whether it were with pity or sternness Yuu couldn't care to figure out. "Leaves too many loose ends for me to follow, you see."

"... I..." Yuu's left speechless as Azul puts the wrapping paper over the book and nudges it towards him, sliding it over the dark wood desk. "... I don't want anything for it, really." Yuu's voice is drained of any confidence as he meekly whispers, still in shock. "You can even make me sign a contract if you want."

"And as kind as your offer is, I can't make any exceptions." Azul shrugs, and Yuu's heart sinks. His tone isn't even laced with a sense of remorse or pity. It's... completely and utterly calm as he rejects Yuu's work. “Besides, as you've mentioned, I most likely already have the recipes somewhere in my library. Though having them all compiled in one is certainly convenient, I'd rather do so myself.”

"I still want you to have it." He glances down and leaves the book on the desk, untouched, then takes a step back.

“Yuu… It really isn’t─”

"If you don't want it as a gift, then take it... t-then take it as trash or-..." he breathes in, "Anyway. What matters is that it's yours. Throw it away, sell it, I don't care. But it's yours." He tries to act nonchalant, but he can already feel the lump in his throat becoming larger, cutting any air from getting to his lungs.

Why did he even say that?!

Anyways, before Azul can say or do anything else, Yuu simply walks out the VIP Lounge and out of Octavinelle. He pushes out a smiling Jade and ignores a greeting from Floyd. The atmosphere was just so heavy, suffocating. And all in all, Yuu was sure this was the most pathetic he'd acted in front of Azul ever.

And all he could hear was the sound of Floyd's annoyed whine to his brother just as he crossed the mirror portal door.

"Heeeeyyyy~~ what is up with Shrimpy today~??”

[asyastudieskorean]

01.21.2025 — 나는 이 아이스 모카를 매일 만들어요. 정말 정말 맛있어요. 그래서, 좀 갑자기, 여기는 아이스 모카 레시피를 가르쳐 드릴게요. 뭐 난 영어로 할 거에요. 왜냐하면 많은 시간이 없어. 자, 보세요:

~For a 16/20 oz~

*Everything is adjustable, i.e., to your sweetness preference

Ingredients

• 6-8 oz of hot coffee (I prefer instant espresso, and I think espresso in general works best with mochas, but sometimes I use regular coffee pods too. Instant packs work fine too, in a pinch, but keep in mind that usually has sweetener in it already. )

• Sugar (Splenda is okay too, but I use real sugar because it gives the best taste and this is my daily sweet treat, lol.)

• 1.5~ heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder (I only used the Hershey brand one; all others have failed me ㅋㅋ)

• Milk/Creamer/Heavy cream (I switch it up, but found the best combo is a generous dash of vanilla creamer and another generous dash of heavy cream)

• Whip (if you’re feeling crazy; most days, I am)

Steps

1) Make your hot coffee however you prefer, mix in your choice of sweetener and the cocoa powder, then ideally let cool for 15-20 min in the fridge/freezer. Cooler it is before putting it on ice, the less chance you’ll run into a sour coffee (it happens!). If you want it faster, put your creamer/milk in the hot coffee before putting it over ice, at least.

2) Then put over ice and add your creams or milk. Top with whip if you want and you’re done!

It took me a bit to find the right ratios for this, but you can def make it more or less sweet to your liking!

[kremlin]

How DOES the C preprocessor create two generations of completely asinine programmers??

oh man hahah oh maaan. ok, this won't be very approachable.

i don't recall what point i was trying to make with the whole "two generations" part but ill take this opportunity to justifiably hate on the preprocessor, holy fuck the amount of damage it has caused on software is immeasurable, if you ever thought computer programmers were smart people on principle...

the cpp:

there are like forty preprocessor directives, and they all inject a truly mind-boggling amount of vicious design problems and have done so for longer than ive been alive. there really only ever needed to be one: #include , if only to save you the trouble of manually having to copy header files in full & paste them at the top of your code. and christ almighty, we couldn't even get that right. C (c89) has way, waaaay fewer keywords than any other language. theres like 30, and half of those aren't ever used, have no meaning or impact in the 21st century (shit like "register" and "auto"). and C programmers still fail to understand all of them properly, specifically "static" (used in a global context) which marks some symbol as inelligible to be touched externally (e.g. you can't use "extern" to access it). the whole fucking point of static is to make #include'd headers rational, to have a clear seperation between external, intended-to-be-accessed API symbols, and internal, opaque shit. nobody bothers. it's all there, out in the open, if you #include something, you get all of it, and brother, this is only the beginning, you also get all of its preprocessor garbage.

this is where the hell begins:

#if #else

hey, do these look familiar? we already fucking have if/else. do you know what is hard to understand? perfectly minimally written if/else logic, in long functions. do you know what is nearly impossible to understand? poorly written if/else rats nests (which is what you find 99% of the time). do you know what is completely impossible to understand? that same poorly-written procedural if/else rat's nest code that itself is is subject to another higher-order if/else logic.

it's important to remember that the cpp is a glorified search/replace. in all it's terrifying glory it fucking looks to be turing complete, hell, im sure the C++ preprocessor is turing complete, the irony of this shouldn't be lost on you. if you have some long if/else logic you're trying to understand, that itself is is subject to cpp #if/#else, the logical step would be to run the cpp and get the output pure C and work from there, do you know how to do that? you open the gcc or llvm/clang man page, and your tty session's mem usage quadruples. great job idiot. trying figuring out how to do that in the following eight thousand pages. and even if you do, you're going to be running the #includes, and your output "pure C" file (bereft of cpp logic) is going to be like 40k lines. lol.

the worst is yet to come:

#define #ifdef #ifndef (<- WTF) #undef you can define shit. you can define "anything". you can pick a name, whatever, and you can "define it". full stop. "#define foo". or, you can give it a value: "#define foo 1". and of course, you can define it as a function: "#define foo(x) return x". wow. xzibit would be proud. you dog, we heard you wanted to kill yourself, so we put a programming language in your programming language.

the function-defines are pretty lol purely in concept. when you find them in the wild, they will always look something like this:

#define foo(x,y) \ (((x << y)) * (x))

i've seen up to seven parens in a row. why? because since cpp is, again, just a fucking find&replace, you never think about operator precedence and that leads to hilarious antipaterns like the classic

#define min(x,y) a < b ? a : b

which will just stick "a < b ? a: b" ternary statement wherever min(.. is used. just raw text replacement. it never works. you always get bitten by operator precedence.

the absolute worst is just the bare defines:

#define NO_ASN1 #define POSIX_SUPPORTED #define NO_POSIX

etc. etc. how could this be worse? first of all, what the fuck are any of these things. did they exist before? they do now. what are they defined as? probably just "1" internally, but that isn't the point, the philosophy here is the problem. back in reality, in C, you can't just do something like "x = 0;" out of nowhere, because you've never declared x. you've never given it a type. similar, you can't read its value, you'll get a similar compiler error. but cpp macros just suddenly exist, until they suddenly don't. ifdef? ifndef? (if not defined). no matter what, every permutation of these will have a "valid answer" and will run without problem. let me demonstrate how this fucks things up.

do you remember "heartbleed" ? the "big" openssl vulnerability ? probably about a decade ago now. i'm choosing this one specifically, since, for some reason, it was the first in an annoying trend for vulns to be given catchy nicknames, slick websites, logos, cable news coverage, etc. even though it was only a moderate vulnerability in the grand scheme of things...

(holy shit, libssl has had huge numbers of remote root vulns in the past, which is way fucking worse, heartbleed only gave you a random sampling of a tiny bit of internal memory, only after heavy ticking -- and nowadays, god, some of the chinese bluetooth shit would make your eyeballs explode if you saw it; a popular bt RF PHY chip can be hijacked and somehow made to rewrite some uefi ROMs and even, i think, the microcode on some intel chips)

anyways, heartbleed, yeah, so it's a great example since you could blame it two-fold on the cpp. it involved a generic bounds-checking failure, buf underflow, standard shit, but that wasn't due to carelessness (don't get me wrong, libssl is some of the worst code in existence) but because the flawed cpp logic resulted in code that:

A.) was de-facto worthless in definition B.) a combination of code supporting ancient crap. i'm older than most of you, and heartbleed happened early in my undergrad. the related legacy support code in question hadn't been relevant since clinton was in office.

to summarize, it had to do with DTLS heartbeats. DTLS involves handling TLS (or SSLv3, as it was then, in the 90s) only over UDP. that is how old we're talking. and this code was compiled into libssl in the early 2010s -- when TLS had been the standard for a while. TLS (unlike SSLv3 & predecessors) runs over TCP only. having "DTLS heartbeat support in TLS does not make sense by definition. it is like drawing a triangle on a piece of paper whose angles don't add up to 180.

how the fuck did that happen? the preprocessor.

why the fuck was code from last century ending up compiled in? who else but!! the fucking preprocessor. some shit like:

#ifndef TCP_SUPPORT <some crap related to UDP heartbeats> #endif ... #ifndef NO_UDP_ONLY <some TCP specific crap> #endif

the header responsible for defining these macros wasn't included, so the answer to BOTH of these "if not defined" blocks is true! because they were never defined!! do you see?

you don't have to trust my worldview on this. have you ever tried to compile some code that uses autoconf/automake as a build system? do you know what every single person i've spoken to refers to these as? autohell, for automatic hell. autohell lives and dies on cpp macros, and you can see firsthand how well that works. almost all my C code has the following compile process:

"$ make". done. Makefile length: 20 lines.

the worst i've ever deviated was having a configure script (probably 40 lines) that had to be rune before make. what about autohell? jesus, these days most autohell-cursed code does all their shit in a huge meta-wrapper bash script (autogen.sh), but short of that, if you decode the forty fucking page INSTALL doc, you end up with:

$ automake (fails, some shit like "AUTOMAKE_1.13 or higher is required) $ autoconf (fails, some shit like "AUTOMCONF_1.12 or lower is required) $ aclocal (fails, ???) $ libtoolize (doesn't fail, but screws up the tree in a way that not even a `make clean` fixes $ ???????? (pull hair out, google) $ autoreconf -i (the magic word) $ ./configure (takes eighty minutes and generates GBs of intermediaries) $ make (runs in 2 seconds)

in conclusion: roflcopter

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ disclaimer | private policy | unsubscribe

[tiny-goals-tiny-dreams]

Long gone, but finally back!

Hi everyone!

I was gone for the entire month and I didn't expect that it would happen. I had many exams and duties during that time, which totally crushed me. During my semester break I already was going through a burnt out crisis - didn't do much but also didn't rest at all. I knew that I won't be able to post here, cause guilt was hitting me a little bit too much. It usually happens to me, when the task is too overwhelming.

I accomplished a lot, while I was gone:

passed all my exams: laryngology, forensic medicine

passed pharmacology retake, which was rather on the harder side (many people failed)

finished neurology rotation with a nice exam option

presented my case on rheumatology conference

prepared for presenting my tuberculosis case from infectious diseases (keep your fingers crossed, results on 10th of April)

got new cases to present from rheumatology and my article is in the making!

finished chosing a dedicated moderator for my study room!

Now I feel like my life is a little bit more peaceful and I can finally focus more on my studies, in the way that I wanted to.

I also wanted to review my month in terms of goals I set 1 month ago (which I am sure it won't be much progress).

I didn't increase my calorie goal as I planned - I think I increased to 240 kcal activity around a week ago. I didn't reach my activity goal for 22 days since 15th of Feb till today. There where days where I almost closed the circle but somehow I didn't have the motivation to be a little bit more active at the end of the day. I want to keep this 240 kcal goal until the end of March and then I will again try to increase by 10 every 2 weeks (but I need to stick with closing the circle)

since 15th of Feb I was in the gym 3 times, if things will go alright I should be able to go 5 times this month (which is already such an improvement, since I was there twice in Feb)

Hmm with Duolingo I did keep my streak, but I defo didn't spend 10 minutes everyday and I also didn't mark that habit. I also think about whether learning Hindi has any sense since my friends tell me that it's not worth it and Duo Hindi is pretty bad. I will try to continue my 10 mins daily Japanese Duo and think about what to do with Hindi.

I didn't do meditation, or the cleaning and decluttering 15-mins routines - there are probably days when I did clean, but I didn't really pay attention to that.

I also didn't take almost any picture, since the level of stress was too high and I limited going out a lot. I streamed on Twitch once but then I was busy with exams and I found it distracting. I want to start doing daily updates here again and also plan a few streams (like 1 per week) so that I can build up my skill and be more regular

Unfortunately I didn't really read any non-medical book or didn't even start and at the same time I didn't explore more nature. I also didn't go out with my bf...

I still want to continue with the goals I set for myself last month, the lesson that I am getting from this month is that when exams are coming my other goals are pushed aside and I tend to feel really overwhelmed and stressed, to the point when I can't really tame my emotions. I still did succeed in academic life, so that's alright, but I want to prioritise myself more.

The weather is getting warmer and sunnier, so the motivation to go outside is getting bigger as well! I hope I will be able to move more and eat more healthily. I also want to focus more on reducing the amount of processed food that I consume and be more mindful about eating in general.

To summarise - my goals for the next month are:

go to the gym 8 times (in April) and go 5 times in March (I already went 1 so far) [make sure I plan in my calendar when I go, so it's more likely that I move my butt]

keep completing my daily step goals (increase on 1st and 15th of April)

Duo Japanese for 10 mins daily

add the number of hours I studies to the daily recap

start meditating again

daily 15 mins of cleaning at the end of the day

daily 15 mins of digital cleaning

add more pictures to my recaps (try to start with one per day)

stream at least 1 time per week

read a non-medical book for 30 mins - let's try once per week during the weekend

try to explore nature - go for a dedicated trip once per 2 weeks

publish my infectious diseases article

go on 2 outside dates with my boyfriend (already planned 1 outing to the theathre!)

take better care of my oral higiene

make significant progress with my other scientific papers:

publish my infectious diseases tuberculosis case (or prepare everything if I get chosen for the conference)

prepare a paper for the second infectious diseases case

prepare a good draft of the article about APS

apply for this years scientific conferences (in the making)

focus on my LEK exam daily prep

complete my daily neuro and anesthesio reading every day

I also want to start sharing my goals here again - I will also add screenshot with my completed tasks at the end of the day(I started using Excel with friends for that).

Thanks for reading and see you more regularly from now on! Biee! (≧ω≦)

[exoluxionlove]

[INFO] EXO-CBX lawyer files a complaint against SM with the FTC.

230605 Rough Papago translation of EXO-CBX's third legal statement

"This is Lee Jae-hak, a lawyer for Lin, a law firm that acted as legal representatives for Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen (Byun Baek-hyun, Kim Min-seok, Kim Jong-dae, hereinafter referred to as "artists").

On behalf of the client, the legal representative filed a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "Fair Trade Commission") against SM Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as "SM")'s "abuse of trading status" yesterday (June 4, 2023).

Through this complaint, we reported that unfair contractual activities that ignored the correction order have been carried out in SM, even though the FTC has already issued correction orders twice against SM in October 2007 and January 2011.

In addition, we asked the Fair Trade Commission for a strict investigation into SM's violations and prompt corrective measures to correct them, and further requested a full investigation into the exclusive contracts of SM entertainers.

In fact, three of our client artists signed an unfair contract that did not reflect any corrective measures ordered by the FTC to SM in the past, and were continuously damaged by SM's abuse of trading status.

Failure to correct it even after receiving a correction order from the Fair Trade Commission is also a criminal punishment subject to up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 150 million won as a "person who fails to comply with correction measures under Article 49 (1)" of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act.

Below, the legal representative of the party will deliver the detailed position on the FTC's complaint against SM.

1. Despite the FTC's decision to ban SM twice in 2007 and 2011, SM did not correct it.

Until the FTC complaint, the artists made a really difficult decision after careful consideration.

This is not what happened yesterday or today.

Already in 2007 and 2011, SM, not any other company, has repeated the abuse of each trading position that the Fair Trade Commission has decided to ban the act to this day until 2023.

SM has already been judged to be unfair in terms of the FTC Resolution No. 2007-488 (2007 Seogyeong 0209) on October 8, 2007 (1) the starting point of the contract period of the exclusive contract as the debut date, and (2) the contract period provisions of other entertainment agencies in the same industry. (Refer to the decision sheet on pages 3 to 5 below

In addition, SM was also judged that the FTC's Resolution No. 2011-002 (2009 Seogyeong2741) on January 13, 2011 should not again apply the extended contract period to trainees for reasons such as overseas expansion. (See the decision sheet on pages 6-7 below.)

However, SM completely ignored the FTC's public judgment and repeated unfair tyranny again by signing exclusive contracts for Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen. This is an act that directly contradicts the Fair Trade Commission's judgment made to SM itself, not anyone else, and is a mockery of national public power.

The practices and behaviors that SM has repeated so far will not only be a matter for the artists of Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen. Considering many other trainees and artists, the damage can be enormous. And considering the unfair behavior that will be repeated not only now but also in the future, we couldn't help but step up for junior trainees and artists. In response, Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen artists decided to file a complaint with the FTC against SM's abuse of trading status with the help of their legal representatives.

I hope our efforts and courage will be a small addition and hope for the protection of the rights and interests of juniors and the fair and sound development of the pop culture industry.

2. Although it has already been confirmed that calculating the end date of the exclusive contract from the time of the 'entertainment activity debut' (not from the date of the exclusive contract) is unfair to set a long-term exclusive contract at the agency's will, SM still does not follow the FTC's corrective measures.

As of October 8, 2007, FTC Resolution No. 2007-488 (2007 Seogyeong 0209) was ordered to prohibit SM from "excessively prolonging the contract period by setting the exclusive contract period to "end on the 5th year after the release of the first album" or "end on the 5th year from the date of cast of the supporting grade or higher."

However, after receiving the FTC's correction order in 2007, SM repeatedly presented and concluded exactly the same unfair provisions in exclusive contracts with Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen signed in 2010 and 2011. (Excerpt from exclusive contract of client Byun Baek-hyun below)

In this way, the expiration date of the exclusive contract can be set to "five years after the release date of the first album" or "five years after the debut date of the first work" if the artist debuts as an actor.

The Fair Trade Commission Resolution No. 2007-488 (2007 Seogyeong 0209) on October 8, 2007 also judged exactly that.

In this way, SM repeatedly presented and concluded the same unfair provisions even after receiving the FTC's corrective order in 2007, which is a criminal punishment case that must be sentenced to up to two years in prison or fined up to 150 million won.

3. Even though the FTC's decision in 2007 judged that the contract period of "five years from the debut date (not from the contract date) was excessively long, SM made a more unfair contract with a period of "7 years" in the main body of the exclusive contract and "3 years" in the annex agreement.

In the 2007 FTC resolution above, SM's exclusive contract and other entertainment agencies' exclusive contract terms were compared, and the FTC judged that SM had set an overly unfavorable contract period clause.

As shown below, according to the FTC investigation at the time, (1) other agencies in the same industry did not set the starting date of the contract as "debut date" like SM, but as from "the date of signing the contract," and (2) the exclusive contract period was three to five years below the contract period set by SM.

As a result of this investigation, the Fair Trade Commission issued an order prohibiting excessive prolongation of the contract period by setting the exclusive contract period as "5th year after the release of the first album" or "5th year from the date of cast of the supporting grade or higher."

Nevertheless, SM did not correct this and signed the contract under unfair contract conditions, which is an act that did not comply with the Fair Trade Commission's corrective measures and is a criminal punishment issue as mentioned earlier.

4. SM is violating the Fair Trade Commission's corrective order by using the expedient to apply the extended contract period uniformly for reasons such as overseas expansion that has not been confirmed at the time of signing the contract.

According to FTC Resolution No. 2011-002 (2009 Seogyeong2741), SM is not ordered to correct the other party by applying the extended contract period to all trainees without considering their individual circumstances using their trading status.

In addition, the FTC pointed out the annex agreement of Table 3 as below in the above resolution in 2011, and SM uniformly concluded the annex agreement in this form, which was judged to be an unfair contract condition.

Upon receipt of such a corrective action order, SM should no longer enter into a contract that violates the corrective action order, and even if the contract is already signed, it should be revised to suit the purpose of the corrective action order. However, SM repeatedly presented and signed exactly the same unfair subsidiary agreement provisions in exclusive contracts with Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen in 2010 and 2011, before and after receiving the FTC's correction order in 2011. (Excerpt from exclusive contract of client Byun Baek-hyun below)

And as far as the client artists know, SM has been signing an annex agreement to extend the three-year contract period for other artists due to preparations for overseas expansion.

In this way, SM repeatedly presented and concluded the same unfair provisions even after receiving the FTC's correction order in 2011, which is a criminal punishment of up to two years in prison or a fine of up to KRW 150 million as defined in Article 125 (1) of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act.

5. The follow-up exclusive contract, which is automatically extended until the album release volume is filled, is extremely unfair as it has not even set a minimum limit on the period.

As you can see, the artist decided to calculate the contract period from the debut date, and the trainee period was added to the exclusive contract period, extended by 3 years, and the military service period was added to the exclusive contract for more than 12 to 13 years.

This is too different from the standard exclusive contract for pop culture artists (singer-centered) announced by the Fair Trade Commission based on 7 years of contract period, and SM claims at least 17 or 18 years of contract period by signing 12 to 13 years of exclusive contract.

It is pointed out again that such subsequent signing of an exclusive contract constitutes "an act of unfairly using the status of the transaction" in Article 45 (1) 6 of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. In other words, the long-term compulsion using a subsequent exclusive contract is considered to correspond separately to the "compulsory provision of profits" or "unprofitable provision of transaction conditions" in attached Table 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the same Act.

And Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the subsequent exclusive contract says, 'This contract is... for five years from. However, if the minimum number of albums specified in Article 4 (4) is not released within the same period, the contract period shall be automatically extended until the time of implementation.' There is no upper limit to the period of automatic extension.

In this way, the clause that the contract period is automatically extended without a cap is clearly a slave contract, and the legal representative pointed out that it is an act of "unfairly exploiting the trading position to deal with the other party," and the artists agree.

And with more than a year left of the existing exclusive contract, it is not justifiable to "tie" the artists by signing a follow-up exclusive contract without a limit on the period. SM has never paid artists a down payment for subsequent exclusive contracts.

ccording to Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the "Popular Culture Artist (Singer-centered) Standard Exclusive Contract" announced by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the singer can notify the planner of the termination of the contract at any time after seven years. However, SM has signed a very long-term contract and is tying up the artists again a year or so before the contract ends.

6. We have filed a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission with the hope that our small courage will be helpful for the establishment of fair pop culture and junior artists.

Despite corrective action by the Fair Trade Commission in 2007 and 2011, SM has repeatedly engaged in unfair contract practices.

Such an act ignores the legitimate act of state government power, and the damage caused by it has occurred repeatedly to trainees and artists.

In response, Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen artists decided to file a complaint with the FTC against SM's abuse of trading status with the help of their legal representatives.

I hope our efforts and courage will be a small addition and hope for the protection of the rights and interests of juniors and the fair and sound development of the pop culture industry."

Source

[ladycauthon]

So now that I've seen the first three episodes of season 3, I'd say overall, a much better start to the season than the previous two, and I am enjoying it, but I have a few criticisms.

1. The Trakands suck. Honestly... what tropey shenanigans have they done to them? I hate them all (bar Elayne as she's great), and Gaebril is my favourite of that group which is INSANE.

2. How did Alanna and Maksim get to the Two Rivers so fast and why are they there? Also, why is Perrin there? I don't often say 'but in the books' blah blah, but honestly, Perrin's reasoning for going home in the books makes soooooo much more sense. Especially if you're trying to understand why they would go there through the Ways!!!

3. The Mat/Galad/Gawyn fight scene should have been in public. Making it private is cowardly and I won't forgive them for this. Give me my proper damn scene!! I beg of thee show, all my fave scenes from these books have been cut so far, I'm running out of patience!!!!

4. The "bubble of evil" for Mat sucked. Make the cards come alive, why can none of the fun things from the books actually make it into the show?

5. Very unpopular opinion here, I know, but I seriously dislike Liandrin's backstory in the show and I just don't care to hear it. I don't want her to be a tragic "nuanced, morally grey" character because it's too tropey. The show needs to step away from some real YA fantasy tropes it drives me slightly insane.

6. Break Egwene and Rand up, already, I hate them togetherrrrrr.

7. The pacing is still a little off for me, but I'm chosing to be forgiving of how rushed everything feels.

8. Honestly though, does anyone actually like the Trakands???

BUT that being said there's a lot of things I love so far, such as:

1. Lanfear really is that bitch and I love to see it.

2. Moghedien is a creepy little thing and holy fuck did she just make Jaichim into a Grey Man? Holyyyy

3. Faile is perfect. Sorry to all the Faile haters out there, but you're dumb and wrong. I love her, she's already embodied that character to a T and I'm excited to see more of her.

4. Mat is also perfect and the star of the show, we all knew that already. I also like him and Min together because I always thought it was a missed opportunity to have them interact in the books because I think they don't until like book 14 (and Sanderson obviously ruins that interaction).

5. I like Lan and Nynaeve as much as in the books. I think of all the romances so far, theirs feels the most natural along with Siuan and Moiraine. Elayne/Avi is fine but too rushed for me to care yet

6. The dialogue is improved to a point where I don't want to rip out my hair all the time. Yay, thank you! It's still a little too exposition-y, but, God, so much better than the previous 2 seasons.

7. Weaving is improved 10 fold.

And for one little neither good nor bad point;

1. Melindhra?!?!?! Huh???!?!

Next episode is Rhuidean though, and I'm incredibly hyped, even if we don't get Mat through the doorway 😞

[frogdadskeleton]

11.2. 

Kcal: 655

Fast: 17h

Steps: 17 000

Exercise: 35 min 5.0 incline walk on treadmill, 46 min gym (delts), 10 min stretching

2 cups of black coffee (4)

Celsius (10)

Warm lemon water (1)

10 almonds (62)

C&s one bite out of a pastry

2 corn cakes (54)

2 raw bars (306)

Kimchi style sauerkraut (17)

Quark (150)

Hemp (21)

Banana (29)

Detox tea (1)

I barely slept.

Idk what to say abt this day. I was productive, but nothing i do feels like enough.

I have all this exciting stuff happening in my life (career, personal life, hobbies) yet i feel like I'm falling deeper into the abyss. And rather than being stoked abt the new opportunities, i feel overwhelmed and terrified.

I was gonna make daal today and i was quite looking forward to it too, but then... i didn't. It was already so late when i got home and i was tireddd. I promise I'll make it tomorrow 🐀

42g of protein... day 2 and already a fail lol

[readingwithemi]

As much as it delights me when The Boys are big dumb dumbs when it comes to girls and not knowing what to do about girls and not knowing when girls are very obviously attracted to them, I do heave a bit of a sigh any time the girlies are fighting over/about boys.

I can already tell I'm probably not going to like it when Elayne and Min figure out they both love Rand (and, like, do you love him?? or is he just tall???) I really didn't like the whole Berelain thing with Rand and Perrin. I mean, who cares that she tried to seduce Rand - that makes sense - and I'm not mad at that character type (the beautiful woman who uses her body as currency/leverage for political/personal gain/protection) but MAN. I could definitely do without Elayne calling her a slut! And being mad at Rand that she was in his room!!

Girliepop - you have no say over what this grown man does or who he hangs out with. You're definitely allowed to be jealous but that's it. And Faile!!! GIRL. Do you not know 1. Berelain's reputation? and 2. PERRIN???? What would make you think that Perrin would be stepping out on you???? Why not just ASK what's going on or using your brains???

It's just all very dated and does such a disservice to what are - broadly speaking! - really well-written and developed female characters. But man. The '90s were a long time ago.

(at least Egwene and Rand split maturely! and I really liked that - them both realizing that their feelings had changed and that both of their lives had taken drastically different paths and it didn't include a romantic relationship anymore. more of that please!)

[themwordsblog]

There is Nothing Holding Me Back

Hope everyone likes it. This story will be in series. Part 1 here for now. Show some love for the rest of the story.

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Min Yoongi never believed in Love at First Sight. Hell! He definitely did not believe that he of all the 8 Billion people on the planet will ever experience it. For him, the very concept of Love at First Sight was a ridiculous idea, a cooked up dream, for people who were looking for an easy way out in romance. Until the day he met you for the first time.

—xxxx—-

Life has been interesting for you for  the last few years. 

Never in your wildest dream, you had imagined that you would get married to what you thought was the love of your life, who would leave you within the first year of marriage. Reason: He could not keep up with your professional success. It made him jealous. He wanted you to choose to ignore the opportunities that you were getting and get behind him, like the women of old times. Oh! You had his back. You always had his back, even when he did not stand behind you. In the end everything was up in flames. 

You had also never imagined that you will rise in your profession so quickly. You were natural in leading the team. Your observation skills were acute. You were meticulous in your tasks. No wonder there were people who wanted you to fail, out of sheer jealousy and pettiness. For the sake of your own mental health, you had handed in your resignation letter. The reaction of you leaving was mixed, some were happy to see you go, though pretended that they are going to miss you. Some were genuinely sad to see you go. You? You were free. Free from all the people who did not appreciate you. Free to breathe. Free to finally build and stand up on your own. For your own self.

By the time you were 27, you were divorced and jobless. But not for long. You were a writer. Not many knew about this. This was a secret only few were aware of. You already had drafts of at least 7 Novels down along with a collection of short stories. All it took was a drunken pep talk from your best friend one fine night for you to take the leap and actually realize your childhood dream of being a writer.

Within 1 year your first book was published. By the time you were 30, you were already a successful writer with an  actual fan base. Something that you didn't think would have happened. Like ever. But hey! You were not complaining. You were in a healthy space, both mentally and physically. Moreover, you were happy.

—xx—

Your writing career has taken you to places that you had never imagined. You were not only a celebrated author with millions of copies of books sold. Production houses were approaching you for the rights of your books. You were approached to develop ideas or stories that could be made into movies or series. Your last book, which was a hit among Young Adults, was now being converted into a series drama, specifically a K-Drama. 

And that is how you find yourself in Seoul, at night in an upscale restaurant, with your agent, your best friend and the assistant from the production house that approached you, waiting for the manager to lead you to your table. 

“Some VIP has arrived for dinner. The security wanted to make sure that they are safe and settled. It will not take that long.” Choi Dae informed you.  

“We can wait for a while. Don’t worry” You had assured him. Bless Dae for being such a support for you and your friends, while you were in Korea. From the moment you and your friends had stepped out of the airport in Seoul to the present, he had been a constant support and cheerleader. You were thanking the almighty for bringing you to Choi Dae. You never had found such enthusiasm and support with any of your previous collaborators like you found with Dae and his team. Your agent, Laura, much to her and your own shock and surprise, had admitted that this collaboration was the easiest job that she had done. 

“We, book agents, rarely find people who will satisfy our authors like that.” She had told you in the evening when you signed the deal of converting your book into a K-Drama. “Usually, there is a compromise, either in the storyline or characters or something else. And, if there are no issues there, then the money becomes the issue. You are lucky that Dae is onboard with the original plot and characters and the money is good.”

Yes, you were lucky. You knew it. Hence, you don't mind waiting for a few minutes to get to your table.

“Oh My God! It’s BTS.” Laura whispered beside you. 

Your attention turned to the group of men that had walked in with security tailed behind them. You could hear screams of fans out in the front of the restaurant,where moments ago, it was practically empty.

“Guess they are the reason we are waiting.” Your best friend Peter muttered beside you. 

The BTS were led by the manager to their table, and as they walked by your eyes met with one of them. It took you a moment to realize it was Suga.

—x—

“Let’s go out for dinner.” Hoseok had suggested when they ended their vocal training. “Maybe pamper ourselves with a fancy dinner for today’s hard work.”

Everyone had agreed to it, and Yoongi, though he would have preferred to be at home, did not object. 

Ever since BTS had regrouped, they had been working hard on the new album. It would not be like any of their previous albums. These were the guys, who were in their late 20s and early 30s, with their experience as a solo artist and completing their mandatory military enlistments. They were grown up men. Their new music reflected the theme. Yoongi was excited. He believed that the ideas that they were working on, were much needed in the present times and was positive that they are going to have the biggest comeback. But, he was not a stranger to anxiety or the fear of losing, as his band mates felt. If Suga was quiet and reserved earlier, the current Suga is even more reserved, if it was even possible, as per Jimin’s observation.

So when they arrived at the restaurant, no one, not even The Great Suga, imagined that he was going to fall in love, that too at the very first sight. Who knew tonight will be the unraveling of all the walls and masks that Yoongi had held.

[hils79]

Hils Watches Cooking Crush - Ep 1

Time to start a new drama! I'm quite sure this one is going to be silly but it's OffGun and I love them so here we are.

Less than 5 mins in and they've already had their meet cute over some dropped onions. Will this be an enemies to lovers drama or a friends to lovers drama? I actually don't know even though I watched the trailer when it first dropped months ago. I can't remember 😅

Well, I suppose throwing cold water over himself in his back yard because the shower is broken is still an improvement over crying fully clothed in the shower like he did in Theory of Love

Two years just studying the theory of cooking seems excessive. Like it's important but shouldn't you balance it with the practical side?

Of course it's not a school drama without some bullies

I love it when Gun plays tiny feisty characters

NEO! My precious ketchup boy! I love him and didn't know he was in this!

Well, I'm already invested in this side couple despite knowing next to nothing about either of them.

OH MY GOD THEY'RE CALLED FIRE AND DYNAMITE. I love them already.

Well, they're already gazing at each other with yearning so it's probably not an enemies to lovers drama. Also, I am obsessed with Off's lil nerdy glasses he looks so cute

Second meet cute involves Gun getting knocked out by a football. So far this is checking all my boxes 😁

Bit harsh. Oh, but wait! Is Prem going to blame Ten for them failing to meet their soup deadline. Maybe this will be enemies to lovers after all!

Well, they might have become enemies if Ten hadn't fainted from hunger while Prem was in the middle of yelling at him 😁

This is quite silly, but also adorable

I like that Fire is bisexual. There should be more bi men in BL dramas

You're the one who left him there unsupervised with a mountain of dirty dishes to wash, my dude.

Enemies to lovers is back on the cards!

THEY ARE SO CUTE!

I love that they had to put Gun on a step just to make him taller

Ohhh! Prem's soup reminded him of his mother who, presumably, is not around which is why he has a bad relationship with his dad.

Well, this is off to a very cute start. Looking forward to watching more