#woong imagines

[jebewonmorelike]

We're Making The Bear

wc: 3.3k (haha help) pronouns: none used; n/a (reader calls jiwoong 'oppa' but it's only because that's what his baby sister calls him!) warnings: oh wow this is so fluffy... tiniest bit of angst bc jiwoong doesn't see his sister as much as he would like bc of his work schedule summary: a reluctant jiwoong and his baby sister make a teddy bear with the help of the cute bear's life employee!reader. ~masterlist~ ♡ ~kofi (no pressure at all)~ this one will destroy your teeth and your dentist will hate you from all the fluff i'm serious. this was so fulfilling to write, i really, really love how it turned out! i think you're gonna like it :) when i post, i'm always like "MY MASTERPIECE" so pls forgive me if i overhype things but i'm so happy with them once i finish them lmaooo. this was a request so thank you to @hursheys for this idea, sorry it took me a little while but I hope you like it <3 &lt;3 <3

Placing your little bear ears back on your head after your lunch break, you fluff some of the ready-to-purchase bears on the shelves to the right side of the store. You're completely absorbed in your busywork when you feel a gentle tug on your pastel apron.

Looking down to your left, you're met with the sight of a tiny girl; her eyes big and round staring up at you happily. You figure she can't be more than five, if that.

"Hi!" You greet with a smile, watching as the little girl blinks back at you innocently. "And who do we have here?"

"Ji-Ah!" She announces happily, a grin spreading across her face.

You giggle, but a bit of concern for the lone child is brewing in your chest. "It's lovely to meet you, Ji-Ah-sshi! Are your parents here with you today?"

Ji-Ah shakes her head. "Jiwoong Oppa!"

"Ji-Ahya!" You hear a male voice call suddenly as the door to your shop flies open.

"Oh good, here's your--," you start to say, but your voice trails off when you're suddenly face-to-face with the most strikingly gorgeous man you've ever seen in your life. Your lips part slightly in shock, wide-eyed as you stare back at him. "... Oppa."

As the incredibly handsome man approaches, you can see the worry in his eyes. He picks up Ji-Ah quickly and throws her over his hip. "What did I tell you about leaving my side, huh? You could get lost or hurt, Ji-Ah. Then what would I do?"

Turning his head finally, his eyes meet yours and you're embarrassed to admit that you're a bit breathless. Mentally scolding yourself, you ground your feet back in reality. "Hi, how are you?"

He nods, grimacing awkwardly at you. "I'm sorry if she bothered you. She can be kind of slippery."

"Not at all," you reply, shaking your head. "My name is (Y/N). What brings you both to Bear's Life today?"

"Oh, last week it was little Ji-Ah's birthday," the man explains as his sister smiles at you. "Unfortunately, I was working. I'm actually working today, too, but I was lucky enough to get some time off to spend with my baby sister."

You smile as Ji-Ah bites her thumb shyly; her face as perfect as a doll's as her brother sets her back down on the floor. "Well, I'm glad you could make it! So, we'll be opting in for the full experience?"

The man named Jiwoong's lips part as he prepares to protest, but Ji-Ah cuts him off before he can get a word out.

"Yes, yes, yes! Can I?" She begs, jumping up and down excitedly.

Jiwoong sighs, smiling to cover up his opposition. "Ji-Ah, I don't have that much time. We were just going to pick out a bear that's already been made. I thought you wanted to get ice cream, too?"

Ji-Ah shakes her head rapidly. "No, I want to make my bear with (Y/N)-sshi!"

"Don't worry, Ji-Ah-sshi," you say with a smile. "I know the perfect method that your brother could never say no to!"

"You do?" Jiwoong asks nervously.

"Repeat after me, okay?" You prompt as Ji-Ah nods enthusiastically. Slipping into the cutest voice you can muster, you clasp your hands together below your chin and look up at Jiwoong with puppy-dog eyes. "Can I please make my bear today?"

Jiwoong stares back at you with his eyebrows raised-- mouth slightly ajar in shock.

Ji-Ah mimics your actions, clasping her hands together and begging, "Can I please make my bear today?"

"Pretty, pretty please," you demonstrate again, putting your chin in your hands so your cheeks squish up.

"Pretty, pretty please," Ji-Ah follows, squishing her little round cheeks up in her palms. You watch as a reluctant smile begins to form on her older brother's face.

You tap one finger to your cheek cutely as you add your next line. "With a cherry on top!"

"With a cherry on top!" Ji-Ah says, touching her tiny index finger to her cheek and sticking out her lips in her own improvised pout. Jiwoong laughs, shaking his head in amazement.

"Please, Oppa?" You finish your pleading, smiling up at Jiwoong sweetly. He swallows nervously, a quick flash of panic in his eyes as you look away quickly out of embarrassment.

"Please, Oppa?" Ji-Ah repeats, her smile lethally infectious as Jiwoong places a hand over his heart. He holds up his other hand in surrender.

"Okay, fine!" He relents, sighing in defeat while grinning. "I'm too weak; I can't take any more! You've got me: we're making the bear."

~

"Now that our new bear friend is stuffed full of fluff... we need to stuff him full of love, too!" You say, holding the cream-colored teddy bear that Ji-Ah had picked out and helped to fill with cotton. You reach into the large heart-shaped box next to the stuffing machine and pull out an assortment of small, plushy fabric hearts. Each has a different design, color and texture so that the customer can choose the one they like most for their bear friend.

“(Y/N)-sshi? I want Jiwoong Oppa to pick the heart!” Ji-Ah demands cutely, looking up at her brother expectantly.

He blinks at you hesitantly before nodding in agreement. "Okay, I guess I can do that."

You hold out the fabric hearts to the young man which are splayed delicately across your palms for him to choose. He looks at them for a second before looking back up at you, entirely overwhelmed by the task he’s been given as his eyes silently scream ‘help me’.

A small smile creeping onto your face, you use your thumb to indicate which heart Ji-Ah would like most. As you tap the heart quickly, Jiwoong exhales in relief and picks up the little plush heart between his thumb and index finger.

"Let's see which one he picked!" You say, prompting Jiwoong to reveal the fabric heart in his palm.

Ji-Ah squeals happily. "That's the one I wanted! How did you know, Oppa!?"

Her brother smiles at you gratefully. "I just did!"

"Our heart will bring our bear friend to life, but we have to say our magic phrase for it to work," you explain. "Can you both hold our bear's heart and repeat the magic words?"

Jiwoong squats down so that he's on his sister's level, holding out the fabric heart for her to grab onto.

"I wish, I wish..." You begin, nodding at them encouragingly as they echo each phrase of the poem after you.

~I wish, I wish... on this true heart... that one bear's life... with this, will start!~

"And now we'll place our heart inside our bear friend," you instruct, holding out the teddy bear for Jiwoong and Ji-Ah to place the heart inside the zippered opening. As you close the zipper, you press a button to the side of the stuffing machine secretively which triggers hundreds of fairly lights to light up throughout the store.

Ji-Ah's jaw drops in awe as she spins around and around to look at the magical display. Her brother smiles at you appreciatively.

"That was incredible you guys! Your spell was the best I've ever seen," you praise, handing the teddy bear to a very happy Ji-Ah. "Do you come from a magical family?"

Jiwoong laughs. "Something like that."

Stepping over slightly to your counter, you pull out a blank Bear Birth Certificate and uncap your fancy fine-tip pen. "Now, what is our new bear friend's name?"

"Gomdori Oppa," Ji-Ah announces with a smile, hugging the bear tighter to her chest. "Then I can play with Jiwoong Oppa whenever I want and he won’t have to go away!"

Your breath hitches at the little girl's words as you glance up cautiously at her older brother. His eyes are wide as they meet yours; the handsome man's expression suddenly filled with shame. It's none of your business, but you can't help but wonder how important this man's work is that he's never around for his baby sister.

"That's--..." You fumble before quickly forcing a big grin for the little girl in front of you, writing the name down on the certificate. “That’s a wonderful idea! Then you can always have your big brother close to you.”

Ji-Ah smiles, bouncing on her toes happily. You glance up at her brother again to find him attempting to blink back tears. Whatever his reason for not being around more often, you can tell that it deeply pains him and that’s enough for you to want to try to make this a great memory for both of them to cherish.

“Well now that Gomdori Oppa is born,” you transition, giving the little bear a pat on the head, “he needs a bath before he’s ready to go out into the world! Do you want to go put our little bundle of joy in the bath for me?"

Ji-Ah nods, skipping over in utter bliss to the Bear Salon in the corner. You turn to her brother, who is still in the midst of composing himself.

"She really adores you, doesn't she?" You comfort, smiling at the man gently. "I think you bring her a lot of joy."

He nods, smiling sadly. "I'm just away so much. I wonder if that joy's enough, you know?"

"I can see how much you care about her," you reply, meeting his gaze now. "That's what they remember. Not the details... Just the love."

His smile fades, eyebrows raising as if the sentiment surprises him. He studies you for a moment before his eyebrows furrow with genuine appreciation. "Thank you."

"Oppaaaaa!" Ji-Ah whines from the Salon. "Gomdori Oppa needs his bath!"

"Okay, okay!" He concedes as you both laugh. As you turn to walk over to the Salon, Jiwoong stops in his tracks. You look back at him curiously to see he's staring at a shelf to his right. "What are those?"

You step back towards him, following the direction of his gaze. Your eyes light up when you recognize what he's looking at. "Oh! Those are voice boxes. You can record your own message and put it inside the bear."

"I know you said she'll only remember the love," Jiwoong grins at you, shrugging resignedly. "But it can't hurt, right?"

You're compelled to grin back, his entirely charming smile nearly knocking you off your feet. You breathe deeply as you will yourself to get a grip. "I guess it can't."

"That's what I thought," he replies, picking up one of the voice boxes and walking toward the opposite end of the store. "I'll be over there until you need me."

"(Y/N)-sshiiiiii!" Ji-Ah whines again, ripping you from your silly little daydream.

You run over to the little girl; your signature magical smile back on your face. "I'm here! Time to give Gomdori Oppa his first ever bubble bath."

Ji-Ah giggles, mesmerized as the bathtub fills with fake bubbles. You glance over at her brother, your heart warming as you catch him grinning into the voice recorder.

~

“Gomdori Oppa is all fresh and clean for his first day as a baby bear!” You announce, turning the bear around in his salon chair as Jiwoong rejoins you. He slips you the voice box behind your back to keep the surprise for Ji-Ah and you tuck it into your pocket nonchalantly.

“But… he’s missing something, isn’t he?” You ask, eyebrows raising in concern as you pretend to examine the bear you've picked up.

Ji-Ah blinks back at you wide-eyed, anticipation absolutely brimming over.

“Oh no!” You gasp, placing a hand over the bear’s front playfully. “He’s missing his clothes!”

Ji-Ah throws her head back, giggling furiously at your humorous performance. “Gomdori Oppa is naked!”

Jiwoong laughs too as he places a large hand over his sister’s eyes. “Don’t look! He’s shy.”

Another giggle fit ensues as Ji-Ah wraps her tiny hand around her brother’s— attempting to pry it off her to no avail.

“We need to pick out Gomdori Oppa’s first outfit,” you say, hopping over to the Shopping Mall as Ji-Ah grabs her brother’s sleeve and drags him behind you. “Since our baby bear is modeled after Jiwoong Oppa, should we pick something for him that your brother would wear?”

You squat down to the little girl’s level as both you and Ji-Ah look up at Jiwoong to assess his sense of style. You turn to each other, eyes narrowing with judgment as you look back at her older brother.

“What?” Jiwoong asks with a frown. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

You pout as you consider how to answer. “It’s a bit…”

“Boring!” Ji-Ah interjects suddenly.

Jiwoong’s eyebrows raise in offense.

“I was going to say ‘classic’,” you add.

Jiwoong sighs. “That’s just the polite way to say boring. Well if you dislike the source inspiration so much, why don't you just skip the clothes?"

“The clothes are the best part, Oppa,” Ji-Ah says, shooting him a sassy glare. “Duh.”

Jiwoong meets your gaze, shaking his head playfully in disbelief at his baby sister.

“Duh, Oppa,” you echo Ji-Ah, earning an unamused look from Jiwoong that endearingly resembles his sister’s to a tee. “The clothes are the best part.”

The little girl points up to a garment on the wall and you follow her line of site to a voluminous princess gown. "That's perfect!"

“Ji-Ahya!” Jiwoong scolds. “Didn’t you say this bear is supposed to be like me?”

Ji-Ah looks at her brother for a moment before grinning. “He is like you!”

Jiwoong glances at you, a sheepish smile spreading across his face. “I don’t wear princess dresses, Ji-Ah.”

“Mm,” Ji-Ah considers for a moment. “I guess he’s more like a cooler version of you.”

“Would I really be cooler if I wore princess dresses?” Jiwoong asks doubtfully as you fill out more of the bear's birth certificate.

“To a five-year-old, yes,” you answer his rhetorical question, not thinking as you follow it with, "You're so handsome though, I wouldn't be surprised if you could pull it off.”

He smiles at you amusedly as your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "Oh yeah? I'll tell my stylist to sprinkle in some more ballgowns then, if the cute Bear's Life employee thinks I can pull it off."

You suddenly bite your lip to keep your jaw from falling open. "Cute?"

"Oh, uh," Jiwoong stammers, clearly unaware that he'd let the word slip. He laughs awkwardly as he walks back over to the wall of the Shopping Mall and picks Ji-Ah up, situating her on his hip so she can look at the clothes better. "You're sure about the princess gown for Gomdori Oppa? What about these little overalls, huh? Or this Hawaiian shirt?"

You watch as Ji-Ah shakes her head firmly at every option her brother poses, a smile forming on your lips. You had to admit he was incredibly cute with her. Then, something dawns on you: Jiwoong said he had a stylist. Of course, he had been joking around, but was that part a joke too? Could he be someone famous? He certainly has the face to be an actor or an idol. More importantly:

Was this the reason he didn't visit home much?

"Gomdori Oppa wants a princess dress," Ji-Ah says and her tone indicates that the decision is final.

Jiwoong sighs. "Alright, alright. Gomdori Oppa will be the most beautiful princess in all the land... per the Queen's orders."

"Well now that Princess Gomdori Oppa has decided he wants to wear the most beautiful gown that he can get his hands on... there's only one question left!" You make your way up to them, Ji-Ah giggling at the regal voice that her brother just put on. "Is that dress pink or blue?"

~

"Here is Gomdori Oppa's birth certificate," you say, handing the thick piece of paper over to Jiwoong. "These are his official records, so hold onto them tightly or he won't be allowed to vote in the Bear Elections or collect his Bear Pension!"

Jiwoong snorts, looking up at the ceiling and whistling when you narrow your eyes at him; though the grin that he keeps having to suppress makes it hard for him to produce any sound.

"And here is Gomdori Oppa," you present, handing the fluffy brown bear adorned in a pink ballgown and tiara to Ji-Ah. "Maybe you can give him a big squeeze?"

Ji-Ah smiles, squeezing the bear tightly to her. Her eyes light up as a voice sounds from the bear:

Ji-Ahya! Are you being a good girl for Eomma? Are you going to bed early and eating well? Jiwoong Oppa will be home before you know it. And in the mean time... Gomdori Oppa loves you very much, Ji-Ah.

"Oppaaa!" Ji-Ah cries, a little pout on her lips as her eyes water. "I love you!"

You would be lying if you said a little lump doesn't form in your throat as Jiwoong places one large hand on the top of his sister's head and ruffles up her hair affectionately.

"I'm so glad you came into Bear's Life today," you say, grinning at Ji-Ah as she sniffs back her tears almost as soon as they arrived. "I had a blast with you guys! Did you have fun, too?"

The little girl bounces up and down, handing her bear to her brother for a moment so she can wrap her arms around your waist in a hug. You giggle at the adorable little girl, patting her back gently before she pulls away.

Running behind your little counter area, you pull up the total on your cash register. "Okay, that'll be 145,000 won."

"Oh," Jiwoong remarks, eyebrows raise in surprise. "That's... that's quite an expensive bear we put together, Ji-Ah."

"Well, you're also paying for the experience... and your time with the worker..." You explain, smirking at the incredibly handsome man in front of you. "Did you enjoy your time with the worker?"

"Yes," Jiwoong answers a little too seductively before coughing to cover it up when he suddenly remembers where he is. After clearing his throat several times, he replies sheepishly, "Yes, I did-- we did, I mean."

"That's what I thought," you reply with a smug smile, taking the credit card he immediately holds out to you. Swiping it through your machine and handing it back to him, he places his card in his wallet and holds out his hand for Ji-Ah to take.

"Thank you, Oppa!" She squeals happily before turning and bowing to you. "Thank you, (Y/N)-sshi! I'll miss you!"

Your heart melts at the pout on Ji-Ah's face as she looks between you and her brother.

"Oh, uh," Jiwoong stutters as he tries to think of a solution. "Well, we'll come back again soon! How does that sound, Ji-Ah?"

"REALLY!?" Ji-Ah screams excitedly, eyes wide with surprise.

"Yes. We can come and get more... accessories," Jiwoong nods, smiling in resign. "... for the bear."

"Accessories... for the bear?" You repeat with a smirk.

"Yeah! I mean, you both agreed: the clothes are the best part," Jiwoong attempts to explain. "So Gomdori Oppa will want another outfit eventually."

"YAAAAAAAY!" Ji-Ah exclaims, clapping her hands together. "And then you can see (Y/N)-sshi!"

Jiwoong's eyebrows raise immediately. "So then I can see (Y/N)-sshi? Ji-Ah..."

"And then you can fall in looooove," Ji-Ah sing-songs teasingly. Impressed, you smile. Kids always know whats going on... even when we think they don't.

"Ji-Ahya, please--," Jiwoong starts, but you cut him off.

"Well, whenever Gomdori Oppa is ready for his new accessories," you say, meeting Jiwoong's gaze. "Let him know he's welcome any time."

Ji-Ah giggles as her brother swallows nervously, a blush tinting his cheeks as he smiles bashfully. Bear in one hand and Jiwoong's palm in the other, your tiny customer Ji-Ah pulls her brother towards the door.

Jiwoong's still stealing glances at you from over his shoulder, grinning at the way you're now biting your lip to keep from laughing. Ji-Ah turns around one more time, taking Gomdori Oppa's hand in her own and letting the little bear wave goodbye to you.

You wave back as they walk out of the doors hand-in-hand, smiling as you know you achieved your goal of making this visit a special memory for Ji-Ah and her brother.

You'd never have guessed that their visit would end up being a very special memory for you, too.

[midnightdonghyun]

Silk, Ink, Honey ｡˚ ° PJM

Pairings ｡˚ ° Jimin x Namjoon (past), Jimin x Yoongi (hinted), Jimin x Donghyun (focus)

Characters ｡˚ ° Inmate Jimin (bts), Flashback Namjoon (bts), Art teacher Yoongi (bts), Inmate Woong (ab6ix), Inmate Jisung (skz), Inmate Daehwi (ab6ix), CO Woojin (ab6ix), Inmate Donghyun (ab6ix)

AU ｡˚ ° Prison

Genre ｡˚ ° character exploration, dark

Warnings ｡˚ ° Crimes lol, mentions of sex, implication of self harm

Word count ｡˚ ° 2.3k

Summary ｡˚ ° Jimin is introduced to the pod! He reflects on a past fling and the man who got him into art theft in the first place before deciding he's gotta move on. He's interested in the art teacher, but too nervous to approach. He decides to hone in on one of the other inmates instead...

Notes ｡˚ ° Not proof read lol. No plot mostly for character development and personal fun.

Masterlist Masterlist

Prison Masterlist

Jimin replays that night in his head over and over again. Silk against silk. The pale flowers embroidered on Joon’s suit jacket. Green silk against the satin of his hands. He would have clung harder if he knew. Balled his hands into fists, grated against the lotus threads so hard they would have formed calluses on his palms, dug his nails into cold fabric until they left tiny snags.

But he didn’t know.

So their last night was the routine. Jimin had incense burning that time. It curled around the parlor, sweet little scent ghosts trailing in the unmoving air. Joon complained it made his head swarm. Made it too heavy on his broad shoulders. They discussed work. They touched and sighed. They parted ways. They’d meet again to finish the work. Each job had such a delicate plan. It had to be executed perfectly, that’s why they met to discuss beforehand. 

Jimin was an actor and Joon was the director.

He had to play the part, twist and manipulate their victims into place. Sometimes they fell for sensual. Sometimes they wanted cute. Sometimes they just needed someone to ramble to. 

If only he knew.

The bite of the handcuffs was sobering to say the least. Incense and silk, grandmother would have told him. She would have yelled until she lost her voice. This was inevitable, your stolen luxury could never last.

The charges were baffling.

Art theft. Fraud. Tax Evasion. Identity theft. Money Laundering. 

Of course Joon’s list was longer. Or Jimin assumed anyway. They were pulled apart. Not in the same pod. Not in the same courtroom. Not in the same prison after sentencing. Maybe it was in case they filed a mistrial. Maybe they didn’t want them talking. Planning. Worming their way out of their sentences so they can continue to spin silk together. And of course it burns. 

Jimin kept his hands smooth for him. Like clouds. Sanded and moisturized. There was a vanity drawer full of products somewhere. They used to be Jimin’s but god only knows where they ended up. Rose and lavender. Starseed and promise. More scents than he could count. One for every mood and every hair color he tried. Red and wish. Silver and citrus. Black and sandalwood. Yellow and kisses. 

He would be luxury for his partner.

He missed him. He craved him. Every second. And he tried to connect. Maybe a phone call. Or at least a letter. From one prisoner to another. Different cells, different pods, different buildings, pulled apart by the blind hand of lady justice. 

It had only been a few weeks since he arrived. The unanswered letters… maybe they just never made it. Maybe he should be more patient. 

Or maybe he should just distract himself.

He had only really talked to his cellmate. He was cool. Icy. He played his solitaire, delt hands in the dayroom, shuffled and shuffled when he was bored. A gambler. His list of crimes was long, and he never disclosed them all. Jimin didn’t know how to navigate this new landscape, but one thing was clear to him judging by his cellmate's detached demeanor. You’re not here to make friends. 

But Jimin needs a friend. What’s a distraction if there’s not a friend involved?

There are demons moving between these white walls swathed in orange. Jimin watched them carefully. Some of them do seem to crave companionship. 

There’s the man that sits next to him in their art class. The class itself? Something about anger management. Venting emotions healthily without violence or addiction. Jimin would always eye the canvas next to his. Such a soft boy with a wide chest that reminded him of Joon. His voice was quiet, a sickly sweet whisper dripping wisteria and dreams. His words were bundled in brightly colored wax wrappers. He never fights. Never insults. Just exists. Compliments and small tokens of friendship. 

But Jimin’s seen what his pens do. Broken bones and gore. Twisted animal fetuses and teeth that jump from the page. Nightmares and crows. Melting skin and demon’s with fox skulls. They’ve whispered about him in the pod. He’s cursed.

And then there’s the art teacher himself… there’s the prize. Pale with long fingers, black hair that falls into his eyes. He’s a healer. Jimin may still crave the silk clad man that handed him millions before setting fire to everything, but he can crave other things too. Distractions. Sweet thin boys that get tangled in the sheets.

But that was… ambitious. To seek someone not stuck behind painted metal like he was. And Joon was still so… fresh.

Incense and tattoo ink. Silk and lotus petals. 

Art teacher Min would have to wait. Jimin needed an easier ride first. His blood obsessed peer would be easy, but to be frank he made Jimin nervous. There was something dead in his eyes. 

But not everyone looking for a companion screams it. Attention seekers can be quiet. They can stick to floors and loiter in dark corners with hot tears in their eyes. Of course there were people like that here. 

Joon always called him a whore. Jimin never really bothered to correct him as he wasn’t entirely wrong. Long term? Tied forever to one person? A ball and chain. That’s why he and Joon worked so well together. They would explore and come back together again. Billions of faces on the earth, what was stopping a person from sampling his fair share? 

Jimin’s met all kinds of people in his line of work. In both the very legal tattoo parlor he ran and the very illegal side hustle he started with his long term booty call. But only meeting a person, only talking to them? Sometimes it's not enough flavor. Sex was a merging of souls. And now, it can serve as a distraction. A short term fling to pick up and drop. He could work his way through this prison until he had the gusto to challenge the art teacher with those long pale fingers that haunted the inside of his eyelids.

A whore and an attention seeker. That’s what Joon would say if he was here.

And of course there was a silent attention seeker.

Jimin was leaning in his doorway. It’s where he usually was, watching the commotion. Listening to the screaming.

The boy from his art class was with the smaller, meaner man he was always with. They were pouring over a thick book. His cellmate was dealing hands to a gaggle of men, as usual. The gentle CO was on duty. The one that was easy to bribe and would twist rules meant to be iron. Roses crawled up from under his collar. Jimin wondered if he knew the artists that colored him.

The attention seeker that refused to seek attention was alone. A wonderful distraction. Something to burn the silk he spent years spinning off his hands.

Jimin knew how to sway when he walked. He had an arsenal of smiles and he wore this one very carefully. Sultry. Venus. 

There was a felt pen in his hand. He snagged it from the art room a few days ago. Min had seen. He didn’t raise a single finger to stop Jimin from carrying it back to the pod. He really just wanted it to draw. It’s not like he had foul intentions. At least not yet. Not like others around here.

Fallen Angel. Alexandre Cabanel. Oil on canvas. 

That’s what Jimin thinks of when he looks into the eyes of his chosen toy. Those same, hateful, tear lined eyes. Mistrusting. Abused. His jaw locks when Jimin slinks closer, entire body tensing. He was running red beads through his fingers. Over and over again, a nervous reflex. Each one would quickly pop through his clenched knuckles in a way that was almost comical. There should be loud sound effects. Clack clack, pop pop, squelch squelch. Jimin didn’t realize the beads were a rosary until he was on top of the table looking down on the hunched figure in front of him.

Jimin cooed. A sweet sound. Venus draped in layers of pink satin. “So lonely over here…”

A quick study with an artist’s eye. Big nose. A diagonal line of moles on the right side of his face. A cupid’s bow that twitched beautifully as he reacted to Jimin’s words. Cat eyes. Furrowed brow. Bleach damaged hair.

Jimin wasn’t keen on waiting for the response. It wouldn’t be anything affirmative. He reached out instead, grabbing his right wrist, pulling it towards him. Extended arm, his limbs were long. He braced himself on the table, not fighting Jimin at all, but remaining tense. A tightly wound spring, he was preparing to react violently if he had to. A dog would growl. This man only glared with his sad eyes.

Prison issued clothes are short sleeved and thin. Jimin’s seen his fair share of supplemental clothing on commissary. His new toy had some. A white thermal. The sleeves were pulled low, down to his palms with the white collar rising higher on his throat than the issued orange one. Jimin pushed the sleeve up. Gold silk, he needed skin. The marker was balanced between his ring finger and pinky, and he hummed tilting his head. What would look good on this skin?

“I’ll ink you.”

Jimin turned his hand over exposing the hairless inside. This was where the line was drawn. His distraction grunted and tried to pull his arm away. Jimin may be small, but his strength is not to be contended with. He dug his fingernails into that honeyed skin and wrenched it back towards him. 

“I said I’ll ink you.”

Distraction sucked air in heavily. “Not the inside.” His voice was nothing like Jimin expected. It was a lullaby, not nearly half as harsh as his eyes. As his permanently furrowed brows. Musical. Not too deep and not too high. The right amount of soft.

Jimin leaned closer to his face, plastering the sweetest smile he could on his face. “Why?”

The hand was flipped again. Another smaller tug of war. Toy didn’t seem to have the heart to win it. He could have pulled Jimin off the table if he really wanted to. 

Jimin cooed again. “That’s not worth all that fuss is it?”

Scar tissue. That’s all it was. Pink parallel lines. Some fresher than others. 

Distraction’s eye twitched, and he pulled his lips into a tight line. Disagreement.

Jimin ran his thumb over the raised skin, tracing at first, before drawing circles making a strange pattern of touch. Smooth rough. Flat raised. Honey crystals. Silk burlap.

The marker made a distinct pop when he freed it of its plastic cap. “You remind me of a mourning dove.” He needed a cover up. Doves would do it. Doves and flowers. Jimin concentrated on the black lines. The closeness of skin. The heat of art and breath.

Toy was silent for a long time, dark eyes following the lines forming over his self hatred. Jimin sensed it would take a long time to mold this toy into the distraction he needed. He wondered if it would be worth it, or if he should try for another boy. It’s not like there was a shortage of them here.

“I could make a gun,” Jimin said softly. “I could make this forever.”

“And mutilate the body God gave me?” The rosary was tightly clutched in his left hand. Gold satin staining white at his grip.

Jimin stifled a laugh. “More than you already have?” The scars were obvious.

Toy turned his head away, some distance spot on the concrete floor suddenly more interesting than the artwork blooming on his wrist. “Self flagellation,” he mumbled.

“Should I cover you in crosses, oh pious one?”

The head snapped back towards Jimin. Fire in the eyes of Lucifer. Jimin can’t help but smirk. He always enjoyed being annoying. Getting under the skin, but only a little. Not far enough to hurt, just enough for those dramatic head turns.

Distraction’s eyes traveled around Jimin’s face for awhile. Responses were weighed. The one that came was not as confrontational as Jimin expected. 

“Why are you here?”

Jimin quirked an eyebrow, marker still poised above his skin. “For fun.”

Silence, and Jimin focused on his feathers again. They were furling. He would do an entire sleeve. Stay here with this man’s skin forever. He smelled like the same prison issued soap they all smell like. Jimin wondered what he would smell like naturally. In his environment, in his prime. A thick cologne? Incense and pews? A light floral scent?

“You have such nice skin…” Jimin mumbled.

“And I suppose you’ve seen a lot of skin, Michelangelo?”

Plush lips turned up in the corners. “I’ve always considered myself more of a Rembrandt. And yeah, I’ve seen a lot of skin. I could stand… to see more of yours?” He raised it as a question, eyes flicking upwards to read distraction’s face. The expression was the same one as before. Pained. Bored. Hateful. Jimin wondered if his face ever changed.

Toy’s tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth. A clear tsk. “And you haven’t even taken me out to dinner.”

Jimin feigned a gasp. “My dearest apologies, would the gentleman prefer the undercooked grits or the burnt tater tots tonight?”

Toy’s nose crinkled. Jimin reveled in the expression change. “Fair point.” He turned a little pensive, then, meeting Jimin’s eyes with more curiosity than animosity. Jimin let go of his hand. A drowsy mourning dove cradled in a wreath of roses and thorns. Distraction studied it for a minute, pursing his lips. He took a breath. “You can call me Donghyun.” He stood, and Jimin was pleased to note his height. “The extra skin can come later.”

He left Jimin with that invitation like a puff of fading incense, walking away studying his inked wrist. Jimin smirked to himself. Oh, he would be coming later all right. How could he deny such a golden invitation. 

[theinfinitedivides]

uh screenwriter-nim come get your son i think you broke him

[solarwoniii]

how they keep you quiet during sex ! zb1 legal line

smut, crack, some fluff ! includes jiwoong, zhanghao, hanbin, matthew, taerae and ricky

imagine ; you and [boyfriend ! member] are doing the deed in the dormitory and have to stay quiet if you don't want to get caught. what do they do in order to keep you quiet?

contains ; punishments, gagging (?), spanking + scratching,

a/n ; uhmm ricky smut is EXTREMELY angsty and i feel vv bad sooo heres this silly funny little gift before i drop . . . THAT

jiwoong - shoves your panties into your mouth ;

sir woong is nasty wbk 😶😶

would he be aggressive about it ? yes.

but would you enjoy it ? also yes

its a win-win babes

this prolly goes without saying but he definitely gets extremely turned on watching you get ur insides rearranged with your panties in your mouth 🤭🤭🤭 ok shutting up ab jiwoong now im sorry this man makes me go feral sometimes i cant help it

zhanghao - stops every time you make noise ;

yea hes a bitch

TO BE FAIR he did try telling you to stfu but you couldn't help but make noise so it was his only choice

so annoying fr 🙄🙄 wld prolly laugh at u if u get frustrated

at least now you know better than to be loud when his members are around

hanbin - spanks you / scratches you ;

i think we've already established that our hanbin is a WHORE.

he likes the little red marks on your thighs and ass after he's done with you.

don't mind him babes he's just creating his art and marking his territory

matthew - covers your mouth with his hand ;

our bbyg matthew is already vv touchy with you so i feel like this fits him very well

i feel like sex like this with him wld be so fun and giggly tho so even if the other members heard u they wld prolly think you guys are just watching a stupid movie or playing fashion famous together (HELPPP i want to play fashion famous with matthew so bad now)

taerae - hushes you / kisses you ;

idk i just have this idea in my mind where i feel like taerae is TERRIFIED of punishing u bc hes so sweet and nice and ure his little baby and hes so in love with you and jsjsjsjsjsjsjsjs

hes like that one teacher whos too kind to yell at the class when theyre being too loud so he's just like 'guys guys guys pls guys wait pls guys be quiet pls' but instead hes like 'shh baby they're going to hear us'

kisses come next if that doesnt work 😭 pls be nice and stfu now this man is going to freak out if that doesnt work he has no option 3

ricky - shoves his fingers into your mouth ;

yeaaaaaa sure sure he could use your panties as a little mouth plug 😶 but wheres the fun in that ??????

gets off to watching you suck on his fingers like the little whore he is

LOLLL TRY MAKING NOISE NOW IDIOT

sucks on his fingers after and watches you combust into flames while he does it

[oracle-of-dream]

Fanfic Masterlist

Started: 08/17/2023

Updated: 09/05/2024

Total Works: 47

Accepting Commissions: DM for requests!

WIPs?

Series

Photo Finisher Yechan - 82Major Jeno - NCT Dream Woong - AB6IX Mingyu - SVT

Appreciation Posts Jeno, Jaemin, Soobin, Wonbin, Riwoo, Shinyu, Matthew, Juyeon, Sunwoo, Riize

TXT

Imagines

Yandere TXT

Smut

Soobin The Palm of His Hand Your Admirer

H. Kai Dumb Bunny

Yeonjun Boy Toy Getting Close

Taehyun We're Even

Series

Just A Dare

Enhpyen

Imagines

Jay Something Special

Jake A Bedtime Message Dinner Date

Jungwon Jungwon's Birthday Gift

Smut

Heeseung Working Hard

Jake DSL Him or Me

Sunghoon Frame by Frame, 2 Cocky Guys

Jay Favorite Seat Slow Day CEO's Bodyguard

Series

Enhypen Under Pressure A Desperate Drink

TBZ (The Boyz)

Imagines

Sunwoo The Cuite At The Carwash

Smut

Eric Regular Maintenance

Series

NCT

Imagines

Jisung Sick Day

Smut

Jisung Snapshot

Jeno The Boy Next Door The Boy Next Door pt2 Photo Finisher

Series

Riize

Imagines

Anton Love 119 Sungchan Unexpected

Smut

Wonbin Hotel Hookup Sungchan Mr. Trainer

Series

OT7 Sweetness, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

BND (BoyNextDoor)

Imagines

Leehan Under the Nite Lights

Smut

Leehan Home Sick

Taesan Just Talking

Series

Leehan Nothing but Bad News

SKZ (Stray Kids)

Imagines

Smut

Lee Know A Dark Opportunity

Series

ZB1 (Zerobaseone)

Imagines

Smut

Taerae Submissive and huh?

Jiwoong Bad Habit

Series

WayV

Imagines

Smut

Winwin Dinner with Friends

Series

Xiaojun Never Really Alone, 2

SVT (Seventeen)

Imagines

Smut

Wonwoo Stress Relief

Mingyu Photo Finisher

Series

MISC Idols

Myungho - 8Turn Stuck

[ohdudedhesflirting]

Everything about the final of boys planet that made me feel (good or bad) :

In remembrance of Moonbin

Zhang Hao & S Han Bin looks at each other during the signal song

Most of the eliminated trainees being there

Zhang Hao in his inrtoduction/ recap of himself when he played the violin

Jongwoo explaining he had always been lonely

All of the fans in the audience with their banner, voting

Haruto :( Wumuti :( Kuan Jui :( Woongki :( Mingyu :( Hwan Hee :( Seung Hwan :(

The modified version of Here I am for the stars masters

The letters of the star masters for the trainees "Your smile make people happy"

ZeroBaseOne/ZB1. Its not pretty but not as ugly as a wifi password typpa name, could have been better, could have been WORSE

Kamderella #KamdenYouWillAlwaysBeFamous

"My jelly noona" Seok Matthew, 2023

All of the PR videos are just some guys with a camera, a budget, and their little guy minds

Bummed that Matthew didnt get the killing part but Hao slayed it so (also kinda figured it out when they were pushing that narrative lol)

Jelly Pop was genuiely so cute and felt so good

Hot Summer team only thinking about foods when doing shopping for their pr video (they just like me fr)

The disclaimer before the hot summer video ?? Staff did NOT want to be associated with what the trainees did

Bummed that Ji Woong didnt get the killing part but it was expected. He truly slayed every little bit he had.

JiWoong vocals. Thats it.

The screams whenever Ricky performed ? So true

Just Tae Rae existence is a blessing and I needed to talk about it.

Staffs giving us the videos of the snoring that took place in the dorms. Truly exposed them.

The performance of Not Alone. I cried. Cried even more when I saw that the trainees were crying.

Learning that Zhang Hao & Jiwoong only started to talk to each other during the Say My Name era

Jiwoong debut !!!

Jiwoong forgetting the name of his group

Yum Seo breaking down when the debut of Gyu Vin was announced. At this point I was sobbingwith him

Gyuvin sobbing while learning the new, giving his speech while sobbing. I cried X100 harder at this point

Gun Wook : "Jun Hyeon I made it. Thank you so much" SOBS

Gun Wook : "I'm happy with just becoming friends with you" I was at my second pack of tissues

Ricky : "I feel awesome " (Please I would have loved Zhang Hao reaction with him taking the joke that far)

Him giving us the meaning of his tatoo (which mnet always covered up) ???

Matthew debut !!! Ppusamz will live on <3

Matthew having a snot problem during his speech

Jiwoong and Matthew <3

Han Bin pat to Matthew and their hugs

Zhang Hao ranking first (I did NOT expect that) (Not complaining tho cuz imagine a violin solo on his solo ???? Take my money) he slayed

Kuan Jui breaking down on the floor on the news of Zhang Hao #1 god im gonna miss them together so much

S Han Bin & Zhang Hao bowing to everyone simultaneously which made it look it they just got married

JiWoong giving butt pat to litteraly everyone when they were getting up the stairs

The eliminated trainees hugging each other

When the show ended and we saw ZB1 going down the stairs to hug the trainees my heart broke definitely

[royaltysuite]

Hiya! It's the anon who requested the Park Joong Gil NSFW request and I loved it soo much!!. I am back with another request, if you don't mind! 😝😝

So can you do a fluff/romantic imagine this time of Joong-Gil and reader being connected by the red thread of fate and being soulmates forever. Thanks again! 😃

I'm glad that you loved the previous oneshot. Thank you so, so much for requesting another one. I hope you enjoy this one as much as you did with the last one.

Summary: A cold, stoic man with a bubbly, cheerful woman....What are the odds that the two were fated to be with each other? At a team bonding trip, Y/n is put in the spotlight about her lovelife and as she begins to shy away from the conversation, Jung-gil joins in and shuts it down with a couple words and a kiss...

Warnings: None except for overwhelming fluff and romance.

A/N: Commissions are always open! Send me a message with your choice along with your request. Also, if you want to be added to the blog's taglist, leave a comment on this post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/n's Pov

"Everyone, listen up. The Director has decided that since we've met her expectations of the team's performance, she is rewarding us with a vacation......as a team. So, go ahead and finish up the last bit of work you guys have then pack. Meet me near Seoul Tower in an hour." Ryeon announced, her tone dead though the look in her eye said different.

"A vacation? Hmm..." I chimed, surprised by the announcement. "Yeah, I thought it was a joke at first, but the Director doesn't really make jokes." "Okay then, I'm gonna go home and pack a bag. I'll see you and the guys later."

Standing from my chair, I grabbed my pass and reports before stalking out of the office and down the hallway. As I continued my stroll, I found myself in the grand hall where as usual, reapers filled the area. I walked up to the main desk. "Here you go, Mr.Baek. The modified reports on the incoming souls. I didn't realize how big a mistake I missed in the original draft."

The silver-haired octuplet hummed in approval and accepted the papers from my hands. "Anyways, how are you doing today? Are you getting enough sleep?" I trailed off into a small conversation and soon, an hour passed.

Making my way up to Seoul Tower, at the top of the hill, I could see the figures of the Risk Management team and a few other reapers. "Did I get here late?" I asked, noticing everyone standing around.

"No, everyone is here. Come, the hotel's this way." Jun-woong replied. He led everyone to the nearby hotel and just by the look of the building, it was pretty expensive. We all entered the hotel and received our room keys from another Baek octuplet. As I made my way up to my room, I ran into a solid figure.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" I gasped in shock, not expecting anyone to be there. "Watch where you're going, ya runt." The man in front of me snarled. The comment threw me off and I blinked, not sure of how to respond. My silence seemed to tick him off even more than necessary.

He began making his way towards my still figure as the hall filled with even more bodies. Ryeon and the others soon joined the crowd and went to put space in between me and the guy. That is, until a familiar face appeared.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" A deep voice spoke from behind me. Turning around, I came face-to-face with Jung-gil. I was surprised at the sight of him and so was the other guy. So surprised that he managed to slink away from the large crowd.

"Was that guy bothering you?" Jung-gil asked. "Not really, I just bumped into him by accident and he called me a runt. Other than that, I'm fine. What are you doing here? I thought you were escorting souls tonight."

"I was. I just finished up so I could join you." He said, placing his hands around me. "Aww, you didn't have to do that." I was awed by the small confession, seeing how out of character it was of him to admit. Standing on my tip-toes, I placed a kiss on his cheek. Small gasps rang out and I was reminded that it wasn't just Jung-gil and I in the area.

Peeking out from over his shoulder, I saw Jun-woong and Ryung-gu with their jaws dropped and Ryeon looking proud. The remaining reapers around were surprised by the man they viewed to be as cold so caring to someone.

"Boys, cough it up." Ryeon chuckled as the guys struggled to speak. I laughed at the scene in front of me before pulling Jung-gil with me to my room. "Just ignore them." "I already did."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: Here you are, Anonymous! It's a bit shorter than what I had originally planned, but I hope you enjoyed it just as much. On the other hand, commissions will remain open throughout the Christmas season. Inbox requests will be added onto my W-I-P list. With that being said, Happy Holidays and Stay Classy~~~

[somedayillbepeterpan]

I tried to re-"catch" the feelings I was having from watching Crash Course in Romance.

So, I looked into my deep watchlist and ended up with two very thoroughly enjoyable k-dramas that are re-watchable for a picky watcher like me. This is going to be long so read below if interested about the k-dramas Our Beloved Summer and Reply 1988

our beloved summer

I'm a sucker for slice-of-life stories. while this story navigates through different timelines, it expertly toes the line between the past and the present thus presenting a full growth for each character in this simple yet relatable story. i love the script. i especially love the ost which i listen to every day even after finishing this drama a couple of months back.

our beloved summer, adapted from a webtoon, is the story of Choi Woong and Kook Yoon-seo who became viral after starring in a documentary about the contrast of the top and worst student in their highschool. that alone makes you curious. it's a catchy premise and the whole story manages keep the premise alive until the end.

the story is simple and you can guess where the story is headed. but what made me stay is the pacing and the writing. and it being true to what it set out to do-- to say that love can be found in different people in different times. but there are special moments where you find a different love in the same person at a different time.

i can confidently say that Choi Wooshik and Kim Da-mi are both actors to watch out for. they are not just made for the small screen. they each have such a presence that can't just be contained in a small screen. or maybe i just loved their chemistry so much. it's not even that kind of chemistry where it will grip your heart but it's the work that they put on both characters to make them as authentic as possible. i was drawn in on how they portrayed Woong and Yoon-seo. i was drawn on why they did what they did that led to their eventual *spoilers ahead* break-up and subsequent marriage.

watch this if you're not too heartbroken and you like a slow paced stories that fleshes out human emotions particularly of love-- to a romantic partner, to a mother, to a friend, and to found family.

i particularly loved the way they blindsided me about the reason why Woong was the was he was and why in a way he couldn't open himself up completely to Yoon-seo made me fall in love with the writing. with the sheer amount of content and stories readily available for us to consume, you become so desensitised that it's sometimes a welcomed gift when you don't get to predict what happens in a story.

that particular scene where they get back together and Woong says "...please keep loving me," is engraved in my heart.

--the only downside to this wonderful drama is a 1/4 of a love quadrangle that is too green to handle a wonderful script like this one. you'll know what I'm talking about when you watch it.

2. reply 1988

i don't know what got me drawn to the works of the tandem director Shin Wonho and writer Lee Woo-jung but i am so glad that i am. i started with hospital playlist after seeing so much memes about it and now i can't imagine my life without hosplay (i still watch the whole thing like every month).

but i'm not here to talk about hosplay but the third installment of the critically acclaimed "reply" series.

Reply 1988 is the highest rated in tv ratings among all the "reply" series. and i can totally understand that as this show captures all the tales and woes of each generation.

i can say that the number 1 appeal of the Shin-Lee series' is the nostalgia and the bravery it takes to tackle the simplest yet the most constant worries of a human.

for the 3rd "reply" installment, it goes back to 1988, before the year looked funny (as you will see on one of the episodes). there definitely is something true about that as that's when all the technology in the world started to become accessible.

this show crept up to me (much like Prison Playbook). this was my second attempt at watching it since the first time made me drop it for being too "scream-y" which to be honest, a lot of shows are anyway. but what made me stay were the moms and dads. only did the last few episodes made me notice the actual gang of young misfits.

i loved the way it tackled real-world, real-family problems without being preachy. i love the way the pacing is so slow and nostalgic. i love the way all the families interacted with each other and with the other families.

don't come watching this show for the love story (although i absolutely loved who the main girl character ended up with). come watch this show if you enjoy stories about family dynamics.

--the only thing i didn't like (and this is just totally me), is how the noona who seems to be levelheaded fell in love with an immature child. maybe i was too salty to understand how it all went down but it just wasn't for me.

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up, Ep 4 Recap: Kick It v The Little Prince

Welcome back to the project nobody minds waiting two weeks for -- my MNET Build Up Recaps! In the previous one, we finally finished episode 3, seeing that match up between Jay and Wumuti. In this one, we’ll see WEi’s Seokhwa and AB6IX’s Woong take on two trainees. Will the sunbaes beat the hoobaes? Will the hoobaes rebel? Only one way to find out!

After a super brief recap, the episode dives in to the first match of the episode: idols versus trainees. People comment on the flashy outfits idols Seokhwa and Woong are wearing, and wonder if they’ll dance.

“Idol beauty radiates -- Kang Seokhwa (left) x Jeon Woong team” 

They introduce themselves as “fate,” and I think it’s a pun/meme that would make sense to Korean viewers because it makes everyone else laugh. 

Both Woong and Seokhwa were on team Ditto, and Woong ended up with a low tier ranking even though I think his voice sounded quite nice. 

In comparison to Seokhwa and Woong’s punky idol styling, the trainees Ji Yeonwoo and Jeong Yunseo are dressed simply and cutely. 

Yeonwoo, left, was low tier in Decalcomanie for forgetting the words, poor kid. 

You might remember Yunseo most for his red outfit in the first episode that made him look like he drove racecars for a living. (It was cute, don’t get me wrong.) You might also remember his bold confidence in his team performance of Beautiful, where unlike his fellow trainee Minseo, he seemed to be completely sure that he’d succeed. I really love his attitude! 

The judges start off by asking the trainees if they’re nervous, and Jaehwan reminds Yeonwoo about his mistake. Yeonwoo says that he’s been having nightmares every night reliving that moment and that it was the worst moment of his life. Poor kid, god, can you imagine? I just want to hug him. Anyway, he promises not to make a mistake again. The other judges yell at Jaehwan for bringing it up.

The two teams trash talk a little -- the trainees say that they have nothing to lose, essentially. The idols say that the trainees are cute, and that they think beating the trainees would be a good story for MNET. Eunkwang rightfully points out, however, that a better story for MNET would be if the idols lose!

Time for a flashback. 

It’s the duet-forming portion of the day, and we see Seokhwa go straight for Woong. Since Woong was in the Low Tier and probably was scared no one would pick him, you can tell he’s really glad to see Seokhwa!  

“This is the narrative,” reality-savvy Woong interviews. “If you fall and go back up? That’s the narrative.” Yes, but unfortunately, MNET also likes it if you fall and keep falling. They’re sociopaths that way.

This pair up may not have been the best idea, as we’ll see, but it makes a lot of intuitive sense that these two would want to work together. For one thing, they have had similar careers so far. Both WEi and Ab6ix could be considered post-ProduceX101 groups, and they debuted 15 months apart (first AB6IX, then WEi). They would have friends in common, for starters, and given that both groups put out three singles each in 2021 and 2022, they had to be promoting at the same time at least a few times. Woong is Seokhwa’s sunbae since Woong debuted first, but Seokhwa is older, making their relationship a bit more balanced. Also, they obviously solidified their friendship during their preparations for Ditto. Plus, Seokhwa wanted to work with another idol so they could do an idol-style performance, something more dynamic than Ditto. As I said, it all makes sense, especially if you remember that often times the winning group on Boys Planet would be the group that got along better.

Ok, in this next portion I need to talk about Ji Yeonwoo and Jeong Yunseo. I think that if I were reading these recaps, I’d find those names similar enough that I wouldn’t be able to remember who is who and I might have to scroll up and down a lot. So, I’m going to call Yunseo “driver Yunseo.” This is for two reasons: (1) He looked like a racecar driver on the first day. 

And (2) because he really is a “driver” in this storyline! 

The flashback also shows us poor Yeonwoo, waiting for a duo partner. He voice-overs that after he messed up the lyrics, he felt like he wanted to “hide in a rat hole.” It looks like no one wants to work with him… until driver Yunseo comes over to rescue him, saying, “Let’s go, ‘04s.” Aww, they’re chingoos! (A “chingoo” is someone the same age as you, which makes you feel like you’re friends -- it’s a Korean cultural thing I don’t totally get.) 

Driver Yunseo thought they’d be a good match, and I think it was smart on his part to pick Yeonwoo too. The two maknae on a show will always get a kind reception, even if they don’t always get the highest scores. 

Driver Yunseo either genuinely wants to cheer up his chingoo or he knows that he has to get Yeonwoo’s confidence up if they are going to have any chance of winning, or both, because he puts his arm around his chingoo’s shoulders, he gives him complicated high-5s, and just generally does everything in his power to pump Yeonwoo up. It’s cute. 

Driver Yunseo says: “Ji Yeonwoo, Nekkoya (you’re mine!)”

With Driver Yunseo’s infectious confidence beginning to spread to him, Yeonwoo vows to “rebel” and win this time. Driver Yunseo says, “I promise you, I’ll make you a narrative.” Yunseo GETS IT, you guys. I really like this kid. 

Anyway, so, all the guys are sitting on the floor whispering to each other about which duos they want to challenge. Driver Yunseo says, “the team I think we can beat no matter what is Kang Seokhwa’s team.” I hate to say it, but that was pretty smart.

Ok, hear me out, because I really like all four of these guys and wouldn’t want any of them to be sad or anything, but I have noticed that Seokhwa’s voice is a bit weak. It’s a very pretty, sweet, light voice; he has a lot of potential, and a lot of current charm, seeing as he did get a judge’s vote. But he often strains on higher notes, and his belts sound like he’s tensing up his throat a lot. He’s super stable as a performer in WEi and is really well suited for the idol life. I’m just not sure that his vocals are quite to the level this show expects. Sorry, RUi! 

I also think that as outwardly cheerful as Woong is, I think he’s really feeling low. I actually really like the texture of his singing voice, and think the judges were unnecessarily rough on him. Being put in the low tier when he’s a main vocal was probably pretty distressing for him.  Even though *I* know his voice is really nice, it doesn’t seem like anyone on the show really seems to think so. No one is telling him his voice is nice. Only 14 people voted that they’d want to work with him. So with Woong’s confidence and reputation both kind of in the dumpster, he’s also an easy target. 

The trainees correctly deduce that the idols are going to want to do something bouncy and higher energy, maybe with the some dancing, and think that they themselves can win by using their vocal skills and youth to charm the judges. “It’s not a bad picture for us if we try to beat the seniors. Not a bad picture at all,” Driver Yunseo whispers to his chingoo. I’m telling you, Yunseo GETS IT.

So up until now, I’ve been unclear as to how the whole situation with the Rival Choosing Platform Area (RCPA) worked. This time, we actually hear Solar announcing Seokwa and Woong’s names, so they were somehow selected to go down to the RCPA. You’d think that maybe the show could have told us how this all works at any point, but that would have eaten into their instant replay time, so I guess not. 

Seokhwa and Woong invite a challenger.

And then a few other teams head down to the RCPA, which kind of hurts the idols’ feelings. Do they look like pushovers? They’re challenged by our two trainees, as well as by Team Geonu x Soomin and Team Hong Seongjun x Kim Seohyung. 

Left to right: Woong, Seokhwa; Kim Seohyung, Hong Seongjun, Geonu, Soomin, Driver Yunseo (hidden), Yeonwoo.

Interesting, those two other teams end up each others’ rivals and are up third in this episode! So we’ll see them in the post after the next one. 

The trainees make their case.

“I thought it would be an interesting scene, you know, for the viewers, you know, if the idols and trainees go against each other.”

“Ahh!”

“Especially if we win!”

“What?”

“Nothing!”

Seokhwa chooses the trainees, reasoning that they’d be easy to beat. And only later do we find out that Woong had told Seokhwa that the trainees were the one team he wanted to avoid, because it would be disastrous to lose to them! But more on that shortly. 

The trainees decide that to show off their singing skills and youthful appeal, they’ll sing “The Little Prince,” originally performed by Ryeowook from SuperJunior. The song was released in 2016, when Ryeowook was almost 30, but it’s a sweet and youthful-feeling little song about love and friendship inspired by the classic story The Little Prince. 

Sample lyrics:

Making a heart that is like the wind stay with me Is such a hard thing I know But I won’t say anything, I’m just waiting for you The Little Prince told me That gaining someone’s heart Is the hardest thing to do, come to me The Little Prince said to me It might be sad right now But we’re never gonna be apart That you’re going to want to laugh with me

As they head into the performance, poor Yeonwoo talks more about how miserable he was after he made his mistake. The stakes are high! He vows to do better this time. 

Watching the trainees getting ready, Baekho and Seungkwan -- who are signed to the same agency -- talk about how their monthly evaluations as trainees made them more nervous than performing ever did. Boy, do I get that! I’d rather perform 100 times than audition once. 

Before they perform, the trainees do some squats, for some reason (I guess maybe to shake off the nervous energy?) and then steel themselves. It’s time!

Full version without reactions 

My thoughts:

Yeonwoo, left, in the s w e a t e r over a collared shirt, and Yunseo, right.

Aww, this was cute. 

Have you ever been watching a competition reality show that involve a creative element, like Top Chef or Project Runway or Glow Up or Bake Off, and a contestant says “I’ve never done this before, but you don’t win by playing it safe!” And you, watching at home, are like, “omg, why are you doing that? If you’ve never worked with leather, if you’ve never cooked lamb, if you’ve never used prosthetics, if you’ve never made caramel, or whatever the hell durned foolish thing you’re going to do for the first time on international TV, why are you doing it now?” And most of the time they end up going home, while someone who made sure to safely land the plane is the one who wins. 

These two landed the plane.

This song isn’t necessarily easy to sing; it has a lot of high notes and requires a lot of vocal agility to make it through the melody and the rhythm, both of which get tricky at times. However, the “concept” or idea behind the song is relatively straight forward and easy for these two to deliver -- a sort of youthful view on love as something that you can hope for if you’re patient. Also, though Ryeowook is a main vocal of SuJu and has a great voice, he’s not someone supernatural like Chen that would be a really, really hard act to follow. 

Yeonwoo and Driver Yunseo both have good, young voices with tons of potential. I think they both could use a bit more training and experience, but they really do both deserve to be on this stage. Both sounded more than a bit nervous, which may have contributed to their breath control issues, but both held strong to the end and I didn’t notice any pitchiness or major tempo mistakes, which is big. 

Of the two voices, I think I like Driver Yunseo’s a little more, as a Yeonwoo is still a bit nasal at times. Yeonwoo also went a tiny bit fast at a few points, and his high notes were a little bit strained. Driver Yunseo’s lower register is really gorgeous, while Yeonwoo’s higher notes are a bit stronger. They made a great duo! I don’t think they’re going to win this show, but I’m glad they’re on it. 

The MNET edit is very retrained. Mostly it’s just the two trainees singing, with occasional shots of the guys backstage looking both proud and hopeful, like this:

Hyukjin, left, and Jeong Inseong from KNK, who will be going third in episode 5.

And the judges smiling indulgently and/or uncertainly, like this: 

When they’re done, everyone applauds for the maknae. 

The judges say things like, “aww, they must have practiced a lot!” 

Backstage, the guys joke about how well the trainees’ did -- “are they our sons? Did we raise them?” -- and also joke a bit about how old they feel in comparison to them. 

“If we sang The Little Prince, it wouldn’t come out like that!” Hwanhee from Up10tion says. “Old princes would come out if we sang.” Hwanji is like, “hey man, stop talking like that.” They’re only 24/25 years old, so he has a point.

Seokhwa and Woong, waiting in the wings, say, “They did a great job. Much better than in rehearsal.” You can see the worry on their faces. 

The judges vote, and we get the high and low score -- a high of 92 from Seungkwan from Seventeen and a low of 70 from Jaehwan. That’s the lowest “high score” and the lowest “low score” we’ve seen thus far, but it’s not embarrassing or anything.  They look pretty happy!

Seungkwan is like, wow, Jaehwan, what’s up with the 70? 

And a glowing light comes out of Jaehwan’s eyes and his body begins to slowly levitate as he says, “In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! ALL SHALL LOVE ME, AND DESPAIR!”

I mean, maybe not literally. 

Seungkwan mentions Yunseo’s early lines, which were in fact quite sweet and lovely. “I think it started off well and went along steadily until the end without bumps.” 

Jaehwan says, “Actually I really liked it. Maybe it was the purity that comes form the vocal tone…? I felt like I was listening to angels’ songs.”

Everyone is like, wtf? You cheered for them and loved them and gave these “angels” a 70? Backstage, one of the guys mutters, “He’s going to hell.”

Jaehwan continues: “I still thought about it calmly. When I heard the song, I felt endlless possibilities, but when considering the average level of singing ability, I thought that 70 was the appropriate score. It wasn’t bad, though!” 

Eunkwang says, “it was so good, but….” and he points out that Driver Yunseo sort of bounces in a bowlegged way as he sings. That’s exactly the kind of helpful feedback that a good sunbae should point out, says I, and the other judges agree. 

Backstage, Seokhwa and Woong are really nervous now. I think the trainees had had a really bad rehearsal and so the idols were pretty sure they’d have an easy time of it. But now the idea that a pair of debuted idols would lose to trainees who did a kind of straight-forward performance is just really sinking into their heads. 

Woong is worried that maybe people will lose interest in AB6IX if he doesn’t do well on the show. Oh, I doubt that, Woong-ah. It’s a parasocial thing -- people might even like you better if you lose. 

We see a flashback to the rival choosing moment, and this is when we learn that Woong really didn’t want to go up against the trainees, because the optics of losing to them would be awful and the optics of beating them wouldn’t be much better. He had told Seokhwa as much, which Woong finds perplexing.  

Seokhwa either didn’t hear or didn’t think it really mattered, and chose the trainees because he thought it would make them stand out. I think I’m with Woong on this one! Woong interviews, “I can’t get any lower than I am right now. We better win.” 

The idols have a nice cozy rehearsal studio to work in, but no sweaters. 

Seokhwa reveals that he overheard the trainees talking ant that they’re planning to do a bright, youthful ballad. Seokhwa wants to show that ballad vocals aren’t the only kind of vocals, and maybe doing something more hip, with an R&B vibe, would give them their own lane to drive in. The judges liked their performance skills in Ditto, so they should capitalize on that. That sounds great to me, Seokhwa! 

What about maybe Butter by BTS? That song is catchy af. Or what about Blooming Day or Hey Mama by EXO-CBX? I think both of those songs would sound good as a duet, and both would get the judges on their feet! Ok, sure, with the EXO-CBX songs you’d be following in some amazing vocal footsteps, but I think it would be fine! There’s also a bit of rap to show off here. 

But nope. They want to do “Kick it” by Blackpink. I don’t know why on earth they chose this song!  This is one of those songs where Teddy Park had a lunch date he really wanted to keep, so he just sort of threw some notes in a random order and had Jennie sing with as much swag as humanly possible so that it sounded almost like a melody. 

Also, there's another problem here. See, Woong is a very derivative singer. I really like his voice, as I’ve said before, but if you listen to his vocal check performance and compare it to the original singers’ version, it’s nearly identical, to the smallest detail. I think Woong needs to hear an example of really good singing in order to match it, and he’s not going to get it on this song. Do not get me wrong; the members of Blackpink are all fantastic performers and I always enjoy their vocals. But none of them sings in a way that is likely to draw positive attention on a show like this. Rosé in particular worries me -- she has a gorgeous natural instrument, and the YG singing style is teaching her really bad habits that might hurt her vocal cords long term. In any case, there’s nothing for Woong to appropriately mimic here to pull out an outstanding performance. 

I really get the feeling that they were overwhelmed by the possibility of choosing any song in the whole world. They wanted to do a girls’ song because it would be cool and attention grabbing, and then wanted to do a Blackpink song because Blackpink is so popular, and once they’d made that choice, they sort of randomly chose this song. The choosing was stressful and they wanted to get to the part where they’d already chosen. That happened to me with my fella when we were trying to pick out curtains. Now we have curtains that don’t really match the room. Sigh. 

If they had really wanted to do a girls’ song, I think Impurities by Le Sserafim would have been cool -- it has a beat and you can definitely dance to it, but it’s also kind of smooth and sexy. It has a real tune and real chords and they could have done something cool with it. Or maybe Eleven by IVE. It could have sounded really cool!   (For both of those links, go to speed and set it to 1.25, or if you know how to do custom, 1.15 is perfect. That way it’s at normal speed, just a lower pitch.) 

Anyway, Seokhwa wants to show how cool they can be.

They rehearse at Woong’s agency, Brandnew Music  (I mean, blur it all you want, MNET, the logo is pretty obvious), practicing as hard as they did when they were trainees. 

Before they start, the judges talk about how with the song they’re doing, they’ll have to really light up the stage and have fun. The judges are hoping for a good performance showcasing singing, dancing, and rap. As the lights go down, Wendy says, “This is what they’re best at. They shouldn’t be so nervous.”

Here is the full version without reactions. 

My thoughts:

Overall, it’s just sort of curiously lacking something. I watched this on an airplane on my tablet, and wondered if maybe it just felt “off” because of my environment, but then I remembered that I was really impressed by Jay and Bitsaeon in the same circumstance.  

They both seem so nervous, especially Seokhwa, who runs out of air in the middle of lines, and keeps brushing his hair back anxiously. Woong remembers to smile and connect with the camera, but you can almost see him trying to remember the dance steps. Woong is obviously doing a Jennie impression a lot of time, as I expected him to do, and it just doesn’t  sound as good as it does when he just sings as himself. 

As they sort of settle in, it seems like maybe they can relax and pull it out at the end, but then a Terrible Thing happens: Seokhwa’s voice cracks on a high note. 

Oh no. 

It’s pretty noticeable, and I already know that it will be a lot more noticeable when MNET does a few instant replays. Seokhwa!! Oh no!!! Baby!! 

I really think both of these guys are sweet and lovable, and both have nice singing voices that are well suited to being a main vocalist of an idol group. I think a combination of nerves and bad song choice really brought them down in this case, but they haven’t lost me as a fan. Fighting! 

I almost don’t want to watch the MNET edit. It starts off with lots of appreciative reactions from the judges and other guys, but as the song wears on, we start to see more looks like this from the judges:

Backstage, sympathetic Bitsaeon mutters, “They worked so hard for this,” and you know he’s thinking, “... and it turned out like this.” 

Look how miserable Woong looks even *before* Seokhwa’s crack. 

And then the crack happens. 

We only have to hear it twice, thankfully, and Woong never gives up, to his credit, but there’s no coming back.

When they’re done, the judges applaud politely, if a bit sadly. They’re all vocalists too and they know that cracks can happen, that we’re all just fragile meat bags when you get down to it and are subject to our human failings, but…. Still. This performance wasn’t great, crack or no crack.  

Backstage, the other guys try to be positive, focusing on how much time and effort went into the performance, and how hard they must have practiced. 

Driver Yunseo says, “It was like watching M-Countdown”...

… but his smile tells us that he thinks that maybe, just maybe, his team has just won. 

“You did a good job,” Woong murmurs to Seokhwa, who can’t bear to hear praise right now.

Dahee asks, “Are you happy with your performance?” and of course Seokhwa says no, he made a mistake and is very disappointed with himself. He seems to be barely, barely, barely holding back tears, but he is holding them back. Fighting, Seokhwa, fighting! 

The judges give their scores. Jaehwan seems especially unsure how to vote, but finally he locks it in. 

Wendy has given them a sympathetic 80, but Jaehwan has given a 60. (As a reminder, the trainees’ high and low scores were 92 and 70 respectively.) 

Jaehwan looks genuinely sad about it, but seems to view this judging thing as a responsibility. Backstage, the other trainees say that Jaehwan is so stingy with his points!

Wendy says her favorite part was the rap in verse 2. She asks if they came up with the choreography, and says it’s not easy to do all that, so she gives them credit. Wendy kind of famously has had trouble with dancing in the past, so it makes sense she’d be impressed by dancing. She adds that it would have been better if they had enjoyed it more, which is exactly what I think. She notes that it was probably really tough for them to go up against trainees, and she felt like they deserved the score she gave based on their attempt to show all the elements. 

Jaehwan says he’s “heartbroken” about it because “they’re active singers just like me, and we all perform together on music shows. They’re my colleagues who cheer me up. To be honest it’s very hard for me to rate them. Yet I rated them because I’m sitting here. I expected you to have fun on stage because I know how good you are at performance. I expected you to go crazy on stage, and I just didn’t see that today. So I gave this score because I want to see more confidence from you next time. Fighting!”

VCG chimes in with a good point: because the song was originally intended for women’s voices, changing the pitch made it less exciting. He says, “No matter how excitedly you sing with mens’ voices, it’s never exciting. You need to change your voice or something, but you didn’t. Your tone was the same when you scratched your voice, or for the low tone, or the rap. So it didn’t sound fun.” I think he is right on target with that, and it seems that all the guys listening backstage agree. It didn’t even occur to me before that this could be specifically an issue for when guys sing women’s songs, but it makes so much sense. 

The idols bow 90 degrees and say thank you for the helpful feedback. I wish they could have met with the judges or a mentor in advance of the performance! 

Now it’s time for the winner to be revealed. 

And of course, the trainees took it, 591 to 505. Ouch -- it wasn't even close.

If you subtract out the highest and lowest scores, and take the average of the point value remaining, the average score of the other five judges for the trainees is 85 -- and the average score for the idols is 73. Aww! 

With Woong’s encouragement, Seokhwa holds it together. 

Yeonwoo says, “I wanted to win, but now that I did, I feel bad.” 

I think that makes Seokhwa and Woong feel ever worse, though I think they’re also a bit touched by the trainee’s kindness. 

Woong vows that even though they’re on the elimination list, they’re going to “build up and show their best.” But backstage, Seokhwa feels awful. He says that he thinks that he ruined round one as well and keep dragging Woong down. 

Woong interviews later that he was really upset, but just didn’t want to show it in front of Seokhwa, because he’s Seokhwa’s hyung, and it’s a hyung’s job to be strong. Aww! Woong, fighting!

The judges talk about how difficult competition is. Wendy says that it’s hard to show your skills when you’re nervous, and Jaehwan points out that that’s part of your skills, to stay calm under pressure. 

And on that sad note, this segment draws to a close. 

In the next one, we’ll see Bain and Minseo take on Gwangsuk and Sungjung! Should be a good battle. I’ll see you then!

[fcble]

In which Byeonghwi has a crush. FEATURING: Lim Byeonghwi, Kim Gicheol WORD COUNT: 6.8k SETTING: September 2016 WARNINGS / NOTES: Smoking. This was not supposed to be this long but here we are. Happy pride month.

Halfway through Byeonghwi’s third year of middle school, he gets a new seatmate. It’s not his choice. Haeju, who sat there for most of the year, has transferred somewhere else. Sitting alone was lonely in the beginning, but Byeonghwi is used to it. His friends always tell him how jealous they are that he gets two desks to himself.

All the space is luxurious, until the day an unfamiliar boy with headphones wrapped around his neck and a skateboard tucked under one arm walks into the classroom seconds before class starts. His entrance is intercepted by the teacher, who forces him to introduce himself to the class.

The new boy does a quick, half-hearted bow. He slouches as he stands. The top three buttons of his uniform shirt are unbuttoned, and his tie is crooked. “I’m Kim Gicheol. I moved here last week.”

Byeonghwi can’t imagine why anyone would choose to move out here, to such a small city, where the greatest attraction is a railroad connection.

Gicheol takes the only seat left in the classroom, right next to Byeonghwi. He would fit in better in the back, where a group of boys and a couple of girls are dressed almost exactly like him, missing only the skateboard.

Next to him, Byeonghwi feels uptight and a little self-conscious in comparison. He shifts slightly to the left to give Gicheol as much space as he needs. He spends the rest of the morning so consciously aware that there’s another person next to him that he doesn’t hear a single word about what they’re supposed to be learning. 

When it’s finally lunch time, Byeonghwi expects Gicheol to gravitate towards people more like him. He doesn’t expect him to make a beeline straight for him in the crowded cafeteria.

Gicheol’s lunch tray hits the table with a loud thunk, interrupting Byeonghwi’s conversation with Jundae.

“You don’t mind me sitting here, do you?” Gicheol asks, sitting in the empty seat next to Byeonghwi without giving him a chance to say no.

“You’re the new boy,” Chaewook says with his mouth full from Byeonghwi’s other side. “I’m Chaewook. Byeonghwi’s neighbor and best friend. We’re not in the same class.”

“That’s Jundae, and that’s Woong,” Byeonghwi says, introducing the two other boys that sit across from them. “They sit in front of us in class.”

“It’s so unfair that everyone except me was placed into the same homeroom,” Chaewook complains, still eating.

Jundae shrugs. “Not our fault.”

After that, the conversation turns to Gicheol. They grill him for his backstory to learn that he moved to Jecheon from Paju with his mother and grandmother. He doesn’t have any siblings, but he did have a dog until they moved. The dog stayed behind in Paju with one of his cousins. The only thing he won’t talk about is why he moved.

“I won’t stay here for a long time,” Gicheol says. “I’m going to move to Seoul. I want to be an idol.”

Byeonghwi exchanges a glance with Chaewook, and then they both break out in laughter. Even the usually stoic Woong cracks a smile. Maybe it’s unfair, because he’s just met Gicheol. But Byeonghwi can’t picture him, with his skateboard and his sloppy uniform, singing and dancing in perfect synchronization.

Gicheol stops eating. “It’s not that funny.”

“You don’t look like an idol,” Jundae says. 

“I know.” Gicheol stabs a gamja jorim with both his chopsticks. “It’s my stupid dream.”

“I didn’t say that,” Jundae says. “But whatever, if that’s what you think.”

Gicheol becomes Byeonghwi's friend very quickly. If he had to describe him in one word, it would be cool. There’s no looking past it. Gicheol is cool. He rides a skateboard and listens to loud American rock music and carries a pack of cigarettes in his back pocket.

Even after his status as the new guy wears off, he still stands out. He dresses himself differently and holds himself differently. Byeonghwi is entranced. He starts making excuses for the two of them to hang out without anyone else.

He learns more about his boring city through Gicheol’s tourist eyes. Everywhere is new. The mall, frequented by only the most geriatric citizens, becomes a place of endless fascination. He explores the parks and side streets and alleyways. He hikes out to the mountains and rivers, goes for swims in nothing but his underwear, shivering the entire time. He smokes his first cigarette in an abandoned rail tunnel, coughing while Gicheol thumps him sympathetically on the back.

The one thing Byeonghwi doesn’t have the courage for is skipping school. He’ll be in high school soon, and then university, and he simply can’t afford to miss a day. Gicheol skips, every now and then. Byeonghwi covers for him, saying he’s sick or his mom’s car broke down, even when lying makes him feel like he’s riddled with guilt. He doesn’t know where Gicheol goes or what he does, just that he always returns the next day without fail, saying nothing about his absence. 

“Where do you go, when you aren’t in school?” Byeonghwi asks once he finally builds up the courage to do so.

The abandoned rail tunnel has become their spot. The two of them sit there now, padding the hard ground with old blankets stolen—borrowed—from Byeonghwi’s house. Most of the light comes from a flashlight laying on the ground, to supplement the little sunlight that trickles into the man-made cave.

In response, Gicheol pulls out his pack of cigarettes and flips the lid open, offering it to Byeonghwi. Confused, Byeonghwi takes one. Gicheol follows suit. He lights them both for the two of them, and inhales deeply before he says anything.

Gicheol exhales a cloud of smoke. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh.”

The lit cigarette dangles from Byeonghwi’s hand. He’s gotten only marginally better since his first time. “I won’t laugh,” he promises.

“I go to auditions,” he says.

“Auditions?” Byeonghwi repeats.

“Auditions to become a kpop idol,” Gicheol clarifies. 

That wasn’t the great secret Byeonghwi was expecting. “That’s it?”

Gicheol takes another drag from his cigarette. “I should have made you promise not to laugh and not to ridicule me.”

“I'm not,” Byeonghwi protests. “I thought you would say something else.”

“Like what? We've known each other for months now. What did you expect?”

Byeonghwi is too ashamed to share his thoughts. He has a hard time reconciling the playful, energetic boy who's become his friend with the person who walked into the classroom that fateful day. He says as much.

Gicheol laughs. “I wear the uniform like that because it's ugly as fuck. Skateboarding is faster than walking. Smoking…” He trails off. “Halmeoni and Eomma always did it around me. I thought it was normal. Halmeoni’s so absent-minded. She doesn’t notice if a pack or two disappears.”

Byeonghwi side-steps his words. “You travel to Seoul by yourself?”

“It isn’t hard after the first time.”

Byeonghwi could never do that. Traveling around his hometown is one thing, because he's lived in the same place his entire life, and he knows exactly what it's like. Traveling some five or more hours across the country to a much different, much larger city is terrifying. 

“If you’re not going to smoke, I’ll take that,” Gicheol says with a nod to the lit cigarette still in Byeonghwi’s hand.

Byeonghwi hands it to him wordlessly.

Something changes again between the two of them. Gicheol reveals more bits and pieces of his life. His dad left when he was seven. Becoming an idol is the easiest way he can think of to be a celebrity, in hopes of impressing and reconnecting with his father. The real reason he moved was for his grandmother’s ailing health, because she hoped the countryside air would be better for her.

Byeonghwi does his best to be open-minded, though he wonders how Gicheol’s mom can run a household and raise him and take care of her own mother all at the same time. He accompanies Gicheol to the local dance studio on Thursdays after school, the one day a week Byeonghwi doesn’t go to hagwon or have soccer practice. He was previously unaware such a place existed.

Gicheol fits in there with the same ease it took him to become one of Byeonghwi’s good friends. He greets everyone by name, introducing Byeonghwi as they go along to an empty practice room. 

It’s dingy and a bit dark, even with the lights on. The floor reminds him of that of a gym, complete with scratches and scuff marks. The opposite wall is covered with floor to ceiling mirrors. A bar around waist height spans the length of another wall.

Byeonghwi drops his backpack to the floor, shutting the door behind him. “Do you ever have an audience?” he asks.

“I used to, before I moved.” Gicheol connects his phone to the room’s speaker. “Sometimes I’d perform with some friends.”

“I’ll be your audience.” It comes out much more eager and enthusiastic than he intended.

Gicheol doesn’t seem to notice. “You would? Thanks.”

Before long, Byeonghwi becomes a fixture. Not in the regular dancer sort of way, but more like a furniture fixture.

“You can't come here only to watch,” Gicheol says.

But Byeonghwi likes watching him. He likes sitting on the floor or standing off to the side, entranced by the way Gicheol makes the music become part of him. It’s obvious to him, who knows nothing about music or dance, how good Gicheol is. He’s like a different person when he dances, and in a good way. Byeonghwi loves seeing him so clearly skilled and impassioned.

“I’ll teach you,” he offers.

Byeonghwi laughs nervously. “You don’t have to do that.”

Then he thinks about all the new and exciting and enjoyable experiences he’s had with Gicheol that he never would have had otherwise. He thinks about how Gicheol’s sole after school and sometimes weekend activity is coming here and dancing. He can’t take his words back.

“I want to,” Gicheol insists, oblivious to the turmoil in Byeonghwi’s head.

Byeonghwi pretends to be reluctant as he agrees.

So he becomes not a furniture fixture, but a human fixture, always in the company of Gicheol. If he knew what Gicheol’s teaching style was like, he would have accepted without hesitating at all. Gicheol can’t describe with his words what he wants Byeonghwi to do, so he positions him in front of the mirror and guides him through the movements.

Every place on Byeonghwi’s body that he touches sends another pulse of warmth through him. Each evening, he remembers all of the individual touches, whether it was a gentle guiding nudge, or a full movement of his arm.

Byeonghwi picks it up fast. It comes as a surprise. Part of it, he thinks, is that maybe he has a natural disposition for it that he never would have found otherwise. The other part of it is that he finds himself overwhelmed with the need to impress Gicheol.

The surprise when in his voice when he says, “You’re pretty good” is the greatest thing Byeonghwi has ever heard. 

He flushes at the compliment and makes it his main goal to please and surprise Gicheol, in pursuit of that same feeling over and over again.

As time passes, Byeonghwi is able to keep up more and more. He practices on his own without telling Gicheol: well within the confines of his bedroom, on sleepless nights when he can’t think of anything other than what he’ll do the next time they see each other. 

They learn kpop choreographies, because that’s what Gicheol has to know. Byeonghwi is only along for the ride. He sits back and watches as Gicheol stares at a video on his phone, moving one arm and his legs as he starts memorizing the moves. It takes him a few rewatches for him to get the general gist of each dance. Then he’ll teach the steps to Byeonghwi, who has yet to master the art of learning from watching a video on a tiny screen.

It amuses them both to no end that Gicheol is always the one out of breath by the end of a song, when he’s been dancing for much longer than Byeonghwi has. Outwardly, Byeonghwi blames it on the years he spent playing soccer. Inwardly, he knows it’s because he’s around Gicheol. If Gicheol asked him to jump, his only question would be how high?

“Something is going on with you,” Chaewook declares one evening. They're sitting on the floor of Byeonghwi's living room, supposedly working on their homework. A plate of sliced watermelon and some rinds sits between them.

Byeonghwi is doing his homework. Chaewook is eating.

“Nothing is going on,” Byeonghwi says.

“You're acting strange. Like you're not really here.”

“How can I do that?”

“Somehow.”

Chaewook has four older sisters. It seems to make him more susceptible to emotions. It's also why he likes to spend evenings at Byeonghwi's house.

He snaps his fingers. Byeonghwi looks up.

“I know why,” Chaewook says. He swallows the rest of his food quickly. “It has to do with Gicheol.”

Byeonghwi feels his heartbeat quicken in his chest and a surge of heat rush through his body. “It has nothing to do with Gicheol,” he says.

Chaewook stares him down. “You spend more time with him than you do with me. It's suspicious.”

“You count?” Byeonghwi says, deflecting the accusation, because it's true. He's been blowing off his friends a lot lately with excuses—his parents need him to run errands, he isn't feeling well, he has to study extra for the next test. They’re not completely lies. Sometimes Byeonghwi rushes through his chores and spends the rest of the time with Gicheol. Sometimes he tells himself he’s feeling fine when he’s not, or only skims over his notes. It’s all for Gicheol. Byeonghwi doesn’t know how he existed without him. It’s like his life only started the day the two of them met.

“I don't think it's good that you hang out with him so much.” Chaewook lowers his voice. “I heard he was in a gang in Seoul. Every time he skips school it's to go participate in gang activities. Yookyung-noona told me she saw him at a bar last weekend. I heard he has a fake ID to buy soju and cigarettes.”

Yookyung is Chaewook’s second oldest sister, flirty and flighty and a gossip. Byeonghwi wouldn’t take her word for it, because nothing else he just heard is true. The only one with the slightest bit of truth is Gicheol’s smoking habit. Chaewook would have an aneurysm if he knew Byeonghwi had also participated in it.

“Gicheol isn't from Seoul,” Byeonghwi says. He doesn’t reveal why Gicheol skips school. It feels like their little secret, something he clearly never revealed to anyone except Byeonghwi.

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” Chaewook insists. 

There’s no winning with him. Byeonghwi can’t make an empty promise to not spend time with Gicheol, so he says, “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

He puts his head down and goes back to his work, signaling to Chaewook that he’s done talking about this.

“Let’s go to an audition,” Gicheol says. It’s a freezing January evening, but they sit outside anyway, two bundled-up figures on the stone wall bordering the parking lot of their school.

For once, Gicheol isn’t smoking. He sits on his hands instead. “I heard of one next month. It’s a new company, but the founder used to work for SM Entertainment. They’re saying that if you can pass that audition, you can pass an SM one.”

“When is it?” Byeonghwi asks. He doesn’t think he has any of his own desire to participate. 

“February third.”

Byeonghwi runs through the calendar in his head. They graduate a little over a week after that, on a Saturday. “There’s school that day.”

“It’s almost the end of the school year,” Gicheol says. “It doesn’t matter if you miss one day. Have you never skipped class?”

Byeonghwi shakes his head. “No.” He can see his breath, a little white cloud of air that quickly evaporates into the dark sky.

“So let's do it. Once.”

Byeonghwi thinks about it. It never occurred to him that he could make his own choices and not go to school if he didn't want to go to school. Wants have always been difficult for him. He knows what it feels like to want something, that yearning tug in his chest. It's just that the feeling is always accompanied by one of wrongness, quickly followed by guilt.

He doesn't know if it's possible to want a person, but there's something about Gicheol that gives him the same feeling. Byeonghwi makes every excuse he can to spend hours with him, to feel the sparks that shoot up his spine when they sit like this, pressed hip to shoulder under the guise of warmth. It's an unfamiliar yet pleasant feeling, the way his heart rattles in his rib cage so frantically he thinks it might burst out, the way his mouth goes dry and his tongue twists when he tries to speak, when he tries to say things to make Gicheol laugh.

“Okay,” Byeonghwi agrees. “I'll go, once. I won’t audition, but I’ll go with you.”

He thinks about all the time they’ll have together: the almost five hour train rides each way, the rest of the day with the city at their fingertips. 

Gicheol wraps Byeonghwi up in a one-arm hug. It does nothing against the cold, yet Byeonghwi feels warmed from somewhere deep inside himself.

Later, he regrets it. The date of the audition draws closer, and Byeonghwi is forced to confront the reality of lying to his parents. He spends sleepless nights tossing and turning, wondering just how he’ll stomach it all. The thrill of spending an entire day with Gicheol does nothing to dampen his guilt.

His stomach churns in circles when the night before the audition finally arrives. They have everything planned out: Byeonghwi will sleep over at Gicheol’s house with its more absent-minded adults, citing a school project, and then they’ll sneak out early in the morning. By the time the rest of the city wakes up for school and work, they’ll be well on their way to Seoul.

Everything goes according to plan. Gicheol wakes Byeonghwi before the sun, and they slip out the door, shivering, to the train station.

The train is much warmer inside than outside. They sit in one of the middle cars, trying not to call attention to themselves. They're two teenagers and it's a weekday. It's a bit obvious that they should be in school.

Byeonghwi makes this more obvious by working on his homework. Gicheol had let him sit by the window so he could see the scenery on the way to Seoul. Byeonghwi stares at his math homework instead. 

Gicheol doesn't do much. He puts on his playlist of audition songs. There are only five of them. They share one pair of earbuds, the left side for Byeonghwi and the right for Gicheol. Byeonghwi is sick of the songs an hour into the ride.

Other than that, he stares past Byeonghwi out the window and wanders around the train and comes back with food. They eat as the landscape rolls by, nothing but empty wilderness.

Byeonghwi teaches Gicheol the basics of Go. They play on Byeonghwi's phone, passing it between the two of them with each move. It takes a few games for Gicheol to pick it up. Byeonghwi beats him handily six times in a row.

It’s easy to tell when they’ve reached Seoul. They passed through other, smaller cities on the way, but none of them can compare to the glittering skyscrapers and crowded blocks of the capital. It’s an almost entirely new experience for Byeonghwi, who hasn’t been to Seoul since he was six. 

Gicheol leads the way, striding out of the terminal with confidence. He walks faster than he normally does. Byeonghwi hurries to keep pace. 

Eventually, they find their way to the location of the audition. It’s easy to tell that they’re at the right place, judging by the line of teenage boys, young men, and some parents that snakes around the theater where the audition is taking place. Everything in the area screams at Byeonghwi that he doesn’t belong: the polish on every single other person he sees, the speeds at which the crowds move, the undercurrent of grime on the streets.

Gicheol is no exception either. He’s dressed nicer than Byeonghwi has ever seen him, wearing the slightest hint of makeup with immaculately styled hair he arranged on the train ride.

Byeonghwi follows him to a young woman who marks the end of the line. She holds a clipboard balanced on a stack of paper.

“Are you registered or a walk-in?” she asks, sounding bored.

Gicheol flashes her a bright smile and says, “Registered. For Kim Gicheol.”

He emphasizes each syllable of his name and the woman scans her list. Byeonghwi catches sight of name after name after name, words so tightly printed on the page he wonders how she can read it.

She checks his name off the list. “You have your paperwork?”

Gicheol takes it out of his backpack and shows her he's completed it.

The woman nods and turns to Byeonghwi. “And you?”

“I'm not auditioning,” he says quickly, trying to wave her away.

She looks him up and down and says, “You should try.” She hands Byeonghwi a blank form and moves on.

Holding the paper like it's contagious, he looks at the questions. They're all fairly straightforward: name, age, height, weight, talents and skills, on and on and on. 

“You should try it out,” Gicheol says.

“Can I see what you wrote?” Byeonghwi asks.

There are no surprises on Gicheol's paper. It makes sense. Byeonghwi knows his name and age. His desired position is dance. His favorite artist is Infinite. His special skills and talents are acrobatics and his tenacity. Byeonghwi doesn’t think that second one should count, but he is very tenacious.

He retrieves a pen from his pencil case. There's a spot on the paper where he can attach a picture of himself. That's not possible when he's standing here in line. He draws a stick figure self-portrait. He takes a guess at his height and weight, then adds a few centimeters to his height and knocks a few kilograms off his weight. He fumbles answers to the rest of the questions. He lists IU as his favorite artist—that sounds fine. His previous experiences with singing, acting, or modeling—none.

At the front of the line, they’re waved in in groups of ten and led to a backstage dressing room. There, their papers are collected, and they're given instructions of what comes next. The auditions take place in groups, to save time. Each of them will get a minute to introduce themselves and demonstrate their skills for the judges.

Gicheol sits on the floor of the dressing room and takes deep breaths. Byeonghwi has a sudden flood of empathy for cattle. He feels like livestock, with the way they're being herded everywhere. 

He doesn't talk to anyone else. One of the other guys in their group insists on playing his music out loud, very loudly, and practicing his dance. Gicheol stares daggers at his back until Byeonghwi distracts him with an extremely tense game of Go.

Then they move again, up a sloping hallway to one of the stage wings. From here, Byeonghwi can hear everything happening on stage. He listens to one auditionee sing. He doesn't sound bad.

A voice—one of the judges, presumably—says through a microphone, “Next,” cutting off the original singer. 

The next person introduces himself, and an upbeat dance track starts to play over the speakers. A few seconds in, the same voice stops him.

“Is this normal?" Byeonghwi whispers to Gicheol.

Gicheol shakes his head. “They usually see out your whole audition. It's polite, even if your performance is bad.”

This does not bode well for Byeonghwi. He hears only two auditions in full: one rapper who performs a whole forty-five second verse, and one vocalist who introduces himself in four languages before he sings an American pop song in flawless English.

Then it's their turn. Byeonghwi is eighth in line. Gicheol is seventh.

Byeonghwi blinks against the bright stage lights, but he doesn't squint. He tries to stay relaxed, forcing a pleasant expression onto his face. There are about seven people sitting in a row in the audience, mostly middle-aged men. Only the one in the middle holds a microphone. He must have been the one speaking and ending auditions early. 

“You may begin,” the man in the middle says.

The first of Byeonghwi's group is cut off halfway through his song. Byeonghwi forces himself to breathe. It isn't a big deal, if he’s cut off, he tells himself. He never planned to be here. What does he expect?

Two of the people before Byeonghwi and Gicheol get to perform in full. One of them is the dancer with the obnoxiously loud music. Then it's Gicheol's turn. He steps forward, announces his name loudly and fully, and starts his prepared dance routine.

Byeonghwi loves watching Gicheol dance. To be fair, he loves watching Gicheol do anything. Having seen the work he put into his craft and his final performance is a special experience, and one only he gets to have.

The seconds tick on and on. Byeonghwi waits for the inevitable signal that Gicheol's attempt is over and it's his turn.

It never comes. Gicheol's music draws to a close. He strikes an ending pose and holds it for a second, before bowing and thanking the judges. He steps back in line and grins from ear to ear at Byeonghwi.

Emboldened by his friend's success, Byeonghwi steps forward.

“Hello, my name is Lim Byeonghwi.” He bows formally, a full ninety degree bend at the waist. He holds it for maybe a beat too long, and has to push his bangs out of his eyes when he stands up.

“I’ll be singing ‘Shall I Love You Again’ by Kim Dong Ryul.”

Then he starts to sing. He picked an older song—a song the same age as him—because he thought the judges would be older. He was right on that one. Byeonghwi keeps his eyes not on the people evaluating him but the row slightly above them. Since he never heard it with Gicheol, he expects his performance to be cut short. 

It doesn't happen. He finishes his prepared verse and chorus, heartbeat triple what it should be. Then Byeonghwi bows formally again, and steps back into line.

Neither of them pass. Byeonghwi thought their performances weren't bad. At least they were able to complete their auditions. Gicheol has faced rejection so many times it’s normal to him. 

Byeonghwi never entertains the idea of auditioning ever again.

They graduate middle school and start high school. Gicheol misses the second and the fifteenth and the eighteenth days. The seat next to Byeonghwi remains cold and empty.

After school on the eighteenth day, Gicheol calls him. Byeonghwi is on his way to hagwon with Jundae and Chaewook. He slows down his walking pace, earning himself a questioning look from Jundae.

“I passed the audition!” Gicheol says over the phone. The joy in his voice is evident. Byeonghwi wishes he could see his face.

“Congratulations! That’s great,” Byeonghwi says.

He’s happy for him, of course. Gicheol participated in so many auditions, only to be rejected at the first or second phase. It was about time his skills were acknowledged.

“I thought I wasn’t going to make it,” Gicheol says. “I was nervous, because it was only my third time doing a third round audition. I forgot one of the lyrics. But I kept performing, and they liked that. My train’s almost here. I’ll tell you about it when I get back.”

The line clicks.

“He passed an idol audition,” Byeonghwi explains to his friends.

“He’s still into that?” Jundae asks.

“It’s his dream.”

Jundae snorts. “It’s stupid.”

Byeonghwi doesn’t think it’s stupid. He still thinks Gicheol is cool, and so by extension, whatever he wants is also cool.

They continue in silence to hagwon.

Gicheol comes back that night flush with excitement.

“They gave me the offer while I was still there,” he says when Byeonghwi meets him at the station.

It’s late at night, but Gicheol’s energy is invigorating. After a few hours of cramming his head full of Korean history dates, he needs this.

They walk slowly back home. It’s cold, but in a pleasant way, not the piercing cold that somehow penetrates all of Byeonghwi’s layers during the depths of winter.

“They said I could move in as soon as I wanted. The company is small, so I wasn’t sure what they’d offer. They house all their trainees together and I won’t have to pay for anything until I debut.” Gicheol chatters away, more excited than Byeonghwi’s ever heard him.

He’s happy, so Byeonghwi should be too. But what he feels instead is dread. He knew Gicheol would leave eventually. It shouldn’t be so surprising, and it shouldn’t hurt the way it does.

“When will you be on TV?” he asks lightly, burying the dread deep down.

“I don’t know yet,” Gicheol says, looking slightly crestfallen. “I’m only a trainee until my agency thinks I’m ready to debut. I’d do it now, if I could.”

“I’ll wait,” Byeonghwi says, “for as long it takes.”

Gicheol gives him a strange look. Byeonghwi’s heart stops. He’s said the wrong thing, and now Gicheol thinks he’s weird and won’t want to be friends with him anymore and—

“I guess that makes you my first fan,” Gicheol says.

Byeonghwi feels like he’s soaring.

Gicheol loses access to his phone. He warns Byeonghwi of this in advance. It still surprises and worries him when his texts remain unread and unanswered except for a very specific period of a few hours on the weekends. 

Byeonghwi memorizes it. He makes sure he’s available, evading Chaewook and locking himself in his bedroom to smile at his phone screen when Gicheol finally texts back. It pales in comparison to having the real Gicheol next to him. 

Looking back at his old texts after nearly a week always feels a bit weird. He’s sure whatever problems and news he has can’t hold a candle to Gicheol’s new idol and city experiences. He’s afraid Gicheol will see them and laugh, or consider his messages trivial and childish. He’s probably busy making cooler, more interesting friends than Byeonghwi.

But Gicheol responds to everything diligently, reacting appropriately to every message. Sometimes Byeonghwi calls and tells him all of the rumors that popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, following Gicheol’s move to Seoul. They laugh about the ridiculousness of one of the latest reasons: Gicheol is secretly a chaebol heir, who had to flee in the first place because of arguments and assassination attempts over who the company really belonged to.

Byeonghwi brings up some of the older ones too, like the bars and the fake ID. He expects Gicheol to laugh along with those too, until he says, “I do have a fake.”

Byeonghwi stops laughing. “You do?”

“I thought it might be useful, but I don’t use it,” Gicheol says.

There are no situations Byeonghwi would ever find himself in that a fake ID would help him in. He stays quiet, and Gicheol changes the subject.

Byeonghwi continues to send his highlights during the week, and Gicheol responds over the weekends. Sometimes they call, sometimes they text.

And then one weekend, Byeonghwi gets a text with perfect grammar and punctuation. It reads, simply enough, Please stop contacting me. Gicheol doesn’t text like that. He never uses punctuation and drops all his particles. Byeonghwi responds with a number of question marks. His message isn’t even read, despite it still being within the two hour time period Gicheol usually has his phone.

He calls, twice. Both times, Gicheol’s phone rings and rings and rings. Byeonghwi listens to his voice mail message just to hear his voice.

Time ticks on and on. Gicheol never responds. Byeonghwi lies listlessly in bed, staring at his blank phone screen.

A few weeks later, he receives another call. This one is from Zenith Entertainment, with a revision of results from the audition he attended. They want him to audition again. He thinks about Gicheol living in Seoul and the Gicheol-shaped hole in his heart. It’s only been a little over a month since he left. It might as well be a lifetime. Byeonghwi immediately accepts.

The woman on the other end of the line asks if he's available tomorrow. Byeonghwi thinks about how he's supposed to go to school, and tells her he can make it.

The train ride is lonely without Gicheol. He listens to music for most of it, reviewing the few songs and choreographies he does know. He spends the rest of the ride assuring his friends he's fine and hasn’t been replaced by an alien with a willingness to bend the rules who happens to look like him—Chaewook’s words.

From the Seoul station, he navigates to the address he was given. When he checked the map earlier, the building was marked as a copywriting agency. Byeonghwi remembers Gicheol telling him about how the company is new—he remembers every small detail Gicheol has ever mentioned to him—and decides he’ll trust the woman on the phone.

The sign on the building reads “SEOUL COPYWRITERS INCORPORATED,” just like it does online. Byeonghwi stares at it for a moment and double checks his location. He stands on the sidewalk for a moment, weighing his options.

Then the double doors swing open and a young man walks out, dressed in a loose button-up tucked into a pair of slacks. Byeonghwi figures he’s a copywriting employee, until he calls out, “Lim Byeonghwi? For Zenith Entertainment?”

Byeonghwi almost jumps. “Yes, that’s me.”

The young man smiles at him. “I’m Jaeseop.” He holds his right hand out, Western-style. Byeonghwi hurries to shake it. Jaeseop’s grip is firm and solid. It’s oddly comforting.

“I know the signs are confusing,” Jaeseop says as they enter the building together. “The company offices are on the third floor. I keep saying we need our own sign, but apparently it’s easier for me to go up and down every time.”

The first floor appears to be a lobby of some sorts. A young woman sitting behind a computer screen looks up when they first walk in. She turns back to her work as they head toward the elevator. 

The elevator arrives quickly, giving Byeonghwi barely any time to take in the rest of the building’s interior. They ride up to the third floor in silence.

He feels inappropriately dressed. He thought this would be an idol audition with singing and dancing. He wonders if every small entertainment company looks like this.

The elevator opens to a long hallway with doors on both sides. Jaeseop leads him almost all the way down the hallway.

“We’ll be in here,” he says, pushing open a door and gesturing for Byeonghwi to step inside first.

It looks like a conference room. Most of the room is occupied by a long table with twelve chairs. The walls are white and featureless. One of them has a shelf built on it, empty and white and featureless. A projector screen along another wall seems to be only decoration, if that even counts as a decoration.

A middle-aged man, the same one who sat in the middle at the audition, sits at the table with a laptop and a few papers in front of him. The top one is Byeonghwi’s audition form. There are a number of pictures of his face paperclipped to the top, printed on glossy photo paper. He only vaguely remembers taking a few photos on the way out from his audition.

The man faces the door, looking up when Byeonghwi and Jaeseop arrive.

“Have a seat, Byeonghwi,” he says, nodding at the chair opposite of him. Byeonghwi sits.

Jaeseop crosses the room and takes a seat next to the man.

“My name is Lee Taein,” the man says. “I’m the founder and CEO of Zenith Entertainment.”

Byeonghwi surges to his feet so he can execute a formal ninety-degree bow. “It’s very nice to meet you,” he says formally. The only knowledge he has about kpop auditions is what he’s heard from Gicheol, and he never mentioned anything about a talk with his label’s CEO.

“Likewise,” Taein says, sounding amused. 

Byeonghwi doesn’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. He sits back down.

“Let’s start with you,” Taein says. “Tell me about yourself.”

“My name is Lim Byeonghwi,” he begins, like Taein doesn’t know his name. “I was born in Jecheon, and I’ve lived there my entire life.”

Jaeseop nods encouragingly, and Byeonghwi continues on. 

“I’m a high school first year. I was part of my middle school’s soccer team. I stopped playing in high school because I thought I should concentrate on my academics and pursue other interests.”

He leaves it open-ended for them to assume that another interest of his is being an idol. His real other interest is learning what Gicheol is doing in Seoul and asking Gicheol why he stopped talking to him and finding a place for himself in Gicheol’s life. The pursuit consumes him, but Byeonghwi doesn’t mind.

Taein never asks him to sing or dance or model or anything like that. He asks a series of questions that seem to be more about Byeonghwi’s personality. What’s his greatest strength? Biggest weakness? Where does he see himself in ten years? What could he bring to a group? Has he faced any conflicts while working in a team, and how did he solve it?

Byeonghwi answers each one as honestly and thoughtfully as he can while Jaeseop takes diligent notes. He isn’t sure what Taein wants to hear. He wonders if all auditions are like this. He wonders if he should ask if he has to sing or dance again.

“For my last question, I want you to be honest.”

Byeonghwi feels nothing but relief. He needs this—whatever it is—to be over already. He’s sweating through his shirt. It’s sticking to his back and he’s afraid of raising his arms.

“Do you want to be an idol?” Taein asks.

Byeonghwi weighs the question in his head. It seems to him that the obvious answer is yes. He should want to be an idol. He thinks about lying. Would he be able to live with himself if he lied when he was explicitly asked for honesty?

“No,” he answers truthfully, “but with time, I think I could.”

Taein nods, expressionless. “Thank you for taking the time to talk with me. You’ll hear back from me with your results in a few days. Jaeseop will see you out.”

Zenith Entertainment doesn’t provide housing like Gicheol’s company does. Byeonghwi doesn’t learn this until after he accepts the final offer and is faced with the extremely daunting task of moving his life to Seoul. It looked easy when Gicheol did it.

He looks at impossibly expensive apartments for a few days, despairing because he has no way of paying or living on his own. He’s beginning to think that maybe this is all over before it even began when Jaeseop saves his life.

Jaeseop, who turns out to be a trainee and not the personal assistant Byeonghwi thought he was, bears an offer from another trainee who lives alone. 

“He’s a few years older than you,” Jaeseop says over the phone. “And he doesn’t have another bedroom.”

When Gicheol still talked to him, Byeonghwi heard worse stories of too many people in too small rooms. He figures two people in an apartment meant for one is nowhere near as bad. 

He barely thinks before he accepts the offer. He learns only a little more about his new roommate: his name is Andrew, he’s American, he has a bachelor’s degree in music composition, he attended the same audition Byeonghwi did—how funny is that?

Byeonghwi’s head spins, thinking more of how close he is to chasing down Gicheol than how he’s uprooting his own life.

He sends Gicheol a text: moving to seoul!!! It sits, unread, beneath the few other sporadic texts Byeonghwi had sent him anyway. If he really didn’t want to talk to him, he would have blocked him or changed his number or something more drastic.

For now, he’s buoyant with hope. He’ll find Gicheol again, and everything will go back to the way it was—the way it should be.

[jebewonmorelike]

Being Jiwoong & Jongwoo's Baby

basically a yujin & matthew pov wc: 400 warnings: as fluffy as cotton candy pronouns: none used; mentions you being a fellow trainee/contestant but we're just having fun pretending here ~bp masterlist~ ♡ ~kofi (no pressure at all)~ enjoy this headcanon of what it's like to be "adopted" by jongwoo & jiwoong. i'm not responsible for the deep sadness you will feel when you realize you can never live this perfectly adorable fantasy. xx

- jongwoo is mother hen and there will be no discourse surrounding that

- dotes on you 24/7; always asking if you’re hungry or thirsty or need rest

- takes tons of pictures of you making the ugliest faces and uses them as blackmail if you try to deny his cuddles

- jiwoong can seem intimidating to some, but he’s always acting like the goofy father around you

- he's even started writing down new dad jokes in his notes app so he won't forget to tell them to you

- he's always met by the loudest groan from both you and jongwoo

- but that's his favorite part

- other trainees want to recruit you for their group each week, but one parent or the other always snatches you up first

- you don’t mind

- except when jongwoo or jiwoong push you too hard during practice

- they can’t help it: they expect more of you

- it’s because they’re the only ones who really see your true potential

- sometimes they scold you or make you repeat a part of the dance so much that you can’t help but start to choke up

- but you get lots of hugs and pep talks after the sight of your tears softens them

- “you could be the best, kiddo. let’s get you to the top together”

- the perks are endless though

- you always have a place to sit (jongwoo’s lap)

- they buy you lots of food and make sure you eat well

- sometimes jongwoo spoon feeds you

- he insists he's just joking around

- (he's not)

- jiwoong gives forehead kisses like his life depends on it

- when mentors give unnecessarily harsh feedback, jiwoong and jongwoo don’t stand up for themselves or each other but…

- they always try to stand up for you

- you’re their baby

- they're willing to risk their pride on your behalf

- late nights spent filming tiktok dance covers together

- they always let you be the center of course

- constant teasing from both of them, you literally get no breaks from hearing how adorable you are

- “seriously! who made you so cute, huh?” jiwoong whines, squishing both of your cheeks together with one hand

- jongwoo squeezing you tighter and replying:

- “i’m comfortable taking the blame"

- “you would be,” jiwoong replies, rolling his eyes. “but you get your looks from your dad"

- “watch it"

[theadusa]

Everything I watch in Jan 2024

I was going to post my annual everything I watched in 2023 post but I feel like I missed my opportunity, so here is my everything I watched in January 2024... (Be Warned there are some spoilers, I do try to mark them throughout the review)

My Lovely Boxer (2023, Kim Min-joo)

Main leads: Lee Sang-yeob, Kim So-hye, Park Ji-hwan, Kim Hyung-mook, Kim Jin-woo, Ha Seung-ri, Chae Won-bin

Country: S. Korea

Run: August 21 to Oct 2, 2023 (KBS2, Monday and Tuesday @21:45 (KST))

Episodes: 12, 70 min

Thoughts: Lee Kwon-sook (Kim So-hye) is a boxer who is forcibly thrown back into the world boxing that she has retired from by a sports agent Kim Tae-young (Lee Sang-yeob). I really liked how they balanced the characters. Lee Kwon-sook is a cheerful girl who is constantly haunted by her past. And she is allowed agency to do what she can do, despite the efforts of others. And the relationship between Lee Kwon-sook and Kim Tae-young, though slightly toxic, works in an odd way. I did have problems with how they reconnected her with her father.I personally wouldn’t have forgiven him. However, I loved the relationship with Han Ah-reum, and just how that story ends. I thought it was done very well. Overall I have really enjoyed this drama. Rating: 

Unlock My Boss (2022-2023, Kim Hyung-min)

Main leads: Chae Jong-hyeop, Seo Eun-soo, Park Sung-woong

Country: S. Korea

Run: Dec 7, 2022 to Jan 12, 2023 (ENA, Wednesday and Thursday @21:00 (KST))

Episodes: 12, 60 min

Thoughts: Oh wow, this is more enjoyable than I imagined. Chase Jong-hyeop as Park In-seong is so fun. He is adorable, down to earth but capable. Jun Se-yeon (Seo Eun-soo) was amazing and I loved her complexities as a character. And the trio of Kim Seon-joo (Park Sung-woong), Park In-seong, and Jun Se-yeon, was so fun and I loved the little family they formed. I literally cried so much during this show for no reason. Like the zoom into the phone literally made me sob each time for no reason. Rating: Who knew electronics can have that much range?

Night Has Come (2023, Kang Min-Ji)

Main leads: Lee Jae-In, Kim Woo-Seok, Choi Ye-Bin, Cha Woo-Min, Ahn Ji-Ho, Jung So-Ri

Country: S. Korea

Run: Dec 4,, 2023 ( U+mobiletv)

Episodes: 12, 35 to 40 min

Thoughts: This started off really good. A class gets thrust into a mafia game to the death. You along with the characters are wondering who is the mafia among the students and who is forcing this game. It is really interesting, but the episodes follow the same pattern. The end you find everything out, and it's kind of stupied. They had a classmate who committed sucide due to a badly edited image of herself on a skimply clad woman’s body. Which is yeah bad. Then her parents take revenge on the whole class. They are placed in this mafia simulator to repeat the game over and over again. It ends with Lee Yoon-seo able to remember everything, but still trapped in the simulator. Like where their parents are. People must be concerned right. Rating: Sisphyus boulder, I guess…

The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract (2023-2024, Go Nam-jeong)

Main leads: Lee Se-young, Bae In-hyuk, Joo Hyun-young, Yoo Seon-ho, Jo Bok-rae

Country: S. Korea

Run: Nov 24, 2023 to Jan 6, 2024 (MBC TV Friday and Saturday @21:50 (KST))

Episodes: 12, 70 min

Thoughts: This was a cute drama. It starts off with a cute romance between a progressive woman in Joseon and a sick scholar. However, it quickly becomes a tragedy and she is sent to the year 2023 with her hand maid Sa-wol (Joo Hyun-young). It quickly becomes a fish out of water for Park Yeon-woo (Lee Se-young), but luckly she meets the recacrante of her late husband Kang Tae-ha (Bae In-hyuk) and they make a deal. It is a cute drama and I loved the cast of characters. Yeon-woo is easy to root for. Sa-wol is adorable, and adapts quickly. Kang Tae-ha is prickly but has a heart of gold. It's dramatic and fun. It's nothing special, but oh is it so good. My favorite part is Yeon-woo and Sa-wol’s relationship. Literally there is a scene with those two that reflects a romantic scene in Perfect Marriage Revenage (2023) which I can’t stop thinking about. Overall I just really enjoyed my time. Rating: butterflies everytime I think about you…

Joseon Attorney: A Morality (2023,Choi Jin-young)

Main leads: Woo Do-hwan, Bona, Cha Hak-yeon

Country: S. Korea

Run: March 31 to May 5, 2023 (MBC TV Friday and Saturday @21:50 (KST))

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts:  This was a lot like Taxi Driver. In the way you have an episodic feel with a charismatic male lead seeking revenge and helping people. I had a lot of fun with this show, and I don’t use the comparison lightly either. I really had fun with it. The romance was okay, but I liked the different stories, and the main revenge plot was easy to follow along with. Woo Do-hwan is a great actor and meant to be a leading man. It's definitely  not my favorite and there are a few things that needed changing but it was fun overall! Rating: Who do you call?... Joseon Attorney!!!

KBS Drama Special 14 (2023, Choi Ja-won, Yun Tae-woo, Cho Il-yeon, Choi Yi-kyung, Wi Jae-hwa, Kwon Oh-joo,Park Eun-seo, Jo Soo-yeong, Kim Ik-hyun)

Main leads: Lee Jae-won, Choi Seong-won, and Kim Kang-hyeon,  Kim Won-hae, Min Ji-ah, Ahn Se-bin and Park Ji-ah, Lee Min-jae, Kim Hyun-soo, and Kang Na-eon,  Moon Woo-jin, Park Seo-kyung, Park Ha-sun, Kim Joo-heon, Kim Do-hoon, Chae Won-bin, Kim Dong-hwi, Jo A-ram, Shim Yi-young, Joo Seok-tae,  Ren, Park Sang-nam, Hong Seung-hee, Hahm Eun-jung,  Kim Kang-min, Yoon San-ha, Baek Sung-hyun

Country: S. Korea

Run: OCT 14 to Dec 16, 2023 (KBS, Saturday 21:50 to 22:50 (KST))

Episodes: 10, 60 to 80 min

Thoughts: This is a yearly anthogolgy series that follows various characters in various time periods with various goals. I thought a lot of them were really cool and interesting. “Love Attack” was by far one of my favorites, but I also really liked “The True Love of Madam” which was shocking for me.  It was also hard to find any subs for “Overlap, Knife, Knife” so I had to rely on visual cues and the small amount of Korean I know. But I thought this was a fun anthrologie series, and the stories are fun and fresh. Rating: I love getting short and quick stories like this, its the reason I love short films so much.

A Good Day to Be a Dog (2023-2024, Baek In-ah)

Main leads: Park Gyu-young, Cha Eun-woo, Lee Hyun-woo

Country: S. Korea

Run: Oct 11, 2023 to Jan 10, 2024 (MBC, Wednesday 21:00 (KST))

Episodes: 14, 70 min

Thoughts: Apparently it is very different from the webtoon ( which I have never read), but I found it entertaining. It is cute and lighthearted. I always like when its past lives, I think it adds a fun element to romances. Though I do think the schedule of the show hindered my enjoyment, because it would be so long between episodes. They also lost me at the end, I can not lie. Rating/Spoiler: Also I would be so angery if I found out my family curse passed down for generations was over a misunderstanding. I would want an apology, reparations, and revenge. On another note, I would also be so pissed if I killed myself to save my servant's baby; then my boyfriend finished off the dying father, then cursed the child and its offspring. I would be pissed, like my scarfice was for not. Go off mountain spirit I guess…

My 20th Twenty (2023, N/A)

Main leads: Choi Yu Ju , Jung Su Bin

Country: S. Korea

Run: April 21 to may 27, 2023 (Wavve, Friday and Saturday)

Episodes: 12, 15 min

Thoughts: This show was good for what it was. It has the vibe of a college student film with a mix of those youtube series made by middle schoolers back in 2009. And I mean that with the highest praise. The sound mixing was off, they had limited cast (background actors is what you are looking for), no interesting lighting (but very well light- i.e the student film vibes), and the actors new to the scene. I loved every motherfucking moment. It was so cheesy, the script was bad, and nothing made sense. But I knew that it was made with passion. Rating: It would be horrifying being 20 forever

Taxi Driver Season 2 (2023, Oh Sang-ho)

Main leads: Lee Je-hoon, Kim Eui-sung, Pyo Ye-jin, Jang Hyuk-jin, Bae Yoo-ram, Shin Jae-ha

Country: S. Korea

Run: Feb 17 to April 15, 2023 (SBS, TV Friday and Saturday @22:00 (KST))

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: Back in action the second season is so much fun and entertaining. I actually like it better than the first. And I said this once and I’ll say it again Lee Je-hoon is made to be an action star. He’s as great as Kim Do-gi. I also liked that Ahn Go-eun (Pyo Ye-jin)  had a larger role this season. I also just love the friendship in the Rainbow Taxi service. Just so fun. Rating: imagine being taken down by a taxi service…

Taxi Driver Special (2023, SBS)

Main leads:  Lee Je-hoon, Kim Eui-sung, Pyo Ye-jin, Jang Hyuk-jin, Bae Yoo-ram, Shin Jae-ha

Country: S. Korea

Run: Feb 16 to March 4, 2023 ( KBS)

Episodes: 2, 60 -120 min

Thoughts: This was fun seeing the cast reflect on the episodes and their characters. Its also cool just seeing a reply of everything that happened. You could tell how much Lee Je-hoon loves playing Kim Do-gi. Rating: I am excited for the 3rd season…

Brain Works (2023, Park Kyung-seon)

Main leads: Jung Yong-hwa, Cha Tae-hyun, Kwak Sun-young, Ye Ji-won

Country: S. Korea

Run: Jan 2 to Fe 28, 2023 (KBS2 Monday and Tuesday @21:50 (KST))

Episodes: 16, 75 min

Thoughts:This show is weird. I think most cop shows are weird but this one especially. I did like the bromance in this, between Shin Ha-ru (Jung Yong-hwa) and Geum Myung-se (Ch Tae-hyun). I did think neuroscience was weird and defies logic. The only good thing about it was when they didn’t completely vilify Pyschopaths, because it tends to be more complicated than the mainstream likes to show. It still left a lot to be desired but it was there. Also when he lowkey kidnapped and torture that kid, oh my god, like he was a little punk and deserved to go to trail but my god. Rating: This is lowkey giving Minority Report tbh…

My Cuteness is about to expire!? (2022,  Tanabe Shigenori)

Main leads: Yamada Ryosuke, Yoshine Kyoko 

Country: Japan 

Run: April 16 to June 11, 2022 (TV Asahi, Saturday 23:30)

Episodes: 9, 23 to 47 min

Thoughts: Maruya is your typical male narcissist who works in sales. He uses his cuteness to stake by in life, to make up for his average skills. One day he is visited by his future self, whom he deems ugly, tells him that his cuteness is going to expire. He decides, after relizing his crush, the only way to prevent this is to date Sanada, a robotic newbie to the sales team. It is cute and Maruya and Sanada are fun as a couple, plus if you have the time you could watch this in a day. Rating: I’m Ichinose calling every single person every 10 seconds sobbing…

My Dearest Pt 1 (2023, Hwang Jin-young)

Main leads: Namkoong Min, Ahn Eun-jin, Lee Hak-joo, Lee Da-in, Kim Yoon-woo, Lee Chung-ah

Country: S. Korea

Run: August 4 to Sept 2, 2023 (MBC TV, Friday and Saturday 21:50 (KST))

Episodes: 10, 60 to 90 min

Thoughts:  I was not expecting to like this more than I did. The angst in every episode is so insane. Episode 10 was actually unbearable. I also want to take a moment and appreciate Yoo Gil-chae (Ahn Eun-jin), she is such a complicated  character. She would do anything for her friends, she is willing to do the things that no other women (noble) are willing to do even during times of war. She will stab the man assualting her friend and cover it up. She would cut the amicable cord, she would stab the mother’s hand. She isn’t pure of heart, she neveer claimed to be. I love her so much. And her relationship with Lee Jang-hyun. The ending of episode 10. I was sobbing. Rating: I am trying to hype myself up to watch the next 11 episodes, people had to wait inbetween…

The Escape of the Seven (2023, Kim Soon-ok)

Main leads: Um Ki-joon, Hwang Jung-eum, Lee Joon, Lee Yu-bi, Shin Eun-kyung, Yoon Jong-hoon, Jo Yoon-hee, Jo Jae-yoon

Country: S. Korea

Run: Sept 15 to Nov 17, 2023 (SBS TV Friday and Saturday 22:00 (KST))

Episodes: 17, 70 to 80 min

Thoughts: This was an insane ride. Literally no one in this likeable except for a few, like I didn’t think Min Do-hyuk (Lee Joon) was as bad as the others but oh lordy. It is so melodramatic, which took me off graud for some reason. Going into it I thought it was going to be a serious thriller, but oh boy was I wrong. It was Makjang. Which is fine, and also coming back in style apparently. I’m sat for season 2, but not with much hope. Rating: I actually don’t know the timeline of any of these events, does it expand years months, idk…

My Demon (2023-2024, Choi Ah-il)

Main leads: Kim Yoo-jung, Song Kang, Lee Sang-yi, Kim Hae-sook

Country: S. Korea

Run: Nov 24, 2023 to Jan 20, 2024 (SBS TV,  Friday and Saturday @22:00 (KST))

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: I was excited for this drama. I really liked Doom at Your Service which promised to have a similar vibe. Which it did to an extent. I actually hate Song Kang in romances and only really like him in nonromance shows. However I think he did really well as Jeong Gu-won. I liked the overall Romance in the show. But I did think the revenge plot got uninteresting and confusing after a while. I do like the ending, I was pretty satisfied with where everyone ended up, which has been a long time since I’ve been this satisfied. 

Welcome to Samdal-ri (2023-2024, Kwon Hye-joo)

Main leads: Ji Chang-wook, Shin Hye-sun

Country: S. Korea

Run: Dec 2, 2023 ti Jan 21, 2024 (JTBC, Saturday and Sunday 22:30 (KST))

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: This was cute and was far above my expectations. I am always uneasy with Ji Chang Wook, I can’t forgive him for the Melting My Heart drama a few years back, but I would do anything for Shin Hye-sun. So I gave this drama a go, and I liked it. I loved the vibes, and I didn’t mind that revenge wasn’t the main plot. It's like the one line “my enemies will take themselves out before you get a chance to swing.” It was heartwarming and I’m glad that Cho Sam-dal was able to find peace in her hometown. I loved the feel of community. I loved all the Friendships. It was very lovely. And I’m happy at the ending. I will also give my entire heart to Cho Hae-dal and Cha Ha-yul. I loved their mother-daughter relationship. I wanted more screen time for both. Rating: I’m glad there is a little piece of heaven…

 Game of Witches ( 2022-2023, Lee Do-Hyun)

Main leads: Jang Seo-Hee, Kim Kyu-Seon, Lee Hyun-Seok, Oh Chang-Suk. Han Ji-Wan, Ban Hyo-Jung

Country: S. Korea

Run: Oct 11, 2022 to April 14, 2023 (MBC, Monday to Friday 19:15 (KST))

Episodes: 119, 25 to 28 min

Thoughts: *Major Spoilers+ Rant ahead.* This show makes me unneccsarly angery. It is a daily drama and a Makjang to boot, so literally put any and all expectations in the gutter. Everything is nonsensical, and drawn out to reach the 119 mark. Storylines get dropped or move way too fast. It has a strange family tree and for a moment every single person was supposbly related. They have so much evidence agsaint the scheming Kang Ji-ho (Oh Chang-suk) and Joo Se-young (Han Ji-wan) but it goes nowhere. Speaking of Kang Ji-ho, he was just straight up dispicable. I would say more than Se-ypung of Ma Hyun-Deok (Ban Hyo-Jung). He was a terrible partner and father from the start. He literally tossed his entire family out the door for Se-young and eventual power. He only paid attention to his daughter Kang Han-Byeol (Kwon Dan-A) when she was able to benefit him. He was at best neglectful and at worst abusive towards her. Han-byeol was the true victim. Hye-soo (Kim Kyu-Seon) actually had a motive in the beginning. She was just pathetic and weak but once she returned they weirdly sidelined her. Also I don’t know why Kang Ji-ho never got prosecuted for trying to kill Hye-soo. Like I find that to be one of his more egregious crimes. Like that is the mother of your child. You gave your child so much trauma, for what? Power? Like when they tried to redeem him at the end I was just fed up. You can’t make hime out to be the big bad guy for 118 episodes, and then have him do one good thing. He is a bad father, and when Han Byeol grows up she will resent him. Rating: Fuck this show, like actually.

 My Dearest Part 2(2023, Hwang Jin-young)

Main leads: Namkoong Min, Ahn Eun-jin, Lee Hak-joo, Lee Da-in, Kim Yoon-woo, Lee Chung-ah

Country: S. Korea

Run: Oct 13 to Nov 18, 2023 (MBC TV, Friday and Saturday 21:50 (KST))

Episodes: 11, 60 to 90 min

Thoughts: More devastating than the first part. Gil-chae is probably my favorite character I have watched. Her journey in this part is absolutely devastating but she survives. I enjoyed the refutement from blame, that people who experienced the worst horrors known are somehow blamed. Gil Chae pushes back on this sentiment herself. This entire time I just wanted Jang-hyun and Gil Chea together. Which took the entire part for them to finally be happy. I do think the ending was kind of wobbly, and they only really needed 10  episodes not the 11. But who am I to say? Anyways I enjoyed the show overall. Rating: My Dear Husband… 

Kokdu: Season of Diety (2023, Kang Yi-heon, Heo Jun-woo)

Main leads: Kim Jung-hyun, Im Soo-hyang, Kim Da-som, Ahn Woo-yeon, Kim In-kwon, Cha Chung-hwa

Country: S. Korea

Run: Jan 27 to March 24, 2023 (MBC TV Fridays and Saturdays @21:50 (KST))

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: You must be wondering why did you watch this? It only has bad reviews- which is a lie, it is actually a polarizing show. And I can understand. If you go into this show with the lowest expectations imaginable and it might be fun. The scenery is pretty and they make decent use of it. Main Romance is actually not good, I felt no chemistry between Kim Jung-Hyun and Im Soo-hyang. I did like the romance between Tae Jeong-won (Kim Da-som) and Han Cheol (Ahn Woo-yeon) other than that The show overall fell flat. I did like the scenery and the setting. I thought it was fun. Also episode 16 was the most enjoyable episode, which is good for an ending. Rating: I would skip…

I am currently watching:

Marry My Husband

Doctor Slump

Because of Love

Do You Like Brahms?

The Real Has Come!

If you have any kdrama recommendations, please let me know!

[hyumjim]

Can you imagine being woong and some older guy is like “I was with you at JYP when you were a trainee” and ur like oh shit what and you look closer and you’re like oh my god it’s fan-dating-scandal-hyung……..

[drivingsideways]

SFD rewatch, episodes 1-5

One of the best first episodes of a series. Quickly and indelibly establishes the characterization of all the major players.

Love the kid actors, but mainly Lee Re as Boon-yi.

Piglet scene still as unacceptable as the first time. Come on.

Absolutely in love with the theatrical scene constructions, including how we meet Jeong do jeon (stealing a potato); the farce at Yi In geom's residence, Ddang-sae telling the story of "Viper", and the first time we see the Do Dang. I do love Jeong do-jeon inciting a riot (and Kim Myung-min's sexy sexy voice) but also? I think on the first watch and now, it felt a bit off. Mostly because the song becomes a swelling soundtrack over the scene- I wish they had just let it be Jeong do jeon's voice going hoarse and a few people singing it.

Got impatient with the segue into Gongmin's assassination, and at some points the name drops become tiresome. I know SFD was written for an audience familiar with these characters, and so this is on me, but having to pause every few minutes to look up wiki or bodashri's tumblr (seriously MVP of the SFD fandom) is not a great viewing experience for me.

Gil Tae mi -11/10 no notes, especially in that mango-yellow robe. Park Hyuk-kwon completely pussy out in this drama, playing twins who are polar opposites in everything except that they fight like ballet dancers.

Had to ffwd Yeon-hee's rape scene and aftermath. Yes, we get it, losing his mother and his lover are foundational to everything about Ddang-sae, but hoo boy, how about they'd...just not?

I just really, really enjoy Hong In-bang's villainy- his turn to it makes 50 times more sense to me that whatever is going on with that little psycho with his murder grove. [When he went on about justice preventing evil, my eyes rolled back in my head so hard. OKAY, you pathetic little meow-meow, if that works for you, I GUESS.]

Love that the writers re-used a line from TwDR- paraphrased, it's that "the people endure, while monarchies rise and fall". In TwDR, when Sejong says it to Jeong gi-joon, it's to refute his rather nihilistic view of the chaotic future where people are able to choose their own leaders; here Hong In bang uses it to justify raising taxes on an already overtaxed population. Writers nim, your minds.

Boon yi is THE BEST

Moo-hyul is a baby. Imagine watching the extremely boring Jo Jin-woong playing this character in 2011 and then waking up to Yoon Kyung-sang's adorable himbeaux portrayal in this.

Byun Yo-han is such a genuinely lovely actor; I just wish that Ddang-sae's whole trajectory wasn't unmitigated misery. It's harder on the rewatch because at least the first time I had hope. I think writer nims are fond of reminding us that being born poor , and consequently often powerless to resist constant degradation, is a lifelong curse that only a few escape- you see it in Kang Chae Yoon's fate as well- but I think Kang Chae yoon's fate felt like less of a punishment by capricious gods than Ddang-sae's.

Ok, but Byun Yo-han and that marketplace performance. LOVELY.

Ddang-sae's leaving Baek Yoon's dead body in the street like a prom invite for Sambong. (and then he went and left and actual note that says "whom do i kill next?") made me laugh. C'mon Sambong, take some time out from fulfilling your divine purpose to give this boy the railing he deserves. I feel like so many of both their problems would have been solved by this.

[t3kandson]

Oppa’s Hyung

Wordcount; 2,366

Fandom; AB6IX

Pairing; Reader X Park Woojin

Characters; Park Woojin, Jeon Woong, Kim Donghyun & Lee Daehwi

Warning; Angst, flirting, nudity descriptions, Alcohol Consumption, Oral (69), fingering, Tit wank, full sex. Slight fight.

Notes; happy belated birthday to one of my beautiful ult wreckers ❤️❤️❤️❤️

You was just getting out the bath when the door bell rang furiously, you shouted down the corridor as you wrapped the towel around your waist walking to the inpatient visiter.

You pulled the door ajar to tell them to do one when you found a larger man helping your older brother up. “I think this one belongs to you,” he said struggling under your alcohol induced sibling. Daehwi threw his weight against the door throwing you backwards on to your ass, your towel exposing you to them both.

“Ewww don’t be such a Ho, we got guests,” Daehwi slurred leaning himself towards the wall. His friend with his eyes shut offered his hands which you hastily took recovering yourself, your face bright red. “Can I open my eyes?” the friend said blushing a shade of pink and his member clearly twitching in his pants. “Erm yes,” you said hastily dashing from the room, “I’ll let you settle him,” you shot out behind you as you shoot back in your room, your heart thundering, your face burning and your mind imagining all the ways to kill your brother.

The next time you saw his friend again it was the following month, when your brother threw some money at you to go away for the evening. Annoyed at him for interrupting your early night and the whole naked incident. You folded your arm declaring that as your name was on the rental agreement you would be spending the night at home. After squabbling for a while you compromised, promising to spend the evening in your room.

Your cue to leave came from the door going, before you could shuffle from the room you was suddenly engulfed by some arms. “Where you going little sis,” Donghyun called out as Daehwi groaned at the view. “Yeah Y/N why you escaping so fast?” Woong asked coming up to you to fluff up your hair. “She’s got a date tonight,” Daehwi said prizing you from them both. You found yourself jolted into the very man you had exposed yourself to. Your jaw gaping open at his beautiful features as he blushed in your view. “Oh you haven’t met him have you, this is Woojin,” Woong said, “he’s new here,” he added patting Woojin’s back. “Oh they’ve met,” Daehwi Growled as you and Woojin winced.

“Right date night?” Daehwi moaned pushing you in the direction of the hallway. “My snacks,” you whined as he attempted to manhandle you out the room. “When you say date night you mean movie night don’t you?” Donghyun said chuckling as Daehwi walked to the Cupboard loading his arms with enough snacks to not see you till tomorrow. You nodded grinning, at Donghyun, “yep cute men all sexy,” you chuckled rubbing your hands down your body to Daehwi’s scoff. “What movie?” Woojin asked his voice so deep yet beautifully hitting that your thighs tightened. “Tidal Wave,” you smiled earning a smile back, “that’s a good movie that is,” Woojin said showing you his beautiful snaggle teeth that was just the cutest. “Since when was you into movies,” Donghyun said looking at him. “You just don’t look the movie type,” he added. “I love movies,” he said smiling.

“Well here’s your food, enjoy your night with your men, and romance,” Daehwi said rolling his eyes as he plonked the food in to your awaiting arms making you drop a few of the packets of goodies. “It’s a natural disaster movie not a romance,” Woojin said making Daehwi small his eyes in his direction. “Just saying,” he adds shrugging. “Hey I think we should all watch it,” Woong said smiling as Daehwi protested, the other’s agreeing louder that left him looking defeated.

As Woong & Donghyun stole some of the snacks from your grasp, Daehwi stood there arms folded looking displeased at you. “Don’t look at your sister like that, it’ll be a laugh,” Woong Scolded him noticing his expression. “I’m sure she wants a night alone,” Daehwi said hoping you’d get the hint. “Yeah he’s right,” “don’t you even think of it we’re your elders, both you sit your asses down let’s watch this,” Donghyun cut your protest off as he pattered the seat between him and Woojin.

As you sat next to them Woojin fidgeted in his chair next to you. You couldn’t help but noticed the size of his thick thighs in your view. The desire to feel the muscles underneath was highly enticing. Your thoughts was snatched by a cough, Daehwi’s eyes raised as he caught you checking his friend out. You bit your lip paying your attention back to the tv that Woong had taken charge to set up.

You offered Woojin the popcorn which he happily took resting between his legs as you continued to get engrossed in the movie. Your hands dipping into the packet freely which had caused him to stiff up at first before relaxing. You lolled your head over Donghyun, Daehwi’s eyes often finding yours to remind you that you was still in his bad books.

Your hand continued to slip into the popcorn having to move to reach deeper as the packet seemed empty. You furrowed your hand to find a piece of popcorn, when a soft moan audible to your ears hit. You realised your hand had brushed against his bulge which even behind the empty packet was hardening. Instead of an apology you raked your teeth along your bottom lip, you was sure Woojin could see the lust in your eyes as he blushed bright red.

You slipped your hand out the packet before you ended up doing something reckless taking your eyes back to the tv. Thankful that your brother hadn’t seen your little moment which you knew would fuel his anger furthermore.

By the time the movie ended you wiped a slight tear from your eyes when you noticed Woojin’s watery. Had he cried too? “You ok?” You whispered beneath The others chatting. “Yes it’s just,” “emotional right,” you finished for him. He nodded rubbing his eyes as you smiled at the pure cuteness of him. “Right what movies next?” Woong asked, Daehwi eyes widening to take yours. “Actually I’m feeling quite shattered so I’m off to bed,” you said faking a yawn. “Y/N it’s barely 9pm,” Donghyun scoffed, “I know but it’s been a long day, but thanks for watching the movie with me it was fun,” you said standing up to Donghyun’s pouts. “I’m sure we’re have a movie night again soon,” you said before excusing yourself.

You woke during the night, your throat dry and thirst attacked. Leaving your warm bed you made your way towards the kitchen to quench your thirst, letting the cold water make you feel satisfied. You was wiping your mouth when you was startled by the bathroom door opening.

Woojin walked into the living room, his boxers holding his dignity. But his chest so well defined heavenly in your view, you gulped heavily earning his furious blush. “How come your chest,” you said shaking your head “I mean how come your awake,” you added as he smiled at you. “Your cute Y/n, but I was having a pee,” he scoffs standing inches from you. “You?” He asks his deep voice memorising you that you almost forgot to breathe. “Thirsty,” you choked almost losing your words. “For what?” He said tilting his head, his eyes full of mischievous. “For water obviously,” you chuckled, your face feeling hot. “Not popcorn then,” he said winking, “or more what was behind it,” he said suggestively. Your heart was thundering he had been all shy earlier, now he seemed on fire ready to devour you.

“Maybe,” you teased winking, feeling brave under his intense glare. He pulled his arm around your waist pulling into him, your breath hitching when his was just a warm fanned breath away. His eyes glazed over as he leaned in pressing his lips to yours as you both got lost to his kiss. His tongue stroking against yours, hands brushed into your hair gently tugging them so his kiss could deepen. Your hands held on to the hem of your top before moving to his back sliding up his skin, the muscles tensing as it glided up them. His rolls of himself against your clothed core had him kissing down your moans.

You break your kiss to take him to your room. As soon as your through the door he lifts you up letting your legs hold around his waist, his kisses continuing as his hands find there way up your tank top laying around your bra clasps to unfasten them.

He rests you on your bed as you take your top off, his hands fumbling with his boxers letting his meaty member free earning a gasp fall from your lips. Hands sliding down your shorts taking the material and your pants with them, tongue stroking his lips at the sight of you. “I want you to sit on my face as you suck my dick,” he growls and you don’t hesitate to move to let him lay you on the bed.

Resting your heat against his awaiting tongue, it starts swirling around your sensitive bud. You lean onto him your breasts resting on his lower stomach as your hands grapple his member. Pumping it slowly you wonder how you would fit it in your mouth let alone your core. As his suction presses around your nub earning a moan to leave, had Him swat your ass. “Do you want your brother to catch us,” he says muffled from your heat as his tongue continues its attack. Your own tongue swirls around the tip of his head as you slowly bobbled up and down his shaft, letting your cheeks hollow to suck him well. His hands gripping around your ass pulling his head closer to bring his tongue to swirl against your walls. Your pace slows as you moan around his dick which has the same reaction for him. The vibration of his groans has your walls tighten around his wet muscle.

He starts buckling to push his member down your throat as you start gagging around him, you feel him beginning to shake when he rolls you off.

“I don’t want to come in your mouth,” he pants as you slide your body on top of him his hands cupping your breasts. “I love these there so squishy and perfect,” he compliments. You slid your ass into the air letting you slide your breasts down his chest towards his stomach, letting yourself dip so that your breast rubs down his throbbing shaft. You pressed your bosoms together letting them rub along him as you let your breast fuck them. His breath hitching as he struggled to hold his moans from slipping. “Y/n, baby, please,” he begs between pants. As you hasten your speed, his eyes close, head falling back on the pillow, his breath held.

He begins to lose his mind that he lifts you making you yelp from being startled before flipping you onto your back.

His eyes are Intense looking at you like a animal about to kill there prey.

Fingers slide up your folds as they slip into your heat curving as it helps to prep you. “Your so wet,” he growls popping another finger in. “Fuck Woojin,” you cry as they rub against your sweet spot.

He removed his fingers suckling on them as he places them into your open mouth to suck on. Sticking them to your back of your throat making you gag as spit from your mouth falls upon him, he mops it up to help lubricate himself.

Positioning himself into you as he slowly pushes in, cry’s leaving your lips as his hands rests upon your mouth to muffle the moans your struggling to hold in. After stilling to let you accommodate him, he lets his lips return to you as he takes a slow gentle pace.

The pain settles and the pleasure attacks, his speed being torturous as your pelvis meet his to encourage his speed. Instead he pulls out to slam in, his hands around your mouth awaiting the yelp to contain. He continues his slow pace with mixtures of harder thrust that has him bounce against your cervix, filling the air with muffled screams. His hands find your waist pulling you into his thrust that’s picked up a pace, moans freely flowing as he too is lost in the moment.

“Shit Y/N I’m going to cum,” he cry’s a louder volume, his heavy thrusts helping to attack your own. Your walls clench around him in between each thrust of your own meeting his. Sweat beading down his face as his teeth graze along his lips, this look with the one of concentration is enough to push you over the edge, your nails digging into his flesh as you scream cumming around him, pushing him into his own as you milk every drop of his hot seed into your core. His pace still hard but slow continues till he’s softened in you letting himself collapse on top of you.

Rolling himself off you pant heavily as he fights for air, pulling your head on top of his chest. “Fuck Y/N,” he gasps, his fingers threading through your hair. “That was good,” you said snuggling your head deep into his muscled chest. “It really was, it’ll be worth the beating your brother’s going to give me,” he chuckled pressing a kiss to your Temple. You fall asleep to him playing with your hair enjoying the close comfort.

Your woken to the screaming out your door when you jolt to find Woojin missing. Rushing to the corridor, you find Daehwi with woojin’s collar in his grip. “What the fuck she’s my sister Hyung,” he screams as you rush to defend him. His angry face finding yours. “And you, you have to have everything I have don’t you,” he growls. Woong rushing to prise Daehwi’s hands from Woojin as Donghyun steps between you and your sibling.

“I forbid you both to see each other,” he says as he storms off to his room as tears fill your eyes.

Masterlist

[royaltysuite]

Hi! I saw that u also write for Ryung-Gu and wanted to request an imagine :) How about the reader is a normal human girl (maybe she knew Ryung-Gu in a past life though and - obviously - just doesn’t remember that atm?) and Ryung-Gu keeps appearing around her and talking to her after meeting her during a mission, even though he knows he probably shouldn’t. He can’t help but fall in love with her (or if u choose to take the option where they already knew each other, he is STILL in love with her but she falls for him again). When she’s about to take her own life later on, he saves her (and maybe she also remembers him from then on cause someone gave her her memories back? Like the Jade Emperor? :) ) Thank you <3

Sorry for the late response, but this request is almost finished. Just some proof-reading to do and it'll be ready to go!!!!

Edit: HERE IT IS!!!! It has now been completed and is ready for you all to read. Thank you to the sender for requesting this. I had a lot of fun writing this because I honestly think that Ryung-gu deserves all the love and affection he needs and wants. Anyways, enough of my rambling... I hope you all enjoy this and if you all have any commission requests, please send them to my inbox or leave a comment on my commissions post which is pinned to the top of the blog. With that being said, STAY CLASSY~~~

Lover's Reunited (Ryung-gu x Reader)

Y/n's Pov

"Welcome to the team, Y/n. I hope you're ready for everything that comes your way." Ryeon said as I followed her into the Risk Management's Team Office. "I'm ready for anything." I answered. Once we entered the office, my eyes drifted across the room and connected to a pair of widened ones. " Ryung-gu, Jun-woong, this is L/n Y/n. She's now the newest member of the Risk Management Team. Ryung-gu, could you show here a quick little rundown of how we operate?"

Turning my head in the direction of her question, I made eye contact with the handsomest man ever. I waited a few seconds for his answer, but all he did was stare at me. "Is there, uh, something on my face?" I asked, starting to feel a bit awkward from his harsh stare. That seemed to snap him out of his daze. "Sorry, umm, let me give you a tour of our day-to-day agenda and how we keep track of our job." He stumbled, his cheeks gaining a light flush to them. "Great! I can't wait to start."

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Ryung-gu's Pov

The day was going by slowly as I waited for my shift to come to an end. Jun-woong and I were currently finishing up our latest mission reports when Ryeon came walking in, except she wasn't alone.  "Ryung-gu, Jun-woong, this is L/n Y/n. She's now the newest member of the Risk Management Team. Ryung-gu, could you show here a quick little rundown of how we operate?" She asked.

The question just went through one ear and out the other. 'It couldn't be her, could it?' I thought, my eyes widening in surprise as I got a look at the person behind Ryeon. It was Y/n. Standing right in front of me, it was her. It's been at least four centuries since I last saw her. But, she's here.

"Is there, uh, something on my face?" She asked, touching her face. Her voice sounded the exact same, but not trying to make her feel any more awkward, I answered. "Sorry, umm, let me give you a tour of our day-to-day agenda and how we keep track of our job." I mumbled, feeling my cheeks heat up a little. "Great! I can't wait to start." She chirped.

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Y/n's Pov

It's been a little over 6 months since I joined the RM team. With each chance I got after every mission, I got closer and closer to finding out where and who my killer was. That was my sole purpose for joining this team. Only problem, Ryung-gu seems to be avoiding me ever since my first day on the job.

However, there was no time for worrying about it. "Hey, listen to me. I've been where you are. Feeling like you couldn't do anything to prevent him from his death? Feeling like it should've been you instead of him? It's natural for that to happen. It's why people call it grief. But, let me tell you, he wouldn't have wanted you to do this. He wants to believe that he'll see you again in the next life and the one after that. So, trust me when I say, it's going to get better. It's going to be like hell going through it, but it will get better. So, take my hand and I'll help you start the journey to healing." I spoke, reaching my hand out to the young girl in front of me.

"Do you really believe that? That we'll be together again?" The girl sobbed. "Yes, I do. Now, grab my hand." She hesitated for a bit, but she stepped down from the ledge and ran into my arms. Collapsing on the floor, I cradled her in my arms and let her cry until she calmed down.

"Thank you. I know that's probably weird to say after everything, but I really mean it." "There's no need to thank me, now let's get you home and out of this cold. "

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"Hey, Y/n, great work today. She seemed to really trust you." Jun-woong chimed, setting down a coffee right in front of me. "Thanks, you are a life-saver. But, it wasn't much. I just understood where she was coming from. When I was younger, I went through the same thing when my brother died in battle. The only person I could really trust after that was my best friend. But, I don't really remember much after my death so..."

We continued to chat until I noticed Ryung-gu walking into the room, looking troubled. "Ryung-gu, what's up? You seem worried." I asked. "It's nothing. The Director wants to see you. Something about your report." He answered. "Oh, okay....well, I guess I'll see you guys in a few."

Finishing up my coffee, I quickly made my way to the Director. On my way there, I bumped shoulders with someone. I turned to apologize but froze up. "Y-you...You!" I growled, my blood starting to boil. The man turned and I got a clear look at his face. It was the man that murdered me.

Letting out a scream, I ran and tackled him to the ground. The both of us grunted as we made contact to the ground. I began throwing punches left and right, each blow I let out a yell. What felt like hours was actually minutes. Soon enough, I felt arms wrap around me and Ryung-gu's voice flooding my ears. "Y/n, stop! He's not worth it!" "It is worth it! He killed me! He killed me and my brother!" I screamed, tears streaming down my cheeks.

Ryung-gu and Jun-woong, who showed up minutes later, pulled me off the guy who was smirking at me. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" A booming voice echoed deep in the hall. Reapers on every side stood silent as the Director came closer to the scene. “Who escorted this criminal in this building?” “No one. I came here on my own…” He stated, a cold smirk still lying on his face. I struggled in Ryung-gu’s grasp, just wanting to land one, killing strike on this asshole. 

“YOU LIAR! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO ME! TO MY FAMILY!!!” “You deserved what came to you. Your father owed huge debts and when he couldn’t pay himself, I did it for him.” He chortled in a sarcastic tone. “After all, it ended well for you. You’re back with your lowly lover, Lim Ryung-gu, so you should be thanking me.” 

‘What….?’ I thought, anger slowly turning into confusion. Apparently, that amused him. “Oh, she never told you? The Director here sealed off your memories with him with MY recommendation. My plan to get away with it would’ve gone smoothly if you hadn’t started meddling with him or his team.” He spoke. “Enough!” The Director hissed before turning to another reaper. “Call for the Escort team’s best reaper and have them escort this man to the punishment room. Mr.Lim, if you could bring Y/n to my chambers. I will explain everything in great detail very soon. Everyone else, please continue on with your previous duties. That is enough discord for today.” She ordered, shuffling down the corridor .

As she walked off, Ryung-gu brought me into her office as instructed. Once we reached the door, I stopped in my tracks. “Did you know…?” I whispered. “What?” “Did you know? About me losing my memories? About our past together?” I cried, whipping my head in his direction with tears beading in the corners of my eyes. Ryung-gu’s once stoic expression softened into one of guilt and embarrassment. “Yes, I did.” He answered. “How long did you know?” “Since your first day here. When I saw you enter the office, I was in disbelief. I tried convincing myself that it was someone that looked like you, but after every mission, the more I came to terms with the truth. That you were real. Everything was confirmed when the Director called me into her office. She told me the truth about how you died, how you murdered. It took a long time for you to be reincarnated as a reaper and for our ties to appear again. I’m sorry that I kept this from you, I just didn’t know how to tell you properly.”

Each word he spoke was genuine and I knew it was the truth. Turning around to face him, I placed a gentle hand on his cheek and softly caressed it. “I- I’m sorry it took so long to come back to you. I’m so, so sorry” I sobbed. Ryung-gu pulled into his warm embrace, stroking my head as my tears soaked into his clothes. We sat like this for what felt like ages before we separated. 

“I see you both have resolved everything on your own.” The Director spoke, her presence becoming known as she entered the room. “This day was never supposed to work out like this, but fate can be wildly mysterious. So, tell me, what will you two do now?” We turned to look at each other before I answered. “I think…We’ll do what we’ve always done. And that’s to help the ones who need it and we’ll do it together.” “Together.”

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Author’s Note: Here we are, everyone. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Ryung-gu ended up being a teddy bear type of guy, but that’s how I see him. I’ve added in the small detail of Y/n having a brother and the relationship between them and Ryung-gu already established. If any one has any commission requests, I leave a link down below on how to request them. If you’d like to be added to the fandom taglist, leave a like and a comment. With that being said, Stay Classy~~