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halfseoulco · 1 year

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The women behind IF I HAD YOUR FACE: A review

Published Monday, January 23rd, 2023 — I’d been wanting to read If I Had Your Face for quite some time. After making appearances on some social media accounts I follow, I decided it was necessary to add it to my reading list, especially since I’ve been devoting my time to reading books by Asian and Asian American authors. A short yet powerful read, it opens up necessary discussions and delves deep into the inner workings of Korean society—it says things people might not want to hear—but it’s always been my belief that sometimes the hardest pills to swallow are the ones that necessitate swallowing.

Introduction

South Korea is wildly known for not only the accessibility of plastic surgery but also the necessity of plastic surgery to improve one’s station in life. Dubbed the “plastic surgery capital of the world”, some estimates suggest that a third of South Korean women between the ages of 19 and 29 have had plastic surgery—and some estimates suggest that the number is actually 50% or higher. The pressure to meet beauty standards is heavy, with statistics pointing to a greater ease of life for more conventionally attractive people—as is generally the case in many places.

Korean American author Frances Cha’s debut novel, If I Had Your Face, dives into this and other important topics in a split narrative format, following the lives of four young women in South Korea—Kyuri, Miho, Ara, and Wonna.

Four Women, One Story

Kyuri works at an exclusive salon room where she entertains wealthy businessmen who pay “to have girls like [her] sit next to them and pour them liquor” (page 3). She is highly sought after—and attributes her demand to the surgical procedures she had done to make her beautiful. Miho is a talented artist who studied abroad in New York before returning to Korea and entering into a relationship with her deceased friend’s boyfriend—who also happens to be a conglomerate heir. Ara is a full-time hairstylist who harbors an infatuation with Taein from the popular boy group Crown and has long since stopped speaking after an unfortunate accident as an adolescent. Finally, Wonna is a newlywed and newly pregnant woman living downstairs from the first three women; and who is also struggling with her worries concerning the future of her job and how she and her husband are going to afford having a child.

Although they each have their own story, the lives of all four women are intertwined: Kyuri and Miho are roommates while Ara and her roommate, Sujin—who is insistent on getting her own surgical procedures done after spending so much time looking at Kyuri’s face—live down the hall and Wonna just one floor down. If I had to pick a sentence to oversimplify the entire story, it would be: Things were okay... until they weren’t. The aforementioned topics are unveiled in the various conflicts presented in the story: the pressures to look beautiful, the way women are perceived in the workplace—the idea that companies shouldn’t invest in women by hiring them because they eventually get married and get pregnant and then have to go on maternity leave; and the fact that women in South Korea are paid 38% less than men, according to a March 2022 article in The Korea Herald (compared to the U.S., where women make about 17% less)—the knowledge that men can get away with certain things where women cannot (e.g. cheating, throwing public tantrums, using their money and influence to destroy a woman’s life, etc.), the people you idolize aren’t as perfect as their PR team would have you believe, and the realization that what society thinks is the best course of action for one’s life isn’t always the right one. There’s a sense of heavy disillusionment that starts to spread—and the only things holding them all together are the relationships the four women have with each other.

Art Imitates Life

With the level of romanticizing of South Korea that is currently taking place, If I Had Your Face is a good, long look at the reality of the country’s socioeconomic situation. While the culture certainly makes life in South Korea very different from that in the United States or other Western countries, the truth that many people enchanted with the idea of living in South Korea fail to realize is that due to its [much too] close relationship with the U.S., South Korea is also a capitalist nation with conservative ideals—especially in regards to gender. Rent is expensive, having children is expensive... and even Korean men—who are often placed on a very high pedestal by people who enjoy KPOP and Korean dramas for being perfect gentlemen—engage in behaviors such as paying for the company of salon girls and cheating.

So then what is the point of these four individual narratives that are happening concurrently?

The story ends with a chapter from Kyuri’s perspective: “Ara moves so that she is sitting behind her and takes the lady’s hair in her hands. She starts combing her fingers through it expertly. The lady lets out a sigh—a tremulous release of a long day—which makes me feel lighter too. [...] Miho walks up slowly, gives a familiar nod to Wonna, and then sits on the other side of me. She exhales, and I put an arm around her shoulders. [...] The raindrops keep falling more thickly now. So we all stand up to make our way upstairs together, as the sky starts crackling, taking aim at each of us and the drunk men stumbling by” (pages 266-268).

After a whirlwind of disastrous events has taken place, the four women take comfort in each other’s presence—the three younger girls comforting their newly acquainted pregnant friend—with plans to order fried chicken and eat it together in Wonna’s apartment. More than a novel on the negative effects of such a high-pressure society, If I Had Your Face is a story of women having compassion for other women—because “friendship” is too simple of a concept for this particular situation; rather, the coming together of women with little in common who provide support for each other because they all know what it’s like to be a woman living in South Korea.

Conclusion

You can choose to take away from this story that South Korea is a society so heavily dependent on plastic surgery and appearances to get ahead—but you would be doing yourself and the story a disservice if that’s all you take away from it. It is most certainly a criticism but at the heart of it is the importance of the relationships between women—because whether she believes it or not, every woman needs a group of supportive women behind her, even if it’s only to eat fried chicken together on a rainy day.

#GeniusLabReads #If I Had Your Face #Frances Cha #Asian American Literature #Asian Literature #Literature

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bangtae-sohotddaeng · 3 years

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we’ll be counting stars | k.th. | 1

(^ gif cred: ON THE VOYAGE | pinterest)

pairing: idol!Taehyung x publisher!Reader

rating: nc-17 (for language and themes)

summary: You’d sworn off love and relationships forever. You were here to do your job - work with the biggest boyband of the world. Not forge friendships and...and whatever it was that you and Taehyung were building up with these sneaky glances. It was, to be very fair, your Chief Editor’s fault that you’d landed in this mess. Maybe you should quit your job? Maybe you should quit life -

Oh, he was staring again, and did he freaking lick his lips?

warnings: swearing (reader’s got a potty mouth) + this is set like 5 years in the future + reader has emotional issues, she's a relationship phobe + mentions of weed

genre: so much ANGST ugh + fluff + comedy + some crack

words: 2.1 k

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gimme feedback, much much appreciated!

SIX MONTHS AGO

“Wait a second, really?” You blinked up at the Chief Editor, your boss, in wonder. “Heading this?”

The chocolate skinned, tall woman smiled at you. “Yes, heading this. I’d been looking to hand you something from a really long time, to be honest. This is just the right fit."

You grinned at her, hugging the contract file to your chest. In your thirteen months of employment at the publishing company, through the departmental transfer from HR to Editorial and then the promotion to the Associate Editor position, this was the best thing to happen to you, so far. You finally had a project you were gonna head. You would finally, finally get to handle things on your own—curate your own team, work on an individual project where you made all the decisions.

You breathed out, happily. “I’ll read this thoroughly and report back within an hour, boss. With my sign on it, in all likelihood.”

“I’m counting on it.” Your boss smiled at you.

You looked down at the file. You were going to work with a K-pop group on their auto-biography. You were gonna fly to fucking Korea, for six full months. This was huge. This was awesome. This was what you fucking needed, right now. Your best friend that you had been rooming with for a year was starting to get too comfortable. You were so not up for that kinda shit again.

You looked at the bottom of the front page. Athena had drawn up this contract. Your eyebrows arched. It was no secret that she was your boss’s favourite Acquisition Editor. Some even suspected they were having an affair, despite the gleaming diamond you could see—even right now—on the woman’s finger.

This project had to mean a lot to your boss. And she’d picked you to head it.

“This sounds big, boss,” you mumbled, leafing through the hefty files. You were gonna need a couple hours, maybe, to go through this properly. “And looks big, too.”

“It is big, Y/N. In all the ways. This idea had been brewing in my head for a really long time. I had Athena make the proposal to this K-pop group’s management company, a few months back, and they said yes. She and I had been brainstorming how to approach this. Those guys are pretty tight about their privacy and, um, well. Fraternising policies. It’s all in there, you’ll see.” She pointed a finger at the file in your hands. “We were finally able to draw up the contract with the company’s CEO and Manager. And you were the only one I had in mind when we thought up of building a team and having someone head it so that we don’t have to leave.”

You gave a small, delighted giggle. “Thank you so much, boss. I won’t disappoint you.”

“I know you won’t.”

You got back to your desk and flipped to the first page of the file.

BTS

Your eyes bulged. You had been a busy—and irritable because of all the stupid shit that just constantly kept on happening in your personal life—woman during the past couple of years and really uninvested in anything and everything that had to do with entertainment. This past year had been especially rough ever since your move to the States. You freaking smoked pot when you needed to unwind, what could be worse than that.

But. But—before, when you were a normal, happy woman with a soul, BTS had been kind of a really humongous deal. Did that somehow change in the past couple of years? You strongly doubted it, recalling how huge they’d been growing worldwide, the last time you kept a check. Which you did like crazy.

You momentarily wondered if your boss would still have you as the first consideration if she knew about your crazy ARMY days…

You blinked, coming back from the mental journey, and turned the page. BigHit’s owner was still the same, obviously, but the group members now apparently had individual managers. You blinked, uncomfortable at the knowledge. Reading further, you found something that disturbed you even more.

All the BTS members were done with their Military Service, with Jungkook, Jimin and Namjoon having returned from it just this year.

You swallowed, thickly. A lot had changed in the world outside of the one you’d been living in, too, apparently.

You read through the terms and conditions and your duties, thoroughly. Few points were pretty obvious and things you’d been expecting, but some of them made you frown.

You brought one such issue to your boss’s acknowledgement when you were done reading the entire booklet of a contract, nearly two hours later. You were ready to sign the thing, otherwise.

“And? What about it?” Your boss blinked at you, unfazed.

You sighed, and lifted your left hand up, pointing at your empty ring finger. “No ring, no fiance, boss. They want the team members to be at least engaged. I’m as single as it gets.”

She chuckled at that. “Tell me honestly, are you unprofessional enough to fraternise on your job? Such a high profile one, at that?”

You worried your bottom lip between your teeth. “I don’t think they’d care about what I think, boss, or that they’d even ask.”

Your boss gave an exasperated sigh. “Okay, let me put it in a different way.” You tilted your head to show your interest. “What’s your opinion on relationships, in general?”

You grimaced, unable to help your knee-jerk response. But then you shrugged, trying not to scowl while you said the words you’d started to believe in since the past couple of years. “Well, as I’d informed you through my quite less-than-professional letter at the time of my joining, boss, I think relationships are pointless. Humans keeping relationships beyond professionalism with each other is pointless, actually, because with a personal attachment comes a buckload of expectations, and then it’s just a rabbit hole down the middle of the earth. At the end of which, we burn.”

Your boss seemed to be suppressing laughter. Did the moral of your life amuse her? “You actually quoted the letter word by word, there, Y/N.”

You sighed. “That wasn’t something I’d thought through when I mailed it, boss. The voice input tool turned my rants into a letter. And my frustration over your concerns about fraternising in the office made me mail it.”

Your boss nodded. “Well, I talked to BigHit’s manager over the phone. The company’s not the group’s,” she added when you frowned in confusion at the singular term. “I explained to him about where you stood—taking references from this letter—and explained to him why I needed my most valuable Associate on the team.”

Your cheeks heated up, both due to the huge praise and embarrassment over the exposure of your letter. “Oh, um. Thank you. I guess?”

“Ugh, sign the damn piece of paper and start collecting the damn team, Y/N!”

You’d resorted to staying back at the office till late hours just to avoid your roommate.

When you’d moved to the country, thirteen months back, and decided to share your decade old friend’s flat—feeling lucky as shit that he worked in the same city as you—you and him had been on the same page. You’d both been fed up with the concepts of relationships and entanglements, even the strictly-physical ones, and wanted to just burn away your youth on the grind and pot-smoking weekends.

But then, gradually, you noticed the shift in him. He was trying to get into your pants. It could not end well.

It wasn’t to say you weren’t attracted to him. You’d jump the gorgeous guy’s bones in a heartbeat, in an alternate universe. But in this one, you’d had a first hand experience of ruining multiple friendships, and you so did not wanna risk another.

That idiot didn’t get it, though.

Hence why you were brainstorming your project’s team at ten oclock of the night in your nearly empty office building.

“Any luck?” Your okay-ish colleague—the least clingy out of the lot—peered at your spreadsheet over your shoulder.

“Why the heck are you so against it, Sana?” you groaned into your palm, frustrated.

“Because I’m ARMY!” she said in an aghast tone.

“So? Dude, that’s nearly 70% of the earth’s population, at this point, I’m guessing.”

“Um, maybe, but. I don’t trust myself to be professional, Y/N,” she morosely mumbled, dropping into an empty chair on the table next to you.

You looked at her from above your glasses. “Why the heck not?”

She ducked her head, her honey blonde hair covering almost all of her face. But you still spotted the red that bloomed across her face. “Because I have a crush on Yoongi, the size of freaking America, Y/N!”

“What? What? That’s your reason?" You covered your mouth with a hand to hold back your laughter. "Lame fucking reason, Sana!” You glared at her when she nervously looked back at you. “Get your shit together, and pack your bags. And give me your husband’s number, I wanna tell him something.”

You hadn’t imagined that picking out five people from a group of thirty would be this hard. You had spent an entire week literally running after these people to convince them. They were all married or engaged save for one, who had plans of proposing to his boyfriend a few months later, during Valentine’s before you convinced him to do it now so that he’d be able to join the team.

You’d come up with a total of four women and two men, including Sana, that were all fluent in Korean. That was kinda one of the biggest prerequisites, other than being in a committed relationship. You’d briefed the lot of them about what was to be done on this trip, who you were dealing with, and how long you’d be off for. They were all on board, now, and the only thing required was your boss’ approval.

And now you were all standing in the Chief Editor’s cabin, waiting for her to finish reviewing the team members’ profiles you’d collected and presented to her.

Your brain was nearly short circuited, at this point. If she said she wasn’t happy with any of your selections you were prepared to tell her to make the new selection herself, because there were only three more married people in this office, and none of them spoke Korean. There were only two more Korean speakers, but they were both female interns who’d be the worst nightmares to put on this project.

You looked at the six people standing next to you, all looking a varied degree of nervous.

But your boss looked impressed as she perused the file. She beamed at all of you, and then nodded. “Prepare for a six months’ stay, people, and prepare to do your best there. The only two real rules to remember are to keep it all a secret until the BigHit people are ready to disclose the news, and not fall in love.”

You all grunted in barely concealed annoyance at the last part, excluding Sana who bit her lip. You rolled your eyes. “It’d be a bigger concern for their partners than it would be to you, if that happens, boss. Don’t worry. We’re all a bunch of professionals, here.” You reassured your boss, shooting a glare at a fidgety Sana.

“I have complete faith in y’all. Now, off you go. Brush up your Korean, spend time with your partners.” She looked at you. “Or just, you know, catch up on lost sleep. You fly to Seoul this Friday.”

Three days from now, oh God.

You all trickled out of your boss’ cabin with furrowed foreheads. You had the most workload out of them all, though, because in addition to preparing to spend six months in a foreign land, you also were to prepare a formal itinerary for said six months. You, of course, were clear on the details because they were mentioned in the contract, but writing them out for your team would definitely take a lot of time.

You briefly wondered if you should employ Sana’s help, before quickly deciding against it. It wouldn’t do you any good to do anything to sway your professional relationship by asking for personal favours.

“Hey, Y/N, all okay?” Simon, the guy that was proposing to his boyfriend early because of you, asked you when you dropped into your office chair with a huge thump.

You turned to scowl at him. “You guys have got to stop asking me that all the time! When have you ever gotten a good answer?”

Simon’s eyes widened, and he quickly shook his head. “My bad.”

You kept squinting at his retreating figure. Another member of your team met your eye, before quickly scrambling away.

You hummed in thought. Did they all think you were a bitch? Maybe you were.

Good. It’d do you some good in Korea.

gimme feedback, much much appreciated!

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Tags: @tangledsparkles

#taehyung angst #bts angst #taehyung fluff #bts fluff #bts imagine #bts au #reposting bc it wasn't showing up in the tags #*mine #f: wbcs

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psychologyofsex · 3 years

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What Will Sex and Relationships Look Like After COVID-19?

One of the questions I’m asked most often by journalists these days is what sex and relationships will look like after the pandemic. As a result, I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about this. The truth, of course, is that there’s just so much we don’t yet know, so it’s hard to make concrete predictions. However, I’ve identified a few key areas we should keep our eyes on, which is what I’m going to explore in this post.

The Future of Relationships and Marriage

The number of American adults living single has been on the rise for decades. In fact, since the 1970s, it has increased by more than two-thirds, with about 27% living single today.

Something I wonder about is whether we’re going to see a reversal in this trend in the aftermath of COVID-19. While the rise of adults living single was long celebrated by many as a sign of independence, what we saw during the pandemic is that people living alone struggled more than those living with a partner. So will we see fewer people living single in the future? Has living with a partner become more important?

Likewise, the U.S. marriage rate was at a record low prior to the pandemic, with the average age of first marriage steadily increasing. In fact, it is nearing age 30. However, recent data points to a rise in people seeking committed over casual relationships, so an important question to ask is whether we’re going to see a rise in the marriage rate—and also whether people will decide to get hitched at younger ages again.

The Future of Sex

Condom use has been on the decline, with rates of usage among teens and men who have sex with men dropping the most over the last decade. However, people are now reporting more interest in using condoms as we emerge from the pandemic. So will COVID-19 be the thing that potentially blunts or reverses the trend toward lower condom use?

Also, while much has been said and written about college hook-up culture over the last two decades, rates of sexlessness among college-age adults (especially men) have been on the rise. In fact, before the pandemic, one in three 18-24-year-old men reported no sex in the past year.

We know that, during the pandemic, rates of sexlessness increased overall and that there’s more hesitancy around sex (especially casual sex) right now. So what does this mean for the sexuality of younger adults? Will rates of sexlessness rise even more? If so, what are the psychological implications of this? And if we have a generation of folks for whom sexual development is stunted, what will this mean going forward for their emotional development and the way that they approach romantic relationships?

The Future of Fertility

It is estimated that there will be 300,000-500,000 fewer births in 2021 in the U.S. alone. This is on top of a substantial drop in births over the past decade. It’s possible that some of these births are just being delayed or postponed, but it’s also possible that many of them will never happen at all.

This raises some important social, economic, and political questions. For example, what will it mean to have smaller cohorts of children? Will those children thrive in the presence of more individualized attention, or will they experience more loneliness? Also, while being part of a smaller generational cohort may make it easier to get jobs later on due to a smaller workforce, this will also result in less tax revenue and collection for social security.

This raises the question of whether government intervention is on the horizon to promote more births in the United States. In other countries with declining birth rates and growing elderly populations (e.g., Japan, South Korea), we’ve seen governments getting involved in an effort to increase the birth rate, albeit with quite limited success.

Beyond this, there are also questions to be raised about how COVID-19 itself affects reproductive health. For example, some studies point to impaired sperm counts in men infected with COVID-19, perhaps due to an elevated immune response in the testes. Other studies suggest that COVID-19 may have negative effects on reproductive processes in women. We don’t know whether these effects are temporary or permanent because we don’t have long-term data yet. However, this had led some scientists to wonder whether the pandemic will create another kind of fertility crisis—one that heightens the need for assisted reproduction.

The Future of STIs

Although rates of sexual activity dropped during the pandemic, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and surveillance dropped at the same time. Thus, the full picture of what happened with STIs during the past year is unclear.

Several STDs were at a record high before COVID-19—but since the pandemic began, people with asymptomatic infections haven’t been getting tested. For example, some research has shown that while cases of gonorrhea dropped overall during the pandemic, this was primarily due to a decrease in asymptomatic cases showing up for testing. There was no change in number of symptomatic people who came in. In other words, people who were infected but didn’t have symptoms didn’t show up for routine testing, which raises the possibility of a hidden STI epidemic.

This is particularly concerning when you consider other research showing a decline in condom use during the pandemic, particularly among single adults.

This raises some important questions for sexual health experts, including how we get people back in the habit of regular STI testing. It also raises additional questions about the future of condom use because, while some data suggest that people say they are more likely to use condoms going forward (as I mentioned above), this obviously seems at odds with the finding that condom use dropped last year—so what accounts for this discrepancy? What’s really going to happen with condom use?

Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to substantially alter the future of sex, relationships, fertility, and sexual health. We don’t know how all of this is going to play out—and we won’t know for quite some time. However, it’s important for us to keep an eye on these key areas so that we can be prepared for what’s ahead.

Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for more from the blog or here to listen to the podcast. Follow Sex and Psychology on Facebook, Twitter (@JustinLehmiller), or Reddit to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram.

Image Source: 123RF

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#COVID-19 #pandemic #relationships #fertility #STDs #single #marriage #condoms #sperm

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newcaptainofsquad9 · 4 years

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Not So Korean Drama~Park Sooyoung(Joy) x black!fem!reader

Pairing: Sooyoung/Joy x reader

Genre: Romance, Comedy(not really), College AU, Fluff

Summary: The it girl on campus, acting major and international student, Park Sooyoung is all you can think about. You aren’t the only one, every person has a huge crush on her too. You want to ask her out, yet in the back of your mind you know everything about it would be unconventional.

Warnings: Anxiety, Mentions of bi-phobia (nothing major), Mentions of Microaggressions

Word Count: 4,206

Author’s Note: Here’s some Red Velvet, I also decided to write more black readers because I want to write more for black women like me. Also I know this is very niche so I hope you guys enjoy it regardless if you identify with the main character or not. Hope you guys enjoy!

Sometimes I see this mediocre, yet funny life of mine as a television show. A world where I’m surrounded by so many generic people, well they aren’t really generic, just similar to one another. That’s usually how it goes at La Rouge University , or as most of the students of color call it, La PWI. It’s weird though, I don’t really fit in with the other black students either, nothing against them but I’m just more on the nerdy side. I know that doesn’t make me unique, but there aren’t a lot of nerdy black girls on campus. The only one I found was Brianna, who was close to Wendy and Yeri. I found my band of friends but Wendy can be a bit insensitive at times. That’s one of the reasons why I keep my budding crush on Sooyoung. Where can I begin about Park SooYoung? There’s so much about her that draws me towards her, well regardless of her sense of style, straight black hair and the ability to pull off any lipstick color.

“Um, earth to Y/N?” Brianna asks.

I blink up from my book, a page that I clearly checked out from. I totally forgot we were in the library of all places, whoops. Of course Brianna’s holding a smug grin while she taps Yeri.

“Look, Y/N’s lost in thinking about Sooyoung’s eyes,” she teases.

Yeri giggles as she takes Brianna’s hand tightly.

“I know right, I don’t know why you don’t just ask her out already,” Yeri says.

I cringe at how loud she said it as Wendy approaches our table with her usual blue sweatshirt, tan pants and bag slung across her shoulder. She must have gotten from her English class since she’s clutching her literature book for dear life.

“Who’s asking who out?” she asks as she pulls up a seat.

“Um, no one,” I say quickly.

Wendy throws a deadpan look my way.

“It’s gotta be about you Y/N,” Wendy notes. “You’re the single person at the table and if Bri and Yeri were cheating on each other I’m sure they wouldn’t discuss it in front of each other.”

Both Brianna and Yeri shrug as they link arms and kiss each others cheeks.

“You haven’t found someone else, have you babe?”Yeri whines.

Brianna nuzzles against her cheek.

“You know I haven’t jagi,” Brianna coos.

Yeri giggles at the pet name she taught Bri, earning a kiss on her lips. They’re cute, teeth rottenly so, but I always wonder how they got together. Of course they’re in the same major and have an obsession with Boba tea but what about their obvious racial differences, with Yeri being Korean and all. I’m curious but then again, it’s not my place to ask. It’s their relationship.

“So, are you gonna tell me who it is?” Wendy asks while she pokes me with the end of her pen.

“Nobody,” I say.“None of your concern.”

Wendy pouts as her pokes grow faster.

“Ah come on! You were fine with telling Yeri and Bri about it!” she groans.

“Yeah, but you’ll just kill the vibe,” I explain, “plus you know them so.”

Wendy gasps.

“Really? Ah! So it won’t be hard to guess!” she says.“Is it Minseok from the Starbucks?”

Yeri giggles.

“Uh, it isn’t a he, Wendy.”

Wendy blinks at Yeri’s statement as I send a Brianna a knowing glare. She nods and pats my hand.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were into women, Y/N,” Wendy says.

“Yeah, but I’m still into men too Wendy,” I say. “But yes, this crush is on a woman.”

“Oh ok,” Wendy says. “I didn’t know that was your thing but ok.”

I hold back my words, but Brianna doesn’t. Thank God.

“And what’s that supposed to mean Wendy?” she asks.

Yeri pinches the bridge of her nose as Wendy glances at each of us in confusion.

“What?” she asks.“Aw, did I overstep again?”

I nod sharply when Brianna scoffs.

“Took a giant step over the line,” I say. “I’m bi.”

Wendy’s eyes soften.

“I-I’m sorry Y/N,” she says. “I hadn’t realized and you never talked about it with us.”

“It’s fine,” I tell her with a pat of her hand.

“So,” Yeri says, breaking the tension.“When are you going to ask her out?”

Fortunately Wendy’s all smiles again, yet she goes to asking me again.

“So, who is she? Oh! is it-”

I don’t even register who Wendy’s talking about as my focus shifts towards the entrance of the library. The double doors slide open, slowly (maybe its my hyperactive mind) and steps in the woman herself. Park Sooyoung. Of course she’d step in now of all times with her stylish tan trench coat, white turtle neck and dark skinny jeans. Just like in the TV shows she brushes a strand of hair behind her ear. Ok it is my hyperactive imagination, she’s even walking this way. Shit, no that’s actually happening. Wendy pokes me again.

“Y/N? Oh!” she gasps, realizing.

Sooyoung steps up to our table with a tiny smile and a wave.

“Hi Wendy, Yeri,” she greets.

Her attention shifts over to Brianna and I. Me. Park Sooyoung is looking at me.

“Oh! This is Y/N,” Yeri says as she squeezes Brianna’s hand. “And this is my girlfriend, Brianna.”

Sooyoung grins, flashing a few of her teeth as she bows slightly, reaching for Brianna’s hand, shaking it then holding it out to me. I. My skin flares as my words begin to disperse.

“Nice to meet you,” Sooyoung says. “Brianna. Y/N.”

Her attention is back on me, her eyebrow raised as she notices that I haven’t taken her hand yet. I grip it quickly and shake it just as swift.

“N-Nice to, meetyoutoo!” I manage to blurt out.

Sooyoung turns back to Wendy.

“I just wanted to ask if Professor Philip put the PowerPoint online,” she says. “I had to miss lecture today because of rehearsals.”

Wendy waves her off.

“You’re in the clear,” Wendy reassures. “He’s going over it again next class.”

Sooyoung releases a breath of relief, another smile engulfing her striking features yet again.

“Thank you Wendy,” she says.

It’s as if the entire library started to notice Sooyoung, guys start to pop up that I don’t even know. I know one of them, Jackson Wang, a friend of mine, we aren’t close, yet I didn’t know he knew Sooyoung.

“Yo Y/N!” he greets. “Bri, Yeri, Wendy!”

He then turns back to Sooyoung.

“We should get going,” he says. “JB and Bam Bam are waiting.”

“Ah, you’re right!” Sooyoung exclaims. “It was nice meeting you both, see you guys around!”

And just like that Sooyoung’s gone and around the corner with Jackson flanking her. Are they a thing? Last time I checked Jackson was endlessly flirting with Namjoon, the library’s part time receptionist and full time genius. I’ve confided in Jackson about my sexuality before, but I’ve never talked to him about Sooyoung. Oh God, they must be dating.

“Y/N, Y/N you still there?” Yeri asks.

I turn my attention back to the table. Brianna holds a shit eating grin as always, Yeri tries to stifle a laugh while Wendy narrows her eyes at me.

“Sooyoung,” she says. “You have a crush on Park Sooyoung.”

“Not just a crush,” Brianna notes. “A school girl crush, I know you saw how nervous Y/N got. She could barely speak.”

I hunker down further in my seat as my face flares again.

“Shut up,” I groan.

Wendy giggles.

“It’s cute Y/N, but I’m not sure if Sooyoung’s-” she pauses prior to continuing. “You know.”

I get an uneasy tingle from Wendy’s words. She’s right, what if she isn’t into women. What if she doesn’t like black people? Another stab that would hurt more.

“What Wendy?” Yeri asks. “Gay or Bi? it’s ok, you can say it.”

Wendy frowns.

“Guys, I don’t mean to come off like that,” she groans. “I just don’t want her to get hurt. Sooyoung hasn’t been here in the states for a while, I’m not sure if she’s-accepting.”

“Well if she’s hanging out with Jackson, who’s big bi energy by the way,” Brianna explains. “She’s got to be somewhat accepting.”

Yeri’s eyes soften at me as she reaches for my hand.

“That doesn’t mean you should give up,” she says. “Just talk to her.”

I slip further down into my seat, it’s easier said than done. Sooyoung’s an international student which means she only hangs out with other international students. I only know two of them: Wendy, born in South Korea but studied in Canada prior to moving here and Jackson who moved here from China on a football scholarship. They’re friends of course, but even they blow me out of the water with their style and the looks they get from students. Sooyoung especially.

“I guess, ah look at that!” I say while getting out of my seat. “I got class in ten.”

Brianna grins.

“Your class doesn’t start until 3:30, it’s only 3:05.”

I nod with a quick smile.

“I know!” I say. “I just need to get away from this conversation. Talk to you guys later!”

I’m out and away from the table before they can utter a goodbye.

***

Class was dull as usual. Thankfully it ended before my eyes glazed over and I can grab some dinner before heading back to my dorm. The classroom empty's out quickly, I rush to the exit of the building, ready for that cool air to hit me.

“Ey! Y/N!” a booming voice calls.

I turn to see Jackson. He’s clad in his black and red Letterman jacket with the letters L and R embroidered on the front. His hair’s also gelled back to perfection, it looks awesome might I add.

“Hey Jackson,” I say. “What’s up?”

I slow my pace for him to catch up with me from down the hall. The cool air hits my face, I sigh, then turn to Jackson, who’s already behind me as I hold the door for him.

“Thanks,” he says as he stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “You done with classes for today, right?”

I nod sharply.

“Yep, you?”

Jackson chuckles.

“You know I don’’t have classes on Thursday,” he notes.

I roll my eyes. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have asked. That’s what I want to say, but I restrain. I find myself doing that a lot here at La Rouge University. Don’t want to come across as that kind of black girl. Sure, Jackson and I are cool, I just don’t want him to put a thought into his head. I’m sure he’s seen many stereotypes of black women, black people in general. I don’t want to put that risk out, especially when Brianna and I have to had many talks with Wendy about it.

“Hey,” Jackson says softly. “You good?”

I blink up at him as we stroll through the courtyard with the wind nipping at our skin.

“Yeah, uh, I’m fine.”

Jackson smirks and leans closer to throw an arm around my shoulder.

“So, Miss Y/LN,” he starts. “Tell me, how long has your little crush been a thing?”

I jolt at his words.

“Huh? C-crush? Nah, uh what do you mean a crush?”

Jackson chuckles and bats his eyes jokingly.

“Don’t play coy!” he exclaims. “You looked like you were going to pass out around Sooyoung.”

My skin burns at his words. I wasn’t that obvious, was I?

“I-I, um, Sooyoung, who? Never heard of her.”

“Sure Jan.”

“When the hell did you watch the Brady Bunch?” I ask.

Jackson shrugs.

“I watched it with Yeri last weekend, you should have came over. I heard its a major part of American slang and memes which are hilarious.”

I nod in agreement.

“Yeah, let’s discuss memes instead of Park Sooyoung oh-”

Jackson jabs his finger at me.

“You even know her last name, ha!” Jackson says. “You’re totally crushing right now.”

I sigh in defeat.

“Fine, yes I like her all right. It’s not a big deal anyway.”

Jackson frowns.

“It totally is,” he says. “Sooyoung and I are friends, along with classmates. I even know her schedule, for class and drama rehearsals.”

“Oh nice,” I say.

“I know that she’s free right now. Chilling at Reveluv Cafe, going over her lines, drinking some coffee or what not, looking stunning.”

I flush and cross my arms.

“Yeah, probably flocked by drooling people,” I say. “She’s too stunning for her own good.”

“Yes, but unlike those drooling losers you’re going to talk to her.”

“I’m sorry, what? Jackson, no way,” I say. “She’s an actress, didn’t she act in a couple of K dramas?”

Jackson nods.

“Four actually,” he clarifies. “The first three were cameos, but the latest one she played a huge supporting role, over shadowed the male and female leads.”

“That doesn’t make my situation any better,” I deadpan. “she’s got status in her home country, gorgeous features and a promising career ahead of her. What the hell do I have?”

Jackson’s arm tightens around me.

“You’re sweet, pretty and nice to talk to,” he says. “You also have a career ahead of you crazy, that’s why you’re studying remember?”

“You’re a friend,” I groan. “You’re inclined to say that.”

“Yeah, but even before we became friends, I always found you hot,” he admits.

I elbow him playfully in the ribs.

“Jackson Wang! Stop playing!”

Jackson shakes his head.

“I’m dead serious, black women are sexy. And you definitely aren’t the exception.”

“Stop!” I laugh and playfully push him away.

“What?” he chuckles. “look I know you find Asian guys attractive too! And I know good and well you like Asian women.”

He narrows his eyes and wiggles his eyebrows.

My face heats up as we enter the library for the second time today.

“Is there anything I can do to make you stop?” I joke.

Jackson nods.

“Talk to Sooyoung,” he suggests. “Hey, I can help! Start the conversation!”

I just stare at him as he puts his hands together.

“Please?”

“Fine.”

***

Reveluv cafe is bright, a little too colorful for my taste, but still homey and comforting. The walls are covered in various fruits, some hand drawn and neon to bring, I guess variety. It’s cute. Even the floor is bright red, leading up to the counter that’s decorated with other tropical themes, the employees even wear sashes and white uniforms with fruit based buttons.

Jackson leads me to the lounging area of the cafe which has an area of circular tables and higher tables near the windows. Sitting at one in the corner at the far back is Sooyoung, her straight hair spills down her cream colored turtle neck. Her head’s down in a book, she’s transfixed on the page.

“Jackson, maybe we shouldn’t-”

“Sooyoung, hey!”

Damnit Jackson.

Sooyoung’s head jerks up as a soft smile graces her lips.

“Jackson, hi!”

I watch from behind Jackson. He walks up to Sooyoung, she stands and engulfs him in a hug.

“How are lines going?”

Sooyoung giggles.

“Great so far! What brings you and-” she pauses to look at me. “Hi, Y/N, right?”

I nod sharply. God, she remembered my name.

“Yeah, hi Sooyoung.”

Jackson smirks with a knowing glare at me. Hasn’t this man clowned me enough?

“Y/N here was just nervous to speak to you.”

My hands start to tremble as Sooyoung looks to me with confusion.

“Why?” she asks. “You’re friends with Wendy and Yeri, so by default I think you’re cool.”

Wow. Park Sooyoung just called me cool.

“Oh, she is,” Jackson declares. His mouth opens to say more, yet a slight buzz in his pocket stops him.

“What is it?”

Jackson takes a look at his phone quickly before grinning back up at me, then Sooyoung.

“Sorry ladies, I kind of have a study date with Mr. IQ 148!”

Sooyoung’s brows furrow.

“Um, who?”

“Namjoon,” I say. “Jackson! Ah!”

I take his arm and whisper.

“You can’t leave yet,” I groan.

Jackson pats my arm.

“You got this babe, I promise to give you all the details with Namjoon if you give me the details you get with Sooyoung.”

God, this man is incorrigible.

“If I fuck this up you owe me so many smoothies.”

Jackson chuckles.

“You got to try first sweetie, she’s cool, you’ll see.”

Jackson says a quick goodbye to the both of us.

I turn back to Sooyoung who’s looking dead at me with her hands behind her back.

“Would you like to sit?” she asks with another bright smile.

“Yeah, uh sure.”

She gestures to the empty seat across from her, I slide into it quickly, Sooyoung follows.

“So, are you an English major like Wendy?”

I shake my head.

“No, actually I’m a creative writing major.”

Sooyoung’s face lit up as she took a swig of her coffee.

“Really? So, you write your own books and stories?”

I nod, and try to hide a smile behind my hand. Her attention is fully on me.

“Yeah, but mostly poems though,” I say, pausing once I meet Sooyoung’s eyes. I don’t finish, God I can hardly face her. If Jackson can see it than its got to be obvious to her.

“Y/N?” she asks. “Are you ok?”

“Y-Yeah, I-I I just-”

Sooyoung’s eyes soften as she takes my hand, which is already starting to get clammy and sweaty.

“It’s ok, breathe,” she coaxes. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

I giggle, the action eases some of the anxiety. My heart rate goes down a bit, just a bit because Sooyoung’s hands are still over mine.

“I-I guess not to judge me, or freak out even,” I say. “I know we’re different, ok. And we’re both women.”

Sooyoung giggles, teeth baring rather sweetly.

“You’re cute,” she coos. “Yes, you’re American and-”

“Black,” I blurt.

Sooyoung nods.

“Oh, I didn’t even notice,” Sooyoung jokes. She raises our interlocked hands together drawing my attention to my brown hand and her lighter, almost porcelain one. “Why? Is that an issue? Is that what’s making you so nervous?”

“Part of it, the truth is, I like you,” I admit.

Sooyoung’s eyes widen, forcing me to pull my hand away from her own. She draws back to as she tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear. My trembles don’t die down, but the flaring in my chest does. I nod as my eyes travel down to the table, I can’t look at Sooyoung right now. Of course I made a fool of myself.

“I uh, I can leave you alone now-”

“Wait, Y/N!”

She grabs my wrist before I can get up, it startles me.

Our eyes meet again, Sooyoung giggles, the confidence she oozes makes me glance down at the legs of her chair.

“Can I admit something too?”

I nod, she then sighs lowly.

“Can you look at me? Y/N?”

Before I can register her question warm fingers juts my chin up, forcing my attention on her face. She smiles and I swear her eyes lingers down at my lips for a moment prior to moving back up to my eyes.

“I’m flattered,” she whispers. “You’re really pretty, I’d love to go out. Maybe next week, if that’s ok?”

“I, um, yeah,” I mutter. “I-I’m looking forward to it.”

***

Weeks come and go. The teasing from Jackson, Brianna, Yeri, even Wendy (surprisingly) continues as the dates with Sooyoung get frequent. We’ve start to hold hands even, which is a huge step for me (Sooyoung initiated it first of course). Dating Sooyoung has been surprising to say the least, she’s even more flirty now that we know more about each other, which makes me more anxious to be around her now. It’s fun to be around her, she’s interested in aspects of American culture that she doesn’t know much about. One in particular being memes, thanks to Jackson himself and even slang. It rubs me the wrong way to hear her say, ‘sup sweetie’ at times but she’s still learning. Right? I’m just thinking too much into it. I’m sure she won’t start talking black and Jackson learned not to from me, along with a quick, yet needed scolding from Brianna.

I arrive at Sooyoung’s apartment a sweaty mess. This is the first time I’ve been to her apartment and I already feel like I’m gonna mess this up. She talked about living with someone, but what I didn’t expect was a stunning woman with straight, blonde hair to answer the door. I don’t remember seeing her around campus, I’m sure the people would flock to her as much as they flock to Sooyoung too.

“Hi, uh,” I pause at how intimating she looks. “I-I’m uh, Sooyoung invited me.”

The woman chuckles as she gives me a quick once over.

“You must be Y/N,” she notes. “Come in.”

She steps aside for me which I do.

The house looks like a loft inside: a low, white couch sits in the middle of the living room, a flat screen hugs the far wall, the carpet is clear and fluffy covering most of the floor, leading to the staircase.

“Joohyun!” Sooyoung calls while rushing down the stairs. “Y-Y/N, hi.”

I give her a tiny wave as Joohyun chuckles.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your date,” Joohyun says with a quick wink at me and a narrow eyed glare at Sooyoung.

“How long are gonna be out unnie?” Sooyoung asks.

Joohyun giggles and raises an eyebrow.

“Why?” she asks. “You both aren’t going to have too much fun, are you?”

My eyes scan down to the carpet to memorize how spotless it is.

“Joohyun! Y-You’re so embarrassing!” Sooyoung exclaims. I see her black sock covered feet next to mine.

“All jokes Sooyoung,” Joohyun explains. “I’ll be staying at Seulgi’s tonight. It was a pleasure meeting you Y/N.”

“Same here,” I say.

When I meet Joohyun’s eyes her intimating demeanor disperses. An easy, toothy smile now replaces it. Once she waves and is out the door, Sooyoung’s hands are on my face.

“I’m so sorry about her,” she groans. “She didn’t frighten you too much, did she?”

“Not really,” I admit. “Does she always do this to people she doesn’t know?”

Sooyoung giggles.

“Yeah, she’s just protective is all,” she explains. “Now, would you like to watch the show here in the living room or.”

She steps up to rest her hands on my sides.

“My room could work, I have plenty of stuffed animals,” she suggests. “We could cuddle.”

She smiles, my heart flutters as she intertwines our hands together. I lose my breathe as she steps closer, our faces suddenly an inch apart. She’s using a bright, red lipstick, perfect at this distance. Kissabl-

“Can I kiss you?” she asks.

I nod, she tilts her head to the right before our lips meet. Her lips are smooth, with a cherry taste. I didn’t even know lipstick could taste this good. She smiles against my lips, her hands wind themselves around my waist in order to deepen the kiss. Sooyoung’s fevered kisses keep my lips moving with her, it continues until I run out of breath, forcing me to pull away.

“How was that?” she asks prior to biting her lip.

“It was I-”

It takes me a minute to gather my words. I never kissed a woman before and that was-

“Amazing,” I manage to say.

Sooyoung chuckles lowly, takes my hand and leads me to the couch.

“Yeah, would it be dope if we continue?”

I cringe at the word dope, she notices right away.

“What is it? I’m rushing things aren’t I?” she asks.

I shake my head, but think about it for a moment. I want to have this conversation about our different cultures. Of course it’s something we’re got to talk about but why do I feel as if its so awkward? It’s just a few words, right? I just don’t want to come across as that kind of person. That kind of black person especially.

“Y/N,” Sooyoung says. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, it’s just uh,” I pause to finally form coherent words. “Slang, it’s um kind of weird when you say it-not saying that it’s bad or anything its just.”

I pause again to sit next to Sooyoung, who listens intently.

“It’s your thing, right?” she asks. “As an American?”

“As an African American, as a black person,” I say. “I just don’t want you to use certain terms without knowing where they come from. I’m curious about Korean too, but I want to go by it respectfully. I want to respect you.”

Sooyoung’s eyes lighten up, her fingers play with my right hand as a smile spreads across her face.

“I want to respect you too jagi, ah! To be honest I got most of those words from Jackson anyway.”

I roll my eyes.

“I’m not even surprised.”

“So, can we still watch the drama?” she asks with a playful frown.

“Of course!”

Sooyoung lets out a delighted giggle, presses a quick kiss to my cheek and moves to turn the flat-screen on. Maybe dating Park Sooyoung wasn’t going to be so difficult after all.

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chyuans · 3 years

Text

hello , hello ! first of all , i’m super excited to be here even if i’m like 10 hrs LATE ( gmt timezone things ) i’m noe , a gay they / them at the age of 19 , and this privileged lil disappointment of a jock boy is gonna be filling the position of kong_01 . despite the rumours ? yuanjun’s actually not nearly as bad as some of the people he’ll be meeting here >:) but you’ll get to know more about that below ! if you’d like to plot just light up that HEART , or add me on disc*rd which i’ll give out in im’s , where i’m infinitely faster . if i’m not gaming . no tw’s under the cut .

* backstory. > many people know of yuanjun, but few people truly know him. he's the famous kong families’ son, heir to the kong legacy, now forward position for south korea men’s national hockey team - which brought forth a ton of international fame from back home and amongst hockey lovers worldwide. while his talent is undeniable, he is long overshadowed by his families’ accomplishments, forever reminded that he’d never be the perfect son they’d hoped for, and no one ever lets him forget it.

> being the child of business tycoons who’s art business seemed to never be on the decline, tended to lend itself to an unconventional, pretty lonely childhood.

> although jun no longer wants to dabble in the stupid shit he probably did as a teen, and escape from their home in a childish fit of rage and make the lives of the various nannies that tended to him while his parents were off being great hell, he still wonders sometimes whether this profession is what he would’ve wanted if he’d just not wanted to spite his parents. he loves hockey - that fact is undeniable. he thanks the nanny who took him there once out of necessity to stop his whining, and he fell in love with it almost instantly. but he also questions whether he gravitated to it because it was something he could throw himself into wholeheartedly to fill a void.

> he's very open to different types of people, and after being scouted at 19 and having a massive shift both in culture and identity as he then begun to travel worldwide, he’s a tiny bit more wordly now than he was back then. he's much more concerned about who you are underneath than superficial appearances, which means developing relationships are few and far between, because a lot of people do approach him because of his fame/fortune. he's unjudgemental to the point where his friends worry about his naivety and how easily he trusts people, but he's absolutely not dumb, just very well versed on telling good people from the bad.

> jun may even come across as naïve, but he's very aware of that perception is nearly important as reality. he's not extroverted in a way that demands conversation, but he knows how to talk to anyone from any background even if its just to maintain pleasantries. after competing in various competitions and versing players from canada to japan, he's become much more sharp and ambitious, a guy who very rarely lets distractions take their course. perhaps it’s with this that his family loathe his choices all the more, with his appetite, he was born with the skills required to run a business - pity he never took to anything of the creative sort.

> working in a fast, stressful, highly coveted job such as pro-sports is a full time job and then some; jun doesn't spend much time not working on it. outside of his schedule, he likes bettering his stamina at the gym and eating healthy. he likes being surrounded by authentic people or nobody at all. he’s not one for trying new things and having new experiences due to time management, tending to stick to a schedule.

> he gets a lot of bad press though, which is beginning to weigh a little heavy on him. doubly now the murder has people talking. from being accused of performance-enhancing pills, various personality scandals, to being linked with ‘dating’ (see: ruining the image of) idols and chaebol’s alike. right now, he’s currently battling a lot of unwanted publicity because of a misunderstood interaction online against a wealthy sweetheart that went sour.

> while jun might be generally unsympathetic and analytical when it comes to developing relationships with people that’ll last long-term, he's a bleeding heart when it comes to kids who may have experienced the same lonely upbringing as he did, without the financial gains. right now he spends sunday’s teaching a bunch of local foster home kids how to skate, and is trying to fund a couple of sports scholarships for those who show promise under a fake name, just generally being a good ‘ole guy.

> his family do not approve of his job, ofc. in fact neither of his parents have ever attended any of his matches to this day, and are only on semi-decent terms with him because jun begrudgingly is still tied by name to the business and shows his face at events for all of 30 minutes until he physically can no longer maintain pleasantries. his celebrity image perhaps is one thing they can manipulate, and even then, jun could get into scandals galore and still be doing his job. good press, bad press, it has the kong’s family name at the forefront of peoples’ minds, which always brings forth revenue.

> pros: could be a lot worse considering his upbringing, collected, and level-headed most of the time. wicked good at sports, and keeps a cool head in a tough situation. ambitious, curious, a little reckless. eager to prove himself, rich? and very endeared to people/places he finds fascinating. which are many. knows where the good, authentic chinese cuisine is. hardworking and very interested in the idea of Progress.

> cons: the most private person alive, will not divulge any palatable information about himself or his feelings. devil's advocate always. will put himself and others at an arm’s length the second he feels (disgusted noises) e-emotions (love, namely). gets bored easily. paranoid, leads with the head more than the heart. friends > > > family. a little self-involved, never fucking sleeps - will be that neighbour you can hear padding around above your apartment at 3.05 am like it’s mid-day, aaaaand Loves Winning Above All Else

* personality & relationships.

> like many others, jun has his fair share of surface-level friends. he’s quick to be interested in people, to get to know them better, but it's difficult for him to get closer than that after a childhood of being picked up and dropped by those who looked over him - which kinda has left him with abandonment issues.

> he’s a curator of neat things that aren’t too overtly complex, and that includes friendships. so if you have something unusual about you, whether it's a talent or a way of thinking, he would be inclined to get to know you better. also, he has a lot of leverage with his job. being friends with a sports star slash million dollar trust fund baby who can get you free shit never hurts, just don’t befriend him for the perks, yanno?

> jun is very dedicated to his vision of things, and can sometimes be very obstinate in the way he a) wants them to be done b) doesn't accept other options, think steve jobs. he's very mercurial and can be nice one minute but isn't afraid to switch to hardass boss to get things done and did. > he is insanely competitive and his strive is drawn out by always wanting to be on top. truly first child material. that's the kind of guy he is, with standards that do not reflect his passive side too well, which sometimes can get him into some “personality” scandals. he is driven, motivated, always looking for ways to be winning.

> i'm sure someone is bound to hate him, he’s probably got a few accounts online dedicated to a steady stream of shit-talking, given his cutthroat status or holding many hockey cups.

> jun doesn’t think too much about his sexuality - he'd probably best be labelled as pan, but leans towards those who identify as women? because of his current placement in a workspace, and with a cultural identity, that both don’t often lend themselves to lgbtq+ rights, i doubt he’d ever make that public.

> he works amongst some of the fittest people in the world, he knows how to appreciate beautiful bodies, but he's not about to discriminate. he's tragically a committaphobe and isn't interested in anything long-term right now, although i think it'd be funny if someone tried. he's very open for flings and one-night stands and even a friends with benefits sort of set up.

* wc’s. > bring me his baby bro and sis. i command u. i have many thoughts > somebody who maybe gets in on his foster-kid situation? idk maybe they have a perception of jun being what he is in the articles they read of him, but they see him and are like <3_<3 he actually real Nice huh. i see this being romantic but it could bloom a really nice, wholesome friendship too. > enemies. not gonna lie, he doesn’t vibe with rich kids w / a stick up their ass, especially since a lot of the people he works with aren’t from exorbitant families. people who loathe him for declining to take over his families’ business? like the boy can’t even name more than 3 artists off of the top of his head? > fwb except neither of them know what “just friends” mean. > i would love if jun had a confidante. a best friend, a partner in crime, a total bromance 'cause i can never get enough of those. whatever label you ‘wanna put on it. wiping up each other’s messes. maybe a Betrayal in the works > again, gonna be a wc, but i would love a “rival” of jun's on a similar level (or bigger) that’s entirely fabricated based off of trashy articles or a misunderstood interaction online. bonus points if they’re an absolute sweetheart, well loved by most people, and generally the antithesis of jun with his multiple drug/personality rumours, which in contrast, make him seem like the bad guy.

> party buddy. this guy hasn’t touched alcohol/cigarettes/any other stimulants since he was underage and wanted to rebel. the word “relax” does not exist in his vocabulary. Help

#cheong.intro

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kim-isnt-seaweed · 3 years

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Hey, how are you?

Just wanted to come in here and check on you. I hope you're doing alright and having an amazing time in Korea because you deserve it 🥰

Hi hi!

I'm sorry it took me a while to answer we weren't home this weekend.

Thank you so much for asking and I hope I don't say more than what you're interested in, but I'll take this opportunity to give an update since I'd been planning on doing so.

Generally, in I guess a nuclear family sense we're good, I'm happy and healthy. Bean (our cat) has had a few sniffles these past weeks, I've been hesitant to take her to the vet because before it started I took her for her eyes and she was extremely stressed, so since her sniffles come and go I'm hoping its just allergies, like me.

My parent's situation is, confusing tiring and it angers me. Because it hurts seeing my mom like that. She's lost so much weight it has us all a bit scared. But I know my mom, she's strong and I know she wouldn't do anything to put herself in danger and hurt us. She's trying her best to stay healthy but heartbreak and the situation my dad has her in is naturally taking a toll. I say situation because he has us all in a standstill "I'm not asking for a divorce but let me just live as a bachelor for a min until I decide but fuck marriage counseling" type of vibe. As far as I'm concerned, even if by some miracle comes back, he is nothing to me but my sister's dad and for her sake, I'll be cordial.

In Korea. Well, let me preface this by saying as we all know this is a generalization, and we all know there is not one country out there that is perfect. The pandemic has gotten out of control in the past few weeks. Since all this started this is the first time the government implemented a level 4 warning on the situation. I've been complaining from the beginning because... if they had done this since we started we could have avoided this but the government has been too busy keeping the image they got at the beginning of the pandemic. Sadly they're also have been scapegoating foreigners a lot.

We all understand it's a very homogeneous country, there's resistance to change, naturally especially given the history. However, they are very stubborn and don't like being told that they're doing something wrong. It has always been a thing (pre-covid) where certain establishments don't let foreigners in, just because. And with no anti-discrimination laws here, there's nothing much we can do. If we complain we get called racists and go back to our countries. At the beginning of the year, they tried to get all ex-pats to get the test because of an outbreak in a dormitory that housed foreign farmers instead of realizing the housing conditions and health regulations for the workers were subpar. After international backlash, they retracted the order.

Sadly this month a few foreigners got sick and reignited the belief we are the danger. So people were being pretty rude saying we're the problem, we're reckless and it's our fault knowing very well that just as foreigners would go out young Koreans were also right next to them in these places doing the same. Also not to mention just a week before this whole mess there was a HUGE worker protest in downtown Seoul, with over 8.000 people even though the government asked them not to. We don't have many vaccines either so it's all a huge mess. It's kinda funny because young women are probably the demographic that has been vaccinated the least (not counting teens or children of course ) but they somehow still mention the lack of births. Like please, if you want babies please care a little more for those who can birth them.

Again, please understand that complaining about something in Korea doesn't mean I hate it. I love it, and I can't see myself living anywhere else, especially because I have hope it will get better especially for the sake of my future children (I've heard about a lot of half Korean people going back to their birth country because of how they've been treated). I can also sit here complain about Colombia as well. All countries have something wrong, the thing is how they react to that criticism. At the risk of being controversial, seeing how a lot of people (obviously not all) react and act in these cases it feels like this is Korea's generation that is akin to boomers.

Once again, this isn't me trying to bash Korea, but just as Americans do, if we don't talk about what's wrong and what hurts people in a country there will be no change. But I mention this again because TikTok, Korean TikTok (both the ex-pat side and the native side) is very scary. You can't say anything someone doesn't agree with because it's a war. For me, it seems very toxic, so I hope it doesn't leak into Tumblr.

I'm happy to talk about the positive side as always. But for now, I needed to let it out.

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 3 years

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Psychological Terrorism by The Unification Church at Cheongpyeong

Dae Mo Nim (Hyo-nam Kim) pours guilt on the Japanese

Hyo-nam Kim uses the story of the Korean comfort women to manipulate the Japanese members.

Fear, guilt and shame used to trap the Japanese members.

However, the facts about the comfort women need to be explored. They are not as Hyo-nam Kim would like the members to think. There were few Japanese soldiers in Korea. They were busy fighting elsewhere.

The Japanese military set up a vast comfort station network. In the 1930s most of the women were Japanese, then they began using other nationalities. There was huge suffering and many women died. Not all those that did survive could face going back to their home countries.

However, there are other important facts. In Korea there were newspaper adverts for comfort women (the pay was exceptional), and women signed up. Most of the comfort women brokers in Korea were Korean men AND women. Many of the comfort stations which had Korean comfort women were run by Korean men and women. The early books written about the comfort women have been discredited. The often quoted figure of 200,000 Korean comfort women has been discredited. The comfort women issue has been used for political purposes, especially by the North Koreans.

Dae Mo Nim: August 17, 2013, Cheongpyeong “Japan’s responsibility” “There are many of our members in the world. Why has Japan been instructed to focus on the providential mission? If you go anywhere in the world, there is no place where there are no Japanese members. Japanese missionaries have become the center of the providence. True parents came out of the Korean people. If you look at the preparation process, Korean culture was created to welcome the Parents of Heaven and Earth and mankind who is the true Messiah. God (Heavenly Parents) raised the Korean people as pious men and women. God’s (Heavenly Parents’) providence was to bless the pious men and women and raise them up as preparation for the Messiah. However, Satan and evil knew it [the providential plan]. From the chosen nation of the Korean people, men took women into forced labor to be comfort women. As a result of doing this, the providence of restoration has been much extended. God blessed and raised the Korean people to be pious. He prepared them for the providence and brought the messiah to bless this nation and all the nations [of the world]. However, the history of restoration was delayed. A social epidemic of alcohol, tobacco, drugs and sexual problems has spread. Before you can be blessed by God (Heavenly Parents), and go to the Blessing, you must make conditions to restore every mistake of your ancestors.” from Mr. Yokoi (Japanese lecturer). Translated from the Japanese. [Comfort Women – taken as prostitutes for the use of the Japanese military from the late 1930s to 1945. Most of them were Korean women. The Japanese liked the racial similarity. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women] The Cheongpyeong Providence and the Way of Blessed Family Published by Cheongpyeong December 25, 1999  Editorial Committee on Dae Mo Nim’s Words,  Cheongpyeong Spiritual Training Center You will be shocked if you can see spirits kick and scream. Really unimaginable things take place. Some evil spirits were recklessly fumbling with the embryo in some member’s womb. Some spirits were holding tight a leg of an unborn child, and this would have permanently disabled his leg after birth. If spirits fumble with an unborn child’s brain, he will have cerebral palsy, autism, or other symptoms after birth. These phenomena, arising from the failure to separate the spirits, are ineffably miserable. Hence, we should help the people all over the world, not to mention all our members, to understand the Cheongpyeong providence as soon as possible. Another important reason why the separation of spirits is necessary is based on the fact that the problem does not just concern our lives on earth. Living in sickness and agony on earth is a secondary problem. Without expelling the spirits from our bodies, we will be unable to enter the spiritual world properly after death. Also, when someone dies, the spirits that used to inhabit his body move over to the body of the dead person’s descendants and continue their malicious undertaking, and this is the source of hereditary diseases. Hence, separating the spirits is the foremost task to be taken up on earth. We should realize that failure to separate the spirits not only suppresses the growth of our own spirits but also leaves our offspring exposed to the plight of life. … As we can see, it is not easy to remove the pathogenic and fatal spirits that are parasitic on our bodies. Their plea and scream are so vehemently full of grudges and vengeance that they will not be quieted unless the most extreme efforts are exerted. Dae Mo Nim explained that these were spirits of wrath who died as comfort girls [comfort women] or in forced army service [as prostitutes] in the Japanese colonial period or spirits who died unfairly as a surrogate mother in traditional Korea who had said when alive, “I will surely revenge myself even after death. I will never forgive.” These spirits cling to the members so strongly that they cannot be detached even by hard endeavor of special angels unless the people concerned repent and make pious spiritual efforts. 1) The Necessity of Separating Spirits In removing the inhabiting spirits, absolutely good spirits and angels in Cheongpyeong work together. But angels do not remove them unconditionally; angels can operate only when our members shed tears of contrition for the vices of their own and their ancestors. The role of the angels in Cheongpyeong is to separate these resentful spirits from our bodies and lead them to salvation, a work of resurrection of life. One of the reasons why we should dislodge the spirits from inside our bodies is that they subject us to illness and death. Even an innocent member of the Second Generation may be led away by strong spirits unawares into endangering his own life. If blessed families can see such heinous scenes, they will make all sorts of efforts to shed these spirits. To take an example from the Japanese colonial period, Korean women taken to the Japanese army as comfort girls sometimes ran away when such a life became unbearable to them. Because they were weak women, however, they became recaptured right away and brought back, whereupon Japanese soldiers put them through all kinds of abuses. In front of many other comfort girls, they dragged the escapees by cars by pulling them on the neck as a warning that all future escapees would meet the same fate. They drove fast with the victims, and they died, with their bodies covered with blood and bones smashed. How vehement the vengeance must be, of the spirits of the women who died this way? Imagining the scene of that time will make anyone shudder and help understand these spirits easily. Through Dae Mo Nim’s words, we have been able to understand the passion of the comfort girls’ spirits to satisfy their vengeance. 2. Invasion of the Spirit of a Comfort Girl The spirits of those who were dragged away from Korea, were forced to serve as comfort girls under the Japanese colonial army, and died are spread all over Japan. These resentful spirits cause troubles among Korean-Japanese Couples such as infertility, breast cancer, and uterus cancer. I counseled one Korean-Japanese couple. This couple could not bear a child even though they waited for a long time and came to me to receive special prayer. I found something incredible while was counseling them. When I saw spiritually the Japanese wife, she had an even more serious problem than having no children. Her uterus was in the process of rotting from its outer wall. If this process continued, her life would be threatened by uterus cancer, not to mention her being unable to bear a child. So, I quickly began to pray for her and laid my hands on her uterus area. And I asked the spirit who was causing this infection of the uterus why. That spirit confessed that she was a comfort girl who could not bear such a life and tried to escape but was caught by the Japanese soldiers. She became a resentful spirit because she was killed by cutting off her uterus from her body. She explained that she wanted to kill this Japanese member by rotting away her uterus in order to revenge herself. The wife of that Korean-Japanese couple was a descendent of that Japanese soldier who had killed her. The condition of the uterus of Japanese wife was in shambles. I thought that sexual relationship would be impossible with this problem and asked her if she was having relationships with her husband. However, her answer was unexpected: she had thought that sexual relationship was supposed to be that painful. I felt such a pity for her after hearing this. I prayed and placed my hands on her for a long time and finally I was able to separate that spirit from her. She was grateful that pain stopped and she felt fresh. Actually, she had had tremendous pain but could not tell that to her husband. She visited many hospitals. She even confessed that she had visited famous spiritualists and even shaman. She had lived with this illness alone, hiding it from her husband. Had she visited Cheongpyeong a little late, she could have met with a serious tragedy. 7. Evil Spirits Attack an Unborn Child Those who are pregnant feel the joy of bearing a child but at the same time are concerned whether or not their baby will be born normal without any defects. They worry if their baby will be all right. Not only blessed couples but all pregnant mothers and fathers have this kind of worry. There are many causes for birth defects. When I see pregnant women spiritually, to my surprise I find quite a few cases of abnormal fetus. The evil spirits in the body are holding the neck of the fetus. I saw some unborn children suffering greatly in the hands of the spirits of comfort girls. Even though I can see the womb very clearly as if on a TV screen, I have a difficulty of not being able to tell the members about it. There is a tendency in our members to listen to their doctors very well, but not the advice from the spiritual diagnosis. I always pay special attention to pregnant women who visit Cheongpyeong. One day, seeing an unborn child in a dire situation, I prayed earnestly and pleaded with God, saying, “God, should your child be born in such a terrible form? If you can help, please help.” On the next day, I heard that the pregnant sister felt acute pain and had a miscarriage. When I visited the hospital and saw the miscarried fetus, it was severely deformed. There are many cases among the Japanese sisters where atopy disease gets inside their womb. If there are evil spirits attacking an unborn child, there is a high probability of that child having atopy, autism, or deformity. This is caused by a deep bodily penetration of the spirits of surrogate mothers in the time of the victim’s ancestors, of comfort girls in the Japanese army, or of fornicators. I have seen that when members came to Cheongpyeong and diligently separated the evil spirits, these problem gradually disappeared.    Dae Mo Nim January 13, 2013 Unofficial notes by David Carlson Now, many pregnant sisters are here also. I can see that the baby in the womb has no ear, or one leg is shorter than the other, because Satan has grabbed that body part. But through chanyang, we can take out such an evil spirit and the baby can be born healthy. Through the Messiah, True Parents, Dae Mo Nim could separate the evil spirit and could make Absolute Good Spirits. Other spiritual groups cannot do this. Only True Parents can do this! Other spiritual groups cannot do this. They may take out an evil spirit temporarily, but the evil spirit always comes back. But True Parents can make these evil spirit become Absolute Good Spirits. Because Dae Mo Nim can go into the body of the person, and take that spirit out, and there is also ancestor liberation, when Dae Mo Nim can go into the spirit world and educate them.

See:

The Comfort Women controversy Contents of the webpage: 1. Meet Miki Dezaki, Director of the film, Shusenjo: The Main Battleground Of The Comfort Women Issue. 2. Thousands of Korean men and women tricked, kidnapped or forcibly abducted Korean girls to be ‘comfort women’. Statistical Yearbook of the Governor-General of Korea, from 1931-1943. 3. U.S. military documents featuring Korean POW testimony discovered at U.S. National Archives 4. Korean testimony documents highlight ethnic and gender discrimination under Japanese colonial rule 5. “The Comfort Women” (2008) book by Professor C. Sarah Soh (352pp) 6. “Comfort Women of the Empire” the battle over colonial rule and memory (2014) 帝国の慰安婦植民地支配と記憶の闘い by Professor Park Yu-ha, 박유하, 朴裕河 (336pp) 7. Mun Ok-chu’s memoir 8. Chart of Comfort Station managers, revealing they were Korean 9. The Korean “Comfort Station Manager’s Diary” 10. Comfort Women Urgently Wanted – Ads in Korean newspapers 11. Comfort Women rescued by Japanese military police 12. Kim Tŏk-chin was recruited by Koreans at 17 to be a ‘comfort woman’ Various historical documents and oral histories 13. In 1965 Japan gave $800 million as reparations for Korean occupation 14. Military commentator Ji Man-won raised “fake comfort women” question

Footnotes 1. Interview with Professor C. Sarah Soh 2. Extract from a presentation by Professor Soh 3. Behind the Comfort Women Controversy: How Lies Became Truth by Professor Nishioka Tsutomu 4. No Organized or Forced Recruitment: Misconceptions About Comfort Women and the Japanese Military by Hata Ikuhiko Professor Emeritus, Nihon University 5. GSOMIA lives, but what’s next for Japan and South Korea ties?

Kim Tŏk-chin was recruited by Koreans at 17

2 minute video: Jan Ruff O'Herne talks about her experience as a ‘comfort woman’. The Netherlands-born Australian was captured by the Japanese in Java in 1942 and spent three and a half years in prisoner of war camps. She wrote a book entitled ‘50 Years of Silence: The Extraordinary Memoir of a War Rape Survivor’ (ISBN: 978-1741667462).

Korean fathers and brothers who sold their daughters and sisters, Korean prostitution brokers who took women away on false pretenses at times and Korean town chiefs who encouraged those acts – they all should be held accountable someday.

Comfort Women info on Wikipedia

Sun Myung Moon: “Women have twice the sin”

S Korean forces killed more than Japanese killed in 36 years During about 36 months in 1948-1951 South Korean forces killed more South Koreans than the Japanese killed in the 36 years of their occupation of the country. There were some 1,222 probable incidents of mass execution without trial by the South Koreans.

Japan gave $800 million in 1965 as reparations for Korean occupation

In Korean: Korean blog with Comfort Women newspaper articles

_____________________________________

Understanding Sun Myung Moon’s attitude to sex by taking a look at Korean history

Koreans who experienced the Japanese annexation of Korea explain some facts

Excerpts from Korean comfort woman Mun Ok-chu’s memoir

Almost all these Comfort Station managers / owners were Korean

Thousands of Korean men and women tricked, kidnapped or forcibly abducted Korean girls to be ‘comfort women’.

“About 100 Korean women were abducted by Korean prostitution brokers but were rescued by Japanese military police.”

Japanese woman recruited by the Unification Church and sold to an older Korean farmer

6,500 Japanese women missing from Sun Myung Moon mass weddings

#Comfort women #fear #manipulation #Unification Church #Cheongpyeong #human trafficking

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margridarnauds · 4 years

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Did you watch some Shiki Stage Musicals ? I also love how their productions look through th PV and the documentaries but it seems to me that people not talk so much about the Company contrary to Toho Stage. Is that because they have another politics concerning their musicals ? Also what you can tell about the Shiki Actresses ? What are the differences with the Toho Actresses ?

Your timing is actually IMPECCABLE here, because I was only just looking at Shiki’s channel as you sent that on and thinking about how I’ve somewhat neglected it. In Toho’s defense: It’s only really as well known as it is because me and a few others worked our tails off to get it SOME recognition, and we’re still actively working on trying to keep things that way. An awareness of what Toho is has been slowly spreading through the last few years, since we’ve been making gifsets and posting material, but it’s still very much in the shadow of Zuka, in many ways. There just...is not that much attention paid to non-Zuka Japanese Musicals, sadly, and even Zuka tends to fall into the “niche interest” category, and for the past few years, my attention’s been kind of spread thin trying to go from new Toho musical to new Toho musical while also checking on whatever’s happening in Korea at the moment.

As a warning, I do not know NEARLY as much about Shiki as I do about Toho and Zuka; it can be on the elusive side as far as tracking down material, especially as a non-Japanese speaker, so I’m very willing to be wrong here.

So, what I would say, off the bat, is that there isn’t really the same rivalry between Shiki and Toho that there is between, say, Zuka and Toho. Or at least. None that I’ve personally witnessed. I think that people are generally willing to attend both, though Toho does have the prestige of having The Imperial Seal™ (at Imperial Prices™ to match.) On a personal level, the reason for why I *personally* don’t work with it as much is nothing really personal against Shiki, but more that, specifically because a ton of their musicals are taken from Broadway, that means that the rights to distribution are...well. Complicated. Which means that you don’t really GET proshots of Shiki musicals as such. Not saying it will never happen. But I’m saying that, as of the present, Shiki doesn’t really do it. Which means that I have considerably less material to properly work with, as opposed to Toho where, okay, proshots are limited, but they do happen, and so I can watch the entire musical and draw material from there. With Shiki, I only ever have a few minutes to work off of. Shiki is, in that sense, still very much kind of confined to Japan, since the only way to REALLY support them is to go to Japan and attend a musical yourself, which...well. I can’t really do. That and, at the risk of being perfectly blunt, I’m a sucker for really, really expensive costumes, and Toho happens to know how to appeal to that.

Looking online at fanboards, whenever someone asks the question “Toho or Shiki?” the general consensus really seems to be “It’s impossible to really compare them because they’re essentially different styles of musical entirely.” Shiki is....I don’t know how to say this in a way that doesn’t devalue one or the other, but it tends to be a little more light-hearted, it has a little more of that family-friendly “People can bring their families for a night out at the musicals” charm, while Toho....well. Okay, if I theoretically had spawn, I would be willing to take them to, say, Roman Holiday or Fiddler on the Roof at Toho, but....1789? MARIE ANTOINETTE (with its lovely depictions of mob violence, swearing, and references to incest and sexual abuse)? NO. NO. SAVE YOURSELF, SMALL CHILD. And, of course, the light, happy Black Butler musicals. Toho.....not ALL the time, of course, but it tends, in my opinion, to have a darker edge. The musicals are glorious, the production values are high, and the costuming is fantastic, but still. A darker edge. Even among their more family friendly musicals, like Fiddler, they’re still....mature, you know? You get the feeling with Toho that the people watching it are all very much adults. Takarazuka....I’d have LESS trouble bringing my hypothetical spawn to, but also, traditionally, Takarazuka is generally, in a Japanese context, associated with middle-aged women. Also keeping in mind that children have low attention spans and I’m not sure they would REALLY want to watch a 20 minute revue at the end, though the revue is undoubtedly cool.

But Shiki? It’s bright, it’s colorful, it does musicals like The Little Mermaid, Frozen, The Lion King, and Mamma Mia (which is DEFINITELY not for kids, really, but still has that kind of....happy, sparky vibe to it). Also musicals that have come to really represent BROADWAY tend to get staged there, like Phantom of the Opera, Evita, and Cats. Yeah, it doesn’t quite have the budget of Toho or Zuka, but it’s FUN. Everyone there IS trained, and it can actually be a decent way of checking who might be up and coming in the Japanese musical world, since, of course, just because someone STARTS OFF with Shiki doesn’t mean they can’t move to Toho (I believe that Mitsuo Yoshihara, for one example, started with Shiki, as did Rie Yoshizawa, who is better known by me for playing Mary I in “Lady Bess” but also played in Mamma Mia and A Chorus Line at Shik, and Megumi Hamada, who is arguably one of the most respected female Japanese musical performers of our time, with her roles in Wicked (Shiki), Mamma Mia (Shiki), Beauty and the Beast (Shiki), Death Note (Toho), Sunset Boulevard (Toho), Love Never Dies (Toho), and Jekyll and Hyde (Toho) giving her a reputation of a truly world-class diva, in the best possible sense of the term.)

As with Toho, you have to go through an audition to get in -- Personally, I think that Shiki has more fresh blood passing through it than Toho, which can sometimes cycle the same cast around repeatedly, with the exception of musicals like Les Miserables and Miss Saigon that tend to be star creators. (ALWAYS take note of who’s playing Enjolras in Les Mis in particular; a lot of Toho stars have made their careers that way, ditto for Eponine and Kim in Miss Saigon. Not that I recommend anyone watch Miss Saigon. Because it’s a racist, orientalist mess. But at least check the cast list for it.) So, as with Toho, you do generally have people who went to school for acting and singing, though you don’t REALLY get, say, former Takarazuka actresses. I don’t think that Shiki is generally (underline generally, because no sooner do I give out a rule than I find that someone broke the rule) considered to be prestigious enough for the REALLY high profile stars. It’s a good place, again, it isn’t like there’s a STIGMA against it, but it’s just a matter of degree. So, my dream of seeing Sayaka Kanda playing Princess Anna of Arendelle on stage is tragically doomed.

Compared to Toho, I have relatively few actresses I’m really ATTACHED to, mainly because I think that Shiki doesn’t really emphasize the performer as much as the musical, if that makes any sense? Shiki, unlike Toho, subscribes to what is called the “auteur theory” which, put to its core, states that it is a strict meritocracy, with no famous celebrities being cast, and that actors exist to make a musical shine, not the other way around. (Takarazuka is the polar opposite, emphasizing the Top Star system, while Toho is halfway in-between the two of them, as discussed here.) Which is good, to some extent, since I firmly believe that a musical should never be about one person and, quite frankly, I have seen my fair share of cases where a single actor’s vanity tanked my impression of a musical, but it also makes it a little harder to get attached to individual actresses/actors when I don’t really get to see that much of them. Two that I’ve noted:

- Azusa Hirata - A particularly interesting case because, unlike the usual cases I see where you have a Shiki actress “graduating” to Toho in a sense, she actually went from doing quite a few Toho musicals in her youth to doing Shiki. She actually won the 1st International Szilvester Levay International Singing Competition, where she performed “Blind vom Licht” from Marie Antoinette (of course I have to like her). Her rendition isn’t my FAVORITE in terms of the context of the musical, a little too polished for my personal tastes, but still brilliant, and she definitely earned her spot.

- Masae Ebata - The youngest Donna Sheridan in the world, at the age of just 30, and renowned for playing both Donna and Sophie in the same performance period. Also the VERY first Korean performer to play the role of Elphaba in Wicked, before the official Korean premiere in 2012. It’s been noted that, along with her voice being very good, she pronounces her Japanese VERY well, which is something that many Korean performers coming to Japan have trouble with (another performer who’s been noted for it is Park Hye-Na in Death Note.)

- Marie Wakana - Her performance of “Part of Your World” in the PV is SO good.

(I actually suspect that this might be partially why Shiki doesn’t have as much of an international following, because foreign fans will generally get really attached to a singular STAR, whereas the Shiki musicals don’t have that same bait. They don’t really have a Furukawa Yuta of their own, someone who, just by name alone, they’re like ‘Ah, yes, they’ll be playing in this musical, so it’s going to be a good show.’ And, for most international fans, I feel like, without the allure of a castmember they’re attached to, they might look at Shiki musicals and essentially go “What are they doing that I can’t get closer to home?” That’s my SUSPICION, at any rate.)

#shiki theatre #shiki stage #HIGHLY underrated in all honesty #scarletfantasia

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kurowrites · 4 years

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I kind of want to @ you about western feminism thing not to make you angry but because I really don’t understand the arguments happening between Asian feminism and Western feminism as a feminist from Middle East. You would think otherwise but for some reason I’m incapable of seeing the points made I guess?

Ok, so I’m not sure I’m the best person to explain that, since it’s not exactly my area of expertise, but one of the issues in ye whole olde East vs. West conflict, not just in feminism, is plain old colonialism. A lot of people haven’t forgotten all the shit that has happened in... how many centuries, again? And rightly so. And I guess that also concerns the Middle East, so you’re actually right in the middle of that.

I mean, people coming in and telling you how to do stuff, because they obviously know better than you do? Nah. Been there, done that, it didn’t work out well for anybody, especially not for the local people who didn’t ask for any of this. And looking at T*E*R*F*s and all those other highly questionable “feminist” movements (often racist), it’s reasonable to be careful about the people that you actually give room to in the discussion. You really don’t want these kinds hijacking the discourse and completely derailing it.

And it’s completely true that different societies have different structures, constructs, and ways of oppressing people. You can’t take feminist demands and strategies from, let’s say Denmark, and then try to apply those things on Myanmar or Korea or whichever other country you choose. Society is different, needs and demands are different, ideas are different, laws are different. There’s a lot that needs to be taken into account. You can’t just waltz in with a “Global Feminism Plan” or something and think it will work out. And yes, there are people who still think like that and you’re like ARGH. CAN WE PLEASE NOT. WE HAVE BEEN DOING POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES FOR A WHILE NOW, AND WE’RE TRYING TO CLEAN THIS SHIT UP, GET WITH THE PROGRAM.

That’s one side. The other is the side that takes this stance a little too far, and resists any “Western” ideas (no matter if they’re actually Western or not), and blocks any discourse, even meaningful discourse, on the basis that Western Ideas Are Bad And Colonialst and that generally whatever society they live in, it is too unique to participate in a discourse with global feminist (or other) movements, and “Western” movements in particular. (This is often where the cultural exeptionalism comes in. Japan is a particularly good example of this, though honestly a lot of nation-states have this problem, Western ones verrrry much included. Anyway.) The big problem with this stance is that any ideas from the outside (and even from the inside) are blocked (no matter how helpful they might actually be if considered rationally) and that it isolates individual movements.

Abuse of Women’s Rights is a global problem. The manifestations of it might differ according to society, class, culture, religion, and a lot of other factors (even within one country), but it’s still a global problem. And considering that people become more and more mobile, that minorities and migrants live in every country and human trafficking is very much a global thing too, it is imperative that we address this problem on a local and a global scale simultaneously. Actual exchange of experiences and strategies on a global scale will help, I have no doubt. Some people are already doing it, all over the world, and they do important work. But there’s still enough people who are resistant to it, and there’s even more people with decidedly un-feminist interests profiting from keeping feminist movements small-scale and therefore manageable, so that there’s still a long way to go. And the deadlock is frustrating, because there are so many good people trying to do good work, but ultimately we all too often end up squabbling over stupid shit.

I spent too much time on this and still explained it poorly, but I hope it made some sense.

#kuro answers #anonymous

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kpoptimeout · 3 years

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My Top 10 K-Dramas of 2020 - What’s Yours?

2020 has ended after feeling like it was never ending and K-Dramaland has once again brought us so many goodies this year. As per our blog’s tradition [For 2019 faves click here], below are my Top 10 favs of the year (my faves in alphabetical order so it might not be yours so please don’t judge). (For our blog’s 2020 music ratings, click here!)

My only specific criteria is that the show must have had started in 2020 to be considered a 2020 series but like last year, I have allowed one drama starting very late in 2019 to make the list.

Without further ado, check the list below!

Crash Landing On You (tvN/Netflix)

While it started in December 2019, “Crash Landing On You” is certainly the Rom-Com of the year that swept the world by storm. It was possibly the K-Drama most people knew about and everyone rejoiced when the leads Hyun Bin and Son Yejin admitted to being a couple on 1 January 2021.

One might say “Crash Landing On You” has generic plot - two people from vastly different worlds meeting through a crazy accident and developing feelings as a result, the choice of using North and South Korea as the two worlds provided unique social commentary and the opportunity for lots of interesting shenanigans. This is not the first series to feature a romance between a North and South Korean lead (see 2012’s “The King 2 Hearts”, which was also stellar), but it is definitely a more light-hearted take which is fun to watch. Additionally, the series is filled with fleshed out and lovable side characters.

While North Korean refugees interviewed by media outlets point out that the typical North Korean captain would not have the looks of Hyun Bin, most of them agree that the production team did their research as the everyday life of typical North Koreans were recreated quite accurately - from the types of furniture and household appliances they use, to the type of K-Dramas they watch in secret.

If you enjoy a good Rom-Com and an interesting premise, this is the K-Drama for you!

Extracurricular (Netflix)

Being a Netflix only series with no counterpart on Korean television, “Extracurricular” was able to explore the dark side of South Korean youth life which is not discussed on traditional South Korean media platforms. We are thrown into the life of a nerdy high school student played by Kim Dong Hee, who is actually effectively abandoned by his family and making ends meet secretly as an illegal prostitution ring mastermind.

The story unravels as the star student played by So Minhee discovers the schemes of Kim Dong Hee’s character and begins to blackmail him. Not to give too many spoilers, but it will prove difficult to balance his double life and the whole journey is captured superbly by the main cast’s stellar acting.

If you are a fan of dark and realistic teen dramas, this is the series for you!

Hospital Playlist (tvN/Netflix)

The team behind the “Reply” series and “Prison Playbook” returns with a few familiar faces so we all knew when the trailers dropped that we were in for a treat. As expected, the fabulous acting of the main cast, the wonderful storylines and also medically accurate procedures (according to my doctor friends), combined to make “Hospital Playlist” one of the most endearing dramas of the year.

Set in the fictional Yulje Medical Centre, we follow the lives of 5 doctors who met in college and their respective medical teams. Jo Jung-suk acts as a prankster and fun dad who is also a genius doctor. Yoo Yeon-seok plays a pediatric surgeon who is dead set on becoming a priest. Jung Kyung-ho acts as a cardiologist who seems cold-hearted (pun intended), but of course isn’t really. Kim Dae-myung plays a gynaecologist who is a mummy’s boy and has family drama galore. And finally Jeon Mi-do completes the set as a neurosurgeon who is lowkey the only adult in the friend group and who everyone wants to be when they grow up.

The drama throws us into the day to day runnings in the hospital without too much introductions and it actually made the characters all the more real because it was like we were just casually witnessing their everyday lives. The realisms of the show is furthered by the fact that even side characters like nurses and medical students have meaningful storylines of their own. We honestly cannot wait for Season 2 to air in May 2021!

Itaewon Class (JTBC/Netflix)

A remake of a popular Webtoon, “Itaewon Class” is a feel-good David and Goliath story where the male lead played by Park Seojun goes on a journey to avenge his father and chooses to do so without bending his morals at any point in time and making many friends along the way.

This series stood out by providing very diverse lead characters including a sociopath, a former convict, a trans woman, an illegitimate son and a Blasian trying to find acceptance in South Korea. All their stories highlight the different social issues and the stigmas many face navigating through life and is touching and relatable in many ways.

If you love a show with a positive social message, this is the show for you!

Sweet Home (Netflix)

Another webtoon remake by Netflix, “Sweet Home” follows a group of survivors in an apartment complex after all hell breaks loose in South Korea, as people begin to transform into monsters based on their greatest fears and regrets.

Every character has interesting backstories that are slowly revealed as they try to survive together, while battling monsters that are generated by the team behind many Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters. The main cast led by Song Kang, Lee Jin Wook, Lee Siyoung and Lee Dohyun also acted extremely well, with Lee Siyoung grabbing a lot of attention with her ripped superhero physique. Kim Namhee also had a breakout performance as the survivor who favours a Korean sword and hopefully would continue to get more roles following years playing minor characters.

If you enjoy apocalypse thrillers that explore human nature, you would love “Sweet Home”!

The Uncanny Counter (OCN/Netflix)

Okay, Netflix is really funding all the webtoon adaptions because “The Uncanny Counter” is yet another one. Currently the highest rated OCN drama in the cable channel’s history, this webtoon adaption follows a disabled orphaned teenage boy who gains superpowers and joins a demon-banishing team of other super-powered beings (who own a noodle shop on the side) called the Counters, while the mystery of his parents’ death plays a key role in the story.

This somewhat cliché set-up is done in a fun and enjoyable way and it is great to see the talented Jo Byung Gyu finally cast as a male lead! Kim Sejeong has also further improved in her acting and is a loveable badass in this series.

If you love a ghost/spirit busting mystery and just the superhero genre in general, you would enjoy “The Uncanny Counter”!

VIP (SBS)

“VIP” is a drama following a luxury brand’s VIP service team. While it has office drama, intrigue and power plays in almost every episode, it is arguably more of a drama about womanhood than anything else. With 4 female leads, 3 of whom are in their late 30s, the series accurately depicts the concerns women face reaching that age, whether they are married or unmarried, with children or not.

Jang Nara plays a successful business woman and a co-worker to her husband played by Lee Sang Yoon. Born in a privileged background with a seemingly loving husband, all seems well until she has suspicions of her husband having an affair. This drives her to investigate and through her findings, she instead uncovers more stories of her other female co-workers, like the rumour-tainted but very cool section chief played by Lee Chungah and the stressed and depressed mother of two played by Kwak Sunyoung.

If you want a spicy office drama that also has meaningful discussions about working women in South Korea, VIP is the best drama for that!

The World of the Married (JTBC)

Overtaking JTBC’s “Sky Castle” to be highest rated cable TV K-Drama of all time, this 2020 production also by JTBC is a remake of BBC series “Doctor Foster” but highly localised to fit the Korean narrative.

Kim Hee-ae plays a successful doctor with a film director husband and a teenage son. Her life seems picture perfect until she discovers her husband’s infidelity. But unlike in “VIP”, where the female lead actually bonds with other women along the way, Kim Hee-ae’s character would quickly learn that she was in fact betrayed by everyone around her - they all knew her husband was cheating and have been pretty supportive of this whole affair.

While highly dramatised, the suspicions of the husband’s infidelity, the discovery, the subsequent divorce and schemes for revenge are all done tastefully and is a reason why it struck a chord with the general public, especially married women watching the show.

If you love mess and chaos and seeing douchebags destroyed, “World of the Married” is the perfect drama for you!

18 Again (JTBC)

JTBC really has a knack for remakes. This remake of the movie “17 Again” starring Zac Efron is also adapted seamlessly to fit Korean culture and social issues e.g. teen pregnancy, divorce, women’s careers after being a parent and parent-child relations.

Kim Haneul and Yoon Sanghyun truly acted out the energy of a long-married couple and Lee Dohyun did extremely well in encapsulating Yoon Sanghyun’s mannerism as his de-aged counterpart. This boy is truly on a roll this year (he is also in “Sweet Home”). Also, the younger cast of this show were also very likeable and well flesh-outed and by the end of the series you are rooting for all of them to do well.

If you love a slice of life drama with a little fantastical element, you would love “18 Again”!

365: Repeat the Year (MBC)

Based on the Japanese novel “Repeat” by Kurumi Inui, “365 Days: Repeat the Year” follows this social experiment where 10 individuals are given the opportunity to travel 1 year back in time. As all 10 individuals try to remedy their mistakes and become better people, the experiment takes a sinister turn as the time-travellers begin to die one after another.

The veteran detective played by Lee Joohyuk and the mystery webtoon artist played by Nam Jihyun team up together with other time travellers to uncover the secrets behind travelling back in time and learn about the past lives of everyone chosen for the project.

If you enjoy a well-thought out time-travelling series that involves some alternate reality battle royale shenanigans, this is the series for you!

Honourable Mentions:

Kingdom (Season 2) (Netflix): The ancient zombie drama is back and still as strong as ever - one of the best zombie series on air right now.

Start-Up (tvN/Netflix): Loveable rom-com set in the start-up world in South Korea with one of the most hotly debated love triangles in this year’s K-Drama world.

Hi Bye, Mama! (tvN/Netflix): When a woman reincarnates to meet her husband and child again 5 years after her tragic death, only to find he has since remarried.

What’s your Top 10 K-Dramas of the Year? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and may the drama sharing begin (and the road to more excuse for holiday procrastination!)

Also, if you want to check out underrated K-Pop songs of 2020, here are the lists for idol songs and artist songs.

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obsessedwithbbandsuju · 4 years

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Han Yuna Masterlist

*This is my default information on Yuna; however, most of it can change based on the scenario (AUs)

*Faceclaim is Kim Hyuna (quite obviously for anyone who’s into kpop)

*Last Updated: 5/27/20

Stage Name: Yuna (유나)

Birth Name: Han Yuna (한유나 )

English Name: Krista

Group: Pandora // Solo

Other Members: Son Taeyeon, Park Soojin, Lee Sunbin, Park Minhee

Position: Lead Dancer, Vocalist, Sub-rapper, Maknae

Agency: YG Entertainment

Birthdate: May 15th, 1994

Debut Date: October 17th, 2006

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Height: 163 cm (5’4″)

Weight: 45 kg (99 lbs)

Blood Type:

Nationality: South Korean

Father: Han Kyungsoon

Mother: Lee Eunbi (deceased)

Brother: Han Jaehee [older by three years]

Stepmother: Jang Miyeon

Facts:

She was born in Mokpo and moved to Ilsan when she was three

Her mother, who was a freelance writer, passed away when she was seven years old from cardiac arrest

Since she’s the only girl in the family, her father, a university professor, was very fond of her, sometimes to the point of favoritism, which caused a rift between her older brother and herself

Since age ten she took part in a children’s performance team in her neighborhood, which is where she came to love dance

Soojin wanted to be an idol since she was young

When Yuna was twelve, her father remarried to her stepmother, Jang Miyeon

Because she was young then, Yuna didn’t like Miyeon and rebuffed her stepmother every time she tried to be friendly, but Miyeon was continuously kind to her

Due to her aloofness toward Miyeon, Yuna and her father grew apart, resulting in them arguing more and more frequently

Her older brother, Jaehee, didn’t like their stepmother either and also argued with their father over the matter, which resulted in them becoming closer to each other until they were almost inseparable

Yuna says that once she and Jaehee began to get along, he looked after her very well - walking her to school, making sure she slept and ate enough, helping her with her homework, etc.

In 2005, Yuna auditioned at YGE by dancing to S.E.S’s I’m Your Girl and singing to Uhm Jung Hwa’s Poison, and passed

Her father, whom she still had a strained relationship with, was lukewarm towards her career, wanting her to study instead, but her stepmother and her older brother supported her

Yuna met the other members – Minhee, Taeyeon, Soojin, and Sunbin – in early 2006

After Pandora’s debut on October 17th, 2006, Yuna began to realize that she had been unfair to her stepmother, but never brought it up for pride’s sake; she did, however, become less cold to Miyeon, although still maintaining a large distance

Due to the awkwardness between her and her father and stepmother, she spent the majority of her years as a trainee and many years after debuting in the dorms with the other members

When she did visit her family at home, there was considerable tension between herself and her family, with the exception of with Jaehee, who always welcomed her warmly

For years, she continued to debate on apologizing to Miyeon for being so unaccepting of her at first, but she could never quite make herself do it

When Yuna was eighteen, the university that her father worked at closed; Jaehee had already moved out, too, and her father and her stepmother were going bankrupt, but they kept it from both her and Jaehee

Yuna found out, though, and used her money to open them a barbecue restaurant in Ilsan; the restaurant was successful

After the restaurant’s success, Yuna finally managed to tell Miyeon that she was sorry for the way she treated her at first; Miyeon accepted her apology and helped her mend her relationship with her father, too

The other members of Pandora are like sisters to her, because she’s known and worked with them for so long

The Bigbang members are all like older brother to her, though she’s especially close with Daesung

She’s the acknowledged best at aegyo in Pandora, having some naturally cute mannerisms

Yuna is close with Sojin and Yura of Girl’s Day, Sohee (formerly) of Wonder Girls, and Choa (formerly) of AOA

She’s acquainted with all of Super Junior and friends with Heechul, Kangin, Yesung, and Siwon

Yuna is also friends with all of SHINee

She’s close to 2NE1 and Blackpink, especially with Minzy in the former and Jisoo in the latter

In college, Yuna majored in political science

Yuna is the type of person who has very focused parameters; she doesn’t really pay attention to anything that doesn’t affect her or those close to her

The things that Yuna is interested in usually have to do with astronomy, biology, economics, or philosophy

Yuna is a good driver

Some of Yuna’s favorite books are The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, For the Most Beautiful by Emily Hauser, 1984 by George Orwell, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, The Moon Over the Mountain by Nakajima Atsushi, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Yuna has an IQ of 171

Since childhood, Yuna has played the piano

Yuna is bad at putting on makeup, being the second worst at it in Pandora after Taeyeon

Yuna is introverted and likes spending time alone, she finds a good balance between time to herself and time with other people; Taeyeon once said that she envies Yuna for being able to walk on that thin line

Yuna’s favorite variety shows are Knowing Bros, Happy Together, Running Man, and I Can See Your Voice

By her own admittance, Yuna can be rather impatient and she doesn’t have the self-control of people like Soojin or Taeyeon; according to her, it can make her annoying to deal with sometimes

She thinks it’s a little scary how Taeyeon and Soojin can keep their composure so well

Yuna is someone who often wears her feelings on her sleeve; she doesn’t like hiding things, so she lets people know when she’s upset, sad, or anything of the like

She often lets her feelings get a rise out of her and regrets it later

Yuna is agonistic

She believes in aliens but she doesn’t think that human beings on Earth will ever be able to have contact with them because of the sheer vastness of the universe

Her MBTI type is

Yuna is bisexual and an LGBTQ+ supporter

She’s popular in variety shows because of how laid-back she is; almost nothing that the hosts say to get a rise out of her succeed in fazing her

Generally she talks enthusiastically on variety shows, but she’s hard to fluster

She also likes to fire teasing and smart comments on a rare blue moon, but they’re very well-done and hilarious, which is exacerbated because she doesn’t do so often

Yuna’s favorite foods are tteokbokki, jjajangmyeon, and tteokguk

She’s not very good at holding her alcohol; in fact, a cup is usually enough to get her tipsy

Yuna is a morning person; she usually likes to go to bed early and wake up early, which sometimes leads to her struggling during irregular schedules

Her favorite animal is the dolphin

She’s not very competitive and especially hates putting physical exertion into anything

According to the other members, Yuna is the type to get really emotionally involved while dating, and can get somewhat fixated on her partner; because of that, she sometimes gets her feelings hurt

Yuna has a bad tendency to just push away things that are stressing her out, which leads to bad procrastination habits

Still, she strikes a fairly good balance between her work and her leisure time, which is why she often worries about Taeyeon, the resident workaholic and perfectionist of the group

She loves to read, and she’s fairly sure it’s because her mother read to her very often when she was a child

Because of Taeyeon’s tendency to be experimental and change the concepts and genres of their discography frequently, Yuna and the rest of Pandora have been noted for being “concept chameleons” by some

Yuna can speak Korean (from growing up in Korea) and and Mandarin (from school and working abroad) fluently, and she’s good at English, Japanese, and Indonesian

Yuna is a somewhat controversial figure in South Korea because she (and the rest of the Pandora members) is more outspoken about her concerns regarding the double standards against women in the industry as opposed to men, as well as South Korea’s sexism in general; she has also delved into topics such as LGBTQ rights and the stigma against idols dating

Yuna’s ideal type: “I think anyone who’s there for me would satisfy me in a relationship. If I had to pick a quality I would say that I prefer people who are dedicated. I really find it admirable when someone commits wholeheartedly to something.”

Cho Kyuhyun/Han Yuna

Love Disease, part i // Angst

#masterlist #original female character #han yuna #super junior scenarios #super junior imagines #super junior reactions #super junior #kyuhyun scenarios #kyuhyun imagines #kyuhyun reactions #super junior smut #kyuhyun smut #cho kyuhyun #kyuhyun #my writing

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