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secondeve · 2 months

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CUPID DE LOCKE, ft @time222pretend:

(...) as it stands right now, they sit alone at their table with no one paying them much if any mind. after all, what's the importance of women if a man isn't around to take notice? hyein sighs and begins to speak more plainly. "is this a call out of duty or because the royal family is ignoring their demure little princess?" cocking her head to the side, she smiles again at jieum a little more warmly this time than before, "i'm safe in assuming it's the latter?"

it's the names that divide them. yang, shin⏤better, worse. and park⏤best.

so she's supposed to have won. jieum thinks she has, until the cards flip open on the table and she's left with a bad beat and empty table settings at a funeral. maybe she ought to be grateful that she's got a seat at the table at all, but that's not much of a consolation prize when she'd wanted the crown.

she's used to settling for second best, second founding family. yang hyein sits alone at a table, second in ways different from her but first in all the ones that matter. all except the most important way, and it sits on jieum's ring finger, resized to fit.

so, settling means it's better to be sitting with someone than alone at the best table. her eyes glance over at the room where nam chunja's casket sits, the recipient of the biggest honour for the next three days. she doesn't make a quip about the old woman, because she's not that kind of girl, only thinks of it inside and doesn't let it leave the confines of her teeth. "oh, no, you looked like you needed company."

lord knows that she does. jieum doesn't bother acknowledging the truth in hyein's follow up, simply sliding her gaze over the other woman when her words turn sharp, out of earshot from the people who mean something. "did you expect the former?"

she's used to being overlooked. it would almost be easier, if not for the fact that jieum thinks she's owed so much more than that. but that's no matter⏤she's going to get her flowers, one way or another. starting with the soil they grow on.

she leans in to speak, like they're equals. they're sitting at the same table. but hyein has the yang land on her hands, and jieum has open palms. returns the smile sent her way, the curve of her eyes that go along the horizon of goero's land. "there isn't anywhere else to go, is there?"

#↺ — ꜰɪʟᴇᴅ: hyein01.

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secondeve · 2 months

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HUSH HUSH, ft @conntingency:

(...) “What’ll you do if one day you get here first?” He kicks the door closed behind her to resume his lounge on the couch. He doesn’t expect an answer, and it doesn’t look like he’s waiting for one either. Just nods his head toward the bag in case she wants to steal a can for herself. It’d be nice if they could just meet up at a bar instead of staring at the water stained ceiling of some upper-management type's poorly maintained office. That lingering smell of ground up tree meat and chemicals does little to add to the ambiance. Jieum doesn’t seem like she’s here for the ambiance though, it seems like she’s here looking to murder someone. “Who pissed you off now, Jeongho again?” It’s an easy guess to make. Jeongho just has that way about him. That look stays stuck to her face though, so he reorients his spine enough to where he’s propped up and attentive. Even if he does keep drinking. “I’m here for you. I’m listening. Lend me your heart.” A mashup of late night talk show host drivel, and he breaks his own joke by laughing at himself. He looks over toward her to see if he’s managed to disrupt all that frowning before his gaze drifts back up to the stain. He swears that sometimes he can see a face in it.

maybe there's an irony in how jieum doesn't want to be seen, after spending all of her growing years yearning to be. greener grasses, and the foot that tramples above it in search of better. there is overgrown foliage around the lumber factory that makes the air smell like rotting mulch, metallic rust over the locks. she gets the copper dust under her nails when she tries to work it up the way jiyul had showed her, but the door protests its discontent and keeps her out of their meeting place like a door girl who doesn't think she belongs there.

jieum kicks at the door to get his attention, waiting for the other to open it up for her instead of giving useless instructions. and he comes eventually, obediently, the back door finally swinging open with his foot as a doorstop, as grand a welcome as someone like her deserves.

the smell of something sterile still lingers around like a shawl from the funeral home. maybe it's something that nam chunja might have liked; there'd been plenty of them that she saw in that old woman's home. "i won't," she assures jiyul, rolling her eyes. she thinks she would never come of her own accord to him. wouldn't be first to arrive, in any case.

this probably isn't much of a friendship, but it's the only kind she's known. there's always someone better, and someone worse than. jieum just usually isn't on the former end of it, the one where she can call and he'll run over eager. it gives her a false sense of security, like a soothing of her ego that's sweet, even if it's stale and poorly ventilated in this almost abandoned factory.

"jeongho?" the mention of the man she shares a bed with furrows her brow. "no, not him." she hasn't seen her husband, wherever he's gone off to lately. jieum thinks she's seen him looking at hyein, at areum, at whoever else blushes and simpers for a man in power. what's a funeral home but breeding grounds for a pity fuck? jieum flicks at jiyul's cheek, turning it into a palm outstretched. she doesn't laugh at his joke, but she still humors him with a wry smile. "not this time, anyway. open a can for me, will you?"

jieum pushes him away to make a space for herself on the couch. kicks her shoes off and curls up on the couch. old habits die hard, perhaps, and she takes up barely enough space for herself. leaning forward over her scrunched up knees, dragging jiyul's attention back to herself. "are you listening?" she pauses, eyes flicking back to the door they've used to break in. a secret could escape from loose locks, but she doesn't think they would from his lips. "jiyul."

#↺ — ꜰɪʟᴇᴅ: jiyul01.#eldrtch:ev001 #fingers crossed that this is coherent lmk if u need anyth changed!

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secondeve · 2 months

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hi hello happy opening, nice to meet everyone! i’m blue & this is shin jieum, sadpathetic girl looking to exchange a plot of land for just a bit ( a lot ) of the love or power she thinks she deserves ! i've got her profile, background pages up & more info / plots under the cut, pls like to plot or ask for my d/scord and i’ll be there! 💗

info

unknown / nth was on loop while writing her bio, though i think that's more indulgent for her than the sharp objects jieum's actually made out of rip but that's on context & for listening!

starting from the bottom: the shins are a family that somehow manages to weasel their way to capitalise on whoever's in power at the time ( usually the parks ). have an unfortunate tendency to angle for their daughters marrying into the founding families—though they can't be said to be unsuccessful on that front!

so that's how jieum is raised! mother is sour from losing out on the yang heir of her time & is now puppeteering her children into where she almost was. she lied to jieum that she's a yang-affair baby & insists that she's lost out, so she's got a big chip on her shoulder about not having what she's due

( would fuck her up to find out that she's actually just the daughter of a mediocre man but she doesn't know that. yet! )

but anyway jieum is not the alluring type :( she fades into the background, v much unperks of being a wallflower. not rlly charismatic or sweet enough to win any hearts & doesn't have the backbone to stand taller than kim i or yang on her own either so she's kind of fucked she's always 2nd yknow bridesmaid but never the bride until!!!!

she Does become the bride. hot damn!

she thinks she's finally getting her flowers, but this marriage is loveless & faithless so eventually ( quite quickly ) falls apart. her ego is her undoing and she turns cold & dry to park i, which only makes things worse, rip—she's defo keeping up the facade of a perfect home but it's not that at all

tries to soothe her ego by reminding herself of all the people she's better than now that she's married into the parks! has defo stepped on a few toes for her ego's sake but she has old habits of deferring to people & also needs her father in law's help re the land so she can't be Too uppity?

let's go horoscope girlies she's got a pisces sun aries moon taurus rising, she longs for love & loves herself too much but it's not enough for her... she might think she's playing the game well but it's usually clouded by her ego / insecurities. makes missteps all the time bc she's not used to being on the upper hand or needing to be careful since being 2nd means no one rlly notices u. feels sorry for herself all the time & can be kind but only when it makes her feel better about herself. also she's so bored & discontent with life she's just a housewife but who knows if she'll still be when she starts shilling for tk group!

plots

fellow stiffed by life sufferers. people who are willing to commiserate about how bad their lives are even tho objectively none of them are having it that bad

the first / only person she's ever come first to & like sure they aren't important or powerful but they make her feel powerful so maybe she's attached but sneakily. maybe she doesn't want to be associated w them too publicly?

a friend her friend they're hers & she might have smth codependent with them

someone who thinks she's so pathetic but she's like trainwreck entertainment for them they keep leading her down the wrong paths

or maybe someone who feels bad for her. they keep trying to help her & she keeps getting mad at them for meddling even tho they mean well & she Knows they mean well but her ego is small & easily bruised

people who don't like park i & the wife of my enemy is my enemy—but if she doesn't like him too then is she ur friend?

someone who smells a rat when she's around & repeating jung / iida's talking points about selling the land...

also someone who might believe her & legit thinks the shins have the good of the town at heart she's working an angle on them now

the usu yknow childhood friends rivals exes fwbs ( yes she's married but if he's cheating so is she... )

#if long why read...#eldrtch:int

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secondeve · 3 months

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