#JYP Entertainment christmas | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

inkkayyy · 2 years ago

Text

[ ᴄᴀꜱᴇ 143 ]

> there is a fire in your heart. learn to love the way the flames lick at your chest and warm your soul.

"Case 143" is a song recorded by South Korean boy band Stray Kids. It appears as the first track on their seventh extended play (EP) Maxident, released as the lead single on October 7, 2022, through JYP Entertainment. Written by 3Racha and fellow member Kang Sunny. "Case 143" is an electro-hop and pop track, likening the confusion one feels when falling in love to an unsolved "case", referencing the number 143, a code for "I love you".

“Why the fuck did I decide to write a love song! Is it always this difficult?” She whined to Kevin, who just poked her side in an attempt to silence her, amusment visable on his face.

“Most people don’t produce the track with it’s subject.” She just whined again and buried her face in the cushions of his couch. It stunk like men's deodorant and Sunhee hated that her first though was that Chan’s cologne smelt better.

[ sunhee’s song book ] [ sunhee’s masterlist ]

( wc; 6.3k) (format; english in italics)

cw: mentions of illegal street racing and driving activities, general talk of disregard for road rules.

[ ꜱᴛᴜᴅɪᴏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ]

As stray Kids’ first real love song, case 143 stands out in their discography as rather significant.

It was never even supposed to be released, not really. The song that would eventually become Case 143, was originally an outlet for Sunhee, thumbed out on old faithful guitar with a slow steady beat, that later became the pre-chorus with a slightly more sharp and base-lined chorus that was kept for the final version.

‘One-four-three’ as it was originally titled, had been an expression of confusion- a way to filter her emotions out and consider them in different terms other than the horrid spiral in her head and the messy words in her notebooks.

She’d recorded it purely to replay at a later date and reassess her bubbling and rather constricting feelings for a certain leader. Of course that hadn’t happened because ‘Noeasy’ had crashed into everyone’s life with two months of promotions followed immediately by ‘Christmas EveL’.

So there wasn’t exactly much breathing room and Sunhee had all but ignored the song, accepted her painfully sappy emotions for one Christoper Bang and gotten on with other projects- notably for their next EP ‘Maniac’.

And when time rolled around for another one of those day-long production marathons, with 3RACHA piecing together songs from notes apps and messily scrawled poems, it wasn’t really an option- at least in Sunhee’s mind. With the concept due within the week, including an outlined title track and b-side too, she’d pointedly ignored the two minutes of fully written song on her google drive and just focused on the other tracks they’d decided on.

‘Superboard’ was already set, guide recorded and everything, but it was a bit too repetitive for the Stray Kids style of title track. Similarly, Jisung’s donated ‘Chill’ wasn’t as powerful and direct as their usual vibe so it had unanimously been elected as their B-side.

Being self produced idols was an outcome of both talent and stubbornness. Because they were stuck, no title track and a kidnapped Sunhee held hostage in their studio for help because they were too stubborn to ask any of the actual JYPE producers or songwriters for assistance.

3RACHA had pilfered the box of Sunhee’s old notebooks in the dorm- namely the ones that hadn’t been milked dry for the sheer amount of songs in both Noeasy and Maniac, some dated from early 2020 and others as recent as that day.

Sacrificing her notebooks was an old habit, she was used to being so completely transparent with her boys that the idea of a secret hiding in her writing didn’t even occur. Then Han fucking Jisung crashed the party.

He had one of her older notebooks- well not old, but dated back at least a year, he’s flicking between two pages, frowning as he closed it- one finger still wedged inside to keep track of the page. “Sunhee-noona, have you ever been in love?”

She hadn't been looking at him, focused on her phone instead, sprawled across the couch, legs over where Changbin had been seated before he and Chan had left to replenish their water bottles at the idol lounge. But Jisung certainly had her attention now. “I’m sorry?”

“I cannot explain this reaction, maybe I should just say it, One-four-three, code for, I love you.”

The line had mostly been forgotten by her, but hearing it made her startle up right- wide eyed and screenshot worthy if there had been cameras. Jisung seemed pleased though. “There’s more- ‘Walking next to you but I'm falling, I'm falling deeper, I'm drawn to you, You're pulling me deeper and deeper, I try to get out but I can't stop’. Wah! Sunhee-noona, these are so soft and mushy!”

Jisung was a teaser, everyone knew he liked to poke fun but he always saw right through her lyrics. Always. She cursed the fact it was Jisung who had found that particular notebook.

He skipped his way across the small studio and perched himself atop her shins- as if they weren’t even there, squishing them into the leather couch cushions in a way that made Sunhee screw her face up in annoyance. Jisung was close- very close. He’d cornered her and there was no escaping.

“So who's got you writing love songs?” He asked as if her world wasn’t ending and it wasn’t his fault.

Sunhee tried to ignore him, indignantly sinking further into the couch and returning her attention to her phone. “Nothing much- just been watching a lot of romance dramas lately.”

“You hate romance dramas.” He countered.

“Doesn't mean Seungmin and I don’t sit down to mock them.”

He shuffled further into her space, perched right on her lap, hands planted on her shoulders as he leaned in, inspecting every inch of her face. Sunhee was a shit liar- and he knew as much. “You’re lying.”

“Is it Changbin-hyung?” He’d posed looking far too serious for what Sunhee thought was a frankly ridiculous question.

“No- god!” Her shout sends him back a few inches, sitting up straight and blinking at the sudden nose input. Changbin and her were thick as thieves, best friends even to those wanting to label it. The thought of dating him was just so wrong.

“Minho?” She screwed her face up at that, dating Minho sounded like a nightmare, that man had more love for his cats than any human being. “Jisung what is wrong with you today, I swear-”

Jisung’s eyebrow scrunch together as he blinked at the wall, thinking. Then he looked back down at her curiously, studying her expression- one of discontent and faux calm, Sunhee leaned back, breathing a bit faster than she’d preferred. “What about Chan-hyung?”

“What? No. Why would you-” She had almost stuttered, almost, but not quite. To Sunhee’s credit though, her words weren’t what gave her away.

A scoff of disbelief tumbled from Jisung’s lips, soon turning to fits of giggles as he fell back to the other side of the couch in shock- socked toes poking against her stomach as his feet kicked with laughter. “Your ears are red- oh my god you're in love with Chan-hyung!”

“No I’m not!” She defied, but by that point, her cheeks were heating up to- something so rarely seen from her that it gave away just how embarrassed she was. Which of course Jisung knew, the shit eating grin on his face telling of his arrogance. Jisung knew.

“Oh, you so are!”

And Sunhee was up, seating herself atop him and clutching his face between her hands. His legs jolted in alarm but she forced her knees in to keep him still, one either side of his rib cage as he froze from the glare she fixed him with. Jisung’s wide eyes were filled with nothing short of surprise- and maybe just a twinge of fear.

“Han Jisung I swear to god, if you say anything I will kill you.” She had all but growled in his face, tone low and threatening. He nodded with haste, hand curling her wrists and loosening them just slightly- she complied but still held his face so he’d keep looking at her as she added: “Minho will help me hide your body no matter how much he loves you.”

“I promise. Not a word noona.” She sighed, relaxing and swinging her leg over so instead of straddling his torso in an attempted strangling, she was seated on the couch normally, well almost, legs across his lap and arse slipping between his torso and the coche’s back as Jisung pouted at her. “Can we use the lyrics though? Please!”

“No.” Her answer was firm, Sunhee having mastered the art of saying ‘no’ to Han Jisung long ago. He, on the other hand, hadn’t learnt how to take ‘no’.

“Why not? I’ll even say I wrote it- please! It would be so good in a song! We haven’t done a love song yet.”

“It’s already in a song Sung-ah.” She patted his shoulder, opening her google drive to dive into the sorted files and dig the recording out- because if there was one thing Jisung could respect it was music (and there was no way to get him to lay off until his curiosity was satiated). He sat himself up, hands behind him as he leaned into her space.

“Really? Can I listen?” She hummed at his words, turning the volume up on her phone a few notches and flipping it upside down, holding the speakers in between their ears.

It’s hard to hear because she’d been barricaded in her room- back when the tiny rooms had been shared between three people, playing with her amp on the lowest volume and singing the lyrics off her notebook, not having memorised them. Really the acoustics were horrid, but Jisung seemed enamoured enough.

“Is that like a punk rock inspired chorus- wait let me listen again.” He snatched the phone from her hands, bumping their heads together lightly in the process. Sunhee frowned then butted them a bit harder in retaliation, which earned not even a glance as he dragged the progress bar back fifteen seconds.

“Imagine that but like, pitched right down. You have to let us use it- please, please, please! He whined, practically shaking her. “Chan-hyung will never even know!”

“What won’t I know?” Speaking of Chan, he was in the doorway.

Bottle of water in hand, furrowed brows and wrangled discontent curling in his stomach, he had his eyes and confused- if not disapproving, gaze set on Sunhee. Who was in Jisung’s lap. She would have jumped from the surprise (and horror that he may have figured out what they were discussing), if Jisung had not latched onto her, arms around her waist and pulled her impossibly closer. The squeeze dragged a cough from her lips as her hands struggled to find purchase, sliding around Jisung’s shoulders as he settled his chin on her collar.

“Sunhee-noona has a really great song and she doesn’t want to share.” He pouted at the leader who was watching Sunhee struggle to release herself (Jisung was strong now and it wasn’t fair).

“She doesn't have to share if she doesn’t want to,” He replied, drooping the water bottles into their mini fridge that had a shameful amount of monster energy drinks stored in it already. Then with a pointed look at her annoyed expression, said, “But If it’s because she thinks it’s bad I hope she knows that her standards for self production are too high.”

Changbin picked her phone up from where it sat discarded on the couch cushion beside Jisung’s leg, the audio file still open, holding it up questionably, an eyebrow raised with a silent proposition. Sunhee sighed and resigned herself to her death via-Jisung-suffocation. A short sharp nod was all Changbin needed to hit play, turning the volume to full as the muffled sound of guitar chords and her singing poured out.

Sunhee found the production process to be a special kind of torture.

Chan of all people had not been as helpful with his input as he usually would be, continuously going quiet and being snappy about the whole thing.

At first she thought he was snippy because it wasn’t his track. Him and the other 3RACHA boys had extended it, adding a more electronic introduction as well as a heavy beat break in the middle to account for Changbin and Jisung’s rap.

But Chan wasn’t that petty, sure he’s usually the one behind their title tracks in terms of music but he had never been temperamental about Sunhee’s involvement in their production process before.

It gets to the point where she reviews the tracks with Jisung at the dorms to avoid the thick headedness Chan had about the now remanded [Case 143].

Which for some reason makes Chan even more cranky. (There was a significant amount of jealousy involved- he found it unbelievably infuriating that Sunhee had seemingly dropped out of the studio, instead spending extended periods of time with Jisung. Changbin takes the brunt of chan’s grumpiness and tires his absolute best- in very unsuccessful attempts, to simply work on their now approved title track).

So as Chan stewed in bitterness, hauled up in his studio, Sunhee continued to potter away at lyrics.

Her didn’t really amount to anything that could contribute to [Case 143] and ended up being filtered down the production pipeline a few weeks later and turned into [Give Me Your TMI] (a song about not understanding what the fuck someone was thinking- “purely a coincidence” as she would repeatedly tell Jisung).

However the avoidance Sunhee suddenly demonstrated went far from unnoticed and the other members were pushy in their attempts to remedy it. Especially Minho, ever the go-getter. But he failed to remember just how good at thinking on her feet Sunhee was. “You know, I think Chan could use some extra practice, think you could you help him this afternoon?”

Sunny, without missing a beat, “Nuh uh. I promised Sunwoo I would help him with King Lear, but Hyunjin isn’t busy. He can help Chan.”

It’s one of those things where she always has an excuse and the members were starting to think she was just lying (even though she was horrible at that) but everytime she actually followed through with whatever she’d claimed filled up her schedule. It made them wonder- was Sunhee always this busy and they never noticed?

Nope. She just has an army of people willing to drop everything and spend time with her.

Chan missed the dance revision, could she help? Sorry, Kevin and her are going to a pottery class- one he was happy to attend despite her ulterior motives, which he laughed about and flicked clay slip at her for. (and when she followed him back to the dorm so they could have dinner she may have lamented about the horrid awkwardness her song had created- to which Kevin was no help resolving).

Could she come to the studio and revise some lyrics with 3RACHA? Sorry Jisung- the vocal instructor wanted to talk about her upcoming ‘SKZ player’ drop. But she’d be happy to discuss it later if he dropped by her dorm.

Chan was stuck with the baseline and the others couldn't help? Whoops! She’d promised to go out to dinner with Yeosang, it had been a while since they’d gotten to catch up. Send her the track and she’d give it a listen, but she couldn’t stop by the studio- sorry!

And if that one in particular upsets Chan more than the others, Changbin wouldn’t mention anything about it. (The Jealousy was evolving past their own members it seemed- the prospect of Sunhee liking another person enough to write a love song didn’t sit right with him for whatever reason that no one could guess. Definitely not.)

She functioned for about a week like that before caving and shuffling into the studio one night when she knew it was only Chan there, slumping onto the couch behind him while he nodded along with his headphones- failing to notice her.

He caught her reflection in the display screen though, and turned to greet Sunhee. Before a word could leave his lips she was already talking. “Take out the headphones. Play it for me.”

“It’s not done yet, I’m still messing with the baseline.” But Chan (as grumpy, snappy and jealous as he may be) could never say no to her. So the audio jack is left empty and she stared at a spot on the ceiling as she thought it through.

They’d changed some of the lyrics- with her input of course (Jisung had been texting her at random intervals with revised verses and lines)- made it more direct in true Stray Kids fashion, adding the case file element to style it like an investigation in to love- which was why it had been originally created, an irony to which only Sunhee would know.

The two of them work with minimal talking- just as they always had, focusing on the music and only speaking when they had something to contribute.

And when her generosity of letting Chan suffer in his own perfectionism ran out she dragged him by the hood of his jumper to a nearby restaurant that was open late, collecting the takeaway she’d ordered on her phone. She handed him one box and they ate while they walked, an attempt to stop a discussion about the past week of avoidance.

“I’m sorry.” Chan murmured through a mouthful of chicken.

Sunhee hummed. “I know. Me too.”

And then they're back to normal. She joined 3RACHA for their production sessions and helped them fish out lines from her notebooks to match.

A noticeable mention being a whole page with the tiny words, “hold you this tight. I’m never letting go.” and if Chan recognises the words he’d murmured to her on Jeju Island while messing around in the pool, he doesn't let on.

[ ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ ]

*using MV timestamps,

[ 0:12-0:17 ] Sunhee has the first line, an opening shot of her peeking through the boarded up door, short hair fluffed up as she growled out the line, ‘A new case, an unforgettable case- I'm falling for your fatal attraction.’

[ 0:28-0:31 ] The flaming room that is featured for all but three seconds features Sunhee and Minho hidden in the background pretending to box each other.

[ 0:35-0:38 ] When the first shot of them as police officers, a line split between Chan and Sunhee, ( The uncontrollable emotion You’re on my mind, I never feel alright, Numerous emotions collide, what’s going on. ) It’s safe to say there’s a few fans that go crazy over seeing her with long hair for the first time in a few years.

[ 0:55 ] The transition shows her with the signature dual peace signs she’s notorious for (that Stay make fun of her for not having any other poses)

[ 1:18- 1:22 ] Shots of Sunhee drifting in the police car? That one fed the fandom for a while.

[ 1:39-1:42 ] It would be criminal to not let her sing some of the lines that had featured in her original version so Sunhee takes the second pre chorus- English lines driving Stays crazy when her thick aussie accent shone through.

[ 1:09-1:12 ] In the background of Chan's little alphabet solo, Sunhee can be seen tripping over and face planting - I wonder why the camera angle changed at that moment? (certainly not because the main focus of the shot had lost all concentration)

[ 1:47-1:48 ] Fans find it extremely amusing that police officer Changbin, when faced with the tiny pipi monsters, attempts to use Sunhee as a human shield, hiding behind her.

[ 2:18-2:22 ] Sunhee’s lovey-dovey look past the camera may have been inspired by a certain leader goofing off camera annoying their maknae, but no one had to know that.

[ 2:40-2:45 ] Sunhee and Seungmin centre choreography is insane as they share the chorus with fast footwork and on point facial expressions.

[ 3:05-3:08 ] Her voice blended seamlessly with Chan’s was a point of praise by critics, the octave step up between the line prior highlighting the refrain.

[ 3:10-3:20 ] Sunhee’s adlibs in the final chorus are on point, (which she insists on performing live every time they do the performance)

[ 3:27-3:30 ] they all stroll out, having seamlessly escaped the digital world, her arm slung over Minho’s as they smile to each other and walk past the camera.

[ ᴍᴠ ᴍᴀᴋɪɴɢ ]

The fact they had four days of scheduled filming is enough for all them members to whine and complain- even Minho, who was the most ‘suck it up’ amongst them seemed discontent with their calendar.

The aesthetics though? Amazing.

Day one sees them on a rooftop for the morning, dressed in what Sunhee had taken to calling their ‘sailor gear’ - half of them had sailor hats, although she was lucky enough to be blessed with a beret instead- even if it came with a strip of black leather buckled around her neck like a glorified collar- but she liked the choker, even if it fell hidden behind her hair for most shots.The sailor outfit however, did come with a skirt, a nice flowy black one that fell a few inches above her knee. It was a change from the usual pants that she was given but Sunhee found that she enjoyed the freedom. That was until the weather got involved.

Her skirt kept flicking up in the wind, cue Sunhee angrily sitting at every possible opportunity to stop flashing the entire crew her bike pants. Just finished the choreography? Sunhee’s on the floor. Review break? She’d already dropped the ground, sitting on the edge of her skirt and growing at the passing wind.

Shooting for photo cards is difficult, the wind making it near impossible to keep her hair out of her face- the stylist didn’t want to put product in because they were planning on dying the bleached highlights pink over lunch.

Jeongin waddled over to take pictures for her instagram update that would probably never happen- amongst all the boys Sunhee preferred to post pictures of them together instead of her selfies, much to Stay’s frustration.

Day one lunch was a source of amusement for the members, Sunhee struggling to eat her tteokbokki and not jostle the strips of hair coated in hot pink dye and foils- there were far too many images that come from it she fears will resurface around her birthday. Changbin: Sunhee your face is going to get stuck if you keep scowling. Sunhee: I’ll sue you for the damages then.

Felix had taken to calling her Merliah Summers- as in the barbie character.

After a good hour her hair was washed and blowdried, puffed up all fluffy to make her look cute- matching the heart jeans and little red and white jacket as well as the glitter stars they’ve dotted along her cheeks.

The second film location of the day was some weird prison-yard type thing with flowers growing through the fences.

Armed with balloons, the ‘heart skz’ are told to run up and down the camera shot, like they were crazily in love- jumping screaming, the lot. It’s an odd instruction but they fulfil it.

Minho was having the time of his life with a heart tube, whacking all the members. He tries to smack Sunhee but she side-steps and jabbed her index finger into his waist instead, making him jolt and yelp in surprise. Minho: Chan-hyung, I’m being bullied. Chan: It's probably deserved.

The shipping yard might have been Sunhee’s favourite filming location though- mainly because of the car.

When she was having her hair extensions clipped in, for her police SKZ concept, she’d overheard it.

Then the director informed them that they would be getting stunt drivers to do skids and drifts, she’s immediately trying to convince them to let her do at least one.

Sunhee: Please! I learnt how to do them at a propper track and everything! (technically not a lie, she had, just six years ago) Director: It’s dangerous Sunhee-shi, Sunhee: What if I just do a small one? Imagine how cool the shot would be.

Maybe it was because they also had Sunhee drive race cars in their God’s menu MV to extreme degrees of success, but the directors were persuaded by her persistence that it would be a banger shot. They had her talk to the stunt driver they had brought in, and he ran it through three times first, ripping in the clutch to drift around a corner that the directors had marked out. They did it twice more with her in the car.

Their producer, the lovely man that he was, gave Sunhee thirty minutes at the end of shooting to get the drift right. She got it in 17. (who said her time spent slightly not-quite-legally drifting and doing burnouts in Australia wouldn’t come in handy for her career).

Safe to say that the shot of Sunhee, drifting around a corner with steeled expression and hand white knuckled on a steering wheel is used in a lot of edits online- from making the ‘stay in your lane’ joke, to the ‘exit 12’ meme format. Oh and thirst edits, but those pop up whenever new footage of her driving is released- apparently she’s a hot driver?

Day two was the police station set- one Sunhee loved bounding around and looking at all the detailed props- the case files even had writing in them! Profiles on all the ‘heart skz’ members! (hers said something about doe-eyes, which had made her blink at Felix and ask if she had big eyes. “No, you’re just very good at looking guilty.”)

Filming was spent tripping and falling over- trying to escape the heart monsters or whatever they were to be edited in during post-production. Sunhee was definitely going to have a bruised tailbone from falling on her arse so much.

The missions for the MV behind, because there were always missions, was to ‘Send STAY, a "143" signal with 1 spoon of uniqueness and 43 spoons of affection’

Needless to say they were expecting Aegyo, which no matter how many times she did it, Sunhee still couldn’t wrap her head around it. Sure she could pout and whine occasionally- but Changbin’s level of Aegyo? Yeah, she could never commit to it that much.

Minho dragged her into the camera frame between him and Chan, it being their turn for missions- Hyunjin and Changbin having done their’s on day one.

“We have to show our love. To Stay.” Chan’s short choppy sentences that have become an essential part of one of the characters he takes on while filming from time to time (the other essential element being his iconic phrase ‘I’m five’).

He demonstrates his spoonful of uniqueness and 43 spoonfuls of love in typical Chan fashion, by using sign language.

Minho attempts to justify his decision to give Stay ‘his fist’ by claiming it’s the same size as a human heart, but he can’t give them his heart, now can he?

He instead settles for punching Sunhee.

It takes a second to think of her way to complete the mission without aegyo- which is always a last resort for her. She settled for proposing. With a handcuff.

“Stay, I love you. Would you do me the honour of being chained to me for the rest of our lives?” She knelt, the pink heart shaped cuff looped around her right wrist, the other cuff held out to the camera on her left.

Minho cuffed the second cuff around the desk edge, leaving a frowning Sunhee trying to unlock them. Chan is no help and simply laughed as he waved the costume designers over to ask about keys. “Aish, our little heart thief has been locked up. Can’t escape the consequences of being such a charming neoguli.”

It’s a joke on her SKZOO character, sun-guli, a raccoon that fans had nicknamed as a ‘heart thief'. Sunhee stuck her tongue out at him.

Eventually she’s freed by the costume designers who thankfully, hadn't thrown out the keys for all the toy handcuffs they’d bought (they’d learnt their lesson after the debacle of the ‘Vernon’ MV shooting when the cuffs had locked up and they had to use pliers to free some of the members). The lady who freed her laughed good-heartedly about it, being happy they had the foresight to leave all the keys in a little plastic bag for safe keeping. “Honestly though, we thought it would be Han-ssi who needed freeing.”

After doing a few choreography run thoughts - to which the only major mistake was when Sunhee tripped over a slightly too far left shoe belonging to Jeongin and stacked it (landing on her bruised collarbone, again).

They change sets and are given the task of running along the set, there’s a few takes before they’re ushered away to change outfits. Their ‘heart skz’ personas come with the task of marching in a line. Which is significantly harder than one may have thought.

Sunhee led the charge, along the top half of the set, that’s about four or five metres high and atop a greenscreen block- one more block half the height, positioned in the centre to make it easier to climb up and down.

The first attempt is a miserable breakup letter to their renowned synchronisation- not even managing to get the left-foot and right-hand motion correct, let alone the timing.

The second not faring much better as they lose the plot halfway though. Ever the budding genius, Seungmin suggests that they all just march on the spot until it comes time to move, to save themselves having to try and join and sync up with everyone else part way through.

Cue changbin pretending to push Sunhee off the platform and forgetting his own strength and actually making her lose her balance. Lucking the ever observant Hyunjin caught her arm and stopped her tumbling off the edge. It’s good natured, they laugh. Changbin looks like a kicked puppy until she trips him later on and gives him a shit eating grin. “Pay back, Bin-ah. What goes around comes around.”

Minho’s jump was a highly anticipated event that took shockingly few attempts for success.

He jumped down the greenscreen blocks seamlessly, not even afraid, and it made Sunhee smile knowing how far he’s come with his fear of heights. That doesn’t mean she’s above teasing. “Wow, Lee Know-ssi!”

The director mirrors her cheers and gives him far too many compliments to handle as they watch Minho’s ears turn a vibrant shade of red.

Minho: Shut it Sunny Sunny: But what if I want to give our star actor the compliments he deserves? Minho: Go give the maknae love instead. He’s pouting. Sunny: But Minho-ssi, you’d be such a great drama lead. Minho, unamused: really? Sunny: Yeah, In one of those ones where the boy is an arse to pretty girls. Minho, with his fists raised: You wanna go?

Day three sees them in both new outfits and on a new set.

The mix of gold and black matching surprisingly well with the set’s car crash of fluffy pink fabric mountains and pompoms.

Sunhee’s own outfit is mostly black leather, golden dragon design crawling up the left sleeve of her jacket and maticking stickers lining the boots she’d been given. All in all, not bad. Except for the blue contacts, those irritated her- actually spooked her everytime she caught her own reflection with blue eyes. Creepy.

They were instructed to look like love sick puppies, and positioned around the set by the director. Sunhee hangs upside down on one of the smaller mounds of fluff. She laughs and giggles, screwing her eyes shut with the most dumbstruck and in love expression manageable.

The directors tell her good job and Sunhee opens her eyes, glancing to the side of the camera and seeing Chan making faces at Minho, a stupid smile on his face as he poked his tongue out. Honestly, the sigh that left her lips, content smile taking over and utter bonelessness that took over her body for a few seconds as she took in the sight of his smile- the real, propper, one- was unexpected. What was even less expected was the director's shout. “Nice Sunny-ssi! That’s perfect!”

She startled and glanced back at the camera, feeling a little bit like an idiot for getting distracted. A warmth speed across her cheeks, just slightly- not enough for anyone to notice, but enough for her to press the palms of her hands to her cheeks to chase it off.

They move on to running into thick plastic- apparently it’s supposed to mimic the screen and their escape from the digital world, which will be led by Minho, their star actor as Sunhee doesn't fail to remind him.

The plastic panel was small, maybe two metres in width, which meant they had to stick pretty close together to all be in frame, overlapping limbs, some people crouching to give more level to the shot.

Sunhee knelt slightly between Chan and Jisung, and when they charged at the screen she cursed herself for taking comfort in the way Chan pressed against her back, hand on one side of her face and breath fanning against the skin of her neck. He placed the hand on her shoulder before letting it fall, trailing down her back as they stepped away from the screen, annoyingly kind and gentle- so much for this song helping her work though the emotions. If anything it was just making her mushier.

Their choreography goes pretty well, only having to reshoot the segment twice,

Photo cards are shot for the new outfits and Sunhee’s blinding grin is a direct result of Jeongin tripping over in the background, sprawling out and just laying there for a few moments, pout very visible. He caught her laughing though and quickly sat up, bolting towards her. He tackled her onto the mountain of plush fabric and fake furs with relentless squeezes to her waist, every jolt making her giggle.

Jeongin was dragged over to complete his own mission and she leaves him with the parting advice, “don’t let minho cuff you to a desk.”

Back at the police station set- now heart-ified (after Sunhee is subjected to them clipping extensions into her hair again) the break while the crew establish camera framing is spent trying to hit the ceiling- or well the fake ceiling.

It’s mostly her and Chan (Because if there is a low hanging sign or doorway he just has to smack it. It’s like an unspoken rule of Christopher Bang) but everyone gives it a shot- no one succeeding, Hyunjin gets pretty close but everyone blamed that on his natural height advantage- even if their height spectrum was differentiated by all of 12 centimetres.

Felix’s inability to catch the heat plush is immensely amusing- more than it should have been.

Felix: Sunny stop laughing! Sunny: But it just goes flying every time! Felix: This is mean. It’s not my fault I was born with small hands!

The appearance of Peter Han and subsequent re-naming of ‘Real Hwang’ is also amusing, because she liked listening to them speak with the most chaotic of accents, Influences from Australian thanks to the three natives, American from all the media they consumed and British from the classes taught in schools.

Day four is another new set- and it’s everything she’d ever dreamed of.

As a long time Stephen king fan and horror enthusiast, when the MV director told them there was carpet from the shining- what had already been a visual metaphor within the film (the outer hexagon- the hotel, keeping the inner hexagon- the evil, trapped.) Sunhee couldn’t contain her bubbling excitement- meaning she pestered all the members with her ‘The Shining’ knowledge and praised the ground their MV director walked on.

Their ‘star actor’ as Sunhee had taken to calling him, demonstrating to Felix how to look love-struck is a meme format waiting to happen.

Then there’s the chicken/can I be your boyfriend scene, which is rather impressive (Even if Hyunjin keeps laughing and is sentenced to stand silent in the corner).

Sunny: I think you might have some competition. Minho: You mean Yongbok? *scoffs* No way. Sunny, teasing: I thought you hated being our acting star? Minho: …

In retaliation he chases her around the flaming room as Hynjin ran his lines a few times over, throwing fake punches and boxing each other.

The hallway is cramped but they do a few takes of choreography in it- for the introduction.

And they conclude with Sunhee saying the opening line through a bashed in section of door, Minho charging in like a maniac to peek through. The final slate means a nice sleep in the next day- as promised by staff for their excessive filming schedule.

[ ᴀɴ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ]

Sunhee left in the most comfortable clothes she’d worn in over 24 hours, a nice baggy hoodie to fight the autumn chill and straight cut jeans that were loose enough for her to curl her legs up as they drove home.

Her and Minho ran their dorm- keeping the youngest three in check. But that night was not one that required any sort of ’keeping in check’. They just ordered takeout from a restaurant down the street, ate in silence and passed out in various places around the dorm. Minho maked it back to his bed, so did Seungmin, but Jeongin passed out on the couch and Felix, who followed Sunhee back to her room babbling about some post he’d see on instagram ended up clocking out half draped across Sunhee on her mattress.

She tucked him tighter against her side, pulling out her phone to record the noise of his snoring- that was more often than not soft, but significantly louder when tired. She sent it though to bubble, it’s not loud enough to be embarrassing, but she knows Stay will find it cute.

Audio message attached Sunny: can you guys hear lixie snoring? Sunny: it was a big day. Sunny: he fell straight asleep.

Surprisingly, the daunting prospect of a love song, one that would be released in just a few weeks, had not been as terrifying as she’d thought it would be. Actually, it had been fun.

A film set with cool details like typed out case files and references to ‘The Shining’, fun and bright backdrops and the rare ability to goof off and joke on camera, something not often granted with their more serious tracks.

There was a kind of closure almost, listening to the track, working it through with others and having someone there to poke fun and tease when her ‘lovesick eyes’ got too much. And Jisung discovering who the song had been written about wasn’t as world-ending as she originally believed.

Maybe she wasn’t ready to confess, to ‘send her code’ as they’d so simply put it. But maybe it didn’t weigh her down as much as it did previously.

#9th member of stray kids #skz 9th member #skz female oc #skz addition #stray kids 9th member #stray kids oc #kpop addition #kpop oc #kpop female addition #stray kids female member #skz female addition #skz female member #kang sunhee skz #Sunhee’s Song Book #sunhee's maxident era

42 notes · View notes