#TKEM fan fic

[drivingsideways]

Twenty Questions

@rosyfingered-moon thanks for the tag! :D

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

62 ! :O

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

853,262

What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly tv. Actively, right now, none. Since 2018, it's been cdrama or kdrama, but I've written for Western shows previously.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

4 of the 5 are for The King: Eternal Monarch and 1 is for Beyond Evil.

Algebra (credit mostly goes to co writer @haraxvati for all the heavy lifting) - TKEM, Jo Yeong/ Lee Gon in the realest fake arranged marriage ever

A Soul Divided- TKEM, Jo Yeong/ Lee Gon in which Gon is a total failboat at pretending to be a normal citizen, but guess what, so is Captain Jo Yeong.

Destiny's Child- TKEM, Jo Yeong/ Lee Gon, or the Lee Gon Liberation Manifesto

Before You Came- TKEM, Jo Yeong/ Kang Sin jae, in which Kang Sin jae falls for a man who wants to be ravished by God but the dude ends up crossing the space time continuum for someone else entirely. Love works in mysterious ways etc.

Cat Whisperer - Beyond Evil, Han Joo won/Lee Dong sik. What it says on the tin, really. Dong sik ruminates on the acquiring and care of feral felines.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I respond to all comments, even if it's just a one liner or a key smash. If someone's taken the time to read and enjoy and engage with my work, I want to acknowledge that- and sometimes you make friends through AO3 comment space ! :')

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmm, I have several fics which end on a bittersweet note, but none that I think are completely without hope? Deer Heart is probably one of the most emotionally violent fics I've written, but even that one ends on a hopeful note (at least I see it that way.)

A main character dies in the last instalment of The Stars 'verse, but someone bookmarked it with the comment " the hurt no comfort tag is propaganda bc this does hurt yes but there IS comfort and thats because there is love :') " which was honestly a comment that made * me * tear up ! :')

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

HUGE fan of cloyingly sweet endings for my blorbos, but I do think I end up in the bittersweet column most times? But I guess "Instructions for Dancing" may be literally the fluffiest thing I've ever written.

Do you get hate on fics?

No- I think an occasional comment that made me go ???? because the reader apparently wanted something different when they clicked on my fic, but no real hate, thankfully. I've been blessed with really sweet commenters for most part!

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! Not sure what is implied by "what kind" here- hopefully hot (but also revealing something about the characters and the relationship?!) ? :)) Tbh, smut is not my wheelhouse, and I always find the process of writing it nerve wracking.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

It's not something that I find interesting to read or write usually. I have one unfinished and unpublished Black Sails/ Supernatural crossover that I think was a brilliant idea but I ran out of steam.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I love all my ships intensely, so it's hard to choose! Even if I'm not thinking about them on a daily basis or writing for them or reading fic about them, each of them has a piece of my heart.

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Argh, don't ask me this! There are so many, so many. But in specific, there's a Black Sails au that I really wanted to write and have written maybe 15k of AN OUTLINE for, but yeah, never finishing that.

What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm generally able to deliver an emotional punch very well.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Oh dear. Everything? And I think that's fine- all craft is practice and discipline and I hope I will get better at "everything" as I write more and hopefully more thoughtfully than I have in the past.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think there's only one fic in which I've used complete dialogue in multiple languages (with Google Translate as my guide, SORRY). But I'm pretty cool with the idea of it and I enjoy reading fics that have multiple language dialogues as well.

First fandom you wrote for?

On AO3 it was Supernatural , and was left unfinished- I have since deleted it.

Favorite fic you've written?

This keeps changing, and there's things I love and hate in all my fics, but I guess a drivingsideways "starter pack" should have Destiny's Child in it, and the last fic I wrote "Juche" turned out pretty well, I GUESS.

@cupofteaandstars @elderflowergin @haraxvati @sadviper if you want to! :D

[coreastories]

The Winter Palace 2

Days and Nights of Forever Part 21

By insistent public demand, the continuation of The Heartbeat (and The Winter Palace 1, of course).

Their days and nights in Gyeoulgungjeon. A babymoon in the Corean Alps.

While Winter Palace 1 was The Arrival, this one is Warmth and Heat. This is fluffy fluff fluff and NC-17. 

Well, more than fluff. 

Sisterhood. Sibling shenanigans between two unlikely characters. Impertinent court ladies and cats. 

Read here. 

I’m glad to finally get this done. At least I’m only one season off. Lol. Sigh. 

[coreastories]

Fic Rec. Rewatch Episode 12 and then read this.

Romantic. Sweet. Sexy. Earthy. Intimate. Sweet.

Kudos @collectsfallenstars!

😍😍😍😍😍���👏👏👏👏👏

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 더 킹：영원의 군주 | The King: Eternal Monarch (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jeong Tae Eul/Lee Gon Characters: Jeong Tae Eul, Lee Gon Additional Tags: Smut, Fluff and Smut Summary:

If the curtains hadn’t been closed after the beheading kiss of episode 12, how would the night have progressed for Lee Gon and Jeong Tae Eul?

[stan-of-many]

Me: here I have put words together in a way that gives you feelings, please give me some little hearts and a few happy words back

Ya’ll: here are some little hearts and a few happy words about your words that gave me feelings

Me: thank you I love you muchly 🥺

[ms-interpretation]

So... I wrote a small fic which I shared on AO3 a few days ago... Takes place after the reunion in episode 16, tried to be a little funny.

I’m a beginner when it comes to writing fiction so don’t expect much, apparently this show just makes me do crazy things haha @coreastories​ was incredibly nice and beta’d my first draft, I did re-write some stuff and edit after though so just know that there might still be some errors. Fic also included below:

Reunited

Tae-eul was the first to recover from their tear-filled reunion, standing outside of her home tightly embracing Lee Gon, the chill breeze sweeping over them.

He was finally back. He had found her.

Tae-eul felt a wave of relief wash over her whole body. All the tension which had accumulated in her muscles during the last year missing him and worrying slowly letting up.

Lee Gon meanwhile seemed to be getting more emotional by the minute, she could feel a few cold tears falling down onto her cheek, and while Tae-eul was softening in her embrace of him, he only held onto her tighter. As if scared that she would suddenly vanish.

The sudden thought made Tae-eul hug him closer. A memory of another version of this moment flashing through her mind.

“Is it really you?” he had asked her, half in agony half in hope. How many parallel universes had he been to since they last saw each other? He must have been lonely. She had never before felt so alone as she had during this last year.

Feeling yet another gush of cold air sweep over them, she decided to take action. She slowly and gently started to break up their embrace. Lee Gon allowed her to. She could feel his reluctance however, and he immediately took hold of her left hand.

She was going to tease him about being clingy, but looking up at him she was met with his adoring, but tear-stricken face. Her heart ached a little at the sight. So instead she flashed him a bright smile, which he returned with a gentle one. But then he looked away, avoiding her gaze while blinking repeatedly - seemingly becoming aware and slightly embarrassed about his lack of composure.

”Okay, okay…” Tae-eul said, while using her free hand to turn his head back towards her, using her thumb to try to wipe away his tears. “Come here, let’s go inside”. Gon only managed to chuckle wetly in response.

Taking the lead, she dragged him after her up the stairs and towards her door. Before going in, he tugged her hand to stop, and with slight desperation tried to wipe away his stubborn tears, which still kept falling.

”Don’t worry about it,” Tae-eul told the now slightly awkward and clearly struggling proud King. ”My father is not even at home… and he is a bit of a cry-baby as well.” The comment earned her a startled but bright laugh, making her heart feel impossibly light. She just couldn’t help teasing him. She had missed it. She had missed him, and now he was finally here.

***

Inside, Lee Gon was shuffling around in her kitchen. Officially for the purpose of making them tea, having insisted that he should be the one to do it while she sat down. Tae-eul saw through him however - he was clearly actually trying to regain some semblance of composure before returning eye contact again.

After hanging up the beautiful magic lilies he had brought her in her room she sat down at the dining table. Observing fondly how the now almost recovered King was moving around between the stove and cupboards, the memory of the last time they had been in her house flashing through her mind.

It felt like it was so long ago. In a manner of speaking it had only been about a year, and in another way - to most of the world, it had not happened at all.

She remembered her father’s face, the lack of recognition, when she had for once mentioned Lee Gon’s name. She had been too tired, and her father had asked about her necklace for the third time that evening. There were no words to describe how awful it had been seeing her father’s confused expression. It had been an unexpectedly stark reminder of Lee Gon’s absence.

Gazing out of the window, observing the trees now moving with the breeze, Tae-eul couldn’t help but recall how she had simply walked out of her house that evening. She had walked around Seoul for hours, not returning home until dawn. She couldn’t even properly remember where she had been. She had promised herself not to do that again, for her father’s sake - and for her own. Thankfully her dad hadn’t noticed, having gone to bed before she left and not woken up before she returned. He had however never brought up her necklace again after that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the two blue cups of tea Lee Gon sat down on the table in front of her, his hand settling on her shoulder as he shot her a concerned look. “Are you alright?”

She just nodded in response smiling, and he dragged out the chair to her right to sit down next to her, his gentle smile in response to hers managing somehow to ease the pain of the memory.

They sat there for who knows how long talking and drinking tea. When Tae-eul told him about going into the in-between with Lee Lim, Gon suddenly clasped onto both of her hands on the table firmly, but didn’t interrupt, which she was incredibly thankful for.

As she told him exactly how everything had played out in the space between their worlds he only gave her a long look, a mixture of worry and guilt, but also gratitude being reflected in his dark eyes. She could tell that he had reached the same conclusion as her. That it likely was because she had been in the in-between when time ‘reset’ that she could remember him.

She couldn’t help but notice how his expression was not too dissimilar to the way he had looked at her when she had told him how she’d missed him, when he had finally reached her after she had escaped from Lee Lim’s henchmen. She also realized that she wanted nothing more than to erase that hint of guilt from his eyes, and she started to gently play with his thumbs to try to reassure him.

“Thank you for coming back”, she said, suddenly feeling that it was important to make him understand just how much it meant to her.

He just looked back at her and she was struck by how vulnerable he suddenly seemed. His hands had squeezed onto hers harder as she had thanked him. His expression now reminiscent of when he had admitted to her that he had worried, in the aftermath of her first visit to the Kingdom of Corea, that she wouldn’t want him to come back. She recognised that look of slight fear reflected in his eyes from that time.

“Thank you”, Gon replied, while he reached over and hugged her close. He repeated his thanks several times in a soft slightly wavering voice next to her ear as he held onto her, cradling her close.

Tae-eul was not sure if he was thanking her for simply being where he could find her, or if it was for remembering him. It felt impossibly big whatever he was thanking her for. Hugging him back tightly however, she couldn’t bring herself to ask at the moment. He was here with her. He was okay. That was all that mattered.

They sat like that for quite a while. Later when she asked him about how the coup had played out she could feel him tense up.

Being no stranger to interrogations with somewhat unwilling witnesses Tae-eul knew that he was holding something back, and promptly used one of her remaining unused rules to demand he tell her the whole truth. He leaned back and chuckled in response to her pragmatic request, the playful spark in his eyes having returned.

His laugh was probably one her favourite sounds in the world, she realized, shaking her head, internally chided herself for being silly.

When he finally told her about his initial plan to wait to shoot Lee Lim until the traitor was strangling his younger self her heart almost stopped. The sheer panic she had experienced when his flowers had started to disappear suddenly resurfacing. She hit his shoulder. Hard. He yelped, probably more in surprise than pain but still.

”Are you crazy?!” she exclaimed. He turned fully towards her in response, looking at her with a heavy expression and held onto her hands tightly while continuing to tell her about that night. About Yeong’s refusal to abide by the King’s final request, and about how her words about choosing to be brave had dared him to let the night play out differently.

“There was a beautiful, and simple equation”, he told her, smiling that gentle smile she had missed so much. Tae-eul felt her sudden distress drain away as she took in his words. Focusing on his hands which still held onto hers tight. The contact reminding her that he was here now. That there were no more murderous uncles hiding in the shadows and no universes on the brink of breaking apart.

They made more tea, and continued to talk about everything. Big and small, about how Eun-sup and Jo Yeong were doing. She was delighted to hear about Yeong’s new siblings and Gon was very excited to hear about Eun-sup’s career successes. He looked almost like a proud parent Tae-eul realized, crossing his arms with a very pleased expression when she told him about how Eun-sup had recently started working for the NIS. They talked about their new memories, Tae-eul laughing at Gon’s embarrassment as he told her about how he had as a child idealized his new rescuer to Yeong during their childhood, and at his complaints about how Yeong nowadays was way too smug with himself. They also talked about their “old” memories, about the two versions of their first meeting and the subsequent days. They laughed fondly at how they had both been taken aback by the other’s “forwardness”.

***

At some point later they were sitting on her sofa and Gon was tugging down his black shirt, having taken off the glorious suit, to show her his - or rather the lack of, his former scar. She couldn’t stop her fingers from tracing over where she remembered it used to be. Lee Gon went very still. She realized she could feel his pulse, which was beating fast as she started tracing over the top of his collarbone. Almost like as if under a spell she continued tracing her fingers over his naked skin, feeling his pulse beat harder and faster.

Gon suddenly took hold of her wrist, stopping her, and she realised that he was breathing harder than before. His face now only centimetres from hers, and meeting his eyes she saw how they had darkened and there was a soft, and slightly desperate look in them. She slowly brought her hands up to hold his face, gazing intently into those dark eyes.

Longing, was what she saw, and she knew immediately that he must be seeing the same sentiment reflected back at him in her eyes.

He’s really here.

She used her hands on the sides of his face to suddenly pull him into a kiss. It was hard and more desperate than anything else. She needed him closer and feeling him against her she was suddenly struck with the realization that she wouldn’t ever let him go.

Gon was not slow to respond. Deepening the kiss, slowly taking control and calming it down, withdrawing after a long moment, resting his forehead against hers,

“I missed you.” He said with such raw emotion, voice low and slightly horse, that Tae-eul suddenly felt almost overwhelmed, her tears threatening to resurface.

A few long seconds passed and then the playful spark returned to his eyes and he smiled teasingly at her.

In the next moment Gon had manoeuvred them so that he was hovering on top of her, while she was under him with her back against the sofa, his arms supporting him. The transition was not smooth, as she had simply refused to let go of him for even just a second. Her arms locking him to her from behind his neck, as she hanged onto him. Her heart racing.

Looking up at him, seeing the wanting expression in his eyes, she realized that he was too far away and pulled him down towards her.

“Tae-eul, are you home?” Her father’s voice suddenly rang out from the yard “Help me with the groceries!”

As quickly as Lee Gon had pounced he had thrown himself back. Standing suddenly very tall in her living room, hair a mess, and overall looking way too dishevelled. He had probably never looked less like a King and more like a normal boyfriend, Tae-eul realized. And she almost couldn’t stop herself from laughing at his frozen almost panicked expression.

It made him look younger. She also couldn’t help but notice that the red slight puffiness around his eyes was now matching the colour of his earlobes. She loved him. So much.

The sound of her dad’s familiar footsteps echoing outside from climbing up their staircase interrupted her musings.

This was not ideal, Tae-eul was no prude but this was... not great. So she threw herself at the door, locking it, and then grabbed the still quite frozen King’s wrist and dragged him into the bathroom. Gesticulating in an only slightly threatening manner that he should wash his face and be quiet. Gon’s face unfathomably managing to become even redder, while he opened his mouth to - most likely, protest. Not waiting for him to respond she shut the door in his face and ran back into the living room.

“Why did you lock the door?!” Her father grumbled, slightly annoyed as she opened it for him, no real frustration in his voice. He unloaded his bags onto the table and she started helping him pick out the groceries. Seeing the two teacups, he asked,

“Was Na-ri here?”, at the lack of response he looked back at her, “Eun-sup?”, “Ah, eh no…” Tae-eul at first hesitated, but seeing the confusion in her father’s eyes she made a swift decision, “My boyfriend is here.” She couldn’t tell what happened first, if it was Lee Gon almost falling out of the bathroom - a consequence of being slightly too tall for the door, or if it was her dad accidentally bumping over one of the teacups. Which she managed to catch just as it it fell off the table.

Lee Gon looked much more presentable now, still dressed in his black clothes, his hair almost covering his eyes, and thankfully neither hair nor clothes were in a state of complete disarray anymore. Her father’s eyes had gone round in surprise at her response and he was now staring at the tall stranger standing in his living room at 11 pm.

“Ah, yes… Good evening, sir,” Gon greeted awkwardly, looking a bit lost, before remembering to bow respectfully.

Her father merely blinking in response, stunned at the sudden development.

“I’m Lee Gon, I’m so sorry to disturb you so late,” Gon said apologetically, voice gaining its usual confidence - and now seeming genuinely, or at least very politely sorry for intruding.

“… Lee Gon” her father repeated, suddenly looking at Tae-eul. “The one who gave you that necklace?” He asked, startling Gon by suddenly shooting him a suspicious look.

“Ah, yes... He works with Eun-sup,” Tae-eul suddenly said quickly, realising that a job at NIS would be a good excuse to avoid having to answer too many questions about what Gon does. “He’s been away... and he’s staying over tonight.” She suddenly added, but before she was able to say anything else she was interrupted by Gon’s startled coughing fit and she realised that her dad looked like someone had hit him over the head with a shovel.

“He came a long way to visit, it’s late, and so we are letting him stay here on the sofa. Alright... dad?” Tae-eul said slowly, slightly worried that her father might actually be having a heart attack. After a few seconds he just nodded, still seeming a bit dumbfounded.

After a few minutes of very awkward conversation, where her father had finally greeted Lee Gon, he had simply wished them goodnight and withdrawn to his room to sleep. Seemingly choosing to simply retreat from the strange situation.

Tae-eul looked for a blanket in the old dresser for Gon, having already given him some oversized clothes to sleep in. She put away their tea cups while Gon was borrowing the bathroom to freshen up and change. Coming out a few minutes later, he was dressed in an oversized blue sweatshirt and black sweatpants that miraculously seemed to fit alright, and Tae-eul handed him the blanket and made him sit down on the sofa. Trying to leave the King on said sofa proved more difficult than expected however. As Gon simply took hold of her hand and refused to let go.

“Don’t go,” he said, and Tae-eul simply stopped pretending like she was going to, and sat down next to him, leaning onto him while he put his arm around her.

“That’s my line.” She said in her somewhat, but not actually, annoyed tone. The one she had used when telling him not to drop romantic lines when she was hungry. Sightly more serious she looked up at him and added, “Don’t you dare leave without telling me.”

“I won’t,” Gon responded, looking at her intently.

“I’m serious, I won’t let you go,” Tae-eul said, and then added in a casual tone, “Yeong can declare me a kidnapper if he wants, I don’t care - also the royal guards have no jurisdiction here.” Gon only laughed in response, seeming very amused at the thought of having been kidnapped.

“I’m the one who won’t let you go, you know,” he then said pointedly, demonstrating his words by grabbing onto one of her hands firmly and holding it up in front of her.

She smiled teasingly in response, burrowing into his side and added before she could stop herself, “Who knew that the King of the Kingdom of Corea was so clingy?”

Gon just chuckled at that and as if taking her words as a challenge he held onto her closer and whispered into her hair something about kidnapping her in turn tomorrow.

“I don’t think I’ve ever slept on a sofa.” He whispered a few minutes later, and Tae-eul didn’t know if she found his quite amused tone at the prospect annoying or endearing. Both probably. She did know for sure that she loved the royal idiot sitting beside her. A lot.

The next morning her father found his daughter sleeping on the sofa, covered by their green old blanket, her head resting on her boyfriend’s thighs as if they were a pillow. The boyfriend in question having fallen asleep sitting up on said sofa.

The breakfast was slightly awkward.

[sadviper]

I adore your stories and miss them! No pressure but are you writing anything of late, and can you share anything about it, if yes? Love from a fan.

;;___;; ahhh, thank you! May I ask what fandom you're in? Currently I am slooooooowly (and I mean truly slowly) poking at a TKEM introspective casefic, delving around pre-canon Shin-jae's internal life as he explores his own confusion about his place in the world, pines for Tae-eul, and gets involved in a case with cult-ish overtones. I probably bit off way more than I can chew, since it covers a LOT of ground I've never done before-- religion, cults, first person POV, navel-gazing semi-plotlessness, non-linear storytelling... in addition to coming up with OCs and backstory from scratch. I even have illusions that when I finish, the fic will be both simultaneously hopeful for Shin-jae within the story (and to anyone who reads it without knowing the canon), but ironically tragic for fandom readers due to him canonically being wiped from existence. But ya know. Getting ahead of myself there... I'm ~25K words in, not even close to finishing, and it's a hot mess. -_-; I think if I ever do reach the end, I'll have to do another first to make it readable: EDIT! (pls let it not be rewriting ;;__;;)

On top of that, since the beginning of the year, I was reassigned to a new position that actually has responsibilities, and tragically I've discovered that my creativity isn't the sort that can compete with a day job. =/

I did post a couple of lines for this story under my #my writing tag! I'm leery of posting more since I'm waffling between ambivalence and disgust with what I've written.

Thank you so much for thinking of my stories though! I started re-reading a novel called "The Last Chinese Chef" yesterday, and even though it's about cooking, it mentioned an old Chinese proverb that states that art walks on two legs-- it not only needs the chef/creator but the gourmand/reader/audience to exist. :3 I hope I'll be able to post again sooner rather than later.

[convenientalias]

2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

I was tagged by @rain-hat. Thanks for tagging me!

Hm. I’m quite arrogant about my work and I write a lot of short oneshots, which means a lot of separate fics have built up. 

...I’m going to just cheat and go higher than 5 things I guess lols.

Some long-ish fics first:

My current project, Like having fangs is something to regret

My Country, Seon-ho/Hwi/Bang-won. Still a WIP. Technically a Bisclavret AU, definitely a werewolf AU. Will the OT3 ever happen? Who knows. It’s about 30k right now and it’s been really fun writing it bc I just crammed in a lot of scenes/concepts I thought would be tropey and fun. A fic of passive-aggressive wolves, unexpected stripping, home invasions, devastating betrayals, etc etc. Also I started the project in October so for Inktober reasons I’ve been drawing illustrations of each chapter, although it’s really really not October anymore.

My last multi-chapter project, The Only Hoax I Believe In

My Country, Hwi/Seon-ho. What if... Seon-ho got amnesia?!?!?! Lols, that’s basically the whole concept of the fic. It’s like 25k of me going “can’t tell if this is karma targeting Seon-ho or Hwi but it’s definitely karma for someone” and then swerving to fangirl over Sung-rok. It was fun to write bc it had angst and lies.

A three oneshot series, I Was a Lover (Before This War)

The King: Eternal Monarch, Jo Yeong/Jo Eun-sup. Just 8k of me going, “what do you mean the main ship people took away from this show wasn’t the self-cest???”

But seriously. What do you mean the main ship people took away from TKEM wasn’t the Jo self-cest ship? Eternally pining for more fic of this pairing. Okay, it was crack, I admit it. (But so is almost every fic in this post anyway.)

And a 30k fic from back in March/April, Computer Parts

Gen fic for Circle: Two Worlds Connected. About 28k. This fic was written about what my theory for Woo-jin’s disappearance had been (the obvious theory, that Human B had kidnapped him) before the show Jossed it. When I was writing it, trifoliate-undergrowth and I called it the Fic of Doom bc it was 28k for a fandom that didn’t exist and therefore a fic that no one would read except me, and that was mostly accurate. But it was fun to write, although a bit less fun to reread, given it’s a fic about a guy being held prisoner for twenty years and a bit claustrophobic.

And some oneshots that I just think came out pretty good:

Left Undiscussed

My Country, Hwi and Bang-won. Five ways Bang-won didn’t talk to Hwi about Seo Geom’s death, and one way they still didn’t really talk about it. I like this one bc the form is weird, five scenes sort of from Bang-won’s imagination (with a justification for why they didn’t happen) and then a brief discussion of canonical events. Basically it’s like 5 canon divergences and a melancholy ramble crammed into a 2.4k fic. Fast oneshot goes zoom zoom.

Separating and joining, O walls of gray

Nirvana in Fire, Jingyan/Mei Changsu. Your basic cave-in fic. Nothing deep to say about this one it’s just tropey and snuggly and I like it.

Seven Red Palms

White Christmas (the kdrama) ensemble fic. A fic about resurrecting a certain character from canon using Necromancy. I wrote this for a fic exchange that encouraged crack and honestly it was just a good time. Also writing scenes with seven characters bouncing dialogue back and forth is something I don’t do often and it’s kind of tricky but it’s a lot of fun if you like all the characters. Which, for White Christmas, I really do.

...I think I might watch White Christmas again this week. It’s seasonal.

Uhh I guess that’s it. I mean I also did do a couple nice My Country pencil sketches bc I’ve been trying to do more art. But I’m about done rambling. It’s been a fun year for writing and drawing for me :)

Tagging: @trifoliate-undergrowth @avauntus @staidwaters @ihamtmus @flo-nelja @general-sleepy @aboxthecolourofheartache and anyone else who wants to do it.

[deokmis]

2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Thank you sm for tagging me Gil ( @therukurals​ ) and Hannah ( @cuddlybitch​ ) !!!! I haven’t created much content this year but I will try!

This My Country set. It is my MOST favourite set I’ve made of all time. I masked the frames individually and I was sooo happy with the product!!

This Woo Do Hwan set from TKEM. He’s so funny and so pretty, one of the brightest spots in the drama. Love the vibe of this set :)

This K-drama fancast of Emma by me! It was just super fun to conceptualize and make!

This Into The Ring/Ballot colour gradient set, I learned a lot about this cool technique and loved the final product too! (also the show is amazing!!)

This Winter Garden quoteset! I loved this ship and the end was so satisfying I just haaaad to use this quote on them!

2020 was a difficult year but I also got motivation to come back to my kdrama blog and gif more so I guess there were some positives! I would like to tag the following lovely content creators (no pressure to do this!!) : @lavenderbyun @rabonghee @jaehwany @junghaesin @gimme-a-chocolate @dramallamaring @thingskateknows @liveasbutterflies @dingyuxi @chaeunwoo @kojiseok

[noona96n]

2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

i’ve been tagged by the beautiful, wonderful, amazing talented and ingenuous @rain-hat. she’s amazing, please check out her works!! esp if u’re in TKEM fandom!! her fics are the fandom’s classics <3 

i don’t really write much this year... idk tbh, i don’t really remember what i wrote & what needs to be updated lol, im terrible at WIPs but i keep making more of them haha

heavenly body & the reimagination (2Moons the series, ForthBeam) a reimagining of Beam & Forth's relationship progression after their night of partaking in pleasure of the flesh ocean of polaris (TKEM, Jo Yeong & Jo Eunseob) polaris is the north star, the one that will guide u home and home is where you're supposed to be loved and understood unconditionally and Yeong's north star is EunSeob, his twin, his soulmate, his twinflame, who loves and understand him regardless of everything in the quiet (my country the new age, SeonHo/Hwi + SeonHo/BangWon ) the title refers to how lies and misunderstanding can fester when we don't communicate honestly with one another, which is fitting for the drama and the fic itself

yes,,,, they’re all WIPs, yes,,,, idk when i’ll be updating asfghjkldi

-

i have no internet friends except @rain-hat and the equally wonderful, beautiful, amazing and ingenious @drivingsideways but they’ve both done this so, uh,,,,

if anyone wanna do this, please do!!!

[drivingsideways]

2020 Creator Wrap: Favourite Works

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Thanks for tagging me, @rain-hat !

I had a productive year, writing-wise! AO3 informs me that I posted a ginormous amount of words, which still surprises me, and also, at this point of the year seems like a fever dream that happened to someone else.

👀  👀 👀 👀

.................??

I guess there are worse ways to have spent this year of our lord 2020, right?

First off, let me fully credit my cheerleaders/handholders @thefeastandthefast and @rain-hat, without whom I probably wouldn’t have written most of this! 

Picking 4 of my faves: 

1) I wrote 43k plus words in  three weeks of sleep-deprived, rage-fueled creativity, as I tried to fix the trashfire that was the historical c-drama “Serenade of Peaceful Joy” in my series “ A Pair of Swallows”. I can honestly say that though I count it among my best work, I never want to go through the emotional turmoil that became this series ever again. Anyways, out of the 11 episode-coda format instalments of this series, my favourite is Legacy. I got a visceral pleasure out of giving my heroine the revenge she was robbed of in canon, and as a plus, I wrote it in a manner that the self-righteous, endlessly pontificating “hero” of the series literally could not speak through the entire story. God, I still get the goosebumps when I recall how I wrote this fic, and the relief-crying that I did after. 

2) Inventing Love is the second part of a three-parter series that @rain-hat and I co-wrote for the k-drama The King: Eternal Monarch (TKEM).  This was probably the most emotion I invested in a fic after the SoPJ stories; I was terrified that readers would hate it, because it doesn’t have a conventional “happy ending”(and also featured a threesome!) This is also the fic that surprised me the most, as I was writing it, because honest-to-god, I didn’t know what I was writing- I was just feeling a lot- until I finished it, and went, oh. 

3) Tell Me The Truth (About Love) This is another TKEM fic and probably the hardest I had to work this year? It kept ballooning in size and scope as I went along and what was supposed to be 20-25k eventually ended up at a 75k epic that took a month of writing for hours almost every single day. It was a humbling experience because I just felt so out of my depth as a writer, all my limitations and ignorance seemed to be constantly playing on a 200inch full HD screen in my head as I was writing it. On the other hand, writing it was also an immense joy, because I got to write a story about second chances and truth and friendship, and those are all Good Things. 

4) Destiny’s Child  Another TKEM fic, god, KES did a number on me, didn’t she? But this was the most straight out fun I had while writing this year, and that’s why it’s on this list. Again, I sort of speed wrote it, because I was going through withdrawal symptoms after finishing the  first draft of Tell Me The Truth About Love, and I wanted to write something silly and  light hearted! It’s not entirely that, but hey, I got to write Gon having his first pot brownie and dancing to BlackPink, and I think that was a very worthy contribution to the fandom.

Tagging the wonderful creators who make my life brighter,  @michyeosseo, @thefeastandthefast,  @sidewaystime​, @no-gorms​

[coreastories]

Abeoji’s Revelations

Little Bean Part 5 of 5-- Now complete~

This is how Jeong Do-in finds out about the little bean. Of course Tae-eul's father wouldn't cross the worlds unaware and unconscious. 

Sometimes the best-laid plans are just silly. 

Plenty of father-daughter banter, some cooking, and a handful of pills involved.

Read here. 

[kaahaani]

I loved ‘To Neigh That’, it is so creative and so heartwarming. I already was a huge fan but that sealed the deal for me, I would have never thought I’d love a story from Maximus’s pov that much. I hope you keep writing for TKEM for a long time, thank you 💗

Thank you so so much for your kind words, I am very surprised by the love To Neigh That has received because it was just a crack fic. It means a lot to hear that it was well-received.

I am truly humbled by your kindness, thanks again!

[stan-of-many]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/35991889

“I hate that I have to just watch you put yourself in danger for me over and over again,” Gon mumbled, seeming to be reflecting half to himself and half to Yeong, “I hate that I put you in danger.”

“Peyah,” Yeong said softly, “It’s what I was born to do and what you were born to do too...”

After a scare, Yeong and Gon have a drunken conversation about the nature of their friendship.

[thirtysixexposures]

Oh my ... the struggle is real. I've never reacted to a kdrama like this before. I tend to get really into fandoms - I was a hardcore Olicity stan for a number of years...then there was Reylo since 2016. Now, TKEM? It's been weeks since the last episode and yet I'm still in the lee min ho & TKEM tags and living vicariously through gifs (of scenes which I have seen hundreds of times!). Tumblr with its scene analysis and twitter with their BTS analysis (and I wholeheartedly agree that SOMETHING IS GOING ON BETWEEN THESE TWO). Waiting for the TKEM squad to throw us some IG scraps! ALSO, ALL THE FICS THAT HAVE EMERGED FROM THIS FANDOM. You guys are all so talented!

Also, re: BTS of TKEM and press conferences and interviews - on one hand I want to know if LMH and KGE are together-together (confirmed dating news)...but on the other hand, I understand that they need their privacy. Both have millions of followers - who would want to share something so precious and new.... In the words of fans on the bird app, we are such delulus. HAHAHAHAHA (I just need to get that out.)

Okay, one last thing. In the SWOON interview, LMH said that KGE sleeps as soon as she lays down. IN WHAT SITUATION, MY DEAR LMH, WOULD YOU KNOW THAT? I mean, I don't think KGE is the kind to just lay about in her chair sleeping in the middle of shooting. So....how exactly?

I really do need to move on. I've said this many times. BUT I JUST CAN'T. This fandom is baby. I LOVE IT.

[sadviper]

2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Succumbing to peer pressure, haha, thank you @rain-hat, @smylealong, @ibelongtomousse, @macgyver-sheriff, @avauntus for tagging me~

It seems the common refrain is that this was the year everyone exploded into massive creative productivity after years of nothing, which is the exact same story for myself. I had read all the strategies of course: write 5 min a day, 1 sketch a day, don’t think about quality, do *something* just to keep the spark alive, etc etc, but it just got worse and worse. Honestly, I had been feeling so dire about it that I had made up my mind to stop trying anymore, because it was so depressing to try and fail so many times that it was much better to not hope at all.

Buuuuut.....then quarantine and telework happened, and woooah, guess what, all I needed was LOTS of time and space to myself where I’m not wasting it in an office checking emails and doing random training to fill all the downtime!!!

Much thanks to the serendipity that had me stumbling into @rain-hat , reading her early JY/KSR fics, and her encouraging me to go ahead and write that office yearly budget oneshot for TKEM (who writes BUDGET fics?? Who reads them???? lol). That’s not in my list here because it was very new and awkward, it was definitely the ball that got everything rolling.

Cut for super long-winded rambling:

1) Before There Was Zero (TKEM)

This was my first big fanfic in my life, and my most popular, and it absolutely gushed out of me in this massive torrent of *I MUST WRITE* where I would walk around at lunchtime giggling to myself, and type on my phone as I went, or wake up at 1am to scrawl something in a notebook in the dark because I couldn’t stop the words from coming. (How I miss that feeling now! ;__;) Actually, it also is the 2nd fully complete long-form story I had ever completed as well, so...lots of milestones here.

Looking back, it clearly was the product of my years of bottled up silence, where I stewed and dragged myself to the office every day wondering if I was going to calcify in a bureaucracy for the rest of my life (yes). But even as an office drone, I learned a lot of valuable lessons in how to manage, what leadership actually is at the worker bee level, the types of games white-collar workers play, and how to be a decent co-worker (and by extension, a decent human being--I don’t believe it’s possible to separate work life and private life. All your personas are you). It wasn’t all a waste after all!

Somehow I connected my day-to-day to the faceless, long-suffering Royal guardsmen in TKEM, headed by the utterly gorgeous, devastating, thoroughly underutilized, comedic prop military action star Jo Yeong, and thought--yeah! :D

2) Nil Desperandum (TKEM)

My biggest fic by far, full novel length at this point, massive in scope, I don’t even know how I came up with it based on the 10 collective seconds of screen time that Jeong Tae-ra and tyrant Jin got as a joke, but I was clearly still on that dam-gushing-pent-up-creative-high because this idea was fighting me when I was in the middle of writing “Before There Was Zero”.

I actually figured out the title while watching “Call the Midwives” where one of the peppy, indefatigable British nurses said to never despair, and I thought, yes, that’s it. All the horrible things I put my tyrantverse characters through, it was only so that when I save them at the end, it will be completely worth it. It’s a bit more violent (nothing beyond My Country levels tho) and quite emotionally dark, but I also tried to inject a lot of friendship, humor, and love into it as well, because there must always be hope.

For My Country fandom friends who didn’t realize, the tyrant!Yeong in this fic is essentially modernAU!Seon-ho, and I lifted Sung-rok entirely from My Country to be tyrant!Yeong’s second-in-command and loyal-superstar-extraordinaire. Writing them in this modern AU, and seeing the positive reception to Sung-rok’s grouchy, dogged devotion was the start of my love spiral for Sung-rok. <3 <3

3) The Veritable Records of King Taejo (My Country)

Going to cheat and lump 3 fics (soon to be 4) into one link. I rested a little bit after “Nil Desperandum” because I had completely emptied myself out at that point, just a husk of an author shell. Then I started poking out oneshots! Each one got progressively harder to write, lol, the creative gas tank was running out of juice, so I had to really start figuring out new strategies as a writer to keep going. One magic tool was coercing recruiting @rain-hat to beta for me, and WOW, THE BEST???? Who would’ve thought it’d be FUN to be edited!!! <3 Due to her efforts, I could avoid the “no beta we die like Liaodong” tag, hahaha.

I grew up watching cop shows, lawyer shows, monster-of-the-day shows, endless procedurals-- so I was super miffed that the drama would imply that Seon-ho spent YEARS just single-mindedly chasing private armies??! No! I want more family and friends development for this sad, dramatic whump child! I want him to be smarter than the show, inherently brilliant despite the stupid he descends into, and be recognized as such by the people who do recognize his value! And I want them all to be happy with no pointless death!

Also, the 4th WIP is now a Sung-rok lovefest written as an ode to his awesomeness, has stretched to 47K+ words, and is being an absolute royal pain to finish. ;__; All the ease and creative fervor from earlier? GONE. I’m a lone salmon flopping upstream on a ladder. I might get eaten before I finish laying my eggs. Any one have tips to get over this?

4) First Translation of Woo Do Hwan Japanese Interviews

More firsts! So much thanks to @ibelongtomousse to inspiring and encouraging me to do some real translating after talking to her about her sublime TKEM fics and translations thereof, and @staidwaters from emerging from the Internet depths to boost/correct my neophyte efforts! I’m now chomping at the bit to do more, even though I may ultimately discover that these interviews have absolutely nothing interesting to say, lol. But my first priority is simply to get better at the language, and 2nd priority is to soak in the words (and photos) of Woo Do Hwan, hahahah. Also, as far as I can tell, no one is filling this niche, so I guess I’ll keep going??

5) Fanart!

I started drawing again! As a procrastination tactic from writing oneshots, but it still was really nice to see that I hadn’t lost the touch entirely. I feel like I’ve mentioned this here and there, but writing wasn’t my first interest--drawing was. Animals first, then people once I discovered anime/manga. I went all into drawing comics, only to face the hard reality that I didn’t know how to tell a story end-to-end. Hence how I started trying to write. Along the way, things happened--I got RSI and had to stop drawing/writing for awhile. I discovered that pictures are NOT worth a thousand words, esp when it comes to long-form comics; my preferred tools of trade (dip pens) ended up exacerbating my RSI problems; then once I got a handle on my RSI, I found I could type faster than I can ever draw, and so here I am. I saw what @convenientalias was doing with their My Country werewolf fic though, so I am excited to try that for my Sung-rok WIP? :D

I think I’m the last hold out among artist/writer friends in answering this wrap-up, hope you enjoyed reading!

[coreastories]

Corea News Digest

A list of all the current updates on the world’s favorite young royals, the King and Queen of Corea. Check this post regularly for new editions, darlings! 

Modern Royals: Meet Tae-Eul, the Mysterious Queen of Corea

Modern Royals: A glimpse into the private residence of the king and queen of Corea (updated with newly released photos)

Modern Royals: Queens Day Q&A About the Queen of Corea

Modern Royals: The protocol of touch 

Modern Royals: 7 Times the Queen of Corea stole our hearts with her smile

Royals Spotted: Is that the King and Queen of Corea?!

Royals Spotted: Queen’s Unbreakable Sword Has Insta! 

Royal Scandal: Proof of the king and queen of Corea’s utter besottedness with each other

A Royal Twin! Meet the Most Honorable Lady Seo-gyeong

Royal Exclusive: the King of Corea bares his heart in a flash interview

Royal Exclusive: Their Majesties are sweet as cake and you need strong tea for this

Love in the Royal Kitchen: A scrumptious glimpse into Their Majesties' routine + a juicy reveal?!

Own A Royal Flat! The King and Queen of Corea in adorable photoshoot for a cause

Royal Triangle? Gong Shin will buy your house and touch your queen

Royal Panic: The queen was lost--and found--in Seoul

Royal Twinkle: The king and queen of Corea have a sweet secret, don’t they? 

The Royal Guard: Elite and formidable and just as soft for their king and queen

Happy Queens Day! The king's cake, the queen's portraits, and a stunning photograph

Queens Day Festival - First Day: The king and queen were late because... shenanigans

Queens Day Festival Recap: Where is the queen?!

Palace Announcement: WE HAVE A ROYAL BABY!

Royal Wedding: We FINALLY have wedding crumbs

Royal Baby’s Fierce Circle: The Queen, Her Majesty’s OB, and the PM

Modern Royals: 10 Times the King and Queen made ahjummas ugly-cry over their romance

The Corean Awards: A reunion of the royal love triangle

Romance and Rowing: The 2020 Rowing Competition for the Children's Cancer Fund

International Day for Climate Action, Daesang Medical Group, and Queenly Impatience

Modern Royals: The queen bares her heart about her new project, her queenship, and the king

Outstanding Royals: The King's Birthday

Outstanding Royals: The King's annual support and promotion for Adoption Awareness Month

The Queen of Corea stuns in London

A Dark Day for Corea (continues with The Heartbeat)

Queen in recovery, villain in prison (follows the Heartbeat)

Corea Fiction 

Inside Joke (Standalone, canon) 

That Situation (Standalone)

The Conversation (HEA With Queen; Read after Corea News: The protocol of touch and The Most Honorable Lady Seo-gyeong)

The First Friday (Standalone, canon)

The Morning After (Standalone, canon)

That bastard, Gong Shin (spinoff for Corea News Own A Royal Flat and Royal Triangle)

Three Hours for Chicken (Companion to Corea News Royal Panic)

Seo-ryeong vs Lady Noh (Companion to Three Hours for Chicken)

The Thirteenth Rule

Favorite Color (snippet)

His Majesty's Favorite Color (full-length)

The Queen's Horse

The Towelette

The Clock

The Talk

Little Bean: Mrs Jang’s Advice

Little Bean: Lady Noh's Tea

Pieces of Paper

The Morning Before

The Ribbon

The Queen's Dresser

The Heartbeat

RPF 

A Ride Along the River (inspired by July 2)

A Drive Around the Coast (Inspired by July 13)