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the-roo-too · 3 months ago

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oh haewon x reader; highschool au

warnings: angles and demons: the novel; i kinda hate this

your high school experience was… a little bland. sure, you weren’t expecting to be in the popular groups or whatever, but you thought being a weird theatre kid would get you into trouble with said people. in your school, the cliques didn’t really mix with each other and you just were there.

you still held a little restraint towards the sporty kids—they seemed like the perfect type to bully a kinda smart, arts kid like you. so naturally you kept your distance for most of your years spent in the school.

now in your final year, you were hoping to avoid all of them as much as you could. there was this one girl in particular, a part of the woman’s volleyball team—oh haewon. you two never exchanged a single word, but you had a personal vendetta against her.

she was one of the sporty kids, yet she didn’t seem to be failing any of her classes like in the movies. she was ticking you off, almost as if she was trying to rile you up and prove she was so much better, which she of course maybe was? wasn’t. a big part of you detested haewon and her suspiciously good school performance.

there was a rumour about her probably seducing some teachers to let her pass… but that seemed more like a cheerleader thing than a swimmer.

out of your thoughts knocked you the sound of the bell ringing, signalling the beginning of the literature class. the teacher walked in slowly, sending all of her students a small smile before she tried to shut the doors to the classroom. after her ran in a panting haewon, her hair damp and cascading down her shoulders chaotically.

she must’ve just ran there from the swimming pools, you thought. the team was kind of know for having practices in the middle of the school day, wasting the members lunch period.

haewon quickly apologised to the teacher for being late before scurrying to her usual seat, in the back with some random cheerleaders. you couldn’t be bothered to know all of their names, but lily morrow—a friend of haewon’s—was actually nice, she played in a musical with you on your second year.

you saw the swimmer sit down next to the one popular kid you knew, before you turned your attention back to the front of the classroom, berating yourself for even wasting time thinking about the girl. you wouldn’t admit it out loud, but trying to prove to yourself you were better than haewon was like an obsession to you.

when everyone finally settled down, the teacher cleared her throat to get the student’s attention. it was basically the middle of the school year, so you were expecting her to give out some kind of a big assignment. of course you were right, she soon started writing down topics she’d chosen for the projects on the blackboard. the teacher mentioned you would get your subject assigned by her, yet you only saw about 10 written down on the board, which meant that either some people would get the same topic or-

“for this assignment, i want you guys to work in pairs.” before people could start asking her questions, she quickly continued. “i’m choosing the partners.”

quiet groans of disappointment resonated through the room. the teacher didn’t seem too bothered about it though and she just nodded her head to herself.

“i tried to pick it out so that the pair could work on a topic that’s familiar to them.” and she started calling out names.

your eyes scanned the words on the blackboard. which one could be yours? ‘jekyll & hyde; the study of human mentality’ seemed like something you could be connected to… because of the musical, of course. maybe you’d be partnered with lily? she was a nice cast mate…

just then, the teacher called out your name.

“l/n y/n and oh haewon.” you could imagine your face slowly turning white. “angels and demons; the inaccuracies. that’s your topic, girls.”

the teacher moved on, calling out other names while you sat there, frozen in your place. sure, angels and demons is a great novel, but…

you threw a subtle glance at haewon. she didn’t seem like she’d enjoy a book like that. or understand it. even if she was doing good, almost as good as you you didn’t think she’d understand the complicated matters of antimatter nor the symbology in the series.

your eyes suddenly met, and the athlete sent you a small smile. in her awfully expensive clothes, dark makeup and still wet hair, she didn’t seem all that inviting to you. were you going to argue with the teacher over her partner choice for you? yes. did you think you’d be successful? not really.

trying never hurt anyone, right?

trying did hurt some people, clearly. or maybe not hurt directly, but you got laughed at by your teacher. in the end, she just gave you some bullshit about making new friends and ‘seeing how the two of you were actually quite similar’.

that last part was, in your opinion, complete bullshit. yet you obediently set a quick meeting time with haewon. you thought you could maybe get the material divided between the two of you and then only see each other again to finish the assignment.

now you sat in the library, a comfy hoodie on and the book in front of you. haewon wasn’t late by any means, you just arrived there 20 minutes in advance because of the stress.

you started scrolling through a pdf of the book on your phone, trying to remember more of the details. then, with a soft thud, something landed on the table in front of you. you jumped in surprise, looking up to see haewon placing her laptop down. only she wasn’t wearing her usual lavish clothes, but an oversized and a little worn out sweater tucked into a pair of equally baggy pants. she was also sporting a pair of nerdy glasses—not very in character for her, or maybe?

she gave you a small grin and opened her laptop. “so, how do you wanna do this, y/n?” she knew your name! and she seemed awfully cheerful for an athlete forced to work with a theatre kid.

“uhm-“ you quickly pulled out your notes, not wanting to seem unprepared all of a sudden. “have you read the book?”

haewon bursted out laughing. you awkwardly looked down at your notes before glancing back at her.

“is that a no…?”

“of course i read it, dummy.” she leaned back in her chair and started searching through a bag she brought to the library. then, she pulled out a little worn out copy of the book. if you weren’t really mistaken, that looked like the first edition of the book’s cover.

“oh.”

“who do you take me for?” she continued, placing the book on the table. “there was a reason we were assigned together, you know?”

“right.” you coughed lightly and placed you phone on the table too. now your pdf seemed a little bland compared to her book. there was a couple colourful notes sticking out from it—she must’ve had her own admirations there. “yeah, you’re right. so, i was thinking maybe we could do like a comparison essay-“

“and explain the inaccuracies. that’s what the task is, silly. lily mentioned-“ lily morrow talks about you? “that you were into musicals when i asked her about you. i’d say that’s more historic than scientific so how about you take the church inaccuracies and i’ll do the physics?”

you were annoyed by her interruption, making a small frown appear on her face. before she could notice and correct herself, you slowly replied through gritted teeth. “are you saying i can’t do the science stuff?”

haewon tilted her head with a surprised smile on her face. “the profesor told me so. can you?”

“i can.” you noted down in your phone to do the physics part of the assignment. “you do church. enjoy.”

you stood up and quickly left the library, leaving the athlete all by herself.

a couple days passed from your first meeting with haewon. she slowly worked on her part of the project in the mean time, while also complaining about you to one of her friends.

“that girl is so full of herself!” haewon angrily placed her gym bag on the bench in the locker room. it was the time for (yet another) practice for the swimming team. one of her fellow teammates, pham hanni, chuckled at her and lightly hit her shoulder.

“i thought you liked that band nerd?”

“she does theatre, not band.” haewon slowly swatted stray hairs sticking to her forehead. “and that’s not the point. i was being nice to her! i offered i’d take the harder part of the assignment, cause i wanted to be nice-“

“i don’t think band nerds like when you try to outsmart them-“

“she’s not in a band!” she sat down on the bench, glaring lightly at the vietnamese girl. hanni was making light jokes of her, but she knew she wasn’t truly poking fun at her. “i just feel like she doesn’t like me, you know?”

“you’re so likeable though!��

“you’re the one to talk?”

hanni gasped in offence before punching her teammate in her shoulder. “how dare you. you are my friend so i’d say you like me.”

“shut up. lily said she was nice, so i tried to be nice too. i dunno what’s with her.” with a small huff, haewon reached for her bag, looking to get her swimsuit and water bottle out. upon not finding the second thing, she cursed under her breath. “hanni, you have a water bottle?”

“you just said i’m not likeable.” the korean girl rolled her eyes but before she could make a smart reply, hanni shrugged her shoulders. “but even if you didn’t, i don’t. i forgot mine today.”

“i think i did so too. i’ll just run to the vending machine and get myself some water. be right back.”

she stood up, leaving her bag there and only taking her phone to pay.

“hey, you didn’t even ask if i want anything!”

“oopsies.”

just your luck, the vending machine wasn’t working. or at least, the coin slot wasn’t. your phone was charging in the library and you didn’t have a habit of carrying your card around when you could just pay with your mobile. sitting after classes in the school library made you thirsty, so you were hoping to just get yourself some water. it seemed you wouldn’t be able to do that after all.

then, as if the gods above were mocking you, you heard the familiar voice of a certain swimmer approaching you.

“hey, y/n!” she quickly jogged up to you. you subconsciously scanned her appearance, noticing her clothing style yet again. she was back to the tomboyish clothes, but without her usual dark makeup. you noted silently that she must be going to swimming practice if she’s bare faced.

she’s pretty without makeup. …what?

“didn’t think i’d see you there.” she mumbled, standing next to you in front of the vending machine. there was a short second of awkward silence between the two of you, before she glanced at you with a raised brow. “you’re buying something or..?”

“it’s not accepting cash.” you answered truthfully. one hand in the pocket of your comfy hoodie, you fidgeted with the coins, feeling her gaze on you.

“hm.” the small hum escaped her lips before she gently pushed you to the side, choosing something for herself and paying for it with her phone. “you want something?”

your eyes widened a little at her question. watching as she reached to pick up her water bottle she just bought, you tilted your head awkwardly. “me?”

“duh.”

“oh.” you cleared your throat before nodding in a semi shy manner. “water, please?”

“sure thing.”

…

“you know, i wasn’t actually doubting your smartness or anything.” you blinked slowly as the athlete handed you the water bottle.

“what?”

“with the assignment. i asked to take science because i honestly am not very well informed in that field. i came off the wrong way.”

“oh.” your short answers almost made you cringe internally, but what could you do? as you were about to hand her the change the vending machine wouldn’t accept, as a payback for the water, she stopped you.

“it’s fine. listen, this will sound really stupid but lly talks a LOT about you and i think you’re really cool? we could work on the assignment in some coffee shop outside of the campus if you’re up for that.”

the way her cheeks were coated with a subtle blush made you smile a little. “i guess we started off the wrong foot. sure.”

“so, it’s a date?”

“woah, not so fast-!”

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loonarii · 8 months ago

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Ari's K-Pop Roundup: March 2024 (ILLIT, ARTMS, CHUNGHA, VCHA + MORE)

Check out last months installment here :) sidenote: sorry about this episode being a bit heavy on the smaller reviews - have been experiencing a cruel and unusual combination of illness and exam season lol - next month will hopefully be slightly better

Magnetic - ILLIT (SUPER REAL ME)

Whether you watched HYBE's 2023 idol survival show 'R U Next?' or you had the self preservation to skip it, if you were into k-pop at that time, you definitely heard about it. The show gained attention from the community originally because it was from HYBE, the newest, and arguably currently the most influential k-pop company goliath, and because HYBE's girl groups (notably Le Sserafim and NewJeans) are famous for influencing the kpop scene instantly upon debut, and maintaining their spots in the top 10s of the charts for many months. This was HYBE giving us a look behind the curtain at the making of the next big girl group, and letting us call a lot of the shots along the way. Or at least that's what it was supposed to be. Rigging in these type of idol shows is practically expected, but HYBE was a new offender, and their crimes weren't only frequent, but pretty obvious. The fans protested, but nothing changed. ILLIT, the group that emerged on the other side, was a group that was hardly a showcase of the talent on display on the show, nor a reflection of the fans and their biases. It was a reflection of who the producers felt fit their pre-established concept for the group, an influencing factor that wasn't made clear to the fans watching, nor potentially, to the idols participating. Ironically, since the whole point of a survival show is to drum up support and build a fanbase for a group's upcoming debut, ILLIT has arguably started off on a worse foot than if they had just dropped 'Magnetic' on YouTube out of nowhere, NewJeans 'Attention' style.

However, regardless of their rocky start, ILLIT is here, with their debut mini album 'SUPER REAL ME', featuring the title track 'Magnetic' - let's talk about it. 'Magnetic' capitalizes on that glitchy, 8-bit, distorted, bedroom pop sound that's been blowing up recently, both in the k-pop industry by NewJeans, LOONA, and tripleS, and in the western space by Pinkpantheress. It's easily catchy, and highly danceable, and the members sound amazing on it - I felt especially drawn to Minju's delivery, her vocal tone is beautifully unique, and Wonhee did a stellar job as the centric member of the choruses. Magnetic's allusions to NewJeans are undeniable, if only lacking that certain NewJeans je ne sais quoi. I don't really have a problem with this, if I get more fun songs out of groups allegedly 'copying' NewJeans then it's a win for me, my only fear is that if ILLIT doesn't find their own niche they will be called knock-off NewJeans for the rest of their careers, which isn't fair to the girls. TripleS got accused of something similar back with AAA's 'Generation', but since then they have carved out a space for themselves in the industry, making music and exploring aesthetics others aren't.

As for the b-sides, I was kind of obsessed with 'My World', even though it is functionally an intro; it's such an unexpected earworm. 'Midnight Fiction' is cute, even if I think it needed another hook or layer of production to elevate it more. 'Lucky Girl Syndrome' is slightly better than 'Midnight Fiction', but a bit worse than 'Magnetic'. It's very obvious that the title came before the track, and it bizarrely sounds kind of like 'Sensitive' by Loossemble? The chorus is slightly weak, but I am obsessed with the instrumentation and the production choices - this song sounds nothing like NewJeans, I really hope they draw from this vibe in their future releases.

Overall, a pretty decent debut. You will definitely catch me streaming 'Magnetic' over the next few weeks, whether it will have the longevity to stick around in my playlist for longer remains to be seen. Good luck ILLIT, you've had a rough start in the industry, but it's clear that they have a big career ahead of them, and I for one, am seated.

Pre1: Birth - ARTMS [LOONA] (Dall)

After an iconic run of Haseul and Heejin's solo projects, as well as ODD EYE CIRCLE's first release out of BBC, 5/12 of the LOONA girls are here as ARTMS. 'Birth' is a song that operates outside of the conventions of kpop formulae; its experimental, confrontational, melancholy and bears an undercurrent of rage. Tonally and structurally it is unique from anything being released right now, and lyrically its compelling and mysterious. If this is a taste of what the upcoming album is going to sound like, I am extremely excited.

The music video is one of the best kpop has to offer - its so unlike anything else I have seen. I heavily encourage you all to go check out the theories the orbits/ouriis have been cooking up because LOONA LORE IS BACK!! I am very curious if the loossemble lore will link to this in any way, but that remains to be seen.

EENIE MEENIE - CHUNG HA, feat. HONGJOONG

Chungha is back, with a new company and an old concept. I'm not sure how to feel about this track, its clear she feels very confident in this style and it does suit her more than 'Sparkling', but I think 'Sparkling' was overall a better song. The production of 'Eenie Meenie' is very high quality and I especially loved that guitar layer in the chorus, and bringing Hongjoong in for a verse was a great call, he fits the song and matches Chungha's vibe perfectly. Unfortunately however, I don't find the chorus to be very catchy, which is clearly what the song is banking on in order to chart. The whole 'eenie meenie minie mo' thing is odd, but honestly could have been worse if this song had been given to anyone other than Chungha, the real death sentence for this song was the lack of interesting melody. I'm happy that Chungha is now making the kind of music she wants to, I just hope that the quality of releases go up in the future.

Only One - VCHA

Who knew that when Fifty Fifty crumbled due to their (allegedly) god awful company, it would be VCHA of all groups to successfully pick up the retro girlpop gauntlet?? 'Only One' is genuinely so fun, that post chorus is a killer, and even the mildly awkward writing clears up after the first verse. The girls have such great chemistry, and they are all genuinely improving their skills every comeback, and although I may have questioned JYP's decision to debut girls who had barely been in training, seeing the girls improve in real time is lowkey actually a selling point - like now I want to pay attention to them to see how good they are going to get?? JYP making an intelligent marketing decision?? In this economy?? Congratulations VCHA, you have officially established yourself as a force to be reckoned with, KATSEYE had better bring the heat when they debut to compete with this.

MINI REVIEWS:

Get Goin' - aespa: did you know this song existed? no! Is it surprisingly really fun? well yes! not sure what aespa has to do with fraggle rock, but if it takes Apple TV spamming SM Entertianment's dms to get aespa to release more music, then that's what must be done.

The knight who can't die and the silk cradle - LUCY: (req. by @a-moth-to-the-light) I've always been mildly aware of LUCY, but until my moot requested I review their latest release, I had never heard any of their songs. Needless to say, I was severely impressed. This song is so cinematic and heartfelt - to my knowledge it isn't part of an OST to a particularly cinematic kdrama, but it might as well be. I heavily encourage you all to go watch the mv with subtitles on, or read the translation, because lyrically this is a masterpiece. LUCY, you have officially caught my attention, I will be checking out future releases.

Paths to home - 문채원, HOWUS: The music video for this song, at time of writing, currently has 147 views, I have no clue how I stumbled across it, but I am so glad I did. 'Paths to home' is a beautifully constructed and performed citypop inspired track that to me evokes LOONA's early discography, especially those from Hyunjin's solo project. It is so perfectly constructed to my tastes, I love it to death. I have no idea how 'HOWUS' as a project works, I don't know if it's a group, a company, a subunit, or apparently even when it was released because according to some websites it came out in 2022 (the struggles of extremely nugu kpop cannot be understated), but what I do know is that this song deserves more attention, and I adore it. This is one for the NewJeans, LOONA yyxy, tripleS +(KR)ystal Eyes girlies.

Wish You Hell - WENDY (Red Velvet): SM finally gave Wendy a song that isn't a ballad!!! This song is pretty fun, but I wish it bit more oomph. The lyrics leave much to be desired, but Wendy's vocal performance is naturally very high quality, although I wish she went a bit harder in some sections - she's singing about wishing someone hell, but tonally it sounds like she's serenading them lol. A fun song, could have been better with another few drafts. Seulgi's 'best Red Velvet solo project' crown is yet to slip.

BBB - Purple Kiss: I will never shut the fuck up about how good 'Zombie' is, so seeing them explore similar sounds is so exciting for me!! 'BBB' is a very easy going listen, never awkward, never unpleasant, and although I think it needed a little something more to elevate it, it's a fun song I could easily see myself loving this summer. Swan absolutely ate up this comeback btw.

XXL - YOUNG POSSE: Bizarre sfx aside, I am very glad young posse is attempting to bring back 2000s hip hop into kpop, even if the execution is mildly clunky.

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