#can I save money teaching in Korea

[strangeauthor]

Nature Warrior Spring!: The latest addition to the long running magical girl franchise that started in the 70's!

Lily Blossom is a new student in Terra High who wishes to one day become the best gardner ever, just like her great-great grandmother. Unfortunately, not everyone sees the value in this, which makes her a popular target for the local bullies. One night, when she gets discouraged, she's visited by a sentient Bellflower who informs her that she's actually part of a long line of Nature Warriors, who's job is to protect the planet and help nature grows! But, recently, the evil Ivy has grown stronger than ever, and wants to drain the world of flowers, and soon, cause the seasons to go out of wack! With the help of three other girls in her school, Lily steps up to the plate to protect planet earth from climate change! But can she do it?

(Reality: Nature Warrior Spring! is an in-universe show in the Chaos universe, aimed for a younger audience in order to teach the importance of protecting nature. It's the show that Nick and Jasmine attached to, and in Nick's case, his powers manifest when he thinks of Jasmine's favorite character. This show plays an important part of Nick's character; his love of his family, especially his little sister, and this cheesy show is the main connection he has of her)

(all images were made on Meiko because I am too fucking lazy to draw goodbye)

Main Characters

Lily Blossom (she/her)

The main protagonist. She's an excitable, but a bit easily distracted girl who wants to be a gardener when she grows up. Unforutantely, her eccentric nature has made he the perfect target for bullies, which takes a huge hit to her self esteem. Thankfully, she isn't alone: with her new friend and guide, "Bell" (the sentient Bellflower who can transform into a teenage girl), and eventually the three other girls in her school, she can accomplish anything! Also she maaaayyy or may not have a crush on the student councilor president. Maybe.

Her powers are based on the season of Spring.

Lumi Halla (she/her)

The richest girl in school, Lumi has a rather snobby personality, and at first, looks down on Lily and her rather "lofty" dream of being a gardener. After all, how can you make money after that? No, to her, being born into wealth is the way to go. But everything changes when Lily saves her from one of Ivy's minion, and at the same time, her powers are born. Now one of Lily's allies (and first friend), her snobby personality all of disappears, and the true, kind hearted girl shines. Most of the time, that is.

Her powers are based on the season of Winter.

Cyrus Gayle (she/her)

A transfer student from Jamaica, Cyrus is a happy-go-lucky girl who strives to make friends with literally everyone. Everyone! She arrives at Terra High not long after Lumi gets her powers, and it takes no time at all for her and Lily to become friends. Lumi...takes a little longer. Her powers manifest after saving her beloved dog--Sunny--from one of Ivy's minion. Despite her fiery powers, she's the most positive member of the team, always there to cheer someone up when they're down.

Her powers are based on the season Summer.

Maple Wood (they/them)

Despite being the student idol, Maple is actually rather quiet and keeps to themself, and not much is known about them since they've returned from their concert in South Korea. In fact, they don't become a member of the Nature Warriors for about two weeks, until their power manifest while their Detroit concert is attacked and they, along with Lily's friends, save the audience from Ivy. Once they become a full fledged member, the girls are shocked that they're actually a total goofball with the worst taste in food combinations (seriously, who puts caramel on tomatoes? Gross!)

Their powers are based on the season Fall.

[runawaysiren940]

Going insane just a little, because the longer I've had to wait for my job in Korea to start, the more research I've done, and the more I genuinely. Just don't want to go. I wanted to go to Thailand, and only passed up that position because I thought a higher paid teaching job would be a better choice.

And then my passport got lost for over a month (and I had to pay for a new one). And then I got in contact with other people who have taught there and really-

I hated Budapest because I could not feel at home there. I felt that I was treated differently because I am biracial, and because I'm gay. I can't go back into the closet. I can't pretend to be something I'm not for a year. And I can't live somewhere where it'll be nearly impossible to make friends or have a social circle. What kind of life is it going to be when you can only rely on or interact with other expats? My mom has also gotten under my skin, because she's superstitious and views the various issues I've had as being proof that I shouldn't go, and it's hard to deny that.

Truthfully, I would like to move back to Southeast Asia. I miss Cambodia. I miss the life I had there. I want to go back.

The recruiter says I need to be in Korea by Monday, after I already booked a flight and had to cancel because the visa is taking longer to transfer than she expected. Which means even if I want to, I can't really book anything until the money is refunded. On top of that, I do need a job that will allow me to save money to start grad school in January, as well as to pay for insulin. I just feel... overwhelmed, and alone, and like I can't trust myself to make good decisions. The repercussions never go away.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Seattle's Unification Church owned mansion sold – and will be demolished

6601 Northeast Windermere Road, Seattle, WA 98105

The original Rolland Denny estate home in Seattle’s exclusive Windermere neighborhood has been sold. On the market since 2022, Loch Kelden was recently sold to developers for what real-estate sites say is $5.999.900.00, “pending feasibility.”

Preservationists could not nominate it as a city landmark because the state Supreme Court has exempted religious entities from landmark designation unless such owners support or seek it. Thus, demolition appears imminent.

This gem of Seattle history is nestled behind a curtain of trees: it's the 7,700-square-foot mansion that Rolland Denny, the first son of Seattle pioneer Arthur Denny, built in 1907.

Shortly after moving in, in 1908, Denny named his new domain "Lochkelden" — loch, meaning "lake" in Scottish; "Kel" for his wife, Alice Kellogg; and "Den" for Denny. Today, it's the only residence left in Seattle where one of the original pioneers lived.

Rolland Denny was an infant when Arthur Denny and the original pioneers arrived on Alki Beach in 1851. The Duwamish Tribe helped keep him alive by teaching his mother to feed him clam broth through the winter.

Like any 100-year-old institution worth its salt, the old Windermere mansion, as it's called, is not without intrigue.

In 1974, the Unification Church, a nontraditional church established by Sun Myung Moon in Korea in the 1940s, bought the property and its remaining 1.7 acres for $175,000.

In 1977, a group of Windermere neighbors, "Save Our Neighborhood," brought a lawsuit against the new owners, questioning their right to use the residential property for religious and commercial ventures. The lawsuit, spurred partly by a popular condemnation of the church's mass marriages and recruitment techniques, was dropped in 1982.

A community feature is access to the waterfront/private beach.

While some neighbors remain uncomfortable with the Unification Church's hold on the property, others applaud the church's efforts to refurbish the house, which suffers from the inevitable internal decay of 100-year-old plumbing and wiring.

"There's so much to fix. I have so many projects. And it's an absolute bottomless pit for money," said Scott Dolfay twenty years ago. He is a carpenter and had been a church member since 1981. In 2001, he helped raise $180,000 from the church for maintenance purposes and estimates he and other church members have contributed over a million dollars more in personal cash, materials and volunteer work since then.

Exploring the old mansion is like peeling back layers of time, he says: There's the false-backed cupboards in the master bedroom, that can be revealed using a pulley-system, rigged to the closet.

_________________________________

Boston UC Mansion at 46 Beacon Street purchased in 1976 for $475,000 now sold for $20.5million

Unification Church sells Cardinal Cushing Villa in Gloucester for $5 million

Jin-joo Byrne was raped and murdered in August 2002. She was just 18. She was fundraising on her own with costume jewellery in Charlotte NC. Some time later it was arranged for Hak Ja Han, on a visit to Seattle, to meet the family who lived there. Hak Ja Han was not very sympathetic. One person understood what she said in Korean.

All these UC members were killed while fundraising for Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han

[androdjinni]

When I was just out of the army and I was living with a roommate our lease ended and I couldn't find anyone to help me pick up the lease. I couldn't afford it myself and my dad was living with somebody else and there was no room for me. My sister was off teaching English in Korea. I was not ever going to go back to the army.

Basically there was not much I could do to get a roommate at the time and I wasn't very good at navigating the world yet. The army only teaches you to be independent in very specific ways.

A friend of mine opened up her attic to me. This is in Arizona so the summer was absolutely brutal. I spent a lot of time trying to save money, painting, playing on my Wii, and sweating so much that I don't know how I could have stood it when I think about it now. And this is fun, that situation ended when the guy she was fucking decided to touch me while i was sleeping. I freaked out so hard I hid in another friend house. They found me sleeping on concrete under a desk in their guest room.

The only difference between me and any person who's homeless and on the street is that I had somebody who had some extra space that they decided to let me use despite their landlord not allowing them to have roommates. That's it.

Anyone who thinks that they're above something shitty happening can go ahead and take a look at everybody who's living on the street who thought the same thing.

Also, do you think you're an independent person who speaks their mind? Have you done it so many times that nobody will give you house room when you need it? How much ass do you feel is appropriate to kiss so that you have a fallback plan? How nice do you have to be before someone decides your homelessness isn't just a result of your bad personality and lack of friends? Did your parents have enough kids so you have siblings to ask for help? Did you have enough kids to take care of you or did you decide to not have children? Did you save enough money? Did you really save enough money? Did you save enough money for medical bills and car problems and people dying and retirement? Did you have every contingency accounted for? WHY DIDN'T YOU KNOW WHAT COULD HAPPEN? Including whatever horseshit the economy does? Oh good, then I guess it isn't your fault.

If you did everything correctly then you get to be one of the "good" homeless, the deserving homeless. Sure hope sleeping on the street doesn't hurt or anything. Sure hope you're not depressed and don't need help for your stress aggravated mental illness. Hopefully you don't need or want drugs or alcohol at any point, you know those things that people who get to have houses get to do when they have bad days? Sure hope you don't argue with anyone in public or talk to yourself while you walk.

If I wasn't such a people pleaser maybe my friend wouldn't have given a shit about me I don't know. Then all the people I work with could look down on me the same way they do all the houseless out there.

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

Another very quiet week at home and work.

I hope you enjoy the links.

Dan Heching and Zoe Sottile • CNN

Estey said Simmons died early on Saturday morning. He had celebrated his 76th birthday the day before. “We lost an Angel today - a true Angel,” Estey added.

I remember Richard Simmons from the 80’s. Always the showman, always enthusiastic, always fighting to teach folks how to lose weight and talking about his own struggles.

R.I.P.

Carmel Dagan • Variety

Bob Newhart, the genteel but sharply satirical comic whose TV series “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart” were huge hits throughout the 1970s and ’80s, died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 94.

I know he’s well know for his television series but I really liked him as Papa Elf in the movie Elf.

R.I.P.

David Nield • ScienceAlert

The probe was recorded traveling at 635,266 kilometers (394,736 miles) per hour on June 29, the second time it’s reached that speed since it launched in 2018. We’re talking around 500 times faster than the speed of sound here.

It’s impossible for me to wrap my brain around the idea of going 394,736 miles per hour. 😳

But, it’s pretty cool!

Lily Hay Newman, Matt Burgess, and Andy Greenberg • WIRED

Only a handful of times in history has a single piece of code managed to instantly wreck computer systems worldwide. The Slammer worm of 2003. Russia’s Ukraine-targeted NotPetya cyberattack. North Korea’s self-spreading ransomware WannaCry. But the ongoing digital catastrophe that rocked the internet and IT infrastructure around the globe over the past 12 hours appears to have been triggered not by malicious code released by hackers, but by the software designed to stop them.

What a day for our global network, Microsoft, and CrowdStrike.

I feel terrible for any shop using CrowdStrike and their DevOps or IT Administrators and Technicians. The only way to fix this issue is to be in the room, in front of the computer.

I once worked at a pistachio and almond processing plant that ran on Windows PC’s. At times I needed access to certain computers and had to get someone to unlock a door for me. Can you imagine having to fix thousands of computers with this issue? Sure, developers and the techies in the organization can fix it on their own and help others, but what a pain in the butt. ❤️

Hafiz Rashid • The New Republic

“I have stood up in rooms with all of these people and I have said, ‘Game out your actual plan for me.’ What are the risks of this going to the Supreme Court? And no one had an answer for me.… I’m talking about the lawyers. I’m talking about the legislators,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

What’s the plan? Seems Democrats don’t have one.

This entire kerfuffle couldn’t have come at a worse time. More than ever we need to be united to stop the GOP in their tracks. They are the political enemy and you defeat a political enemy by beating them at the polls.

Turn out, vote for the Democrat, save democracy.

It really is that simple.

Maya Posch • Hackaday

With performance optimizations seemingly having lost their relevance in an era of ever-increasing hardware performance, there are still many good reasons to spend some time optimizing code. In a recent preprint article by [Paul Bilokon] and [Burak Gunduz] of the Imperial College London the focus is specifically on low-latency patterns that are relevant for applications such as high-frequency trading (HFT). In HFT the small margins are compensated for by churning through absolutely massive volumes of trades, all of which relies on extremely low latency to gain every advantage. Although FPGA-based solutions are very common in HFT due their low-latency, high-parallelism, C++ is the main language being used beyond FPGAs.

A friend worked on one of these high speed trading systems. The pressure on him to write bug free, highly performant C++ code was immense. These trading folks are crazy serious about making money and these systems need to be super solid. Their drive to be filthy rich depends on it.

He didn’t stay for long. The stress wasn’t worth it.

Heather Cox Richardson • Letters from an American

This morning, after a day of Republicans insisting that it is political polarization to suggest that Trump is a danger to our democracy, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in the last days of his presidency, dismissed the classified documents case against the former president. She wrote that “Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.”

It seems Judge Aileen Cannon is in the bag for Trump. She’s been delaying and dragging her feet for months on this matter. Either she’s incompetent or corrupt or maybe a little of both?

Regardless, we can also thank corrupt Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for planting the seed of this plan to dismiss the case. In the Trump Immunity decision he noted Jack Smith’s appointment may be unconstitutional. Of course the documents case has nothing to do with the immunity case. He just slipped it in there to sow doubt. It worked.

There is still a path to prosecution but it won’t happen before the election. If the Orange Clown wins it’ll never happen.

Dan Moren • Six Colors

Ultimately the reaction to 18’s initial public beta may be more about what’s not there than what is. When Apple first announced its latest annual update to the mobile software platform back in June, most of the attention went to a suite of features—the top-billed ones if you look at the company’s iOS 18 Preview Page—collected under the aegis of Apple Intelligence. These marked the company’s much anticipated foray into artificial intelligence and promise everything from image generation to a reinvigorated Siri.

TL;DR - if you’re expecting to see Apple Intelligence as part of the betas, don’t hold your breath. Those features will roll out over the next year and into the future.

Outside of the excitement surrounding Apple Intelligence there are plenty of nice features to explore and enjoy.

Nick Schager • The Daily Beast

Longlegs is the horror event of the summer—a serial killer thriller that plays like a nightmarish swirl of The Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Psycho and Zodiac, albeit with far less rationality and considerably more demonic derangement.

I’m excited to see this! I’d imagine this is one film I’ll be able to get Kim to see in theaters. 😃

Ploum

TL;DR: put your open source code under the AGPL license.

While I don’t agree with a lot of what’s said in this piece, it is worth a read to gain a different perspective on Open Source and the problems around maintaining it.

Jake Edge • lwn.net

At the 2024 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory Management, and BPF Summit, Wedson Almeida Filho and Kent Overstreet led a combined storage and filesystem session on using Rust for Linux filesystems.

I like how this was written. It’s basically meeting notes from the session.

The Rust developers will have to be the ones to absorb the pain of keeping up with changes to the filesystem. As a developer using a newer technology I wouldn’t expect anything less.

I’m looking forward to the day we see Swift showing up in filesystem components on the Mac. There is an effort underway to rewrite Foundation in Swift. That’s a great start.

Wes Davis • The Verge

Apple has approved UTM SE, an app for emulating a computer to run classic software and games, weeks after the company rejected it and barred it from being notarized for third-party app stores in the European Union. The app is now available for free for iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS.

I’d imagine European Regulators made this happen. Apple doesn’t need them crawling any further up their butts. They’re already in enough trouble.

Brett Berk • The Drive

This is the golden age of full-size pickup trucks. Because the market demands it, and because the market is enormous and extremely profitable, the latest breed of pickup trucks is comfortable, commodious, potent, and dare I say luxurious. The Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram 1500 are, respectively, the top-selling vehicles in America. And with their Brobdingnagian scale, appliqué steer horns, remotely erecting towing hitches, and power-opening tailgates that drop like the rear flap on a cowpoke’s union suit, pickup trucks may be the greatest examples of overcompensation ever invented.

This is a piece from 2019 but it still holds up today. Trucks are definitely no longer the multipurpose towing and hauling vehicles they used to be. When I got one with power windows and AC I thought it was pretty luxurious, but modern pickups are like luxury automobiles.

I’d bet real farmers and workmen using trucks as trucks don’t buy the luxury models. 😁 I’ve seen the inside of real work trucks. They smell of dirt and oil and usually have mud all over the floorboards. Not to mention barebones interiors.

My grandfather was a mobile mechanic for his entire life. His trucks had flat beds with large generators, a boom, and tool chests and various tool compartments. When his motor or transmission wore out, no problem, he pulled them and replaced them, himself.

I’m sure those folks still exist today but luxury trucks weren’t made for them. 😃

[freethoughtsfreetherapy]

my 2024 resolutions ✨

Work on my back and body posture: physiotherapy, exercise, stretching

Get medical treatment for my teeth and jaw

Improve my self-care routine to get my clear skin back

Build a good hair care routine for clean scalp and healthy curls

Learn how to style my hair better: box braids, twists, blowout…

Learn and master that eyeliner game!

Study korean grammar and vocabulary with workbooks

Get frequent exposure to the korean language through youtube videos and dramas

Get my french language teaching qualification done just in case

Get a high TOEFL score

Travel outside my city at least once a month to see my friends and get some fresh air (paris, belgium)

Find a new job that doesn’t ruin me emotionally and gives me time for my hobbies

Save that money for graduate school

Take ballet classes and other interesting dance events I can find

Apply for masters and move to korea

[thatscalledtoughlove]

I think I’m finally somewhat getting my shit together

[sylver-drawer]

Hfjkfngokumdbud I am happy to entertain!! So um, here. Have some more:

Exactly. Her life in Korea was only used as a deux ex machina for her to stick by Claude. If she truly yearned for parental figures she would've, should've, yearned for Diana too. Should've longed for Diana more than Claude. One died for her, and the other... well.

Give me Athy's survival instincts. Give me a skittish and cautious Athy. Give me Athy who collects and saves money because you never know, never know when shit will hit the fan. Have her be unwilling to use up her secret savings. Let only Lily into her heart and absolutely nobody else. Let her not trust Claude o n e b i t. Having Lily and Athy planning together for an escape just in case could've been a great way to show them bonding, to show them as accomplices, as family. But WMMAP doesn't do Found Family, it seems :')

We have nothing to go off of regarding Duchess Alpheus. Except what you mentioned. Not even a name. And I am MAD.

Now that you talk about it... Villainesses are never given the same narrative weight as male villains and honestly that's just misogyny. Rosalia would've made a fine villain (look, her stirring up shit against Athy, and Jenny is torn and conflicted because she loves Athy, she really does, but Rosalia... Rosalia looks like her mother and Jenny yearns for Penelope, the woman she could've loved. Would make a fine parallel with Athy who also yearns for Diana, the woman she could've loved. Just... COME ON) Also like, many manhwas feature a female MC acting cute to gain the approval of her male relatives (father, brother, etc) and it's honestly... I don't jive with it -_-

Claude is... he just lacks any rhyme or reason. He only has one (1) thought and that's murder. Seriously dude, couldn't you have more depth?? How can people love him when he's such a blatant tyrant??? Have him kill people because he's paranoid. Have him be standoffish and stricter and harsher with higher nobles but have him be more lenient towards lower nobles and maybe the common folk. Now that could be a way to make lowborn folk love him.

He absolutely has no rights and justification for being shitty towards kids.

And YES YES YES HAVE HIM BE RELUCTANT TO SPEND. He shouldn't be carting off all the riches in the world to Athy. Have him scoff at and look down upon grandiose display of riches. And him not giving all that much to Athy just makes her all the more paranoid and save up more and more because she obviously can't count on him for money. Have her study vigorously and try to start a side hustle or something. Have her connect more to the common folk! Trade! Business! She could've been a banger of a businesswoman!

And Jenny... Oh poor Jenny she deserved so much better than what the narrative gave her. Have her and Athy choose each other in the end, over everyone else. “Fuck this, fuck the world, fuck you, we're together forever now” and have Athy teach Jenny or sumn. Girl was raised to be naive! (Presumably so that she'd be easier to control as a puppet monarch) Let Athy believe in Jenny's potential!

And oh yeah we know jack shit about Felix. He's just there to be Claude's loyal knight. That's it. And absolutely nothing else. Where's his father? Is he the Duke's son? What does the Duke think about his (son?) serving a tyrant who's especially harsh with higher nobility? Like, there's zero interaction between Felix the Duke, if I remember correctly. Just... ?????

ALSO YES ABOUT LILY'S PARENTS. DO THEY LITERALLY NOT EXIST??? Like, I could think of an explanation to integrate into the story right away and they (Spoon and Plutus?) didn't???? Like, have her work in the Ruby Palace without her parents' consent, have them constantly write her angry letters to come home and have her refuse to comply, have a small Athy find the letters and she and Lily have a heartfelt moment or sumn because Lily chose Athy. Have Athy love Lily all the more for it because guess what, it's not easy for you to stand alone against a hostile world. It's not like having these details can be that hard.

(I'm the one who came up with the Athy-runs-away-to-Siodonna AU because I wanted Diana to have an impact... I did it with LP!Athy but it could very easily work with WMMAP!Athy too. Like, after Claude lets and watches her drown Athy could just go “oh god oh fuck he doesn't care he might've saved me this time but there's no guarantee that he'd do so next time” and just... bolt. Ditch the Ruby Palace, ditch Obelia and go where her mother lived...

For the record though— what do you think about Empress!Jenny and magician/advisor!Siodonnan!Athy in the Siodonnan LP!Athy AU? It's... highly underdeveloped as of yet but maybe I could make posts about it...)

Sobbing at the fact that you’ve reminded me how terrible the world building of WMMAP is.

Remember when Athy ran away and was looking into a magician’s guild or something like that? Or that she had to get a magician’s license to be legally allowed to use magic? Where did that go???

Also remembering how terrible Plutus is with family dynamics. Not even talking about SBAPOD, but the example being Beware of the Brothers, and we already know how that went.

I swear, manwha authors don’t know how to write healthy family dynamics,,, it’s just the father (and ALWAYS the father) spoiling the main character with riches effortlessly and the main character protesting once before going “this is fine”. We’ve never, never, seen Claude and Athy actually bond emotionally. It really took Claude falling into a coma and nearly dying before he could accept the fact that he hurt Athy so bad and had to apologize for it (and she had to pressure him into apologizing essentially too? “And?!”)

On that topic, a I will never shut up about how Claude is never the one to initiate father-daughter time. Think about it—all the times we’ve seen them bond, Athy is always the one who goes to him. She enters his study, annoys him in his room, lazes there before one of them eventually brings up a tea party for a break; we never see Claude ever seek her out himself. The only time we did? Was when he almost killed her (which is hella sad and dark now that I think about it more).

Why is it that in these stories, it’s always the child who has to initiate reconciliation and bonding time? I’m so tired of adults who can’t adult for once to the point the child has to adult for them.

Also, I would love that AU. Athy really since the beginning never felt like she wanted to be empress exactly. Even in the climax arc, she was forced to because her dad was out of commission and her uncle was evil. She’s already worked herself to death in her second life, why for the life of her would she ever want to work again in her third? (now including the fact that she realized her first life was LP and that she worked hard to get her father’s love and attention only to fail)

LP Athy didn’t get attention. She didnt stand out, but that makes her strong suit of an adviser being so much more interesting. Reminds me of Kyesook from Akayona—he’s hella shady, doesn’t stand out and blends in with the crowd, but he’s intelligent and consults with Soowon about various things. Athy, who’s lived in the palace her whole life and knows her way around the boundaries within the castle walls added to her knowledge of being a Siodonnan diplomat? It would be so powerful.

Learning magic in Siodonna would be so cool too, and builds world lore. How do other countries use magic? WMMAP really fails to implement an exact magic system other than Lucas’, “Everyone has magic but just doesn’t know how to use it lol”. Again, what of the magician licenses? How do other countries use magic to improve their kingdom? We know different colors means different intentions of using magic, explore that more. Could there actually be a country that uses black magic to improve their kingdom? How would Jennette’s existence, a child imbued with black magic, be referred there? Obelia’s existence, how they seem to use magicians for such trivial things when it can be used for so much more.

One thing I missed from the novel was Cabel existence. Not because it would introduce another love interest, god no, but rather it would introduce citizens from other countries interacting with the main cast.

How would Cabel interact with Claude, a tyrant emperor who she’d blood nearly every week like it’s an episode of his new TV Show? Compared to the royal family of Alberta who, iirc, their family is on good terms with? Seeing as Cabel was the only one even the slightest bit disgusted with Hari and Eugene’s relationship, he’d probably be the ONLY voice of reason within the cast honestly. I dislike how in the novel, his presence only existed as “Ijekiel’s friend from another country who fell for Athy and he had a fight with Lucas over her”.

On the topic of Lucas actually. He’s a horrible teacher, and he’s embraced that fact. He may be all powerful, but he sucks at teaching. The only reason why Lucas is the main love interest is because he has no existence otherwise it seems. He can’t be ‘just a friend’ because the fans will rage, and he can’t be a mentor figure because he sucks at actually teaching the girl.

Siodonnan Magician Mentor Athy would put Lucas in his place so fast. Athy and him fighting over diplomatic issues and asking for Jen’s opinion while they’re fighting because she’s the empress. We need more Lucas and Jen interactions too, without him dehumanizing her. They could actually have a good dynamic. Lucas knows all magic, but most likely knows black magic the least so he spends time with Jen to study more about it. His bluntness would actually help expand Jen’s knowledge without coddling her like Ijekiel (I believe in the novel Jen actually expressed her likeness to Lucas because of his unfiltered honesty toward her, even if his words were a bit cruel?).

[thed4rkhand]

Kim Taehyung Nakshatra

Kim Taehyung and his Nakshatra analysis.

I got this really cool request about Kim Taehyung and him potentially being a Vishaka rising, and I really wanted to analyze it. So here is what I came up with, hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed poking about.

Let me make it clear right off the bat, that since I’m not a professional astrologer, some things may not match up, further since we’re not super sure of his birth time, it’ll definitely affect the reading. What I can be sure of is that I’ll do my best and I’m completely open to constructive criticism from you all!

Now lets get on with some basic stuff, for those who have not yet read the post with Namjoon’s moon analysis, I’ll again reiterate some principles of Vedic astrology! In the scenario that you’re still confused with all this jargon, feel free to reach out and I’ll be more than happy to help you out.

Starting out, we have to note that while western astrology is usually more advisory in nature, Vedic astrology’s main purpose is to predict. Also, we usually go a sign back from western astrology in Vedic astrology, so according to that for example, if you’re a libra rising, you become a virgo rising in Vedic astrology and so on and so forth. All planets will also shift back a sign, so a Capricorn Mercury will become a Sagittarius Mercury.

Since this is the first ‘only nakshatra analysis’ concerned posts on this blog, ill pre-explain some other facets of Nakshatras too. For those of you who don’t understand it still, you can refer to my post dedicated to explaining what nakshataras are through the master-list.

Now a person may display qualities other than that of their ascendant nakshatra, or moon or sun, because sometimes people have stellium or maybe an exalted planet or maybe a really strong planet in another Nakshatra, or maybe a lone planet in a certain Nakshatra is aspecting the lagna or even a stellium, that would all alter the degree to which the nakshatra would individually affect the person. So for this analysis, we will check the ascendant only, and other than that, we’ll check any aspects and lastly the nakshatra lord, and the dispositers.

So for this reading, we’ve taken the birth time as 4:15am on 30th December 1995, and birthplace is set to daegu, south korea (even if this isn’t where he’s born, rest assured since south korea is fairly small, it wont matter much).

Now on with the actual reading part-

So his ascendant is at 29’37 degrees in libra in the Nakshatra of Vishaka, within the third quadrant, where quadrant ruler is Mercury through Gemini. Vishaka’s ruler jupiter is in the third house, conjunct sun and mars in sagittarius, (i.e mooltrikon for jupiter). Jupiter itself sits in mula nakshatra and within the second quadrant of this.

Now onto the really cool stuff, since this stuff is being introduced for the first time, i’ll create a proper post explaining it, post it before this so you guys can check that out too. So keep cross checking it, otherwise i'll have to add it before each Nakshatra analysis.

His nakshatra here is vishaka, misra in nature, caste is mlechh, guna is sattwic, gana is rakshasa, purpose is dharma, deities are Indra and Agni, element is fire, gender is female, animal is tiger, Nadi is kappha and sign is libra.

So now getting on with the actual interpretation of the Vedic jargon above is here-

Firstly, lets get started with the main Nakshatra here, Vishaka. This falls between libra and scorpio, with the first 3 quadrants in libra and the last one in scorpio. Vishaka is represented by two forked branches, reprinting the constant inner battle inside the natives. They may appear very orthodox at times, very stubborn and fixed in their views and traditions, however such people are also extremely progressive and accepting. Due to this weird polarization, some natives have extreme trouble putting forth their views on many subjects here, and tend to observe others for a long time before making up their minds about something. Since the sign is inherently ruled by fire, such people are extremely intense and intimidating to others and love being in the spotlight while being surrounded by loved ones. However due to this intense nature and love for the spotlight, these people have a hard time maintaining friendships. Jupiter is their ruling planet, and you can see that influence in them, too. They are some of the most unconventionally intelligent people you will meet. Add to that their beliefs of spirituality and non-violence, and you’ve got the perfect person, however They are prone to addictions like drugs and alcohol, and they are also overly self-conscious. Instead of enjoying what they have, they will always concentrate on what they lack, therefore being called ‘the star of purpose’, for they’re always searching for a new purpose.

It is often believed that the lover of lord Krishna, Radha was born under this nakshatra. Thus it is believed, such natives have immense charm and beauty, while being innately pure within. They have people falling for them one after another, but once they find someone or something they like, they’ll remain devoted to it. Such people have a ‘Je ne sais quoi’ about them, one can’t very well point it out, but something so magnetic is present. They’re often said to be in direct connect with the divine (lord Krishna was after all a god), and are blessed by god for good fortune.

The native of this nakshatra might be interested in astrology and art.The natives of this nakshatra are good-natured and likes fair-judgement. They have a interest in religion and love the religious rituals too. They speak softly and due to which they easily impress others. They usually don’t speak harshly. Due to the effect of Jupiter they are always ready to learn and teach others. They are ambitious and don’t believe in following the societal rules. They work hard to achieve their ambitions and due to which they receive success also. The natives are wealthy, powerful and have an impressive nature and therefore people get easily impressed by them. The person is compassionate and confluence of ethics, rites and good qualities in the person. Due to the combination of all these qualities the native becomes financially sound also. The native believes in saving money due to which they never face financial crisis. They can influence others with their word. However on the flip side, They like showing off and are a bit arrogant by nature. Vishakha nakshatra is the nakshatra of Jupiter, that is why they have a mild behavior. But they are short tempered also. According to their behavior they are always ready to fight with others. (see how jin and tae, and vmin always fight, in-fact he was named as one of the members most likely to pick a fight)

Something I found very interesting is how Taehyung’s ascendant falls in the 3rd pada or quadrant of Vishaka, which corresponds to the sound ‘Te’ as in pronunciation wise ‘Tae’, and being named taehyung is thus extremely auspicious for him. This is rare among people unaware of Vedic traditions, and no wonder it has worked so well for his fortune and luck.

Now Jupiter through vishaka Rules Lower Abdomen, Bladder parts, kidneys, pancreatic glands, Genitals, Rectum, Prostate Gland, Descending colon. Thus the natives are prone to nose bleeding, renal stone, dropsy, rupture, prostate enlargement, fibroid tumor, urinary trouble.

Now he’s born under the third quadrant. These natives are light-hearted and curious. They enjoy learning and acquiring knowledge on diverse topics. However they may be afflicted by anxiety and often struggle with conflicting emotions regarding work and love, material and spiritual realms and so much more (remember that gemini is two faced, and vishaka itself is branched). Since it falls under gemini, such people are social butterflies, amicable, smart and communicative.Due to their warm and altruistic personality, they can easily make friends with others. Their diversity of personal interests also helps them to form friendships with a wide variety of people. Thus they have no issue maintaining an active and vibrant social life. They are extremely wise for their age and have a natural insight into the workings of the world and of human nature. They are truthful and devout, and are naturally-inclined toward spirituality. They bring energy and enthusiasm to whatever tasks they undertake.

Now we’ll brush over the nakshatra lord quickly, and then move back into really fun nakshatra stuff.

Jupiter as ruler of vishaka is in the 3rd house, conjunct sun and mars, with no aspects.The natives are good planners (3rd house is short distant journeys). Besides, they are highly curious and enjoy making connections with others. They feel happy to share ideas. They are able to see the larger picture and often turn to others for advice and suggestions.  Also, they easily put the people at ease in social situations and have higher mental capabilities. They can become intuitive as Jupiter will expand their mental power, so they can even grasp new information quickly and comprehend things effortlessly. The placement of Jupiter in the 3rd house will also help the natives in education. The natives are likely to excel in writing and literary fields( his degree is in communications and broadcasting I believe). Since this is also the house of younger siblings, people have great relationships with their siblings here.Since the 3rd house is also a upachaya sthana (house of growth) the native will have good growth of career and wealth, and with its aspect on the 7th house, marital bliss is also guaranteed. Aspects on the 11th and 9th houses promise a powerful social circle, and gains through foreign land as well as fame.

However, despite all these great results from sitting in its mooltrikon, Jupiter is still afflicted by sun and mars. Such people with age (upachaya house moves with age) speak less and less because they think twice before they speak and choose their words very carefully. With this conjunction of 3 masculine friendly planets thus when together in a house, makes people highly influential. The native tends to enjoy a good financial and social status. This conjunction is often found in the horoscope of influential and high-ranking individuals such as politicians. When Sun, Mars and Jupiter are housed together in a horoscope, the native earns a lot of wealth, fame, and respect in life. Such people live a prosperous life for the most part and do not have to work hard to make it big, as they have unpaid karma they receive in this lifetime. Moreover, these natives tend to be very loyal and straightforward.

Now onto dissecting the nakshatra even more, let's get into the characteristics of vishaka.

Being of Misra nature, they are of an extremely fiery temperament, are actually prone to being pyromaniacs too. I have noticed that such people also have great metabolisms. They are quiet in large crowds, and prefer one to one conversations and are also extremely philanthropic. Great organizers, extremely interested in art and technology, and absolutely brilliant at getting rid of bad habits (fire purifies).

Vishakha is a monstrous nakshatra. People in this group are generally intuitive, strong-willed, and assertive. They may be prone to anger and violence. However Libra natives possess excellent taste and good judgement. They are friendly, learned, and dignified, but may be prone to arrogance as persons born under the star of Vishakha have a wide sphere of influence. For this reason, they do well in social and political arenas. It is said that that the natives under vishaka have vyapana shakti, or the power to “Achieve and Make Manifest, Power to Achieve many and various Fruits of Life” (remember how he always talks to his angels?)

Now he’s a mleccha caste, which according to Vedic traditions means an outsider or an outcaste (as these people did not follow societal rules, or fit into the Vedic practices as they were of foreign origin). This could honestly be why we talk about his 4D personality, because of the caste. He has an unconventional way of doing things and thinking, which don’t fit into the broader spectrum due to this. Also we can see that it follows the dharma nakshatra, so he is inherently concerned with principles, morals, duty and finding his life’s purpose. This can make his very spiritually inclined and intuitive, also very restless and prone to depression. Now coming to his dosa of kaphha, (the Water quality). This makes a native very philosophical, calm and patient, sometimes so much so that other’s perceive them as lazy, and simply ‘lucky’. With his sattwa qualities here, with Jupiter, a rajas planet, he can often has a duality between rajas qualities with fiery temperament and passion for everything and then an extremely calm and cool quality of sattwa, where one is not concerned about the consequences of their actions and are concerned with being in the moment.

The yoni of the nakshatra is a male tiger (tae tae?). This means the natives have attributes similar to those of tigers.Tigers are handsome and powerful people with an innate self-confidence and elegance. There's a sense of immediacy and an aura of electricity that surrounds it, and when it walks into a room, it feels like something is about to happen. Once a tiger has found its groove, it will focus on its goal with a brightly burning intensity. In social situations, the tiger is an excellent host and there is no such thing as a casual party in its home. Guests can always expect a memorable occasion with an extravagance of food and drink, and yet, there is a distinct coldness to its den. Having sacrificed comfort for style, the tiger outfits its house with austere and modern furniture, and comfortably worn easy chairs are replaced every few years.But their emotional detachment should not be confused with a desire to avoid tenderness; for intimacy is the tiger's greatest sensual tool. Offering its lover some deeply held secrets adds another dimension to both platonic and romantic relationships for a tiger. They are fiercely independent and always on the move, so it can be quite hard to discern such people.

And lastly coming to the deities of the nakshatra, the two deities, Indra (Lord of Lightning) and Agni (Lord of Fire), are known to rule this nakshatra. Hence, Vishakha witnesses the relay of characteristics of both of these ruling deities. Since both of these deities exhibit some characteristics which are not in accordance with the other, Vishakha becomes a mixture of different kinds of characteristics. Lightening tends to have similar impact with the forcefulness of the light, and the destructive power to do what it sets out to do. The energy of Agni however, is more cleansing. Agni is the God which takes our oblations offered to the Gods to them. It is the energy that gives us the opportunity to cook food and nourish ourselves. It creates ashes from all that is offered making it pure and able to clean any impurities. The natives can have a lot to do with justice, social righteousness and causes. There could be a lot of intensity here especially to do the right thing and a lot of righteous principle because of these two deities.

Finally, a shortened version of Vedic tradition story associated with the nakshatra-

Indra, according to Vedic Mythology, is known to be very goal-oriented, and who is often insecure about losing his throne to someone else. In an attempt to keep his throne intact he commits many deeds that can be bad karmas according to Vedic Astrology. For example, Indra once tried to kill the pregnant wife of demon Hiranyakshipu in order to stop him from worshipping Lord Brahma and getting great powers as a result of his worship. Indra feared that Hiranyakshipu will gain powers and then attack the heavens and remove him from his throne and in order to save his throne he tried to disturb the worship of Hiranyakshipu by every possible means. Though he did not succeed due to the intervention of DevRishi (Sage) Naarad who was able to influence the higher Gods to stop Indra from committing such a heinous deed. This goal oriented nature of Indra is relayed through Vishakha and accordingly the natives under the strong influence of this nakshatra are very fixated on their goals and they are always in a danger of engaging in bad karmas in order to achieve their goals.

Indra is also known for his deep interests in drinking, women and enjoying other pleasures and these qualities of Indra are also relayed through this nakshatra and accordingly the natives under the strong influence of this nakshatra are likely to be fond of materialistic pleasures of all kinds. Agni on the other hand is seen as the ruling deity of Fire according to Vedic mythology and he is portrayed as the one with a good character. The influence of Agni on Vishakha brings sufficient energy to this nakshatra which can help the natives achieve their goals.

An incident is quoted in Vedic mythology where a demon prayed to god Agni to protect him and then after assurance from Agni, he started worshipping lord Brahma for gaining powers. Indra, seeing it as a threat to his power came to kill the demon but Agni who had promised the demon to save him, came in the way and fought Indra and prevented him from killing the demon. It should be noted that Agni fought with Indra in order to practice the right deeds despite the fact that Indra was his king. So the influence of Agni on this nakshatra brings positive qualities of Agni and how a particular native under the influence of Vishakha will behave is very much dependent on which of these two ruling deities is controlling Vishakha in his horoscope.

Anyway, this was my analysis of the nakshatra, hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know about other stuff too, and ill be more than happy to help!

[inliar]

timing

word count: 5.3k

jinhwan x reader

you have the uncanny knack of running into kim jinhwan exactly when he needs it. he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued.

a/n: support ikon on kingdom!

-

the first time you meet him, it’s at your friend’s debut stage. once upon a time, you and your friend, yerin, had been trainees together in a decently small company. but while her skills only grew over time, morphing into something fascinating and breathtaking that deserved to be shown to the world, yours had stagnated. it wasn’t for lack of effort – you had put just as many hours into dance and vocal lessons as the others –  but it was, probably, for lack of passion.

at some point, you had stopped emphasizing with your fellow trainee’s heartfelt speeches on their dreams of debuting, and it was around then that you realized you weren’t meant to be an idol in the same way they were. it was alright, though, because if anyone out of the two of you deserved to debut, it was her. you’d never felt any regret after terminating your short trainee agreement with your label.

but your friendship had never ceased, and you’d kept in regular contact with yerin, as well as the other trainees set to debut in the rookie group. you often took to reminding them to eat their meals, or to take breaks in between lessons, because you’d experienced first-hand how thoroughly unchecked passions can blind a person to their obvious needs. 

finally, their efforts had culminated into a debut, and you wouldn’t miss their first stage for the world. their manager, minseo (who, in a different timeline, might have been your manager as well) was kind enough to let you visit them face-to-face in their waiting room for the music program.

“nervous?” you ask, taking in yerin’s brightly-coloured romper and her bleached, curled, strands of hair. it’s such a far departure from the tracksuits and messy ponytail you’d often seen her sporting during early morning dance practices, but it somehow suits her better than anything else you’d ever seen her wear.

“excited.” she responds instead, with a frightening degree of certainty. it must be nice, you think, to have something you want so desperately and unfalteringly. but watching your best friend get to live out her dreams is almost just as nice.

you nod, feeling the corners of your lips quirk up. “have i ever told you how proud i am of you?” you say, lightheartedly, suppressing the urge to ruffle your hand over her well-styled hair.

“no, but since it’s coming from you, i know you mean it.” she says with such sincerity that you feel an unexpected surge of pride lodge itself into your chest. 

you clear your throat. this won’t do. she hasn’t even performed yet and you’re already turning into a sentimental mess. “i’m going to go get myself something to drink,” you say, excusing yourself. “do you want anything?”

her eyes brighten. “ooh, can i have an orange soda?” she asks, before pausing and turning around. “wait, manager-nim, am i allowed to drink soda before a stage?”

minseo tears her eyes away from her phone and straightens up. “as long as it’s not something that will rapidly stain your teeth, it should be fine. are you thirsty? do you need me to get you something?”

you pipe up. “oh, it’s fine, i can get it. you should stay with the group, unni, you’re the manager.” then, you raise your voice and direct it towards the rest of the girls. “hey, guys, i’m getting yerin a drink from the vending machine. does anyone else want anything?”

“oh, can i have a canned coffee?” you hear one of the members – jiyoung’s – voice ask.

“me too!” hyemin’s voice adds.

“vitamin water, please!” mirae’s voice calls.

you tally the drinks up in your head. two canned coffees, an orange soda, and vitamin water. you hold up an ‘okay’ sign with your hand and nod. jiyoung jokingly salutes in return.

“can i pay you back?” minseo offers, pulling out a credit card that most definitely won’t work on the rickety vending machines you’d seen on your way to the waiting room.

you shake your head dismissively. “it’s just a couple of drinks, and besides, i have a ton of coins i need to get rid of. you can buy me a meal later, yeah?” you offer, and minseo nods. “at this rate, i’ll have to hire you as my assistant.” she jokes, lightheartedly, and you smile. you wouldn’t mind that at all.

you recite the list of drinks to yourself as you make it out of their waiting room and towards the vending machine. two canned coffees, an orange soda, and vitamin water. two canned coffees, an orange soda, and vitamin water. two ca—

thud.

the small sound shakes you out of your mantra and, instinctively, you turn towards the noise. judging by the obvious frustration radiating from the person in front of you and his relative position to the vending machine, you figure he just kicked the poor thing.

“are you alright?” you ask, tentatively, and the person in question turns to face you. 

oh. it’s kim jinhwan. from ikon.

you try your hardest to suppress a smile. yerin loves ikon. she’d be so jealous to know that you ran into one of the members today, and in such an innocuous way at that.

“yes, sorry.” jinhwan offers, looking almost sheepish. “the machine stole my money, and-”

almost on cue, you hear a voice call out in the distance. “hurry up, hyung! you said it’d only take a few minutes!”

jinhwan’s expression instantly sours, and you nod in understanding. “what did you try to get, sunbaenim?” you ask politely, turning towards the machine and scanning its contents.

“just an energy drink. but i guess i’ll be fine without it.” he explains, trying a little too hard to sound lighthearted and unbothered. 

you identify the drink in question and punch in its code. after feeding your coins into the machine, you watch as the suddenly functional appliance pushes the energy drink out of its row and into the bottom of the machine.

squatting, you grab the drink and hold it out. “please, take this.” you offer as you stand up, suddenly noticing how heavily the foundation under his eyes is applied. you inwardly frown. he must really need the boost. “it’s the one you wanted, right?”

he doesn’t take it, instead opting to stare at it instead. “i couldn’t, i don’t have any more change on me right now.” he says, despite eyeing the drink longingly.

“hyung! we have to go!” the voice from before calls out again, insistently. he turns towards the voice before turning back to you, conflicted. you put on what you hope is a reassuring smile before pushing the drink with a little more force into his hands. instinctively, he takes it.

“please don’t worry about it, it’s just a drink. good luck with your stage, sunbaenim!” you cheer, gently. 

he looks at the drink, then looks at you, then glances behind him at what you presume to be his waiting room before looking at you again.

“jinhwan hyung!” the voice demands with an intimidating undercurrent of finality, leaving no more room to stall. you tilt your head towards it meaningfully.

“i.. thank you.” he finally says, tightly, before turning around and running away. satisfied, you turn towards the vending machine. what did your friends ask for? right, two canned coffees, an orange soda, and vitamin water. you punch the drink codes in, methodically inserting all of your loose change you had been trying to get rid of for so long, and add an extra coffee in for minseo for good measure. if she’s going to make good on her dinner promise, and you know she will, she should get a little something in return.

(you would have gotten her something even if you didn't coerce her into buying you food. a part of you thrives at the feeling of taking care of others, and you dimly wonder if that means anything.)

-

the next time you meet him is yet another case of being in the right place at the right time, for lack of a better phrase. 

you’d spent a good portion of your school days active as a trainee. so, when you’d eventually exited the entertainment industry, you were strikingly behind all the other students your age in the cruelly competitive system that was korea’s education system. you were planning on taking a gap year to figure out exactly what you wanted to do with the rest of your life (which was generally frowned upon, as students were expected to naturally know these things), but minseo had saved you from that fate. “since the girls have been getting a little bigger recently, i’ve been given the permission and the budget to hire an assistant manager.” she had explained through a spontaneous phone call, her voice crackling over the receiver as you shifted your cellphone to your other ear. “if i can trust anyone to care for them the way that i do, it’s you.”

“will it be okay?” you had asked, not against the proposition but not wanting to get her in trouble. “i have no managerial experience, and i’m in the same age range as the members. i don’t want the company to come off as unprofessional.”

she had reassured you that you wouldn’t be working on anything that she wouldn’t teach you to do first, and that, as long as you didn’t boast about your age, it would be fine. “i was allowed to write the hiring criteria, and if you just happen to be the perfect candidate, then so be it.” she had said, and you could almost imagine the conspiratorial wink she would have shot in your direction if you were talking face to face.

and so your reentrance to the entertainment industry had begun; except this time, you were on the other, more secluded, side of the stage. you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t considered being a manager before; you’ve always been the type to take care of others, and when minseo had joked about taking you on as an assistant before, a secret part of you had taken it a little too close to heart. but you had never actually expected her words to become a reality.

the job isn’t too hard to pick up. you’re assigned a lot of small yet useful tasks, like calling the salons and confirming hair appointment times, or writing the minutes for meetings about comeback concepts. sometimes, your only role for the day is simply coaxing minseo unni into stopping and taking a lunch break. you’re busy, for sure, but not yet at the juggling-octopus level of the senior manager, who is somehow able to coordinate every other task and responsibility that involves the group simultaneously and all without fail. while you just have to confirm the things she’s already set up, she has to do all the preparation work.  you’ve seen her meticulously arrange and assign each member’s schedules, all the while keeping an eye on album sales and concert venues and security payroll and feedback from their vocal or dance instructors. just by looking at her essay of a to-do list that’s propped up on her desk, you understand why the company gave her the permission to hire an assistant.

the most important responsibility she had given you, however, was to be the first line of contact with the members of the group. “you know them better than i do, so i think you’d do a better job of helping them out. they’re not too fussy, so it shouldn’t be too hard to work with them? just keep an eye on the members, and check on them every now and then. of course, let me know if you need any extra help.” a very harried minseo had told you, while on hold with the videography company who, annoyingly, hadn’t confirmed what time they were coming in tomorrow to film the dance video for the group’s upcoming comeback.

“yes, of course.” you had replied, fully intending to not do just that. you were going to avoid adding any responsibilities to minseo unni’s workload at all costs.

there wasn’t much that you needed to do. occasionally, you needed to get the members drinks or snacks while they were in their waiting rooms before music show performances, or make sure that they checked in with you before they went out anywhere. to help with this, you had gotten into the habit of carrying a backpack with you at all times, fully stocked with the necessities: an assortment of the member’s favourite snacks, an epipen for hyemin’s peanut allergy tucked in a small first aid kit, extra hair elastics, pads and tampons, and various sets of phone chargers. 

“you’re already, like, one of those overprepared asian mothers that carries everything in her massive purse, and you’re barely an adult.” yerin had snickered one day while you reorganized your bag in their dorm.

you had grinned, teasingly pushing her away. “it’s this overprepared asian mother that has your precious pocky at hand, so watch it.” you’d warned, shaking the snack box in the air. 

“don’t shake it!” yerin had yelped, cradling the cookie sticks protectively against her chest. “you’ll break them.”

it was the last week of promotions for the group’s third mini album, and you had just finished supervising the stage hands as they finished setting up the stage. satisfied, you grab your backpack from the chair it was lounging on, thank them for their hard work, and beeline for the exit, wondering if you can run into the girls before they get called down for their pre-stage interview.

“—ust going to have to wait, we don’t have any on hand right now.” you hear a gruff sounding voice say, and subconsciously, you look towards the source of the noise.

just across the hallway from you is what appears to be a very tall manager and a very short idol, judging from the casual apparel the taller is wearing and the shiny, glittery jacket the shorter one has on. the one in the glittery jacket is clutching at his shoulder in obvious discomfort. 

“how long do you think it will take?” the shorter asks, letting go of his shoulder and rolling it back, and you’d recognize that voice anywhere. yerin had recently been studying his stage habits by watching his fancams on repeat, and at this point, his voice was engraved in the back of your mind. it’s jinhwan, again. (“i can’t believe you got to meet jinhwan sunbae before i did,” yerin had pouted when you had told her about your previous encounter. “but why did you call him sunbae? he’s not technically your senior anymore.”

“so i used to be a trainee, and old habits die hard. sue me.” you had defended yourself, protectively, before making a mental note to stop doing that.)

“i’m not sure. i’m not supposed to leave the shooting site, and no one else has answered my calls yet. do you think you’ll be able to do the stage without a patch?” the manager asks.

the idol who you now recognize as jinhwan winces, and you take that as your cue to dig through your bag. after finding what you’re looking for, you take a nervous breath and walk towards the pair.

“hello,” you greet tentatively, bowing. the two of them turn to face you, and politely bow back. you don’t miss the way jinhwan’s face grimaces ever so slightly as he does so.

“i’m really sorry if i’m being invasive, but i happened to hear what was going on.” you start. at that, you offer him the pair of pain-relief patches you were clutching securely with both of your hands. “please, take these.”

the two of them pause, taking a second to read the upside-down text on the packaging. in hindsight, you probably should have held it so the text was facing them. “won’t you need them?” the manager asks, eventually looking back up at you.

you shake your head in denial, eyes wide. “no, no. i always have extras in my bag. besides, the ones my members use most often are the ankle patches, so i won’t miss these.” you explain, taking a short, meaningful glance at jinhwan’s shoulder before pushing the packages into his manager’s hands. 

he takes them. “thank you,” he says, gratefully, and you smile. 

“yes, of course.” you reply, taking another quick glance at jinhwan. he’s staring at you, expression carefully blank, but, upon making eye contact. he bows his head. “thank you,” he says as well, and you pause. there’s something in his tone that sounds off, but you can’t quite pinpoint what it is. 

you don’t have time to stand there and think about it, though, because your group is going to get called down for their interview any minute now. and while you don’t technically have to be there, minseo said that it would be a good idea for you to monitor them. “just so you can get used to your job,” she had said, and you agreed. it would be entirely selfish to back out on that now, just to stand and meaninglessly analyze a person you had no connections with.

“i … have to go now.” you begin, tentatively, ignoring the pressing feeling in the pit of your stomach thats begging you to stay and figure out what feels so wrong. “good luck on your stage, sunb- i mean! jinhwan-ssi, and i hope your shoulder feels better.”

you bow, reflexively, trying your best not to make a weird face out of embarrassment, and jinhwan bows back. “thank you, again.” he reiterates, and you turn to leave.

it’s only after you’re absolutely sure that you’re out of their line of view before you let yourself cringe. sunbae? you tried to call him sunbae? you really, really, need to get out of that habit. what kind of interaction was that?

‘but is he okay?�� a smaller, more insistent, voice in the back of your head asks, and you frown. you don’t know. 

- 

in between your last memorable encounter and the next one, you see him a few times. your group passes by him in a few music programs, you run into their group at a hair appointment, and a few other miscellaneous encounters as such naturally occur. but you never interact. as a manager, it’s not your job to play buddy-buddy with other idol groups, especially if they’re not even in your company. you’ve always done a very good job of staying out of the spotlight, and, as a manager, most people don’t spare you a glance. jinhwan doesn’t even look in your direction.

you’d be lying if you said you weren’t disappointed.

the third time you meet him is not, for once, at a music program. you’re in hapjeong-dong, meaning to visit a friend who’d recently moved into the area. but she’d last-minute changed her housewarming party time to a dinner party instead of a lunch meetup. by the time you’d got the memo, you were already halfway across seoul on the subway. since you hadn’t eaten anything yet, and you no longer had lunch plans, your first stop is at the first ramen shop you see after you exit the terminal.

“i’m afraid we’re a little full at the moment, ma’am, and the only seats available are at the counter. will that be alright?” the hostess asks, smiling warmly.

“yes, that’s great.” you say, and you let her escort you to the counter and hand you a menu. you prop up your purse and your housewarming gift on the chair next to you before taking it, thanking her.

as you’re flipping through the menu, mentally calculating how much more you’ll be able to spend this month, you hear the tinkling of the bell at the front door signalling another customer. a cursory glance around the relatively full counter area lets you know that there’s only one seat left, and you’re hogging it with your bags. you quickly take them off the only available chair and bend down to set them on the ground below your feet.

“... and here you go, sir, i’ll be back with a menu shortly.” the bubbly hostess says, smiling politely at the customer whose face you haven’t seen yet. you straighten up, taking a quick look at the hostess and the customer before turning back to look at your menu. 

“yes, thank you,” the customer says, and you freeze. you must be hearing things. there is no way that you are eating lunch next to kim jinhwan in a random restaurant.

the customer sits down next to you, and you shoot another quick look at the man who is taking off his mask. who is most definitely kim jinhwan. 

do you … do you say anything? idols deserve to eat in peace, so should you pretend not to recognize him? but won’t sitting in a stony, awkward silence as you eat next to each other be even worse? you contemplate burying yourself in your phone for the entire meal, before realizing that you left it in your purse. and there’s no feasible way that you can grab it without having to scoot back your chair, get off the stool to open your bag, and sit back up on it again. 

unfortunately for you, he looks in your direction as you’re gaping at him, panic-struck. the resulting eye contact is unbearably awkward on your end, but he looks at you as if he’s trying to remember who you are.

“pardon me, but are you the one who … with the pain-relief patch?” he asks, gesturing slightly with his hands as he sits dodwn. it’s vague and awkward, and if he did that to anyone else they’d be very confused, but you know exactly what he means.

you blush a little. there’s nothing else you can say now. “yes, uh, i think that was me.” 

“and … the vending machine?” he ventures.

your eyes widen a little at that. that was so many months ago. he still remembers? “the energy drink, right? that was also me. hello, jinhwan-ssi.” you offer, tentatively, bowing your head slightly. at this point, there’s no use pretending you don’t know his name. he bows his head in return.

“may i ask for your name?” jinhwan asks, tentatively.

“oh, ah, i’m ______.” you respond. “it’s nice to meet you, officially.” 

jinhwan nods in agreement, seemingly taking in all the new information for a few seconds. after a short pause, he continues. “do you also work in the entertainment industry?” he asks, slowly. 

“yes, i’m an assistant manager for kyubie, a new girlgroup at AB entertainment,” you introduce yourself. it still feels a little strange to say that title out loud. assistant manager. you’re an assistant manager.

“ah, i see.” jinhwan says, smiling a little as he processes the information, and you politely smile back. a part of you wants to help him carry this conversation out, but the other, more dominant part of you is just as socially awkward as he looks like he feels and is absolutely incapable of doing such a thing.

“you look quite young for a manager,” he offers, as an odd semblance of a compliment, and you take it in stride.

“i get that a lot! i actually used to be a trainee at AB, but i ended up becoming a manager inst!—ead …” you start, mouth running itself as it struggles to fill the awkward silence, before you register what you just said. 

“i, uh, i wasn’t supposed to say that.” you mutter, loudly enough so its audible but quietly enough to express your regret.

jinhwan, for what it’s worth, only looks placidly amused. “don’t worry, i won’t say a word,” he assures you. he doesn’t ask for any more details or for an elaboration on why it would be a secret. you’re grateful for that.

“thank you,” you say, trying not to let the relief show itself too heavily in your tone. if he notices it, he doesn’t say a word.

“i should be thanking you. for the drink and for the pain-relief patches, before. i don’t think i could have done my stage without either.” he assures you, kindly. “i didn’t get to thank you properly before.”

you shake your head in denial. “no, no, don’t worry about it. i get what it’s like to always be running low on time. and you did say thank you! i didn’t feel underappreciated, or ignored, or anything like that.” you explain, letting out your first real smile since the beginning of the conversation. 

(you miss the way his eyes linger on it for a beat too long.)

“i’m glad that you think that, then,” jinhwan says, faintly, as the hostess comes back with his menu that he barely even scans before ordering. you, too, order, ignoring the meaningful glances she’s throwing at the two of you. that’s a misunderstanding that can be resolved in the unlikely chance it becomes an issue.

“so,” jinhwan starts, “tell me about your group.”

and you’re gone.

conversation flows surprisingly easily once the two of you find your common ground. as a manager and as a friend, you have a lot to tell him about your members and how they act. “one of them, my friend, actually, she’s a really big fan of yours.” you mention, offhandedly. you’ve gone long past the point where you’re trying to filter yourself. 

“is that so?” he asks, calmly, and you grin.

“yeah. she was really jealous when i told her that i met you before,” you laugh, “and she’ll probably be a little bit jealous that i met you again today.”

“what about you?” he asks, and then looks a little bit startled. almost as if he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

“i’m sorry?” you ask, despite knowing perfectly well what he’d meant to say. you do your best to not blush.

jinhwan, having seemingly decided to just go with it, smiles. “are you a fan of mine, too?” he asks, and oh, your cheeks are not supposed to feel this hot.

“i, uh—” you flounder, trying to think of a way to answer this professionally, before a strangely brave crevice of your mind tells you to be honest.

“before? i don’t know. but now? probably.” you admit, which is good enough for jinhwan.

he doesn’t push it (probably because you looked like a tomato just then and he wants to save your blood pressure), and instead steers the conversation back to your life as a manager and his funny anecdotes in the entertainment industry. for someone who is so soft spoken and looked so thoroughly awkward when you first met, he tries incredibly hard to keep the conversation flowing and comfortable. you’re half in awe at his easy going nature.

you eat slowly once you get your food, selfishly wanting the conversation to last longer, but eventually there are no more noodles left in your plate and half of the lunchtime rush has already cleared out. jinhwan excuses himself to pay, asking you to watch his jacket, and you grab your purse and your housewarming gift from the floor while you wait. your phone tells you that it’s been nearly two hours since you entered the restaurant, and you must have suddenly forgotten how to read time, because there’s no possible way you had spent that long talking with jinhwan.

he eventually comes back. he puts his mask on and grabs his jacket from the back of his chair, and you take that as your cue to head to the payment counter. “i’m here to pay for my order,” you say, pulling out your wallet, and the checkout man shakes his head. 

“you’re already paid for,” he explains, and you frown. “pardon me?” you ask, unsure if you heard him right.

“the gentleman who sat next to you has already paid for your meal,” he clarifies, and you stand there for a moment.

“are— are you sure?” you ask, confusedly. the checkout man nods. “here’s the purchase receipt if you want to be sure.”

the sound of the front door bell tinkling draws your attention, and you turn to see jinhwan’s figure leave the shop. “thank you!” you exclaim hurriedly to the counter, mindlessly stuffing the receipt in your left pocket before booking it out of there.

by the time you get to the outside of the shop, jinhwan is a good ten meters away. “jinh—!” you start, and then stop. yelling an idol’s name in public is most definitely not a good idea. 

you’ve never been the most active, but you run after him anyway. thankfully, he’s not making an effort to run away from you, because you wouldn’t be able to catch up with him then. 

eventually, you catch up with him as he’s waiting for a pedestrian walkway to turn green. “jinhwan-ssi!” you call, furtively, and the man in question turns around to face you.

" ______.” he says, curiously. “what are you doing here?”

“you paid for my meal.” you state, and he looks at you like it’s obvious. 

“yes, i did.” he says, frowning a little. the pedestrian walkway turns green. he doesn’t make any effort to move.

“can i pay you back?” you ask, hand instinctively going towards your wallet in your right pocket.

he laughs a little at that. “why would you pay me back? this is my thank you for the favours you did for me.”

“you don’t have to pay me back! i did those things because i could. besides, a vending machine drink and a pain-relief patch costs much less than a meal.” you argue.

“then, consider it like i’m doing this because i can.” he counters, and its very hard to object to your own logic.

“can i at least buy you coffee or something as thanks?” you ask, as the pedestrian walkway turns red once more. 

at this, jinhwan pauses, before he sighs. “i have vocal practice in half an hour, so i can’t right now. but—” he continues, seeing the look of disappointment you already knew was on your face, “did you get the receipt from the checkout guy?”

“the what?” you ask, confused.

his face pales. “oh no, did you not take it?” he asks, suddenly looking scared, and you remember mindlessly snatching the receipt from the checkout man’s hands. you clumsily pat through your pockets a little before pulling a slip of paper out from your left pocket. “no, i have it,” you say, holding it up, “but why?”

jinhwan sighs. “turn it over,” he says, and you do.

in pen, a phone number is scribbled over the back of the receipt. “jinhwan,” it says in neatly printed letters next to it, and you fight back the urge to smile. you probably do a terrible job of it, too.

“text me when you’re free, and we can do coffee sometime, yeah?” jinhwan offers. you can’t see his face well because of his mask, but the tips of his ears are red. it’s stupidly endearing.

“i will,” you promise, because how could you say no to that?

the walkway light turns green once again. jinhwan waves as he crosses the street, and you wave as you stay behind. its only after you’re absolutely, positively sure that he’s out of sight that you let yourself grin, burying your too-hot face into your hands. 

if you just played your cards right, you have a date with kim jinhwan.

-

(you text him the very same day, and make plans for coffee the next week.

you treat him to crepe cakes and lattes, and he pouts, claiming that the crepes were too much and now he just has to take you out to make up for it.

before you can tell him that no, it’s fine, it’s your treat, he has movie tickets for two booked and emailed to your account.

you agree to go, but only if you get to buy the popcorn.)

[rarepears]

I posted 199 times in 2021

142 posts created (71%)

57 posts reblogged (29%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.4 posts.

I added 457 tags in 2021

#bnha ideas - 104 posts

#bnha crack - 72 posts

#rarepears - 68 posts

#bnha - 42 posts

#bnha crossover - 36 posts

#crackship - 32 posts

#mha - 31 posts

#endeavor - 24 posts

#reblog - 24 posts

#solo leveling - 24 posts

Longest Tag: 125 characters

#you know afo doesn't care about his harem of politicians when he doesn't bothering locking any of them in a vault for a month

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Sung Jinwoo the ASMR content creator

There's ASMR videos of pretty much anything and everything nowadays. The sound of cooking, eating, raining, etc.

Jinah decides to record a video of Beru eating - Beru likes eating even though he doesn't need to. Jinah uploads it to Youtube titled "ASMR of Ant eating".

Unsurprisingly it goes viral.

And this is how the public gets to know more about Korea's newest S rank via ASMR videos of Jinwoo's monster summons trying new things out. Like eating spicy ramen and dying from the spiciness.

It's sort of like watching a pet dog trying out different types of vegetables and fruits, except it's a towering giant of a monster doing the tasting.

Suddenly Jinwoo's summons don't seem to be that menacing to the public. Jinwoo himself earns a whole lot more public goodwill; more importantly, Jinwoo can skip out of interviews and leave it to Beru to handle it since Beru is such a public favorite now.

In fact, Beru is regularly invited to participate in variety shows.

I imagine that Jinwoo also receives offers to have his own reality show that focuses on the daily life of his summons.

--

Imagine Igris working as the cameraman to film other shadow summons doing Stuff. Beru as the guide / instructor teaching the shadow summons what to do.

Sung Jinwoo just sighs and returns back to cooking dinner for Jinah. Meanwhile Jinho is reading through contract after contract of endorsement offers for Beru and Igris. Money is money, no matter how weird everything is. XD

75 notes • Posted 2021-11-16 15:30:31 GMT

#4

Blind!Sung Jinwoo AU

Let me first start by saying that I have no clue how a blind Jinwoo would end up in a situation where he is in a red gate.

But I want a Jinwoo that's more dependent on his shadow summons; like he has Igris guide him around buildings that are not disability friendly and Beru read the labels (that don't have braille on it) out loud for him.

Just in general, Asia is not very disability friendly; it's changing in the urban areas but slowly. Jinwoo can use the influence and status of being a S rank to push for more disability rights and laws.

Jinwoo doesn't like the public attention, but he wants to do something good with it. So he has more to do than just saving the world by clearing one gate at a time. He cannot be solely focused on gates; he also has to improve his and other blind people's quality of life. Especially as I imagine that disability rights and accessibility issues (along with other social issues) have fallen wayside when the gates showed up and Awakenings were more newsworthy.

His guild would then double as a lobbyist group / raise awareness campaign.

Maybe Jinwoo was blind from birth; maybe he lost his eyesight in one of the gates he entered as an E rank. Ooh maybe he permanently lost his vision in the red gate while gaining his abilities!

76 notes • Posted 2021-12-06 14:30:29 GMT

#3

Touya is a multi-purpose household tool beyond being a stovetop

Touya being a portable stove is old news. Let’s talk about some other things he can go. 

Curl hair: He’s got fingers for the tighter curls, wrists and arms for larger curls. Or he can hold some steel pipe that is usually used to bash people’s heads in with and heat that up like it’s a curling iron. Imagine Toga waving her wet hair in front of touya to dry and curl with his quirk.

Iron: Touya is also the one who irons Compress’ button up shirts - cheaper and easier than buying a proper iron. He just waves a ladle or big spoon from the kitchen around the clothes to get rid of the wrinkles.

Clothing dryer: this one is pretty obvious.

Heating pad in the winter: Touya tucks in all the LOV members at night, especially in the winter. While tucking them in, he also heats up the blankets so that it’s nice and toasty, especially for Spinner.

Not to say that Touya does any of the above very well - many shirts and strands of hair have been burnt to crisp. But theoretically. THEORETICALLY. he can do all the above. Somehow. With some finessing.

It becomes habit, then, whenever a LOV member hands him a cup of liquid that he heats it up to become hot but not boiling and then he hands it back. Even Kurogiri hands Touya cups to heat up.

#Touya the League mom 

110 notes • Posted 2021-11-17 15:30:51 GMT

#2

Sung Jinwoo suddenly finds himself to be a Prince

So here are the facts:

Sung Jinwoo is Korea's newest S rank.

Korea's previous 10th S rank defected to the US.

Korea really needs more S ranks.

Sung Jinwoo isn't motivated by fame or money or anything really tangible as far as they can see.

In conclusion, KHA needs a way to made Sung Jinwoo stick to Korea and not get tempted by any offers from other nations. Aka they do a shit ton of digging.

And while digging through Sung Jinwoo's family tree - don't ask why, someone was just curious - they find that one of Sung Jinwoo's ancestors on his mother's side was a daughter of the House of Jeonju Yi, but given that daughters marry out of the family and lineage is normally traced through the father's side, Sung Jin woo and his parents never knew about that particular fact.

But now the Korean Hunter Association does. And they broadcast this bit of fact widely.

Everywhere.

It's great marketing; it's a great moral booster. It sounds just like out of a fairytale and god knows that the world needs more fairytale stories during a time of great chaos and violence from sudden gates emerging.

So people start calling Sung Jinwoo a prince. Prince of Korea, in fact. They cling onto the hope of the royal family, legends, and religion.

And the existing few members of the House of Yi make it official too. It's as though being Korea's 10th S rank wasn't enough, Sung Jinwoo is seen as representing Korea as a royal member in the international stage, complete with diplomatic immunity (which he unofficially had being a S rank).

(Jinah loves being an official princess now though.)

Sung Jinwoo barely is able to squeak through without having to do ceremonial duties under the excuse of being needed to respond to gates any moment.

But anyhow, Jinwoo is screwed. No country is now going to want the hot potato of stealing Korea's prince now, either. Just as the KHA wanted.

It doesn't help either that Beru keeps using "My Liege" even in public, adding to the whole mess.

156 notes • Posted 2021-11-10 15:31:00 GMT

#1

Sung Jinwoo the housewife reawakens as a S ranked

Basically Sung Jinwoo finds out he's an E rank, the weakest rank possible. Dungeons are too dangerous to risk, he concludes, as the chances of him dying and leaving his sister alone are much too high.

So he shift gears.

And ends up marrying rich.

He's got the cute looks; there's some rich, rather young (maybe a decade order than Sung Jinwoo) guy who wants a cute male housewife. It's a farfetched idea, but somehow it works.

Sung Jinwoo doesn't know much about gay relationships since he doesn't particularly think he swings in any direction - no crush or anything of that sort since he's been too busy figuring out how to lessen his mom's burden and then managing his mom's hospital bills.

But he presumes (presumes incorrectly) that the attraction is that he's stronger than the average person (great for bed lmao) but not stronger than the rich husband, so he clearly falls into the "female" role of the relationship.

He doesn't marry rich rich, but the husband is comfortably rich. New wealth, first generation wealth - probably some tech company. Jinah goes to a good international school; his mom's hospital bed is in the VIP section.

Jinwoo's job now is just to live a good life and good marriage. He doesn't love his husband, but he appreciate his husband's company. His husband is caring, encouraging him to spend more money to spoil himself and whatnot.

So one day, Jinwoo decides to buy a ticket to tour a dungeon.

Some D and C ranked Hunters have started a business venture of bringing a small group of tourists - regular humans, E ranked hunters usually - into E ranked dungeons where these tourists can briefly get a front row seat to watching how dungeons are cleared in person. It's expensive AF however. It's also illegal, but the hunters do it under the radar since it's good money.

It's just Jinwoo's luck that his ticket is the E ranked dungeon that is actually a red gate. And he reawakens as a S ranked hunter.

*

Just watch the media be all confused at how Korea's newest S ranked hunter is a male housewife who declines to clear S ranked dungeons to cook his husband a good meal instead. And apparently this S rank prefers to communicate with the outer world through his CEO husband instead - are you sure the S rank isn't getting domestically abused? Nah, he's an S rank, but what if...

Jinwoo and his husband are good partners - just shit at communicating until everything piles up and they have to have a proper talk for once to figure out how to handle Jinwoo's reawakening status.

And now, because of his husband being a business owner and CEO, Jinwoo can't avoid the media completely like in canon. But he still finds ways around it.

*

Insert a scene where Jinwoo panics over how he's growing taller and more conventionally handsome. He believes his husband married him for his cute looks; his new look is most certainly not cute anymore. He's about to be taller than his husband!

Meanwhile on the other side, the hubby is inwardly panicking over how he's worried that Jinwoo is going to want to marry a higher ranked hunter. Hubby is either a regular human or a weak D or C rank Hunter.

*

I also want to see the CEO do K drama CEO things in the relationship because that would be funny AF. Like Jinwoo, he also doesn't know what the fuck to do in a marriage, so he watches Korean dramas with Jinah - that's how he builds a relationship with his sister in law - and gets some ideas on how to behave.

Then when Beru comes around, Beru and husband only encourage and fuel each other's mannerisms... Jinwoo is very exasperated and very amused XD

Ashborn is most certainly getting the wrong impression of how human relationships work now.

173 notes • Posted 2021-11-08 15:31:03 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[anticapitalistclown]

*slowly approaches you from the shadows* ca-can you tell me about your ocs? (the way you explain them really gives me inspiration)

*gets distracted cause of the shadows*

I'm glad it serves you for inspiration, actually I wanted to make some adjustments and add characters...

For example Jiwon instead of ruling a construction company would rule a gym and teach fighting skills to the gang members and other fighters.

About my ocs you can find about them here and here

The new oc's are:

Falak Ahuja aka Ganesha

Age: 21

Height: 158 cm

Nationality: Bangladeshi and Korean

Ocupation: counselor, weaponry and trafficking (of weapons) also gang member (5th division captain)

Likes: spicy food, weapons, money.

Martial arts: Indian Martial Arts (armed fight, self defense, arc, fight...)

Other: she is a war child, she was raised by a mercenary army, she escaped at the age of 16 to Korea on a drug trafficking ship (244), Yerin found her on a port, she (Falak) was injured and drowning. Also has a scar on her nose.

Ri Tae

Age: 18

Height: 175 cm

Occupation: doctor, assistant.

Likes: Yerin, baseball, ramyun.

Martial arts: judo (beginner)

Status: deceased

Other: Tae was a runaway who Yerin saved, she showed him how to be a doctor, and made him her personal assistant.

Tae found some workers doing shady business, he got caught and tried to scape, when a worker's member attacked him he hitted his head, killing him in the act. Once Yerin found out she decided to get revenge against workers, this meaning she has to fight Jake and Jerry (her childhood best friends).

[purplesurveys]

1472

[chasingghosts @ bzoink]

What was the best vacation you've ever been on? My East Asian cruise! My parents gave me a trip to China, Japan, and South Korea for my 18th birthday and it remains to be my favorite time abroad. I wasn’t a fan of anything Korean yet but I enjoyed the trip all the same, and I’m pretty sure I went to one museum per country so that was nice too.

What would you buy first if you won the lottery? Give a substantial portion to my parents then put most of the remaining money into savings or like insurance.

Did you grow up in the city, the suburbs or somewhere more rural? I’ve been in the suburbs all my life. I did have a taste of the city as a newborn as my parents briefly had an apartment in Manila – but then they realized it wasn’t the best place to raise a baby so they moved back with my mom’s family in the suburbs by the time I was like, 2.

Describe the bag you use most often. It’s a white shoulder bag from Nine West. Million pockets, which is convenient for me since I pretty much treat my bags as my second home lol.

What languages did you learn in school? I very informally learned French in elementary school when my teachers wanted to start a thing where they teach us random French words every week lmao. It never really caught on and I didn’t take any more language classes throughout my education. I took a Korean class last year, though.

What has been the happiest time of your life so far? I will say I felt extremely happy during my previous relationship, but knowing how toxic things really were I could just be looking back at it with rose-colored glasses; that said, I don’t even know what to make of that time in my life anymore, so I’d rather move past it as if nothing happened. 

Another high point in my life was in my whole journey of moving on (also from the same relationship) because in entered a chain of happy events that made life exciting for me again. I got into BTS, I gained new friends because of BTS, I became closer with my friends at work...last year was a lot of fun for me and I can easily say it’s one of the best years I’ve lived through.

What do you usually order when you get Chinese food? Just yang chow fried rice and spring rolls. I rarely get Chinese food for myself so I never change my usual orders.

Have you ever had a crush on a celebrity? Who? Who hasn’t LOL. I have had so many celeb crushes, but my current would have to be Kim Taehyung. < dgjkdfhssdJHVHGVUYRew8gibVSY$&^*YHSGDYUSXM

Do you have any fears you would rarely admit to anyone? I used to be afraid of catching commercials at night because the graphic effects freaked me out so much as a kid hahaha but I’m super over it now. I’m not opposed to mentioning it with friends if it comes up in a conversation, but it’s never happened so no one really knows about that past irrational fear of mine.

Name one thing you always have in your fridge. Besides water, we never run out of eggs.

What website do you spend most of your time on? Google Suite, if it counts. I use it all the time for work.

What was the last music you listened to? According to my phone it was 28 by Yoongi, as Agust D.

How did you feel when you woke up today? I felt well-relaxed since it was a Sunday morning and I got to sleep in a bit, but also slightly annoyed because I knew I had to attend church with family first thing in the morning and I wouldn’t be able to relax in my bedroom.

What would your dream house be like? I want those modern houses that just look like giant squares lol. Design would be minimalist with a giant couch and TV in the living room to entertain friends. I’d love my own office too, to have that place where I can just focus; but the main bit I’ve always wanted was my own (wo)mancave where memorabilia of all my main interests are framed and hung up and stuff and where I can go to escape the world for a bit.

Do you own any clothes with polka dot patterns? I have a dress with a polka dot pattern but the dots are heart-shaped instead, if that counts. Otherwise, I don’t have anything that’s strictly polka dots.

Have you ever been orienteering? Nah. This was offered as a PE course in my university but I never enrolled in it.

What class in high school did you struggle with the most? Chemistry, trigonometry, and calculus were my Achilles heels. I don’t think I ever got a grade above 85 in those classes.

What did you have for dinner last night? I had fried eggplant and rice.

Would you change anything about yourself? Right now I just wish I had a stronger initiative to switch jobs and see where else I could thrive.

Do you like musical theatre? Mmmm not really, apart from Miss Saigon. It’s my mom’s favorite musical and we frequently listened to the soundtrack every time we were in the car.

What was the last party you went to? It may have just been a family Christmas party last December.

Do you like to make lists? Sure.

What could you talk about for hours? Topics that trigger nostalgia. Shows from my childhood, funny stories from grade school, clashes with my parents as a teenager...my cousin, sister, and I literally had a conversation of this nature an hour ago and we were able to cover so much, hahaha.

Are there any slang words/sayings that you just hate? My Gen Z self wouldn’t say so because I use most of the popular slang anyway, lol.

Do you have a lamp beside your bed? I do, but I turn it off when I finally turn in.

If you were in a band, what kind of music would you play? I’d probably be doing stuff behind the scenes. I can’t imagine ever being the main character, especially in the context of being in a band.

What was the first cell phone you owned? It was one of the Nokia phone that came with Snake and that space-y game.

What's your favourite ice cream topping? Chocolate chip cookie dough bits.

Is there something big you're currently saving for? BTS concert. I’ve stopped spending big on things for now just in case a world tour announcement is around the corner.

Who can you be your true self around? Angela.

[phoenixyfriend]

What can I do to limit Amazon’s* negative impacts without harming vulnerable communities who rely on their services?

* or any similar company that people are forced to use to survive if they are poor, disabled, elderly, rurally isolated, or any combination of the above

My post on Amazon has been circulating pretty far these past few weeks, and a lot of people keep trying to argue about what can be done right now. 

1. Contact your representatives

If you live in the US, there are several sites you can use to figure out your senators (you have two) and your representative (you have one). Call them if there’s a phone number. Email them if there isn’t. They’re obligated to have SOME form of contact. If your rep is already on your side, they can use your email as evidence for how citizens feel about the issue when Congress is in session to argue. If your rep is NOT on your side, they will see the email as evidence that a portion of their constituency is NOT willing to reelect them if they don’t play nice, and that scares them a lot. Either way, make yourself heard. Harass them if you have to.

(For more local issues, especially things like minimum wage and labor laws, you can find your representatives for your state or city government, like your mayor or governor or county rep, and contact them as well. Make yourself heard.)

Write emails in your own words about one of the following subjects:

Supporting the USPS. It’s the backbone of the US shipping industry, and major shipping companies like UPS, FedEx, and Amazon use it for overflow.

Monopolies and antitrust acts. Reference past antitrust acts leveled against oil, railroad, and telecom monopolies.

Raising the minimum wage. Reference inflation.

Enacting a marginal tax rate on high earners (re: the 1%, but phrased in a way that they’ll take seriously). Reference the marginal tax rates of the fifties.

Increasing disability benefits. Try to work something in about how stringent the requirements to qualify are, and how benefits don’t cover enough for medical care, transportation, assistive technology, and so on.

Increasing social security benefits for retirees. People pay into this fund all their lives as part of their income tax; it’s supposed to benefit them right back! (You can circle back to marginal tax rates and how the rich usually have savings and don’t need social security, but the poor often don’t have savings and rely on it.)

Enforcing corporate taxation. Find some statistics on who paid corporate  taxes in the past few years and who didn’t. Make sure to find a few big names and what their tax rate SHOULD have been. Emphasize how much extra money the government would be making.

Nationalizing the health care industry. Reference how well it works for countries like Canada, Korea, or Sweden, and how often hard-working Americans are bankrupted by unexpected medical emergencies.

Enacting or enforcing higher standards of employee rights. Did you know that minimum wage employees in Indiana don’t have the right to a lunch break unless they’ve been working at least twelve hours?

Legal repercussions for predatory pricing practices. Walmart is the best-known for this, but Amazon does it too, and they’re a fair bit sneakier about it.

Capping rent prices. Housing costs are among the highest financial pressures Americans face right now, and the fact that housing costs have risen SO much faster than the minimum wage is why it’s impossible to rent a one-bedroom apartment on a minimum wage anywhere in the US right now.

Capping upper management incomes. A CEO should not be earning several thousand, or several million, times as much money as their employees. It’s a long stretch (so argue the more achievable things first), but imagine if we could convince the government to say “actually, you can only make up to twenty times as much per hour as your lowest-paid employee.”

Banning police as threats against unions. UNIONS ARE GOOD THINGS. SUPPORT THEM.

Anything else that comes to mind! There are lots of subjects. This list is not an exhaustive one.

2. Vote

Pretty self-explanatory, I think. Vote in every election. Sometimes you won’t be able to vote for your top choice, and that sucks, but remember that our system is fucked and you have to go for the lesser evil that’s still capable of winning. So vote Blue (because ambivalence to our desires is better than glee at our suffering), and then send as many emails and make as many calls as you can to force them to recognize that, since you helped them get into office, they have to honor the deal to actually represent you now.

3. Support small businesses

Okay, so supporting local businesses probably isn’t too easy in a pandemic. You can’t just walk to your nearest mom and pop store to see if there’s an affordable option. That said, if you can afford to do so, try to see if there are small businesses in your area that are doing delivery or curbside-pickup.

If you live in a more rural area, see about ordering from small online businesses for non-essentials. If you’re thinking “hey, I’d like a new scarf” or something, check Instagram or Etsy first. All faults aside, Etsy is only a marketplace, not a seller themselves, so they rely on the vendors using their site to remain in business. (Whereas Amazon tries to drive their vendors out of business to take over their market share.) You can also use Google Shopping, eBay, or Craigslist.

4. Don’t Use Amazon (or similar), but don’t shame people for using it either

Some people rely on loss leaders to survive. That’s a fault of the American economy being a horrifying mess, and I listed a whole litany of the causes above. Money talks, so avoid using Amazon unless there is NO other way to get your product, but if someone you know uses Amazon, and you know they’re struggling, keep your mouth shut. If they’re not struggling, mention your distaste for Amazon but don’t push the issue; they’re more likely to come around if they feel like you’re not passing a moral judgement on them for it.

5. Recognize that many fairly-priced products are more expensive than you’re used to

The example I usually use is fashion. We’re used to a shirt costing ten or twenty dollars, even at places other than Walmart or Target. This price is what we’re led to believe is reasonable, but it’s really a factor of incredibly underpaid workers, usually overseas. If you can’t afford it, feel free to blame the low minimum wage (I certainly do), but remember to take a step back and remind yourself that it’s not that the piece is expensive, it’s that you are underpaid, and the current system is trying to teach you to expect cheaper items as the norm so they can get away with paying even more people less than they deserve.

6. DONATE

Yeah! There are a whole lot of nonprofit agencies that focus on issues that relate to this topic. I prefer to donate to organizations that focus on enacting systemic change through legal or institutional channels, like the ACLU and AAPD, but there are a lot of options, some of which focus on more direct help, or on specific parts of the country. Figure out one that speaks to you, check it against a trusted charity rating system like Charity Navigator, and set up a monthly donation if you can afford to. Constant support can cause compassion fatigue, but consistent support is how you Get Shit Done.

7. March

Join an activist group and march. Sometimes there are other major events going on (hijacking one of the current marches against racism and police brutality in favor of one about monopolies would be in bad taste AT BEST), but there will come an opportunity to make your voice heard by showing up on the street and just yelling with a sign.

Now go forth and unleash hell.

[markftmingi]

sit down! - part two

summary: the king of south korea hires you personally to become the prince’s personal bodyguard after he receives death threats but still continues to life his life dangerously

pairing: prince!badboy!jaehyun x bodyguard!badass!reader

warning(s): this bad boy got some violence so uh yeah spoiler alert: you get jumped saving jaehyun’s ass. so tw// mugging(?) but johnny saves u.

sit down! masterlist

after only working at the seoul palace for a week, you could admit this was a tough job. most of jobs you had consisted of you tracking someone down and taking them out. you never had to watch over a prince and protect him, especially a stubborn prince who kept trying to sneak out every chance he got. even though the interior was new and modern, the seoul palace was still hundreds of years old. the doors still squeaked and certain floorboards creaked just like they creaked under jaehyun’s feet just now.

“where you going, pretty boy?” you called out, scaring him.

“jesus, siren, you nearly gave me a heart attack... i was just going for a brisk walk.”

you scoffed, “yeah? a brisk walk in that outfit?”

jaehyun was black suit with pretty gold flowers printed all over it. he didn’t have a shirt under his blazer so his toned chest was on full display. (you know his suit in kick it? yeah.)

“okay fine. you caught me. it’s ten’s birthday and he wanted to go clubbing. i swear i’ll only be gone for 3 maybe 4 hours. you don’t have to come with me.”

“uh, yeah. i do. who’s going to watch over your drunk ass?”

“johnny!” jaehyun blurted out, “johnny’s actually downstairs with one of the cars right now! a little secret between you and i? i think johnny has a crush on ten.”

you narrowed your eyes at him, “i am trusting you this one time. fuck up and you’ll never see sunlight again. leave your phone on so i can keep track of your location.”

jaehyun’s dimples popped out as he smiled brightly, “yes, yes. of course. thank you. bye.”

something felt off about the way he just took off so fast but if johnny was there then he’d be in good hands... right?

___________________________________________

waking up in the middle of the night wasn't something new. during training, you’d have ice thrown on you at 3am to wake up and fight. but right now, you woke up to johnny blowing up your phone.

“i lost jaehyun. he snuck off from me at the club and the little shit turned his phone off,” johnny spat out as soon as you answered.

you sighed, “stay at the club with the others. i put a tracker on him before he left. he seemed suspicious earlier. i’ll get him.”

“be safe,” johnny muttered before hanging up.

you reached under your pillow and grabbed the tablet you used to see the surveillance and track him. jaehyun wasn’t that far from the club but it was down some dark alleyway and he wasn’t alone. how could you let this happen? how could any of the guards let this happen? you cursed loudly and threw on some clothes. you took the tablet with you so you could track down the car he took.

when you pulled up, the first thing you saw was jaehyun’s fancy suit. he was being held against the wall by a tall, bald man. behind that man was four other men around his height.

"everything okay here?" you questioned, walking forward.

all five men turned to me quickly. one man laughed while the others glared.

the one holding jaehyun held his shirt tighter, "you little shit. we told you to come alone,” he cursed.

"i d-did! she followed me! she doesn't know anything about this! i swear!" jaehyun said quickly.

"he's not lying. i don't know anything about what you guys do... but i do know that you're going to let him go."

all the men laughed this time.

"listen, little girl, this son of a bitch owes me money and he's either going to give me it now or he's getting the beating of his life. i don't care if he's the prince or not."

you pulled out your wallet, "how much?"

"5,000,000 won... something you can't afford." the bald man laughed.

you counted 5,000,000 won out of your wallet and held it out.

"no sweetheart, he has to pay me. it's not how it works around here."

you rolled your eyes, "look. it's the same money. i'm paid by the king. either you take the money and we leave unharmed... or you don't take the money and we leave unharmed."

the man let go of jaehyun and he let out a breath. jaehyun slowly walked over to me but you didn’t make eye contact with him. you were pissed. 

"my plan is to take the money and kill you both."

you pushed jaehyun behind you, "go back to the club."

"w-what?" jaehyun stuttered, looking at you like you were crazy.

and you probably were for doing something like this.

"you heard me. go back to the club. johnny’s still there with the boys."

"siren, i'm not... i can't."

"for fucks sake, jaehyun! fucking listen to me for once! go to back to the club. tell johnny where i am if i don't come back in twenty minutes. get in your car and drive."

jaehyun luckily did as he was told and left.

"you shouldn't have done that." one of the men said before running at you.

you caught his fist before it hit your face. you twisted it until you heard a sickening crack. that didn't stop him much though. he tried to kick you also but his leg suffered the same fate as his wrist. another man swung at you and you barely dodged it. he was fast. you dodged his attacks and he dodged yours until you felt a sharp pain in your calf. you hadn't even noticed that the first man had managed to crawl over to you and stab you in the leg. you kicked him in the face with your other leg and knocked him out. before you could turn back around, you were knocked to the floor. the second man stepped on your wound and held his foot there. it hurt like hell but he was stopping it from bleeding too much. you reached for the gun on your hip and he quickly grabbed it and threw it away.

"i should kill you," the bald man began to say, "but instead... i think we'll teach you a lesson."

he then swung his foot down on your stomach. they took turns: kicking, punching, slapping, stomping all over you. everything burned and ached and you couldn't really breathe. your vision was blurry. you could feel yourself getting ready to pass out but you heard a gunshot followed by the men running away and johnny’s voice.

“stay awake, kid,” was the last thing you heard before you passed out.

[theoreosisters]

Woes of The Button

The floor is lava! Remember that game? The game we all played as kids where you pretend the floor is lava and you have to hop from couch to chair to slipper to whatever else, making sure not to touch the actual ground. If you lose your balance or fall, you die. I mean lose.

If a real lava situation were to happen, we’d probably be fine as we live on the 3rd floor. Yes, we moved. Sadly, we no longer live in the building with the gorgeous Chinese guys on the 6th floor. Let’s not talk about it, I don’t want to cry.

Anyways, something that was new to me about living in Korea is that you have to manually turn on and off the hot water when you want it. By “manually” I mean press a button, not like head down to boiler room and turn a nob. Pressing a button is “manual” to me because I’m used to hot water just being there when I want it. “Where does hot water come from?” “…umm... the faucet?”

I don’t know if all houses in Korea are like this, but every one of the 7 places I’ve lived in Seoul has been. The same button turns on and off the hot water. And it’s really not that big of a deal. Sure, sometimes someone has forgotten to press the button causing that person to call out from the shower, “Can someone please turn on the hot water?”, but that’s about it really. In one house, the button was right inside Ari’s room, which was fine except for when Ari was teaching. In order not to make noise or disturb her, we’d open the door just wide enough to slip our arm in and press the button. But for Ari who was inside the room, she’d only see this bodyless arm slip in against the wall feeling around for a button and then slowly slide out again and the door close. Creepy, right?! But Ari could always tell who it was by the arm. Even Miran and Ali are different shades of “fairness”.

I suppose the purpose of this button is to save water and money, and thanks to the house we lived in where the button was in Ali’s room, we got into the excellent habit of remembering to turn off the hot water. This was because the button was right beside the light switch. When Ali turned her light on or off, she’d also easily be able to notice if the hot water was still on. If she knew that no one was washing dishes or showering, she’d kindly remind us to turn it off. At first, though, we forgot a lot. Poor Ali frequently had to remind us “Please remember to turn off the hot water guys.”

Because we kept forgetting, often I’d just assume the hot water had been left on so as I walked by, I’d press the button, thinking I was turning it off.

In reality... all of us WERE remembering to turn it off. Which makes sense now that I think about it because it did seem weird that after months of reminders we still were “forgetting”. Turns out it was me who kept turning it on, THINKING I was turning it off.

Sorry girls! I thought I was helping…

Good news is that my mistake is what made it seem like we never remembered to turn off the hot water, therefore, causing Ali to constantly remind us, therefore, getting us into the almost unbreakable habit of turning off the water.

Did you notice that “almost”?

In May, we moved. Same hot water button system but now the button is in the bedroom, slightly behind one of the bunk beds. – That’s right, bunk beds! Plural. Some of you are very curious about our bunk beds and how we share our room but let’s not get off-topic. The point to note here is that the button is behind a bunk bed making it difficult to tell if it’s on or off.

While leaving the hot water on overnight is definitely not great, it’s also not going to cause any major damage to the world or our wallets. So ‘what’s the problem?’ you may

be asking, ‘Why is an entire episode dedicated to the woes of a hot water button?’ The woe is that this ONE button also controls the heated floors. This was new information to us. Usually, these hot water and heated floor functions have different buttons. Why there’s only one button? We do not know. Do we like heated floors? Yes, we are not opposed. In fact, we spend most of our time lying on the floor in the winter. Honestly, we find it amazing that with no central heating, heated floors are able to keep an entire house toasty warm in the winter. But this is May.

Who left the button on? It’s not important. Although it was probably me considering my button problem in the past.

Regardless, the button was left “on” overnight.

The heated floors were on. All. Night.

We woke up to lava.

Ari’s laptop on the floor by her bed had overheated from the outside in (didn’t know that was possible). Plastic bags were stuck to the floor. Reese’s Peanut butter cups that Jeanne brought back from America were no longer individually packaged cups but were now individual packages of melted chocolate soup. When we sat at the table, we had to pull our feet up because the floor was too hot to touch. Although, this I didn’t mind as it also put us out of Oreo’s licking reach.

There must be a way to separate these two functions. It doesn’t make sense that they would simultaneously be controlled by one button. If we want to take a shower with hot water in the summer, must we succumb to having the floors turn into lava? That’s going to be terrible because Ella likes to have 20 min showers (forget about saving the dolphins I guess).

The other option would be to ask a Korean friend if they know how we can separate the two functions. But we’ve been too busy Googling “Order Cuchara food app where” and “Is Theo James married” – yes in that order - to have time to ask a Korean friend.

However, the one thing we do know is that sadly yes, Theo James is already married.