#ki hong bae

[stuff-diary]

Wedding Impossible

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2024

Wedding Impossible (2024, South Korea)

Director: Kwon Young Il

Writers: Oh Hye Won & Park Seul Ki (based on the webtoon by Song Jung Won)

Mini-review:

Well, this drama was entertaining, but nothing more. It was especially funny at the beginning, thanks to that sort of 'rivalry' between the leads. However, once they solved that and started moving into purely romantic territory, the story began to lose steam quickly. Tbh, I kept watching to the very end because of the sizzling chemistry between Jeon Jong Seo and Moon Sang Min. And I guess I wanted to see how in the world they were gonna clear up the mess created by the characters, which was pretty fascinating. I feel like the show would have been better if the director had put more thought into its style, cause the whole thing looked pretty cheap and bland. But still, Wedding Impossible is fun enough, and I can see fans of classic romcoms enjoying it a lot.

[gluion]

[part one] the perfect pair ➵ “ew, is that sunwoo over there? 저리 꺼져.”

esports player!kim sunwoo x esports player!reader

being a woman in the esports league is hard, but dealing with cocky kim sunwoo is unmatched. with the valorant champions tour about to commence, you two are forced to team up to retrieve the trophy. what will be tested—team morale or your patience around sunwoo?

chapter genre/warnings ➵ enemies to lovers, afab reader (they/them pronouns), slow burn, slight angst, crack, sexual tension, misogynistic & sexist remarks and behaviors, sunwoo is such an annoying teammate... retired ow player now val player…, rush gets introduced YIPPEE, sunwoo gets jealous...?, bets are made, a lot of gamer lingo (check the guide & visual aids!)

word count ➵ 10.5k words

parts ➵ check out the series masterlist

a/n ➵ it's out! felt a lil pressured by the number of notes i wont lie! i hope u guys enjoy this along with the visual aid <3 special shoutout to @shegotthewoobies @vernyangel @heemingyu @deobienthusiast for beta reading <3 much love to you all <3 esp to ki who made the usernames <3 if you enjoyed reading, do reblog and leave feedback!

want to be part of my taglist? send me an ask! masterlist

HYST wins VCT’s Game Changers By Bae Sumin

HYST takes the title as the winner of the Valorant Championship Tour (VCT) Game Changers in Los Angeles, USA against defending champion 88RR. The team took over the playing field, showcasing their astounding teamwork and tactful gameplays, and won 3-1 in a best-of-five series.

Since the first match on Bind, players Ailurus (Y/N) and bokku (Miyawaki Sakura) demonstrated their chemistry through their formidable performance as Omen and Yoru respectively. Their alliance was enough for their opponents to avoid one-on-one battles.

Rising player Ppiya (Hong Eunchae) secures her position as one of the most impressive duelists to come from this year’s VCT. In all of the matches played, Ppiya secures at least one kill per round, placing her 3rd in the leaderboards out of all players in the event.

In their second match on Ascent, remarkable sentinel players CHUU (Kim Jiwoo) and subakhye (Son Hyeju) built solid defense systems and dealt with flanks with ease. They can adjust their setups accordingly as they observe their opponents’ playstyle.

Although their exceptional performance in Game Changers makes its mark in VCT history, Ailurus only hopes that they are given more opportunities to engage in such tournaments. “I am happy [about our win], but I hope that the [VALORANT] esports scene sees us more than just winners [of Game Changers]. I want to be seen as a remarkable player regardless of gender,” they share.

Despite HYST participating in VCT for the past two years, this is their first championship win. In last year’s VCT, the organization met its defeat in VALORANT Challengers through their other roster consisting of players bae (Jacob Bae), nuguri (Kim Sunwoo), Darong (Lee Jaehyun), gyulz (Ju Haknyeon), and Maize (Lee Juyeon).

Both teams are under the guidance of Coach bori (Kim Younghoon), a retired VALORANT and League of Legends pro player.

These turn of events displayed HYST’s dedication to improvement and VALORANT. Many followers hope to see more of the reigning champions of Game Changers.

ROUND 1: “WELCOME TO MY WORLD!”

The moon radiates tonight, its white gleam accompanied by speckles amidst the sea of black. Now would be the perfect moment to take some time to yourself; get in more hours of sleep, or pick up a book you’ve been putting off. Instead…

“Hi, everyone! It’s been a while,” you greet your viewers through the webcam.

The monitor shines on you, colors of blue and violet painting your skin. On the wall behind you is a shelf filled with memorabilia; medals from small competitions along with trophies from bigger tournaments. 

“I know it’s a little late here, but I was itching to play some matches.” Your eyes glide through your stream’s chat. Many viewers are ecstatic to have you back on Twitch while others question your late hours of streaming.

jseollie: even after game changers?? CRAZY! bboppull: GRIND NEVER STOPS 💪💪💪 bookeucutie: tell us abt vct!!!

A chuckle leaves you as you open up Valorant. “I really enjoyed my time in VCT! I met some of my favorite players like Lorri from Evil Genius, sonder from Shopify, even Version1’s MeL.”

You lean back on your chair as you recall the event. “I won’t lie, I was very nervous about going against 88RR, which, by the way, is a lovely team. We met up for drinks after.” You scratch the back of your neck as you try to go through what your chat says.

“I remember talking to Kura about it since the semifinals, and she had to give me a constant pep talk.” The memory of Sakura knocking sense into you after every match makes you laugh.

As you dish to your viewers about your experience throughout Game Changers, you read their comments. Many of your viewers were happy with your revelation of the teams' bonds with each other. “Yeah, we’re competitive but we’re here with the same dreams, so I think it did help us form some kind of connection. I was able to exchange contacts with Sunmi and Taeyeon as well. I told them that whenever they decide to come back to Korea, they should give me a call.”

ajiajibee: is the trophy with you? ghanadara: i think it’s beside the picture frame

“Oh, I don’t get to keep it. It’s back in the headquarters,” you say as you slightly swivel your chair to the side. “That picture frame, however,” you point at your shelf, “is my certificate. That way, we all have something to bring home.”

You adjust your chair before smiling at the camera. “Anyway, I’m really happy that our practice paid off. It was an honor to even participate and meet other players.”

Most of the reactions were positive ones; congratulations and desires to see your team play together for more events. Yet, regardless of your achievements, there’s constantly a handful of negative ones.

hwithefool: Cant believe you won game changers. Ur not even that good. hwithefool: didn’t even get to champs L honeycube: boosted ass universefactory deleted hwithefool’s message. universefactory deleted hwithefool’s message. universefactory deleted honeycube’s message. hwithefool is now banned from this chat. Reason: Being rude honeycube is now banned from this chat. Reason: Being rude

Thankfully, your moderators were there to take control of such—but you’ll always know what people think of you.

“Anyway, for today’s stream, I’ll be playing with Juhak and Hyeju!” You exclaim as you switch scenes, now showing the Valorant lobby. “We’re going to play on our alt accounts for today, so it should be fun.”

real_juhaknyeon: LFGGGGG goated team rubyvobo: we get nom, jeorge porkwell, AND hyejuseyo?? We win today sunwooluver: what about nuguri?? he’s solo queuing right now rubyvobo: OFHEJSHSJJSKS I LOVE YOU GUYS sunwooluver: WILL NUGURI JOIN??

One of the few perks that comes with being an established streamer is that you could ignore comments, pretending you never saw them, and you’d get away with it; people just didn’t need to talk about it all together and you’d be fine.

So when you invite Haknyeon and Hyeju to your party, you continue talking to your chat about today’s stream. “We’re not going to play ranked today, I think?” You hum for a moment, going through the agenda in your head. “Well, we might, but I have no clue. It depends on what they want.”

Before you can continue with your rambles, your phone vibrates on your desk. Once you grab it, you notice that text messages from Kim Younghoon, the coach of the organization, have come your way.

coach bbang 🍞: hi y/n! don’t forget to remind your teammates about tomorrow’s meeting for vct ☺️ coach bbang 🍞: and gl with your stream tonight! y/n: teewai coach :DD see u tomo

“Sorry about that!” You put your phone away and give your full attention to your monitor. Hyeju and Haknyeon already joined your party, and you spot that they’re in a voice channel on the HYST’s Discord server. “Before I go join VC with the others, I just wanted to say thank you for supporting me and the others in Game Changers. It was a fun but tough competition, and I wouldn’t be here without you guys.”

Although your job did start as a hobby, you continued to persevere through such hardships thanks to your support systems; your teammates and viewers alike. You only ever considered going pro thanks to two friends. Unfortunately, time has its way of making you drift apart from them; you hope you can go face-to-face against them one day if the universe willed for it.

“Anyway, let’s have some good games!”

“I tuned in to your stream last night, Y/N,” Eunchae starts. “That losing streak is insane.”

You sigh, shoulders down as you walk dejectedly. “Don’t even get me started. Our randos were ass and wouldn’t stop talking shit.” You look at your younger friend who only pouts as you recap the events of last night. “I know you would always enter and clear sites for us, my Manchae.”

With your arm wrapped around her shoulder, her expression shifts into a smile. “I mean, that’s the least I can do as your duelist.”

“Well, not everyone seems to know that.”

The HYST headquarters is a three-story infrastructure whose interior resembles corporate buildings; the furniture is mostly of sleek leather and dark-stained wood. Monotone linoleum tiles and off-white walls stretch throughout the building.

As soon as you both arrive in front of the meeting room, you swing the doors open, revealing Sakura, Hyeju, and Jiwoo who sit together on one side of the conference table. You and Eunchae rush to them, exchanging greetings and embraces.

“Do you always play Valorant?” Jiwoo directs the question to you, referencing your stream last night with Hyeju and Haknyeon, to which you roll your eyes.

“No, I just had the itch to play!” You take a seat in between Sakura and Jiwoo. “Plus, I’ll take any opportunity to make some money.”

The doors swing open. “Hi, everyone. It’s nice to see you all,” Younghoon greets your team before walking to the whiteboard situated in the corner of the room.

The organization’s general manager, Lee Sangyeon, trails behind him, a smile painting his face as he takes a seat at the end of the table. “I’ll say this again, but good work in Game Changers.”

“Thanks, Sangyeon,” Sakura expresses her gratitude on behalf of the team. “We wouldn’t have been able to win without your help along with Younghoon’s.”

He shakes his head, trying to play it off. “No, I’m just here to make sure you guys get to participate, you know? Just want to make sure that you guys get recognized.”

Silence settles. The squeaking from Younghoon's marker is faint but loud enough to capture your attention. Although his figure covers most of what’s written on the whiteboard, you catch sight of a few gamer tags—Ailurus and bae.

Before you can decipher the other words, the doors open. “Hi, guys!” Haknyeon enters the room with all smiles. “Hello Game Changers winners,” he bows his head, making you chuckle.

His teammates, Jacob and Juyeon, trail behind him, relaxed expressions resting on their faces. “Congrats on the win,” Jacob shakes hands with everyone on your team. “That one play on Ascent went crazy, by the way.” His praise is directed towards you, and you try to play it cool.

“Ah, it was nothing. Just got lucky.”

“If I was in your situation, I probably wouldn’t have secured that round,” Juyeon chimes in as he takes a seat beside his teammates. The three boys sit across from your team.

Haknyeon smacks Juyeon’s arm, laughing at his words. “Yeah! Remember that one round in Breeze?” Juyeon only rolls his eyes while his teammates recap the events for your team.

You don’t really interact with Haknyeon’s team (or Jacob’s team if you were going to follow formalities), just the occasional greetings and small talk if you were going to be honest. It’s not like you didn’t want to be friends with them; there aren't enough opportunities to bond when you all have different schedules, let alone priorities. But you did enjoy their team's presence, and every interaction with them is one you hope may bring your team closer to theirs.

Except for one player.

“Sorry, we’re late!” Hyunjae enters the room with an apologetic smile. “Someone decided to sleep in.”

“Not true! Hyunjae’s lying.”

The room starts to grow dimmer, almost as if life were sucked out of it. Only you seemed to see it, never the others. There he is—the only exception. 

He’s dressed in an oversized graphic tee layered on top of a white long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black baggy jeans. His hair shows its soft curls, clearly indicating that he’s the one lying.

A playful pout rests on his lips as he tries to continue his defense. Yet, when he locks eyes with you, he holds back. A scowl now paints his face.

If you follow esports, then you would know who Kim Sunwoo is—an established pro player who switched from Overwatch to Valorant. At first, many people were confused by his choice, throwing away years invested into a different game. Yet, it seemed that he didn’t care about what others had to say as he signed with HYST a few months after he started playing Valorant.

Within that time frame, he was able to impress Younghoon and Sangyeon with his gameplay. After all, Valorant and Overwatch required different playstyles. It was easy for him to become big in the Valorant pro scene, as you would like to say, for he made use of his existing fame.

He’s adored by many people who follow the pro scene; audience and players alike. You, however, seemed to think differently.

You shift your gaze to Younghoon, silently hoping that the meeting will commence. As if he heard your thoughts, he says, “No worries. Go, take your seats.”

Unfortunately, Hyunjae opts to sit across from Eunchae, leaving one vacant seat across from you. 

Sunwoo sits on the chair as a dejected sigh leaves him, causing you to roll your eyes while you keep your gaze away from him. All you need to do is get through the meeting and you won’t have to face him for a while.

“Thank you everyone for coming here today,” Younghoon starts as he faces all of you. The whiteboard behind him has now been flipped, and the gamer tags are now hidden. “Uh, before we get into the agenda for today’s meeting, let’s congratulate the winners of Game Changers!”

Applause erupts from everyone who didn’t participate in that competition, but your eyes don’t miss how slow the boy across you claps, almost as if he wasn’t impressed.

“Now, we can get to the point of today’s meeting.” Younghoon steps to the side, revealing the text written—VCT GAMEPLAN with irregular shapes surrounding it. “We all know that VCT is around the corner, a few months from now, which means we’ve got to start our preparations.”

“Normally, we would’ve gone straight to strategizing and having you guys,” your coach looks at the team across you, “practice, but Sangyeon and I have agreed on doing things differently this year.” He flips the board, revealing everyone’s gamer tags. “We’re changing the roster.”

Many players are caught off-guard by Younghoon’s announcement. It’s not usual for a roster change to take place, especially with only a few months left before qualifiers commence.

“We know that not everyone may want to participate in the upcoming VCT, and I’ve spent weeks trying to configure what’s the best roster to represent HYST.” Younghoon then pulls out a blue marker and starts to circle some names; CHUU, Darong, bae, nuguri, and… Ailurus? “These are my picks for VCT.”

A frown appears on your face, but before you can comment, Haknyeon beats you to it. “I don’t know if having Hyunjae and Sunwoo play together is smart.” All eyes are now on him. “I mean, no offense,” his eyes flicker to the two subjects, “I don’t know if Jiwoo and Y/N would be able to keep up, and that’s not a diss to them.”

“I agree,” Jacob chimes in. “Haknyeonie, Juyeon, and I can play with Sunwoo and Hyunjae as duelists because we know their playstyles well. We’ve played together for years. Y/N and Jiwoo would be playing with them for the first time.”

Younghoon bites the inside of his cheek, deep in thought as he considers what’s been said. “Thoughts?” He directs his question to the two people in question. The two players exchange glances, almost as if they were communicating.

“Yeah, I know Sunwoo and I can adjust our playstyle but it took more than half a year for Juyeon and Haknyeon to get used to our playstyle,” Hyunjae says as he scratches the back of his neck. “And if it helps, I’d prefer to sit this one out. You know, I have a lot of sponsorships lined up that I need to stream for also.”

Your coach sighs. “No worries. What about you, Sunwoo?”

“Wait, can I say something?” Jiwoo gathers the attention of everyone in the room. “I also want to opt out of VCT. I mean, I just played in Game Changers.” A guilty smile takes over her features.

Thankfully, Younghoon acknowledges where Jiwoo comes from. “Of course, I understand. After all, that’s why we're having this meeting.”

Before your coach can try to reconfigure the roster, Sangyeon stands up from his seat.

“Can I suggest another rotation?” Younghoon nods before handing him a red marker. Sangyeon starts to circle another list of gamer tags, ones he believes should be in the final line-up of players for VCT; it consists of bokku, bae, gyulz, Ppiya, and… Ailurus, again? Your coach frowns as he looks at the selection.

“I think Sunwoo should be benched.” Your eyebrows shoot up at Sangyeon’s words, not expecting those words considering the player’s reputation.“He’s made some rash plays recently, and you know that.” You glance at the boy who sits across from you only to see that his gaze is affixed to the ground. 

Younghoon shakes his head, clearly in disbelief at the manager’s words. “Yes, but that’s only for a few matches. Trust me when I say that Sunwoo is strong as a duelist and an initiator.” His attempt to defend his mentee is weak against Sangyeon’s opinion.

“He plays for himself!”

Clearly, the two higher-ups have opposing views.

“Think about it; Eunchae and Sakura are great duelists, and anyone else on that team plays initiator.”

Although Sangyeon seems to believe his proposed line-up is the best one yet, your coach shakes his head. “Eunchae isn’t playing.” He glances at her before saying, “She told me beforehand.” All eyes are now on the teen who only shows an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, I wanted to take a break from this year’s VCT to focus on my studies.”

Sangyeon scratches the back of his neck. “Well—”

“Hey,” Sakura cuts into the conversation. “Haven’t we considered that Y/N and Sunwoo might not want to play together?” She looks at you two with scrunched eyebrows, clearly confused by your coach’s proposal. “I mean, we all know their relationship, no?”

Your feud isn’t under the table. All of the players know about your distaste towards each other but they don’t know where it stems from.

“Yes, but their playstyles complement each other.” Everyone’s confused as to why Younghoon is persistent. “Out of all my mentees, I’ve worked with them the most, and I know exactly how they can work together.”

“Well, I want Y/N on that team.” As your manager says that, all the attention is now on you. You’re not sure why Sangyeon would say that. Uncomfortable with how you’ve become the topic of the conversation, you cannot help but sink into your seat.

“And I agree with you. But if we’re going to have Y/N play, I need Sunwoo on that team.” You lock eyes with Sunwoo briefly as your coach says that. “He’s my one-pick, and I know he’ll help the team out the most.” Sangyeon sighs, rethinking the roster once more. You shift your gaze to the ground, clearly unhappy being paired with the player across from you.

You weren’t happy that the two continued to discuss the final roster without asking you, but before you could speak up, someone beat you to it.

“Shouldn’t Y/N take a break?” Your gaze lands on the boy across from you, eyebrows now furrowed over his suggestion. “I mean, they did just come from winning Game Changers. We can have Juyeon take over.” When you spot a small smirk resting on his lips, you ball your fists.

Whatever game Sunwoo is playing, you don’t want any part of it. If anything, whatever he’s trying to insinuate has you clenching your teeth. And you’re about to retort—

“No,” Sangyeon says, speaking on your behalf. “Y/N’s a good leader and a team player. I trust Y/N the most out of all the people on the roster.”

Sunwoo raises his hands in defense. “It was only a suggestion.” But when he glances at you, you don’t miss the sinister smile on his face.

Not only was Sunwoo trying to bench you out of the competition but Sangyeon and Younghoon were too invested in their conversation, speaking on your behalf as if you were nothing but a tool for the organization. Without a second thought, you stand up from your seat. Everyone’s eyes are on you as you storm out of the room.

That’s the thing about being a pro player in the esports scene; no one seems to listen to you if you aren’t a man.

For once, silence settles amongst everyone. Your departure is a message, one that everyone failed to see earlier on.

A sigh leaves Sakura. “I know we’re all worried about VCT but let’s not forget to hear everyone out, okay?” She glances at the doors that are now shut closed, wondering where you may have gone. “You know Y/N. Just avoid speaking on their behalf and let them talk for themselves.”

“Yeah,” Eunchae huffs, “let’s give them time to cool down. We only wrapped up Game Changers a few weeks ago.”

As Younghoon crosses his arms, a sigh leaves him as he looks down to the floor. “Sorry, Sangyeon and I were too caught up with what we wanted.” He glances at his watch before shifting his gaze to the players who sit idly. “Let’s talk about this again once they come back.”

In the eye of a hurricane stands you, a witness to the chaos, wondering what course of action nature shall take upon you. Somehow, your screams are soundless—not a single soul minds the hurricane for as long as it doesn’t hit them.

You stand in front of the washroom mirror, taking your time to recollect your thoughts. The stress that comes from the upcoming VCT, the pressure to represent HYST once more, the likelihood of working with Kim Sunwoo for the first time—there’s nothing you can control.

The stars point you towards acceptance, perseverance.

It’s not that you were against representing HYST for the upcoming VCT events. If anything, you were grateful that Sangyeon and Younghoon trusted you to undertake such an important role.

Although you’ve competed in Game Changers, the audience it attracts is smaller in comparison to the ones your manager and coach want to see you in. All eyes will be on you as you compete to reach to Champions.

The weight that comes with playing in a worldwide esports event, one that most of the community is tuned into, rests on your shoulders—a coalition of anxiety from every round that plays out, migraines from reconfiguring your strategies, the comments of you playing just because you aren’t a man. Those reasons should be enough for you to decline the offer, to protect your peace, and to make more out of your streams.

But nothing can compare to bringing back home the fruit of your labor—the Champions Cup—the recognition that comes from competing, and the bond built amongst teammates. If you got to experience all that from Game Changers, you’re almost certain that VCT will bring experiences to be marked in your books.

But what do you know, right?

With a mind clearer after today’s event, you exit the washroom, still deciding whether you should compete or not. Yet, it’s as if the universe has plans to provoke you as you come face-to-face with the last person you want to see.

His eyes lock with yours and a snarl appears on his face. “What? I had to use the washroom.” Defensive, like always.

Before you can make your way back to the conference room, he grabs your arm, holding you back. You glare at Sunwoo, your eyes glancing at his hand on your arm, and he lets go.

He bites the inside of his cheek. “I know we don’t like each other.” Tell me about it. “But,” he sucks in a breath as he stares back at you. “I know we want to prove ourselves, so why don’t we just suck it up and work together?”

Anyone could believe that Sunwoo’s trying to play nice with you—he’s willing to make amends in hopes that there’s no bad blood between you two—but you could care less about what this man has to say.

“It’s not that easy,” you start. “You don’t understand what I want.” Unlike him, you know that proving yourself does nothing.

His frowns over your words. “What do you mean—”

“Sunwoo, you can easily say you want to play to prove yourself,” you cut him off. “I can’t say the same for me. It’s a privilege enough that I can even play in these events.” You jab your index finger against his chest, making him stagger backward.

That’s what makes you and Sunwoo different; while he chases praises from a few lucky plays, you’re left to deal with the backlash from just breathing.

If Sunwoo wants to retort, you don’t give him the chance to do so as you walk away from him. As you reach the doors, you take a deep breath in before swinging them open. The chatter is interrupted by your presence as you make your way back to your seat.

Sunwoo follows shortly, keeping his gaze on you as he takes his seat. You would’ve ignored the way he looks at you but the eye contact you two exchange amplifies what you told him then in the halls. So when an ominous grin appears on your face, the lousy bridge he tried to build towards you crumbles. After all, it was constructed on a poor attempt to save his career.

“Count me in.”

ROUND 2: “YOUR BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS THAT YOU PISSED ME OFF.”

With every day that passes, the weight of VCT rests heavier on your shoulders. Playing with a team you don’t compete with is not easy. Yet, you’re hopeful today—it’s all you have, after all.

As you enter the practice room, you are greeted by the chilly air that emits from the air conditioners. The practice room resembles an internet cafe; desks are lined up with monitors and keyboards while CPUs are placed under the tables.

You catch sight of Sakura and Haknyeon chatting away as they sit in front of their assigned computers. Jacob, however, is busy talking to Younghoon; you can only assume they’re talking about possible strategies.

Before you take a seat beside Haknyeon, you make sure to greet everyone. “And I couldn’t believe Juyeon just fell to the floor!” He exclaims which has Sakura laughing.

“What’d I miss?”

Haknyeon looks at you on the brink of tears before he retells the story. “Okay, because you know how Juyeon and I share a room?” You nod. “So, I told Juyeon to shut the lights off on his way to bed because I was ready to go to sleep. But somehow, he got lazy while walking so he had this genius idea to just jump to the bed.” At this point, your friend is laughing in between words, and the story has gone incomprehensible.

“And the next thing you know it, Haknyeon hears a sudden thump.”

You burst into laughter over the story. “You’re telling me he missed?!” The only answers you get are chortles from the two.

Preparations for VCT have fueled your anxiety for many reasons, possible losses and backlash to name a few, but Haknyeon and Sakura bring pockets of sunshine amidst the storm. If they weren’t here, you wouldn’t know how to deal with your worries.

“Sorry, I’m late!” Your mood shifts as your last teammate enters the room with an iced americano in his hand. You both lock eyes for a brief moment before you shift your gaze back to your friends, chewing on the inside of your cheek.

“Okay, hurry! Everyone, start fixing your setups,” Younghoon orders as he claps his hands, grabbing everyone’s attention.

You chose your seat in hopes that Jacob would sit beside you, making it easier for you both to discuss possible team strategies. Yet, the other in-game leader sits somewhere else, leaving Sunwoo to take the spot next to you. Your bubbly mood has turned sour.

“Anyway, today we will be having a practice match! So, what to expect is that��”

Younghoon’s words fall flat on your ears as your heartbeat fills your ears. As you try to fix your monitor and audio settings to fit your preferences, you hope that the anxiety will die down. Yet, you feel a pair of eyes stare a hole right into you—annoyance now accompanies your anxiety.

“Can you mind your own business and listen to Coach?” You raise the question, only loud enough for your annoying teammate to hear.

“I am paying attention.”

You scoff, “Oh, so you’ll listen now?” You rip your gaze away from the computer to glare at Sunwoo. “You didn’t listen to me last time.”

A few days ago, your team decided to scrimmage against the other members of the organization. It was a good way to practice before signing up for scrimmages against other teams participating.

Unfortunately for you, it was a match that solidified your dislike of the player. With every round, he found ways to get on your nerves, ignoring your comms and playing for himself to name a few. If you were going to be honest, you expected a bit more from Sunwoo—Sangyeon is right about his stance on the player.

Sunwoo shrugs, glancing at your coach who continues to explain today’s practice match. “I don’t know, your strats weren’t making sense last time. I trust Jacob more.”

You clench your fists as you close your eyes briefly in disbelief. “So, if it’s a man speaking, you’ll listen?” You shake your head in disbelief as you return your attention to the computer. “Jacob and I had the same plan, asshole.”

If Sunwoo wanted to defend himself, he’s not allowed to do so as Younghoon calls on both of your names. “Hey, are you listening?” The two of you nod profusely in a poor attempt to hide your conversation. “Okay then. For today’s scrimmage, you’ll be going against RUSH.”

There’s no way, right? “Sorry, did you say RUSH?” You earn a nod from him, and your world tilts on its axis. After how many years, it only took one scrimmage for you to reunite with your reasons behind why you stand in the pro scene today—Jeon Jungkook and Eric Sohn.

The three of you first met each other in university in a club full of people who liked to play video games. At first, you weren’t sure why you joined in the first place, dreading the possibility of dealing with men who would throw misogynistic comments towards you. Yet, the universe found a way to make sure you would enjoy your stay, gifting you two boys who became your best friends from university. 

“Today is the perfect time to get to know your opponents, get a feel of what they do. I know that you guys have started playing together, trying to get a feel of what it’s like to play together, but I hope this scrimmage will build on it,” Younghoon says as your team quickly logs into their accounts on Discord.

Once you’ve logged in, you notice that Younghoon has sent you an invite to a Discord server. You accept it, greeted by the huge selection of teams participating, and you catch sight of RUSH in a voice channel. All of their gamer tags are recognizable, but two of them have stuck with you since your university days.

“You can all jump on the voice channel with them. Don’t forget to introduce yourselves.”

You’re the first to hop on a call and your teammates follow you shortly. Usually, you were the type to have someone lead the conversation, but to say you were excited to talk to your old friends would be an understatement. “Hi, everyone.”

“Oh my god, is that Y/N?” Jungkook asks, surprised by the sound of a familiar voice.

“Y/N?!” Eric’s microphone crackles over how loud he exclaims your name, and a grin rests on your lips over the reactions.

There they are. “I know, it’s been forever. I haven’t talked to you both since we graduated.”

The next thing you know, their faces appear on the screen; they don’t look too different from when you last saw them, but they’ve grown up. “Is it actually you?!” Jungkook asks. “I won’t believe it until I see you.”

A chuckle leaves your lips over your old friend’s words. “God, I’ll turn my cam on.” You click on the video icon, revealing your poor attempt to hold back your grin. “Happy now?” 

“It’s been so long, what the fuck? I miss you! Congrats on your win!” Eric says. “Everyone, why don’t we turn on our cams?” Both his teammates and yours have turned their cameras on. “Let’s introduce ourselves.”

The introductions are quick. You learned the real names of Jungkook and Eric’s teammates; Choi Soobin, Jeon Wonwoo, and Lee Jeno. RUSH’s roster is a good selection of players. Your palms get sweaty as you hear your heartbeat in your ears—nothing could’ve prepared you for today’s scrimmage. 

Before you can all agree to start the match, Sunwoo pops a question. “Sorry, how do you guys know each other?” You watch his expression through Discord, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

Jungkook chuckles before saying, “We went to uni together, met in this club which we all left after our first year.” All he gets is a hum from your teammate, but you don’t miss the way Sunwoo looks off into nowhere, almost as if he’s irritated—you wonder why his mood shifted. “Anyway, are we ready to have our match?” You all hum in agreement before turning your cameras off.

“Alright, good luck and have fun!”

The worst Valorant matches are the ones that reach overtime. It’s 12 to 13 on Icebox in RUSH’s favor, and your team is on the brink of losing—only one win is needed and your opponent will leave victorious.

“I think we should go through mid and then make our way through A-site.”

You shake your head in disapproval. “No, Jacob, I think we should enter a site together instead. It’s risky to pass through mid since,” you glance at the leaderboard to check how many credits Jungkook has, “I have a strong feeling someone will use an operator.”

Although Jacob seems to consider your suggestion, a groan leaves Sunwoo. “Wouldn’t it be better to split up?”

“No, we’re not strong enough to fight our own battles. We need to play together, fight together.” You would like to think that your team can handle isolated battles, but you guys were weak against RUSH. Perhaps they had good reflexes or better game sense.

As the timer starts to count down, Jacob orders, “Okay, we’ll go with Y/N’s plan. The most important thing is that we don’t pick fights on our own and plant the spike.”

The round commences, and you all make your way into your positions; Sakura and Jacob slowly make their way through A-main while you go up to the belt. Haknyeon carefully sets up his trip wires and camera before joining you.

“I’m going to dart first.” Once you get your recon bolt out, you shoot it far enough to land on the wall; it catches the presence of Soobin and Wonwoo. The toxic screen goes up, perfectly concealing the site.

“Go!”

It happens all too quickly, shots fired and damage dealt and received. Before you know it, your team is dead—except for one who didn’t seem to listen to your plans.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” you say as you spectate Sunwoo, watching that he’s making his way back to where you guys died, leaving mid. There are only two players that he needs to fight, Jungkook on Jett and Eric on Deadlock. You know the round is tense, and the last thing you want to do is aggravate him.

Thankfully, Sunwoo plants the spike, but he situates himself in a spot that wouldn’t allow him to reposition quickly. A pair of footsteps go up the stairs, signaling that someone is making their way to heaven.

For a moment, he keeps his gaze affixed to screens, but he looks back to A-main, expecting a flank, and he’s right; Eric comes into his vision.

You expect Sunwoo to win the fight, but when his body falls to the ground, a sigh leaves you. The mood has plummeted, sinking into murky waters of frustration, disappointment. “Fuck, sorry,” Sunwoo apologizes as he covers his mouth in frustration.

“It’s okay, you tried,” Jacob attempts to console his teammate. “Good work, everyone.”

The spike gets defused; HYST has lost against RUSH.

“Come on, let’s go hop on a call with them again.”

With that, your team follows Jacob’s orders. “Tight match everyone, but a fun one!” Wonwoo says.

“Yeah, thanks for the game,” Sakura responds, trying to stay in high spirits.

“Well, we have to get going. We have another scrimmage,” Eric starts. “Y/N, send me your number through DMs. Let’s hang with Jungkook.”

You hum, a small smile resting on your lips. “Sure, see you guys in Challengers.” With that, everyone leaves the voice channel.

While RUSH is probably celebrating their win, HYST is in low spirits. It’s a practice match, sure, but still a match nevertheless.

“Good work, everyone,” Younghoon says in an attempt to cheer everyone up. “I really liked the energy I saw from you guys. You all put up a good fight and fought together.”

Although everyone seems to hum in agreement with your coach, you don’t join in. “Why did you stray off?” You redirect your gaze to the boy beside you, only earning a frown. “Didn’t we agree to play together?”

He rolls his eyes at you. “Yeah, but—”

“But what, Sunwoo? What could’ve been the reason for you to not enter with us and not follow the game plan?” You’re frustrated over everything; the stress of VCT, your loss against RUSH, your teammate who never listens to you.

“Hey, knock it off!” Younghoon gets in between you two. “Now is not the time to be fighting.” You and Sunwoo only glare at each other. “Cannot believe I’m dealing with a bunch of 5-year-olds,” he mutters under his breath.

“Jacob and Sakura, nice work in holding B-site, by the way. Haknyeon, you also did well holding A-site.” Then, your coach glances between you two. “Now, we still need to work on your coordination and teamwork.” It’s a statement for your whole team, but it feels as if it were directed at you and Sunwoo. You wish you sat out of VCT.

“You can go now.”

With that, everyone gets ready to exit the practice room. Your coach is the first one out. You think you’re at fault for causing stress on him but if only Sunwoo would work with you—listen, for the matter—then maybe you two wouldn’t be in this mishap.

“Hey, you two.” You look at Jacob who calls on you and Sunwoo. “Can you stay behind for a bit?” You glance at Haknyeon and Sakura who observe the interaction briefly. As you both nod, your other teammates have taken their leave.

Now, you stand in front of him with your teammate beside you. A sigh leaves him as he rubs his jaw while a frown rests on his face. You only see Jacob like this when he’s focused on his games, but never when it comes to dealing with issues like what your team (or you and Sunwoo, really) has.

“I know you two don’t like each other, and I still don’t know why.” You and Sunwoo exchange glances before ignoring each other once more. “But you understand that you both signed up for VCT, right? That means you will be playing many matches together.”

You’re aware that agreeing to represent HYST means having to work with Sunwoo. Your reasons for participating are enough to convince you that you handle all the upcoming matches with Sunwoo—all adversities will be dealt with. Yet, you couldn’t speak for your teammate. 

“So, I’m asking that you guys focus on working together. I’m not asking you to make up or anything but to still be professional around each other. We still have to win the qualifiers, so no funny business, okay?”

Jacob was right. Your dispute is getting in the way of team dynamics, holding HYST back, and you didn’t want to inconvenience your team any further. With that, you nod, begrudgingly accepting Jacob’s request. You can spot Sunwoo nodding along with you in the corner of your eye.

“Okay, thanks. You can both go now.”

When you and Sunwoo leave the practice room, not a single word is exchanged. 

ROUND 3: “DON’T LOOK SO SMUG, SUNWOO!”

Over the last months, you and your team have spent every waking hour on Valorant—practice, practice, practice, until you all felt satisfied.

To say you were sick of the game is an understatement, but some of your teammates try to make every minute enjoyable; Haknyeon would goof off some rounds and knife opponents from behind, Jacob would make comments that you never would’ve imagined leaving his mouth, and Sakura would ask questions about everyone before every round. You take your part in lifting the spirits and making these matches less monotonous by reading stories from the r/AmITheAsshole subreddit.

As for your relationship with Sunwoo, you’ve tried to keep it professional. During matches and strategizing phases, you would communicate with each other, exchanging ideas of how to win these games. Outside of those periods, however, were spent ignoring each other’s existence.

Thankfully, all those months of practicing didn’t go to waste—your team went against multiple organizations during Qualifiers, and now you’re on the last leg of the event. Only one more win is needed and your team makes it to Challengers.

Now, your team is in the practice room, head-to-head against another team. It’s 11 to 12 in your team’s favor on Ascent. It’s absurd that your opponents made a comeback from 3-9, but you’ll blame it on the superstition.

“Let’s play default. Their team tends to push out anyway,” Jacob orders before he takes a sip of water. “I’ll play by tiles while Sakura and Haknyeonie can go to A-site. Sunwoo and Y/N, play near B-site. Just make sure to not get caught by their Sova’s recon dart.” Everyone on your team agrees with Jacob’s plan.

The round commences. Just like what Jacob called out, a recon dart is thrown, but it doesn’t catch sight of you and Sunwoo. “Sova’s by B-site,” Sunwoo tells the team. 

“I hear footsteps by tree,” Sakura starts, and Jacob takes it as his sign to smoke the cubby off. Before you know it, he takes a peek at mid and kills off the enemy team’s Gekko. Sakura flashes A-site before double-swinging with Haknyeon. “There are three players by A-site! Go to B-site!”

You and Sunwoo start to make your way through B-site. You walk in front of him, trying to smoke off  hall and market. It should’ve occurred to you how weird it is that Sunwoo trails behind you, but it doesn’t, and you choose to enter the site.

The next thing you know, your body flops to the ground, and you let out a groan. As you spectate Sunwoo, he successfully trades you. “Spike down B,” the announcer voices out. Now, it’s a three versus one battle.

“Astra’s with me! Go plant,” Haknyeon calls out, and Sunwoo listens. He plants the spike like a breeze and situates himself in the boathouse.

Jacob tucks himself by mid, waiting for Astra to pass through spawn. “I can catch Astra off-guard while you try to pinch them,” he tells Haknyeon. Within a few seconds, he successfully lands his shots and kills Astra, securing HYST a win—your team will be participating in Challengers.

Everyone cheers, getting off their seats and huddling into a group hug. “Holy shit, Jacob! That was such a good 3K!” Haknyeon cheers as he’s overfilled with joy.

Your teammate tries to shrug off the compliments. “We all did good.”

A pair of arms wrap around you and Jacob. “That was an amazing play!” Younghoon is thrilled by today’s matches. “WE’RE GOING TO CHALLENGERS!”

It’s a dream come true; you’ll be competing on stage in front of a wider audience against teams who are more capable than you—who have more experience than you—but the journey has only started. You wonder what the upcoming months will have in store for you and your team—what will time do for you and Sunwoo?

You’re the first to break up from the hug, everyone else following along. “I’m going to call Sangyeon over,” your coach announces before making his way out of the practice room.

Then, Haknyeon pulls out his phone. “Wait, the guys are blowing up our group chat. I’ll just call them.”

Sunwoo is about to follow his teammates, but you grab hold of his forearm as you hold him back, and he frowns at you. “I need to talk to Sunwoo,” you smile at the other guys who only glance at each other, confused by your actions. Yet, they let the matter go, letting you deal with your business with him.

Sakura grabs your shoulder. “I’m going to call the team. Anything you want me to tell them?”

“I’ll tell them myself, it’s okay. You can go.”

With that, it was only you and your teammate.

You let go of his arm and a frown replaces the grin you once showed. “What was that during the last round?” As Sunwoo scrunches his eyebrows further, you groan. “You literally baited me.”

An exasperated sigh leaves him. “God, it’s not that serious.”

“Sunwoo, you’re playing duelist. You’re supposed to be entering sites for the team.”

“And I do!” He glares at you, annoyed by your complaints. “We still won. Can’t you just be happy that we made it to Challengers?”

That’s the thing you hate about playing with Sunwoo; if the outcome is good, he’ll turn a blind eye to his mistakes. How does he improve as a player if he doesn’t acknowledge his faults?

He’s about to turn away from you—make his way to his teammates and celebrate today’s win—but you grab his hand and pull him close to you. The sudden action almost has him toppling over you, and thankfully, his reflexes are quick enough to make sure you both don’t fall.

But the distance between you two is smaller, his eyes wide while yours remain stern. He holds his breath while yours grazes his skin.

You’ve never seen him this way—compliant, obedient—and it’s a sight to behold, one you’d like to keep for yourself. If only he were like this to you, then maybe you wouldn’t—no, snap out of it.

“Sunwoo.” He gulps at the way you call his name. “I’m your controller, I’m supposed to stay alive longer to support you.” You hold his gaze. “Try to keep this behavior up during the rest of VCT, I dare you.”

There’s malice laced in your tone, an attempt to make him cower—obey—over your threat, and you know your job is successful when Sunwoo doesn’t try to retort. He has every opportunity to retort—rile you up like all other times—and yet, he remains silent.

With that, you let go of his hand, stepping away to give you both room to breathe. Patches of warmth litter all over your skin, from your neck to your chest. To have Sunwoo look at you like that has—

“Guys!” Younghoon comes back rushing into the room with Sangyeon trailing behind him. You catch sight of the smile that rests on your manager’s face, clearly proud of your team. “Let’s look at the list of the teams who made it to Challengers.”

Your coach fiddles with the television remote and opens up the stream. Just in time, you’re able to look through the teams who made it to the next event. As you spot HYST in a sea of esteemed teams, fulfillment bubbles within you.

Yet, you know the battle doesn’t end here. RUSH makes the cut—will your team remain victorious or will it meet its demise?

ROUND 4: “YOU’RE HERE TO TAKE MY KILLS, SUNWOO? LET’S MAKE IT A COMPETITION.”

You were lying when you said you were sick of Valorant. There were other games you could be playing, Minecraft, Overwatch, and Stardew Valley to name a few. Yet, here you are, playing your favorite (read: most hated) game for today’s stream.

“I won’t lie, I’m not sure why I’m playing this game on stream,” you chuckle. “Like, I could be playing something else to save my mental health.” The comments keep coming as you ramble, trying to kill time.

keybladetwo: CONGRATS IN PLAYOFFS!!! GOODLUCK IN CHALLENGERS orangecheeko: HYST TAKEOVER 🔥🔥🔥 hungrydinosaur: the 3k bae did last round was INSANE

A flood of compliments comes your way, making you smile. “Awe. Thanks, everyone! I still can’t believe I’ll be playing for Challengers, and then there’ll be Masters and Champions.”

reingoaway: how was it like playing with the others :O noxturnal: U and Jacob on the same team must be crazy! Aren’t u both IGLs

A hum leaves you as you think over your answers. “It’s fun for the most part,” you admit. “I mean, it took us a while to get used to each other’s playstyles, but I’d like to think that the practice paid off.”

You fiddle around with your Valorant collection, changing skins on some firearms. “I’d like to think Jacob and I do pretty well in strategizing in the middle of matches. Sure, we have our fair share of contrasting opinions but we always consider each other’s ideas.”

Although the time you spend practicing with your team can be tiresome, your teammates try to make every round enjoyable. It’s thanks to them that you’re able to deal with the weight of VCT for the most part. There is burnout that comes from playing the same game at a pro level—at least you have most of your teammates to thank for the most part.

tagmeup: Will you play with nuguri? ailguriluver: YEAA u guys go crazy together ashfallen: nuguri & ailurus stream 🙏

You would’ve ignored it as you used to with all other streams, but your chat seems to flood the same question; there’s no escape even in the safety of your own channel. “Uh,” you scratch the back of your neck, “I didn’t really plan to stream with nuguri.” 

nugunuguwho: He’s on stream right now!

“He is?” You bite the inside of your cheek as you type out his username on Twitch. His profile shows up, showing that he’s live, and you adjust your stream so that it shows your browser. Now, your audience can see that you’ve searched him up.

Once you click his stream, you are greeted with the words “DEFEAT” flashing on the screen. “Aish, fuck this game!” On the top left corner of the screen is your teammate, all dressed in a gray hoodie with hair messier than usual, and frames resting on the bridge of his nose. He leans back on his chair, tonguing the inside of his cheek out of frustration from losing a match.

The screen shifts to the match summary, showing that he’s currently 00RR in Ascendant 3. “Man, you would think that people in these ranks would at least understand to comm!” He then showcases his match history and—holy shit, it’s a red carpet. “Guys, it’s not looking good.”

You hide your smile behind the back of your hand. Although you make comments about how terrible of a player Sunwoo is, you would’ve never imagined him to be on such a horrendous losing streak.

(At the same time, it could be the fault of his teammates, but you weren’t going to give him that satisfaction. He’s an awful player, point blank.)

“Ailurus is on my stream?” You are snapped out of your thoughts as he mentions your gamer tag. “How do you know?” He scrunches his eyebrows as he reads the chat. “They’re streaming?”

You rush to close the window and frown at the camera. “I can’t believe you guys sold me out!” As you shake your head, you shift your stream back to the game. “I was trying to spy on him! Anyway, I’m going to queue up because I cannot have Sunwoo ruining my win streak.”

You’re about to queue into a game, hoping to end the discussion, but your eyes catch sight of a familiar name and you halt your movements. 

nuguri: r u down to play?

It’s an internal battle—should you pretend you didn’t see Sunwoo’s message or should you fake your relationship with him?

Time ticks. The more you contemplate, the more you realize that you can’t play off that you saw his message in a sea of unfamiliar usernames. You’ve dug up your hole—there’s no turning back now.

“Okay, add my alt account.” Not a single mention of his name, and yet, your audience knows exactly who you’re talking to. The chat is filled with messages of excitement.

A friend request has been sent to you. “Is “sawako’s bf” your fucking alt?” Your gaze shifts to the chat, waiting for a message from Sunwoo.

nuguri: check discord

You roll your eyes before accepting his request on Valorant before opening up Discord. Another friend request has come in, and—is that a Smiski as his display picture? Your mouth parts open as you accept his request. Before you can shoot him a message, he calls you, and you don’t think twice before picking it up.

“I didn’t know you liked Smiskis,” you admit, surprised by the sight of the figurine. The sight of your profile picture, a Smiski from a different series, beside his photo is humorous—who would’ve thought that you two would match? “I didn’t even know you had another Discord account.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

You shrug. “I mean, you just don’t look like the type you know? You reek of “loser e-boy that can’t do shit” energy.” As you hear him gasp, you chuckle.

Perhaps it helped to interact with Sunwoo in front of an audience. You can say diss him if you wanted, boiling it down to banter, and no one would question it.

“First off, I have a Discord account for work and another one for just personal use. And second, I am not a fuckass e-boy.” His defensive energy has you rolling your eyes. “Hey, I see you rolling your eyes!”

“The fuck? Get out of my stream,” you say as you glance at the camera. As you go back to Valorant, you see that you’re invited to Sunwoo’s party. Once you accept the invite, Sunwoo queues you both up for a Ranked match. “If we lose, I’m blaming it on you.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault that I lost all my matches today.”

You bite on the inside of your cheek, holding back your laughter just in case he’s still watching your stream. “Okay, whatever you say. I know you only peaked Immortal 1.”

“Immortal 1 is a good rank! What are you trying to say?” A chuckle leaves him as he says those words, clearly knowing that he’s unfortunately not like you who is currently ranked at Immortal 2.

“I think you just want me to boost you.”

“Match found,” the announcer voices out. You are greeted by the opening screen of Sunset.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m down on my luck that I need someone to boost me.” Sarcasm is evident in his tone, and you can’t help but laugh. The screen then shifts to agent select. “What’s good, everyone?” A bad attempt at deep voice leaves Sunwoo as he talks to a team full of strangers.

You’re thrown back by the sudden tone shift, causing a giggle to leave you. “What the fuck was that?!”

“Go! Talk to the team.” You shake your head as if he can see you. (Maybe he’s still watching you, after all.) He hovers over Reyna before telling you, “It won’t hurt.”

The thing about you is that you would never talk to a team full of strangers, but you don’t think twice when you say, “I’m good,” before hovering over Omen.

“There we go!” He exclaims in your call. You try to hold back your grin.

Unfortunately, the moment doesn’t last long. “Didn’t you mean to hover over Sage?” A stranger on your team asks.

You frown. “What do you mean?”

“Because you’re a woman.”

You should’ve seen this coming—there’s a reason why you don’t like to speak in this game.

“Just because I’m born a woman doesn’t mean I need to play that agent. I can play Skye if we need a healer,” you suggest, trying to keep your cool over what the stranger says.

“Nah, Skye might be too complex for you.”

You’re thinking if you should just lock in on Omen or retort, but both choices lead to an outcome where they’ll constantly be on your ass. Before you can make a decision, however, someone speaks.

“Hey, let them play whoever they want to play. You can play Sage if you really want,” Sunwoo cuts into the conversation, hoping to diffuse the situation. But when a chuckle leaves the stranger, you know it’s far from reaching that.

“Ah, I see how it is. How’s the head?”

You’ve officially reached your limit, and it seems Sunwoo has reached his as well. “This shit isn’t worth it,” Sunwoo ends the conversation with that. Before you know it, you’re back in the lobby, alone. “Sorry, I quit the game. Just give me a second to boot it up.”

As you hear those words, warmth surges within you. You don’t like your teammate at all and he’s never given you any reason to treat him with kindness, but just this one action is enough to make you see him in a different light—is he rotten to the core or have you been blinded this whole time?

Before you know it, he requests to join your party, and you accept the invite. When your eyes catch sight that he’s deranked to Ascendant 2, it hits you that he lost some RR just to avoid playing with the player who was giving you a hard time.

(Would it be bad to hope he did it for you?)

You hop in the queue to find another match.

It’s quiet for a moment; the mood has been ruined by some stranger on Valorant. Yet, Sunwoo seems to have something under his sleeve, a way to lift your spirit. “What if we pick each other’s agents?”

“This is a ranked match. You know that, right?”

Sunwoo lets out a groan. “I know that! But think about how fun it would be! We can play each other’s mains!”

“Do you really want to play Omen or Sova?” The screen then shows you’ll be playing on Pearl. “I thought you wanted to win some games.”

“Hey, I can definitely play those agents!” You roll your eyes over his words, clearly not believing him. “Let’s make it a competition. Whoever gets placed on top of the leaderboard wins, but you play Raze while I play Omen.”

A hum leaves you as you contemplate his proposal. “What’s the prize?”

“Well,” Sunwoo pauses, thinking over what can be done. “What if the winner gets their wish granted by the loser?”

“A wish? What type of wish?”

“Well, that’s for us to determine in our own time.”

You should’ve said no—why would you agree to such a bet with the one guy you can’t stand being in a room with? But the problem is that your pride is on the line, and you wanted to prove to Sunwoo that you could do his job better as a duelist.

So, you don’t think twice when you say, “Ah, fuck it. Let’s do it.”

You should’ve played Raze earlier on in your esports career. The match passes you like a breeze, entering and clearing sites and shots landing on your opponents every round. You don’t remember having this much fun playing Raze for the first time.

But somehow, the universe didn’t listen to your wishes—Sunwoo sits on the top of the leaderboard while you’re under him.

“Fuck! I only needed one assist and I would’ve beaten you.” As you complain, your teammate laughs.

“Ah, I wonder what I should have you do for me.”

You roll your eyes before looking at the time. “God, it’s that late already? I think I’m gonna end the stream already.”

“Yeah, me too. I’ll be back.” Before you know it, he deafens himself on Discord.

A sigh leaves you before you briefly look through the chat. “Sorry guys, I’m gonna end it early. I still need to pack my suitcase for Challengers next week.” There’s a mix of comments, ones that beg you to stay while others that thank you for today’s stream. “I’ll try to stream again before I leave but no promises. Bye, everyone! Hope you enjoy the rest of your days!”

With that, you end the stream. Another good stream out of you despite how short it was.

The most surprising thing to come out of this stream is that you were enjoying your time with Sunwoo. Whether it may be from the later hours of the day or just a front that he was putting up for the audience, you didn’t want to think too much of it. You’ll accept it for what it is now.

As you quit out of some of your applications, you look back at Discord to see that he’s back.

For a moment, it’s quiet. There’s an internal struggle within you—should you thank him for what he said earlier or not?

You didn’t want to call attention to the issue anymore. Unfortunately, you’ve had your fair share of experiences with misogyny throughout your life, and it pained you to say that this wasn’t the worst thing you’ve heard. 

But he beats you to it, almost as if he was bothered by the silence, and says, “I’ll think about the wish for a bit, just want to think of my options.”

A groan rips out of you. “Don’t make me do anything stupid, please.”

He hums for a moment, almost as if he was considering your request, but you know who he is. “No guarantee! I’ll see you soon.”

Before you can retort, he ends the call. You stare blankly at your screen. If you thought Sunwoo was okay, you were absolutely wrong. He’s still a shithead.

But when you get in bed, you stare at the ceiling for a moment, and you can’t wipe off the grin that rests on your lips.

God, you need to sleep. 

perma taglist ➵ @deoboyznet @kflixnet @blankjournal @winterchimez @miusgirl @jenoscafe @sweet-unicorn-world @vernyangel @mosviqu @stealanity @deobi0412 @blue-rainydays @maessseongs

series taglist ➵ @wooluv09 @untilsunset @hiefisch @wonuroyal @sunkitti

if you enjoyed reading, please do reblog and leave feedback! don't just like :]

[softplots]

MASTERLIST — female korean names !!

hi sweeties !! there are #50 (FIFTY) female korean names under the cut, they were all taken from kdramas. hope you guys like it !! please like/reblog if you found this useful !!

Park Se-Hee

In Byuel

Go Yu-Na

Kim San-Ha

Na Joo-Hee

Han Song-Yi

Lee Mi-Yeon

Jung Jung-Won

Shin Ki-Won

Kwon Na-Ra

Ah Mi

Yoon Hee

Young-geun

Yoo-joo

Heo Soon-sim

Choi Sun-ah

Shin Ki-yoon

Mi-so

Baek Na-hee

Ma Ho-Young

Lee So-Yeon

So-Jin

Lee Hyun-ji

Ah-reum

Yoon So-rim

Eun Tae-hee

Seong Mi-do

Ahn Ja-yeong

Hong Chae-ri

Eun-seo

Oh Ha-rin

Baek Je-na

Kim Ga-yeon

Seon-hwa

Son Ae

Eun Ok

Eun-mi

Kang Hye-young

Lee Yoo-ri

Choi Dong-joo

Jung-soo

Kim Yeong-chae

Jo Hae-In

Bae Doo-rae

Jo Ki-bum

Joo Wol

Yoo Young-joo

Joo Wol

Lee Yoo-jeong

Mo Jae-in

[junkobato]

Upcoming Kdrama June 2023 🩷

5/6: the Villain of Romance with Baro, Ha Seung Ri. 10 episodes; romance. Trailer

9/6: Bloodhounds with Woo Do Hwan, Lee Sang Yi, Park Sung Woong. 8 episodes; action, thriller, crime. Trailer

17/6: See You in My 19th Life with Shin Hye Sun, Ahn Bo Hyun. 12 episodes; rom-com, fantasy. Trailer

17/6: King the Land with Im Yoon Ah, Lee Jun Ho, Go Won Hee. 16 episodes; rom-com. Trailer

19/6: Lies Hidden in My Garden with Kim Tae Hee, Im Ji Yeon, Kim Sung Oh. 8 episodes; thriller, mystery. Trailer

23/6: Numbers with Choi Jin Hyuk, Yeon Woo, Kim Myung Soo. 12 episodes; mystery, business. Trailer

23/6: Revenant with Kim Taeri, Oh Jung Se, Hong Kyung. 12 episodes; mystery, thriller, supernatural. Trailer

26/6: Heartbeat with Taecyeon, Won Ji An, Yoon So Hee. 16 episodes; rom-com fantasy. Trailer

28/6: Miracle Brothers with Jung Woo, Bae Hyun Sung, Lee Ki Woo. 10 episodes; mystery, drama. Trailer

30/6: Celebrity with Park Gyu Young, Kang Min Hyuk, Lee Chung Ah. 12 episodes; thriller, mystery. Trailer

Where can I find the time to watch so many shows? 🥲

*REBLOG FOR UPDATES*

[deulleya]

"lie and truth."

the fifth instalment of my musical translation series — entering an elite academy amidst shrewd lies and shocking truths. will friendship endure, or will betrayal tear them apart?

the video is not mine, but all translations are my own.

musical: eli (일라이)

cast: [lyon] yu taeyul, ki sejung, noh yun • [eli] bae nara, hong seungan, park jwaheon • [sophie] lee seoyoung, lee jiyeon • [alice] im yejin, seong minjae • [yulia] baek yeeun, sun yuha • [justin] shin hyucksu (shin subin), hong kibeom • [headmaster] jeong jaeheon, byun heesang

synopsis: in the prestigious brixton academy for the rich and elite, the scholarship student lyon and his best friend eli are lauded as role models for the student body. that is, until the transfer student sophie upends the status quo alongside whispers and rumours. amidst the burgeoning distrust, the students defend themselves with lies upon lies that shake the very foundation they've built themselves upon. everyone has secrets, yet everyone seeks the truth — but is the truth they yearn for truly the real truth? and is there even a real truth at all?

production: new production (twitter / youtube)

[ this musical will be streaming online here, here, and here (different cast each day). hyuckstin and nyun lyon!! ]

- ☽ -

- ☽ -

하나만큼은 – at least one

+ 바람 rep. – wind (reprise)

noh yun as lyon, park jwaheon as eli

[Lyon] What are you doing?

[Eli] I have faith in you. Whatever comes your way, you’ll pull through. That’s who you are. The real problem is me. Nothing interests me nowadays. As expected, the righteous path of law ought to be treaded upon by someone like you. A righteous person, like you. Not someone like me.

[Lyon] What do you mean by that?

[Eli] Hey, should I just flunk an exam? Or perhaps I'll withdraw from the moot court? That way you’ll definitely get in, regardless of what Sophie does.

[Lyon] What do you think you’re saying?! We promised to enter the same university together. Look, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even be here. You were the one who led me into this world. That’s why we have to keep going together, till the end!

[Eli] Lyon… I’m sorry. Calm down, okay?

[Lyon] …I’m sorry.

[Lyon] From a certain point Not a single thing has been going my way Not my grades, nor my evaluations, not even my emotions

The words that surface endlessly in my mind Perhaps the image you have of me May not be the real thing

Scared, fearful, unfamiliar, anxious These feelings, this side of me This isn’t who I am

I don’t want anything to change I’m going to live as I planned

[Lyon] When I’m with you, I can stay true to myself. The me whom you believe in. That side of me.

[Lyon] The future that I dream of I can’t let it crumble Can’t just this one thing Turn out the way I wish for? Without anything changing Even if it’s just the two of us

- ☽ -

[Lyon] Hey, that’s dangerous. Come back down—

[Eli] Lyon! You remember, right? You told me so — as long as I hold fast to my balance, I won’t be swayed!

[Lyon] I did..?

[Eli] Do you still remember? The day we first came to this place A school we’d never aimed for A dream we’d never harboured As if wearing ill-fitting clothes We were nothing but stifled

[Eli] C’mere. Ah, c’mon!

[Lyon] Coming.

[Eli] Ah, it’s refreshing!

[Lyon] Ah, it’s refreshing.

[Eli] Lyon.

[Eli] Do you remember that day? You told me, who felt trapped Not knowing where to head towards Or what to pursue, To feel the wind

[Lyon/Eli] Feel the wind If we feel it with our hearts Even without flying, we can soar As long as we don’t lose our balance We can be free, anywhere

[Eli] Hey, grab my hand! Grab it, grab it! Lyon. Shall I tell you a secret?

[Lyon] I have one too. A secret.

[ alternate pairings here (yu taeyul, bae nara) and here (ki sejung, hong seungan). ]

[boysplanetrecaps]

Produce 48 Recaps: Auditions Begin (episode 1)

When we left off in my probably-unnecessary-but-still-necessary Rewatch Recap of Produce 48, the 96 girls had made their entrance into the huge studio, and the judges were just about to reveal themselves. Let's get to it!

The judges come out!

First, it’s Lee Hong Ki, a powerful vocalist, here to teach them to sing. He’s from FT Island, and amazingly, was in the *second* K-drama I ever watched, You’re Beautiful, which was fun at the time, but which I cannot actually recommend. I will say that Hong-ki is the best part of it despite his, let’s say, broad acting choices. 

The character he played on You’re Beautiful was named Jeremy, and I can’t help but think of him as Jeremy. So just understand that I will be calling him Jeremy for the duration of these recaps. Thank you. 

Here he is as Jeremy. He’s ACTING! 

Next, it’s Soyou, from Sistar. She was overshadowed by Hyolyn but is an excellent vocalist in her own right. She’s here to be the other vocal trainer. 

It wouldn’t be an MNET show without this asshole:

I don’t want to learn his name but he’s that choreographer/dance teacher/ sociopath who always makes sure that all of the trainees’ mental health is hanging on by the merest of threads. I’m going to call him Psychopath. Seriously, fuck this guy. I’ll note that he comes across as sweet and loveable in this episode but I can’t forgive him for the shit he pulled during Boys Planet. Nope. Never. He has earned my undying hatred. To be clear, I do not support sending him hate messages or harming him in any way. I will just quietly, and personally, hate him on my Tumblr which gets maybe 5 or 10 readers. 

And then there’s her:

Bae Yoon Jung! She’s also pretty intense, and I know she’s mean to them on the first day, but she has the capacity for normal human empathy, as I recall. I’m going to call her Dance Bae. That doesn’t mean that I co-sign on her casual cruelty. It’s just that it’s literally her name and it’s easy to remember.

I don’t remember this lady:

Her name is May J Lee and she’s also a dance trainer. She’s cute. Here’s to hoping she understands that the trainees are human beings!

It’s Cheetah, here to be the rap trainer! God, I love her song Villain so damn much. The video is great, too, but trigger warning for violence. “I could fix you, but I won’t.” HECK yeah. 

And special one-day trainer, Kahi, who was the dance trainer for PD101 Season 2.

Kahi was in After School, then “graduated” in June 2012, right around the same time that Gaeun joined. They undoubtedly have spent time together, so it’ll be interesting to see if they interact much in this episode. (Maybe Gaeun being on the show this season meant that Kahi couldn’t really be the judge for the whole time?) 

The judges glare holes into the trainees while explaining that they’ll be sorting them into groups -- A, B, C, D, and F -- based on skill level, with the ultimate goal of bringing them all up to A-grade. And now it’s time for these would-be performers to perform, and of course, they don’t want to actually perform. 

41:50 The Auditions Begin

The girls are nervous. Yoon Hae Sol (윤해솔), 20, former member of Aqua, lets out a gusty breath. And this girl is nervous too, whoever the heck she is. 

Kim Chaewon, it says on her nametag. Well, she’s cute. Meanwhile I’m fascinated by the shoe behind her. WHOSE SHOE IS THAT? WHAT IS THIS SHOE? 

The AKB-48 girls are even more nervous. Oda Erina, 21, in a stylish bob and a blue, yellow and white jacket is intimidated by the Korean girls. Mogi Shinobu, also 21, a living meme with blue furry sleeves, is so nervous she looks like she might cry. We love you, Shinobu.

Time for the first audition! Or at least, the audition that the editors have moved to the beginning of the episode, even though it was probably not the first one to happen in real time! Because they wanted to front-load excellent Korean auditions to emphasize the skill gap between the Korean and Japanese contestants! 

Audition 1: Yuehua

Kim Si Hyeon (김시현), age 18, in the long sleeved shirt, now a member of Everglow. 

Choi Ye Na (최예나), age 18, with her hair in a ponytail.

Wang Yi Ren (왕이런), age 17, pink shirt with black edges. She’s Chinese and is now a member of Everglow. 

We see a clip of the Yuehua girls back stage, where Choi Yena accidentally draws on the camera with red marker and then apologizes profusely. AND SHE NEVER WORKED IN KPOP AGAIN!!

Then we get a flashback of Gross Guy personally watching the auditions of all 96 girls prior to the filming of the first episode. He’s so gross. Ugh. He makes JYP seem like a sweet, safe guy. Anyway we find out that after Choi Yena performed her song, she asked to do an extra performance. She begins speaking in what sounds like decent Japanese and does a little miming routine with sound effects. She’s pretty charming, actually. 

Cut back to audition day. The Woolim girls are backstage waiting for their turn when they recognize Sihyeon from her time on PD101, Season 1. Sihyeon interviews that she’s embarrassed when she looks back at herself on PD101 and that she’s gotten a lot better since then. In fact, as we find out later, she got an F in that season. 

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: Move by Little Mix 

My Thoughts: They do great, in my opinion. Siyheon has a great clear, strong voice and her English pronunciation is mostly pretty good. Yena and Yiren don’t sing as clearly, but their dancing is great and they have a lot of presence. God, Yiren sparkles so much! I feel like she’s getting bad advice from whoever is around her now, because in more recent Everglow performances she always seems so muted. Seeing this, I can see she’s capable of great stage presence -- I hope she finds her way back to this. I dig Everglow and just want them to keep living up to their potential. I would have given Siyheon an A and the other two Bs, I think, though it’s hard without seeing the other trainees to compare. 

The MNET Edit: The editing emphasizes Yiren and Yena more, but overall the editing is kind to all three. We see some of the Japanese girls saying “why is everyone so good”, almost as if this ISN’T the first team to go up. (Also, we see that other girls are already wearing their grade name tag, though they’re blurred out.) The judges give Yena an A and the other two get Bs, which I guess reminds us that as long as you *kind* of sing while you also dance a lot and are very charming, then…. you get an A. Anyway, A and B are fine.

The editors really want us to know that the Japanese girls are very worried about their auditions. It is true that they generally don’t have the training the Korean girls have -- I’m not commenting on their inherent worthiness, just their preparation. But the show really, really focuses on that. I’m sure at least some of the Korean girls were nervous too, but we don’t seem to be seeing clips of that on the show.

Auditions 2 and 3: Woolim and WM Entertainment

Next, the MNET editors decided to further confuse anyone who has previously confused WM Entertainment with Woolim Entertainment by overlapping these two agency’s auditions, same as they did when the girls entered the auditorium. Thanks, MNET editors! Thmeditors. We learn that Woolim manages Lovelyz, while WM manages Oh My Girl (their rivals), though now in 2023 I think we all know that Oh My Girl kind of won that particular fight. Apparently the girls view each other as rivals? ...? But do they, though?

Woolim is up first. They take a moment finding their places, and we learn that Eunbi is their leader/mom who brought them medicine and Japanese phrase books. What a good unnie! 

Left to right: Suyun, Eunbi, Sohee, Chaewon

Kim Chae Won (김채원), age 17   now: Le Sserafim   wearing a short sleeved white top, tie Kim So Hee (김소희), age 14  now: Rocket Punch  wearing pigtails Kim Su Yun (김수윤), age 17  now: Rocket Punch   wearing short sleeved black top Kwon Eun Bi (권은비), age 22   now: soloist wearing a tie, cardigan

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: Ah-Choo by Lovelyz / Bad by Infinite

My thoughts: It’s always awkward when you have one member who’s 14 (and looks 12) and one who is 22 (and looks 25) -- they’re always going to sort of make one another look bad. But overall, this is actually a really good audition.  I watched it multiple times and didn’t pick up on any mistakes or bad moments. All four of them had kpop acceptable vocals that didn’t stand out as fantastic or terrible. Chaewon’s a tiny bit shaky on the high notes, but they are really high notes. Little Sohee’s dancing was less powerful than the others’, even during Ah-Choo, but that’s fine considering she’s so much younger. I did think they looked a tiny bit silly doing that super powerful choreography to Bad while still dressed to perform Ah-Choo, but the goal was to display different skills and they did that. Knowing how deep the hole can go, I think I would have given all these girls As or Bs, maybe a C for little Sohee. It’s hard to know for sure since it’s not always clear what is live singing and what’s the backup track. 

The MNET Edit is fair. The rest of the trainees appreciate their performance. 

Backstage, Lee Chaeyeon says Eun Bi caught her eye the most. I actually noticed Suyun a lot too, but her time will come later. 

The judges compliment their synchronization and ask to see them perform something else. They launch into a second performance, which seems equally well rehearsed. I don’t recognize the song off hand (if any of you do, feel free to let me know!) but they do a great job with it. Dance Bae says, in an almost irritated way, “why haven’t you debuted yet? You seem ready to me.” I think she’s speaking mainly to Eunbi, who smiles wide at the compliment. We won’t hear their grades until later, but I’ll tell you their grades now, because I just love subverting the MNET editing monkeys. Kwon Eun Bi gets an A, ChaeWon gets a B, and the other two get Cs. Maybe I’m just biased toward Suyun from knowing her now? It’s hard to say. But I still think a B would have been fairer for her. 

Next, WM Entertainment. The girls come out on stage and the judges immediately tell Chaeyeon she looks familiar. She acknowledges having been on Sixteen with Somi (2015) and on Kpop Star 3 (2013). She says that this time she really wants to show us what she’s got. The other girls are excited to see her dance.

Trainees: 

Lee Seung Hyeon (이승현), 17 now known as Riina in H1-Key, in the black shirt Lee Chae Yeon (이채연), 18, currently a soloist, in the pink shirt  Cho Yeong In (조영인), 16, in the white Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: Shower, originally by Becky G

My thoughts: All three of them do well dancing wise. It’s not surprise that Chaeyeon would dance well, and she certainly outshines the other two, but Seunghyeon holds her own and Yeongin doesn’t look bad. I think vocally, Seunghyeon does the best job, but Chae’s belted note sounded good. Yeongin’s vocals were noticeably shaky compared to the other two’s. I think I would have given Yeongin a B or C, Chae would get an A, and Seunghyeon an A or a B depending on what the dance teachers said. Overall though it was a good audition. 

The MNET edit is again pretty kind. Everyone focuses on Chaeyeon, of course. When they’re done, the judges ask her to freestyle to Instruction by Jax Jones featuring Demi Lovato, and she dances in a style that’s really appropriate to the song. Everyone’s impressed. The judges announces the grades. Chaeyeon gets an A, which seems completely correct. The other two get Bs, which is ok. 

The editing is setting Kwon Eun Bi and Lee Chaeyeon up to be rivals. Surely, they must hate each other, if they’re both good dancers and their agencies are on the same street in Seoul! 

In the audience, Kojima Mako says to her friend, “It’s so amazing that I’m not even nervous anymore. Our friend Juri says to Shinozaki Ayana,  “I feel like I’m just watching a TV show.” Me too, Juri! We stan a relatable queen. But yeah, it’s more of the whole “the terrible, silly, weak Japanese girls are in awe of the mighty, powerful Korean girls” narrative that MNET’s editing monkeys keep pushing. 

Auditions 4 and 5: The Very Pretty Girls

Next, we have the introduction of two Very Pretty Girls:  Kim Min Ju (김민주), age 17 from Urban Works, in her colorful striped shirt, and Kang Hye Won (강혜원), age 18,  from 8D Creative in a blue mini dress with a big pink and white collar. The other trainees think that these two girls look like actresses, so maybe it’s no surprise that now (2023), they are in fact both actresses. I renew my complaint from earlier that I don’t understand why certain girls are considered prettier than the others, and remind you that this isn’t an insult to them, as they are certainly very pretty, but more of a compliment to the others, who I view as equally pretty. Isn’t Kwon Eun Bi just as pretty? Is she not? I don’t understand. I will be saying that a lot in these recaps so I guess I’ll just call it my Particularly Pretty Problem (PPP) and leave it at that. 

Agency:  8D Creative

Trainee: Kang Hye Won

In a pre-show interview, they ask her such questions as “were you always pretty?” and she says that yes, she is. This is the part of kpop I like least. She says that the position she wants is 청정 or purity. I guess I understand that -- there is usually a sexy member of a given group (see: Kai in Exo, Hyunjin in SKZ, Joy in Red Velvet, Soojin in G-Idle) and there’s usually a funny or approachable one (see: Chanyeol, Changbin, Wendy, Yuqi), so I could see there being a sort of pure or extra cute one. It’s not as crazy as it might sound.

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: You and I by IU (2011)

My Thoughts: Well, that was pretty terrible. There’s room at the bottom, but she barely dances and she only kind of sings. The singing is breathy, faint, and pitchy. The dancing is half hearted and my grandma could have done this choreo even after her stroke. She has negative stage presence. Also, to me, she always looks confused. There’s something about either her facial features or her expression that make her look bewildered. I’m sorry if she’s your favorite. She may have charming personality traits that I don’t know about yet. She’s just not particularly skilled in either singing or dancing. She should get an F. 

If you can’t handle me saying that about this audition, then I really suggest that you just not read any more of my recaps because I’m going to say stuff like this about bad auditions. I don’t care if she’s “pretty”. I don’t care if she has gone on to be successful. Other people -- Eun Bi, for example -- are pretty and they can also sing and dance. I believe that if you make your living as a singer and/or dancer, you should be able to sing and/or dance. 

The MNET edit:They don’t do her any favors, zooming in on her non-dancing and focusing on the judges’ reactions to her shaky high notes and nearly stationary body. When she’s done, she stands there with this look on her face, which is the way I always remember this girl looking and how I recognize her in her more recent endeavors. 

Dance Bae says, “Purity is all you have. F.”  Done and done. 

Agency:  Urban Works

Trainee:  Kim Min Ju 

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song:  No Matter What by BoA

My Thoughts: This was so much better than Hyewon’s audition. For one thing, she actually danced. She showed a variety of different actual dance steps, including legs, body, arms, head, face. She danced! The singing was extremely faint and I think a lot of it was the backing track, but this was leagues ahead. Without being able to clearly discern her singing, it’s so hard to tell, but I think I’d put her in C territory. 

The MNET edit:They show the judges adjusting their ear buds and looking bored or put off, and focused on a part where she dropped into a squat and looked a little awkward. But that was just the dance move! This was originally done as a partner dance and it was adapted for a single person (I think? Unless it was just made new, whole cloth?), so maybe they should have just cut that squatting part out -- it’s not her fault. They also show a girl in the audience looking bored (maybe cut in from a totally different performance). It’s not kind. Minju, you deserved better. 

They give her a D. I don’t know. Seems like they’re punishing her for being pretty. But maybe the singing was worse than I thought. 

I’m not going to comment on it every single time it happens, but just assume that after every performance there will be a reaction/voice over from a Japanese girl saying, “If that didn’t get an A, I’m going to get an F for sure” or “the Korean girls are so much better than me” or something like that. It’s constant. 

Auditions 6 and 7: The Punching Bags

These next two auditions are shown mainly to mock these trainees. Neither of them do a stellar job, but both deserved a little better than what they got.

We see a scrap of  the audition from Shin Su Hyun (신수현), a 22 year old represented by FAVE Entertainment. 

She’s performing Playing with Fire by Blackpink. I watched her full audition, but we only see a little bit of it in the actual show. She started off with rapping, which the edit doesn’t show; I think she’s going for a rap position, not a singing one, which helps excuse why her singing was weak. The dancing wasn’t great -- she was a beat or two ahead of the choreography (something I only noticed because I know the song so well). But I thought she at least had charisma. I think a C wouldn’t have been out of line, but I don’t know the rubric. The edit replays a part where she sort of does a chicken-dance wiggle during the chorus when that’s not quite what the choreo is like, but I had to go back and rewatch the original to see that the original choreo is different. The PWF choreography is kind of weird -- I’ve always thought so. What’s with the dogpaddling in the chorus, or that weird “drawing a line with your finger” at the end? Anyway, my point is that the edit makes her look even worse than she actually did. 

They intersperse her audition with the audition of Cube’s Han Cho Won -- she’s only 15 here, but you may now know her as one of the most popular members of Cube’s youngest girl group,  Lightsum. The edit here make her look like a complete idiot. If you watch her full audition, you’ll see that, yeah, it’s not great, but there are some extenuating circumstances.

The biggest problem is that the song was a poor choice. Red by Hyuna is a HYUNA song. Like a third of the lyrics are “red is Hyuna”, and there’s a whole 10 second segment where Hyuna just sits on the ground and flirts with the camera. It’s all about being sexy and having a nice body, specifically a nice butt, and the choreography is very core/waist/butt centered. It seems that Chowon just can’t quite move her body that way, and at 15, maybe just isn’t up the task of embodying the universal sex symbol that is a full-grown Hyuna. I don’t know who is! 

Anyway, I think Chowon should have done Pepe by CLC, assuming she was going to stick to a song by a Cube artist. The song has a fun retro feel and it would have been more appropriate for a 15 year old who doesn’t know how to twerk yet. Or maybe Pretty Pretty by Pentagon -- I bet Hui would have helped her remix something for the show if the agency had asked him to -- he's a good sunbae -- and the song has quirky, funny choreography that might have made the judges smile. Sigh. 

Poor Chowon -- it wasn’t a great audition, but I blame whoever either told her to do this song, or allowed her to do it if it was her choice. The whole point of having management is to get smart people to help you make decisions like this, especially when you’re fifteen. But that’s asking too much from Cube, I guess. Kahi even says that she had been at Cube briefly and that they don’t teach you anything, which checks out. Cube is just the WORST. 

Both Chowon and Suhyun get a lecture on needing to learn (or review) the basics and both get a D. It’s not totally unfair -- it’s just that I know that there is so much worse to come. 

More discussion about how the Japanese girls aren’t really given any training and just learn to perform by watching their sempai/sunbae/seniors. Dance Bae says it’ll be fun to watch them grow. 

And now it’s time to see the AKB48 girls perform. We see that they’ve changed out of their entrance outfits -- those plaid monstrosities -- into different outfits, most of which are also monstrosities. 

Audition 8: Get You!

See, it's a play on words because the song is called Get You and also MNET wants to get them

Agency:  AKB48

Trainees: Oda Erina 21, and Nakano Ikumi 17

Erina, left, with the shorter hair and Ikumi, right, in the blue shorts.

The judges comment that Erina is known for her singing and Ikumi for her dancing. 

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: Get You! by Morning Musume (a different J-pop idol group)

My Thoughts: Well, this wasn’t terrible. They do sort of take turns either singing or dancing, and rarely do both at the same time. The choreography they do is mostly extremely simple and not super well synced, but they do throw themselves into it. They have a lot of energy, which I know is important in J-pop. If you asked me, “which of these is the singer and which of these is the dancer?” I wouldn’t be able to tell you. But neither of them assaulted my ears. Judged by J-pop standards, this was great. By K-pop standards, not great. I’d give them a C and see how they do learning the choreography for the signal song.

The MNET edit: The edit makes it seem much worse than it really was. Honestly, it wasn’t that horrific. They were more fun to watch than Kang Hye Won for sure. 

The judges ask Ikumi to freestyle dance, which she agrees to with an English “Yes!” They play “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift. She tries to do a sort of interpretive dance thing, and I appreciate that she at least tried. She has lovely body lines and seems to understand rhythm and tone, anyway. They keep showing her trip a little on her platform sneakers. God, those things look hard to dance in. After a bit she seems to give up, pulling her hair over her face, and the judges call it. Her AKB-mates are impressed, but the judges aren’t. 

Dance Bae compliments her on her energy, but says she seems to not know what to do with it. “I’m not sure that the fact that you danced to the beat warrants you having won first place in a large competition,” Dance Bae scolds. “If you keep continuing like this, you won’t ever be able to perform on stage.” 

Ikumi gets a D, and Erina gets a C. We don’t actually see that, though -- I had to look it up. It’s not part of the narrative to see that neither of them got an F, I guess.

Next, we have a mini montage of various girls, especially Japanese girls, saying that Dance Bae is the scariest judge, known for her terrifying line: “You really want to be a singer?!?” Which I think is a fair question! So many people get into the Idol Biz because they want to be actors or tv hosts -- I wish there was a pipeline to celebrity for people like that that didn’t involve them humiliating themselves on a show like this. 

Auditions 9 and 10: What’s Your Name and Knock Knock

We cut to another audition, in progress, with a caption that seems to imply that this is just a preview (“Coming up…”) but no, this is the actual audition, as much of it as we’re going to see.

AKB: What’s Your Name?

Here’s the original song being performed by 4Minute. Things were different in 2013 -- this was before Catch Me If You Can by SNSD came out so nobody yet knew that women were actually able to do intense choreo, I guess. But even for 2013 standards, What’s Your Name has easy choreo. I mean, it barely has choreo aside from just sort of bending over and displaying your butt. Also, the lyrics are three quarters “what’s your name/ ireumi mwoyeyo?” So it’s a really good choice for a rookie group!

Here’s their audition.

Left to right: Manami, Ayana, Chiyori, Miho, Shinobu

Ichikawa Manami, 18, in the blue top, red skirt Shinozaki Ayana, 22, in the light blue skirt Nakanishi Chiyori, 23, in the pink fluffy skirt Miyazaki Miho, 24, in the sparkly top, navy skirt Mogi Shinobu, 21, in the turquoise skirt, fluffy blue sleeves

We just met Shinobu earlier, when she was talking about how scary Dance Bae is, got her name wrong, an apologized profusely. She's our living meme and we love her. We also almost met Miho; she was the one who knows how to write in Korean.

My thoughts: Oh no. There’s something so incongruous about someone in a sparkly cupcake skirt and Mary Jane shoes doing a pelvic thrust. These outfits look like… Ok maybe this is a deep cut but do you know those fashion plate toys? I had my cousin’s old one and I was obsessed. It was like stencils, but you had a head and a top part and a bottom part, and you’d choose one of each and then stencil over it to make a picture you could color.

That’s what these outfits look like. Like someone went nuts with a fashion plate and glitter glue and then just brought it to life.

Left to right: Shinobu, Chiyori, Ayana, Manami, Miho

It’s so hard to pay attention to their performance in those outfits. And the shoes! Those shoes I noticed behind Chaewon earlier are Shonbu's! And I’m obsessed with Ayana’s red-shoe-and-patterned-socks combo.

Also Miho’s and Shinobu’s… furry… peplums? And the quilted skirts? And how none of the tops seem to go with any of the bottoms, even though they appear to be dresses? Question Mark? It’s so bizarre to me. What. Is. Happening. Each dress is awful alone, they’re worse together, they're even worse with the shoes, and they’re the worst in the context of this particular song, which is meant to be sort of swaggy hiphop. 

When I try to focus on the actual singing and dancing, there isn’t much there to judge. The song itself is kind of a nothing-burger tune wise and there’s hardly any choreo to speak of. They have energy, I’ll give them that. No one strikes an obviously horrendously bad note or falls over. They manage to do what they’re doing in some reasonably high heeled shoes, and they’re singing a song that is at least mostly in Korean. It’s clearly not up to the standard expected from debuted Kpop artists. I feel like I’d have to see them in normal clothes to be able to really judge. None of them stands out as better or worse than the rest. I give them an E for effort and I’d probably give them all Ds. They were still better than Hyewon. 

Dance Bae gives Chiyori and Miho both Ds, and the rest get Fs. (We hear Dance Bae saying that they all get Ds, but the on screen caption says otherwise, and my internet sleuthing agrees with the on screen caption.) I think, watching it back, that Chiyori and Miho got Ds for just taking on a big role in the performance and trying that little bit harder. Miho seemed to be the main vocal, sort of, and Chiyori was the center. 

Ok, let’s take a peek at some of the youngest -48 girls, singing the Japanese version of Knock Knock by Twice.

Asai Yuka is 14 and from SKE48.  We met her earlier when she walked in with Jurina. Umeyama Cocona is also 14 and is from NMB48. 

Left to right: Cocona with the big bow, Yuka with the blue ribbon

My thoughts: Aww, they just little babies! They probably practiced by themselves in a hallway or something for a few hours with no help. There’s not much to judge here. They’re obviously underskilled for this show and would have to be given Fs but it’s not their fault. I’m not going to make fun of a couple of 14 year olds who signed up for an adventure, not knowing how hard it would be. I sense tears in the future. 

I wrote that, and then watched Dance Bae give them both Fs and say, at a pre-show meeting, “I think these girls will cry a lot while they’re here.” Perhaps she’d be pleased to know that poor Cocona withdrew from the show before the second evaluation even took place! There's also some potential back story here. Per reddit:

From what I’ve heard (and I’m not sure how credible it is), Jurina and Yuuka planned to perform together for the first evaluation, but the producers wanted Jurina to do a solo, so Cocona got pulled from the NMB group [that performs Funny People] and her and Yuuka did this. That may explain why they did…particularly bad, to the point where it looks like they don’t even know the song.

That does sound like something MNET would do, and it also would explain how these two girls ended up in a performance together despite being in different groups (SKE48 and NMB48), giving it the ring of truth. So I'm going to be even more sparing of my criticism of the girls. They do come across as unprepared, but I think that's just because.... well, they were, through no fault of their own.

In any case, Cocona is one of the Japanese trainees who withdraws early in the process. It's probably for the reasons we'd imagine -- flying back and forth from Japan is taxing, and she's young enough to need to go to school still. She probably just wanted to go through so much stress just to get insulted and yelled at. Can't blame her!

Since we’re not going to see much of Cocona again, let’s find out what happened to her after she withdrew from the show. She went back to NMB48 and continued performing with them for a few more years, graduating at a special concert on March 26, 2022. She did some modeling for magazines in 2020, so she might still be pursuing that. Here’s her instagram -- she has 95,000 followers and seems to post influencer-esque content with lots of hashtags.

 Ganbatte, Cocona! Happy trails and much success to you!

10 auditions down, about 30 to go! Thanks for reading so far -- feel free to do all the things: like, reblog, comment, share, blah blah blah. Tune in next time when we continue the auditions, and stay warm, my friends!

[indigo-wild-flower]

Gif packs

Project status:

"Gun" Atthaphan Phusawat: The Three Gentlebros (1/18)

Hwang Hyunjin: Stay m/v + shooting (1/2)

Kim Jisoo: Stay m/v + shooting (1/2)

Kim Seungmin: Ex m/v + shooting (1/2)

"Love" Pattranite Limpatiyakorn: Bad buddy: the series (1/12)

"Tay" Tawan Vihokratana: The Three Gentlebros (1/18)

Yang Jeongin: Ex m/v + shooting (1/2)

Bang Chan: Ex m/v + shooting (1/2)

Current projects:

Shin Hye-sun: Angel's last mission: love

"Ohm" Pawat Chittsawangdee: Bad Buddy: the series

Fukushi Sota: Hoshi Kara Kita Anata

"Nanon" Korapat Kirdpan: Bad Buddy: the series

Kim Myung-soo: Angel's last mission: love

Luke Ishikawa Plowden: Three Gentlebros

Park Ji-hoon: Weak Hero Class 1

Hong Kyung: Weak Hero Class 1

"Bright" Vachirawit Chiva-aree: Astrophile

"Mai" Davika Hoorne: Astrophile

"Off" Jumpol Adulkittiporn: Astrophile

Lalisa Manoban: Stay m/v

Jennie Kim: Stay m/v

Park Chaeyoung "Rosé": Stay m/v

Han Jisung: Ex m/v

Lee Sung Kyung: Sh**ting stars

Upcoming packs:

Lee Jaehyun in A to Boyz Hyunjae ver.

Kim Young Dae in Sh**ting stars

Perth Tanapon Sukumpantanasan in Never let me go

Pond Naravit Lertratkosum in Never let me go

Chimon Wachirawit Ruangwiwat in Never let me go

Park Sojin in Sh**ting Stars

Lee Jung Shin in Sh**ting Stars

Im Changkyun in Overdrive m/v

Selena Gomez in Boyfriend m/v

"James" Supamongkon Wongwisut in Bed Friend the series

"Net" Siraphop Manithikhun in Bed Friend the series

Vanessa Hudgens: Inside Vanessa Hudgens's L.A. Home | Open Door | Architectural Digest

"First" Kanaphan Puitrakul in Only friends the series

"Khaotung" Thanawat Rattanakitpaisarn in Only friends the series

"Force" Jiratchapong Srisang in Only friends the series

"Neo" Trai Nimtawat in Only friends the series

"Kitty" Chicha Amatayakul in AUG Cover Shoot Behind the scences

Yoon Hyunsuk in Wave m/v

Lee Byounggon "BX" in Wave m/v

Kim Seunghun in Wave m/v

Kim Yonghee in Wave m/v

Bae Jinyoung in Wave m/v

Lee Chaemin in Pertama kali di variety show | Fun-Staurant | KBS WORLD TV 230626

Upcoming series:

Reborn Rich

유기견 보호센터 첫 방문기

Kiss of Life - Shhh m/v

Hailee Steinfeld - Vogue makeup

Win Metawin - Closer m/v

BAE173 - Fifty-fifty m/v

Potential FC:

Lee Dong-wook

Matthew Daddario

Manu Rios

Lily Collins

Lee Sang-yeon

Abigail Cowen

Noah Centineo

Lee Jae-wook

Park Seo-joon

Krystal Jung

Im Siwan

Minnie Mills

Joong Archen

Jeon Jeong-guk

Go Minsi

Choi Yeonjun

Arón Piper

Kang Minhyuk

Kim Younghoon

Nam Yoonsu

Liza Soberano

Saint Paramee

An Yujin

Hou Minghao

Rowoon

Park Sung Hoon

Maris Racal

Bie Thassapak Hsu

Yang Yang

Becky G

Kim Chaewon

Jane Ramida

Emeraude Toubia

Kaylee Kaneshiro

Choi Byungchan

Jang Ki-yong

Kathryn Newton

Margot Robbie

Kayavine

Yokohama Ryusei

Lee Joon

Jung Wooyoung

Lee Juyeon

Jeong Eunji

Felix Mallard

Cha Eunwoo

Earth Pirapat

Lee Ji Eun "IU"

Pavel Phoom

Park Sung Hoon (II)

Kim Namjoon "RM"

Yoo Taeyang

Lee Donghun

Kim Jiwoong

Xiao Zhan

Ricky Shen

Wang Ziyi

Park Junhee

Song Kang

Barcode Tinnasit

Kim Woosung

Lizeth Selene

Felip Jhon Suson

Lizge Cömert

Kim Yohan

[kwavecl]

Los 59th Baeksang Arts Awards anuncia a los nominados para las categorías de cine y televisión.

¡Los 59th Baeksang Arts Awards han anunciado sus nominados para las categorías de cine y televisión!

Los candidatos fueron elegidos entre dramas, programas y películas que se emitieron o se estrenaron entre el 1 de abril de 2022 y el 31 de marzo de 2023. Sin embargo, las obras que se estrenaron durante el período de proyección del año pasado también se incluyeron en el grupo de este año. Se encuestó a 60 expertos de la industria antes de las nominaciones finales. Además, las producciones que se excluyeron el año pasado porque se estrenaron durante el período de proyección también se incluyeron en el grupo de este año.

Echa un vistazo a los candidatos finales de la televisión y el cine del año pasado a continuación:

Mejor Drama

JTBC “My Liberation Notes” Netflix “The Glory” tvN “Our Blues” ENA “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” tvN “Little Women”

Mejor Variety Show

tvN “Earth Arcade” Psick University “Psick Show” Netflix “Physical: 100” TVING “EXchange 2” Coupang Play “SNL Korea 3”

Mejor Show Educativo

wavve “National Office of Investigation” (literal title) Netflix “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal” EBS “Your Literacy Skills+” (literal title) MBC Gyeongnam “Adult Kim Jang Ha” (literal title) KBS “Hidden Earth: 3 Billion Years on the Korean Peninsula”

Mejor Actor

Son Suk Ku – JTBC “My Liberation Notes” Lee Byung Hun – tvN “Our Blues” Lee Sung Min – JTBC “Reborn Rich” Jung Kyung Ho – tvN “Crash Course in Romance” Choi Min Sik – Disney+ “Casino”

Mejor Actriz

Kim Ji Won – JTBC “My Liberation Notes” Kim Hye Soo – tvN “Under the Queen’s Umbrella” Park Eun Bin – ENA “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” Song Hye Kyo – Netflix “The Glory” Suzy – Coupang Play “Anna”

Mejor Actor de Reparto

Kang Ki Young – ENA “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” Kim Do Hyun – JTBC “Reborn Rich” Kim Jun Han – Coupang Play “Anna” Park Sung Hoon – Netflix “The Glory” Jo Woo Jin – Netflix “Narco-Saints”

Mejor Actriz de Reparto

Kim Shin Rok – JTBC “Reborn Rich” Yeom Hye Ran – Netflix “The Glory” Lee El – JTBC “My Liberation Notes” Lim Ji Yeon – Netflix “The Glory” Jung Eun Chae – Coupang Play “Anna”

Mejor Nuevo Actor

Kim Gun Woo – Netflix “The Glory” Kim Min Ho – ENA “New Recruit” Moon Sang Min – tvN “Under the Queen’s Umbrella” Joo Jong Hyuk – ENA “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” Hong Kyung – wavve “Weak Hero Class 1”

Mejor Nueva Actriz

Kim Hieora – Netflix “The Glory” Noh Yoon Seo – tvN “Crash Course in Romance” Lee Kyung Sung – JTBC “My Liberation Notes” Joo Hyun Young – ENA “Exaordinary Attorney Woo” Ha Yun Kyung – ENA “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”

Mejor Entertainer Masculino

Kian84 Kim Kyung Wook Kim Jong Kook Jun Hyun Moo Hwang Jae Sung

Mejor Entertainer Femenina

Kim Min Kyung Park Se Mi Lee Soo Ji Lee Eun Ji Joo Hyun Young

Mejor Película

“Next Sohee” “The Night Owl” “Hansan: Rising Dragon” “Hunt” “Decision to Leave”

Mejor Actor

Ma Dong Seok – “The Roundup” Ryu Jun Yeol – “The Night Owl” Park Hae Il – “Decision to Leave” Song Kang Ho – “Broker” Jung Woo Sung – “Hunt”

Mejor Actriz

Bae Doo Na – “Next Sohee” Yang Mal Bok – “The Apartment With Two Women” Yum Jung Ah – “Life Is Beautiful” Jeon Do Yeon – “Kill Boksoon” Tang Wei – “Decision to Leave”

Mejor Actor de Reparto

Kang Ki Young – “The Point Men” Kim Sung Cheol – “The Night Owl” Park Ji Hwan – “The Roundup” Byun Yo Han – “Hansan: Rising Dragon” Im Siwan – “Emergency Declaration”

Mejor Actriz de Reparto

Park Se Wan – “6/45” Bae Doo Na – “Broker” Ahn Eun Jin – “The Night Owl” Yum Jung Ah – “Alienoid” Lee Yeon – “Kill Boksoon”

Mejor Nuevo Actor

Noh Jae Won –”Missing Yoon” Jinyoung – “Christmas Carol” Byun Woo Seok – “20th Century Girl” Seo In Guk – “Project Wolf Hunting” Ong Seong Wu – “Life Is Beautiful”

Mejor Nueva Actriz

Go Yoon Jung – “Hunt” Kim Si Eun – “Next Sohee” Kim Hye Yoon – “The Girl On a Bulldozer” IU – “Broker” Ha Yun Kyung – “Gyeong Ah’s Daughter”

La ceremonia está programada para el 28 de abril en Paradise City en Incheon a partir de las 5:30 p.m. KST. El programa se transmitirá en vivo por televisión a través de JTBC, JTBC2 y JTBC4, y también se transmitirá en vivo a través de TikTok.

Fuente: soompi.com

[dear-indies]

hi cat and mouse! I've got a bit of an issue. I was using Steven Yeun as a fc in a rp but after seeing the articles I'm uncomfortable using him now. Do you have any good suggestions for replacements? Thanks in advance! I appreciate any and all help

Ji Jin Hee (1971) Korean.

Rick Yune (1971) Korean.

Shin Ha Kyun (1974) Korean.

Lee Sun Kyun (1975) Korean.

Cha Tae Hyun (1976) Korean.

Bae Soo Bin (1976) Korean.

Jang Hyuk (1976) Korean.

Jo Jin Woong (1976) Korean.

Ji Sung (1977) Korean.

Gong Yoo (1979) Korean.

Ryu Seung Beom (1980) Korean.

Kang Dong Won (1981) Korean.

Lee Si Eon (1982) Korean.

Joo Ji Hoon (1982) Korean.

Jung Kyung Ho (1983) Korean.

Yoo Yeon Seok (1984) Korean - in Mr Sunshine where he has facial hair.

Ki Hong Lee (1986) Korean.

Yoo Ah In (1986) Korean.

Christopher Larkin (1987) Korean.

Lee Seung Gi (1987) Korean.

Eric Nam (1988) Korean.

Justin H. Min (1990) Korean.

If anyone has more suggestions please feel free to send a message and I'll update this ASAP!

[myramglina]

EXO 'TEMPO' MUSIC VIDEO from Daniel Jon on Vimeo.

EXO THE 5th ALBUM ‘DON’T MESS UP MY TEMPO” ’TEMPO’ MUSIC VIDEO Produced by SM ENTERTAINMENT Creative Director: Heejin Min Arrangement & Coordination: Yemin Kim PD: Imzooo - Music Video Director: Daniel Jon 1st AD: Choheyo 2nd AD: Ji Hyo Jo - DOP: In Mo Yun 1st AC: Joo Seung Kim, Young Chae Lim 2nd AC: Jea Hwan Ryu 3rd AC: Ji Hyuk Yim DIT: Seo hee Seo, Yeong Hyeon Han - Gaffer: Jun Hee Park Lighting crew: Gangmin Jeong, Daun Jong, Solbin Kang, Haesang Yun Wonky Choi, Subin Lee, Jong Man Kim, Jong Su Kim - Visual Director for Art & Props: Balko Art team Director: Boram Jung Art team: Mini Kim, Sein Jang, Junsu Lee, Sungeum Jung Florist: Taehee Kim Set: CMPARK - Jimmy Jip: Dong Jin Lee, Ki Tae Kim, Jun Young Park Steady Cam: Dae Lim Kim - Show Lighting: Jongrak Chun SPECIAL EFFECTS MCP: Jung Il Park, Jun Young Park Luminous Laser: Chong Sik Byun - Edit: Choheyo, Daniel Jon DI: TD - VFX artist: Jun Goo Lee (adenine) - Sound for Teaser/Main intro&outro: Miolt - PA: Jun su Kim, Alexandro of Korea, Jae Myung Doe - Extra Cast: Digital seoul culture arts university (Modelling), Seoul arts-occupational training college (Modelling) Bikers: Eun Kyo Lee, Hyun Il Choi, Wonjoo Seo, Donghyuk Choi - Catering: Drovedog Myoung Sun Bae, Yu Jin Seon - Special thanks: Sejung Hong - c)2018 SM ENTERTAINMENT Co.,Ltd. All RIGHT RESERVED.

[stuff-diary]

Night Has Come

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2023

Night Has Come (2023, South Korea)

Director: Im Dae Woong

Writer: Kang Min Ji

Mini-review:

I've been obssesed with the Mafia game for years, so I was really excited when this sort-of-adaptation was announced. But tbh, it's nothing extraordinary. While it's very fun and it keeps you glued to the screen, it's also very silly. What's more, pretty much all the characters are incredibly dumb and frustrating. Although I have to say that's part of what makes the show fun. You just can't help but stick around to see how these characters mess things up even more. Hell, they make so many stupid decisions that I actually found myself screaming at the TV more times than I'd like to admit. Some of the twists did catch me by surprise, but the ending was... not good. I had already guessed the writer would pull something like that, but it was actually worse than I expected. Anyway, Night Has Come isn't good, but I had a fun watching it and it kept me entertained, so that's something.

[korelist]

SUMMER STRIKE // KDRAMA DİZİ YORUMU

UYARI : Yazılar genel olarak spoiler içerebilir. İçermeyedebilir.

İmdb puanı : 7,9 Benim puanım: 8

Drama: Summer Strike / I Don't Want To Do Anything (literal title)

Hangul: 아무것도 하고 싶지 않아

Director: Lee Yoon-Jung, Hong Moon-Pyo

Writer: Joo Young-Hyun (webcomic), Hong Moon-Pyo, Lee Yoon-Jung

Date: 2022

Language: Korean

Country: South Korea

Cast: Seol Hyun, Im Si-Wan, Shin Eun-Soo, Bang Jae-Min

Seul’da iş hayatının içinde ezilerek yaşayan Lee Yeo-Reum(Seol Hyun) annesinin ölümünün üzerine sırtına çantasını takıp Angok isimli küçük bir kasabaya gelir. Amacı birikiminin el verdiği kadarı ile hiçbir şey yapmadan yaşamaktır. Dizi minimalist yaşamaya karar veren bu 28 yaşındaki kadının hikayesini anlatıyor.

Aynı isimli webtoondan uyarlanan bu mini dizinin karakterleri de oldukça minimalist tasarlanmış. Küçük sahil kasabalarında geçen dizilerin hepsini bir tık anımsatsa da kendine özgü tatlı bir havası vardı. Our Blues kadar başarılı, Hometown Cha Cha Cha kadar keyifli, Once Upon A Small Town kadar düz değildi. Bu sahil kasabası turistlik bir yer olmadığı için kasaba sakinlerinin çoğunluğu kendi içinde yaşıyordu. Ve popülasyonda uzun yıllardır orada yaşayan yaşlılardan oluşuyordu.

İlk bölümü izlerken “ne izliyorum ben” hissiyatını üzerimden atamadım. Mini dizi olmasına rağmen derdini anlatmaya başlaması 3.bölüme kadar sürüncemede kaldı. Hele ilk bölüm dizinin kalanından o kadar bağımsızdı ki… Genelde başına gelenleri başka birine anlatırken öğrendiğimiz başrolümüz, başına gelenleri 1.bölümde izleyiciye anlatıyorlardı sanki. İş yerinde hakkının yenmesi, evde yalnız olması, parasının olmaması, annesi ile olan olayları, abisinin ruhaniyeti… O kadar bunalarak izliyorsunuz, o kadar siniriniz bozuluyor ki, sabır limitiniz düşükse daha ilk bölümden vazgeçmeniz büyük olasılık. İş yerinde yaşadığı zorbalık da cabası. Her yaşadığına boyun eğen, tamam diyen, sesini yükseltmeyi bile düşünmeyen bir karakter düşünün. Düşünememiş olabilirsiniz. Bu durumu çarpa çarpa yansıtmışlar ekrana. Bir de düşene ben vurayım diye senaristler kızcağızın anasını öldürdüler. Yani 3.bölüm bir sahil kasabasına yerleşmesini izlemeye sonunda başladığımızda, “ne gerek vardı” diye düşündüm. Gelseydi kasabaya kalacak yer ararken flashbackler ile kısa kısa özetleseydi niye buralarda olduğunu, ne bizi bunaltsaydı ne mevzuyu uzatsaydı. Şahane olmaz mıydı?

Yeo-Reum’un kasabada tanıştığı her insanı önce inanılmaz itici buluyorsunuz. Konuşamayan bir kütüphaneci An Dae-Beom (Im Si-Wan) ile tanışıyoruz ilk önce. Si-Wan’ı daha önce Run On dizisinde izlemiştim. Aşırı tutuk bir oyuncu olduğunu düşünüyordum. Bu dizide de ilk gördüğümde aynı şekilde düşündüm. Ama ilerleyen bölümlerde sevdiğim oyunculardan biri oldu. Dizide de karakteri açıldıkça keyifle izledim. Aslında oyuncunun 35 yaşında olduğunu öğrendiğimde baya şaşırdım.  Seol Hyun ise gerçekten 28 yaşındaymış. İkili aynı yaşta karakterleri canlandırıyorlardı. Aralarındaki yaş farkı ise tam tersi görünüyordu. Hanım kızımız oğlanın ablası gibiydi.

Abla demişken, kütüphanenin diğer çalışanı Jo Ji-Young(Park Ye-Young)… elle tutulur hiçbir yanı yoktu. Kadın Dae-Beom’un ablası gibi davranıyor ama sonra aşık gibi tribe giriyor, annesi gibi baskıcı yaklaşıp, kız kardeşi gibi nazlanıyordu. Bütün karakterleri sonradan sevdim, bu kızı sevemedim. Evlerden ırak. Onun dışında ev sahibinin oğlu Bae Sung-Min (Kwak Min-Gyu) vardı. Yeo-Reum’un kasabadan gitmesini istediği için sürekli ona zorluk çıkartmaya çalışan bir karakterdi. Başlarda itici bulsanız da onu sevmemeniz çok zor. Yine lise öğrencisi olan Kim Bom (Shin Eun-Soo), son derece sinir bozucu ve ergenliğin bütün sınırlarını zorlayan bir kızdı. Bir süre sonra ise onu da kardeşiniz gibi görmeye başlıyorsunuz.

Oyuncularda tam olarak ön plana çıkan biri yoktu. Si-Wan tek başına parlasa da yeterli değildi. Bence başka oyuncularla çok daha ses getirebilir bir dizi olabilirdi. Yaş ortalamasının yüksek olmasını ayrıca beğendiğimi söylemeliyim. Belki benim yaşımdan kaynaklı olabilir ama dizilerdeki olayların belli bir yaşın altındaki karakterler üzerinde döndüğü hikayelerde çok fazla tutarsızlık olduğunu düşünüyorum.

Toparlayacak olursam, hikayedeki gizem yavaş yavaş çözülüyor izleyiciyi sıkmıyordu. Hayattan küçük bir sıra dışı kesit izliyorsunuz gibi düşünebilirsiniz. İzlememeniz için bir neden olduğunu düşünmüyorum. Ve son olarak liseli çocukların bile öpüştüğü dizide, başrollerin birbirine dokunmaması beni inanılmaz strese soktu. Heh şimdi, tamam bu sefer, hadi ama… şekilde kat sayım artarak izledim. Ve üzgünüm spoiler ama öpüşmediler. Oyuncuların yaş farkının çok olmasından mı neden bilmiyorum, sahne yazmamışlar. Yazık olmuş.

OST:

Enhypen - Zero Moment

Raven Melus

BAŞKA NELER VAR ?

FOTOĞRAFLAR

[symphony-of-elegance]

Behind The Elegance

Bae Suzy (배���지) is a South Korean actress and solo singer under Management SOOP. Suzy debuted as a member of MissA in March 2010 under JYP Entertainment. She debuted as a soloist on January 24, 2017. On April 7, 2019, Suzy signed with Management SOOP.

Stage Name: Suzy (수지) Birth Name: Bae Su Ji (배수지) Nationality: Korean Birthday: October 10, 1994 Zodiac Sign: Libra Height: 168 cm (5’6″) Weight: 47 kg (103 lbs) Blood Type: AB Twitter: @Suzy Instagram: @skuukzky

Suzy Facts: – She is the first female celebrity who received popularity awards in K-pop, K-drama and film. The first celebrity with the triple awards is Rain. – She was born in Gwangju, South Korea – Suzy has an older sister, named Su-bin, and a younger brother, named Sang-moon. – Education: She attended School of Performing Arts Seoul. – Before debuting, she was an online shopping model. – In 2009, she auditioned for Mnet Superstar K and made it through the preliminary round, but then she was eliminated. – Anyway, she caught the attention of a scout from JYP Entertainment and soon became a trainee. – After 1 year of training, in March 2010, she debuted with Miss A (which first promoted in China as a trio group consisting of Suzy, Fei and Jia). – Later, when Min joined the band, Miss A made their Korean debut in July 2010 through JYP Entertainment, with the single “Bad Girl Good Girl”. – Since October 2010, Suzy became a hot for different music shows and events: MBC Show! Music Core, Inkigayo, M! Countdown, M! Countdown Hello Japan, the 21st Seoul Music Awards, 26th Golden Disk Awards, etc. – In January 2011, she made her acting debut in the high-school drama ‘Dream High’ which increased her popularity even more. – In January 2016, Suzy released a digital single titled “Dream” with EXO‘s Baekhyun, which won the “Best Collaboration” award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. – She can speak Korean and Chinese. – She doesn’t like to eat vegetables. – Suzy’s shoe size is 250mm – She admits that she did teeth laminated (just for her two front teeth), but she didn’t do any plastic surgery. – She loves to read. – She is a sleep-talker. – Suzy is close to KARA’s Jiyoung and IU. – She loves to go to karaoke. – Suzy’s mother decorated her coffee shop with anything related to Miss A. The cafe is called “Soo Caffe” – When she is very busy, she can do 60 interviews per day. – Her favorite color is pink. – She attended action school for her drama Vagabond. – She appeared in a lot of CFs, she’s considered one of the ‘CF Queens’ in South Korea. – In March 2015, it was revealed that she’s dating actor Lee Min Ho. – Suzy and Lee Min Ho broke up in November 2017. – In March 2018, it was confirmed that Suzy is dating actor Lee Dong Wook. – On July 2, 2018, it was confirmed Suzy and Lee Dong Wook broke up. – Suzy is ranked 58th on TC Candler “The 100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2018”. – Suzy ranked 60th in the TC Candler “The 100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2019”. – On March 31, 2019 her contract with JYP expired and she decided not to renew. – On April 7, 2019 Suzy signed with Management SOOP. – Suzy’s ideal type: Kang Dong Won and Lee Min Ki.

Suzy Movies: Wonderland (원더랜드)| 2021 – A woman in 20’s Ashfall / Baekdusan (백두산) | 2019 – Choi Ji-Young Real (리얼) | 2017 – Tattooist (cameo) The Sound of a Flower (도리화가) | 2015 – Jin Chae Seon Architecture 101  (건축학개론) | 2012 – young Seo Yeon

Suzy Drama Series: Startup (스타트업) | tvN / 2020 – Seo Dal-mi Vagabond (배가본드) | SBS / 2019 – Go Hae RiWhile You Were Sleeping (당신이 잠든 사이에) | SBS / 2017 – Nam Hong Joo Uncontrollably Fond (함부로 애틋하게) | KBS2 / 2016 – No Eul My Love From the Star (별에서 온 그대) | SBS / 2013-2014 – Ko Hye Mi (cameo ep. 17) Gu Family Book (구가의 서) | MBC / 2013 – Dam Yeo Wool Big (빅) | KBS2 / 2012 – Jang Ma Ri Dream High 2 (드림하이 2) | KBS2 / 2012 – Herself (cameo ep. 15) Dream High (드림하이) | KBS2 / 2010 – Ko Hye-mi

Suzy Awards: 2018 Baeksang Arts Awards | Most Popular Actress (“While You Were Sleeping”) 2017 SBS Drama Awards | Best Actress  (“While You Were Sleeping”) 2017 SBS Drama Awards | Best Couple Award with Lee Jong Suk (“While You Were Sleeping”) 2016 Baeksang Arts Awards | Most Popular Actress (“The Sound of a Flower”) 2013 MBC Drama Awards | Best Actress (“Gu Family Book”) 2013 MBC Drama Awards | Best Couple Award with Lee Seung Gi (“Gu Family Book”) 2012 KBS Drama Awards | Popularity Actress Award (“Big”) 2012 Blue Dragon Film Awards | Popularity Award (“Architecture 101”) 2012 Baeksang Arts Awards | Best New Actress (“Architecture 101”) 2011 KBS Drama Awards | Best New Actress (“Dream High”) 2011 KBS Drama Awards  | Best Couple Award with Kim Soo Hyun (“Dream High”)

[bhadpodcast]

Ahhh! Catching up on the Vanity Fair podcast and did I scream when Love and Monsters came up? Yes! Had no clue it had been nominated for visual effects. The slight dig/joke at TW though. 😂. They would mess up like that. They know messy.

[beyoncesdragon]

Runaway

Pairing: MinhoxReader 

Warnings: swearing, some fighting and major asshole Minhoe 

Summary: When Thomas, a Greenie no longer than 3 days is promoted to a runner, and you who trained for month now, is being overlooked, it leads to a confrontation between you and Minho. A confrontation much needed, on top of that.

My Masterlist 

(Gif credits)

The sun hadn’t risen all too high when I reached the spot in front of the huge doors into the maze, dropping into the still wet grass. I leaned against the black stone wall and crossed my arms over my chest. I was properly pissed off to say the least. So pissed off that I even managed it to get up in that unholy hours of the morning, about one or two earlier than I, currently working as a Med-Jack, should get up. 

Currently because I was working hard on being able to change my task in the maze from Med-Jack to Runner. But observing the current course of things it looked like I could forget that. My head snapped up as I heard steps approaching me. My eyes immediately locked with a pair of brown ones, belonging to the keeper of the runners. 

Minho, the tall Asian with strong arms and short, black hair leaded the runners since I arrived in the maze and had intrigued me since then. He was rather aggressive in his way of engaging in a conversation, having a strong tendency to be extremely sarcastic. He was famous for his habit of always having the last word at any argument or debate and his quick ways of cornering you with arguments until you had to admit that he was right. But he had, through his sarcasm probably, the best senses of humour amongst the Gladers, and got along with everyone basically. Except for maybe Gally from time to time, but I assumed that this was only because the two were both hotheads. So no one could really blame me for feeling attracted to him, right? But now, now I could’ve punched him in his pretty face.

“Morning shebean…why are you up already?” Minho greeted me with a weird expression on his face. He probably knew exactly why I was here and not looking particularly happy. “Good morning Minho. I just wanted to check if what I heard is right…that you take a Greenie out into the maze.” Thomas next to him froze on spot, perfectly well hearing the bitter lilt I had purposely added to my spat out words. Minho tensed up a bit waiting for me to continue.

“So, how is he allowed to become a runner after not even being here for a whole week?!” Minho’s shoulders slumped down a bit before he fixed his posture again. “Listen…I get that you are maybe upset about that but can you not make a fuss now please? Thomas and I really need to go and…” I snorted angered.

“Why not? Why not make a fuss Minho? Listen I trained for the last two months to be in his position and – no offense Thomas, I really like you and you are a shucking fast runner and cute and all – but I have been here longer!” I hissed angrily, mimicking Minho’s pose by crossing my arms over my chest as well. Thomas threw me a puzzled look.

“No...no offense taken. But you…you think I’m cute?” Thomas asked, eyes wide. Minho rolled his eyes taking my attention from the Newbie again.

“Now Minho? I worked my shucking ass off for two whole months to be here okay? I worked as Slicer, in the Blood-House, as a builder, as everything really, just so I could one day qualify as a darn runner. Wouldn’t you be pissed off as well? Listen, if you don’t want to have me in the team then just say it right away before I embarrass myself further by exercising every damn day for it!” My blood was boiling as I finished my speech, staring angrily at his annoyingly pretty face. What I was telling him was all true and he knew: I had gotten up earlier to run rounds so I stay fit, get faster and more persistent every morning. I had learned to read the sun to find out how late it was or where I was. I had learned it all, just to be replaced by a Greenie, who was hardly three days in the Maze by now.

“It’s not even about that! It’s just that you…you just…” Minho started, but he seemed a little less confident in his arguments. That somehow made me even angrier. “That I what? Am a girl? Not fast enough? Spill Minho, don’t dare to come up with a lame excuse like not being able to expand the cadre by one more member!” I could see him slowly getting fed up with this situation, maybe with me. But I was so angry by now that I couldn’t get myself to the point where I would care.

“Can you at least listen to me, shebean!” he hissed annoyed, stepping a step closer, glaring down at me.” I pouted offended, trying my best not to feel too distracted by his close proximity.

“Shoot, runner. Tell me why I am not good enough.” I pushed out and he snorted irritated. “Good gods it’s not…it’s about you having to be able to defend yourself in a proper way!” I frowned up to him.

“I can defend myself? I learned how to handle a spear a dagger and even a gun…” he just shook his head. “Oh yeah? So how would you react if I would suddenly go crazy? What if we were in the maze and I got stung…and the poison makes me attack you? Come on, show how you handle that!” when he before seemed passive-aggressive, then he now went fully hostile. Handing me one of his knifes, he drew another one before starting to circle me. With a sudden leap, he tried to surprise me and I could block him in the last moment. Minho was fast, incredibly fast actually. He had me quickly on the ground, pressing me down onto the cold grass. With a serious glance down he rose his arm and it looked like he would actually try to stab me. I could dodge the blade quickly, and tried to roll out of his reach, but Minho was again, faster than I was. Suppressing a wince I blocked another stroke. I could slowly fear a form of fear creep up, since he seemed to be determined to hurt me.

“What the shuck is going on here?” Newt’s voice made Minho stop for a few seconds. I glanced up at him, seeing how other people slowly gathered around us.

“I’m just proving a point.” Minho pushed out, looking back at me. Then, completely out of the blue, Minho just absolutely remorseless pressed his blade against my throat. I managed it somehow to push him away, but he had quickly found his spot again, this time pining my arms down as well.

“Minho stop now, it’s okay. We got it, she got it as well. Calm down.” Newt mumbled, giving me a quick and slightly confused glance.

“Alright.” Minho jumped off me, knocking the dirt off his pants. “How you see, you aren’t exactly prepared for the maze in this way. Now step aside, we already are late, should’ve left half an hour ago.” His tone was harsh and cold and I could only stare at him. He couldn’t be bloody serious, could he? With a gulp I turned away, rushing off in anger and with tears in my eyes.

How dare he? How was that stupid exercise anyhow proof that I was ready for the maze or not? Looking back at it, I was convinced more and more, that he had done this solely because he just really needed a reason to turn me down. And that hurt, especially because he did it like that.

When Thomas and Minho returned from the maze in the evening and came for check-ups into the med jack hut, I left the tent immediately without giving them a hint of attention. The anger, that had cooled down just very slightly during the day, boiled up the second I saw Minho approaching. I heard Minho sigh softly, calling my name out but I was already gone. I had no intention to talk to him anytime soon. Not tonight at the bonfire, not after the bonfire, not tomorrow and not in a week. Preferably not ever again.

“What’s up with you?” I looked up to Gally, holding a bundle of wood in his arms. “Minho’s up.” I answered, following him to the pile of already stacked wood for tonight. “Wanna talk about it?” Gally offered, dropping the wood down. I shrugged. “There isn’t much to talk about really. He’s just acting like a total shank and I can’t deal with it I guess.” Gally laughed softly, patting my shoulder.

“That he is. I heard what happened this morning at the doors. Wasn’t cool, not at all.” I shrugged bitterly, tossing a piece of wood onto the stack. “Guess everyone heard about it. And the rest saw it live.” Gally sighed, giving me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry about that.” I waved him off. “Don’t be. There is no reason for you to be sorry about it, you weren’t acting like a dick.”

“Light him up!” Alby shouted and several burning spears were thrown at a high wooden stake with a bulls’ skull on a pole. The chanting set in and I let my eyes wander over the seemingly all happy gladers around the fire, avoiding a certain section around the fire where the runners were standing. “You want something to drink?” Gally offered, handing me a jar of liquor. I shrugged, taking a few gulps just to feel the bitter alcohol numb my tongue immediately. I wanted to hand him the jar back, when I suddenly realised that Gally was no longer next to me. Instead, Minho had taken his place quietly, looking down at me.

“Still mad?” he asked carefully, reaching for the liquor but I pulled back. He sighed. “So you choose to ignore me now? For how long do you think this’ll work out?” I huffed frustrated, giving him an angry glare.

“You seriously think, you deserve anything less? You humiliated me in front of almost everyone, for no reasonable aim at all. Let’s face it Minho, you just don’t want me on the team.” I spat out, causing him to run his fingers through his hair with an irritated growl.

“Oh can you lay off of it already! I told you…” “You started it! Go and blame yourself, you miserable liar.” I chimed angrily, my fists clenched. “Liar? Oh I am a liar now as well?” Minho argued back, his jaw clenching. All the voices suddenly quieted down, and I could feel everybody’s eyes on us. But I again, was too angry to care.

“Yes! Admit it Minho, no one would have to fight like this in the maze. You know exactly that I could never stand a chance against you. You just wanted to be sure that you had another reason why I wasn’t qualified!” Minho snorted. “Oh really? Is that how you think I…do you know what?” his eyes were blazing of anger, a vein pulsated at his neck and his whole body was tense.

“Yes. Yes, you are right. I knew that I would defeat you and I did try to make sure you weren’t qualified for it.” Though, I kinda expected it to be like that, his bluntness still surprised me. And it hurt me quite a lot.

“W-what?”

But he wasn’t quite done yet. “You wanna know why? Because being a runner is so much more than just having a good sense of direction, high endurance or being fast. It is being able to think rational, to realize when you can take care of someone you care for, or when you have to leave him or her behind, knowing that else you wouldn’t make it back. It’s about being a loyal friend but never, not once look back in hazardous situations and just run, never stop until safe.” I gulped nervously, feeling my confidence and anger melt away.

“But…but what do I have…?” I stuttered, stepping back carefully. Minho immediately followed up.

“You wanna know why or how this is affecting you? It is because I am a quite…selfish person. I could neverthink rational if you were with me, I could never leave you behind in the maze when you were injured. I would always look back to make sure your dumbass is safe and alive. And I could never forgive myself if something happened to you.” my eyes widened, thoughts of confusion and disbelief rotating in my brain.

“Does that mean that you…I mean…?” He suddenly looked resigned. “I care about you. Quite a lot actually, because I, how you maybe figured, like you. If you would excuse me no-…” he never managed to finish his now unsure trail of words, because I cut him off by leaping up and pressing my lips against his.

“And you hadn’t had the balls to just tell me? I like you too, slinthead. This could’ve been so easy…” Minho said nothing, a bright look in his eyes. Then suddenly, he pulled me up again, placing his lips back on mine. I could feel his lips turn up into a smirk before we parted again, and he brushed over my lips with his index finger. “Guess I don’t only run away from grievers love. Sorry to disappoint you, but I am not particularly brave…” he ushered amused, tilting his head.

“But it still doesn’t change a thing.” I narrowed my eyes. “You stay in here, doll. Can’t have you out there.” I hit his chest in response, making everyone chuckle. The only difference was now that I understood why. 

I still wasn't fully convinced though...but for now I would accept my fate. For now. 

[93daes]

Omg it’s the same hospital room