#korean market near me

[hiyouuk]

Korean Food Supermarket: Fresh and Traditional Groceries

HiYou is your one-stop Korean Food Supermarket for a huge range of genuine Korean grocery items in the UK. Buy 100% original groceries with fast delivery! Korea is a country that is rich with culture, history and food, and our aim is to make Korean food more accessible for everyone with our Korean online supermarket. Korean food is wonderfully bright, vibrant and full of flavour, so you need to make sure that you are getting the very best ingredients to make your meals authentic. As a leading Korean food supermarket, we understand Korean food and how specialist it can be. We want to make sure that you can find what you are looking for quickly and easily – whether that is in our Korean store or through our Korean supermarket online. Cooking and finding the right ingredients and inspiration shouldn’t be a chore!

[magicshopaholic]

Words Unsaid (Jungkook x OC)

Summary: Jungkook has something he wants to ask you, but the timing just never seems to sit right.

Pairing: Jungkook x OC

Genre: Fluff

Rating: 18+

Word Count: 7.3 K

Warnings: none

A/N: This took longer than expected to post (but a surprisingly short amount of time to write). Savour it, for the angst will be back in full force next fic :D Takes place a couple of weeks after Unfinished Business and can be read standalone.

Tagging: @bbl32 @ggukkieland @bangtannoonalvg @pb-n-juju @juciu @jeoncookie-bts @quarter-life-crisis2 @dreaming-with-happiness @meirkive  @faearchives @margopinkerton @sumzysworld @purpleseoul7 @kflixnet (italics cannot be tagged. If you want to be added to the taglist, drop a comment or ask)

Listen to: "thinking out loud" by ed sheeran

jungkook masterlist | main masterlist

The sun is near setting when lunch comes to a natural end. Namjoon places his credit card on the bill out of habit and, somewhat conscious that it’s not just the two of them here, Jungkook drops his on top of it.

“All good, kid.” Namjoon good-naturedly flicks Jungkook’s credit card off the bill just before the waiter picks it up.

Feeling Lia’s eyes on him, vaguely amused, Jungkook feels his ears heat up and quickly pockets his credit card. “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” he asks, desperate to change the topic.

“Not much.” He shrugs. “Probably pick up some stuff at this store we saw earlier today, then maybe a walk down the Han if it gets cooler…” He turns slightly as Kaya returns to her seat, fluffing out her hair a bit.

“Seoul has never been this warm, has it?” she remarks. “I’m glad I cut my hair before I came here.”

“It should rain soon,” answers Lia, in her accented English. While her grasp on the language hadn’t necessarily been a surprise to Jungkook, the way it sounded - and how much he liked it - definitely was. She hadn’t ever spoken much English around him, for there was never much of a need, but when Kaya visited and they’d finally met, Jungkook discovered he was obsessed with her English accent. It made her sound older, unattainable and - ironically – more Korean.

“Maybe it will,” says Namjoon, nodding and looking out the glass windows at the sunlight.

“Maybe it will while you’re walking down the Han river,” points out Jungkook. 

“Looking forward to it.”

“Oh, that reminds me - can we make a detour home before we head to the market?” Kaya asks him. “I need to pick up my power bank. My phone’s almost dead.”

Namjoon nods. “Sure. You guys need a ride?” he asks Jungkook and Lia.

“Oh -” They exchange a look, for they were dropped by a company car after Jungkook finished filming a promo. “Actually, yeah,” says Lia, nodding. “We also need to stop by, uh, Jungkook’s house for a minute. You’ll want to change, I guess?”

Jungkook nods mutely, his neck getting hot again. He avoids Namjoon’s eyes; the older member’s subtle questioning a couple of days ago, about how serious is this getting, had been one thing. That, coupled with the abrupt way he and Lia had stopped talking when Jungkook had returned from the men’s room earlier during lunch, made him uneasily conscious that something was still unsaid.

They head out of the restaurant, waiting until Namjoon’s car is brought out by the valet before ducking inside quickly, Kaya in the driver’s seat and Namjoon in the passenger seat next to her. Jungkook notices a few phones out in the open and pointed towards them as they drive away.

“See you tomorrow!” Lia waves at them as they drive away from the porch of Jungkook’s building in Hannam-dong, where his new penthouse sits tucked into the top floor. As the car disappears around a corner, both of them turn around and head inside together.

In the lift, Jungkook watches the numbers increase, his hands in his pockets and his bottom lip between his teeth. The words are there, somewhere, in moments at the tip of his tongue and in others, so far away that they may as well be someone else’s.

“Hey.”

He’s jerked out of his reverie. “Yeah.”

Lia is looking at him, frowning slightly. “Everything okay? You’ve barely said two words since we left.”

“I’m fine,” he answers as the lift stops and they step out, the doors opening right in front of his apartment. “I just, uh…” He pats his pockets and pauses. “... forgot my keys. I think. Shit.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she mutters easily, reaching into her small sling bag for her own keyring and selecting the shiniest one. “This is when it helps to have a spare set with someone else,” she points out.

Jungkook nods sheepishly and steps aside so she can unlock the door to his home. “Actually, Lia…” He takes a deep breath as Namjoon’s face swims to the forefront of his mind, the familiar raised eyebrow and chin tilted upward that, irritatingly knowing but unwilling to give him the answer. No, he would want Jungkook to come up with the answer himself. 

He clears his throat as Lia pauses. “Yeah?”

“Um, I was wondering -” He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Just say it. Say it. He makes the mistake of glancing at her again, her raised eyebrows and - to his slight anxiety - hopeful expression.

Shit.

“Would you, um… do you think you would you like to…” 

Come on now, Jungkook, Namjoon would say sternly. Say it already.

“... try a beef bulgogi tonight? I know we usually do pizza on Sunday nights but I saw this recipe online and I really wanted to try it. Plus, we won’t even have to shop - we have that fillet in the freezer so part of the work is really already done, if you think about it…”

He’s rambling, he knows, but it’s only to try and distract himself from the annoyance at himself as well as the brief but clear disappointment in her expression. Her shoulders fall slightly and she bites her lip, turning back to the door and pushing it open halfway.

“Beef bulgogi sounds great,” she says finally, looking up at him after a moment’s hesitation, and giving him a small smile. “Thanks.”

He follows her inside, still deflated. Lia goes straight to the fridge for a bottle of cold water while he heads into his room, shedding his t-shirt on the way. Turning on the bathroom light, he grabs his facewash from the wall-mounted shelf, half-stocked with haircare products, face scrubs, masks, serums and a tub of scrunchies and claw clips. A Dior perfume he’d gifted her earlier this year was also there next to his own Calvin Klein cologne. 

Realising he’s been staring at her belongings for over a minute with emulsified facewash on his face, he quickly scrubs it off and hurries out, passing by her chest of drawers next to the closets. 

Jungkook wishes he wasn’t such a coward. He wishes he had the exact right words and that his mouth moved on its own to deliver the message to her. She’d helped him set up the apartment when he’d moved in last month; most of her belongings are here, she returns here more often than not after work, half the groceries in the pantry are stocked by her. She has a set of keys, she uses his extra parking space - but none of it matters as long as it’s still Jungkook’s house. 

In the kitchen, Lia is standing by the counter with a bowl of watermelon in front of her, scrolling on her phone. She looks up when he enters. 

“I cut the other half that was in the fridge,” she informs him. “Rest of it is inside.”

He swallows. “Thanks.”

Jungkook doesn’t know what he would do without her. The house feels far too big and empty when she isn’t around and he wishes there were some way for her to get that message without him having to spell it out.

But if you do spell it out, comes Namjoon’s voice again, what’s the worst that could happen.

She could say no and then I could die, he thinks, shuddering.

He stands on the opposite side of the counter and leans over to examine the pink fruit. Lia raises an eyebrow and pops a piece into his mouth. 

“Wow. Sweet,” he comments, voice slightly muffled. 

She half-chuckles and nods, going back to her phone and taking a piece as well.

Say it. But is this really the moment? Does there need to be a moment? What would that moment even look like? What would she want that moment to -

“Kook,” says Lia, slowly placing her phone down. “I was thinking… I’ve been coming over here after work the last few days. And I’ll probably be here tomorrow as well, so…” She bites her lip.

“Yes,” whispers Jungkook breathlessly. If Lia were to ask the question - nothing like it. No chance of rejection, no scope for awkwardness. Of course, if any of the guys got wind of the fact that she had been the one to ask, they wouldn’t let him live it down, especially Jimin. Suddenly, he half-hopes she isn’t asking.

“Do you think it would be weird if, you know…”

Holy shit. Screw Jimin and his opinions. Despite a crappy first date a year ago, if this is really how far they’ve come since then, he should consider himself the luckiest man in the world. Unexpectedly, Jungkook’s heart begins to race. 

“… if I went home on Monday evening? It’s been a while and I have an important meeting on Tuesday and all my blazers are at home so in a way, I have to…”

Jungkook nods mutely, barely hearing her, for his heart is hammering so loudly he can hear it in his teeth. It occurs to him that Lia might have been anticipating the same question and subsequently felt the same disappointment, and it only serves to make him feel worse.

“… take my car, too. Jungkook?”

He looks up warily, irrationally worried his shame might be written on his forehead for her to see, possibly triggering her to pull the plug on this entire thing, this whole relationship, to save herself the embarrassment of dating a silly pop star who can’t string six words together -

“Hm?”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m fine,” he chokes. “Thanks for the, uh, the fruit.”

Lia raises her eyebrows, but there’s a flash of knowing in her eyes. Not wanting to decipher it, for there’s no telling where his mind will take him, he shakes his head slightly and leans forward, kissing her on the cheek.

It doesn’t end there. Later that evening, Jungkook is still reeling from his horrendous inability to pluck up the courage to ask his girlfriend a simple question. The general mood between them seems to have gone back to normal, somewhat, but it nags at the corner of his mind.

They are heading to the executive floor gym in his building, accessible only to the handful of residents on the top floor, when another opportunity seemingly presents itself.

It’s a glorious workout in one of the best gyms in the country; in fact, Jungkook is rather upfront about it being one of the main reasons he chose to buy a property in this particular building in Hannam-dong. Towards the end of a particularly difficult set of reps on the bench press station, Jungkook looks up to see a face, upside down and hovering above him.

“Shit!” he gasps, gripping the barbell tightly so it doesn’t fall on him. 

Eunwoo grins. “What’s up? Wasn’t expecting to see you here today.”

“I could’ve died,” points out Jungkook, sitting up and giving him a friendly dap. “No, Lia wanted to work out, too, and it’s been a, uh… somewhat stressful day.”

“Yeah?” Eunwoo, also sweating and glowing, looks around the gym with his hands on his hips. “Lia is here? Oh, there she is…” He nods at the treadmills where she’s jogging fast, AirPods in and the rest of the world shut out.

They chat for a bit about nothing in particular, catching their breath. Somewhere during the conversation, while they’re at the water station and filling up tiny glasses with fruit-infused ice water, Jungkook wonders if the time has truly come to pick another’s brain. Eunwoo is a good friend and they’ve known each other a while, but it would be the first time he’s actively confided in someone else about his love life. From his experience, it could go either way.

While he’s pondering this, Eunwoo nods and flashes a smile at something over his shoulder.

“Hey, guys.” Lia walks over and pours herself a glass. Her skin pale and glowing, her cheeks flushed lusciously. The ends of her high ponytail stick to her damp collarbones and Jungkook bites his lip without thinking, ridiculously attracted to her at the moment.

“Noona, do you agree with JK’s plan of building a home gym?” Eunwoo asks, seamlessly continuing their discussion. “It’s going to be so much maintenance of equipment,” he tells him, shaking his head.

“Really?” Lia turns to Jungkook, frowning. “When did that happen? I thought you were happy with this gym.”

“I am - and I’m not planning on building a home gym,” he clarifies, suddenly anxious with both sets of eyes on him. “I was just discussing the merits of possibly having one.”

“Such as?”

“Well… privacy, for one. I know the building has good security but they're also fairly lax with allowances,” he points out, not wanting to specify the incident last week that had prompted this train of thought, when he was half-certain he’d spotted someone pointing their phone at him and Lia. 

“Allowances? You mean guests?” Eunwoo wrinkles his nose. “They don’t allow guests in here.”

“Yes, they do.”

“No, they don’t. They don’t allow anybody but residents in the gym.”

There’s a brief but painful pause following his words. 

“They do, actually,” says Lia.

“I don’t think so.”

“Yes, they do,” adds Jungkook tightly, glaring at Eunwoo and moving his eyes deliberately in Lia’s direction, hoping to God he’ll drop it.

Eunwoo frowns slowly, apparently working this out. “What?” he mutters, shaking his head at Jungkook. “No, I’m just saying… wait, how are you so sure?”

“Because I’m technically a guest,” says Lia lightly.

“You are?” Eunwoo raises his eyebrows. “But I thought you were - oh.” To Jungkook’s horror, a blush creeps up his friend’s face. Lia goes still next to him and it takes every ounce of Jungkook’s strength to not turn in her direction.

For the next few seconds or so, the three of them stand there in silence, scarcely making a movement. 

“Excuse me? May I?”

“Yes! Of course, of course -” Jungkook immediately blurts out while Eunwoo practically trips over himself to take a step back and make way for another patron. 

“I’m going to stretch and cool down for a bit,” says Lia, touching Jungkook’s shoulder. “How far along are you?”

“Oh, I still have a bit to finish,” he answers, a bit apologetically. “I was going to box for a bit before ending with cardio.”

“That’s fine, I'll just head back h- uh, to your place and shower… if that’s okay?”

Not least because she hasn’t needed to ask such a question in months, Jungkook nods wordlessly. She gives him a small smile and moves away, and Jungkook watches her leave before turning back around to see Eunwoo giving him a look.

“Shut up,” he mutters.

Eunwoo chuckles as they head over to the boxing bag. “Man, I am so sorry about that. I really thought you’d asked her to move in with you - I thought part of the reason you bought a new house was because you wanted her to move in. You were asking about bathrooms with his-and-her sinks, man. What happened?”

“Okay, first of all, I only asked if you’ve ever seen one in real life - not that I wanted one,” he corrects immediately, strapping on his gloves while Eunwoo gets behind the bag, ready to hold it. 

“And the other thing?”

“I’m working on it,” mutters Jungkook, going into stance and holding his hands up. “I just want to do it right. Make sure it’s a good time, that I’m not hurrying anything - that kind of thing.”

Eunwoo hums and nods. “Well, if it helps, she didn’t seem freaked out. If anything, she looked a little annoyed.”

Jungkook freezes. “She did? She looked annoyed - wait, really? Are you serious?”

His eyes widen. “Wh- no. Not - not annoyed like that. Not like a pissed off annoyed, more like a… like a chill annoyed.” When Jungkook says nothing, he shakes his head. “You know what? Don’t worry about it. Maybe it is too soon. Or maybe it isn’t,” he amends quickly. “What do I know? You know my last three relationships lasted, like, four months each - so I’m probably not the best person to be giving you any kind of advice.”

“That’s the most airtight thing you’ve said so far,” mutters Jungkook. “Alright, I’m coming in.” Waiting a moment for Eunwoo to grip the bag, he cocks his elbow back and punches it.

—

Despite his deadly faux pas, Eunwoo had inadvertently provided Jungkook with a rather helpful bit of direction. Perhaps it is time for him to lean on a friend for advice, but Eunwoo was also right that he is not one of them, not with his flighty flings and lack of depth in them. The advice matters and so does the friend, prompting Jungkook to ask himself: which of his friends is the expert on the opposite of short-term flings?

“Namjoon hyung!”

Namjoon stops in his tracks at the sound of his name and turns, waiting for Jungkook to catch up with him. 

“Oh, thanks,” says Jungkook, taking a cigarette from the pack Namjoon offers him and leaning forward so he can light it. “Thanks for getting us the evening off, by the way.”

“Kaya is leaving this weekend,” is all Namjoon says in response, shrugging.

“Right.” Jungkook nods, taking a drag and blowing it out, wondering briefly if he should care that they might be seen smoking right outside the Hybe building. “Won’t this make you a couple minutes late, though? If you want to make the best of the next few days?”

Namjoon chuckles. “I don’t want to smoke inside the house.”

“Uh-huh. Speaking of which…” He exhales, suddenly nervous. “I was hoping for some advice.” He clears his throat. “Regarding… relationships.”

Namjoons raises his eyebrows but says nothing else. “M-hm.”

“I have reason to believe,” he begins slowly, “that Lia might want me to ask her to move in with me.”

“Okay.”

Jungkook pauses, searching his leader’s face for a hint. Finding none, he continues. “Well… I want to ask her. But I also don’t want her to feel like I’m asking her just because she wants me to ask her. And I also don’t want to mess it up.”

“How would you mess it up?”

“I don’t know… maybe I’m completely off track and she doesn’t want to move in with me at all? Maybe she thinks it’s too soon?”

Namjoon nods, hearing him out. Then he shakes his head. “Well, personally, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“What isn’t? You think she wants to move in?” Jungkook’s momentarily relief is interrupted by a horrifying thought. “Oh, my God - did she say something to you? Yesterday, at brunch, when I went to the men’s room?”

“Jungkook, you were gone for two minutes.”

He’s about to argue but stops himself. He knows Lia and she is hardly the type to secretly vent her feelings to his friends behind his back, hoping it will get back to him. No, she’s more straightforward than that.

Somewhat satisfied, he takes a different turn. “Okay, let’s get down to it, then. How did you ask Kaya to move in?”

“Well…” Namjoon frowns thoughtfully. “Actually, I didn’t.”

“You… what?” Jungkook squints. “Wait, so… you didn’t ask? You both just knew, telepathically, when to start living together?” he asks incredulously, thinking privately that it could just be believable.

“No,” says Namjoon patiently, chuckling again and flicking some ash off his cigarette. “I didn’t ask because I didn’t have to. Where else is she supposed to live when she comes to Seoul? Where am I supposed to live when I go to see her?”

“Yeah… okay, but… well, would you say you live together?” he presses. “Or do you just, like, crash at each other’s place when you visit?”

“Well, we definitely don’t crash at each other’s place,” he mutters. “Maybe we did right in the beginning? I guess I’d say we live apart, but it’s only because we have to. I don’t know - when she came to Seoul for work last year while I was in service, she stayed at Hannam even though her aunt lives in the city, too.” He shrugs. “If that helps.”

“Huh.” Jungkook considers this. “So, like, do you guys ‘go home’ or do you go back to ‘your place’?”

“Home,” he answers casually, not skipping a beat. “Even her apartment is home. ‘Home’ is what you make it, to a large extent. It’s a place of comfort - an apartment is only part of that,” he says wisely. “I feel more at home in her studio apartment in London with her than at Hannam by myself. The people make the home - and that’s for you to decide.”

Jungkook stares, feeling his cigarette burn away in his hand. “That’s really not the kind of thing I’m looking for, hyung,” he states, before dropping his face in his hand.

Namjoon clicks his tongue and stubs his cigarette on the tray atop the trash can next to him. “Don’t overthink it,” he says, clapping him on the shoulder. “Go about it logically: she’s been your girlfriend for six or seven months now, you bought a new place which is significantly bigger than your old one and she’s in her thirties, meaning she’s most likely thinking long-term.” 

Jungkook gazes at Namjoon’s raised eyebrows, quite certain he’s meant to pick up some meaning out of this. “So…”

“So… if you’re worried she might say no…”

“Chances are… she probably won’t?”

Namjoon grins and nods. “Exactly. Just be yourself, be genuine, be honest - and remember you’re both together for a reason. And I think - I think - she has a thing for you, too,” he adds seriously.

“One can only hope,” he mutters, albeit slightly mollified. “I really don’t want to mess this up.”

Namjoon observes him - for too long. For a moment, it seems as though he’s about to say something that makes Jungkook’s stomach jolt unpleasantly, but at the last second, he shakes his head.

“Impossible to mess it up. Honestly,” he says reassuringly, and Jungkook almost believes him. “It’s a part of the journey and if you think she’s expecting it, just take the plunge. Don’t add unnecessary pressure by trying to make it perfect.”

While the last bit simply isn’t in Jungkook’s DNA, he nods anyway. 

—

“Damn it.” 

Lia doesn’t look up from the email she’s writing, despite Dal’s repeated exclamations from the kitchen. Finally, he sticks his head out around the door.

“Did you know the faucet is leaking?”

“Yes,” she mutters, still not looking away from her screen.

“And did you know it’s dripping out of the sink zone and onto the floor?”

“Yeah?”

“And did you know it’s fucking disgusting?”

Lia sighs and finally turns her head to glance at him. “Yes, I know. I mopped it up this morning.”

Dal steps out, frowning. “So this much water leaked in the last six hours?” When Lia nods, he sighs heavily and trudges into the living room, falling onto the sofa. “I suppose we can text the landlord but I don’t know what good that will do.”

“Probably as much as it did when we told him about the seepage in the bathroom ceiling.”

“Yeah. Didn’t realise the kind of shoulder strength you need to baste upwards.” A moment later, he chuckles. “Helped that there were three of us there, though. Jungkook was really looking for any excuse to be around you back then, wasn’t he?”

Without meaning to, Lia feels a smile creep up her face at the memory. “It was cute,” she says, slightly defensive. “And we really needed the extra hands, especially to clean up.”

“Oh, sure.” There’s a comfortable silence, the only sound being the clicking of Lia’s keyboard. “Speaking of,” he speaks, and his tone is slightly different, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

Lia doesn’t look up, but she’s certain she knows where he’s going with this. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. You haven’t been around much.”

“You think so?”

“M-hm. In fact, I was starting to wonder if you’d moved out or something and I missed the memo.”

“You were still paying only half the rent, though, weren’t you?”

“Lia.”

“‘Sup.”

From the corner of her eye, she sees a movement and ducks out of habit.

“Lee-lee,” he says again, and she finally meets his gaze.

“I know what you’re getting at, and no,” she says dryly, “no updates on that front. I’m still your roommate for the foreseeable future.”

Dal raises his eyebrows. “Okay.”

Lia turns back to her laptop but doesn’t resume her typing. “What?”

“What what?”

“You’re still looking at me.”

“No. I’m just looking in your general direction.”

She gives him a look. “Just say it.”

“I thought you were moving in with Jungkook.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because he told me last time he came over that he wanted you to move in with him.”

Lia scoffs. “No way did he say that. Liar.”

“Fine, he didn’t use those exact words,” he admits, rolling his eyes. “But he just happened to mention that his new place is bigger, that the gym is fantastic, that it has a really good running trail or something…”

“Maybe he was just making conversation?”

“... and how much closer it is to the Hybe office.”

He works at Hybe, too, technically. The words are on the tip of her tongue, but she can’t deflect anymore; Dal will see right through it. She sighs and puts her laptop away.

“What do you want me to say?” she asks steadily. “We aren’t living together. It’s not the end of the world.”

“I’m not saying it is, at all.” He holds up his hands. “Do you want to, though?”

Lia is silent for a moment. “He needs to ask first. But… yeah, I guess. Could be fun. We’ll save on a lot of fuel.”

“Ooh, stop, I’m swooning.”

She flashes him an embarrassed sort of smile. “You know what I mean. We basically do live together already - but this is a big deal for Jungkook. He’s never done the long-term relationship, adult couple milestone thing before. The last thing I want to do is scare him off.”

Dal nods thoughtfully. “Well, hopefully it’ll go better than your last adult couple milestone thing.”

She snorts, covering her face. “Hey, to be fair, I did move in with him,” she points out. “Kind of.”

“You lasted less than a month before you were back here.”

“Yeah. God, he was such a manchild. Can’t believe I was ever attracted to him.”

“I told you he had an asshat kind of face. But you didn’t listen. Didn’t he have a shrine to his ex-girlfriend in the bathroom or something?”

“It was a couple of bottles of her shampoo and lotion, not a shrine,” she corrects him, “but, sort of. He was so blown away when I asked him to get rid of it - like, sue me, I don’t want to live with my boyfriend and sentimental haircare products belonging to his ex. It just goes to show, you never know enough about your partner until you actually share a living space together.”

“You think there’s more to Jungkook? Because I like him for you, honestly. But he seems to be a more…” Dal grimaces, trying to find the word, “... what you see is what you get… kind of person.”

“That’s a good thing,” she remarks. “Means there’s no lying, no games. None of that shit.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Well, it’s good you know what you want. How long are we planning to wait for him to pop the question?”

“We are not waiting for anything. I, on the other hand…” 

It’s a good question, unfortunately, one that Lia has deliberately tried not to think about because there’s simply no correct answer.

“... will take things as they come.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She narrows her eyes at her oldest friend, recognising both teasing masking genuine concern. “I’m not going to pressure Jungkook. And I’m not going to get my hopes up either,” she states, trying to ignore the quiet tugging at her heart and standing up, stretching.

“Hey, just say the word and I will -“ Dal makes a flailing kind of gesture and flexes his triceps, “- whip him into shape.”

“Oh, really? Not only will it probably be evenly matched, but who’s going to help you both carry cartons of beer into each other’s houses if you’re both maimed?” She taps her temple sarcastically.

“Well, you’ll be a resident in one of our houses at any given time so I guess we’ll be looking at you.” Dal shrugs in satisfaction as Lia chuckles and starts heading inside her bedroom, considering a shower before bed.

“Oi, Lia.” 

Lia turns in her doorway, recognising the subtle change in tone once again. It wasn’t surprising that Dal and Jungkook got along easily enough; despite her boyfriend’s initial reservations, most of which were based on Dal’s gender and inopportune timing, he had eventually moved past it to begin actually enjoying his company. Oh, he would never admit it, but Lia had woken up more than once in her own bed, alone, while hearing two male voices laughing in the living room with the television on.

As for Dal, the only thing he had needed to say was “Lee-lee, for once, you’ve found a good boy.”

Therefore, while Lia prefers to handle her relationships herself, she recognises the value of her oldest friend’s opinion.

“I just want to let you know,” he begins seriously, and she feels the muscles in her face go slack. He bites his lip. “I just wanted to let you know,” he repeats, “that if Jungkook has a shrine to his ex in his house, you can always move back in here.”

There’s relief, and Lia doesn’t want to admit there’s relief. “Shut up,” she mutters, turning back around as Dal laughs at his own joke behind her.

It’s not the greatest comfort, but Lia uses it as such after that. Worst case, I move back in with Dal, she thinks. We stay roommates until we’re eighty, when either I die first from stress about work or he does driving his car like a maniac. Jungkook brings a carton of beer to the funeral and shares it with whichever one of us is still alive.

It’s a mildly depressing train of thought, especially when she imagines her eighty year old self heading back to her apartment while seventy-seven year old Jungkook, in his infinite wisdom, still hasn’t asked her to move in with him.

Nearly a week later, Lia has successfully kept her desires to herself, while Jungkook has continued trying to pretend he isn’t thinking about it just as much.

“Remind me again why we’re going to this club?” she asks him as they walk to his car in the basement parking. “It doesn’t really sound like your scene.”

“It isn’t,” he admits. “But the DJ tonight is a friend of a friend… of an acquaintance, who’s also kind of an ex-colleague.” He wrinkles his nose. “I wouldn’t normally go but he helped me out during the production of my debut album and I accidentally told him I owed him.”

“Ah. Mistake number one.”

“It might be. You look quite club-ready for someone who doesn’t really enjoy clubs either,” he remarks, playfully smacking her backside. “Leather pants and everything.”

“Faux leather,” she corrects, leaning over and bumping his hip with hers. “I figured I may as well look the part of a popstar’s girlfriend. Plus,” she adds after a moment, as they climb into the car and begin strapping in, “it’s the only party outfit I have at your place.”

Predictably, Jungkook freezes for a moment before clumsily buckling himself in. He doesn’t meet her eyes and swallows as he looks ahead.

“By the way, I hear the gin martinis at this club are to die for,” he declares, completely transparent. “Did you know, the martini is one of the top five drinks people order on a first date?”

Abrupt subject change coupled with a random fact that doesn’t sound completely true; Jungkook is nervous. It’s exasperating and endearing all at once.

“That’s… interesting. Maybe you should’ve invited your single friends tonight. Or if this DJ is an ex-colleague, at least the ones in your group.”

“What, all two of them?”

“Isn’t it three?”

“I don’t think so.” Jungkook shrugs as they pull out of Hannam Hill. “Or maybe it is. I don’t know. Yoongi hyung isn’t very forthcoming about his dating life and I’m too afraid to ask.”

Lia chortles as they turn into the main road, reaching for her party clutch for her phone, when she realises…

“Oh, no,” she mutters under breath.

“What?”

“I, uh…” She bites her lip, internally swearing at herself. “I was moving stuff from my regular bag to the clutch and I forgot… you know what, can we make a quick detour to my apartment? It’s on the way.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is. If you take a right after the signal then you can take the parallel road to the church at the end of my street.”

“That’s not the same road - and come on,” he whines, his shoulders falling. “I don’t want to take a detour. What did you even forget? Power bank? Because my phone is fully charged.”

“It’s not a power bank - look, it’s kind of important, Jungkook. It’ll take, like, five extra minutes.”

“But -”

“Kook!”

“What? What did you even forget that’s so important? Is it make-up or something? Because you look -”

“It’s tampons, Jungkook.”

“It’s -”

“Tampons,” she repeats. “And I don’t want to stop at a drugstore because they may not have the exact brand that I use and most of the others chafe… down there.”

There’s a few seconds of silence while Jungkook stares out of the windshield as the car zooms down the road, his ears turning red.

“Which signal was it again?”

True to her word, they reach her three-storey apartment building a few minutes later and jog up the stairs together.

“I swear, I just need to pick up a couple of extras,” she promises him. “The last time I was caught without any on me and then I had to borrow one and it was just the worst time I - oh, my God!”

Lia gasps as she stops in her tracks in the doorway of her apartment, Jungkook right next to her. 

“Is that -”

“Water,” she sighs, shaking her head. “Shit, it came into the living room? I thought we fixed that damn leak,” she mutters. She places her hands on her hips and looks up at Jungkook.

“Well?”

Jungkook looks blank. “Well… what?”

“Well… I’m going to have to wade in there,” she says slowly, already dreading it. “Do you want to come?”

“Ordinarily, I would love to because that sounds so fun, but these are Balenciaga.” He raises his right leg to show her his shoes, mimicking her position until Lia looks away.

“Alright. Wait here then,” she tells him, before gingerly placing one heeled foot into the water and cringing in anticipation. It reaches ankle deep, missing the hem of her pants only due to the height of her heels. With no specific attachment to her shoes, she takes a couple of more hesitant steps.

“Ugh, I can hear the faucet dripping from here,” she grumbles. “Sure you want to just wait out there?”

“Totally. You’re doing great, though, baby.” He grimaces as she walks further in. “Is it cold? It looks cold.”

“No, it’s room temperature. I’m just glad it hasn’t reached the sofa or the cushions or anything in the - whoa!” Lia grabs the arm of the chair beside her as she slips, thankfully saving her ankles as her knee breaks the fall.

There’s a sound of splashing before Jungkook is right next to her a second too late. “Shit, you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. No injuries, I think.” She twists to see him kneeling next to her. “What happened to your Balenciagas?”

It seems to have occurred to him only now. “Oh…” He looks down at his shoes, now submerged. “I can try blow drying them, probably?”

“Probably.” She tries to hide a smile before giving up. “Take them off before they get any more damaged, though.”

He takes her advice this time and they both rid themselves of their shoes, tossing them on the chair before splashing their way into the kitchen.

Jungkook whistles. “Wow, that’s some leak,” he remarks, following her as she falls to her knees to get a good look at the thin but steady stream of water spilling from a crack in the pipe. “Is this the only leak?” he wonders out loud before pressing his hand against the crack so the water suddenly stops.

“No, there’s a small one here, too,” she answers, squinting at something on the other side of the pipe, a little higher up. “It’s only a few drops out of this one but it’s still bad enough.”

“Maybe we can -” Jungkook grunts and tugs at the pipe, “- wrench it into place? To block this crack?”

“Doubtful. It’s a really old pipe, too, so I’m afraid it might break.”

“It’s metal - can metal break?”

“I mean… yeah? I guess? Look, it’s all rusted up here.”

“Oh, yeah…”

In his effort to look, Jungkook’s hand slips off the crack and the flow of the water resumes. 

“Okay, this can’t go on - we need to block this for now so we can get rid of this fucking flood,” she decides, noting in worry how the water level is slowly rising. “And I’m calling the landlord tomorrow and giving him a piece of my mind.”

“Um -” Jungkook looks around from his position by the pipe. “We have a towel, some flour and stuff… maybe we stick some dough onto it?”

“Worth a shot but I don’t know if it’ll hold till tomorrow. Maybe we should try moving the pipe,” she admits, holding the top of it and wondering if it’ll work.

“Okay, let’s do that. Worst case, we find a plastic or metal box, cut it in just the right dimensions to cover the crack and fix it around the pipe.”

“Worst case.” 

Jungkook waves her over and they grip the pipe together. “If this goes south, just remember that I love you.”

Despite the chaos and the fact that her faux leather pants are damp and disgusting, Lia snorts. “Shut up, you dork. Come on, let’s do this.” Both of them pull the top part towards the lower one to try and close the gap.

“A little to the left, come on…”

“It’s - not - moving -” Lia bites her lip and jerks the pipe back, accidentally slipping again and falling back onto her boyfriend. The jolt makes Jungkook tip over and the pipe twists on the rust, bursting.

“Oh, my - “ Jungkook’s words are cut off when a jet of water hits him square in the face. Lia gasps and reaches for the pipe as he fumbles, sputtering, and lunges towards the pipe to turn it away.

“Jungkook, no! It’ll break if you -” 

But Lia is cut off as well and almost knocked backwards by the force of the water. It’s everywhere now; her clothes, her hair - she’s fully drenched. Next to her, Jungkook looks like he’s been dunked into a lake, his long thick hair sticking to his forehead.

“Take cover!” he yells, pulling open a cabinet behind him with one hand and yanking something out, while the other hand covers the jet of water uselessly. He replaces it with the lid of a cooking pan and tosses her another one which splashes into the water next to her.

“Thanks! I - Jungkook!” She brandishes the utensil while trying to dodge the water. “It’s a sieve!”

“What?”

“It has holes!”

“I can’t see! Wait -” He crawls towards the cabinet but slips midway, swearing loudly. 

“Careful!” She ducks and tries to get to the pipe but feels him grip her forearm and pull her back.

“You’ll hurt yourself!” he yells, handing her another pan. “Jesus - how did you guys let this stupid faucet get this bad?”

“I told you - our landlord is a jackass who ghosts us if we bring up fixtures!”

“Well -” Jungkook pauses, wincing a little as the water continues to ricochet off the pan he’s holding up. “In that case, this is probably as good a time as any to ask you this, but do you want to move in with me?”

Lia almost swallows a mouthful of tap water. “What?”

“Just - I mean, this apartment is unlivable!” he says loudly. “And I’m a much better landlord! And also -” He gags and spits out some water, “- I love you and all!” He shrugs awkwardly, drenched to the bone with his oversized t-shirt sticking to his shoulders and chest.

Lia tries - she really tries - to keep a straight face, to attempt to understand what goes on in Jungkook’s head. But it’s a lost cause, for at the end of the day, whatever it is, it just works. Through the irritation at her landlord and the general shock of being waterboarded by a broken pipe, she sees it. A shine in his doe eyes, a hint of nervousness. 

She doesn’t realise immediately why the water hits her suddenly with force or why Jungkook’s eyes widen belatedly.

“What are you doing? The water is - oh.” The anticipation turns into the beginnings of a smile when he works out why she has knee walked all the way towards him and he stands on his knees as well, just as she reaches him and places her arms around his neck, and kisses him.

When she pulls away, he’s grinning. “That’s a yes?”

“That’s a thank God you finally asked.” 

Jungkook nods sheepishly. “I wanted it to be perfect, honestly. I was just waiting for the right time and -” He sighs, shaking his head so droplets of water fall from his hair.

“You know what? I think this, unexpected as it was, is pretty perfect,” she says honestly. “So… I guess that’s a yes,” she clarifies, meeting him in a kiss once again.

There’s a muffled sound and then a splash, followed by a gasp.

“Oh, my God! What the fuck?”

Jungkook jerks away, pursing his lips. “As long as he is never allowed in our house,” he declares, glaring and pointing in the direction of the living room.

She gives him a look. “Pretty sure you’ll crack before I do on that front,” she guesses, just as Dal appears in the doorway of the kitchen, looking incredulous.

“What the fuck happened in here?”

“What do you think? That damn faucet,” she snaps, pointing at it. “This is the landlord’s problem now - he and his insurance can handle it.”

“I agree, but - God, are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we were using lids…” Jungkook picks his up and places it in front of the stream of water, much more unfazed about it now than he was before. 

“Lids? Why didn’t you guys just turn off the water?” Taking a long step across the flooded kitchen floor, he reaches for a panel behind the left-most cabinet and twists a lever - and the water stops.

Speechless, Lia turns to look at Jungkook who is looking back at her with equal dismay. “We thought of dough before we thought of turning off the water,” he mutters, shaking his head.

“And we’re taking it to the grave,” she replies, squeezing his hand.

He’s wet, his designer clothes ruined - but Jeon Jungkook is glowing. A moment later, he squeezes her hand back.

“Deal.”

—

Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to leave a review :)

[kookslastbutton]

Those Eyes Chico ༓ myg (m) | Teaser

✒ Summary: As the new marketing director for Min Yoongi’s upcoming D-Day album & tour, you’re expected to bring your expertise to the table. This shouldn’t be a problem—you’re the best in the business and you’re used to drawing a strict line between your professional and personal life. But what happens when the lines you’ve fought to keep as separate blur for the first time?

pairing: idol!yoongi x plus size!poc!reader

genre/AU: angst, fluff, smut, slow-burn, coworkers2friends2lovers, winter setting, forbidden love?

word count: tbd, 835 for this teaser

warnings: oc is 28, Yoon is 30, oc is not originally from South Korea, oc has light brown eyes, swearing, mentions of alcohol consumption, mentions of anxiety, panic attacks, body insecurities, fear of being blacklisted, emotionally restrained Yoon, mentions of smoking, unstable parental relationships, conservative parents, mentions of therapy, mentions of dating scandal, eventual sexual content, and more specific warnings per chapter.

now playing: Sweet Dreams by The Last Shadow Puppets

a/n: Okay this has taken over six months to release but it's finally beginning and I am super excited to share! 🫣 I am low-key terrible at choosing a proper teaser so hoepfull this works haha. ANYWAY, this series is dedicated to my wonderfully crazy friend and beta, Gloom @theuselessdaydreamingidiot, and to all our fellow Yoon lovers bc we miss our sweet man SO MUCH 🥺 Enjoy! 🥰 Also huge thank you to @itaeewon for designing this beautiful series header! Love it!!

Series Masterlist

“Did you get the files I sent to you?”

The woman nods her head in affirmation while sweeping a few pieces of her long, silky hair behind an ear. To strangers, she appears to look about 24 which is only four years younger than yourself but nonetheless she’s the same age as you. Hei-Ran is her name, meaning “graceful orchid” according to Korean translation.

Hei-ran is one of Hybe’s newest hires and based on her experience, a near perfect fit to being South Korean boy group Tomorrow X Together’s new marketing manager. Until about three months ago, this had been your job.

You never imagined giving up the position after three years of working in the role. But with December right around the corner Hybe had other plans for you.

"Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelors degree in BTech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and a MBA in Marketing from NYU Stern. You worked two years as a brand manager for U.S record label Atlantic Records immediately after graduating, and are now working at BigHit Music as a marketing manager for TXT including liaison with their global marketing team.”

You recall PD Bang’s voice vibrate in the back of your mind from mid-August. You thought you were called into his office to discuss details of TXT’s latest promo, so having your resume read back to you was a sweeping curve ball. Your determination must have far exceeded the heaviness you felt in your chest because before you knew it you, you were shaking hands with your boss in acceptance of your role – the new marketing director for Min Yoongi’s upcoming D-Day album & tour.

The tedious knot that’s formed in the nape of your neck reminds you that as surreal as the situation might be, it’s undeniably real.

Months spent drafting a comprehensive marketing proposal for D-Day; often until the wee hours of the night, inevitably takes its toll on even the mightiest of warriors. An entire new team of fifty people, all of who you’ll be in charge of orchestrating for the next eight months, doesn’t provide much to relief either.

You’re excited nevertheless. Working with one of the most respected artists in the music industry is an opportunity you couldn’t let slip by, especially since the album’s rock-inspired genre aligns closely with your own music taste.

“Thank you so much for helping me get settled __,” Hei-ran’s gentle voice returns you to the present. “I appreciate the time you’ve taken these last few months to train me despite the tight deadlines you have.”

Smiling, you shake your head. “It’s no problem at all and if there’s anything you need in the future, feel free to give me a call or stop by my office.”

“On the 16th floor right?”

“1656A. Take a left off the elevator and walk to the end of the first hallway. The door on the right is mine.”

Referring to any room on the 16th floor as your own is something you don’t take lightly. For one the offices are double the size of any other office spaces in the building. Yours in particular has a giant skyscraper window draped with heavy white curtains. Secondly, the floor above is the 17th floor which is exclusive to Hybe artists only.

"How's the proposal coming along, by the way?" Her curiosity is palpable, genuine in its nature. You’ve always appreciated that in an individual.

“It’s done,” you respond. “Only thing left to do is to prepare for our meeting with C-suite executives next Monday. It’s nearly perfect as is, but the presentation could use a bit of refining in terms of organization.”

Hei-ran is silent for a moment longer than usual before her next inquiry, which is undoubtedly the question on both of your minds. “I can't help but wonder what it'll be like to meet him for the first time,” she muses.

You don’t bother asking for clarification on who the “him” is; you’re already well aware that it’s Min Yoongi. The same subject has managed to intrude your own thoughts more and more as the date of meeting him draws closer. It's peculiar honestly, considering you’ve encountered him before. Granted, it was only a small handful of times the hallway, both heading in opposite directions. Min Yoongi typically greeted you with a hoarse 'Good Morning' those instances, along with a curt nod of his head. You would nod back with a brief 'Morning' yourself. Deep down you feel he'd make a quality friend, though it's only a premonition. It’s not like you actually know much about him beyond those small exchanges.

"I'm not sure what to expect, honestly," you admit. "I imagine it'll be similar to previous professional collaborations—composed, focused, and intense. D-Day is poised to become a global sensation for the next year, so it's going to need our full, undivided attention."

Hei-ran gives a knowing nod. “Good luck __,” she wishes you well as you head towards the elevator doors. Breaks over, back to work.

a/n: Chapter one will be released soon 🙃 Thanks for reading the teaser!

Masterlist | Requests: closed | Taglist | Fic Recs

no reposting, copying, or translating my work– © kookslastbutton

[pokequirks]

category: dumbair

katsuki bakugo x fem!reader

synopsis: katsuki getting serious, trip to korea and his concerns.

word count: 1.4k

warnings: +18.

note: second of category. third chapter of the series (should i make a masterlist?)

You two spent the rest of the morning together, at least what was left of it. Watching news, ordering food delivery and taking advantage of the free day that you both share. 

"I should turn on my phone" You said, heading to your belongins under Katsuki's gaze. Numerous buzzes and notifications. "Ah, shit..." You whisper.

"What's wrong?" Katsuki asks, clearly annoyed, being almost sure it was your shitty ex.

"Kijun, he's been calling like crazy" You sigh "I'll have to go to Korea."

Katsuki briefly felt like all that was built yesterday night was falling into pieces. What if you two made up? What if he finds a way to make you stay? What if he's again left there with a broken heart?

"I'm serius with you."

"Wanna go with me?"

You both speak at the same time. Katsuki's confussion and worriness disguised with his frown. Your gentle smile and eyes looking at him from above.

"I mean, if you want to go, we should sleep at my apartment. That motherfucker thinks he has some right over it".

"I'll talk to Deku,'' Katsuki said, standing and holding his phone. "I'm really serius with you. I don't want you to leave me here again for a shitty clown. Don't know how ya’ feel about marriage now, but in the future if you feel it's fine please let me know."

Katsuki finished and excused himself in order to call Deku and inform him about his trip with you and that he would be taking an extra day off, since he always took just one.

From the office Midoriya smiled happily for Katsuki and you. Finally taking place where you both belonged. With each other. Of course, he was alredy aware of the broken compromise between you and your Korean fianceé.

And you, you were left there thinking about marriage. Marriage with Katsuki. The sensation of hot cheeks as you thought about getting married to him. However, you know you have things to talk to a terapist and heal some others. So, yeah, you wouldn't probably think a lot about getting married in the near future.

For now you will only focus on being a good hero, reconnect with old friends and...

"It's done," Katsuki announced, getting out of his bedroom.

Him.

You and Katsuki had arrived at the café where you and Kijun had decided to speak. Quick kiss on his lips before separating, he going to a kinda far table, still in your vision range, and you sitting in front of the man that once was your fianceé.

"So in the end I was always right, huh?" He asks with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"We remainded friends until the night I flew back after taking you out of my apartment" He clenched his jaw, "Katsuki fucked me really well that night and he'll do the same tonight."

"I think we should sell and split the money," he changes the subject "after all, it is under our names."

"You only paid the first two three months of maintenance fee, I gave the entrace and the rest of the apartment because you 'weren't a pro hero and didn't make as much money as me', am I wrong?"

"Ahg, then give me the car and the months I paid."

"You serious? I paid for the car, the only thing you paid was the insurance and this last month you asked me to pay it," Kijun throwed his head back and complained. On the other tables people started to whisper looking at your table. "Be an adult and keep it quiet."

"Then what do you want me to do? Wanna leave me here with nothing?"

"Even after what you did I do not wish you anything bad," you sighed "I suppose you're living with the journalist and I think I can sell you the car at market price minus the amount of insurance you have paid."

"I guess that's fine..."

You reunited with Katsuki after finishing the chat with your ex. He had finished his coffee and even took your recommendation on the strawberry cheesecake. He gave you the last bite as he saw that fucker heading out the café.

"Hey look at me," Bright green eyes looking at him, lashes bating and blushed cheeks "I love you, Tsukipie."

"Uhm? I love you too," he responds, caresing the palm of your hand "What deal did the shitman and you make?"

You playfully roll your eyes and look at him, "I'll sell him the car, I'm not gonna need it since I'll only come back in order to do community work in rural areas."

Katsuki hummed and nodded.

"You could come with me and take vacations at the farms."

"I would like that."

You took Katsuki to eat street food and convenience store noodles, things you usually eated while studying and working. Maybe that was the reason why you were able to save up a good amount of money. Been now aware of your bad habits during your living in Korea Katsuki wasn't really happy about it.

"Did you really eat this shit for years?"

"Yeah, and well, not like years, for field work we were sent to towns with farms and a metheorological agency," you explained "in my free time I went to these farms and help elders with rain and harvesting the crops."

"Sure they gave you marital proposses" Katsuki whispered as you two walked down the street to wait for the bus.

"Yeah," you giggle, holding his hand "I already had Kijun and before I had you..."

"You always had me, dumbair."

"You used to call me that before you fell with me!" You took a seat at the parade, Katsuki beside you.

"Yeah, ya fell with me too." 

"Yes, I did" You kiss one of his cheeks and giggle at the sight of rosy color in them.

You took out your phone, briefly going through news on the local main app and telling Katsuki about them, like the idol you like and showcases held. Until one catched Katsuki's attention.

"That one has your hero name."

"Uh?"

You click on it and it displays a whole article about your café visit. They called him your boyfriend and others actually revealed that he is Dynamight, the number 2 in Japan.

"What does it say about me?"

"That you're my boyfriend and hero number 2 in Japan, they put nice pics of you," you show him "my boyfriend is really handsome."

Bakugo proudly smiled at your commentary, of course he is. Katsuki saw the bus approaching and indicated to you to stand up.

Once at your apartment and before Katsuki entered the bathroom you took his wrist.

"Can we try something?"

Now you were both naked. Katsuki seated with oppened legs and hands on your ass as you devour his mouth and roll your hips over his tip. Tits at his neck level. Quiet moans on his lips as you work through your orgam.

"Wanna be inside...," He whispers, breaking the conection with your lips and taking care of your tits "so bad."

You hummed, feeling all over the place. Your hands running over his muscular shoulders and blonde hair, barely taking time to think before holding his dick and putting it inside you.

"Ah, fuck," you moan, hips rolling even harder until Bakugo cruelly holds your body still and pulls it againts him, "shit, Kats, let me..."

"Kats? Dunno him" he teases, sucking on your tits, "say my name, dumbair."

"Tsukipie, wanna come, please, Tsuki" You beg and he smiles at your desesperation.

He puts you down, legs on his shoulders as he violently penetrates your pussy, one hand messing with your clit and the other holding you still. You squirm under his touch, strong hold on the bed sheets, tears running down your cheeks and pleads comming out your lips.

"Oh my God, Katsuki!" You scream loudly and he pulls out finishing on your clit.

He touches you, your skin twitches at every little friction. Chest going up and down as you tried to recover. He comes to you after a while, starts cleaning his art on your pussy. Then he pulls you closer and you smell him.

"Tired," you whisper.

"Sleep baby, you were awesome," Katsuki whispers too and he leaves a kiss on your forehead.

Katsuki's eyes traveled to the window, he could see the moon shining. And you are lying by his side. He wondered how much that bliss was going to last, how much time you were going to be with him. Utterly concerned for the future, after all...

"Tsukipie..."

"Hum?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

[philtstone]

16 (nose kisses), Anne/Gilbert!

The unspoken laws and loyalties of bosom friendship notwithstanding, Anne has been inching nearer and nearer to the edge of her patience with every subsequent Post-Date Diana who enters their humble apartment.

"Oh, Anne," she says the first time, admittedly Diana-ish in the rosy, stalwart flush of her cheeks. "I just had the best time. We got spaghetti, and he held my purse, and I think I laughed all night long."

Fred Wright is nowhere near funny enough for Anne to believe this a sustainable laughter, but Diana is happy, and if one isn't expecting a date to go anywhere -- which Anne is not -- the best outcome of the whole thing would be an enjoyable old time. Anne says, "A grand old success, then," while Diana goes, smiling, to the bathroom to get unready, and that is that.

So Anne thinks, anyhow.

"Anne," says Diana after the second date. "Oh, I keep thinking about him. He's got such nice eyes, and such lovely hair --" (It's so very flat and straight, which Anne has never found alluring, but she holds her tongue) "-- and gosh, Anne, all I could think of was how desperately I wanted to kiss his nose. I felt like a heroine from a romance, Anne, I really did!"

This is less like the Di Anne knows, but she allows that years of being exposed to Anne might have predicted such behaviour -- his nose, really! No one has so alluring a nose that you'd want to kiss it, let alone Fred's flat and snub one -- Diana's is so much more aristocratic -- but Anne manages to smile and nod. She has twelve readings due tomorrow, so she decides -- whilst on a semi-regular video call with recent chum Gil Blythe -- that she'll deal with it later.

"Diana's sensible," Anne tells him, stoutly, while she braids her hair for bed and he squints at his Anatomy 412 flashcards by the sink with a toothbrush in his mouth. "Not like I am, Gil -- she'll grow out of this Fred thing. I mean, she has dreams, for God's sake, and Fred is so -- so -- Fred."

"Fred's a nice enough guy," Gilbert says, muffled around his toothbrush. He spits. "Accounting's got steady income. And, you know, Diana's mom's got to like him -- not like the last few guys."

It's true, of course, that Fred Wright goes to the same Korean Church the Barrys have patronized for years, but Anne sees this as immaterial to Diana's dreams of becoming a self-made creative marketing director in the modern age of womankind.

"We've got exams in a week," Anne says with confidence. "I'm sure she'll be back to herself in no time."

The third date comes and goes, and Diana admits -- after a whole two days of secretive private sighing -- to a make-out session of the most agreeable kind. There was over the clothes action. Anne howls with such violent shock that her prized 2014 MacBook almost flies across the room.

"And it took you two days to tell me?" she shrieks.

Diana is only a very little bit repentant.

Anne becomes convinced. She is losing her closest friend in the world -- to a man.

To Fred Wright. And his perfectly average nose!

Oh, calamity!

"Anne," says Gilbert, for the tenth time, a week after Diana's gone on her fifth date. Well -- they're not really dates anymore. Anne's been informed that her best friend is in a whole relationship with the dreaded Fred. After three days of a stiff upper lip (she had two papers due for women's studies) she has broken down in tears in Gilbert's dorm. Thank God Josie and Moody left an hour ago, because Anne doesn't think she could've borne the humiliation of Losing It in front of them.

Gilbert, somehow, is different.

"Anne," he says once more, gently. She can feel his hands rubbing carefully against her back, and it is helping, really. She hiccups a few times.

"I'm just -- we had these dreams together, Gil. What if she goes off and gets married before me and never becomes duchess of digital marketing, and I'm left alone and friendless and -- and -- alone -- and, oh, I haven't even started my third term paper. Alone!"

At this, Gilbert sighs fully and pulls her into a hug. Anne hiccups weepily for a while longer against his chest, which is surprisingly solid. She supposes she ought to have expected this -- just as she ought to have expected Diana's romantic escapades -- because, as evidenced by the old football jersey he's currently wearing, Gilbert the pre-med student was until very recently something of an athlete. Anne tripped over her own feet the last time she tried running, and so has long since given up the stuff. This noted contrast is suddenly and inconveniently allowing a queer feeling to enter her stomach.

"Anne," Gilbert says a third time, somewhere around the vicinity of her forehead. "You're not alone. You goose. As if Diana would ever forget about you."

"But things might change," Anne says.

It comes out in a far smaller voice than she intends it to. And then, as if inspired, she looks up.

She doesn't mean to, and perhaps she is compelled by some greater force; in that moment, she comes the closest she ever has to Gilbert's own nose. It is far nicer than Fred Wright's, Anne's mind manages to notice. Long and straight and brown, and -- well, there is a freckle or two there, from the sun, but they're much sweeter than Anne's own and something about their proximity is making her stomach flip. His arm is warm against her side.

She could kiss his nose, pops the thought into her head, so very unwanted.

"Not all change is a bad thing, Anne," Gilbert says, his low voice scattering that awful intrusion to the four winds. He is as quiet as she had been, but more steady, somehow. Gilbert is often steady, these days, and steadiness is something Anne has never thought, actively, to crave before, but she has -- well, she has.

Anne takes a deep, querulous breath and pretends her head isn't spinning. Gilbert's expression shifts; she stops staring at his nose. A very small part of her, perceptive in spite of herself, thinks that he is about to take pity on her.

He does.

"C'mon," Gil says, untangling them and helping Anne to her feet with a decidedly chummy arm up. "You've got your paper and I've got this bellringer. I'll put on some tea, we'll focus, and then I can come with you tomorrow to stage a Diana Intervention."

And it won't really be that -- Anne loves Diana too much to want anything but the best and happiest for her -- but she is comforted, all the same.

[loonarii]

Ari's K-Pop Roundup: July 2024 (aespa, KATSEYE, KISS OF LIFE, STAYC, tripleS, + MORE)

last months installment ✦ full masterlist welcome back to episode SIX (!!!) of this review series I started back in february - I've tried a lot of review formats in my time on kpop tumblr, but this one feels the most fun to do, and is by far the most well received. thanks so much to everyone who likes, reblogs, or even just reads these rambles, I appreciate it so much <333 This month was pretty fun from the get go so lets go get into it ~ ari

Hot Mess - aespa

A month and a half after their first korean full album, aespa have dropped their first proper foray into Japanese releases with 'Hot Mess'.

This is a classic aespa style track, like something off the 'Savage' or 'Girls' mini albums. Powered by a distorted trumpet base melody and filled with vocals delivered with a hyperconfident attitude, 'Hot Mess' is very Bratz doll, very Y2K. The chorus is reasonably catchy, but the verses fall somewhat short in my opinion, and the post chorus feels slightly out of place? The bones for a great song exist within 'Hot Mess', but for me the song peaks at 'good'. Is it anywhere near on the level of 'Supernova' or 'Amargeddon'? No, but it is cute and shows off the aespa members' skills well, as a debut song should do.

Giselle, as the member who speaks the most Japanese, is the BEST on this song, she sounds the most comfortable in her delivery and the tone of the song suits her style perfectly. Ningning is also a huge highlight of this track.

'Sun and Moon' is a classic SM style b-side, half way to a dance track, half way to a ballad. Where 'Hot Mess' highlighted vocal tone, 'Sun and Moon' emphasizes vocal range and the runs the members can pull off - in that sense it is the perfect b-side for a song like 'Hot Mess'. It's an easy hit, I like it a lot.

'ZOOM ZOOM' has actually already been released, so I won't delve into that one today, but the tl/dr is that it's a 10/10 aespa dance track that is forgotten about FAR TOO OFTEN.

Overall, this was fun. 'Hot Mess' didn't quite do it for me as much as I would have liked, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The b-sides are great, and as a debut, it works well. With their influence on the Y3K aesthetic in japan, success over there is inevitable and I'm wishing the best for them as always.

Touch - KATSEYE

If nothing else can be said about 'Touch', at least it was a decent song this time around.

Let's not lie, you can hear the PinkPantheress print on this song as well as I can, and while that results in an enjoyable song, it does not bode well for the future of KATSEYE. The derivative nature of 'Touch' isn't inherently bad - PinkPantheress coded songs have been popping up in kpop frequently over the past year or so (though granted never quite as obviously referential as this), but contextually the song is a bizarre choice. Even though their 'Debut' was released last month, KATSEYE is still extremely fresh on the scene, and every choice they make right now in musical, conceptual and creative direction will impact how they are perceived by global audiences.

Making music that sounds like a another artist will almost always tarnish your reputation and brand as a soloist/group UNLESS the artist you are emulating caters to an entirely different market. For example, ILLIT got backlash from kpop fans both inside and outside of Korea for emulating the sound of NewJeans, but the discussion of Tinashe's undeniable influence on kpop is limited to select groups of international fans. KATSEYE are trying to appeal to the western market presumably, so while 'Touch' imitating PinkPantheress may result in a few million streams and TikTok song of the hour status, it does nothing to build a brand, create a signature sound, and make a name for KATSEYE outside of kpop. Not to mention, it sounds unconnected from 'Debut' sonically, tonally, and conceptually, further meddling with any chance they have of building an iconic (in the original sense) discography.

However, this concept did seem to suit some of the girls better, Yoonchae especially seemed comfortable taking the centre this time, she was the star of the song for sure.

I would be remiss if i didn't bring up the song length after bitching about it so heavily last time, so here we go for round two. From 'Debut' clocking in at an appalling 2 minutes and three seconds, the HYBE overlords have blessed us with SIX MORE SECONDS on 'Touch'!!! At least this song calls for a bridge slightly less than 'Debut' did, but regardless this is absurd. I may be glad that the recession has triggered a resurgence in upbeat pop music from the west with BRAT summer and all that, but if it means song length shrinking by minute every year, I'm not sure if it's worth it.

Sticky - KISS OF LIFE

Kiss Of Life are just KILLING it, every release has been fucking incredible and 'Sticky' is no exception. Built on a foundation of afrobeats and powered by spirited vocal runs from all the members, 'Sticky' is the perfect song for the summer. It doesn't over-complicate itself, this is a song all about wearing short-shorts in the blaring July heat and having a blast with your friends. the melodies aren't especially new but they are classic and highly enjoyable. Hanuel is the beating heart of this song. Her vocal tone is on the more nasal side which usually means she's delegated to the verses or adlibs while Natty takes the frontline, but in 'Sticky' she is centre stage and I couldn't be happier about it. Natty and Belle take the post chorus sounding incredible as always, and Julie punches up the verses and post chorus ad-libs with her citrus-esque vocal tones. All the girls come together on the chorus in a chant thats been stuck in my head since I heard it. This and Chuu's 'Strawberry Rush' are my songs of the summer.

If 'Sticky' is a midday bike ride along the beach, 'Te Quiero' is a midnight beach party lit by campfires and neon swimsuits. Its the perfect b-side for 'Sticky', equally as addictive but slightly more unique in its construction. The strings on this track are to die for, and the lyrics are surprisingly enjoyable too.

A great single album for the summer months, Kiof have done it again - are we surprised?

Cheeky Icy Thang - STAYC

STAYC's last couple of releases, 'Bubble' and 'Teddy Bear' have been highly divisive, and while they didn't perform poorly by any means domestically, they were pretty unpopular among international kpop listeners. It seems HighUp recognized this lack of interest, and when the head prophet said the omens were right for STAYC to have a full album, they dropped the more childish concept and circled right back to 'RUN2U' - and now we have 'Cheeky Icy Thang'.

To be honest, the first couple of times i heard this song I didn't get it. My main impression was that it was messy - there were too many elements fighting for dominance, too many hooks, too many words in one line. And while I do still stand by some of those elements (you cannot convince me Sieun says 'rock' in the line 'on-the-rock whiskey ring-a-ring ding-dong'), but now I see the song as more maximalist than messy. I consider 'RUN2U' to be one of the most polished and well executed kpop songs of all time, and 'Cheeky Icy Thang' is not that at all - but it's charm comes in how rough and chaotic it is. While yes, the lyrics did need a second draft in some cases, notable exceptions being Sieun's '미녀와 야수면 내가 Beast' in the intro (excellent, no notes), the song's structure is genuinely a masterpiece - J's subversive pre-chorus having that tinny answerphone layer was amazing, easily the best part of the song. The production is top tier throughout, but that is to be expected from Black Eyed Pilseung.

It's difficult to pinpoint what exactly is so charming and subversive about 'Cheeky Icy Thang', because on paper it is neither something new for STAYC, nor something new for the industry at large in terms of concept or sonic style. However, what this song does that is so odd for kpop is that it does not put all of its eggs in one basket at all. Kpop songs, especially kpop songs post the TikTok era (thanks SO MUCH for that Zico), tend to be top heavy, and concentrate all the fun and creativity and catchiness into the chorus. 'Cheeky icy Thang' does not do that - the verses are a treat, the pre-chorus is a stunner, the breakdowns are groovy, and the chorus leaves us just satiated enough to keep listening. Crucially, 'Cheeky Icy Thang' cannot be compressed, and while they undoubtedly will make a dance challenge out of it, you cannot get the full experience of this song from a 20 second soundbite, as you can with so many other songs coming out right now.

### - tripleS

Lack of music video aside, '###' is the perfect tripleS japanese debut. A lovechild of anime intros and tripleS's iconic maximalist sound with a tS trademark 'lalala' post chorus, EVERYTHING about '###' is deliciously addictive. It's hyper-cute to the point of psychosis, and the members vocal delivery is perfectly imperfect.

Like a year ago I started yapping about what I called 'love island pop', and with this review I would like to introduce another micro-genre my prefrontal cortex cooked up 'Rhythm Heaven Fever pop'. Basically, music that sounds like it wouldn't be out of place in a Wii U rhythm game from 2011. '###' fits this perfectly, other notable examples being 'Dumb Dumb', 'Rookie' and '#Cookie Jar' - Red Velvet, and 'BBoom BBoom' - Momoland. This is the kind of music that keeps kpop going in my opinion, it's been a steady undercurrent of the trending sounds over the last 3 generations, and I am more than glad to see tripleS stoking the embers.

Such an unabashedly FUN song, it never takes itself seriously and that works FULLY in it's favour. Definitely a must-listen track from the July roster.

MINI REVIEWS:

[ALBUM] MINISERIES 2 - SUMIN & Slom: Wasn't sure if I should include this since it's not really kpop, but what the fuck SUMIN IS BACK BABY and yeah its another FUCKING BANGER of an album. Just go listen to it. I might do a separate review of it because it's just that good, so expect that in the next 2-5 business years. Just go stream it.

Klaxon - (G)-IDLE: For all I don't really like (G)-IDLE's music, I can usually admit that it is at least catchy. And yet, somehow Klaxon is not that catchy? The first line of the hook feels like a bizarre Frank Sinatra interpolation, and that post chorus does most of the heavy lifting for this track. Overall, this felt pretty derivative, but hey, sometimes a throwback isn't the worst.

FOREVER - BABYMONSTER: Babymonster are leaps and bounds away from my stan list, and even though this is vaguely something different from them (not really, it's just that there isn't an empty chorus), it's once again not for me. The vocal mixing on this song is very odd and as a result any emotion or power the girls used in their vocals is totally lost and tonally the song falls flat. The key change in the final chorus is a nice touch, and Pharita and Haram especially shine on this track. The fact that this was somewhat 'something new' gives me hope though - perhaps all is not lost over at YG. Perhaps.

Something Ain't Right - XG: XG are so consistent in the quality of their releases it's actually insane - from the production to the hooks to the vocal direction this is such a fun song. I don't know if I love it as much as TGIF or New Dance from X-GENE, but it's a very solid release. XG are well and truly the ones to watch, and the dichotomy between this and 'Woke Up' proves that perfectly.

Let It Burn - H1-KEY: You know, this was so close to being one of several contenders to be included on my mini reviews segment that just get cut, but this release really shocked me. I went in with almost no knowledge of H1-KEY, I had heard of them, but I had no idea what the concept was, who the girls were or even how many of them there were. 'Let it Burn' is a fucking delight from start to finish. A lot of these kpop takes on punk rock anthems fall flat for me, but this one keeps it honest and heartfelt throughout. The lyrics are honestly a delight, the chorus is fun, but the verses are the real star of the show, snappy and well delivered, and backed by a clean, classic hip-hop beat. You probably missed this track this month, and I would definitely recommend a listen.

JUSTICE - Dreamcatcher: Trust me, I am SO CLOSE to getting dreamcatcher to click for me, and 'Justice' proves that. It's lowkey fucking amazing, SO well executed. I truly think I am one discography deep dive away from falling in love with DC, this song is SUCH A BANGER. I really appreciate how DC never sacrifices their unique sound for whats trending, no one else is doing what they are doing, and holy hell are they doing it well.

Don't - LEE CHAE YEON: It's cute? I guess? Not overly spectacular, but not spectacularly awful either. I still don't know who the fuck Charlie is.

[itsvivace]

VIVACE TRAUMA DUMPS WHILE MAKING A CANDY SALAD ♡︎

a/n : credits to @mar-zi @bluwavez + @lcmonheads and anyone else who did this trend ! i’ll be writing refering to the girls by their stage names but some will introduce themselves with their real names. also not entirely sure which candy is exclusive to america so lets just say kyuri and noelle brought some 🤕

WARNINGS : talks of cheating, abuse, violence, seizures, near death experiences, mental health struggles, death threats, attempted murder, death, cults

the video starts with kyuri inside their company recording studio. “hi celeste! i’m bored, and all thirteen of us finally have schedules together, so i decided we should do the trend of making a candy salad while trauma dumping!”

kyuri holds a huge clear plastic bowl up to the camera. “i’m kitty and i brought the bowl. when i was nine, i walked in on my dad cheating on my mom with my aunt, and when i confronted him about it, he said he confused them for each other and it was an accident. my aunt married into my mom’s side of the family. she’s not even asian either,” kitty says laughing.

the video cuts to mei mei standing over the bowl which is sitting on a table. “i’m mei mei, and i brought the strawberry sour punch straws,” she says, pouring them in. “at my middle school, some kid made an anonymous account and used the school’s chatting website to spread private rumors and stuff the other students did. it got so bad the police got involved, and some kids even went to jail, but they posted that the reason i fractured my knee was because my parents hit me. which isn’t true at all,” she says, sighing.

“but then i found out after the three months the account kept tormenting us, the poster ended up being my best friend, and they got jumped, and their mom pulled them out of school, and neither were seen again.”

the next scene is of hayeon walking up to the camera. “no clue why kyuri wanted us to do this so bad, but whatever,” she says, rolling her eyes. “i’m min hayeon, and when i was like twelve, my mom had a mental breakdown and tried to sell me on the black market,” she deadpanned. “oh i also brought the skittles,” she adds, pouring them in.

“hii celeste,” soomin greets, drawing out her words. “i brought some gummy worms! i had a seizure in the middle of a family gathering when i was a kid, and nobody cared or tried to help me. i only survived because one of my uncles came over to me to help after almost five minutes. but then my family told me i was attention seeking,” she says, shrugging.

“i’m naiyana, and the reason i left sm entertainment is because they kicked me out after i missed one single practice to attend my best friend’s funeral. i also brought the hershey’s kisses,” yana quickly says, pouring in the chocolate.

eunmi walks up to the camera, smiling. “hello, i’m sim eunmi, and i brought sour patch kids.” she starts, putting two bags in the bowl. “when i was sixteen, after my sister died, my mom told me it was my fault, and that she wished she never had me.”

“i’m hitomi, and i brought some m&m’s. after the dating scandal i had when i was a soloist, my parents forced me to move to korea to become an idol over here because i was blacklisted in japan. i got death threats everyday for the first two years of being in vivace because people hated me being in the group that bad.”

“hi! it’s sarang and i brought the airheads xtremes,” she greets as she puts them in the bowl. “when i was in high school some girl started bullying me, had her friends hold me down, and broke my left hand with a hammer,” she says. “juyeon you know EXACTLY who you are. i still have a fear of hammers to this day.”

xinyi enters the camera next. “kyuri bothered me so much to do this, so here i am.” she pours a bag of starburst into the bowl. “i’m xinyi, i brought starburst and when we debuted i had to force myself into getting better at korean because every interview we went to, interviewers would make fun of me being chinese,” she scoffs.

“hey everyone, it's haeun, and I brought nerds candy,” she starts. “a kid at my elementary school brought fireworks -not sure how he got them- but we were playing with them in a field next to the school, and someone shot one right in my face.” haeun puts the candy into the bowl. “i was rushed to the hospital and barely lived. i ended up with a scar on my forehead, which i still have, and i’m partially deaf in my right ear.”

the next shot is of yerin standing in front of the camera holding two ziplock bags of candy. “i couldn’t decide on one, so i brought warheads and bean boozled because i want to disturb the peace,” she laughs, dumping them in. “i-doll evil edited me so bad to the point when only three weeks after debut, i had a panic attack backstage, none of the staff helped me, and some even recorded me to laugh about it.”

“my name is ara, and i brought some twix.” ara walks up to the camera and opens the bag. “when i was eight, my dad told me he was going out to run errands, but he was gone for two weeks, and i found out he attempted to murder my uncle,” she tells while emptying the chocolate.

the last girl, noelle, appears on the screen. “i’m olivia, and i brought mini oreos because i hate candy.. but thats just me oversharing.” she laughs. “in my senior year of high school, my math teacher said he wanted to sell me to a cult and even tried kidnapping me but i ran across the street, and while he was chasing me, he got run over, and they forced me to go to his funeral and his wife told me i was his favorite student.”

the last few seconds of the video show all the members on screen. “we hope you enjoyed the video! please look forward to our upcoming comebacks, which are coming very soon,” eunmi says, waving. “bye!!” the girls wave.

[intoloopin-archive]

✹ … ⥁ A MONTH IN LOOP NEWS: SEPTEMBER

Opening up the month with a much anticipated announcement in a not so ideal setting, New Wave Music saw itself corned to confirm LOOPiN's upcoming album after leaking of the comeback logo, tracklist and promotion schedule took place on September 11th.

'Internet War', the group's 4th full album according to the leaked content, is a half hyperpop inspired, half mellow PC pop devoted project set to introduce a new batch of units to the group - two trios and two duos, as seen on their pre-debut era. Aside from dual title tracks 'Jump' and 'Tell Me What To Do', the album will have 12 b-side tracks.

New Wave Music took to social media on the 12th to confirm the content as belonging to LOOPiN, and attaching an official date to the release: October 10th. Curiously enough, no commentary on legal consequences against the prossecutors of the information early released have been found on the statement, fueling rumors that the leak might have come from staff or even the members themselves in some unespected, unconventional form of marketing or preassure to actually release music - something LOOPiN hadn't done since April.

While the upcoming fictional survival show 'Show Me The One' is taking its time to unravel the official lineup on social media, a varieted amount of entertainment companies have already announced their compeating trainees - divited on the show on teams of multiples of 3s. New Wave Music made no different: on September 16th, the company shared a news outlet confirming trainees Dahyung (25), Chaeun (23) and Furumi (22) of Team RIIDEWAVEE as not only their 'Show Me The One' representatives, but also a third of the lineup of their future girl group, set to debut on the first semester of 2024.

While there's clear rumors of who two out of the three trainees might be - Dahyung is highly especulated to be former MIDNESTRA member Kim Dahyung, while Furumi can't be anyone else but Fukunaga Furumi, Nogizaka46 graduate and the younger sister of LOOPiN's Haruki -, Chaeun is still an unknown name.

We wish the girls good luck on the show and a successful debut!

TW: mention of suicide.

On September 22th, Choi Sangwon, 41, was found and reported dead in a motel room in rural area Damyang by three witnesses - later confirmed as Idols by a minor south korean tabloid with no real evidence to back it, but a name prestigious enough for it to be taken as truth right away. Any further information on the identity of the alleged celebrities has yet to surface.

Sangwon, who had been a well known manager for multitple K-Pop acts such as 3rd gen leader boy group INPEAK (from 2011 to 2014), one hit wonder girl group Sweet-X (2015), LOOPiN (2016 to 2022) and more recently, rising girl group FairLand (2022). Taking the role of marketing adviser and trainee evaluator in the majority of the companies he worked for, he had a reputation as a creator of opportunities and great judge of star power.

Police confirmed the cause of death as suicide a day later.

Sangwon's passing seemed to put the final nail in the coffin for the future of Greater Sound Entertainment's FairLand.

Coming from a small company and making their debut in August 2021, FairLand finally gained momentun in February 2023 with the release of their third single, 'Rose Blossom', which gained popularity amoung korean netizens and charted for two entire months near the top 10 and 20 of various music platforms. However, the sixteth was placed on complete hiatus shortly after the end of 'Rose Blossom' promotions, with leader Sangah and maknae Ichiko being completly gone for the group's Youtube and Weverse content streamed from August onwards.

Greater Sound's official note on the disbandment, released on September 25th and personally signed off by CEO Lim Gahyun, reads as follows: "Hello, this is Greater Sound Entertainment's Lim Gahyun. It's with a heavy hearth that we come to you with the announcement of the end of FairLand. I want to make this an opportunity to personally thank the support that we have received in recent years from the general public and Landies. To the members, I'm sorry, and I love you. I hope all of you always, always knows that as truth. Please, keep showing support on the bright journeys of SANGAH, NAHYEON, SOOAH, MINJI, JAZZ and ICHIKO, which are far from over. We hope we all get to shine more brightly and safely from now on."

Not a single member has decided to stay under Greater Sound - which is rummored to terminate all operations on the following months.

We hope to see what the future has in store for each and every single one of the former members. #ThankYouFairLand!

LOOPiN member Haruki, who had been set to appear at Milan Fashion Week on the 26th as a guest of Vianfino, taking active duty as one of the ficitonal brand's declared muses and first global ambassador, took fans and media by surprise by not appearing in Italy.

Hours after the Vianfino runway started with Haruki's front row seat left empty, New Wave Music released a statment on the commotion, declaring that from now on, "all upcoming activities which will not involve or enrich 'Internet War' promotions directly, that taking in consideration not only Haruki's current public schedule, but of all the members of the group, have been indeterminantly cancelled' - which as far as we know of includes a Hanjae photoshoot for Esquire Korea alongside the cast of his newest drama series, J.J and Haegon's appearence on a late October episode of Return Of Superman, and a special fansign event for Gyujin's birthday on October 17th.

To quote the company's official note: "All the LOOPiN members have decided to prioritize their walk into a new era as a team. We ask the public's understanding and the respect of this personal choice taken by the group as a whole."

As expected, the public hasn't been convinced by New Wave Music's vague reasoning, with the majority of fans online suspecting some sort of punishment or ban being placed on the LOOPiN members - a theory highly supported by the quiet and unusual state of the members personal Instagram and Tiktok pages, all colecively not updated since the 24th.

[hiyouuk]

Korean Supermarket Online: Unlock a World of Korean Flavors!

Our Korean Supermarket Online stocks a lot of brands and ingredients that you would find in a traditional Korean grocery store to make your experience as authentic as possible. If you are looking for a Korean food shop near me and having no luck, then worry not! Our Korean online supermarket is full of all the same fresh produce and familiar brands as our physical Korean grocery store. With affordable pricing and fast delivery, you don’t need to worry about searching for Korean groceries in mainstream stores. Our Korean market is available online and we are dedicated to making all our wonderful products accessible to everyone. So, whether you are looking to replicate a meal that you found on your travels, cook the familiar recipes from home, or you want to try something new and exciting, our online Korean shop is here for you.

[centrally-unplanned]

do you know why the south korean housing market is so fucked? ive seen it posited that this is because of how many people live there, doesn't it have extremely dense population? maybe this us a very complicated question, idk

I am not an expert in South Korea's housing market - I should be, sounds like a good project! I can start out and say it has almost nothing to with density, because housing markets almost never have anything to do with density at their core. Density can instead be an indicator of other factors that are shaping the housing market. You will often hear things like Seoul being one of the densest cities in the developed world - which is true! But South Korea is not overall some hyper-dense outlier - its population density is the same as the Netherlands. However, half of South Korea's population lives in the wider Seoul metropolitan area; the past decades have seen massive migrations of people from every other region of South Korea in Seoul, primarily because that is where all the 'good' schools, jobs, etc, are.

As such I think that is probably the root cause - huge population inflows causing localized housing cunches in the main city, and economic policy hasn't moved to counter it. But then you have the question, why haven't they built more housing to meet demand? This is why density is never really the answer; here is a typical street right near the center of Seoul

The vibes slap but come on, this is a bunch of three story houses as far as the eye can see. This street could house 20x the number of people it currently does. Seoul hasn't run out of space - why arent they building more?

I dont know! But I think the biggest factor is this:

From what I have read household debt levels in South Korea are very high, and housing financing terms are particularly onerous, demanding a good deal more up front than in other countries. Most people are stuck - and supply comes from demand. Actual demand for housing is high, but the finances to back up that demand is low, so built housing cant clear the market and so they don't build. I feel like I always see cycles like this, "government announces bit plan to build 2.7 million homes" then a year later "Korean construction falls by record amid slowdown" due to unsold inventory. To me I think a combination of uneven housing dev due to Seoul population flows + extreme household debt levels are the core issue.

But it could be a bunch of other things - maybe zoning regulations make it impossible to build more in Seoul, maybe city infrastructure hasn't kept pace, maybe their construction industry is shockingly low-productivity. Just my instinctive thoughts on the topic.

[foxymoxynoona]

Just a curious question. I'm reading Amended and currently at the scene about Isabella talking to Taehyung about H Mart. Random thoughts really, and I'm pretty sure I've read the majority of your JK fics except The Secret Song Series and Sugar Fairy. I was wondering if you have asian oc or maybe planning on writing asian oc ^^; just a thought really. What inspires you to write your oc, if I can ask that? I like your characters so far and just realised that, it'll be nice to read fics like yours (of your caliber really cause your fics are amazing) with an asian oc as well or even a reader insert if you can still write that (I understand if it's hard or maybe you just don't feel like writing reader-insert like The Indigo). I'm not korean, but I'm asian and somehow (after reading and rereading your fics for hours) I missed reading asian oc (or reader-insert because I always imagine my character an asian as well). I was surprised after looking up what an H Mart is (and then I wondered if BTS visited that during their bon voyage because I remember them visiting a korean market). I hope my ask is not offensive. Just really curious and I guess I missed having a good read like yours on hours (especially because I like reading long fics like yours in one sitting. And just noticed that you uploaded a new chapter of Over the Falls so I'm gonna go read that first before continuing Amended).

It's not offensive at all! My story Tell Me What Changed has Alex who is Chinese American. My single dad After the Applause Jimin story has Hanbyul who is Korean. One of my next stories also has an Asian OC, though I have to wrap at least sone story up before I start another one haha.🤞 My idol story The Secret Song Series has a white main character but as I explore more of the other guy's stories, there are many Asian OC women who will get their moment to shine in those. I have shorts with Taehyung and Namjoon which both feature Asian women (Michele and Sua, both Korean.)

I'm sure any time the guys are somehwere near an H-Mart they are finding it haha. My husband is Korean and introduced me to the chain, we take monthly pilgramages to stock up since the Asian Markets near us don't have many of the Korean ingredients we want.

As for inspiration, it really is sort of a back and forth as think of a really loose premise, and then think about the specifi characters I want to put in that situation. Sometimes I will intentionally inject a trait or background or something because it's something new I'm wanting to explore, other times I think about the things I want that character to do or be in the story and what background could get them there --not just race of course but also family, their relationship to their heritage or culture (or lack thereof!), their upbringing etc etc.

Thank you for enjoying so many of my stories!

[medtech-mara]

Chae-Rin is the Pepe Silvia of LoNC@imaginarycyberpunk2023

The SHINS!!!! Okay, so Chae-Rin is another old character of mine that got ported into the world of Cyberpunk. Originally, Chae-Rin ran a illegals arms trade website on the dark web, where she ended up meeting Jago and pulling a 90 day fiancé kinda visa with no romance in mind, but wanted his help taking over the city. Things had gotten too rowdy in little Seoul (this original version of Chae-Rin & Jago are from Los Santos. Aka gta5) and she wanted to show them who really held all the power. Thus, Chae-Rin started Okkangpae, or the Jade Mafia as they were called by other gangs. The only thing that stands true with Gta5 Chae-Rin and Cyberpunk Chae-Rin, is the attitude and love of guns. Let me introduce you to THE TECHIE of Heywood.

So Legends of Night City, the Shins, Sang-Il (Appa) and Yong-mi (Umma) came to Night city from Busan, the city was suddenly erupting in violence from the extermination of a prominent family in the area backed by Arasaka, creating a power vacuum during the 4th corporate war. Kang Tao was responsible for all of this. See, Kang Tao didn’t like the fact that Arasaka was sitting pretty in busan with the help of the Jung crime family. So they had decided to frame Arasaka for turning against the family (as rumors had been that the Jung’s had married off one of their sons to a prominent Militech family can you guys who I’m talking about yet?)

Settling down in the Wellsprings, Sang-II and Yong-Mi had spent their whole life savings, uprooted their lives, to give their child a better chance at life. They opened a weapons shop called Shin’s Cache and carry, where life would resume as normal. Well… until Chae-Rin turns 27,and is now running the shop mostly by herself.

One morning, just after the shop opened. Chae-Rin was doing some restocking, listening to (tbd station name) which was playing the hit song Spring Day by Korean pop group BackTheScene [I’m a huge K-pop fan, I can’t help myself.] and she used this time to dance and sing, trying to drum up some excitement for another boring day.

Without her notice, a Tall, muscular man, leaned against the counter watching the display, he smiled slightly at the display, and when she noticed, her first instinct was to point out how the man had a crooked smile, or that his smile seemed unnatural to him. However, at second glance, her stomach dropped. This man was dangerous.. he had blood stained knuckles that she couldn’t discern if it was his blood, or someone else’s. That same stomach dropping feeling she experienced at her second glance of the his man, who has now greeted her in her native language, was replaced with excitement, curiosity.

The man’s smile fades as soon as the sour petite girl arrives at behind the counter. He began to ask her if her shop sells a certain gun he’s having trouble getting his hands on. The Malorian Arms 3516.

Kicking a case under the counter slightly, covering it up as if she was leaning against the counter, Chae-Rin informs this strange man, who she’s pretty sure is a street samurai at this point, she doesn’t (she does) have that model in stock, but she does weekly trips to the nomad market, she’d be willing to acquire one for him. The man then flicks his finger at the young woman, sliding over his contact info.

A new contact notification was added to her internal agent: Jago and a his holo icon is that of a Tiger with fire coming from its eyes. Knocking on the counter one time, the man then leaves the shop. Only to return each morning. Which clued in that he must live near by if he is willing to come by every morning.

After about a week, she finally decided to let him off the hook, she sold him the Malorian she hid. The man thanked her, and left. She'd held her breath out that she'd see him again.. but She never did. Until 2 months later.

He'd come in, Bigger, chromed, and dressed as if he was doing well for himself. Nothing like the shape he'd shown up at her shop the first time.

So, Jago wanted to know about this bar owner he had gotten a gig for. He had seen her going in and out of the place pretty regularly, so he figured she'd be the best person to ask. With a sinister smile came across the younger woman's face. She agree'd to give him such information, only if he agreed to go out on a date with her. The rest was history. These two were madly in love with each other.. Except.. Jago wasn't accepted by the Shins. They tried their best to prevent her from seeing that dangerous man, but nothing worked.

You might ask yourself, Chae-Rin is 27, why doesnt she move out? Well, thats because she wants to take over Shin Cache and Carry, if she upsets her father, than she might never get ownership, crushing her own dream to expand the brand with her own drones that she's been making since she was 8. During this time, you had to be in good with some Nomads to keep a good and interesting stock alive, and if Chae-Rin burned that bridge with her parents, the contact with the Desert Foxes ceases.

So I wish I was done with this girl, but im not.

So, Lets Fast Forward to 2065, Jago meets his tragic and untimely demise by the hands of Tetsuo Okada, one of Wakako's sons. Chae-Rin see's that Jago's biomonitor they have linked suddenly flatlines but the GPS signal is still pinging. This meant it didn't mean EMP disruption, Which prompted Chae-Rin to jump on her bike... only to find that Jago is in two pieces in a parking lot, and the only people around who might know what happened, are leaving. Collpasing, holding Jago's head and bringing his body close to her, sshhe craddled him and sobbed, screaming. Mara, who is a pillar of the Wellsprings community, is so recognizeable, that the second Chae-Rin sees her, she knows who she is. Mara, who was in a rush to meet with Wakako and anxious to discuss the events that took place just minutes before. Just slid her details over to the girl, and told her that she would explain everything the second she got home. (oops..... Mara got wasted that night and met Jihzzy).

So fast forward to a few weeks after Jago's passing. Mara is 3 sheets to the wind, tore up from the floor up (because this girl doesnt drink anything but coffee and beer) and lost in her feelings that she wasn't being seen as a woman, because undoubtedly due to her large stature. (Hard being a 6'2 muscle mommy, but reality is that this girl didnt know who she was until she became a merc and learned she's damn good at it too. she hit a glow up, i didnt even notice it til Jihzzy had pointed it out). She's laying on the couch feeling sorry for herself when she gets a ping with just cords from Chae-Rin. This is how Chae-Rin becomes a legend of Night city.

Wanting to get Jago's birth certificate that was at his apartment in the combat zone near city center, so that she could have his remains sent to South Korea with the rest of his family, she had gotten attacked by a group of Lazarus mooks patrolling the area and were itching for a fight. She's barely gotten out, and was about to pass out from blood loss, when Mara shows up and collects her in Blue Remedies repurposed Meatwagon.

Much like an animal you nurse back to health, Chae-Rin chose to stay with Mara, never asking, no. She just stayed there to heal up without worrying her parents, but ended up just never leaving. Becoming Mara's roommate.

Currently, she works as a freelance techie, does some work for Night Raid when requested, she had adjusted Mara's Sigframe. She is also being groomed by Kang Tao by the man the Shin's desprately want Chae-Rin to marry. Cheol Gong-Ji. Who is happened to be the son of the family who exterminated the Jung Family.

[Chae-Rin & the Shins(a shame too cause they would let him be with her if they knew) never learned about Jago's real idenity, nor does Gong-Ji (he has his own thing in the AU going on.... holy fuck) Chae-Rin also never learns of Jago's playboy ways. She never learns about his marriage to L. ]

[boydepartment]

I'm sorry, I'm late- Hwang Hyunjin: Chapter Two

Description: Y/n is an art teacher's apprentice in a small town in France. Hwang Hyunjin is an idol who decided to run away after trouble started to arise again. He finds himself in the class where she trains, quickly they peaked each other’s interests. Both of them ran from something and it landed them in this small town in the middle of practically nowhere. One thing they both know is that the past always catches up and it is only a matter of time, so they better make the most of it now.

Warnings for Chapter 2: heavy backstories, wine

WC- 5.2k

tags at the bottom of the chapter :)

Song- Fools Rush In – Jo Stafford

                                           ~+~

Chapter 2: His laugh

                “Good morning Jinnie!” You grinned as you swung open your door, the morning breeze already rushing at you.

                “Good morning, Y/n. It’s like I haven’t seen you in forever.” He joked as you locked up your home, you smiled remembering the previous night. Your dinner with him. Before he had left, you helped him clean his plates and you two pretty much finished half of the wine.

You two walked down the path to town, you really liked getting to walk with him. He started to open up and talk to you little by little. You think he realized he was in the same position as you, you were the only person near his age.

                “Gram said you told her you can sing, I forgot to ask you about that last night.” You said and he almost dropped his basket.

                “Gram told you?” He chuckled, you two were now at the top of the hill.

                “She did, I would like to hear you sing.” You said and looked at him, the sunrise warming both your bodies.

                “Maybe, I prefer dancing though.” Jinnie said and turned to you.

                “Dancing, singing, what else can you do?” You asked, Gram was right, he was something.

Jinnie smiled to himself, as if remembering something, “well, I can speak Korean too, some Japanese, uhhh…”

Your jaw was on the path, “and now you want to pick up French? That is very impressive.”

                “Korean was my first language,” Jinnie spoke softly, the tired features washed on his face again.

                “Can you show me your dancing one time?” You asked, wanting to change the subject. Jinnie once again smiled.

                “I would love to.”

You two arrived at the Sunday morning market not much later then that conversation. The heart of the town was bustling, you recognized the tourists again. You looked down and then up at Jinnie when he tugged the sleeve of your sweater.

                “What do we need to pick up?”

Some of the ingredients you already had at home, “we just need eggs, pumpkin puree, and cinnamon butter.” You said to him as he leaned down so he could hear you. He nodded and led you to the dairy stand. When the guy asked him what he wanted in French he started panicking and looked to you. You cleared your throat.

                “Je voudrais cinq œufs, sil vous plait. (I would like five eggs please)” You said to the man, he nodded and handed you the five eggs carefully. You softly set them in Jinnie’s basket and paid for them.

                “Merci! (Thank you)” You said to the merchant and continued on your way.

                “Thank you.” Jinnie said down to you. You smiled up at him.

                “This will be your first lesson, okay?” You grabbed him and pulled him to a bench. He sat down and you sat next to him.

                “Okay I am ready.” Jinnie said, his hands still gripping the basket.

                “When you ask for something, you say, ‘Je voudrais’ that directly translates to, ‘I would like.’” You explain to him, he repeated it back to you and you helped with pronunciation.

                “Then right after you say what you’d like, you then end it with ‘sil vous plait’ which means ‘please.’” Once again, he repeated it back to you, you smiled.

                “If you want you can even say, ‘merci,’ which is, ‘thank you.’” You further explained, “if you’re REALLY thankful, you can say, ‘merci beaucoup.’” He nodded and took note of your mini lesson.

Standing up you put your hand out instinctively, he grabbed it, and you led him to the next stand, this one had fruits. This is good practice. Plus, you wanted an orange to snack on. You led Jinnie up to the stand and he looked a little nervous. You told him how to ask for two oranges. When the guy asked him what he wants, he gulped and then spoke.

                “Je voudrais…” He looked down at you, you looked up at him and squeezed his hand, “deux oranges, sil vous… plait.”

You grinned at him, you handed the man the required money and you two got your oranges.

                “Jinnie that was amazing I am so proud of you.” You shook his arm that didn’t have the basket in it, in celebration.

                “My pronunciation was… okay?” He looked down at you, you nodded.

                “You did really well. The guy didn’t even look annoyed at you!” You giggled then continued to drag him around with you to get the other ingredients.

When you two were about to leave someone called his name, he whipped around and saw a group of five girls run up to him. You recognized one of them, it was your boss’s daughter.

                “We wanted to make these for you!” One of the girls said, another girl handed him a bundle of what you assumed were the cookies. He smiled awkwardly at them.

                “Ah… Merci… beaucoup!” He looked at you and you gave him a thumbs up. The group of girls started to giggle before practically running away. You heard whispers of, beau homme, and il est tres gentil. It made you laugh a bit and you two started your walk home.

                “What were they saying as they were walking away?” Jinnie asked you as you opened your front gate for him. You started to laugh as you dug in your pockets for your keys.

                “They were saying you were beautiful and very kind.” You saw his shocked expression and then you turned to open your door to your home.

Walking in, he set the basket down on the counter, and his gift on the table.

                “Well, that was very…” He looked at you.

                “Gentille.” You finished for him. Jinnie nodded and giggled then repeated what you said.

                “Gentille of them.”

You started to unload the groceries, leaving the ingredients for the pumpkin bread out. You saw at the bottom of his basket he had Gram’s recipe at the bottom. You smiled to yourself.

                “What can I help with?” Jinnie asked breaking you out of your thoughts.

                “Could you get the bowls and stuff please?” You asked him, he nodded and started on his first task. He retrieved them in no time and soon you two were baking.

                “JINNIE, CAN YOU GRAB THIS?” You wobbled your way from the back pantry where all the flours and sugars were, he quickly rushed over and grabbed the flour too, helping guide you to the kitchen.

                “Okay we did it!” Jinnie said and wiped his face. You started to laugh, and he looked at you with a confused look.

                “You have pumpkin puree on your face.” You reached up and wiped it off his forehead, still giggling at him.

Jinnie looked away from you, a smile on his face.

                “Can you preheat the oven?” You asked as you started to mix all your ingredients. He hopped to it instantly.

Once the bread was in the oven you two found yourselves looking over the bookshelf in your room, “you have a lot of good reads.”

                “Thank you.” You sat down on your bed and watched him, “I needed books to keep myself occupied when I first moved here.”

                “You don’t have a phone or a laptop?” He asked and turned around, holding a book of Monet’s work and history.

                “I do, they are just locked away, if someone in town wants to contact me, they can just use the landline.” You said simply.

Jinnie looked up from the book and right at you, “in that chest by your bed?”

You nodded, you didn’t look up from the book you were reading, “mhm.”

                “Can I ask why they are locked away?” You felt the bed shift, he sat by your sprawled out body.

                “Can I ask how you found yourself here?” You sat up now looking at him with curious eyes.

Jinnie thought for a moment, “I ran away.” He looked away from you as if he was ashamed of himself. Your features quickly softened.

                “It’s… It’s okay…” You spoke, just above a whisper.

Jinnie looked at you, “I was a coward. I am a-“

                “I ran away too.” You said quickly, his eyes widened, “there was a lot going on for me back home, um it became too much so I packed everything and left.”

                “Y/n, I understand that more than you know.” He said and grabbed your hand.

You looked up at him, “maybe one day me and you will go more into detail about why we ran.” You stood up still holding onto his hand, “but as for right now, we have pumpkin bread to deliver.”

                                                                                                ~+~

                “You know when I was a little girl, I used to have the most beautiful blond hair.” Gram said as she sliced the bread for you and Jinnie. She insisted you two have one piece even though it was your gift to her.

                “Your hair is still beautiful, Gram.” Jinnie said to her.

Gram let out a quiet laugh, “Hyunjin you are too kind…” She plated the bread and poured some iced tea for you both, and for her. Then she sat down.

                “Have you ever had Y/n’s pumpkin bread?” Gram asked Jinnie. He shook his head, “you’ll love it, I remember when she first made it for me.” Gram winked at you, and you smiled bashfully. Then you three dove in. Jinnie instantly complimented your baking. Gram told you this was your best batch yet.

                “I had help this time so maybe that’s why.” You smiled at Jinnie.

Gram laughed, “you better help her more if this is how good the bread is going to be!” She joked. You and Jinnie helped clean the cups and plates and she led you two to her living room.

                “I want to show you guys photos in my youth.” She sat you guys on the couch and then plopped herself in the middle of you two. Gram started to talk about how after some events, her and her husband decided to move into this little town to get away. Neither of them knew a lick of French but they learned together. You could tell Jinnie was absolutely enthralled with her romantic tale. His eyes lit up and he would ask her questions, she gladly answered. It made your heart warm; he was so effortlessly charming.

At some point she wanted to take her late afternoon nap, so she kicked you two out, Jinnie walked you to your door.

                “Walk with me to school tomorrow?” He asked with hopefully eyes.

                “I wouldn’t miss it Jinnie.” You spoke and stood at your doorway, the warm air in contrast to the breeze outside.

                “I will pick you up this time.” He said, you nodded and before you could say goodbye, just as usual he flipped around and waved. You shut the door behind you. Giggling you rushed to the bathroom, it was time to take a bath and settle down for the day. You still had to study your art history too. Oh, Jinnie just made you so giddy!

                                                                                                ~+~

 The next morning you knew you overslept because you heard knocking on your bedroom window. You groaned and rubbed your eyes, when you saw his silhouette through your curtains you hopped up and ran through your house, your slippers making you slide. Quickly, you opened the door and waved him in. Jinnie’s warm smile woke you up more.

                “Uh here if you didn’t have breakfast um make something, the pantry is yours!” You ran back to your room to get ready for the day. You threw on some old pants and a t-shirt. Your hair was a mess and part of you was a little embarrassed that Jinnie saw you like this. You threw on a straw hat and jacket, almost falling over you put on your boots.

                “JINNIE IS MY BAG OUT THERE!?” You yelled from your room. You heard him quickly walk around.

                “YES, I GOT IT!” He spoke back. You smiled and walked out, now ready to leave and walk to school with him. When you met him by the door, he handed you your bag.

                “Thank you!” You smiled and next thing you knew you two were walking to the school.

                “Oh, I woke up a little early this morning, so I made sandwiches for us, if you want to eat them with me after class.” Jinnie said and showed you the wrapped sandwiches in his bag, “I also took the two oranges from your fruit bowl.”

                “I will look forward to it, I shouldn’t have work today so I would love to have lunch. Especially your cooking.” Your heart felt warm around him again.

Jinnie let out a soft hum of acknowledgement, “I want to thank you by the way.”

You looked to him as you two just walked made it at the top of the hill, “why’s that?”

                “Welcoming me here, you could have just let me figure it out on my own, but you haven’t.” He spoke softly, “you are letting me depend on you.”

                “Well, you still have to help me with my landscape art.” You nudged him, Jinnie giggled.

                “I have that planned actually; I am trying to find a nice landscape for us.”

This sort of confused you, “you don’t want to paint the town?”

                “I will always paint the town, however, let’s say you get frustrated, at least you’ll have a nice view to calm you down.” He explained, “my first day here when I was still at the inn, I painted the general store, or at least tried to, and I couldn’t get it right. Then someone walked by, and it was the most beautiful view I have ever seen.”

You felt a pang of something, your stomach did flips, who captured his eye?

                “Did you ever get to see your view again?” You asked, Jinnie looked down at his feet, smiling to himself.

                “Almost every day actually.”

That’s odd, “do you know their name?”

                “Yes.” Jinnie giggled once more.

                “Do I know them?” Yes, you were nosy, you couldn’t help it.

Jinnie let out another laugh, except this time he threw his head back then looked at you, “yes you know them.”

You started to ponder as you two walked up to the school, “wait what’s their name?”

                “Y/n.” Jinnie opened the door for you, and you walked in, then spun around.

                “Yes?” You asked and took off your hat, Jinnie smiled at you and tried to fix your messy hair.

                “That’s their name.” He said simply and started to walk to the classroom. He left you dumbfounded in the middle of the hall. Once back to reality you started to run after him.

                “HEY!”

During class Jinnie would make an effort to not pay any attention to you, especially after how flustered he made you right beforehand. It made a little spark inside you; you thought it was funny. The way you’d catch him staring and then he’d dramatically look away. It made you laugh to yourself while you studied your history books. Mr. W started to teach the class about August Friedrich Schenk. You tuned in a bit always being interested by the way there was always an overwhelming dread in the art August Friedrich produced. You struggled painting animals so maybe that’s also why the artist also intrigued you. After the lecture Mr. W assigned you to run some errands to the other teachers, things like reports, attendance, stuff like that. You quickly did as you were told and found yourself greeted by your soon to be coworkers. One of them didn’t have a class for another hour so you found yourself making small talk.

                “Is Mr. W still being nice?” She asked and started to write her lesson plan on the board. She was the poetry teacher, Ms. Felicity.

                “Yes, thankfully, it is really different from being an art student in his class.” You took a sip of tea that she offered you in a paper classroom cup, “he has always been nicer to me though. I am thankful for that. He really has taken me under his wing the past two years.”

                “I’m glad, especially since you’ll be working here soon.” Ms. Felicity turned around and smiled at you.

                “Do you live in the next town over?” You asked, suddenly curious. She nodded.

                “It is quite the commute but it’s worth it.”

You nodded; you remembered the town over was very nice.

                “You know. I wanted to be the art teacher, but here I am doing poetry.” She spoke softly.

You two continued to talk until it was time for you to head back to Mr. W. You found yourself happy that maybe you made a new friend. You seemed to be lucky in that department lately. Walking back into the classroom you saw that Mr. W was close to finishing his lesson. You sat at your little desk and waited for the class to be dismissed.

                “Alright, you have your assignments for the next week, remember due March 13th. I will see you guys tomorrow.” The international students started to leave, Mr. W gave you more things to study for the upcoming week

                “I am very proud of your progress lately, Y/n.” Mr. W said, you gleamed at the praise.

                “Thank you so much, Mr. W!” You quickly picked up your notebooks and bag, packing up. Your teacher made small talk with you about the next assignments for the art students and then sent you off.

Once again you met Jinnie outside of the classroom, “hungry?” He asked. You smiled at him and placed your hat back on your head.

                “Starved!”

                                                                                                ~+~

                “The school has poetry too?” Jinnie asked as you two sat in the grass still in short distance to the school. You were laying on your jacket and you suddenly sat up.

                “Yes, did you not look at the classes?” You laughed and took another bite of the wonderful sandwich Jinnie made for you two.

                “Well… While signing up I was in a bit of a rush.” He said and sipped his reusable water bottle.

You finished off your sandwich and laid back down, “makes sense how you just appeared out of nowhere.”

Jinnie laughed, “I really did huh?”

                “Yes, shockingly. You just poofed.” You flipped on your stomach and looked up at him.

                “Is that why you ask me so many questions?” Jinnie teased.

You nodded, “that is exactly why I ask you an abundance of questions. You pique my curiosity.”

                “At least you don’t just see me for my looks.” He said quietly. Your brows furrowed and you could sense the sadness in his tone. It was a total 180. You wondered where it came from, especially where the statement itself came from. Yes, he was handsome, however did the people who he ran away from just see him as that?

                “No, I see you for your cooking.” You wanted to lighten the mood, anything to get that smile back on his face.

Jinnie rolled his eyes and smiled down at you, “okay Y/n. I see how it is.”

                “Alright! We both have homework to do!” You stood up and put your hand out. He took it and you helped him up, cleaning up your mini picnic you two went on your merry way.

                “We definitely should plant pumpkins in July.” You said and skipped along with him.

                “So, they’ll be ready for Halloween, right?” Jinnie asked, you hummed.

                “Exactly! The town actually does a whole thing for Halloween. It is really cute, too many tourists though.” You said, noticing once more he was lost in thought.

                “Hyunjin…?” You tested the waters of saying his actual name, this caught his attention instantly.

                “Am I in trouble?” Poor guy looked and sounded terrified, you laughed slightly.

                “Nono I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Jinnie nodded to himself, and he thanked you softly, “it’s just some weird stuff coming back to me again, I’ll be okay.” He reassured you.

                “I understand what you mean, that happened to me on my first birthday here. I hung out with Gram the entire day.” You recalled the memory, “it was weird not being around anyone I knew.”

                “My birthday is in two weeks.” He said suddenly.

Your eyes widened, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME SOONER!” You practically jumped on him; soft giggles escaped his lips.

                “We’ve been busy it didn’t come up.”

You huffed as you two made it up the hill, “what day?”

Jinnie thought for a moment, his way of keeping you in suspense, “hmmm I don’t remember.”

                “HYUNJIN!”

He looked offended that you used his actual name, “now I’m not going to tell you.”

                “Jinni- “

                “March 20th.”

You laughed at his suddenness, “okay good! We can plan something!” Jinnie looked at you, he looked a little unreadable.

                “You don’t have to…” He mumbled bashfully, you two walked into your neighborhood.

                “Well, I want to, I don’t want you to have the same sad birthday as me when I first moved here.” You were determined, “what kind of cake do you want?”

                “May I request your pumpkin bread?” He asked hopefully. You grinned at him.

                “Yes, you may!”

                                                                                                ~+~

The past week you and Jinnie would continue this routine of walking together to school and if you didn’t have work, you or he would make lunch. At one point he brought you lunch at work; it made you feel special. You found yourself cherishing his attention. He was way different from everyone else you have ever met. Hyunjin’s personality was as bright as the reflection of the sun on the water, and you were basking in it. There was never much to do in this town, you didn’t mind. But now that Jinnie was here, you had lots to look forward to, your schedule didn’t seem as mundane.

Saturday night you two were having dinner at your home once more, this time he brought you flowers, and you were cooking. You had music playing from the old music player in your living room.

                “What did Mr. W pull you aside for yesterday? I forgot to ask.” You said as you stirred the seasonings for the oven baked potatoes.

                “You forgetting to ask something? Impossible.” Jinnie joked. You turned around and gave him the stink eye, he giggled.

                “He wanted to look at my sketchbook, he said on Monday he wants me to bring in some of my work that’s on a canvas.”

You flipped around, “no way.” Jinnie gave you a look as if he didn’t know why you were surprised, “he’s scouting you!”

                “Psh no.” He waved his hand then took a sip of the wine he brought for you both.

                “Psh yes.” You said back and started to pour the seasoning on the potatoes. Once they were in the oven you sat down next to him at the table.

                “Mr. W takes one student from the class and scouts them, then if he chooses you then you get a trip to Paris for a chance to display your work at a gallery.” You explained, “I got picked my first year here when I was a student, look.” You stood up and grabbed the picture frame that was on your side table in the living room. You stomped back over and showed him the photo.

                “See look.” You shoved the picture frame in his hands, “I was really young and he really took me in. I owe him a lot.”

Jinnie smiled at your photo, you were holding what he presumed to be your artwork, you didn’t look much different, “your hair was shorter.”

                “That’s what you’re taking from this? Jinnie!” You grabbed the frame from him again, but he didn’t want to let go.

                “Wait I wanna look at you more.” Jinnie giggled, you sighed and let go of the frame. After a few minutes of him asking questions about your younger self he handed it back.

                “You really think he’s scouting me?” Jinnie asked and poured more wine for himself and you.

                “Absolutely! Whenever I walk by your station I may or may not peek at what you’re working on.”

Mr. W had to be scouting him, this is what your mentor does when he notices talent. Jinnie had that talent.

                “You look at my work while I’m working!?” He dramatically waved his hands around and it made you giggle.

                “I did when we first met, didn’t I?”

Jinnie thought for a moment then nodded, “okay you did but I let you.”

                “And why did you exactly?”

                “I told you; I think you’re pretty, beautiful, gorgeous even, the most beautiful view here. Why wouldn’t I give you the opportunity to be charmed by my work.” The wine must’ve started kicking in because he was getting bold.

You face heated up and you felt yourself scoffing, “you still have to teach me your methods. I am still holding you to that.”

                “I hope you do.” Jinnie said and leaned back smiling. He talked more about his walks he would take when you were working, saying he finally did find the perfect spot to take you painting. You eventually pulled out the bake potatoes and set up your plates, you also fried vegetables. Plating the food, you set it down in front of him.

                “This smells wonderful.” He smiled up at you. You smiled back warmly and sat in front of him, “can you teach me something?”

You picked up on him always wanting to learn something from you, “coffee grounds are bad for your drain… uhhhh…” You thought for a moment, “I don’t think Vincent Van Gogh killed himself.”

                “Oh? Elaborate.” Jinnie loved listening to you, and you loved listening to him. Eventually you two finished eating and you found yourself digging under your bed for old artwork. He wanted to see your portrait work.

                “Most of them I sold to tourists at the market when I first moved here. These are the leftovers.” You handed him the canvases and he looked at your art in awe. It ranged from big to small pieces, all capturing these people’s details. Their very soul on your canvas.

                “These are beautiful…” He breathed; he traced the canvas with his finger extremely delicately. You looked down.

                “You should’ve seen the ones that were sold, I didn’t want to let them go but I had to make money, and this was before my bookstore job.” You spoke sadly, he looked up at you.

                “We will make more pieces like these together.” Jinnie then looked down and more at your other artwork. The thought made your soul happy; you went to dig more under your bed and found old sketchbooks, one labeled abstract and you handed it to him.

                “These were from highschool, if they are a bit dark, I apologize, I don’t really like looking back at these much.” You handed it to him and ever so softly he took it and started flipping through the pages. You found yourself scooting next to him and looking at the worn pages with him. Your eyes went to his face, he looked concentrated as he read the words hidden in your work.

                “You made these in highschool?” He whispered, you nodded.

                “It wasn’t the best time in my life… Some decisions I made led me here though, so I guess part of me should be thankful.” You whispered back. The music from the living room still playing a bittersweet tune.

                “I can relate, although my last year was when I sold myself.” He flipped the page; you were studying him while he studied your work.

You looked back at the sketchbook in front of him, one day you knew you would find out about him. Maybe that night was tonight, “can you tell me?”

Jinnie looked back at you softly setting the book down, he was so gentle with your work, “yeah… I can tell you. But you can’t tell anyone else otherwise I have to leave.”

                “I promise.” You looked him in his eyes, you could drown in them. He stood up and led you to sit down next to him on your bed. You shifted so one leg was dangling off and the other was folded on the bed. He sat forward, hands together. He looked stressed.

                “Jinnie you don’t have to tell me if you aren’t ready.” Your hand found his way to his shoulder, and he looked at you.

                “No, it… it’s okay, I want to tell you.”

You nodded and got ready to have your listening ears on.

                “I used to live in Seoul, like Korea. I was very popular,” he looked away, “I was an idol, that’s why I can sing and dance. People really loved me, ask much as I liked it, popularity comes with controversy. Almost every week something was wrong or something horrible was being said to me.” Jinnie took a deep breath and you grabbed his hand, he squeezed it and continued, “as much as I loved being in the spotlight and seeing the adoring eyes of people, I couldn’t take the constant pressure, getting in trouble for rumors someone else started, things I didn’t even do, I was tired, I was always scared of someone always watching me, so I ran the second I could. It is irresponsible of me, and I am sure the past month people have been freaking out, but maybe not, I don’t know, I wasn’t allowed to be active anyways when I left.”

Your hand squeezed his again, “I don’t think you’re a coward Jinnie, I just think you were burnt out and lost. That is okay and it doesn’t make you any less of who you are.”

He nodded, “thank you.”

                “Anything for you.” You spoke wholeheartedly.

                “Can you tell me why you ran?” He asked, you took a deep breath and nodded, Jinnie turned his whole body towards you, now he held both your hands in his large ones. He always wore the same rings.

                “In high school, I didn’t have a lot of friends, so when I finally did make them, I was naïve. I really landed myself in the wrong crowed. I was young and stupid to think these people actually did care for me. One of them I thought I fell in love with,” you felt your eyes start to water, “I was wrong, it wasn’t love, my frontal lobe hadn’t even developed so how was I supposed to know that what was happening to me wasn’t love.”

A tear fell from your eye, and he caught it with his hand. You continued, “at some point it started getting really bad, I got really scared for my safety and my family’s safety so I ran. I never looked back.”

Jinnie held tightly onto your hands, “thank you for telling me.” His voice was calming, and you found yourself crashing into him, hugging him desperately. He cradled you in his arms and let you cry.

                “It’s okay… Y/n let it out… I know…” His hand found its way to your head, and he played with your hair.

                “I miss being home, but I know it’s safer for everyone that I left.” You said in between sobs. Hyunjin just held onto you tighter.                 “I know… I know exactly what that feels like.” Hyunjin kept wiping away your tears as they fell, at some point he let a few of his own tears fall.

~+~

masterlist

~+~

taglist: @alyszaen @moon-on-a-golden-thread @hwgyun @forevrglow

comment or send in an ask to be added to the taglist <3 it's open!

if i ever forget any tags please remind me, i have goldfish memory.

~+~

author's note: hello my dears <3 today is kinda a wild week so far. i have had recent nightmares about some things and turns out i had reason for that. i got a text from an old friend, informing me of some things. i am safe and okay so that's what matters. i just need to focus on my paranoia of past situations. i'll be okay i am just shaken up.

i hope everyone is well <3 i love you all very much. please eat well today and rest up. any progress is still positive progress.

if you need anything my dms and ask box are open <3

[agp]

i dont know how to share my confidence on anything honestly around here you know how it is. but its over. we won tabarnac. the communists win. i told opirg today. you dont need to dig very far to see how game over it is. we have world peace by christmas and i believe it for real. gg guys.

peace and love on planet ottawa! peace and love on turtle island! peace and love in palestine! we have negotiation tables in qatar again monday morning!! did that 20 million year old fossil in washington need a slap from his buddy justin or did this not even need to happen?

there are a lot of doors everywhere. there are a lot of keys everywhere. people love to just leave their keys everywhere, especially still in the ignition in this stupid city and im the biggest thief here. de toute facon comme jte disais..

the iron dome has security measures. i have good reason to believe i am aware of a particular security vulnerabilty on the israeli side and ive been telling everyone to change their passwords forever you know how crazy it is out there.

i shared a particular code with an antizionist mensch that has been coming to the solidarity demonstrations held every weekend in ottawa since netenyahu and his genocidal regime escalated the situation to a war months ago last october. i shared other strategic victory plans with the pym and they all know where to find each other.

ill go bug embassy security about nonsense at 3am on my way back from the bar if anyones around. its warm as shit out here this month idk they might be out for a smoke or something. its not like the palestinians have much of an equivalent but im in the market so yall know exactly where i wanna go.

long story but my favourite tree in town survived the two years of peace i gave canada and the rest of the world from my bullshit! i think qatar or some other gulf state is building its embassy around it. i want to convince them to save this thing and integrate it into their design so bad. her name is grandmother acab!! forreal guys. if theres another close favourite its the apple tree near the aviation museum that fruits like a maniac. im just too shy to bug the ppl at city hall about it if they already offered it to another gulf state in that alley (the japanese and south korean embassies arent far either, its just behind global affairs lmao).

i wanted to play more concerts in that field with my friends. as far as i can tell mitski and lady lamb are interested in playing there again. i need to hit them up when shit gets less crazy again. i dont even know if they realized this was communist bullshit and theyre americans lmao.

its been left to fallow for sooo long and its one of my favourite spots in town. ive offered to kill suicidal friends there before idk. its very sacred to me. and im so glad the bulldozing hasnt started yet really. the shit they did down by the marina and the path down to the kichi zibi (ottawa/great river) from the north end of lowertown hurt me sooo much my god. i was scared i lost so much more behind the mint too dear lord.

sorry for making the good news so long and silly tonight. i need to hustle more responsibly lol. ily all. if i dont see you again good morning good afternoon and goodnight bozos! this truman show with the rcmp bugging my life needs to stop already. check out lady lamb! sound of the summer!

with solidarity and friendship,

audrey, jeanne, and friends

miigwetch

[wroteonedad]

Discussing 'Pachinko' (2017)

Reading. One of those things that I love the idea of doing, but ultimately also the one thing I never really getting round to doing. Reading has been the one thing where I have always said, 'I'll read tomorrow' and then tomorrow just never comes. When I do read, I usually forget everything that had happened prior to when I picked the book up which is usually about 6 months before. Pachinko, the second novel by Min Jin Lee, did not have that effect on me. I hate to say it, but I have been reading this novel for over a year, and all of a sudden I am obsessed with it, near to the point that I simply cannot put it down.

It was one of those books that I'd picked up on a whim while visiting the bookstore, a book with a cover that I was visually drawn to straight away. I knew nothing about any aspects of Korean and Japanese history featured and I knew nothing about the author. I think I understand now.

Pachinko is theoretically three novellas within one book. Each section of the book represents the next generation of the family or a whole new branch of family life. As the novel begins, it feels more focused on Sunja, the daughter of a crippled fisherman in a boarding house which resides near the sea in South Korea in the early 1900s. It feels like for this section of the book, Sunja is carrying all of the hard work and caring that comes with the boarding house. Her back must hurt from carrying the weight of this boarding house on her shoulders. So during this section, Sunja ends up meeting Koh Hansu as a blooming adolescent to which she ends up falling in love and falling pregnant with his child. Hansu is a rich fluently Japanese speaking man and later in the novel, it is revealed he is actually part of the yakuza and that is how he has managed to make his fortune. The yakuza is the Japanese version of the mafia.

Sunja quickly finds out after making love to Hansu that in his eyes she is nothing more than a mistress and finds that he is already married to a woman in Japan and has daughters with her, not slay. She quickly asks him to no longer be apart of her life and she is left with the devastating realisation that she now has to disappoint her family, falling pregnant and not being married. This of course is a huge deal in the early 1900s and is enough to be deemed not good enough to be a part of mainstream society.

Baek Isak then visits the boarding house on his way to Osaka where he is visiting his brother. Yangjin discusses with the tuberculosis ridden man how Sunja has fallen pregnant with another man's baby and Isak decides to marry Sunja because he believes that he will die soon from all of the illnesses he has had in his short life. He promises to care for Sunja until the very end. The only problem with Isak is is that he is like a Victorian street urchin and is constantly sick with something,,, this is something that Yangjin considers that could be a problem for Sunja in the future. The newly wed couple then move to Osaka where they live under the same roof as Isak's brother Yoseb and wife Kyunghee.

Sunja gives birth to her firstborn with Koh Hansu, Noa. She is also working a job and sold a watch that Hansu had given her in order to make enough money to survive, much to Yoseb's disapproval.

Book 2

The novel jumps further in time to a world where Sunja now has Noa and Mozasu (Isak's birth son). Noa becomes the more academic of the two brothers, spending much of his time learning Japanese and reading.

Not long after Mozasu is born, Isak gets caught reciting The Lord's Prayer when everyone is supposed to be worshipping the emperor and he is quickly thrown into prison; which is absolutely insane by the way. They leave the guy to rot away in prison for quite a chunk of time and only release him when he is on the brink of dying so he is able to see his family for a short period of time before perishing.

In the time that Isak is in jail, Sunja and Kyunghee open up a stall at the market where they sell their own homemade kimchi. The business does well and the two are approached by an owner of a restaurant who pays them to cook for their place. In a time where Japan gets struck by World War II and everything begins to become scarce very quickly.

A few years later the restaurant is forced to close due to the War, which is also conveniently the time that Hansu decides to re-enter Sunja's life.

That night he tells Sunja that he is actually the owner of the resturant and that he has been manipulating their family all of these years as well as tracking them all down. He knew that Sunja had sold the gold watch that he gifted her all those years prior. The absolute fiend for controlling people then decides to send the entire family over to a country house in the middle of nowhere where they would spend the rest of the time in the war working. He makes a bunch of accusations and false claims to Sunja telling her the family need to leave straight away because their home probably wouldn't be there by tomorrow. He also decides to reunite Sunja with her mother Yanjin and pretty much drops Yoseb back off to the house later in the war after he becomes horrifically injured from all the bombings.

When the worst of the war passes, the family returns back to Osaka where Noa and Mozasu continue studying. Noa ends up leaving to go to university in Tokyo where he studies English Literature while Mozasu ends up dropping out of high school where he gets relentlessly picked on for being Korean to the point he was fighting all the time and after the night of being picked up by the police over it, he then begins to work in Goro's pachinko parlour,,, to which he ends up getting promoted. He falls in love with Yumi, a seamstress who wants to live the American Dream, except they have a child together and Yumi ends up dying in a car accident shortly after.

Noa on the other hand, is sleeping with a girl who makes comments about how she finds it weird that Hansu is Noa's mentor and is paying for everything, she accuses Hansu of being the real father of Noa and that is how he finds out Isak was never his father after all. The same night, he goes for dinner with Hansu where he learns everything, as well as all of his history in the yakuza. Noa is ashamed of this, he is honest with the way he feels like he can't live with himself knowing that his own blood is corrupt. He returns him to have a go at Sunja for not being honest with him, drops out of university and runs away. He sends both his mother and Hansu money every single month to go towards lifestyles and to pay back for his university experience, he feels as if he owes it.

Book 3

The main synopsis of this section is to discuss Noa and Mozasu now that they are both adults in their 40s with children. A school friend of Mozasu, Haruki ends up having the most insane plot twist in the story. The man works as a policeman and has an entire gay plot, despite him being a well beloved man as well as having a wife and children.

Hansu being Hansu decides to hire private investigators so he can locate where Noa is residing. At this point he has one son and three daughters with his wife, he is now considered a Japanese resident and also runs his own pachinko parlour in Japan. When Hansu tells Sunja about this she wants to find him immediately. They drive all the way to the correct area where Hansu tells Sunja it is not a good idea to speak to him and that they should wait longer before making any form of physical contact. As soon as Sunja sees her son, she comes rushing out of the car to speak to him. Noa tells Sunja about his family, the disgust that comes with being Korean and how he has to lie to everyone about who he is because his boss hates foreigners and his wifes mother would not allow him to be around if they found out he was Korean. He promises to call Sunja that night and when he doesn't, Sunja innocently thinks it is because Noa no longer has the home phone number anymore. In actual fact, he took the whole seeing his birth parents again very, very badly.

Mozasu becomes a rich man, rich enough to literally hire famous singers to attend his son Solomon's birthday party, so if you're looking for a fictional sugar daddy then you've come to the right place. Sunja's mother Yangjin passes away after giving Sunja one last mouthful about how awful Hansu was and that Noa deserved his fate because he was born 'a bad seed'. At her funeral in the following chapter, it was revealed that Mozasu's partner Etsuko has a daughter who had had an abortion a chapters prior had then moved in with the family and spends the entire funeral trying to make a move on Solomon? I think that Hana is a character that needs to be studied in the history books.

Fast forward a few years after Yangjin's funeral and it feels like Mozasu, Sunja and Hansu simply don't exist where the book begins to revolve around Solomon's blossoming from adolescence into early adulthood where he shags his future stepsister ???? Many a time, moves to New York for university, falls in love with Phoebe and then moves back to Japan with her to begin his post-grad job. He becomes a major gambler and tries to save not like other girls Hana who becomes an alcoholic and flees from everybody she ever knew until she tries to rekindle her flame with Solomon over the phone when he's still in New York. I've said this before in the paragraph above, but Hana NEEDS to be studied. Other than her complicated relationship with her mother, how did she end up like this? Every time I read about what she's doing, I end up feeling like that picture of Ben Affleck looking stressed out and smoking.

As the end of the book hits, Solomon's life literally falls apart. He ends up working for a big banking company where his boss Kazu wants to buy a property from a Korean woman so he can demolish it for the land he wants for a golf course. She refuses because she doesn't want to sell to a Japanese person so asks Solomon to do it for him. He approaches his father where he can get a guy who knows a guy help to achieve the deal he wants. Ironically two days after getting the land, the 93 year old lady passes away peacefully from a heart attack, however Kazu places the blame on Solomon and the yakuza and fires him from his high up position.

Meanwhile Hana is dying in the hospital in Tokyo from a disease passed on from a man which is never really fully disclosed. I imagine it would have been from her years of hostessing and battle with alcoholism. She tells Solomon how she was always in love with him and that after being sacked from his job that he should pursue his fathers pachinko parlour and run that because fuck what any Japanese person thinks of the yakuza background basically.

At a family weekend, Solomon's family are asking him about when he is going to marry Phoebe over a home cooked Korean dinner, but discusses with his father how she couldn't get a job in Japan and he couldn't work in New York without a visa. The relationship between the two shortly ends up breaking apart when Phoebe ultimately decides that they both want very different things and packs all of her bags. She leaves the next day. The night before she was in tears and angry, but the next day? A confident girlboss ready to conquer the world.

The end chapter discusses how Mozasu has been using the same desk for over 30 years and ends up as a well respected tax payer, Sunja visiting the grave of Isak to speak to him and deliver gifts and confirming that Noa had killed himself because he wanted to be 'normal'. His father Hansu is under 24 hour hospital care with good doctors over his cancer.

There were a lot of things that I felt towards this book. I feel sometimes with books, especially when a lot of the background is focused on major events in history, they can feel very focused on that rather than the characters. This was not the case with Pachinko, rather it was made apparent that all of these historic events were happening and this is what all of the characters were doing in response to all of it. Every character represented had strong developments and it felt so wonderful to grow up with them, for things in their past to haunt them, but also for them to look back at things they could have changed if they went back to that time period. The book is a super easy read, there weren't many words I didn't understand too which feels like an added bonus. It does not feel like it is over 500 pages long (which it is) and what I am most upset about is that Hansu didn't die after all of the torture and trauma he left for the family.

[imfearlessfics]

Chapter 5: The Antagonist

Song: Into the I-LAND by I-LAND, A Song Written Easily by ONEUS, Blueprint by Stray Kids

Pairing: Yunjin x female reader

Genre: Romance, forbidden love

Warnings: mild language

Word count: 2.5k

It’s been a few weeks, and I’m really starting to feel like I’ve settled in. There’re still some boxes strewn about my room, and I haven’t quite gotten the subway system down, but I have a routine. I wake up around 5AM, get ready, and head to the subway where I proceed to look hopelessly at the train schedule until I find my stop, then arrive at work almost two hours early. (I refuse to arrive late and risk the wrath of President Hwang. As kind as she is, she didn’t make it to where she is without cracking the whip here and there, so sitting in the cafe while I practice my Korean and look over my schedule for the day makes the early ass mornings worth it.) Then after my morning status meeting, I shadow other employees. All. Freaking. Day. Long. 

I get that I’m new here, and I totally understand wanting to ensure I comprehend the processes and inner workings of one of the biggest companies in the world, but for the love of GOODNESS I want to get some actual work done! What is the point of a status meeting when my status is always “still learning the ropes and prohibited from creating content on my own”?! I shouldn’t complain too much, though. It is a huge company, literally and figuratively, so having this much time to learn the ins and outs has been helpful. I shadow someone new everyday - that’s how many employees work here! Sometimes it’s the studio engineers and sometimes it’s the baristas at the cafe. I never have a predictable day, that’s for sure. 

Last week, however, I finally started shadowing the actual department I was hired for: the marketing team. I can tell you this for free; They don’t mess around. The way that they approach styling to comebacks to tours is meticulous. Every little thing down to the polish on the idols’ nails has a reason and a story, and I’m slowly realizing just how huge my role is in all of this. The TikToks that I’ll be making in the coming weeks will be the first glimpse into their new comeback, and we’re hoping to keep elevating LE SSERAFIM on a global scale. It’s been extremely hush hush, but today, the comeback content meetings begin, and free time will cease to exist. I’m booked from morning til night every day for weeks, and that’s just getting all the ducks in a row. The teasers won’t drop for another couple of months, I’m told. 

I haven’t been able to see the girls too much since my schedule is mostly just getting to know the company, but I pass them every once in a while when I’m shadowing. They always greet me happily, like we’ve already become the best of friends, and it makes each day a little brighter. And while I love seeing all of them, there’s one in particular that makes my workday exponentially better. 

Ever since that day in the practice room, there is a tiny flutter in my heart that beats to the sound of her laughter. My cheeks flush at the sight of her smile, and my hands tremble whenever she waves at me, and I … I can’t believe how sappy I sound right now! 

Y/n, get it together! Some crush on an idol you literally work for is only gonna distract you!

But in between the meetings and the shadowing and the constant hustle and bustle, I can feel myself cringing at the word “crush”. Just a couple of hours around her and there’s now a constant pull to want to be near her. The desire to feel just as carefree and happy and fearless as I did in that room. Because for the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop stealing glances at her and wanting my jokes to be funny just to see her chuckle, but feeling acutely aware of a pair of eyes tracking my every move. I would’ve been paranoid about it, but I was having too much fun with them, so I wrote it off as me just imagining things. 

I have the marketing meeting in a few minutes, so I pack up my breakfast and head to the conference room. As I’m settling in, one of my coworkers, Lee Ha-Rin, enters the room. And how do I know that she entered the room? Because she made a spectacle about it - loudly talking about her absolutely wild weekend, laughing at a joke that from what I could understand was not even that funny, and making sure to bat her eyes at just about every male employee in the room. 

I am a woman that supports women, and I never want to speak poorly about another woman for being unapologetically herself, but from the moment I met Ha-Rin, she’s made it abundantly clear that she looks down on me for being a foreigner with such little experience. 

“Oh my goodness hi! You must be the new girl - y/n, was it? I’m Ha-Rin, the leader of Le Sserafim’s marketing team for this comeback. You must be so overwhelmed! I’m sure that nothing you’ve ever done until now has been quite on this scale, right? Don’t worry - I’ll help you every step of the way” I don’t think it occurred to her the entire time she spoke that I didn’t get a word in, but she just continued to speak at me rather than with me, and I have never gotten good vibes from people that do that. 

“It’s kind of crazy that you even landed this position! I wasn’t yet assigned to be the leader of this project, or I may have tried to find someone with a little more experience, but that’s what we’re here for, I guess! To walk you through the processes.” She had a smile on her face the entire time, but the tone in her voice was unmistakable, and the sting from her words has been lying just beneath the surface ever since. 

She gets to the front of the room and begins her presentation on the schedule for the next couple of weeks, and I can see on the calendar something that fills me with equal parts dread and excitement - my name! Next to the words “Content Meeting”! I get to run my very first meeting in … in four days? Hold on, how is that possible? I haven’t even officially begun working with the members yet, and I have to lead an entire meeting on potential content ideas? Contrary to some people’s beliefs, TikTok is not just some “social media app” - it’s a science. It is the number one way that artists are discovered, it has over a billion monthly users, and it’s used daily in over 150 countries across the globe. Knowing how to use this app correctly to build communities and fan bases is … well it’s a pretty valuable skill! One that took me years to hone in and develop. Just creating a posting schedule is extremely specific and time consuming, so you can imagine how tirelessly one would have to work to also create the content itself. And Ha-Rin has given me four days to do both! How can this be fair? She sees the look on my face and, to my delight, decides to comment on it in front of the entire room. 

“Y/n? Is something wrong?” She makes a fake show of looking back at the screen with concern on her face, “Oh…is this too much for you? Should I push the meeting back for you?”  

“Not at all. It’s just that I haven’t even worked with the members one-on-one yet, so I am concerned about organizing a meeting without having the proper information yet.” I don’t know how I manage to keep composure in the midst of the panic brewing inside me, but I continue with only a slight tremor in my voice, “I am happy to spearhead the meeting, but I’m afraid it will be unrealistic to expect a comprehensive schedule for 2 weeks of content without proper interaction with the members.” Damn, I sound smart. 

The slightest twitch in Ha-Rin’s eye tells me I struck a nerve by advocating for myself in front of all our coworkers, but she can’t show that she’s shaken. “Well, as luck would have it, you’re actually scheduled to shadow them for a few hours everyday starting today. Will that be enough time, y/n?” 

She and I both know that it isn’t, but unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of say. I’m the newest addition to this team, and while I don’t like how she openly condescended me for it, she’s not exactly wrong about me not having experience working with this level of stardom. At the end of the day, I’ll get this done because I have to, and that might be a good way to prove my value to the team. I’m gonna have to spend a lot of time with the members, though, and … wait. That’s actually the best possible thing I could have hoped for! Okay, pity party over. 

“Yes. That should be plenty of time. I will need to spend the next few days exclusively shadowing them, though, so I hope some adjustments can be made to my schedule to accommodate for that. Will that be possible?” Fear seems to make me impervious to death glares, which is exactly what Ha-Rin is shooting me right now. I would care more, but this is my job, and moreover, this is their comeback. Nothing can be rushed, and even Ha-Rin has to respect that. With a smile so tight I fear her face will snap in two, she just nods and continues with her presentation. 

As we all pack up to get on with the day, she stops me just before I can escape. “Y/n, can you hang back for just a moment?” Crap on a cracker - I knew blind bravery was gonna bite me in the ass. 

“What can I help you with?”

“Just want to make sure we are on the same page about your upcoming content creation for the group. You know, it is very important that you don’t have any biases. You must plan in accordance to the guidelines we give you, not according to your own personal preferences. Does that make sense?” There’s still a few stragglers, so the show she’s putting on right now could win her a damn Oscar for “Genuine and Kind (but actually cunning and conniving) Boss”. Though, I am not sure what she’s playing at right now. I’ve barely spent more than a few hours with them, what is she even talking about?

“Biases? I’m not sure what I have done to indicate that I’m … playing favorites. Unless you’ve been seeing something I’m not aware of?.” The tension is palpable, and I’m pretty sure some of my coworkers are procrastinating just to see this go down. 

“Oh no, nothing crazy. I mean, if I had seen anything out of the ordinary, say longing stares or lingering touches with one particular member, I would certainly bring it to your attention. You’d know the repercussions of such actions, right?” 

The silence that follows is suffocating - there is no way I have been that obvious. No. I might look Yunjin’s way when she’s around, but I couldn’t have been so conspicuous as to catch anyone’s attention. Even I’m not that dumb. Unless…shit. I knew I had felt someone watching me the last few weeks. I had chalked it up to me being the new girl. Harmless curiosity! But if Ha-Rin has been out for me since day one? If she’s been purposely looking for a reason to cast me out? Then of course she’s picked up on my crush (read: ever growing infatuation and hopeless longing). I have to do damage control - and my job has barely even officially started! 

“I’m not sure what exactly you’ve seen, but I am simply doing my best to develop rapport with the members and my coworkers. I only hope to treat each member fairly and within the guidelines of the company. I’m sure that is okay to do? Considering I’ll be spending so much time with them?” 

She flashes that tight smile again, it’s like someone is pulling her cheeks back as she fights back. “Of course. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have such a … dedicated team member on board. We’ll talk later, y/n. You need to get to the members, yes?” She saunters out without another word, and I let out a shaky breath. 

Gathering all my strength, I make my way to the practice rooms where I know the girls are practicing. I make sure not to walk in while they’re dancing, so I wait outside for a few moments to let the song finish. Of course, my eyes wander to one member the fastest. She’s glowing, and the confidence she emits puts me at ease a little. Her stage presence is magnetic, and I almost miss that the song has ended and I’m good to head in. 

“Y/n! Hi! Oh my gosh is it finally time? We get to start working together?!��� Sakura beams at me. The rest of the girls greet me with such enthusiasm, I decide to forget about my stare down with Ha-Rin. I’m not going to let her superiority complex ruin this opportunity. 

“Hey everyone! Yeah, I guess this is my first official day with you! I’m not filming anything quite yet, but I’ll be taking some notes and getting reference shots. I won’t be in your way, I promise.” 

“Don’t be silly, y/n, you could never be in our way,” says Yunjin, and I (internally) scream. 

“What do you need from us, y/n?” says Chaewon. I get a glimpse of what a good leader she is. Her immediate reaction is to ensure everyone’s work can go smoothly, and I appreciate her attention to detail. 

“So, I would love to take your group’s core concept as the inspiration for the content we put up in the next few months. Your message surrounds the concept of fearlessness and self-confidence, right? It’s that authenticity I want to capture. Rather than having all the videos be staged, I’d love to get candid shots of some behind the scenes work going into this comeback. Strip back any illusions of perfection and focus on your individual approaches to a comeback. What do you think?” I’ve actually been pretty excited about this idea. It took me a couple of weeks to flesh out how I would approach this without risking spoilers, but I think filming some of the highs and lows in a polaroid film style would not only be in line with their upcoming comeback concept, but also their identity as a whole. 

“Y/n, that’s really good! I love it, and I think our Fear-nots will be thrilled,” Eunchae says. 

“Yeah, I can’t wait to start! Plus I love that we won’t really have to memorize anything extra. We just get to be ourselves.” Kazuha seems particularly pleased, and I feel so proud. 

“Just as I expected - y/n is a genius,” Yunjin winks at me. I beam back, and I make a mental note to wear a face mask any time I’m in the same room as this woman. If I blush any harder, I’ll glow. I get my notebook and phone out, “Alright - let’s get started.”

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Y'all! I did not realize how long it had been since I last posted, but thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has liked the chapters! It makes me so happy!

I was sick for a while and then there were a lot of life changes going down, but I am back! I hope y'all like this - we have a new character and we may or may not hate her a little. What do y'all think?!