#someone be my jaehee

[marshmallowprotection]

What are your thoughts on the new Cg? Butler Saeran? I’m not use to the him nor Jumin and Zen with glasses. But they look good

Normally, I would do a lengthy analysis post about the image, but there isn’t much here for me to analyze! I do want to write something for the anniversary that I will try to get out before the end of the month, but it's not going to be tacked onto an image analysis since there isn't much for me to say here other than point out a few Easter eggs. 

I got what I wanted. Jaehee in a tuxedo. This is what I manifested at the start of the month and I am grateful that we not only got her in a maid outfit, we got her in a butler outfit, too. Jaehee stans, you have won and she is front and center! This is her moment and she is killing it. I feel the need to stare at her for a little while because it's cute and there's no way I'm going to let this moment pass me by without really appreciating Jaehee aesthetically.

I'll be honest, I don't know why the recent trend has been to make our boy Yoosung super clumsy. He's never really been a clumsy guy and I don't know where someone got the idea that Yoosung isn't on top of what he's doing. I will agree in saying he's probably the easiest person to bully in the entire universe because he's sweet and gullible, but he isn't clumsy, and yet, every image we've gotten of him this year other than his birthday image has had him busting his ass on the ground in one way or another.

Does ANYONE know why they're bullying Yoosung this bad? I mean, he's really cute here and I appreciate that he's trying his best to really impress the MC, but c'mon, give him a break.

I did not realize how badly I needed Jumin in glasses. Jumin's already a very handsome person but somehow adding glasses really elevates it here for some reason. I don't know how his vibe has enhanced for me but it has. I wear glasses myself and I always have, so it's nice to see the characters in glasses in official artwork because I'm always super curious to see how they would look. It's working for Jumin, that I can tell you.

I like that his hair isn't as neat and tidy as it usually is, too.

I fear they have slayed. Saeyoung and Zen are dazzling in their own right and I can't remember the last time they were drawn side by side but I think it's been a little while.

I've already noticed many people have pointed out that Saeyoung is wearing a ring. It's a little bit silly that he's wearing it over his glove, but I have to admit that is something he would do if this were his timeline. He is proud of the fact that he gets to live in this world, and he's even happier to know that he has somebody by his side who understands him more than anyone else. He's definitely that guy who doesn't stop talking about his partner because he's so in love. 

Zen with roses is something I've come to expect because he's also a traditional romantic. Red roses are the best way to captivate someone with your love and it’s no surprise that he follows that path. It might seem a little cliche but who is he if not somebody who loves romantic cliches? He is that guy who would watch romcoms with you all day long regardless of your relationship status with him, he just gets it.

I don't know how I feel about him wearing glasses since he doesn't seem like a glasses guy, but maybe if I saw him in sunglasses I might be able to rationalize this better. He's wearing a stylized pair here and I think it's the gold that's throwing me off. If it was silver, I don't think I would feel as perplexed by how I feel because silver fits him better as that's typically what he chooses for himself.  

Controversial thing to say every time I say it, but I have to tell you guys that Jihyun is still my third favorite character in the game, and I really don’t mind when Saeran and V are drawn together. I recognize that they do this because those two are tied together as the leads of Another Story, just as the core five, meaning Yoosung, Zen, Jaehee, Jumin, and Seven are drawn together.

But, to me, seeing Jihyun with everyone makes me feel like there is a timeline where V did the right thing for everyone and asked for help at the first sign of trouble instead of continually shooting himself in the foot. A lot of the art that's drawn with V included is self-indulgent and can only exist as true fanservice because it would never be true in most routes of the game. 

Normally, I would expect him to look exasperated in art like this but he seems to be fairly confident which is a good change for Jihyun. I’ll take it! 

I have no idea what they're doing here, did they choreograph a song and dance? They aren't the most coordinated members of the group so that makes me want to laugh. It's sweet, but I have a huge feeling they're going to trip over each other if not on their own feet. Saeran is as cute as always, I could talk about him for hours.

Seeing him as a butler always takes me back to when Ray said he would be happy to be your butler in a huge mansion. That was utterly indicative of the fact he was willing to become subservient to you if it meant you would stick around. That’s what the first bad ending is all about. Unfortunately, he thought so poorly of himself that he would be willing to make himself nothing more than something for you to push around if that's what you wanted. 

At least, in this context, he's doing it because he wants to make you happy, sure, but it's not something he's doing to make sure you stick around, he knows you'll still be there no matter what because he doesn't have to work himself to the bone to prove he's worthy of your companionship. 

I don't know if anybody picked this up but the painting is in homage to the anniversary image from two years ago. Rika was in the painting that time, and this time around, it's MC.

I do think it's worth noting that they are playing with light and dark imagery which is to be expected in a game that takes a lot of cues for religious imagery. Rika and MC are always bathed in white and black, light and dark, true contrast.

They're both wearing a dress that goes off of the shoulders, the only difference being the color and the style. MC has a more sleek pattern and Rika is bathed in ruffles. Rika’s seems to be more constrained and MC’s a little more loose around the edges. MC is free to make choices one way or the other by pushing outward, and Rika makes choices that go against her best interest as she pulls inward. I think another CG that plays on this is the BE from V Route.

Love her or hate her, there are important parallels at play here. 

In conclusion, Rika has always been like this in official art and I don't know what to tell you.

[puppytoast]

I finished Jaehee's route and am pleased to hear she gets some gay shit in the holiday stuff. There are a lot of things that annoy me about the game (mostly forced dialogue stuff) but overall I found myself getting up today and being sad I didn't have a little chatroom to open :(

The only video essay I like about the game on youtube is not finished yet and doesn't cover the stuff I haven't done and hasn't been updated in a year, the other video essay going over EVERYTHING disrespected my favorite route (respect to their opinion on it being boring but I would challenge you to a duel) and I only have vague interest in doing one other route again so I guess I will do that before I end up going for the ones I didn't do because I do want to actually like know what is going on cuz I never got that closure the first time I played lol

[killjoy-prince]

Finished Jumin's end

[fandomfloozy]

omg wait you like mm who is ur fave?

Nonnie it is so embarrassing how I misread this as OM and wrote out a whole answer gushing about it before I realized you said MM lmaooo

ANYWAY I am such a 707 girlie 💕

I was initially drawn to Jumin bc "men who are cold and distant with everyone else except you" is my kryptonite, BUT something about a tsundere who is madly in love with you no matter what????? Without you trying?????

It soothes my soul

[hawnks]

JAEHEE??

HE FUCKING SAYS IT OUT LOUD??

[lurkingshan]

I absolutely loved the first two episodes of Love in the Big City, and I thought all of the adaptation choices were brilliant, but the part that hit me most as I was watching and that my mind keeps circling back to relates to this question from @bengiyo:

In the novel, we see everything through Young's rather biting and cynical internal monologue, while in the drama we see other characters through a broader lens. With this different perspective, how does Mi Ae's outing of Go Yeong and the fallout change compared to the novel?

I think for me, this shift that allowed us to see Mi Ae outside of Yeong's perspective enhanced my empathy for her and for the choices she made. Because it all comes back to this quote, originally from the novel and used verbatim in the show:

"Through me, she learned that being a gay man sucks, and through her, I learned that being a woman equally sucks."

Yeong and Mi Ae connected with each other because they were both living outside the accepted norms and were isolated and lonely as a result. The forms of oppression they experienced were not the same, but it was a point of connection and the foundation of their deep bond. They fell in love with each other because of their shared choice to be themselves loudly, and fuck the social consequences. They were each other's most important person, regardless of who they were dating. And so when Mi Ae, shaken up after her abortion and exhausted by trying to fight the social tide, made the choice to stop being true to herself and conform, of course Yeong felt abandoned. And then when she outed him to protect her conformity, betrayed.

In the novel, we learn about Mi Ae (Jaehee) outing Yeong (Young) from him, and it's presented to us as a callous betrayal, because that's how it felt to him. But in the show, we get to see Mi Ae make that decision. We see how cornered she felt when her boyfriend confronted her about the lies she'd been telling, we see his genuine (justified) upset at learning she'd been living with a man he doesn't know, we see her panicking and reaching for something to smooth it over, and we can see that in the moment, it feels reasonable to her to tell her partner the truth. We can see that it wasn't malicious, and she did not intend to hurt Yeong.

But it still hurts, because in making that decision, she implicitly acknowledged that Yeong is no longer her most important person. Someone else, or at least the idea of what he represents, became her top priority, and she protected her romantic relationship rather than protecting Yeong. She still loved Yeong, but she wouldn't put him first any longer, and when she made that choice their relationship as they knew it was over. Mi Ae was ultimately captivated by the allure of social acceptance, and she chose a path of conformity that was not open to Yeong--she is, after all, a cishet woman and able to revert to societal expectations much more easily than Yeong ever could as a gay man who would struggle to pass even if he wanted to. Her choice was confirmation that, in fact, their situations do not equally suck, and she retreated to her privileged identity, leaving him behind.

And so we come to the scene that punched me in the heart more than any other in this first section: the two of them singing together at her wedding, taking one last glorious moment to be themselves again in front of people who would never understand them. In that moment I felt so sad for Yeong, that this relationship that meant so much to him was irrevocably changed, and for Mi Ae, that she abandoned these aspects of herself out of fear and committed herself to a man who looked stunned to see a glimpse of the real her. And more than anything, I felt sad about how isolating and alienating it feels to simply exist in the margins of what is socially acceptable, that conforming is always the easier choice for those who can hide, and that Yeong was once again left to struggle alone.

[awbublie]

wait my mc lore just dropped 🙀🙀

mc lore is here >.< fret not!!

they are a glorified self-insert i am shameless and will insert myself into my favorite media!!!

though she isn't a complete rip-off of me, maybe like 60% me

though i do love napco figurines

(edit: im so stupid and thought mx stood for mexican😭😭😓)

relationship charts!!!

caught mc on a good day!:

essentially means mc got a higher score than 60 on a test and just got a sweet treat.

feeling like contributing to society, she helps this rando return a phone.

seven:

both work with computers, he's just levels ahead of them.

inferiority complex kicks in til he starts helping her with assignments and omg im in love with this man.

likes his jokes and his robots are sooooo cool, "you think you can make one look like this? :3" insert image

calls him so he can practice his english and she can practice her korean.

the flirty banter really kicks up and they get their hopes up

gets butthurt day 8 when he turns them down.

jaehee:

desperate for female friends mc is overly-sweet and clingy.

jaehee is overwhelmed and explains in order for them to be proper friends time is needed.

they are now bonding over coffee beans and how mc brought some from her last Mexico trip

i WANT THEM TO LIVE TOGETHER SO BAD

yoosung:

misses her siblings so he's the closest to a little brother.

finds out guys don't typically like that when you tell them that, especially if they are older.

they make up and bond over their no-life life

trains in LOLOL for the next couple days bc DANG IT SHE WILL PLAY IN HIS LOBBYS!!!!

share shoujo recs

zen:

when he flirts at first, her heart flutters.

till jaehee gives her the warning, and atp jaehees word is bible

finds him silly but like in a older man kind of way

finds his costumes interesting and asks about the type of fabrics they use

during 707 route, she leans into the whole big sister zen and LOVES IT

jumin:

not too big with rich people and was quick to form an opinion

finds out ab Elizabeth and everything that they had thought gets thrown out the window WHAT A NICE MAN!

til shes asking about the area and he says something along the lines of "why move to a country you know nothing about? You are simply asking to fail. "

YEAH HES RIGHT BUT HE DIDNT HAVE TO SAY THATTT 😭😭😭

is bitter for the next 2 days before she gets over it

caught mc on a bad day!:

felt with the daddy issues (we cannot control our fathers we have nothing to do with our father's errors they do not define what we do or who we become we can disagree with them and still love them)

the professor was moving too quickly during class, her computer was working, she fell behind and her brain is fried. it feels like it's been happening more and more....honestly it feels easier just to rot in bed sleeping.

getting a random message just worsens her mood. "i cant even help myself and im supposed to help you?" rolling over to try to make sense of the class notes.

saeran:

got kidnapped and had their laptop open

"you follow me on github?"

mc BEGS for him to teach them everything he knows

ends up becoming an intern and moving their classes online

but wait...this guy is lwk kinda cute....

and he's taking the time to teach me??? >.<

blind to their situation mc follows instructions and fufills small tasks

saeran gives her badge "ID:10T"

cleaning his code to filling up the office waterbottle, all in payment for bootcamp-saeran™

V:

reminds her of a teacher she had once, ick

finds him to be kind of a doormat, but so is she

doesn't enjoy seeing how others might view her

(707 route bc i forgot to mention him there) can't help but feel sorry for him, she may not trust him but i mean cmon they can't help but feel bad dude lost his fiance and now seems like he can't keep his life together

rika:

again, desperate for female friends, but this one IS SO DIFFERENT

this is like when you make eye contact with someone of a similar group and you kinda expect automatic friendship but they are cold to you

mc is either ignorant of mint eyes operations or is slowly being indoctrinated, they don't meet rika very often.

they form a kind of bitterness towards her, rooted in her insecurities

"how can someone be so loved?" "how can someone just 'create' a world of their own" "whats so special about her, i'd be able to do something like that too"

by only hearing of her through saeran they feel so insignificant to her influence, it weakens them

[libra-kirishima]

Mystic Messenger Characters + Their Toxic Traits ✨

Feat. Zen, Yoosung, Jaehee, Jumin, Seven, and V

Short headcanons inspired by this post I've made about My Hero Academia characters and their toxic traits x

! fem reader, brief mentions of sex !

Zen

Insanely jealous. He's barely able to restrain himself from barking like a dog when he sees you talking to another man

- and he will come up to you mid-conversation and embarrass you in front of this man because Zen wants him to know who you belong to.

Has some mildly sexist views on women

- Speaks for you even if you're right next to him. Will order for you at restaurants without being asked. If someone asks you a question and Zen thinks he knows the answer he'll answer it for you as if you aren't capable of answering for yourself.

- Tends to believe that you're fragile and vulnerable and that he needs to protect you because you're a woman

- Will help you with chores but he believes it's your job to cook

- Doesn't ever let you take control during sex. He thinks that, as the man, he is supposed to be the one on top and in control. He's a pleasure dom but sex is always done his way because he never lets you take the lead.

Canonically homophobic

Lacks self awareness

Yoosung

King of putting things off. Ignores problems in the relationship for as long as he possibly can until one day it all comes to the surface and he bursts into tears

Avoids conflict to the point of concern. He'd rather lie to himself that everything is fine between the two of you than address an issue in your relationship because he doesn't want to start a fight.

Struggles to make time for you. A lot of your dates are hanging out together while he studies in his room or at the library.

Shamelessly codependent

Jaehee

Also terrible at making time for you

Always working. If she's not working under Jumin then she's always working on improving the coffee shop. She doesn't know how to function when she's not working 24/7 and under constant stress

She takes things so personally. She'll never tell you she took something you said personally but you can tell.

Lowkey a grudge holder. If you two get into an argument she'll bring up something you said to hurt her feelings two years ago.

Jumin

Wants to take care of you but "taking care of you" can mean doing things that are very controlling sometimes

- extremely resistant at first to the idea of you having a job or going to college since he can provide for both of you

- hates taking "no" for an answer if he thinks he knows better than you. If you're sick with a cold he'll go against your wishes and call a doctor no matter how many times you insist that you're fine.

- Never learned how to let someone else be in charge of something so he also never lets you take control during sex.

Resistant to change

Makes important decisions without you based on what he thinks you would want

Can come across as very apathetic at times. He thinks he's offering an objective point of view that will help soothe your emotions but instead it can feel like he doesn't care about them because you're being unreasonable.

707

Has gotten into the habit of lying about the dumbest shit, so it can be difficult to tell whether he's being serious or messing with you

Doesn't help with household chores because he doesn't find them mentally stimulating

Gets really bad depressive episodes. He doesn't want Saeran to see him like that so he bottles everything up until he can't anymore and will take all his emotions out on you sometimes.

Has never had to communicate how he feels before meeting you, so he never learned how. A lot of the time you're relying on your intuition because he doesn't talk to you about it. Part of him still believes nobody cares about how he's feeling.

V

Incredibly passive. Getting him to voice what he wants is like pulling teeth.

Codependent and in denial about it. Thinks he's just really in love with his wife.

Has a tendency to completely ignore how he's feeling because part of him is desperate to please you.

Tends to think in absolutes. Has a very black and white view on most things

Struggles to believe that he deserves you and that makes him crave validation, but he never wants to voice to you that he needs validation.

[whats-it-mean]

Period cramps? Never fear, the great 707 is here ☆

i just got my period and i am n o t having it and yknow what i want. i want someone to give me blankets and hot chocolate and tea and hsdksjdl. Also the mysmes brainrot is real so why not combine the two !! its a bit short today but im tired so whatcha gonna do

C/W - Reader is suggested to be AFAB (it's a period comfort fic, what did you expect) but no pronouns or specific gender

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─── 

Although he ultimately struggled to express it sometimes, Seeing you all bundled up on the couch, face scrunched up in discomfort, he could feel his own mood souring. You had your nose buried in whatever manga you’d wrapped yourself up in this time, but your focus was all over the place with how much your abdomen hurt. There was no way to think straight through the pain, no matter how much you tried to ignore it, and it bothered him almost as much as it bothered you. It had been a bit since he had slipped out through the entryway with a promise to return soon, with the grin on his face that only meant he was up to something, but you still couldn’t bring yourself to pay too much mind to it.

After about a half hour of you sitting on the couch, stomach aching and barely even reading your book anymore, the jingle from the doorway ensuring your boyfriends return had you directing your gaze to the hallway that led to the door, where said red-haired boy poked his head around the corner, watching you for a reaction.

“Seven…?” You asked, confusion evident on your face as you stared at him, manga now forgotten as it lay abandoned at your side.

He smiled at you, eyes closed while he beamed. “I got you a couple things~” He said, reaching out a hand to showcase the full shopping bag that dangled from his arm.

“Eh--? Why did you--”

He strode over to you, sitting down on the floor next to the couch you sat on as he shushed you, before turning to open the bag. He seemed rather proud of himself as he pulled it open, reaching in and handing you a freshly bought, fluffy blanket in your favorite color, offering it to you with the cutest grin on his face.

“I got you a better blanket, some extra supplies, some hot chocolate…” As he spoke, he laid each item out in a pile, eyeing you from time to time to make sure you were watching him and his little performance. “I got you a heating pad too, Jaehee mentioned once that those are useful. Do you want me to make you the hot chocolate now, or wait a bit?”

You stared at him, completely still as you watched him stare right back, puppy dog eyes on full display. “W- What is… Why……?”

He grinned at you as if it was obvious. Leave it to Seven to make you feel stupid even on your period. “You looked uncomfy, so I wanted to help~ Is that okay?”

Well, how are you meant to say no to that?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───  End

[twig-tea]

Love in the Big City TV Series Episodes 1 &2: The Loneliness of Conformity and Nonconformity

[Wondering what’s going on here? In Feb-Mar of this year a bunch of us agreed to read the Love in the Big City novel one part per week and write pieces in response to the novel and @bengiyo’s excellent discussion questions weekly, which was a fantastic experience. @lurkingshan did the driving and wrangling and organizing, and compiled all of the meta from that period here . Now we’re watching and responding the series on the same cadence, 1 part (2 episodes) per week, and Shan is once again wrangling us and Ben is again providing excellent discussion questions to help inspire responses. Like last time, rather than answer the discussion questions directly, I’ll let them inform the directions my thoughts take. Also re: romanization, I’m going to use Go Yeong for the TV adaptation and Young for the novel since they seem to have standardized his name to “Yeong” at least on Viki, and that provides some distinction which is convenient]. 

In my written response to part 1 of the novel I talked about how Young was an unreliable narrator, because he was so dissociated from his own emotions that he didn’t often notice when he was having them. The loss of the bulk of the first person narration is inevitable in an adaptation to a visual medium, but I think these episodes still captured Young’s general disconnect to his emotions especially in episode 1. There are moments where he smiles that felt almost jarring, like smiling is his default response even if it’s emotionally a mismatch. The change in perspective in the series also means we see beyond Young’s POV, so we get the Mi Ae outing scene (which as @lurkingshan laid out, lent Mi Ae more sympathy than Jaehee was represented with in the novel) which really underscored that in that moment, she chose her future husband and the person she was becoming over her best friend and the person she used to be. I liked how the series included the karaoke scene with the T-ara's shading Nam Gyu so that we had context for what Yeong expected when he went to dinner with Mi Ae and Jun Ho, and how different Mi Ae's behaviour was to his expectations (instead of his commentary about it that we got from his first person narration in the novel).

Like @starryalpacasstuff pointed out, I liked how the argument in the show between Yeong and Mi Ae after she outed him made it more obvious that part of the reason why Yeong was so upset was that he was already hurt by Mi Ae pulling away. @wen-kexing-apologist rightly pointed out that Mi Ae put herself in the position to have to out Yeong by lying to Jun Ho in the first place, and one of the things that both the novel and the series left me wondering was whether Jaehee/Mi Ae made that decision knowingly; did she choose to embrace amatonormativity and a heteronormative life trajectory because she wanted it, or did she feel like she had to? Either way, Yeong's pain of seeing someone who he otherwise had so much in common deviate towards the norm and leave him behind and further isolated is very familiar. I linked out to my alternative milestones to measure your life by in that original book club post and I’ll take the excuse to do it again; for those of us who find the standard hetero/amatonormative milestones alien/undesirable, it’s nice to think about other ways we can think about the progress in our lives.

Another change in the series that I appreciated was the addition of more of Yeong and Nam Gyu’s relationship. Ben talked about how much more realized a character Nam Gyu was to K3/Kia guy in his post. The building out of K3 with things like a hometown, cheesy song choices, (h/t @moutheyes) and heteronormative romantic idealism tied to traditions like Namsan Tower (h/t @lurkingshan) was all possible because of the time that a visual medium provides (like WKA said in their post linked above) and all made him feel much more like a real person that inspired sympathy than Young ever described him as in the novel (this is not a failing of the novel, but it gives them a different flavour that I am appreciating in both iterations).

And because he’s a more realized character, Nam Gu's death hit me harder watching the show. From reading the novel, I remember Young returning to K3’s final text messages regularly, and how his reaction sounded very dissociated, but the scene of the empty funeral mourning room in the series is one of those visuals that will stick with me. It's been a couple of days and my stomach hurts just thinking about it. He was trying so hard to live a "normal" life that he was in some fundamental ways barred from by society, and it left him so lonely.

By seeing more of Yeong’s life in the series adaptation, it made it more obvious to me how many ways Yeong is choosing to be alone, and how his relationship with Mi Ae was an exception to that rule until it wasn’t. I noticed that Yeong moving in with Mi Ae coincided with the T-aras leave for their mandatory military service, and his breakup with Nam Gyu was after their sendoff party. By having more of Yeong's relationships depicted in these episodes, his loneliness when Mi Ae was gone to employee training and after they stopped talking was louder than in the novel, because we as an audience were aware that there were people he was choosing not to call. And it's worth noting that it was only when he had cut ties with Mi Ae that he turned back to Nam Gyu, only to close off that thread permanently too. It was an interesting pattern to me, that In the series, Yeong ends things with Nam Gyu after he loses other people in his life.

As  @shinjikar1 pointed out Yeong's parallel losses of Nam Gyu and Mi Ae are about the decision to conform or not conform (and @troubled-mind pointed out how perfectly the song parallel really underscores this comparison, and the visuals of the abandoned marlboros and the ring do the same (h/t @conscbgb). H/t @lurkingshan for saying in our chats that specifically, Yeong's relationships with Mi Ae and Nam Gyu represent conforming to or rejecting a set heteronormative standard. Mi Ae chooses to conform and marry Jun Ho, but Yeong chooses not to commit to Nam Gyu, and so he loses both Nam Gyu and Mi Ae as a result. Yeong laments his choice after Nam Gyu's death, but as @my-rose-tinted-glasses wrote, that read to me more as romanticizing a relationship only after it's done than any realistic assessment of their relationship potential. And the bittersweet representation of Mi Ae’s relationship with Jun Ho and how the only moment she really looks happy and herself at her wedding is the moment she runs over to sing with Yeong (and how we can see by his reaction that Jun Ho has never actually seen his wife be herself) tells me that maybe the decision to conform may not be any less lonely. That being said, as @impala124 called out, just because a relationship ends that does not negate its importance in our lives, and I love how that theme which was so strong in the novel shines through in the series adaptation.

As Ben mentioned in his post linked above, I chatted with him about how I was not just thinking about the additions but also pondering the scenes that were left out of this adaptation (e.g. the STI scare scene), and whether the moment at the funeral when Yeong asks how Nam Gyu died might function in a similar way for the TV adaptation that the STI scene functioned in the novel–something that when we reflect back on later, in the context of Kylie, will get additional weight and meaning. I wondered, too, about the club scene when Yeong kissed that random guy so hard the guy pushed him off and checked if his lip was bleeding, and how different that was to Young freaking out at the taste of blood after kissing too hard in the novel. Again, that scene made me wonder whether this was before Kylie or after, and if Yeong kissing people too hard will be a theme in the series. Similarly, we didn’t get the coverage of his time in the military in the first two episodes, but we instead got a mention of the T-aras leaving for their military service, which leaves Yeong’s military service as a loud absence, again seeding the presence of Kylie in a different way to how it was foreshadowed in the novel.

Lastly, this is tangential to everything, but I found myself thinking about how Korean audiences might react differently to the Itaewon scenes and how different they must be to how things are now, post-Itaewon crush incident and how the club culture has changed as a result of that event and COVID-19. The kids apparently just don’t go to the clubs like this anymore. In that sense, these episodes feel a little like nostalgia for a generation and not just for youth in general.

[pochipop]

＃MYSTIC MESSENGER !! ♡ — A LITTLE LITTLE MORE LOVE.

#. synopsis! — sweet gestures from them to you .

#. characters! — hyun (zen), jumin, saeyoung (707), yoosung, jaehee .

#. warnings! — none .

#. others! — navigation & masterlist .

#. a/n! — back in the mm pit because it's summer and it's time for my annual redownload <3 i've also been thinking about opening a discord, so if anyone has thoughts on that, i'd love to hear them! PLUS, i played the free demo for this indie otome-esque game on steam called homicipher, and i am begging for the release of the first chapter, idk if any of you have played it, but i am way too addicted for having only played like half an hour of it. anyway lolol, enjoy!!

＃ HYUN (ZEN) !! ♡

Hyun, who buys bouquets of flowers every now and again on his way back home from rehearsals. He does his best to match the colors to your needs, —yellow on sad days in hopes they might lift your spirits, blue when you’re frustrated so that it might calm you down, etc.. They always smell so sweet, and you cherish them deeply. They always live longer than they typically should as a result of how well you care for them, and he loves to see the bashful smile tug at your lips as you accept them gracefully, even if you always tell him that he “really shouldn’t have” or that he “didn’t have to.” He does it because he loves you, and he thinks someone as beautiful as you should be presented with something just as gorgeous every now and again (even if he admittedly thinks you’re worlds prettier than flowers could ever be.)

＃ JUMIN !! ♡

Jumin, who writes little notes on the corner of the napkins he rests your coffee or tea on each morning, delicate and elegant handwriting in black ink sinking so perfectly into the ivory material. They’re never the same, always a different expression of his love or his admiration. You like to tear them off and keep them safe in a little box, and you open it up to read them when you’ve had a hard day or when you’re just not feeling your best. He always tells you that you don’t have to keep them, that he won’t be offended if you simply toss them away after you’ve read them and they’ve made you smile, —but you can never bring yourself to do it.

＃ SAEYOUNG (707) !! ♡

Saeyoung, who folds little origamis for you when he gets the chance and leaves them somewhere around for you to find. It started with a tiny paper star he was folding for the heck of it, but you liked it so much that he decided to do it again, and again, and again. So now you have a neat little stash of different animals, shapes, and otherwise cool-looking creations (all of which have silly, blank expressions drawn onto them as faces that really add a sweetness to their personality.) You like to sit and fiddle with them every now and again, just to feel the sharp edges of the crane’s beak against your fingertips or to split the little heart apart and see the “i love you <3” written on the inside.

＃ YOOSUNG !! ♡

Yoosung, who buys sticky notes for his studies but ends up using most of them to leave you little notes with cute messages and silly doodles. He likes to think this is a better usage for them, especially when he watches you spot one out of the corner of his eye, and you hold it in your hands like it’s some kind of love-stricken poetry from a wordsmith he knows he’ll never be. They might be simple and straightforward, but there’s not much room for stanzas of prose on these little post-its, and reminders that you’re doing a good job or that you look cute are so much more than enough.

＃ JAEHEE !! ♡

Jaehee, who bakes you little desserts for you to eat when you get home, often heart-shaped or dusted in romantic colors, —always in your favorite flavors. Cookies with little jam hearts in the center, cupcakes with heart sprinkles and a cream just to your liking filling up the inside; each and every one made with so much love that you can practically taste it on your tongue. There’s no one else she’d rather bake for, and no one else she’d rather spend the rest of her days with. Sometimes words are hard to come by, and she worries she won’t always get it right, but when you kiss her on the cheek before taking a bite of her treats, well. . . She thinks things will be alright anyway.

[torotauri]

Not Only You and Me, Everybody Loves Three (18+) | Jaehee, Jihan, Zoa [WEEEKLY]

Warning Sexual Content (18+) Read At Your Own Risk

3432 Words

***

You were currently at the WEEEKLY dorm, invited over by Jaehee. You didn't know what it was but if Jaehee said you need to be over, you weren't going to ask twice. The two of you have been fucking around for a while now so when she asked you to go over, you were sure that it was going to involve some kind of fun for the both of you.

As you knocked on the door, you saw Jaehee opening the door excited to see you.

"Oppa, you are here. Come let's go to my room" Jaehee pulled you excitedly.

"Impatient aren't we today?" You teased Jaehee as you followed her to her room.

Once Jaehee opened the door, you saw someone else already sat on the bed. It was Zoa, the maknae of WEEEKLY. You were not sure why she was there, but you felt like she was going to cockblock you today.

"Oh hey Zoa, why are you here?" you asked, trying to think of something to get her away.

"Oppa, Zoa is here with us today. She said she had something she wanted to learn about for a while now" Jaehee said excitedly.

"What is it?" you questioned, not getting what Jaehee was saying exactly.

"Zoa wants to learn something that only you can teach her" Jaehee said whilst smirking at you.

You clicked immediately, this time knowing what Jaehee meant. You smiled immediately, knowing that Zoa was not here to cockblock you but here to make your day even better.

"So, it's not only you and me today?" you asked Jaehee?

"You'll see, come here Zoa" Jaehee smirked as she closed the door and pulled your pants down slowly.

Your cock sprung out as Jaehee pulled down your pants, and Jaehee quickly kissed your cock, all over the length trying to get it hard with Zoa watching what Jaehee was doing to your cock.

Once your shaft was hardend, Jaehee stopped stroking and kissing your cock and looked over at Zoa who was stood next to her and looking at what the older girl was doing.

"So now that his cock is hard, you would want to suck it. Get on your knees and watch closely" Jaehee instructed Zoa as both of the girls are now on their knees face right in front of your cock.

With that Jaehee opened her lips and started sucking your cock with Zoa just next to her, enjoying the sight. You were also enjoying this situation, enjoying the feel of Jaehee's lips around your cock, slurping and coating your shaft with saliva.

"You seeing this Zoa?" Jaehee mumbled out asking Zoa with her mouth filled with cock.

Zoa nods as she continue watch Jaehee take your cock in her mouth like it was a popsicle, you moaned out softly as you feel Jaehee hit all the right spots holding back and trying your best to think about something but blowing your load down Jaehee's throat this early.

Suddenly, Jaehee released your cock with a pop which caused you to whine a little bit.

"Now your turn Zoa" Jaehee said as she moved to the side.

Zoa then adjusted her position before taking your cock into her mouth, her warm wet mouth now wrapping your hard and spit covered shaft.

"Good now start moving your head" Jaehee instructed Zoa.

Zoa did as she was told, bobbing her head up and down your shaft slowly. It wasn't as pleasurable as it was when Jaehee was doing it, but you can still feel a little bit of pleasure. It was a little bit bland, but you can't really argue as it was the first time Zoa tried sucking cock. After all, it wasn't an easy skill to master.

"Try doing it faster and use your tongue a little bit" Jaehee instructed.

As Jaehee said that, Zoa picked up the pace of her blowjob and started to swirl her tongue around your shaft giving you a lot more pleasure than she was giving you before. Slurping sounds filled the room and slowly, your pleasure was building up. Together with Jaehee's professional sucking previously and what Zoa was doing now, you were slowly brought towards the edge. It felt great, despite this was Zoa's first time at sucking cock, she was hitting all the right spots as you moaned out whilst Zoa was on her knees sucking you off.

"Fuck keep going, you'll make me cum eventually" you moaned out feeling your orgasm slowly but steadily building up.

"No not so fast, you still need to show Zoa how to really pleasure a man" Jaehee said as Zoa stopped her blowjob and released your cock from her mouth.

You knew what was going to come next.

"Zoa get onto the bed" you instructed Zoa.

Zoa followed your instructions as she lied on the bed but as you were about to spread her legs open and fuck her, Jaehee stopped you.

"I think Zoa would like to learn whilst watching first" Jaehee said as she lied next to Zoa and spread her legs.

Taking the cue, you moved over to Jaehee and aligned your wet cock towards Jaehee's pussy.

With one motion you entered Jaehee's pussy, as you slide your cock into her pussy you both moan out in pleasure and you began fucking Jaehee's wet vagina.

"Fuck yes, s-show Z-Zoa what a vagina is made to do" Jaehee moaned out as you thrust your hips, you cock sliding in and out of her pussy.

Jaehee always felt wet for you and it was amazing to be inside her, you started off fucking her slowly but began to start ploughing into her at a rapid pace as you felt her walls get wetter and wetter. The lubricant from the blowjob earlier certainly helped you with that.

"Zoa do you want to have a go?" you cheekily asked Zoa as you saw the younger girl watch you destroy Jaehee's vagina.

Zoa nodded as you pulled out of Jaehee which caused Jaehee to whine, but you didn't care, you can't just let Zoa watch you fuck Jaehee.

"Yah why did you pull out" Jaehee whined out feeling hollow.

"I think Zoa learns best via experiential learning" you said as you lined up your cock towards Zoa.

Zoa didn't know what to expect, she never did this before. As much as she wanted to do this, she was scared as she watched your cock so close to her pussy.

"Is it going to hurt?" Zoa asked nervously.

"It'll hurt a little bit but it'll feel good very soon. Trust me Zoa, I won't hurt you" you reassured her as you slid into Zoa's pussy slowly.

After hearing that, Zoa relaxed a little bit and felt you slowly and steadily slide your cock inside her slowly. She let out a moan from the mixture of pain and pleasure she was feeling as she felt something enter her pussy for the first time.

Zoa was tight, very tight, but wet enough for you to slip in. As much as you wanted to go absolutely hammer her, you need to take it slow and let her adjust to your cock. You stayed inside Zoa a for a little bit for her to get used to having something inside her vagina.

"F-fuck that hurt a little bit but I think you can move now" Zoa said.

As you moved deeper, you felt something before seeing some blood trickle down your shaft. You knew what it was and you immediately leant down kissed Zoa to make her think of something other than the pain. Once you saw the painful look on Zoa's face was replaced by a pleasure look, you knew you got the green light to go mental on Zoa.

One hard thrust, you shoved the whole length into Zoa's pussy causing her to scream and moan out loud.

"FUCK" Zoa yelled as she felt you push all the way into her vagina.

As you continued to fuck Zoa, she continued to moan very loudly. Zoa was very tight, which meant you need to put more effort into thrusting in and out of her, using harder thrusts than normal giving Zoa's pussy more pleasure making the younger girl a moaning mess.

Zoa was a moaning mess underneath you, as you both make eye contact you forgotten that Jaehee was next to the two of you. You only remembered that Jaehee was there as she moved on top of Zoa and sat on her face.

"Eat my pussy Zoa" Jaehee instructed as she sat on Zoa's face, blocking your view of looking at the pretty moaning mess underneath you as you continued to fuck Zoa in missionary position.

As Zoa stuck her tongue into Jaehee's wet pussy, the moans in the room echoed and it was like music to your ears. Two girls moaning whilst your cock is getting wrapped by Zoa's tight pussy. Surely the whole house could hear what was going on now.

"Unnie, Zoa, I'm back" Jihan announced as she opened the apartment door.

However, she didn't get a response. All she heard was some noises coming from Jaehee's bedroom. Not knowing what was happening, Jihan decided to go and check it out.

When Jihan opened the door, she immediately froze. She can't believe what she was seeing. A man's back fucking Zoa whilst Jaehee on top of Zoa both moaning and Jaehee's eyes rolled backwards just as she was about to cum.

"F-fu-fuck Zoa you're so good at eating pussy. I'm gonna cc-cu-cummmmm" Jaehee moaned out as Zoa continued to eat her out

Just as Jaehee came, you caught a glimpse of someone stood at the door behind you so you looked behind and you saw Jihan just stood there staring at the three of you.

"CUMMINGGGGGGG" Jaehee announced as you pulled out of Zoa after spotting Jihan.

"Yah, oppa what are you doing, OH MY GOD JIHANIE LET ME EXPLAIN" Zoa said in shock as the three of you now know what just happened.

Jihan had caught the three of you in the act. There was no way you could get out of this situation. However, in your mind you had another idea.

"Jihan let me explain" you said "do you want to join us" you asked as Jihan got even more shocked before.

Despite feeling shocked, deep down Jihan was a little bit disappointed that you guys didn't invite her when whatever happened started and instead having to catch you all like this. Jihan just stood there hearing the offer, didn't move. Not knowing how to respond.

You decided to take the initiation and walked towards Jihan. Approaching you, you started by grabbing her waist and starting to kiss her cheeks. Jihan was giving in, she couldn't resist what you were doing. Your touch was magical, you knew how to get Jihan into the mood, there was something special, a special secret between the two of you that nobody knows, and your touch got Jihan very horny. She needed this and there was no point fighting it.

Knowing Jihan needed this as much as you wanted her to join, you slowly stripped Jihan down revealing her matching white bra and panties. As you stripped Jihan completely, Jaehee and Zoa were already in bed waiting.

"Everybody loves three I guess" you mumbled to yourself.

"Jihan ah, join us here, we're trying to make Zoa cum on his cock" Jaehee said to Jihan as Jihan made her way towards the bed.

Following Jihan, you made your way back to bed as you lied down this time.

"Zoa, come ride my cock, it's time you learn something new" you instructed Zoa as she made her way crouching on top of your hard cock.

"Slowly drop your puss down and line it up with my cock now" you instructed Zoa.

Zoa didn't get it in the first try, but with a little bit of help from Jaehee and Jihan, you were once again inside Zoa's tight pussy. With this new position, Zoa's pussy felt easier to manoeuvre but it was her controlling the pace and every time she dropped herself down on your cock, Zoa moaned out loud.

She wasn't doing that well but it wasn't a problem as you thrusted up matching her rhythm. Zoa moaned out louder as your balls hit her flesh. The only noise you can hear now was Zoa's moaning and the clapping noise that was created by yourself and Zoa.

However, Jihan had other ideas, ideas to make the room even noisier. Jihan got on top of you, with her pussy hovering above your face before completing sitting on your face, using her pussy to suffocate you. You had no choice but to stick your tongue into her hole, giving it a good lick before starting to eat her out.

Now Jihan and Zoa were both moaning thanks to you. Not wanting to feel left out, Jaehee then moved towards Jihan and started guiding Jihan's fingers towards her pussy, not that you saw anything. All you could see was Jihan's pussy.

The room was completely filled with moans at this point. Jaehee moaning from Jihan fingering her pussy, Jihan moaning as she was getting eaten out by you and Zoa moaning from your cock fucking your tight pussy.

It didn't take a very long while before you felt Zoa's tight pussy get even tighter as her moans was getting out of control. Simultaneously, Jaehee's moans were getting louder as well as she was shoving Jihan's fingers in and out of her pussy furiously. You knew what this meant, two girls were now very close to their orgasm.

Suddenly, you felt Zoa's pussy clamp right around your cock and it made movement in and out of it very difficult as Zoa slammed straight down onto your crotch one last time, she let out a very loud moan, releasing a substance that coated your cock.

"OH G-GOD O-O-O-AHHHHHHH" Zoa moaned out as she reached her peak.

Zoa's orgasm took over her as she moaned and her body shuddered violently for a few seconds. As you pulled out of Zoa and lifted her up your body, the movement caused her very sensitive pussy to make her body shudder again, aftershocks of her strong orgasm.

Coming down from her high, Zoa then laid down onto the bed panting and trying to recover herself. Jaehee, seeing this opportunity got up and climbed onto the bed on all fours giving you a sign.

"Now it's my turn to cum on this cock" Jaehee said as she wiggled her butt, practically inviting you to fuck her.

Taking the invitation immediately, you lined yourself up, gave Jaehee's butt a slap and shoved your cock back into Jaehee's pussy.

In comparison, Jaehee wasn't as tight as Zoa, but it doesn't mean it doesn't feel good. Jaehee's pussy was a different type of pleasure, it was wet, meaning that you have a lot more play on the pace of fucking her. Using Jaehee's wetness to your advantage, you went to town on Jaehee's pussy, fucking her at a furious pace.

"Yah what about me" Jihan said as she got to a very tired Zoa trying to get some action.

You were too focused on fucking Jaehee to realise that Zoa has regained some of her energy and decided to indulge into a 69 with Jihan, the two younger girls eating out each other on the other side of the bed.

As the two younger girls continue to eat each other out entertaining themselves, you continued to fuck Jaehee,

Jaehee's pussy soon felt wetter and tighter and her breathing and moaning started to get out of control. You can feel her pussy getting tighter and wetter as each thrust goes by, but you didn't care, you we're destined to bring Jaehee over the edge and make her cum.

"Fuck don't s-stop, k-kee-keep going" Jaehee moaned up.

You didn't stop, you just kept going at your rhythm until eventually Jaehee's pussy clenched and wrapped around your cock tightly. With that Jaehee let out a very loud moan.

"Cummingggggggg ahhhhhhhhh" Jaehee moaned out.

You stopped, just letting your cock rest inside Jaehee as her orgasm took over. Jaehee shook violently and her pussy clenched around your cock tightly as Jaehee breahted heavily, trying to recover from her orgasm. Once her orgasm has died down you slipped out of her pussy and Jaehee lied face down immediately onto the bed and rolled over.

Jihan then swiftly took over the spot that Jaehee was fucked, and spread her legs in front of you.

"It's my turn now" Jihan said as you leaned down towards her.

"Which hole today my slut" you whispered very quietly not wanting the other two girls to know your secret.

"Let's just do my pussy now, it's too risky" Jihan whispered very quietly into your ear.

With that you aligned your cock towards Jihan's bushy vagine and thrusted into Jihan's pussy. Jihan was also tight, almost as tight as Zoa, but smaller meaning not all of your length can go it. It was hitting Jihan very deep and her moans certainly reflects it.

"F-fuck yes r-right there" Jihan moaned out as you fucked her.

You furiously fucked Jihan, hitting all the spots inside her tight and shallow pussy. You were desperate to cum, but you didn't want to do it before Jihan did.

However, with Jaehee and Zoa's blowjob earlier and fucking two girls before with a very tight pussy from Zoa, you were struggling to hold out. Very soon after fucking Jihan, you were feeling yourself getting ready to release.

"Oh my god I'm going to cum soon" you announced.

"N-not so-so fast" Jihan moaned.

Hearing that you were going to cum soon, Jaehee and Zoa regained their energy and got up trying to join whilst you were getting ready for your finale.

As much as you wanted to unload inside Jihan, it was unfair for Jaehee and Zoa who did most of the work, they need some attention as well, so reluctantly you pulled out of Jihan.

"Yah, why" Jihan whined as you pulled out of her.

"Get on your knees" you instructed the three girls and they do as you instructed.

Now Zoa was in the centre whilst Jaehee and Jihan was beside the youngest girl. Immediately after getting into position, Jaehee and Jihan each took your cock on each side, riding their lips up and down your length whilst Zoa was just on her knees waiting.

"Zoa come kiss and lick the tip" you told Zoa as Zoa leaned forward.

With all three girls using their mouth to pleasure your cock, you were slowly building up to your peak, it wasn't the most efficient way, but you were certainly getting there as you looked down at three pretty girls on their knees.

"Oh god, I'm going to cum soon" you announced to the girls

As you feel yourself getting very close you waved their mouths away from your cock and starting stroking yourself. Their hard work was done, now you need to push yourself off the edge as you stroked your cock furiously. The three girls on their knees waiting for your grand finale.

"Fuck oh-god there it is fuc-fuck" you moaned out as you finally stroked yourself to finish.

Shot after shot of thick white cum was fired out from your cock. The first few shots landed strongly onto Zoa's face before you started to aim towards the left shooting some onto Jaehee's face before aiming the final few weaker shot at Jihan's face.

The three girls on their knees was covered in cum, mostly Zoa as she was the lucky girl to catch the first and strongest shots of cum with her face. Not happy with their amount Jaehee and Jihan started licking Zoa's face collecting the cum before Jaehee started scooping some onto her fingers and put it inside Zoa's mouth.

"Zoa now learn how to taste cum" Jaehee told Zoa as Zoa licked Jaehee's finger clean

The three girls continued kissing each other for a while before all your cum was swallowed and their faces licked clean by each other.

"Oh my god, I need to shower now" Zoa said after Jaehee and Jihan licked her face clean from cum.

"Me too" Jaehee said as the two girls walked towards the shower.

Jihan then took this opportunity to stand up and get next to you whispering into your ears.

"You know daddy, I didn't cum yet" Jihan whispered into your ears......

[juminsmysticmc]

How will de RFA react to them calling them husband/wife before marriage. I like your writing 🫶🏻

RFA reacting to a Mc calling them Husband/ wife before Marriage

I did it again - I forgot about my own blog. I am so sorry :( but here you are, cutie! Hope you like it just as much as I did!

Jumin 

,,But really, I still wonder why the heck you guys got married so quickly,’’ Zen asked, sighting as he sat opposite you at the round table. 

The RFA wanted to meet up for a private meeting, organized by you. 

,,I can answer this,’’ Jaehee said, her eyes were on fire as she lifted up her lenses. 

,,Because our lovely Mc,’’ her palm directed towards you ,,in an interview named Mr Han ,,my husband’’ and guess who liked the ring of it,’’ she smiled, she was there when it happened. 

You answered a question and named Jumin instead of fiancé ,,my husband’’ but quickly corrected to ,,fiancé’’ - something Jumin disliked. 

He was proud and excited to be named your husband, he loved the moment so deeply and Jaehee still had his bright, happy smile in front of her eyes, as well as his facial expression when you corrected yourself. 

And since he liked the ring of his soon-to-be name, he wanted to rush things. 

Jumin’s hand was entangled in yours, remembering that day brought memories up and he truly felt blessed. 

Zen nodded at Jaehee’s explanation. 

,,Mc, were you even okay with it?’’ he asked you, wondering if you even were allowed to decide anything in that marriage.

,,Yes, Jumin wouldn’t let me sleep in his bed beside him, I was craving for more and so I was happy over the rush,’’ you answered, making Zen choke. 

Jumin - your husband - was even prouder now. 

Zen 

,,Zenny, you are so cuteeee!’’ you laughed, you were laying on top of him, both of you cuddling and wrestling softly. 

,,You are my cutie, princess. But don’t name me Zen or Zenny, let me be your Hy-’’ 

,,Husband? Oppa?’’ you asked him, looking deep into his red eyes. 

Zen had to process what you just said. 

You named him Husband. 

His face turned red, glowing and burning. 

He was getting embarrassed but slowly smiled. 

Hearing that out of your mouth gave him a new ring, and he liked it. 

,,Oh, sorry, you wanted to say Hyun, didn’t you? Of course I will,’’ you smiled and gave him a kiss on his soft lips. 

,,Now I am embarassed that I called you like that,’’ you laughed, turning red on your own. 

You quickly hid your face between his neck and his shoulder and hugged him stronger. 

,,Please, just forget it,’’ you begged him, sighing.

But Zen couldn’t think of anything else than your words, than the meaning which was held into the word ,,Husband’’. 

And now you would name him Hyun… 

,,Hello, I called earlier, I am here to see your engaged rings,’’ Zen said the next day to the lady in the jewelry shop. 

No way he was going to make you call him Hyun instead of Oppa.

He wanted an upgrade now. 

Yoosung 

,,Seven years,’’ Yoosung sighed, giving your hand a squeeze. 

,,Yes, seven years, I can’t believe, that we already have been married for so long,’’ you chuckled. 

Suddenly you remembered something ,,Remember, when I came to the hospital while lunch break and asked your co-worker about your whereabouts?’’ you asked him, of course, he remembered. 

,,Yes, you asked about your husband, even though we still weren’t married,’’ he smirked. 

And everyone was angry with me that I didn’t tell them I was married,’’ he told you, remembering how embarrassed but happy he was when someone finally found him and told him that you, his wife, were waiting for you, only to find you with a similar redhead. 

And in that very moment, Yoosung made a decision - as soon as he had his day off, he wanted to buy you a well-deserved engagement ring. 

Jaehee 

It was a hard day, after a shift of so many hours on your legs, your head was empty. 

The shop was booming, of course both of you, Jaehee and you, were thankful for that. 

However, you still had your challenges to keep it up. 

It was almost closing time when your friends Yoosung and Zen entered the coffee shop, ready to eat the last pieces of cakes that wouldn’t be sold anymore - probably. 

Actually, Yoosung was going to bring some to his family since neither of you wanted to throw them away. 

When Yoosung wanted to give you at least a bit of money, you shook your head. 

,,Even my wifey said no, so take it!’’ you laughed. 

Everyone stopped breathing, Yoosung and Zen both looked at your hand, eyes glued on your ringless finger while Jaehee’s cheeks slowly turned red. 

,,Wifey?’’ she asked you. 

However, you didn’t realize what you just said. 

,,Wifey?’’ you repeated, making Jaehee turn even deeper in red. 

The four of you were laughing, while you were denying your own words, Zen and Yoosung tried to assure you, that you just named her your wife. 

And Jaehee was trying - of course in secret - to find out if she still had your ring size from the latest jewelry order to ask you to become her real wife…

Saeyoung 

If someone would have told him that he would have pushed you from the couch for saying something cute, he would have shown that person his middle finger. 

But he couldn’t because he was currently pressing a cold ice pack on your throbbing head while his arm was holding your waist. 

,,I am so sorry,’’ he whispered, little kisses on your wet cheek. 

You were crying because of the pain, but you knew, that he didn’t mean it. 

You were still in pain though. 

,,I will never call you Oppa or Hubby,’’ you groaned, giving him a side-eye. 

He smiled apologetically. 

,,My hand moved on it’s own, of course, I loved it when you named me ,,Hubby’’... 

But I was so embarrassed…I just wanted to push you lightly, I didn’t mean to make you fall,’’ he confessed. 

You rolled your eyes. 

,,I know. But I would like to get a pre-divorce,’’ you kept teasing him. 

Of course, the little pain you were having was gone in a few hours but still, Saeyoung kept thinking a lot and a lot about this incident. 

He was thinking of a way of preventing something like this again and his only way was making it real - he had to become your real-life husband.

ᗰᗩᔕTEᖇᒪIᔕT

21.05.2023 // 11:56 MEST

[most-datable-datable-bracket]

ROUND 4 MATCH 16

Karlach propaganda:

“Sweetest girl ever. She could throw you across a room. She can burn down a house. But she just wants a hug and to be cared about and to live her life.” 

“Definitively overused phrase but she's a golden retriever she's so cute!”

“She's the perfect woman!!! She's so nice and cute and silly and strong and wow I love girls”

"Karlach is the champion slave of one of the Devils in a layer of hell, and was sold to her by someone she trusted, and on TOP of that she is an experiment with an engine for a heart and she knows she’s going to die and is in fairly constant pain but DESPITE that she is relentlessly positive and outgoing and silly because her spirit cannot be fucking crushed no matter WHAT"

Jaehee propaganda:

“only female love interest in MM, not included in the first round for SOME REASON, you literally go off and live your coffee shop au with her at the end of her route.”

“My lesbian wife. Open a bakery with her after convincing her that she doesn't have to give up her happiness to make money. She can pursue her passions. Also her backstory is so sad and I just wanna hug and kiss her and throw hands at her "family" for making her feel like she does. Also the Valentine's dlc, you get locked in the back of the bakery with her and... Yeah that's my wife. I love her dearly. Also can we just acknowledge that she's like the only path that involves almost none of the dramatic death defying nonsense. You're just gay and in love and it's beautiful”

[neuroticbookworm]

Love in the Big City Part 2: Go Yeong and Umma

I was chased around, threatened, bullied and emotionally manipulated for months to write this piece, so @lurkingshan, this one's for you. *please release my family*

When I was reading the book, in Part 1, I remember being frustrated with Young as a narrator because of how standoffish he seemed with his descriptions of the people in his life (except Jaehee – Mi Ae in the show). I wanted to understand the emotional distance I felt in his words. And I got my answer in Part 2, where the relationship with his Umma was laid bare for us to see. The structure of this section was so smart, for it established the roots of his behavior in his childhood with Umma, and linked it to how it shaped the relationship he currently had with Hyung. Seeing it come to life on screen in the episodes this week was a treat to watch.

It becomes evident that Go Yeong’s relationship with his Umma is complicated as soon as we see them interact on screen. She is steadfastly religious, someone who believes that miracles can cure things that humans sometimes deem incurable, like cancer. We could easily infer from what we’ve seen of Go Yeong so far that she would not approve of his life.

Before I get into how her opinions and actions affect and influence Go Yeong, I wanna fully break down some of the objective facts we know about her:

She divorced her husband after he stepped out of their marriage and didn’t even have the courage to tell her about his infidelity

She is a single mother

She is an entrepreneur (in fact, we see her working from her bed in the hospital in multiple scenes)

She is religious and believes in the power of God

She is proud of her son

She loves her son

The last two points come with the biggest asterisks, because if she loves and feels pride for her son, how could she make him feel so alone? And now I shall try to explore this woman’s psyche to the best of my abilities, with a little bit of help from my personal experiences and therapy sessions I’ve paid money for over the years.

When we try to picture a homophobic parent, the image that our brain usually conjures up is often one-dimensional. (Note: This is NOT AN EXCUSE. I’m not trying to justify her actions. I am simply trying to understand why she did the things she did, by placing the context of the events of her life around them.) It is easier to process our emotions re: bad parents who hurt their children when we view their actions as simple. “They could’ve chosen not to do it and yet they did, so I hate them�� is the conclusion that is the easiest to arrive at. That doesn’t make it untrue, but oftentimes, it is not the whole truth. Life is rarely, if ever, that simple, and our parents can truly love us while also rejecting fundamental parts of who we are, and never reconcile the two.

We see in the show the circumstances under which Yeom Eun Suk (Umma) finds out about her husband’s affair. She and little Go Yeong observe him from the sidelines, hidden, and see him smile like he had never done in all the time he had spent with them. We see Eun Suk feeling crushed by the implication that whatever love and happiness she thought she had had in her life with her husband was all potentially a farce. The fact that she chose to separate from him implies a couple of things: 1. She had strength and resourcefulness to provide for her son as a single mother in a restrictive patriarchal society like South Korea, and 2. She understood that staying in the unhappy marriage would only make her bitter and would affect her son more negatively than him growing up with a single parent.

She was brave enough to make those choices, and yet was still bound by her sense of propriety molded by society, and her faith. I’ve had a dynamic relationship with faith throughout my life, but I understood pretty quickly that questioning one’s faith is a particularly painful experience. Faith is supposed to be the solace one could turn to during trying times. When one is forced by circumstance to question their faith, it leaves them unmoored on the inside and further isolated on the outside. Eun Suk was already isolated to a certain degree by her divorce and her single motherhood. From what we learned in the book, there’s a history of cancer diagnoses in her family, so I would posit that she had been in Go Yeong’s shoes before, caring for her terminally ill parents in the past. Which is additional trauma from caregiving in her young adulthood that would’ve shaped her life. So I understand Eun Suk not questioning her faith when it was shaken.

She rebuilt her life and community by pursuing her faith—attending church, making friends who shared those values, and idolizing the Christian heteronormative lifestyle even after it failed her. She followed the rules dictated by her faith and community with utmost devotion, including building an entire business around heteronormative romance, in part because she had already transgressed by breaking up her own family and needed to prove she was not bucking that ideal or rejecting the church’s teachings with her choices. We see her take care of her appearance over and over when she is in the hospital after her first diagnosis and surgery, and it is yet another sign of her conformity and dedication to presenting a certain picture of her life. I understand why she would see her teenage son kissing a boy as a blemish on “a life deemed beautiful by God” and panic. I understand why she would think a psychiatric facility would help her son, and that it was her duty to try. (Note: once again, I am not justifying her actions, I am trying to understand them. Conversion therapy is deplorable and my heart goes out to everyone who has been subjected to it, including Go Yeong.) Eun Suk’s faith saved her by giving her purpose and community after her husband’s betrayal, but it also told her that her son, in his queerness, is fundamentally flawed. And like most people in this world, she chose not to rethink her entire life, and instead chose to believe that it is her duty to save her son from homosexuality and guide him to righteousness via the same path that saved her own life, ultimately traumatizing him. Hello, intergenerational trauma, my old friend!

@lurkingshan has already discussed the kdrama-fication of Part 2, with the increased intensity of Go Yeong’s romance with Hyung/Yeong Su. Expanding on that, I think the show’s depiction of Go Yeong’s relationship with his Umma rounded out the sharp edges of Young’s cynical tone from the book. We see her enjoy spending time with him. We see her joke around with him. We see her read her child with uncanny precision that mothers seem to have when she asked him “Why are you sulking like a child?”, when he was, in fact, sulking like a child. We see her observe and deduce that her son is probably seeing someone, and that someone is likely a man. Which then leads to her asking “Must I meet them?” when Go Yeong suggests a meeting with Yeong Su in the park. She runs from direct confrontation of her son’s sexuality, and yet diligently copies Bible verses, hoping for a miracle.

Eun Suk sees her son’s queerness as her own failure, and Go Yeong, in turn, sees his righteous anger towards his Umma, as his. She is so proud of him that she saves newspaper clippings of his achievements, but she is also ashamed that she couldn’t “save” him. She loves him within the confines of her faith. It’s not enough for Go Yeong, but it’s the best she can do; their relationship remains at an impossible impasse.

Yeong Su’s presence in this section is interesting because in addition to his primary role of serving as the broody, tortured creative who swept Go Yeong up in a whirlwind romance, he also serves as a parallel to Umma’s traits. When Yeong Su exclaims that “someone like [Go Yeong] couldn’t even imagine [his struggles]”, it rang eerily close to Umma telling her son “Don’t try too hard. Everyone must go sometimes”. The expression of disdain is the same, but in Yeong Su it reads hollow, as a pretentious assumption, while with Umma it registers as tired disappointment that Go Yeong would’ve surely felt as heavy as a boulder.

After finishing the book, I found myself going back to a particular paragraph:

...[I] was old enough to know that my mother did not exist solely to hinder my existence but was a person in her own right who had fought hard making her way through life. She just happened to be unlucky. In other words, the fact that our relationship had been so terrible was as natural as cancer or fungus or the rotation of our planet or sunspots. I knew this, but the feeling that she was the source of all my problems kept nagging at me. I kicked myself for thinking this about a dying person, someone who was only skin and bones at this point, but the thought refused to leave my mind.

It took me a long time to reach the acceptance Sang Young Park has put in words here. The fact that my trauma is an unfortunate byproduct of the life my parents had lived, and was not premeditated or fuelled by hate, was a hard and unfair pill to swallow. I want to grab Go Yeong and tell him that it is okay if he can’t ever forgive his Umma. Time will wash over his hurt and let him love her, even without the apology he deserves from his Umma. And I hope that, one day, he can learn to love the people in his life differently than the love he received from his mother.

[impala124]

Love in the Big City Part 1: A friend is your needs answered

I still remember it as vividly as it were yesterday, starting college and moving to a new city, which felt like a world away from where I grew up. Adults love telling young people that the world is their oyster and that they'll meet new people every day.

After my defense of her sort of outed me, the two of us developed a relationship that consisted in the first place of talking trash about boys, as neither of us had previously had anyone with whom to share such thoughts, making us both desperate for a sounding board.

But what no one mentions is the loneliness and desperation that hit you once you enter adulthood. I remember begging, praying, and bargaining with God to meet one person with whom I would get along. Lucky for me, I met someone. Well, actually, I was fortunate enough to meet many someones.

We met whatever men we wanted without putting much effort into it, drank ourselves torpid, and in the morning met in each other’s rooms to apply cosmetic masks to our swollen faces and exchange tidbits about the men we had been with the night before.

Looking back, the foundations for many of those relationships were very shaky. Whatever the reason was, I latched onto them because they were that one constant thing in my life—the one thing I could count on. That was my Jaehee.

Even though the author refers to Jaehee as his best friend several times in this part, he later questions if he really knows her during her wedding preparations. This part asks the pertinent question: Do we really know our friends?

The author definitely knew Jaehee, but did he ever understand her? He knows what's happening in her life—if she's in contact with her parents, who she's dating, etc., but does he really understand the motivations behind her actions? Acceptance without understanding will most likely lead to diverging paths for friends.

What I'll be taking away from their friendship is that not every relationship needs to last forever. Some people come into our lives unexpectedly; being with them becomes as important as breathing, and then they just fade away into the background one day, and that's okay. The impermanence of the relationship doesn't take away anything from everything you've been through together.