cruel summer.

CHU GAYUL:

gaenari native born & raised; for a quick family background she has upstanding parents, three (much) older brothers who have all moved out of town, and a younger brother (@gngaram) who is the black sheep of the family but her favorite brother by far.

her father owns chu's, a diner that's been in the town for decades and was originally founded by her grandfather. gayul currently works at the diner for her parents, kinda filling in wherever is needed; she's there most nights including tuesdays, when her mother takes over the restaurant and turns it into a soup kitchen with the help of her church. mrs. chu is quite religious, by the way.

gayul herself had different dreams, though... she wanted to be a singer-songwriter, even teaching herself guitar (and having previously suffered through childhood piano lessons that she didn't appreciate until later in life). her idols are taylor swift, olivia rodrigo, heize, iu, and similar female solo acts & creatives. unfortunately, that career has obviously not yet taken off and has been put on the backburner while she prioritizes her family.

while her older brothers all went to university and have very successful careers all over the country, gayul was never able (see: allowed) to pursue higher education, instead only earning her high school diploma before she was more or less expected to just take care of her family. her father is getting old and can't physically keep up with the restaurant like he used to, so gayul and her limitless loyalty stepped up to help out.

she sort of knows that the restaurant will be passed to one of her older brothers and that they'll likely sell it off or close it down once they inherit it. she's working hard and learning the ins and outs so she can hopefully change her parents' minds on that decision and make sure that chu's stays in the family for generations to come.

as you might be able to tell, her family is incredibly conservative overall with very traditional views especially regarding gender roles. for these reasons, gayul has not told anyone that she's been dating @jiyeongn since high school and is very much in love with her.

gayul's sensitive and emotional and overall incredible soft and gentle; i kinda describe her as a "new soul" and she's incredibly pure of heart; she's loyal to a fault and her family is more important to her than anything, despite the way they treat her unfairly based on her sex. she quietly works toward her own goals when she can but helping her family will always take priority, whether that's helping to mend bridges and make amends or physical labor in the sense of running the restaurant or practically raising her little brother (who's really only three years younger than herself).

POTENTIAL PLOTS/CONNECTIONS: former classmates? gayul was a good student, maybe old friends who don't understand why she didn't go to uni. regulars at the diner; she knows your order by heart and will give occasional freebies if you look like you're having a rough day. family friends or friends from her mother's church? the chu family has been a well-known family in gaenari for generations, so surely there's a connection there somewhere. one of her older brother's ex-girlfriends who she actually really liked and hoped they would marry... friends, rivals, etc., anything really!

KIM SEOHAN:

here he is... gaenari's golden boy... the pinnacle of success... a hometown hero with the pressure of everyone's expectations on his shoulders...

to make a very long story short, seohan was born blessed. first of all, he was a "rainbow baby", a miracle to his parents who had been struggling with fertility issues for a while. and he had the bad luck to be born handsome, and intelligent, and talented. but these are good things? you say; well, not when it creates the expectation that he will always be handsome and intelligent and talented.

basically, seohan's grandfather introduced him to baseball at a young age; seohan fell in love with the sport. he played little league, then joined his high school team, then eventually got a scholarship to play for a prestigious university in seoul where he was also studying athletic training (so when his sports career inevitably ended, he could still find a job in the industry somehow).

good luck stuck again and seohan ended up not finishing his studies; he was scouted to join the KBO (national baseball league) and found himself on the futures team (minor league/farm team) for the hanhwa eagles, close to home in daejeon. he might have only been a minor league player but he was good looking enough that he ended up being requested for sponsorships and endorsements, at least on a local/regional level, and garnered some amount of fame.

however. he was pulled up to the major leagues for his first game. he was projected to have his big breakout, to make a name for himself on a national level, but unfortunately he suffered a season-ending injury to his right knee; ruptured ACL and torn meniscus; he's already undergone surgery and has many months of physical therapy and conditioning ahead of him before he'll be on the field again. so that's why he's in gaenari; he's recovering with the help of his family while he waits to heal up for next season.

he originally planned to stay in daejeon and recover with the help of his girlfriend, but she left him shortly after his repair operation, saying she lost all attraction to him after seeing him "like that."

so while he's in town, his old high school coach convinced him to help coach the high school team he used to play for and encourage the kids who probably have dreams of making it big like him someday. he agreed only as a favor to his coach, and it's about the only thing that gets him out of the house these days other than physical therapy appointments and the occasional endorsement or sponsorship that still trickles in despite the injury, though on a much smaller scale than he had been reaching before.

oh, also, he's gay. no one knows that and he keeps it very close to his chest. he did love his most recent ex-girlfriend but he wasn't attracted to her either.

in terms of his personality, he's rather conservative/reserved and really thinks before speaking; he's incredibly conscious of his image and it's like his biggest fear is letting people down or disappointing them. he's a bit sullen right now because he's struggling with failure for what might be the first time in this life and he doesn't know how to cope with it yet. still, he tries to fulfill the "image" that the town must have for him; he smiles even though it's faked and forced, he's polite and kind to everyone, and he's been hitting the gym a lot to stay in shape as much as he can while still healing. he's on the quiet side normally, but he's capable of holding a conversation.