Mystic Messenger trash #1

Let me present you the literal translation for the Korean counterpart:

MC: woori jyagi wajjyeong? (is our honey here?) Han Jumin: wajjyeo? (here?) Han Jumin: ah... Han Jumin: geureon uimigun (so that's what it means) Zen: mwoya...;; (what the...;;) Han Jumin: wajjiyeom (your honey is here)

This is where it gets interesting. In Korean, baby-talking is called aegyo and is often deemed cute (or cringe depending on your taste). When you talk in aegyo, you add an extra sound of -m or -ng at the end of your word, like calling your older boyfriend 오빠 (oppa) as 오빵 (oppang). You can also modify them, like turning 자기 (jagi) to 쟈기 (jyagi). Aegyo is usually spoken in a high-pitched voice and aided with cutesy gestures. It's something you do for fun with your friends, significant others or people you feel comfortable with.

Now, we all know Jumin is a no-nonsense person who's not well-versed in modern culture, albeit he has shown interest in it. The closest comparison to him practicing aegyo would be talking like Yoosung—Yoosung uses a lot of aegyo either when he's whining or happy, and honestly he's adorable for it.

Click here to watch the example of aegyo. If you skip to 0:51 you can see how woori jyagi is spoken in real life.

THE EXPLANATION

In the chat above, you start the conversation by aegyo-fying your question of whether Jumin has come to the chatroom. The normal way of asking it would be 주민씨 왔어요? (jumin-ssi wasseoyo?)

There are multiple layers to this. First, the usage of woori jyagi, which directly translates to our honey indicates affectionate possession. You can say 내 자기 (nae jagi) to mean my honey, but for the sake of aegyo, woori is used and jagi is turned to jyagi, as per the example before.

Second, you turn 왔어요 (wasseoyo) to 와쪙 (wajjyeong), which Jumin repeats out of confusion. When he catches on, he verbalises his realisation in his usual speaking style, but Zen is already like "what the heck?" because the mere sight of Jumin mimicking baby-talk is freaking him out LOL.

Then as the grand finale bam bam, Jumin plays along by answering you with 와찌염 (wajjiyeom) instead of 왔어 (wasseo).* From the context, you can glean that he refers to himself in third person, which is what acting cute is all about.

*If you're wondering about the difference between -jjyeong and -jjiyeom, it's because the former is phrased as a question while the latter is an answer.

This whole exchange is very funny that I cracked up the first time I read it. I couldn't believe Jumin would actually say that.

So yeah, you just baby-talked to him and he did it back. Now imagine Jumin doing aegyo in that deep voice of his, complete with a poker face and a mischievous glint in his eyes. Can you? Because I so can and therefore need a live demonstration ASAP to confirm my imagination.

BONUS