PERSONA.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

faceclaim: lee felix, stray kids legal name: myung doha stage name:  pronouns: he/him birthday: february 10, 2002 hometown: seoul, south korea position: lead rapper, vocalist of wonder career claims: career page

BIOGRAPHY

content / trigger warnings: none.

the really cool part about being an idol is that, technically, all you need is the look, the connections and the star quality to convince people that you're worthy of being worshipped. convincing people is half the gig and it becomes a lot easier when you've got people willing to do it for you.

he starts young, a fresh face on a children’s show, a child in the presence of adults who'd make all the decisions for him. he’s cute and he’s eyecatching, and (mostly) obedient in the way that all introverted little kids tend to be. he takes direction like a champ and they decide, before the velcros are even off his shoes, that he’ll be a star.

it's never really a question of "if" doha will be famous one day, it's when.

mercifully, they give him his youth and when kindergarten club decides to cast new faces, he goes back to life as usual.

doha is pretty. that's not to say he doesn't work hard, that there aren't things he excels at: the camera loves him, he's clever, a fast learner, quick on his feet and capable of charming his way into nearly any room. he's a chameleon, a canvas prepped and ready for anything. it's a quality that, eventually, keeps him around when other more qualified trainees are tossed to the curb after evaluations, traded to other companies while kh crafts their vision. beauty, he's told often, is a talent, too.

when doha is twelve, he watches his older brother, doyoung (who has all of the desire to enter the industry and none of the talent) debut in a boy group called wind-down. when doha is thirteen, he watches doyoung debut again, this time as a soloist, because wind-down had lasted for all of a year before things crashed and burned - a combination of conflicts between the members and unstable interest in boy groups at the time. doyoung's solo doesn't generate much interest either and doha watches him join a survival show. he watches him win. he wonders how.

through all of this, kpop, celebrity is a flickering interest fanned by the opportunities that doha gets to sit back stage when weare1 go on tour. he officially joins the drama club when he starts high school and it's only when the applause washes over him during their performances that he thinks, truly, that he might want to do something beyond his self-imposed limits of student productions and his school's radio show.

it's with this reignited drive that he shows up to kh entertainment to audition. honestly, he expects very little, but, by some stroke of luck, he passes.

he takes to being a trainee like a fish takes to water, not in the sense that he's some kind of prodigy, but that he's hungry.

doha famously gets told to sit out from a group dance evaluation that happens during his first month as a trainee. it's humiliating in several ways, but is only made worse by the fact that other trainees are especially scrutinizing with the open secret of who his brother is hovering over his head. they accuse him of getting special treatment, an easy in, especially in the wake of the way his older brother had entered the industry. doyoung is largely known for being untalented and disproportionally popular and it's a fate that many predict for doha as well, especially when quiet, nameless rumors spread that he's started training. it only serves as further motivation.

most of them are effectively silenced whenever evaluations come about, his talent in performing, selling the fantasy well enough that his shortcomings aren't as blaring as when he's on his own, indisputable. he's captivating to watch. he and doyoung have that in common, at least.

he works hard because he already feels leaps and bounds behind his peers who've wanted this and nothing else for their entire lives. even then, it’s this or he puts all his focus into school, into coming up with another reason to feed to his parents about all the college applications he hasn’t bothered sending out yet. it’s this or a part-time job in the shopping plaza, a spot with his name on it that his manager had jokingly promised he’d save for when the whole “idol thing” fell through. it’s this or nothing. so, he makes it happen.

he gets added to wonder's debut line up when he seems significantly less like a liability with two left feet. and, with that achievement unlocked, the pressure to deliver grows tenfold. his dancing improves and he plays his part with ease. when the cameras are rolling and lights wash over them, he earns his keep.

he wishes there had been classes for all the hard parts, too. when the initial excitement of debut wears off a little bit, doha feels exhaustion to a degree he’s never experienced before. he finds himself chugging energy drinks during working hours, when the hour-long power naps between schedules leave him just this side of loose and delirious and he’s not coming off as cool and collected as he’d planned to when he monitors their content. the fans seem to like it, seem to latch onto the sleep-deprived confusion that dictates his responses to questions during their first few interviews. by their words, he’s dreamy, whimsical and starry-eyed; by his own, he’s dead on his feet and being held together by stage makeup and caffeine. it sticks, the image, and it helps that he looks the part, that it isn’t entirely a lie so much as an extension of the truth.

it’s a hard adjustment, one that isn’t made any easier by the busy schedule of a rookie boy group, but he improves with practice; real practice, the kind that happens in front of an actual camera and not in the practice room mirror, and wins the favor of his critics when his movements begin to look more natural as he loses the anxious tension that had stiffened his limbs. he gains confidence as a lead rapper, proves himself capable of holding a few good notes, and he finds his footing as an idol. he settles into his own niche once the company starts putting him out in the commercial ether, and as the years go by, he stops feeling like he’s wearing someone else’s skin. doha is content, but as wonder’s star rises and they prove themselves a force to be reckoned within the ever-changing world of idols, he can’t help but feel like he’s stagnating. he’s become an idol, a successful one, achieving the very basis of what had really been his only long-held dream, but now what? for the first time in a long time, he finds himself in need of something to aspire to. the only real problem is he doesn’t really know where to start.

PUBLIC IMAGE

doha's image is that of the archetypal pretty boy. his slight androgyny makes him unique and his candid, unrushed personality often draws comparisons to the otherworldly. it goes without saying that his visuals are his selling point with his fancams pretty consistently raking up impressive views and even, on occasion, going viral. it's something he does pretty passively, but he has a real talent for modeling, as striking as he is soft, his looks are a versatile commodity.

he's not very competitive or high energy, but he is very confident, so much so that there's a running joke within the fanbase that doha “never worries about the competition, because he’s already won in his head” which, paired with his knack for cheating and a natural sass, brings it's own brand of hilarity to variety content. though, ironically, it's also gotten him into his fair share of trouble.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

faceclaim: lee donghyuck (haechan), nct legal name: kim daehyun stage name: d pronouns: he/him birthday: june 21, 2000 hometown: busan, south korea position: main vocalist of origin career claims: career page

BIOGRAPHY

content / trigger warnings: mentions of potential depression.

daehyun’s future was supposed to be perfect, him coming from a well-established family that held many plans for him, as he was the first male born. his father, a ceo from a hi-tech conglomerate, met dae’s mom when she was in her prime days as a singer from a popular group. despite keeping their relationship, she didn’t give up on her career, only going on hiatus when she got pregnant of her two first kids.

but returning to daehyun’s childhood, he was always a bright kid who had his ideas encouraged by his parents, until the day he showed signs he wanted to follow his mother’s footsteps - it all started with him singing in the shower and then following his mom’s singing in the kitchen or when she would take him to a couple of schedules.

daehyun’s father started to frown upon them, restricting him from going out with his mom. even at a young age, he ordered the boy to understand and learn more about the business he was supposed to inherit in the future. daehyun hated those moments, every time running towards his mom, who tried her best to make the boy’s life happy.

when things got really bad, daehyun woke up one day without his mom at home. his father told him his mom abandoned the family, and decided to keep her career instead of taking care of the family. he was 9 years old when he felt the first and biggest betrayals of his life: the person he trusted and thought would be a source of support for something he was learning to love just vanished and didn’t even take him with them.

even if his dad didn’t like where daehyun’s sudden love for music was going, he couldn’t do anything but support his son (against his deeper feelings), since the boy was showing signs of depression and solitude. when scouts came to daehyun’s school and talked to a few kids’ parents about offering a chance to become trainees, his father realized he couldn’t do much, not when his son looked absolutely thrilled with that opportunity.

daehyun’s history as a trainee started from the bottom; he had a unique tone of voice, and that was the main reason why he got scouted. he was a hardworking young man who spent every second of his free time inside a practice room or writing songs. he always liked to write, and to be able to finally write stories that could turn into songs was another of his dreams coming true. his image was always portrayed as an extrovert, and he definitely was one, but he confused a lot of people when he turned to his professional mode.

even at a young age, he would become more serious than other senior trainees when he had to complete a task or when he got scolded for slacking during practice. not even his closest friends were able to move him from that spot, not until he felt he had made progress - that’s something he still keeps to this day.

reaching peak idol life, one could say daehyun had no more dreams, but they were totally wrong. he still holds dreams, and hopes to fulfill them one day, the biggest of them is to never face disbandment from the people he considers his family.

PUBLIC IMAGE

golden voice.

daehyun both loved and hated the title given to him. 

it started with his fans, and at first, he thought it was cute how they would smile and encourage him to keep singing, how they would praise him even when he knew he wasn’t doing a good job. they liked to promote him around, saying his voice was like no one else’s and how anyone could tell he was the one singing any line from origin’s songs.

but when people in the industry started to praise him as well, and use that title, instead of feeling happy, daehyun felt overwhelmed, sometimes even terrified. the idea of failing and making the group’s life hard started to weigh on his shoulders, and even if the members would tell him to calm down and relax, enjoy the ride, and have fun, daehyun became extremely aware of the role he was supposed to play.

composition was another sensitive topic when it came to his career, but for different reasons. when daehyun started to compose, and had his songs chosen to feature in origin’s albums, he didn’t think he could feel any better, even if most of the songs were b-sides. but when they started to pick his compositions to origin’s title tracks and had some of them picked as a debut single to other groups, the responsibility grew on him again.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

faceclaim: park minju, illit  legal name: son youngseo stage name: mara pronouns: she/her birthday: november 20, 2003 hometown: mokpo, south korea position: main vocalist, rapper of kismet career claims: career page

BIOGRAPHY

content / trigger warnings: none

it seems that youngseo was always around the musical or idol industry. as a youth, she had participated in k-pop star, although she was not among the top names or winners, her age and enthusiasm for the industry did provide some with a lasting impression. her family supported her gusto for the potential career path by allowing her to attend the appropriate schools, which eventually led to her being cast with kh entertainment. there was this sense of always feeling like she was falling behind. she’d missed the uproar and hype of kh rookies, and the timing wasn’t right. youngseo entered the company around the time where i:ris was being formed and planned for debut. when would the company debut another girl group? that quickly? no way… but girl’s got to try.

now lets take a detour from the company for a bit and look at what makes the pieces of youngseo, youngseo. being the youngest sibling of two, she ended up being the spoiled one by her family, a bit coddled and babied by her brother too. even if not necessarily by money, it was by a caring bundle of a family. and yes she did get that cat she asked for. but this type of dynamic led to her being a little bit outspoken, and quite an extrovert whilst in school and as she continued in her years into teenagehood. which could sometimes lead to dampened expectations and lots of teeth gritting when reality came harsher than what her home life had provided. so she’s definitely the one who learned that things don’t always come the way she wanted, through her various attempts at breaking into the industry that failed until she got into kh entertainment. so back to it then:

the thing about being in any company is that it was no guarantee for debut. many more became trainees leaving, rather than debuting within their companies… she’d seen it happen with kh rookies - a specific number being the chosen few to graduate from the program itself. but she had a dream. whether it would be getting into the next version of rookies, or being put into another training group at kh entertainment en route to debut… she had a dream. but youngseo decided she’d also make herself useful. if she couldn’t make it in a group, she could try her act at music writing. in tandem with enrolling into post-secondary for composing, she began putting more efforts into her creative projects to hopefully participate with credits more in the future.

PUBLIC IMAGE

as a trainee, it was in due to her unrestrained personality that youngseo became notorious for- being quite bubbly, vivacious and a bit extra. there was a 99% chance the girl always had a smile on her face and she was almost bouncing off the ceilings and walls like a jumping jellybean. though through observing herself through vlogs, clips, behind the scenes, and through the company’s coaching, youngseo learned quickly that there should be limits to what one showcases, even if they want to be true to themselves. there is a fine line between being unbearable or being someone that nobody wants to work with, and they can’t use the excuse of age forever, despite kismet debuting with rather youthful ages. with some commentary from the internetizens, and further guidance from her members and the company, she learned the balancing act of who she would become. among quieter, more serious, but also more jovial personalities, youngseo settled on a happy medium that the public and members could rely on.

the immature air wore off quickly after debut, settling in to focusing more on what was behind the scenes. she was still chatty, and one of the extroverted members, but restrain was the name of the game. she was also focusing more on the image she would present within her group, and was extremely serious about that.

the newly named idol, mara, had the same smile and energy, but it was more contained, but still conveyed a charming side to her. its giving less obnoxious, and more playful. see, she’d rather not taint her image nor the group’s image, so she converts the majority of her vibrating energy into her performance, giving it her all and always doing her best to showcase the good side of her image, and if the public has to scrutinize her on anything, may it be for a melody rather than her attitude.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

faceclaim: jung chaeyeon, actress legal name: shin youra stage name:  pronouns: she/her birthday: october 4, 1997 hometown: seoul, south korea position: main rapper, vocalist of serene career claims: career page

BIOGRAPHY

content / trigger warnings: none.

shin youra lives as a testament to her parents’ legacy.

unlike most children, her early childhood was spent behind velvet curtains, meddling with props while she recited lines she had no business knowing, up until she fell asleep to the sound of muted applause. youra was mesmerized by it all—the bright lights, the colorful costumes, not to mention the praise she’d hear from her parents’ colleagues alike—following in their footsteps was the most natural outcome.

of course, no one really asked her what she wanted. no one asked her if she was willing to carry the weight of her parents’ legacy. it was something that she had to do, like an obligation almost. after all, she couldn’t bear to disappoint them, could she?

then again, she didn’t know who she was outside being their daughter, shin youra. she didn’t know what it was like to just be youra. not until she turned fourteen. when she first caught a glimpse of the hallyu wave. she found the same bright lights and the same colourful costumes there—now paired with upbeat music and repurposed into an entirely different world outside of her upbringing. for the first time in her entire life, she knew what she wanted.

it didn't take long for her to audition soon after. with her innate skill nurtured through the years of being a child actress, she found herself in the halls of kh entertainment despite her parents’ hesitation. having dedicated their lives to a more traditional kind of performing arts, they’ve always seen the industry as something volatile and often dismissed it as a passing trend built on spectacle rather than longevity.

youra was determined to prove them wrong.

her efforts came to fruition when she placed seventh on the idol survival program ‘eighteen’ and finally debuted as a member of serene three years after she became a trainee. she came to be known as the soft-hearted yet hardworking one of the group. the one that put her members first above her own desires. and while their undeniable success should’ve been confirmation of her own skill, there’s still a persistent feeling that wondered if she truly deserved her place. 

and so, she does what she’s good at. she worked herself to the bone, filling her schedules with countless distractions. she keeps working hard to keep those thoughts at bay. over the years, that doubt became easier to dismiss. but when she’s left in the solitude of their dressing room, staring at herself in the mirror that watched her grow, she’s reminded that it never truly left.

PUBLIC IMAGE

through years of activity, youra has become a household name, even considered as one of serene’s most versatile members. her work ethic is almost unrivaled, and she delivers consistent performances through their music as well as her personal projects such as variety shows and the occasional acting opportunity.

that wasn’t always the case, however. youra’s final placement on ‘eighteen’ was not well-received, initially. while her family life was never a secret, her background was revealed to the public merely a week after the show’s end and became a topic of speculation, the most apparent topic being whether that was the deciding factor of her debut. there was no evidence of voting manipulation or favoritism ever proven and kh entertainment continues to strongly maintain their stance on the topic: that youra’s debut is a product of her own efforts, her continuous improvement, and overall audience votes rather than her parents’ connections. 

CHARACTER INFORMATION

faceclaim: park jiwon, model legal name: elizabeth kim / kim yeonji stage name: ellie pronouns: she/her birthday: july 4, 2005 hometown: los angeles, california, usa position: vocalist, dancer, rapper, maknae of katze career claims: career page

BIOGRAPHY

content / trigger warnings: death, mention of illness.

elizabeth “ellie” kim was born on a sunny, burning day of summer in los angeles, california, to a movie producer and a renowned sculptor.

as the granddaughter of the legendary shin minhee, one of the most iconic actresses of the ‘70s, she was upon birth graced with beauty and perhaps the potential to be a star written in the path of her life.

she enjoyed a happy, peaceful childhood in their luxurious mansion in malibu, surrounded by the love and attention of her family, until everything changed when her mother was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately passed away after a long battle.

her life would’ve never been the same after that tragic, unexpected event.

her father married another woman after only 6 months, much to ellie’s disapproval. this woman, a family friend, had been very polite and sweet to the little girl before the marriage and always brought her all kinds of gifts. unfortunately, after the marriage, her persona completely changed, and she turned out to be a selfish, cold-hearted woman interested only in money and influence.

ellie refused to call that woman “mom,” and promised herself she would’ve never permitted her to taint the memory of her mother. but another change was right around the corner. her father was about to become an executive at the korean branch of a major film studio. in light of this, the family had to relocate to korea within the next two months.

a new chapter was about to start.

seoul, s. korea

2019

ellie was resting on her bed after a long day at school, scrolling on her phone as usual, when a notification from instagram popped up on her screen.

“you have a message request from …"

she genuinely had no idea who that user was. it wasn’t in her followings and their name wasn’t familiar.

when she was about to block them, she changed her mind and decided to take a look at their profile, just in case. their bio said ”@ dsn entertainment.“

the girl widened her eyes in surprise at what she had just read.

“dsn entertainment?“

what would they possibly want from her? the only thing that made sense was that they were interested in her and wanted to invite her to an audition. but the idea of becoming an idol had never crossed her mind. at least, not before that specific moment.

if she decided to block them she would never have known for sure. but something inside her was telling her to accept that request.

she didn’t know that message was about to change the trajectory of her life.

it turned out that the message had been sent by a talent scout from dsn entertainment, exactly as ellie had imagined. they were interested in her and invited her to an audition. even though she was initially skeptical about it, ellie accepted the invitation, went to the audition and ultimately passed it, much to the surprise of both herself and her family.

after passing the audition, she was happier than she would’ve liked to admit. before the audition, she had never considered becoming an idol.

unlike most girls her age, ellie didn’t have a dream before the audition. whenever people asked her, “what do you want to do when you grow up?”, they usually expected her to answer, “a model, an actress or both,” considering her previous work experience. instead she simply blinked at the question and replied, “i don’t know. something that makes me happy, i guess?“

but after performing in front of other people for the first time during her audition, something inside her changed. something was different. when she held the mic and started rapping, she felt something that she had never felt before. she felt alive. she felt free. a feeling of freedom she had almost forgotten after her stepmother moved in with them after the marriage. since then, she had been forced to follow her strict, nonsensical rules and listen to her complain about pretty much everything.

after all, she was starting to like the idea of becoming an idol and performing on stage one day. as for acting and modeling, she had never actually decided to get into them by herself — her parents basically had chosen for her back in the day. she was too young to even understand what she was doing and whatever she actually liked it. when she was old enough to understand, she realized she actually enjoyed it, but at the same time she felt detached from the whole thing, as if it didn’t really belong to her because it wasn’t her choice. someone else had chosen for her. this time, she wanted to decide for herself.

in the end, she decided to take this opportunity and eventually signed the contract with her father’s approval, officially becoming a trainee under dsn entertainment. but that feeling of joy after signing the contract was soon to be replaced by a sense of uncertainty and a certain amount of nervousness about what was waiting for her.

the start of her journey as a trainee wasn’t exactly easy. at the beginning, a good number of the trainees was pretty hostile towards her, as they believed she had gotten in thanks to her father’s connections, when in fact her father wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the idea of ellie choosing this path but ultimately accepted her decision. some of them, on the other hand, believed she had been accepted solely for her visuals. while her visuals definitely played an important role during her audition, ellie also managed to impress the staff with her smooth, energetic rapping style and her spontaneous attitude. when asked what her initial thoughts were about being scouted by dsn entertainment, she candidly admitted she had initially thought she was being scammed, which resulted in everyone laughing.

ellie was perfectly aware of the wide gap between herself and the other trainees regarding her skills: although she had taken acting classes in the past, she had never studied singing or dancing and only practiced a couple of choreographies from her favorite groups in front of a mirror in her room. the only area where she seemed to be naturally talented was rapping: she had been practicing rap parts for over a year and had even started writing some of her own, but considered it just one of her hobbies before the audition.

another thing she was perfectly aware of was the fact that her spot wasn’t granted. no one else’s was at the end of the day. that’s how the system works. she needed to work hard and improve in her weakest areas, such as singing and dancing, to get on par with the other trainees if she didn’t want to pale in comparison to them during evaluations.

as a result, she dedicated herself to training every day. she started staying longer after vocal lessons, noting down every single suggestion from the coaches. she practiced each choreography and paid attention to every single detail, becoming one of the last to leave the practice room.

although she was exhausted at the end of the day and collapsed into bed, she promised herself she wouldn’t give up this time. whenever she felt too tired, she repeated to her mother’s words to herself and eventually regained the motivation to keep going: "every dream starts with a dreamer. always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars waiting for you.”

she had finally found her dream, something that exclusively belonged to her, and she wanted to stay until she finally realized it.

seoul, s. korea

2023

the rumors regarding the debut of the upcoming girl group continued to circulate, becoming increasingly hard to ignore. some of these claimed the debut was imminent, while others claimed the exact opposite. no one really knew the truth at the end of the day. the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense as the days went by, and the tension among the trainees was palpable.

when the staff gathered all the female trainees in one of the practice rooms for an important announcement, everyone suspected it was something related to the new girl group. when they announced that the final selection process for the members of the upcoming girl group was going to be filmed for a pre-debut reality show consisting of eight episodes in total, and the series would begin airing after the lineup had been finalized, the trainees were taken by surprise.

even though the rumors about the debut being almost imminent had already spread among them, no one had really imagined that everything was going to happen in front of the cameras. a part of them wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea of starring in a reality show, while the others were genuinely anxious about the idea of netizens commenting on everything about them, from their skills to their appearance, before their debut.

but for ellie, it was different.

given her experience as a child model and actress, ellie had always been very comfortable in front of the cameras, and the thought of being recorded didn’t scare her as much. not even receiving comments from netizens scared her.

after all, she had already received comments from netizens even before becoming a trainee. at that time, the interest in her was related to her being the granddaughter of such a famous actress. the general public was curious about her appearance and they wanted to see if she resembled her grandmother. her pics started circulating on various platforms like pann nate and thequoo, with netizens commenting on her looks, and that’s probably how that talent scout from dsn entertainment found her.

what was potentially a disadvantage for the others was actually an advantage for her.

after almost 4 years spent as a trainee, ellie was ready to start the competition with the other trainees. she was perfectly aware of her weaknesses, but she had improved enough to receive praise by the coaches over the years, and she believed in her strengths, such as rapping and stage presence.

now that the moment had finally arrived, she had no intention of giving up, and she was going to give her all, no matter how it was going to end.

seoul, s. korea

2026

on february 2024, ellie finally debuted as katze’s vocalist, dancer, rapper and maknae. she had waited for that moment since the start of her journey as a trainee. she was immensely happy and couldn’t wait to perform on stage, the place where she felt most alive, and was waiting impatiently to interact with their fans. after 2 years since her debut, she’s starting to enjoy the rewards of their hard work and looks forward to the future. under the glittering façade being an idol is certainly not easy, especially in these days but ellie is now sure that choosing this path was the right choice for her and ultimately doesn’t regret it. she thinks this is what she was always meant to be and wants to continue on this journey, with its upsides and downsides.

PUBLIC IMAGE

ellie embodies the signature qualities of the idols under dsn entertainment: a unique personality, star quality, and she is widely considered a strong performer, like the rest of katze’s members.

while she may not be the strongest vocalist or dancer in her group, she has earned a reputation as a capable, well-rounded performer thanks to her rapping skills and stage presence.

her image was carefully crafted to maintain a balance between exclusivity and approachability. the company marketed her as glamorous and effortlessly stylish, but approachable enough to feel genuine. in other words, she’s presented as the kind the girl you’d want to be. the girl other girls look up to, admire and ultimately want to emulate. this strategy is clearly reflected in the brands the company has chosen for her to represent, such as chanel.

given her past experience as a child model and actress, ellie basically grew up in front of the cameras. as a result, she’s very comfortable in front of them, and sometimes she seems to forget she’s being recorded, leading to hilarious moments where she gets scolded by the staff.

ellie doesn’t really like the idea of putting on an act for the camera. she’s unapologetically herself, even if sometimes it comes with consequences. as such, she’s considered spontaneous and authentic by both her fans and the general public. on the other side, she’s also considered a little naive and accused of lacking media training at times.

as the group’s maknae, ellie is always ready to deliver the right amount of aegyo and cuteness, flashing a brighter smile for the cameras whenever needed. this side of her creates an interesting contrast with the fierce persona she presents on stage.

at debut, she received a considerable amount of hateful comments from pearle (divine’s fandom). nowadays, the fandom seems to be divided into two factions when it comes to her. one side continues to compare her to divine’s maknae, saying that she’s not as talented as her predecessor, while the other become more favorable towards her and appreciates the fact that ellie openly named divine as her favorite kpop group and always showed nothing but admiration and respect to her seniors.

even though it’s been two years since her debut with katze, the criticism surrounding her wealthy background and her status as a nepo baby doesn’t seem to have faded. many netizens are still convinced that she was signed thanks to her family’s connections in the industry and wouldn’t have gotten very far if she weren’t the granddaughter of the legendary shin minhee. some also argue that her visuals aren’t on par with her grandmother’s. on the contrary, other netizens say that she’s where she is mainly thanks to her outstanding visuals, reducing her to just a pretty face. these comments usually describe her as talentless and criticize the number of fashion gigs she landed in the span of two years, saying she’d be better of as a model than as an idol.

other criticism usually addressed her supposed sassy attitude in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. some netizens, usually stans of other groups, accused ellie of behaving like a diva, being self-centered, and thinking she’s above everyone else, including her teammates. some of these even claimed to have witnessed her alleged behavior in person. however, the validity of these claims is still highly questionable, and they haven’t significantly tainted ellie’s reputation so far.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

faceclaim: nicha yontararak (minnie), i-dle legal name: daisy noi stage name:  pronouns: she/her birthday: august 9, 1997 hometown: tustin, california, usa position: lead vocalist of serene career claims: career page

BIOGRAPHY

content / trigger warnings: none.

daisy was born an raised in southern california. her parents immigrated to tustin when they were in elementary school so they had westernized views raising when raising her and her siblings. due to this she was able to pursue her passions, which happened to be acting and singing. she was put in classes from a young age and was eventually accepted to orange county school of arts (osca) where she was discovered by a kh employee during 10th grade. she auditioned at their los angeles office and managed to pass on her first try. from then on her parents would trek through la traffic to take her to training right after her classes at osca and during the weekend. she trained really hard and often daydreamed of debuting.

her dream came when she was 16 years old with the survival show eighteen. her korean still wasn't the best at this point so she really felt the imposture syndrome which effected the way she performed. she honestly was shocked she made it in the group but extremely grateful that the voters were able to see her passion and talent even with her mistakes.

however, the reality of it was, she was she was mostly voted because she was funny. during the show she was offline the entire time so when she logged onto her socials she saw all the memes that were made about her. she didn't let this effect her, though. she took it as a badge of honor and continued being herself, or as much as her managers would let her be. due to this she's known as a "hot loser" to the fans.

throughout her career she's one of the members who stay the busy. she's always working on a project whether it be acting, hosting or modeling appearances. it's a meme within the fandom that she's like a shark who has to keep moving or else she'll die. asides gentuinely enjoying the work, this works in her favor because everyone thinks she's too busy to be in a relationship which keeps the fans happy and herself less stressed.

PUBLIC IMAGE

she's known to really toe the line of parasocial relationships. she goes live and on bubble often to feed the fans and likes leaning into this connection they have with her. she grew up with a lot of siblings and then debuted in a group with a lot of members, so she really loves the attention she gets. because of this she's one the most active on social media as well, doing the latest trends and really playing into being goofy. if she makes a grammatical error saying something, she'll joke and say it isn't her fault she never finished high school.

she used to get into a lot more trouble saying out of pocket things, but as the group grew older she would gradually get a bit more freedom with what she posts since the weirder she is the more viral the clips will go, which leads to more music streams. her most recent viral moment was when she told her fans she binge read the bible because of an anime she loves, which wasn't true but the clip itself garnered 15 million views across multiple platforms. this brought more eyes to serene's music since it mainly went viral in the anime community who grew curious and looked into her, only revealing more clips and that would lead to a deep dive.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

faceclaim: yu jimin (karina), aespa legal name: moon sooah stage name: celeste pronouns: she/her birthday: december 30, 1998 hometown: sydney, australia position: vocalist, dancer, maknae of serene career claims: career page

BIOGRAPHY

content / trigger warnings: please include any potential triggers that appear.

moon sooah grew up in sydney, australia and truthfully, had never imagined that she would ever call seoul home. born on the 30th december 1998, she spent her childhood enclosed by a loving and sweet family, but the majority of the time she could more than likely be found in front of a tv or computer screen, entirely fascinated by music. it was one specific music video that drew her attention completely, changing everything for her. sapphire, the group that made her want to become an idol, even at her young age.

from that moment on, her dream became something she wanted to thrive for. she begged her parents to enroll her into dance classes, throwing herself into every lesson she could in order to learn more, but that just wasn't enough for her. she spent hours teaching herself choreography at home, replaying performances until she had every movement memorised and perfected. as her confidence grew, she began practicing her singing in addition, determined to become someone who could do it all – an all rounder as people would say now.. every spare moment she had was spent working towards a future that she longed for entirely, but one that she would never realise would be so hard to grasp onto.

when kh entertainment had announced that they were opening auditions, sooah saw the opportunity she'd been waiting for and begged her parents. unfortunately for her, she wasn’t in seoul, she lived in sydney. but with her passion and fight in her, sooah wouldn’t let that stop her. after begging her parents and probably annoying them slightly, they finally, reluctantly agreed to the audition.

and yet somehow, by a miracle, sooah had passed.

perhaps her parents didn't think she would pass, entirely surprised by the news that they were both hesitant to let her move to a country she had only visited briefly in the past. that was their only child, their daughter, their sweet miracle. they couldn’t pack up their lives in sydney for something they didn’t know much about. yet after extensive talks, her parents finally decided to agree, on one condition – she had to live with her grandparents, which she was entirely happy with.

so when she was just eleven years old, young sooah packed her suitcases, said a hard, tearful goodbye to the life she had always known, her parents and left sydney. while her parents remained in sydney, she moved in with her grandparents who quickly became her home away from home. adjusting to an unfamiliar, new country, a language that she didn’t know much of, a culture she needed to adjust to wasn’t easy. there were days where she missed her family so much that it physically hurt, days where her training was so rough and hard that she wondered if she was made for this, if she would be able to succeed, if she had even made the right choice. but on those days, her grandparents would remind her why she was there, her parents would lift her up and tell her she had already made it this far.

as the years passed, sooah steadily grew from an eager child into a talented trainee. there were no announcements, no promises that she would debut, and some days she wondered if she would even make it anywhere. but when kh entertainment announced a new survival show program called eighteen, a show that would decide the lineup for the next girl group, sooah knew she had to be part of it. having trained for a while at this point, she quickly earned herself a place amongst the contestants, but the competition itself proved to be far more difficult than she had ever anticipated.

as the youngest participant, she felt overlooked constantly. due to her age, she felt like she was underestimated, making her feel like she had to work twice as hard just to be taken seriously, just to show that she had the talents despite her age. each and every performance felt like a hurdle, but it was one that she took as an opportunity to prove that she belonged there, that she had what it took despite everything. as the was the youngest, her confidence wasn’t as strong as some of the other contestants, but as the show kept on, sooah’s confidence quietly grew and showed more and more.

week after week, she fought her way through. the competition, the hurdles, the struggles and difficulties. she slowly began to prove her skills, showing her improvement and professionalism. in the finale, her heart beating and thumping, as each contestant was announced as part of the lineup, sooah felt her hopes slipping from her. until her name was finally announced, as the eighth and final member. the years of sacrifice, hard work, homesicknes had finally paid off.

on the 5th may 2014, moon sooah officially debuted in serene with the stage name celeste, the maknae of the group. though she entered the group as the youngest member and final contestant to earn her place, she still continued to prove herself, deep down still feeling like she had to try twice as hard.

PUBLIC IMAGE

when sooah first debuted, there was a lot of discussion about whether she was too young to debut at the age she did, let alone to debut in a group like serene with such a large age gap with their leader. the first few years of her career in serene were far from easy, still feeling like she had to earn her place despite being a solid member of the group. however as the years passed, being surrounded by her members who were older than her, from different backgrounds, sooah slowly began to creep out of her shell more and more, simply because she had the safety net and supportive system around her. being the youngest gave her the leeway to be cheeky, playful, to mess around with her members just like they were her big sisters. in behind the scenes videos, people would see how playful and fun sooah was with her members, even extending to variety shows and more.

despite how packed their schedules always were, sooah still tried her best to be the mood maker, wanting nothing more than to cheer her members up and make them smile and laugh. due to this, some people would call her a ‘pick me’, say she was annoying her members or that she was immature. while sooah tried her best to not let it get to her, she couldn’t deny that the anonymous words sometimes hurt more than she wanted to admit.

over time, she slowly began to ease on her playful side, but it wasn’t because of what people would say about her. she began to grow up, mature in ways where she couldn’t always be the playful and mischievous maknae she was in their earlier days. she had always been one of the more overlooked members, until she had her first lead role in a film called 20th century girl. the moment the film came out, everyone loved it. they loved sooah’s portrayal of bora, the storyline, the chemistry – they loved everything. after that, sooah began to gain more solo opportunities. people wanted to see more of actress sooah, but with how packed and busy serene’s schedules were, it wasn’t easy.

after sooah’s past appearances in dramas and movies, when she was confirmed to be a lead role in lovely runner, people couldn’t wait. lovely runner was her biggest achievement outside of serene, the show became one that even years later, people still spoke about. her acting career gained her a new, separate group of fans. she became well loved, memorable and in some people's eyes – special. since her successful acting career, the company had put a bit more effort in her, styling her more pristine and ethereal-like. it was clear that the company wanted to keep up the attention on her.