#jongno:welcome

FREE FORM.

from a young age hikari always knew she wanted to be in the music industry. being an only child to two upper middle class parents they absolutely doted on her, enrolling her in all of the music and dance classes her heart desired as long as it didn’t interfere with her studies (which it obviously never did.) when middle school came around hikari dropped all her dance classes and focused on honing her music skills (mostly piano and guitar) while beginning to dabble in writing her own songs. she quickly realized that is where her real passion lay and threw herself into it, having twenty five songs completed by the time she entered her last year of middle school. during school one day word got around that a very coveted entertainment company in south korea was holding open auditions for trainees and hikari knew what she wanted to do.

fast forward a year and hikari was in seoul after officially being accepted into the company, her life officially consisting of training all day every day. was it her dream? not exactly but being in an entertainment company meant she was just one step closer to her actual dream, songwriting. But with every day the passed she came closer and closer to realizing maybe this wasn’t worth it. not only was the company lowkey abusive to the trainees and even some non trainees but she was a thousand miles away from home and everyone who loved her. unfortunately for her though… she was stuck. her contract had an iron grip around her and unless they fired her, hikari wasn’t going anywhere. the thought of debuting gave her debilitating panic attacks almost every night, to the point where she thought about just running away in the middle of the night and disappearing back to japan. but that meant not getting to pursue her actual dream and that thought crushed her… so she stayed. she stayed for four year – keeping her head down while also trying her best to convince the higher ups to let her dabble in songwriting. spoiler alert – it didn’t work. after a lengthy conversation about how she didn’t have the talent for it and they haven’t been training her all these years to become a songwriter, hikari knew she had to leave.

eventually, at the ripe ol’ age of nineteen, she was able to get out of her contract – packing up her room and moving home as quick as she could. did she force their hand a bit, telling them she refused to debut in a group? … maybe? but all that mattered was that she was home. the next year was spent with her uploading all her songs onto soundcloud, under the pseudonym moonbunny and hoping no one would put two and two together, figuring out she was the ex-trainee who basically disappeared into thin air who the company refuses to even acknowledge ever existed. it only took six months for her to get “discovered” again, getting a call from a higher up at canvas labs who wanted her to come work for them in seoul. after almost two full weeks of deliberation she agreed, under the condition that she could work for them in secret, her real name and appearance not getting out to the general public. and they agreed. so moonbunny works for canvas labs and the only people in her life that know? her parents.

FREE FORM.

born in the heart of seoul and raised by his mother’s younger sister (minjee) after his mother passed when bae was around four. his dad was never in the picture and his maternal grandparents died before he was even born so the only person who would take and raise him was his aunt, saving him from foster care. to this day they are still best friends, living in the same apartment that he’s been in for the past twenty one years.

bae found his love of fashion from his aunt, who used to make all of his clothes and was the one who taught him how to sew. he now rarely buys anything brand new, preferring to scour vintage shops and thrift stores to supplement his clothing each season. 

currently he runs an online vintage shop, reselling any cool pieces he finds thrifting (and doesn’t keep for himself) and also clothes he reforms himself. the shop has really taken off in the past year and he currently has a little office space (not in his apartment anymore, much to the joy of his aunt) he works out of. in his spare time he creates entirely new pieces, spending most all of the money he makes at the fabric store

his ultimate goal in life is to be a fashion designer, aspiring to see his original designs walking down a runway one day. for now though? he is okay with his designs being mostly worn by his friends and occasionally seeing them on random people walking down the sidewalk.

FREE FORM.

dear diary,

we're about to debut soon, or pre-debut, whatever that means. anyway, i know i haven't written in a while, so i wanted to give a reason why, which is weird because i'm going to be the only one to read this anyway, so why would i need an explanation, right?

maybe it's just my anxiousness speaking or i wanted to read back on this one day and remember what i was doing. whatever the reason is, i decided that even if it is 3 in the morning, i should still write something.

i'm still not sure if this is the right path for me, but it seems to make my parents happy which counts for something... doesn't it? as long as somebody is happy. hopefully i can write a little sooner next time.

bye.

/

dear diary,

we just made our official debut, and it's been pretty well received. i saw the comments about my parents though, and i'm not surprised to see people calling me a nepo baby.

they wouldn't be all that incorrect anyway.

still, it's kind of sad that all my hard work gets brushed off just because my parents have connections, but that's just something i'll have to deal with if i want to be more successful.

...but do i?

i'm not too sure.

okay, bye.

/

dear diary,

i feel stuck.

well, actually, i'm not sure if that's the right word, but i don't know what i'm doing right now/

hi/fi has been successful, and i don't think this wave of success is going to die down any time soon. i'm happy for the group, and it's nice to feel loved and appreciated, especially because i haven't felt that in a while.

but i still feel like it's all going to come crashing down one day. i'm afraid i'll coming crashing down one day, and that i'll lose the last strand of hope i had for myself.

maybe i'm overthinking it? but i overthink everything, so that doesn't sound like a surprise to me.

FREE FORM.

“yes, father.” haeun lets her forehead rest against the table, every fiber in her being fighting against the urge to hang up the phone. “i know, father. but i’m not--”

it’s useless to try and argue, so she lets him repeat the same problems he has with her as always. why didn’t you choose an apartment closer to hongik, why didn’t you sign up for the etiquette lessons like i told you to, why didn’t you attend your mother’s fundraiser party? haeun’s nails dig into the palm of her hand.

i’m not paying for your college tuition only for you to screw around with some random girl on the other side of the river. her blood boils, but by now she knows not to take the bait. she has to keep her head low and let him dish it out, and that way at least she gets to keep the life she’s gotten used to. he is paying for her college tuition after all - and for a driver to take her to and from classes, and for the apartment she lives in, and for everything else she buys on his credit card.

“i’m sorry i missed mother’s party. i was studying. i had a big project to finish that week. got 100% on it.”

good. it’s the least we expect of you for ignoring us.

“i’m sorry, father,” she repeats, and he goes on another monologue that she barely listens to. at the end of the day, she supposes she’s lucky: they could very well oppose her relationship and force her to marry the son of some chaebol family, but instead they simply severely frown upon it. they also weren’t against her career of choice, and they don’t really question her purchases as long as she can keep her grades up and her social media profiles flourishing. it all lines up with her goals, and it won’t be for much longer regardless: she’ll graduate soon, and then she’ll have all the time in the world to focus on her work so she can buy an apartment of her own.

mr. lee really liked your design, the words pull her back to the conversation, and she beams. he’ll want you to do his house in jeju next. this is huge, haeun - he could be hiring you to work on his hotels next. don’t screw it up or you’ll make me look bad.

FREE FORM.

“mom, i’m telling you it’s not anything serious.  no, no, im not sick. i’ve — i’ve just been busy —”

it’s a call he made and thought would be like any other he’s made in the past; catching up and chatting away after an excuse for lack of calling has been passed successfully, hearty laughs and promises of visitations. however, a single wrong word comes out of his mouth thoughtlessly and, to ienada yuriko, it’s as if he pulled a trigger of a shotgun aimed straight at her heart. yuji’s face turns pale once he hears the tone of his mother’s voice turn more stern, the sweet and loving yu-chan he knows so well turned into his full name, spoken with a coldness to it. an onslaught of complains and scorning ensues and he remains silent through it, for the most part knowing that the things his mother says are true. for the past year — he has been neglectful.

any other time, the walk home from his shift would be refreshing, even if his limbs barely moved and felt heavy. walk through the drunken young adults and the wait at the bus stops for the first morning buses would be a chore, though the short walk uphill from his stop to the share-house would (surprisingly) calm him. he’s learned to appreciate the greenery and the fresh air that comes from surrounding, a stark contrast to the world of smog he’d emerge from. now, the sound of birds chirping is inaudible, and the sun’s rays are like a slap with each step he makes, droplets of sweat forming at his neck, feeling of his winter jacket hugging him becoming suffocating. cruel as it sounds, he wishes he’s never called back when he got off the bus.

“yuji, are you even listening to me?”

the keys to the share-house’s gate rattle and with a loud creek, the door opens into the courtroom. most of the tenants have gone on their way, or are sleeping still. there is only the sound of nature that surrounds him & the heavy air of silence as she waits for his answer.

“yes, i’m here, mom, i’m listening,”

before he can continue and say anything else, his mother cuts him off again. she tells him how he’s changed, how she doesn’t want them to drift apart, how he’s not the son she raised. how she only wants the best for him, even if he thinks how she’s just nagging. how she worries, thinks of the worst; it’s in mother’s nature to think of the worst, after all, when her son doesn’t call for two months straight.

yuji enters his bedroom, finding it empty. for a second, his thought wanders to the idea of finally getting a roommate, jus as his eyes wander over the ... creative mess that has slowly spread throughout the room. he slumps down on the floor, where there is free space, legs crossed. fingers of his free hand press against his eyes and he sighs, deeply. a headache forms, lack of sleep and loud music from the club catching up to him.

“i know, mom. i’m sorry. i miss you, a lot. i miss dad, too. tell him i said hi. i promise i’ll come visit once the weather is warmer. we should go to that restaurant by the sea; it was spicy stew you liked, right?“ a sigh escapes him. “you don’t need to send me any money. love you too, mom. don’t worry.”

FREE FORM.

FREE FORM.

》 jesse was born the baby of your stereotypical little four person family - mom, dad and older sister. his childhood was normal and incredibly unremarkable, to the point where jesse himself doesn’t remember much about it. dad spent his days working as an ophthalmologist at the family practice, mom spent most of her days at home, keeping the house in working order when she wasn’t helping dad run the office and his older sister was almost never home. so jesse himself was left to do his own thing, which most of the time turned out to be typical hooligan teenage boy stuff. getting in trouble for skateboarding outside of the local grocery store, ding dong ditching his shitty neighbors house, putting stuff on the train tracks to watch it get crushed by the train that came through town hourly.

》 by the time jesse reached high school was when his parents started to try to get him to crack down on his school work, get him to care about his future even slightly. when talking to him about how he needed to have a 5 year plan in place before he graduated didn’t work, they tried taking his cell phone first, then his xbox and laptop next, then finished with a permanent grounding. unfortunately for them though, none of this worked even slightly. there was nothing they could have done to make jesse care about the future they had laid out for him. all jesse wants to do is make music.

》 as his high school graduation came and went with his parents growing even more increasingly upset with their son's decision to pursue music instead of a career in the medical field like they wanted him to; they promptly decided they were done being parents and kicked him out on his eighteenth birthday. with his sister being overseas and generally unhelpful, jesse took the small bit of savings he had and moved to seoul, couch surfing for the next couple years until he finally had enough to move into a place of his own – a shared room in a home for starving artists (a little on the nose for him but it was a place of his own so he would take it).

FREE FORM.

Born in Gwangju, Song Yeongsu is an odd duck. From a young age, he found it difficult to slot himself into the world, and struggled with befriending his peers, finding camaraderie in the untamed wilderness of the internet, where he wandered the wastelands of knitting forums and music boards and social media. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that that’s why he turned out like he did, though; it’s more that he’s got a touch of ADHD and a whole lot of OCD.

Those wanderings have granted him more than a few strange hobbies, though. And compulsions. 

His obsession with Gundam models as a child that got him in trouble with the law when he accidentally stole a few from a shop. When he’s stressed he still has pangs of paranoia wherein he is certain the police are due to bust the door down in search of all the shoplifted toys they never found. Toys he never actually stole.  

He, far too young, discovered true crime boards, and found himself fascinated by the macabre, which coexisted with an interest in 90s and early 2000s Kpop and the drama that surrounded it. A foray into American films from the 1980s that he found Korean-subbed on pirate sites led into a love for 80s American pop and rock and an almost two year long phase in high school whereby he couldn’t leave the house without a bandana worn as a headband, a phase that nearly had him expelled from school when administration finally cracked down on him breaking uniform code. Music, crochet, luxury hotel chains, trains. Name a subject and it's not terribly unlikely that he's accumulated a load of useless trivia regarding it.