#mguintro

also, i actually decided to not set too much muse information in stone this time, so there can hopefully still be plenty of space to develop her character further with the help of plotting and whatnot ! so, instead i have only gathered some rather lose bullet points about her instead which you can read about below ♡

PAST

back in high school, yua's friends often used to joke about the fact that she must be the first "prodigy child" who hated being called just that. sure, to them it seemed like yua had always been exceptionally smart and thus easily excelled in most classes but it wasn't as easy as it looked like.

in contrary to popular belief, she wasn't as gifted as she seemed and had to spend absolutely all of her free time studying for upcoming tests and exams. whenever anyone asked her to hang out, she would simply claim she had a lot of extracurricular activities going on until someday people stopped asking her to hang out at all.

her classmates soon began to label her as snooty and uppish since she must have felt like she was too good for everyone else if she never had time to get to know the other people in her classes. and what started out rather harmless somehow snowballed into a bigger problem until the entire year started to avoid yua altogether.

she tried to play it off and pretend that it didn't phase her when in reality, yua's high school years turned out to be incredibly lonely. however, the lack of friends around her made it easier to drown herself in books and just like that, she still became valedictorian.

in 2021 during her second year of uni, she decided to take a break and study abroad for a while, opting for an art school. however, she quickly realised that the arts weren't exactly her cup of tea, so instead she spent most of her time there with her new girlfriend. it was the first and only time in her life where her studies weren't the most important thing to her.

PRESENT

today, yua still normally keeps to herself. there are definitely still a few people who believe her to be too full of herself to pay attention to anyone else but it seems like most people pay her no mind.

since she hardly had any friends growing up, she found comfort in seeking academic validation. it is the only thing that seems to bring her true joy, but she still whole-heartedly wishes she was more popular, even if she would never admit it.

in an attempt to find some friends to spend time with, she joined the taekwondo club. much to her surprise, it worked better than expected and she was soon asked to be the captain. it was only a small thing, but in that moment yua had never felt more popular.

yua is well aware of the fact that she is technically part of the keepers but she would never call herself a member: to her it just seems like a waste of time ... which is why she's almost never seen around the group.

something most people wouldn't know about her is the fact that even if yua looks like she isn't paying attention, she definitely still is aware of her surroundings. after all, her years spent in solitude moulded her into a perfect observer. even if she would never dare talk about the things she hears and sees ... it doesn't mean that she doesn't know about a couple of secrets here and there.

basics

scorpio sun, cancer moon, scorpio rising

born 12 november 1999 in seoul 

lived in berlin for seven years when she was eight 

currently a second year painting major, specializes in oil painting & dabbles in watercolor. was previously at seoul national university

personality n vibes

infp

positive traits: caring, intuitive, creative, self-aware

negative traits: self-centered, escapist, dishonest, flighty

neutral traits: imaginative, secretive

character inspirations: the white lotus s2’s daphne, nevertheless’ jae eon, looking for alaska’s alaska young, if we were villains’ meredith, industry’s yasmin

archetypes the hedonist, the hopeless romantic

associated aesthetics: dying roses, messy rooms and messier lives, running away when things get hard, cigarettes butts and wet brushes carelessly strewn into an empty bottle of expensive wine, sharing knowing smiles in crowded rooms, vintage chanel bags stained with paint

trivia

best way to describe her: sweet but incredibly unreliable. soft-spoken with an air of mystery around her. the type to give you a vague, non-descript answer.

distances herself from reality because a. she doesn’t want to confront her trauma and b. it’s more fun romanticizing and dramatizing everything anyways

the kind to pretend that bad things don’t happen (she lives by the motto: “do whatever you have to do to not feel like a victim of life.”)

morally gray compass. will always find excuses for herself whenever she does something objectively wrong.

a manic pixie dream girl because she wants to be. deep down she knows that she’s fucked up and everything’s fucked up but would rather avoid a crushing reality than face it bc she has the opportunity to choose to ignore it. she may be self-centered and an escapist, but she’s not that stupid and not that unaware. she’s just wilfully ignorant rly

desperate for love, given her lack of love during her childhood, sort of a pushover but see below: will hurt u behind your back

she would never hurt someone, she says. but she is perfectly fine with doing it behind her backs and finding some justification on why it wasn’t that wrong anyways (shes a gaslighting queen)

she’s a fucking liar - misremembers events (wanting to dramatize them? just lives in a world of her own? no one fucking knows), saying whatever it takes to incite the reaction she wants, telling one thing to one person and another to someone else, always refusing to admit that she has lied

if you ask if she loved jisoo... she wouldn’t really have an answer. but she did love the idea of jisoo - the knight in shining armor, the boy who swept her off her feet away from shitty seoul

after jisoo’s death, nothing has really changed about mina which has led to a lot of talk about her “suspicious behaviour” but in reality, mina is detaching from the situation (as with what she did with her sister)

she’s numb about it, hasn’t really allowed herself to process - instead, throws herself into painting, buying expensive shit, dying her hair, speaking about him in present tense

background (tw death) 

summarising to things u need to know: parents dgaf about her, older sister died when she was six and she started building her own world, sent to berlin to study, came back to korea, cheated on her then-bf with her best friend’s boyfriend so she ran away with jisoo to mgh 

youngest only child of the kim family (tbc on what they do but they are rich but they are not in art world)

family lacked love, as with most rich families. hers never even tried - mum was a socialite, too busy chasing her youth with champagne flutes and mercurial highs to give a shit about her. dad just gave a shit about work more. maybe they never wanted children? maybe it was just part of their societal duties? mina has never tried to understand it and perhaps, never wants to

had an elder sister who she was quite close to

but when she was six, her sister passed away in a freak accident 

mina’s escapist tendencies intensified

made up stories about adventures of her and her deceased elder sister, started drawing and painting disturbing material to the point that her nanny, concerned over mina’s development, begged her parents to send mina for a psychological checkup

they found nothing wrong but her parents distanced themselves even further. she’s not sure whether it was because they couldn’t handle the loss of her older sister, or she scared them, or that they realized that there was no point even trying anymore

one of her parents’ friends and a teacher at her prestigious school saw that she had a gift for art, told her parents mina had potential 

she was then shipped off to berlin to hone her art in a prestigious art school

when she was fifteen, her grandparents threatened to cut her parents out of their will if mina didn’t come home, and so, she was sent back to korea for her high school years, where she did struggle to fit in but it wasn’t like mina really tried. continued painting, went on frequent overseas trips to europe, stirred a lot of shit and ruined many friendships

got into seoul national uni - started sleeping with her best friend’s boyfriend, even though she was taken herself (why? for the shits and giggles? for the inspiration? just because mina wanted to? because he looked at her drunk one night and said, “you’re really pretty” and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so she did it behind her best friend AND boyfriend’s back, just to get the brief affection of someone who doesn’t even matter now? who the fuck knows)

essentially fucked her entire social life over and that was when mina realized she fucked up because seoul wasn’t like berlin where she could just run away and never return

around that time as well, she’d been talking to jisoo and when he (deeply in love with her at that point, and unaware of what had transpired) suggested she transferred over to mugunghwa, mina felt that it was the best possible option given the whole dramatic mess of her life.

over at mugunghwa, no one really knows what happened in seoul or why mina transferred. there are rumours about it though 

wanted connections

thank you if you made it this far! she only recently transferred to mgh during the spring semester so i don’t really have that many wanted connections!! always open to brainstorm :)

someone who has an inkling of what went down in seoul and is/was deeply suspicious of her relationship with jisoo

someone who puts her on a pedestal, and truly believes she is as great as they say her to be 

someone who keeps her grounded? or as grounded as possible? 

someone she does not like because they were mean to her face lol 

history

moon jaeyi. 24. photography major. security guard. member of the women’s soccer team and guitarist for miss tate!

there isn’t much to jaeyi, to be honest. born and raised in busan to an average, middle-class family , she was the local kid who brought smiles to everyone’s face  

despite familial struggles , jaeyi was always a glass half full kind of person , a kid (and teen) who believed in santa claus and a kid who always made it to the nice list

her mom owned a local bunsik restaurant ( and yes jaeyi always stood on her tippy toes and watched her mom cook ) and her father was.. uh... well he did a lot of things.. he tried trading stock , working in real estate , building a business... nothing worked but jaeyi didn’t know that really , he always smiled and pretended like everything was okay.

narrator: everything was not okay.

in the midst of their financial struggle , her mom got pregnant once again and thus was born her baby brother

not only was it a lot of physical and financial responsibility— jaemin, her brother, got really sick a little while after he was born and hospital bills would not pay themselves...

jaeyi has been working ever since she can remember , first it was just helping her mom out at the restaurant , then it was a part-time job at the convenience store , tutoring kids on the side and so on..

the family manages to get by but then classic dad decides to leave the family because it’s “too much” for him and jaeyi’s sunshine personality faces it’s very first solid crack

things like how after her brother was born, she never got any attention didn’t really bother her at first but all those negative feelings start to surface after her dad left

she somehow holds it together for the sake of her mom and tries to focus on school and her jobs

manages to get scholarship for college in seoul and chooses to major in psychology because it’s “interesting” and psychologists get paid a lot ok — honestly she didn’t know what she wanted to know , doesn’t really know what she likes or dislikes ;_;

OKAY! backstory within a backstory..... but the one notable thing she got from her father besides daddy issues was a film camera... you see where this is going.. jaeyi, as a kid, was obsessed with taking pictures and her father always encouraged her and told her she had a knack for it.... after her dad left, she definitely couldn’t even look at that camera — end of backstory

mugunghwa

long story short — jaeyi’s mom sees her struggle with college, feels guilty, blows dust off of her old camera and tells her to “follow her dreams”

living in busan their whole life , they’ve definitely heard of mugunghwa university and jaeyi always secretly dreamed of going there so she works hard for a year, builds her portfolio and really polishes her photography skills and voila!

jaeyi still picks up odd jobs to help with tuition and helps her family which is how she ends up as a security guard!

almost immediately feels the difference in the social class but doesn’t let it get to her too much and just smiles her way through it

personality

the biggest “i can fix him/her” personality

as mentioned, jaeyi’s your local mom friend, she’s gotten so used to taking care of her family and that definitely shows with her others too! a self-sacrificing loyal puppy, if you will..

of course there are degrees to this personality and life has helped her simmer down, so the zeal she had once isn’t really as strong but call it denial or whatever you will, jaeyi will always push/shove her feelings deep down and smile.. she’ll focus all her energy on the people around her and hardly ever talk about herself

she’s never struggled with making friends and is admittedly charming and sweet and kind but the people of mugunghwa do sometimes intimidate her

although, the initial hesitant behaviour might make her seem cold, jaeyi’s far from it

super hardworking and diligent, will try not to do things half-heartedly and definitely struggles with balance

which is probably why her romantic life struggles too.. if it’s commitment you need, jaeyi’s not the one for you. she’s 100% the sweep you off your feet, buy you flowers and plan romantic dates butttt run away in the last moment kind of person ( thank you mum and dad for messing up her idea of love <33 )

honestly she might just have to learn to love herself first.... or at least figure herself out. how does one do that?

with the recent events!! — being the guard during the night everything happened, jaeyi definitely carries some guilt and has been struggling with her job lately, she’s thought of quitting a few times ever since but doesn’t like the idea of running away

plots

to be honest, it’s late, i’m tired and i’ve got nothing ;_;

gimme all the classic plots though; best friends, exes, fwbs, soccer buddies, band members

someone who knows her from seoul college days 

someone she’s met during one of her many part-time jobs! maybe she served you coffee? brought you your takeout? saw you when she worked at the convenience store?

someone who leans on jaeyi for emotional support and comes to her whenever they’re struggling

someone she likes taking pictures of ( not in a creepy way!! in a “you’re my muse” kinda way )

someone who comes by to hangout with her sometimes while she’s on night guard duty ( shh don’t tell anyone )

she’s a great secret keeper (real) so someone who confides in her

for a change, someone who insists on taking care of jaeyi because clearly, she’s overworked, doesn’t sleep and lives in a town called denial

ooohhh someone who heavily blames jaeyi for what happened and how she didn’t do her job right and that’s why jisoo d*ed

BACKGROUND:

born and bred in mugunghwa; he can't decide if he loves or hates this place.

put simply, he feels like a big fish in a small pond. on one hand, he likes being at the very top of the hierarchy, but on the other, he feels suffocated.

the only child to the nams. you’d think he’d be coddled and cherished like their finest treasure, but somehow, they still had a way to make him feel like he was never good enough.

he's known jisoo ever since they were kids (or babies, to be exact). their parents were always close (at least, on the surface) and have been rivals since they were younger.

naturally, this rivalry carried on to their children. all hell broke loose when they both gave birth to sons in the same year.

he can't remember a time in his life not being to compared to jisoo. everything, from their academics, artistic abilities, athleticism, height, to even the kind of girls they brought home, was a measure of their success.

he had always felt like a tool, used to extend his parents' sense of self-worth. they needed him to win, for them to win.

at some point, he grew to desire everything jisoo wanted, even if didn't really want it himself. growing up, it felt like everything jisoo had was what he needed to have too. if not, he would be inferior and god forbid he was anything but that.

he has a complicated relationship with jisoo. kind of like how he feels about mugunghwa—a love-hate relationship.

sometimes, he wishes jisoo never existed so he didn't have to compete with him, to feel like he’s not good enough all his life, but there are days when things are different.

on those days, he feels like jisoo is a brother he never had, days when he is actually relieved jisoo was around to make this town feel a little less lonely.

that's when he starts feeling bad for always competing with him, for never truly being happy for his accomplishments—for not being a good friend. because a good friend wouldn’t secretly wish you’ll fuck up, right?

but then jisoo beats him again and the cycle repeats, again and again.

just like how complex their friendship was, minjun’s reaction to jisoo’s passing is no different. some days he feels sad, then relieved, then angry, then everything all at once.

he's sad to lose a friend he's known since forever; a part of his identity he's never been allowed to break away from, but he's also relieved that jisoo was no longer in his way, that all those years of constant comparisons finally came to an end.

but most of all, he's angry, that even in death, he is still reminded of how he is second to jisoo, that none of the things he has now truly belongs to him—that he’ll never get to beat jisoo with his own merits.

jisoo’s death was not just a loss of a friend and competitor, but a sense of self; a benchmark he’s had his entire life.

PERSONALITY:

taciturn and elusive, but not forgettable.

the aloof boy that acts like a wallflower, but is really the kind you find yourself getting curious about.

hard to approach, probably not the friendliest face in the hallway.

doesn't really talk to people outside his circle. (though i’d really love for some unexpected connections!)

some might even think he’s stuck-up, that he thinks he’s better than others. (partially true. he actually doubts himself a lot, he’s just antisocial and doesn’t bother trying. also had a friend (jisoo) all his life so he never had to try either.)

very driven and hardworking. set on perfecting his craft.

maybe it’s because he tries so hard in art and sports that he seems nonchalant in every other aspect, like his social life.

is also frustratingly cryptic, an enigma that is hard to decipher even if you’ve known him all your life.

thinks a lot, which is both his vice and virtue.

romanticises a lot of things. particularly people. tends to fall in love with the idea of someone and not who they really are.

kind of toxic. he doesn’t like things (or people) that are easy to get, because he’s so accustomed to not getting what he wants with ease, to wanting the things that don’t belong to him.

has a lot of buried anger and resentment towards his parents and jisoo that is reflected in his art; is otherwise bad at expressing it.

inner child needs healing, tbh.

AT MUGUNGHWA:

sculpture arts major: wasn’t always a sculpture artist. when he was younger, he had also pursued painting alongside jisoo, just because his parents wanted him to. it wasn’t until he starting traveling around europe and got exposed to sculpture art did he realise it was something he enjoyed more. definitely helps that he’s also better at it and no longer has to live in jisoo’s shadow, at least for art.

part of the red and green club: truthfully, he likes that he is part of this club. he knows that it’s something his parents brag about, one of the few things he’s earned their validation for. his jewelled accessory is a pair of cufflinks.

took jisoo's place as captain of the howlites: frankly didn't even want to be captain that bad, he just wanted it because jisoo was running for it. and he has to have everything jisoo has. now that he has it, he's starting to realise that it wasn't as great as he made it out to be—not that he'd ever admit any of this.

plays the bass in miss tate: the one thing he has that was not tied to jisoo. his parents didn't like that he was in a rock band (they considered it uncouth and a waste of time) but it’s precisely why he pursued it, because he needed an escape from their constant comparisons. he needed a part of him entirely to himself, with no way of being compared to perfect little jisoo.

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

someone jisoo liked but couldn’t have? maybe jisoo told him about his crush and complained about how hard it was to get their attention. (though we'd have to check with the admin if it interferes with the plot!) this could've sparked minjun’s interest and he ends up wanting them too, though he doesn’t know if he actually likes them or if he only wanted them because jisoo did. toxic, push and pull type of relationship where they can’t tell how he really feels about them. fwb/more than friends less than lovers type shit.

on the contrary, someone that likes him and is always there for him. probably one of the sweetest people in his life (someone who is actually good for him) but he’s a toxic mfer who wants what he can’t have. he knows he can have them so he doesn’t treasure them but he still sticks around because they make him feel wanted, like he’s good enough for once. one word: angst.

someone very different from him (probably someone who is free spirited and wants to leave mugunghwa). someone he actually likes talking to, whose opinions he wants to hear. he might not agree but he enjoys the discourse; a breath of fresh air in his suffocating environment.

escape in human form, someone that has no connection to the keepers/the red and green club, or the life he’s always known in mugunghwa, someone who he can forget everything around. preferably someone who didn’t know jisoo personally and never got to compare them.

there’s nothing much to note of her background: she was born in seoul to a well off family as the miracle child after many fertility issues. mother was a professor turned stay at home mom, and her father is a politician, although a highly controversial / disliked one. her grandparents on her mother’s side are known art aficionados within the seoul scene. due to being the only child, she was pretty much your typical spoiled golden spoon baby.

deemed gifted with art at a very young age, and because her skills brought esteem to the song name, her parents decided to cultivate it and throw the best of whatever money could buy: tutors/mentors, supplies, schooling, experiences, whatever was recommended and whatever she asked for was gotten. in return, she was constantly put into art competitions “for her benefit” in her parents terms, but in hindsight it was obviously just for the attention ⏤ and didn’t start off too hot. anything that wasn’t top three was a failure

high school was ... alright. that’s when her father started becoming more controversial, and every time she started to win a competition her name was always attached to his, which caused her to be less socially accepted with her non-artistic peers ⏤ and even some of the artistic ones as well, thinking that she only won due to her family name. and in her eyes, there were only two ways of dealing with this: fall into despair and feel sorry for herself, or fight it. don’t give a damn and prove them wrong by working hard at her craft. and so, she does. and tbh ... this is probably whenever she reaches full menace status too LOL.

reaches out a sculptor that she admires via social media, and after meeting up at her exhibits siyeon becomes her mentee during her third year in high school. during breaks she travels abroad to where she lives in paris and hones her craft under her knowledge. does a lot of growing up during this time too.

after high school, she flies to paris after an argument with her parents regarding her future and decides to wing it. but actually living in a place abroad is much different from visiting, and culture shock hits her hard; she’s about to give up probably 4 weeks in until her mentor finds her, and instead siyeon spends that time under her tutelage while in art school. doesn’t reconnect with her parents ( especially since her father’s views get much worse while she’s away ) and instead contacts her grandparents more instead.

her grandparents talk about coming home and going to mugunghwa, as her grandpa has invested within the school, but she says no. however, when she meets minjun and finds out that he goes to to the same school, siyeon takes that as a sign and uproots her life to transfer there instead.

and yeah, that brings us to here and now! except now she’s single LMAO