SEOUL HERO'S NISHIYAMA KAEDE
SEOUL'S HERO.
SEOUL'S HERO.
STRONGHOLD / CANTA / 7
西山楓
"I'LL DIE BEING BORED. I'M BORED."
PERSONALITY.
+ empathic, creative, objective, challenge-oriented.
- argumentative, temperamental, blunt, disinterested.
tropes: screw the rules, i'm doing what's right, deadpan+servile snarker.
BACKGROUND.
[01.14.96-2010] nishiyama kaede is born to a korean mother and japanese father, who'd later separated and kaede continued living in japan for the next fourteen years, until fate decided to let his mother get him again, all under the reasoning that his father couldn't lend a hand, being a poor man who worked as an employee at a music shop. the argument ended up where he'd later ended up with his estranged, now remarried, mother, but he never really knew of any reasons on why he would be able to do so. he also changed his name to im jima, yet continually refuses to use it, if at all. only managed to ever likened into his much-older stepbrother, im jihyuk. what kaede would hear again, however, is that even jun managed to pursue a stable career as an accountant. but other than that, even jima knew— living with the man again would really bog down a huge mess behind him.
"kaede, remember that you're im jima right now, not nishiyama!"
"dad, you'd still call me kaede."
"Right, right. kaede, don't worry too much about your life."
"eat anything but ramen, dad."
[2010-present] had pretty much given up on ever trying to lend a hand towards his mother's family, especially when he couldn't even see the woman that gave birth to him by accident ever home, or even appreciated his time there. everything had been exclusively kept out from him, so by no way kaede would've known what happened to her. but jihyuk was kind enough to let his half-brother live with him. and there's a really familiar undercurrent that happened when he was still in japan—music instruments being put in black velvet cases, the abstract painting on the walls, but mostly, it's the instruments. jihyuk was a sound engineer who embraces his artsy side, after all. but from all, kaede loved the black bass that lied down at the corners of the wall, playing it whenever he's out of school. the only thing that managed to de-stress him from his 'family' was school, as ironic as it sounds, considering education system in south korea is one of the pretty dark ones. but thanks to this, kaede pretty much succeeds his academic studies, even now.
sometime before present time, a fatigued jihyuk find himself being satisfied from a smooth bass solo accompanying the lonely midnight. a moment before he had an idea—a pamphlet about SEOUL HERO's audition—and kaede found himself sweaeting beads of anxiety in front of a callback interview.
TRIVIA.
—the name is kaede. not jima, please note that. understandably, being treated like an absolute crap for "a difference" by blood has led him into feeling a certain bad omen whenever he heard the same three-syllable word. so yeah, per se his request, he wants kaede as his stage name.
—has a pretty severe fear whenever he got asked around about his heritage. Although mostly maintained a secret, he's in pretty deep trouble had one of the reporters tried creating a scandal by asking about political relationship (example: KARA and Dokdo island).
—He admits that his biggest influences of being a bassist are John Myung and Flea. Genuinely likes rock music, but can sometimes mellow out and bop to jazz or soul music at times. If you tried his way of composing (of sort, not that he has done one for SEOUL HERO, anyway), the rock songs are pretty mellow, if not closely following the sweeter style in blues. uh... probably something you would like to know just because it may help (?) on the way he writes his songs, maybe. uggh i don't know.
—Kaede rarely gets angry, especially in front of public, but mention his father in an insulting manner... and good luck of ever seeing the light again. He almost had his reputation destroyed thanks to that, back in middle school. language barrier definitely doesn't help his frustration running deep, however. at least he knows which idols might've spoken behind his back without them knowing the same (and manages to curse at an entirely different language)
—he's a surprisingly awkward person when it comes to the opposite gender. growing with what had been males all along and living off an imaginary way a girl is (like... something in shoujo animes.) crazy. and rest assured, meeting with what had been a rigorous friction with his mother and nakahara junko to a certain extent really breaks it. he tries to brush the bad off, knowing well that personalities and motives matter, but childlike him couldn't help but feel sad. seriously, girl's pillow fights are not cute/y.
—kaede never knew of why his mother ever tried dragging him off to south korea—not when he already has a stepbrother who would get the inheritance anyways—but figuring out on how his mother cheated behind his back, bore of an illegitimate son, run away, married a man much older than her, and taking him away... he had a feeling that it's either a bad strategy, or she hates jihyuk, or she wants his father in a miserable state. possibility is endless, but as long as he doesn't have to face her and he gets to talk to his father and jihyuk, he'd rather shut up about it. neither did he ever came in contact with her again since... two years ago?
RELATIONSHIPS.
nishiyama jun — 39 — accountant — happy-go-lucky, soft-hearted, plucky.
quickly turning to a single father at the age of 19, jun somehow managed to absolve and ended up with a job and a stable job, kaede shouts, albeit the struggle of feeding his child, jun loves him dearly, treating kaede as his only one, but somehow, just, somehow, manages to let kaede be independent on his own. maybe his only motivation when his ex left him—and it worked. now already graduating and landed a secure job, if kaede had something to scream to the world for, something to be proud of, is not of SEOUL HERO only, but his father. and jun also didn't mind of kaede going to a rock band, especially jun being the first to train him, you know, but also, because he knew well kaede was pained out whenever he stayed in south korea, and if this makes him happy, then so be it.
pd-nim — 34 — producer — innovative, charismatic (ehh... it's an euphemism), couraegeous.
let's just say that kaede is tiptoeing here. kaede loves arguing or debating with people and probably has tested at least more than enough people (hence why there's very little whom he genuinely cared about, as in relationship-wise), but he would rather gun off jo insung than facing a ridiculous wrath (or whatever he really wants to avenge to?) both of them don't argue, and kaede could b.s. his way out, but sometimes, when getting caught up with junko, even insung could know that kaede's outer layers as a nice kid in front of him wouldn't last long—because while pd-nim's least favourite might've not enjoyed him at times, he can't exactly let his partner-in-crime — or SEOUL HERO — off because of one particularly bratty kid. oh, and kaede knows. isn't that why he's still limiting his fights?
nakahara junko — 23 — songwriter — hot-tempered, abrasive, intellegent.
if there is an idiot who continuously tested junko's patience, the guy has completely crossed all of the list, and have at least two or three fingerprints still left at his left cheek. junko yelling at him has always been a staple food, although he still violently chokes whenever someone, just someone — continuously thinks that he's in love. how. but he knows pretty damn well that junko's a genius—yes he just said it—and brave. there's no doubt in that, and he really admires both. but both had similar problems, when they couldn't express things with words, their actions do it properly for them. or not in kaede's case, but even then, he knows when she's being abrasive, or in her worst moods. and he couldn't comfort her properly, does he? he'd rather let her beat him into it than putting herself off into messy stream of anger.
im jihyuk — 29 — sound engineer — open-minded, easy-going, perfectionist.
his roomate and... it's really hard to describe them properly other than the term stepbrother (although both didn't come from the same parents), so kaede continuously calls him jihyuk. but that aside, jihyuk and kaede has the closest relationship between his maternal family, which ultimately was caused through the respect that jihyuk ever managed to show (and out of common spite with their supposed mother). if there is anyone who could properly let kaede express himself and continually trained him although he'd rather give up, jihyuk is him.
—♪—
POSITION. ...bassist?
BACKUP POSITION. drummer.
EXPERIENCE.
the bass— 7-present.
he knew his father always teached him the bass, and for all the ridiculous reasons—kaede couldn't and didn't want to ever play anything—all that felt too simple, stiff, and couldn't flow well. Not to say the instruments themselves are, but when he laid his eyes on the bass, the smooth flow, gently smoothening high and loud pop songs, there's something about it that he loved. jun didn't find it bad either, and allowed to help his son on playing so. his fingers had been scalped and raw blisters often appeared when he was young, but he didn't mind them. he loves learning new things, to be honest. maybe the bass was the least heard (at least in pop music), but it held a large support in rock or metal music, and they couldn't screw up either. hearing the soothing deep sound flowing calms his heart, and when playing it at a high register, it creates a new sound. all techniques are different, but he knows that even they can't be too rowdy, but when you know you did wrong, everyone's pointing their hands at you. it's never about showing off (Except you had an awesome solo or something like that), but it's about how the note slides, the tacky sounds strikes your heart, and let the rest carry a whole crowd. his playing style has quite slapping techniques into it, but he's trying to tone it down, especially since SEOUL HERO is pretty much trying to take mainstream music from the EDM, pop-heavy tunes that they used to have. adjusting a little while would be okay, anyway. but really, does it take everyone to know that bass is not a 4-stringed, thicker-coiled guitar?
drums—16-present
he doesn't learn drums intensely, although it is a much popular choice, and a rather just-for-fun thing in his spare time. also, because it's pretty good way to let his steam off. this one is pretty much taught by jihyuk, who coincidentally was a drummer when he was younger, and kaede uses the chance to be able to understand them, and incorporate the beats into his bass. he also likes how it could change a music's flow big time—using a snare drum at repeat, and then a loop before the of a song—it changes a flow of them, and he continues doing so for the sake of not letting a new skill go either way.
VOCAL TWIN. lee minhyuk (monsta x)
BACKUP TWIN. yoon dowoon (day6)
—♪—
IDEAL PERSON. nobody... probably someone who could make him a better person. whispers nakahara junko
IDEAL TYPE.
a person just as headstrong as he is to beat him into acknowledging that he probably has been doing a lot more f**k-ups, but probably had a certainly more... protective instincts? someone who could trash cold water in his face but always ensure there's a towel nearby. it's a weird analogy, trust me, but it goes as it goes. oh, and nice hair.
INTERACTIONS.
kaede would be more than happy to scalp half of his hair off, sure. they would clash a lot, since both are bold, except that kaede is pretty much bored with everything and needs a pretty big push that can only be done by sheer force (because arguing with him is just a one-way to give up). sure, maybe at certain points they would soften up to each other, but nothing sappy. they just kinda reached mutual understanding. okay, that sounds pretty damn sappy. and maybe, when he realizes it, he has gone too far into the mesh pit of disaster. isn't love great.
STATUS. enemies > vitriolic best buds > shippable > this because there's no way of normally describing them.
ENDING. they end up as friends. BAHAHAHA who am i kidding i'm pretty assured he would prefer anything but being labeled 'dating'.
EXTRA.
"normal is overrated."
—♪—
"SO, UH, IM JIMA. HOW'D YOU HEAR ABOUT THE POST?"
frowns at his korean name. "uhm, before we started, i prefer being called kaede, actually. in regards to question, my... uhm... friend brought it to meand said i should audition for it. i guess we know the res
"DO YOU THINK WE'LL DO WELL IN THE INDUSTRY?"
"if that's the case, wouldn't bands like FTISLAND or SWEET REVENGE be popular by no—" spots the interviewer frowning, but the girl unnerved him. "if you're hoping for a nice answer, take it as a chance to say that the market is pretty damn open for a band."
"OH, WELL, OKAY THEN. UH, ANY SPECIAL TALENTS? LIKE, CAN YOU PLAY WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED?"
"i can play a tune or note that you sing with my bass... but sometimes it's a hit or miss. and i can play with my eyes open, which is awesome." glances at two unimpressed faces at his laughable attempt at making a corny joke. "fine, but at least i'm okay with the bass thing!"
"OH, THAT'S RIGHT, I TOTALLY FORGOT. CAN YOU EVEN SING? I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY YOU CAN, BUT HOW WELL?"
"pretty high-pitched, i'll say. i sing kind of alike to j-pop-ish singers, 2000s vibe kinds."
"WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LIKE?" "PD-NIM, DOES THAT MATTER?" "SHH, JUNKO. LET KAEDE ANSWER THE QUESTION."
"listing this off, i'll chose the rock genre, sometimes metal into the mix. think of FTISLAND's Japan releases or Pray. i'm okay with pop, just not really my cup of tea. EDM is a no, though."
"IN THIS BAND, WHAT'S YOUR MAIN GOAL?"
"finding myself," out from that fox. "make my father and friend proud," i miss dad. "so people will know that there's actually a lot of genres for them to listen to. let people know that they aren't alone in whatever mess, let the message out that we're still here to prove something, don't we?" he casted out a serious look towards both of them, but he knew that one of his words took insung a little off-guard. he had a smirk in return.
"WHAT DOES MUSIC MEAN TO YOU? YEAH, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS QUESTION MEANS EITHER. PD-NIM WANTS TO KNOW."
"something that changes me. it's hard to say, since they affect people at a varying degree, but for me... i don't know either. sometimes words just don't come out, you know." he laughed dryly. "and that's what i'm going to find out."
—♪—
COMMENTS. actually i was planning on applying seoul hero at the very first time it appeared (and apparently i wished i hadn't at applying so much before) but i didn't have a computer in tow by then and the deadline was the next day. sobs. i could see myself hating myself again. quotes are highly inspired by real life people. character based on aomine daiki of kuroko no basuke and kuroko himself.
QUESTIONS. please let me know of my sin count.
SUGGESTIONS. underrated bands? like i haven't heard of sweet revenge being used... or ledapple (tbh they're pretty sad as ledT). but i really want FTISLAND's Pray being used. like i'll love ya.
SCENE REQUESTS.
foodie time!
how a song got developed and everyone just had a second to argue between each other.
junko and kaede reaching a truce.
PASSWORD. /looks stoned for a few minutes/ "oh eww —" gets to experience how a paint roller would feel had it been human. or you know, the other day and junko had her brain scarred forever after seeing him sleeping in his own room and screammed. just sayin'. ("you know there's something wrong when you thought scarring my niece's brain is a way to get your revenge." —pd-nim, on looking at a footprint placating his face.)
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