personality +

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Polite, opportunistic, perceptive, clever, intelligent, ambitious, introvert, two-faced, cunning, uncharismatic, passive aggressive, envious, manipulative, meddlesome, selfish

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► Polite, uncharismatic, two-faced, and introvert - When she first debuted Seokja had the mindset of a good Korean citizen: she respected her elders, obeyed those in charge, and worked as hard as she needed to to make those around her proud. As a productive member in a collectivist society she really felt that it was the group that came first, and her own individual needs came last. And so she faded into the background. Seokja has never really been an interesting person. She's naturally rather dull, she's never had that charm some of her groupmates have that make everyone love them. She's always polite to her elders and her sunbaenim and in the past she tended to be very soft-spoken, never being able to say anything on camera that wasn't standard image saving idol fare. 

She's better now. Her 'relationship' with Hanjin has really helped both of them come out of their shells. Mostly Seokja found out that as herself she's still uninteresting on camera, but when she feels like she's playing the role of someone else things go a lot easier for her. When she feels like she's playing Sarang, Hallyu star and one half of the idol world's most public couple she can interact with the cameras much more easily. She's gotten better at analysing what makes people stand out and what to say to be memorable, and she's gotten so much better at playing that role and, look at that, when she dons the mask of Sarang relating to strangers is somuch easier!

Seokja is really quite two-faced, there's no other way of going about it. Not only does she embody saving face and hardly shows her true self to anyone. She's super private, for good reason. When you've settled into living a role, and that role is making you succesful and opening doors that have never been opened for you ever before, well, she began to live that role. That role became more important than her true self. What has her true self ever done for her? That's right. Nothing. Seokja has never done anything for her. Sarang? Sarang has given her the world.

Don't get me wrong though, Seokja is aso defintiely two-faced in the more traditional sense. Everything is about keeping a good image going, and Seokja is very selfish. In the end all that matters is herself and those she cares about, if and she has to pull some strings and pretend to like someone to their face while she'd much rather spit in it then that is what she'd do. Please, Seokja is a professional.

Behind their backs, though? She's very good at deadpan snark, just a comment here and there, a muttered shade meant only to her own ears. She needs that outlet of sass, of snark, of passive aggressiveness when the fake has become too much or when the jealousy surfaces. Only those she trusts get blessed by her cutting remarks and eyerolls, she's not career suicidal, and if something does slip up? Well who would believe that perfect Sarang of the SaJin couple would actually say that so someone??

 

► Opportunistic, perceptive, selfish, ambitiuos, and cunning - Seokja is very crafty. She's good at seeing opportunities and making the most out of it. She's very cunning and adept at achieving her goals and she's selfish enough to not mind going over or through someone else to get there. Her intelligence and perception serve her well in finding ways to make the most out of situations and facilitate her manipulations. Seokja is a woman who always has some plan or scheme to get to a better place and her ambition knows no bounds. Seokja wants the world and it frustrates her to no end that she doesn't have the charisma to accomplish it on her own but she's cunning enough to find ways around that.

If it doesn't come natural to you, well, you have to find fame some other way. She learned that the hard way.

The starting of a rumour here, a leak there. It's not always malicious, the meddling can have good intentions as well as bad intentions. Perhaps she's just sticking her nose in the business of her members and trying to fix a fight here and there. Sometimes it's small and sometimes it's big but whenever that happens she always has this satisfying sense of power even though nobody knows it's her. She knows that she's got the power to infuence people in this way and that's enough for her. 

 

► Manipulative, curious, envious, and meddlesome - Manipulation is basically the name of Seokja's game, it's what she does best. She's so good at seeing the strings and pulling them just so. Even with small things, Seokja doesn't like just asking for things, she'd much rather just pull a string here and there,  hint at this or that and get things done that way. It stems from an inability to really connect to people, an insecurity and pride that prevents her from asking directly, and instead she goes about things a sneakier way. Since she doesn't like confrontation, or putting herself in a vulnerable position, she'll often end up using this information in a rather manipulative way because there's less risk in getting hurt that way. 

Envy is one of Seokja's biggest flaws, and it's one that's here to stay. She can get envious of other people's success, specifically when that success comes from her group members. This envy plays directly into her fear of being overshadowed by others and it causes her to become resentful towards those in her group that are actually getting popular. It can also cause her to use her manipulative qualities to less innocent uses.

She's also very curious and always wants to stay on top of things and know what's going on around her. She has to for her hobby of meddling and manipulating of course. She's always getting into the business of the other members and sometimes meddles when she can't help it. Something like setting up two fighting members in an attempt to get them to talk things through, or meddling with their love life are things that got Seokja started. Honestly her manipulation started with good intentions only, but then she got her first taste of sabotaging something and there was even more thrill to be found in that. It's a slippery slope and you could say that Seokja is on her way to a serious power trip. 

► Clever and intelligent - All this manipulation and scheming is aided by the fact that Seokja is very clever and very intelligent, two things that don't always go together, but are amazing when they do. She's very smart, probably counting amongst the more intelligent idols out there though she doesn't usually let that show. She's quick to grasp things and has always been good at school or learning languages. She's a bit of a walking encyclopedia as she tends to absorb whatever information she comes across and ends up knowing many strange and random things. 

 

 

background +

— Seokja's childhood was quite average. Her parents were comfortable middle-class and she grew up on Jeju Island. She was a shy kid, she didn't like strangers and she didn't like performing in front of anyone. She used to stay up in her room and memorize kpop dance routines and try to dance them as well as she could, but when her parents asked her to perform for her she'd freeze up and refuse. She really enjoyed learning these dance routines for herself though, after school and after she finished her homework she'd put on the music channel and try to mimic any of the dances she saw. She'd keep herself busy for hours this way.

Slowly but surely Seokja started to open up more as she got older. She joined a kpop dance cover group at school and she found that performing in a group helped a lot with her shyness. As long as there were others for the audience to focus on she didn't mind performing. At the end of high school the big question of what to do next with her life was starting to loom. She was top of her class when it came to grades. and everyone thought that she'd surely  go to universe and maybe become a doctor or a scientist. Seokja surprised every by going to Seoul and auditioning for entertainment companies. It was something she'd been thinking about doing for a year now but she needed to muster up the courage. She auditioned for JYPE and got rejected, but when she auditioned for Exuare she got a callback, and after the callback she got accepted! And that's how she ended up training at Exuare.

 

trivia +

— She has a blog called Hallyu Insider where she occasionally posts rumours or vague inside information. She doesn't upload often, usually only as retaliation for perceived slights or just when jealousy gets too much or when someone is in her way. Think Gossip Girl or blind item levels of vague toxicity.

— She really loves sunbathing and the sun on her skin, often getting reprimanded for getting a tan. 

— Since she grew up on an island Seokja is very good at swimming and really misses the beach. 

— Seokja is a really old-fashioned and even slightly controversial name in Korea (The -ja harkens back to Japanese colonial times). Her mom gave her this name as a tribute to her late grandparents, Nam Seoksik and Lee Youngja, who died in an accident just before Seokja was born. Seokja does not appreciate this fact.

— She's scared of heights, they paralyze her with fear. 

— Seokja has approximate knowledge of many things. Often when people around her are wondering about something they'll ask Seokja first to see if she happens to know it.

— She likes writing and creating short stories, though she hasn't published them. They're mostly thriller and psychological horror. She likes exploring the human psyche.

 

connections +

— Mother • Nam Misoon (1964) / Elementary school teacher / Cheerful, crafty, polite, cheesy / they met when she popped out of the
 

— Father • Min Sunghyuk (1966) / ICU nurse /  Quiet, observant, sweet / they met a little bit after because he was too weenie to be there while his wife was cursing and pushing

Seokja loves her parents, even if they don't talk as much as they used to anymore because she's just too busy. She's closest to he dad because he's quiet like she is and understand her, as opposed to her mum who's cheerful and loud and also makes terrible mom jokes. She likes to call them at least once a week even if it's just briefly, and they've gone to one or two performances before, but since they live in Jeju and have busy jobs themselves they don't really have the tie to come see her very often.
 

— Not favourite dongsaeng • Moon Youngae (1992) / An.Beat member / 

Seokja doesn't like Youngae very much at all. Of course she wouldn't exactly show that, Seokja is nothing if not properly polite, but Youngae's forthright and bratty personality really rubs her the wrong way. Still there are thing Seokja admires in Youngae. For all her shortcomings Youngae does always work really hard towards what she wants to accomplish and she's faithful to what she believes in. In time they might come to an understanding ad Youngae might even help Seokja with the things she struggles with.
 

— Partner in schemes • Kim Kyungsook (1981) / Exuare PR manager / they met when Seokja was first added to the lineup

At first all the interaction between Kyungsook and Seokja was Kyungsook lectuing Seokja about fading into the background and Seokja bowing and apologizing but not getting any better. Seokja used to be Kyungsook's least favourite artist in the company, her and Hanjin both were not making her job any easier. One would think that the scandalous ones would be the PR manager's headache but at least those got noticed! It was Kyungsook who got Seokja her role in City Hunter in the hopes that it would make the girl know for something, and it did, just not a good thing. After that she kind of gave up on her.

Then in 2013 Seokja appoached Kyungsook about a solo endeavour. Seokja suggested it feature one of the 1llusion hoobaes since they were already rising in popularity even if they'd just debuted. Kyungsook admired the girl's courage in directly asking her, and also admired her clever suggestion of featuring a label mate. When, a few weeks after launching the Oops! promotions, Seokja came to her with the proposal of a fake relationship between her and Hanjin, a fragile partnership was formed between the two. Seokja comes to her when she has a clever idea that could give her, An.Beat, or anyone in the label some spotlight, and Kyungsook involves Seokja in working it all out.

Kyungsook figures Seokja could have a promising career in PR management should the idol business not work out.

 

—   BFF and dirty enabler • Lee Gayeon (25) / Backup dancer /  Sassy, funloving, freespirited, impatient, blunt, daring, reckless / they met when Seokja started preparing for Oops!

Gayeon was one of Seokja's backup dancers for Oops! and they immediately took a liking to each other. Seokja loves Gayeon's cheeky and often inappropriate sense of humour. Gayeon is just so damned scandalous much of the time and Seokja loves it. She's so outwardly controller herself it's such a breath of fresh air to talk to someone who gives no s about her image or the things that flop out of , which are often oof something. Even after promotions were over the two met when time permit it and grew very close. 

Gayeon is the only one who knows the full extend of Seokja's manipulations and flaws, and if anything she enables it. As a backup dancer she also sees a lot around the industry and often tattles to Seokja, and on more than one occasion Seokja has used her meddling at the request of Gayeon. This whole thing really isn't very healthy for Seokja, Gayeon brings out the worst in her, but Seokja really likes her. 

the disbandment +

— if she was for or against the disbandment, why, how she felt, her thought on the idol life after all these years, what she does after, did she renew with exuare etc again can't guarantee anything but i'll try to respect your wishes!

trainee background +

— Seokja auditioned for Exuare as a final attempt at her dream. She'd auditioned for the big three before and gotten rejected each time, and she figured she'd try once more time before returning to Jeju and giving up. Surprisingly she got a callback, and after that she was accepted into the company.

The only musical experience Seokja had before this was playing piano and learning kpop dance covers, so she had her work cut out for her. She trained hard and found out that her voice was quite nice and definitely something they could work with, and although she can't freestyle to save her life, she can learn choreography and execute it quite well.

Seokja wasn't in the line-up to join An.Beat at all at first. Even though she'd been training for 2 years she was still very much forgettable which is not exactly what you want in an idol. In fact her training contract was running out and the company wasn't planning on renewing it. However one of the girls dropped out of An.Beat a month before debut and since Seokja had a similar skillset and was known to learn new songs and dences fairly quickly she was shuffled in as a last-minute replacement, and the rest is history.

trainee years + Joined Exuare in 2008 (2 years of training)

love story +

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Seokja met Hanjin when he'd just entered the company as a trainee. She doesn't remember the first time she met him, he kind of just appeared. He tended to blend into the crowd which made him stand out to her. She was intimidately familiar with blending in and getting ignored, and she always felt a little bad for him, 

They only really started talking when Hanjin featured in Seokja's solo song Oops! They get along quite well and surprised everyone by having really good chemistry. In fact during the promotions the "Hanseok" ship took off. Turned out that while apart both of them have trouble standing out, together they complimented each other quite well.

The whole shipping business was a little awkward for them both, but it did give Seokja an idea. With the popularity of programs like We Got Married and the alece of shipping, idol relationships were obviously of interest. So what would happen if they would create an Exuare Ent. power couple? She gathered her courage and talked it over with Kyungsook and they started hashing a plan together, and after quite a bit of planning they remembered that they should prooobably ask Hanjin if he wanted in on this too. Hanjin took some convincing, but in the end he consented.

Seokja had been taking a lot of acting classes since her failure with City Hunter, and was able to portray an awkward but convincing girlfriend. Hanjin was awkward enough normally that his added awkwardness didn't look out of place. The "Hanseok" power-couple was born.

At first their interactions are really quite awkward. They created a cover story of falling for each other during the Oops! preparations and getting together shortly after, which would account for how they didn't kow every single thing about each other, but their interactions weren't exactly convincing yet. Over time they grew more and more comfortable and natural around each other and became really good friends.

Seokja thinks he's an absolute sweetheart, she honestly feels like there isn't anyone she would rather be in an awkward fake relationship with. He's sweet and considerate and always manages to make her laugh in that quiet way of his. She's forever pesterig him to play the violin for her or get him to sing for her even though he's self-concious about both those things.

Of course it's not all sunshine between them. His impatience annoys her, and in turn he doesn't like how meddlesome she is. Also Hanjin grew in quite a conservative family and thus has some ist and homophobic viewpoints that Seokja, as she gets more assertive and confident, strongly disagrees with. They can have some spectacular fights every once in a while.

trivia +

— nything else i should know about the love interest and/or their relationship? how the first date went, nicknames, stuff they love to do together etc.

last comment + if you have questions or comments or if you just want to talk :-D
password + hi hello 안녕

scene requests +

— as much as you want!
— i can't promise to fulfill all the request but i'll try!