sujin grew up in a family of five in ansan. they started off with average wealth, enough to sustain sujin and her brothers for most of their infancy, but it progressed drastically when they franchised a commercial bbq place around their neighbourhood. this easily bumped them up a social class, even more so when they started hiring staffs to tend to the restaurant and even more when they’ve established another branch in gwacheon. their dad had also gotten promotion after promotion after promotion at his job at the office, enough to finance beyond their needs and even accomodate to privileges that seemed far-fetched at their early years.

sujin is the middle sibling among two brothers — youjin and seojin respectively — which seems like hell more than anything. it was insufferable at some point in time, being the only girl amongst that collective stench of axe body spray and testosterone, and her puberty phase wasn’t exactly the best experience for a teenage girl going through perpetual mood swings. but it wasn’t all that bad, not when sujin’s got the Daddy’s Girl Card and made sure the privilege was well implemented. it got her off from Rowdy Brothers Issues and conflicts with her mother about the benchmark of how mini miniskirts should be. it even got her absolved from breaking curfew next to curfew to the point that they’ve completely rid of the rule as long as proper discipline is established (it was the greatest achievement a girl her age with such affinity for trouble could attain.)

her privileges were cut short, however, when her parents got divorced a little after junior year. the reason for the divergence still remains unclear, and no matter how persistent their mother tries to convince them that it was merely a matter of falling out, the siblings definitely suspected a third party on their dad’s part. soon enough, divorce papers were settled and their mother got custody (even though both youjin and sujin were of age to make their own decisions, they wouldn’t want it any other way.) the restaurant business was also — willingly at that — entrusted to them, which only corroborates the Third Party Theory, and while this gave them the upper hand in financial status, the siblings weren’t all too happy about the possibility of their speculations becoming anything but.

senior year for sujin was regrettably spent adjusting to reality. her brothers got off the radical change in their everyday lives frighteningly easy while sujin’s still stuck in between moving forward and holding on to what used to be. diverting from what’s accustomed has never been something she was so keen about, especially being so close to her dad whose company made up most of her childhood. so the way things felt was so sudden, so abrupt it felt like whiplash. sujin, by ideal standards, had to learn how to become less dependent, how to deal and live with consequences without certain privileges on standby ready to spare her, and how to actually grow up and become what controversially is an adult all in one year. by the time she graduated high school, sujin’s ready and prepped to face the world with minimal to no assistance from her family.

sujin attended dong seoul university as an architectural major for college. the unprecedented decision seemed so dubious to her mother initially, how it came off more as an attempt to stay away rather than anything else. she rationalizes by saying the local college didn’t offer the specific course she wanted, not to mention the commute back and forth would eat up her time. the elements of her choice, while seemingly valid in an objective standpoint, just didn’t seem to add up — the distance, her mom suspects, was a principal. the nearest college has a perfectly suitable alternative for architecture (which, in addition, prodded more questions such as when and how sujin became so inclined to pursue this profession), and lest accommodation was still a drawback, there’s a dorm situated a block down from campus.

however, sujin was just so steadfast in moving to seongnam.

the real reason behind all this trouble was nothing short of her mother’s intuition. sujin wanted to get away, but it was nothing personal. it was more of a favor to herself, an attempt to finally take on What Conventionally Is Adulthood as soon as then, and being surrounded by what’s customary just didn’t click well with the plan. her mother eventually yielded with a compromise on sujin’s part to visit regularly, which she agreed to with not the vaguest hint of refusal.

sujin had no concrete plans after college. it was either take a break, live lavishly, and travel the world (or south east asia for starters) just like she dreamed of. that or, graduate, get a ty job and pay for her own water bills. she’s not an avid fan of the latter but she wouldn’t entirely dread it either.

in the end, sujin pursued neither.

after graduating college, as sequel to adulting, she braved the city life and moved to seoul all by herself. her mom had kind of given up trying tend, not when she’s been vexingly persistent about “being respected as an individual” who can “look after herself.” sujin just wanted to feel that her efforts weren’t in vain just because she hailed from a well-off family (although it’s a bit of a distress right now with her overdued phone and water and electricity bills, but she’ll get a hold of it soon. eventually. sometime later.) sujin took on as much jobs as she could to validate Said Adulting, jumping from corporate to media to even modelling for an online clothing shop. even though she graduated with an architectural degree and had prior plans to strive for that dream, everything about it just seemed so out of reach at the moment, especially when she feels she doesn’t have the luxury of convenience.

it took her a while and a band of horrible bosses screeching into her before she realized that she didn’t want to give up on being an architect. she decided to continue her studies and pursue a second degree in interior design and soon found her place in hanyang university. she’s currently on her second year as an id major.