☉ SANGYEOL IS AT PEARL CENTER
cw: slight gore, animal death
the way the train rattled while sangyeol was reclining in his seat reminded him of home in a way. he was already sleepy and a little warm, after having had to wake up at some ungodly hour to make this train back to simdong. the muted sound of the wheels on the metal tracks were like a lullaby, sending him into dreams of those who inhabit his memories in simdong.
who is that? fading into view… black hair and warm hands, sitting on an island— no, a desk, alone, facing what was supposed to be the front of a high school classroom. his face was blurry, but sangyeol could see who it was supposed to be. this moment was burned into his memory.
there were teenagers laughing in the background, some people passed around the blurry-faced sixteen-year-old, but they faded out of view when they weren’t in his immediate area. sangyeol approached him with caution, unsure why he was having this dream.
you know exactly why you’re having this dream.
jiho's face was clear now as he turned to face him, smiling the way he does. sangyeol’s heart jumped. they were suddenly walking back to the restaurant, fooling around like they did when they were in high school.
please wake up, he begged himself.
the setting sun was hurting his eyes. he turned to jiho to say something, but he was gone. simdong was gone. he was being weighed down and sinking into the ocean while someone was standing over him. his parents were already at the bottom of the ocean, staring up at him with dead eyes. sangyeol was crying, suffocating.
he was standing in his room, facing the door as someone was leaving. it was his mother. sangyeol knew what conversation this was because his back was warming up. he’d never felt so in guilt before.
“you don’t have to &@*#(&^(?, your dad’s just a little worried about it falling into the wrong hands. just remember we love you.”
there was a snake on the ground just outside his door. just as it was about to enter the room, the door slammed shut, its head falling right at his feet. there was blood pooling where he stood. it stared at him as the light faded from its eyes, its final vision being sangyeol staring down at it. he was the snake, the snake was him.
sangyeol jolted awake, sitting up in his reclined seat. his chest hurt.
the family restaurant's
강상열
FULL NAME kang sangyeol.
OTHER NAMES
sang, yeol, etc. not picky about nicknames, so most people call them whatever they think suits him; common variations of his name.
BIRTHDATE 1201, 23.
ETHNICITY korean.
GENDER cis male.
UALITY homoual.
FACECLAIM yoon jeonghan.
STATURE 6'3" / 192cm.
APPEARANCE messy hair, brown locks that rest just above his eyes, dark eyes and cheshire smile to front his sparkling personality and annoyingly receptive brain. tall, somewhere between lanky and fit. never slouches, head held high, hands in pockets, chewing on a straw, boyish laughter, a stranger you could fall in love with on the subway.
STYLE neutral colors, earth tones, muted colors, acid washed denim, clean white sneakers, cheap rings, twine bracelets, dad jeans, old overalls, layered sweaters, fur-trimmed jackets. wears clothes for comfort, but doesn't mind being fashionable as an extra bonus.
THE ANATOMY OF
KANG SANGYEOL
(scroll!)
paper planes / fujimoto and ponyo / balloons that get lost in the clouds / howl pendragon / calling out sick for work / wind chimes / the sensation of dipping your toes in the ocean for the first time / sacrilege / swimming by lunar vacation / getting on a plane for the first time
PERSONALITY
sangyeol finds himself envious of the birds that fly over simdong in the summertime, unable to recall the last time he felt the freedom from responsibility. sangyeol aims to be aimless, to be comfortable in his own bed for once; most days he feels like he'd be able to write his responsibilities away. there's a certain feeling behind his smile, a sweet boyish mischief in his words and the tone of his voice. at his happiest, he's cracking a joke or two and playing dumb for his own enjoyment.
he is honest in his words and only shares his thoughts when prompted, as he finds unsolicited opinions intrusive himself. those close to him have mixed feelings about his brusqueness because his relationships tend to falter if he's too sharp, but he believes those who fall away weren't meant to have crossed paths with him anyway. he believes it's more practical to be honest rather than leave things hanging in the air; his constitution is stronger than his hold on friendships.
he does feel guilt in leaving his small seaside hometown for bigger and better opportunities, though none of those opportunities had come to him until he figured out what it meant to have purpose. this deep-seated, hidden guilt has become his downfall, thinking somehow he needs to be the savior to his parents (and maybe the whole of simdong, depending on how swollen his ego is that day). it's one of his worse qualities, aside from the inflated hubris he's achieved from one too many correct assumptions (attributed to his stellar intuition, he says). some find it frustrating when he's right because it usually means he's managed to prove something in their foreknowledge wrong. he calls it something of a sixth sense, though knowing too much does land him in a lot of trouble sometimes.
a true romantic, sangyeol has found an appreciation for his life and how precious it can be. going where the wind takes him is a taxing lifestyle, but he chooses to be as true to himself and his values as possible.
tl;dr: "he's a charmer to people who don't know him well; otherwise he's just a smartass... or a ?"
BACKGROUND
sangyeol grew up recieving attention from his parents' restaurant patrons at a young age, though he never really had a knack for the family business. he was a good talker but he could never remember peoples' orders— or their faces, for that matter, which made carrying trays of food around a lot harder than it needed to be (not that he had the upper body strength to do manual labor at fifteen, anyway). despite not being the most competent around the restaurant, he still attracted younger customers and was popular with the regulars who were charmed by ways of conversation. he still helped out where he was needed, but when it got busy he had to fade into the background so as to not get in the way of the actual staff.
older folk either loved or hated him— had something to do with his smart mouth and the different energy he gave off. sangyeol hadn't really paid any mind to the judgement of others in the first place, so this didn't really bug him until the judgement came from those close to him.
sangyeol was everyone's favorite friend in high school. he socialized with everyone and moved around when he got bored, but his closest friend had always been jiho. after their fight, he felt like he had to re-evaluate his goals as sort of a way to avoid thinking about everything they'd been through crumbling to dust before his eyes. his parents were disappointed when he told them he didn't want to run the restaurant anymore, but they understood who he was and that he wasn't just running away. sangyeol didn't really belong in simdong.
sangyeol had always sensed something off about simdong, but it was nothing he could point out in confidence. this wasn't the reason he wanted to leave so soon after graduation— in fact, deep in his heart of hearts, he was extremely reluctant to leave. he wasn't sure if he was scared (no, that can't be the right word...) or if he was worried (about what?) but there was this sense of dread encompassing him at the thought of departing he couldn't understand.
ultimately, he decided to push through those feelings in the interest of discovering more about himself. after leaving simdong to live with a cousin in the city, sangyeol wandered, looking for inspiration like he'd always imagined doing, applying for retail jobs to help out with rent. he ended up working at a library since it was the easiest job with the best writing atmosphere.
the last time sangyeol returned to simdong was a year after graduation, which, in itself, raised a few eyebrows. the real head scratcher was when he told his parents he wanted to go to college to get a teaching degree. the cost of having a small business while sending their only kid to college was never something they'd considered, not to mention he was never a scholarly person to begin with. it didn't make a lot of sense to his parents, even after he'd told them that he started tutoring at his library job in the city (which, actually, was even more surprising than his wanting to go to college). being the person he is, sangyeol managed to get back to the city that summer with plans to invest all his time into helping his parents pay his college tuition.
LIFESTYLE
sangyeol is currently a fourth year elementary education major. he works two jobs to pay rent and pay off loans— his original library job and as a cashier/prep worker at a cafe near campus. typically, he has difficulty being willing to take days off after calculating his allowances for the month, but returning to simdong felt a lot more important than working during summer for reasons he couldn't explain in words.
if he has morning classes, depending on how he's feeling he'll either wake up early to make himself a nice breakfast or grab something out of the fridge and run out with one or two things missing from his backpack. if he doesn't have morning classes, he indulges himself in a brunch made by his cousin, jinhyuk, who begs him to make something from the restaurant once in a while. if neither of them feel like cooking, they either scavenge through leftovers or order something cheap and filling before afternoon classes.
the afternoons are usually the busiest for sangyeol because he's never free during that time of day— either he has class or he's working one of his jobs. evenings are usually hard on him because he's either closing shift at starbucks or studying late, both of which take a lot of energy out of him. if he ever has extra time in the day, he's trying to preserve his writing hobby, but it's rare that he has enough extra brain power to think of pretty words to decorate his pages with. some nights he's tasked with figuring out his feelings about closure with jiho, but usually he just sleeps and pretends to forget about it the next morning.
TRIVIA
🐇 never learned how to drive; was planning to get his license before he felt like he had to go back to simdong
🐇 if he finds himself really dedicated to something, he'll pursue it wholeheartedly (his teaching career being the best example of this; doesn't really apply to relationships because there's another party involved)
🐇 sangyeol is planning on going into the military after he graduates
🐇 had a few high school girlfriends but he couldn't really see them in a romantic way so for a while he thought there was something wrong with him
🐇 parents set up a donation box at the host stand labeled "yeol's college fund" which has paid off a semester's worth of tuition so far
🐇 originally, he wanted to do some low-budget travelling around the world for the rest of his life but his plans obviously fell through
🐇 started tutoring because he was told he had a personality that kids really liked. was really surprised when he found out how much he liked watching people learn things. also figured since he's a good explainer he'd like teaching so at the time his decision to go to college seemed very frivolous...
🐇 has a habit of casually unloading a lot of information at once and then moving the conversation forward with no elaboration
🐇 is really sociable in class, manages to pass classes because people like him so much they want him at their study sessions
🐇 won't admit it but it hurts his ego that he's not fit to run the restaurant— or even work there as a server
🐇 this was mentioned in the background, but sangyeol does know how to cook a few recipies from the restaurant but it never tastes the way his dad makes it
🐇 more tba!
KANG FAMILY
parents, extended family
around the restaurant, sangyeol’s dad is the cook, his mom is the hostess, and his aunts and uncles were the ones helping with prep and serving until their children were old enough to take over.
sangyeol is his parents’ only child; he wasn’t really spoiled, but to the other parents in simdong, it seemed that way. after frequent doctor’s visits and being told sangyeol would be their only child for a while, it was an easy choice to put forth energy into raising him with love. it was a fear of theirs that he would end up resenting them, so it sort of seemed like they let him do whatever he wanted as long as he helped out around the restaurant when he was done with his homework.
it didn’t take long for them to realize he wasn’t very good at the jobs he’d been assigned so they told him it was okay to just talk people into coming to the restaurant (as if everyone in town didn’t already know it existed). sangyeol was okay with this on the outside, but he had a lot of mixed emotions about seeing his entire family working while he stood on the side and bussed tables when they cleared up.
this sort of internalized as he grew, but none of it ever bubbled to the surface since sangyeol found his own passions outside of the restaurant. in telling his parents that he didn’t want to inherit the restaurant, he felt like he was pushing them away even if they looked like they got over their initial disappointment quickly. he has a lot of love in his heart for his parents, especially knowing that they go out of their way to defend him and his habits against the concerns of older folk in town.
sangyeol has thought a lot about staying in simdong for a while after coming back from the military to take care of his parents and teach for a bit, but he always keeps his options open.
as for his other cousins that work around the restaurant, sangyeol considers them to be siblings he’s never had. a few of them tried to convince him to at least succeed the restaurant in his mother’s place, but none of their arguments were convincing enough. jinhyuk, his cousin-roommate, is one of the only cousins that respects his plans to be without purpose, which is why they’re the closest out of the bunch.
looking at sangyeol and yugyeong is like staring at your reflection in two mirrors— the image of yourself is inverted and the more you look at yourself, the more you don’t recognize the person in the mirror. their families knew each other for business, but sangyeol’s only impression of yugyeong was her quietly rushing around the shop in the afternoons when he would be sent to get tea for the restaurant. he could tell she loved what she was doing and assumed she’d want to stay doing this her entire life from what he’d heard from his parents and jiho.
when he was more in his head about not being able to help his parents, sangyeol found himself envying her passion for her mother’s business, her competence and skill. he never quite understood why she disliked the city so much, in fact there was a lot he didn’t understood about her. their minds were so different, he thought, leaving simdong again to go to college.
after sangyeol returned to simdong, he felt himself resenting her for inserting herself into his and jiho’s high school argument. he doesn’t know how much of it is personal and how much of it is her own opinion, but his annoyance grows the more he tries to figure it out. much of the passive aggression between them currently stems from misunderstandings and assumptions from both parties, despite having never known each other in any direct way.
kanqwu
IM YUGYEONG
YOO JIHO
czernys
sangyeol and jiho met when they were children because of the restaurant, often meeting when soybean deliveries were being made. they spent a lot of time together after their initial meeting, mostly because sangyeol wasn’t really known as a super rambunctious kid so jiho’s grandma trusted he would be safe hanging out with him.
they were at their closest in high school. it wasn’t rare to see them goofing off after school would let out, either finishing homework at the restaurant or hanging around simdong without a care in the world. for a while, jiho was all sangyeol knew. it was so freeing to be able to talk to each other about everything, but he’d have to come back to earth when jiho said he was needed at home. sangyeol wasn’t sure what it was about jiho, but it was like the world was in his hands when they were together. looking back on his relationship, sangyeol liked that there was stability in his own blithe world when jiho was with him. there was a sparkle in his eyes when he looked at him; he could feel his own heart in his chest.
let’s run away.
he could also feel his grandma’s eyes on them. the feeling would fade at any mention of the old woman who kept jiho trapped in a bubble.
the fight they had about her in their third year shook sangyeol to the core. his stability was gone, so he had to seek out new ground. sangyeol had constant thoughts about him as the distance between himself and simdong grew, but by the time he’d found his new ground, jiho was put away deep in the back of his heart. returning to simdong would open up that wound again, but sangyeol needed closure in order for him to completely heal. something inside him has always wanted to reconcile their relationship, but there were a lot of things said that he can never take back.
may add more in the future- will update you if so!
lots of hearsay around them, first impressions were completely indirect, similar to yugyeong. likely met in their childhood because of sangyeol’s parents’ frequent visits to the doctor. will add more when app is finished!
shibutani
OK JONGHYUK
by water
by land
candle light
electric
by car
by foot
homemade
premade
afterlife
reincarnation
ghosts exist
no ghosts
friends
family
in lise's pov...
hero
damsel
villain
in sangyeol's pov...
hero
damsel
villain
COMMENTS hi tofu... little chickey tender...
sangyeol will go any direction he feels is right so do with that what u will ^___^
lise • thirty
c. shibutani
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