//// Looks aren't everything, but sometimes they are important ////

face claim / uhljjang Shin Sol Ki ( gallery )

backup / actress Go Jun Hee

 

 

appearance / 

► Shinwoon has a round face shape with somewhat chubby cheeks, which often leads to people complimenting her for her baby face. She sports a short, dyed brown cut that she usually styles with various hair accessories ( from hair pins to flower crowns ). She cut her hair shortly before their move to Australia, as a sign of "new beginnings." ( and also because they warned her it was going to be signifcantly hotter in Australia ). Shinwoon often wears light make-up, but is intensive when it comes to skin care and making sure her face is still soft and smooth by the end of the day. She puts a lot of effort into her lip-makeup, recently liking the sort of ombre effect Korean makeup usually has nowadays.

 

fashion sense / 

► Shinwoon gets cold very, very easily. And even in Australia she tends to wear layers of clothes. She's very fond of autumn fashion, and most of her wardrobe has a rather warm to monotone palette. Shinwoon owns a lot of scarves, mostly handknit by her. She isn't fond of jewelry, but wears a brown woven bracelet made for her by her younger brother. Because she's a little on the shorter side, Shinwoon tends to wear heeled boots, or platform shoes. Shinwoon is also always seen with a brown satchel, which contains her sketchpad.

  

//// Past me ////

 

character traits / 

+ calm, rational, optimistic, respectful 

o curious, avoidant
- detached, push-over, blunt, spacey 

elaboration / 

► Perhaps it comes with age, but Shinwoon is barely fazed by anything at all. Maybe it's because she thinks she's seen it all already ( or maybe read it all? ) but Shinwoon is just really too chill for her own good. She's the type of person who continuously smiles through stressful situations ( which often happens, given that not everyone is very understanding of her situation ), and she has in turn learned to ignore it all in favour of not getting pissed or sulky at every single thing. She often encourages the younger ones in the house to keep moving forward, and is at times annoyingly optimistic about a lot of things. Shinwoon doesn't just blindly believe in everything, however, and at times can be a little blunt when people go to her for advice. Nonetheless, she tries and continuously chooses to see the good side of things 

 

Shinwoon can sometimes be a little too chill about everything. Since she has such a "go with the flow" kind of attitude, when it comes to people who have strong personalities, she's easily swept up in their rhythm. She's a bit of a push-over, which though causes her to avoid conflict, it's difficult for her to form opinions on everything. She's such a neutral person that it actually infuriates some people because she doesn't stand up for herself. Shinwoon easily understands people and has learned to simply accept others as they are. Mabe it's a bit of learned helplessness on her part, but she realized early on that in spite of her efforts she won't be able to change a person's opinions. Unfortunately, this causes people to misunderstand and call her someone who doesn't have a back bone. Which, if she had to be honest, was actually true. Shinwoon hates conflicts and would rather concede to another person when even the slightest chance of a fight might break out.

Despite this, though, most people wouldn't regularly seek a fight with the girl. Shinwoon has a sort of regal aura about her. That despite being all-smiles all the time, there's an odd sort of feeling that you just aren't able to close the gap between the two of you. Because of that, it's rather intimidating for the first few times you'd be stuck in a room with her. She prefers listening to people and doesn't make much for conversation ( aside from obvious reasons why ). Some people see this as her being unwilling to tell much about herself, and she won't deny this. Shinwoon tends to be a bit detached to people, and comes off as insensitive to those who strive to get to know her. She doesn't really do it on purpose though, and is almost often a little bit shocked to hear such things.

 

Shinwoon is a creative spirit, but that means she's also a little bit spacey. She easily gets out of touch with reality, especially whenever she's cooped up and in one of her writing moods. She's a very curious child, and quite cerebral about most things that intrigue her. Meaning, she doesn't actually do a lot of physical tinkering with whatever interests her, but tends to think about it a whole lot. She's easily distracted because of this, and even unconsciously tunes out other people because of it. But perhaps it adds to the mystique, and that's something everyone can't deny that they like about her.

 

background / 

► Shinwoon was born as the eldest of three siblings, with one younger brother and one younger sister. Her parents are both high school teachers and they lived a relatively normal life. They might not have been all too well off, but they managed without any of their kids looking for part time jobs because they needed it, so that was good.

Shinwoon suffered from childhood-onset fluency disorder, which ( as a child ) caused her to stutter greatly. Because of certain personal issues ( i.e. gossip would leak ), and with thoughts of how she'd eventually outgrow it anyway, her family had opted not to seek professional help with her speech disorder. Her stutters hadn't gone away, and one bullying incident too many had eventually made her develop selective mutism ( a speech disorder that should have been addressed ), with only her family hearing her voice. This unfortunately developed even further, and neither Shinwoon nor her family know when exactly it happened that she just stopped speaking altogether and limited herself to communicating through sign language.

Inspite of the troubles that went hand in hand with her mutism, Shinwoon feels she didn't really have it as difficult as some others with disabilities. Of course, she remains grateful for all the people she's met who have been nothing but patient with her. She studied at a special school for most of her student days, but entered Sungkyunkwan University for college. She graduated with a double degree in Korean language and literature, and English language and literature.

Perhaps she's just very, very lucky, but a year after university, Shinwoon had received an offer to sign a contract for a publishing company her classmate, Woongjae, had worked for. She had been working as a freelance writer at the time, and signed immediately. She published her first book, "My Love, Don't Cross the River," half a year later. After her first book had sold like hotcakes, Woongjae kept pressuring her to make public appearances, but the management ( and she herself ) argued that she couldn't do so if she didn't want to talk. Woongjae proposed to see a speech pathologist soon if she ever wanted to further her career. With the royalties she made from her book, Shinwoon set off for Australia.

 

relationships / etc

► Parents | Yi Sangmin and Yi Minyoung | 56 and 57 | high school teachers

After moving out for university ( Shinwoon dormed ), she hasn't been as close with her parents. Though she loves them very much, she does admit that sometime before she moved to a special school and the bullying was at an all time high, she resented them a bit for not seeking professional help for her stuttering. She has since forgiven them and often skypes with them whenever they're free. She's closer to her mother than her father.

 

 

 

 

Trivia /

► she likes cooking breakfast food. everything else... not so much. she favours making pancakes because it's easy to mix and match and personalize for everyone.
► since not everyone knows ASL, she always has around a sketchpad in her bag and a marker in her pocket. she carries around pre-made meta cards whenever she has time to make them, which says "are you able to understand sign language?"
► Shinwoon personalized her side of the reception desk at the library, and has a sign that says "hello! I'm Sarah. I can't talk, so please be patient with me."

► her handwriting has been said to be like something straight out of a font shop. it suprises a lot of people how fast she can write with it still being legible.

► she keeps it a secret from the housemates because most are relatively younger than her, but she tends to smoke when she writes for leisure and is why she usuall writes in cafes when the deadlines are too far away.

► for writing exercises, Shinwoon bases her characers off of the people she knows. she has several short stories tucked away in her laptop about her housemates.

► there's been a rumour from Woongjae that her first book might be turned into a movie soon.

  

//// present me ////

Reason for move / 

 

With her agent pressuring her into doing a book signing and possibilities of public appearances, Shinwoon was burdened with the people around her telling her she should at least try to talk again. After persuasion from Woongjae, her parents finally relented and decided to seek professional medical help. Speech pathology however, was not as prevalent nor as advanced in South Korea as it had been abroad, particularly in Australia and the UK. After careful thought, she figured that if she ever wanted to talk again, she'd have to go to Australia.

Granted, Shinwoon does feel a little guilty. Though part of her move was to let them see she was willing to try again, most of her choice was because she was tired of being pressured to seek help. So while Shinwoon did move to Australia to seek professional help, she hasn't contacted any speech pathologist as of yet. She makes up the excuse of "I'm still earning money for sessions." to avoid going to a speech pathologist.

 

 

 

Goals in australia / 

► she wants to see watch a performance in Sydney opera house because she saw it in Finding Nemo
► although it might be weird, Shinwoon wants to know if it's true that snakes and spiders could be found anywhere, and especially in houses, so she's on the lookout for that
► successfully attend speech pathology sessions, aka, what she's actually there for

//// g'day mate! ////

final words / thanks for such an interesting concept! i tried to make it as original as i possibly could, but it seems this can also be for the 003 plot? u v u or maybe that's just me. i hope you enjoy reading through this as much as i loved thinking up of this story! i can't wait to read more from you~

Oh, by the way, if you need more pictures of Shin Sol Ki, just tell me and I'll link them to you! >u< thank you!!

 

scene reqs / etc

► a scene where the housemates unexpectedly answer Shinwoon with sign language! Shinwoon proceeding to cry like a baby despite possibly being the eldest of the bunch.
► open forum night where the person w plot 004 opens up to the roommates about why they left SK
► Shinwoon's first speech pathology session. accompanied by either Dongwoo or the housemate she's closest to. they hear her stuttering badly, and she comes out of the session near tears, but incredibly satisfied. 
► Dongwoo asks her about her music taste since he always sees her with earphones on during down time in the library. they eventually start an impromptu conversation using songs from their respective devices. "songs sometimes say something when people can't have the courage to do so," he says and plays her an unfamiliar song that he eventually reveals is an original that has yet to be finished.
► one of the housemates feeling homesick and someone else comforting them, they end up talking about South Korea and how much they miss it. some of the other housemates overhear and suggest a bbq party to make them feel a little at home.

 

password / it's not a kpop song but my current favourite is This Side of Paradise by Coyote Theory ( and for a kpop song it's INFINITE's Love Letter )