cakevspie| Kristy| Activeness: 5

                                                          

Hey, nice to meet you! I'm...

Name: Nguyễn Thị Liên

Nicknames: Lien

Age: 17 (in 2011)

Birthday: February 13, 1994

Birth place: Hanoi, Vietnam

Hometown: Hanoi, Vietnam

Have you lived in Korea? If so, how long: She has been in Korea for two years and a half years as an SM trainee.

Blood type: A postive

Ethnicity: Vietnamese (Kinh)

Nationality: Vietnamese

Languages: Vietnamese (fluent: reading, writing, and speaking); Korean (passing fluent; speaking and somewhat reading, some trouble writing); English (basics, just hellos, good-byes, and what she learns from American pop songs)

Acting The Part

First face claim: Min (formerly of St.319)

Links: 1 2 3 

Back up face claim: Suni Ha Linh

Links: 1 2 3 

Height: 5'1"

Weight: 45 kg

Style: She's very casual; she likes skinny jeans and graphic t-shirts and long sleeve shirts. She prefers her hair to be long, and likes her bangs because she thinks it makes her look younger. Lien doesn't care much about looking "y" because she doesn't think she can pull it off. Rather, she goes more for the "cute" look, with big sweatshirts and sweater paws and beanies and skirts. She prefers darker, warmer colors, like autumn.
She also likes traditional Vietnamese clothing; on formal occasions, she might don an áo dài, or on less formal occasions she might wear a modified áo yếm or áo bà ba.
Also, during dance practice she's fine with just leggings and a huge sweatshirt. Airport fashion, sometimes she just shows up in her pajamas.

Small details: She has a small tattoo of a treble clef on the inside of her left wrist, and another tiny one of a bird taking flight on her right shoulder blade.

This Is Who I Am 

Personailty: Curious, kind, hard-working, cheerful, pensive

In Depth: When someone first meets Lien, the first description that pops into their head is "sweet, but quiet". At first, she seems to have almost a demure sort of aura, coupled with her petite stature and seemingly timid demeanor. Indeed, she does shy away from confrontation, and takes her time analyzing a situation before adding her own two cents. If she doesn't know you well, she'll treat you politely, but distantly. She's guarded. At the same time, though, she truly believes the best in everyone, and thinks that people are truly good in the world, so she tries her best to be kind. She'll be the one who opens the door for strangers, stops to give change to the homeless man on the corner regardless of whether or not its dangerous. She's a little naive, has kind of no sense of self-preservation. With those who know her, though, and though she knows, she can be witty and humorous, though most of her humor is self-deprecating. Her aura of childlike wonder and innocence doesn't really go away when you get to know her, but it just becomes supplemented with her other aspects. She goes from being the "sweet, quiet, innocent one" to "funny, witty, kind but foolish friend."

Likes: Musicals, strawberry Hello Panda crackers, coffee, bánh bao, her mother's cooking in general, singing, the rain, K-dramas, Pepero, lipstick, green tea, cake, Harry Potter, Disney movies, wine, church (she's Catholic), songwriting, delimanjoo, food in general, candles, SNSD, Super Junior, Zhang Liyin, playing the piano

Favorites: Taking pictures, cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee), old slow Vietnamese ballads, Coffee Prince (the drama helped her in her attempts to learn Korean, and she may have a small celebrity crush on Gong Yoo), the practice rooms at SM, small animals like puppies and kittens, pancakes, bánh patê sô (a puff pastry with meat filling), Vietnamese pop singers like Mỹ Tâm

Dislikes: mung beans, hot weather, clutter, rude/cruel people, traffic, people who make fun of her accent when she speaks Korean

Hate with a passion: durien, wet socks, loud explosive noises, clowns, violent movies, trot music, diets, waking up early, spiders

Habits: plays with her hair when she's stressed/nervous, paints her nails often so she doesn't bite them, has a hard time sitting still (as in, her foot will always be tapping or she'll always be moving her arms, especially when she's nervous), covers when she laughs or smiles really widely

Hobbies: singing, playing the piano, writing songs, taking selfies, practicing her Korean, playing basketaball even though she's not good at it, riding the Metro, shopping, teaching herself to play guitar (though not very well)

I'm not perfect: She hates the fact that she's so shy, which gives her great anxiety which makes her freeze up even more and become even quieter. On the flip side, when she's comfortable, she might come across as too loud or tactless, which she then overanalyzes and resolves to be more quiet in the future. Truth be told, she has a lot of walls and insecurities. She's also so, so, so naive, she really wants to think the best of everyone, and in that way she can be very childish, which might be aggravating. Sometimes, her logic can be so convoluted and frustrating to those who know that the world is nowhere as good or as nice as she thinks it is. In her eyes, she's the worst person in the world, so therefore everyone else must be better.

Phobias: Spiders and failure

Trivia: She has a cousin who lives in America who will eventually become an extreme EXO-L. Her grandparents also fought in the American War. 

So What's The Story?

Background: She was born and raised as a city girl in Hanoi, though because her mother is from Saigon, she was raised with a bit of a Southern twist in her Vietnamese. For as long as she could remember, she was always singing. Her grandmother used to joke that she sang before she could even talk. She sang along to songs on the television, to old ballads on the radio, to old war songs her grandfather taught her. Her voice was sweet, but thin and not very powerful.
When she entered middle school, one of her teachers noticed her voice, and decided to help train her. Her parents eventually saved enough money to pay for vocal lessons, and Lien's voice grew stronger. Her teacher decided to tape a video of one her performances (singing "Umbrella", an American pop hit Lien particularly liked), and put it on Youtube as an advertisement for lessons in late 2009, but to their surprise it quickly gained thousands of views and the attention of SM Entertainment, who offered Lien a position as a trainee at their company.
Lien's parents were hesitant, given that they could barely afford her vocal lessons in the first place, and they were expecting to have another child pretty soon. Lien and her teacher convinced them, however, stating that SM would pay for all training fees and that Lien would send money back home if she ever debuted. In the end, they allowed her to move to Korea to study music.

Family: Nguyễn Văn Duong - Father - 54 - Closeness: 4 - quiet, supportive, action-oriented, loving and true
Trương Mỹ Hoa - Mother - 49 - Closeness: 4 - practical, honest, reliable, steady, a housewife, backbone of the household
Nguyễn Văn Don, nicknamed "Danny" - Younger Brother - 2 - Closeness: 2 - happy, innocent, loved, stubborn
Phạm Thị Hoài - Grandmother on her father's side (bà nội) - 73 - Closeness: 3 - feisty, opinionated, loud, healthy as a horse

Best Friend: Trần Thị Chi - 18 - High school student, about to enter the Hanoi University of Science and Technology - Closeness: 5 - intelligent, bookish, serious, matter-of-fact, logical, loyal to a fault - Lien and Chi have been inseperable since elementary school, and still keep in touch even though they're in different countries

Friends:  Lee Junseo - 19 - trainee at SM Entertainment - Closeness: 3 - rambunctious, mischievious, dirty-minded, gay (as in he likes dudes)
Kim Junghee - 21 - dance instructor at SM Entertainment - Closeness: 3 - hard-working, intuitive, always knows whats going on, patient
Jung Soojung - 17 - member of f(x) - Closeness: 3 - sincere, charming, seemingly cold but playful when you get to know her

They Make My Heart Race

(He looks so young here oh my god 2012...)

Love interest: Kim Jongdae (EXO's Chen)

Age: 19 (in 2011)

Birthday: September 21, 1992

Group/OC: EXO, to debut in 2012

Personality: sweet, talented, dedicated, gentle but joking, clever, private

In Depth: Jongdae is the lead vocalist of EXO-M, a hard-working, dedicated performer and a genuinely good person overall. Known for his kind-hearted and gentle nature, Jongdae is often seen to be looking out for his fellow EXO members and his fans. He's generally easy-going and laid back, prone to often joking around as part of the Beagle Line with members Baekhyun and Chanyeol, Jongdae definitely has a playful and mischevious side that might come across to some as slightly childish (especially due to his habit of playfully whining "whyyyy") - however, he also has displayed signs of maturity and responsibilty in the past, again often taking care of his fellow members and knowing when to stop a joke in case it becomes problematic. In this way, Jongdae seems very likeable and gets along well with mostly everyone around him. He's very committed to being the best vocalist he can be, once stating that his dream is to be the best singer in the world, and often states that he feels like he still has a lot to learn. 
Jongdae also has a slightly flirty nature, one that likes to joke around (labelled as a "troll" by some fans). This is mainly the persona he undertakes as Chen, onstage, the person he presents to his fans - cheerful, sweet, playful. However, he can also sometimes be more subdued (more offstage than on), allowing him to also be respectful and caring. While he is a very good and likeable person, he also seems like a hard person to get to know intimately, as he also appears to be very private and maybe even slightly reserved when it comes to very serious things or negative emotions. Such things he has certainly never shown to the public, and those around him may also be unaware of his reservations, believing that the Jongdae he presents is the truest level of depth he possesses. 

How you met: They were both trainees at SM around the same time, though he entered the company around 2010-2011, while Lien entered around the end of 2009. His talent was immediately recognized by all the trainees in the company, and it was thought that he was a sure-in to debut. Lien at the time was working hard towards her own debut, and admired the older trainee for his vocal skill, as well as his kindness towards her. Whenever they met, whether it be during their dance rehearsal classes, vocal instruction, or lunch breaks, he always spoke slowly and patiently with her, and smiled a lot. They became rather good friends, despite the language barrier, partially due to the fact that both were similar in age (at the time 16 and 18) and both were vocal talents. Jongdae was extremely helpful when Lien wished to improve her Korean pronunciation.

The way you act around each other: At first, they regard each other like siblings, him being the elder brother and her being the younger sister. She refers to him as "Anh" in Vietnamese, which is an indicator of their closeness, though she refuses to call him "oppa" in Korean. When Lien learns that she is going to debut with SunRise, Jongdae is one of the first people she tells, and he is ecstatic. Similarly, she is one of th first people he tells when he learns he's going to debut in EXO. Because they go on this incredible journey with similar circumstances and situations, they grow even closer, to the point where they're able to laugh and joke around and just be so comfortable with each other that anyone looking on from the outside might think that they're dating. It isn't until a little while that Lien realizes just how much she's fallen for him, and how dangerous that can be.

Status: Fond of each other, but not dating. Jongdae is fond of Lien, and Lien eventually realizes that she's in love with Jongdae, but they can't do anything about it because they're rookie idols and the resulting scandal is too dangerous for their groups.

Scene requests: Vocalists helping each other practice, breaking the news of debut, Jongdae wondering why she's suddenly become so distant, them getting barbeque or coffee together

The Journey

Trainee life: Adjusting to life in Korea was hard, especially considering the language barrier. The first year or so, she called home nearly every week, just to be able to speak Vietnamese, just to be able to speak without having to think so hard about every word coming out of . With time, though, she made friends and slowly developed her voice to the point where she was able to debut. Because of her kind and unconfrontational nature, she didn't really make any enemies, preferring to back down and blend into the background rather than cause fights. It took a while for her to make friends - with Junseo, it happened because he was fnaturally friendly and decided to become friends with her, not because she intiated it, although she's grateful for his company. With Junghee, the instructor took notice because Lien's dance skills at the beginning were, to put it frankly, awful. Junghee gave her a few tips, and became impressed with the girl's hard work, and soon developed a friendship between them. Lien never lost sight of her goal to debut and sing onstage however - she'd spend hours upon hours in the practice room, often forgoing sleep in order to practice as long as she could, then get up early to do her homework for high school the next day.

How long were you a trainee: 2 1/2 years

Pre debut activites: She did an acoustic cover of SNSD's "Gee" that made it's way around on the Internet. She was also a background extra in a web-drama called "The Butterfly Effect" that never really gained popularity. In all honesty, it was her "Umbrella" cover that she's most known for.

Any scandals?: None so far.

Would you like scandals in the future? If so, what kind?: Probably something like a dating scandal, or something political, if Vietnam ever had a disagreement with Korea around that time.

A Shining Star

Stage name: Lien

Persona: Cute and innocent

Personal fan club name: Lotuses (Liên means "lotus" in Vietnamese)

Fan club colour: Red

Singing twin: Suni Hạ Linh (the girl's voice)

Rapping twin: Byun Baekhyun in EXO's Showtime (as in...not very well. But points for trying.)

Dancing twin: Min ST.319 (maybe not as well as Min, but this is the simplest dance I could find of her. The styles are similar)

What position would you like to have: Main Vocalist

Small details: She's a light-lyric soprano, and is trying to write her own songs (mostly in Vietnamese, though she's trying to translate them into Korean). She knows how to play the piano and is trying to learnt he guitar and how to use music composition software.

Social networking sites: 
Instagram: lovely_li_en1994
Twitter: @nguyen_lien

Fanservice: Lots and lots of aegyo :)

Going solo: Eventually she'd try to branch out into acting, doing whatever dramas or movies she could. She learns that she loves acting. She also loves musicals, so if one ever came up she'd take it first chance she'd get (maybe a Korean production of Miss Saigon?)

Important Questions

Messy or Neat: Neat

Can you cook and clean?: A little bit, but not well. Best at cooking Viet food.

Would you mind a roommate?: Would love a roommate!

Noisy or Quiet: Quiet

Do you like animals? If so, would you mind pets?: Love love love pets!

Are there any concepts that you'd like SunRise to try out?: Maybe a teenage delinquent concept? Or a Peter Pan/Neverland concept?

And That's It Folks!

Comments: I'm so excited! I love the idea of international members!

Debut song suggestions: "Love Alone" by Miss A or "Mr. Taxi" by SNSD

Other song suggestions: I know that it might not fit the time, but I absolutely adore AOA's "Heart Attack" and I feel like that's a great song for a rookie girl group

Scene suggestions: Bonding between the members! Group shenanigans in the dorm! Language barriers being broken down! All for friendship and having fun! Also airport and rehearsal antics would be fun.

Would you like drama and angst?: I live for it. :)

It's all DONE: