#SUPREME : SORA IS #BLUESKIESANDSUNSHINE
#SORA
< supreme's blue skies and sunshine >
BIRTHNAME: kim seora (hangul: 김서라) (hanja: 金曙羅) (kanji: キム天)
the difference in spelling between "seora" and "sora" is meant to differentiate between what she is called in korea and what she was called in japan. mtm gave her "sora" as her stage name to appeal to a japanese audience, and also because it's similar to her real name.
NICKNAMES:
+ SEOSEO. petname used by family and close friends, but especially favored by her little brother. very affectionate and cutesy, seora will sometimes refer to herself as "seoseo" in the third person when she's feeling dramatic and wants something.
+ CATHERINE. her baptismal name, given that her mother was catholic and she grew up with that faith, keeping it close to her as a comfort. she's only ever called catherine in the church service. she is named so after saint catherine di'ricci, on whose feast day she was born.
+ OUJOUSAMA. "princess" in japanese, a name given to her by netizens referencing her slightly spoiled nature and the fact that she's meant to appeal to a japanese audience. like all of her nicknames, this is a nickname she also embraces.
BIRTHDAY: february 13, 1995
BIRTHPLACE: busan, south korea
HOMETOWN: busan, south korea
ETHNICITY: korean
NATIONALITY: south korean
LANGUAGES:
+ KOREAN. fluent, struggles with reading and writing. her first language. even though she lived in japan from age six to sixteen, she was still able to retain enough korean to be able to hold a conversation and discuss ideas. because she was born in busan, learned korean, and lived with her father there when she returned to korea, she retains a gyeongsang dialect.
+ JAPANESE. fluent, able to read and write. she moved to yokohama with her mother when she was six, and completed elementary and middle schoool there. even though she still spoke korean at home with her mother, she learned japanese to be able to converse with her schoolmates, and therefore is incredibly comfortable in that langauge. she worked hard as a child to eliminate any trace of a korean accent in her japanese, but sometimes it might bleed through if she's tired/stressed.
+ ENGLISH. semi-fluent, can piece together sentences and phrases. it's more of survival english than anything, taken from american movies and tv shows she watches sometimes. she also picks up phrases from american pop music and uses them excessively - her word of the week right now is "swag" in any form.
+ MANDARIN. learning, knows basic words and phrases. she's actually actively studying this language, unlike english, but it's slow going between schedules. she wants to be able to communicate with international fans, so she's making an effort to practice her mandarin whenever she can, and watches a lot of wuxia films.
FACECLAIM: seo yuna of AOA (kim sohee of C.I.V.A.)
HEIGHT: 160 cm
WEIGHT: 45 kg
BLOOD TYPE: a-positive
APPEARANCE:
seora was a short and scrawny girl growing up. now that she's older, her features still have a certain sharpness and angularness to them. she stands a little shorter than average, with thin legs and arms, and a small (22.5 inch) waist. her bust and her hips are very flat. she's encouraged by the company to wear padding in order to give her more of a "womanly" figure.
she has high cheekbones and fairly large hazel eyes that fans describe as "puppy eyes". her jawline is very sharp - the result of a combination of good genes and plastic surgery to accentuate what she already had. she had plastic surgery as a trainee for her jawline and to make her nose smaller. she also wears lingual braces (braces placed on the back of the teeth instead of the front) in order to straighten what had previously been a slightly crooked smile. the braces are about to come off around the time of debut, however.
seora is rather confident in her visuals, and says that she looks more like her mother than her father. she remarks often that she's the type to eat a lot and not gain weight, and jokes that she hates exercise of any kind because she's so lazy. this is not the case, however, as she tries very hard to maintain her thin figure, albeit secretly. she follows every diet the company wants to put her on nearly obssessively, and often exercises late at night or when she can get away from other members. this is an extremely unhealthy relationship with food and exercise, almost to the point of disordered, but seora isn't really aware of it. she just sees her body as a tool to be used to shape the public's opinion of her.
[+180, -10] seora-yah has a great body line, i'm jealous
[+1554, -153] she looks like one of those celebrities who eats once a day..."miss piggy" my ...
[+121, -98] her face is pretty but her body looks so frail...like a little girl...
[+197, -36] goo hara still wins for best ant waist, but 22.5 inches is no joke!
[+112, -4] you think that body looks average, right? but look in real life and nobody has a body like that ㅋ especially a waist line like hers ㅋㅋ
FASHION STYLE:
in general, seora likes cute, dressy sort of outfits. tights, skirts, dresses, those sorts of things. she doesn't care much for tight-fitting clothes, preferring instead clothes that hang off her frame and make her seem smaller. she loves big sweatshirts and shirts, sometimes stealing seojun's t-shirts to wear around the house/dorm. even so, everything she wears seems to have a little feminine touch - she doesn't do well with the masculine or punk style. she mainly dresses in pastels, light pinks and blues and whites, and everything feels very light and airy. if she needs to show a more mature image, however, she doesn't mind donning darker colors - for example, a wine-colored shirt and black skirt.
seora is a little more relaxed in her wardrobe at home than she is in public. occasionally, she might wear jeans to lounge around the house/dorm in, coupled with an overly large t-shirt, with reading glasses and her hair messily piled on top of her head. or, on an even rarer occasion, you might catch her lazing the day in her pajamas; sleep shorts and a tank top, maybe a sweatshirt if it's cold. she also doesn't wear makeup around the house/dorm, saying that she wants to let her skin breathe.
in public, whether it's running errands or on her way to a schedule or even just grabbing a bite to eat with the rest of supreme, seora tries to be put together. that means usually a skirt, a long or short-sleeved shirt, possibly tights if it's cold, cute shoes and earrings, and natural makeup. it's her usual to-go outfit in a hurry.
when it comes to work, however, she takes what the stylists give her without complaint. if given the opportunity to wear a skirt or a dress, she will take it happily. however, she's usually down with whatever concept supreme has to take on, embracing it with a smile and usually a joke.
dance practices and airports are the only two times she really dresses down. t-shirts and sweatpants, usually. possibly slippers. she doesn't wear makeup at practices and at the airport, but doesn't let anyone see her bare face in public, always donning cute face masks instead.
she also likes hats, it doesn't matter what kind - beanies, snapbacks, fedoras. if they match her outfit, the better.
PERSONALITY TRAITS:
+ agreeable, cheerful, charismatic, confident, dedicated, sweet, hard-working, curious, cute
+ whimsical, high-spirited, idiosyncratic, stubborn, competitive, artful, effiminate
+ annoying, spoiled, manipulative, irresponsible, insecure, vulnerable
ELABORATION:
"i don't think i've ever seen sora without a smile. she seems a little foolish, but i think she has a good heart. she is a friend i cherish deeply, i just wish i knew what she was thinking more often."
- member of supreme, ViVi magazine interview
"seo-yah, she's the kind of person who is either 'on' or she's 'off''. most people only know her when she's 'on', and she tries so hard to be 'on' all the time that it must be exhausting. but when she's 'off', that's the seora i know and like best. that's the seora that's most real to me."
- DANTE's seojun, private conversation
"ON": NOBODY'S THE WISER
seora is a girl in a woman's body. or at least, that's what is seems like.
she's cute, and she knows it. she knows what she wants and how to get it and god help anyone that gets in her way. she may be 21 years old, but there's a reason her nickname is "princess". she expects to get her way often, and as a result has a reputation for being a little spoiled and self-centered. like a child. she has a child's sweet tooth and stubborn nature and naive way of looking at the world. she's even aware of it, often making jokes about how its her nature to "smile and be stupid like a little kid". she makes no effort to amend these flaws, instead seeming to take them in stride, shrugging and saying "that's how i am, so be it."
at the same time, that same childishness can make her so very charming. she's incredibly cheerful, the first one to make a joke or try to get others to smile. her reactions seem so often so pure and genuine, mostly joy and excitement. she's also rarely malicious, insteading taking strides to be kind and sweet. and she loves sharing happiness with others. she wants to be a bright light, like the sun, shining and sharing light with others and making them smile.
she's an extrovert - she loves attention, loves the stage, loves soaking up in rays of admiration. she loves being loved. she loves to talk, loves to connect, loves to be around people. she's hard-working, but easily impatient. she gives her all in the practice rooms, works so hard towards perfection, but once it's achieved or once they've been deemed "good enough" she becomes bored, seeking a new challenge or a new standard to achieve.
seora wants to live in the moment and seize every opportunity for excitement that she can. she's a lot of fun to be around, always down for an adventure or a new idea. she can talk for hours about anything. with anyone. she loves making new friends, loves just experiencing life.
some may find her shallow or annoying, but a majority of people are charmed by her "childlike innocence and good intentions". she seems very genuine, which is funny because she actually works very hard at this image of being "on", cultivating it and perfecting it into something that hopefully people will love.
"OFF": NOBODY KNOWS
seora learned at a young age that you can decide how you want the world to see you. that if you act a certain way, you can control how people react to you. you can make people love you, if you want to. and all seora ever wants is to be loved.
in the few times when seora is left alone, she's quiet and pensive. always thinking of how to improve, how to be better, how to be a better idol or friend or daughter. it's exhausting to be "on" all the time, but seora knows that it's the image she has to keep up to the world, so she's rarely "off".
when she is, though, she smiles less often. doesn't nearly try so hard to be "kind" and "innocent" and "pure". she becomes more sarcastic, her humor a little darker. she's so much more guarded like this, doesn't wear her emotions so much on her face because the emotions she allows herself to feel are so much messier. she's more anxious and nervous like this, worrying if she's doing the wrong things, saying the wrong things, if she's wrong. she wonders about a lot of things, if she's a terrible person for putting on a show all the time, if she's fake, if she's manipulative, if people really like her or if they just pretend the same way she pretends for so much of her life.
she's so much quieter, this way. she feels a lot deeper. things are more likely to make her cry like this, like movies or music or the evening news. she writes a lot when she's "off" too, secrets that no one will ever know, diary entries, bits of song lyrics. the thing is, the things she creates when she's like this are so much more genuine, so much more real than anything she does when she's "on". she's softer, quieter, more inquisitive and genuinely curious.
few people have ever seen her when she's "off". she's barely aware of the shift herself, only really understanding it when seojun puts it into terms of being like a lightswitch. it makes sense to her, though. she doens't like being around people when she's "off" - she feels , exposed, like all of her bad qualities, the ones she can't control come to light.
seora values control so highly, she's honestly terrified of someone encountering her as she is instead of what she tries to be. she honestly has no idea of what she is like when she's not trying to put on an image, and wonders if anyone can really love her as she is.
"i am the one thing in life i can control.
i am inimitable, i am an original."
BACKGROUND:
+1995. after nearly five years of trying, university sweethearts and married couple kim jangwoo and lee jihye were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, born february 13, 1995 in the kosin university gospel hospital in busan.
kim seora was born a month and a half too early, and spent nearly two weeks in the NICU until she was deemed healthy enough to go home. her mother and father were scared to death - her father spent nearly every night he could in the NICU, with his tiny daughter's hand wrapped around his finger. he loved seora from the first moment he laid eyes on her.
her mother, jihye, loved her deeply too, but suffered from postpartum depression soon after the birth. when seora was healthy enough to leave the NICU, jihye was terrified of holding her. but her parents loved each other, they loved their daughter, and believed love would see them through any difficult times. jihye held her daughter for the first time three days after she was born, and cried for two hours, holding her seora while jangwoo held her.
they made a lovely picture, like that. a lovely family.
+1997-1998. seora turned two years old, beginning to learn how to walk and talk, loved so much by her parents who quite frankly spoiled her rotten. she had such a happy home, filled with love and warmth and never wanting for anything. seora loved her parents, and her parents loved her more than anything.
in july of 1998, a financial crisis hit most of asia, and jangwoo suddenly found himself struggling to support his wife and child. money became more tight, and jihye decided to go back to her previous job as a secretary at a large law firm, the job she'd had to give up when seora was born. with both parents working now, the daughter was watched by jangwoo's father, a quiet, kind old man who doted on the toddler, but also could be quite absentminded. as a result, jihye often had much anxiety over the well-being of her daughter when she was away at work.
in 1998, jangwoo lost his job at kia motors when hyundai took over, and as a result was reduced to a "stay-at-home father" who looked after seora while jihye worked. seora adored her father, and jangwoo adored seora, but this arrangement created a kind of tension between jangwoo and jihye that would only grow as time went on.
+2000. the neighbors whispered about jihye when they thought she and her husband couldn't hear, but seora heard them. she was only five years old, but children are always listening.
by now, jangwoo's father had died, and jangwoo had gotten another job at a much smaller motor company, so seora was often looked after by a neighboring housewife while her parents worked. it was there, sitting in that woman's kitchen, coloring, that seora first heard of it.
"the husband has no idea," is what the housewife who watched seora said, whispering into the phone receiver and twisting the cord around her finger. "he thinks she spends the nights at the office because there's actual work to be done, but that's not true at all."
seora's family was so happy. her parents spoiled her with love and affection, even if they themselves rarely slept in the same room anymore. but seora knew her parents loved each other, right? appas and eommas are supposed to love each other more than anything.
and jangwoo loved his wife, he really did. seora could see it in his eyes when he looked at jihye, on the rare occasions jihye would be home for dinner. he'd look at her the way a man dying of thirst would look at water, like she's the most precious thing he'd ever seen.
seora wondered why he didn't tell her, why appa always hesitated, instead asking "how was work" and "has the water bill been paid" and meaningless questions like that.
"you know that appa loves you, right?" she asked her mother then, one night as jihye was tucking her in for bed. "and eomma loves appa, right?"
her mother did not answer. she simply kissed seora on the forehead, and said good night.
+2001. seora hated the phone. hated the way mrs. lee next door would spend hours upon hours on it, chattering and gossipping away with her friends while seora sat in the kitchen and did her homework. she hated what mirs. lee said about her mother on the phone, hated the names she called her.
she hated her mother on the phone, crying and pleading when her father wasn't around. "please, i love you, please take me away, please i'll do anything for you, please please please just leave your wife and i'll leave my husband and we can start a new life together and i love you i love you i love"
seora hated the phone. she hated the way her father began to ignore it when it rang, how he'd continue reading or eating or playing with her like nothing was going on. she hated it when her mother would rush in, breathless, wanting to know who was on the phone and getting angry when she found out jangwoo let it go to voicemail. jangwoo would never argue back when she yelled at him. he'd just sit there, passively. like he was an entire world away.
seora hated the phone. when it rang, it meant that the man who was not her father was on the other line. the man who was not her father who made her mother cry. who made her mother angry at her father.
who made her mother pack her bags, one night in september. seora watched from where she sat on the floor, a children's book clutched in her tiny hands, watching her mother pack with wide eyes.
jihye packed two suitcases, then one tinier suitcase, filled with seora's clothes. she did not love her husband, but she loved her daughter. when she was done, she took seora by the hand and said, "you'll understand, someday."
but the thing is, seora understood perfectly.
her mother left a note right next to the phone, writtten in neat pencil. "going away."
+2005. "seo-yah," her mother asked her once. "are you happy here?"
seora paused for only a moment. shuffled the question in her mind, in both korean and japanese. they'd been living in yokohama for four years now, but she still struggled sometimes to find the right words to describe exactly how she felt.
the man who was not her father had left two years ago. he had moved to yokohama with them, paid for their tiny apartment in kōhoku, and played house for a little while. seora did not like the man who was not her father, and didn't really care when he went back to his wife in korea when seora turned eight years old.
but her mother did. eomma wept so much and for so long that sometimes seora was afraid that she might die. there were days when her mother couldn't get out of bed, days when seora walked by herself to school, to the grocery store, not wanting to burden her mother any more than she had to.
eventually, jihye did pull herself together. there were good days and there were bad days, but she loved her daughter so very much. if anything, these struggles only intensified her love even more. once jihye got herself out of bed, seora became her whole world. she was too scared to return to korea, to go back to jangwoo. all she wanted and all she desired now was seora's happiness.
and seora knew this. knew that when eomma smiled, it was for her sake. seora knew this all too well, and when eomma asked if she was happy here, in japan, in her school, in this tiny run-down apartment, seora knew that her answer had the potential to make her mother crumble into a million pieces.
so at ten years old, seora put on a smile, and told her mother in the most cheerful voice she could muster, "i love it here, eomma! i have a lot of friends at school, my teachers say my japanese is getting really good, and i get to spend time with you!"
her mother's smile, then, was glowing. like a star. seora took note, noticed how if she said the right things and acted the right way, she could make her mother so incredibly happy. and all she wanted was to make people happy. all she wanted was the guarantee of her mother's happiness and love.
so seora kept going. she was always happy, for fear of her mother falling apart again. she a smile, the charm, she became cheerful, optimistic, no matter what hardships.
"are you happy here, seora?"
"of course, always!"
+2011. they said it was quick, that she probably felt no pain. that it was like a flash of lightning, here and then gone.
lee jihye died on april 22, 2011, in a car accident. her daughter, seora, was sixteen years old. she had just started high school.
adults whispered. neighbors, lawyers in charge of lee jihye's (rather small) estate. seora's friends at school offered to take her in for a while. someone suggested that she go to a group home. someone else suggested she contact the man who was not her father, see if he could help in any way.
"but what about you, sora-chan? are you eating all right? sleeping okay? it's okay to cry, you know."
she grieved, yes, as it was proper to. she remembered her father, when she was younger, when her grandfather died. how he had sobbed and wailed, how much he had cried. the more you cried, the more faithful and filial of a child you were.
so seora, she cried. she fell to her knees at the wake, at the funeral. when they lowered her mother's coffin into the ground, she could barely stand.
"poor thing," the neighbors whispered. "her mother was an only child, her grandparents all dead, all alone with her grief. poor thing, poor thing."
at home, left alone, though, the tears ceased. seora would lie in bed for hours, staring at the wall, or her mother's candle. she did not know why she couldn't cry when there weren't people around. it wasn't the correct way to grieve, to feel so numb and empty, and she knew this.
am i doing this wrong? am i wrong?
soon afterwards, she contacted her father through email. he did not attend the funeral - he wasn't even aware of jihye's death until seora looked him up.
they made arrangements. seora phoned him once or twice, dusted off her rusty korean that hadn't been used since her mother's death. there were often long periods of silence over the phone, in-between discussions of flight times and passports.
once a proper amount of time had passed, seora flew back to korea to live with her father, who was about to be remarried. she hadn't even been aware that her parents had ever officially divorced, but so it goes.
lee jihye's grave is still in yokohama. seora has not been back to visit since, but, unknown to her, kim jangwoo has visited every year.
+2012. the woman that kim jangwoo married was not seora's mother, but she was kind to seora anyway. a year after moving back to korea, they gave her a little brother, named woojin.
seora had readjusted well to being back in korea, attending high school and studying hard. outwardly, she was the perfect teenage daughter, never rebellious, always helpful with the baby. her stepmother actually adored her, doted on her. the family was filled with love.
her father was a little more distant with her. quieter. his eyes every time he looked at her were so sad.
but jangwoo still loved his daughter, even after ten years of being apart. he's a smart man. sometimes, he knows his daughter better than she knows herself.
one day late in april, after coming back from a trip to japan, seora's father stopped by her room, and quietly dropped off a flyer advertising auditions for mtment.
"i know you like to sing," he said by way of explanation. "you sing to jin-ah when he sleeps. you're rather good."
"eomma liked it when i sang too."
a short silence; timid, gentle. like both were afraid to break something to fragile, this tentative connection. seora was unnerved. it was as though her father could see into her very soul, see all the ugly parts of her that weren't so nice.
he turned and left the room, saying, "if you want to go to the auditions, i'll drive you to seoul. we can make a day trip of it." and that was all.
LIFESTYLE: seora's day starts at 5:00 am, with her phone alarm playing whatever song she's it for (this week it happens to be daydream's "everday love" - she adores the entire new galaxy album). she secretly hates getting up so early, but is quick to get out of bed, no lazing around in bed under the covers, as she doesn't want to wake up anyone else in the dorm. so she jumps up, turns off her phone, blinks a couple times, and hurries to change. she likes to run in the morning before everyone's awake, so she usually heads out the dorm at around 5:10 with just a water bottle, her earphones, and her phone. she likes the anonymity of running so early in the morning, when it's dark and there's fewer cars on the road. she feels like she can fly.
she's usually back to the dorm by 5:40, in the shower by 5:45, and out of the shower by 6:00. it feels like a great start to her day, even though if she's the last one to take a shower there's sometimes not enough hot water left. but, hey, cold showers are supposed to be better for your pores, right?
her morning routine is comfortable for her, almost ritualistic. she gets dressed, usually in fairly nice clothes, unless there's a dance practice first thing. she spends a lot of time in the bathroom, brushing her teeth, taking care of her skin and putting on makeup (x). skincare is the most important, she likes to tell people when asked about her routine. finally, she either leaves her hair down or in a quick ponytail. she then packs a duffel bag with everything she'll need for the day - dance clothes, small makeup kit, snacks for the other members, water, phone, earphones, and tampons. she likes to take the metro at 6:50 to mtm, a habit from when she lived in yokohama. something about public transportation is just soothing to her. she usually doesn't eat breakfast, unless her manager catches her in the morning before she leaves, then she'll scarf down an egg and a small bit of rice. usually, though, she just grabs a coffee on her way to the subway, or brings coffee in a to-go cup.
seora usually arrives at mtm around 7:35, heading straight to the practice room for vocal warmups. sometimes she warms up in the shower at the dorm, but usually doesn't give herself enough time to warm up properly. once that's done, she'll go over her exercises with her vocal coach. they also cover different aspects of musical theory, such as rhythm, dynamics, ect. right now her biggest challenges are her vocal agility and straining above an F5. her vocal coach remarks, however, that her head voice is becoming very well developed, and her vibrato sounds very relaxed and healthy. she usually practices vocals for about three to three and a half hours, ending at around 12:30, when she breaks for lunch with the rest of supreme.
she'll eat a small meal in mtm's cafeteria, then go back to training at around 1:15. she then either has acting/variety classes to attend, or dance practice to go over with the choreographer. she prefers the acting/variety classes to the dancing, to be honest, but never complains either way. after a few hours, she joins the rest of supreme in a dance practice, during which she tries to keep the mood light and happy, despite how hard they have to work. they dance for several hours, and seora is one of the last people to stop for breaks and one of the first people to go back to dancing once the break is over. the dance practice is over around five or six, and she then either returns back to vocal lessons or works on othe talents - usually acting or music theory. she secretly wants to produce her own music someday, but still has to study a lot more. this goes on for several hours until finally seora's reminded by her manager that it's time to eat.
she'll either eat at mtm or go back to the dorm with the manager for the night. if she goes back, she takes the opportunity to hang out with the other members of surpreme, maybe read a book or watch a movie. if she stays at mtm, she might still be working for a couple more hours, might try to squeeze another dance practice in. either way, she does go back to the dorm by 11:30
around 11:45, having not changed from her dance practice clothes, she'll head down the gym down the street to work out until around 1 or 2 in the morning. after working up a sweat, she'll sneak back into the dorm, take a shower, take off her makeup, apply her skin creams, slip into pajamas, and slip into bed, grateful for the three or four hours of sleep she'll get before "everyday love" starts back up again.
(note: this is after supreme has been created and on days when they don't have other schedules. may be changed according to whatever supreme's schedule is)
TRIVIA:
+LIKES. music, k-dramas (especially descendants of the sun and weightlifting fairy), coffee, rain, working out, raspberries, incense, fluffy socks and blankets, lipstick, cities, memes, ballads, harry potter, musicals, singing, pepero, green tea, disney movies, wine, candles, small baby animals
+DISLIKES. mung beans, hot weather, clutter, rude/cruel people, traffic, racists (especially considering the animosity towards japanese/korean relations), wet socks, loud explosives, clowns, trot music, spiders, acne, math, letting people down, horror movies
+HABITS. bites her lip when she's anxious or nervous, plays with her hair when she's anxious or nervous, rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet when excited, slaps her knees when she laughs, sits very properly with her ankles crossed
+HOBBIES. singing, playing the piano, taking selfies, playing basketball even though she's not very good at it, teaching herself to play guitar, updating social media, looking up jokes and puns to get people to smile
+FEARS. spiders, failure, people disliking her, clowns, dentists, weight gain, going back to yokohama
+FACTS.
- her "on" persona could be considered to be similar to the disney character rapunzel - friendly, positive, social, maybe a little ditsy, but overall charming. however, like the disney character, she also does suffer from anxiety and low self-esteem. coincidentally, tangled is seora's favorite disney movie.
- she's said to resemble her mother in looks. however, she may have also inherited jihye's anxiety and emotional instability. having observed her mother from a young age, however, and inheriting her father's controlled nature, seora is able to hide these traits better.
- she's practically religious when it comes to her vocal warmups and skin routine - two things that have to be done perfectly
- she's also religious - roman catholic, although she was curious about buddhism and shinto spiritualism while living in japan. her religion has always been a comfort to her throughout her life,whether it was when she was alone in japan or rigorously training to debut
- she can't handle spicy food
- her favorite color is magenta
- she secretly wants to be the lead in a drama someday
- kim sohyang and kim soyeon are her vocal idols - she adores them
- before auditioning for mtm, she was planning becoming maybe a director or a screenwriter
- she wants to try her hand at composing sometime in the future, hence her studying very hard at musical theory
- she can actually cook very well, and likes cooking for the other members of supreme
- sometimes when she can't remember a word in korean she'll replace it with a word in japanese
- she's got almost all of dante's discography memorized, and can sing it at a moment's notice
- also possibly daydream's biggest fangirl
- she's also a fan of lee kangjoon's work as an actor
- her IG and Twitter handle is @seo-seo-ra, and she posts often
- on IG, she mainly posts pictures of random objects in her life, like coffee mugs and street poles with long captions, usually rambly monologues about life, accompanied by puns. occasionally she'll just post a selfie with the caption, "蒼い 蒼い あの空".
- she's also a huge weeaboo haha. very proud of the fact that she can watch anime without subtitles. but also very good at hiding the fact that she's a huge weeaboo.
- her favorite mangas are fruits basket and bleach. don't talk to her about the ending of bleach though because she'll get very angry.
- she also plays overwatch. she loves tracer, and is constantly mimicking her accent with, "cheers, love, the cavalry's here!" (x)
- she was an average student in school, but best at writing and literature studies. she considers herself as "slower than average" though, and often makes self-deprecating jokes about her intelligence
- she's the type of person to have a lot of friends, but not really be close to anyone
- she's not afraid to go up to seonbaes in mtm and compliment them on their performances - well, she is, but she doesn't let it show, and is always thinking of the proper way to do things so they come off as charming instead of rude
- she really really really wants a puppy but doesn't have time for one right now. but she loves baby animals. and dogs of any age.
- she loves her baby brother, woojin, possibly more than anything else in this life. looking at him she begins to wonder if this is what people mean by "unconditional love" - something she's not sure really exists.
+QUOTES.
"i want to be able to sing songs that will make people happy and inspire them every day. when i was a trainee, there were special songs i'd listen to and people i would look up to who inspired me every day to work harder. i became stronger because of them, and i want to touch other people the way i'd been changed myself."
- inkigayo magazine interview
"if the world tries to make you feel small, just make your smile even bigger."
- when asked about advice and her outlook on life
"i'd fight kaito in the parking lot of a kfc. we're very good friends like that."
- when asked about her friendship with apollo's kaito on weekly idol
"cheers, love, the cavalry's here!"
- in english, imitating overwatch's tracer
"sometimes, when it's snowing, i'd get snowflakes hanging off my eyelashes, and i'd feel like i always look either really dumb or really beautiful. but then i remember you can be both too. so even if you feel like you look dumb, or you feel dumb, remember - snowflakes are dumb, but they're super beautiful too. and so are you. and like a snowflake, theres no one else on the earth like you."
- trying to cheer up a female fan who failed her college exams
"ah, buy me something please! seoseo's hungry! seoseo wants tteokbokki! pleeeeease?"
- acting childish to convince someone to buy her food
"thank you for believing in us. thank you for laughing with us, for crying with us. thank you for picking us up every time we fall, for being with us through the dark times and the light. supreme would be nothing without the fans, without the love you give us. thank you for your support, and we'll work hard to give you as much love in the future with our music. you are all loved, so much! i love you! thank you!"
- speech at an award's show
"did you ever cry? when eomma went away...why didn't you stop her? why didn't you come looking for us? why did you let her go?"
- to her father on the anniversary of her mother's death, sometime in the future
"ah...i'm dirty...i'm really no good. if you could see the me inside of me, you'd know that. people see me as i want them to see me, not who i really am, because if they did then...they'd go away."
- private conversation on one of her "off" days, sometime in the future
RELATIONSHIPS:
EOMMA, I MISS YOU
mother (deceased) / lee jihye / september 29, 1971 / secretary / emotional, conscientious, sensitive, loving, afraid
seora misses her mother very much. but she is also haunted by her. as she's gotten older, seora's realized that her mother's infidelity was rather selfish and unfair to the rest of her family. yet, seora is conflicted as to her feelings towards her mother now that she's gone. on one hand, her mother was her only family for ten years, and they loved one another dearly. on the other hand, when jihye died, seora was left all alone in japan, and felt a bit of resentment towards her mother for leaving her with no one. as it is now, seora keeps a picture of her mother in her wallet and carries it with her always. she has not been back to yokohama, however, because of her conflicted feelings. also, she's a little scared to visit her mother's grave, for fear she won't be able to keep herself composed.
phone contact name (she never deleted her mother's number): 엄마
"are you smiling right now? don't worry about me, eomma. i'm doing just fine."
fc: choi jiwoo
DISTANT BUT LOVING
father / kim jangwoo / march 6, 1971 / quality manager at a small motor company / logical, quiet, analytical, determined
seora and her father hadn't seen each other for ten years when seora came back to korea. when seora had left, she was only six years old, small and wide-eyed and adoring. when came back, she was sixteen, an odd mixture of grief and happiness. for her father's sake, she tried to show that she was happy to be back in korea, back with him, but jangwoo is a smart man. even though he had been separated from her for ten years, jangwoo was able to see through seora's "on" persona and recognize how much she was struggling. therefore, he never pries into her private life. he never puts pressure on her, never blames her for being so distant. they love each other, but they're never really honest and open with each other. they coexist, never really broaching the subjects that hurt. seora loves her father, though, and calls him every other week, even if their conversations are mostly superficial. in return, jangwoo is fully supportive of seora's career as an idol, and sometimes his pride in her is plain to see. he buys all of supreme's discography, and keeps a framed picture of himself and seora on his desk at work.
phone contact name: 아빠
"seo-yah? is that you?"
"appa? h...hi."
"how...how are you? how's...your mother?"
"appa...eomma, she's dead."
"what?"
"there was an accident, and..."
"..."
"...appa, can i...can i come home?"
fc: han seokkyu
THE WONDERFUL STEPMOTHER
stepmother / lee sunyoung / july 7, 1975 / housewife and restaurant investor / warm-hearted, dutiful, encouraging, friendly
seora and her stepmother actually get along very well. sunyoung had always wanted a daughter, and was very excited to learn that seora was coming back to korea in time for the wedding. she doesn't try to be a replacement for jihye to seora - she respects her husband and her stepdaughter's relationship with the woman who came before her. she therefore seeks a unique type of relationship with seora, telling her straight off the bat that she wants to be a friend and confidant to seora. in return, seora knows that her stepmother is a good person, and wants to make her happy. so she is very friendly towards sunyoung, talking to her often about things like clothes and makeup and boys. she calls her "sae-eomma", which means "stepmother", out of respect. seora does love sunyoung in a way - she sees her as almost an older sister or an aunt. sunyoung adores seora in return. even though she's mostly unaware of seora's "off" personality, she does sometimes pick up on things that most people miss - for example, she's the first to notice how odd seora can be about food and exercise.
phone contact name: 의붓어머니
"seo-yah, why don't you take jin-ah out for ice cream?"
"are you sure, sae-eomma?"
"i'm sure! jin-ah adores you, and the company's been working you hard lately, right?"
fc: lee ilhwa
YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE
baby brother / kim woojin / april 25, 2012 / person-in-training / bubbly, smart, sensitive, mama's boy
seora absolutely adores woojin, and woojin loves his noona. seora doted on him from the moment he was born, always volunteering to babysit him for her stepmother, feeding him and singing him songs to help him sleep. she considers her love for woojin to be unconditional, and he's her favorite person in the world. in return, woojin is always happy to see seora, and calls her "seoseo", a nickname that's stuck and caught onto her friends and family. woojin is smart, knows his numbers and his alphabet, and is always proud to show them off to seora. he's also very proud of his noona, and an avid fan of supreme. sunyoung often sends videos of him dancing along to supreme;'s discography at home. he's also very protective of his noona - if he encounters any her male friends like sanghyun or kaito or seojun, he sticks close to her side and makes it clear that's he is seora's favorite.
phone contact name: none
"jin-ah, i'm home!"
"noona! noona's home! noona's home!"
fc: lee seojun
CAT AND DOG
older brother figure / lee sanghyun / february 24, 1993 / dante member (issang) / blunt, introvert, gentle, playful
at first glance, it might not seem like these two wouldn't be the type to get along. when seora entered the company in 2012, she already had a plan in mind on how to present herself, the image she would put up to make others like her. she was determined to be loud and fearless, to make friends and connections immediately and most importantly, never be alone or unhappy. doing so, she caught sanghyun's attention, who saw the play for what it was - an attempt to find her place within the company. with his blunt, yet quite and gentle nature, he was the one to tell her that it was okay to tone it down a little and be herself. he was especially helpful in making her idol persona feel a little more genuine, and in return seora has always considered sanghyun a close friend ever since. they may seem like total opposites, but their banter is always playful, and sanghyun looks out for seora like an older brother. he is also the only one who knows about her and seojun.
phone contact name: 상
"baby baby baby baby baby i'm sorry, ooh ooh.."
"will you please stop singing at me."
"but i really am sorry! i wouldn't have called you during that interview if i knew! i'm sorry, i'm so sorry, actually-"
"i'll forgive you if you stop right there and don't sing the rest of the lyrics."
IDOL AND FANGIRL
seonbae and friend at mtm / kim soyeon / march 9, 1990 / daydream member / introverted, analytical, emotional, genuine
seora absolutely adores soyeon. soyeon was her bias in daydream before seora entered the company, due to her perosnality and her singing ability. she's her role model and idol, someone she looks up to and admires intensely. in return, soyeon is fond of seora, often giving her advice on how to improve her vocals, or praising her hard work ethic. they're not quite close like sisters, although seora would love them to be closer. as it is, they have a very fond seonbae-hoobae relationship, where they can rely on each other for advice when it comes to work. soyeon allows seora to call her "so-eonnie", and she is return calls seora by the familiar "seo-yah". seora's extroverted "on" personality might seem like it would clash with soyeon's introverted nature, but they don't hang out often enough for it to be a problem. soyeon actually sees seora as amusing and charming, and seora, after getting some advice from sanghyun, understands that sometimes soyeon needs space. they have a very good working and familiar relationship that will only grow stronger over time.
phone contact name: 소언니
"so-eonnie! good luck today! daydream fighting!"
"you're so sweet, seo-yah. thank you."
PRACTICALLY TWINS
best friend / yokozawa kaito / october 26, 1995 / apollo member / talkative, playful, outgoing, impatient
seora and kaito entered mtm around the same time, and seemed to hit it off right away. it was a bit of a relief to kaito to have a friend who spoke fluent japanese when he was learning korean, and seora just wanted to be friends with all the trainees she could. with their similar extroverted personalities, as well as their similar work ethics, they bonded quickly and soon became partners-in-crime. seora was actually grateful to have someone to talk to again in japanese, and nowadays they can be heard conversing in a quickfire mixture of both korean and japanese. they're rarely serious with each other, riling each other up the way only best friends can. after kaito debuted it was a little harder for them to hang out, but they still get coffee or lunch together every now and then. seora often makes fun of kaito being younger than her, at which point he'll point out that he debuted first. at one point it was theorized among fans that kaito was dating a then unknown mtm trainee, but when seora debuted she finally put the theories to rest with her infamous "fight in the kfc parking lot" quote, confirming that the two were simply close (and incredibly weird) best friends.
phone contact name: (in english): kai-chan
"i'd kick your in a kfc parking lot."
"would not. you wouldnt know how the use the surrounding parked cars to your advantage."
"and you would?"
"well...no."
SWEET 'N SPICY LITTLE SIS
group member and friend / baek chaewon / january 31, 1998 / member of supreme / independent, humble, passive-aggressive, dedicated, kind
seora calls chaewon "lil sis" (in english, which she learned from some american tv show), but in actuality sometimes chaewon acts more mature than seora does. rather than referring to chaewon's changes in temperment as "hot and cold", seora calls her "sweet and spicy"- as inaccurate as that description might be, given the younger girl's coldness when she's in one of her bad moods. seora admires chaewon's kindness and dedication as much as everyone else and, for her part, tries not to mind chaewon when she's in a bad mood, even though seora probably triggers it quite a few times just due to her sometimes annoying tendencies. nonetheless, seora genuinely wants the other members of supreme to like her, chaewon included, hence the "little sis" nickname and the "sweet and spicy, because it's cute like you, chaewonnie!" description. seora in particular is often the one to help chaewon clean her room, saying cheerfully that it will help them bond. one of the few times seora isn't joking around or trying to cheer chaewon up is during vocal rehearsals or recordings. seora really is in awe of chaewon's vocal ability, and looks up to her in that respect. chaewon inspires her to work harder on her own voice, something that seora makes sure she knows, often joking, "one day i hope to be worthy to share the same stage as you, chaewonnie!"
(actually, sometimes seora is also in awe of chaewon'sability to be able to show the "thorny" parts of herself to others, especially considering the fact that seora doesn't like to show anyone the not-so-nice parts of herself to anyone. in that way, they're similar, having different facets of their personality that they show to the world. similarly, they don't like sharing their serious problems with others - chaewon due to her independent nature and seora due to her low self-esteem and fear. perhaps that's why seora tries to be chaewon's friend so much, because she feels like they might be similar, and the feelings that seora often feels knowing she's like that is very lonely. she doesn't want chaewon to feel lonely either.)
phone contact name (in english): lil sis
"lil sis! want me to help you clean your room tonight?"
"that's okay, i'm fine really."
"seriously, i don't mind, i have time! we can bond like that! tell each other secrets! talk about boys! what do you say?"
"..."
OTHERS
seora gets along with mostly everyone in mtm. she's extremely friendly, and seemingly very open. those mentioned above are who she's closest too, but she's also friendly with jonghyun of dante, rachel of daydream, baekho and jj of champion, and ten of apollo. she and apollo's kiwoo are also pretty friendly due to the fact that they were both korean-born living in japan at one point, but they're not as close as she and kaito are simply due to their natures. seora gets along famously with people with similar personalities as her, but those who are a little quieter also often regard her fondly. she's considered the "cheerful, friendly little sister/dongsaeng/ect" in the company.
it should be noted that almost no one has ever witnessed her when she's "off". the only people who even suspect that she has a personality other than cheerful and happy are those listed above, and the only ones who have ever seen it are kaito and seojun.
STAGE NAME:
SORA basically her real name, appeals to the japanese audience, and references her sunny personality in that her name means "sky:
POSITION: lead vocalist #pink
PERSONA:
BLUE SKIES AND SUNSHINE always smiling, always happy, always a blue sky. always the first one to try to get people to cheer up. can always be counted on for a smile.
TALENT TWINS:
sings like f(x)'s luna (x)
dances like snsd's taeyeon (x)
note that the above examples are after several years of training and possibly after debuting. seora isn't nearly as good as the examples right off the bat.
TRAINING LENGTH: from 2012 - 2016: around four years
TRAINING LIFE: seora threw herself into training. she became a trainee at mtm due to her slightly above average singing, passable dancing, andgood looks due to lucky genes. also, the fact that she could speak japanese was a plus. once she began training, though, seora became afraid of falling behind, and worked as hard as she could in improving in all areas. she showed an impressive amount of development in her vocal ability, thus earning her the position of lead vocalist.
vocally, she's a light-lyric soprano. she managed to expand her range from a C#3 to a D6, although currently it stops being supported at Bb5. she's been praised for her youthful and bright sounding voice and her healthy vibrato, but sometimes has a bit of nasality in her head voice. her vocal runs also tend to be rather sloppy, so she doesn't like to do them often. she's spent hours working on her vocals, knowing that she's the weakest of the vocalists, and although her natural ability may not have been as strong, her hard work ethic impressed her vocal coaches very much.
she also learned a bit more about composition and music theory as a trainee, learning to play the piano and throwing around ideas for her own compositions.
dancing-wise, seora struggled in part due to being so short. her movements lacked the precision needed to be part of the dancing line, and sometimes she may become fatigued and lose energy while dancing. she disliked a lot of the dancing training, for that reason.
acting and variety classes actually tended to be a breeze. seora enjoyed acting, and had been putting on a person for a good majority of her life anyway, so it wasn't that different than her life.
seora got along well with most trainees, apart from the occasional bitter pill who saw her only as competition. when it was revealed that she was going to debut, there was some talk, a few nasty words, but the most that was ever said about her when she was in training was that "seora is very nice, but she doesn't have much talent."
she wasn't a natural singer or dancer, that's for sure, but she worked hard for her position, and honed her skills well.
PREDEBUT:
+2012-2016. helped with multiple japanese translations of songs for dante and daydream
+2014. appeared as an extra in kbs2's drama love from the stars
+2015. small role in the web series "prince's prince"
+2015. appeared in the background of dante's "view" MV
SCANDALS:
APOLLO'S KAITO DATING MTM TRAINEE?
december 2015
dispatch had obtained pictures of kaito and seora getting lunch together and made assumptions. this was not a good situation at all, considering apollo had just debuted, and seora feared it might be bad for kaito's image. kaito thought it was funny, but agreed to post a clarification post on his sns saying that he was not dating anyone.
[+135, -17] they should be more careful...especially for rookies...
[+82, -6] i blame the trainee girl...probably wanted the spotlight, she put kaito's career in jeopardy
[+69, -2] what, does she think she'll get to debut faster if she sleeps with an apollo member?
MTM REVEALS LATEST MEMBER OF SUPREME, SORA!
february 2016
news of seora's debut was met with mixed reactions. seora herself was afraid that her own debut was put in danger by the december "scandal". as a result, she ended up reading almost all the netizen comments she could find, to get a grasp on what the world thought of her, so she could act accordingly and in a way that would make people like her.
[+118, -12] i thought her face looked familiar, that's the trainee girl who was with apollo's kaito
[+36, -10] who else do you think she slept with in order to make it to debut?
[+12, -3] i'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt...not going to say anything until supreme officially debuts.
SUPREME'S SORA DISPUTES DATING RUMORS, SHOWS OFF JAPANESE FLUENCY
august 2016
when asked who she was close to in mtm on supreme's first appearance on weekly idol, seora actually brought up the dating rumors herself. when asked how she truly felt about apollo's kaito, she replied in a seemingly random and quirky way - "i'd fight him the parking lot of a kfc." this garnered many laughs, and for the most part gave viewers and inkling of what seora's personality was like. combined with a small segement where she sang a little bit in japanese, this greatly improved seora's public image.
[+94, -2] what.
[+63, -1] i'll be honest, i wasn't sure about sora considering the past rumors...but she seems really kind of dorky and sweet, not at all what i was expecting
[+13, -6] weird- nugu.
HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS - SUPREME'S SORA QUIETLY DONATES 2 MILLION WON TO NEEDY FAMILIES
december 2016
this was partially calculated, partially out of goodwill. seora genuinely did want to give a portion of her salary to her church to help needy families during the holiday season, and had been saving all year to donate that much. she donated under the name "sister catherine," which someone in her church figured out was actually seora, and revealed it to the press. which was sort of the whole point, if seora was to be honest.
[+331, -22] i'm really surprised, but this rookie seems really kind-hearted!
[+76, -13] there's a reason sora is my bias, she's like a princess! sora-oujousama fighting!
[+18, -1] she only did it through her church..but it couldn't have been easy considering her group just debuted...
NETIZENS SHOW CONCERN FOR SUPREME'S SORA'S WEIGHT LOSS
april 2017
as the sixth year anniversary of her mother's death approached, the first time it'd happened since supreme debuted, moreover, seora became incredibly stressed out and anxious. she ate less and exercised more, and it was really starting to take a toll on her body. although initially netizen comments had been positive, eventually some began to suspect that everything may not be all right.
[+212, -63] ojousama, please don't lose anymore weight...you're going to look old...
[+162, -14] omo...her body looks like a little girl...T.T
[+13, -56] i don't see what the big deal is. she looks fine.
INTERVIEW!
THERE'S RUMORS ABOUT #SUPREME CONTAINING THE MOST TALENTED TRAINEES UNDER MTM. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING ONE OF THEM?
her eyes widen, and drops partially in shock. "is that they're saying?" the shock turns into a wide smile, and she presses her hands against her cheeks, as if trying to cool them down before they burst into flame. "i'm very honored! mtm has many talented trainees, i feel a little out of my depth sometimes. being surrounded by them makes me want to work harder and live up to those rumors. aigoo, i'm embarrassed now, ah, i can't stop smiling..."
WHAT MADE YOU WANT BECOME AN IDOL?
"hmm..." seora bites her lip, thinks for a moment. "i've always liked singing, and acting, and i remember admiring the idols in japan, like akb48 and super girls and all that."
no, that's still not right. she frowns, like this question is bothering her, like the answer is on the tip of her tongue but she just can't find the words.
"i've always loved music and kpop," she says slowly. "so it just seemed natural, to want to join this world. i don't regret it!"
HOW DID YOU GET INTO MTM?
she grins, bright and happy. "i auditioned! it was the most nerve-wracking thing in my life! there i was, in this tiny air-conditioned room with four other girls after waiting hours for our turn. and we shuffled in, and this judge lady told us to say our name, number, and sing a little. i was terrified! but i sang "love", you know, by s.e.s., and i guess i didn't do too badly because about a month later i get a call asking me to come in for another audition. and i must have done okay on that one too, because the next thing i know, i'm moving to seoul! it felt like a dream, to be honest."
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT FINALLY DEBUTING?
seora clasps her hands together and smiles, eyes shining bright. "i'm so grateful to everyone, voice trainers and dance coaches and the pds and stylists and my family and my felllow members and everyone who's worked so hard for us to be here, in this moment. it feels like a dream come true. i'm so excited to see where we'll go from here!"
HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO QUIT?
"nope!" she answers a little too quickly. "because if i quit, what else would i do? i'm not strong in math or science, and i didn't take any college exams. besides, i don't like that word, 'quit'. i don't think you really quit your dreams - i think you're constantly working towards them, but they just shift sometimes, that's all."
IF YOU WEREN'T AN IDOL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
"i would be..." she pauses,bites her bottom lip in thought. "i thought maybe sometimes of becoming a director or a screenwriter. ah, imagine if i could write dramas!"
ARE YOU CLOSE WITH ANYONE IN MTM?
seora laughs. "you've heard the rumors, right?" before going on to say, "its true i am close to apollo's kaito, because we fight a lot. that's how you know you're best friends, when you can fight and still have fun. i also like to think that i'm close to daydream - they're really my idols and role models. it's mostly wishful thinking on my part, but i hope that they can consider me a friend."
WHO IN MTM DO YOU LOOK UP TO?
she doesn't hesitante, yelling immediately, "kim soyeon!" before wincing, realizing that was a little rude of her. "sorry. but i adore so-eonnie, she's just. everything. she's what i want to be, someday. so kind and pretty and talented and clean...she's my role model. i want to be like her when i grow up."
WHAT'S YOUR IDEAL TYPE?
"my ideal type is a kind man," she says. "gentle. i...it's very odd, you know? some people say you can love like a hurricane or a forest fire, wild and intense and so passionate that it destroys everything in it's path. and sometimes i want that kind of love. but then...sometimes all i want is candlelight, you'know? safety, and kindness and light. someone to keep me warm. that's what i want."
LOVE INTEREST: lee seojun
"good luck on your comeback stage! seojun-oppa fighting!"
"..."
(informal) "hey! what are you laughing at?"
"you. you're cute. overdoing it, but cute."
"hey!"
OCCUPATION: dante's leader and 2nd main vocalist
NICKNAMES:
+ SEONBAENIM. what most people in mtm call seojun, due to the fact that he was one of the first trainees and the first to debut. seora calls him this most of the time, out of respect and when they're around others.
+ OPPA. used by fans and female friends close to him. actually, he's called this so often that even members of dante will call him this to make fun of him. seora only calls him this when she's trying to be cute or really extra with him.
+ PRINCE. fan nickname for him, regarding his responsible and kind nature
+ SEO-KUN. seora calls him this when they're alone, sort of a way of showing affection. since their names are so similar, both beginning with the syllable 서, this is seora's little way of making fun. it's also a little wish-fufillment on her part, considering that when she was growing up and beginning to recognize her wishes for a romantic relationship, she was living in japan, and therefore would have wished to have someone to use the "-kun" honorific with.
BIRTHDAY: may 21, 1991
PERSONALITY TRAITS: gentle, responsible, tolerant, calm, polite, hard-working, caring, determined
ELABORATION:
having entered mtm at the age of 14 and debuting as the leader of the company's first group at age 18, seojun is used to pressure, having the public's eye on him not only as an idol, but as a leader of idols.
he takes his position seriously, looking after dante in every way he can, whether its by listening to their concerns about the latest choreography or making sure the maknae is eating enough to keep his strength up. he's very good at sensing the mood and general atmosphere, able to handle stressful situations and manage dante's image well.
his own public image is nearly flawless, and most people know him as well-mannered, hard-working, and dependable. he's the kind of person who would be the model student, or the class president. he also has a strong sense of duty, and a passion to prove himself of being worthy of the responsibilty he's been given. that's one of his strongest qualities - he never gives up and he never wants to let anyone down.
as time went on and dante became a more solid presence in the industry, seojun allowed himself to relax a little more and show a bit more of his personality to the public. he's got a rather dorky sense of humor, and a bit of sass hiding behind his polite demeanor. he's also rather direct and honest, especially when it comes to performing. if you make a mistake, he will call you out on it, just because he believes that anything less than perfection is unacceptable. but that doesn't mean that he doesn't care about his colleagues, because he does. he cares so much that he wants the absolute best for them, which means they have to be pushed to do their best too.
altogether, he's a true gentleman - kind, unselfish, and truly caring.
HISTORY:
seora first met seojun through sanghyun - that is, seojun noticed that dante's maknae was being bothered by a trainee around the time they were preparing for just dante (august 2012). he wanted to know if he needed to talk to the trainee or her instructors to get her to leave sanghyun alone.
sanghyun thought the idea was hilarious, and told him, "hyung, she's not bothering me, but i'd pay money to see you try and talk to her."
so seojun did, and to his surprise, was immediately caught off-guard by this trainee's friendliness and cheerfulness, especially when interacting with a senior in the company. especially when interacting with the leader of dante, one of the most experienced artists in mtm.
(honestly, it was all bravado. seora was terrified every single second of their quick, two-minute introductory conversation, and nearly had a small-scale panic attack in the stairwell when it was over.)
after exchanging formalities ("hello, nice to meet you." "nice to meet you, seonbaenim! my name is kim seora!" "i'm dante's seojun, nice to meet you. please continue working hard." "will do, seonbaenim! dante fighting!") they continued on their way - seojun to album preparations, seora to further training. both didn't think much more about it, other than seora noting in her mind that "he really is as handsome as he is in pictures..."
they didn't meet again until around a month or so later. sometimes, when artists are between promotions, they will come in to help with the training of their juniors (like teaching a dance or variety class). in this instance, seojun found time in his schedule to come in and talk to a group of trainees about preparing for variety shows and interviews.
once again, he was caught off-guard by seora's well-constructed persona. how she answered practice questions in such a spirited yet quirky way, like she'd had years of experience putting on a face so well-done it seemed natural. seojun was a little impressed and also a bit unnerved, wondering if he was really truly charmed by her personality or if it was just a farce, just a persona for the interview.
he got the answer in april of 2013.
as the calender gets closer to around the anniversary of seora's mother's death, her anxiety levels tend to rise. this being only the second year since it happened, and her first year dealing with it with the added pressures of being a trainee, she wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. so she tried to go on with life as normal, maybe pushing herself a little harder in her vocals and dancing, working on being bigger and brighter.
at the monthly evaluation, however, her performance was rather lackluster, and she was criticized harshly. it was around this time that people whispered things like "she's sweet, but she doesn't really have any real talent."
those words weighed down on her, until finally it felt like she couldn't take it anymore. suddenly, she wanted to go home, she wanted to stop, but most of all she wanted her mother. none of these were about to happen though.
so instead seora settled for crying in the stairwell, hoping no one would hear her, unable to stop the sobs welling up inside and the shaking of her shoulders, but also berating herself for crying in the first place.
it was at that moment that lee seojun decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator, because it was lagging and he didn't want to have to wait.
when he reached a certain level, however, he heard seora crying, which certainly surprised him. he was conflicted for a moment as to what to do, before deciding that it would probably be best to sit with her and make sure she wasn't contemplating suicide or anything.
also, if seojun was honest, he was a little curious. he'd never seen seora do anything but smile.
when seora realized someone had sat down on the step next to her, she flinched and ducked her head, embarrassed to be seen like this, face drenched in tears and possibly snot (because she really doesn't look all that pretty crying, not at all). she managed to choke out an apology - "s-sorry, i'm sorry, i'll stop, i just...i'm s-sorry, i'll stop crying..."
at this point, unable to stop, she buried her face in her hands and prayed for him to go away.
but he didn't.
instead, he leaned over, and gently as he could, her head. a soothing, repetitive motion, until finally the sobs became a little quieter, the shaking a little less violent.
"i'm sorry, seonbaenim, i'll stop...i have to stop crying..."
"it's okay." gently, gently. "it's okay...you're kim seora, right?"
a small nod. she still wouldn't look at him.
"seora-ssi...seora, it's okay."
it's okay not to smile.
he wished he could say these things, even if they weren't true, not for idols, at least. even if she wouldn't believe them.
but instead, he did the best he could. he sat with her, petting her hair, murmuring soft words.
when her sobs finally subsided, she took deep, shuddering breaths and wiped her face.
and then, of all things, she smiled. it was small, tentative. like a bruise, barely there, but she was trying so hard, and when she said, so softly, "thank you, seonbaenim," seojun's heart ached for this girl, for her having to feel like she still needed to put on a face even now.
after that, seojun took a bit more of an interest in this trainee. if he saw her every once in a while, he'd say hello and ask her how her day had been. seora, herself, continued to present her normal, cheerful, "on" self, acting as though her breakdown in the stairwell never happened. they eventually developed a standard seonbae-hoobae relationship, exchanging numbers, and in which he encouraged her in her training, and she continued to cheer on dante's activites as a fan.
the next year, however, in april of 2014, he texted her asking if she was doing all right. seora was more than a little touched by this consideration.
so, on a leap of faith, she asked him if she could buy him a drink once her training was over for the day (which turned out to be rather late at night, but it didn't really matter because neither of them slept very early anyway).
the night was pleasant, and after some awkwardness had given way to gentle teasing ("to be honest, i didn't think you were legal, seora-ssi." "i turned 19 two months ago, seonbaenim!"), seora decided to confide in him that april was the anniversary of her mother's death. she told him the story of why she grew up in japan, why she moved back. it was honestly the most vulnerable she'd been in front of a person in a long time.
seojun appreciated her honesty, and from then on, although they continued on their ways through their careers as seonbae and hoobae, they also grew steadily closer in a way that no one really saw coming.
INTERACTIONS:
"sometimes i wonder if the inequalities between us exist only in my head, or if he's aware of this unsurmountable distance too. how all he ever does is give and give and give, and all i can do is take. i want to take in everything, his eyes, his lips, i imagine his hands spanning the width of my waist. he is so beautiful. we meet in the hallway and i find myself wondering if he tastes as sweet as his words, if his touch is as gentle as his eyes. we go out for drinks and i swear my hands shake with the weight of my own selfishness.
i am such a greedy person. but oh god, i don't know how not to want."
- seora's diary entry from july 2015 (an "off" day)
SMILE, YOU'RE ON CAMERA
in public, in front of people, all they are is simply seonbae and hoobae. seojun acts as the responsible, caring senior colleague, and seora treats him the same way she treats nearly everyone in the company. she doesn't mention him as one of her inspirations or role models, and he's never mentioned her by name in any interviews or public appearances. if he must, he references the entire group of supreme, rather than individual members. the public therefore considers them only as labelmates, and tends to focus more on seora's relationship with kaito or sanghyun.
within mtm, it's generally known that they're friendly. sanghyun is the only one who's aware that they have feelings for each other, and kaito suspects seora may have a crush on seojun, but is unaware that those feelings are reciprocated. vocal trainers and dance instructors note that dante's leader seems interested in supreme's progress as a group - he can sometimes be found encouraging or giving them advice after practices. mostly, though, he's seen as a mentor to the girl group, and most people don't think twice about it.
some members of supreme might suspect that seora has feelings for seojun simply because she's a dante fan, but they dismiss those suspicions simply because seora is friendly with everyone, she doesn't really act any different around seojun. some more observant members may notice, however, as they approach their second or third comeback, seora has started wearing larger t-shirts they've never seen before around the dorm.
when they're around other people, seora only calls seojun "seonbaenim," or "oppa" if she's feeling rather cheeky (only after supreme's debut, however). seojun only calls her "seora-ssi," or, on one occasion when supreme and dante were interviewed on a show together, he referred to her as "ojousama" as a playful cater to the fans.
ALL I CAN SEE IS YOU
on the occasions when seora and seojun can be alone, whether its late at night or early in the morning at mtm, they are markedly different than their seeming indifference.
ever since he comforted her in the stairwell, and ever since she told him about her mother, seora has carried feelings for seojun. because he's seen her when she hadn't been so put together, when she had frankly been a mess, and didn't reject her, she feels more comfortable around him than most people. seojun makes her feel safe, and she's a little afraid of the power that gives him, especially if he's unaware of it. sometimes she's afraid that he is only tolerating her to be polite, that he doesn't really like her and doesn't know how to tell her so.
but to her, he's one of the most beautiful things she's ever seen, and knows that if she ever feels off-balance or off-kilter, she can look for him, the light in his eyes, and feel this intense relief that both calms her and scares her. she admires him so much, as a singer, as a performer, as a leader, as a person. and she wonders if he knows how unequal they are, how sometimes she feels like a child in comparison to the man he is. he is older, more experienced, more responsible, more stable. so what could he possibly see in her?
on the other hand, the more seojun learns about seora, the more he is captivated by her. her "on" personality can be childish and charming, he knows that, but he cherishes the moments when she's completely let her guard down the most. the fact that she trusts him enough to let him in is precious to seojun. in her "off" moments, seojun has discovered that for someone who seems to be constantly surrounded by people and have lots of friends, seora sometimes seems so alone. she was alone in japan with her mother, pretending to be happy for her mother's sake, and alone after her death. she's been alone with her negative thoughts and feelings, unable to share them with others for fear of disturbing her image. seojun doesn't want her to be alone anymore.
it's not out of pity, either. seojun genuinely enjoys seora's company, whether she's "on" or "off." when she's "on", she's like a breath of fresh air. when she's "off", seojun feels like she trusting him with something sacred - he feels needed, trusted. he sees seora and thinks that, had things been different, he might have turned out a bit like her. hell, for a short time before and after his debut, he was like her, so concerned with image, with putting on his best face. he knows how hard it is.
when they're together, it's comfortable. warm. it's so easy for both of them, their relationship is very sweet. seora can be loud, or she can be quiet, and knows she won't be judged for either. seojun doesn't have to be dante's leader or main vocalist, doesn't have to be mtm's most experienced artist. their relationship isn't exactly defined - they just like spending time together.
sometimes, if one is at mtm late at night preparing for a comeback or training or whatnot, the other will bring them food. if they have a day off, they might go get coffee together, discreetly, of course. seojun owns an apartment that he stays in when he's not promoting with the rest of dante ("we can't live like schoolboys our entire lives, seo-yah...") and they might hang out there, watching movies or just enjoying one another's company. they're very touchy once they're alone - holding hands, resting heads on shoulders, innocent little touches like that.
when they're alone, only then will seora call seojun by name, or occasionally say "seo-kun". seojun calls her "seo-yah", or "ojousama" if he's being playful.
ENDING: when supreme debuts, seojun is a little nervous. he knows that being caught in a dating scandal can be devastating to a rookie's career, both individually and for the entire group. therefore, he withdraws a little from seora, not wanting to put her in jeopardy. seora is crestfallen, but understands. after all, they're not even really defined, right? so how can she miss what she never defined in the first place?
when seora's learned to open up to more people, she doesn't need to rely on seojun so much. so even when enough time has passed that being close would no longer be as risky, seojun hesitates. he doesn’t want seora to just depend on him, he wants her to be able to open up to other people, but he also knows that he wants to be someone special to her too. he grapples with these seemingly conflicting desires, wondering if it’s selfish of him.
eventually, it leads to him confessing to seora, telling her that his feelings for her go beyond just being friends.
“i’m sorry. i am a very selfish person.”
TRIVIA:
+ they know each other’s coffee orders very well – seora always orders lattes with cinnamon, while seojun prefers straight black americanos.
+ seojun was seora’s dante bias before she entered mtm
+ they both share a love of disney movies – seora’s favorite is tangled, seojun’s favorite is pinnochio
+ seojun was seora’s dante bias before she entered mtm
+ they both share a love of disney movies – seora’s favorite is tangled, seojun’s favorite is pinnochio
+ they're considered an mtm entertainment "crackship", but online supporters will refer to them as "prince and princess"
+ seora has told her stepmother that she thinks she might have feelings for someone. sunyoung is very interested in who that person might be, always guessing if its kaito or sanghyun. seora finally tells her when she guesses that its seojun
+ seojun knows that sanghyun suspects about their relationship, but has already made dante’s maknae promise not to mention it
+ seojun only has one photo of seora saved on his phone, taken when she fell asleep on the couch at his apartment
+ seora likes cooking omurice for seojun
+ seora has told her stepmother that she thinks she might have feelings for someone. sunyoung is very interested in who that person might be, always guessing if its kaito or sanghyun. seora finally tells her when she guesses that its seojun
+ seojun knows that sanghyun suspects about their relationship, but has already made dante’s maknae promise not to mention it
+ seojun only has one photo of seora saved on his phone, taken when she fell asleep on the couch at his apartment
+ seora likes cooking omurice for seojun
+ seojun was seora's first real romantic relationship. seojun, however, has had girlfriends in the past. seora is aware of this.
USERNAME: cakevspie
ALIAS: kristy
ACTIVITY RATE: 6/10 (i'm a very slow writer, but i check up nearly every day)
LAST WORDS: sorry for how long this is, but i had a lot of fun with this application! thank you so much for the time and effort you've taken into crafting mtm, and allowing us to go into such detail with our characters. while completing this application, i became aware that there is another person who submitted a character who is korean-born and raised in japan. i hope that you still might consider seora in your decision, despite being submitted later. also, feel free to change whatever you feel like doesn't fit in with what you want your story to be. thank you very much!
SUGGESTIONS: feel free to decide how seojun and seora will end, if they end up going public or officially dating in secret or not even being together. it's important that seora learns to open up to other people without seojun's help - it's a journey that she has to take by herself, maybe with the help of her family and members of supreme, but apart from seojun.
REQUESTS:
+ seora really developing her voice well and improving over the years
+ supreme getting their first variety show and getting to show off their friendships and personalities
+ seora eventually returning to yokohama with a member of supreme that she trusts
+ group bonding
+ woojin meeting supreme
PASSWORD: "i adore chaewonnie! she's like the little sister i never had, and the kind of person i want to be like! her voice is really, ah, so cool! although, she is kind of scary when she's in a bad mood..."
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