⟪ PERSONALITY ⟫

[ + ] articulate, expressive, reliable, humorous
[ - ] melancholic, chronically resentful, asocial, victim complex

                                      
                                                     caption; rowoon in unknown social situations

→ rowoon's personality has definitely been shaped by childhood, both the divorce and his bullying ordeal. as a child, he was vivacious and extremely transparent, unwilling to let his spirit be put down by others. however, his mentality has then shifted, the most obvious transition being in elementary/middle school, when he finally let the worst get to him, and he had to move. 

→ he tends to be pessimistic, expecting often the worst out of people and assumes the worst possible scenario. (i.e. if a bad thing happens, he braces himself for an even worse thing to occur right after)  this has served his friends and family well since he is essentially prepared for anything (well...most things considering his nemesis's surprise visit), and he is a very forward thinker for this reason. however, he feels the strong repercussions of melancholy by being unable to fully enjoy a situation without jumping to the next conclusion, many things bring him amusement but many few bring him unfiltered elation. in addition, he is rather asocial and can reject meeting with friends or attending meetings (if they're not necessary especially, he is very solid with establishing boundaries on this). he would much rather work on coding or play a game if he's not feeling up to socialization. he has a fear of being too clingy, and will back off if he comes off like so. 

→ he is very good with words, making him a paragon of his department as he often gets research opportunities offered to him so he can present them to university boards. his eloquence and vibe during presentations is his greatest pride, as it is when he is the most comfortable in front of a crowd. in addition, he is very expressive and often can be read by his face or body language (that means anything from contentment to seething anger, the negative expressions tend to be the most clear). this makes it easy for the squad to decipher his thoughts when they hang out, to the point that it's become a game. despite this, he seems pretty chill to others because this aspect of him is so open, and he often knows the most out of everyone in the group due to his good listening skills. (he kno the gossip without knowing he kno)

→ due to the amount of stress he has been through, he is bitter towards any things that remind him of the "bad times." he hates any "politically incorrect" humor, any form of body-shaming, the topic of bullying in general, and any off-comments about his family. his resentment often manifests when faced with this, and comes through as a general bad mood, with a penchant to become scathing. it is said he is the most uncooperative when he's stuck in this rut, and it takes friendly intervention or being left alone to deal with this. however, as time passes, it becomes obvious that he has an unresolved victim complex and he is unaware of the damage he does when he becomes angry (the victim becomes the victimizer is a phrase rowoon knows too well). he thinks, "because it happened to me, i'm valid in doing this as i'm protecting myself."

→ when he is not stuck in this mentality, he can be unexpectedly hilarious with his memes and image macros. he's unexpectedly punny and can crack jokes with others. in fact, he's well known within his major department for creating a meme language (something like the "doggo-pupper" phenomenon, which he has written a paper for, in a class). however his joke methodology varies with his mood, as he is prone to self-deprecating humor if he feels less than worthy. generally though, he employs excellent comedic timing. his reliability as a friend coupled with a chill-type personality makes rowoon a proud member of the squad. lowkey a sad clown but yknow LMAO
 

⟪ BACKGROUND ⟫

                                                            
                                     caption; rowoon forced to show his childhood pics at a family bonding

→ born in incheon, he was the first son of son hyunwoo and im minkyung. considering that his mother's side of the family was wealthier, and that his mother was a surgeon while his father was unemployed, there were more stresses than expected to the growing family. after two years, rowoon's brother daewoon was born.  great tension between hyunwoo and minkyung about finances and "head of the household" issues,  along with grandmother choi's cancer diagnosis effectively ended their marriage. hyunwoo could not handle the scrutiny he received from both his family and minkyung's side as well as not finding a job to the level of surgeon, and was allowed to keep the house (due to pity and fear of going to court, and having it affect both rowoon and daewoon).

→ minkyung moved to daegu with rowoon and daewoon. because rowoon had more exposure to his father, he was more affected by the split than daewoon and struggled to attend preschool in the first few months. thus, rowoon grew attached strongly to his grandmother in the times that his mother would leave for job interviews. while grandmother was recuperating from (and luckily beat) cancer, he started to gain more weight than expected due to her overfeeding and coddling. after two years of settling into daegu, minkyung enrolled them in an elementary school near their house. there he met...

→ hwang seyong, his new best friend that he made within 5 seconds of meeting, soon became glued to his hip. they would play everyday at rowoon's house and eat sweet potato crisps with a cup of instant jjajangmyeon. it was a solid friendship, they shared secrets and confided in each other when the going got rough, which was the case for hyunki often. for the majority of elementary school, they were unseparable, and they even befriended daewoon and his friends. academically, they had a friendly rivalry as they were within the top 10 of their class, never deviating two spots from each other (if seyong was 4th, rowoon was 5th; if seyong was 3rd, rowoon was 2nd). 

→ what had happened on a weekend was that rowoon rambled that he saw seyong as a valuable friend, but he felt strange around him. fluttering feelings in his stomach, missing his presence, and wanting to become his "best best friend." they basically went back and forth until they basically clarified that it was a love confession, and seyong didn't know how to handle such information. caught up in the moment, seyong grabbed rowoon and kissed him, the reason still unclear to rowoon to this day. they never fully had a conversation after that moment, since they both wordlessly agreed to never speak about it. 

→ or not. news broke about the confession, and as seyong was the one who received the confession (and the person who brought it up as a way to cope with his own actions), rowoon got the full brunt of humiliation. one, for being gay; two, for confessing and looking the way he did. seyong did not want to admit to anything, and made sure to shift the blame entirely on rowoon, which earned him a new set of friends who were homophobic and ready to pick on rowoon. meanwhile, rowoon became the class loner as no boy wanted to become friends with him (in case he would get a crush on them, too) and no girl wanted to hang around the fat kid who wanted to steal their boyfriends.  

→ when rowoon began to come home with bruising and cuts on his body, his mother didn't know what to do. the bullying started out as isolation and verbal taunts, both online and in person. as the months rolled by, the harrassment became physical with strategic hits to areas that wouldn't be visible. after the year passed, the kids no longer cared and continued with violent beatings outside of the school yard. with this entire mess unfurling, seyong took personal responsibility in also rubbing salt into the wound, by trying to apologize but never publicly enough to help. (he would also be complacent about it, and partake in it if it took away suspicions about being close to rowoon.) his brother daewoon couldn't handle the questions he got from his classmates, and distanced himself from his brother. the only respite he had was gaming and tumblr, where he could escape the worries of daily life.

→ that changed when minkyung was able to land a sweet job in the hospital, making their moving process smoother right to seoul in 2009. she took her son to specialists to address his obesity, overeating and possible issues with anxiety due to stress. the family grew closer after discussing what had prompted the bullying (which became a cryfest as minkyung gave a spiel about loving her sons no matter what they liked or who they loved and daewoon feeling like a horrible younger brother who was spoiled off of rowoon's support), and it marked a newer chapter as he began losing all the things that reminded him of elementary school. 

→ as he attended middle school in seoul, he started getting more into gaming and tumblr culture, where he felt that his uality (even though he never fully admitted to it) and lifestyle did not matter. the resources and community he surrounded himself with, became enough for him as he made some rather well-known friends, in fact, where he met the aesthetic celebrity before meeting her/him in person. in middle school, he was still being followed by gay rumors, but was not bullied to the same extent, and even found a transient group to hang with (the nerds) while the years passed. however, he thrived best in the theme coding and meme side of tumblr, gaining notes for his meme blog dedicated to the idol elimination show, create 99.

→ in high school, he met his squad that made him feel accepted regardless of his personality or need to socialize. they became a solidified group after class projects forced rowoon and jinah together, and they held two solid all-nighters to finish. over the bonding at their homes, they realized that they could make rather great friends. that, and the sleep deprivation left them humorously disoriented on a trip to the local convenience store at 3 am. through jinah, he met the aesthetic celebrity and the annoying romantic trying to woo them. they formed a lunch group, and after a week or so, the annoying romantic dragged new targets to the table: the musical prodigy and the active fluffball. they finally became "the cliché squad" after saving the aesthetic celebrity from a stalker (a plan so elaborately devised by the romantic, their kakao group chat is still named after it). he is eternally grateful for their friendship, and was torn over being accepted at seoul national university and going to school with his friends. however, after their split, they still remain in contact, especially since a figure from his past has returned. 

 

⟪ TRIVIA ⟫

LIKES
→ memes
→ noodles of all sorts
→ his wonderful friends
→ the color blue
→ coding tumblr themes
→ create 99, he votes everyday for his top 9//kicked
DISLIKES
→ his childhood
→ exercise, he still does it anyway
→ thunder, he gets scared
→ banana flavored candy
→ the number 10
→ bad wifi
MISCELLANEOUS
→ he makes a lot of memes, sometimes of the aesthetic celebrity because it's amusing
→ his theme tumblr has a lot of reblogs due to the interesting themes available
→ he has a penguin onesie so he can be the one true pororo
→ he wants to go to houston because that is where his internet friend lives
→ people think his crying is cute, but he doesn't like being told this
→ he is closely aligned to the infx personality type

⟪ FAMILY ⟫

                                     
                                 caption; mama im most likely being a little sassy about the dirty laundry piles
→ mother, im minkyung ⋮ 47 ⋮ surgeon ⋮ compassionate & steadfast ⋮ initially distant because of her job, she was rather clueless about anything happening to him until the bullying incident. however, she does love her son and would make sure to say that every night before he slept. 
                                         
                             caption; hyunwoo on a chair and pondering his life choices about drink of choice
→ father, son hyunwoo ⋮ 45 ⋮ unemployed ⋮ charming & fickle ⋮ he does not talk to him, or the family for that matter, so his relationship with him is strained and negative. prior to the divorce, it was a bit rocky, due to hyunwoo's immaturity and apparent inability to handle children. 
                                       
                        caption; daewoon (also known as daeddoong) exiting the room to avoid washing dishes 
→ brother, im daewoon ⋮ 17 ⋮ student ⋮ stoic & immature ⋮ growing up, they were very friendly with fights of course. however, in the face of the gay rumors, daewoon was unable to respond and denounced having a brother. however, they're on much better terms now and daewoon often brings him snacks while forcing him to exercise with him. 
                                       
                      caption; bongsook-ssi showing off her highlight that she bought at vdl on her way to buy eggs
→ grandmother, choi bongsook ⋮ 68 ⋮ badass ⋮ feisty & judgmental ⋮ the closest parental figure he had growing up, she was definitely a positive force in his life. despite her cancer, she was so fiery that rowoon still looks up to her. she plans to move to seoul to see her beautiful baby grandsons. 

⟪ FRIENDS ⟫

                                     
                                caption; jinah being fabulous and stuff with the wind blowing in her hair 
→ friends, seo jinah ⋮ ??? ⋮ student ⋮ ??? ⋮ rowoon and jinah have an interesting relationship, since they relate to the isolation (jinah with the rich lifestyle, rowoon with the bullying), so he looks upon her fondly. especially after they became a squad, he lowkey believes he is in debt to her. even in his most asocial, he can look to her. 
                               
→ friends, the musical prodigy ⋮ ??? ⋮ student ⋮ ??? ⋮ he might have had the smallest crush on the musical prodigy in the beginning, but that soon faded when he found out that he was straight (and enchanted with a specific girl). however, he finds his skill impressive and may or may not have asked him to help him in creating a video game soundtrack. 
                                  
→ friends, the active fluffball ⋮ ??? ⋮ student ⋮ ??? ⋮ rowoon is terrified of the active fluffball sometimes, and often sets boundaries with them on personal contact. however, at some point, their hidden insecurity became apparent to rowoon, so he is a little more considerate of them. 
                                             
→ friends, the annoying romantic ⋮ ??? ⋮ student ⋮ ??? ⋮ rowoon finds them amusing, and makes them tumblr posts about them the most, and he keeps a quote note of all the lines they've said. he may or may not find them cute with someone in the group. 
                                       
→ friends, the aesthetic celebrity ⋮ ??? ⋮ student ⋮ ??? ⋮ they actually met on tumblr without knowing, and reconnected when they were introduced via jinah. they are also very close, and the celebrity is often actively finding ways to draw rowoon out of his room. 

⟪ OTHERS ⟫

                                   
                      caption; karina and one of the many gifs she has of herself for responding to tumblr asks
→ internet friend, karina ⋮ 22 ⋮ graphic designer ⋮ creative & brash ⋮ he met his american friend on tumblr after she contacted him to practice korean with her, they have a mutual interest in coding and create 99, the fictional produce 101 i just made up.  they talk and text often, since she gets into precarious situations involving ex-girlfriends and looks to rowoon for help.

⟪ CHOSEN PLOTLINE ⟫ the tumblr introvert

               
            caption; rowoon regretting his life choices but looking hella dope in this mask he found for a dollar on wish

⟪ for when the memes are not dank enough ⟫

→ "ding dong i am gone"

rowoon stepped out of his dorm room, wearing his characteristic adidas sweatpants and blue shirt, hair a literal bird's nest. just as he turned off the "do not disturb" function on his phone, various messages flooded in from the "PLAN: GALBI" Kakao messenger group. this meant one of two things: (active fluffball) had their sandwich stolen by birds for the fifth time today, and was explaining in excruciating detail the 3.5 second moment she had with the bird. or that (Romantic) found another soulmate and was also gushing over said person. 
did he want to respond? not really. should he? probably, since he clicked one of the messages as it came in and was now clearly leaving his friends on read. 

>> PORORO I C U GOOD MORNING
>> IT WAS MORNING THREE HOURS AGO
>> SHUT UP UR GONNA SCARE HIM AWAY
>> y is everyone using caps haha

he was not ready for the day's socialization, instead opting to use one of his stockphrases:

>> ding dong i am gone

to which the quick reply was:

>> lOOK AT whA T u DI D 
 

⟪ for the casual life or death situation ⟫

→ "i am about to jump off a cliff"

today was rowoon's day off, and that meant day off for everything. it was no schoolwork, no socialization, only tumblr. and that's what he did, playing around with a new theme that he was planning to post next week. the sidebar was not spaced correctly, which meant the page numbers would crowd around the archive button (which was in the shape of a cherry blossom).  he was growing impatient, and was ready to throw his laptop after his next move deleted the falling petal animation he added. he needed to stop, since it was his break day. 
"i'm about to jump off a cliff," he mumbled to himself as he closed his laptop and sat up. he might as well took out new clothes to shower, since that would clear his head. he turned the doorknob and creaked the door open, there stood someone with storage boxes and a key in his hand.
it took a solid minute to recognize the person, but even then, rowoon was unsure. 
"hey, are you im rowoon...?"
rowoon nodded, and then squinted. this person was going to be his roommate now?
"i'm the new transfer, hwang seyong." 
the realization hit, but the scowl on his face hit faster. 
"i am about to jump off a cliff."
"pardon?"

⟪ RELATIONSHIP ⟫



ROWOON -> SEYONG

→ rowoon more-so resents seyong for cheapening his elementary experience, giving him mixed signals about things (i.e. saying sorry one day, and then kicking him in the stomach the next) as well as never owning up to the fact that he had a part in their interaction. rowoon sees him as an enemy, and refers to him as such with everyone in the squad. however, in the deepest part, he is still very hurt by seyong's actions because he still never had the closure of a yes or no to his confession, instead dealing with hell. it's safe to say rowoon still has lingering feelings, which are layered with anger and frustration.
→  when dealing with seyong, he rarely smiles or shows positive emotions. in fact, he is rather curt and would much rather not talk about anything with him (even after he becomes his roommate). more often than not, they need a buffer friend (can be anyone in the squad) to exist for them to communicate. this changes after A LOT OF time passes, as they are able to discuss (without buffer friend) about what happened, and especially after seyong gives a genuine apology. this is an important moment for rowoon, because it demonstrates better control over his resentment (it is still a flaw, but it does not affect their relationship as strongly as it did prior). after rowoon begins to trust seyong (with the help of squad), their conversations end up about memes and they can hang out like old times (except in their shared room). when addressing their feelings, his flirting is based on non-harmful teasing and memes (i.e. roses are red, violets are blue, you a lot, but you're still cute) before running out of the room. his reaction to seyong's flirting is often most obvious through his face, as his mouth corners start twitching. 

SEYONG -> ROWOON

→ seyong feels guilty about throwing rowoon under the bus, but doesn't know how to address his feelings. all throughout high school, he also struggled with his uality (only after could he come to the conclusion of being biual) and felt as if it was due to his shaky childhood, not as a real component of his life. he also feels iffy about giving mixed signals, and often wonders if he should've ever blamed rowoon for the confession. however, in the beginning, he can admit he was wrong but without the promise of ever doing it again. his feelings for rowoon were most prominent during his first years of high school, after coming to terms with his orientation. however, they've remained dormant due to "going out there" and dating others in order to deal with that discomfort. 
→ previously, he often apologized for the sake of having said it without meaning it, and he has grown a little beyond that. that doesn't mean he doesn't flinch at the idea of perceived conflict, he would love to avoid that as much as possible. he often does try initiating conversations with rowoon, trying to get to the topics he'd like to discuss but it always ends up with silence. there have been almost-arguments initiated by a very stressed rowoon in the presence of a buffer friend, to which seyong slinks out of. however, as time goes on, seyong starts to address his fears as well as give a solid and thorough apology which includes accountability over ing rowoon over. this is an important moment for seyong, as he overcomes his fair-weather tendencies for a moment to have an adult discussion. they begin to grow close once again, and his feelings seem reignited after a time. when he finally gains the courage, he tends to flirt by subtle leaning on him (considering he's taller by 9 cm, he boops his head a lot) and making statements that warrant a reaction from rowoon. (i.e. you know i'm your favorite, you know you like me) his reaction to rowoon flirting is initially of surprise, but then he grows comfortable with it, and personally finds it touching. 

⟪ HISTORY ⟫

beyond the included history in the background, seyong and rowoon have long history with each other:14 years, exactly. in those 14 years, they went from classroom friends to best friends very quick (in a week). rowoon's house was seyong's favorite place to be, because of the close proximity to the convenience store, school and cleanliness. in fact, sleepovers were a common thing due to seyong's desire to stay. it came to the point where he had a set of toiletries and a uniform at the house.
rowoon would've never described himself as gay, but based on his developing feelings for seyong around age 9 and confession at age 10, it was a part of him he needed to accept. in seyong's case, he has always liked women but realized his attraction to men came way late, partially due to internalized homophobia. the reason why seyong kissed rowoon at that time was to confirm his own feelings (something he struggles to understand), but his rejection of his feelings led to a form of scapegoating. 
in the years that rowoon was gone, seyong tried to compensate for his new image by beginning relationships with classmates, basically distracting from the cognitive discomfort with quick and easy flings. the most outstanding event seyong remembers is an encounter with a now-ex in high school, and she basically tore him down for letting his own mistake affect someone else's life (both rowoon and hers, seeing as his own qualms about rowoon fueled a string of empty relationships). 
in the years that seyong was gone, rowoon had a major character change from his early years. he had started to exercise and control his overeating, losing weight in a healthy way. he grew closer to his family, and invested time in a hobby. however, in the romantic arena, he was still struggling with clashing feelings about seyong. he "hated" him, but still had a semi positive view of his best moments, and retained an underlying interest (even with all the new baby crushes he earned). 
at college, rowoon keeps to himself unless the squad is ready to hang out (which he is often dragged out, anyway). for a semester, he has a roommate who respects his space (they're not friends, but they can hold a conversation). however, a medical emergency (kidney failure, need a transplant) leaves him roommateless for the last month of the semester. when the break ends, and they return, he finds that he's forced to live with seyong, his new roommate for the rest of the semester. 
they do not mesh well in the beginning, and seyong attempts everything under the sun to get rowoon to speak with him. examples include bribery, cornering the man in their room multiple times(which fails eventually due to seyong's inability to face adversity), and asking the squad for help. the amount of times seyong has kabedon'd rowoon is almost comical if it wasn't for the relationship they had 
it takes time and small actions for their relationship to improve, to show that seyong would not throw people under the bus like before. rowoon needs to show that he can work to improve his pessimism just slightly. 
(known as the jjaguma couple due to the comfort junk food they eat). 

⟪ "you know i'm..., right?" ⟫

"hey rowoon, we should go buy sweet potato chips and jjajangmyeon. just like the good times," seyong sighed, staring at the ceiling of their dorm room. this was the third time he tried to initiate a conversation this day, and it looked like he might have him cracking.
"what good times?" rowoon quickly shut down, clacking on his laptop, rushing a computer science problem set due the next day. 
seyong opened his mouth, closing it right away to prevent any stupidity to leave his mouth and ruin the situation--no wait, there he goes.
"you know i'm sorry, right?" 
rowoon scoffed, closing his laptop and setting it on his bedside table. he flung his legs over the side of the bed, getting up and preparing to leave.
"poror--" seyong huffed, before getting a pillow to the face.