the basics.

name » Im Sohyun

nickname(s) » Lorem ipsum

birthplace & birthday » Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi, South Korea. January 2, 1994

hometown » Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi, South Korea.

ethnicity » Korean

occupation » co-founder and managing partner of Love Ryu, a matchmaking company
 

face claim » Kwon Sohyun

backup face claim » Red Velvet's Joy

Style » Casual class, my darlings. Neutral colors can be bold too. She won't stand in the crowd, but if you'd see her in the office with her pencil skirt and shirt tailored to fit her body like a glove and accentuate what she is proud of... oh boy. She takes the term "y librarian" to a whole new level.

 

the DETAILS.

Appearance » She might not be gorgeous like a certain matchmaker or residential mermaid, but Sohyun was considered the best looking girl of her town, and even in the big city she still maintains a certain rural prettiness. Her face is too round, of course, and her nose is too flat, but she's not really bothered by it. She's rather satisfied with her appearance - it's the other aspects of herself she has problems with.

She has a tattoo of a cookie on her that she is so embarrassed about. She got it one night when she and Nara were super drunk and she probably wouldn't even remembered she had gotten it done if it wasn't for the pain she felt a day later. If you manage to see it (or get her to talk about it), you are a special person, my friend.

 

I AM READY FOR LOVE.

 

 

traits » go-getter, clever, dubious, hopeless romantic, organized, lively, insecure but tries to hide it with everything she's got, existential af, ambitious, business savvy, represses her fears because she can't deal with them

 

personality » You get up from a rather intense meeting with the most bizarrely dressed woman you have ever seen - kilt? Seriously? - and take your leave. Before you exit the officetel, you see her, and suddenly it's clear who has designed the interior of the agency. She glances up from her desk, a warm, welcoming smile on her face, and you just feel the need to smile back. With the same smile, Im Sohyun hands you a small note. "Your tab." She says in a soft voice.

 

Your smile falls right off.

 

 

 

Don't let the warm smile and soft face fool you - Im Sohyun knows what she's doing. Someone has to, after all. Nara is ing brilliant and all that, but boy, would she be lost without Sohyun's business sense. The girl knows what she's doing. She is clever and sharp enough to figure out the mess that is finance and organized enough to keep up with it for a long time. Running a company (let's be real, she is the one running Love Ryu, or at least the behind-the-scenes part of it. Nara would've been long gone in jail for tax evasion if it wasn't for her). Honestly, she had no choice but learn - she was not going to settle for a small, no name agency. That was not why she came all the way to Seoul for. She could've had a comfortable life back in Yeoncheon, marrying the Mayor's son or something as equally prestigious according to the standards of the town. Sohyun chose to leave it all and try her luck in Seoul. She would not settle for being the queen of a no-name town, she'd rather be a peasant in the big city.

 

If she's being honest, she thought she deserved greatness at first. She thought that if she was the queen of Yeoncheon, she'd easily become the queen of Seoul as well. She has always had pride in herself, though it is subdued now, thanks to the biggest slap in her life. When she came to Seoul, she quickly realized that she was no one. It left a certain scar in her heart, and even a few years later, as the co-founder of a now booming matchmaking agency, she still feels like she doesn't really deserve it. It was a drastic change of character, going from prideful to insecure in a matter of months, and it left her with confusion. Sohyun doesn't fare well with confusing. She represses her fears, doubts, and even feelings and locks them inside, not allowing anyone to see that part of her. She masks it all with a lively character, a welcoming smile and a warm laugh. Fake it till you make it, isn't that right? She surrounds herself with people, jokes, and fun, and is almost afraid of loneliness. When she's alone, she has time to think about her fears and doubts. She can't allow herself to do so.

 

She is so profoundly afraid that she has made a mistake that would cost her the life she wants for herself. She has always wanted to leave the small town she lived in and move to Seoul, but when she actually achieved her goal, she realized that perhaps she was never capable of becoming the best. In Yeoncheon, she was the prettiest, the smartest, the best the town had to offer. In Seoul, she was one of many, a no one among no ones. Before, she was sure that she could conquer the world. Now, she is afraid she has never been good enough to even dream of such a thing. Her insecurities and doubts serve as a bittersweet dissonance to her ambitions - she still wants the world, she still wants to achieve greatness, but now that she has all those doubts and fears repressed inside of her, she doesn't think she'd be able to, and it crushes her. Of course, no one can know about that - it would ruin the fun, lively persona she has built for herself. So she smiles, and laughs, and jokes. Not even Nara can see that side of her (even though her best friend always tries to figure out what's wrong. Not even she can know. She'd never think the same of her, and Sohyun can't afford to lose her best friend).

 

So instead of crying, Sohyun smiles. She cracks another joke, sings another song at the bar. She built those walls around herself, and for her entire stay in Seoul has acted that way. It makes her even more afraid of revealing how she feels about herself - everyone knows her as lively and fun, and if they'd suddenly see her breaking, it would hurt them. She doesn't want to hurt her friends and those she loves, and represses everything even more. She almost sees it as heroic. She sacrifices herself for the sake of others, and can't help seeing the misguided romanticism of it all. She can't help it, she has always been a hopeless romantic in everything, not just love. Everything in life has its beauty, she knows. Everything deserves to be loved, and the things she loves deserve her sacrifices. Sohyun sees love as a divine power, one that controls the world, and is ready to worship it. She has ideals of a better world, and dreams of making it better. Hell, there's a reason why she's so invested with Love Ryu - she wants to make Korea better, wants everyone to experience the wonder that is love, even if she herself can't. Of course, she dreams of love herself, of someone that would love her with his entire being, someone she could finally open up to and would still accept and cherish her. She wants to be embraced and loved, even if she doesn't deserve it. For now it's just a fantasy, though. She'll just focus on helping to make Korea fertile again.

 

 

BACKGROUND »

For Sohyun, life was rather uneventful back in Yeoncheon - her grandparents could still recount times of tension and unease on the border between South and North Korea, but she herself lived in a thankfully relatively quiet time. 

 

She never really considered herself a small-town girl up until she moved to Seoul, but in retrospect that was exactly who she was. She went to kindergarten with the same people she finished high school with and lived her entire life in the same apartment her grandparents bought after the war. She was the best thing her town had to offer - the smartest, the prettiest, the one that everyone was sure would become the wife of the next mayor or something just as grand (small-town problems, small-town aspirations. ism is even more real when not exposed to the liberalities foreigners brought with them). Sohyun herself felt the same, but it was never enough. She had big aspirations, and why wouldn't she? She was the best her town had to offer, and she was not going to waste her potential on Yeoncheon. She was growing oddly claustrophobic in the small town and decided that she was going to do everything she can to get out. She studied her off, graduating on top of her class, and got accepted into Seoul National University - the only one out of her entire town. 

 

She knew her only chance to get out of Yeoncheon was SNU, and so it didn't really matter that the scholarship she received was for Journalism rather than Business (which was what she actually wanted to learn). She couldn't afford attending university without a scholarship and felt privileged enough to be accepted into South Korea's top university to accept whichever major they offered her.

 

She packed her things, took a bus, and came to Seoul.

 

And boy was she shocked.

Ever the romantic, Sohyun thought that the moment she comes to Seoul, everything will be magical and wonderful, a fairytale come true. She'll be a princess and everyone will adore her because she's the best. In reality, there were tons of Sohyuns walking around the smog-filled streets of stone. The treatment she received in Yeonchoen made her grow up with a sense of self-importance, but the moment she set foot in Seoul, it became oh so very clear that she was no longer the prettiest, no longer the smartest, no longer the pride and glory of everyone. In Yeoncheon she was the town's daughter. In Seoul, she was simply Im Sohyun, and she was all alone in the big, scary city.

 

Of course, she was Im Sohyun, and so instead of skulking in her dorm all alone, she acted. She interacted with people in her classes, she went to parties, joined the SNU's newspaper staff. She did anything to meet people, thus treating the symptoms of her pain rather than the pain itself - it was so much easier to surround herself with people to make herself feel less lonely and more like back home, instead of trying to deal with how inferior she felt to everyone else. Her desire to feel like she matters again, combined with her hopeless romanticism, resulted in her going on a date after date after date, going out with one guy, breaking up,  and then going out with a different guy. It made sense to her - love equaled importance and human touch made her feel like she was no longer alone in the big, bad world.

 

Then she came.

 

Sohyun can't deny she was intimidated by Ryu Nara at first - her roommate was gorgeous beyond belief, way too noisy for her own good, always spoke in riddles and was the biggest fashion disaster to ever grace the earth. Sohyun forced herself to look past that, and found out a girl that was absolutely brilliant, and funny, and meant well despite her many shortcomings. From there it was a quick road before the two became best friends. Nara was amazingly good at psychology and human behavior, Sohyun found out, and had a liking for making people feel good together. The rest was Love Ryu history (that you can find here :D)

Fast forward to 2016, Nara joined Bachelor's Paradise. Love Ryu exploded. Sohyun started feeling like she was finally starting to live the dream she always wanted to - she was successful, people knew who she was (no matter how inconvenient that one was. She still shudders at memories of idol hell), and she was growing better and better with each day passing. Her fears were still there, of course, but she had buried them deep inside, once again choosing to live in a thin shell of what she sees as her dream world rather than deal with the feelings she has and truly enjoy the life she is living. There is still the pain she felt knowing she no longer really matters (and a part of her keeps wondering if it's going to be like that forever, if she never truly mattered), and every day there is a linger of doubt there - maybe if she didn't come to Seoul and stayed in Yeoncheon she would've never experienced what it's like to feel that you don't matter? She'd be married to the son of the mayor, and she'd still be the center of her small universe. Perhaps it would've been better to stay in her little bubble because the burst of it was too painful. Sometimes it was better to stay ignorant than uncover the mysteries of the world. She hadn't dated since university, her desire to replace warmth with human touch going to a dull apathy. Sohyun is somewhat content with her life, or more accurately she makes herself feel content, trying her very best to ignore her doubts and fears.

 

It's why she has no idea what the she's doing on the second season of Bachelor's Paradise. She didn't want to, but Nara and Yoongi were persistent (at last agreeing on something other than the fact that Mihoon is hot as ). "It'd be good for Love Ryu," they said. "It'd bring even more costumers and solidify it as the best matchmaking company in the country." Bull. She knows Nara just wants her to find somebody, and what better place than TV?

 

Yeah right.

 

 

LIKES » 

❥ Romance - she's a hopeless romantic, she can't help it. Novels, TV shows, movies, anything goes.
❥ List and organizing - if there is one thing Sohyun considers a victory, is that she managed to make Nara love lists. Now, she just needs to teach her how to not mess every. single. thing.
❥ People - she enjoys being around people and people in general (and not just because they help her not think about those thoughts).
❥ Ramyun - She's a very good cook (her mother taught her well thinking she'd be the perfect housewife until Sohyun announced her dreams were a bit grander than that), and Ramyun is her favorite. Classic, but boy can she make the best version of it you've ever had.
❥ Dreams - they're so interesting and fun! If she's had a dream when she slept, the day is 100% already better.
❥ Winter- screw spring there's just something so romantic about winter, in a very melancholic, bittersweet way. It also reminds her of home, especially when it snows.

❥ Fun, jokes, parties, etc - hey, it's fun! Anditdistractsherfromcertainthoughts

dislikes » 

 

❥ Sports - NO. JUST NO.
❥ Clowns - have you seen IT????? Those are the spawns of evil. She is absolutely terrified of clowns (and even skipped Taehyun's part in the haunted house episode)
❥ Thinking about those... feelings - you know what she means. Nope, she not going in there. Nope nope nope.
❥ Dust and mess - she's allergic, and it's just horrible to live in a constant mess all the time. Why Nara why???
❥ Being alone and doing nothing in general - it gives her time to properly think, and properly thinking leads right to dislike number 3.

strong points» 

 

❥ Cooking - her mother taught her well, really. She's not as brilliant as her mother is, naturally, but Nara has never complained. Her ramyun is absolutely in', as are her fried chicken and kimchi stew. When she has the time, she even likes to prepare things like mandu and soybean paste by herself, like her family does back in their town.

❥ Intelligence - she is quite sharp, and has some tricks up her sleeve. She is no Nara, and she is no Johanna, but there's a reason she got a scholarship to SNU.

❥ Organizing - be it objects or people, Sohyun is good at creating order.

❥ Jokes - she has the BEST jokes, and the best puns. She's good at making the atmosphere brighter (cough because that's what works the best with her). She is also good at comforting people. 

❥ Business/ money - just try to swindle her. I dare you. I double dare you motherer.
❥ She doesn't get lost in a situation easily, and can quickly get to her senses. 

❥ Looking like everything is absolutely fine and amazing when she's dying inside and wants to hide away and cry. She's reallllly good at that one :D

weak points» anything your character is bad at (or scared of), min. 5 max. 10

 

❥ Opening up - oh boi. OH BOI. Sohyun has repressed her feelings so much, the mere thought of opening up to someone and reveal how she really thinks is absolutely ing terrifying.

❥ She is physically weak, and hates sports.

❥ She likes music well enough, but ask her to identify a note or even tell her opinion about a musical piece that's not "I like it" or "it sounds really cool", and she will be at a loss.

❥ Clowns - oh god, anything but clowns. She will cry like a little girl. 
❥ She can hold her alcohol well enough, and is even pretty funny when buzzed. But get her faced, and oh boy all the fears and insecurities will come out of her like a fountain.
❥ She may have been living for a few years in Seoul now, but she still has some things that she doesn't know, like what's customary and acceptable in a small town, but is. not. acceptable. in. Seoul. like talking about cow's nose piercing, or eating mud fish.
 

trivia » 

 

❥ Who do you think is in charge of Love Ryu's design and color palette? That's right. This girl. As if she'd let Nara anywhere near stylistic decisions.

❥ Nara has made her so much less old-fashioned and open-minded. She almost doesn't shudder when a gay couple comes in now. Almost.

❥ She has had her fair share of experimenting with hair color after coming to Seoul. Blonde is a personal favorite.

❥ May or may not have a Pinterest board for her future wedding. 

❥ May or may not have already picked her wedding dress for said wedding.

 

 

home is where your heart is.

 

         

 

LOVE INTERESTS » Minhyuk, Jooheon, Hoseok

the reason you applied » Honestly? She doesn't know. Nara and Yoongi had done all in their powers to convince her to participate, but she could've ultimately said no. The hopeless romantic side of her definitely dreams of finding her true love on the show, but at this point she's too afraid to allow herself to wish for such a thing. Of course there is the logical part of hers that says being on the show will give even more exposure to Love Ryu, so at least that's a good thing? She's not here because of that, but at least that's a plus?

 

strategy » Ehh, does she need a strategy? She will obviously stand out because she is Ryu Nara's partner (she even has a fanclub already, those weird Nara lovers are everywhere, the ers), but she doesn't feel like she needs a strategy with the bachelors themselves. Love is not about strategy, love is about passion and connection. If there's a connection, there's a connection. She's afraid of hoping anything would come out of it, but a small part of her wishes she would. 

 

The bachelors » 

 

this is paradise.

 This is an interview section. The interview takes place BEFORE the show starts and before your character knows that she's accepted and will participate in the show. Whatever she answers, the bachelors - except for Minhyuk - aren't revealed until the first episode airs, therefore she can't know who's going to be there. The interview is recorded and might appear in TV, keep that in mind. You cannot change the questions.
Oh and by the way... the one who'll interview your character is former bachelors Min Yoongi.

 

"So...this is season 2 of Bachelor's Paradise. Interesting how people are still torturing themselves with applying for this show. Please, introduce yourself."

• "Do I really need to do that, Yoongi? You know me." She asks, grinning playfully at him. "Okay, fine, fine! No need to give me that kind of look, I'm not Nara. Hello, I am Im Sohyun, co-founder and managing partner of Love Ryu. Also known as, Nara's partner and best friend. Nice to meet you all!" She gives the camera a warm smile and bows a little.

"Why do you think you need this program to find love? Is there a reason you couldn't find love on your own?"

• She laughs awkwardly, running a hand through her long hair. "At this point I'd take anything I can get. You'd think a pair of matchmakers would be able to find good matches for themselves on their own." The awkward laughter intensifies. "I guess we're like psychologists - we can make everything work for you, but the moment it comes to ourselves, we're ed. Oh, , I shouldn't curse on TV, should I?" She grins sheepishly. "Sorry!"

"Why should we choose you and not someone else?"

• She blinks. "Yoongi... Is that a part of a mandatory list of questions or something like that? You and Nara practically dragged me here. Didn't you say MBC wants me for the ratings?"

"What do you think about people who gain a lot of money?"

• She immediately bursts out laughing, a warm, slightly high pitch sound that jumps off the walls of the room. "Oh my god, that is - who thought of these questions!? Please tell me it wasn't you, Yoongi. God, this is the worst way possible to find out if someone's a gold digger or not. I think you might have better luck straight up asking people if they're here for the money or not." She catches Yoongi's scowl, but it only makes her laugh even more. "Oh, yes, I love money so much! Oooh what would I do with all the money I get after I manipulate a hidden card into marrying me. You caught me, Min Yoongi. That has been my wicked plan all along."

"Any hopes or dreams for the future?"

• "Well, Nara and I are working on expanding Love Ryu at the moment, and I do think that making Korea fertile again is a pretty admirable dream. Hmm, I might get a degree in business. Love, of course, I want to find love, but if I'm here you should already know that."

"Oh right... did you watch season 1?"

• "Dude. Of course. What kind of a friend I'd be if I didn't watch my best friend create havoc on national TV? As if I'd want to miss the time Jungkook was almost sacrificed to the fangirl gods." She smiles as if recalling a fond memory. "Also, I looked hot as a blonde. I'm glad someone filmed it for me."

"Okay, that's it... why are you looking at me like that? You want to tell me something else?"

• She gives him a wicked smile and winks. "How's Mihoon doing?"

 

last words.

comments/suggestions » Huh. That took shorter than expected. YASSS.
 

scene requests » It's not really a scene request, but I'd really like to see Sohyun deal with her repressed feelings and start opening up! Also she has a very misguided view on romance, so playing with that could be fun ;)
 

password » Like you don't know