SOWON / JIN MINA

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jin mina

Name. jin mina

Other names. 


★ chen lu chinese name 
★ jade chen english, derived from a translation of her name, lu. 

 

Nicknames. 

★ lulu  a familiar way to call her using her chinese name. she uses this as her stagename
★ laopo "wifey", called this privately by her significant other (in return, she calls him laogong - "husband")
★ deer called by xiao zhan, even before they began dating. a play on her name (璐lù, her name, and 鹿lù, the word for deer, are both pronounced the same way). he joked that, on the first day of filming, her eyes were wide "like a deer's" and it stuck. for the most part, its really only xiao zhan who uses the name, but the more they interact on chinese social media, the more the name has stuck with fans. 

 

Birthdate. 1 december 1992

Birthplace. luoyang, china

Hometown. luoyang, china

Nationality. korean

Ethnicity. korean

Languages. 

mandarin chinese — fluent. native language

korean  fluent. mother tongue

japanese  conversational 

 

Faceclaim. kim yongsun

Backup. jang dahye

 

Height. 163cm

 

Appearance. 

mina has soft, child-like features. big brown eyes, with light freckles dotting her nose. thin lips and rather large ears. 

 

 

Style. 

mina is notorious for not having much style. she likes simple outfits -- jeans and a nice shirt, or a skirt with a t-shirt. because she is on the shorter side, she likes to make up for it by wearing heals or platforms. she doesn't wear much jewelry, but does keep a simple pair of earrings in at all times. 

 

★ everyday style 

 

★ workday style 

 

★ date night style 

 

★ award show style 

 

 

Other. 

mina's right ear is pierced twice in the lobe and her left ear is pierced three times -- twice in the lobe and once just below the cartilage that she got (erm, read: "will get") on a date with her significant other so they could always wear a matching earring. she hasa tendency of dying her hair and has had every color of the rainbow at least once. 
 

 

Personality traits.  

 

ISFP-T | monkey | pisces | peacemaker ( type 9 )

( + ) imaginative, empathetic, generous, amiable, easygoing, humble
( – ) scatterbrained, emotional, gullible, unrealistic, fearful


Personality. 

 

"walk humbly now" — by nature, mina is strongly easygoing, preferring to go with the flow rather than attempt to fight upstream. she knows her limits and plans accordingly. regarding her accomplishments, mina is proud of them but speaks of them humbly. she isn't sure if the fame she has received is well deserved or not but she likes to think that she worked hard to get where she is and is very proud that its something she has earned and not something given to her. at the same time, she likes to think that she's just a normal girl (which ends up coming to her as a shock when she tries to go out in public without a disguise and gets swarmed by fans).  

"do justly now" — whether or not her recognition is deserved or not, mina knows she wants to do what's in her power to give back -- and she has many ideas: she could open a school, start a foundation for impoverished girls, maybe get a degree and talk about her experiences with eating disorders. she may have started with more than most, but is empathetic to the struggles she sees in the world and knows she can do something about it. she has a great imagination, which sometimes comes as a detriment; it gives her plenty of creativity to work with but also can make it difficult to reign her ideas in, making a mess of the resulting project. at times, mina can be very unrealistic, making others working with her feeling a little annoyed, but she doesn't see this aspect of herself as a negative: to her, it means that she pushes the limits as far as she can. however, it does take a lot of editing to widdle her projects down to something feasible and a lot ends up on the cutting room floor. 

"love mercy now" — mina is quite a romantic. she loves the concept of love and is giddy in her own romances. but she can be more than a little emotional, often times jumping to extreme conclusions without having all of the facts. because of this, she can be quite gullible and is prone to believe just about anything anyone tells her. 

 

 

 

 

Background.

 

mina was born and raised in luoyang by a korean businessman father and a stay-at-home korean mother. she was brought up at home speaking korean but attended a chinese preschool and had a chinese education until she relocated to korea. as she grew older, mina struggled with her identity and sense of self. she was proud of being korean but felt like an outsider in china despite having lived there her whole life. she disliked speaking korean outside of her home and demanded her parents speak to her only in chinese when they were in public. 

 

on top of her academic and supplemental studies, mina convinced her parents to let her attend singing classes. this became the inspiration to put together a band made up of her other girlfriends that they called smile. together, the girls learned choreography and music from established groups and performed them for change in parks before they began getting booked for local gigs at malls and the like. some of the videos have survived on the internet to this day, including their performance of ses's im your girl, finkl's to my boyfriend, and 4 in love's fall in love

 

in 2004 during a visit to korea for a cousin's wedding, mina was spotted by a talent scout and  they encouraged her to audition formally for yi entertainment. she auditioned for the sake of auditioning, not believing that she would make it. it was just something fun to do that would make a funny story for her friends when she went home. however, the judges didn't find her performance humorous and went on to offer her a contract with the company a week after she returned to china. she was torn. of course singing and dancing was everything she loved to do, but taking the offer would mean that she would have to leave her entire life behind in china with little chance to return. she seriously considered declining the offer to stay with her friends and try to make it with smile but decided to accept after the wild encouragement from her friends.

 

Trivia.

→likes
 

matcha — one of her favorite drinks, although she doesn't know how to make it herself. she likes it best sweetened a little, otherwise its too bitter for her to handle

 

marvel movies — her favorite is captain america: winter soldier and black panther

 

rock music — grew up listening to bon jovi, but grew into chinese and korean rock bands but her favorites are still bon jovi and queen

 

scented lotions — her weakness. she has a small collection of lotions in her room, scents ranging from floral to musky to anything else you can think of. she always carries at least one in her purse/bag, so all the girls know who to go to if they feel their skin is a little too dry!

 

animals — she always says that she would be working at the austrailia zoo if she hadn't become a performer

 

animal crossing — she loves the easygoing nature of the game and can get lost in the little challenges, spending hours in the game if she's not careful

 

tangerines — they're like candy to her. she loves peeling them the most, as odd as that sounds. she enjoys sitting with a little bowl of tangerines, peeling and snacking on them as she catches up on her favorite tv shows

 

pumpkin spice lattes — they're her favorite! whenever its in season, she almost always seems to have a starbucks cup in her hand

 

 spicy food — the spicier the better

 


→dislikes

 

sweet foods — not entirely her favorite thing. she likes a piece of candy from time to time and adores fruit, but she won't go too far out of her way for something sweet. especially if its a meat or vegetable dish, those are definitely a no-go for mina

 

horror movies — she'll have nightmares for weeks! she'll put up with it if she has too, if the other girls want to watch something spooky, but she'll be hiding behind her hands the whole time, squeaking every time a ghoul jumps out! 

 

insects — who really likes bugs though?

 

denim — hates the feeling! everyone tells her it keeps you warm in the winter, just she has yet to find proof of that. she prefers softer materials

 

flipflops — they're uncomfortable and make an awful noise when you walk! why would anyone choose this style shoe if there was any other option?

 

in-ear earphones — they hurt her ears and is physically unable to use them without pain
 

clutter — its not that she prefers minimalist style, but when there's too much stuff in a home, the place can get very dirty very fast and with their schedules as they are, there really isn't enough time to constantly clean! the less, the better in her opinion

 

driving — hates it to no end. because of this, she is often spotted using public transportation. if there's no other option, she does have the ability to drive but she prefers not to. it gives her too much anxiety

 

 

→habits

 

cracking her joints  — after years of endless activity and her increasing age, mina's joints just aren't as limber as they used to be. to relieve some of the tension that gathers there, she cracks her knuckles - mostly her fingers, but sometimes her neck, shoulders, hips, ankles and toes. she's aware its not the best habit, but she can't not do it.
 

playing with her hair  — especially when she's deep in thought, mina can be caught fiddling with her hair, dragging it between her fingers, and sometimes even biting it. she knows it gross and most of the time she catches herself before she does it and finds something else to do, but not all the time. there are a bunch of interviews online where she can be spotted with a strand of hair between her fingers or in .
 

fiddling with her hands — usually a sign of stress. if she's not sure how to handle or deal with something, she picks at her fingers, rubs the back of her hand, or massages her palm. this isn't something that had been seen often (seen mostly during yujin's scandal and yuri's breach of contract), but is growing more and more frequent, as their tenth anniversary creeps up on them.
 

wrinkling her nose — a sign she's deep in thought. she doesn't always think through things, but when she is, you can see it on her face. her expression is often compared to that of a rabbit's when she does this, with a lot of fans editing bunny ears on their fansigns for her.
 

never combing her hair — she hates combing her hair. hates it. very much. the only way it gets done is if one of the other girls takes pity on her or their stylist does it. and even then, she grimaces the entire time. she doesn't know why she hates it so much, if its the feeling of the comb on her scalp or the teeth of the brush yanking at the strands of her hair. she even prefers to run her fingers through it over brushing it. she says, with all the dancing they do, its just going to get messed up anyway (while her bandmates remind her that's all the more reason to comb it).
 

talking loudly — she just doesn't always know the volume of her own voice. she blames it on the years of vocal training teaching her to project her voice. it usually happens when she gets excited and can't wait to share whatever she's thinking or whatever it is that made her so happy. this is the thing she apologizes the most for.

 

 

→hobbies

 

taking photos for instagram — the memory on her phone is mostly taken up by photos ready for social media. anywhere she goes, she likes looking for a good shot of scenery, a good angle of her girlfriends, anything she could post online to share with her fans.

 

playing video games — mostly just animal crossing and other games that are easygoing in nature. she figures she already has too much going on in her life to get competitive or stressed over a game.

 

yoga — it helps keep her centered and calm, not to mention keeps her body loose so she doesn't end up hurting herself during practice -- or at least, minimizes the chances of it. she prefers to find yoga clips on youtube and copy those versus going to a gym. she doesn't want people watching her or filming her while she's trying to wind down at the end of a long (and most likely stressful) day.

 

webchating with her friends/family in china — truth be told, even after all the time that had passed, mina deeply misses china. when she lived in china, everything was so much easier and far less complicated. of course, she doesn't have a time machine, but she does calm her nerves and quench her nostalgia by videochatting her girlfriends and her parents -- and her significant other. seeing their smiling faces on the computer screen, while not enough, does put her at ease.

 

 

→trivia

 

active on social media — @jadelulu_sowon. she loves interacting with her friends and promoting their fanworks. she even has a private account (@cljm9209).
 

★ enjoys pastel colors — she loves all things pastel. almost everything she buys is in a pastel tone: her purse, her wallet, her clothes, her accessories. .

 

★ no sense of fashion — if it wasn't for the other girls or their management, mina wears the same basic things over and over. the only time she shows any sense of fashion is when someone else dresses her or she buys the exact outfit the mannequin was wearing at the mall. 

★ designated mom friend — she's not sure how it happened, but this quickly became her role in sowon. because of her mostly black-and-white viewpoints and her pretty good reasoning skills, she tends to be the one her friends go to for advice and counsel 

 

★ owns a library of books — although these days, she tries to buy the PDF/mobile versions of books, she still owns a large collection of physical books as well. topics range from world history to culture, from fiction to nonfiction. her favorite title is les miserables. half of her collection is in chinese.

 

sparkly things — mina loves just about anything that glitters. her favorite make-up pallettes are the ones that contain some amount of glitter. 

 

was a founding member of locally-famous chinese girlgroup smile — although smile never got their feet off the ground, they became known locally, having performed in malls, parks, and any venue that would take them. a few of their performances - all covers - can still be found on youku and weibo. 

 

activist — mina speaks out on women's issues, eating disorders, mental health, and lgbt rights. in the future, she wants to create her own foundation to help get resources to people who need them most, like women in poverty and/or in remote locations

 

regarding her love life — although mina would prefer to keep her private life private, she does understand that its just the way of the world to be asked about such things as a celebrity. so while she does try to keep her answers succinct, she also makes a point to use gender-neutral language - not only because she is biual herself, but because she finds it more respectful to her lgbt fans.

 

fanclub — "deers" become the new name of her chinese fanbase, after the nickname that xiao zhan calls her. the more that he used it publicly, the more it began to stick. dedicated fans of mina's like to have a deer emoji on their weibo bios. before "deers" stuck, her fans called themselves "jades", after the meaning of her chinese name, lu. in korea, the name hasn't stuck yet but its beginning to pop up more and more with western sowon fans too. 

her most played songs 

 

lipstick runaway june / somebody to love queen / its my life bon jovi / blah blah next / hey look ma, i made it panic! at the disco / one more time super junior / you broke up with me walker hayes /   every little thing carly pearce /  bohemian rhapsody queen / one vava / black white z.tao / 帅到分手 handsome until we broke up nickthereal 

 

 

Relationships. 



→ex-leader/ex-bandmate | park yujin U.JIN | 29 | idol |


as two of the older members, yujin and mina got along pretty well so when it was announced that she purposefully breached her contract without warning and was to be removed from the group, mina was heartbroken. it damaged their friendship irreparably and are no longer as close, as mina feels betrayed by her friend, but they still talk from time to time. 



→ ex-bandmate | lee yuri | 25 | idol | 

 

right before yuri left sowon, a huge rift was broken between her and mina that culminated in a public argument outside company headquarters. currently, their relationship is strained but they are on talking terms. 


bandmate, best friend, ex-girlfriend | go iseul | 28 | main vocalist, rapper, dancer / sociable, creative, spontaneous, excitable, practical, adventurous, accepting, attention-loving, talkative, sensitive, warm

 

iseul and mina share a very close bond. being around the same age and being two of the oldest in the group, they shouldered a lot of the 'parental' weight, especially after yujin left. for about two years, iseul and mina dated. it just felt like a natural progression in their relationship and if it bothered their bandmates, they didn't let on and were quite supportive of the pair -- however it wasn't meant to last and they decided they were better off as friends after two years. they still maintain that close bond that sometimes blurs the lines between just friends and something more. among fans, miseul is still the number one sowon ship. 

 


bandmate | park hana | 25 | lead vocalist, lead dancer / loyal, sensitive, manipulative, intelligent, calculated, creative 

 

hana and mina needed time to warm up to each other, both claiming that the other's personality clashed just a little too much with their own but when they did finally start getting along, they became great friends. they sometimes still don't see eye to eye on things and sometimes need time apart, mina wouldn't want any other member than hana in sowon.  

 

bandmates | sowon | various | idols 

 

mina and the girls of sowon have a close bond of friendship, at least in mina's perspective. although she seems to have been proved wrong in the past by previous members, mina is postive now that these members of sowon will stay together until the very end! she feels the members are akin to members of her own family and would do anything for them, go to the ends of the earth for them if they asked. 

 

best friend | cho kyuhyun | 32 | super junior | intelligent, confident, relaxed, secretive, negative, strong-willed

 

kyuhyun and mina were introduced through their mutual friend victoria and became friends through her. now pretty inseparable, mina can't imagine not having kyuhyun for a friend. he downloaded animal crossing just to join her (its not really "his style of game", in his words) in her village and sometimes leaves jokes and pranks on her in the game. kyuhyun is a fan of sowon and always promotes them when he can along with mina's solo work. they often appear in the comment sections of each other's social media accounts, leaving silly comments on pictures or videos. 

 

friend | song qian victoria | 33 | ex-f(x), singer, actress | sweet, thoughtful, funloving, outgoing, restless, subborn

 

having bonded over growing up in china and having similar experiences, their friendship was natural. now that victoria is mostly only active in china, they don't have opportunities to hang out in person as much as they used to when they were both promoting in korea, they still chat online often, sending each other gifs and pictures to keep up to date with each other. victoria was one of the first people that mina confessed her feelings for iseul to, and victoria was supportive of her friend. mina considers victoria a very special friend and wouldn't trade their relationship for anything

 

→friends | smile | various | various 

 

mina still keeps in touch with the friends she formed smile with. although they have all gone their own ways, they are still good friends and meet up in online group videochats often. the members were: li qian (28 | nurse | rightous, intelligent, workaholic, ambitious | her best friend in the group), sima fei (27 | singer in chinese girlgroup charm | outgoing, cheerful, nosy, impatient | soul sister, they chat a lot to vent about their careers and trade coping methods), jiang nana (27 | law student | idealistic, sweet, inflexible, fussy | she was the band-mom/mom friend and continues to look out for her smile friends), wang qing (26 | elementary teacher & author | realistic, energetic, childish, worrywart | checks in with mina often, a member of her fanclub and fei's fanclub), guo fei'er (26 | model | reliable, dignified, insecure, reckless | the ride-or-die friend, she always has mina's back and supports her in every choice she makes. likewise, mina supports her in her endevors), and bai ruoxuan (26 | demo singer/songwriter | faithful, romantic, hedonistic, passive | casual friends, they get on well but aren't remarkably close. she wrote mina's ost single.).

 

 

 

Stage Name. lulu
Member Colour.

 

     #d77fa1  | dusty rose              #d6e5fa | pale blue                 #4b8e8d | teal green      

 

Plotline. the actress ( lead dancer, vocalist ) 

 

Vocal Twin. sooyoung ( yujin )

Rap Twin. .

Dance Twin. hyolin ( luna )

 

 

 

Trainee and Idol Life.
 

2005-2009 

 

in 2005, with the encouragement of her friends and the blessing of her parents, mina relocated to yi entertainment trainee dorms to begin her rigorous training. on top of singing, dancing, public speaking, acting, and everything else idols are trained for, the company decided it would be wise for her to take korean language and culture classes on top of it, finding her accent too thick, her language use too odd, and her behavior too foreign. for the first time, mina began to doubt the image she had of herself -- in china, she thought she was too korean, but now? she's not korean enough. nevertheless, she powered through and completed her classes enough to begin academic studies. she didn't graduate high school before she debuted with sowon. 

 

as a trainee, mina found work tutoring chinese language students in the city. for the company, she started modeling and appeared in her first commercial in 2007. she was also featured in a few music videos and a couple live stages as a backup dancer. she was eventually placed in the lineup of yi entertainment's girlgroup and, in 2009, at 17 years old, mina debuted as lulu in yi entertainment's girlgroup sowon.

 

2010-2019 —

 

after only a year in sowon and feeling like they were just about to have the whole world in the palms of their hands, a scandal broke and left the girls down a member and without a leader. at first, mina wasn't sure if sowon was going to make it through, as the only thing people talked about them (if they talked about them at all) was about yujin and what she must've done. 

 

when the dust settled and things began to look up again, especially after the success of OH!made sowon a household name, scandal wasn't far behind. still sore from yujin's departure and feeling the distance between yuri and the rest of them grow larger and larger, the tensions all culminated in a very public fight outside the company headquarters. what sparked the argument, mina doesn't even remember, she only recalls spending the night crying in iseul's arms. not long after, mina was cast in her first acting role -- as a side character in THE MOON EMBRACING THE SUN》, a project that kept her so busy that she couldn't focus on anything other than her lines and sowon's stage performances. 

 

and then, in 2015, sowon did what they thought was impossible and started up their own agency and it felt like, all at once, mina could breathe. everything felt lighter and things were beginning to look up, for real this time. soon after establishing their company, mina penned and recorded her first single, released online only, called是我不夠好NOT GOOD ENOUGH》. in this time, she was able to sit and write more, expressing her feelings that she's kept inside for so long on paper. there was, of course, internet speculation as to who mina was talking about in her song (was it yujin, yuri, yi entertainment, or an old boyfriend?) but she has never explained and swears she will never explain them, saying that she would rather fans make it meaningful on their own. 

 

again, alongside sowon's recording schedule, mina was cast in another drama 《THE KING IN LOVE》. a side character once again, she did her best to juggle her obligations to sowon and to the drama crew. despite all the craziness going on in her life, mina was happy that it was all positive -- she got to create, give something back to the fans that believed in her and in her friends. in the chaos, however, mina developed an eating disorder and rapidly lost a lot of weight, something that was praised by media and journalists. it was only when she collapsed on stage was she admitted to the hospital and given treatment. 

 

in the spring of 2018, mina was cast as the main character in a new chinese drama, 《哦!我的皇帝陛下OH!MY EMPEROR》, and in the summer, she was filming on location. this marked the first time she had returned to china since she left in 2005 and was met at the airport by a mass of fans to greet her. she was given a script and whisked off to costuming. in the flurry of it all, her costar, a young man named xiao zhan, approached her with a chocolate bar, telling her she looked like a frightened deer. by november of that year, filming was wrapped up and mina was on the first flight back to korea to record sowon's next single.

 

in 2019, mina was once again cast to act alongside her now-s.o. xiao zhan in a new modern medical drama. she accepted the roll and was prepared to fly out to begin rehearsals and subsequent filming when she was forced to choose: the drama or sowon's next single. mina didn't need much time to think it over before she decided; she just had to call up xiao zhan to let him know before she turned down the role. of course, xiao zhan being supportive (and a fan of sowon) he wasn't upset but mourned the loss of being able to see mina every day for a while. 

 

Pre-debut.

 

2007 | model for nike shoes
2007 | model for etude house makeup 
2008 | model for 7/11 convenience store

2008 | mv backup dancer
2008 | live stage backup dancer

 

Post-debut.


2012 | ACTING DEBUT 《THE MOON EMBRACING THE SUN》[actress: han gain]

2016 | 1ST CHINESE SINGLE《是我不夠好NOT GOOD ENOUGH

2017 | DRAMA ROLE《THE KING IN LOVE》[actress: im yoona]

2018 | CHINESE DRAMA DEBUT《哦!我的皇帝陛下OH!MY EMPEROR》[actress: zhao lusi]

2018 | 2ND SINGLE/OST (for 哦!我的皇帝陛下OH!MY EMPEROR) 《许你GRANTING YOU
2019 | CHINESE DRAMA《余生,请多指教OATH OF LOVE》[actress: yang zi]

 

Scandals.


2010 | true/false | FRIENDSHIP GOALS: SOWON MEMBERS ISEUL AND LULU'S CLOSE RELATIONSHIP ARE #GOALS! although reported as a celebration of their friendship, iseul and lulu had dated for a period of time. fans spotted their skinship and close relationship that seemed to go beyond what they had with the other girls. despite never going public with their relationship and now actually being just friends, fans continue to ship them.

 

2012 | true/false | SOWON DISBANDING?: MEMBERS LULU AND YURI CAUGHT IN A HEATED ARGUEMENT AT THEIR AGENCY BUILDING. when the rifts began to really deepen between sowon members and yuri, it finally reached a boiling point for lulu and they fought just outside their agency building. the other girls pulled them apart before it got too physical, but not soon enough to keep from paparazzi snapping photos.

 

2014 | true/false | BREAKING: SUPER JUNIOR'S KYUHYUN IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOWON'S LULU? the rumor was the natural result of all the time they spent together and it was only a matter of time before it happened. of course, both agencies denied the rumors, but with all the photographic evidence of their friendship, it didn't take much to pursuade fans of their affections. 

 

2016 | true/false | A PEAK INSIDE SOWON'S LULU'S IMPRESSIVE WEIGHTLOSS! after years of watching her weight and being careful about what she eats at all times, mina developes an eating disorder. after collapsing on stage, she is admitted to a hospital. afterwards, she becomes an outspoken advocate of women's issues and eating disorders.  

 

2019 | true/false | SOWON MEMBER LULU'S SECRET ONLINE RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINESE BOYBAND XNINE'S XIAO ZHAN: REVEALED! sasaeng fans hacked lulu's cell phone, found her chatlog with xiao zhan and posted screenshots of their conversations online. afterward, eagle-eyed fans began noticing them wearing identical pieces of jewelry, the same sweatshirts, and - in one photo - pointed out mina's sweater looked too big for her and a little masculine. both agencies denied the rumors, but it hasn't stopped their more wild fans from starting a boycott against them and their projects.

 

2019 | true/false | XIAOZHAN USING HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SOWON'S LULU TO PROMOTE  HIS BOYBAND XNINE! soon after they began dating, xiao zhan visited mina in south korea. he posted a few general pictures and selcas to his weibo (and a few to instagram) and just a couple with/of mina. in one particular post, he thanked mina for showing him around the city and translating for him. at first sowon's fans were upset, critiquing him for suggesting their lulu was "some type of tourguide" but it quickly progressed to criticizing him for using his relationship with mina (and thus, sowon) to give his own group more attention. initially, they both decided to ignore it but eventually xiao zhan posted a clarification to his weibo.

 

2019 | true/false/complicated | PROBLEM IN PARADISE?: SOWON'S LULU SUDDENLY DROPS OUT OF BOYFRIEND'S DRAMA 余生,请多指教OATH OF LOVE! both true and false: its true that mina had to drop out of her role as leading lady in the drama where she was supposed to act opposite xiao zhan but false that it was because of their relationship. in fact, deciding to leave the cast was one of the hardest things mina had to do to date and it was due to scheduling conflicts. now, as the role has been recast, not only can she no longer back out and claim the role again, but now she has to watch xiao zhan fall in love with another girl on screen. sure, its all fake. she knows that, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch.

2019 | true/false | SOWON MEMBER LULU ENGAGED? DID BOYFRIEND XNINE'S XIAOZHAN PROPOSE AND WILL THIS OFFICIALLY REMOVE LULU FROM SOWON?: INSIDE SCOOP! after spotting a delicate silver ring on mina's left hand, rumors began to fly about the status of her relationship with xiao zhan. fans were split in their reactions, with some wishing her the best in her romatic endevors while others condemned her for how quickly it's progressed. while most of the critique came her way from xiao zhan's fans, it caused a flood of negative comments on her social media pages, making her turn off comments for a while and disengage with the internet. in response to a large group of xiao zhan's fans attacking mina, sowon's fans began to return the favor and demanded an apology from xiao zhan. in a press conference, mina admitted her engagement to xiao zhan, asked for fans' blessings, and assured them that this wouldn't remove her from sowon. 

 

2020 | true/false | SOWON'S LULU: PREGNANT? fans began to suspect something was up with mina when she began to reduce the amount of outside projects she participated in. they wondered aloud on social media if she was ill or if she really was being removed/leaving sowon because of her engagement. when no answers were given right away, fans' imaginations began to run wild. above all of the ideas they had, a secret pregnancy seemed to be the fan-favorite theory, especially after she began being spotted wearing baggier clothing and taking it a little easy on stage. 

 

Love Interest

 

肖战


今晚23:47
 

「要是你有机会去任何地方玩,全世界都可以,你会选择哪里?
if you could go visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?

✓看23:49


你在哪呢?

mm

where are you?
 

 

Name. xiao zhan

Backup. zhou mi

 

Personality. 

 

| goat | libra | infj |

 

( + ) passionate, playful, open-minded, independent, kindgenerous

( - ) workaholic, cautious, private, analytical, clueless

 

xiao zhan seems to be the perfect embodiment of a gentleman: he's kind, thoughtful, and generous. he's been spotted holding his assistant's umbrella for her and is always gracious and polite with his coworkers. he's secretly donated medical supplies to hospitals when they needed them. he tries to put others before himself and considers their feelings before speaking. 

 

regarding his work, he's nothing if not passionate and dedicated to his craft, working long hours to make sure the resulting product is the best it can be. he struggles with accepting a finished product if it's not what he envisioned it to be and would rather scrap it and start all over if he was allowed. he's careful about the projects he takes on and is quite analytical of scripts sent to him. his analytical personality makes him the one his friends tend to go to for advice but it also sometimes makes him finicky and fastidious.

 

he perseveres through long hours and even multiple projects at a time, oftentimes running on fumes and caffeine. however, he can be a bit of a reckless workaholic, especially when he's feeling particularly homesick or when he's missing someone. he throws himself in his work so he can try to forget about it for even a little while.

 

although he is a workaholic, he is playful workaholic; he enjoys what he does and has the time of his life doing it. he is a good friend and always makes time for others. he's lighthearted and likes having a good time (who doesn't?).

 

xiao zhan likes to keep his private life private. its not that he's secretive, but he doesn't think its particularly interesting (or anyone's business but his). especially regarding his relationships, he wants to keep that to himself. he is cautious with what he shares publicly, tending to over-think situations when he doesn't really need to. but even in his romantic relationships, he likes to retain some sense of independence. he doesn't want to feel like he has to be in complete contact with the other person 100% of the time. he doesn't want to have to rely on anyone or have anyone rely completely on him either. his passionate personality still shows up in his romantic life, however. when in a relationship, he loves with all his heart and would do anything for them.

 

xiao zhan is a modern young man and is open-minded about things, whether he understands it or not. because he puts the happiness of others above everything else, he dares not question things if it makes his friends or fans happy. but he also tends to be quite clueless, sometimes not understanding jokes until a beat or two later or saying things that may have a funny second meaning. 

 

Love Story.

 

xiao zhan and mina were first introduced on the set of OH! MY EMPEROR late in 2017, when they were both cast in leading roles. during the rapid-fire filming, their friendship was nearly instantaneous, as if they had been friends forever. there are endless behind-the-scenes videos of them playing around between filming, some of which was even posted online by mina herself. after filming, they appeared together on a few reality tv programs in china to promote the series, further solidifying their relationship before mina returned to korea to promote with sowon. their close friendship was on full display on the programs, seen in the way xiao zhan all but hovered, how they helped each other in the challenges, and how they joked together. 

 

despite the distance between them, mina and xiao zhan kept in contact, talking nearly every day when they could. after a year, xiao zhan sent a colorful bouquet of flowers and a stuffed bear to mina with a letter confessing his feelings for her. in return, mina sent him a custom teddy bear that, when hugged, said in her voice "i like you, gege". after he received it (and promptly posting a photo with the bear on his weibo), they met in a videochat to talk about their relationship going forward and decided they wanted to be exclusive and attempt to have a normal relationship online until they can find each other in the same place again. 

 

they mostly chat online and stalk each other's social media. they can even be seen ghost mentioning each other between various sites if not outright @ing each other.

 

xiao zhan visits mina is korea whenever he gets the chance between projects. likewise, mina tries her best to visit him in china. on her last visit, xiao zhan took her to meet his parents and see his hometown. on his, she took him to all her favorite places, where she used to hang out as a kid, and introduced him to her family as well. 

 

although they were only together for about two years, xiao zhan  orchestrates a proposal to mina on his last visit to seoul and she agrees. they immediately began working out the logistics as neither of them wanted to give up their careers and sowon was too important to mina. they decided that, since the long-distance dating thing worked pretty well for them that there should be no issues continuing that for a while longer, but just as husband and wife instead. they could get their own places so that things felt more normal when they visited each other and they could be more public with their relationship. however, things began to get more complicated when mina discovers she is pregnant. she doesn't even have the chance to tell xiao zhan herself before the news somehow leaks online.  

 

Status. dating.

Ending status. expecting and engaged. or married with a kid?

 

mina doesn't want to leave sowon, even after she's married. she jokes that, in order for her to leave the group, she has to be dragged, kicking and screaming. 

 

that said, she also doesn't want to be far away from her husband all the time either. so she wants to devise a plan of sorts where she can keep both, her place in the group and keep her husband (who's equally dedicated to his career) close. but mina was never accused of being devious and all she could do was come up with one plan: work on her chinese career (maybe with other chinese speaking members?) and promote in china while sowon is on a break. 

 

likewise, xiao zhan agrees to take a few months between projects (when possible) where he can visit mina in korea and live with her there for a while. before returning to work. 

 

she is pretty confident in their ability as a couple to pull off the long-distance thing until they find themselves in the same place.

 

 

Trivia. 

Relationship trivia

 

★ the language of love → because they both keep very busy schedules, there isn't a lot of time left at the end of the day to talk. at first, it was a problem and was a cause of a few arguments untile they decided to put aside a few hours every week to videochat and catch up. in the meantime, they send each other selcas, gifs, and emojis to just let the other know they're thinking about them. sometimes they spam each other with little declarations of love, earning collective groans from their friends (most of whom think they're too sickingly cute and in love for their own good). 

 

i'm your biggest fan → they are mutual fans of each other. mina has seen just about everything zhan had acted in and is a fan of xnine, and likewise, zhan admires mina's dancing and likes sowon's music, as well as her solo works.

 

taste of home → xiao zhan likes to cook for mina and, after mina let it slip that she missed her family and missed eating authentic food from her hometown on the set of Oh! My Emperor, xiao zhan went home, discovered her hometown on sowon's fan forums, and researched recipes. when he got a glowingly positive reaction, he tried to bring her food every day if he was able. when they're apart, he says he misses cooking for her the most (aside from her company). 

 

couple items→ while on a trip to korea to visit mina, they got a singular piercing on their left ears so they could wear matching earrings. they also have matching sweatshirts and a matching panda necklace. when he left to go home, xiao zhan "accidently" left a sweater of his at mina's. 

 

the wine not the label→ when mina introduced iseul, she introduced her as her bandmate and her exgirlfriend. xiao zhan greeted her unflinchingly and later told mina he was so happy that she felt comfortable enough to be so nonchalant with him about such things that are otherwise still seen as taboo. mina tells him that she likes girls too but that she likes xiao zhan the most. 

 

just couple things→ xiao zhan always liked using cutesy nicknames in relationships and its no different when he began dating mina. the first nickname he called her was "deer", because he says she came onto the Oh! My Emperor set with eyes as wide as a deer's. they also use the classic chinese "laogong" and "laopo" names for each other once they began dating officially. mina calls him "bunny", referring to how his front two teeth extend a little further than the rest like a bunny's, and, more simply, "zhanzhan". they also have matching sweatshirts, a matching panda necklace, and got identical piercings on his trip to visit her in seoul.

 

their mixtape 

 

满足 satisfied xiao zhan / are you gonna kiss me or not thompson square /老公 hubby jolin tsai / yours russell dickerson / 머리부터 발끝까지 'bout you super junior d&e /我无法不爱你 i can't help loving you xiao bingchih / 非你莫属 it has to be you tank / break on me keith urban

 

 

xiao zhan trivia

 

artistic → can play the piano and violin, enjoys sketching pictures and previously worked as a graphic designer, likes to knit, and loves photography.

before idol life → graduated with a degree from and worked as a graphic designer.

 

the artist → he debuted as an actor and as the main vocal of xnine in 2016. released his first solo song in 2018, for a drama he worked on (Oh! My Emperor). he enjoys watching and acting in costume dramas. in 2019, he established his own studio, xz studio.

a romantic at heart when he misses someone he keeps himself busy and becomes a workaholic. he likes having cute nicknames for his girlfriend. he describes his ideal girl as: "it's still someone who is gentle, a homebody, but not too submissive or arrogant either."
 

the man → his english name is seanhe describes himself as a homebody and has a low alcohol tolerance. he is a good cook and enjoys cooking for his friends. he likes eating snacks. he has a pet cat named nut (who his parents watch over when he's working) and wants to adopt a dog in the future.

replace with fc. 134x200
 

lotte


Comments/questions. 

thanks for waiting for her! sorry she's a little boring lmao 

also, the pregnancy arc can be ignored tbqh if you don't wanna write about that. i was just trying to come up with something a little different? idk if its really different but....yeah, feel free not to do that if you dont want

sorry, i also got creative with the band's history lol hope thats okay

oh, im also not very good at coming up with good talent twins. if they're not right for her, i'll try again!

 

 

 

edits are all in this color :) 

 

tbqh i wasn't sure where to put the part about what mina would do after she's married so i put it in the relationship section under "ending status". i put something there, but honestly speaking, i don't think she would want to give up sowon. so this can be used for drama between them if you want! though i do prefer they ultimately end together ( ̄▽ ̄*)ゞ maybe xiao zhan could start appearing in korean programing? like an abnormal summit like thing?

but yeah, feel free to push the pregancy thing back or remove it altogether if you want! i just kinda thought itd be a thing they might deal with and didnt want to shy away from it lol 

 

lmao i knew her talent twins would get me! i decided to put her backups as her mains while i fix the other app and search for better twins to put as backups 

 

 

Suggestions. ...none i can think of 

Password. genie

 

Comments

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cruisr
#1
Hey there Lotte! Thank you for submitting such a wonderful character for Sowon! There are just a couple of things that need to be changed/added before we can accept Mina so let's get into it!

First off could you please specify if she is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese or moth? Next is her talent twins. Sojung and Hyoseong are just too strong to be used for Mina's plotline, so please change them to people that are slightly weaker. That being said her backup twins are good and work well! The only other thing I would like you to add is if Mina would leave Sowon after getting married? I honestly think it would be cool to have a married idol in a group but it's up to you! Also just a heads up that Mina is chosen and if need be for the story we may nudge back her pregnancy, but her engagement and possible marriage should be fine.

Thank you once again for submitting a wonderful character, I really enjoyed Mina! If you fix what is mentioned we would be happy to accept her!