➳ Dylan- his English name. Since not many people in the UK can pronounce his given name, to make things easier for others, he decided to give himself an English name as an alternative. This is virtually his go-to name in Great Britain, although he prefers people who are able to speak Chinese to call him by his given name, Zhao Yun.
➳ Jo Yoon 조윤- his name translated in Korean. Most people Koreans call him by this name. The Daegu squad refers to him as Jo Yoon-ah (조윤아), and Jo Yoon-ah is how Tae saves Zhao Yun in his contacts.
➳ @earlgrey_zy- his Instagram handle. His name originates from his former pen name, earlgreytea. He doesn’t have a set theme to his posts, which mostly consists of candid shots of him, some photos taken together with his best friend, Dexter, photos of objects such as food, and even some short writings to share with his followers every now and then. He doesn’t make use of Instagram stories that often, only using it to allow his followers to ask him burning questions they have and he answers them. He currently has 273k followers on his account.

➳ Chinese- 100% fluent. His native language
➳ English- 90% fluent. He wasn’t exposed to this language from a young age, thus when he first learned English as his foreign language in high school, he was very lost, and by the time he graduated, he is not well versed in the language yet. However, once he moved to London to attend university, he met his current friend and roommate, Dexter, who helped him to practise speaking and writing in English. He initially spoke with a heavy Chinese accent, but after much intensive studying, he attained proficiency in the language, and his accent is largely gone, even picking up a British accent in the process. It is his go-to language now that he is living in the UK.
➳ Korean- 60% fluent. Having lived in Daegu, South Korea for six years, he is able to pick up the language and become proficient at it, albeit never reaching complete fluency. Although he doesn’t speak this language as often as before, he still uses this language to communicate with the Daegu squad members he still keeps in contact with.

He likes sticking to wardrobe essentials, such as T-shirts and jeans, as well as wearing neutral colours, such as white, black and navy, although he does wear a little pop of colour at times to break up the neutral hues that predominate his fashion style. He likes to stick to casual to smart casual clothing, and rarely goes out wearing tuxedos and the like.

xx xx xx xx xx xx xx

ENFP (Campaigner), Phlegmatic, Hufflepuff
+ve- Charismatic, creative, warm, empathetic
-ve- Overthinker, emotional, unfocused, reserved

Whenever people see Zhao Yun, the first thing that they will have to say about him is how he presents himself. He stands tall with his head held high, and always has this air of confidence around him whenever he goes. It’s not too difficult to recognise him in a crowd, not just because he’s tall, but because of the charming smile that he has. He has this ability of being able to attract people towards him, not only through his words that he says which leaves people inspired, but also through his body language, which always make people feel welcome whenever they are around him.

According to Zhao Yun, his best trait is his creativity, which is apparent in his current profession. He has a wild imagination, being able to come up with ideas on the spot. This, in turn, translates into his words, be it through verbal or written means. His ability to weave words into stories is one of the things that people most enjoy about him, for through his words, he paints vivid images that not only leaves his readers hugely impressed, they also want to hear more of the stories that he writes or tells. In fact, he might just happen to be the one to come up with unorthodox ideas, which can puzzle people at first, but more often than not, his ideas turn out to be not so bad after all.

People often enjoy his company, because he has the ability to make people feel welcome. Since he has a friendly demeanour, and doesn’t come off overbearing, this makes people able to relax around him. Furthermore, he has great interpersonal skills, and is equally able to engage in small talk or deep meaningful conversations; his storytelling ability is the icing on the cake. Whenever he sees someone in need of help, he will try his best to help the other person to the best of his ability, unless he has correctly discerned that the person might be taking advantage of his kindness. As such, many have said that he is a great person to be around.

He is one to feel things deeply, thanks to the fact that he is very in tune with his emotions. Because of this, he is able to put himself in another person’s shoes and feel what they might be feeling at that particular moment. This translates to his deep understanding of another person’s perspective, and his ability to exercise tact whenever necessary. This quality of his also plays an important role in what he writes, as this allows him to fully capture and express the emotions of the characters in his story, which is one aspect of his work that people like. Not only that, he is able to use his empathy in being a mediator, where he helps other people to find a common ground and de-escalate conflicts.

Zhao Yun is not one to always take things at face value, and can be prone to looking for hidden meanings or motives even in the simplest of things or when there isn’t any to begin with. This trait of his can be attributed to his childhood, where people often threw insults or backhanded compliments at him, which resulted in him trying to look beneath the surface of people’s words or actions. As a result, he might take up his time asking himself why someone did what they did, what it might mean, and what to do about it, and end up losing time to do other things that are more productive.

Although the richness of his emotions has proven to be useful, it can also be a weakness of his. There are times when he is trying to help others by understanding what they are going through, but if there are too many people around him who are down, it can result in him getting caught up in the emotions of others, which is an even bigger problem because of his ability to feel emotions very deeply. It may end up becoming counterproductive for him, as getting overwhelmed due to his emotions might cause him to not be in the right state of mind when doing other things, and even throwing a fit or two when this happens. Consequently, he will need to have a break to unwind himself before he can get back to whatever he is doing.

He has no problems focusing when it comes to things he is passionate about, but when it comes to things he has no interest in, such as mathematics or science, it proves a challenge for him to focus on studying the topic at hand. Try as he might, he can’t always successfully avoid doing things that don't spark joy. As such, he often has to find motivation to even get started on the task he doesn’t enjoy doing, and before long, he finds himself distracted by other things that he would rather do instead. This is why when it comes to doing tasks he doesn’t like, he can take a long time to complete it, as he constantly needs to remind himself to do it, even though he has no interest in doing so.

Although he is very friendly, and can easily hit it off with people, few are able to get to know him beyond the surface level. This is because he is not one to readily share information about himself, unless he feels that he is close enough to the other person, or when he is asked to do so. Even though he leans more towards extroversion, he is an introverted extrovert. Although he enjoys being around people, he needs to have some down time once in a while to recharge himself. Sometimes, he might even prefer to chill out in his home as opposed to socialising with people. Despite his need for some alone time, he still enjoys hanging out with other people, especially his close friends. In fact, around people he is comfortable with, he becomes very outspoken, sometimes to the point where he can talk other people’s ears off.

Wang Ruiqi (王瑞奇), also known as Ricky Wang, is one of the most famous and highest paid actors in China. In 1990, he married Xu Yingying (徐盈盈), an actress whom he has been dating for five years. In May 1994, his wife was announced to be pregnant with his first child. But little did anyone know, a fan of Ricky named Zhao Xintong had been dating him for the past two years.

In January 1995, a well-known paparazzi site published several photos of Ricky being spotted with another woman, and that was when all hell broke loose. His affair was widely publicised, forcing him to admit to the extramarital relationship and Xintong’s pregnancy, and has indicated in a press conference that he has owned up to his wife, and she had accepted his apology. As a result of this, Xintong was hounded day and night by reporters and fans of Ricky and Yingying. Having had enough of the harassment, she moved back to Shenzhen, her hometown. On 23 June, 1995, she gave birth to Zhao Yun.

Although news reports had died down, the affair continued to linger in the minds of many. It was common to see people whispering behind Xintong and Zhao Yun’s backs. In school, his teachers were pleasant to him, but their judging looks couldn’t slip by his eyes. His schoolmates were even less discreet in their contempt towards him, often discussing why they only see his mother around and not his father, until someone tells them that he is the illegitimate son of the actor Ricky Wang.

As a result of the gossip that seemed to surround him wherever he goes, Zhao Yun often kept to himself, afraid to approach others in case they had something to comment about regarding his parentage. He had no friends, and often spent his time alone, or with his mother. When Xintong noticed how deeply affected his son was, she decided to move with him to a nearby country that is South Korea where Ricky Wang is not well-known, after which she requested for a transfer to the South Korean branch of the company that she is currently working for. Once Zhao Yun had completed his primary school education, they both moved to Daegu, and he attended middle school there. While he felt more comfortable since no one is talking about his parentage, it wasn’t until he entered high school that he truly blossomed into the Zhao Yun he is today.

During the first day of high school, he met Kim Taehyung, who was his deskmate. Despite Zhao Yun being terribly shy at first, Taehyung’s genuine smile helped him to relax considerably, and the two eventually became great friends. Some time later, Taehyung introduced Zhao Yun to his other friends, who welcomed him with open arms. Thanks to this tight knit group of friends who would go on to call themselves the Daegu squad, for the first time, he felt like he truly belonged somewhere. As the days passed, he saw himself smiling more and talking more, but more importantly, the once reserved Zhao Yun started to become more and more confident about himself. In fact, it was also thanks to the Daegu squad that he found his talent- writing. He saw himself churning out essays and entering writing competitions, which caught the attention of his language teacher, who started to help him with his writing endeavours. “I believe that you will go far,” he said.

The year he turned 17 was the year he saw his life take an interesting turn. The Elite Model Look competition is a hot topic in South Korea. When the Daegu squad saw that they were looking for an aspiring model to compete in the Elite Model Look finals which would be held in Shanghai, everyone, especially Taehyung, were convinced that Zhao Yun, who was 1.8 metres then, should enter this competition. Although Zhao Yun didn’t feel that modelling was his calling, he decided to join the competition after much persuasion from his friends.

Never did he expect that he would progress so far in the competition, and even became one of the final eight to participate in the Elite Model Look South Korea competition, which would be held in Seoul. Due to his confident demeanor and charming smile, he became one of the most popular competitors, so popular such that netizens dug up his past about him being the illegitimate child of Ricky Wang, a Chinese celebrity, who is currently father to two legitimate children, Wang Yichen and Wang Xiaoqin (王晓琴). His past was then published in many news outlets across South Korea, attracting hate comments targeting both his mother and him.

When the news broke out, his Daegu squad friends were concerned about the negative attention he was getting. However, they didn’t have to worry about a single thing. When he attended an interview on the Elite Model Look finalists, his celebrity father was mentioned, to which he said, “Ricky Wang is a celebrity in China, but he played no part in my life. If it is anyone who shaped me to become who I am now, it’s my mother, who raised me single-handedly against all odds; my friends, who accepted and supported me; and, guess what, the haters, too. It angers me to see many hurtful comments circulating online, but guess what? It doesn’t say a single thing about me, it says a lot about the people who are leaving them.” Thanks to that interview, he gained the respect of many of his fans, and even new supporters during this period. He would later compete in the finals, and place third in the Elite Model Look South Korea competition.

After he graduated from high school, he applied to King’s College London, his dream university. He successfully secured a spot in the university’s liberal arts course, and not too long after, off he went to London to attend the course he was accepted in. Of course, he promised that he will keep in touch with the Daegu squad, which he did.

While studying, he took up a part time job as a model, something that he did well in. Besides appearing as a model for various fashion brands and magazines, he was even selected to model for London Fashion Week in 2016. After appearing as a runway model for the event, he decided to quit modelling two months later so that he can focus on his one true passion- writing.

Aside from modelling and studying, Zhao Yun is also active in writing. During his freshman year, he started his Wattpad account, and published a 10-chapter novel titled All Around You, which revolves around four people working for a PR company. It garnered quite some attention, attracting a sizable number of votes on the story. However, it was his second novel, Slow Dancing, which is about a girl who fell in love with a guy who taught her how to slow dance, that was an even greater success. The story amassed 10 million reads one year after he published it when he was a second year university student, allowing him to gain widespread popularity on the platform. In fact, the novel was so popular, he was approached by a television company in the UK who acquired rights to adapt the story into a drama series for a 6-figure sum. The television series, titled Slow Dancing: Love is Blind, was released in January 2017, which also became wildly popular among fans of the online novel and new audiences.

Half a year prior to graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts in 2017, due to the success of Slow Dancing and the television adaptation, he started to seriously consider writing as a career. The first book he released under the publisher HarperCollins in February 2018, The Teenage Textbook, focuses on a group of final year students in secondary school. It was made available in paperback and e-book formats. Thanks to his popularity on Wattpad, he was able to sell 20 thousand books during the first week of release. It would eventually top the book charts in the UK, US, Ireland and the Netherlands, selling 50 thousand books within two months.

His second book, A Lonely Fish, was released in May 2019. The story revolves around a lonely girl navigating life again after losing her legs to a car accident. This time round, the book attracted criticism due to the aforementioned car accident, but it ended up working in his favour. Thanks to the controversy, his book saw an increase in sales, even making it to the top spot on the New York Times Best Seller List and selling 70 thousand books within two months after its release.

Since then, he has been working on several short stories before planning and writing his third book. In July 2019, while retrieving letters from the mailbox, he saw a letter addressed to him, in a faintly familiar writing. Curious, he opened it up, to discover it is an invitation to a reunion.

Since he doesn’t hold a typical office job, he has more flexibility in his schedule. He currently wakes up at 7.30 a.m. every day to go for a one-hour jog around his neighbourhood, except for Tuesdays and Fridays, where he will hit the gym in the morning. After which, he returns back to his apartment and cooks breakfast for him and his roommate and best friend, Dexter, before his roommate heads off for work. Since Zhao Yun now has the entire house to himself, he will take this time to write his works, or meet with individuals aiding him in getting his book published. His daily schedule varies a lot, depending on which stage of writing and publication of his books he is at.

When he is working to write a new book for publication, he will start off by jotting down the ideas he has using a notepad and a pen, so that he has a rough idea on the plot and characters for his stories. Once he is done with the ideation process, he then starts to write out his manuscript, a process which can take him many weeks to complete. One he is done with his manuscript, he then sends it to his literary agent, who then goes through with his work with him before sending it off to HarperCollins, the publisher that has published his two books.

Next, he attends an acquisition meeting, where the possibility of acquiring his manuscript for publication is discussed. After it is complete, he receives feedback from the editor and makes any necessary amendments. Once that is complete, this is where his best friend, Dexter, comes into the picture, where he helps to design the book cover. When that is done and everything else finalised, his book is then printed and released to the public. This is the point where he takes part in activities such as book events and signings.

Of course, Zhao Yun isn’t working on his book all of the time. He also takes time to do other things, such as hanging out with his friends, video calling his mother, or spending quality time with himself. When he isn’t working towards publishing a new book, he might be working on short stories, travelling to other countries, and partaking in various activities, from wine tasting to rock climbing to even going shopping for new clothes and products.

Introduce yourself.
“Good day, my name is Zhao Yun, and I’m currently 24 years old. I’m originally from Shenzhen, China. I studied liberal arts at King’s College London for three years. I’m currently working as a writer, and have published two online novels on Wattpad and two novels under HarperCollins.”

Describe your current lifestyle. Are you satisfied with it?
“I’m currently taking a break from writing a third novel, since I’ve recently released my second novel, A Lonely Fish, back in May this year. Now, I’m mostly writing short stories and posting flash fiction on my Instagram account. Aside from writing, I also engage in many other activities too, be it on my own, or with my friends, especially Dexter. I also take some time to talk to my half-brother as well, who is currently residing in Beijing. I’m very much satisfied with my current lifestyle, for I am now living a life that I love. The fact that I’m surrounded by so many people who love me just adds on to the joy I have.”

How do you deal when life gets hard, if indeed you do?
He chuckles at this question. “There is a quote that goes like this, ‘When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.’ I try my hardest not to avoid these problems, but I won’t lie, it can be difficult sometimes. What I usually do is that I will take a break from whatever I am doing, and do something that will help me destress. Usually, I go out of my apartment for a breather, or make myself a cup of earl grey tea. Depending on the severity of the problem, I may make a call to my mother, half-brother or a friend and talk about it. Once I’ve calmed myself adequately, I’ll go back to whatever I’m doing, and try my best to overcome the obstacle.”

If you're comfortable, share a little about those hardships.
“I’m sure many people know about my parentage, so I shan’t go into details about it, so I think I’ll share something else.” He thinks for a bit. “Since I used to model, I do get recognised on the streets from time to time, but I won’t lie, it’s not fun receiving relentless love messages on Instagram. I remember this one incident that happened to me shortly after I quit modelling, where a stalker attempted to ask Dexter for my address. I didn’t have classes that day, so I only knew about it when he told me later on. Dexter successfully brushed her off, but that seriously scared me. Thankfully, that only happened once so far. But I still do receive unsavoury messages up till now, so I guess it’s something that I just have to deal with." He pauses for a while before continuing. Sometimes, I also wonder if I’ll develop a writer’s block, especially when I’m early into my writing career. Thankfully, I still do have a lot of ideas, so now I’m taking it easy and taking a break before I start writing a third novel some time later.”

What's one characteristic of yours that you wouldn't want your child to inherit?
“Although I’m past that stage now, I wouldn’t want my child to inherit my former self. Back then, I severely lacked confidence, and mostly kept to myself. Ever since I entered high school, thanks to those three years, it made me realise that there’s actually many things to stay positive about. I even found my passion, too, and since then, my life gradually changed, and I became who I am today. Having confidence is really important, because that’s when you know the strengths you possess, have a sense of self-worth, and push yourself to be even better.”

Do you miss high school? What's one of your favorite memories?
“Of course I do. How can I not forget the three years that were crucial in shaping me to become who I am? There were so many happy memories that we shared, but one that was unforgettable was the day I competed in the Elite Model Look South Korea finals held in Seoul. I wasn’t expecting my friends to attend the finals, since it would take time for them to travel from Daegu to Seoul, but never did I predict that they will book KTX tickets to come and watch me compete. That was when I realised that I meant so much to my friends, that they will be willing to travel the distance to support me. I achieved third place in the competition, and my friends deserve the award as much as I do. Without them, I wouldn’t even have competed, let alone come in third in the competition. This is something that I will forever be grateful for.” A bittersweet smile made its way onto his face, a telltale sign of how he values the memories he made while being part of the Daegu squad.

What's one thing you wish you knew back then?
“People can be huge s. The thing is, people like these exist everywhere, so the best thing to do is to just ignore them and hold your head up high, especially when one’s circumstance is out of his own control. It isn’t easy to filter them out, but eventually, you will be able to get to that stage where you don’t care enough to get affected by their remarks or their actions. Despite how cruel people can be, there will always be people who care about me and have my back.”

How do you feel about the reunion? What was your reaction to the letter? How are you handling logistics?
“Let’s be real, out of everyone in the Daegu squad, I think that Taehyung is the only one who will do something like this.” He breaks into a small chuckle. “I did promise that I’ll keep in touch with everyone even after I moved to study in London, and I do message them as much as I could, but I’m only still in contact with some of them. I can’t say that I didn’t expect this, though, because everyone has gone their separate ways and are doing their own things. That’s why I think that this reunion is a great opportunity for us to meet again, and fill in on what happened after we graduated. I still hope everyone is doing ok, even though it’s been a while. I’m not sure if I’ll still be able to click with everyone, but I think things will be fine. Logistics-wise, it’s not a problem for me, since I’m on a break before I get to writing my third book. I’ll be booking tickets, and most likely living in an Airbnb in Seoul and Daegu.”

What will you be looking forward to the most if you do accept the invitation?
“Definitely meeting everyone again and making up for lost time. But besides my friends, I also look forward to visiting Seoul and Daegu. It’s been quite some time since I left, and I wonder if things changed or they remained the same after I departed from South Korea.”

Thank you for your time. Hope you can come to the reunion!
“Thank you for having me. You can definitely count on me to be present for the reunion!”

➳ As he shares the same name as the Chinese military general Zhao Yun (赵云), his name is sometimes misread as zhào yún instead of zhào yǔn.
➳ He always brings a small notepad and pen wherever he goes. While waiting, he will jot down writing ideas that come to his head.
➳ He keeps several Mentos sweets in his bag, so that he can have one or two when he’s in need of some sugar.
➳ He was part of the modelling duo Twin Tower alongside female model Kaede Kim.
➳ Another reason for his quitting modelling is due to how toxic the industry is. “I’m one of the lucky ones who are getting paid. But I can tell you, the majority of those pursuing modelling careers don’t even get paid at all; in fact, they’re in debt. When I emceed London Fashion Week together with Kaede last year, I recalled the show director screaming through the mike, calling the runway models names, basically being rude and hurtful for every single person in the whole place to hear. It’s dreadful, really, having to endure being treated like that. When I first started out, I also had to go through being yelled at as well, alongside many other things.”
➳ When he was part of Twin Tower, he was rumoured to be in a relationship with Kaede. However, this would be proven false shortly after, for Kaede was reported to be dating Daniel Radcliffe (still together as of 2019).
➳ His favourite drink is earl grey tea, which is where he got his pen name, earlgreytea, from. He always opts for the decaffeinated option, as he does not like the taste of caffeine.
➳ He currently lives in an apartment with his best friend, Dexter, in Westminster, London.
➳ He obtained his driving license when he was 22 years old. He currently drives a silver Volkswagen Arteon which he purchased in 2018.
➳ He does not like the taste of alcohol, thus he rarely drinks it, and completely avoids drinking whenever possible. This also explains his low tolerance towards alcohol. In terms of soju bottles, his maximum amount which he can drink is one and a half bottles before he gets completely wasted. When he got drunk once, no one was able to tell that he was intoxicated, as he acted completely normal, save for slurring his words.
➳ He has a unilateral dimple found on the right cheek of his face.
➳ He hates birds, as he was nearly bitten by one when he was young.
➳ His favourite author is Haruki Murakami. He owns every single book that he has written to date.
➳ His favourite colour is beige, and likes the monochrome aesthetic.
➳ Like Dexter, he is a good cook. He enjoys cooking Chinese food, his signature dish being mapo tofu. He prefers cooking his own meals over ordering from food delivery apps or take-outs.
➳ Every Sunday, he and Dexter will make and cook their own dumplings for dinner.
➳ Besides reading, he enjoys watching dramas and films, after which, he will write his own critique on what he has watched.

Zhao Xintong 赵欣彤
48
Mother

Wang Yichen 王毅晨
24
Half-brother

Dexter Gao 高艺
23
Best friend

Kaede Kim 김설희
27
Close friend

Kim Taehyung 김태형
24
Distant friend

Ju Nakwon 주낙원
23
Friend