THE BASICS

NAME » song minju (송민주)

OTHER NAMES »

hazel song her english name given by her elementary school teacher.

宋敏主, sòng mǐnzhǔ her chinese name derived from her name in hanja characters, meaning "gentle" or "kind" and "master". those two together, however, can cause an… meaning, so minju chooses to interpret her name as "master of kindness" or "kind-hearted queen".

 

NICKNAMES »

대주, daeju a combination of daechu (대추) aka jujube and her name minju. thanks to her unhealthy obsession with the fruit jujube, her parents gave her this nickname as a form of affection. the members of pop girls found this so cute in fact that they saved her as this under their contacts.

ten minutes younger this is a self-explanatory nickname given by her brother, song mingi. they are twins and minju is the younger one by ten minutes. mingi refers to her as this so much that he has even saved her as this in his contacts.

ten minutes younger this is the display name she was given in the "99z" group chat's naming ceremony on kkt (courtesy of choi san). it's no lie that between the two of them, mingi is the impulsive and sometimes twin while minju is the calm twin with the common sense.

hybe's siren bts' jungkook is the golden maknae. txt's yeonjun is big hit's legendary trainee. enhypen's heeseung is hybe's ace. now introducing, hybe's siren aka song minju. during her time in source music, minju had always scored either first or second place in all of vocal evaluations and this nickname was given to her by the trainees after big hit acquired source music and changed names, and minju's popularity and past endeavors reached the trainees' ears.

송사이렌, song siren a nickname given to her by fans when she was on produce 48, because she's trained in opera and has a beautiful voice when she sings opera. minju loves this nickname and thought of using siren as her english name but decided not to. she still loves to hear this nickname though.

ming this is her name cutified, if there's even such a word. because people don't want to call her "minju", they have resorted to calling her "ming" instead.

 

BIRTHDAY » august 9, 1999

BIRTHPLACE » sangbong-dong, jungnang-gu, seoul, sk

HOMETOWN » ojeong-gu, bucheon-si, gyeonggi-do, sk

 

ETHNICITY » korean

NATIONALITY » south korean

LANGUAGES SPOKEN »

native korean yes. 100%

semi-fluent english having lived in the united states for 2 years while training, with her ability in picking up languages quite fast and her major in university, minju is now semi-fluent in english. she wants to take the toeic test in the future to see how much she can score. 91%

conversational mandarin chinese + japanese like most trainees, minju learned japanese and chinese for international promotions. but she's actively communicating with japanese speaking trainees in japanese and the chinese speaking trainees in chinese to improve because she hopes to translate in those languages in the future. 40%

basic italian during training, minju had to learn some italian as well to pronounce and enunciate the words better and to basically know what the song she's singing means but as of now, she's pretty bare minimum, only knows basic phrases and some lyrics of the opera songs she has studied with coach riggs over the years. 25%

 

FACE CLAIM » haseul, loona

BACKUP FACE CLAIM » soyeon, (g)i-dle

 

APPEARANCE »

put a long wig on mingi and make his facial features a bit softer and you get minju. well, it's not that simple of course but it's the simplest way to put it down. they used to look more alike when they were children, but as time passed by and they hit puberty, their differences started to show. while mingi has a more angular face, sharper features and fuller lips, minju has a softer face and features and thinner lips. the twins have shared the monolid eyes, the slightly pointed nose and the exact same teeth structure that gives them their signature gummy smiles since they were babies though, and those are features that they still retain 23 years later.

 

don't be fooled by minju's soft appearance though. she's the definition of slim thicc, with a b-cup chest, toned arms and thighs, abs that she worked hard for and a firm that definitely gets stares from creepy people when she walks past. one thing that definitely sets her apart from mingi is the fact that she has piercings. five of them in total, double lobes on both ears and a helix on her left ear. (mingi has none, he's afraid of needles.) she has no tattoos, but might get either something small or something that represents her and pop girls in the future.

 

click to enlarge :3

 

STYLE »

minju's fashion highly depends on her mood. as someone who prefers a balance between comfort and style, it's not uncommon to see minju look cute one day and then almost homeless next, although she chooses to look cute most of the time. she has clothes of any kind: shirts, crewnecks, t-shirts, button-downs, flannels, hoodies, etc. she's definitely a pants over skirts girl, and jeans in any shade of black, blue and white also take a considerable amount of space in her closet, along with the one or two skirts she has, leggings and shorts. for minju, what really matters is if she feels good in the outfits she wears or not. of course, looking good is also a plus, but if it's an outfit she feels good in, it's a go for her.

you have seen the golden maknae, bighit's legendary trainee, and hybe's ace
now introducing… hybe's siren

 

THE GIRL

PERSONALITY »

 

leo, ravenclaw, neutral good

pos hardworking, friendly, outspoken, helpful

organized, emotional neu clingy, maternal

insecure, worrisome, petty, secretive neg

esfj-t, 2w1. inspired by ginny weasley

 

if you were to ask people to describe her, everyone who has befriended her, worked with her and maybe even encountered her in the hallways of the hybe labels building would say similar words about song minju: "outspoken", "gregarious", "easy to get along with". and they are not exactly wrong. minju is a social butterfly. she can easily walk up to people, introduce herself, and start a conversation, going from one topic to another. she deeply believes that, after she passes on, she will be judged on even the smallest act of kindness she has shown in her life and she cares deeply about people's first impression of her and what people think of her, so she tries to get along with or at least be civil with everyone she has encountered in her life.

 

outspoken and loud, minju is not afraid of voicing her own opinions and thoughts on everything, from where they should eat to how she should sing a part of an aria a certain way. and if people do not agree with her, so be it. in this day and age where everyone is free to express their own opinions, people's opinions clashing shouldn't be an unexpected situation. not everyone will agree with her, and this is something minju understands, accepts and even appreciates, as in some cases, it may be, and at times is, better to hear the opinion of an outsider on things, as long as they are giving constructive criticism and not being a about it. unlike what her outspoken nature might suggest, minju appreciates constructive criticism a lot. she takes it to heart, adheres to it and tries to improve in the best way she can in the lines of the criticism.

 

she appreciates giving constructive criticism as much as she appreciates receiving it. the difference between constructive and destructive criticism is the way they are delivered, and she believes in the saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it", so if she's asked to comment on something, she always starts out with the positive aspects, so she has a nice thing to say at first, before pointing out the things that, in her opinion, can be improved upon and always concluding with the fact that they can come to her for help, which makes her a favorite among trainees. minju is a hard worker, and can literally spend the entire day in the dance practice room, practicing a choreography, sleep in one of the empty studios and then come back to the practice room the next day, stretch and continue practicing, with puffy eyes and circles darker than her coffee under them. if she's given a task, she will do it no matter how long it takes her and she will do it in the best way she can.

 

she is a pacifist, but believes that violence is the final answer rather than never. according to her, if all the other ways haven't worked, the best way to do things is a punch to the stomach or kick to the shin. minju is fiercely loyal to and protective of people she loves, she will not let anyone even look at them the wrong way because she'll be breathing down their neck in a millisecond. she's considered the mother bear in that sense, with the rest of the pop girls members being her cubs. it's quite a funny sight when you visualize it really, a 163 cm girl standing up for a bunch of people, some of which are taller than her, but she wouldn't have it any other way. this was something that developed after her brother's psychological anxiety was revealed to the public. thankfully, her brother is now back on stage with lots of support and the support outweighs the bad comments and the hatred, so now she directs this protectiveness to the pop girls members, striving to cover their eyes and ears to the evils of the world we live in.

 

minju has great attention to detail, which shows itself clearly in both everyday situations and in performances. this is the virgo ascending in her, focusing on even the smallest details. while this little aspect of her generally helps her out, especially when it comes to learning choreographies, it also has negative consequences as well and can hinder her, as she's often very much submerged in details that she may forget to look at the overall picture. she is described to be a very efficient worker, managing to finish everything on time or maybe even earlier than intended, and the reason behind that is that she has an intense sense of organization. she notes down everything that she's told, all the assignments and practices she has to do, keeps track of herself and adheres to a strict schedule. this is how she keeps herself organized and motivated, ready to get through the day.

 

her mbti is esfj-t, turbulent consul, and she identifies strongly with it, especially the feeling aspect. she has a very strong eq, and very strong empathizing skills. she can identify her own and other people's feelings easily, and can guide herself and them out of the maze in their head efficiently. she resonates very easily with people's emotions and thoughts, and often encourages them to let it out in an environment they feel comfortable in, be it in a private place where it is just her and them, or in a public place like the gym. this is another reason as to why she's considered a mother figure, she protects the members, validates how they feel and offers them healthy ways to let everything out. if something that tugs on heartstrings is shown, be it a movie such as "marley & me", "green mile" or "my girl", or just anything emotional like soldiers coming back home to their families or deaf/blind people hearing/seeing for the first time, it's guaranteed that minju will cry first. she's a sensitive person and with her high eq, and the result is a girl who is moved to tears easily. if only she could do that on cue. then, she would be a great actress. she's working on it.

 

minju's love language, like her brother, is physical touch, so not only does she crave for it but she also loves giving it, either for fanservice or for genuine affection. she describes her love for physical touch as "a warm blanket", protecting her and telling her that she's safe against the cold breeze that is life. her favorite type of skinship is any type of hugs, from regular arms-around-each-other's-neck-and-waist hug to backhugs and straight up cuddling on the couch, legs tangled together, arms around each other, etcetera. she knows her limits when it comes to skinship and fanservice though, so she only does it with the people who she knows are okay with it. when she feels particularly needy or just in a teasing mood however, she may end up forcing some members who are not okay with it to do fanservice with her. which is, once again, quite a funny sight because she could literally be running after a member, yelling "let me love you!" while the said member runs away from her like she's a rabid dog on steroids.

 

no one is perfect, and neither is minju. she has her own flaws and imperfections that make her who she is, no matter how much she tries to cover them up. she's human, of course she is going to have negative aspects. for one thing, there are times where she's too engrossed in and influenced by the emotions of others that she can't differentiate their emotions from her own. she worries too much over her own actions and how they will affect the people around her, which can be a huge mistake if she needs to make a decision that will affect her and her only. she's a private person and more often than not non-confrontational when it comes to emotions, preferring to put others' thoughts before her own and not express how she feels clearly, basically choosing to run away from her own emotions rather than facing them, and bottling everything up until it comes bursting out like a grenade with the pin pulled. the result of this action is never nice, and usually ends in a storm.

 

another negative consequence of being too detail-oriented, for minju, is that it causes her to overthink even the smallest detail, and this can lead to her being either anxious or petty. let me just explain it this way. one of her best friends, choi san (yes, of ateez), left her on read for an hour once because he was busy practicing. and what did minju do? wait patiently for him to respond? no, she was feeling particularly petty that day. so, when san responded, minju left him on read for an hour and a minute. thankfully, moments like this are rare and she immediately apologizes after finding out the reason behind the said action.

 

it is not that hard to be on minju's good side, the girl was basically brought into the world to give love to everyone. she's merciful and forgiving, so it's not that hard to get a second chance from her either, all you have to do is apologize and promise you won't do whatever you did again, and voila. second chance given. but just because minju gave you a second chance, it doesn't mean that you're instantly forgiven. she needs proof, needs to see you be genuine about your apology and keep your promise. so, she will have her eye on you, watching you like a hawk to see whether you're actually making an effort to not make the same mistake you promised you wouldn't make. and even if she forgives you, she won't forget what you did. she's aware that this may make her seem petty and resentful, but she genuinely doesn't mean for it to come across as that, she just can't forget certain things and actions easily. the only ways to be on minju's bad side is to do something unforgivable or check out all the boxes on her hypothetical checklist of red flags. those who are on minju's bad side won't even get a glance from her, she has no time to waste with them and results in ignoring them.

 

you know how they say treat people the way you want to be treated? minju is the embodiment of this quote. she's genuinely interested in people's lives because she wants someone to be interested in her life and the things she has to say, just like how she is interested in theirs. she gives people so much praise and validation because underneath the motherly mask, lies a girl whose self esteem is broken, burned and torn down beyond recognition, striving to prove herself. something that she was told by her mother growing up was that everyone in this world has their own person: their other half, so to speak. minju's main goal in life is to find that person, someone who can be proud of her as much as she is of them, and someone who will give her praise and validation, especially during times where she's swimming in dark and dangerous waters and needs a lighthouse to guide her and a lifebuoy to keep her afloat.

 

overall, minju is like an onion. i know it might sound weird, but hear me out. actually, no, the onion analogy won't work in this case. okay, let's start over. overall, minju is like an elaborately made cake, looking so simple on the outside, waiting to be cut into to show the world all the layers she has. and here is the question, ladies, mens and non-binary friends. who is brave enough to take on the knife?

 

BACKGROUND »

when expecting couple mr. and mrs. song came to the obgyn for a check-up, they were told that they would be having twins. after being told in their previous appointment that they would be having only one child, this fact came as a surprise to them. but they weren't unhappy, not in the slightest. they were prepared, physically, mentally and financially, and also the more the merrier, right? this surprise was replaced with joy when it was revealed in their next appointment that one of the twins was a girl while the other was a boy, since they had been trying for a girl for a while. when the twins were born, they were born ten minutes apart, the boy was born first and given the name "mingi", while the girl was born ten minutes later and given the name "minju". the couple's oldest son and only child up until that point, mingeon, accompanied them to the hospital to meet and hold his newborn siblings as well, bouncing happily on his feet because he would be getting not only one but two people to play with and take care of at the same time. and so, song mingi and song minju opened their eyes to the world in seoul, on a warm summer day on august 9, 1999.

 

if you ask minju what her earliest memories are, she would tell you that it was music playing in their house in bucheon after the song family moved there when mingi and minju were very young and her parents dancing around their house with mingi in one parent's arms and minju in the arms of the other parent. music was an important part of the song family household. from classical music to newly released kpop songs, there would be some type of music playing around their small house and mingi and minju were waddling around, doing what they believed to be was dancing with their father and minju singing along to the songs on the radio with their mother.

 

compared to her brother, who loved dancing and rapping, minju preferred singing. she would sing almost anywhere and everywhere, on the bus on her way to and from school, in between classes, at home while helping her mother, everywhere. minju's music teachers at school had nothing but praise for her, believing that she could be a very strong contender to join the entertainment industry with the voice she possessed, especially as an idol. minju believed so as well, she loved singing and would love to stand on stage one day. and that chance came to minju at the age of 15. her music teacher came to her one day, telling her all about how big hit entertainment, a company that had recently released a promising boy group "bangtan sonyeondan", was holding auditions for trainees that they could debut.

 

when minju told her family about the audition, mingi was elated. he was also dreaming of being an idol like his sister and the praise from her music teacher and audition information made him immensely proud of her. her parents on the other hand… well… let's say they weren't the most enthusiastic, not about the praising but the bit about the entertainment industry, being an idol and the auditioning part. as someone who had his own dreams of being an idol himself ruined badly and being reduced to a backup dancer at the hands of the entertainment industry, mingi and minju's father knew how harsh it was and could get. mingi had already been taking classes in the incheon branch of "joy dance & plug in music academy", better known as "seungri academy", and a lot of audition calls were coming in, as most students in this academy were like mingi, looking for a company to audition to so they can hopefully stand on stage one day. he had also gotten information that maroo entertainment, another relatively unknown company, was holding auditions.

 

when the twins expressed that their career of choice would be in the entertainment industry, their parents sat them down to have a talk with both of them. their father told them all about his own experiences: the vigorous training he had to go through, how tough and unforgiving the industry was and how his hopes and dreams of becoming an idol himself were ruined, reducing him to just a back-up dancer, a shadow behind the idols who were the real stars of the show, while their mother told them about how it affected him physically and mentally, and how she took care of him on days where it got too dark in his mind, because he had no one else to light a torch and show him the way out. they concluded this talk by saying that they weren't saying any of this to discourage their children, just telling them about everything they would be facing if they chose to continue on this path, that their chance to debut would be slim by default but their chance to debut AND be successful would be even slimmer, so that they might want to choose a more stable career.

 

this gave the twins motivation to prove their parents wrong, that that they would debut and would be successful. with this newfound motivation, mingi auditioned for maroo entertainment and got accepted, training there for a short while before transferring over to kq entertainment, yet again another relatively unknown and fairly new company, and eventually making his debut in ateez in 2018, along with seven other boys, each with a story as complex as his own. ateez went onto become very successful, releasing hit music after hit music and cementing their place in the industry as "performance idols", as they're known for their tough and knife-like choreography and synchronization while performing said choreography. so mingi proved his parents wrong.

 

what about minju, you say? minju on the other hand, received another talk from her father. he told her about how companies would have hundreds of people audition but choose only one trainee, how harsh the training conditions were and what they would expect of her as a girl, telling her once more that he can't change her mind now because she's very determined, but the least he can do is give her advice, from one experienced person to someone getting ready to start a career in the same field as him. taking her father's advice to heart, minju practiced very hard for her audition and got accepted out of 400 trainees, passing all three stages of audition with flying colors.

 

LIKES »

animals. her favorite animals are cats.

caffeinated beverages. coffee, tea and coca cola are her go-to's, she's basically addicted. her go-to coffee order is hazelnut latte with almond milk.

chips. prefers savory snacks over sweet snacks, except for chocolate. once finished a family size bag of doritos in 20 minutes during a movie night.

fall and winter. her boyfriend's birthday, flannels, leaves changing color, sweaters and pumpkin spice for fall. christmas, glittery snow globes, hot chocolate and fairy lights for winter. easily her two favorite seasons.

food. as said by minju herself, "if you don't like food, i don't like you"

harry potter. she used to identify as a slytherin, but took the pottermore test and now, she really does believe ravenclaw suits her the best.

maths. she unironically enjoys maths, but when trigonometry comes into play, that's when she nopes out. she enjoys solving math problems and doing math homework though and will always offer to help the youngsters with their math homeworks.

memes. her favorite meme is "some… body once told me … bull attack". put that in a try not to laugh challenge and she'll be the first one out.

movies. especially action movies. she loves the avengers, kingsman and star wars series.

music. self-explanatory.

musical theatre. quite possibly a geek. her favorite musicals are phantom of the opera and moulin rouge. she cried buckets while watching the latter.

opera. she loves watching performances.

oversized outfits. they're big, warm, smell nice and make her feel safe, hence the reason why she always steals mingi's, yunho's and later on yeonjun's or her boyfriend's shirts. also, they give her sweater paws and sweater paws are always a win.

plushies. she has a collection in her room. her favorite one is the panda plushie that mingi bought for her when they were on an overseas tour that she named… panda. very original, minju.

scented candles. she got hooked during her stay in the united states and now she has a small cupboard in her room at her apartment where she keeps all her scented candles, along with a few ones she has in her dorm room. thankfully the members don't mind her lighting a nice smelling candle.

skinship. her love language is physical touch and she especially loves backhugs, both giving and receiving.

the penthouse. she binged the drama with some of her friends in university, and she loved it, especially the opera singing that was also included. would love to star in such a drama as a vocal student one day.

vegetables. something she doesn't have in common with her brother and most of the ateez members. she'll gladly snatch them off her friends' plates and lunchboxes, with their permission of course, which hongjoong, san and mingi always happily let her do. her favorite vegetables are eggplants, zucchinis, greens and bell peppers.

moon jehyung

 

DISLIKES »

acephobia, biphobia, homophobia, transphobia, etc. nope. nuh-uh. as a part of the lgbtq+ community herself, minju will not stand for the erasure of any orientation. she's literally the tiktok that goes "hi, i just wanted to let you know that in this household, we do not support transphobia, homophobia, what's… what's another phobia? we don't like spiders either, spiders are ugly"

cigarette smoke. sure it's the smoker's choice, they can smoke if they want to. but, her nose is very sensitive so the moment she gets a whiff of cigarette smoke, she'll nope out of there. thankfully the smoker members (if there are any) are understanding so they'll either go out to smoke or (if they're on a balcony) tell minju they're going to smoke so she can go back inside.

clubs. she doesn't like the sketchiness of it, fears that her drink might be drugged and also, the crowds. oh the crowds.

dolls. not barbie dolls. you know those porcelain dolls with the big beady eyes that seem to be staring right into your soul? those ones. they creep minju out, not only because they're creepy on their own, but also because minju has watched annabelle and chucky, so stay the away!

extreme rides. like roller coasters or the gyro drop. if you want to see a panicking and crying, and in some cases maybe unconscious, minju, get her on one of these rides. she's horribly acrophobiac.

hospitals. the fact that she needs to go there when something is wrong is a good enough reason for her to dislike hospitals.

lies. one of her biggest pet peeves. just be honest with her. it might hurt her but she'll get over it.

mascots. she developed a dislike after playing five nights at freddy's, their eyes just creep her out for some reason.

messiness. she's a clean freak.

toxic masculinity. because apparently some people's masculinity is so fragile that even seeing a beauty blender would shatter it.

 

HABITS »

angry/annoyed. you can easily tell when minju gets angry or annoyed. she stops smiling, her sparkling eyes dim and she may even roll her eyes at certain points. on cam, she maintains her pre-annoyed appearance but off-cam, if you blow her fuse, she might do some crazy like kicking someone in the balls.

anxiety. some random habits that minju had that started making more sense after being diagnosed with general anxiety: twitching, random shivers, fiddling with her fingers and picking at her nails or cuticles.

color coding. she has a planner where she writes every assignment and schedule down in color code. this has been a habit of hers since she was in middle school, she used to assign a color to each class and write the homework accordingly, and that habit followed her into idolhood and university.

crushing. minju is good at hiding crushes but, observant people will notice the subtle hints she gives out like sneaking glances, looking at them after she tells a joke and mirroring their body language at times.

frustrated/sad. minju is the type to cry when she gets sad or frustrated but hates crying in front of people. so she usually excuses herself when she's feeling sad or frustrated and cries in the privacy of her room.

humming. minju has a habit of humming or straight out singing the songs that are stuck to her head. thankfully she's aware of her surroundings so she doesn't actually spoil any pop girls songs.

love language. minju's love language, like mingi, is physical touch. so she's always always leeching off a member, which is adorable because a taller member could be talking to the camera and she'd be waddling up behind them, backhugging them and poking her head out from behind their back like "hi :3" of course, she doesn't do this to members who don't want it.

playing with her hair. minju always fiddles with her hair when it's down, either sweeping it out of her face or just playing with it. she says it brings her comfort for some reason.

reaction queen. minju has an abundance of facial expressions that can fit any type of situation. her more famous reaction memes are those where she is disgusted though.

"sassy" standing? minju has chronic back pains, and it gets especially bad after a vigorous dance. so if she has to stand for a period of time after said dance, she usually places a hand on her lower back to relieve the pain a little. similar to mingi, this pose was memed a lot on twitter as minju being "sassy". she's not sassy, she just has back pain.

stretching. due to above mentioned back pain, back when she first joined big hit, minju used to take breaks every few minutes during dance practices. after noticing the reason why, rin showed her a few stretching exercises that she could do before and after each practice to alleviate back pain. so she does those stretches every morning, before and after practice, performances and working out, and every night before going to sleep.

tugging on the neck part of turtlenecks. minju suffers from very mild claustrophobia in the sense that she can't wear outfits that are too tight around the neck, like turtlenecks. so she tugs on the neck part of the turtlenecks when it gets too much for her, much to the dismay of haryeong.

vocal warm ups. minju has a whole 5-minute vocal warm-up routine that she does in the mornings, in the dressing rooms, before stages and vocal practices, along with lip trills to warm her vocal cords up.

 

HOBBIES »

baking, cooking. what started as a 6 year old minju being forced to help her mother out in the kitchen eventually became something she genuinely enjoys doing. she loves to cook food and bake cookies, pastries or brownies for the members.

doing research. she loves learning new information about… anything, really. she sometimes runs up to the members like "hey, did you know that bram stoker was actually inspired by famous ruler vlad tepes when creating count dracula?", which leaves them amused but also interested.

learning languages. hence the reason she chose her major. she loves learning languages and connecting them to her existing knowledge in languages she already knows.

photography. she usually takes photos on her phone but would love to invest in a polaroid camera one day.

reading. books, novels, mangas, webtoons, anything. she always carries around something to read with her for this exact reason.

traveling. she'd love to travel to australia one day and watch a performance in the sydney opera house. she also wants to try vegemite.

 

FEARS »

acrophobia (fear of heights). very severe. wonho level. can't even get too close to the balcony parapets because she's absolutely terrified. will cry (and maybe pass out in extreme cases) if she has to go bungee jumping or anything like that.

arachnophobia (fear of spiders). not severe but would rather not mess with them. would nope out if she saw a spider in the dorm or her apartment.

claustrophobia (fear of enclosed/tight spaces). very mild. she can ride elevators and whatnot but even the thought of being lost in a crowd makes her nauseous. she can't wear too tight turtlenecks either.

 

SPECIAL TALENTS »

musical memory. with her training and just being a fan of musical theatre and opera in general, she can guess songs correctly on the spot, and can go (and has gone) against haneul in a speed quiz about musical theatre and opera songs.

opera. she received opera training in the united states for three years while she was still under hybe labels. her go-to songs when she's asked to showcase her opera skills are "lascia ch'io pianga" from händel's "rinaldo" and "quando m'en vo" from puccini's "la bohème".

perfect pitch. someone can play a set of notes on the piano and minju can guess what they are easily. she can also blend and harmonize with songs easily too.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA »

— when pop girls open up their group social media accounts, minju is a frequent poster.

— after the members are allowed to have their personal social media accounts, minju opens an instagram account under the username @songbird_ming.99 where she posts selcas of herself, photos with other members and practice videos.

— she also has a discord under the username sirenssong#6211 which she opened up when she started university. she's not the most active person in servers but she will join pop girls for games and stuff, she can't say no to a good among us game.

 

TRIVIA »

favorite food. fried chicken, sushi, anything spicy

favorite color. purple, pink, black

favorite ice cream flavor. mint choco. don't you dare try to tell her it tastes like toothpaste, she'll whack you with her bag

favorite drink. coffee, water, coca cola

favorite animal. cats

favorite sound. the sound of the rain, jehyung's laugh

favorite movie. the kingsman series, all avengers movies, moulin rouge, green mile

favorite word. bel canto

favorite season. fall & winter

favorite bts song. not today.

favorite gfriend song. sunrise.

favorite viviz song. bop bop.

favorite txt song. 0x1=lovesong (i know i love you).

favorite enhypen song. future perfect (pass the mic).

favorite lesserafim song. antifragile.

favorite newjeans song. hype boy.

overall favorite song. quando m'en vo by puccini's la bohème.

what's in minju's bag. laptop, chargers, phone, wallet, airpods, hair ties, sunglasses, eye drops, contact lens case, lip balm, lipstick, mascara, hand sanitizer, cat and dog treats, mask, oversized hoodie that belongs to either yunho, mingi or yeonjun or her boyfriend, something to read, avocado keychain that she got from the states, water bottle, perfume, medicine pouch, pepper spray, planner, colored pens.

— minju and mingi are from the yeosan song clan, the same clan as fromis_9's hayoung and actor song kang.

— currently pursuing an english language & literature degree in chung-ang university with a minor in software development, expected to graduate in 2022. she wants to work in software localization, but translation & interpretation is mostly offered as a grad school program, so she decided to pursue english language & literature as an undergrad degree.

— she definitely wants to pursue higher education and get her master's degree as well. sometime in the future, after she's done with her idol days, she'd love to be an academician.

— minju doesn't live in the dorms. she has her own apartment in mapo-gu that she moved into after she started university, with permission from the company of course. she only stays in the dorms for promotions.

— minju got her driver's license when she graduated from high school and drives a silver opel corsa. the drive from her apartment to the hybe labels building is only 10 minutes, so she doesn't have to worry about missing practices.

— although she says she loves all of ateez's songs, her favorite has to be dancing like butterfly wings. she thinks it has such a bright and happy feel to it. she'd love to cover it someday, either by herself or with the other members. or maybe even on stage with ateez themselves.

— minju owns an iphone 11 pro max in silver with a coffee phone case.

— to go along with them, she owns a pair of airpods pro with a boba case.

— her lockscreen is a photo of pop girls that they took in onesies.

— minju doesn't have an ideal type. period. as long as they support her and are proud of her as she can be of them, she's sold. also she's spoken for but we don't talk about that.

— not the biggest fan of alcohol but will have a beer with the members if they're going out to celebrate. would prefer coffee and boba any time though.

— minju and mingi have identical taste buds: they both love nacho chips, mint chocolate ice cream, pineapple on pizza and fried chicken. the only exception is that minju loves vegetables while mingi hates them with a burning passion.

— sora and minju once measured their hands on a vlive. while sora had pretty average hands at 17 cms, minju's hand size measured up to only 15 cms. in conclusion, song minju has babie hands™.

— being mingi's sister, she's really close to ateez by default, especially with the '99 line. she's closest to yunho though, they have known each other way before they debuted and know everything about each other, from their coffee orders to their biggest hopes and dreams.

— the first person she befriended in hybe was gfriend's sinb. for her closest friends in hybe groups however (including former ones), she can only state members from gfriend, enhypen and txt since she doesn't get to see bts around the company as much. those closest friends are all of the gfriend members, enhypen's '02 line and txt's yeonjun.

— three things that are always in minju's room no matter what, either at her apartment or at her family home: fairy lights, plushies and a fluffy blanket.

— minju avoids dairy, spicy food, sugar or caffeine before doing any vocal-related activities. avoiding caffeine and dairy isn't that big of a problem since she only consumes coffee when she's not doing anything vocal-related, with her go-to order being hazelnut latte. avoiding sugar isn't that hard either, she's more of a savory person. but spicy food… that's tough, she loves spicy food.

— minju is generally very smart, possessing some braincells, but can lose them all when she gets burnt out or is just not feeling it or out of her element that day. it's usually small things but she once called benedict cumberbatch "benjamin cucumber" because she couldn't remember his real name and she didn't want to call him "stephen strange".

 

MINJU'S PLAYLIST.

let me in. haseul

blue hour. txt

quando m'en vo. (la bohème) giacomo puccini

wake me up. b.a.p

dancing like butterfly wings. ateez

streetlight. changbin ft. bang chan

valkyrie. oneus

smoky. joohoney

lo$er=lo♡er. txt

l.o.v.e. park jihoon

my buddy. gfriend

back door. stray kids

watermelon sugar. harry styles

blow. ed sheeran (with chris stapleton & bruno mars)

star 1117. ateez

shoot me. day6

loco. itzy

nightmare. victon

boca. dreamcatcher

fiesta. iz*one

ayaya. p1harmony

lovesick girls. blackpink

0x1=lovesong (i know i love you) (ft. seori). txt

come what may. (moulin rouge ost) ewan mcgregor, nicole kidman

lascia ch'io pianga. (rinaldo) george frideric händel

feel special. twice

sunrise. gfriend

honeymoon. b.a.p

miroh. stray kids

run away. txt

catch me. tvxq

diamond 4 ya. b.a.p

i need somebody. day6

o sole mio (the red wedding). the boyz

wonderland (symphony no.9 "from the wonderland"). ateez

 

INCORRECT QUOTES »

member #1. sora, no.

sora. sora, yes.

member #2. sora, no.

sora. sora, yes.

yato. sora, no.

sora. sora, maybe?

minju. sora, no.

sora.

sora. sora, no.

 

jehyung. just so you know, it's very muggy outside.

minju.

minju. je, i swear, if i step outside and all of the mugs are on the front lawn…

jehyung. *sips coffee from bowl*

 

[member talking to sora]

member. can i sleep in your room tonight?

sora. why?

member. *member* played with an ouija board and cursed ours.

member. minju doesn't know how to banish spirits so she just throws salt at them and yells "does this look like a hotel to you?"

 

member. *kicks the door down, looking panicked*

minju. what did you do?

member. nobody died.

minju. WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT?!

 

mingi. be the bigger person.

minju. no, i'm 5'3 and bitter. you be the bigger person

 

vegetables. *exist*

minju. hippity hoppity this is now my property

 

minju. thank you for calling the ambulance when i passed out

kwon. but i drove you

minju. but i heard sirens

kwon. that was *member*

member. I WAS WORRIED

 

minju. what are you doing in my bed?

sora. sha la la , i can lay wherever i want.

minju.

sora. come here, let's cuddle.

 

minju. *watching the news* some tried to fight a squid at the aquarium today!

member. *walks in, covered in ink* well, maybe the squid was being a .

 

minju. *walking into the kitchen* is something burning in here?

jehyung. *leaning over the counter seductively* only my desire for you

minju. je, the toaster is on fire

 

minju. can you guys just TRY to see it from MY perspective?

mingi. *gets on knees*

yunho. *crouches down*

yeonjun. *sits down*

minju.

minju. i will kill you all in your sleep

 

member. and if i run and leap at minju unnie, she will most certainly catch me in her arms.

member. *running towards minju*

minju. *MEMBER*, NO, I'M HOLDING COFFEE!

minju. *drops coffee mug to catch member*

 

sora. why is minju on the counter?

member. she likes to be tall

 

THE PEOPLE IN HER LIFE

RELATIONSHIPS »

MR. & MRS. SONG

parents, restaurant owners

minju has a great relationship with her parents, they're basically her best friends although she's a little closer to her father than to her mother, but she still loves them both regardless. sure, her father has his own reasons for not wanting his children to pursue the same career path he did, because he ventured off into that road and got broken, burned and bruised, having his dreams shattered and he doesn't want his children to be hurt the same way he did, all out of love. and her mother agreed with him because her father didn't have anyone to help him pick up the pieces until he met her mother, and she knows all about his mentality and how the entertainment industry affected it. minju knows that they're doing this for her own good and appreciates her parents to bits. mr. and mrs. song love their children so much and will support them until the end in their career choice, even if they hit rock bottom because they know they're doing what makes them happy.

 

SONG MINGEON

older brother, born 1994

minju and mingi's older brother and someone who has supported both of them since day 1. they're not as close they used to be, because minju is focusing on her idol career and mingeon is busy with his own work. even so, they still take the time to call and text each other at least once everyday, much to the chagrin of mingi as he hasn't been able to contact his brother as often as he would like, but he's okay with it.

 

SONG MINGI

older twin brother, born 1999, ateez member, entp-t

her twin brother, her soulmeme, her other half, mingi is the person minju is closest to in her family and someone she respects a lot as a fellow idol like herself. their twin telepathy is especially strong though, because they're very close to each other. if one twin is craving a certain food, best bet the other is craving it as well, or if one person feels bad, the other will also be feeling under the weather the whole day.

 

being twins, they have the twin clichés like the aforementioned twin telepathy and sharing similar tastes in music and food, and being brother and sister, they have the brother and sister clichés, such as mingi being protective over minju and bullying her at the same time. the protective role seems to have switched nowadays though, especially after mingi's hiatus due to psychological anxiety in late 2020. this time, it was minju who became his guardian, shielding him from anything that could trigger his anxiety, easing him out of his attacks, holding him on days where it gets too tough, helping him out with even the simplest of tasks and even abandoning practice at times when it's an emergency situation. the twins appreciate each other a lot and they're always genuine about it. minju is proud to be siblings with someone like mingi and wouldn't change him for the world.

 

POP GIRLS TRAINEES »

TAKAYAMI SORA

close friend, born 1998, pop girls member

having known each other back in source music and having seen idol training in all of its' good, bad and ugly glory, takayami sora and song minju are now practically inseparable, wherever one goes, the other is usually there. so much so that the people who know their friendship usually ask where the other is if they ever see one of them alone. minju is one of the very small amount of people who sora shows her soft and vulnerable side to, and can easily open up to about her problems. likewise, sora is the main person minju goes to for advice regarding… anything really, from dance advice to relationship advice. and while minju is a pacifist and believes that violence (or in sora's case, sarcasm and sass) is the last resort and is usually holding sora back, like the relationship dynamic template on pinterest where one stick figure is standing in a menacing pose with an evil smirk on their face while the other stick figure is holding them on a leash with a blank, almost bored look on their face as you can see right here, if minju gives sora permission to give attitude, you bet sora will give that attitude even more intensely than usual. and she'll be all smug about it too because, and i quote, "minju said i could do it." #jura is also a common ship among the fans of pop girls even though both minju and sora are spoken for (despite sora vehemently denying her feelings for a certain japanese actor) and the two girls up the fanservice whenever they can, by giving each other backhugs and holding hands.

collab with buttfluff!

 

SODA MARIE

close friend, born 2002, pop girls member, former iz*one member

minju and marie met all the way back in 2018, as two trainees in produce 48. while they didn't interact that much in the first few episodes due to being in different ranks and different teams for the group evaluation, they started interacting more and more after they got placed in the "into the new world" team for the position evaluation. minju helped marie a lot with her pronunciation and vocals, and helped the girl gain more confidence in herself, assuring her that she'll be successful. after that, the next time they saw each other again was in the debut evaluation, in which they were both placed in the "we together" team. and after that, marie went onto debut in iz*one. after iz*one's disbandment, marie transferred to hybe and the two girls reunited again. as of now, they consider each other as close friends, and minju can see the tension that's going on between marie and txt member kiwoong. even though she's closer to yeonjun than kiwoong, minju is still close to a txt member nonetheless and thus, can be one of the people that can help marie and kiwoong get back together. who knows? only the future will tell.

collab with ManDewIt!

 

CHU YUJI (LYRA)

close friend, born 1998, pop girls member

here.

collab with starliet!

 

HYBE LABELS »

KIM KISOO

vocal trainer in hybe & produce 48

as a longterm vocal trainer who has coached close to 400 trainees in all four seasons of produce alone, kisoo remembers every single trainee that he has coached, and he can clearly say that minju is one of his favorite students due to her tone, and helped her keep up even when better singers came into the company. he was the trainer who rallied incessantly for minju to receive opera training, even if for a brief moment and he was extremely proud to see how that training paid off. kisoo is one of the first ones to step up if anyone tries to deem minju's voice as "below average" or "not good". and while he was upset that she was rigged out of iz*one, he was still happy that she went all the way to the final episode. during their classes, he's harsh on her and it causes new trainees to worry but those who know kisoo, minju included, know that he behaves that way because that's his way of unlocking his students' potential, especially those he knows possesses it.

 

HYBE'S '99 LINE

labelmates, debuted in different years, idols, 1999

minju tries to make friends with everyone under hybe, but she's certainly the closest to a group of idols she calls "hybe's '99 line" or "hybe's guguz", consisting of herself, fellow '99 liners of pop girls, txt's yeonjun and seventeen's dino. even though they can't really hang out much nowadays because of their individual schedules, they try to hang out in the company whenever they can and have their own secret group chat where they chat quite often.

 

BTS

labelmates, debuted 2013, idols, 1992-1997

the powerhouse of hybe, hybe's main breadwinner. even if you say you don't know bts, you know bts. pop girls and bts, like hybe's '99 line, can't really see each other in the company often because of the constant schedules bts has, both in korea and overseas. but bts are minju's absolute role models. she looks up to them a lot in every way possible, but especially jimin and jungkook in terms of singing.

 

ENHYPEN

labelmates, debuted 2020, idols, 2001-2005

the trainees that would eventually make this group up began trickling into hybe as early as 2017 and, as she was part of source music like the other female trainees, minju didn't really get to witness the growth of the seven trainees that would eventually join i-land and debut as enhypen in 2020. ever since big hit's merging with source music, and becoming hybe, minju tried her best to be a reliable senior trainee to them, someone who they could come to and ask for help, and she really respects enhypen as her seniors. don't tell anyone but minju still finds it a bit weird to call enhypen seniors since she started training before them but she has to refer to them as seniors and be polite to them since they did debut before her, which she doesn't mind. while they don't really get to spend as much time together, she does state the '02 line aka jay, jake and sunghoon as the members she considers herself close to if she's ever asked.

 

as for the members of fromis_9, lesserafim and newjeans, she doesn't really consider herself close to them as she hasn't really interacted with any of the members except for the ones that have appeared on produce 48, aka lesserafim's sakura, chaewon and yunjin, and former fromis_9 member gyuri. but she hopes that she can be close to all the members of those three groups in the future.

 

OTHERS »

 

PRODUCE 48

friends & acquaintances, 1993-2004

when minju first auditioned for produce 48, she did not expect to be selected that quickly and most certainly didn't expect to make friends. but to her surprise, she made a lot of friends and is still in touch with most of them.

 

during the first episode, when minju walked out on the stage and chose a spot to sit down, she sat down next to choi yena. yena, being the extrovert she is, immediately started talking to her and introduced the two girls next to her as kim sihyeon and wang yiren, all three of them being yuehua trainees. they all became close friends and started including minju in the activities they did outside of training, with minju becoming the honorary 4th yuehua trainee. they were all very impressed with her opera skills as well, and minju was really impressed by each and every one of their abilities, particularly yiren's flexibility and chinese traditional dance.

 

during the group battle, minju became good friends with korean-american trainee alex christine and found two older sister figures in the form of former after school member lee kaeun and fromis_9 member jang gyuri. yiren was also in the same group as them, so it made her happy. minju and alex, who would eventually go on to debut as a soloist under the name of alexa, mostly spoke in english together as alex didn't feel comfortable speaking korean.

 

during the position evaluations, minju got really close to huh yunjin, kim chaewon, goto moe, chiba erii and soda marie. she has really fond memories of helping the japanese trio out with their vocals and pronunciation, giving chaewon pep talks so that the younger girl could be more confident in herself and her skills and talking with huh yunjin about their experience learning opera in a chaotic mixture of korean and english, as yunjin had received classical training back in new york, where she was raised in.

 

during the concept evaluations, minju was placed in the iconic rumor team, which meant she was grouped with kwon eunbi, murase sae, lee sian, han chowon and sihyeon. eunbi became a mother figure, sae and sian became the older sisters and chowon became a younger sister to minju, while she and sihyeon's friendship continued to blossom. rumor became viral in south korea and hit the charts at a really high rank, becoming produce 48's own version of produce 101 season 2's never.

 

at the final stages, minju made even more friends, some of who made it into iz*one. with the real final ranking being revealed, it wouldn't be right to say that she doesn't think about how it would've been if she had debuted with iz*one, because she does. but she is content with how things turned out, because so many things happened in her life may not have happened had she debuted with iz*one. minju has no regrets about joining produce 48 and she still remains a close friend of the iz*one girls and other contestants who have made their debut after competing on produce 48.

 

GFRIEND

former labelmates, 2015-2021, idols, 1995-1998

as gfriend had already debuted by the time minju came back from her opera training in the united states, she wasn't super close to the members. she only knew eunha and sinb after all from their time in big hit entertainment. but they are artists and seniors minju looks up to a lot, especially yuju in terms of vocals and she can say that throughout her six years of waiting/training, minju has gotten close with the girls of gfriend, receiving vocal and dance tips from the members. and despite gfriend having disbanded, minju still supports them in their individual endeavors, sowon and yerin with their acting, yerin and yuju with their solo careers and eunha, sinb and umji with their new journey as viviz. if asked, minju would consider herself closest to sinb, as the dancer was one of the first trainees minju became friends with in big hit entertainment.

 

ATEEZ

mingi's group, debuted 2018, idols, 1998-2000

ateez in general are extremely close to each other, down to calling each other's family members their own family members. and minju, as mingi's sister, is no exception to this closeness. to minju, ateez are just a group of eight dumdums who perform and make music together, and while she really can't deny that they have amazing teamwork and are a group of powerhouse vocalists, exceptional dancers and amazing rappers, she believes that the reason behind their amazing teamwork is due to how close and tight-knit they all are. as they're also close in age, they can communicate with each other, and minju, just fine and are more like a family than a group. minju spends a lot of time with ateez, either helping seonghwa cook or clean, discussing music theory with hongjoong, goofing around and getting into chaotic debates with san, mingi and wooyoung, doing karaoke with yunho, going on fried chicken runs with yeosang, and buying or making food for jongho. ateez are minju's best friends and biggest hypeman, and she loves them as they are and she's also their biggest hypewoman. she and her closest friends in the group, yunho, yeosang, san, mingi and wooyoung, have a "99z" groupchat on kakaotalk which is spammed with memes on the daily (courtesy of choi san and jung wooyoung) and they all have their own display name on there. asides from mingi, as he's literally her brother, minju is closest to yunho out of the 99z, due to them having known each other since they were 16.

 

THE POP

PLOTLINE » the early, although now that i look at it, she can be a mixture of the early and the diamond.

 

POSITION » main vocal, lead dance

STAGE NAME » minju (민주). nothing special, just her real name

 

TALENT TWINS »

loona's haseul for vocals. for new kpop fans who are newly starting to stan pop girls without having watched produce 48, minju's voice may sound like any ordinary vocalist. but it's actually her secret weapon, which has been confirmed by not only kisoo and namwoo, pop girls' vocal trainer and lead producer respectively, but also by famous singers like soyou from sistar when minju was on produce 48, especially after listening to minju hit whistle notes and all other crazy notes with ease. with her previous training in opera, minju has peak breath control, is one of the most stable members on stage while singing and has the potential to make it to the list of "best vocalists of 4th gen". just listen to her short opera covers. truly hybe's siren, am i right? (back-up: dreamcatcher's siyeon)

yuju for dancing. her entire dance skills comes from her nine years of training. hybe consists of a lot of trained and seasoned dancers who mainly focus on fluidity, some examples being yeonjun, j-hope and hoshi. and minju is no exception. basing her technique on fluidity, minju is considered to be like flowing water when she's dancing. although she is no way near the level of sora, she makes it up with her vocals and is practicing hard to improve on her dancing. (back-up: dreamcatcher's yoohyeon)

loona's haseul for speaking. similar to her singing voice but at a slightly lower pitch, minju's speaking voice is described as soothing, with the hint of a gyeonggi-do satoori sprinkled in when she pronounces certain words. (back-up: (g)i-dle's soyeon)

 

STRENGTHS » when asked about her strengths, minju would, of course, say her vocals. but she'd also say she's quite good at interviews as well. she's eloquent, thinks fast and always on high alert and can smoothly take over and speak if a member is having trouble expressing themselves. with her language skills, she can also help the members if they're struggling with certain words in english interviews or can take over to translate if a native english speaker member is having trouble on the spot. she's studying to become a translator, that's what she's meant to do, to translate.

 

WEAKNESSES » minju has no rap skills whatsoever, she cannot freestyle or rap on songs for the life of her but can take a stray line only if everyone else has also tried recording it and namwoo deemed her voice fit the best. fans also state that she's a lazy dancer though. (to be elaborated in the "headlines/scandals" section.)

 

TRAINEE YEARS » nine years in total.

2013 – 2014: big hit music

2014 – 2019: source music

2019 – present: hybe labels

 

TRAINEE BACKGROUND »

minju joined big hit music as a bright-eyed 14-year old in january 2013. she was friendly and adorable, and this personality of hers brought her a group of friends. not much, but they were a tight-knit group and minju was satisfied with it. her first few months of arrival, and minju already made a name for herself for her vocal skills and caught the eye of vocal trainers. she was constantly told not to compare themselves to anyone because she stood out in her own way and was young, so she had plenty of time to improve.

 

minju had always wanted to train in opera and she made this known to the vocal trainers. eventually, this request went all the way to bang sihyuk himself, and he got in contact with seth riggs, a distinguished vocal trainer who worked with famous singers such as prince, michael jackson and sohyang. with bang sihyuk having had a successful experience in 2012 after sending two other trainees to the united states for dance training, he was most definitely open to the idea of sending minju to the united states for a longer period of time. and in the spring of 2013, minju was on a plane to the united states to train under the tutelage of seth riggs, all expenses paid by bang sihyuk himself. the trainees who saw her leaving the trainee dorms with her bags packed thought she was kicked out.

 

when minju came back in the fall of 2016 after three years of opera training in the united states, it was, summed up in one word, chaos. in one day, she found out about all the things that had happened, how the whole "glam's dahee blackmailing lee byunghun" scandal broke out, how glam's contracts had been terminated, leading to the disbandment of the group, and how the female trainees' contracts were transferred over to source music. minju settled in her new dorm at source music and thus, started the six year wait.

 

during those six years, minju did a lot of things asides from training, including but not limited to celebrating her brother's debut in ateez, their popularity soaring and their many wins. she comforted him when he had to take a hiatus in 2020 for psychological anxiety and celebrated his return when the time came. she also celebrated the debut of her close friend yeonjun in txt, and their almost immediate popularity. she also joined produce 48 on a whim and got quite far, missing the chance to debut with just one rank.

 

just as she was one month away from starting her last ever semester of university, minju was called into the ceo's office with eight other girls. and that's when she was told she'd be debuting with the eight other trainees that were in the office. minju was on autopilot the entire time due to the shock that she's debuting as one of the main vocalists and lead dancers of "pop girls", hybe's new girl group.

 

PRE-DEBUT EXPERIENCES »

VOCAL TRAINING　received vocal training in los angeles, california, united states, with emphasis on opera under the tutelage of seth riggs and margareta svensson riggs between march, 2013 and november, 2016.

 

PRODUCE 48　took part in the third season of the famous survival series and gained attention for her cheerful and motherly personality and otherworldly vocal skills. minju ultimately failed to make the cut to iz*one upon ranking #13, just after lee chaeyeon, the final member of iz*one, and was eliminated in episode 12. after the true rankings were revealed, following the rigging scandal, minju's true final rank was revealed to be #6, meaning that she was, in fact, supposed to be a member of iz*one.

 

rank evaluation: you don't love me (spica) [rank a]

group battle evaluation: peek-a-boo, team 1

position battle evaluation: vocal, into the new world

concept battle evaluation: rumor

debut song evaluation: we together

 

HEADLINES / SCANDALS »

…RIGGED OUT OF IZ*ONE? [TRUE]　(time period: 2019, during the produce vote manipulation scandal)　a year into iz*one's promotions and soon after x1's debut, the produce 101 rigging scandals erupted and the allegedly true rankings before the votes got manipulated were revealed. among the list was also minju herself, with her true rank being rank #6 rather than the rank #13 that she received in the finale of produce 48. the fans who had erupted in a frenzy demanded that iz*one be disbanded like x1 but eventually nothing happened.

 

…LAZY DANCER? [FALSE]　(time period: after pop girls' debut)　similar to blackpink's jennie and itzy's lia, minju also faced backlash from pop girls antis at their debut for being "lazy" and "careless" on stage, seemingly not bothering to put in enough effort and lacking power and energy for the dance. this is not true in anyway shape or form. the only reason why minju may look… different on stage is because her dance technique differs from the other members. sadly, this scandal alone brought so much hate to minju, and despite hybe labels suing the ones who left all those malicious comments on her fancams, this caused minju to develop anxiety.

 

…NOT DESERVING OF HER POSITION? [FALSE]　(time period: following the "lazy dancer" scandal)　despite all the lawsuits, the lazy dancer scandal escalated further into plain out hatred, with toxic comments like "she's a lazy dancer", "and you guys call her the lead dancer?", "give her dance position to *member* ffs" getting thousands of upvotes, fans rallied to revoke minju's dance position and give it to another member instead. and hybe labels, once again, filed lawsuits against the malicious commenters.

 

…HIATUS DUE TO ANXIETY? [TRUE]　(time period: after pop girls' first comeback)　despite everything the members of pop girls and hybe did to shield minju from the comments, she couldn't help but feel anxious because she still saw toxic comments about herself, comments about how she only got into pop girls because she did well on produce 48, how she deserved to be rigged out of iz*one, how she wouldn't have brought anything to iz*one like how she doesn't bring anything to pop girls now, etcetera. she took it all and held it down, down, down until it all came bursting out in the form of an anxiety attack while pop girls were preparing for their first comeback as a whole group. immediately after that, minju asked eunbi and kwon to take her to a psychiatrist to be checked out. her visit resulted in a general anxiety diagnosis and an important decision. hybe released an announcement the same day, revealing that minju would be halting all group-related activities for the time being to focus on her own mental health and recovery and that the upcoming pop girls comeback would still carry out as scheduled, but with eight members instead of nine.

 

…RETURNING TO PROMOTIONS? [TRUE]　(time period: after the end of pop girls' promotions for their first comeback)　while the members of pop girls were performing in music shows and appearing in variety shows to promote their comeback, minju decided to focus on her recovery and academic career, and eventually graduated from chung-ang university with a degree in english language and literature, also minoring in software development. with the graduation photos she posted on pop girls' instagram page getting lots of supportive comments and feeling mostly better about herself, minju spoke to her doctor about wanting to return to group activities, and with her doctor's approval, she started promoting with pop girls again.

 

…DATING A CHAEBOL? [UNANSWERED BUT TRUE]　(time period: a year or two after pop girls' debut)　as fans of the korean entertainment industry would know, korean news outlet, dispatch, has a tradition of revealing the "first couple" of the new year on january 1st. the tradition emerged in 2010 with actors yoo haejin and kim hyesoo being revealed to be a couple and went on for years, with the most famous revelations being singer rain and actress kim taehee in 2013, actor/singer/mc lee seunggi and snsd's yoona in 2014, actor lee jungjae (now known for his role in squid game) and the daughter of daesang group, im saeryung in 2015, xia junsu and exid's hani in 2016, g-dragon and after school's jooyeon in 2018, exo's kai and blackpink's jennie in 2019, actors hyun bin and son yejin in 2021 and recently, t-ara's hyomin and soccer player hwang uijo (fc bordeaux) in 2022.

 

dispatch kept up with the tradition and on january 1st, *year*, the first couple was revealed to be pop girls' minju and moon jehyung, the son of the late moon jehyeop (1975-2021), one of the richest businessmen in south korea and former ceo of moon enterprises, a big business corporation, thus making jehyung a chaebol son. the report stated that they met at chung-ang university back in 2020 and started dating a year afterwards, and that they had been together when minju had debuted with pop girls in 2022. both korean and international fans were really supportive of them, with some of them recognizing jehyung as study youtuber and tiktok-er "revthecoder" with his content consisting of study with me/code with me videos, tips and tricks on coding and vocal and piano covers of songs. hybe didn't confirm nor deny the rumors but minju revealed to pop girls' chief manager minhyun and marketing director minchae that she was indeed dating jehyung. neither of them were mad nor upset, as they knew this wouldn't hinder minju from her job as an idol and even extended their congratulations to them.

 

FUTURE EXPERIENCES »

KING OF MASKED SINGER　due to her knowledge of music and experience in opera under the tutelage of seth riggs, a very influential vocal coach worldwide, minju is qualified to join king of masked singer as a panelist. she'll probably join as a contestant first though. manifesting haseul on king of masked singer.

 

SUB-GROUP »

minju has always been a fan of old school k-pop so even though she can fit all units, if she could choose, she'd choose to go for nabi. from soft ballads to strong hiphop-based concepts, minju can do all of them. her fluid dance style fits sensual concepts better, but she will nabicheoreom nara na na na navillera the absolute heck out of the song if she has to, and she will slay while doing so, as viewers of produce 48 have also seen.

 

THE ANCHOR OF HER HEART

LOVE INTEREST » moon jehyung (문제형)

BACKUP » matchmake :3

 

FACECLAIM » soloist park jihoon (back-up: victon's subin)

 

BIRTHDAY » september 18, 1999

OCCUPATION » study youtuber & tiktoker (@revthecoder), fourth year university student at chung-ang university (computer science & engineering)

 

OTHER NAMES/NICKNAMES »

caleb moon his english name given by his elementary school teacher.

文帝亨, wén dìhēng his chinese name, direct transliteration of the hanja. meaning "emperor, prosper." can loosely be interpreted as "to prosper like an emperor."

문제형, problem hyung a pun on his full name, because the first two syllables together mean "problem." kinda fitting, don't you think? this is used mostly in a joking manner, though.

문제, problem variation of the nickname above, but used by older people.

sadboi a joking nickname from friends; it all started with jehyung recommending songs from his playlist to them. his friends started to notice the melancholic undertones of all the songs that jehyung shared, whether from the melodies or the lyrics. this is perhaps the most vulnerable he'll ever get in front of people, although he'll never reveal why he gets drawn into such songs. he just says that those songs are nice to listen to.

moon jehyeop's son well, it is what it is. however, there's always a bad connotation that comes with this nickname, regardless if it's what jehyung literally is. it highlights his privilege even more, if he even had one to begin with.

 

PERSONALITY »

virgo, slytherin, lawful evil

pos charismatic, charming, adaptable, observant

sharp, direct, perfectionist neu self-aware, pragmatic

cunning, manipulative, aloof, headstrong, adamant neg

entj-t, 8w7. inspired by draco malfoy

 

jehyung, in a nutshell, is someone you'd want to bring to an uninhabited island—whether to feed to the crocodiles or to help you survive for the next month. he's both book smart and street smart, and he reads situations… a little too well for other people's liking. he's incredibly intelligent and knows how to use his smarts to his full advantage, or to help others if he wants to. but most of the time, he only cares about his own goals, and it's only coincidental if he wants to help others that share the same goals that he does. even then, he can use those people with mutual goals to make himself look better, by saying that he's doing it for them.

 

but then, it's not entirely a negative thing. he always takes a lot of consideration before jumping into action, but other people's feelings are never on his list. sometimes some things have to be sacrificed in order to advance in life, and that's just the laws of nature. the strong will hold power over the weak, and jehyung will do whatever it takes to stay at the top—even if it means abusing his power and manipulating those that trusted him. he's not even worried about people turning their backs against him, because people come and go with the circle of life. in the end, holding tightly onto the power that he was born with is more important than being adored by his subordinates.

 

people can call him spoiled, but he's not lazy and definitely not stupid. someone can put him alone in an uninhabited island, and jehyung will find a way to survive even if it means hunting other humans down. yes, he's cruel—but so are other people. the real world isn't all about rainbows and unicorns, people out there are willing to step on others to advance. that's the kind of person jehyung is; he doesn't set the rules, but he just plays the game. he's the smart kid who figures out a pattern early on in the game, and let his intuitions do the rest. if this is how the game goes, he'll come up with the best strategy to win.

 

and in the corporate environment, jehyung is just as ruthlessly powerful, if not even more. because he already puts so much consideration into his decisions, he believes that his insights are the best and he gets upset when things don't go according to his plan. even though jehyung does have miniscule anger issues, he's never one to hurt other people physically, or even public property. he knows the law and its plot holes; easily sliding between the gaps when it suits his needs.

 

even with the things that make him seemingly so cold and inhumane, jehyung isn't entirely a bad person. he knows well that a sense of belonging is what keeps a team running, so he always at least tries to keep things civil with others—although there are exceptions to people that he simply cannot stand. he can get rid of them without getting his hands dirty; somehow, he just finds a way. but even then, he wouldn't choose to ruin another person's life unless he doesn't have any other choice. as long as he's not the one getting affected negatively, he'll consider the way.

 

but here's the real question—does jehyung have any feelings at all? well, yes and no. he feels stress, anger, happiness, and sadness like other people. however, it's either he just feels it on a lower threshold, or he keeps his vulnerable side sheltered deep within the nooks and crannies of his heart. there are people that he truly respects and treasures like his family, but it's not easy for him to open up and show his true self to others. the jehyung that everyone else sees—charming, manipulative, and cunning as a fox—isn't entirely a fake façade that he puts to fool others, but he's just not used to expressing his feelings—because real men don't cry, as his dad once said. emotions pretty much became an estranged subject to him, something that he doesn't feel comfortable talking about.

 

well, and that's pretty much moon jehyung on the inside. not broken, or at least not yet — but he's too focused on amplifying his strengths that all of his weaknesses; his vulnerabilities, get completely overshadowed. if someone just happens to hit the bull's eye, then it's game over for him. turning moon jehyung on his knees is actually a lot easier than it seems, you just have to… wait, seize the opportunity, and leap when he's off guard. just beware, because he has eyes on the back of his head. he knows who's trying to use him to their advantage, and he can turn the tables in the blink of an eye. and within one second, he'll also have control over you.

 

LOVE STORY »

EPISODE I

when i mentioned that minju did a lot of things during those six years of waiting asides from training, i didn't just mean celebrating her brother's and friends' debuts or joining produce 48. she passed her geomjeonggosi (high school equivalency) exam, got her driver's license, took the suneung (university entrance exam) and started to pursue an english language and literature degree in chung-ang university, so that if idol life failed for her, she could still have something to fall back on. what she didn't expect was to meet the love of her life.

 

it was a breezy spring day in 2020. as she had an in-person class immediately after an online one, minju decided to go to the campus for her online classes as well so she didn't have to drive to the company, then to the university and then back to the company. she wasn't even needed until the afternoon anyway. her ceo had always been understanding about her commitment to her academics and even encouraged her to go to in-person classes, arranging her practices and classes at the company accordingly. as she still had time before her practice at the company started, minju decided to have lunch and coffee with a friend before going in.

 

"minju, you need to see this." her friend passed her phone over to her. taking the device, minju almost groaned at the familiar layout of the application that was open on her friend's phone. she had seen this exact same layout on her brother's and his group members' phones so much that it was starting to drive her insane.

 

"you know i don't do tiktok."

 

"i know. i'm not talking about the video. check this comment."

 

"o…kay?" minju's eyes flicked over to where her friend's manicured nail was pointing at.

doyoueveninternet: bark bark bark bark bark bark bark

↳ revthecoder: hello, animal control?? ?

and she promptly burst out into laughter. her friend also laughed, patting her on the back as minju choked on air from the sheer force of the laughs escaping her. and after a while, minju's laughter dissolved into soft giggles.

 

"oh god, my sides hurt. this is amazing! who is this?"

 

her friend then went on to explain who he was. he went by the name "rev" on tiktok, usually did voiceover videos and was involved with coding if his username was anything to go by. he gave out coding tips and information on tiktok, but judging from his comments section, it seemed like his target demographic mainly consisted of thirsty girls. after returning to the company, minju watched one of his videos on his study youtube channel. it was in a voiceover q&a format, filmed so that his audience would get to know him better.

 

*rev, huh?* she thought, storing the information into a crevice of her brain. *interesting.* and if she finally decided to put the barren tiktok account she had made upon san's insistence at the start of quarantine to use and stalk him on all of his social media and saw that he had liked edits of her on produce 48, that's for her and her only to know. and thus started the love story of song minju aka the girl on produce 48 and "revthecoder".

 

EPISODE II

their official first meeting didn't exactly take too long after that, in september. after her practices finished that day, minju excused herself from the company early, getting into her car and driving to the chung-ang campus to work on an assignment. despite having her own apartment in mapo-gu, minju associated the one-bedroom apartment with comfort and relaxation, and she knew that if she went home to finish her assignment, she'd fall asleep without even managing to get a shower in, she was that exhausted.

 

so she decided to go to her favorite coffee shop on campus to get a caffeine fix and finish her assignment. two birds with one stone, right? she didn't have vocal practices the following day anyway, so she could order her favorite latte without worrying about how it would affect her singing. she walked into the coffee shop as a bell chimed overhead, signaling to everyone that a customer had arrived. the smell of coffee beans filled minju's senses and she smiled contentedly. despite this coffee shop being in the center of the campus, it wasn't as crowded as minju expected it to be. well, more chances of finding an empty seat with enough outlets nearby to plug her phone and laptop in, right?

 

"oh, minju-ssi! welcome!" the barista at the counter smiled at minju, recognizing her as a regular. "i'll get your hazelnut latte with almond milk started right away. what size would you like?"

 

"a large please, thank you." minju said with a bright smile, taking out her wallet to pay and dropping a couple of coins into the tip jar, moving to the other side of the counter to wait for her order to come up. the bell suddenly chimed again, alerting everyone in the shop that another customer had arrived.

 

"welcome, jehyung-ssi. another large hazelnut latte coming right up." minju would've looked up at the person that had incredible taste if the kakaotalk message mingi had sent to the 99z groupchat (ateez' '99 liners + minju) about his psychologist appointment didn't have her whole attention. storing that information away to think for later, minju sent a long paragraph to the chatroom, talking about how proud she was of mingi, exited the 99z chatroom and went to reply to other messages from her friends, laughing at the meme yeonjun had sent her.

 

she was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a cup being placed down onto the counter. as she reached out for it, another, slightly bigger hand reached out at the same time, resulting in a rather awkward brush of their hands.

 

"excuse me."

 

minju's eyes widened at the voice. the smooth, velvety and extremely familiar voice. revthecoder. turning back around, minju became face-to-face with what she could only describe as the hottest guy she had ever laid her eyes on. smooth, pale skin with chubby, rosy cheeks. fluffy blond hair that looked like it was styled by a professional hairstylist. droopy, dark brown eyes that reminded her of a puppy, with golden framed, round glasses on. medium-height, about 175 cm at most, and dressed casually in a black tee, black skinny jeans and black doc martens. checking the cup once again, minju noticed that it didn't specify the almond milk. so that must be that guy's order. jehyung-ssi, the barista had called him.

 

"oh, i'm sorry." she handed the large cup to the blond guy with a smile, the guy taking it and returning the smile with one of his own. taking her own coffee and quickly bowing, minju turned around to leave when the guy's voice called out again.

 

"wait, i think i recognize you." turning on her heels, she looked at the guy with a questioning gaze. had he perhaps recognized her from produce 48? she knew she should've worn a mask, or hat, or– "you were in the programming class this morning, right? with professor kim?" oh. yes, you heard right. programming. upon doing some research, minju had decided that she could work in the software localization industry in the future. it combined translation and technology and it seemed promising, it's the age of technology anyway. and after consulting her advisor about it, minju had decided to apply for a minor in software development. her programming class was her favorite one so far and the assignment that was due in a week, aka the reason why minju was at the coffee shop, was for her programming class.

 

"oh, yes. yes i was."

 

"i'm moon jehyung." a hand was extended out to her. "i'm also in the computer science department."

 

"song minju. english language and literature." she smiled and took his hand, giving it a shake.

 

"do you mind if i sit with you? the seat i usually take is taken."

 

"sure."

 

with that, the two made their way to minju's seat and sat down, deciding to make small talk as they waited for their laptops to open up.

 

"so, if you don't mind me asking, why were you taking a class completely different from what you're supposed to take?"

 

"it's for a good cause, thank you very much." jehyung laughed, showing off a set of perfect teeth and minju also laughed with him before continuing. "i actually want to work in software localization in the future, so i decided to minor in software development." upon seeing jehyung's questioning gaze, minju went on to elaborate on what software localization was.

 

"software localization is the process of translating and adapting a software to the culture and language of users in a specific market. so it combines translation, which i want to do, and technology." the questioning gaze turned into one of understanding and jehyung nodded. "well, that's a valid reason if i've ever seen one."

 

"told you it was for a good cause." minju sighed, loading up her assignment and opening her planner. "but it's also hard. i have an assignment due in a week and i'm not even halfway through, please kill me."

 

jehyung pulled up his own assignment and turned his laptop around to show her the long lines of code, chuckling at minju as her eyes widened comically. "don't worry, we're in this together. this is due in a week as well and i'm not even halfway through either."

 

minju held up her paper cup. "a toast to celebrate?"

 

"to manifest better grades!"

 

"and to graduate without dying."

 

"oh yeah, that too."

 

and with that, the two toasted with their coffee cups, planting the seeds of something that would grow to be breathtakingly beautiful.

 

EPISODE III

as time passed by, they started to become closer, meeting up more and more often on campus grounds for coffee and studying whenever they both could and facetiming each other when they couldn't meet face-to-face. after realizing that they both lived in the same apartment complex on the same floor, don't even ask how that happened, they started carrying their on-campus meetings to each other's apartments, and coffee and studying also started including dinner and movies. and minju slowly started to develop feelings for jehyung. can you blame her though? jehyung is handsome and smart, and he's her best friend. don't tell the members of ateez that though, they'll all give minju the cold shoulder and that's the last thing she wants.

 

everything started to slowly change as 2020 ended and 2021 started, however. jehyung started showing up to classes less and less and also started canceling their meet-ups at the last minute more and more often, apologizing profusely as he did so. while minju didn't mind it as long as he was okay and told him as such, she was getting worried. whenever she did hear the sound of his apartment door unlocking (their apartment complex didn't exactly have the best soundproofing), the sound of the shower would usually follow and not a single sound afterwards. and whenever they could meet up, he looked really tired. over time, she started to notice how much weight he had lost between the times they could see each other and how his usually flawless, albeit a bit flushed, skin seemed to break out more and more. just what the hell was happening?

 

the answer came a few days into january, as the winter term in chung-ang university was coming to an end. minju had been studying with a few friends on a discord call for an upcoming final of hers when she heard the sound of the apartment door next to hers opening and closing again, a signal that jehyung had left.

 

"hey guys?" she called out to her friends, her friends answering with variations of "yeah?", "what's up?" and "what happened?". "have any of you heard from jehyung lately?"

 

silence.

 

"i'm getting worried about him. i saw him on campus yesterday and he looked so tired. he lost a lot of weight too."

 

"he didn't tell you?" yeonseok, one of their mutual friends, asked. "i thought you would've been the first one he told as he's… never mind."

 

"tell me what, exactly?"

 

"jehyung's father is in the hospital. has been for a while now i think. maybe since late last november? he didn't tell me everything but he did say he's prepared for the worst." minju gasped, immediately coughing as the tea she had just taken a sip from went down the wrong pipe. she was hoping her ears were deceiving her and that she heard the last part of yeonseok's sentence wrong. *prepare for the worst? but that means…*

 

"what?!" she all but screeched into her laptop microphone, years of vocal training finally coming in handy. "if you already knew, why didn't you think about telling me?"

 

"i thought he told you already." minju face-palmed, shaking her head before clearing quietly. "i'm going to see him. do you know which hospital his father is in?"

 

after getting the name of the hospital, she quickly bid her friends goodbye and left the discord call, running to her room to change into something more comfortable but still good enough for a hospital setting. as she went to the hallway to grab her car keys, her eyes lingered on the kitchen. she wondered if he had eaten anything today. she had just made kimbap, should she bring him some? deciding that she would, she quickly ran to the kitchen, taking out the two-tier lunch box she usually packed for him and placed a few rolls of kimbap and a few rolls of egg rolls into both tiers. placing the tiers together, closing the lid and placing the box carefully in a paper bag along with two pairs of chopsticks, she went to the hallway to wear her shoes and grab her car keys before getting out of her apartment and closing the door behind her.

 

a short drive from her apartment later, she arrived at the hospital yeonseok had told her, her eyes immediately catching sight of jehyung's white bmw x5. parking next to his car expertly, she got out of the vehicle with the paper bag in hand and locked her car, walking into the hospital. it didn't take her long to find moon jehyeop's room, as the nurse she had asked directions for was also going there.

 

jehyung looked up from his place on the chair next to his sleeping father's bed when he heard the door open and saw the nurse walk in, eyes widening in shock at the sight of minju standing outside the door, the girl giving him a small smile. standing up, he walked out of the room to let the nurse do her thing. he turned back to minju as soon as he closed the door behind them, giving her an incredulous look, as if he couldn't believe that she was there, that she was real.

 

"what are you doing here?"

 

"yeonseok told me about what happened." oh. jehyung let out a defeated sigh, rolling his eyes at their mutual friend. of course he would. the one time he decided to tell someone something personal and look where it led him to. *i'm not telling anyone anything again, to hell with 'no secrets'.*

 

"look minju, i'm already tired, so if you're here to–"

 

"have you eaten yet?"

 

"huh?"

 

minju couldn't help but smile at jehyung's flabbergasted expression. he looked like a fish out of water, eyes blown wide and mouth slightly agape. as he moved to say something, his stomach growling interrupted him. blushing in embarrassment, he turned his face away from minju and resulted in shrugging.

 

"i figured." minju chuckled. "come on, let's go to the cafeteria. i brought food and it doesn't seem like the nurse is going to come out anytime soon." she held up the paper bag with a smile.

 

after talking about this and that while eating the food minju had made in the cafeteria, they went back to jehyeop's room, only to discover the older man awake and sat up, reading a book.

 

"dad." jehyung ran into the room first. "you should be resting. how do you feel?"

 

"don't worry about me, son. i'm fine. they just refilled my medication." minju stood at the doorway, watching the interaction and finally getting a good look at jehyung's father. while jehyung wasn't exactly a carbon copy of his father (jehyung had softer features with chubby cheeks while jehyeop had a slightly more angular face, could be because of his sickness, minju figured), their auras were the exact same, even as the middle-aged man was confined into a hospital bed, possibly living out his last moments. strong, poised and confident.

 

jehyeop's eyes then fell onto her and minju found herself involuntarily standing at attention with how the man was staring at her with those piercing eyes of his. another stark contrast to jehyung's droopy, puppy dog-like eyes. those eyes broke their piercing nature, however, when the man broke out into a soft smile identical to jehyung's.

 

"and who is this lovely lady, jehyung? please, come in. don't be shy." minju walked into the hospital room and smiled politely at the man, bowing 90 degrees.

 

"hello sir. my name is song minju. i'm a friend of jehyung's from university."

 

EPISODE IV

moon jehyeop passed away on a rainy day on february 2021 due to a chronic illness he had been dealing with for a long time.

 

when he got the news that his father had passed, jehyung was in his apartment, trying to finish up an assignment which now lay forgotten on his laptop. he just stared at the text from his aunt in shock for a while, his mind a blank void of nothing, as if he had forgotten to breathe. after that small episode of disassociation, he exited the text and opened up the textbox between himself and the first person he could think of, thumbs tapping away at the screen on autopilot.

 

"my dad is gone."

 

five minutes later, his doorbell rang and the moment he opened the door, minju lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

 

jehyung didn't like it when people touched him, it made him shudder. even his father had hugged him only twice, during his elementary and junior high graduations respectively, so the idea of being touched was totally alien to him. when he had first met minju on that fateful evening in the campus coffee shop, he had actually been going through a breakup. his ex-girlfriend was someone from his department and he had his first kiss with her, but she left him because he was "too unaffectionate". he was upset, yes, but it wasn't like it was his fault.

 

but as he and minju just stood there in his doorway with minju hugging him, jehyung's thoughts went from "well, this is awkward." to ", this feels nice." real quickly and the moment minju tried to pull away as if she had just remembered he didn't like being touched, jehyung wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back in, and buried his face into her shoulder, finally letting out the tears he had held in for so long.

 

the aftermath of jehyeop's passing was a disaster to say the least. a lot of things needed to be settled, more than just death certificates. funeral arrangements, jehyeop's will, inheritance.

 

minju helped both jehyung and his aunt, hyojin, out a lot during those times. she helped them with the funeral arrangements, greeted the guests with them, took care of jehyung's school work when he had to do other things, stayed up with him either in one of their apartments or on facetime on nights where sleep couldn't come any sooner, and just… was there. even while doing her own thing, she never left his side once. and jehyung was forever grateful to her for that.

 

up until the death of his father, jehyung had never thought about minju in any other way than just as a friend. sure, she was nice, smart and friendly, and extremely pretty, might he add, he just never saw her that way up until then.

 

it all came to him at once one evening, when they returned to their apartment complex after visiting his father's grave that day. she hugged him and smiled at him before going into her apartment and jehyung just froze, placing a hand over his chest and feeling the torrent beat of his heart. as he laid in his bed that night, restless, he kept thinking about minju and things he liked about her. her kindness, her intelligence, how she could easily keep up with him in every topic, her food, her smile, her laugh, her presence. her.

 

and there his heart went again, beating torrently like last time, as if it was going to pop out of his chest. *.* he thought to himself, finally realizing what all of… this meant. *i love her.*

 

unbeknownst to him though, minju was the exact same way. she had already accepted that she liked him but with the way her heart was beating so loudly whenever she was around him, this made her think that maybe… just maybe, she didn't just like her best friend, her heart immediately agreeing with her as the thought passed by, too strong to ignore, even stronger to deny. *oh . i love him.*

 

the confession didn't take too long after that. it happened coincidentally, on a beautiful morning on march 2021. jehyung walked up to his door after his regular 7 am jog, wiping at his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. the smell of coffee filled his senses the moment he opened the door and he found minju in the kitchen, making coffee for them both. she had come over for dinner the previous night and had stayed over upon jehyung's insistence.

 

"morning." he walked up to her side by the counter, smiling when she turned to look at him.

 

"morning." she smiled back, handing him a mug full of the piping hot beverage. "i figured you'd need caffeine. drink up and then go shower, i'll prepare breakfast while you do."

 

jehyung hummed, taking a sip of the beverage. it traveled through his body in a stream, making him feel all warm and cozy. he let out a happy sigh, leaning against the counter.

 

"i love you."

 

what he said only dawned on him when he turned to minju, only to find her looking at him with shock written on her face. he quickly averted his eyes, feeling a blush creep up on his already red cheeks.

 

*i messed up. . . it's all gonna be awkward now because she doesn't feel the same way and we're going to drift apart and go back to being strangers and–*

 

"really?" minju's tone made his rushing thoughts stop in their tracks. she almost sounded… hopeful. he resulted in just nodding, staring into the mug of coffee like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

 

"i love you too." …what? jehyung whipped his head up so fast he could've given himself whiplash, a small but audible crack coming from his neck from how hard and fast he had looked up at her.

 

"really?" minju nodded, turning away from him and starting on breakfast, avoiding his questioning and hopeful gaze, too shy to even look at him. "since when?"

 

she shrugged, moving to pour the eggs she had cracked and beaten in a bowl into a frying pan. "i don't know. there wasn't exactly a specific time where i noticed it. i guess i always knew."

 

when she turned back around, she was met with the sight of jehyung pinning her against the counter, one hand reaching out to turn the stove off so that his apartment wouldn't catch fire. minju just watched as jehyung leaned in, pressing his forehead against hers, both of their eyes fluttering shut at the contact.

 

after a while of them just staying like that, basking in each other's presence, jehyung finally spoke up. "can i kiss you?"

 

minju's breath caught in . "yes." she all but breathed out.

 

and with that, jehyung pressed his lips against hers, arms coming up to snake themselves around her waist. minju's own arms wrapped around his neck as she kissed him back, both of their lips curling up into smiles as they kissed.

 

STATUS dating in secret for a year by the time pop girls debuts

ENDING still together, maybe even engaged or married?

 

RELATIONSHIP TRIVIA »

— their official ship name, made up by their friends, is "jeju", derived from their names "jehyung" and "minju"

— they're in the same university and expected to graduate around the same time

— jehyung, in fact, did watch produce 48 and their friends say that minju became his no. 1 pick when she first did the "you don't~ love~ me~" run in spica's you don't love me for her rank evaluation, which is something she loves teasing him about

— minju's lockscreen is a photo of pop girls, yes, but her wallpaper is a selca of jehyung that he sent her cheekily during practice. she malfunctioned so bad for a moment that some of the members got surprised

— after the pop girls lineup was revealed, fans dug up pre-debut photos of all the members and this was considered to be minju's best one. guess who was the photographer? moon jehyung of course. that photo also happens to be his wallpaper

— they once got into an argument about the interpretation of "kiss the rain" by yiruma. while jehyung thinks it's about the pain of unrequited love, minju believes it's nostalgic, about someone having moved on but reminiscing

— they live in the same apartment complex. so whenever minju has time to attend classes in university, they carpool together in jehyung's car because his car is better than hers (the dude drives a white bmw x5 for 's sake) and it uses significantly less gas than minju's car. and in return, minju packs him lunch and buys him coffee on campus

— minju's parents and the entirety of ateez know about their relationship. ateez even did a full-on intervention on jehyung, to see whether he deserved minju or not. but now they get along splendidly and jehyung has taken over ateez's place as jongho's favorite hyung because he always buys him food whenever he and minju visit

— they share skincare tips because as people with sensitive skin, they must have each other's backs

— their "friendship" first got discovered during one of jehyung's livestream after pop girls' debut. minju was over at his apartment, making dinner for both of them and jehyung was doing a livestream on instagram. someone commented "i can be your cat, meow meow meow" and minju's loud laughter to jehyung's deadpan response of "i'm allergic to cats" could be heard all the way from the kitchen. pop girls fans recognized minju's laughter and ever since then, jehyung and minju's "friendship" has been known among pop girls fans and jehyung's own fans, with fans of both commenting that minju is "living the y/n life". if only they knew…

 

THE END

COMMENTS » hi hi! so, an extensive character, minju is. but i think she'll fit in with the girls just fine :3 i kid you not, the way i struggled with finding a faceclaim for her when she was in the creation process for another story because i was like "whO AT LEAST LOOKS SIMILAR TO MINGI-" but i digress. i hope you like her! also, jehyung is actually a character of runa aka lilacyouths but i modified him, with her permission of course, to fit the storyline of pop girls better. still, if you'd like to learn about his background and read more about him in general, click here!

 

SCENE SUGGESTIONS »

— mint chocolate debate between the members! who likes it? who hates it? what are the reasons?

— the pop girls members going bungee jumping for a variety show, and minju going into full panic mode

— song siren moments™ aka minju showing off her opera skills and the members hyping her up

— will add more if i can think of anything else

 

SONG SUGGESTIONS » will add if i can think of any :3