★}  r a d i a n t

—we can burn brighter than the sun

choi jae yeon

 

 

★ it simply starts with hello

username: -paparazzi

what should i call you? jenny's fine. c:

level of activeness: otl, it's 4. ;~;

is english your first language? no, but technically yes.  i learned korean first, but i was born in america.

 

 

★ behind the mask

character's name: choi jaeyeon ( 최재연 )

nicknames: 

△  jay ( 제이 )  -  the trainees of sm began dubbing her as jay in the midst of her second year there because apparently, with the unearthing of her hidden rap skills, she reminded them of the then leader of 2pm, jay park.  it has stuck through the years and her group mates keep insisting on calling her this instead of the long jaeyeon.  she doesn't mind this, and actually likes the ring to it, but still prefers jaeyeon.  everybody who's anybody that knows her personally call her jay, and okay, she gives people she's not close to her a "look" when they decided that it's completely ok to call her this. 

△  tan zhen li ( 谭珍李 )  -  her step-mother kind of revamped her korean name into one that would be more siutable for a young lady residing in china.  only yuanyuan has the privelage of calling jaeyeon this, except for maybe lu han who just wants to test her temper once in a while.  

△  lu ( 鹿  )  -  because of the shy side jaeyeon gave reminded her of a deer, yuan yuan micknamed her 'wo de xiao lu' ('my little dear').  it was a secret nickname only her groupmates and family members knew of, but when yuan yuan addressed her daughter as her xiao lu, jaeyeon's fans went crazy.  from then on, the fans have nicknamed her this -- korean fans stuck with saseumie unni whilst the chinese fans stuck with lu zhen li -- even going as far as crowning her the queen of deer and earning a fan club in china under the name of deer joo ( with cute little deer antlers atop the two o's ).  lu han often complains because he got the nickname first.  jaeyeon just tells him to it up because the people have spoken.

△  joo ( 주 )  -   a little bit of a remix of jay and lu, and just happens to be her stage name.  she's had that vision of being called joo ever since the first she was dubbed as saseum-unni by the group / lu by lu han before debut, and wasn't going to let the opportunity of being able to change her name into something she wanted to be known as pass.  little tidbit: she hasn't told her groupmates the reasoning behind joo, but since they do keep badgering her about it, maybe she'll tell them.  just maybe. 

date of birth + age: 12.04.92 + 20 years old

height + weight: 158 cm + 45 kg

blood type: ab

ethnicity: korean

place of birth: jeonju, north jeolla, south korea

hometown:  guangzhou, guangdong, china

languages: 

△ hangul  -  fluent

△ mandarin  -  fluent / some slip-ups here and there

△ english  -  she knows enough to order food at restaurants, ask where the bathrooms are, and how to ask when the next knicks basketball game is from her step mother.  no, her english is pretty basic, but her pronounciation is brilliant

ulzzang: da in

links: △ △ △ △ △ △ △ △ & gallery  △

back-up ulzzang: im da hye ( im da )

links: △ △ △ △ △ & gallery  △

 

 

★ make the impression last

family background: 

work, work, work, oh, and some intensive work.  that's what jaeyeon's life revolved around.  born in jeonju, north jeolla -- the country side -- it was expected.  her father, the youngest of four, worked his off to impress his parents.  her mother worked her of to carry her family of five as the eldest.  but maybe that's why they only decided to have one child: to prevent having most of the stress they've faced growing up.  they settled along the countryside, however with stable jobs and a comfy home.  but despite havign almost everything at her fingertips, jaeyeon was never spoiled.  she hated the fact that her parents worked hard for her.  at the age of 6, she's learned to be as independant as possible and worked hard in her own way; through school.  to reward her of her hard work, jaeyeon's parents signed her up for some dance lessons at their local dance academy.  at 7, she fell in love with the art of ballet and made it one of her priorrities.  at 10, she began competing around north jeolla.  

but alas, it was also at 10 that she lost her mother.  by then junghee, jaeyeon's mother, had been accepted as a columnist at the korea times.  she had just been heading to daegu to interview a 9/11 survivor for her latest article when a drunk driver crashed into her car and she slipped off the road and landed in a ditch, dead by the time the ambulance got to her.  it was a traumatic event for the family of two, and they immediately moved to guangzhou, china in an attempt to move on.  they lived in an apartment building, jihoon, her father, worked at a local restaurant as a cook and jaeyeon went to a foreign elemtary school.   she made friends and continued ballet, he made enough money.  life went on.  at 12 she met her idol ballerina, tan yuan yuan, at a fansign at her ballet company with her father.  it was a whirlwind by then, and fate was finally on her side because yuan yuan and her father began dating.  at 14 her idol and her father got married, and at 15, she became a soloist at the guangzhou ballet, the youngest ever.  this gave her a popularity, the most a young ballerina at her age could have.

personality:

jaeyeon is one of those people who gives the first impression of being very arrogant and over-confident.  at first sight, she can very much be set apart from others through the constant smirk she wears, her sharp eyes perpetually holding a glint of mischief.  just as her eyes imply, jaeyeon likes to tell it as it is, and she is not afraid to say it.  smoothness, charm, eloquence -- those are her main points, points that she believes make her look like a capable woman.  she's one of those savvy, intelligent people who can talk circles around other people when she wants to with simple manipulations of words.  she's terribly sarcastic, more than a little bit snarky, and can act unfazed when the situation calls for it.  after all, her wit is her strongest attribute.  this is what she shows to almost everyone and what everyone remembers her by.  she's not afraid to express her opinions and distinguish it from the rest of the crowds', for confidence does not mean arrogance or ignorance more than it does being sure of one's own abilities.  and that is exactly what she is.  

truly jaeyeon is a level headed female, pasionate and rational and very soft.  she doesn't think there's anything wrong with knowing and being confident with your abilities, which she's sure she does.  despite coming off as cocky, her heart is firmly in the right place and she gives everything her best whenever and however her skills could be applied, even if it means putting others before her.  jaeyeon's weakness, however, is also her strongest attribute.  she can never really go in depth in her explanations as to why she feels a certain way.  she's very logical as well as thoughtful and will take extra time to think things over, to take things in before completely commenting or making a decision.  she has a strong will, which has often caused issues for the girl as she has unknowingly offended others by coming across as rude or disrespectful.  she is neither rude nor shy.  given the chance, one will realize that it's completely obvious that the girl is giving you her entire attention.  her body language, the way she will never break eye contact when she's communicating with someone for example, because she knows it's a sign of respect for the other person and their opinions.  

beneath this strong, composed nature, jaeyeon has surprisingly naive tendancies, and can be a little bit too trusting for her own good.  she's very much in touch with her emotions, but feels shame whenever they are let out.  no matter how hard she tries to hide fear or worry or guilt or whatever it may be, she will always lose the battle to tears.  apart from that, there's always a nagging voice in her mind when she's in general public to make an impression of herself as something other than 'the georgeous one' or the 'ballet prodigy' or even 'the cocky member'.  she's honestly the most insecure one of the group and feels the weight of responsibility and expectations the most.  she's the most compliant to the company's rules and regulations towards radiant, even though the company's rules can be quite overbearing.  being of type a blood does get to her, and jaeyeon needs everything and everyone to be in complete harmony and organization.  

what completely throws people off guard is the way she opens up with people who have earned her trust and have made it clear in her eyes that yes, this friendship is going to last.  why?  because despite opening up, jaeyeon will never show her worries to anyone.  she's not the type to break down in front of people, unless you've really caught her off guard, or spill her problems to them.   unlike most reasons, however, jaeyeon does not do this because she doesn't want to burden anyone with problems that are not theirs.  no, she keeps problems to herself in order to keep the facade that everything is perfect and she has everything under control.  if she can't quite hit a note, she won't ask the vocal trainer or any of the members for help because she just does not want to feel slow or stupid, and instead will stay in the studio to practice it until it's correct.  this very well aplies to emotional troubles as well; she just loves to put up a front that she's chill and relaxed, therefore no one can ever really tell if she's upset or not.  she can't help it; jaeyeon was always a natural runner.  she runs away from problems as her troubles pile on and pushes everything aside.  this works for short periods of time, but when she finally needs to face her troubles, she does it head on, chin up high.  she will do everything in her power to set things straight.  

besides everything, you can say that choi jaeyeon is a pretty normal girl.  she loves her friends and her family and treasures her relationships with others.  she hides from her problems and only cries when she cannot take it anymore.  she's your typical girl, perfect and imperfect.

[ to summarize everything because this is the longest thing i've ever written for a personality otl ;~; : 

△  comes off as  -  cocky / conceited / mischevious / "flawless"

△  truly  -  soft-spoken / listener -> does not give advice, rather listens to problems instead / respectful -> does not break eye contact when someone is speaking to her / straight-forward -> believes in telling nothing but the truth

△  beneath  -  naive -> too trusting / in touch with emotions, but only lets them out when they cannot be contained any further / will never show indecisiveness or trouble because she has the front of being perfect, which leads to having a perfect life

so .. yeah. ]

likes: 

△  fashion  -  jaeyeon is the hyoyeon of radiant when it comes to fashion

△  vintage items  -  clothing, movies, cars, you name it

△  classical music  -  it's what calms her down after a long day's work, along with some plie exercises 

△  dreary, rainy weather  -  it kind of reassures her that her life isn't as miserable as she makes it seem sometimes ( because of the "when it rains, the world is crying" thing? no? ok.. )

△  baked goods  -  she doesn't care for candies, rather saves her money up for these pastries

△  nail-art  -  her nails are always done with some sort of design to them, even if they're just french nails

△ jokes  -  she's honestly a closet joker and thinks all the jokes she tells as comedy gold ( even though she doesn't tell much ... )

dislikes: 

△  being compared to others

△  losing  -  there's absolutely no room for second place

△  cutting her hair  -  seriously, her hair grows so slowly that the last time she cut her hair was when she was 17 years old

△  confrontations

△  flowers  -  she's got this death sentence to pollen is why

△  lip gloss  -  the sticky consistency of lip gloss on her lips just isn't jaeyeon's thing

△  autotune  -  she finds this technique just unbelievably awful and asked producers to keep from adding this effect on their songs

habits: 

△  bilingualism  -  her bilingualism sometimes shows up when she's angry and random mandarin and hangul words come out of incoherently

△  hands  -  she uses hand gestures to talk a lot

△  groups  -  she tends to stay quiet arouund groups of people she's not familiar with

hobbies: 

△  shopping

△  reading

△  taking selcas  -  the amount of selcas one will find on her phone, a.k.a. the wasteland of failed selcas, will surprise just about anybody because she really does not seem like the type of person to do that type of stuff

△  gymnastics / ballet  -  she likes ot stretch with f(x)'s victoria and just mess around with tricks if the two groups happen to be practicing during the same hour

△  watching old black and white american moveis  -  it's just so amazing to see how film-making and technology has evolved since then

△  watching dramas  -  it kind of goes back to the whole "my life isn't as miserable as it seems" thing

△  playing the violin  -  the annoying lessons she had to take growing up were  really worth it when jaeyeon just listens to herself playing

trivia: 

△  pets  -  a male 2 year-old husky named yopik who lives with her father in gangnam

△  education  -  transferred from beijing chen jing lun high school; graduated from anyang foreign language high school; currently a major in neuro-psychology at seoul national univerity

△  predebut  -  rising ballet star, starred in infinite's paradise, played seo joon's mother 

△  twitter,  me2day & weibo  -  joo_choi92, joochoi_radiant & joochoi

△  rookie dream  -  someday ( hopefully soon ) star in her own ballet, win the rookie award, to dance on the same stage as her step mother, etc.

△  allergies  -  pollen  and certain nuts 

△  food  -  she's the best cook you'll find in sm entertainment

△  left-handed

△  featured in  -  endorsed samsung anystar with lee hyori and lee junki in 2006, clean and clear with kim jiwon in 2010, etude house with shinee in 2011, and samsung note 2 in 2012

△  inspirations  -  kim jiyoung ( the ballerina ), tan yuanyuan ( the ballerina ), yoon mirae, and brown eyed girls

△  basketball  -  her favorite basketball team are the knicks; the first basketball game she's ever been to was knicks at lakers when she was visiting her mother in february 2012

△  religion  -  roman catholic

△  acting debut  -  she made her debut with labelmate yoona in love rain as baek hyejung

△  ballet  -  from the universal ballet, she transferred to the guangzhou ballet, and now to korea national ballet

△ her usual attire is very classy, no matter the ocasion ( △ △ △ △ △ △ △ △ △ △ △ )

 

 

★ those that matter don't mind

family: 

parents:

△  choi jihoon  /  43 years old  /  bakery owner - retro oven  /  laid-back, talkative, humorous, kind  /  he's her best friend, her teddy bear, her beloved father.  needless to say, jaeyeon has a very comfortable relationship with her father.  he's always the first person she runs to whenever something bad happens to her and he makes everything right most of the time, most of the time anyway.  

△  jeung junghee  /  32 years old ( at death )  |  42 years old ( supposedly )  /  columnist for the korea times  /  talkative, short-tempered, close-minded, egotistical  /  there was never really a solid reason as to why jaeyeon and her mother never got along too well; it was just way too early to tell when she left.  ( deceased )

△  tan yuan yuan  /  39 years old  /  principal instructor at the san francisco ballet  /  calm, soft-spoken, humorous & poised  /  being the step-mother, one would expect jaeyeon to immediately shun yuanyuan away, however their share of interest ( ballet ) developed a close relationship between the two.  yuanyuan is everything jaeyeon's true mother was not, and jaeyeon truly appreciates the older's effort in trying to gain her trust gradually.  the fact that yuanyuan works so far from home makes their relationship even tighter because not seeing each other and not being able to tell each other of their experiences can really take a toll on a relationship, however the distance only seems to bring them closer together.

siblings:  none.

friends: 

△  kim hyoyeon  /  23 years old  /  girls generation  /  blunt, childish, mischevious & dorky

△  kim 'l' myungsoo  /  20 years old  /  infinite  /  sarcastic, cocky, softy & snarky

△  lee 'hoya' howon  / 21 years old  /  soft-spoken, mischevious, sly & sweet

△  jung 'krystal' soojung  /  18 years old  / f(x)  / cunning, intelligent, quick-witted & charismatic

best friends: 

△  kim hyunah  /  20 years old  /  4minute  /  opinionated, sassy, strong-willed & whiny

△  lu han  /  22 years old  /  exo(m)  /  quirky, overzelous, playful & sly

rivals: 

△  kim hyunah  /  20 years old  /  4minute  /  hyunah is kind of the person that really compliments jaeyeon just because they're so similar, personality wise.  neither really liked to sugar coat things and preferred to be straightforward, and that goes for their relationship more than anything.  they'll tell each other the truth, and their motto is honestly "the more it hurts, the more you know it's the truth."  sure, you can call it a love-hate relationship but it's more love than hate, most of the time at least.  it's really difficult, however, to be friends with the career they both have because comparison is inevitable.  they're both the best dancers in their respective groups, and of course their individual fanclubs had to go and compare them with each other.  one can't say it wasn't expected, however, because of the simple fact that they're tackling their career with a mature style.

 

 

★ the burning ember

stage name:  joo ( 주 )

persona:  the femme fatale

personal fanclub name:  ruby red joowel(s), or simply joowel(s)

personal fanclub color:                  [ #ff0033 ]

trainee history:

so jaeyeon was not one of those people who could hit high notes with ease while performing covers, but her dancing in general earned jaeyeon recognition throughout china, her bilingualism only boosting that popularity.  many companies desired her mere presence to represent their businesses, but that alone was a problem for jaeyeon.  she did not want to be known as the girl who was face of the company so-and-so, or the one hit wonder.  she wanted a lasting career and felt as if only the companies in south korea could offer that.  she first tried yg entertainment in 2007 because, let's face it, big bang has amazing artistry and variety.  her ability to dance ballet as well as jazz and hip hop rendered her as intimidating competition for all those who auditioned, yet her lack of vocal skills ended up eliminating her.  it was sm entertainment, a few months later, that held their annual recruiting auditions.  naturally, jaeyeon took part.  everyone was awe struck at her telent, and even more so due to the fact that she danced to a hip hop song as well.  she was accepted into the company, but it seemed as if everybody was agaisnt her.  they all thought that her initial popularity in the dance community was why she was chosen, that she was only there because of bias.  she fought through the discrimination and segregation -- because she was still just the weird girl of the bunch.  she was mocked through horrible imitations of grand jetes and plies, and through "oh, you're a ballet dancer?  whoops, i would've though otherwise.  you're too fat!"  naturally, jaeyeon went through a short period of being an anorexic, but sought help before things initially got worse.  

around her first year, she auditioned to be part of korea national ballet in seoul, with sm's permission of course, and was accepted two months after.  she often traveled from school to ballet classes at knb to the company for even more ballet and a sprinkle of trying to get her vocal chords loosen up to sing as a student.  the traveling times really took away from her training time, and the traveling for competitions only made things worse. some say maybe that was why she never found her true potential until after two years of training.  then again some say she was just blind.  furthurmore, only on her second year of training did she finally get the respect she deserved.  skeptically, she performed a cover of oh wonbin and miryo of brown eyed girls' "i love you, i love you" along with a friend, lu han; she rapped while he sang.  her abilities truly caught everybody off guard because until then she was known as the girl who could do nothing but dance.  from then on she recieved recognition for there weren't many female rappers in sm.  jaeyeon began to form new friendships and enemies on the way because, hey, she never was better as making friends than making enemies with her behavior.

extra jobs:

△ ballerina at korea national ballet  -  soloist ( a.k.a. she travels around the country for competitions and shows whenever she can )

△ actress 

your two brothers: 

exok: kim 'kai' jongin

exom: huang ziitao

 

 

★ a destiny of love

love interest: park chanyeol  /  20 years old  /  exo(k)  /  quick-witted, sarcastic, mischevious, & childish  

how they met: 

just a bit before debut, jaeyeon was asked to model for the front cover of vogue with her two exo brothers in celebration of and for promotion for radiant.  the theme was an old hollywood around the 40s.  everything was set up already, from the set to her modeling partners, and jaeyeon had no say in anything during the shoot.  it wasn't anything intimate, but it did make things awkward at first because, come on, modeling shoots will get awkward no matter what.  it didn't really help that those two sly kids brought the giant park chanyeol with them because "the big guy gets bored in the dorm", but  it turns out that chanyeol just came along to poke fun at the girl and his two 'saengs.

how they act around each other:

there's a pretense between th two that everybody mistakens to be ual frustrations, when indeed they are nowhere near correct.  at least, that's what jaeyeon believes.  chanyeol, on the other hand gleefuly agrees with everyone else. the thing is, his friendship with jaeyeon is kind of complicated.  they're just so different that it's quite difficult to tell if they truly do hate each other, are just normal sunbae/hoobae, or madly in love.  they're snarky towards each other - that it's amazing how well they look like they're getting along in front of other people, the public eye - but there's truly some genuine affection underneath.  at least on chanyeol's side, of course.  jaeyeon has always liked to treat him like she would a younger, annoying sibling: like a pest.

their relationship status?  friends without benefits, and, okay, his secret feelings for her just don't make 'without benefits' any much easier for him. if they ever do get together she will become extremely annoyed at his possessive nature and he will become extremely annoyed at how their relationship is going nowhere because she finds it difficult to grasp the fact that her boyfriend is the 'keeper of her heart' because its her, dammit.

 

back-up love interest: kim sunggyu  /  23 years old  /  infinite  /  bright, sensitive, conservative & sarcastic

how they met:

just as she met chanyeol, jaeyeon met sunggyu just a bit before debut.  she was auditioning to be seo yian's character, park jihye for what is mom and naturally,  myungsoo was there also, along with sunggyu, woohyun, and sungjong to support him.  they just happened to be in the same waiting room together, and she and sunggyu just naturally atracted towards each other.  even after the adutions they've kept in contact, and soon jaeyeon found herself slightly crushing on him.

how they act around each other:

around sunggyu, jaeyeon becomes the shyest thing, stutteringand fumbling all over the place.  likewise, so does sunggyu.  despite this, it was a beautiful friendship with a simple exchange of words and touches.  they grew to be very close friends, consoling each other wiht secrets and worries.  their relationship isn't anything like the cat-dog relationship she has with chanyeol, but she fell for his charm, the soft personality he has.

 

 

★ goodbye baby goodbye

question/comments: i'm so sorry for taking too long, otl. ;~; btw, this account is my blog account.  this is my real account.

scene requests: lots of fight scenes with chanyeol and jaeyeon that end up fluffy, omg.  and chanyeol should give her flowers, unknowing to the fact that she's deathly allergic to pollen and she's almost sent to the hospital haha oh god i'm sick SORRY

password: ( floating ) ( lights )

 

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