welcome to the palace
MAY I KNOW YOUR NAME, MY LADY?

 FULL NAME   Dong Hwa Yeon
 NICKNAMES   Jang Hwa - Means 'rose', because she's just as beautiful as a rose, that is...
Hwa/Lady Hwa - Hwa means flower, bloom. 

 BIRTHDATE & AGE    22 August, 24 y.o 
 HOMETOWN   Well, she lives inside the palace for 95% of her live anyways, so... yeah.
 ETHNICITY   Korean

lovely ladies
DON'T LET OTHER GIRLS OUTSHINE YOU.

yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery
TODAY'S A GIFT FROM GOD. THAT'S WHY WE CALL IT PRESENT

 PLOTLINE   The King's Concubine
 BACK-UP PLOTLINE   The Spy Courtesan

 BACKGROUND   
She was originally a servant (gungnyeo) in the palace, who served under the embroidery department. As she grows older, more and more people started to notice her matured beauty and defined body. Until one day the king notice her when she delivered his newly sewn ceremonial robe to his living quarter. The king raised her status into a 'favored servant' (a sanggong). As she was still underage (16), and because it was not normal for such an 'unexperienced' servant to be raised into such status, the king decided to wait until she went through her coming of age ceremony. After that, despite protest from the king's other consort, her status was raised again into a sukwon (low rank royal consort). The king and Hwa Yeon began to have ual relationship. What started as just a physical attraction began to change as the king notices the depth of her knowledge and her quick wit. Her goal of becoming the king's favourite consort started to come into fruitition as he trusted her more and more, even sometimes consulting political matters with her. Because of this, Hwa Yeon was again promoted by the king into the rank of so wi (third highest rank). Why she wasn't promoted into higher rank was all because of the most influential consort at that time. She was jealous of her beauty and how much Hwa Yeon could influence the king if she became a highest rank consort. They both want the throne... But only one could sit there in the end. 

As for what fueled her ambition to be the queen, originally, it was because all the prejudice that she got when she was first promoted into the royal consort position. Because of her age and her servant background, also because she came from a commoner family, she received a lot of hate. She wanted to be someone that held a lot of power to change people's life to the better. Her aunt also was a huge influence, as she always tells Hwa Yeon that she was born to be great. But then she was young and naive, and road to hell is paved with good intention. With the 'dirty' politics that surrounded her, and the unhealthy dose of hate and rivalry in her life, her initially noble cause started to disappear. Now when you asked her 'why do you want to be the queen?' she would just say 'because I deserve it.'

 FAMILY  

Dong Ji Min — aunt — alive — strict, cold, quiet, reserved, ambitious — She adopted Hwayeon after her mother died from childbirth. Then, she became Hwayeon's boss when she was still a servant. Even though she seemed very distant, Ji Min do have a special spot for Hwa Yeon, because she believes Hwa Yeon was destined for a greater cause. 

Dong Moon Hwa — mother — dead — caring, warm, stubborn — She died giving birth to Hwa Yeon. She only knew from the stories her aunt told her. Hwa Yeon often weep for her, regretting all the time they could spend that never happened. All she knew was, if her mother was still alive, she thought that her life would be very different from now.

Dong Jang An — father — alive — stubborn, hot-tempered, reckless — Hwa Yeon didn't really know him, aside from the shameful and embarrassing stories her aunt told her. After losing his beloved wife, his mentality dwindled. Added to that his only daughter was taken away from him to serve the palace, he completely lost it. He became a lost wanderer, going from town to town without knowing where he's going.  

underneath the beautiful mask
LET THEM NOT SEE THE MIRROR'S REFLECTION

 KEY WORDS   Confident, lofty, ambitious, stubborn, empathic
 PERSONALITY   
Hwa Yeon is a people person, with great skill to gather other people's admiration for her. Even though she's a high ranking consort, she's still directly involved with the happenings in the king's palace. She exudes the aura of pride and elegance, giving her a mature, thoughtful exterior look. Intelligent and quick witted, she has a colorful way of expressing her thoughts. Her words will affect her conversation partner one way or another, be it negative or positive. She's ambitious and a forward, long ranged thinker. She's also a very focused person, when she has a goal, she'll do everything to achieve it. In decision making, she used equal amount of emotion and logic. She would weigh her decision based on what she felt about it and what she perceived other people's feeling on it would be, but in the end she would use her logic to take the final judgment. Of course she's capable of having fun too. She's a tease with boys and girls alike, the more annoyed you are with her words, the louder her laughters will be.

She's an empath, which means she's a very emotionally sensitive person. People usually also see her as a 'firm, strict but loving mother'. She's actually a very emotionally expressive person, but because of the situation she's living in, she couldn't fully express all her emotions, she has to live under a mask of composed poise. The ongoing inner conflict of her emotions versus her ambition is also one of the things that will be the downfall of her if she didn't do something about it soon. 

 TRIVIA   
- Being an empath, she's great at reading situations around her. Using it to her advantages, often by pointing out the uncomfortable things/topics that other people unconsciously danced around.
- People often goes to her to confide with their secrets. Again, useful for her ambition. 
- She still loves to do the embroidery for her own clothes.
- One of the youngest girl to be given the 'so wi' rank (the third highest rank in the strata of royal concubines). 
- Because of her mature look, she's often mistaken to be much older than her age. 

drink with me
THE FOREST FULL OF WILD ANIMALS

 BEST FRIENDS   

Sumi — royal servant — bubbly, optimistic, caring, good listener  — Sumi is her personal servant, which means she's one of the closest person to Hwa Yeon. Sumi understands that Hwa Yeon couldn't trust her fully, but that doesn't stop in trying to crack the icy outer layer of her, to make her realise the true happiness in life is not that of the pursue of power. 

 FRIENDS   

Nam Bae  Hee — royal consort — loud, boastful, dull — she's just a 'cover friend'. Someone from the same strata as her (so wi) whose friendship only serve as her ear to the gossips around the palace. 

Yu In Na - royal consort - calm, reserved, sensitive, manipulative - Again, a cover friend. A strata lower than Hwa Yeon (so yeong). Hwa Yeon is closer to her than to Bae Hee, because she felt 'safer' when she was around In Na. But she might not be what she seemed to be.

 WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE YOU WOULD GET ALONG WITH  
Someone that doesn't talk too much, but someone that also gives her adequate response. Someone that knows their place and has a good manner. As she's a 'fire', a calm, breezy, easy going type of person can tone down her 'heat'. But she can also get along with people with a little spark of pride and  attitude. 

 WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE YOU WOULD NOT GET ALONG WITH  

 RIVALS   

Hwi Jang Bin/Lady Jang — Royal noble consort — They rivalled to get the position of queen. Lady Jang is THE concubine, the highest ranked concubine that had the most power. She had a lover, one of the king's advisor. His position allowed her to passively control the king's final decisions — cunning, ambitious, fiery tempered, hot headed, impatient — Keeping their cool in the surface, acting 'nice' with each other. They know when and where to fight their fights. Attacking behind each others' back by trying to get the biggest influence in the King's decisions.  

a heart full of love
TASTE IT, BUT DON'T GET ADDICTED

this is not yet the end 
THE KING IS COMING. GET YOURSELVES READY.

 HOW DID YOU ENTER THE PALACE?   
I was five year old when I stepped into this palace. My aunt, the most influential gungnyeo in this palace I mind you, trained me into one of the embroidery girls. I officially became one of the embroidery girls at the age of 15. 

 DO YOU FEEL CONTENT AND HAPPY INSIDE THE PALACE? OR DO YOU HAVE COMPLAINTS?   
Of course I'm happy. The King is truly a very noble person.  The King gives me everything that I need, he also has been very gentle with me. I... I can't have anything more to ask. I also... have a... nice friend here. Sumi. She... she... is the only one that I can... trust. Uh, I mean the only one that I can trust with handling my clothing and the hygiene of my room. She's a very meticulous girl, makes my stay here very pleasant. 

 WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT LOVE? IS IT WORTH DYING FOR?   
Oh, why, yes it is. I remind you that everything in this world is based on love. Even when hate seems to be overflowing, they must've loved something to drew such hatred in them, isn't it? People go to war for the love of their country. Mothers died... For the love of their child. People die of broken heart. Everything, is based on love. For a seemingly romantic person like you to ask me such a question, what do you think?

 IF YOU WERE GIVEN THE CHANCE TO SEE THE FUTURE, WILL YOU CHANGE IT OR NOT?   
We, as humans, we fulfills our prophecy. When you show us our future, our actions in the present will always lead to that outcome in the future, wouldn't it? Knowledge drives people crazy. Obsession of changing your future... Kills. Whoever you are, whatever you said you're from, it doesn't matter for me. I don't... want to know. I don't want to know! The universe will crumble if we cheated her, and what you will do, what you will say... it's cheating.
Like you said, my story is written, dear, unlike yours. You can still, well, if you insist, we can still write yours. 

 WHERE'S YOUR KEY, MY LADY?   
I don't know? Sumi? Where's my key? What key? Any key! They're asking me for a key, I don't have a key. I know you asked me for a key, dear, but you didn't really specify what key. I can't just give you the key for my jewellery box, can't I? I think what you mean is... a key word, isn't it? Well, if that so, here you go.

closing the history book
ANSWER YOUR HOMEWORKS THEN PASS IT TOMORROW

 REQUESTS & SUGGESTIONS   
- Her love interest realize that she used him to her advantage (he found out a bit late as he was friggin love blinded). He went through existential crisis, noticing how their entire life they were only controlled by different people, even by his lover. That was the moment where the one sided puppy love end and the real relationship starts. 
- She got prego... BUT WHO'S THE FATHER. I don't know though, I originally wanted her to be pregnant with the king's child by the start of the story, but I guess getting pregnant after meeting her love interest would be more interesting. because, again... WHO'S THE FATHER. 
- If you're okay with the prego idea... It will cause the king to raise her to the second highest rank (gwi in). Lady Jang would feel super threatened and would do anything to jeopardize the pregnancy.
- Medieval conflicts! Woot!

 QUESTIONS   Is it okay if I morph Kris into a Korean... I thought everyone in this story (aside from Luhan) is Korean... I'm too lazy to change my character into a chinese dinasty concubine... Too lazy to do my research T^T
 COMMENTS   
I'm sorry if this is a bit long... I dedicated a few hours just to research the life of concubines in Korean palaces... 
Oh, this is a wiki page about concubine ranks in Korean dinasty, just to make everything more clearer :) CLICK ME