the details

height: 188cm
weight: 64kg
style: tae gyun's style is very casual, and very simple. he doesn't like things with too many patterns since the grayscale confuses him, and it's honestly more aestetically pleasing in his mind to dress down rather than up. most of the time he'll wear matte colored shirts and pants, and he seems to have a preference for lighter shades. darker ones bother him since they remind him too much of the black that took over his vision and muted his world. he also likes to carry around a bag with him, usually a big one full of the essentials -- water, a snack, umbrella, first aid kit, a notebook, and a jacket.
languages+fluency: english (native, fluent), korean (fluent), chinese mandarin (conversational)
face claim: park jae hyun | gallery
backup face claim: lee nam soo | gallery


personality: "i'll pretend to be happy to protect you."

strangely enough, despite his natural tendency to fall over his feet, tae gyun ended up acting quite bright for someone plagued with misfortune and grayscale. the little ball of laughter that was a tiny tae gyun never died, even if people never laughed beside him. rather than show that depressed or sad, tae gyun chose to bury all those emotions, believing that maybe real happiness would come to him if he tried to run after it. maybe he was trying to be a little too optimistic, but at least it kept him from being a hermit. he had his very few friends, who learned he was a kind, albeit naiive individual with just a few more problems than average, including his crap luck.

in truth, all that happiness was a facade. tae gyun never truly felt happy -- he just wanted others to believe it, first so they wouldn't worry, and second in hopes that he could learn to feel happy by himself. unfortunately, that never happened. tae gyun felt incredibly lonely most of his life, and no matter how hard he tried, it just seemed like fate had it's way of kicking him harder and harder in the gut each time he picked himself back up. 

"there's only so many times someone can pick themselves up after being broken. i haven't reached my limit yet, but sometimes i wonder if i'm getting any closer to giving up for good. and whether or not it'd be easier that way."

after the boot camps, tae gyun did eventually toughen up and learned to stand up better for himself, particularly as his confidence grew when he lost weight and hit puberty like a truck. he still put up an act of happiness, but that was mostly due to his desire to protect others from his burdens. he is incredibly selfless, and stupidly so. he chooses to fake a smile, and forget his mistakes, or that he was a mistake.

in spite of choosing to pursue military life, tae gyun was also pretty sensitive. he learned to hide it at a young age, or laugh it off, but he'd get upset in private when he didn't think anyone was looking. he's still pretty sensitive, particularly with his spinal cord injury still plaguing his physical adeptness and having to worry about his tendency to fall over things making it worse than it already was. he's more easily stressed, and more emotional than he used to be. he is a quick learner, but does lack some common sense. in a way, he kinda needs a keeper around to hold up his out of style life, discover the weeper behind the smiles, and teach him how to express himself, and understand happiness.

background:  "i try not to think about it, but sometimes i wonder. what did i do to deserve this?"

some people aren't born fortunate; they're born in scorn, raised with shame and taught misery. tae gyun, at his best, was a mistake. the bastard child of a rich , the undesirable result of a sad affair gone wrong, and the product of a really really bad decision -- that was tae gyun's profile, and basically the whole knowledge of himself he was aware of since he was a babe. after getting pregnant from her affair, his mother ended up choosing to have the child, but dumped him on his father after she didn't want to raise him anymore. tae gyun has no memory of his mother at all, only knows that the mention of her makes his dad sad, so he tries not to ask. 

his first memories consist of him falling into a mud pile in kindergarden in california, and that was the basis of his characterization for the rest of his young life. the school clown, the dimwit, and the klutz -- goomi. and it definitely didn't help that he learned in the first month that his vision was a little different from others. tae gyun didn't know what colours were -- he couldn't see them. his whole world was halftones. that kind of separation from those around him made him more truly alone than even the harrassment his peers gave him.

after his father finally got fed up with his son being constantly teased in school for being a little chubby, colourblind, and prone to falling on his face, he took them back to south korea, to his hometown uijongbu, to start anew. except starting anew for a kid like tae gyun was hard. he was still chubby, still kinda a ditz, and pretty much allowed himself to be the of everyone's jokes because it made people laugh -- even if it was at him.  a little too open, he shared his story behind his nickname to one of his new classmates and eventually the whole thing got exposed and he was teased again for being clumsy and naive.

in the end, all the teasing had it's toll on the boy's actions. while on the outside he kept a facade of happiness and always tried to be bright, he'd occassionally succumb to periods of depression, where he'd comfort eat to try and cope with the misery he bottled away. the gray of his vision reflected the gray of his life, and at times these bouts would get much more severe, and include him locking himself away and hiding from his father and what few friends he had. his hatred of crying comes from this period of his life, since he would always cry alone and it never made him feel any better. the tears never washed out the gray in his vision.

"tears are water right? water is supposed to clean things. so why does it feel like crying just keeps leaving more stains?"

knowing his son moped and comfort ate in secret, tae gyun's father finally changed things, and for the better or worse it's up to judgement. just one day, in the summer, tae gyun went home and found his father had volunteered him for seoul's annual winter boot camp. a bout of fear, begging, and outright tantrum throwing later, tae gyun entered the camp as a chubby thirteen year old klutz, and came out two weeks later five kilos lighter. even if he hated the training with all his soul as a kid, in the end tae gyun ended up going back each year until he chose to serve his mandatory conscription at eighteen. he didn't exactly like being active and physically fit (in fact he never really truly liked anything, he just disliked some things less, and was good at pretending to like things in general), but since it kept others from teasing him so much, he took up mixed martial arts and learned wing chun kung fu and taekwondo.

over the years, he lost his baby fat, ended up a little more coordinated (granted the moment you took away his responsibility for the safety of other's out of his hands, he'd fall on his face again), and got run over by puberty. practically in a summer he grew almost a foot in size and ended up quite the stud muffin if there was any way to describe it. it seemed like his life was starting to improve bit by bit, at least on the outside, and he chose to serve in the military rather than go to university. something about protecting others seemed to make the gray a little lighter and a little more bearable, even if his happiness was still always an act.

it seemed though, that luck liked to run out for tae gyun when it was most inconvenient. you could say that all his past misfortune had decided to return for vengeance. in a freak training accident, tae gyun suffered spinal cord injuries that would land him in a wheelchair for the next year and a half of his life, and make him physically unable to serve in the army. his crooked path in life comes to a restart after he finally got back onto his feet, literally. in the end, since he couldn't enter the service again, he found himself a job bartending once he could walk once more. he still lives with his working father, and is waiting out the next hole in his road that he's going to fall into and claw his way back out again, all while fighting the despair that was beginning to surface from the gray taking over his life. at least, until he came back into his life..

"is it so much to ask to be able to smile without trying to, just once?"

likes: 
+ music, particuarly singing (but he )
+ computer games
+ winter
+ spicy kimchi bibimbap
+ homemade cooking
+ martial arts
+ fruity drinks
+ flowers

dislikes: 
+ hats and hat hair
+ sleeping in till 2pm
+ cloudy nights
+ the dark
+ awkward silences
+ being called too tall
+ his nickname goomi
+ crying

color or grayscale?:
+ grayscale

hobbies: 
+ going on long, seemingly pointless walks.
+ learning martial arts (before his accident).
+ learning how to cook at home.

trivia: 
+ tae gyun likes things that gives him strong sensations, like the cold of winter.
+ he has a fear of the dark, so he sleeps with a light on.
+ his favourite colour is pink, because that was the colour shirt that baekhyun was wearing on the first day they met.
+ tae gyun's mother is chinese-american, and was born in america. his father is fully korean, but moved to california for his work.
+ he learned mandarin chinese in school since his father told him he was 1/4 chinese.
+ tae gyun has no musical ability whatsoever.
+ he has a bad habit of talking to himself, whether or not people are around.
+ since the accident, tae gyun has pretty limited mobility in his lower half. he can no longer run, or jump, and has a hard time getting up if he falls. however, his upper body is fine.

"everything is so dull when your life is in monochrome."

          ❝byun baekhyun

age: 21
personality: "just look around you. imagine it. that warm spring breeze against your cheek -- that's what pink feels like."

baekhyun is one of those kinds of people you love because they're always smiling. he's a cheerful, cute and funny individual who loves making people laugh and breathing freshness into the air. with a very out going nature, he resonates strongly and easily makes new friends and is a pleasure to be around. kinda the opposite in a way to tae gyun, baekhyun is a child who is very lucky. he's known to have this sort of light around him all the time as if he's shining, and he's overall just adds brightness to anyone. his kindness can go off the deep end though since he has a tendency of being too nice, or too playful. sometimes he can get on other's nerves because he's trying too hard to make them happy or pulling them into uncomfortable situations because he thinks it'll be fun in the end.

he can also be a worrywart, and despite having a lot of confidence and liking to make others happy, he gets nervous easily if things don't go where he wants them to. he can get confused pretty easily, even though he tries his best to understand things and works really hard. he's humble, and tries to be as modest as he can, even though he has a lot of talents and a run of good luck that makes him quite popular and attractive. overall baekhyun is a very amiable person, with everyone's best interests and best traits at heart and in mind.

background: "at times it may seem like you're stuck, but if you look past all the problems holding you down, there's always another horizon to run after."

baekhyun probably had one of the most normal childhoods that anyone could think of. he grew up with a loving family, and only really didn't get along too well with his older brothers, who liked to tease and make fun of him for being the baby of the family. his parents were both business people, so the family was well off, and spent a lot of time together on vacations in china and japan, where baekhyun developed his language skills and interest in the international world. in school, baekhyun could be perceived as one of the "popular" kids -- but not because he demanded it. people just naturally loved his sweet, extroverted nature, and flocked around him. he had a big group of friends, all of whom he felt equally close to. he even made friends in china, whom he remained close to over the years.

one of these friends in particular, had moved from china to south korea, and baekhyun went out of his way to help him learn korean and adapt to the culture. he and tao have been close friends ever since, and are now roommates in university together. baekhyun currently studies international relations and is looking for a job in the field for when he graduates.


interactions: "i didn't know things this beautiful were allowed to exist."

tae gyun and baekhyun actually knew each other in high school, but not very well. they went to the same school, where they talked briefly after baekhyun didn't recognize tae gyun after he hit his growth spurt and had suddenly become taller than the other. tae gyun actually knew baekhyun long before baekhyun knew him, since baekhyun was the only thing he's ever seen in full colour. at first he had no idea what he was looking at, and was exceptionally confused as to why baekhyun stood out so much in his vision and why he seemed to almost shine. he had to pretty much kick himself to stop from approaching the other and attacking him for information as to why he was fully coloured unlike the rest of his world. instead, tae gyun ignored his urges, and chose to watch baekhyun from afar. he didn't want to scare the other off since he was the only solace from the gray in his lonely world. luckily, baekhyun ended up approaching him, and their friendship started from there.

due to baekhyun's vibrant personality, tae gyun came to realize he actually enjoys the company of the other (particularly since he was so colourful), that for once in his life his happiness didn't feel so fake. however, he never got too close in high school since baekhyun was a naturally extroverted person and usually surrounded by his other friends, and he didn't want to disturb his life. even so they did exchange phone numbers and kept in touch, particularly when tae gyun told him he wouldn't be going to university, and instead serving his mandatory conscription early to see if he'd want to live his life out in the military. 

once they both graduated and went separate ways, they didn't talk for awhile, and tae gyun's world was once again colourless. however, he never forgot the beautiful radiance from his high school friend. after his injury, baekhyun ended up coming back into his life and practically drowned him in concern. the ridiculous amount of worry shocked tae gyun since he hardly was used to others being concerned so much about him, but he couldn't say he didn't appreciate it. especially since he had colour back in his life. so grateful to see baekhyun again, he even let go of his selflessness for a bit to allow the other to worry about him and want to take care of him. 

"i can be selfish just this once right? i don't want to lose him again. i don't want to lose this radiance again."

the two got closer over his recovery period, and since most of baekhyun's friends from high school had spread across south korea, he had a lot more time to hang out with a disabled tae gyun and support him. the two became closer and eventually expanded their friendship from high school. they meet up where tae gyun works now and while leading separate lives, tae gyun has come to trust and consider baekhyun as one of his very few true friends. he's also begun to realize that it's easier to smile around this boy..

"are you the happiness i've been searching for all my life..?"