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THE COULD HAVE BEEN VS. THE THROW AWAY
CHO YEJI
THE HUMAN
TL;DR – if you asked the upcoming soloist, go yoonseo what she thinks about the old cho yeji, you'd get not much of anything else but complete and utter boredom, a robot formed in an idol factory even. she was sure that yeji was hiding some deep, dirty, dark secret because surely, no one could ever be so uptight and bland as the girl who follows all the rules and never crosses anyone! sure, perhaps yoonseo was right in the fact that yeji was hiding something but that ridiculous girl really has no idea - no one really does.
PERSONALITY –
PERSONALITY –
THE REAL GIGI CHO
confident borderline proud, rule-bender, witty, scornful, poised, falsely modest,
detached (but only externally), mannerable, prone to stress, crestfallen, elegant, spirited.
YOU MAY REMEMBER HER AS CHO YEJI.
cho yeji who? forever overlooked and overshadowed. a girl who never stuck out despite all her efforts of following every damned bloody rule to the t! a girl who anyone in their right mind, wouldn't bat an eyelash at because she could never leave a lasting impression anyway. she was someone the company could no longer see debuting; her lack-there-of being the very reason she was cut from the line-up that formed notlike, her presence never really missed by those who got the chance to taste debut. those girls never really felt any empathy towards her after all aside from dahee and even she started sending less and less text messages followed by short, one worded responses.
this left the kind, docile, rule-abiding cho yeji frustrated, upset and totally wanting to out of this ed up facade.
so while glaring at her pitiful reflection in the ladies' restroom fo the training headquarters, yeji starts to contemplate if she should keep up this charade of being an obedient peer or ditch the act altogether and embrace the true her that was itching to break out.
she decides to choose the yeji before korea.
the signature bob and bangs would definitely have to go. the pastel, loose-fitting clothing too. this was trainee cho yeji's style but gigi cho's was always quite the opposite. she should have never listened to the training director's advice about scaling back on her personality but fnc did further damage by trying their best to preserve this goody-two-shoes persona and yet, in the end it still wasn't enough.
she was the one sitting in the practice room, watching the notlike girls perform on music stages and truthfully it only screwed with her further. this just wasn't fair.
she'd done everything that was asked of her but how far did yeji get when she was a contestant on produce99? oh yeah, not far at all and then she was sent back to the training rooms where the others saw her as a laughing stock. it burned her, truly all of it did but then she'd remember all the times that the director's scolding words would plague her until all she could muster up was a reserved expression in response (the face that yoonseo would say was quite robotic).
despite it hurting to her very core, the new and improved yeji would simply hold her head high and heavily focus on improving her skills so as days progressively started to turn into weeks then months and the awful haircut started growing longer, yeji could see snippets of gigi returning. she would keep up airs by remaining super friendly with everyone and sort-of abiding by the rules put in place by the overworked staff, but one would have to be living under a rock not to notice a shift in the trainee's appearance, personality and skill-set.
this wasn't the same girl from 2018 who was easily eliminated in a rigged show.
this was someone entirely different, someone that fnc had once upon a time wanted for their trainee roster but decided to sell the nice-girl image instead. this was the real gigi cho: the bold chick who missed expressing her true, authentic self and steadily going against the grain that was pushed onto her for far too long.
BACKGROUND –
[ 1998 ] a beautiful baby girl was born to the cho-park clan in wonju, south korea on the eve of halloween (americans and their holidays). her birth was much anticipated by her parents who doted on her every chance they could get and ultimately the infant was labeled "spoiled" by her maternal family members. but despite the negativity, park myeongji thinks that cho yeji is the cutest baby on the block and even the neighbors can't deny this as they watch the toddler waddle around the apartment complex.
[ 2003 ] yeji never really grasped the fact that she'd always stuck out despite attending international school in hong-kong, her family having to relocate after her father accepted a two year contract to teach. never really concerned for others' opinions, the young elementary student was well known around the neighborhood for being a goofy little thing, cracking wise jokes and blabbering in broken cantonese followed by awful or grand hand signals. the grandmas adored her, the little girls wanting to be her friend and the little boys always playfully teasing her by tugging at her long pig-tails and calling her "gigi" (吉吉 - pip-squeak) which funny enough, ultimately sticks.
[ 2010 ] gigi's life changes abruptly when her father's contract is extended for more years than planned and her mother is ridiculously home-sick while living abroad. on the next plane to wonju, the mother-daughter duo is seated while the family is anticipating their arrival any time soon. this is also the very first time gigi gets to meet her grandparents and the rest of the family since leaving for china. sure, they had always spoken to her over the phone but letters, phone-calls and parcels sent by carrier was never quite enough. and when she finally comes face-to-face with the lot of them, their greeting is anything but excited. even her grandparents are a bit taken aback by the girl's fashion sense, speech and mannerisms and with confusion in their eyes, they send their daughter myeongji a pointed look in which the latter just shrivels up in shame.
"she's not like us. she isn't really korean. why does she like that weird nickname though?"
"why do we call her gigi when her name is yeji? she's not really chinse. do we really have to call her that? it's stupid!"
"why does she have a weird accent when she speaks in korean, granny? is that what living in another country does? make your less korean?"
"what on earth was myeongji thinking allowing her daughter to look that ridiculous? she's always been the most embarrassing and now her daughter is following in her footsteps."
THE CRAFTING OF YEJI
the beginning of a downward spiral. is it fair that she has to change who she is to appease? the
product of a masked personality meeting constraints, culture and what is truly "acceptable".
[ 2011 ] regardless, gigi loves her "adopted" name more so than she likes her mother's awesome freaking kimchi but to appease her judmental family members, she had to adjust to being called "yeji" instead of the name she'd grown accustomed to. and then, she had to tone down parts of herself whenever in the presence of the adults just so her mother could catch a break and not be asked about her parenting style. not only did her attitude have to change but so did her attire which ultimately limited gigi in expressing herself "but at least she knows korean" despite the slight accent, despite living in china for so long. but it was her decision in the first place to uproot to a foreign country! none of this was her fault that she was blessed with an opportunity to live abroad and soak in another culture unlike her annoying, obviously jealous cousins.
so why is it a problem that she isn't able to express her true form without others commenting on?
and with the young gigi having to suppress herself, the process starts to take its toll on her mentality. she couldn't remember the las time she was actually happy. her cousins made sure to distance themselves from her, her aunts and uncle complained about the girl's lacking of korean culture constantly and her grandparents...well, they were friendly as friendly could get but the judgmental looks never disappeared. not really as yeji witnessed her mother's deflated shoulders way too many times. and when yeji would complain to her father over the phone about all of it, he would only assure her that it would get better so long as she obeyed and waited for his return.
[ 2015 ] however, cho han's promise of returning home was not a promise that would be kept so easily and to make it up to her, he sent a rather huge deposit so she could attend the school of her choice. any school to keep her from having to attend the same ones as her hateful cousins. at the school of the arts, she was able to form friendships with many people across the spectrum as her true self. her personality was adored, many found her funny and she was an all around chaotic ball of energy that one would expect from a girl with orange colored hair adorned with neon colored butterfly clips.
in her second year of high school, yeji is spotted by a representative from an entertainment company while she's goofing off with a few friends at the park. her odd appearance and interesting personality attracting the man as he introduces himself all while skillfully pressing his business card into the palm of her hand. she's skeptical but he assures her that prior experience isn't needed for a career like this which leaves her all the more skeptical. he tells her that she can be on stage, on television smiling into the cameras like girls' generation but she's still unsure. "you can train at the company, become an idol in a girl group and have fun while doing so!" he tries to convince her but it is her friends' kind words and support that gives her the courage to finally audition a year later amongst a hundred other people.
[ 2016 ] fnc entertainment's staff is surprised when the bubbly gigi introduces herself as "cho yeji": a girl with crooked pigtails styled with oversized clips and foil-like stickers of stars spaced all over her face. her visual unique and not quite pretty but at least she is interesting. she stands before them, a huge smile plastered on her face as she tightly grips the microphone between her fingers. she's nervous but it eases as each note passes through her lips. she isn't the best singer but is not the worst of the day. her dancing is a simple two-step but enough for the company to assess that it isn't her strong suit either. "can you rap?" one asks and then she steps up to the plate, parts her lips and starts rapping chaeyoung's verse from like ooh ahh with a voice that is unexpected.
and then fnc takes exactly one week before calling to offer her a spot as a trainee with the company. of course, they wanted to make a few adjustments to her regarding her appearance, her aesthetic and entirely drench her in the innocent image of popular girl groups like a-pink or twice. for cho gigi was too bold for k-pop but yeji could definitely fit the mold. the director would call her into the office every afternoon to make sure she was adjusting properly to the requirements they expected of her (or that they felt would best suit their needs and pockets). they chose the girl because of her personality alone but, what good would it do to add her to a girl group of theirs if she was going to negatively stick out like a sore thumb? they needed to add a dahyun (twice) to their future girl group and cho yeji was going to be their very own protype so long as they could adjust her accordingly.
so long as she could maintain the image and appropriately allow snippets of herself to "peak through" at the right moments. but she can never achieve this, the blending of two opposite sides of the spectrum causes her to shut down entirely and mask the side that fnc only wanted at the moments they deemed proper.
[ 2018 ] and then produce99 happens, along with dark-brown hair dye, a blunt bob with bangs and an atrocious pastel wardrobe with frilly skirts and oversized blouses. but she tries and she tries so hard to keep this calm demeanor that has been instilled in her since returning home; the image that everyone expects from a person like her. she tries to get along with the other trainees sent by their company but it is so hard and even dahee, her closest confidante has never seen the real her. it's even harder to hold her tongue whenever yoonseo rolls her eyes to the back of her head whenever her name is mentioned. she notices it all but she has to keep up this act so the director would deem her perfect for debut. but soon, yeji starts to realize that no matter how much she plays by the rules or maintains stoic expressions, the netizens could care less about her oh-so-girly-innocence and she's booted off so early, she has whiplash.
fnc doesn't really see any potential in her either despite the two grueling years of adjustments and instantly she is dismissed from the line-up of notlike the following year. and this leaves cho yeji all the more distraught.
JUST A JIGSAW
THE NETWORK
THE IDOL
TWIN(S) – stayc's 재이
ENTERTAINMENT BACKGROUND –
fnc entertainment for 4 years in total, 2 years before produce99. she is strictly in training and has not been feautred in anything else. hell, people don't even recognize her in public let alone from being on international television. the scandal of mnet did not effect her at all.
fnc doesn't know what to do with her but after many, many negotiations and subtle threats, they decide to put yeji up on the chopping block. and truthfully, she must have been on the same wavelength because as soon as she found out about the project, she asks if she can give it a go. it's not like she would be missed anyway. so, the staff plays it cool but is more so relieved that she beats them to the punch and with their least promising trainee out of their hair for a while, what could really go wrong? yeji actually making it? now that would be ironic and all the more troubling for them.
ENTERTAINMENT BACKGROUND –
fnc entertainment for 4 years in total, 2 years before produce99. she is strictly in training and has not been feautred in anything else. hell, people don't even recognize her in public let alone from being on international television. the scandal of mnet did not effect her at all.
fnc doesn't know what to do with her but after many, many negotiations and subtle threats, they decide to put yeji up on the chopping block. and truthfully, she must have been on the same wavelength because as soon as she found out about the project, she asks if she can give it a go. it's not like she would be missed anyway. so, the staff plays it cool but is more so relieved that she beats them to the punch and with their least promising trainee out of their hair for a while, what could really go wrong? yeji actually making it? now that would be ironic and all the more troubling for them.
THE LOVE INTEREST
THE END
COMMENTS – will people really recognize this girl? only time will tell. she sort of hopes so.
SCENE UGGESTIONS – should the other girls give her a hard time for being on another show after pd99's scandal? or should they gravitate towards her because of her cool personality? do people put two and two together and realize that she is a pd99 trash or should we let her fly under the radar until she exposes it herself? maybe in a solo interview on the show, she'd admit it but she doesn't really want the others to know until the end? who knows.
SONG SUGESTIONS – (g)-idle - last dance, stayc - asap
SCENE UGGESTIONS – should the other girls give her a hard time for being on another show after pd99's scandal? or should they gravitate towards her because of her cool personality? do people put two and two together and realize that she is a pd99 trash or should we let her fly under the radar until she exposes it herself? maybe in a solo interview on the show, she'd admit it but she doesn't really want the others to know until the end? who knows.
SONG SUGESTIONS – (g)-idle - last dance, stayc - asap
#924D99 Layout by Viollium ♥ #bb4fc6 #d6dbed
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