There is a strict view in Korea that people should always hate and despise those who are ‘not straight’, or homoual. This is also generally applied when others view fans eagerly pairing different members and coupling them off as OTPs in a same- group. These people are simply unable to understand how some could ‘ship’ or actually support what is obviously ‘wrong’ and ‘immoral’. Surely though, this rule does not uphold against the power of KyuWook.
  Adapted from J.Cat, The Answer is always KyuWook

Is KyuWook real? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Please discuss your feelings on the topic and explain them thoroughly. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. You will be marked on your conviction, ability to persuade and critical analysis of the topic. An off-topic essay will receive a score of zero. If the essay does not reflect your individual and original work, your test scores may be cancelled.

You have as much time as you need 25 minutes to complete this essay.

BEGIN WRITING YOUR ESSAY.

In today’s evolving world, a new culture has grown; a new dimension to the screen of fame, one that swallows a plethora of fans per annum and feeds off their creative energy to create an interactive dimension of fan tributes known as fanfiction. Almost everybody who’s anybody in the entertainment industry seems to be romantically involved with some other idol; and appearances on live television, in addition to dropped ‘hints’ by either participant in the pairing, spark new fanfictions every day. One such pairing involves two Korean males by the names of Cho Kyuhyun and Kim Ryeowook; members and lead singers of the South Korean boyband Super Junior. Given the fact that South Korea’s culture is extremely against any preference but heterouality, it is surprising that support for this same- ‘couple’ from that very nation has risen to even prompt the starting of a fanworks community dedicated to the pair on popular journal site LiveJournal. Such could not be possible if the pairing was not real; the participants would have expressed their protest if that was the case. This essay will discuss why the pairing KyuWook is real, and incidents that have prompted the author of it to believe so.

Starkly in contrast to South Korea’s stance against homouality and any forms of deviation from ‘traditional’ unions, the nation’s youth often indulges in a practice known as ‘skinship’, defined by UrbanDictionary as “...a friendship or relationship taken up a notch with contact via the skin, be it kissing, hugging, touching, etc...” and this is prevalent among many friendships of the same ; however, in the case of Kim Ryeowook and Cho Kyuhyun, the use of this is excessive in comparison. A search on a popular video-sharing website YouTube for KyuWook, a melange of the belligerents’ names, yields a plethora of results that involve the supposed couple holding hands, smiling at each other and leaning on each others’ shoulders. In the developed Western world, this would have been perceived as homoual behaviour. Acceptance of this behaviour is spreading, and because the majority of the world has come to accept and define the line between traditional friendships and homoual behaviour, it is evident that the KyuWook pairing falls into the homoual, dating side of the matter due to their behaviour in acting somewhat like a married couple with their seemingly ‘excessive’ contact exceeding the limit for the famous, overused phrase many idols worldwide utilize, ‘just friends’.

Observe an openly dating couple, irrespective of ual orientation and one would notice the amount of flirtatious language used; this language, once translated into Korean, fits the dialogues KyuWook use at each other like a glove. The pair has been known to say ‘I love you’ to each other, and Kim Ryeowook especially has been proven as fawning over the younger Cho Kyuhyun’s features. A translation from his Twitter account, @ryeong9, displays a Twitpic of the two posing for a self-shot (known in Korea as a selca) with the caption reading and exclaiming at the large size of Kyuhyun’s eyes, an attribute considered extremely desirable in South Korea; many look for this attribute in their dating partners. If the KyuWook couple were not a couple, such dialogue would never have been publicized; neither do you see many modern-day sets of same- friends proclaiming the same to each other; they might admire one’s dress or one’s shoes but this dialogue is considered odd among heteroual, single males - a species which neither half of KyuWook appears to be, taking their flirtatious, ‘cooing’ manner of speech into consideration.

It goes without saying that both Kim Ryeowook and Cho Kyuhyun are two out of Super Junior’s three main vocalists; even forming two-thirds of a ballad subgroup, K.R.Y, requiring them to sing songs concerning love and loss with unparalleled emotion from relationships that they do not seem to appear in presently. A glance at Kim Ryeowook’s solo track on Super Junior’s fourth album, Bonamana (pronounced bo-nah-mah-nah), once translated reads “Your comforting scent fills the room in the flowers scattered around”. The track has been critically accoladed for its presentation of Kim’s emotional voice and the way every lyric appears to have some symbolism to him. Kim Ryeowook, perceived as an unusually feminine male, has never engaged in any romantic relationship; thus how would he have been able to sing with such realistic emotion? The answer lies in the fact that he is now involved with fellow idol Cho Kyuhyun, and the love between them presumably fueled scenarios for Kim to visualize while singing the song to emote his voice into what it sounds like on the disc. A single Kim Ryeowook, most would agree, would lack the passion and true, raw feeling required to sing such ballads.

To conclude, the pairing KyuWook is real because both Cho Kyuhyun and Kim Ryeowook have been captured countless times engaging in classical ‘couple’ behaviour such as flirtatious talking, admiration of facial features, exchanges of love and physical displays of affection. It is also inherent that courtship has lead Kim Ryeowook to success as feeling romantic feelings for Cho Kyuhyun firsthand allows him to emote his voice into a supposedly mindblowing solo track, the first solo track from any Super Junior member, about love and the loss of it. There is mass support for this pairing; fanfictions are rampant throughout the Internet, but because of the reality of the situation, it is safe to say that KyuWook is certainly real and that fanfictions need not carry the tag of ‘fiction’ any more.
 

Score Explanation

Demonstrating outstanding critical thinking, this essay effectively and insightfully develops a clear and interesting introduction (In today’s evolving world, a new culture has grown; a new dimension to the screen of fame, one that swallows a plethora of fans per annum and feeds off their creative energy to create an interactive dimension of fan tributes known as fanfiction), and develops a concise point of view (Such could not be possible if the pairing was not real; the participants would have expressed their protest if that was the case), using clearly appropriate examples that illustrate the simple realness of KyuWook overall. Well organised and clearly focused as it explains how the increasing ‘skinship’ between Cho Kyuhyun and Kim Ryeowook shows just how indeed real the couple is, the response displays clear coherence and smooth progression of ideas (it is evident that the KyuWook pairing falls into the homoual, dating side of the matter). The essay also exhibits skillful use of language, using a varied, accurate, and apt vocabulary, and meaningful variety in sentence structure is evident (Observe an openly dating couple, irrespective of ual orientation and one would notice the amount of flirtatious language used; this language, once translated into Korean, fits the dialogues KyuWook use at each other like a glove). This essay demonstrates clear and consistent mastery and receives the top score of a 6.

...what were we even thinking?