ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2009 - present.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › on & off.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › general fandom knowledge.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: naira's tragic relationships can all be traced back the the number nawanthorn, nicknamed true but anything but, did on her back in the 10th grade. the two came from relatively familiar families and although naira tries to deny it, she knows deep down that she's going to end up marrying him because it's what their parents want. constantly on and off, naira and true always come back to each other, no matter how much they attempt to drift away.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2019 - 2021.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › no contact.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › deep fandom knowledge.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: toxic, lowkey obsessive on naira's end. started out as a fun rebound after she dumped true for the 2nd time, turned into a weird dynamic where she gave him the world and he couldn't be bothered to be honest about anything. finally ended when she overheard hwaseong calling her a loser for sleeping with him and realized how weird the whole thing was.
MELANIE⠀⠀┉⠀⠀*⠀hudson taneti.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2011 - 2013, 2016 - present.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › long term relationship.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › public knowledge.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: scoring the hot guy in the year above her was melanie's crowning achievement her junior year of high school. the two met at a house party in 2011 and dove head first into an intense and often publicly problematic relationship. aside from their screaming matches in the school parking lots after his matches, the two genuinely fell head over heels for each other. with hudson leaving college to play rubgy professionally and melanie moving from brisbane to seoul, their breakup gave them the space and time to grow up apart from each other. reuniting, fittingly, at a championship afterparty, they easily picked up where they left off. a frequent presence in melanie's circle, the girls have their own unfavorable opinions about hudson; considering his role in the fallout between melanie and heri. but, none would ever dare mentioning them to melanie.
JUNIPER⠀⠀┉⠀⠀*⠀choi dahae & margaretta young.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2016.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › cordial.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › fandom rumor.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: juniper's first everything. dahae was the first person juniper came out to and their relationship quickly spiraled from there. a lot of sunshine and rainbows and puppy love. the relationship taught juniper a lot about what she likes and doesn't like. but the stress of being completely secret eventually got to dahae who was fed up with juniper's reluctance to come out to her friends.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2019 - present.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › long term relationship.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › worst kept secret.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: it's been said that pearl annoyed juniper into a relationship and it's not too far off from the truth. juniper's fatal flaw is that she doesn't care much about anything. pearl, deciding she would be the one to fix that, stepped up to wiggle her away into juniper's frigid exterior. they're been going steady for a while now as an open secret between their shared fandoms.
EMMY⠀⠀┉⠀⠀*⠀cara chapman-oliver & quinton ong.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2011 - 2012.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › friends.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › unknown.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: cara and emmy were yearmates attending the same finishing school in bristol, england. neither of them took the relationship to be a big deal considering they hadn't ever discussed their sexualities. the relationship was slow though the lines between their friendship and the relationship were often a mess of tangled feelings. nothing much ever happened between the two beyond a long kiss or a short cuddle and by the time emmy had decided to leave england for korea they had already been more friends than girlfriends.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2015 - present.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › long term relationship.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › fully public.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: fans often joke that emmy got the y/n treatment when she started dating quinton and it's all very true. around the time that quinton's band, chaos theory, started performing small gigs in korea, emmy made it her mission to go to as many shows as possible. after her attending three consecutive shows, she was noticed by the drummer and invited backstage after the show. despite the half-assed disguise she'd throw on, quinton was quick to realize she was a member of a blossoming letalis. after emmy was famously accused of being a groupie, apricus would confirm their relationship to the public just a year after they met. the couple is unabashed in their interactions and posts with each other, being one of the most beloved couples within the company.
NARYUN⠀⠀┉⠀⠀*⠀park hyunki & trenton won.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › ? - 2018.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › no contact.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › highly scandalous.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: it's not publicly known how or when naryun and hyunki started dating. the official story apricus gave was that he was the son of her longtime ballet mentor and they began dating in 2014, after naryun's 19th birthday. most fans don't buy the story after naryun accidentally let it slip that she had been dating hyunki for six years in 2017. while it is true that hyunki was the son of naryun's mentor, it's well known that she started dating him in 2011 when she was 16. hyunki, who was seven years her senior, quietly led her on for years. naryun's realization that hyunki had only promised her empty words came in the form of a daintily packaged invitation to the baby shower of his pregnant fiancee in 2018. needless to say, naryun and hyunki do not speak anymore.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2021 - present.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › long term relationship.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › fully public.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: naryun and trenton have known each for over a decade. beginning with his work on the group's debut album, trenton is a staple to the letalis sound. famously, trenton developed an unrequited crush on naryun who was deeply entrenched in her relationship with hyunki. after witnessing the mess hyunki left naryun in, trenton jumped at the first opportunity to be naryun's rebound. although it took two years of sneaking around, trenton finally found the courage to present naryun with an ultimatum. giving in, the couple posted a joint announcement asking fans for privacy and understanding as they made their relationship public knowledge in 2023.
JISEO⠀⠀┉⠀⠀*⠀niels holtz-park & samuel myung.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2017.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › friends.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › heavily rumored.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: there really wasn't much to jiseo and niels. they had met in passing a couple of times, he got her number from corey, they dated for like two months, and broke up by the time rumors started circulating about them. they've been pretty good friends since then and niels has contributed to some of jiseo's solo work as recently as last year.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2019 - present.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › long term relationship.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › open fandom secret.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: jiseo and sungjoon have known each other since chaos theory started playing shows in korea in 2015. frequently accompanying emmy to their gigs, jiseo and sungjoon quickly established a solid friendship. as jiseo became further integrated into sungjoon's friend group consisting of corey and ian, jiseo found herself in the whirlwind of their wild habits and notorious parties. bonding over their introversion, jiseo and sungjoon would become each other's closest confidante. unfortunately, the very parties that brought the two close would end up dividing them after a particularly dangerous night left sungjoon spiraling. though it would nearly take a miracle, the two were reconciled in 2019, deciding to take the relationship they had avoided seriously.
HERI⠀⠀┉⠀⠀*⠀carter kim.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀DURATION › 2021.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀CURRENT STATUS › complicated.
ꨄ⠀⠀&.⠀⠀LEVEL OF PUBLICITY › deep fandom knowledge.
┉ * ﹙ㅤʬ . OVERVIEW: a lot can be learned from carter and heri's relationship, if it can even be called one. don't sleep with your groupmate's ex-fuck buddy, don't help each other pick up girls, and most importantly karma often comes in the least expected person. it's been said that carter truly did fall in love with heri who couldn't be bothered to return the feeling. it's also been said that heri's entanglement with carter drove naira mad with envy. interestingly, carter hasn't dated since then, and melanie finds the whole situation hilarious.
( ✶ 𓏸𓈒 𝕸ICAH ) ♩ ⁺ ┄ ❛ so let’s piss off the neighbors ❜ (☆﹏☆) ## ★! monsta x added member . . . ☻︎ ៸៸ ˒
#MICAH is the maknae, producer, rapper, and vocalist of south korean boy group MONSTA X. making his debut on may 14th, 2015 and his solo debut on november 3rd, 2022. known for being the “idol genius” he has steadily gained popularity since his debut.
┈─ 𖧷 MURDER, SHE WROTE PT. ONE ﹕ NAIYANA CHANTARANGSU. genre, angst. ( the ghost of someone you thought you knew lingers not. ) tw, murder ( and death, in the same vein ), self preservation in the form of being agreeable, reemergence of ghosts from the past. featuring, naiyana, jiho, and ████.
as a job well done ( or so she supposes ), she’s issued time off. the fans are told their beloved naisu is taking creative leave to come up with something even more dazzling that the last album and her near cult following eats the news up as if starved. her instagram post—a monochromatic picture of yesterday’s sunset—details a bit of a more personal side to her leave and thousands of comments are left in her wake wishing her well. the comments telling her to eat well! almost make her smile. almost.
jiho has missed four of her scheduled visits. four is an even number. divided in half, and then half once again. jiho never did things in halves. if she said she was coming, then she was going to be there. and with every day that ticked by without the older woman busting the door to her apartment down, she grew restless.
this was good, though. was it not? it proved that even jiho herself was not exempt from making mistakes. she, too, deviated from routine, but even that alone was not enough to make her feel better. jiho would have let her know that she would have rescheduled her visit. jiho made it a point to prove that she would still oversee that she wasn’t straying from her duties no matter how many miles stretched between them.
the message went unsaid. she was still a doll, even with the small liberties she had. but it was far better than being cooped up in that giant playhouse where everyone smiled even in the face of tragedy.
nahee. all searches of a jeong nahee lead to dead ends and brick walls, the world wide web scrubbed clean of any indication that the jeongs even had a daughter to begin with. but naiyana saw her. she had learned her name in the faint tally marks around door frames masked by paint and stray articles of clothing she knew couldn't have belonged to her. and then the scratched out name in corners on the floors and walls. nahee. she existed and that was proof but it wasn’t much. and the house helps never did like to gossip around her.
against all reason telling her not to, she packs a suitcase and returns to the place she could have called home, once upon a time. she’s torn between the burden of knowing and wishing she was oblivious.
the ride isn’t far. jiho did always like to say she was just a stone’s throw away from the bustling city of seoul, and the thirty minute commute to gangnam-gu humbles her. she tightens trembling hands around the handle of her suitcase and hails a taxi. the driver gives her a onceover that completely unravels her but doesn’t speak. she gives him the address and sinks into the seats as he pulls onto the road.
would she be mad if she visited? it’s not like she had anywhere else to go—she couldn’t be. jiho loved her, in a twisted way. she knew that. they’d sit and catch up like they always did. like mother and some semblance of a daughter.
she’s thrust out of her thoughts when the car makes an abrupt stop, lurching her body forward with a stunted gasp. naiyana grips the seat belt with wide eyes as her heartbeat accelerates.
“is something the matter?” her voice comes out small and frail. “what ha—”
she’s interrupted by the sudden movement in her peripheral, but when she turns to see what she’d missed, she’s only greeted with rows of elevated modern houses. the driver’s door slams open, making her jump, and before she can register what the hell is even happening, she finds herself being bodily hauled out of the car along with her suitcase.
naiyana can’t even speak. all the while, the driver’s actions become more and more frantic, all but throwing her handbag at her before hurrying back to his car. the only thing she catches before he backs up and out of view is a jumbled mess of words, just barely.
bad omen, bad energy. bad omen, bad spirits.
naiyana smooths her hair and clothes down with shaking hands. jiho hated wrinkles.
her hair is plastered to her face when she finally makes it to the front door. she hadn’t anticipated the possibility that it could have rained but when did it not? memories of cold fingertips and red cherries tended to resurface when it rained.
her heart lodges in her throat at the idea of dripping water onto the indoor carpet, but no one rushes to greet her when she pushes the front door open. the foyer is dimly lit, and the overhead chandelier in the parlor isn’t on. natural light streams through the open windows in angular strips that run jaggedly across the floor.
naiyana leans against the closed door and releases a breath. not a soul seems to be in the house at the moment, but that was fine. jiho had always talked about cutting staff for the smallest of reasons. maybe she’d finally reached her breaking point.
toeing her shoes off, she sheds her jacket and hangs it on a nearby hook to dry off, pattering in the direction of the kitchen. maybe she’d make something small and surprise her? she had been honing in her cooking skills to impress the miss. maybe something with rice, or—
something clatters against the marble flooring, sounding further inside the house. naiyana freezes in reaching for a pot, slowly standing up to her full height to listen with rapt attention for another sound. her heartbeat thrums against her ribcage once again. fear. she doesn’t dare announce herself. she’d watched more than enough television to know how poorly that went.
instead, she moves to arm herself with the very same pan she’d just been reaching before, but rethinks her decisions and reaches for a knife instead. the cameras outside of the house had seen her coming inside. she could argue self defense if she did end up killing an intruder.
would you truly be able to kill someone if it really came down to it? she had no idea. but if jiho was in the house with an intruder, she could be in danger. the guilt would weigh on her even more than if she killed someone with her bare hands.
slowly, she inches out of the kitchen and down the hall, her grip tight on the knife. fear heightens tenfold when she hears a hissed curse followed by frantic steps once she nears the staircase leading to the upper floor, swallowing nervously before she makes her ascent. slowly.
the cursing stops when she reaches the top step. as she walks down the hall, most of the rooms are closed with no noticeable shadows moving behind them. had jiho fired all of her staff? surely she would have kept some. jiho was not the kind of woman who did trivial things like cook by herself, especially growing old with age. the lack of human presence only served to scare naiyana even more, and she nearly drops the knife when she turns around.
the door to her room is wide open.
visibly trembling—from fear or the cold, she didn’t know—she inches her way towards her old room. the more she nears, the more she can hear slight scuffling, labored breathing. disorganization in a house that ran on routine. it prickles at her skin.
the first thing she sees when she reaches the entrance is dark red. stained against the pretty pink of her carpet in droplets that balloon into hurried smears. bloodied fingertips swipe against the white floors, the walls, her pristine sheets.
jiho’s body lies a few feet away from her. her eyes are unfocused, her tweed blazer-and-skirt set drenched in crimson. her heels are missing. her hair frames her face in a frenzied manner. she’s every bit the mess she prided herself not being.
she drops the knife in shock.
the clatter makes the hunched figure in the room startle, drawing her attention as it crawls out into the center of the room.
the bleak lighting frames onyx colored hair.
the bleak lighting frames bloodied skin.
the bleak lighting frames a gaze heavy with knowing. recognition sparks a flame between the two of them.
the bleak lighting frames—
“naiyana.” a voice she hasn’t heard in ten years. not that she’d been counting, not that she’d been given the liberty to—
“naiyana.” her body stumbles backwards in a mixture of disbelief and despair, a strangled sound the only thing her throat can muster. she doesn’t know what to say. what could she say?
“nai?” a tear slips down her cheek, hot against her cold skin. bile rises in her throat when she feels gentle fingertips brush the surface of her skin, dizzy in knowing red is left behind.
“you killed her.” she manages to say, and the figure only smiles. there’s so much blood. “you killed her—”
“for you.” she hum softly. naiyana smells rain and cherries when her lips brush just shy of her skin. her stomach turns. “for you, because i love you.”
the girl smiles. “she won’t be able to separate us anymore.”
naiyana blinks and she’s fifteen again, begging, pleading for mercy. the last she’d seen of her, she’d given her a smile like naiyana’s life hadn’t crumbled to pieces in front of her.
she’d done everything correctly. she got good grades, was on top of her class, and her teachers liked her. she’d gone by the book. she was supposed to be happy something like this had happened. she was never happy when jiho was around, fear palpable enough to taste.
so why was she still frozen? her mother—notyourmothernotyourmother—dead a few feet away from her, her killer a face she thought had been dead, too?
“you still love me, right?” the girl pouts, her eyes searching her fear-stricken face with ease. “every day i missed you. every day i went over how this moment would go..”
jiho’s body twitches behind her. she suddenly feels very, very faint.
“you still love me, don’t you, nai? don’t you?”
focusing back at the girl—killer—before her, naiyana musters up a smile she hopes is convincing. she is not the girl you once felt love for. she is not the girl you once felt love for.
Photobook, three photocards, one lyric book, random folded poster, sticker set, tiger keychain
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘ HIGHLIGHTS
° Fans were pleasantly surprised with this release, as prior to the first announcement of the comeback there'd been no news about how Chaein would pursue her solo career outside of YG entertainment.
° Fans were warmly greeted with several music show and variety show appearances, something they weren't used to anymore due to the idol's previous limited appearances.
° After the release of the album, many fans joked that the titletrack of the album was directed to Chaein's former agency.
° Chaein was praised very highly for her vocal abilities during the music show appearances.
° The titletrack 'Wish You Hell' reached a pak and held it for for a month.
° Many idols did the 'Wish You Hell' Challenge, and it became popular even with non-kpop stans.
° Many were happy to see even more interactions between Chaein and other idols! With the other BLACKPINK members all making appearances in the behind the scenes videos plus Chaein interacting with her fellow idols at the music shows, with challenges and being given gifts from other idols.
° During the countdown for the 'Wish You Hell' release piano versions of the songs of the girl group BLACKPINK were played, making some fans emotional.
⸻ ⠀✹.⠀⠀،،⠀SO S!CK﹐⠀is a fictional co-ed band formed in new england by its members as an independent act in january 2011. consisting of four childhood friends, the band began playing college bars across the region while simultaneously posting song covers to youtube.
as their videos gained traction, the band began to play larger venues before eventually earning enough money to rent out a studio to record their first official body of original work, an ep titled, IT'S FLU SEASON, in late 2011.
with their popularity soaring, the band struggled with the management of their act as totally independent artists. though the band would turn down an exclusive contract with KAYAK72 offered by the label's creative director, ROMINA RICCHETTI, they would gain the support of DENVER OWENS, a close friend of ricchetti's, who would become their exclusive manager in 2013.
owens' connections soon sent so s!ck on their first tour to great success, playing medium sized venues in college towns across the country. this prompted the release of their first complete album, UR SO SICK!, in 2014. the album would go on to receive critical praise, landing the band their first nationally televised appearance on a major network. amongst the influx of attention, the band would be approached once more by kayak72, this time by the label's ceo, KEON HINTON, successfully signing the band in 2016.
↶*✧˚. RAINBOW ENTERTAINMENT has reposted a video by BLOODY VALENTINE.
Clicking on the source link for the original video takes you to a nearly empty Youtube account. The profile has no profile picture or banner, only the username " BLOODY VALENTINE " and a 12 second video posted 3 years ago. The video only appears to show the video camera seemingly falling out of the hand of whoever is filming as a phone suddenly rings, hitting the ground and instantly cracking the screen. its dark, so only a shadowed hardwood floor can be seen before a blood curdling scream is heard in the background.
─── ⠀ ✿ ˒ ⠀ ❪ SOLARIA GARDENS is a fictional entertainment company, founded by KANG SEONHEE in 2007. solaria was the latter of the two subsidiaries of GEMINI INC., which was a conglomerate founded by APRICUS CULTURE’s ceos, JEONG KARIN and kang seonhee, in 2000.
after her experience as an idol in the first-generation group, INOIR, seonhee aimed to make a company that protected their idols from toxic fan culture as well as toxic company environments. despite it being her most vocal passion since leaving inoir in 1998 and through the founding of gemini inc., seonhee wouldn’t go on to establish her own company until 2007. even in 2007, after the establishment of solaria, the company mainly focused on buying contracts from pre-existing groups and revamping their public images and freedom as artists. girl group RIVETING, which debuted in 1998, had their contract bought out by solaria garden in 2007 and became the first artists under the company. because of the standard solaria gardens exhibited, they started to be known as “the group savior." a few months later, they acquired the contracts of the once-boy group MUNDANE, who originally debuted in 2005. solaria gardens went on to reunite the full group for a one-off album and individually signed all the previous members of maturity.
the company's first group was ET/DEUX, which was a female duo, both of whom trained with gemini for three years before being signed specifically to solaria. this began the elusive solaria training program, which has often been labeled as elitist by the press. in 2009, solaria only had 3 original groups, and with the help of ENTVISS ceo WILLIAM KIM, solaria gardens launched a trainee program called PROJECT: SOLEIL, which included an instagram page for trainees to show fans their progress and a tv program that showed the inside of the solaria training program. even now, their training is focused on refining the skills of trainees from gemini that suit the solaria gardens image, which includes perfecting vocal and dance skills as well as fitting each trainee into the solaria gardens space concept. as of now, the company has gone on to debut every solaria-specific trainee. after many years of william kim’s involvement in solaria gardens, in 2011 it was announced that he and kang seonhee had been married for over a year and that he’d be going from an investor in the company to a co-owner while also being gemini’s head of pr. it is rumoured by any news outlets and business insiders that william has always been the brain of the operations, while seonhee is the heart, which is evident by the couple's close-knit relationship with all of their artists.
other than the obvious gemini-level talent from all of the solaria artists, solaria gardens is mostly known for their in-depth company lore, which intertwines all of their artists into a bigger picture story about space and stars, which all of their artists promote. quoted by seonhee, " the storytelling isn’t because we want to confuse fans; it’s because we value family at solaria, and the story really brings our talent together. " for seonhee, the family dynamic of solaria is the goal, and the ceo is known for forcing groups to go on hiatus when their chemistry dwindles.
HEADQUARTERS⠀;⠀garosu-gil, seoul, south korea ; midtown, new york city, usa ; soho, london, united kingdom
KEY PEOPLE⠀;⠀kang seonhee ❪ founder, ceo ❫ , william kim ❪ owner, coo ❫ , jeong dabin ❪ training manager ❫ , joey claire mills ❪ vp of neptune sounds ❫ , bronte guan ❪ vp of sundown visions ❫ , chanel iitoyo ❪ vp of lunar modelling ❫ , damla gürel ❪ vp of lumos pictures ❫ , kang sarang ❪ chief creative director ❫ , son young-ae ❪ cfo ❫
⠀⠀ ⠀⠀✿ ❜ ࣪⸝ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ╱╱⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ THE SUBSIDIARIES %!? ❞
NEPTUNE SOUNDS ; based in london and new york city, neptune sounds is a subsidary founded in 2010. neptune is ran by joey claire mills, and currently has 7 acts under the company, including the solo career of their head producer, rev. neptune also owns a chain nightclub called the emerald which is home to solaria highest profile scandals.
LUNAR VISION ; founded in 2009, sundown visions started as the subsidary meant to manage the international promotons of artists under solaria gardens. it eventually had debuted a chinese girl group, now based in la, and a japanese soloist, suzu. sundown visions still manages the international promotion of all of solaria gardens artists, and are known for their tour venue negotiations.
LUMOS PICTURES ; in charge of the many acting talents under solaria, including idolos turned actors and famously very privately managed. they also correspond with the solaria and gemini pr people about interview appearances. basically the private backup publicists
LUNAR MODELLING ; lunar modelling and chanel iitoyo heads all of the management of the group managers, stylists and any modelling gigs, including haruna’s famous prada deal. they also manage the backup dancers of the company.
i cannot make you understand. i cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside of me. i cannot even explain it to myself.⠀–—⠀from, "The Metamorphosis"
✶ . CHARACTERS: eun hwaseong & ian moon.
✶ . WORD COUNT: 2.2k
✶ . WARNINGS: swearing, jealousy, drug use, & fighting.
✶ . NOTES: seunghui & doyun are in my wip boy group. written in two hours instead of finishing the conclusion of my anthropology thesis, might be a little academic vocabulary-wise in the beginning. jarringly inconsistent usage of present & past tense.
There is something to be said about pressure. An all-consuming smothering that has the capacity to produce diamonds or dust.
Hwaseong loved the feeling of that smothering pressure.
He liked the duality of feeling trapped in his own head but protected by the knowledge that he’d come out on the other side.
He was raised on the adrenaline of everything being on the line— his mother’s entire career was revived in an instant with a carefully executed smile on Hwaseong’s behalf. He was performing on stage, entertainment for politicians and important celebrities, before he could properly assemble reliable memories and expressions of the rush of emotions he felt every time he stepped up into the spotlight.
Training at Apricus was a breeze compared to the level of perfection his mother instilled in him as she oversaw his tutoring sessions. Accustomed to the expectation of excellence and motivated by the tense scrutiny the executives placed upon potential debuts, in Hwaseong’s mind the only reason he hadn’t debuted sooner was because of how young he was.
Karin had a weird aversion to debuting anyone under the age of 16— the rule hadn’t been broken for a single artist under the label. He figured it had something to do with the contract she was under when she had first debuted, though he had never thought to ask.
Ending up on the survival show was a sigh of relief for the Seoul native. The gesture— he believed, was supposed to be a true show of their faith in his talents and marketability. Seven years of dedication at the age of 17 was more than most of the others on the show could boast about. Sure, he figured it would be just as much a challenge as it was a reward for his hard work. But he figured being chosen for the show was much more a formality than a true test of his charisma and bare minimum ability to carry a tune.
The offense he found in the selection of the other boys had been a selling point in his arc throughout the show. He was filmed scoffing at Sanghyuk’s long hours spent practicing over and over and over in the dance studio Hwaseong knew had the best acoustics. He rolled his eyes when Carter struggled to find the right words to thank the judging panel’s gracious oversight of his horrendous pronunciation. His teeth gritted in annoyance as he bit back insults directed at Jioh every time he hurled whatever it was he ate before his confessionals.
But none of them got under his skin the way Ian Moon managed to.
Their disdain for one another had been well documented throughout the show. In Hwaseong’s eyes, Ian was nothing more than a pretty boy who had only made it onto the show as someone else’s replacement. Hwaseong had never bothered to ask why Ian had similarly brushed Hwaseong off so early on, in truth he didn’t care much for the reason.
The two’s highly publicized mutual distaste had managed to pique the interests of the producers who incorporated the tension between the two into nearly every episode.
Genuine statements of “Thank you for the opportunity, I’ll try harder” from Ian were met with censored insults from Hwaseong. And as the distance between their rankings continued to grow throughout the first half of the series, Hwaseong only felt emboldened by his disdain for the Texan former athlete.
“I don’t get it. Yeah, he was put on the show ‘cause he’s pretty, but so what?” Doyun laughs as he watches Hwaseong’s careful surveillance of Ian’s revisioning behind the glass separating the two of them.
“Pretty sells,” Seunghui agrees, nodding at Doyun’s words, gently nudging Hwaseong’s shoulder. With a scowl, Hwaseong reverts his eyes from the sight in front of him. Turning to the other two instead.
“Dude’s a smug asshole. Trained for a few months— as a joke, by the way. And he ends up on the shortlist for a boy group because what— some middle school girl thought he was hot?” Doyun and Seunghui exchange a glance before dissolving into shared laughter, falling into each other as Hwaseong broods to himself.
“Careful, middle school girls are about to fund your whole career.” Doyun hums, lips downturned into a pout as he taps at Hwaseong’s cheek sarcastically.
“Isn’t your sister in middle school?” Seunghui chimes in curiously, finally catching Hwaseong’s attention.
“What if Dasom's part of the middle school girls that petitioned for Ian to be on the show?” Doyun muses, bouncing off of Seunghui’s good-natured teasing of their older friend. With a piercing side eye, Hwaseong chooses to ignore the two’s musings.
“He’s lucky Jaehee’s personally mentoring him,” He mentions off-handedly.
Doyun and Seunghui’s confusion is enough for him to continue fueling his own jealous ruminations.
“He’s in there with her right now, bastard—”
With a rumble of chuckling from the other two, Hwaseong’s eyebrows furrow in confusion, briefly releasing him from his ranting.
“Jaehee offered to give pointers to anyone who got to her during the break before filming resumed,” Seunghui explained with a shrug of his shoulders.
The corners of Doyun’s mouth curled in amusement as they watched Hwaseong try to run through the endless instructions thrown at them over the hours they had already spent filming that day.
“I—” He begins, only to be cut off by enthused Doyun.
“He’s not the bastard between the two of you either. His dad’s just dead, yours is a whore.”
The act of filming the show was quite possibly the most dreaded part of Hwaseong’s routine for the latter half of 2013. He concealed yawns and distasteful jokes behind the heads of the other contestants, only stepping into view of the camera when it came time for him to prove his worth to the judges seated in front of the remaining trainees.
Regardless of his intentional aversion to the camera, the producers always managed to find him when he and Ian were at their most heated. Volatile exchanges heightened into agitated bite-backs which bled into almost any mention of the one contestant that could unnerve Hwaseong at the mere sound of his name. He never thought it to be a coincidence that the two of them happened to find themselves within minimal feet of one another, entering confessionals as one exited, performing one before the other.
But the producers had never made their thirst for conflict more obvious than one of the last days of filming.
Against all— mostly Hwaseong’s— odds, Ian had managed to squeeze his way within reach of the final lineup. A final solo performance of each of the 10 trainees remaining would be the determination between debut and elimination. Doyun and Seunghui had been eliminated weeks ago. Hwaseong wasn’t surprised as much as he was peeved. For some reason, the show just couldn’t shake Ian.
“Yo, what’s your fuckin’ problem with me, dude?”
Hwaseong knew Ian had issues with his temper. It was a plot point emphasized over and over by the producers throughout the taping. He had a short fuse and a burning desire to get even. Hwaseong figured it to be leftover rage from the injury that removed the possibility of achieving the dream he’d had since he was a young boy. Sanghyuk had let it slip that Ian’s father was an abusive surgeon— an oxymoron that made Hwaseong’s head hurt so bad he brushed it off and never thought about it again.
“Does it matter?” Hwaseong snarks in response, the corner of his lip curling in his quip. Three words are all it takes for Ian’s eyes to light up brighter than Hwaseong had ever seen before. A fire suddenly erupted from a spark he didn’t know was there.
“Yeah, it does Hwaseong.” Ian hissed, fists and jaw equally tense, clenched in restraint. He glances at the other trainees who slowly begin to pay attention to the tension breaking between the two boys.
“Whatever Ian. The show’s almost over, you’ll be able to go home and forget about me in about three days.” His words are delivered with a scoff, a roll of his eyes following shortly after.
“Are you threatened by me or—” That was enough to set Hwaseong off. The fire spreading to his much darker eyes, launching him forward to stand eye-to-eye with the American.
“Threatened?” He all but spat the word out, as if an insult to his existence. “You’re so full of shit. We both know the only reason you’re here is because Jaehee wants to keep the pretty boy with the funny accent around.”
There isn’t a moment of pause before Ian grabs at Hwaseong’s shirt, throwing him to the ground before Hwaseong or any of the other spectators could react. As Hwaseong scrambles to rise to his feet from the frigid floor beneath him Ian smirks at the clear panic in his eyes.
“What’s it like to be so fucking pathetic that no one bothers defends you?” The amusement in his eyes sends a shiver down Hwaseong’s spine as he finds himself unable to tear his attention away from the vocalist towering over him.
“What’s it like to be so fucking cowardly you have to beat the motivation out of your competition to win at anything?” Hwaseong’s words are coated in venom as he returns the insult. “You’re not making the group, Ian. No one wants you here.”
With that, a blur of yelling and bodies shifting in Hwaseong’s vision clouds his perception. He barely registers the others struggling to restrain the older boy from grabbing at the younger. The ringing in his ears from the weight of the built-up resentment between the two of them culminates in a smirk that Hwaseong can tell infuriates Ian to his core.
Through gritted teeth, held back by both Sanghyuk and Carter, Ian musters a strained, “Fuck you.”
With a saunter to the door of the practice room, Hwaseong speaks up with one last taunt. “Take care of yourself, Ian. Send us a postcard from Texas.”
If Hwaseong believed in a higher power, he was sure God was enjoying making Hwaseong eat his words. Over the next three days, Ian had not only turned half of the other contestants against the show’s youngest trainee but had managed to squeeze his way into the final lineup.
As if by some sick twist of fate, Hwaseong watched the group’s final member claim the last spot in the quintet, that signature cocky smirk of his plastered across his praised features. When he catches Hwaseong’s eye from his spot at the other end of the line— Sanghyuk and Romeo providing a necessary buffer between the two with starry eyes and blinding smiles, Hwaseong can feel his stomach twist with a chill so nauseating his smile is wiped from his face. His knees buckle underneath him, catching Carter’s attention who finds the situation so gratifying he leans over to whisper a carefully enunciated, “How’s it feel, dumbass?” under his breath.
With disbelief etched into his expression, mistakenly read as gratitude, Hwaseong trends for the next week.
“Do you remember that fight we got into?” Ian chuckles lowly, slowly taking a hit from the lit blunt in his hand. He shakes his head as he remembers the moment that irrevocably changed the course of his life. He exhales after a moment, watching the smoke fill the empty air in front of his nose before slowly dissipating into the Seoul night sky. Ian shifts to take a second drag before passing the blunt to Hwaseong, sighing slowly.
“Yeah, made you eat shit in front of everyone,” Ian responds, a dimple coming to rest on his cheek, turning to watch Hwaseong as his lips closed around the blunt between his fingers.
“Shut up. You did not make me ‘eat shit’”. Hwaseong answers, the smoke leaving his mouth in a sudden stream.
“Yeah, I did. I beat your ass and made it into the final lineup.”
The younger man’s eyebrows furrow in disagreement, “You did not beat my ass, Ian.”
As he reaches for the blunt, Ian playfully hums, “Still made it into the lineup.”
Hwaseong scoffs with an eye roll, “Last.”
With an exhale Ian simply mutters, “How bad does your ass still sting?”
The two share a lazy chuckle, eyes drooping as they recall the memory differently. Rising with a grunt, Hwaseong brushes off the comment casually, “Whatever, dickhead.”
Mirroring with a grunt of his own, Ian gently soothes the younger man’s temperament, “You love me.”
Receiving a grumble in response, Ian watches Hwaseong turn to unlock the door of their dorm to reenter the shared space in the early hours of the morning.
Stopping him with a sudden urgency he asks, “Wait, do we look high? I don’t need Sanghyuk on my ass tonight.”
Hwaseong offers a snorted chuckle in response, receiving a furrowing of Ian’s eyebrows. “Doesn’t matter that you look high when you smell high.” After a brief moment of blank staring on Ian’s end, Hwaseong continues toward the door, fiddling with the door knob.
?! . she is a really good friend of Yeri ( Red Velvet ) , Lia ( Itzy ) and Dowoon ( Day6 ) .
?! . during her trainee years she was roommate with Kim Yooyeon .
?! . her most viewed fancam is the 2023.11.12, they were performing 'Drama' at the Inkigayo, she reached 562k in the first 24 hours .
?! . her actual bubble username is " 마이의 보호자🤍" wich translate to " MY's protector ", and her actual weverse username is "꽁꽁 얼어붙은 한강 위로 고양이가 걸어다닙니다 🐈" .
?! . she share her birthday with Nayeon ( Twice ) and Seungmin ( Stray Kids ) , but she was born on the same day as him .
?! . her main hobby is to take pictures of her members when they are sleeping .
?! . before performing, her habit is to do tongue twisters .
?! . she's really bad at video games but likes to watch people play .
?! . in 'Celebrity', we can see her thirty seconds where she plays a Japanese celebrity who came to take a picture with 'Seo A Ri'.
?! . she was a big fan of the girl group 'Kara' during her training period.
?! . her audition song was 'One in a Million' ( Twice ) .
?! . in 2022, she was in hiatus for 2 months because she had a nose job .
although this news was out of the blue, netizens and moas had previously noticed the female idol of the group was not herself during the group's promotions for chasing that feeling.
On December 7th, BigHit Labels announced that Ruby would be taking a hiatus from her activities due to health issues. Following is the full statement from the label.
"Hello, this is BigHit Labels. We would like to notify you of TOMORROW BY TOGETHER'S member Ruby's health conditions and her participation in her future activities.
Ruby recently consulted doctors after experiencing severe anxiety regarding her activities and was advised during her consultation to rest and receive treatment.
After much discussion with members, Ruby will not participate in any schedules from now on and will instead direct her efforts to recovery.
Ruby's return to promotions will be decided after in-depth discussions with members and Ruby herself. We sincerely apologize to fans for causing concerns. We will update you as soon as Ruby decides to return to promotions.
Thank you."
Following the announcement, Ruby also left a handwritten letter to her fans regarding her hiatus.
Ruby wrote,
"Hello, MOA :) I think MOA was surprised to hear today's news. Moa worries more than anyone else even if I get a little sick, so I was worried that you would be heartbroken and upset when you heard this news. But at the same time, I could work up my courage because I know that you know me better than anyone else, will understand, and wait for me.
It's been 6 years since I met the members and ran towards the same dream! I was able to come this far thanks to members and Moa. It really feels like we've been through a lot. And of course, there were plenty of happy memories we made together. Those were so precious, but I realized that I was not taking care of myself because I was so focused on moving forward.
Moa are the ones who I am always grateful for, more than anyone else, so I only want to give you love and happiness.
But I thought I had to take some time off and love and take care of myself first to do so.
As always, I sincerely hope Moas stay happy.
I will return healthier than ever so that I can return all your love and heartfelt concerns.
⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀❝ BREAKING: SOLOIST OPHION PASSES AWAY, APRICUS CULTURE CONFIRMS. ❞ ┉ published mar. 07, 2024
ʬ.ʬ.⠀written by ⸻ fyrprf.
According to the Seoul Gangnam Police, soloist Ophion has passed away.
The representative for the police station reports that on March 7 at approximately 1:47 a.m. KST, a resident living within the apartment building called the police to request a wellness check on their neighbor.
According to the woman in her early 30s, her next door neighbor had not placed his trash bag outside of his door that night, nor had she seen him enter or exit the building for several days. She reported the behavior as being suspicious claiming that he never broke his routines.
After being instructed to knock on his door, she reported to the dispatcher that there was no response. She added that there was a suspicious noise on the other side of the door that caused her alarm. Police were dispatched to the scene less than 30 minutes later where they were able to obtain access to the apartment.
The man, found unresponsive in his home, was rushed to the nearest hospital where he was declared dead in surgery hours later. Later that morning, police confirmed the man's identity after obtaining permission from his family.
An official joint statement released by Apricus Culture in collaboration with the Soul Gangnam Police stated, "It appears that Yang Sanghun [more commonly known by his stage name, Ophion] has passed away. Although it is clear that Sanghun took his own life, we are still searching for a suicide note."
The agency also requested privacy for the singer's family members.
Prior to his passing away, Ophion was scheduled to release his tenth full length album, MASQ, in April. Although an official release date had not yet been confirmed by Apricus Culture, a representative for the soloist confirmed the album will be released posthumously on its planned date. Proceeds from the album and any remaining merchandise in stock will be donated to a charity of the family's choice.
We offer our deepest condolences and sincerest wishes for peace for the Yang family and friends during their time of grief.
──⠀۪ ⠀⠀★ ۫ MILANI NGUYEN , Milani is the Main Vocalist and Face of new kpop girl group ILL-IT , she joined hybe in 2019 after moving to korea to peruse her dream of being an idol. During her time as a trainee the girl was able to build up a decent fandom of her own due to hybe using the girl to play the role of the character Sooah, within Enhypen’s Music Videos and Concept Trailers. Many fans had been anticipating the girls debut after her great acting and stunning visual showcases in Enhypens ‘DARK BLOOD’ trailer. When she was revealed as a constant on Runext she was instantly labeled a global fan favorite and on the survival show, placing 1st securing her debut spot.
┈─ 𖧷 A DOLL’S FIRST MISTAKE, OH-SO FRAGILE ﹕ NAIYANA’S FIRST HEARTBREAK. set pre-debut. genre, angst. ( you can find me, right ? you can find me .. right ? ) featuring cracks in pseudo motherhood, themes of homophobia, and disappearances.
wide-eyed and afraid, naiyana is twelve when she first enters the jeong mansion. stark white, fluorescent pearl, soft creams. she’s almost hesitant to touch, scared to run her hands over silk curtains and velvet cushions lest they crumble underneath her feather light touch. like a mouse caught before slit eyes, the young girl jumped at every sound—foreign to her ears used to heavy silence and a gaping hole she knew someone had left but could never find the courage to open her mouth to ask. but it was never her fault, she was always reassured, treasured moments where her father would card his fingers through her hair with a reverence she’d always thought held both fear and awe. like she was a creature he was both proud and horrified of.
in the jeong mansion, she’d soon learn, there were rules. bow when you greet your elders. say good morning when you pass her, good night when exhaustion begins to gnaw at your senses. get ready for school with the perfectly tailored uniform already hanging on your closet door, but leave your hair alone until the miss—until jiho joined you and brushed your hair herself. just routine, she’d remind her every morning with a smile, and she would smile back perfectly just as she’d expect. routine was good. routine ensured progress, which in turn ensured stability. naiyana liked stability, so she worked her damndest to perfect her routine.
don’t wince when she brushed a little too hard. pretend not to hear the whispers of a daughter once lost, just like she was. she was here now. she was perfect.
at school, she meets ████, and her world alights in colors she’d never thought imaginable. long black hair almost onyx colored in some lighting, soft skin, pink lips that curved in a smile she couldn’t forget even if she tried her hardest. the gentleness ████ held her with left the now fifteen year old spiraling into a series of confusion and want, embarrassingly so, pertinent enough to hide shaking hands behind her back. her laugh, her touch, the echo of her voice. smitten. terribly so.
routine slips through her fingers like rainwater, rushing downwards with vigor. rumpled uniforms hastily thrown on to beat her to the bus stop, sock sliding down one leg, shirt half tucked. ████ would only laugh, unaware of naiyana’s poor heart beating, bursting to life as she crouched down to pull her sock up, as she drew impossibly close to straighten her collar and tuck her shirt back in. gentle, her touch fleeting, gone just as quick as it would make an appearance. it should have been an omen of sorts and yet it lit her skin up aflame, breath stuck in her throat as ████ lifted her fingers to brush wayward strands of her hair away from her face.
routine crashes and burns as naiyana falls head first into what she thinks might be love. how could this be love? she half-listens to the girls that surround her gush about their own fleeting crushes, hopping from one nameless boy to the next as soon as the one prior loses his aura of cool or mystique. how could this be love when the thought of ████ makes her want to light her very soul on fire with the knowledge that she would burn with her in tandem? that when she leans into her for too long, when her fingers brush hers when they walk side by side, when she so much as looks at her for a second too long, naiyana feels the very center of the universe blossom in her chest? how could that be love when she’s here bursting to the brim with want?
her first kiss is underneath a bus stop in the rain, sharing an umbrella and giggles and shrieks as cold water soaks into their short-sleeved shirts. wet hair plastered to her face and socks drenched wet and ████ has never looked more beautiful to her than now, stopping right in her tracks to tremble with a vigor the other girl foolishly mistakes as cold. concern flits over her features in a way that makes her heart trip and stumble, gasping wetly as wet fingertips gently run over her cheeks.
naiyana holds the umbrella when ████ kisses her, her palms warm against her face despite the chilled wind, and she thinks the world could end right then and there and she would die happy. she’s foolish when she asks for another, begs for a third, and promptly forgets about her surroundings until the telltale sound of a horn startles them apart with shy laughter and hastened running to catch a missed bus.
routine is promptly disregarded, waking up hours before the miss—jiho—does, out of the door before the older woman can even utter a good morning. naiyana wakes up with tiny braids in her hair and kisses long seeped into flushed cheeks, and forgets where she is for too long. forgets the house she’s living in, whose roof she rests her head under.
they get caught tangled in each other's arms in her garden, flower crowns in each other’s hair. jiho screams, curses ████, yanks her off their picnic blanket and back into the house before naiyana can utter a single word. she’s disheveled, a mess and a half of frazzled nerves, but she doesn’t care. she follows after them, tears budding in her eyes as her heart thuds in her ears.
she begs on her hands and knees, crying before the wild eyes of the woman who had taken her in. ugly sobs caught in her throat, she begs until her voice runs shot and her tear tracks seem to be permanently etched into her face. all she receives is a prim once over and an order to return to her room. the last time she sees ████ is when she risks a terrified glance over her shoulder, meeting the girl’s soft smile before she’s quickly ushered into her room by househelp.
jiho wakes her up now. jiho stands by as she gets ready, red hot shame lighting a fire down her spine when she settles back into her routine, brushing her hair back as if the girl in the mirror before her hasn’t been promptly unraveled. she once tried to ask about ████’s whereabouts, why she hadn’t been seeing her at school, in the halls, by the bus stop. jiho’s reflection had turned chillingly still, pausing with her hairbrush in midair like a marionette. she’d never had the guts to ask again.
she kept her head down, hid her tremors behind the perfectionism this mis—jiho wanted, and smiled when she was smiled at. said her good mornings and good nights, made sure she left the house without a single hair out of place, and tried not to cry when the lights dimmed low. jiho hated when she looked too puffy in the morning.
𓂃 ˖ RAVANA is a five member boy band who made their debut in 2013 under HONEYMOON AVENUE with the hit single ROCK ME. the band, consisting of JAMIE, ICHIRO, KIMOON, EUNKI, and KYRIE, was formed in 2010 as an independent band between friends who met through scouting and auditions. the quintet is known for their genre flexibility, regularly switching between genres such as r&b, indie, punk rock, pop, and more. they also may or may not have a history of dating scandals, internet beefs, and dramageddon-like events riddling their career. the reputation somewhat directly opposes their peaceful, hipster, and timeless nostalgia concept, which fans have quickly grown to fall in love with. though, the groups talent to stir controversy and theatrics is uncanny.