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boysplanetrecaps · 1 year

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Boys Planet Episode 9: Master Post and General Episode Recap

Hey, fellow Star Creator!

It’s time to talk about Episode 9!

This post is actually just going to be a master post for the episode, in which I cover:

The great reshuffling of the teams

The beginning of the show (fans outside, returning trainees, etc)

The field day

The visit with the parents

An overview of what’s going on with the teams

I’m going to cover the five teams’ rehearsals and performances in separate posts, which means that Supercharger and En Garde will be ready soon, while the other three teams will be covered later.

So, let’s go!

If you want to skip the preview and whatnot, the episode actually starts at 2:37.

We start the episode at the end of the previous elimination ceremony, watching the boys hug and cry and say goodbye to each other. We see a few of the boys sobbing disconsolately, including Brian and Lee Yedam. It’s pretty heartbreaking.

Later, the surviving boys go back to their dorms and talk. They seem to be gathering in little bunches for comfort. Kim Tae Rae is sitting with Lee Jung Hyeon -- they’re both WakeOne trainees and came to the show together, along with Lee’s good friend, Mun Jung Hyeon, who was just eliminated. TaeRae is telling his younger friend Lee to keep going and keep trying on Mun’s behalf.

In another room, Kim Guyvin says that he wants to win first place in something so that he can “call the names of the eliminated trainees one more time.” That’s sweet and everything but it sounds like he’s in the Hunger Games. I am kind of worried about Gyuvin -- he was so confident when he arrived and the judges seem to have beaten him down to pulp. He’s always so bummed out and nervous now. I want to see that confident mop-headed kid again. You’re still in there, right Gyuvin-ah?

That’s my little cousin Kum Jun Hyeon in the bed on the left, and the one curled up in the corner is Lee Seunghwan, based on his pajamas, which we saw in the Ggang segment, but I can’t see the others clearly enough to recognize them. The sign over the middle bed says something like “one chicken per person.”

But then… in the next scene, it’s a bright and cheery new day! All the sadness is gone completely!

3:48 The Great Re-shuffling Begins

So, it’s time for THE GREAT RESHUFFLING. Some teams were left with too many trainees, and some teams were left with too few, and now some teams will have to kick some of their own members out, a process that’s so stressful that people actually feel kind of sorry for the team whose entire contingent of ten survived.

The stakes are pretty high here. There are at this point only three or four days before the actual performance. Changing to a new song at this point could be disastrous for anyone who is slow to learn choreography or lyrics. Also, the song with the most open spaces is Supercharger, which is not only a terrible song,* but also features choreography so difficult that even Haruto had trouble with it after many days of working on it. Anyone who gets kicked out of their team has approximately a and you have a decent chance of being stuck with Supercharger.

*So, I ran a poll on the topic of the song Supercharger, asking people if they liked it or not. A lot of people said they genuinely liked it, so… I guess I stand corrected. For me, just the fact that it got stuck in my head doesn’t mean that I like it.Being sticky isn’t the same thing as being good. I mean, I’ve had honey get stuck in my hair. That doesn’t mean I want it there. But yeah if you like Supercharger, that’s cool -- you do you, boo. I like Danger by Wooah and Firetruck by NCT and Obsession by Exo and Wing Wing by Kepler and a bunch of other weird songs, so I get it. People should like what they like! I’m still not adding Supercharger to my playlist, but I understand why maybe someone else would.

Anyway, so here’s our team status report:

Team En Garde, wearing light pink, have 7 members remaining and need to lose 1.

Currently on the team: Kim Gyu Vin, General Park Gunwook, my little cousin Kum Jun Hyeon, Hui, the formerly blue haired Park Hanbin, that peach Lee Seung Hwan 🍑, and Hiroto.

Members who have gone home: Lee Yedam, Oh Sungmin, Ji Yunseo

Team Over Me, wearing white, have 8 members and need to lose 3.

Currently on the team: Chen Kuan Jui, Jay, Keita, Lee Jeong Hyeon, Ricky, Wang Zi Hao, Yoon Jong Woo, Zhang Hao

Members who have gone home: Lim Jun Seo, Ma Jing Xiang

Team Say My Name, wearing black, have 10 members and need to lose 5

Currently on the team: Cha Woong Ki, Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Tae Rae, Ollie, Seo Won, Seok Matthew, Sung Hanbin, Takuto, Yoo Seung Eon

Team Supercharger, wearing purple, is down to just Haruto from the 11 members it used to have. The team needs five more members.

Members who have gone home: Bak Do Ha, Chen Jian Yu, Cong, Jung Min Gyu, Lee Da Eul, Lee Dong Yeol, Mun Jung Hyun, Park Hyunbeen, Park Ji Hoo

Side note: For this scene, MNET uses piano music that is so over the top dramatic sounding that it would be appropriate for a story about a family losing everything they owned in a house fire. Because it’s so over the top, a viewer will probably subconsciously disconnect with the very real and reasonable pain and anxiety Haruto is feeling right now. Nice work, MNET!

Team Switch is just Na Kamden and Z-Bo, kind of sitting there looking uncomfortable. The team needs 4 more members.

Members who have gone home: Anthonny, Brian, Cai Jin Xin, Choi Woo Jin, Dang Hong Hai, Jung I Chan, Krystian, Lee Dong Gun, Wumuti, and Zhang Shuai Bo

The teams aren’t totally sure how they will be reshuffled because it has worked in different ways in different seasons. The leader of team Over Me, the comeback kid Yoon Jong Woo, suggests voting. Woongki on Say My Name is worried that it might just immediately be decided by ranking, which, ha ha, it kind of will be! And everyone is slightly worried that the surviving members of Supercharger and Switch will get to come steal the people they want.

And in to En Garde’s rehearsal room comes Haruto with big glasses and a clipboard. I love this guy.

I love how Kamden and Z-Bo can’t quite keep up with Haruto’s complete commitment to his bit. Good stuff. So yeah, Haruto manages to almost convince the teams that he and Kamden and Z-Bo get to steal whoever they want from the other teams and make them join Supercharger or Switch. Of course, they can’t. They can make their sales pitch, however, and they do, trying to poach some of the higher ranked team members with promises of big parts like main vocal or the Killing Part. Haruto will peel off that Killing Part sticker right now and slam it right on your solar plexus if you will just join him in Supercharger, assuming you are Park Gunwook.

So En Garde has to figure out who to eliminate. The team is really strong, and its members survived in a convenient distribution, with one person per part, except for the Killing Part and Main Rapper.

Looking at the roster, I theorize that the team would have voted out Hiroto (who is not only the lowest ranked on the team but by total unrelated coincidence the only non-Korean member of the team) and then made one of Gunwook or Gyuvin the main rapper, and then given the other one the Killing Part + Sub Rapper 1.

But that’s all theoretical. Looking at the part distribution gives us a hint as to what really happens, because Park Hanbin, who won top spot in Law, who led both his teams to victory, who was given All Star ranking both times, THAT Park Hanbin, is currently subvocal 3 with 10 seconds of center time?

Um, no.

Park Hanbin tells his team that he has decided to just walk away and join team Switch.

Naturally, Kamden and Z-Bo are delighted to have him join their team. I think team En Garde is just glad that they don’t have to vote someone out.

You guys, the story is going to get even better but we’ll get there.

Next, the recruiting teams go to Over Me and pull the same stunt with their clipboards and self-assurance. Kamden makes a passionate play to try to recruit his friend Jay, offering him the main vocal part. It’s like, 10% cringey, but I don’t mind too much.

So, after Hiroto and co. leave, the Over Me team talks about it. No one wants to leave, so they have to vote to decide who will be kicked out. Each of them makes an argument for why they should stay, and Yoon Jong Woo’s mini speech is about how he’s poured himself into this, deciding on costuming, choreography, etc. Hmm.

Here’s the team as it stood, with their rankings -- those with the Killing Part are marked with a *:

*Zhang Hao 2

*Keita 8

Jay 12

Ricky 14

L - Yoon Jong Woo 15

Wang Zi Hao 19

Chen Kuan Jui 22

Lee Jeong Hyeon 24

They vote for the teammates they want to keep, and Haruto and co. wait in the hallway to see who will be kicked out.

The first to walk out is the smiliest man on earth, 😁Wang Zi Hao😁. Haruto is so happy to him, because if anyone in this whole show can handle Supercharger, it’s 😁WZH😁.

Everyone is shocked to see Keita when he comes out of the rehearsal room, but I really can’t tell if Keita is surprised or not. He’s smiling in a way that is hard to interpret. Last to emerge is Yoon Jong Woo, who is clearly so shocked and angry at the betrayal that for now all he can do is smile.

I have theories on how each of them ended up getting kicked out, because it obviously wasn’t just ranking. Shall we walk together for a while? We shall! Here we go.

My theories on all this:

First off, Zhang Hao wasn’t going to get kicked out -- he’s Zhang Hao. Jay’s voice is super well suited to this song and they need him. Ricky is well suited to the vibe of the song, as well. Chen Kuan Jui is a fantastic dancer who can dance in this style, and also, he’s really good friends with Zhang Hao.

As for why they kept Lee Junghyeon, my theory is that it was in part because he’s their maknae and they care about him, in part because he wrote that rap for the song already and they feel like he has to do it, but mostly because even though he’s good during the performances and won’t ruin anything, he isn’t a threat to steal votes from them.

So in some ways, those who got kicked out are just those who weren’t those five. But I think there were a few other factors in play.

I went back and rewatched the bits of the team interacting from Episode 8, and I noticed that when they circled up for a group convo, Wang Zi Hao ended up sort of on the outside, and they didn’t open the circle for him.

Also, look at them sitting in the producer’s office, also from Episode 8:

Left to right: Wang Zi Hao, MJX, Lee Junghyeon, Ricky, CKJ, Zhang Hao, Jay, Lim Jun Seo, Keita, Yoon Jong Woo

I don’t know what order they sat down on the couch, but look at how cozy Hao is with Jay and CKJ. Look at Yoon Jong Woo inexplicably taking up too much space on the couch so that Lim JunSeo has no room to move his elbows? Does JongWoo not notice or not care? Why doesn’t JunSeo say something? And look at Wang Zi Hao sitting politely to the side, just completely separate. So much to unpack…

You guys? I think they voted out Wang Zi Hao because they’re not friends with him. It’s just that simple. I’m sure he could dance in this style, and we heard him singing in the previous episode and he can actually sing just fine. They don’t dislike him, I mean who would dislike him? -- but he’s not their friend.

Now, Keita. It’s my belief that they voted out Keita because he’s a fucking THREAT. Plus, I don’t get the feeling he’s really their friend, either.

Consider, in episode 8, when they were voting for the Killing Part. Keita, being honorable, voted for Zhang Hao for the killing part. Who did Hao vote for? Chen Kuan Jui. Come on. We all love CKJ, but in what world is he better at a killing part than Keita? I really believe that Hao is smart and strategic enough that he voted for CKJ not because he thought CKJ should get it, but rather to waste his vote and make it less likely that Keita would get it. And it worked, in that Keita ended up coming in second in the vote.

And, now that they’ve both survived, Zhang Hao must be worried he might lose the Killing Part after all. So. Remember how Zhang Hao and Ricky are friends from the same agency (Yuehua)? They’re likely to team up. We’ve also seen how much Zhang Hao and CKJ get along -- they’re really good friends. It wouldn’t have shocked me if Hao, CKJ, and Ricky got together the night before and agreed to vote for each other to stay, and to make sure that Keita was out. They might even have gotten Jay in on it.

I actually think that Keita didn’t see this coming. He’s really smart, and he must have known it was possible, but I think that maybe he isn’t as good at social engineering as he is good at literally everything else. He strikes me as a direct and honest kind of person, so maybe it never occurred to him that his team would do this to him because he himself would never try to vote out the best teammates. He’s friendly and always appreciates how good everyone else is. Yet you rarely see anyone hugging him, you know? I think everyone likes him, but not a lot of people are close friends with him. So he’s not in the cool kids clique, and when push comes to shove, he gets the shove.

So what happened to Yoon Jong Woo? Well. I have a lot of answers to that.

First and foremost, I think he was a threat too. I think he really really suits the style of this song, and he’s a great dancer, and I think he would have been great at this. He might have even won the vote on D-Day. They weren’t going to risk that. Plus, he keeps climbing up the charts. They don’t want him climbing up into top 9! Tossing him out and having him risk landing in Supercharger is a sure way to sabotage him and keep him out of the Top9 so there is more room for Ricky.

Also, I think -- and this is wild speculation on my part but -- I think they were getting sick of him. I really do. I think that Jongwoo’s aggressive attitude toward MJX made the rehearsal room a little unpleasant to be in, and I think stress has made him a little anxious and sharp. His little speech about how he was contributing so much to the song was designed to make them want to keep him, but maybe it reminded them that he’s doing too much (in their opinion)? Something like that…

So yeah, those are my thoughts on what happened with that team!

Anyway.

Back to the reshuffling!

Next, Haruto and co. go see team Say My Name and again, they make their pitches. Here are the ten Say My Name trainees, along with their episode 8 ranks:

Sung Hanbin 1

Han Yu Jin 3

Seok Matthew 4

Kim Ji Woong 5

Kim Tae Rae 7

Yoo Seung Eon 17

Seo Won 18

Takuto 25

Cha Woong Ki 26

Ollie 27

The only one who seems interested in the sales pitch is Matthew, who listens to Switch to see if he likes it, but then also jokes that his name is Seok Woohyun (that’s his Korean name, apparently) and that he doesn’t know who Matthew is. So no Switch-switch there.

However, as we find out, Kim TaeRae does in fact want to switch to Switch, saying: “I think this team [Say My Name] has a lot of members who can do a better job than me. In order to show my strength more, it might make more sense for me to join them.” His choice is quite interesting and I will get to it in a bit. It’s not clear how he ends up on Switch as opposed to Supercharger, but maybe since presumably all five trainees wanted Switch, the Switch team was allowed to pick the trainee they wanted. Or maybe because TaeRae was was ranked the highest, or because he volunteered to leave, he was allowed to choose.

The other four SMN teammates who get kicked out are coincidentally the four lowest ranked, Takuto, Ollie, Seo Won, and Woongki. I’m sure you’ve noticed that they are the four cutest on the team, so it could also be theorized that they were kicked out for being a threat, but I don’t think that Takuto was a threat.

I actually think that Takuto and Ollie in particular were kicked out because they’re so young looking. I know that Ollie is older than Han Yujin, but even so, and even though he’s so tall, he comes across as younger. Knowing as I do now that the team is going to go for a “high teen” concept, you can’t have actual teenaged looking people on the team or they’ll make Sung Hanbin look old (he’s not, but he looks older than his age [21], in my opinion).

If you watched Girls Planet 999, you might remember this performance of Yes or Yes, with the 25 year old Wen Zhe and the like, 15 year old Kim Sein. This is also a high teen concept, and having little Sein there made Wen Zhe look like a 35 year old, which in kpop is the same as being an actual brontosaurus. It made the whole team feel out of balance, too.

So yeah, it made sense for the Say My Name team to kick the "little kids" out.

As for Seo Won and Woongki, I really think it was mostly that they’re low ranked. I don’t think that the team viewed them as a threat either, because they’re low ranked and don’t stand a chance at winning the vote compared to them. I mean, Woongki couldn’t win the vote against Z-Bo in Feel Special, you know? I love Seo Won and Woongki too, and think that after the show they will probably have tons of offers to be on reality shows and stuff, because they’re lovable AF! But I still don’t think their teammates viewed them as a threat.

In any case, all four of them end up on Supercharger, much to their intense chagrin.

Ollie is being sort of comical about his distress, but he also kind of means it. It’s cute to see his friendship with Haruto, but it also makes sense. Haruto is completely fluent in English, as we see in this episode, and Ollie seems to speak English possibly as a first language, so it makes sense that these two friendly, English speaking dancers would have gotten close. In any case, this team is going to have a tough time, as we’ll soon see.

Ok, so here is a final list of the trainees and their songs they ended up in. I include the song they originally had if they switched. Incidentally, everyone originally had the song they asked the audience for, except for Lee Seunghwan, who originally wanted Say My Name but ended up in En Garde.

En Garde:

Kim Gyu Vin

Park Gunwook

Kum Jun Hyeon

Hui

Lee Seung Hwan

Hiroto

Over Me:

Zhang Hao

Jay

Ricky

Chen Kuan Jui

Lee Jeong Hyeon

Say My Name:

Sung Hanbin

Han Yu Jin

Seok Matthew

Kim Ji Woong

Yoo Seung Eon

Supercharger: first team

Wang Zi Hao Over Me

Seo Won Say My Name

Takuto Say My Name

Cha Woong Ki Say My Name

Ollie Say My Name

Haruto Supercharger

Switch: first team

Park Hanbin En Garde

Keita Over Me

Yoon Jong Woo Over Me

Kim Tae Rae Say My Name

Na Kamden Switch

Zhang Shuai Bo Switch

Or, if you prefer an infographic:

And thus ends… t h e g r e a t r e s h u f f l i n g.

Then from 17:10 to 17:40 it’s just a preview of the performances, so you can skip that if you want.

After that, we visit each of the five teams for 4-8 minutes each, to see how their rehearsals are getting started.

Supercharger (average rank: 21.8)

At 17:40, we visit team Supercharger for almost six minutes.

The gist of what’s going on is that they’re super discouraged, since most of them don’t feel like they’re a good fit for the song. They’re also worried about learning new and incredibly difficult choreography, and they’re sad that they got kicked out of the group they’d been in, especially Woongki, who had a ton of ideas for Say My Name.

For a more in-depth review of their rehearsal and performance, click here.

Say My Name (average rank: 6)

At 23:30, we endure the gut-churningly uncomfortable atmosphere at team Say My Name for a solid eight minutes.

The gist of the situation is that Matthew wants to have a big part and makes everyone feel bad when he is given a smaller part, even though (a) it’s not a tiny part and (b) it suits his voice so much better than the original part that it actually is a benefit to him as well. I know some people think this is “evil editing.” But this is stuff he’s actually doing, and if anything the show seems to be on his side, as far as I can tell.

It’s ok if you still like him -- in fact, good for you for showing such grace and kindness to him! We all deserve kindness when possible. And his negative behavior is a consequence of an extremely stressful environment, and doesn’t mean that he’s a “bad person.” I am not saying that Matthew can never be forgiven or that I hate him. But I am saying that he’s being immature, entitled, oblivious, and just an enormous pain in the butt right now.

I’ll talk about this a lot more when I post my in-depth review of their rehearsal(s) and performance. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to click here. (It’ll be posted when Ep 10 is up.)

Switch (average rank: 14.5)

At 31:45, we visit with team Switch for four whole minutes!

The gist of what’s going is that Park Hanbin has already learned the choreography to the song, because he pretty much planned all along to switch to Switch. This shit is amazing. He ends up with the killing part, because that’s how good he is at the choreo already. Kim Tae Rae, who has switched here from Say My Name, ends up with the main vocal, so a win for him as well. He also ends up having a bit of trouble with the choreo in the very first lesson, which is hardly surprising in any way. He’s a main vocal, folks. And…?

I’ll talk about all of this a lot more when I post my in-depth review of their rehearsal(s) and performance. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to click here. (It’ll be posted when Ep 10 is up.) But I’ll tell you right now that I’m super excited for this performance!

En Garde (Ave rank: 14.2, but without Hiroto would be 11.4)

At 35:50, we visit team En Garde, and spend about 7.5 minutes with them, most of which are unnecessary.

The gist of what’s going on is that they need to pick who will get to keep the killing part, and they choose Gunwook over Gyuvin. Then later on they prank Gunwook and tell him that they’re taking the killing part away and he’s actually pretty nice and mature about it, and then they reveal that it was a prank.

Then Hui says something interesting. “I worried if things were going too well.” Why would you worry about that, Hui? Hmmm…

I’ll talk about this a bit more when I post my in-depth review of their rehearsal(s) and performance. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to click here. (It’ll be posted when Ep 10 is up.)

Over Me (Ave rank: 14.8)

At 43:13, we visit with team Over Me for about 4.5 minutes. The gist of their situation is that they’re trying to shake off the guilt of having gotten rid of Yoon Jongwoo, and they do just that by electing Zhang Hao their new leader and re-distributing the parts. Jay is confirmed as main vocal, and Hao get the killing part. Again, we don’t see them rehearse at all.

I’ll talk about all this a bit more when I post my in-depth review of their rehearsal(s) and performance. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to click here. (It’ll be posted when Ep 10 is up.)

Time passes, and now it’s…

Showtime (47:50)

Fans are waiting outside the studio, holding up signs, excited for the show. There’s a sign that just says “Yujin” and one that says “Park Hanbin” in Hangul and then in English “PHANBIN”.

I know most of you can’t read Korean so here’s a few screenshots with translations of whatever I was able to read:

By the way, I’m doing my last editing pass on this and I just noticed that that light blue rectangle that says “Lee Sunghwan” in the top image should be in the middle of the bottom image, over that light blue sign in the middle. Don’t know what happened there. Sorry. Oh, and the red and black sign says Keita I think.

There are signs for Kim Gyubin, Ollie, Lee Sunghwan, Zhang Hao, Kim Tae Rae, and tons of other trainees. There are Na Kamden signs in English, Keita signs in Japanese, and look, it’s Haruto’s mom with a group of Haruto’s fans! Aww, she looks so much like him! (That’s his dad in the back, with the tinted glasses.)

As the fans go inside, we spot some of the eliminated trainees, here to see the show and perform in it, too.

In the top photo, that’s Wumuti waving, then Choi Woojin in the dark jacket, then Lee Hwanhee partly hidden by Jung Mingyu (who is wearing a white shirt). I can’t quite place the guy in the blue and white shirt or the guy in the middle with the reddish hair. 🙁 In the bottom photo, that’s Hwanhee, Brian, Ji YunSeo, Wumuti, and the guy in the blue and white shirt again. If you know who he is, or who the guy with the reddish hair is, let me know! I feel bad that I don’t recognize them.

Mingyu says that they will get to show off the performance they’ve been practicing, which is nice! From what I’ve heard there are lots of long pauses in these performance stages while the show is filming reactions and stuff back stage, so while they’re doing that, management could let these guys perform to entertain the audience. It’s win/win!

So, then the teams start entering. Switch team is super brightly colored. I’ll have to see what it looks like when they’re in motion -- I mean, Exo’s Obsession outfits were a LOT but they worked on stage.

Then Team En Garde comes out, in military-esque leather outfits that aren’t thrilling me, but I reserve judgment. Supercharger jumps up and down with the audience, who seem happy to see them. And then the Say My Name team come out in a “cool school boys after school” look -- a style they call “high teen” in Kpop land. It’s designed to be immediately loveable to the majority of the age groups and sexual preferences of the audience. Finally, Over Me comes out, and Chen Kuan Jui sees something in the audience that really gets his attention.

Click to enlarge

It’s such a weird moment. Ok, he’s been making hand half-hearts and stuff, right, but then he stops and almost reflectively makes a butterfly hand gesture, while staring in amazement, then his hand goes to cover his mouth while he continues to stare. It happens at 49:20 or so -- I can’t figure out what he saw. I assume a fan was holding up some sort of fan art of the Butterfly performance, or was dressed like a butterfly, or something…? I wish I knew! It obviously really surprised and touched him.

We see that each fan has been given a light wand that they can also use to vote. I’m not going to say what I think those light wands look like, but they definitely look like sex toys.

The boys are all gathered on stage, and it looks like the performances will start any minute…

… but nope. Instead, it’s time for…

52:09 A special video of a special surprise fan meeting

The boys are out at a sort of field day event and find out that they have a surprise fan meeting later that day. They have to win prizes they can use to prepare for the fan meeting.

It’s hard to recap this kind of thing because there’s no point to it, so I’ll mix recap with just random stray thoughts!

🌟I thought it was funny when boys joked that they might have to be in a “zoning out competition” and we see a montage of Na Kamden zoning out. Fun fact -- I showed my fella the dance practice of Switch and he was like, “that guy” (Kamden) “needs to show a facial expression of any kind.”

🌟I loved Woongki going “woooOOOOoooh!”

🌟What happened to Keita? Why does he have a band-aid on his nose?

🌟I’m glad that they’re all performing as a big team instead of competing against each other. Yes, a common enemy!! Co-op board games keep me and my fella from getting too competitive! Co-op games for the win!

The game where they wore party hats over their eyes to restrict their vision and have to try to match childhood photos to their subjects was pretty cute. They end up getting 5, which means they get to give their fans some tissues. I love how at the start of the game, the staff tells them that the other boys can’t help the searchers, and how they do anyway and no one cares.

I also love how someone says, of elementary school aged Hui, “He looks like he would’ve liked potatoes.” I have no idea what that means or if it’s a Korean saying or what. But I love it and am going to start saying it about people given the slightest opportunity.

🌟Aww, Ricky says of his 11 or 12 year old photo, “I was so ugly.” Every human being is a little bit ugly at that age. And he already had great eyebrows! I bet girls had a crush on him.

🌟Aw, Woongki was the same as a kid! But hold on, I’m still not clear on whether or not that kid in the swimming pool really was Hiroto.

Next game is a quiz game, whether they’re shown random photos and have to recognize them -- other trainees, the judges, etc. They managed to win the mics. I think the show threw the game to make sure they at least got mics.

The third game is to win food for the visitors -- they have to throw each other candies and catch them in their mouths. If they get 20, they win a steak dinner; if they get only 15, they get galbitang, which a beef short rib soup; if they get 10, they get only gimbap, which if you’re not familiar, is a bit like sushi in that it’s seaweed wrapped around rice, but it has a really different flavor -- there isn’t vinegar on the rice, it’s sesame oil instead, and the fillings can vary a lot. It’s tasty and all that, but it’s considered a sort of casual comfort food in Korea -- not exactly fine dining. It’d be a bit like serving your guests PB&J (USA) or beans on toast (UK) or whatever the version of that meal is where you live. Anyway, turns out Jay is really good at catching candies in his mouth, and catches 11, and hey, gimbap is better than nothing.

🌟 I liked them joking that it would have been great for TaeRae to be the one who catches the candies, because his mouth is so big, and TaeRae just being like, yep.

Then all of a sudden they tell us that the boys won hair and makeup and costumes in games we didn’t get to see…? What the everlasting fuck, MNET? Was Haruto just too charming in the bit that you had to cut it?

So, with the field day over, the boys return to the dorms to get ready for their show and put on regular but nice looking clothes, then get their hair and make up done. Then they go to the venue and hang up balloons and other decorations for their guests. But who will their guests be?

When the guests are revealed, my first thought was, “there’s more men than I thought there’d be.” My second thought was, “wow, they’re all middle aged, or a little older -- where are the screaming teenagers?” and then I was like ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It’s their families!

🌟 I love Haruto’s mom -- of course his mom would be so outgoing and silly.

🌟 Park Hanbin’s mother is saying, “Our son became this pretty? Our son became so pretty!” First, if you’re not aware by now, the Korean word translated as "pretty" (it sounds like "yeppo") is applied to men and women alike in Korea, so don’t be throw off by the word choice or think it's a veiled insult. Second, hey, Hanbin’s mother, he’s always been pretty!! And he looks just like you so…. I mean…

🌟Seo Won’s parents make bunny ears at him -- he looks almost irritated at them. Maybe it's a family joke he's really sick of.

🌟We get to see 😁Wang Zi Hao’s😁 dance teacher, who is named Trix. In an interesting coincidence, my fella recently sent me a video of this dance crew called Monster Woo fam. Well, Trix is a member of that crew. Since he’s Korean, it's probably much easier for him to come to something like this than it would be for 😁WZH’s😁 parents to come, and I'm glad that 😁WZH😁had someone to support him, but I'm sorry it couldn't be his family. It's also kind of interesting that he had a Korean dancer teacher, but seems to still be not that great at speaking Korean. Maybe he understands a lot more than he can say.

🌟Keita’s dad, who looks exactly like MMA star Choo Sung Hoon, is also there. (My fella came in while I was writing this and was like, “wait, why is Choo Sung Hoon on your Korean singing show?” My fella watched Physical 100 and recognized him from that.)

🌟 Wumuti is also there! Wumuti is everywhere. Wumuti is IN YOUR BRAIN. I love that Wumuti is so glad to see who is on team Switch -- it’s like, he can relax knowing that if Keita is there, it’s going to be ok.

🌟Woongki is crying, and in a kind of a surprise, so is TaeRae. TaeRae’s mother, who totally has his exact cheekbones, is like, “Oh no, our TaeRae is so sensitive.” P-Hanbin is also tearing up.

🌟15 year-old Han Yujin says “my heart just felt strange” when he saw his mom. I can imagine that -- you kind of build up a wall and almost convince yourself you’ve never been anywhere but here, and then you see people from your old life and the wall crumbles down. Side note: his mom is really pretty. She looks like she could be an actress or something.

🌟Na Kamden has an identical twin brother! Wild. Kamden is the younger of the two (by however many minutes) so has to call his twin “hyung.”

🌟Ok, this is weird -- when the staff is bringing out the gimbap, we see that Haruto’s manager and Dongmyeong from k-band Onewe (check out their song “Gravity”) are there. That’s random. But Dongmyeong’s been on ALL the reality shows so maybe he’s just there because he gets it? But I really don't understand -- Haruto is under WakeOne and Onewe is under RBW, and I double checked but neither of those companies owns the other so really, this is super perplexing.

They’re all nervous to perform in front of their parents and other family members. Keita says it’s the first time he’s ever performed for his parents, which seems wild to me -- they’ve never seen Ciipher perform?

🌟We find out that Kamden’s brother came all the way from the US to be here. And I love the way the two of them greet each other -- like vague acquaintances. I have cousins who are twins, and they’re like that with each other. They ask the brother if he’s ever seen Kamden’s “aegyo” (over the top cute behavior) and the brother is like please no.

🌟TaeRae is crying so much he almost can’t sing.

🌟Oh, that’s Cai Jin Xin in the audience! Maybe some of the Chinese trainees had a hard time booking the flight home or had a flight home scheduled for some weeks from now, so they’re stuck in Korea for the time being -- something like that? Anyway, CJX was on the original team Switch and can’t help but dance along. It's cute. Both CJX and Wumuti look great styled in their natural personal style (I assume). I'm low-key obsessed with CJX's bizarre hoodie cape thing.

🌟Oh, Keita’s mom is also so pretty. Keita says he had a hard time preparing for this mission, and I think he’s just so exhausted on every level, giving it his all this whole time. I'm voting for you, sweetie.

When it’s time for “Over Me,” I couldn’t help but think about how embarrassing it must have been for the trainees to perform that song in front of their parents! Here are some sample lyrics, from the video on a youtube channel called ms start+ . The parts that were in English originally are in green -- the rest is translated (kind of poorly, I think) from the Korean.

I swear that I won’t leave without you / this breathless emotion is through/ come closer and hold me tight, tonight with you / I want to stay with you … Burning more and more we’re on fire, you and I are going to the end of the night. / We don’t need to hide our desire/ to wake up with you over me

Doesn’t matter whether you speak Korean and no English, or English and no Korean, you’re going to understand this song. Seriously, I would be so uncomfortable performing this in front of my parents. I noticed that they didn’t use the red fabric ties -- did they just not have them, or did they scrap them at the last second to make the dance less overtly sexy?

🌟We see that Zhang Hao and Ricky’s agency manager is here, watching proudly. She’s wearing a gray hoodie over a white turtleneck with a black coat over the hoodie, so I hope she’s warm enough. We also see that some of Yoon Jongwoo’s chingus are there, finding the whole thing pretty cringey. Love that.

Then they do this awful thing where they make Han Yujin tell his mom he loves her, and he cries, and I hate all of this, but his mom is also really pretty! So is Gyubin’s mom -- we see her at 1:14:53. Aw, all the moms are pretty. Yay! But no one is eating the gimbap -- ha ha. First time I watched this I may have been a bit... lofty... and I was like, damn, if you guys don't want that gimbap, give it to me...

So the families all love the performances, and then the boys are told that this is actually an evaluation performance and that their families will be filling out evaluation sheets. The boys go back to their rehearsal rooms to read their evaluation forms. The show seems to vastly overestimate how much suspense they can eek out of this as the trainees react to the eval forms. It’s so obvious why they’re reacting the way they are, I mean, duh, MNET. Shock of all shocks, the families really just wrote notes of support and love instead of criticizing them harshly! WUTTT?????? It’s still really cute and made me tear up a little because as you know, I’m a light touch.

🌟We never see Takuto reacting to any of this -- I think maybe his parents weren’t there? If they had been, I think that the show have focused on that. Poor Takuto, not being able to see his parents! He's like, a high school sophomore. He's not even old enough to take the SATs.

Side note: we get to see a bit of the note that Keita’s dad wrote for him, and it’s almost all in hiragana. That’s a Japanese syllabary, kind of like their alphabet, as opposed to the kanji characters, which are the more complex characters that have been adapted from Chinese. It’s considered a sign of good education to use kanji where applicable, and just supplement with hiragana as needed to conjugate verbs and stuff. So Keita’s dad is either maybe not super well educated, or is just writing very casually to his son and chose a more simple method of writing. I remember in a few animes, characters being made fun of for writing in just hiragana -- like Sailor Moon, noted ditz, only uses hiragana -- but I don’t want to base my cultural understanding just on anime, so if anyone knows the sort of ins-and-outs of writing quick notes in Japanese, and whether people are likely or unlikely to use kanji in a casual note, let me know! The reason I’m interested in not at all to insult Keita’s father -- it’s more that knowing that Keita comes from a more working-class background makes what he’s doing all the more special. So many idols come from super upper class backgrounds -- Jay from Enhypen, Tzuyu from Twice, Wendy from Red Velvet, Umji from G-friend, those are just a few that pop into my head. Keita being able to develop his talents without the financial backing of rich parents -- that’s just extra cool. We stan a self-sufficient talent.

Anyway, that was a cute interlude, but I’m glad I was able to skip it when I watched the episode the first time to get to the next segment! I don’t mind filler per se, but when you’re dying to see what happened to team Supercharger, you just want to go to…

1:21:28 Supercharger

The team introduces itself as “96.” Subtle. 😛We see their rehearsals -- a study in misery, desperation, and hard work -- and then their performance, which is… surprisingly good? We all knew Haruto would nail it, but this is the first time I feel like I saw Wang Zi Hao look like an idol, rather than just a really good backup dancer, and everyone (but poor Takuto) really pulled it off. I’d say Woongki surprised me, but he didn’t really -- if you watch some of his performances with T01, you’ll see he can totally rock this kind of thing. Hiroto comes in first with 852 votes, which is well deserved.

For my more in depth discussion of their rehearsals/performance, click here.

1:41:57 En Garde

The team introduces itself as "En! Butter." It’s apparently kind of a reference to redbean butter bread, and makes sense with the name of the song. This team really had nothing to worry about, so they kind of invented problems to overcome (at least, that’s my take on what happened) and then put on a perfectly good performance that oddly doesn’t sway me much, despite the fact that I like all these performers a lot. I think it’s just that the song is kind of boring to me, personally. I know other people like it and that’s totally cool. We all like different things. Gyuvin comes in first with 742 votes -- I suspect this is controversial because apparently a lot of people don’t like Gyuvin, but I like Gyuvin just fine and don’t mind.

For my more in depth discussion of their rehearsals/performance, click here for my En Garde recap!

1:58:43 Say My Name (not really)

We see the team backstage, then immediately flashback to their rehearsal time. It’s all really uncomfortable. I know people probably are curious about what I have to say about Matthew, but I don’t want to go into too much detail here and now. My short answer is, again, I don’t see this as evil editing. I see this as immature unpleasant behavior from Matthew. It’s not unforgivable or beyond understanding, and there are times that certainly we can see that he’s trying his best, but overall, I don’t love what I see here. I mean, his team is still super uncomfortable even as they go up onstage!

I’ll talk more about it in a separate post, linked in the episode 10 recap!

Side note: Ok, hey, LipJ, like, I thought it was kind of funny how you found the boys attractive, but back off from Han Yujin, ok? He’s a child. You’re twice his age. It’s really not ok. Alright! That’s enough of that.

Interim ranking posting:

And then the show posts a few of the current ranks, just enough to achieve some nefarious purpose. This is what they show:

Keita

Ricky

Park Hanbin

Lee Jeongyheon

Kim Gyuvin

Yoo Seung Eon

Cha Woonki

Enhh. You guys, the purpose behind this seems so obvious I almost feel like I don’t need to say this, but I’ll just say it anyway, in case you’re thinking the same thing as me and wondering if you’re imagining things. You’re not imagining things. MNET revealed that Keita and Ricky are ranked so high in order to hurt them, and revealed that those five Korean trainees were ranked comparatively low in order to help them. The idea is that people won’t want to vote for the trainees that are ranked high, because they don’t think they need help, and will want to vote for the trainees that are ranked low, because they think they DO need help. And no, it’s not a coincidence that the higher ranked trainees are foreign and the lower ranked trainees are Korean.

So, that's my ep 9 general recap. Here's a link to my general recap of episode 10! As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned! You're the best.

#boys planet #boys planet recap #haruto #keita #ricky boys planet

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elderflowergin · 7 months

Note

Heya, me again! Thank you for getting into it with me. I finished Hot Stove League, what a fun and learning time. I honestly do not find baseball to be at all interesting but this one made me sit through it, and enjoy learning! I agree about Mr Bark and Mr Kwon here, I think they would have, at some point, loved to pulverize eachother from the face of the earth, but in the end came together for Dreams! And Park EunBin! I adore her so much, too much. AHH, what a delight, how amazing is she!

About JangHyun, I am looking forward to his growth. I think Part 1 was about GilChae's growth and part 2 will be his, I'm looking forward to seeing him unlock all of that trauma from his body and release it. Their parting was so horrible horrible horrible. I'm glad I wasn't online much after watching ep10, just so I could l figure out my own feelings about that ending without the many voices getting into my head.

Anyway, I think he will repent.

I'm so team GilHyun or JangChae that my assessment of both in the last EP is that they are both in the spectrum of the the five stages of grief, him: shock and her, maybe anger or somewhere further along the line. I hope I'm making sense. Because he returned to Joseon with the idea that he and GC will be talking about their future, he said they would when he 'proposed' to her before he left. And GC was probably overwhelmed when she saw him alive after thinking that he was dead for so long.(PS: what a horrific way to realise that you love someone). Maybe after a long time reflecting, he may, may, understand that he was asking far too much(the fact that YeonJun said things that make sense before Janghyun was able to see it says a lot.)

I'm very interested in how GC feels about RyangEum.

Extremely proud of GilChae( very sad that we have to keep emphasising this). I'm looking forward to their conversations in the future. To GilHyun or JangChae.🥂

Dearest Anon, I still don’t know how baseball is played but I’m glad that wasn’t necessary to enjoy the show.

I loved Park Eun-bin so much - she’s so smart and gutsy and hotheaded and full of love for her team. I deeply enjoyed her protecting Baek Seung-soo (and on occasion his one cheap suit) by throwing a shot glass at a player built like a tank. I enjoyed Oh Jung-se’s character very much as well - there’s a wonderful scene where he’s with his cousin who drops his key and waits for Oh Jung-se to pick it up - which of course Oh Jung-se does since this cousin will be his boss someday, and Baek Seung-soo observes this moment from his car. Lovely character work in that single thirty second scene.

Thank you for those amazing observations about Gil-chae and Jang Hyeon - it makes so much sense! I think they are deeply misaligned and I agree with you that they are also in two different stages of grief. I think Gil-chae tries to meet him in the middle, but Jang Hyeon didn’t wish to move at all (perhaps partly because he was in shock, as you pointed out). I hope like you do that he reflects on and regrets how he treated her. If there is one very sore point I have with the show, it is that they made Yeon-jun of all people (!!!) say the right thing to Jang-hyeon.

I think you were completely right to stay mostly offline for the post episode 10 discussions. I read very little and backed out. I think it’s just part of a larger cultural conversation that we tend to give men far more grace and leeway than we offer women. I find it ironic here because the characters literally live in an era where men had a lot of leeway to begin with and women had very little (and the show takes pains to address this too!), so it’s a real choice to place even higher expectations and tighter leeway on the women and doing the opposite for men. But this has been going on longer than the internet has been alive, I guess.

Anon, thank you so much for coming by and making these very cool and wise observations. As you progress in your Namgoong Min deep dive, please always know you can come hang out here, link arms virtually and tell me (and us!) all the Namgoong Min feelings. Here’s a hug if you’ll have one! 🫂

#namgoong min #my dearest #of all the gin joints in the world #mbc my dearest

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kdrama-movies-more · 7 months

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Timeline

1940, Feb 14th: Jung Ui-hwan is born (inquiry report)

1965, Apr 28th : Ha Seong-min born

1966, May 18th : Jung Mi-ok was born (case file)

1966, Nov 4th : Cha Ju-man born (inquiry report; "google" info)

1977, Oct 13 : Park Jong-bae was born

~1977 : Jeon Gwang-sik was born

1978, Apr 18 : Hong Mi-yeon(Park Jong-bae's wife) was born

1988, Sept 6th : Bong Ye Bun was born

1990, Nov 28th : Kim Seon-woo's birthday (presumably, inquiry report)

1993 : Hyeon-ok's 21-25 fencing diary's year

2002, Jan : Assemblyman Yoon's Mujin redevelopment fraud file(Mi-ok's news) 2002 till 2005

2002, Mar 25 : Cha Ju-man's last address change/moved in to Mujin(inquiry report)

2005, Nov 13 (11:15?) : dod/tod(estd.) Jung Mi-ok (aged 40) [place: Mujin Port]

2005, Nov 14 (13:04) : Car and body of Jung Mi-ok recovered (ep 1 first scene)

2007, Jan 17th : Bong Ye-bun gets into Veterinary school

2007 : Jungsan Daily(newspaper Bong's mom wrote for) ceases publication

2012, Feb 1st : Bong Ye-bun gets veterinary license

2014 : The 7 years later in the vet office we see in episode 1 before it cuts to another 8 years(=15 years)

2015, Jul 12 : Justin(Park Kang-jun) is born

2015, Sep 15 : Cho Ae-ran gets into debt with Kim Seon-hwa of the Mujin Coffee Shop

~2016 : Jang-yeol meets Seung-gil (17th b'day)

~2017 : Seung-gil's 18th birthday

~2018 : Seung-gil's 19th birthday

2019, Sept 23rd : Cha Ju-man's lecture at Hankuk University

2019 : Kim Seon-woo drops out of Hankuk University after Cha Ju-man's lecture

~2020 : Bae Deok-hee joins the police department

2021, Sept 6: Ok-hui's memory of Ye-bun drunkenly dancing in front of a police car

2022, Sept 6 : Bong Ye-bun turns 35

2022, Sept 20: Kim Seon-woo's last address change date(as in the report)

2022, Sept 25 : dod Kim Si-a (aged 24) [place: Mujin Beach]

2022, Oct 6th : dod Park Seung-gil (aged 23) [place: Mujin General Hospital]

2022, Oct 20th : dod Lee Ji-suk (aged 27) [place: Road near fishing spot]

2022, Oct 20th : Cha Ju-man is elected

2022, Oct 21st : Cho Ae-ran's debt is paid off

2022, Nov 1 : dod Cha Ju-man(57) is murdered, Jung Ui-hwan framed

2022, ~Nov : Jung Ui-hwan(83) dies of his injury

2022, Nov 6th : Cha Ju-man's corruption is published about; day1/2 of Ui-hwan's funeral

2022, Nov 20 : dod Jeon Gwang-sik(45)

2022, Nov 28 : Kim Seon-woo officially turns 33

~2022, Nov 30 : dod Kim Seon-woo(33)

(ages might be in Korean system)

The Mujin Raincoat killer victims

Cho Ae-ran

Jung Ui-hwan

Jung Mi-ok

Bong Ye-bun

Kim Seon-woo

Cha Ju-man; has a spouse and a son; official birthplace is given in Incheon

#behind your touch #kdrama

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sweetestlamb · 2 years

Text

My Brother's Keeper

Summary: Young-woo gets a visitor after the case and reveals a secret to Jun-ho.

Author's note: I thought we were completely off the rails and then the writers pulled it together for the things I cared about: whale couple and attorney Jung. My favorite scene today was Young-woo finding out she's a big sister and everything her eyes and body did, ergo I wrote this fluff to expand on that because I love that she has a little brother to protect now. She gets to take care of someone🥺 please bring him back in season 2!

"Attorney Woo I'll drive you back to the office." It's hard to keep the smile off his face, to remain professional when all he wants to do is tell everyone that they're back together. They had both decided that they shouldn't break up because they could only be happy together.

"Okay." He hears her curt reply, sees her affirmative head nod in the corner of his eye and all he can do is stare in awe. Despite his initial confusion about her unusual investment in this case and her ability to meet with someone like Tae Sumi, he had felt nothing but pride watching her run off with that heart stopping smile on her face as she decided to do the seemingly impossible.

But the impossible became possible for her. She was brilliant and kind and had one of the purest souls he had ever seen. Just being the one beside her was enough for him.

"Noona, wait!"

He can feel her jolt beside him before peering over her shoulder slowly twisting to find the voice, and he turns as well watching Attorney Tae Sumi try and fail to wrangle her son before he can rush over to Young-woo.

His eyes are bright and filled with wonder despite the outcome of the case, despite his own inevitable punishment.

In that moment, watching the brave young boy on the stand he reminded him of someone else with the same sense of righteousness. It was hard not to see the resemblance.

The younger boy stands right in front of them before bowing at Young-woo. He carefully watches the interaction between the two, confused but endeared by the sight.

"I wanted to thank you again. For helping me and convincing ou-um my mom to let me testify. The guilt that I felt is starting to fade, maybe one day all those people and even Mr. Bae will be able to forgive me."

The mistep is minor but it stands out in his mind. Ou...what word did he initially intend to use? But Young-woo's response distracts him from thinking about it further. He can't help but notice the way that Sang-Hyeon avoids his gaze eyes locked on Young-woo instead.

"I'm not sure if they will. What you did wrong and foolish. If something went wrong it could have affected eighty percent of the country."

The young boy's gaze shifts with evident shame to the ground and he winces at the frank and deceivingly cold words but he can't help but agree with her and so he remains silent, a mere audience member.

"But you confessed and you apologized. I've had many cases now and that's even hard for adults to do, they usually try to lie and hide." She says the last bit with a frown on her face as if remembering those dastardly clients.

He smiles in admiration, grinning when the boy immediately perks up a small smile on his face now. That was the first time he'd ever seen her comfort someone, it makes his heart swell.

"I did the right thing, right noona?"

It's hard to miss the obvious look for approval.

"Yes, you did what is legally right when you commit a crime. But you shouldn't break the law anymore."

"I promise I won't."

She nods evenly at the promise looking satisfied.

"Noona?"

"Yes?"

"You were really cool today. I hope you keep being that cool, I want to be like you when I grow up."

"To be like me?" She looks confused, pointing into her own chest as if she never expected to hear anyone utter such words.

"Yes. You're the coolest person I know."

This time he can't remain silent, not when he agrees so passionately with what the young boy is saying.

"I agree Attorney Woo, you were super cool today."

She tucks her chin into her chest as if to hide the wide gleeful grin that spreads across her pretty face, thankfully it's not hidden well and he's blessed with its beauty.

"Are you.....are you someone special to my noona?" Sang Hyeon finally acknowledges his presence peering up at him with a suspicious weary gaze.

My noona.

He can't ignore the slight possessiveness in his tone and he raises a single brow at the tone. Did this little punk have a crush on his Young-woo? It was as cute as it was annoying.

However there is no longer any uncertainty in his reply this time unlike that other night, he knows what he is to Young-woo now. What they are to each other.

"Yes. I'm her boyfriend."

He could proudly announce that now to people. He had already changed her contact in his phone and each time she called just because she missed him he would see my girlfriend across his screen and that made every day a great one indeed.

"You have a boyfriend?" Sang Hyeon spins back to Attorney Woo who only pauses for a second before nodding and answering, "Yes, this is my boyfriend Jun-ho ssi. We are officially dating now so it's acceptable for us to kiss outside my hou--"

"Attorney Woo!" He cuts her off with an embarrassed squeak, red flush rising on his neck and cheeks. But the young man seems unfazed by her inappropriate comment, glaring at him now as if he's searching for something.

After a silent stare off, the boy finally says,"Take care of my noona. If you hurt her, you already know what I'm capable of."

This is a first for him, being threatened by someone so much younger than him but he can't help but grin at the hard glare being sent his way.

"I will always take care of her." And he means it with his whole heart, even a few days without her was torture he never wanted to go through that again.

"Okay. Good."

They seem to reach an understanding but then he watches in amusement as Young-woo reaches out and grabs the younger boy's ear, twisting it with her thumb and index finger it's such a strange sight that he can't help but laugh loudly.

"Noona!"

"You shouldn't threaten my boyfriend or your elders. Where are your manners?"

He's almost certain it's something she has seen on a show or heard from someone else about scolding your juniors.

"I'm sorry noona, I was just joking." He squirms in her hold but makes no real attempts to escape, accepting his reprimand without much fight.

Several eyes turn to watch them in shock and confusion, all except one. Attorney Tae Sumi, who he can only describe as stunned. There's an indescribable look in her eyes but her face is softer than he's ever seen on a woman like her who is a master of hiding her emotions. He blinks blankly as she turns away from the sight with a hand pressed to her mouth and suddenly starts to leave with her bodyguards never looking back.

"Noona, I think I have to go now. Thank you again." He rubs at his ear now looking at his mother's retreating back.

"Okay. You're welcome."

They stare at each other before the young boy turns to follow his mother but he can see how he hesitates. Motionless for a long moment before turning back around with a hopeful look in his large eyes.

"Noona, is it okay if.... could I maybe...."

Young-woo waits for the rest of his sentence patiently perceivably unaware of what Sang Hyeon wants to ask but he can see it written all over his face.

"CouldIhugyoujustonce?"

It all comes out as one jumbled mess, his tongue tripping and stumbling over the words and he looks weary as soon as they leave his mouth.

Young-woo tilts her head still looking at him in confusion.

"What?"

And the other boy looks too scared to repeat the question so he helps him out.

"I think he wants to hug you. To show you his gratitude."

She turns to look at him, it almost makes his heart jump. Who's he kidding there's no almost about it.

"To show his gratitude?"

She echoes back at him then looks over at the younger boy whose eyes are now glued to the ground. She contemplates the question, he can see her processing- watches her lips twist and her eyes dart around until her body calms.

"Okay. You may hug me."

Sang Hyeon looks just as surprised as he feels but he doesn't hesitate for a moment, stepping forward with open arms and wrapping them around a stiff Young-woo who doesn't reciprocate, at first he worries that she's pushing herself despite being severely uncomfortable but then he sees her arms lift and she starts to pat Sang Hyeon awkwardly with just the tips of her finger.

Returning the hug in her own way.

Tap. Tap.

And he already knew this but he can't think about anything but how much he loves this woman and her huge heart.

He was deeply in love with Woo Young-woo.

"I....am Tae Sumi's daughter."

He almost drives them off the road at her sudden confession, swerving back into his lane and accepting the horns that he receives from other drivers. He deserves them.

He tries to keep his eyes on her and on the road simultaneously.

"What?!" He can't help but exclaim, everything suddenly making perfect sense beneath his surprise and confusion.

"My father met her in college and they had me. But she didn't want to have a child and my father begged her to let him have me."

He's not at all prepared for this conversation. Could never foresee this being the secret she promised she would tell him about. It was like something out of a drama.

He takes a deep breath before finally speaking.

"It must have been hard for Attorn--your mom. It must have been unbearable to make that decision."

She's silent beside him and when he glances over he can she can brain working, as if the idea never occurred to her.

"You think it was hard for her?"

"Well I don't really know, but I imagine it would be hard for anyone to give up a baby they had with them for nine months."

"Oh."

That's all she says and he doesn't push it. Has no right to tell her not to resent the mother who refused to raise her but was raising someone else. And then it hits him suddenly, everything falling into place.

"Sang Hyeon is really your brother. You're really his noona."

And this bursts the bubble of melancholy that had settled in the car, breaking her from her silent thoughtfulness.

"Yes. He came to me for help because he said that he knew that his noona wouldn't listen to mom." Her smile is surely enough to power a city it's so illuminating.

"Are you that happy to have a little brother?"

She turns to him this time and he doesn't care about the cars behind him or their horns honking or anything else, nothing else matters so he meets her eyes and doesn't look away, not even for a second.

"Yes. I like it. I've always been someone that others take care of and now I have someone that I can take care of. Someone who comes to me for help."

Yeah. There's no doubt, this is the woman he's in love with. And he's going to love her for the rest of their lives.

#extraordinary attorney woo #woo young woo #lee junho #I need more sibling scenes #big sister young woo is my favorite #I want them to all be a family somehow #eaw #I'll miss this show dearly #despite some hitches it was mostly a beautiful ride

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kingarmorking · 2 years

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The Accident - Danny Hon AU (Part 2)

im so sorry this took so long to get out OTL (here’s part one if you need to re-read)

Danny was… not doing well. His body ached and he felt like he could still feel jolts of electricity coursing through his body, it was especially prevalent as he got himself out of the RV. He barely hid the winces of pain as he climbed out of the vehicle.

The Lunar New Year was being held at his uncle’s house this year, Il-Seong Seo and while Danny couldn’t say he was particularly close with him he was nice enough and made Danny feel better about taking his time about becoming an astronaut considering the man was still taking college classes to become a professor. On the other hand he was looking forward to seeing his cousins again; he had three in particular he wanted to see Ha-Jun on his mother’s side and then the twins Seo-Hyeon and Eun-Jung on his father’s.

Ha-Jun was a cute kid and she was always looking forward to seeing Danny for their “yearly ghost reports” as they called them, it was mostly him just updating her on the ghost research his parents did. He couldn’t say the same of her parents unfortunately, they were less than pleased about the research finding it a waste of time and money.

Seo-Hyeon and Eun-Jung, or Silver as he liked to be called, were older than him by about four years at least (Korean ages and American ages always confused the hell out of him). Both were in college and had an apartment on the outskirts of Amity Park, they tended to skirt around the whole ghost thing with him and he appreciated them for that, he could only take so much ghost talk before getting sick of it.

The second Danny passed the threshold of the house a small body immediately ran into him and while ordinarily he could take it without issue, today was not an ordinary day. Danny let out a pained grunt and bit his lip, clenching and unclenching his hands as he rapidly blinked the tears out of his eyes.

“Danny-oppa!” Ha-Jun greeted happily, nuzzling her face into his pant leg.

Danny let out a grunt and ruffled her hair, “Hey Ha-Jun… how are you doing?” he asked.

“I think the better question here is how are you doing? Ha-Jun does this every time and you look about ready to keel over.” Seo-Hyeon and Silver both waved hello’s to the Hons, moving out of the way of the entrance.

“Yeah no offense kid you look like fuckin’ shit.” Silver stated bluntly, earning a slap from Jazz.

“Language Silver! There are children around!” she hissed.

Silver rolled his eyes, “Not like she can understand what the words mean…” he muttered before turning back to Danny, “So?”

Danny shrugged half-heartedly, “Could be worse!” he replied.

“Which means you could be better.” the twins said simultaneously.

“Ya know I’d love to play 20 questions with you two but!” Danny swallowed the jolt of pain that went through his body as he lifted Ha-Jun, earning a happy squeal, and rested her on his shoulders, “I have a little meeting to get to with Commander Ha-Jun here!”

Ha-Jun giggled and nodded, “Let’s go Pilot Danny!” she cheered, making take off sound effects as Danny ran off.

Jazz watched him go and sighed, “He’s hiding something.”

“Oh, no shit?”

“Don’t be fuckin’ rude.”

“No he’s right but as per usual our parents haven’t noticed a thing.” the three headed further into the house and Jazz glanced at them, “You’ll probably hear about it at dinner tonight but I’m willing to bet it’s got something to do with that ghost portal our parents made.”

Seo-Hyeon spluttered and looked at Jazz, her eyes wide, “Wait he actually managed to make a ghost portal?!”

“Well damn didn’t think the old man had it in him, I’ll have to make sure and pour him a drink tonight.” Silver smirked at his sister, “Which means you owe me a meal at Nasty Burger.”

“Not the time Eun-Jung.”

“If I don’t say it now you’ll feign ignorance later nuna.”

Jazz looked between the two unimpressed, “…You bet on whether or not my dad would be able to make a ghost portal.” it wasn’t a question.

“Yeah well the crazy bastard’s done a lot of impressive stuff! So I bet that he’d be able to make it!” Silver nodded proudly and Jazz could swear she saw stars come off of him. She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose about to leave the duo to themselves when Silver spoke up again, “He’ll talk about it when he wants to. I know you’re worried but don’t pressure him to talk about anything he doesn’t want to.”

Seo-Hyeon patted her shoulder and smiled softly, “Danny’s a smart kid and you’ve been looking out for him since you two were kids. He’ll definitely come to you once he’s ready.”

The three were quiet for a moment before Jazz returned the smile and nodded, “Yeah… I know it’s just…”

“Hard we know, we care about the kid as much as you do.” Silver swung his arm around Jazz’s shoulders and gave her a thumbs up, “But in the meantime how’s about we quiz ya on some of your schoolwork huh? I know who you are as a person so you probably brought some material with you, am I right or am I right?”

Jazz flushed and shoved her laughing cousin off, “Shut up! But yes I did and thank you!” she stormed off, her cheeks puffed out.

Seo-Hyeon rolled her eyes at her brother and helped him up, the two of them sparing a glance to the Hon parents before following Jazz.

——-

This day just seemed to be going from bad to worse and Danny was beginning to realize he didn’t get off as scot-free as he was hoping with the whole portal incident. Every time he walked into a room someone at some point would ask if someone turned the heat down, he may or may not have caused his aunt’s glass to shatter after hearing some snide remark she made regarding his dad that apparently no one else heard, the jolts of electricity that he was hoping would lessen had only gotten more frequent and his overall body just felt weak.

He was exhausted after playing with Ha-Jun and had to excuse himself to sit on the floor, letting his head rest on the back wall. Just a little bit longer Hon, then we can get some rest. Just have dinner and say hi to family in Korea. He thought as he saw his family slowly make their way into the main room to eat.

Food that would normally have him salivating now just made his stomach turn as he forced himself to eat, albeit slower than it usually was. He didn’t miss Seo-Hyeon and Silver’s concerned gazes and Jazz rubbed her hand up and down his back. He waved them off and Jazz gestured to his chest to which he quickly shook his head, leaning over to whisper, “I’m just tired, I’ll probably turn in early.”

Jazz furrowed her brow, looking like she wanted to say more but was cut off when their dad stood and clinked his glass with his fork, “Ahem! Attention everyone! I have an important announcement!” he said, or well shouted.

Danny’s head started pounding at his dad’s voice and he bit back a wince as he continued, “Now! As you all know Maddie and I have been researching extensively about wanting to bring the fight against the ghostly menace to their home turf! Well I’m proud to say that we’ve finally done it!”

“Yes Jack and I are happy to announce that we’ve created the first working portal to the Ghost Zone!” Maddie cheered, earning a round of applause from the table.

Il-Seong let out a low whistle, “That right Maddie? You sure it works?” he chuckled.

“We’re absolutely sure it works Il-Seong-oppa! In fact Danny’s the one who put the finishing touches on it to turn it on!” Maddie exclaimed.

Everyone’s eyes were on him now and he swallowed nervously, looking at his dad for help. Help he did not get for instead he said, “Yeah! Not really sure what he did but my Danny boy sure did it! In fact son why don’t you let everyone know what ya did!”

Oh this is the last thing I need… Danny thought as he tried to calm his heart rate, he hated being put on the spot like this. His headache rapidly got worse and it was too hot, the smells were too much, he ate way too damn much and the light was too fucking bright.

The lightbulb shattered causing multiple startled gasps and the last thing Danny remembered was three distinct voices shouting his name before everything went black, his body hitting the floor with a dull thud.

——-

As he drifted back into consciousness Danny became vaguely aware of his surroundings but more importantly, he was aware that he felt much better from before. His head no longer hurt, he didn’t feel like he was burning from the inside out and the jolts he was feeling didn’t seem to be happening any longer.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings, he was in one of the guest bedrooms and that would’ve been all well and good… if he wasn’t lying on the ceiling!

He let out a startled shout and quickly covered his mouth, pulling his hands back to stare at the pale, nearly blue, hue that they had along with the faint glow around them. The sleeves of his jokki were no longer black but a bright white while the rest of his hanbok was now a deep black.

“Wha… What the hell?” he whispered as he slowly floated, FLOATED, towards the nearby mirror. He… that wasn’t him. He had black hair and blue eyes, not… white hair and green eyes! He was practically inverted what was going on?! His ears had a slight point to them, his sclera was black and holy shit he had fangs.

He brought hand to his head and scrambled to make sense of what was going on, trying desperately to avoid the one conclusion that showed up as soon as he saw himself. He wasn’t going to acknowledge that! He was only 14, barely into high school and had his whole life ahead of him! He never even dated anyone, he… he wanted to be an astronaut…

He made his way back to where he’d woken up above the bed and swallowed thickly, what was going to happen to him now? All his life his parents talked about how ghosts were evil and were nothing but terrors to humans and now… he looked at his hands, “Now I’m one of them…?” he whispered.

He hoped he looked peaceful, the last thing he wanted his family to see was his face contorted in pain so he forced himself to look down at the bed and blinked in confusion. It was… empty? He couldn’t dwell on that for long though as his mom chose then to call, “Danny! Are you awake?” along with subsequent footsteps getting closer to the room.

No, no no no no! They couldn’t see him like this! What would they think!? They’d try to kill him again! He had to get out of here, hide something! As he frantically looked for a place to hide two white rings suddenly appeared around his waist, splitting into two separate rings going up and down his body and the next thing he knew… he landed in the bed with a grunt.

His hands looked the same as they always did, jokki was black and the rest of his hanbok was white. He looked back at the mirror and saw black instead of white and assumed his eyes were back to blue as well. What… the absolute fuck.

Maddie opened the door with her foot, her hands full of a plate of gimbap as she rushed over to him, “Danny! Are you alright, why didn’t you tell us you didn’t feel well!” she exclaimed, putting the plate down and fussing over him.

“Mom, mom eomma I feel better. Sorry I… I didn’t tell you.” Danny held his arms up as a shield and his mom let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness, you gave everyone such a fright when you collapsed…” she pulled him into a hug and squeezed him, “I’m glad you’re feeling better honey…”

Danny stiffened before slowly returning the hug, “Y-Yeah…” he managed.

He couldn’t tell them, absolutely not that was absolutely out of the question. He couldn’t tell Jazz… she’d not only worry about him more but she thought all of this wasn’t real anyway! Hate to break it to ya but it’s way more real than I’d like it to be…

The rest of his family weren’t the greatest candidates either so that left only two people. Sam and Tucker.

#danny phantom #danny phantom au #danny fenton #maddie fenton #jack fenton #jazz fenton #danny hon au #king writes #I HAVE NO EXCUSE BUT I HOPE THIS MAKES UP FOR IT....

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