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famedfeed · 2 years
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august 26, 2022: @goldstarmedia made a new post on twitter.
#SELENE Cover Star #HYOJUNG Elle Korea September 2022 Issue elle.co.kr/article/21715
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BAEK JAEYOON is the MAIN DANCER AND LEAD VOCAL of QUICKSILVER under GOLD STAR MEDIA. He was born on OCTOBER 30, 1997. He looks a little like LEE MINHO (LEE KNOW) OF STRAY KIDS.
CHARACTER INFORMATION
faceclaim: lee minho (lee know), stray kids
legal name: baek jaeyoon
stage name: -
pronouns: he/him
birth date: october 30, 1997
hometown: seoul, south korea
position: main dancer & lead vocal of quicksilver
claims: n/a
BIOGRAPHY
triggers: depression, self harm, self image struggles.
baek seulki found out she was pregnant a week before she turned twenty-three. with no actual relationship to support her – the father of her child being a casual hook up she’d been with once or twice – and her parents quick to disown her for getting a baby before she got a husband, the woman had no other option but to do it all on her own. it was difficult at first having to coincide being very pregnant with her job as a seamstress for a theatre company, but she pulled through, being seen around the theatre using her belly as support for her sewing kit. what was originally just an extended part of her became a baby boy who she carried around with her, being fed while the woman attempted to fix someone’s costume.
jaeyoon was raised around actors. most of them were good people, always willing to take the burden of looking after him off his mother’s shoulders whenever she was busier with something else. tiny toddler feet hitting the stage excitedly would echo around the theatre together with the laughter of the troupe that found oh so much amusement at the sight of the child who seemed to be interested in everything he could look at and touch. wherever his mother went, the boy was literally carried on her back – be that the fabric store or the house of the few ladies around the neighborhood who hired his mother to do minor fixes in their clothes, providing her with the extra money she needed in order to take care of herself and her baby.
one thing about being around the theatre most of the time was that it made one fall in love with it. it couldn’t have been different for jaeyoon. from the moment he could recall, he had been enchanted by what the theatre could offer. he would watch plays and musicals that happened at the place his mother worked for – as well as a couple of ballets through the years – and even as young as he was, the boy had known he belonged on stage. he felt the pull from an early age, that desperate need to be up there, entertaining an audience, playing the part of someone else and being able to create and offer people a reality they could fall into for a couple of hours.
while seulki could not afford to put jaeyoon in drama classes, when she expressed his interest, the people she worked with insisted on financing them for him. that was, until his mother remarried, and his step-father had a job that made it possible for them to afford things they couldn’t in the past, such as living in an apartment with more than a single bedroom, or buying new clothes instead of seulki having to sew them ones from scratch with leftover fabric from work.
but jaeyoon found, from the start, that he didn’t like his step-father much. not that he was a bad guy, for jaeyoon, even as young as aged ten, could tell that the man treated his mother well and tried to do his best to care for jaeyoon too. yet, he couldn’t do it. his moods swung hard and often whenever he was around the older man, and their relationship wasn’t made better when jaeyoon was punished for his behavior by being forbidden to attend classes.
as a teenager, jaeyoon found that his mood changes grew increasingly harder to deal with. seulki wrote it off as teenage angst and, with a younger child to look after, she didn’t have the time nor the patience to deal with jaeyoon’s struggles. meanwhile, jaeyoon and his step-father started butting heads even more, to the point where jaeyoon would leave the house and not go back for days, camping at a different friend’s place each time, until he felt the anger leave him. each time he’d get back to a worried mother and even more worried step-father, who would just tell jaeyoon not to do it again.
but it was just rinse and repeat. the more the time passed, jaeyoon’s temper only got worse. he tried, very desperately, not to have such intense reactions each time, and the only way jaeyoon found to control it was to turn all the hatred he carried around inward. for the entirety of high school, jaeyoon went from a visible extrovert to a massive introvert. wallowing in thoughts of self-hatred, each time he minimally had an argument with someone, jaeyoon was convinced that the person would hate him, and he found no other way to deal with that other than punishing himself.
yet jaeyoon found himself further pushed into the arts than away from them. with a better source of income, he was able to start taking both dance and singing lessons, which were always the highlight of his days. everything was set up for him to go to university for drama as soon as he finished high school yet, in the very last months of school, jaeyoon’s step-father lost his job. the economic situation made it so that it was almost impossible for him to find a new job in a timely fashion, and that sent the man into a spiralling depression that his family couldn’t drag him out of.
with no practical skills and no degree, the only thing jaeyoon could think of to do to help his parents was to enlist. through the one year and a half he was in the army, most of the meager salary he got was sent home to his parents. being in the military only further pushed jaeyoon into intense self-hatred, especially being forced to deal with authorities that wouldn’t hesitate to punish him whenever he wasn’t able to control his temper.
by the time his service ended, jaeyoon’s step-father had been able to find a job working as a stagehand. while their lives weren’t as comfortable as before, things were much steadier and when seulki saw a pamphlet announcing auditions for gold star’s acting division, she insisted on jaeyoon auditioning. he wasn’t expecting to pass, but they were fairly impressed with his skills and when they found out about his background with dancing and singing, they asked him why he had never auditioned for a company before.
jaeyoon never thought about going down the idol route. yet, after assessing his skills, he was offered the opportunity of singing a contract as an idol trainee. his parents encouraged him, reminding jaeyoon that he was already at an age limit for this sort of thing, and might as well take this chance.
if jaeyoon struggled with his perception of self, it was nothing compared to what happened to him as a trainee. after the military, it was harder for him to lash out, with jaeyoon growing used to internalizing every single bad feeling he would have instead. but the trainers were demanding and sometimes even stricter than his superiors in the army, to the point where jaeyoon considered quitting entirely at least once a week for the better part of the four years he spent as a trainee.
it was only seulki’s encouragement that kept him going, and now the hunger he had deep down for the life on stage. the stubborn part of him pushed jaeyoon towards sticking around even after gold star announced the debut of vive, a boy group that jaeyoon wasn’t even given a chance to compete to be a part of. as long as i’m not kicked out, jaeyoon thought, it means they still have some interest. not long after, jaeyoon was told about him making the cut for quicksilver. the conditions of debut were not as he was expecting, what with quicksilver being an attempt at saving half of a dead group, but jaeyoon was glad to finally have an opportunity at all.
jaeyoon was not unaware that if life as a trainee was hard, life as an idol would be harder, especially for someone like him, but now he was unwilling to give up.
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famedroleplay · 2 years
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gold star media » selene
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HYOJUNG maknae, lead vocal, & rapper 1994 march 10
character information
faceclaim: lee jueun, dia
legal name: jung hyojung
stage name: n/a
pronouns: she/her
birth date: march 10, 1994
hometown: incheon, south korea
position: maknae, lead vocal, rapper of selene
established career claims:
1410xx-1503xx: inkigayo mc - 25 points
151225: sbs gayo daejeon mc - 10 points 
160815: lead female in platinum’s sweet girl - 10 points 
160822-161018: moonlight drawn by the clouds (jo hayeon, chae soobin role) - 35 points 
1611xx: nylon korea, inside spread - 10 points 
161218: kbs gayo daechukje mc - 10 points 
181001-181126: where stars land (han yeoreum, chae soobin role) - 35 points 
1901xx: elle korea, solo cover - 15 points 
1904xx-1910xx: banila co. brand ambassador - 30 points 
1912xx-2006xx: kbs 2fm volume up host - 25 points 
210503-210608: youth of may (kim myunghee, go minsi role) - 35 points 
2109xx: marie claire korea, solo cover - 15 points 
211112-220101: the red sleeve (sung deokim, lee seyoung role) - 35 points 
2202xx: w korea, inside spread - 10 points
biography
triggers: terminal illness (cancer)
hyojung gets told of the meaning behind her name early on. how her mother, a high school history teacher, was so ecstatic to have a daughter after a son and that she had names picked out early on. she’s named at a historical princess. not too well known but a princess nevertheless, and hyojung’s treated as one as well.
life takes hyojung’s mother away from her way too early and after years of battling with breast cancer, she’s gone from the jung’s. that doesn’t stop hyojung’s father from stepping up as the sole parental figure, and despite being a government civil worker, he does everything he can for his children.
ultimately, what that means for hyojung is vocal lessons. her own father has always struck the strings of his guitar for his children, and hyojung’s brother was quick to catch on and grow instrument skills of his own. hyojung wasn’t so lucky in that aspect, but she took after her mother in having a beautiful voice. they would sit in the living room altogether and hold their own mini concerts with, of course, hyojung in the center. she was their princess after all.
she never imagined becoming an idol. the experience came to her out of the blue. one day, she’s attending vocal lessons at an academy—something she begged her dad for—and the next, she finds herself at a gold star media audition. having never heard of the company before, she was certain it would be a scam, but when she gets offered a trainee contract and steps into the building, she’s made to accept reality.
trainee life is a blur for her especially since it doesn’t last all that long. she debuts and selene’s treated like the next big thing after garlic bread. as the youngest, she’s made to play the image of someone she’s not. told to smile a little more, crack some childish jokes, play up to the cameras and so on. nothing she terribly minds, but she knows that it isn’t who she really is.
and maybe it’s because of her own subdued personality, but she doesn’t get a lot of individual gigs early on in her career. she’s more comfortable with group appearances anyway. what really strikes her, however, is acting. hyojung thinks she’s been doing it since her debut anyway so might as well try it out, right? surprisingly, she enjoys it a little more than she expected herself to and her first drama is moderately big hit. people begin to recognize her beyond her own group.
before hyojung knows it, seven years pass and it’s time for contract renewals. she can’t even remember everything that’s happened in the past seven years. what she can remember, however, is that this is all she knows how to do. having become a trainee at fifteen and then debuting at sixteen, she’s not aware of anything else she could possibly so so she signs the contract renewal, signing herself up for a lifetime of this job. gold star promises to be more open to her desires with gigs and she’s inclined to believe them.
immediately, she drops the cute youngest act because it was exactly that: an act. however, she forgets that the act is all people know of her which means she becomes the subject to people claiming that she’s changed. how she’s caught the actress disease because of one mildly successful drama. how seven years in the industry seems to have destroyed the spirit in her. it’s like people have forgotten that it’s completely legal to grow up.
as gold star promised, the doors she once thought were closed begin to open up for her in terms of opportunities. she continues to act, gaining an image for herself as an actress. it’s, once again, a bit limiting, but it’s more comfortable than what she was made to act as back when she was sixteen.
recently, she’s just wrapped up a historical drama that sky rockets her name towards the general public. she starts being referenced to as the historical drama princess, and it makes her smile because of the connection it gives her to her mother. it’s almost as if she’s come full circle.
image & career
debuting at quite a young age, it wasn’t too hard to shape hyojung up to be the baby of the group. she didn’t do too bad living up to that title either. she’d be a little rowdier, a little louder, a little cuter. the energizer, the happy pill as fans would be quick to name her. to both the public and her fans, she’s made to be an idol that’s easy to digest.
however, debuting early also means growing up in the eyes of the public. she thinks it’s impossible to expect an individual to act the same way in their teenage years and their 20′s. yet, people seem to have expected the impossible from her. hyojung mellows down because she’s naturally matured with her age, and she begins to act in a way that’s closer to her usual self. however, that seems to be difficult to understand for some people, and she’s given the side eye for how she seems to have changed. it’s almost as if she’s not allowed to grow up.
in more recent years, it’s been easier to catch jung hyojung, the actress, and the shift in image that came with the new title. the roles offer to all seem to fall under the same umbrella. she excels in romance dramas, especially the historical ones, and it gives her a different image from selene’s youngest, hyojung. instead, she’s now molded to fit the image of the lovely, romantic actress jung hyojung. while it’s a little closer to who she naturally is, it still isn’t completely her. it also doesn’t stop the same people from claiming that she’s changed from her debut though now they add on the claim that she’s caught the actress disease. whatever that means.
nevertheless, she’s an idol who’s now twelve years into her career, but she’s never once slacked off on stage. despite a stubborn group of people who are determined to frame her as abandoning her idol career, she still knows how to perform on stage. perhaps not the most eye-catching, but hyojung firmly believes that she’s never done anything to taint selene’s image both on-stage or off. she knows how to be charismatic to fit with the group’s concept, and she also knows how to play up the sweet, romantic image that her acting gigs build up for her. the public sees both sides of her, and she’d claim that they’re both her.
future
as she’s mostly found success as an actress, acting is where hyojung’s focus will be for the most part. it’s where she’s the most desired and have proven herself to be good at, especially with historical dramas. the red sleeve was a massive hit, and it’s gotten her to a spot where she’s beginning to be respected. additionally, it’s allowed her to slowly shed off that image of being just an idol actress. at the moment, her career mostly consists of successful historical dramas but not so successful modern day dramas. that’s something that hyojung would like to change because as much as she loves historical dramas and the connection it gives her to her mother, it’d be better to establish herself as an all-rounder actress and not an actress that excels in only one genre. however, that’s not always up to her as roles are usually offered first and even if she goes out to an audition, they usually see her within a certain mold. it’d be nice to be able to crack that though it isn’t hyojung’s biggest worry or anything. it’s simply a desire that she has. she doesn’t think it’d be too terrible to continue living the life of a romantic actress for a couple more years.
in addition to acting, hyojung’s sought out after as a model for brands and magazines. these are also pretty restricted when it comes to the overall imaging, but she would like to venture further out in this scope as well. she’s not really a high fashion model, but she can still pull her weight. she also misses being a radio host because it felt like a nice way to connect to listeners and be a little more honest, considering that both being an idol and an actress doesn’t allow a lot of leeway on being open to people. it’s not a major priority but if the opportunity comes, she’d like to go back and host another radio show.
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chiefpundit-blog · 4 years
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Thanks for the mention GoldStarMedia. #bhivechat https://t.co/8lsvDPOYLa
Thanks for the mention GoldStarMedia. #bhivechat https://t.co/8lsvDPOYLa
— krishnau (@krishnau) April 28, 2020
from Twitter https://twitter.com/krishnau
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brandonacox · 6 years
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I favorited a tweet...
When You’re Ready to Start a #Blog, Start with Why @brandonacox https://t.co/QVLysG8uOg http://pic.twitter.com/h8NfWOpsIM
— Clive Jones (@GoldStarMedia) January 14, 2018
from http://twitter.com/GoldStarMedia
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evgen-kochetkov · 8 years
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Съемка концертов 🎥 #смотришире #творческаягруппа #пермь #пермьактивная #пермьонлайн #sony #sonya7s #dslr #videography #video #goldstarmedia
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famedfeed · 2 years
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june 29, 2022: @goldstarmedia made a new post on twitter.
#SELENE #MIRAE for Dazed Korea July 2022 issue dazedkorea.com/fashion/article/1465/detail.do
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famedfeed · 2 years
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september 13, 2022: @goldstarmedia made a new post on twitter.
#ULTRAVIOLET #JAEIN for CELEBe
CELEBe x Ultraviolet Jaein 2022 Brand Film: youtu.be/yrYK3OeT-a4
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famedfeed · 2 years
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august 28, 2022: @goldstarmedia made a new post on twitter.
#SELENE Cover Star #MIRAE W Korea X Bvlgari September 2022 Issue wkorea.com/2022/08/28/...
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famedfeed · 2 years
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august 27, 2022: @goldstarmedia made a new post on twitter.
#SELENE Cover Star #MIRAE Harper’s Bazaar Korea September 2022 Issue harpersbazaar.co.kr/article/64133
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famedfeed · 2 years
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july 1, 2022: @goldstarmedia made a new post on twitter.
#EQUINOX #KIANA for Vogue Korea July 2022 issue vogue.co.kr/2022/07/01/vogue-x-miumiu-sailor-club/
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HAN SOOHYUN is the MAIN DANCER, VOCAL, AND RAPPER of MARIGOLD under GOLD STAR MEDIA. She was born on JULY 26, 1996. She looks a little like JUNG HAERIM (ELLY) OF WEKI MEKI.
CHARACTER INFORMATION
faceclaim: jung haerim (elly), weki meki
legal name: han soohyun
stage name: n/a
pronouns: she/her
birth date: july 26,1996
hometown: busan, sk
position: main dancer, vocal, rapper
claims: female lead in origin’s “boy in luv” music video
BIOGRAPHY
trigger warning: eating disorders, traumatic head injury, hospitalization, depression, anxiety
as a child, soohyun had been extremely energetic, in a way that her parents didn’t know how to deal with her. much like parents often don’t. so, there was an attempt to figure out what to do with the young girl. they’d thought about several options, and eventually settled on gymnastics. soohyun excelled, she loved it – but what had started as a way to get rid of the boundless energy soohyun had became what soohyun seemed to eat, drink, and breathe. while in her younger years it was nothing of the sort, she slowly grew more competitive with the sport – as did the other girls. soohyun was involved in competitions as she excelled in the field. the beam was especially her friend, she had impeccable balance and control over her body, so it was where she shined most. while her mother was no helicopter parent, she cared very much about soohyun doing well and took care that the young girl would always be at the top of her gain.
unfortunately, this lead to monitoring soohyun’s food intake to ensure she wasn’t gaining too much weight. she did what she could to keep soohyun ‘healthy,’ but tried to ensure she wouldn’t develop and lose her girlish figure while she went through puberty. but soohyun’s goal became the olympics, so she didn’t mind. she followed what guidelines she was given, and life seemed decent.
the chance never came, however. when she was fourteen, soohyun was a tthe top of the world. then, one day, she woke up in the hospital with her head swimming after she slipped and lost herself in the air when doing a flip, and smacked her head off the beam. most of the time she spent in the hospital was completely lost on her, and suffers mild amnesia from the time surrounding the fall. some nice stitches in the back of her head were kept as the only proof it even happened in her mind (and a video that soohyun will never watch from her mother’s need to record soohyun’s every performance.)
once she was released from the hospital, part of soohyun’s rehabilitation included dancing. once cleared for exercise, albeit not intense, soohyun wanted to be active again. while she wasn’t allowed to go back to gymnastics yet, soohyun figure out something, that something being dancing. every once in a while she would suffer from dizzy spells, but was told she was probably just over-exerting herself. it would take some time before she would be used to activity again, so she was probably fine. usually, it wouldn’t last long before soohyun could get back on her feet.
returning to gymnastics proved her wrong.
a diagnosis of vertigo and advisement not to return to gymnastics meant that everything she’d worked for was gone. no matter how hard she tried to return, her head would swim and she’d be left laying on the ground for hours after an attempt at a flip. doctors told her there was no real telling if it would be chronic, or if it would eventually go away – there was of course a chance, but the brain was a fickle organ. soohyun knew she couldn’t continue in gymnastics the way she wanted to if she couldn’t continue performing to the skill she had before. her dreams of being a gymnast were dashed.
dance was soohyun’s second choice.
dance change soohyun. she was less on edge, healthier – and she was no longer bothered by her overbearing mother about living out some fantasy of greatness anymore. it made life a lot easier for her; dance was more recreational than her entire life. she was allowed time to continue healing, with far less intense movements so soohyun didn’t suffer from near as many vertigo spells. life was easier.
being casted by a music company was the last thing she was expecting out of everything that had happened. soohyun and her friends had been wandering around the mall after finally escaping from hangwon. they were preparing for upcoming entrance exams when a gold star scout had handed soohyun a card and asked her to audition for the company. at a loss for words, soohyun took the card she was handed and went home.
the decision for her to go to seoul had been a family decision. neither of her parents wanted her to get injured again, not the way she had. they worried the intensity of a trainee’s life, and potentially idol’s life, would be too much for soohyun. while her spells had lessened considerably over the two years of rehab, there was always the chance they could get worse with more activity. but soohyun saw it as another chance. perhaps not in the same field, but another chance to do something she loved in a way that made it a career for her. she was a fantastic dancer, and she’d learn the rest. she was fine with that, she would work hard – but she just wanted the chance to do something she was passionate about instead of live a boring life.
it took some convincing, but her parents allowed her to go on the condition the family moved to be closer to her. thus began her trainee journey.
training under gold star hadn’t been easy. with long hours of training, sleepless nights, and the clear encouragement of competition between trainees, it didn’t take long for soohyun to fall back into bad habits. she was praised for her dance prowess and flexibility – something that was more of a focus than her vocals or rap skills, which took a clear backseat. her weight loss from the time she signed was clear and praised by coaches who stressed visuals on the women in the company. soohyun wasn’t sure how many nights she spent lying on the practice room floor with her head spinning, whether from the vertigo or her poor eating habits.
but she worked hard, she waited – and eventually, she was put into a debut group. to soohyun, it looked like a recipe for disaster – and as it happened, it turned out to be just that. element had pre-debut hype, excitement around a take on the co-ed groups that failed miserably before them. but surely that wouldn’t happen for a gold star group, right?
soohyun knew their group had been doomed from the beginning. personally, she’d been plagued by rumors and criticism since pre-debut. according to many, she was 'useless’ and 'less talented’ than the other members of the group, and her pre-debut appearance in one of origin’s music videos only seemed to make things worse. an image of being 'easy’ as rumors of in-group dating seemed to plague the group altogether made criticism heavy on soohyun’s shoulders. while it was nothing more than whispers, soohyun struggled with them nonetheless. disbandment was inevitable, but still painful and bittersweet. soohyun thought heavily about leaving the company altogether after things fell apart – she’d be free of the rumors and a lifestyle that was making her ill. not to mention, how many people successfully re-debuted after their first attempt ended so quickly? soohyun wasn’t sure.
convinced by coaches, staff, and her former members, soohyun decided to stay with gold star – but she hadn’t been enthused about it. training lost its luster and it wasn’t long before she found herself sitting across from a therapist she was referred to by gold star. she worried too much about what she could’ve done better, how she should’ve worked harder, how if she were somehow more then this wouldn’t have happened. this time, it wasn’t physical injury that seemingly ended her career, but something that seemed like it was her fault. where her life felt out of control, she took control where she could – once again, she began restricting and monitoring food intake, her anxiety heightened dramatically, and soohyun couldn’t find much to care for. she doesn’t even know how to handle her therapist, who soohyun wonders is there to just 'fix her’ to ensure she’ll continue to debut under gold star yet again.
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YOO GYURI, better known as HUI, is the MAKNAE AND MAIN VOCAL of SILHOUETTE under GOLD STAR MEDIA. She was born on JANUARY 1, 1994. She looks a little like PARK SOOYOUNG (JOY) OF RED VELVET.
CHARACTER INFORMATION
faceclaim: park sooyoung (joy), member of red velvet
legal name: yoo gyuri
stage name: hui
pronouns: she/her
birth date: 1 january 1994
hometown: seoul, south korea
position: maknae, main vocal of silhouette
claims:
2012 supporting role as seol hanna in to the beautiful you (drama)
2015 lead role as ma ilyoung in coin locker girl (film)
2017 lead role as choi aera in fight for my way (drama)
ost for fight for my way (drama) - ryu jihyun’s night is gone again
ost for because this is my first life (drama) - ryu jihyun’s tomorrow
ost for wednesday 3:30 pm (drama) - an yeseul’s i just want to
2019 lead role as go haeri in vagabond (drama)
ost for vagabond (drama) - baek a yeon’s hello my lover
2020 ost for 18 again (drama) - sohyang’s hello
ost for true beauty (drama) - yuju’s i’m in the mood for dancing
BIOGRAPHY
triggers: -
her career is an accident, every single bit of it.
rewind.
press > play.
yoo gyuri is born in seoul. her home is modest and warm, it’s quiet and soft. her mother sings and it sounds like butterflies and a summer breeze. her father sings and it sounds like going to yangjae stream to catch fireflies, butterflies, and grasshoppers. she grows up with a song in her heart, she lives without fear. she’s round cheeks and strangely mysterious eyes, an intent and curious stare that unsettles those she focuses in on. they laugh nervously, little tittering sounds as they tell her she’s such a precocious little thing. so insightful.
when she was born she was everything her parents wanted: beautiful since a young age, talented, and sickening sweet. the long awaited birth of their only daughter brought a happiness that shed a small speck of light in what otherwise would have been a consuming darkness. tireless effort and patience were the tools of her parent’s trade and they applied this to yoo gyuri as well.  born to two singers - artists, they preferred to be called - it was no surprise when the small girl began singing before she could speak. figuratively, of course. they are gentle, but firm, and poured their expectations into the young girl relentlessly. they did not mean to fill her to the point of bursting, but this is what happened, regardless.
what was a natural gift is quickly turned into a power when her parents trade the extra math lessons for vocal ones, the arts for dance. even as a child, the pressure is insurmountable. her voice continues to improve, her range growing, her appearance matching the soft and soulful nature of her music.
fastforward.
yoo gyuri is thirteen the first time a vocal trainer tells her parents, specifically, what makes her special. what makes her voice better. it’s not technique or precision. it’s not even her range, really. it’s the power that comes out of such a small girl. it’s the emotion. “she sings like she’s lived a thousand years,” her trainer told her parents one day. “like she’s lived a thousand heartbreaks.”
when yoo gyuri auditions for a small company, she’s a slight thing, in stature and in age. thirteen years old but her voice soars powerful and pure, a heart wrenching quality to it that covers for breathiness, for unsupported notes, for the roughened lack of polish that comes with years of singing in her bedroom without any proper training.
fastforward.
even if the company is small, a little run down, often time is asking for money from their own trainees because they aren’t able to rake it in themselves - still she sings. and in the blink of an eye, two years pass. with not a debut in sight, with the small company still five feet under ground in debt, her contract expires and her parents small speck of light in the darkness is shut out. there is no giving up, that much is clear. there will be more auditions, there will be other companies.
her big break comes in the form of a training contract with gold star media. a new company, but one that screams of promise, founded by one of the most famous women in south korea. her parents knuckles turn white when they hold onto her the day of her audition, begging her to make it. she vows to herself that this time it’ll work out, she’ll debut.
fastforward.
pressure tells her she shouldn’t bother with being an idol. she’s not skinny enough, her dancing is mediocre at best. they probably have better singers. prettier girls, more typical looks. she’s self defeating. her boss brings her along to lessons, she’s in the shadowing phase of her program, learning through experience. the woman seems to be particularly smug today, a secretive smile in the corner of her lips. she wonders why.
she finds out.
opening her mouth to sing in front of the girls is intimidating - they’re idol trainees, after all. but gyuri is confident only, perhaps, in her voice.
fastforward.
it goes to her head. she takes to the idol life like a fish returned to water. she lives and breathes it. she likes their songs, the choreography is easier and easier as she’s pushed to practicing until she’s worn to the bone. a strict diet takes care of the baby fat.
and then -
pause.
they put her in a drama. a stupid, silly, role that means nothing. she’s good enough though, and people like her face. that’s most of what matters these days. she gets another offer, and now she’s got a taste for it. she’s alright with it, at least. she wants to sing, sure. she wants the stage, true. but she’s no dancer, and she’s got a shelf life. she knows how it goes for women in this industry.
of course, there is the typical criticism that always flocks in when an idol attempts to color themself as an actress. yoo gyuri might think herself special enough to escape the same treatment, but she isn’t. it is second nature to hear, read, comb through thousands of comments that speak on her voice, her looks, and now her acting. idols should know their place. she should know her place. she’s a good singer but what business does she have in trying to act? she bites her tongue, holds back wanting to scream.
perhaps it’s selfish, to want to be praised in both fields and yet she continues. there are year, or years, gaps in between, of course. she might think herself an actress but she will always be an idol first. silhouette is top priority and if she ever forgets it, the troll comments will remind her. as the years pass, she continues to do both jobs with high regards to each one.
fastforward.
she wants more. she wants roles that speak to her, she wants something serious. she wants a solo, more, she wants to make music. and she’s made a name for herself in acting, so they say maybe. maybe we’ll bring it out later. focus on what’s selling, for right now. and she does. she doesn’t know how long she’ll be spread thin, like this. she doesn’t know even if her opinion will matter in the end, or if it will, as it so often does, come down to what the public sees and knows of her, what the company presents to them.
like she’s learned from a young age, she tightens her grasp and holds on.
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KANG MINHYUK, better known as MAX, is the MAIN DANCER AND RAPPER of ORIGIN under GOLD STAR MEDIA. He was born on FEBRUARY 16, 1996. He looks a little like MARK LEE OF NCT.
CHARACTER INFORMATION
faceclaim: lee minhyung (mark), member of nct
legal name: kang minhyuk (maximilian)
stage name: Max
pronouns: he/him
birth date: 19th February 1996
hometown: Frankfurt, Germany.
position: main dancer and rapper of origin
claims:none
BIOGRAPHY
triggers: negative self-image, inferior complex, underaged use of drugs (I’m bad with triggers omg I hope this is okay)
there wasn’t much to say about the lanky boy kang minhyuk. he grew up in a normal neighbourhood, being raised in a normal family while living a normal life. the one peculiar (exciting) thing to tell was perhaps the fact he was born and grew up in frankfurt, germany and picked up the name maximilian (short max) during his youth there.
but that was about it. he wasn’t the standout son of the family. the younger of two brothers max had normal grades, normal friends and normal troubles as any teenboy would have. it was his brother who excelled in about everything he did, naturally leading to his parents focusing their hopes and expectations onto his shoulders while little max was just… there. never not loved but also never the center of attention in the family he was left to do whatever he wanted (as long as it was legal of course) and the boy had no trouble following that.
(no, he did not count the one time his teachers almost caught them smoking weed behind the gym in 8th grade and if anyone asked him, he’d deny it vigorously.)
all in all max was the kind of guy who solely got out of being bullied because he looked good and carried himself with a casual friendliness that made anyone instantly want to be his friend instead.
who would have thought that it was exactly that next-door nice guy aura what got him street-casted as he was visiting his grandparents during his annual summer vacation in seoul? faced with a rather ground breaking decision to make that would turn his whole life upside down, the 15 year old male decided to take the leap when it looked like for once he got recognized for something his brother didn’t surpass him in. always finding solace in dancing and performing, max saw no harm in trying to reach for the stars in his own way, happy to be given this kind of opportunity and determined to work hard and make the most out of this experience.
always the happy go lucky kind of guy he fell on his face more than once when the struggle to adjust to the korean school system wasn’t as easy as he expected, especially not while attempting to juggle fitting his life style to that of a trainee. quickly his circle of friends decimated, contact to his family grew spare and hunched over in between other male trainees he shed tears about missing home and missing his freedom. but he was an idealist above everything else and saw that only as another challenge necessary to be overcome on his path to growing up and growing into a successful artist.
thus he was enthralled when he made it into origin, torn between relief to finally be outstanding and good enough for something while feeling bad for all those left behind. especially during the first months he was plagued with thinking that they deserved his spot so much more than he himself did but it only left him fueled to give additional +50% to his already tireless efforts.
his mentally stretched itself throughout his career, always eager to place the others first and let them have majority of the spotlight while max was solely grateful to even be a part of this amazing journey. thankful to each and every single of his fans and supporters, he more often than not felt overwhelmed when they along with his members attempted to give him more room to shine and only tentatively accepted the one or other opportunity to take the spotlight for himself.
he’s always been a paradox in itself; shining so brilliantly but never comfortable to claim the center of attention, made to be an ace but content to only focus on the things he was interested and already skilled in. max was ambitious in everything he did but never eager to get praised or receive recognition for his efforts. he solely loved to push himself for the sake of growing and the fact he got to do that with 6 amazing boys by his side, who grew to be almost more of a family than his own flesh and blood, is something he couldn’t feel more grateful for.
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HAN JIHAE, better know as JIHAN, is the MAKNAE, MAIN VOCAL, AND LEAD DANCER of ORIGIN under GOLD STAR MEDIA. He was born on OCTOBER 28, 1997. He looks a little like NA JAEMIN OF NCT.
CHARACTER INFORMATION
faceclaim: Na Jaemin, member of NCT
legal name: Han Jihae
stage name: Jihan
pronouns: he/they
birth date: October 28, 1997
hometown: Zurich, Switzerland
position: maknae, main vocal & lead dancer of Origin
claims: ACTING – Seok Hansung in Hwarang (2016-2017) – Hwang Woojoo in SKY Castle (2018-2019) – Jung Seyeon in True Beauty (2020-2021) OST – It’s Definitely You, Hwarang (2016-2017) – How Do You Do, True Beauty (2020-2021)
BIOGRAPHY
triggers: injury (i.) , bullying, eating disorder / bulimia (vi.)
i.
The story starts with scraped knees and a sprained ankle. Han Jihae is seven and this is the fifth time in the last five months their mother has to bring them to the doctor’s office.
An injury is a temporary thing. Their hunger for the world, however, is not and no amount of split lips and aching bones, no pattern of bruises is enough to signal them that it is time to stop. It’s not like they beg for trouble, trouble just happens to be the natural consequence of wandering off the beaten path in the woods, trouble comes when you poke the proverbial hornet’s nest to see what happens. Trouble finds you when you refuse to step back without an answer when the world tells you no.
Jiyong waits back home perched on the windowsill, swaddled in blankets—at six, they share the same face and the same voice and the same charming smile, even if Jiyong is weak and tired where Jihae isn’t.
“I’ll bring you the world,” Jihae vows and presses their newest finding, a smooth, speckled pebble into the palm of Jiyong’s hand. “Just you wait.”
ii.
There is only so much a worried parent can take, watching their offspring run from one pitfall into the next. “Too much energy and no direction,” that’s what their kindergarten teacher says. “He means well, he just doesn’t know how to go about things.” It’s a kind way to put the forceful ways they learn to stand up for others. The road to hell is paved by good intentions, after all.
“Maybe it’s time we find you two a hobby,” Mama suggests, her voice cheerily saccharine. “Maybe,” Jiyong amends. “Try me,” Jihae challenges.
They last six months, until a dance studio opens two streets away and all of the neighbourhood kids are starting classes. Jiyong can’t go, Jiyong is sick and shivering and sleeping his fever off on Papa’s lap.
“Go anyway, Jihae,” Mama tells them softly and pets their hair. “He’d be upset if you missed out on the fun.” “It’s not going to be fun,” they push back vehemently. “It’s never going to be real fun without Jiyong.”
They go. And they dance. And they fall in love.
iii.
Summers in Seoul have always been sweltering and humid, the air heavy and thick with smog. They’re worse in the shoddy dance studio where Jihae’s older cousin Sunhee practices with her dance crew, but right now it’s summer break they’re one member short and Jiyong’s gentle assurance that Jihae can dance, that they’re good still rings in their ears when they shuffle a little closer to the rest.
Jihae feels lonely in the room, a skinny child just shy of twelve standing between a pack of teens. It lasts until they start practice and things fall into place. No one at home ever listens to K-pop, Mama and Papa both grew up abroad themselves already and Swiss radio rarely ever plays anything without English lyrics.
The songs they dance to this afternoon are different, come with choreography and bright and flashy music videos and Jihae and Jiyong stay up late that night, Sunhee squished between them and going through her favourite songs.
“We’re not seriously busking,” Sunhee tells the man with the business card. “We’re just playing around.” Her body feels warm and firm when Jihae hides behind it. “That’s okay,” the man says and crouches down in an attempt to get a better look at them. “How old are you?” “He doesn’t speak Korean–” “Eleven.” Jihae doesn’t mean to disobey Sunhee. But they’ve been asked a question and it’d be rude not to answer, wouldn’t it? “Eleven is a good age,” the man says and hands them a card. “Have you ever wanted to be a star, kid?”
Even Mama knows who Bang Sunyoung is. Papa looks less impressed. “It’d be just to try it out!” Jihae repeats what the man in Hongdae told them. “You’re starting sixth grade back home in two weeks,” Papa points out. “Honey, I didn’t even know Bang Sunyoung has her own company–” “Can we do this later, dear?” “– Sorry.” Jihae frowns up at their father. “Sunhee says it’s because I did well,” they add. “I have no doubt you did. But it’s not this as easy as that, Jihae.”
They throw the business card in the bin that evening, frustrated and angry and humiliated. Come morning, they find it on their clothes from the day before, dog-eared and a little creased. “Try again,” Jiyong’s handwriting tells them.
iv.
It takes the better part of a semester and the promise to bring back top grades and not to fight their teachers for Jihae’s parents to start looking into Gold Star auditions and schools in Seoul. Sunhee’s mother, auntie Hyunjoo, offers them her guest bedroom for Jihae to stay in.
“And if things go bad you come back home right away, yes?” Mama tells them. Worry looks strange on her face. Jihae doesn’t like it.
“Yes, mama,” they tell her, watching the lines in her face fade hesitantly.
Things won’t go bad, they think to themselves, I won’t let them.
v.
Things first go really well and then they go really bad.
Han Jihae is thirteen when they start training under Gold Star Media, all knobby elbows and bruised legs, slowly starting to grow in what one day will be their adult body. Training is excruciating. The coaches don’t care about how much homework they have. Their Korean is more bare bones than they thought it would be. The dorms are cramped and true privacy is a rare luxury. They miss their parents, they miss Jiyong, they miss their youngest sibling, little Jiyeon who is still just six and might forget about them before they even get to debut.
They want to give up.
“But isn’t this what you worked so hard for?” Jiyong asks through the phone. Jihae can’t recall ever hearing their twin brother so heartbroken.
“Well, I want to give up,” they tell him with so much fake bravado, they almost buy it themselves. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to.”
Singing, turns out, is nicer than dancing. Singing is something Jihae is naturally good at, something that is comfortable and fun. When dancing takes their breath it’s through singing that they learn to take it back.
Soon, more than a dancer, Han Jihae turns into a singer.
vi.
Being picked on is infuriating. Being picked on knowing that fighting back isn’t an option—not if they want to avoid future bullying scandals—is excruciating. Jihae is used to being othered but up to this point giving his bullies hell in return has always been a possibility.
Instead, they learn to redirect their anger. Eat your frustrations, purge in embarrassment. Brush their teeth lest they want to lose them, hide the traces lest they want to look like you’re asking for pity. Rinse, repeat. Toe the line of breaking, this is a punishment, this is a reminder that they’re still in control. Their justifications start blurring and contradicting themselves.
They pretend not to see, close their eyes and ignore how every time catharsis slips a little faster through the cracks in their armour, leaving them hungry and hollow and ashamed.
Unexpectedly, it’s the trainee selections for Who’s Next that break the cycle. Being on television is stressful in a way different from what they’re used to so far but the attention they receive reignites their excitement. Their former “coping methods” no longer work and put their voice at risk instead and so they’re left in front of a camera, hands wringing behind their back hoping no one can tell how scared they actually are.
And it pays off. Team A wins and Jihae establishes a base level of affection for being the darling youngest, mischievous and radiant. It’s an act, the person Jihae would like to be so desperately, but it’s okay. They can still grow into their wings as they go, right?
vii.
Turns out that it’s not quite that easy. Debuting is stressful and what follows is the weight of knowing that they’re currently underperforming, their concept just a smidge too niche to really catch on. The anger returns, flaring and all-consuming and this time there’s no more room to purge it so instead, they start bottling it up.
The person Jihae crafts into their public persona seems to become more distant with every comeback and they’re tired to the bone when Origin’s success finally finds them. All they can do is to let the wave sweep them along and gasp for half a breath before they throw themselves back into pretending.
Turns out that pretending for a living—actually so, past the faking of an idolsona—is actually a lot of fun. Their first acting gig they’re offered in late 2016, more a matter of making sure Origin remains fresh in everyone’s perception by shoving them down the public’s throat than anything else, really. Jihae is just around the right age for the role and that’s what everyone else assumes too, that Origin’s sudden spike in fame has made the members, specifically, cocky, that they have no place taking trained actors’ spaces, that they have no value to contribute to South Korea’s acting sphere. Hwarang doesn’t return the money it’s supposed to, either, but to Jihae it’s an opportunity to put on a wig and a fancy costume and pretend not to be themselves for a while and as long as the cameras are running the experience is liberating.
They don’t do as badly as expected and even after an underperforming acting debut they’re approached about an audition again later down the line. It’s while on set for SKY Castle that they realize that in their supporting roles, neither Hwarang nor this opportunity really rest much of their success on Jihae’s shoulders specifically. The responsibility they take on feels lighter when the pressure is split amongst a cast so much bigger than Origin and no amount of vile comments can take that budding sense of relief away from them.
When they’re first approached about their appearance in True Beauty they don’t anticipate for it to be their tipping point. It’s pride that ultimately makes them accept the role in spite of the reminders of what it entails and it’s pride that leaves them feeling horribly afterwards. Their performance seemingly hits the mark—Jihae wouldn’t know, they never end up watching the show air. But it becomes an unpleasant reminder that they’re not as well-equipped to cope as they like to pretend they are.
viii.
Han Jihae is twenty-three and the world is at their feet. Maybe not theirs specifically, but close enough. The beginning of the new decade marks a shift in pace, a gentle lean into something that feels a little more manageable at last. Maybe they’ve finally started to grow used to the life they wanted and weren’t prepared for, maybe it’s the beginning of the end because apparently if fame doesn’t breed misery it’s not truly fame—who knows.
Whatever it may be, for the first time in eleven years Jihae can finally turn around to look at the one thing they’ve neglected the most: themselves. They don’t quite know what to make of the jagged edges where things have broken and splintered or how to patch the holes they’ve burnt into themselves but for the first time in a long while they feel ready to learn how to heal.
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KIANA LEE is the MAIN DANCER AND LEAD VOCAL of FUSE under GOLD STAR MEDIA. She was born on MAY 28, 1994. She looks a little like SOLOIST LEE JIEUN (IU).
CHARACTER INFORMATION
faceclaim: lee jieun (iu), soloist
legal name: kiana brandy lee
stage name: -
pronouns: she/her
birth date: may 28th, 1994
hometown: seattle, washington, usa
position: main dancer and lead vocal of fuse
claims: Music Videos Lead female in Impulse’s “A” (2014) OSTs Hwarang (2017) I Can Only See You Fight For My Way (2017) Good Morning While You Were Sleeping (2017) Words I Want To Hear
BIOGRAPHY
triggers: unhealthy relationship
kiana had always been convinced that she was fated for a superpower, yet, a sinister shadow attached itself to kiana’s foot from birth. no matter how hard she shook, it’d been sewn on with the strength of wendy’s needle. ever the reminder of her own shadow, seattle’s space needle loomed in the distance, towering over every being around her, yet no one more than herself.
before birth, the lee family settled down in the states for career opportunity mixed into the feeling of community. more than the country’s average, there were people all around her that looked like her. fading into the background wasn’t a choice, but an expectation, when only few could rise to the top. kiana found herself in the majority of the forgotten, where what attention was given, was in family calling her beautiful, a stark contrast to the children who thought the opposite, and chose to pick on her interests.
weird became a word kiana learned to shudder at.
struggling against the strength of a crocodile’s mouth, kiana cried out for the lost boys to find her. and as kiana found herself on the internet, they did. online, she felt more understood than she had her entire life. where they lacked in understanding her family background, a community built up nonetheless through their shared interests. with her own personal band of lost children, kiana, for the first time in her life, didn’t feel weird. conversely, she felt her intense love for things had value, and wasn’t something shameful. day to day life didn’t change, though she finally, finally had a reprieve to comfortably slink into.
the first taste she had of this outside of the internet was presented in brown hair and hands bigger than her face. touching those hands burned, a scalding heat that against expectation, cleared the path. so, this was love.
everything was him, from that point on. every show she watched was to be enjoyed by them both. each meal would be decided upon together. every breath she took belonged to him. and in return, he offered reassurance, and desire. even apart, kiana constantly felt as if he craved each sliver of her, and believed uniqueness lived within her. the lost girl had lost her role, recast as wendy, to a peter pan that whisked her into a world she only ever thought was fantasy.
not everyone was able to see it the same. star crossed lovers, as she had seen it, her parents saw strife. while she hoped her stubbornness to keep his love was a toil that could mend their views, they saw not love, but their girl who had changed, because of him. on their second anniversary, caught in a lie about where she was staying for the night, her parents insisted against consequence that kiana break up with her boyfriend. and so, she did, tear tracks feeling like permanent tattoos.
however, when he showed up at her window the same night, her aching heart couldn’t bear to turn him away. that night, nor the next, nor the next after that. with each passing meeting, the continuance of her parents’ rage became less of a mindset to bury, and more of a growth of her own frustration. to kiana, they were destined to be lovers. he felt the same, she was sure, when laying, limbs tangled as if they were one being, he would whisper into her hair that the grown ups just weren’t allowed in neverland. if it were up to kiana, she might have gone to the second star to the right, and straight on… forever.
for about the next half year, the lovers found every possible opportunity to be together, until, previously unbeknownst to kiana, her parents dropped a shattering truth on her: they were moving to korea. kiana would have said that she could feel part of who she was being ripped out of her. she was hollow, and once again, lost.
that first month in korea overloaded kiana’s brain daily. getting used to a new home, a country she’d only visited on vacation, a language that felt a little awkward, school mates that felt wildly differently about her than they had in seattle, all without her source of confidence, love, and self by her side, she turned to an act she’d rarely known in her life. impulsivity was what had her telling her parents that she wanted to audition for an entertainment company. as time passed, waiting on an answer, waiting on the contract, waiting on the move to trainee dorms, kiana wondered if it really was impulsivity, or a desire she’d been searching for her whole life. if she worked hard enough to debut, the public would yearn for her, and fill the hollowness in her shell. it wouldn’t be the same, but it would be something.
kiana put her best foot forward, straining herself to better her dancing in a way that she hadn’t since she was first put in a class as a toddler. although that lined her up for debut, it was her looks that had her playing a role in impulse’s “a,” moments before fuse’s debut. attention thrust at her from the moment she debuted, not all positive, but a large enough amount that, sometimes, she could forget about who she’d left behind.
gold star arranged for kiana’s first solo opportunity almost three years after debut, a duet for a drama expected to find success. when it did, and so did the song, the company grabbed the moment by the reigns. kiana was pushed onto as many osts as they could manage, and they each found more and more success. but kiana didn’t. she’d thought, through her life, she learned how to navigate being a small fish in a massive sea. she’d thought she could handle it, when she’d handed her beating heart to the company, and they’d smashed it within their palms as they told her that there wasn’t enough interest in her to continue giving her songs.
wendy had to find her own way without peter, but after these years, kiana had to wonder if she had been fooling herself into believing a sweet lie. was she unique? was she worthy of being desired? she was… right?
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