#perhaps i read too much into it but like. take that scene where the sunbae confesses to chunyoung in the classroom. how she bats dani's hand

[mallahanmoxie]

evil has invaded my heart so now i’m just vibing and thinking of what circumstances would bring notorious attention hater eun jiho to partake, nay, lead something like a host club. i think my best bet lies in tamaki’s very real divide between loving someone as a person (a “man” in his case) and performing the duties of a host -- he’s striving to make these women happy, going out of his way to do so, in fact, but he’s not really doing it as, like, himself (note that when he does bring himself or the club into the equation it’s often in supporting roles to the pursuit of someone else’s romantic/affective ambition). he’s not their friend, much less their lover. he’s a host, he’s playing a role. here the performance necessarily rescinds any (or most, depending) of the vulnerability that comes with exchanges like these, which in their natural (as in not artificial) form are meant to be taken seriously.

it provides, in many ways, a shield. it’s how, for example, hikaru and kaoru can put on that brothers’ love act of theirs and the under layers of truth in it--which performances need in order to ring, well, true to its audience--don’t threaten their inner, private dynamic, even as haruhi’s involvement is upsetting the pre-set balance of their relationship. and, beyond that, it also provides distance. there’s an audience to which you are performing, they are the ones consuming it, it technically exists for their benefit. in traditional settings, the performers and the audience are divided by the physical form of the stage, even if these boundaries are pushed nowadays to make a point. within the system of hosting, the boundary is not physical but it doesn’t mean it isn’t present and constantly being pressed upon.

now, thinking about jiho and the boys (and even ban yeoryung, who in this context would probably serve as haruhi), it doesn’t seem wildly out of the question that these aspects of the system would be seen as benefits. i still don’t think they’d be inclined towards it (rather isolation seems the knee-jerk reaction) but i could see it. and (the performing of) hosting also introduces something else, which in jiho’s case would perhaps make the most difference: control. they are all already constantly scrutinized and objectified. peoples’ fantasies can and will run wild, often in worrying directions, and if they’re not something you can do away with or hide from, wouldn’t the second best option be to control the way they go? turn them malleable in your hands, curbing the want of possession, putting a stop to the personal and turning it into commercial, offering a service, establishing end hours of this performance of my life that you insist on me reliving. so that i can go home and be myself there. so there’s an end to this thing. if you want a show, i’ll give it to you. but there’ll always be a curtain closing.

in that sense, i don’t think it’s too outlandish a notion.

#im talking out of my ass here btw i haven't watched ouran in ages #i don't think it's entirely the same reason for everybody BUT none of the above is exempt from application to the others #you know how jooin is about controlling his image himself #and also there will ALWAYS be people trampling those boundaries (the girls at ouran seem much much kinder than the kids at the 4hk's hs) #but the fact that they EXIST and they're CLEANLY DEFINED and back by a SYSTEM and an INSTITUTION #again it softens the blow. which doesn't mean that you can always take it. but the cushioning is preferable #eunhyung plays into/with people's expectations already and there's very many things about his situation you can manipulate to subdue him #into agreeing into something like this #chunyoung is already so goddamn intimidating i think it's just mori senpai 2.0 he wont even have to TALK #it'd be very funny if he was the mori to lee ruda's honey but NOT in a loveable way #they're not tender. they fight. the girls are in on it for the 100k slow burn enemies to lovers. they're not even pretending about that. #also ban yeoryung would unironically take to it like duck to water. completely unironically. loves to see pretty girls smile. #she n tamaki are kindred souls in that regard except yeoryung is gay #and butch. obviously. #in reality i do think it would take some of the weight off their interactions with the rest of the populace #particularly when romantic affection is involved #perhaps i read too much into it but like. take that scene where the sunbae confesses to chunyoung in the classroom. how she bats dani's hand #away because dani doesn't have a /right/ to touch him so intimately but this total stranger is VYING UNIRONICALLY FOR HIS AFFECTION #but more than that for the position of his lover. she doesn't even /know/ him. everything she thinks she knows about him absolutely didn't #come from him. and yet she bats the hand away so spitefully. because dani is touching her perceived property. #and it really is about ownership. it's like he's an expensive handbag. it's almost decor. #jiho is right when he says it's like they're monkeys in a zoo. it must be so suffocating. #and wouldn't you like to take some of the narrative back? #for yourself? #ANYWAY. that's a lot. fuck. #simba lb tv #the lion reads #inso's law #no way that's showing up in the tag after the million tags i just put. if it does im cursed. im just playing

[armysantiny]

Letters For You - KSN

Pairing: Sunoo x female reader || Enhypen

Genre: fluff, oneshot, request

Includes: Soobin (TXT) mention, translator reader, idol Sunoo, massages, spa day, texts, gifts, coming home late, eating at a café, café, dying hair, KakaoTalk, cuddling, watching kdrama together

Word count: 1518

Warning: food cw

Rating: PG

Networks: @kwritersworld​, @kdiarynet​, @kpopscape​, @ultkpopnetwork, @kpopficsnetwork, @kpopcontentcreatorsclub​​ @k-dinernet​, @lovesick-net, @whipped-kpop-creators, @prism-nw​, @hybenet​, @k-library​, @k-mysticsnet​, @enhypenwriters, @enhypennetwork, @knet-bakery

Tagging:@teeztheflag, @intokook, @cherry-hyejin, @difcore, @ofaffectionate || Taglist Form

An: I hope you like this @xxatinyminionxx! I had so much fun writing this~

Long days at the agency weren’t anything new to Sunoo; just regular procedure. But coming home later than usual felt different ever since he had met y/n. Y/n was his lucky charm – Sunoo’s grounding presence when he would come back from the hectic rush of his schedule. And that night was no different, as the music artist sipped on his coffee on his way home. Entering the passcode for the shared apartment, the dyed-blond removed his jacket and shoes, a relieved sigh falling from him.

The apartment was quite that night however, much quieter than usual – the faint sounds of y/n working on a transcript nowhere to be found. Switching on the lights as he made his way to the kitchen, Sunoo’s eyes were drawn to the covered dishes on the table, and a note addressed to him.

“Does she have a part-time shift today...?” Voicing his thoughts as he went about following the neatly drawn instructions on the note, Sunoo warmed the prepared meal. Y/n had made his favourite, and he could almost distinctly hear – in his head – the subtle sound of y/n humming a nameless song under her breath, occupied with her next cooking project. His face flushed at the thought, humming the last melody he heard y/n singing. Perhaps y/n knew that he’d be home, because she’d video called Sunoo as he was putting the dishes on the drying rack. Picking up the call with a slight yawn, the teen perked up almost immediately.

“Noona! How was your day? Oh – where are you?” Sitting down on the sofa, Sunoo asked his question, parts of y/n’s background seeming vaguely familiar.

“Sunoo baby~ my day was good, I missed you today~ Ah – do you remember my sunbae? The one who went to study film?”

“Oh… Soobin hyung, right?”

“Mhm~ he needed a translator for his project late minute and I was the only one available. I’ll probably be gone for the weekend. I’m sorry baby~ will you be alright?” Y/n explained, an apology finishing her words. Soobin’s call had been the very definition of ‘out-of-the-blue’, but at the time y/n couldn’t deny that her sunbae sounded urgent. In any case, it was only for the weekend; Sunoo would be okay.

By next morning, Sunoo stretched as he slowly started to awake, his bedroom glowing from the light of the morning sun. Looking over to y/n’s side of the bed with a gentle but longing smile on his face, Sunoo traced his fingers over her pillow. She’d be back. Throwing his legs over the side of the bed and making his way to the bathroom to freshen up, the idol went about getting ready for the day ahead. Caught up on whether he should eat breakfast at home or go to a café, Sunoo grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge while he pondered on his options. Not expecting any calls for at least an hour from noon, Sunoo’s brow raised in curiosity when his KakaoTalk notification went off. Once he had read the display name, little butterflies bloomed in his chest as he opened the text message from y/n.

Y/n Noona: Morning baby~ I’ve been translating scripts until 2 am ☹ but I’ve got a long day, so it’s early alarms for me. Have you woken up yet? I saw a really nice breakfast café yesterday, I think you’d like it! I should vanish now, I’ll call you later. Love you, sunshine~

“Breakfast outside it is~”

Finding the café with the address y/n had given him, Sunoo marvelled at the exterior of the café once it had come into view. Had he walked into a kdrama set? The inviting scent of baked treats and hot chocolate were doing him no favours as it took a gentle hold over him, luring him into the ‘trap’ of a sweet breakfast – not that he was complaining, that is. Finding himself in line to order, Sunoo scoured the menu, easily finding something to eat that Saturday morning.

Watching people walk past the café windows while he nibbled on his pastries, Sunoo drummed his fingers against the table, unsure of what he should do to occupy his time. He could go and have a ‘me-day’; go to the spa, get a massage, redye his hair, all of it. Or he could head to the park and have a little picnic for himself, enjoy his break away from filming and schedules. Sipping on his iced coffee, the teen let himself get lost in thought as he set about finishing the rest of his breakfast. Food came first.

Making his way to the spa, Sunoo didn’t forget to make a stop by the library, buying one of the notebooks they had on sale. Y/n would definitely like it. The gift tucked away neatly in his satchel as he walked through the doors of his favourite spa, Sunoo went ahead and booked a massage for himself, a grateful a smile on his face as he took the clothes handed to him and went to the locker rooms to change.

A sigh of relief fell from Sunoo as the masseuse worked on his back, the knots in his shoulders finally being relieved after a long week. Feeling the urge to sleep getting bigger, the faux-blond let his eyes shut, the next thirty minutes passing by like a blur. Next thing he knew, the massage was over and he was being gently woken up by his masseuse.

“Mr Kim...?”

“Oh-oh, I must have fallen asleep. Thank you for the massage!”

“Oh no worries, you must have had a long week. Have a good day~”

“You too!” Bowing after he collected his things, Sunoo left the room, heading back to the locker room – where his clothes were waiting for him. Taking a seat and unlocking his phone, the teen scrolled through Twitter for a while before an – arguably cute – idea struck him. Opening KakaoTalk and recording a voice message for y/n, he sent it, a pleased smile on his face. That pleased smile soon turned into a wide grin as y/n replied almost instantly, cute stickers being sent his way. Snapping a quick picture and sending it, Sunoo put his phone aside as he changed, his heart beating as he anticipated his girlfriend’s reaction.

Y/n’s equally cute picture-reply on his mind as he sat in the salon chair, Sunoo had been getting his roots done, his hair layered between sheets of aluminium as he waited for the bleaching to work. His black roots had started to grow out, and he was due for a redye before it started looking like he had dip-dyed only half of his hair. Or before he started looking like a poorly designed manhwa character. Calling y/n, he asked about her day, listening to her speak with an endearing sense of curiosity on his face.

“I may have good news~” Y/n teased from the other line, watching the scenery pass by from her seat on the coach.

“Oh? Tell me~!” Sunoo replied, a light-hearted whine in his voice as he egged y/n on. He could just about hear the sound of steady traffic in between the momentary silence. “Are you driving Noona?”

“Hmm, kinda? I’ll see you later sunshine! Make sure to eat dinner~”

“I will!”

Returning home that evening after spending the rest of his day with his members, Sunoo opened the door to his shared apartment, a gift bag in hand. The sound of shuffling feet from the bathroom alerted him as he treaded slowly towards the front room. He wasn’t expecting any company, and y/n wasn’t due to return for at least the next day. Snapping his head to the sound of the bathroom door opening, Sunoo’s features brightened almost instantly, leaving his bags on the sofa as he ran over to y/n, engulfing his girlfriend in a hug. A laugh coming from the slightly older woman as she returned the hug, y/n cupped Sunoo’s face in her hands, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“Y/n Noona! When – when did you get home? I thought you were coming home tomorrow?” Following y/n to the sofa, Sunoo pulled y/n’s hand into his own, playing with her fingers while she spoke.

“Ahh, the translator my sunbae was originally going to call made it to the location today. Most of the work was already done, so I managed to get home early. I did well, didn’t I?”

“Yep~”

Cuddled up together as they caught up on their drama, Sunoo paused the scene on screen when he realised that y/n was fast asleep on his shoulder, her subtle comments on the characters no longer accompanying the sounds of the romcom playing on TV. Resisting the urge to take a picture, Sunoo gently lifted y/n’s head, carefully holding her up while sliding a cushion underneath. Tiptoeing to the bedroom and returning with a blanket, he chuckled and covered y/n’s sleeping frame. Tucking in the edges and brushing a stray hair out of y/n’s face, he placed a kiss on her forehead.

“You’ve worked hard Noona. I’ll give you your gift tomorrow. Get some rest~”

#kwritersworldnet #kdiarynet #kpopscape #ultkpop #kdiner #lsn.works #wkcnet #ficscafe #prism.nw #hybenet #klibrary #kmysticsnet #enhypen #enhypen sunoo #enhypen oneshots #enhypen scenarios #sunoo oneshots #enhypen x female reader #kpop x female reader #sunoo x reader #sunoo x female reader

[rvmmm21]

[ V V S her diamonds ]

summary : seungwan is an idiot, joohyun is an idiot. cupid rips his hair out in frustration.

small note : please yell at galaxygerbil for me. for putting justin freaking bieber’s ‘anyone’ in my head on loop for centuries and for the hectic mess that i am when i read their fics. this is an attempt the only genre i have been skirting around because i just cannot read/write angst. if this ages decently, yay.

p.s. characters are from my first wenrene university au (you know who i am?) so it’s identical in regards to characters and the au itself, but a different plot. 

tw : slight angst (but it’s all cupid’s), perpetual urge to scream.

[senior!irene x junior!wendy]

. . .

[5:15p.m.] Seungwan rushes past the temptation of bookshops, restaurants and arcades. She silently curses when she very nearly falls flat on her face from an uneven bit of pavement.

. . .

“Seungwan-ah!” Yerim calls out, retracting her debit card from the exasperated cashier and waving Seungwan towards her. “Come, hurry up and order something.”

The blonde shyly weaves through the crowded little arcade cafe, eliciting pointed looks and grunts from hungry patrons. She leaves the ‘I-dare-you-to-challenge-my-best-friend-right-now’ stare to Yerim. 

Seungwan reaches the counter with a huff. “What are you guys getting?” 

“I got bibimmyeon.” The younger glances over her shoulder at Seulgi who’s scrolling through her phone at the table in the corner. “Uh, i think Seul got pork mandu.”

Seungwan holds up two fingers and a polite smile. “Two bibimmyeon, please.”

The cashier inputs their orders with a click of a button, swiping Yerim’s card through the reader.

The duo shuffle away with a number card on a metal stand, heading for the table under the stairs. A harassed Seulgi barely notices her friends sitting down.

“You’re here?” She clicks her phone off and begins rummaging through her Muji pencil case for a pencil. “What did you get? I think we’re pulling an all-nighter.”

“Bibimmyeon, same as Yerimie.” Seungwan grimaces, more at the possibility of another sleepless night. But such is university life. Plus, she’d much rather her friends keep her accountable than procrastinate alone. Especially on projects that weighed so heavily on her final grade.

Yerim elbows Seungwan, who suddenly notices she’s the last to get her materials out.

Like clockwork, the three get to work, the clicking of their keyboards overtaken by frantic plastic clicking of various 90’s arcade machines.

Thankfully, food is served right as they’re wrapping up chapter three, the worst one of them all. Seungwan, Seulgi and Yerim scarf down their food like girls ten years starved, focused on feeding the demands of their stomachs rather than their assignments.

. . .

The sun retires past the blue-purple horizon, leaving three burnt out students standing outside a closed cafe, clutching laptops and notebooks in the dark. They hastily make plans again for next week’s study date, sweeping the forgotten all-nighter under the rug, all too eager to head home and shut the door in the faces of their due dates and exams.

“Same time next week?” Seungwan asks after a yawn.

Seulgi shakes her head, squinting at her calendar app. “I have dance tryouts then. Can we do Thursday instead? We can meet at the same time then, or even earlier.”

Yerim agrees to everything, seconds away from falling asleep on her feet. 

“Alright,” the blonde sighs, plugging the aux cable into her phone and flipping through her Spotify. “See you guys then. Yerimie bring your own highlighter next time.”

Everyone mumbles, turning their own ways.

. . .

“YAH!”

The rude exclamation of a tall, red-faced boy while his smaller friend stands meekly behind him blares attention bells to the furthest corner of their university cafeteria.

Seungwan pauses mid-chew to shush a pouting Yerim, who’s upset that her funny dog story was interrupted right as it was getting good. They face the commotion and Seungwan beholds a pair of steely eyes gazing boredly from underneath the brim of a black Yankee baseball cap.

That signature glare belongs to none other than Bae Joohyun, someone the junior recognises instantly from (truthfully much more than) one of their shared literature electives. And of course, beside her stands her equally as intimidating friends, Park Sooyoung and Kim Jennie. 

And the hothead is the only person who’d be stupid enough to challenge a trio like that: fresh campus casanova, Wong Lucas. Seungwan’s eyebrows shoot up to her hairline, but she isn’t surprised.

Everyone’s attention has been commanded now, but if the boy cared, he didn’t show it.

“Yah, freshman.” Jennie snaps, gripping her mocha latte and stepping to the front while Sooyoung suspiciously eyes him and his friend. “Speak with some respect. What’s wrong with you! We’re your seniors.”

The meek girl behind him looks terrified, curly mousy-brown ponytails shadowing the cold sweat visibly beading on her forehead. She almost moves to say something but Lucas stops her with a firm hand, turning back to continue berating the girl in the cap.

“You couldn’t even let her talk?!” The irony is lost on him, as a frown settles on his arched eyebrows, frustration frosting over his features. “She told me you rejected her before she could finish. Did you have to speak so rudely? Do you know how hard it is to confess?”

A hint of apprehension creeps into Sooyoung’s expression and Jennie fights the urge to splash her drink right in his face. Followed by the cup.

Bae Joohyun simply resists a yawn.

“Can you move? We’re busy.” 

It’s the first time she’s spoken since the outburst, and Seungwan feels her palms sweat.

The girl behind Lucas finally speaks. Her eyes are glossy and wide, overflowing with hurt and betrayal. “It’s okay, s-sunbae. B-but I… I was hoping we could still–”

“I’m not interested,” comes the cut and dry reply.

A bystander innocently tries to diffuse the rising tension. He lightly places his hand on the boy’s shoulder, darting his gaze between the two teams. “Alright I think that’s enough.” He turns to Lucas. “No need to be so hostile, be a gentleman and apologise.”

“Whatever.” Lucas irritatedly shrugs him off, piercing stare fixed on the senior who couldn’t look more disinterested. “You deserve it. You think you can just talk however you want just because you’re pretty? Self-centred trash, fix your attitude first.”

Sooyoung’s jaw drops, Jennie goes wide-eyed, and Yerim is fumbling around with the record button as quietly as she can. 

Seungwan’s heart quickens in pace.

Joohyun doesn’t even realise she’s lunging forward.

. . .

The cafeteria disperses with hushed whispers and repeated glances over shoulders until it’s just Seungwan, Seulgi and Yerim left. They’re glued to their seats, astounded at the sight of Wong Lucas on the ground, clutching his nose in pain while Song Yuqi stands frozen to the spot, paled in horror at witnessing her crush just sock her older brother square in the face.

It’s so silent save for the moaning and groaning from the floor.

“Did you see that?” Seungwan murmurs back at her friends, unaware that her eyes glint with obvious admiration. “That was kinda cool.”

Seulgi’s lip quirks in disbelief. “It’s definitely broken. Look at her, she’s insane.”

“Right?” Yerim snickers, already posting the video clip to their group chat. “Insanely co-ordinated. Best thing that’s happened all day.” 

“I’m gonna offer her a Band-Aid,” Seungwan spontaneously decides, ignorant to the horror plastered on both her friends’ faces.

Yerim makes tiny, urgent neck slice motions while Seulgi quickly yanks an eager Seungwan down hard by the sleeve.

“Ow, Seul!” The blonde mouths, brows furrowing in annoyance. 

The dancer takes the opportunity to knock some sense into her. “Seriously, are you crazy?” she whispers harshly, her own nerves flaring at the thought of being overheard. “It’s an insult! She’s going to kill you.”

Both girls try to stop their friend from making the dumbest decision of her life, but Seungwan frees herself from their frantically grasping limbs, slinging her bag over her shoulder and heading to the crime scene.

She reaches just in time to feel Lucas brush angrily past them and out the doors. Yuqi slinks after him, casting Joohyun an apologetic look. 

Way to get rejected twice, Seungwan sympathises. Poor kid, with a sibling who’s an idiot Hercules. 

It takes all her willpower to wrestle her racing heartbeat and her self-preservation instinct into submission. The junior approaches with care, trying with everything she has to convey that she comes in peace.

Joohyun shifts her focus to her and Seungwan’s legs almost go jelly, but something about Joohyun draws her in like a spell. She hated playing good samaritan in situations like these, but it isn’t as though Seungwan hasn’t been dying to talk to her impossibly attractive senior since the first day of class.

You miss any chance you don’t take, right? Yes, obviously.

“H-hi sunbaes,” Seungwan greets with a cautious bow. This is the closest she’s been to the black velvet trio and it’s certainly leaving an impression. She doesn’t even have to look back to know that her block-head friends are gawping at the scene, wondering how their loser of a friend is so okay with dying at the age of twenty two.

Blinking, Seungwan washes her thoughts of how dazzling Joohyun looks, even when she looks like she’s out for blood. Especially when she looks like she’s out for blood.

Suddenly remembering the other reason she came over here, the small blonde holds out some alcohol wipes and Band-Aids like gifts. “Are you h– are you okay?”

“Of course I am,” Joohyun responds curtly. She surely knows her icy stare crumples Seungwan’s insides like butter paper. Perhaps that’s why she does it. “It’s over.”

“A-are you sure your fist knows?” The junior tries, all too aware the girl in front of her could have her wiped off the face of the earth with the snap of her fingers.

A scowl ghosts across Joohyun’s face before she drops her eyes to where her fist is still clenched and trembling slightly.

Seungwan fills the silence with an awkward chuckle. “Just thought you might want to clean up after the battle.”

Jennie and Sooyoung’s unimpressed looks are replaced with shock when Joohyun actually accepts a wet wipe from the younger’s shaking hands. Her eyes are pinned to the wipe as it glazes over bruised, rosy knuckles.

The shorter girl internally swoons. Her mere offering has been received! – and not just received regularly, but received with a frosty ‘thank you’, to top it all off. 

As the three seniors are leaving, Seungwan secretly prays that Yerim used her brains and recorded this moment too.

She flinches out of her thought bubble when Seulgi lands a palm clumsily on her shoulder.

“Wah, daebak,” the Cadbury-haired dancer congratulates her crazy, bodacious friend. “So what was that, like your first date or something?”

Yerim scoffs, hooking her arm around Seulgi’s bicep and dragging her out. “Come on Seul, we might as well start eating bugs and singing ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’. Wannie unnie can’t see us anymore.”

Seungwan rushes after her best friends, picking up her pace when they break into a power walk to the bus station.

“Yerm-ah! Did you get that? Please tell me you got that!”

#red velvet #wenrene #wendy #irene #seulgi #yerim #university au #light angst #slow burn #sorry lucas i love you #you are a true casanova #red velvet writing #yuqi you stay faithful to your soyeon okay #jennie has a latte always i swear

[hitoritabi]

LJS for High Cut (Sep ‘17) - Part 2

Translation note: This kid is too funny, the only thing he goes into a slump for is acting. [Part 1]

~*~*~*~*~*~

Q. After ‘VIP’ ended its shoots in January, you went into the filming of the drama ‘While You Were Sleeping’. This is the third time you have worked on a project with Park Hye Ryun screenwriter. I heard you said okay without even reading the scenario?

LJS: I trust Park Hye Ryun writer-nim a lot. She wrote a short high school drama before ‘WYWS’ and even though I was in China at that time, I watched that too. I really like her work even as an audience member. In my opinion, she is the writer who can produce the best work within this pre-production system. After the last scene for ‘WYWS’, even though I felt shy, I wrote her a message saying, “The best decision in my life was to meet writer-nim” and she replied “Ai-yoo, thank you~”.

Q. You are taking the role of Jaechan, a 29-year-old prosecutor who is new on the job. It’s totally opposite to Kim Kwang-il.

LJS: The specialty of Park Hye Ryun writer-nim’s work is that her characters will undergo growth. This is not a drama about fighting for great power, but based on episodes we can see on the news. My role is that of a prosecutor and also the one who introduces the audience to these cases. Rather than a role that shows off specific character traits, it is a role that wraps up the drama itself as a whole. This is a new experience for me. If you try to separate dramas into two different categories, there are those who focus on characters and those who focus on stories, this belongs to the latter category.

Q. You were the original ‘chemistry fairy’, so how was it to work with Bae Suzy? It must be nice to go from acting with hyung-nims to acting in a romance?

LJS: Ah, I like acting with hyung-nims even more. (laughs) Suzy is very beautiful so it is easy to get into the emotions. (explosive laughter) We work well together.

Q. Suzy’s character in the drama, Hong-joo, can see the future. If you had the ability to see the future, what would you want to see?

LJS: The future? I would want to see it but it’s probably better not to. In the X-Man series, people with superpowers are treated as mutants, so I think I’d rather live normally.

Q. If Lee Jong Suk of the past saw the Lee Jong Suk now, would he have chosen the path of being an actor.

LJS: I’ve become unsure lately. Maybe it’s good to try something else. When you read interviews by sunbaes, they always say that acting gets harder the more you do it. Now I am beginning to understand why they say so. Ah, I’m not trying to complain but it is really not easy. I’ve said it since I debuted that I might run a coffee shop if I didn’t become an actor... it’s still my dream career now.

Q. Are you in a slump? It seems that you have a lot of worries.

LJS: I’ve always had a bit of an inferiority complex and it’s hard to overcome. Every time when I feel inferior and depressed, if I don’t escape from it and instead delve deeply into it, I end up growing as an actor. I was the most unhappy in the winter of 2013 (TN: meaning early 2013), leading to the great success of ‘School 2013′ and ‘IHYV’, which made me so busy that I didn’t even have time to sleep. After that period of busyness, I became empty and depressed -- it was a period when I cried a lot. Then I did ‘Doctor Stranger’; if you watch the first four episodes, I feel I did pretty well. (laughs) It seems I grew a bit then.

Q. It’s well-known that you would memorise the dialogue of shows that you like, even if you didn’t act in them. Is there any new dramas that you do that for since ‘The Time Between Dog and Wolf’?

LJS: ‘Secret Forest’. Jo Seong Woo-sunbaenim is really too cool. Especially the part in Episode 1 or 2, when he shouted, “You knew he was dead (죽을 거 알았잖아)!” (TN: I didn’t watch SF so I’m not sure about the trans...) I originally watched the show as reference since I was playing a prosecutor in ‘WYWS’. Ah, that really can be called acting. I felt inferior immediately since I can’t do it to that level. (laughs) I have so much respect. 

Ah, and I also cried after watching ‘Your Name’ (Japanese anime movie) recently; the part where the main characters couldn’t remember each other’s names is just too sad. Their acting is just too good also. “Why is it that anime characters can have such good acting?!” then I feel inferior again. (explosive laughter on set)

Q. I reread your interview with ‘High Cut’ last year. You said that you are fighting hard on the battlefield but also saving up for future retirement. You also said you were worried every day about finding the natural order of daily life.

LJS: Did I say something that cool? It must have been reorganised a bit. What I’ve been saying the most since last year is to ‘let’s talk about something interesting’. Whenever I am not filming, my life is so boring and meaningless. I always ask my mom everyday, “Mom, what did you do today?” Rather than saying that I want to hear interesting things, I am just curious about the minute details of other’s lives.

Q. So Jongsuk-ssi feels like there isn’t anything interesting except acting?

LJS: Yes. But even for acting, it feels more frustrating than interesting right now. (laughs)

Q. In the meantime, you are coming to your thirties. What to do? (laughs)

LJS: When I was a new actor, I said in my interviews that I wanted to be in my thirties soon. Because that is the true starting line for a male actor. But now that I am really approaching it, I feel like I can particularly relate to the lyrics of ‘Around 30′ by Kim Kwang-seok. (to surrounding staff) Noona, did you have this feeling? Hyung didn’t you have this feeling also? You see, everyone feels the same way.

Q. When you think of actor Lee Jong Suk, there is the image that he has visible growth with every project he does. What is your own opinion?

LJS: I also thought that I was still growing, but the truth is I stopped improving for some time. It’s some time before ‘W’? I choose to participate in projects that I find interesting to watch, so I review my own works often. But from a certain time onwards, I find that I have stopped in my tracks, and only started gathering the requisite and mechanical skills that you get from experience. I would find myself thinking, “I only need to do this much to express what’s written in this stage direction” or “perhaps the audience would like it if I expressed in this way”. Therefore, ‘VIP’ was a fresh experience for me, though it was hard.

Q. Then ‘VIP’ is the breakthrough point for the so-called stop in your growth as a 29-year-old actor?

LJS; Yes, I must live on. (laughs) I went for it without regrets, and I’m psychologically ready to face criticisms if they come.

~*~*~*~*~*~

TN: As usual, he is his own harshest critic, but I must admit I am relieved that he knows he is plateaued a bit in W and is willing to course-correct. It takes courage, but he has always been brave as an actor. Fighting! :D

#lee jong suk #translation #this took 3 hours #I'm not doing vogue tonight lol