BENJAMIN HYUN
Full Name: Benjamin Hyun Nicknames: Ben, Benj/Benji (close friends), Benny (parents) Pronouns and Gender: He/Him, Cis Male Age and Birthday: 40 years old, June 10th Zodiac: Gemini Sun, Scorpio Rising, Cancer Moon Birth place: Dallas, TX Sexuality: Biromantic Bisexual Status: Taken by Nomi Delgado (NPC - Goobie's mother ) Occupation: Microbial Ecologist Education: Masters in Ecology, minor in Environmental Science Residence: Crystal Cove Condominiums Time in Aurora Bay: 15 years Face claim: Steven Yeun
tw: bullying mildly mentioned, infidelity, very brief mention of racism
── history.
Born to immigrant parents, Benjamin came to be three years after they’d moved to the States from South Korea with their work visas. They’d settled down in Dallas, Texas.
His father was a boilermaker, and his mother had started with an easy, secretarial job part time until she ended up pregnant. Once Ben was born, she became a stay-at-home mother.
Ben had been raised with nothing short of care and love and all the support he could ever need. There was an expectation for him to go to college so he wouldn’t have to work like his father, but that was the only pressure he received. For that reason, they were big on him not working through the school months, only summer in between grades, and pinched pennies to save up for his tuition.
He also may have been an only child, but he met Ricardo living in the same complex as him when he was very young. He was very much so like an older brother to Ben.
Ben had been a basketball player through high school, starting on the Varsity in his senior year. Along with his time in after school clubs and encouraged volunteer hours put him on the path to success.
The hardest he had was the occasional comment made about his ethnicity from someone closed-minded as he did grow up in Texas, but bullying hadn’t been a real problem. The nineties into the two-thousands had been more kind to him than what his parents put up with in the early years of their residency in America.
When he graduated high school, he’d done so a year early, and he ended up pursuing a degree in Ecology with a minor in Environmental Science at Berkeley College in California. By twenty-one, he earned his bachelor’s, and then by twenty-three, his Master’s.
Ben had fallen in love with the West Coast. Not only for the dry heat, which had been a relief in comparison to the Texas summers, but the shoreline, palm trees, and the mountains. Added in the open-mindedness of California communities, and the higher pay rates, he sought employment in the Golden State.
He did help to move his parents out to the West Coast, and he’s even used some of his salary to get them settled and comfortable in San Diego. That made it easy for him to decide to settle in Aurora Bay, so he isn’t far away.
── personality.
Benj is quick-witted and endlessly curious, and loves navigating the world through ideas and connection. He’s fairly adaptable, but that gives him a tendency to shift gears too quickly in conversation or just life. This can leave the full picture of him a smidge under wraps, but that is due to his guarded edge. He isn’t a vault of secrets, there are just parts of him he keeps safe as he shares through a self-protected filter. He can tend to run his mouth faster than he can keep up when he’s felt slighted, no matter how minor, and he can sometimes act with an air of self-importance and selfishness.
I.e. he will take things personally, and he will wish ill (even if that’s kept in his mouth) to those who ever did anything to hurt him.
Beneath all of that is a tender core where he can be sentimental and nurturing to the people he cares about. He is full of longing and a need to feel safe, even if his choices seem to contradict that. He chases bad ideas so when he abandons them, it’s a good idea to let go as though he had control the whole time. He might joke to deflect, but his emotions run deep.
── headcanons.
⊹ Ben has had a series of relationships, short to long-term, but no matter the length or reason for how they come to an end, he always finds the best course of action following a break-up is to hide in his room listening to Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper on repeat.
⊹ he never learned how to ride a bike. When he was a kid, he always stood on the back of ricardo’s. the training wheels never came off.
⊹ moths scare him. He hates the idea of mothman.
⊹ he can speak Korean, and he also knows beginner level sign language.
⊹ he will 100% eat your leftovers if they’re put in his fridge, but in the same breath be extremely moody if someone eats his.
── connections.
Ben has been in Aurora Bay for fifteen years, so he will need any sort of connection that comes to mind. Friends, rivals, frenemies, hook-ups, ex-romantic conquests, etc.
♡ @castellcnos - ben met ricardo down in texas. their parents lived in the same apartment complex, and they swiftly became best friends. ben even followed him out to berkeley college in california. after ricardo's marriage fell apart, ben has invited him to live with him in aurora bay to get back on his feet.
♡ @santiagodeleons - santi is ben's other close friend, and at times, more the voice of reason than ricardo. despite his feelings about what happened with his marriage, ben does stay steadfastly by his side.
♡ @maura-cortes - the niece ben never expected to obtain, he's grown to love her like family. he also has a bit of a soft spot when it comes to her asking for things, like money. (not in game but canon)
♡ @laureljacobs - when ricardo first left for college, ben had no other friends. he saw laurel off to the side by herself, figured it would be the easiest friendship to make. he was wrong. she was extremely stubborn about letting him in, but it did give him something to do every day until he graduated and left. (no longer in game but still canon)
♡ @bradley-banner - their friendship has long since shifted into an awkward one being she is santiago's ex-wife, but ben respects both sides by talking about neither to the other.
♡ @auggievillanueva - his first serious relationship in aurora bay, ben had been all in. but when everything in auggie's life became too much and overwhelming, and he decided to break things off, ben took it too heart that he didn't want to try and extent the extra effort to make things work. ( no longer in game but still canon )
♡ @delilahcarreno - it was some time after auggie ben met delilah, and though he didn't fall into this one as fast he definitely fell harder. she had been 'the one' if asked by anyone, but when she cheated it ripped his heart out.
♡ @borawinters - fellow gutter sluts (not his choice in name) in the local bowling league, benj is definitely not sure what to make of bo.
♡ @ziggykyeons - hinge match due to ziggy's criticism of his pics and set up, benj thought it was his way of flirting, only to find out when he said he wanted to fix it up, he really meant his profile.
── links.
⊹ inspo
⊹ playlist about Ben
@aurorabayaesthetic
