BIRTH NAME : Dae-Hyun 'Daniel' Kwon ALIAS : Daniel, Danny AGE : 46 DATE OF BIRTH : November 28th, 1979 RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Widowed, single HOMETOWN : Chicago IL, USA. TIME IN KISMET HARBOR : Arrived December 27, 2023 RESIDENCE : Cresthill Meadows, The Willows apartment FACECLAIM : Daniel Henney
trigger warning: Prison, death, car-accident, child loss.
EDUCATION : University degree in architecture OCCUPATION : Director of architects at Creative Haus GENDER : Cis-Male PRONOUNS : He/Him SEXUALITY : Straight
HAIR COLOR : Black EYE COLOR : Dark Brown HEIGHT : 6'2'' BUILD : Athletic/toned. ACCENT : Chicago/American. LANGUAGES : English, French, Korean, Chinese. TATTOOS : Blossom tree tattoo on his right arm (scar cover-up) SCARS: Numerous on his back and arms.
ZODIAC : Sagittarius LOVE LANGUAGE : Physical touch, quality time CLOTHING : Casual leisure. CURRENT HAIR STYLE + BEARD: ( x ) CONDITIONS : Peripheral Neuropathy Tremors ALLERGIES : None EATING HABITS : Eats his greens before his meats, carbs last. Eats with the fork in his right hand, swaps when cutting his food. EXERCISE HABITS : Does Taekwondo twice a week (blue belt), meditates every morning. SLEEPING HABITS : Side sleeper, has oversized blankets because he tends to pull the sheets in and toss in his sleep.
ADDICTIONS : None DRUG USE : Occasionally weed. ALCOHOL USE : Sometimes.
POSITIVE TRAITS : Calm, balanced, spiritual NEGATIVE TRAITS: Apathetic, superstitious, withdrawn PHOBIAS : None FEARS : Losing his family Sam, dying alone. HOBBIES : Meditation, chess, gardening HABITS : Tracing the scars on his arm with his fingertips, Play with the the rings on his necklace. USUAL TEMPERAMENT : Calm
FATHER : Ha-Joon Kwon † MOTHER : Bernadette Beauchamp † SIBLINGS : Samuel Bradford PARTNERS : Ji-Min Kwon (2012-2018) † CHILDREN : Kim Kwon (2013-2018) †, Lee Kwon (2015-2018) † and Song Kwon (2017-2018) † PETS : none.
BIOGRAPHY
trigger warning: death, car accident, child death, grief, prison.
Dae-Hyun; Known as Dae or Daniel to his friends and loved ones, was born on a rainy November day in gloomy Chicago, when the sun had long since set. Upon his birth, he was bestowed with his mother's love and father's prayers for a healthy and strong future. Dae-Hyun had always been a calm child, looking at the world around him and taking as things come. Should the child have an outburst or a tantrum, his parents knew something was wrong.
Such it was throughout his entire childhood. He gave no fuss when his mother put him in self-knitted sweaters or when it was time for another round of tummy time. If anything, Dae-Hyun picked up on things fast: social cues, knowing which block went where, learning to walk faster than the normal child would. It was no surprise that Dae-Hyun was an eager student, enjoying school every day, whether it was an art kind of day or if there were math tests to be had. As matter of fact, everything seemed to go so well, that perhaps the universe felt it needed to be evened out on the scale.
Losing his father was hard for him, and his mother, who had loved and relied on the man that carried the family. Dae-Hyun tried to comfort his mother as best as he could at the young and tender age of five, having a good understanding of what death meant. Though not really a joker, he would think of as many jokes as he could just to try and make her laugh. His mother did her best for him in return, though tried to heal her broken heart with the wrong people. Mistreatment and toxic behavior were her life for the following years to come.
That was when she met Isaac a few months after losing Ha-Joon. The man seemed right for her, treating her and Dae-Hyun with kindness and love, nurturing them and providing for them. Four years into their relationship, Dae-Hyun was blessed with not just a new father, but a baby brother as well: Sam. From the moment he was born, he doted on the little boy. He was there whenever the boy needed to be changed, asked to feed him the bottle and helping giving him baths. The older Dae-Hyun got, the more he did with the boy, the more he felt confident to do fun things with his little brother. When it was time for Dae-Hyun to enroll in a university, he decided to stay at home for the, at that time, six year old. When Isaac had decided to leave without an explanation, it was up to Dae-Hyun to take care of the family. He took a gap year, took two jobs to make sure the bills were paid and there was food on the table, as well as being there to make sure Sam was happy and taken care of.
After the year, Dae-Hyun enrolled in the university in Chicago, staying at home so he was there in the evenings and weekends. He let Sam play in his room while he worked on essays and did his homework, not minding when the boy was asking for attention or that he wanted to play with Dae-Hyun instead of alone. He managed to keep his grades up, ace his exams and not have any of the teachers concerned if he was going to make it. By the time of his graduation, Sam was his number one fan as he walked the stage.
When it became time for Dae to look at internships, a well respected architect firm in New York expressed interest in training him, he felt bad for leaving his family for those two years, but he knew that this was an opportunity of a lifetime. So after a hardy word to his mother about needing to step up for Sam, and promising Sam that he would make sure Sam could visit him every summer, he left for New York. He was used to living in a big city, but New York was on a whole different level. He got his own apartment through the firm he interned for as well as a proper wage and he enjoyed his work every single day. It was one day that he was lucky to become acquainted with a certain Genevieve Hamilton, who, with her black and purple hair, stole his breath away. Dae-Hyun had dated through his lifetime, but Genevieve was his first serious relationship that lasted longterm. They made it through perhaps the scariest ordeal together, loved each other, enjoyed every waking moment with one another. Dae-Hyun dreaded the day he had to return to Chicago. Though he missed his family and couldn't wait to have them back into his daily life again, he wasn't certain on if Genevieve would follow.
In the end, Dae-Hyun returned to Chicago alone, having separated with Genevieve as friends, as a long distance relationship between them wasn't what either wanted. Especially without the prospect of either of them moving in the foreseeable future. Back in Chicago, Dae got to focus on his little brother again, who began to lash out and get into trouble more and more. The police officers, at some point, weren't surprised seeing a Korean man bailing out his white brother, as it became a usual sight for Sam to be in lock up and Dae-Hyun coming to his rescue. He never got angry at the boy however, only showing him how disappointed he was and he needed to change his life, that he would have a hard life ahead of him if he went down the road he was on.
He tried his hardest for his brother, but also found that he discovered a lot about himself in his late twenties. He got into contact with his paternal side of the family, even visiting them in South Korea where he learned a lot about their culture, religion and traditions that the family had. Witnessing the Korean ways of holidays, funerals and weddings was an eyeopener to the young man, who found himself adapting to their culture as if he always had practiced it. At the age of twenty-seven, Dae-Hyun converted to Buddhism, becoming more in tune with his own mind, body and spirit. He joined a colleague of his to classes she took, and found that yoga and meditation was exactly what he needed after a long day at work, as going to the gym never seemed to have that desired effect people usually talked about.
Though Dae-Hyun had a great life so far, if he was to pinpoint on when he felt he really started living, he would say it would be his late twenties-early thirties. He started doing what he wanted to do more, instead of only focusing on a school or a job. He loved his job, but he started to shape more of a personal life too. Going out with friends and colleagues, going to festivals, which seemed to tip the scales in his favour. When visiting Lollapalooza in 2010, Dae-Hyun remembered it so well. Arcade Fire was playing: The Suburbs. And he saw her, dancing like nobody was watching, nobody but him and she noticed. Her name was Ji-Min, and she took him by the hand to dance with her. It was the start of a wonderful relationship.
It was no surprise to anyone that Dae-Hyun was so serious about her that he proposed after a year, marrying her in a Korean traditional wedding a year later. He was blessed every day, kissing his wife goodbye when he went to work, coming home to a warm home, filled with laughter, love and comfort. Within the first three years of their marriage, they had two children: Kim and Lee. Two little trouble makers who doted on their parents and loved their uncle, who they would love to see every day if they could. Nothing good lasts forever. As before in his life, the scales needed to be leveled.
Dae-Hyun was awoken by a phone call from his mother, frantic, panicking, hysterical. Rather than waiting for her to calm down and explain what was going on, Dae left his wife, expecting of their third child, and went to his mother's house. There he found her with a black eye, police on the curb, and Sam nowhere to be seen. He soon found out that Sam had been arrested, having attacked her current boyfriend who had given her the black eye. Immediately, Dae-Hyun got into his older brother position, making sure he could do what he could to help his brother. Yet there was no bailing him out this time, and an architect was of no use in a civil court. So he did the only thing he could: Make sure Sam had the best representation and to be there every step of the way. Four years was better than what he could have gotten otherwise, and he promised his brother that they would be waiting for him when he got out and that he would visit every week, every Tuesday and Thursday on the clock.
It was within the prison walls that Dae-Hyun got to introduce Sam to his second niece, Song. A year later, inform him that they were expecting their fourth child, and undoubtedly not their last. Ji-Min and Dae-Hyun both wanted a large family, and four children wasn't big enough. He missed his brother dearly, the two visits not nearly enough to help any of it. So he focused on his family best he could. Help raising his children, making sure they had what they needed and that Ji-Min was happy in her pregnancy. He had his mother stay over whenever she didn't want to be alone and he hoped that the years would go by fast enough for Sam to return to their family.
But to assume the scales were level enough, one would be in for a big surprise.
One simple car ride changed everything for Dae-Hyun. The entire family was singing along to a Disney playlist, wipers swiping across the windshield fiercely as they drove in the dark. Dae-Hyun had no recollection of what happened next. He just remembered being stuck in a long dream. One of those dreams where it felt you lived an entire lifetime and upon wakening finding that it wasn't real. Except, when he woke up and found himself in a hospital room, unable to speak, move or even breathe, his awakening was a brutal one. After he was disconnected from a ventilator, going through a round of checks before he was told anything. Within an hour, he had lost his entire world. His children had already been returned to the earth months ago, his wife, who had lost their unborn child, still in a coma. They hadn't expected either of them to wake up, but her parents and his mother had refused to let them go, a decision that had saved his life. For his wife, however, things didn't look up, and Dae-Hyun knew that as soon as he was told there was no brain activity, that it was a lost cause. He just needed time to process, time spent by her bedside, talking to her, seeing her face. By the time he ended her life on this earth, in the presence of her family, he had regained enough strength to hold her hand. She wouldn't want to live in a world where her children were no longer alive. Dae knew, because he shared the sentiment.
And yet, the next few months stood in the theme of his recovery. Learning how to speak, how to move again, how to feed himself, how to walk. It was a slow and grueling recovery, filled with frustration and anger, all part of his grief, for his family and for his past self. His mother had stepped up, supporting him every day, helping him through his physical therapy and holding his hand during hard times. He hadn't been able to reach his brother, who had denied all phone calls, so he had been determined on visiting him as soon as he was able. From that moment, time seemed to go by faster. It took him a long while before he felt like himself again. His right side needed more time to get better, being left with a constant tremor in his arm and a pain in his right hip. A pain he was able to ease with yoga and stretching.
The moment Sam was released from prison, Dae-Hyun took him to Korea, visiting his wife's family, showing Sam his culture and teaching him about it. He also took the time with his brother to convince him to leave Chicago and move to a smaller place. They settled on Kismet Harbor in Oregon, a place where Dae-Hyun had often traveled to for his job. Despite the distance, Dae kept in constant contact, talking through every major decision in his life, like taking a different job position, their mother's treatment plans, deciding to teach yoga and meditation in his free time, to keep him occupied. His mother's illness seemed to progress fast however, until she too was no more. Chicago now officially held nothing for him anymore, and it was time for Dae-Hyun to start a new chapter. He moved to Kismet Harbor himself after Christmas, road tripping with his brother from Chicago to the small Oregon town, ready to start a new part of his life.
TIMELINE
1979 - Dae-Hyun is born 1984 - Dae starts school 1988 - Dae's father passes away. 1992 - Sam is born 1998 - Dae starts at UIC in Architecture 2000 - Dae starts Taekwondo 2001 - Graduates university 2001 - Starts internship in New York 2001 - Starts dating Genevieve Hamilton 2003 - Moves back to Chicago for work. 2003 - Dae and Genevieve break up 2003 - Dae starts working as an architect in Chicago. 2005 - Dae meets Korean relatives in South Korea. 2006 - Dae adapts more to the Korean culture and converts to Buddhism. 2007 - Starts Yoga and meditation. 2010 - Dae meets Ji-Min at a summer festival 2012 - Ji-Min and Dae get married. 2013 - Kim is born February 12th. 2015 - Lee is born, September 7th. 2016 - Sam gets arrested and sentenced to jail. 2017 - Song is born December 2nd. 2018 - the Kwon family are in a car accident. 2018 - Dae wakes up after months, being the only survivor alongside his wife. 2018 - Ji-Min is taken off life support and passes away. 2018 - Dae starts revalidation. 2020 - After Sam's release, Dae takes Sam to South Korea. 2020 - Dae helps Sam move Kismet Harbor 2021 - Dae switches from being an architect to director of architects due to his hand injury. 2022 - Dae starts giving lessons in meditation and yoga. 2023 - Bernadette gets sick and passes away. 2023 - Dae moves to Kismet Harbor 2025 - Started dating Nancy Thompson. 2026 - Relationship with Nancy ended just after the new year started
