Hello, everyone! I go by Jaz and yes, I was here before with Yohan. Anyway, I'm fashionably late, but Sieun has a tendency to be late too. Unfortunately for her, Sieun belongs the Moon family, which the island can't escape from even if the people from Gwasuwon tried their hardest to... overthrow ignore them. She was born in Gwasuwon and grew up on the island, but has spent the last decade in Seoul as a university student. Her goal was to become a veterinary surgeon and never return to the island. Her fate is up in the air and she will actively ignore any questions that come her way. She has been back for a year and has yet announced plans to leave. So far, she has tried to make her stay as inconspicuous as possible.
More information can be found here.
Underneath the read more are plots, or we can plot organically if you would like. Press on the ♡ below and I will head your way.
Possible Plots:
Childhood friends, frenemies, or even enemies (could be for petty reasons).
A person she has met on the mainland and doesn't understand why she is pretending that she doesn't know them. She's not willing to risk her mother finding out her secret. Maybe a confrontation?
Her ex-boyfriend. I left it as vague as possible so it can be fleshed out depending on the character but she did dump him because her mother approved of him. She pities this person since she was unwilling to give a proper explanation.
An extended family member. Like a distant cousin whose family feels wronged by her side of the family. Family drama is always fun.
Someone that Sieun entertained for a few months until she got bored, or her mom found out and threatened her to end things.
A person that has an issue with either her mother or her grandfather, but takes it out on Sieun.
Someone that has connections with her father. Perhaps, your character can encourage her to mend her relationship with him.
She's currently unemployed and doesn't need to work, but due to boredom, she takes you up on whatever job listing that needs to be taken care of.
Since Sieun had returned from the mainland, she could count the amount of times that she had visited her grandfather's residence on one hand. Her days of attempting at winning him over and snatching the title of favorite grandchild were in the past. It was a competition that only her mother was invested in and had tried to pass the baton to her children. She had always felt uneasy around him, completely unraveling as a child until she was whisked away by her caretaker. It's believed that children have an innate intuition, far stronger than adults and hers had always told her the disdain she felt towards him was mutual. During her last visit, she had accompanied her mother and only managed to greet him from the hallway.
Her mother was controlling about every single aspect of the day to day activities her grandfather was able to handle. It was astonishing that her mother could still fulfill her actual duties of her full-time job when she was heavily involved in the care of her father. If their relationship wasn't so strained, she would have pitied her and even offered to help out, but she knew her mother's trust in her was in a bottom-less pit near the Earth's core. In the past week, her relationship with her mother had taken a turn for the worse and her sister had thankfully intervened.
Sieun had decided to move out without a concrete plan besides going no-contact with her mother, at least until she could stomach speaking to her mother again. She had knew better than to expect that Moon Boram would respect her new boundaries, but the barrage of messages and voicemails that she received on that particular morning had taken her by surprise. For once, the messages were not about her being an insolent child, but rather, her mother had opted for thinly-veiled threats if she didn't come to her grandfather's residence by noon.
Her assumption had been that her mother was trying one of her manipulation tactics and seeing if it worked on her, but her older brother had assured her that the gravity of the situation was much, much worse than she could possibly imagined. She enters the residence, not knowing what to expect. A part of her is relieved when she spots Sihyun first and not her mother.
"W-What happened, Sihyun?" The grim atmosphere dictates that she should be whispering, or turning around and heading back into the comfort of her mattress on the floor. Perhaps, that would have been the smartest decision. Her emotional and mental state were still too fragile to consider that she might have to comfort her mother. "Has he... died?"
Assembling furniture wasn't a task that anyone wanted on their to-do list, especially when there was an island-wide power outage and she could not hire someone else to do it, or beg one of her friends to help her out. With the elevator of her new building being out of commission, she had created a mess in the lobby by opening all the boxes and bringing each piece of wood by herself and other necessary items up to her building. She had felt accomplished until the instruction manual landed on page three, and quickly found out that she had been building the frame of her bed incorrectly.
It was carelessness and her lack of sleep for the past several days hadn't helped, but rather worsen her interpretation skills. Sometimes, her head felt like the colorful static that appeared on television when there was signal interference.Why didn't these manuals come with a video to help? Not that she could watch it at the moment. Her phone had been dead and finding service was nearly impossible unless she sat waiting for the numbers of bars to go up on the corner of her screen.
She felt bad that Yongsoo sat across from her, trying to undo all her hard work that had been for naught. The older man had barely survived from a mysterious illness and here Sieun was, forcing him to do manual labor for free. Their age difference made them an unlikely pair, but she had fond memories of him when she was younger.
"Are you really okay to be out of bed? When are you going back to work?" Sieun interrupts the silence that had settled between them while Yongsoo attempted to figure where she had gone wrong in assembling the frame. "Was it as bad as people were making it out to be? Or is that an insensitive question?"
Sieun had treated her return to the island as a self-imposed exile from not only the mainland, but her cherished lifestyle was a thing of the past and that had become her punishment. She had once felt flattered when she captured people's attention, but now she refused to make eye-contact with any of the islanders. Her mother hadn't allowed her to sulk for longer than a week. She had set up the perfect play date with Myunghwa as if the two were children and needed to be told which friendship would be beneficial for their social standing.
Had her stubbornness gotten in the way, she wouldn't have met someone that understood at a deeper level without needing to say too much. The pair could read between the lines, or assess their mood by a simple twitch of the lips, and still be mindful of their unspoken boundaries. She cherished her friendship with the younger woman, and affectionately nicknamed: her gem. If it hadn't been for Myunghwa, she would have lost herself completely. Perhaps, she was being too sentimental, or her hormones were unbalanced and she needed actual intervention.
Was retail therapy not the best kind of therapy? She could spend time with Myunghwa, add another unnecessary clothing item to her closet, and bask in the sun for longer than a few minutes when she needed to collect the mail. It was a last minute invitation, but she had been excited when the younger woman had accepted to meet her at the popular boutique after one of her classes. Her face brightened, corner of her lips tugging upwards into a warm smile when she spotted Myunghwa across the street.
"Was I the only one deceived by the sun?" Sieun asks, feeling grateful that she didn't have to tilt her head upwards too much to make eye-contact with her friend. "Fall is really here. Let's go inside, I'm freezing."
For the past year, Sieun had actively avoided the elders around the town whom glanced at her with hopeful glances. Was she willing to strike up a conversation and reminisce about the past? Not even the present or the future interested her. She understood their interest and under different circumstances, she would have invited them out for coffee or tea. Some of the elders had seen her mature from the restless young girl that she once was to the semi-functioning, successful adult that she had been expected to become from an early age. Her teachers had congratulated her more than her own mother had when she was accepted into SNU, and she was thankful for their guidance.
Sadly, she wasn't the person that the elders believed her to be and she couldn't lie to them like she had with her mother. She hadn't finished her certification and the longer she remained on the island, the harder it will be for her to seek out a solution that wasn't the daunting reset button. She was stuck, unable to take the necessary steps or even care enough to grovel. A few days ago, her streak of avoiding people had ended when she was cornered by her high school science teacher and before she knew it, Sieun had accepted to give a speech about her experience at a college student.
She walked out of the campus feeling worse than when she arrived and lingered by the front doors, waiting for the teacher to find her. As if the humiliation of having to lie through her teeth fangs wasn't enough, her teacher had requested for her to dress up and she had only been inspired to dress up as the easiest and most basic costume: the vampire.
While standing outside the Sunrise, she felt a tug on the sleeve and a light, airy voice spoke to her. "Miss, what are you supposed to be?" Brown, round eyes brimmed with curiosity stared up at her. Her sleeve is released by the young girl when Sieun crouches down to be able to speak to her.
"A totally not so scary vampire."
"But the sun is out!" On cue with the arrival of the young girl's mother, she leans in to whisper with a soft gasp. Was it concern or subtle outrage? Her reaction amuses her, but her mother guides her towards the entrance of the diner before she can responds. She lifts her hand to wave at the younger girl from the other side of the window, and completely unaware of the person crossing behind her, she stumbles into them.
Sieun had been one of the few people that were spared from the chaos of the Seaside Jubilee. Her sudden bout of introversion had kept her from confronting a sea creature of mythical proportions. In fact, the creature had been the protagonist of a story that she grew up listening to throughout her childhood before she tuned all the island mythos out of boredom. She could have easily rationalized the event as mass hysteria, but certain injuries that she had spotted on certain islanders were too significant to blame it on the stampede. She had overheard a conversation her mother was having over the phone prior to the televised announcement of the Festival Of Wishes, but this community event had intrigued her less than the Seaside Jubilee.
Had she not ran into Yiming in the alleyway, she would have remained home and entertained herself with baking something semi-edible in the oven. She had observed the man wrestling with a neighborhood cat and to her surprise, come out victorious with the exception of his jacket. His gentleness and determination to help the wild cat had drawn her in, but it was the subtle accent that slipped through when he spoke that intrigued her. It was rare when she met someone that wasn't tied to the island in some way, and she was curious about what had brought the man to Gwasuwon as opposed to somewhere on the mainland or even Jeju, which would have been her choice.
When she had spontaneously asked him out on a date, Sieun hadn't expected that finding him at the festival would be so difficult. Surprisingly, the majority of the islanders had come out to celebrate and even the vendors were running sparse with inventory. She had managed to purchase a variety of sweets before one of the older woman had run out and made a mental note to return to see if there were still persimmons available when she had to head back home. She spots him near the persimmon tree, branches heavy with wishes.
"You're a difficult man to find, Mr. Guan." Her voice welcomed him first, squeezing herself through a group of teenagers to stand beside him. Her short stature made it easy for her to be ignored, or lose herself in the crowd. At times, she would have to use her elbows to keep people from crowding her. Her fingers delicately held the charm that had been complimentary with her purchase, but she wasn't in the wishing mood. "Have you decided on what your wish would be?"
Her question was accompanied by the underlying tone she applied when she was opposite of him: playful and mischievous in nature to draw the man out from his usual rigidity. Her gaze remains on him when she tilts her head, pressing the soft side of the all-purpose comb against the center of her cheek. His hair had grown past his brows, covering his eyes to the point that making any eye-contact without pushing his hair back would be impossible. Perhaps, that had been his goal all this time, but him allowing her to undo this level of commitment had surprised her.
It had started as a suggestion, then a genuine offer, and finally, a promise that he reminded her of days before. Still, the older woman announcing the arrival of the man that afternoon had her questioning her perception of reality. She was the one that occupied space in his secluded world, but seeing him in her living room felt like a disturbance; in which, she had not measured whatever the consequences that could result from the two interacting together. He had warned her not to speak to him in public, and she had kept her visits to his lighthouse a secret. Was there a need to spiral now that lines were blurred?
He was in her living room with a makeshift barber cape, trusting her with scissors despite the lack of professional experience. Not much could be done to keep the older woman from running to her mother and gossiping about the man inside her house. The door creaks open enough for the older woman to peek her head through, curious gaze shifting between the two as if she was assessing the scene in front of her.
"Sieun, can you ask your friend if he wants something to drink?"
He can speak for himself, Sieun retorts in her head before circling around him until she positions herself behind him. "Would you like something to drink? I should have asked you myself." While the older woman was trying her best to be welcoming, Sieun knew that this was an excuse to continue supervising them. "I haven't hosted anyone in awhile. Thank you, Ms. Jang."
