｡･:*:･ﾟ★ to say that sage was struggling to get through the day was an understatement. it seemed like she was dealing with one disaster after the next, and the only thing she could look forward to besides going home was the forty five minutes that she could sit in a corner of the styling room and scarf down her lunch undisturbed. just her fucking luck, that peace didn’t last for very long before the door swung open, footsteps following inside. she was intent on just ignoring the presence until she was done with her break, but as they approached closer to her area (and sage actually looked up to see who it was), she decided to speak up. “no, nuh uh. move,” she commanded with a wave of her hand, not even allowing the actress the chance to open her mouth before sage deemed that she had nothing good to contribute. “i don’t even care what you have to say. save it for tomorrow. i’m busy.”
eyes following her movement, he only shook his head. “i would love to offer you some sweet encouragement but i don’t get the idol world.” scratching along the flowers on his neck, he picked himself off of the bed and slowly shuffled around the room, dressing in whichever clothes of his he found along the way. every step sent a painful pound in his head. “i mean, for most part nothing but their looks and voices is theirs. sure, they work and train a lot. but their whole image depends on how you dress them, or what music i make them and just generally on what the company decides. and yet they are so praised and adored.” he murmured, untangling his shirt before putting it over his head. “and you have to follow them around for no good reason be-” he stopped, looking around the room. “where are my jeans?” the question sank into the walls as it stayed silent for a couple of moments. ilhun looked candidly confused. “ah, whatever.” he went back to lay on the bed, resting his hangover head on the pillow. “-because the world will end if a curl will.. uncurl? straighten? you know.” it’s not like he had anything against idols. it’s just that if there were reasons for which he admired them, there were also reasons for which he didn’t.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ there were many signs in sage’s life telling her that it was time to stop drinking so much and take a bit of responsibility for herself, and yet, she chose to ignore every single one of them. being arrested should have been her wake up call, along with spending every other morning feeling sick to her stomach after a night out, or even consistently waking up with ilhun after spending the night out, but all of those were either minor bumps in the road or complete non-issues in her book. “yeah, it sounds a lot like you’re telling me what to do. not gonna fly, man.” she clicked her tongue a few times, turning away from him so she could be merciful and not smack him again despite how tempting it was. “y’know, you should enjoy having my hands all on you this much. not many people are this lucky. you don’t count as a guest anymore, you’re over here way too much.”
“you don’t know that. maybe i like to have an audience.” she raised her eyebrows in response, a smirk growing on her face. “you have your bar set like, ridiculously low at this point. i’m not sure if i want to laugh or feel sorry. ew, please don’t. i’d like to enjoy my bachelorette status for at least ten more years if i can.” she groaned in response, hands covering her face as she internally cursed herself and her lack of a brain to mouth filter. “yeah? in that case, i hope you don’t find your phone.”
“i’ve seen some of these girls before they debuted. to say that their faces are theirs is a major stretch,” sage corrected. “i dunno. it all feels like a rigged game to me. all they have is whatever their company can get for them-- fame, talent, luck, looks, whatever. i dunno how many of them can actually look back and point out something that they genuinely got for themselves with their own name.” her voice took on a hint of jealousy as she spoke, thinking back on her teenage years and attempts at musical fame. had she been under a company, she was sure that she would’ve gone further than she did-- but at the same time, she would’ve had to censor herself and sacrifice her freedom in order to do so. “i dunno, man. check the bathroom or something, you might’ve put ‘em in the hamper.”
she laughs again upon being lectured — gabrielle yoon, for those who have known her enough to determine her true nature, is apparently bulletproof. many people in crystal have discovered that, for sure, and rumors have wafted around outside the company. “that would be funny, though! i mean, for once in the history of k-pop, an idol is actually ditched from the spotlight due to flashing the whole world!” chuckles again. “i would be remembered in history forever.” but then pouts again at the adamance. “wow, okay. you’re cheaper than i thought, unnie. it looks like i have to use my survival mode… maybe i can exchange my signature with free food!”
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ sage rolls her eyes, not out of annoyance, but some sort of silent agreement to how stupid her previous words were. as a former performer herself, she can’t completely grasp why anyone would go for a career path as volatile as being an idol. “yeah, you’ll be korea’s janet jackson. that woman hasn’t had a hit in years since she showed her nips to the entire superbowl stadium. you’ve got tough shoes to fill there.” she snorts, shaking her head slowly at the mental image that she truly doesn’t want. “i prefer selfish, but sure, cheap works fine. do what you gotta do, baby girl, not my problem.”
“are you for real—” she sighs, shaking her head. “aiiiiiiiiiiish—” when sage actually threatens her about the headlines, she lets out a chuckle, clearly amused. “ahhh, that would be great news right? any publicity is good publicity.” shrugs at that, before looking at the odeng being sold at the nearby stall longingly. “what a good friend you are…,” she sighs, before returning her gaze at sage. “unnie! coordi unnies should be more friendly towards their artists! idols are humans too. i need food— i swear i’ll take the responsibility if the shorts rip.”
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ she has to admit, it’s a little bit humorous to watch gabrielle throw her small fit over being denied. still, it isn’t enough to sway sage to give in and pull out her wallet.“any publicity is not good publicity when the publicity you receive determines whether you have a career or not. that thought process will get your shit shot down.” she waves her hand, stopping herself from going into lecture mode over the topic. she’s just the stylist after all, not the manager. “yeah, that’s the thing though-- i’m not,” she responds with a snarky grin. “i don’t get paid enough to be friendly to all of you. i just get paid to make you all look nice, which i do quite well if you ask me. seriously, i’m not buying you anything. if you want to break your diet that’s your business, but i’m not playing any part in that.”
“i cannot believe of all days i chose to not bring my wallet today,” she says, looking at her company with the most pleading face ever. it didn’t cross her that she would be hungry again after the huge lunch that she had prior to the practice — that she decided to not bring anything except herself and her cellphone. but after those gruelling hours spent in the practice room, she eventually feels the upcoming growl coming from her stomach, especially as they walk past the food stalls in hongdae. “buy me foooooooooood—”
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ despite gabrielle’s attempts, sage finds herself completely unaffected by the younger girl’s pleas. though she certainly has the money to spare for street food, she’s cheap and especially inconsiderate, and the only thing stopping her from buying food just for herself is the fact that she’s actually feeling somewhat nice today. “i already have all your outfits tailored, i’m not buying you shit,” the stylist hisses, though her words aren’t intended to be as harsh as they may sound. “gabrielle yoon rips her shorts on stage and flashes the world, you want those kind of headlines? huh?”
ilhun was still deep in slumber when a sudden stinging sensation running along his bare arm startled the man, making him flinch. a loud throaty groan erupted in the room. awoken from the peace that he seemed to often find in sage’s bed sheets, he was suddenly hyper-aware of every sound, light and movement. “i know you have a pretty voice, but could you please not yell.” laying on his stomach, he huffed into the pillow. every hoarse word that left his mouth was greeted with a painful pound in his head. the feeling alone made foreign profanities slip out of his lips. how much exactly did i drink?
there was not much that he actually remembered from the night before. firstly, there were lights. were the flashing beams he recalled a sign that they were in the club the night before? or was that just a camera flashing while they took pictures of their drunken selves in the streets? the second part of the imagery in his mind from the night before had to do with low whispers of commands in the back of a cab and everything that happened after they were in the safety of his friend’s apartment.
“are you sure it’s me? because we’re always in your apartment. i must be doing something right while drunk, that makes me end up here.” a pounding headache made him want to puke but he joked anyway, hoping that ignoring the pain will make it more bearable. on that note, he rolled to lay on his side holding himself up on one hand and finally looking at sage with a shit-eating grin on his face. “look at you being all cute and taking care of me. that’s adorable.” the worst part about the sentence was the fact that he sounded absolutely delighted about it, not even a bit of humor lasing trough his voice. with that, ilhun looked around the room that he had gotten quite familiar with he noticed the clock. “when are you leaving? you should at least have breakfast.” a steady shake of his head accompanied his words. “i hope they pay you enough for working this early.”
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ with how often the two of them end up in this situation, one would expect that sage would be taking strides to get to the bottom of it, but she didn’t care all that much after a while. confusion faded off into nonchalance with each occurrence, and waking up with her limbs tangled up with a friend was far more favorable than waking up on a jail cell bench. as long as she got home in one piece, did it really matter how she got there or who she got there with? if anything, this was an improvement from her usual ways. “are you telling me what to do? in my home? boy, quit that shit.” her hand went up across her chest, feigning offense at his request, though in the end she still followed through with it. the spiteful side of her was telling her to look on yelling, but the searing pain in her head was telling her otherwise.
sage let out a dry laugh, raising an eyebrow at ilhun in an incredulous manner. “yeah? nah, i’m pretty sure it’s you. i trust drunk-me enough to not follow you to your place. she tends to be more reliable than sober-me is,” she stated with a smirk. “i didn’t realize that fruity pebbles and two day old jajangmyeon made me wifey material. i was just trying to make sure i didn’t come home to a dead guy in my apartment. but you’re welcome.” she smiled sweetly in his direction, finally working up the energy to sit up completely and make her way out of the bed.
“probably should leave in thirty minutes... realistically will leave in an hour. ugh, i can’t eat right now, i might barf.” she winced as a wave of nausea hit her, eyes squinting shut as she plopped herself back down on the bed with a dramatic sigh. she’d never been a morning person, definitely wasn’t a breakfast person, and the hangover lingering over her definitely didn’t help either of those, even though she was used to the condition. “they could pay me all the money in the world and i’d still feel underpaid, to be honest with you. i mean, i love what i do and all that corny shit, but these on-season hours are seriously kicking my ass. what are they even up this early for? they don’t go on the music show until later in the day, and even then i have to do their hair and makeup again.”
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ugh, mornings. if she really had to choose, sage would have preferred staying up all night and through the next day rather than going home to sleep and waking up at the crack of dawn. but when work calls, she has to answer, despite how tempting it was to just stay out all night and crash at home all morning the next day. and when work reprimands her for taking those matters into her own hands and showing up buzzing with booze still in her system, she had to appear somewhat responsible and call it a night early. she remembered leaving the bar after midnight and catching a cab home. what she didn’t remember was meeting or leaving with anyone, and there was a moment of brief confusion and mild panic as she attempted to find an explanation for the extra body in her bed.
“up! out! now!” sage yelled out, smacking at ilhun’s arm to get him awake and moving. “why are you like this? i dunno how you keep doing this, but you need to stop.” she rolled her eyes and let out a scoff, knowing better than to ask questions. it never got her answers in the end, and it didn’t matter all to much to her besides for curiosity’s sake, since she got home safe and that was the only goal in her book. rubbing her eyelids, she let out a heavy sigh once she glanced at the clock. there was a part of her hoping that maybe she’d be able to roll over and get a bit more sleep, or least give herself some time to recuperate and nurse her lingering headache, but luck wasn’t on her side today. “i need to go in and work on heaven. there’s uh-- some cereal, and i think leftovers in the fridge. lock the door behind you when you leave. if you leave, i don’t care.”
“sometimes children scare me.” hana said aloud to nobody in particular, apparently unaware that her companion was with her for a few seconds. “i love my hair right now, blonde and pink, what could be better? but some kid told me my hair looks like ice cream and that he wanted to eat it… is that true? does my hair really look like ice cream?”
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ “does it matter?” sage didn’t intend for her words to come out so callous, but they were already out and in the open, and she didn’t care much to go back and correct herself. regardless of how she worded it, her question would still be exactly the same. “i mean, you’re talking about an actual kid, right? like all tiny and dirty and kinda dumb and shit? they don’t buy albums, so it doesn’t really matter what they think of your hair. besides, sounds like it’s supposed to be a compliment.”
hello everyone! this is gigi’s mun with my second character, this time a stylist under crystal media. i actually!!! have a plots page completed for once!! that can be found here, and under the cut i have some more info about sage. as always, if you’d like to plot, like this post and i’ll come into your inbox to bug ya.
her birth name is saebyeol, but she prefers to go by sage. call her saebyeol in public and at the least you’ll get glared at, and at the worst you’ll get hit. her close friends get a pass from time to time.
she’s one of those rich spoiled babies that had the world handed to her yet she chose to act out all the time to get her parents attention.
eventually her parents got sick of her shit and shipped her off to seoul to live with her scary aunt when she was sixteen. during that time she never really cleaned up her act, but she did start distancing herself from her usual troublemaking as she dabbled around in rapping.
she used to be in a rap duo called ROYALE from 2008-early 2010, but that disbanded pretty quickly once both of the girls got into some legal trouble.
of course, her parents pulled some strings and kept her from facing charges, under the terms that sage graduated school and focused on something. she chose cosmetology, so she went through certification courses for that and also scored (aka her parents bought) an internship at crystal media.
she got hired as a full time stylist in late 2011, and she’s been working her way up from the errand girl to one of the main stylists for crystal’s idols and actors.
her main specialty is with hair styling and makeup, though she does do outfit coordination as well.
probably spends more time on her own fashion and appearance than the idols tbh, she’s incredibly vain.
her sense of style is very,,,, interesting. she’s the type to show up for work in one of those onesie pajamas with absolute seriousness. she’s constantly dyeing her hair odd colors, wearing bright shades of makeup, over the top accessories, etc.
highkey a functioning alcoholic. quite frequently comes into work in the morning after just leaving a club like, 2 hours before. or she comes in hungover, grumpy as shit and ready to destroy anyone that looks at her funny.
pretty much lives off soju, whiskey sours, red bull and way too much instant ramen for her own good.
she’s basically the vodka aunt that starts shit and ruins every family gathering. she’s loud, vulgar, volatile, and absolutely shameless about all of it.
she’s ready to pop off at any given moment. just say the word and she’s yelling, pointing fingers and two seconds away from throwing a chair.
probably has punched a trainee before for talking rudely to her. old habits die hard ig
with the few friends that she has though, she’s incredibly loyal and 1000% more calm around them.
