@userdramas event 25: refresh [a premise/actors/characters i found refreshing]:
↳ characters that were branded as villains but were actually just lonely people trying to survive: shin seo ri/kang dan shim and cha se gye/yi hyeon
↳ actors that gained fame playing villains playing positive main leads: lim ji yeon and heo nam jun
[tarot card insert: here]
Long time no see. Yeah. You might say that. True enough. You came to see me so often. You know... About back then... I'm sorry. Okay. Stop, stop, stop. Just... Hey. You want to apologise. I... When it happened... I couldn't protect you. I don't need this from you. I never felt like you failed to protect me or anything. It is what it is. And I never thought word would spread like it did. There was no avoiding it. You were simply protecting yourself. But that's why- You know, I was prepared for that. I was prepared for that. When I confessed my feelings, I just wanted my feelings to be known... by you.
ソウルメイト SOUL MATE (2026) dir. Hashizume Shunki
Lyrics from the song Shape by Mountains of the Moon.
If... If I had burdened you with my illness... knowing you, you probably would have taken care of me. And I think... that's... a burden you shouldn't have had to go through. But... I wanted you to be... be the last thing I saw. I wanted you to be here.
ソウルメイト SOUL MATE (2026) dir. Hashizume Shunki
Lyrics from the song Baisse les armes by Feu! Chatterton freely translated by me. It's their song, I don't make the rules. Full translation below the cut.
Lower your weapons
Verse 1
Feeling downhearted at night
I was alone inside a shadow
I was drowning on the boulevard
When she suddenly emerged from my shadow
She told me the rumour runs around
That death is on our heels
She told me the rumour runs around
And you should do the same
Miles and miles on end
Swallowed, unable to recognise anything
Months and months on end
Running away, towards my end
Chorus
Lower your weapons
Let the tears come
Those dreaded tears
Grace awaits you
Right there, at point blank range
On the side of the road
Verse 2
I pretended everything was fine
I didn’t bend
I pretended it was nothing
And I punched back
Before shining my armour
So that no one could ever see me weak
Before my wound could get exposed
I will go now, under a new sky
Miles and miles on end
Trying to be, someone else but me
Miles and miles on end
Fleeing, this voice I didn’t want to recognise, that voice
Here, within, that voice, now I hear it
it delights me the way cha se gye is always a little pissed off at himself for getting soft over seo ri. like he sees himself doing these ridiculous corny romantic things and falling for this ridiculous possibly insane woman but he can’t help himself, and he’s so irritated about it. it’s a tiny thing but makes so much sense for a guy who has viewed every relationship he’s ever had as transactional and values his asshole-ish reputation. even as he’s starting to let himself enjoy it and enjoy her, his moments of “wtf am i doing” honestly make the transition from stone cold ceo to the most lovesick idiot you’ve seen in your life way more believable than in a lot of other chaebol romances.
and it somehow extra works because seo ri doesn’t instantly become the adoring girlfriend. she’s wary af still so when he does some romantic shit she’s not automatically swooning. she’s similarly going “what am i doing falling for this guy” but can’t help herself, either. so then there they both are, pissed off at themselves and each other for feeling the way they do, and it brings them closer together every time.
theartofmadeline
dededos
baratheonpilled
areudirty
titsay
romaincrisis
tangentwithtanner
