there’s a room in the student union, off to the side, just one hallway from the east exit, with a handful of square tables and exactly double the number of chairs. there’s an old filing cabinet in one corner, with a shelf full of puzzles, board games, and playing cards beside it. the sunlight filters in, dust particles hanging in air. it smells old, like cardboard and paper and glue.
this is one of dongha’s favorite places to sit between classes — a discovery he made while trying to find his classes freshman year. no one comes around, most days, except for a few of his friends. it’s a nice kind of quiet, having a place only he knows.
there’s also a surprisingly nice chess set on that shelf of games. it was hidden behind the poker set, just behind the backgammon board.
the pieces are heavy, clean, beautifully carved — there’s even a well-cared-for chess clock in a burgundy velvet bag. it eats up batteries in a number of days, but that’s alright. the small moments of peace dongha gets, challenging himself to think up potential plays and strategies in his breaks between lectures, is worth the cost of a new pack every month or two.
at the moment, it should still be fully charged. he pulls the clock out of its bag, sets the board on one of the game tables. there’s no one else around. he puts the pieces on the board, slings his backpack over the back of the chair. today, he’ll sit behind the white side of the board. he cracks his knuckles, contemplating which of his primary competitors he should use the black pieces to imitate today.
dinner is just over, plates cleared off the tables. the taste of dessert — something airy, chocolate-flavored, and insubstantial, not so much something to be consumed as to suggest the idea of it — lingers at the back of his throat. he takes a final sip out of his wine glass (white, some italian vintage, he wouldn’t know) before that, too is whisked away by the white-gloved hand of the waitstaff.
the second half of the night is about to begin. dongha’s eyes dart from one end of the table to the next. insoo’s smug, stupid face is at the left head, because of course. jp1′s somewhere in the middle across the table. dongha’s eyes trace her hand, the way it moves when he speaks.
he swallows, and looks down to his own, the bubbling excitement of his feelings — nervousness, admiration, a little guilt, she’s just really pretty — more intoxicating than anything he’s had to drink tonight. it’s kind of fun, to have a crush.
but it’s even more fun to have someone to talk about it with.
dongha lifts his head and looks in saeri’s direction, where she’s sitting near insoo, unfortunately. he tries to catch her eye; she’s one of his few friends here. they’re all going to get up in a moment anyway, the night about to begin in earnest. dongha’s not quite sure he’s ready for it. he wouldn’t mind a little distraction, a little bit of saeri’s reassurance. across the table, he cocks his head to the side and mouths ‘wanna talk?’
dongha adjusts his cufflinks, pulling on his right sleeve then his left. all the pledges have just shuffled in to what must be the dining hall. there’s a nervous, electric energy in the air, soon-to-be pledges milling about, trying to determine if there’s assigned seating for dinner. the empty spaces of words left unsaid — the society — is like a vacuum in conversation, leaving each exchange stilting, almost awkward. dongha’s hanging back, still unsure if he wants to be here or not.
by virtue — hah! — of being from a legacy family, dongha’s not going into tonight entirely blind. he has expectations, an understanding of what’s to come. it’s not so much initiation to the society that makes him nervous, but the other people around him, his peers. there’s definitely faces he recognizes, even some he would call friends, but the vast majority of these people have found their success in very different ways than he has. they’re well-practiced in small talk, in holding their liquor, in bulldozing out their path to the top.
dongha’s used to a little more delicacy, a little more procedure. he wants a rulebook, not implicit sarcasm and whispered secrets. if it wasn’t for — his ego, first of all, and han insoo second, he wouldn’t even be here tonight. he has to prove himself just as capable, even though he’s uncomfortable, out of his element.
he’s dressed the part, at least. it took a bit of finagling and a few frantic texts, but he finally got ahold of his cousin, seulgi, who stood in this very room some eight or nine years ago. she never made it as a virtue, but after losing her spot at sungkyunkwan she ran away from all of the shin family’s expectations and started her own fashion label. she’s always been one his favorite cousins — normally just a flannel-and-jeans kind of guy, dongha knows nothing about clothes, but her designs are always deceptively simple, the more interesting the longer you look at them. he appreciates it even more for her tenacity, her willingness to stand up to their grandfather.
dongha adjusts his cufflinks one last time, feels the luxuriously soft, weighty fabric of his suitcoat against his skin, and allows it to inspire just a little more confidence, a little more trust in himself.
it’s getting late into the night, the formality from dinner dissolving as the alcohol soaks in. dongha’s leaning against the cool, cool wall, feeling stifled in his well-pressed suit. his tie is too tight. his head is swimming, just a little, like all the blood in his body has migrated up to his cheeks. but it’s in a good way?
he tries taking a step. not in a good way. dongha’s not — he’s not gone, yet, but it’s a close thing, his inhibitions lowered and his limbs loose. he’ll just make it over to the bathroom, take a little piss, splash a little water on his face, and everything will be alright. he’ll get back in control of himself, avoid doing anything embarrassing on his very first night in the society. that’s the goal. maybe talk to a few more people before he leaves. connections. yes. that’s what this is all about. making “friends” in the loosest term of the word.
he stumbles in the direction of the men’s room, keeping one hand along the wall to keep himself upright. there aren’t that many people this way, luckily — most of the food and festivities are in the opposite direction — so no one’s around to see if he trips and doesn’t manage to catch himself in time.
a laugh. wait. almost no one. it takes dongha a second, but he recognizes that laugh. he hasn’t heard it in — months, he realizes — but he definitely knows it. he finds himself biting his lip, his free hand curling into a fist. his heartbeat gets even faster, a wave of nausea caused more by visceral emotion than his drunkenness rising from the base of his stomach.
this isn’t the first time he’s seen park jaehyun today, actually. dongha’s been noticing him all night long, all buddied up to the other hope pledge. well, dongha decides, steadying himself as best he can, maybe he should say hello.
hellooo hellloooo i’m stork and i’m so excited to get started!! this is shin dongha and um... just don’t be too mean to him please </3 he’s the 1st hope pledge and a chess prodigy who hasn’t had much contact with the outside world... he’s decided to prove he can make it as a virtue, even though he’s privately made fun of his family’s undying loyalty to the society since he was little... i have a very brief tldr and his bio up so far, w some info under the cut too!! like this post and let’s get plotting ^___^ here or discord works!! also fair warning i haven’t been in a tumblr rp since... 2018...? so i’ll be a little rusty LOL
dongha comes from the shin family, who are 1. massive and 2. kind of have their fingers in every pie because there’s just so many people, but the main family industries are transport/shipping/food and restaurants. they are a hope lineage legacy family, but like in the skeleton description their rate of success is... not great!
as a result of failed pledges who had to drop out of skku, they also have a lot of international connections!
dongha is an only child though. it’s a little weird in his family. his parents are also grossly in love.
he’s raised with the intention of being the best at something with relatively little competition. society bait. they start him playing chess when he’s like... three years old.
ALL of his parents’ effort is going into raising their son
he’s a little spoiled. a little smothered. more on that later. also wow actually a prodigy for real maybe?!
homeschooled by a tutor, spends all his time flying around from country to country going to chess competitions
not like the best in the world but probably the best in the country [FOR HIS AGE]
eventually grows too old to be called a child prodigy, the competition is also getting stiffer... shin family’s pet project not doing so hot anymore...
enrolls in skku, really enjoys “normal life” for the first time, breaks through his chess slump! and then oh no he gets involved in the society...
so re: his family and the society. the shins are like. Obsessed with making it as the hope virtue, and actually part of the reason they have so many kids is to have more shots at it! it comes from being one of the “lower class” families way back when, even though they’re financially and otherwise on-par with the other legacy families
dongha was an attempt at a different strategy. instead of maximizing number of chances, what if they just poured a ton of resources (and genuine parental attention) into one kid? he is not aware of this. like at all.
he turned out pretty well! surprisingly well-adjusted, if a little naive. definitely a romantic. wants his life to be a movie <3 ! (i can’t wait for the jp1 skeleton to get filled LOL)
he doesn’t necessarily believe that people are all going to be nice — he’s still got a head for strategy and was the outcast among his 42839043 cousins — but the world follows very specific rules in his head and it always shocks him when those rules aren’t followed
excellent at compartmentalizing and rationalizing his own decisions. it’s just “what he had to do”! doesn’t see himself as manipulative even though he can be. it’s like... “anyone would do that!”, right?
wanted a private life, could literally just play chess and live off his trust fund, but then insoo sparked a sense of competition in him about the society...
since he was homeschooled, might not have that many prior connections or knowledge of high society.. but i’m game for anything!
also there’s some ??!? happenings involving his grandpa (his grandpa doesn’t like him and insoo’s blackmail and) but i’m still figuring out what exactly LOOOL
cancer sun, sag moon, aquarius rising
okay i feel like i said everything and nothing at all at the same time please just hmu to plot or anything!!
