ignoring his questions, she makes a show of scrolling through the pages so she can make sure he sees before moving on to her email app, and at this point sheâs so far along into this prank that she can hardly contain the laughter thatâs bubbling out of her, and sheâs so bad at holding it in that sheâs almost given up entirely. âi think i emailed it to myselfâŠâ sitting in her outbox is a draft of an email that she had written, addressed to none other than wonchul, with a simple âhi this is hyunjoo, joowonâs friend, can we date?â written in it with perfect punctuation. hyunjoo fakes a gasp as she quickly closes it, looking over at joowon with an apologetic smile, even if sheâs not sure about how convincing it is at this point. âi am so sorry, you werenât supposed to see all of that!â
joowon resents several things at any given point in the day. resentment in general is an old friend, and attempting to puzzle out whatâs gotten under his skin this time around is a lost cause. though in this case, heâll say it loud and clear: he resents the implication that heâs somehow frightening to other people, when joowon likes to think of himself as a nice and level-headed kind of guy. well, he supposes there are a few exceptions to the rule. heâll admit he consciously tries to be a menace around hyunjooâs suitors sometimes, but thatâs because they fuckinâ suck. thatâs all on them, not him. still, despite his irritation, the scowl on his face is something fierce enough to be considered scary even by the stout of heart.
âgood thing i wonât have to,â he says, reclining back on his bed. âdonât you think weâd eat each other alive if we got married? besides.â he runs a hand through his unruly hair, sneaking a teasing grin over in hyunjooâs direction. âiâm sure thereâs some dude smart and ballsy enough to lock you down tucked away somewhere on campus.â joowon isnât biasedâhis brutal honesty is one of his better (and worse) traits. he calls things like he sees them, and in this case, he can confidently say that hyunjoo is awesome and she wonât be single for longâif she even is now.
he just expects to see her with like, a nice dude. or a cool dude. someone going places, you know? not his shithead of a brother, who is definitely way too old and disgusting for her. also, engaged. joowon sincerely hopes his eyes arenât working properly or that he hallucinated wonchulâs stupid face thanks to that oyster he had earlier in the day, but if possible, things get worse. his mouth falls open. âhyunjoo!â this has to be a joke⊠a sick, sick joke. but the sheer volume of windows hyunjoo has open makes him kind of sick. all joowoon can do is gape and search for an appropriate response, but the only thing that comes to mind is, âare you out of your goddamn mind?â
as if that isnât bad enough, thereâs the email, with wonchulâs legit email address typed into the recipient bar, and the very politely worded request that makes him want to kick something. possibly kick wonchul. itâs not just that he thinks this isnât a disaster or that his brother isnât worthy of this interest, heâs also, possibly, a little worried about hyunjoo getting her heart broken if she seriously likes his dump truck of an older brother. joowon canât see this shaking up to end well at all. and heâd like this friend to not be devastated because of something a family member did (or didnât) do. âif i wasnât supposed to see it, why was it all over your phone?â he grits out finally, once the shock has worn off somewhat. âseriously, hyunjoo, unless you want me to hurl all over these sheets, please say sike. please say sike.â
â wait what the fuckÂ
â is it âtwo-timingâ if we didnt dtr tho lol idk how human relationships work
â clearly id eliminate them to save myself the headache
â if u liked it then u should have put a pension plan and life insurance on it bitch
â realistically tho why the fuck would i careÂ
â fuck who u wanna fuck that aint my businessÂ
â if im a young stud why do i need them
â wait
â if this is another one of ur storyboards ill kill u myselfÂ
â replace my ramen bitchÂ
( SMS â the real slim shady )
( â ) want me to shit it out for u? is that what u want? want me leave a big steaming pile of ramen shit on ur desk?
( â ) i can arrange that
( â ) i cannot, however, arrange to âreplaceâ ur ramen through âmonetaryâ means bc i am a broke ass bitch
( â ) u need them because feelings????? what kind of a question is that
( â ) ig asking u was a mistake since ur not a hot young stud u canât possibly imagine what they go through
( â ) ur just a not young scrub (LOL)
( â ) .
( â ) whatever its for is MY business
( â ) and no
( â ) â„
( â ) ok q
( â ) hypothetically if u were a young stud in the prime of ur life (LOL) and were juggling the romantic interests of (2) hot similarly young studsÂ
( â ) and those (2) hot young studs discovered u were two timing them thru some whacky hijinks and a TRULY abysmal breakdown of the proper channels of communication on ur part
( â ) and to take revenge on u for being an absolute fucking scumbag those (2) hot young studs in question decided to plot revenge and in the process became friends and made out like a few times??
( â ) how would u react
( â ) upon discovering that they were like, together, banging, vibing
( â ) what would u FEEL (if u were capable of feelings)
heâd hate to get eaten alive by slenderman here. imagine haunting a shitty excuse of a mountainside for the rest of eternity. fuck no.
âthis kinda blows,â yideun admits, clicking his tongue. âalright, howâre we going to do this? if one of us has to be human sacrifice, i call dibs.â he cups his hands around his mouth, and, with a gusto that really should be focused on more productive things like his future, his family, the essentials, he yells, âHEY SLENDERMAN! COME FUCK US UP! BUT BRING A FLASHLIGHT!â
dirt and gravel crunches underneath his feet as joowon walks deeper into the leafy abyssâor something like it. the smart thing to do when lost is probably to stay put and wait for someone to find you, but the âsomeoneâ in this case could really only be slenderman. so thatâs a fucking bust. admitting theyâre lost doesnât bring a sudden burst of clarity. it doesnât illuminate a path out of the wilderness and back to their campgrounds. in fact, it changes fuck all, except that joowon feels both annoyed and vaguely ashamed for letting things come to this.
then again, he was pretty sure heâd given their shared brain cell to yideun for the duration of this hike, so maybe their current predicament is all his fault.
he frowns and sneaks a look at yideun out of the corner of his eye, ready to go off and shift the blame on him. but yideun doesnât look like heâs having a great timeâand yeah, his clear and obvious misery lifts joowonâs spirits a bit. at least theyâre suffering together. isnât this what friendship is? getting lost deep in the woods and hating every single moment of it, all the while being stalked by slenderman? but, you know, together? youâd sacrifice each other for a few extra seconds of getaway time, but probably feel a little bad about it. like a weekâs worth of guilt. two weeks, tops.
âi donât know? i donât know what goes on in your love life,â joowon says, ducking underneath a low-hanging branch. âif you wanna fist slenderman, thatâs your business, yeah? iâm not gonna put my hand up there, but if that gets you off, cool.â although, admittedly, maybe he is the slender-freak out of the two of them. âtentacles, piss kink, and anal fisting?â he lets out a low whistle. âslendyâs a freak.â itâs easier to spew a bunch of nonsense than think too deeply about what to do next or where to go from here. maybe the play here is to walk until they eventually hit civilization. or, barring civilization, heâd settle for seeing their fellow âglampersâ. is this what rock bottom is?
joowon comes to a halt when yideun does, nearly stepping on his heels. âwhaââ his arms fly out reflexively to catch yideun before he can fall. âhey, watch where youâre stepping. if you fall and break something here, iâm not carrying you on my back.â a lie, he would carry yideun on his back; heâd just complain about it the whole time. and probably pass out after a while since joowon doubts his ability to carry anyone for longer than ten minutes. âthe ghost can, i dunno, moan sexily?â he shrugs. âghosts have a sense of direction, right?â ghosts should know everything; it feels like it should be the only perk of being dead. âwhat the fuck is up with you and being vored today? not everything wants to eat you.â
he should probably be more concerned than he actually is. itâs dark, rapidly getting colder, and they have no conceivable way of figuring out how to get back. no tools, no common sense, no supernatural guides. just dirt and trees and⊠yeah, that smell is definitely shit. focusing on almost certainly fake supernatural menaces is a simple way to keep himself from thinking of very real threats like⊠god, are wolves a thing? is hypothermia a thing?
yeah, joowon would rather be vored by slenderman than worry about this.
âwhy do you get to be the human sacrifice?â joowon grouses, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. âwho are we sacrificing to? is this like a naked sacrifice or a clothes on thing? why would slenderman want a naked sacrifice?â yideunâs right, though. this blows. still, he half-expects yideun to have all the answers to the problems of the universe or something. he expects yideun to fix this problem, mostly because he doesnât want to be the responsible one in this scenario. what comes out of yideunâs mouth isnât⊠fixing anything. itâs just a lot of yelling.
and slenderman.
âsure, get slenderman to just stop by the gift shop and pick up a flashlight to bail us out.â although, for the lack of a better ideaâif you canât beat âem (and joowon canât think of a more productive solution to their problem), join âem. cupping his hand around his mouth, he yells, âSLENDERMAN, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP? WEâRE JUST TWO DUDES, THREE FEET APART, WITH DELICIOUS FLESHââ
he breaks off as a loud noise, almost a growl, cuts through the night. âwait what the fuck was thatââ
âfancy seeing you around here.â he laughed againâthough more of a cackleâone arm coming around the taller as he basically attempts to pull joowon into a headlock. itâs affection coming from chan. a kind of⊠hug. though with the added feeling that heâs going to drop you to the floor. you know, classic love.Â
âyo have you ever read any webtoons?âÂ
fuckinâ a, itâs hot.
maybe the sweat currently dripping down his back has something to do with the fact that heâs wearing far too many layers for the current weather, or maybe it has to do with the fact that his next classes is all the fucking way across campus and joowon is grossly out of shape. maybe itâs a combination of both these things, coupled with a genetic predisposition to having active sweat glands to begin with. either way, each step is torture; all he wants to do is head back to his dorm and take a shower, but thatâs also too far.
what if he just lays down on the pavement and let the sun cook him like a cracked egg? what then? joowonâs gaze drops to the ground. he could do it. heâs tempted. but fuck if the ground doesnât look comfortable, and the matter of classesâresigned, joowon fans himself with his hand and continues walking. trudging, more like it, but heâs making progress, so that should be applauded. heâs so wrapped up in his own misery that he doesnât notice chan until the older man calls his name.
the corners of his mouth tug downwards as he mind registers the nickname. âsunbae,â he says tersely. âitâs joowon. or, you know, supreme overlord. coolest person ever. i will accept your highness too, but iâm not gonna ask for it.â he suffers chan pulling him into a headlock with as much dignity as he can muster, figuring if he wants to get up and personal with joowonâs sweaty self, heâs welcome to. âseriously, do i look like a wonnie? i have pride.â pride says nicknames are for suckers.
he likes chan, all things considered. itâs easy to smile around him, even if most of the time the smiles are because joowonâs fucking with him. itâs hard not to, with chanâs reactions. but more than that, heâs a hyung who doesnât mind doting on joowon, and that⊠thatâs nice. heâd die before admitting it, but he appreciates it. âiâm just heading to class. what are you doing?â joowon figures chan has a busy life; itâs a bit weird running into him on campus out of the blue. âare you skââ
whatever heâs about to say next dies in his throat. âw-what?â why the hell is he asking that? does heâno, thereâs no way chan could know or suspect⊠âno. i mean, sometimes, i guess. depends on the webtoon. iâm a man of taste, yâknow?â his laughter is a little strained. âwhy do you want to know?â
that, and while (only when joowon isnât listening) (and literally no one else is in the vicinity) (so heâs literally just talking to himself) (and sometimes he doesnât really say it out loud either, so he supposes heâs just kind of thinking it) joowonâs undoubtedly his best friend, something about their years of friendship have led yideun to believe that were they to stumble into a life-or-death situation a la blair witch project, neither of them would be particularly useful. (and maybe on a worse day, yideun might volunteer joowon as tribute.) (just joking.) (maybe.)Â
a twig snaps. probably a wolf. or the start of a really kitschy c-grade horror movie.Â
âjesus christ, are we even on the fucking trail anymore?â he mutters, mostly to himself, squinting (with much futility) to try to get a clear look at the path. âisnât this, like, the ideal setting for slenderman to just come out and eat us alive.âÂ
they are one hundred percent, completely, wholly, undeniably, irrefutably lost.
joowon isnât really a forward thinking kind of person. it might be tucked somewhere in his dna, but he thinks the gene for caution, or whatever the fuck, just skipped right over him. or maybe his siblings hogged all the qualities that contribute to self-preservation and leading a long and happy life. he wouldnât be surprised. but really, what else can he blame for the wise (not even the slightest) decision to abandon the relative safety of their camp in pitch darkness to goâwait for it, just wait for itâhiking? he repeats: hiking.
it all starts and ends with this âglampingâ retreatâhorrible concept, 0/10, joowon wouldnât be caught dead here if it wasnât for the insistence of his friends. heâs not a camping guy, more of a âlying in bed watching anime while the empty food wrappers begin to pile up around himâ kind of person, and if given the choice, thatâs exactly how heâd like to spend his time while in his post-finals fugue state. instead of that, there is nature and people and birds shitting like, everywhereâ
none of the university sanctioned activities available really appeal to him all that much. you have to make your fun around here, clearly, and for some reason, joowon decides that an impromptu late night hike with his best friend (a label heâd deny putting on yideun when asked, but true enough) would be⊠fun. sure, why the hell not? maybe theyâd run into a cousin of bigfoot. maybe theyâd run into a wolfman. maybe theyâd run into like, a sexy eldritch horror something. all his hopes and dreams rest on the possibility of encountering some weird creatures while traipsing through the woods.
so far, heâs come across nothing. a rock or two. a gnarled tree. an owl hooting in the distanceâclose enough to be heard, but far enough that joowon canât see shit with his stupid human eyes. no sexy creepy crawlies to bring proof of home to the paranormal club in order to gloat. oh, and theyâre lost. thereâs that.
âyeah, asswipe?â he responds distractedly, more out of habit than any real heat. yideunâs best described as thatâa habit, a comfortable, familiar norm he can sink into without much pretense or thought. theyâve always been on the same pageâor close enough for joowon, and thereâs no one else he would rather be stranded here as devil-bait with. âdonât you think âlostâ is more like, a state of mind than a state of being?â he steps over a suspicious lump that looks and smells like shit. âin that sense, iâm not lost, iâm found. are you found?â joowonâs aware everything spilling out of his mouth is bullshit, but he needs a moment to get his bearingsâto figure out (hopefully) what direction they should be going next.
but a twig snaps⊠somewhere, and joowon is pulled from his thoughts of direction (important) to what made that sound (kind of important) and whether or not an eldritch horrorâs feet would touch the ground (not important).
âwhy the fuck would slenderman want to eat us?â he doesnât think theyâre on the path anymore. there is no path. only darkness and dirt and whatever the fuck is lurking out there. itâs equal parts thrilling and worrying. thrilling, because joowon lives for the high, and worrying, because if they die out here who will recover their bodies (if thereâs anything left to recover)? âdoes slenderman even have a mouth? or does he absorb people into his body like aâfuck, i donât know, but thatâs gross.â
if slenderman is lurking in the shadows, joowon would like to see it. âanyway,â he stops and puts his hands on his hips. âwe are lost, state of being. do you have a flashlight? flare gun? haunted compass? ouija board?âÂ
âdo you think this one or this one? wait hold on let me just find the other oneâŠ.â she holds the phone near where he can see it, goes to her photo album and scrolls through hundreds of copies of the same picture of his brother that she had gotten from somewhere on social media. âsorry i just have to find it uhhhâŠ.â she holds in all the laughter thatâs threatening to spill out, a stray giggle making itself in between her words. âwait hold on let me just look for it.â
hyunjoo closes her photo album out to her home screen, where she had made that exact picture her wallpaper, biting her lip so she keeps her composure. âoops sorry! iâm just going to find it.â
hands folded over his stomach as he lays on his bed, joowon stares up at the ceiling with a blank, disinterested gaze. if he squints, he can almost see his impending deadlines flying by mockingly, like goddamn monkeys on witchesâ brooms, but he really canât bring himself to give a fuck. a flying fuck.
maybe itâs ennui. maybe itâs maybelline.
maybe itâs the fact that hyunjoo is hanging around for god knows what and joowonâs happy to use her visit as an excuse not to do the things he needs to be doing, namely his slides for that class presentation and the storyboard for this weekâs push and pull update. heâll get it done eventually⊠probably⊠but right now, all heâs really in the mood for is to shoot the breeze and maybe rip open a bag of honey butter chips with his teeth. itâs a beautiful day and he is a disgruntled procrastinator. or something like that.
rolling over, he buries his head in his pillow. fuuuuuck deadlines. joowonâs done thinking about it. instead, he lifts his head to ask hyunjoo to get him some snacks from yideunâs side of the room when she takes a seat on his bed, phone in hand. âa dress?â he repeats, raising an eyebrow. âwhy, got a hot date?â his grin turns predatory. âwhoâs the guy? iâm gonna interrogate the shit out of him.â heâs known hyunjoo for a long, long time. sometimes too long, but it entitles him to certain indulgencesâone of which is terrorizing potential suitors. it also brings certain obligationsâlike seriously helping her choose that dress.
joowon grabs his glasses and squints at the screen. âitâs butt ugly,â he says immediately. âi wouldnât even let my three year old niece wear that.â good thing hyunjoo has other options. joowon waits patiently, eyes still trained on the screen, when a very familiar face fills his view and makes him recoil. âis that my fucking brother?â joowon demands, feeling nauseated. itâs a picture of wonchul⊠scratch that, a shitton of pictures of wonchul heâs seen on instagram before, some dumb close up of his drunk face that makes him look like an idiot. âmyâwhat the fuck? why do you have so many pictures of hââ hyunjoo canât⊠she canât seriously be into this, can she?
his fingers wrap around her wrist, a shocked and disgusted gasp escaping his mouth when hyunjooâs home screen wallpaper turns out to be the same picture. âare you kidding me? hyunjoo, that is my fucking shithead brother!â objectively, thereâs nothing really shitheaded about wonchulâheâs a doctor at one of the best university hospitals in the country, but still! the principle of the thing! âwhat the hell is he doing all over your phone?â
hey hey everyone! this is my first time in seongnam and iâm super excited to be here. itâs kind of late for me, but i wanted to throw up an intro for my boi before i head to bed, so here we are! this is noh joowon, twenty two year old junior. heâs an animation major and a pretty popular BL webtoon author, but that last part is a ~*secret*~. heâs pretty loud and outspoken and often times annoying but heâs a... well... not good boy but a fun boy? anyway! i have his ABOUT, BACKGROUND, and PLOTS pages up if youâd like to take a look, but iâll drop some info and wanted connections under the cut! and if youâd like to plot, please hit like on this post and iâll pop into your ims, or you can reach me on TWITTER if youâd prefer to plot there! â„ïž
QUICK FACTS !
so tl;dr - 22, a junior, majoring in animation with a minor in art. wanted to do things the other way around but he fucked up his registration forms and went with it
is also a pretty popular BL webtoon author under the pen name byungari (you can find more info about his webtoons here). only a handful of people know about this... itâs a Big Secret, heâll have to end you if you find out
basically, entered a webtoon contest online in freshman year - didnât win, but the company asked him for a story outline and quickly sent a contract over for a serialized webtoon to be published online. it did well, and then he got a contract for another one which was also well received/ranked
long story short, he just recently started publishing webtoon #3 which takes some heavy inspiration from the seongnam campus, so youâll probably see familiar landmarks and faces if you follow it closely... honestly, heâs not all that subtle
anyway! he has a makeshift studio in the student centre and an assistant to help out with meeting deadlines and such. even then most days he barely submits his work on time and heâs always drawing in class instead of paying attention
considered a campus cryptid because he barely attends class and yet manages to pass most things... actually heâs there, just tucked in the back napping or quietly taking notes. he doesnât participate much unless whateverâs going on is âinterestingâ
itâs just weird because heâs v. loud and opinionated otherwise - will get into debates right in the middle of class when itâs a subject heâs passionate (and right) about. some of his classmates are just straight up scared of getting into it with him
part of the art club (nominally; he joined because he felt obligated to but he doesnât participate much), the cooking club (kinda; heâs just there for the food and also never like... âofficiallyâ joined), and the paranormal club (this oneâs legit. he loves paranormal stuff)
is the baby of his family; has 2 older siblings but they have a significant age gap with him so they were never close while growing up. theyâre both like... very academically aligned with ~respectable careers~ (professor and doctor) so sometimes joowon feels like the odd one out with his focus on animation/art
his parents are divorced - dad has a whole other family that joowon has complicated feelings about!! he doesnât like to think on it too much. was raised primarily by his mom while his dad really just pays for his education and stuff. compared to most kids from divorced homes he feels like heâs pretty well adjusted
his family isnât super elite or wealthy, but theyâre probably like... very comfortable but also very well connected with people who are considered elite (dadâs a lawyer and mom is the chairman/director of a elite private academy)
incidentally, went to that private academy before attending seongnam. it was very academics focused even though joowon was... not. but his parents are like whelp we did it right with the first two kids so itâs okay if kid #3 is into art and shit as long as he graduates from a good uni! hence him being at seongnam
really, his post graduation plans are just âi am going to make more webtoons and then maybe work in animationâ and heâs pretty happy with that
heâs very... hm... very blunt and straightforward in most of his dealings with people. super loud and confident and doesnât hold back even if thereâs a risk he might offend someone. heâs also pretty impulsive and short tempered so it doesnât take much for him to go off. like, heâs passionate about a lot of things and sometimes that explodes out of him in a not-fun way
but heâs also like a very open, easy-to-befriend kinda guy, super supportive of his friends and generous where it counts. heâs very loyal and the kind of person whoâd fight you but also fight FOR you in a heartbeat. he hates unhappy endings so heâs always trying to low key look out for his friends even if!! admitting he cares is embarrassing!!
heâs a cute kid who can be a lot sometimes. please be his friend anyway
WANTED CONNECTIONS !
friends!! some super casual friends to spend time with in between classes or grab a bite to eat with - heâs honestly pretty friendly when it comes down to it and even if you donât know him well, heâll probably consider you a pal. maybe you got paired for some activity during freshman orientation and stuck together, shared classes in the past, etc. you just know joowon as an entertaining dude
fellow animation / art majors or minors!! classmates, people to get stuck doing group projects with, we always work on our assignments together, looking for an empty studio to write and found you there so uh can we share. or on the flip side, department rivals?? getting into arguments / heated debates in the middle of class and getting sent out? always competing to see whoâs better but theyâre both good!
art club members who are like please come to a meeting please please come to just one meeting - or, yâknow, forcibly drag or trick him into participating. someone who recruited him into the art club to begin with and now they have regrets. someone who finds an old exhibition piece he did for the club or something and is like omg please come back sunabe i want to learn from you--
cooking club members who he kind of follows around because they make really good food. people who donât realize heâs not officially in the club and try to get him to participate but heâs like these hands are not made for cooking. someone who does realize but is like aw heâs harmless let him hang around. let him lick the spoon--
paranormal club bros... itâs the one club heâs actually serious about for reasons unknown (actually, itâs known: he wants to fuck a vampire) so members who share similar interests or just like his intensity or just think heâs a riot. maybe they try to film their own version of buzzfeed unsolved and hit up a bunch of supposedly haunted places or chase paranormal activity idk
people who read / have read his webtoons! whether theyâre fans of him or antis... maybe someone heâs friends with irl who reads every update but doesnât know heâs the author, or someone heâs friends with irl who hates the webtoon and joowon has to stop themselves from fighting them. or like... interacting on twitter about the webtoons, someone who writes fic or draws fanart and always dms it to him, idk, someone who leaves hate comments whom he fights with on a sock account??Â
he has a weird relationship with sunbaes in the sense that he can get really needy / attention-seeking around them (maybe he craves the close older sibling figures heâs never had in his life!) so sunbaes he can bother / be cute around. whether they tolerate him, shoo him away, or take care of him... idk
enemies?? for various reasons - maybe theyâre rivals, maybe they just pissed joowon off or vice versa, maybe they just made eye contact and challenged each other to a fight pokemon style, maybe he just canât stand the way they act, but enemies are fun...
some romantic connections like exes? hasnât dated much recently maybe a few people in the past, or like people who have confessed to him but he turned them down pretty callously. or someone who falls in love with his art and thinks that means they like joowon but when they try to get to know him theyâre like oh... oh no
i know i missed a bunch of stuff but i have more specific plots here if nothing sparks your interest + and iâm always open to brainstorm something as well!Â