chuseok, also known as hangawi (한가위) or korean thanksgiving, is one of the most exciting and important holidays of the year! this year, chuseok falls on the 16th-18th of september.
the roads of seoul will be filled with traffic and packed with excited faces as people all over korea will be heading back to their hometowns to celebrate this festive holiday with their relatives. it’s a whirlwind of food, family, and fun!
as a reminder, trainees (including project green participants) do not have any mandatory classes on national holidays.
have a happy chuseok!
this mini-event is for all muses and will run until october 9 at 11:59pm. any threads or solos posted after the deadline will not count toward points. please send in your points submission before this deadline.
please use the hashtag #BE:CHUSEOK2024 for all posts relating to this event.
chuseok is an important time for south koreans and as such, we want to celebrate it by encouraging more character building and creativity. last year, we had you post a moodboard about your character and a playlist. this year, we’d like to take a look into your character’s phone!
FOR +3 POINTS IN PERFORMANCE OR ANCILLARY SKILLS, you can post one of the following:
an edit or headcanon of what’s in your muse’s phone! there is no word count for this, and you may use the following prompts to get a sense of what you may want to share – who’s their most contacted person? what messages do they usually send? what’s their favorite playlist? who’s the last person they texted? do they have any personal photo albums on their phone? what are their most used applications? etc!
what was the last meaningful conversation your muse had on their phone (text or call) and who was it with? please write a solo with a minimum of 200 words about this conversation and the impact it had on your muse.
a headcanon or solo of your muse during this or any previous chuseok period! there is no word count for this, and it can be about just anything at all: does your character go home every year for chuseok, or will they stay in seoul and make use of the empty training rooms? do they help with cooking or does their family order in? do they participate in the more religious aspects of the holiday? do they enjoy wearing a hanbok? and so on!
you may do the phone template/edit or headcanon and conversation solo once for +3 points each, and you may write the other headcanons/solos for +3 points up to 2 times.
when you’ve completed all options that you’d like to participate in, please send the following form to our points submission blog:
SUBMISSION TITLE: MUSE NAME - CHUSEOK MINI-EVENT
Phone Template/Edit Headcanon: +3 points to distribute to any performance or ancillary skills [ link to thread ]
Conversation Solo: +3 points to distribute to any performance or ancillary skills [ link to thread ]
Solo/Headcanon 1: +3 points to distribute to any performance or ancillary skills [ link to thread ]
Solo/Headcanon 2: +3 points to distribute to any performance or ancillary skills [ link to thread ]
there are few people in this world noras allows herself to take true counsel from, words of advice often times pinned away without any motivation to revisit when unwarranted, unnecessary voices more a distraction than anything. feedback was welcome, sure ( despite what her personality, and well . . . actual words, might make others believe ), but only when they came from the mouths of those nora deemed important enough.
oddly enough, noras boss, a spry woman in her late thirties, had made the mental cut.
✉ — ( 미나 ).
. . . an instructor will be leaving the studio next month. are you interested in a full-time position?
it's a text that comes without warning, one she doesn't see until hours after it's been received, back aching where she hunched over at her desk, tweezers in hand as she glues embellishments to a partially finished class project. she'd been at it for hours, the reprieve she'd been looking to gain from taking a quick social media stroll on her phone long gone as she read the message.
money was always needed, but she was a student. a full-time student. she hesitates only for a moment, but the information is relayed.
✉ — ( 미나 ).
. . . ahhh, that's a shame.
. . . i wanted to run this by you first before posting the opening publically.
. . . you've really come into your own since you started here, you'd fit the position well.
. . . there'd be a decent pay raise if praise alone isn't enticing enough haha.
noras fists clench. she simply doesn't have the time.
never before has she cursed her own ambitions until now, the prospect of dipping her toes into multiple pools only proving to hold her back now.
✉ — ( 미나 ).
. . . let me know if you change your mind.
this, she always remembers, that reality proven to be true with every moment she spends in the company of friends. chuseok, ordinarily, is a time for family, and nora isn't needy, nor is she selfish— preplanned outings have always proven to be something to look forward to, and now is no different. she never asks to intrude, never accepts invitations graciously handed her way whenever it's made known that she often spends chuseok by herself, the prospect of having anyone worried for her sake rather unappealing.
nora is guarded, a respectable distance kept between herself and the possibility of betrayal.
not that anyone she rightfully chooses to spend her time with would do such a thing, oh no ( nora felt herself to be a rather good judge of character ). she simply . . . prefers her own self-contained bubble, a space she can find peace within the chaos she resided.
a group dinner with a few friends the day before the holiday is really all she needs, an enjoyable endeavor where modernized versions of traditional dishes are enjoyed, beer is down, and laughter is shared. it's just the thing to light her fire, motivation for when she's alone with the dishes she'll inevitably order, an assignment still waiting to be patterned and sewn.
in retrospect, chuseok itself is simply another day, but that doesn't bother nora.
as a child, holidays had always been rather monumental occasions, the im family bursting at the seams with light and laughter, their home a treasure trove of irreplaceable memories and unrivaled love.
this is something nora misses dearly, a facet of life that has long since been torn from her grasp, all by her own design ( well, partially by her own design— nora had left of her own free will in the same vein that she'd been cut out of the picture, conflicting ideals and standards far too dividing for her parents to still regard her as their little girl. nora had cared, had been distraught in her own way, just not enough to dissuade her from pursuing what she felt was important ). still, glimpses of her childhood rear their heads every now and then, prevalently whenever holidays came around.
it's when she's standing alone in her small apartment kitchen, the faucet running as she rinses off veggies in preparation for a dish. she sees it, feels it, the way her smaller self had oh so many times peered up at her mother from just below their home countertop, her mother preoccupied with the very same task, but never forgetting to sneak a few bites her daughters' way.
it's as she's deciding on what hanbok she'd like to rent while out on the town, one in particular bearing a striking resemblance to one she'd paraded around her childhood homes living room in as she'd waited for her grandparents to arrive. her father had told her she was the prettiest there ever was.
it's as she cleans the dance studio, her last teaching session before chuseok concluding, broom in hand and back unappealingly hunched while trying to reach a rather dusty area. the students chatter on and on about anticipated festivities, games and foods to be enjoyed upon returning home to their families. no doubt their homes are as bright as the one she no longer had.
no matter.
as she's done plenty of times, nora would make it through, and she would do so this year with her head held high.
heechul never went back home for the holidays. not because he didn’t want to but due to not wanting to deal with his step father. he didn’t want to deal with arguing about how he was wasting his time or how he should be providing for the family better. he didn’t have time for that and would rather stay in seoul. so that’s what he does. sure his mom didn’t really celebrate chuseok before getting with his birth father so he knows she keeps it up due to him. he got to at least celebrate tsukimi with her over video chat though it just made him miss the traditional japanese food she’d always make him.
he makes sure to call his mother when he wakes up, wishing her a good chuseok. she knows why he didn’t come visit and it turns into them making plans for her to come visit him for holidays instead so they can celebrate together. he agrees easily and knows he’d be all for seeing her more often instead of letting his step father get in the way of that.
since he doesn’t have much to do with classes being off for the holiday, he spends his time working away at different art pieces that he seemed to have abandoned due to one reason or another. he even starts working on a song that he plays a bit on his guitar. maybe he’ll bring it to life one day if he’s given the chance though only if he thinks it will be good enough. he doubts himself a ton when it comes to his creative endeavors.
he just orders in for the day since he doesn’t feel like slaving over an oven at the moment. at least he was productive but he can’t help but wonder if he should have just gone home anyway. it’s too late to dwell now and he just focuses on something else. next year will be better. he’ll get to see his mom at least and that’s one thing he’ll be looking forward to.
ever since chuseok last year, jae feels much better going back home. he knows that his extended family will always judge his sexuality but he can feel safer. his immediate family always supported him but he knew they didn’t always catch the snide remarks that one of his aunts chose to say under hushed breath.
his mother always made sure she was in earshot though, ready to give them an earful. it made this year even better and he got to enjoy seeing his family without feeling the need to cry his eyes out. he’s done that too many times before and he appreciates that his extended family is learning to mind their business instead of thinking he’s a disgrace.
dinner went surprisingly well and he’s back to playing with his siblings. it’s got him thinking a lot though. why doesn’t he visit more often? he isn’t doing anything outside of work and university so he’s sure that he could take some time to go back home to see them all. maybe in winter he can visit his family again, especially for holidays. he’s sure his parents and siblings would love that.
he’ll sleep on the decision. he doesn’t need to decide on anything now and just wants to enjoy this chuseok alongside those who make him happy. next chuseok he’s gonna make sure to arrive much earlier to help make preparing everything just to show his mother and father how much he appreciates them.
hyejin doesn’t go back home for chuseok. she knows that getting a flight home to australia is hard and would rather not deal with her mother nitpicking on everything she’d been doing. she just decides to say in seoul and makes sure to call at least her sister and father at some point.
she decides to use this time to practice more. she knows not many are staying back so she can use the practice rooms without any interruption. she uses this time to brush up on the skills she has as well as practice anything she thinks she’s struggling with. it keeps her mind occupied from remembering the past chuseoks she’s had to deal with being with her family. if her mother just let her be, she’d want to go home more but that strain in their relationship keeps hyejin away.
after finishing off a choreography that she had been working on, she decides that she’s done enough for the day. maybe she can go home and do a stream for those who are also not going home for the holiday. it would make her feel less alone at least and give her something to smile about as well as an excuse to watch kpop content with others.
she packs up and leave the building, ready to head home and relax for the rest of chuseok to spend her time doing something else she loves.
usually it's his mother. he likes to keep in contact with her and show her anything new he's been doing. she's always been his biggest fan and he misses her so it's one way he can speak with her. he also has a few artist and gaming friends that he tries to keep in contact with whenever he had the chance to.
who’s the last person they texted?
it was his best friend tae. he tried to reach out but left it at that since he didn't know if he'd hear from him. he even drafted up something he wanted to confess to the other but never send it since his own fears got to him.
what’s their favorite playlist?
his favorite has to be one he complied of music he likes from video games he's a fan of and songs from the select few groups he keeps up with. it's his go to when he's working on art or even when he need something to help give him a bit of inspiration.
do they have any personal photo albums on their phone?
most of his photos are art he has done or photos of friends he's taken when out. he has plenty of selfies he's taken but most don't see the light of day since he isn't one to usually post them unless he's feeling that he's taken too long to post art online.
what are their most used applications?
his most used app is definitely youtube. he posts videos there and live streams art as well as video games there. he of course has spotify and instagram as well which he uses for their main purposes. he also has pinterest which he uses for inspiration from time to time. also has tiktok which he scrolls through a lot or posts art videos on there as well.
