hello! i'm denver [sh/th, cst, 21+] and i'm stoked to be joining wannabe with hwang daesung, a character i've loved for many years and explored many renditions of 🫶 i have a pinterest board for him here if you're interested in taking a look at that, and you can read all about him under the cut! as per usual, please like this post if you're interested in plotting and i'll come to you asap!
hwang daesung, english name dylan hwang, was born june 14, 2004 in queens, new york as the first and only hwang child. his parents, lee "mona" mirae and richard "richie" hwang always intended to have at least two children, but then they met dylan and they loved him so intensely that they didn't feel like they needed another.
family is important in dylan's story, so here's a rundown on the main characters: richie is a life-long dreamer, often getting carried away with the potential of what could be rather than what is. he's a fun-loving, enthusiastic man who spent his life playing in bands that never got as famous as he wanted. made most of his money as a studio musician, and shortly after dylan's birth, he opened a record store called just strings that became the family's financial stronghold. / mona is grounded in reality, rarely allowing herself to dream at all. she's a hairdresser, though any passion she had for it must've died in beauty school. but a job is a job, and it's what she's good at. she loves richie, which is why she doesn't pursue more than what she has. she's the stable one so that he can take risks. she's realistic, but never pessimistic. she loves her family and they are the most important thing to her. / edward "eddie" hwang is richie's older brother. as a teenager and young adult, he lived similarly to richie; but with age, he settled down with much less resistance. was an accountant for much of dylan's early life, and a frequent babysitter. arguably knows dylan better than his parents.
dylan's earliest memories consist of listening to and watching his dad play music. he was always at his dad's side; the gentler, more forgiving parent, and it didn't take long for dylan to decide he wanted to be just like him with both the music and the exuberant personality. he put on countless air-guitar performances for his extended family at holidays, and even more lousy stand-up comedy routines. he loved attention, and he got plenty of it.
finances started to dwindle a bit as time went on because richie seemed to be getting sick often and didn't have enough help to keep the record store open regularly; tensions rose in the family, but dylan was shielded from most of it. he did start to pull away from his parents a bit out of concern that they were keeping something from him.
TW CANCER, PARENTAL DEATH / eventually, months-long complaints of headaches and nausea followed by a bout of doctor visits saw richie getting diagnosed with brain cancer in summer 2016, which he had suspected by neglected to get checked earlier in a state of denial. by early 2017, he was gone. / END TW
mona used the life insurance payout to relocate back to seoul, south korea, where her parents were, as she felt the need to be close to them and suspected that she would need financial support and help raising dylan. eddie followed suit to stay close to dylan, and re-opened just strings in mapo-gu to honor richie.
for a while, things were tough. dylan immediately started going by his korean name, daesung, to avoid sticking out... but his newfound behavioral issues made him stick out all the same. grief manifested as anger; he was acting out at home and at school, and said a lot of things that he couldn't take back. didn't start to calm down until early 2018, when he completely threw himself into music. started getting more serious about the guitar especially. his mom, desperate to see him happy, gladly forked out money to buy him any equipment that he wanted/needed and paid for instrument and vocal lessons. did occasionally try to steer him away from music considering she watched her husband try and fail his whole life, but ultimately she knew that music was the one (1) thing that he felt connected to, and that it helped him feel close to his dad, so she agreed to support it as long as he was certain it was what he wanted.
let's speed-run through the rest of this... extremely average grades in school, excelled in creative after-school activities / started his band, backyard bones, in 2021 and really started to lighten up again since he had this thing that he was passionate and excited about / didn't plan on college, but his family talked him into it—enrolled in kyonggi university march 2022 as an animation major (because it "sounded fun" and his family just wanted him to have an education, any education) / has been half-secretly* aspiring to be an idol since 2018-2019. is happy playing independent music, but views idoldom as a shortcut to fame; and he wants to achieve the fame that his dad never did. *i say half-secretly because he's never passed an audition and tries to make it sound like a joke if he gets to talking about it to protect his own feelings, as he doesn't really feel that capable. is down for whatever happens first: his band getting signed, or becoming an idol trainee.
has an addictive personality, which is his achilles heel. does not know when to quit, does not care to know. since enrolling in university, he's gotten increasingly into partying/clubbing. (often hungover, which has cost him a few jobs—luckily, he always has the record shop and his mom's salon to fall back on when he's in need of work.) is obsessive, throwing himself completely into whatever piques his interest; a lot of times, this is a person who he'll make the center of his universe for a month of two and then ditch when the feeling of new-ness wears off. awful at maintaining relationships, romantic or platonic, and does not care to improve. many acquaintances, very few friends; and he's likely on thin ice with any friends he does manage to have. swings from high highs to low lows.
overall, he's kind. rarely (if ever) speaks maliciously, and never aims to hurt. in fact, he often aims to build people up. loves giving compliments and cheering up someone who's sad. in denial of the shitty parts of his personality, great at convincing himself he's not in the wrong. good comedic timing, somewhat charming, and usually down for whatever. a very fun person to be with in the moment; a difficult person to deal with long term, as he never seems to take anything seriously and, when it comes down to it, will almost always put himself first.
is in unreliable narrator and exists in a morally grey area. he will do whatever it takes to succeed.
open to all kinds of plots!!! but here are some basic ideas:
a long-term bff. maybe someone he met in early-mid 2017, shortly after he moved to seoul? this would be a somewhat tumultuous relationship as daesung is pretty inconsistent and self-centered, but i'd imagine they've stuck around because of how good a friend he is when he's present + a sense of obligation to look out for him? the only person who can reel him in when he starts to get out of control. i will go wherever you go. his rock, but as the person he's most comfortable with, they also get the worst of him. are they over it yet?
a new bff. someone who daesung might've known for a while, but only became close to in the past couple of months. naturally, they haven't seen his mood swings yet and haven't been a victim of his long-term ghosting/abandonment. peas in a pod. where have you been my whole life? of course, all things come to an end. it's just a matter of time.
some girl who gets her hair done by daesung's mom who absolutely adores her. every session is filled with mona talking her son up to this poor girl who might be humored or maybe just wants her to shut the fuck up and only keeps coming back because it's cheap. either way, mona's pretty sure this is daesung's future wife, and she will be arranging an "accidental double-booking" for her next appointment so that she's too busy and daesung has to be one to cut her hair.
+ any customers at the salon would be fun. daesung isn't actually trained/qualified to be cutting hair, but he's been helping out long enough that you'd probably never guess. or maybe you would. but there's bound to be some good conversation, right?
regulars at the record store too... lots of directions to go with this. someone who comes in to buy music and has to deal with daesung acting like their taste sucks and he knows more about music than they do? musicians who come in to buy supplies? where's the regular daesung's actually trying to charm and they couldn't possibly act less interested in him...
short-term exes. nothing serious. dated for a month or so, had a whirlwind romance, and then daesung got bored or they realized his heart wasn't really in it and ditched. does he still text? only when he's romanticizing what could've been. do they answer?
fans of backyard bones, if such a thing exists. someone who's trying to get closer to daesung, but whom he's currently holding at a distance out of fear of disappointing them / someone who never misses a show / a heckler who thinks this band that keeps playing at their favorite dive bar fucking sucks.
gaming buddies (pokemon, mtg, d&d, any card or board games really) / any previous victims of his ghosting really... close friends turned almost strangers. did he ditch when they needed him the most? people who will call him out. / previous coworkers, or current coworkers; he is a job-hopper and has a new job every two months or so. who's having to train him on some laggy pos system? / acquaintances from the indie music scene; drinking buddies, clubbing buddies / etc etc etc... again, i'm super open! please plot with me! <3
