10 things i can’t live without — self para
summary: minjung does a video, explaining her ten things she can’t live without. in retrospect, many of them are sponsored items, but she’s shameless. warnings: none wc: 948
there are ten things she can’t live without.
most of them range upon things not tangible, nor seen to the naked eye. it’s feelings that surmise the status quo of life, keeping her afloat on the day by day — sadness, anger, happiness. three superficialities, but without them — she’d only be relegated to an amorphous blob, feeling nothing. doing nothing, sensing nothing.
yet, when the camera stands fixed in front of her and she holds her head high as her fingers go to press record — she stands in a matter of superficiality with the pile of things on the side, a running dog in the background and her lips stretched thin to that stereotypical ‘idol’ smile the world expects.
“hi, this is minjung from fuse. and you’re here to watch ten things i can’t live without.” it takes all but the flip of her hair before she reels back to the position she’s forced in — back perfectly one-eighty degrees straight, and hands placed in her lap, centered. her eyes flit from the pile and then back to the camera — one heavy sigh (the producers are bound to cut that aspect out when all they ever worry about is a picture perfect packaged finish), and she settles down to her comfort lines.
“the first item i can’t live without — you can’t consider it an item, but it’s my best friend in the whole entire world. a human if you ask me, with real feelings and ones that go really haywire depending on the time of the day. she’s pickle the pug, loved by many and getting all the praise in the world.” her tongue clicks against the roof of her mouth, her palms patting away the empty space next to her, a signal to motion her dog forth.
pickle rests on her nap, nuzzles her nose into the nape of minjung’s elbow — it’s a scene for rest, a nap-time for the dog without boundaries, and minjung plays along holding the dog still. “now with pickle in my arms, we can begin. the next thing i’d say i couldn’t live without is my dior saddlebag — it’s a statement piece for any fashionista of the world. an iconic design with many different textures and colors, there’s a style for everyone. i’d suggest anyone wanting to splurge on a handbag to pick dior, they’re the best.” one ostentatious wink — it’s a given for the near-ppl setting of it all. “because in it, you can fit a lot of the other things i can’t live without. miss dior perfume in case you’ve forgotten to shower — spray it on your hair and the world would never know your hair’s been unwashed for two days. and if you really want to make a statement like i do, you pack in a red lip from dior beauty’s addict collection. with a red lip and nice smelling hair, nobody would know you just rolled out from home.”
she feigns a laugh, one that brims so shallow from her chest. when the weight of acting fake rests against her shoulders — seo minjung chooses to ignore.
“now, that’s four. there are a few things i can’t really show you because they’re so big, but one of them would be a nice old trusty kimchi refrigerator — many people don’t know, but i still make my kimchi with my grandmother when it’s kimchi picking season. you need to store it because who lives without eating kimchi? it’s a lot more practical than you would think, and highly recommended. half-way there, and we have five more to go. we have my phone because i rarely know the time of day, nor do i know what day of the week it is — you always have my manager calling me. so, i couldn’t live without it.”
one jostle of pickle’s body, and she moves and snores into the silence of minjung’s pause. it’s enough to pull out a chuckle, eyes warm when she stares at her pride and joy, topping it all off with a peck of the dog’s fur. “now as for the last four — i’m going to group it together. it’d be my sketchpad, my journal, a set of graphite pencils and a ball-point pen. the sketchpad is good on the go, killing boredom when i need. the pencils might be my favorite medium at the moment, happy to blend blend blend when i want to blend in with the crowd. it’s easiest to transport rather than taking a set of oil paints or pastels along with me. plus, between you and me — sketching is just underrated.” one more wink in tandem with the click of her tongue against the roof, she holds herself with the last piece of the video.
“as for the journal and ball point pen, it’s nice to jot down thoughts you feel at the moment or memories you don’t want to remember. even if it might be burdensome at the moment, you’ll find yourself being thankful when you re-read your memories from past years — it’s a hobby of mine, and how a lot of songs have come out from my mind. words do a lot — it heals, and creates. so, i like making use of it.”
like on cue, pickle wakes up, and minjung sets the dog down on the floor far from her lap. later goes the close-ups of the items, but for now, she just stares straight into the camera — “and right there was seo minjung’s ten things i can’t live without. hope you learned something new.”
one, two, three. and cut goes the end of the video.















