LOADING INFORMATION ON 1NFERNO’S MAIN DANCE, LEAD RAP KYO SEOKYUNG...
IDOL DETAILS
STAGENAME: N/A CURRENT AGE: 24 DEBUT AGE: 22 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 16 COMPANY: MSG SECONDARY SKILL: Lyric writing
IDOL PROFILE
NICKNAME(S): ‘seo’ & ‘kyungie’ (he hates this one, fans are aware but still call him that to mess with him.) INSPIRATION: his will and drive to inspire others to follow their dreams. his beloved matches too, because they’ve always been by his side through it all, and he has promised them over and over again that he’ll always work hard for as long as they want him to. SPECIAL TALENTS:
he can write backwards, like mirror writing.
he can solve math problems in his head pretty fast.
no blinking contests? don’t worry, he can win that easily.
NOTABLE FACTS:
spent three years of his life studying in spain, thus is fluent in spanish.
has a youtube channel he uses as a platform to get closer to his fans and so he can give them updates about his life.
known to be the son of a very wealthy ceo in south korea; though, he barely talks about him or his mother. some people believe he’s only in the industry thanks to his family’s money.
IDOL GOALS
SHORT-TERM GOALS:
he hopes he’ll be able to keep doing what he’s doing at the moment. he wants to keep writing music and wants to keep catering to his loving fans with his youtube channel. watching 1nferno thrive is certainly number one in his list of priorities and he doesn’t mind putting extra hours of work if that’s what it takes.
LONG-TERM GOALS:
writing! his soul has always connected with pen and paper. he wants to write music for 1nferno and be an even bigger part of its legacy (or the one he hopes him and the rest of his group mates will be able to build). he also wishes to write for other groups and hopefully stick to it for a long time. as anyone else, he wants to make a name for himself and he wants to write a book. but most importantly? he wants to separate himself from his family. while he’s aware he’ll have to carry their name for the rest of his life, he wants to stay away from them, he doesn’t wish to be associated with them and can only hope the future will allow him to do so.
IDOL IMAGE
who is kyo seokyung? that is an excellent question. ever since his first day as a trainee, msg knew two things about him: he was smart and well-spoken. maybe it had a lot to do with his family, but that didn’t matter, what mattered is that they had someone who could deliver the ‘diplomatic’ answers, someone who could answer ‘risky’ questions, if at all, and give rather ‘decent’ answers. During interviews, seokyung isn’t loud or obnoxious, he’s mostly calm and collected, flashing a smile here and there, running his fingers through his hair, “looking pretty” if you will, just being the “company” boy msg wants him to be, just as they expected since he was a teenager. but he’s funny and he’s witty when the occasion asks for it; he will show his talents and smile, or laugh it off if he’s too embarrassed. he has charm and he always puts it to good use.
he has poise, he has grace, he’s elegant and he’s kind. despite him being humble about it and often mentioning he “is not perfect”, msg most definitely wants everyone to believe so. but he’s right, he isn’t. in reality, seokyung is quite different than the person the fans think he is. while yes, said poise and grace still lives within him, he’s far from being kind, often feeling annoyed by various life frustrations, snapping when things don’t go his way. he’s serious, he’s quiet, he barely wants to talk and act fake in front of the cameras, but he must.
the thing is, he’s just really good at pretending, like any other idol in the industry. and with the family he has, how could he not be?
the company has often pushed him to be the one to give the ‘corporate’ answers most people want to hear. his fans are sure he truly is incapable of doing something wrong, of doing something problematic, something that could get him in trouble because he’s just /that/ good at what he does, he’s great when it comes down to wearing that mask.
most people think seokyung is being one hundred percent authentic during his videos and actually? he is most of the time. but everything is also being controlled and monitored by his company. if a video is slightly controversial, he gets asked to do it all over again. If he says something that could be deemed as scandalous, he immediately gets asked to tone it down or twist it around. he’s a master of manipulation, a tactic he learned from his family. he just knows how to become a person he just isn’t in any kind of occasion.
and yet, he still makes sure to show a bit of who he truly is during his videos. the relaxed guy who has no problem in being bare-faced, who sits outside of 1nferno’s dorm and allows to be sunkissed while he talks about anything that comes to mind. he encourages others to follow their dreams, fight for what they believe in and to believe in themselves. things he sometimes can’t do for himself. but everyone eats it up and no one will complain about it.
but the pressure to be this ‘perfect individual’ does get to him at times. he has to be extremely careful with his steps, because at the end of the day, when the cameras aren’t rolling? he knows he’s not the person people want him to be and if he were to ever do something bad? he’d lose his fans’ trust and that would hurt him deeply, also taking away from him the one thing he’s worked so hard for for years. being perfect is clearly impossible, but seokyung pressures himself so much to ‘be perfect’ that his most loyal fans actually believe it.
there is just one thing that is actually real, honest and sincere and that’s his love for his fans. seokyung makes sure to cater to them in any way possible, because the love he gets from them is actually something he appreciates. this shows, of course, and while the company might think this is all an act, it is for sure, the only honest thing about him. when it comes down to his group mates, he protects and takes care of them when the cameras are and aren’t rolling; yet just another little thing the fans love about him.
pretending perfection, however, will cost him a lot in the long run. he’s aware of it, but he will keep riding on that for as long as he can.
IDOL HISTORY
born with a silver spoon in his mouth could be deemed by something positive for most, but he would beg to differ. his grandfather is the founder of an important electronics company in south korea, a company that his father obviously inherited. in a sense, you could say seokyung was supposed to be the next in line to take over the company and follow his family’s steps.
his mother? a gentle-looking-stay-at-home mom, or as many called her: a trophy wife. up to this day, he’s not entirely sure his sister and him were conceived because their parents loved each other, instead, because there was a contract between them. this, though, is something he cannot confirm and are just mere speculations he came up with.
him? a good kid with an artistic soul, someone who spent most of his time studying to make his parents proud and giving his little sister the attention they were clearly not giving her. he put his entire heart and soul into giving her the best kind of life he could, into making her laugh, entertaining her with whatever jokes, doing his best to be someone she could look up to. his parents, however, were more busy attending parties, always putting themselves, their name and their reputation first. the rest was simply secondary.
an important husband, a beautiful wife, two lovely children. it was truly the picture perfect family for every magazine out there. the wealth was real, but the happiness wasn’t. there’s plenty of people and factors that come into play when it comes to the kyo’s and why they can’t reach true happiness.
with that said, let’s talk about seokyung’s uncle.
up to this day, he still wonders if his uncle’s motives had anything to do with the fact he wasn’t the next in line to inherit the company or if he’s simply just a piece of shit. due to his father’s job, he was barely around to ever give his children a second glance. his brother “promised” to be the fatherly figure seokyung and his little sister sunhee needed, often spending time at the kyo’s and pretending to be a good person. but he wasn’t. his uncle never missed an opportunity to verbally and physically hurt seokyung, however, he never messed with sunhee and not because he didn’t want to, but because seokyung never allowed it; taking the punishment she was “supposed” to receive instead. of course, that man always played innocent, like he was the perfect father both kids deserved. this of course, also included berating seokyung’s dreams of becoming a writer, his talent and his creativity. he was only a kid with dreams, who was getting forced to grow up way too soon.
when doing something bad to seokyung, he always excused himself by saying; “this is what happens to badly behaved kids.”
then there’s his father.
when seokyung was only ten years old, he approached his father and revealed the truth about his uncle. about how terrible and how evil he actually was towards him and his sister. his father believed him, but didn’t do a thing about it. why, you wonder? because speaking up about it would result in a big scandal, because publicly accusing his brother of hurting his children would put their reputation in danger and… he couldn’t allow that.
instead, he gave his son some advice; “man up.”
his mother wasn’t any better.
his father didn’t help, so seokyung approached his mother. he knew it would be useless, because his own mother was often home, so she surely had an idea of what was happening. but she never interfered, she never defended him, she never defended his sister. she remained silent and looked into her child’s eyes, as he cried and explained how terrifying it was to live that way. he knew that the only reason why she never did anything about it was because she was terrified of losing the fortune she had thanks to his father.
she could only say one thing; “i’m so sorry i can’t do anything.”
his grandfather was probably the worst.
both his parents refused to help, so he approached the only man that could possibly do something against his son. however, when presented with the facts, his grandfather categorically denied it, claiming his son would never mistreat his nephew and niece, claiming he was a good and kind man who wouldn’t ever dare do something like that.
he ended the pointless conversation with a sentence; “…and even if it was true, it is none of my business.”
but he’s convinced he’s the bad guy of the story.
because he didn’t leave. because he didn’t stand up to any of them, becase he simply sulked and let people step on him and his sister. because he didn’t feel strong enough to fight, because he didn’t do anything to change the situation. because he simply let it be. there was no other way to solve it, so he simply let it be.
until he had enough. when seokyung turned twelve, he decided it was time to confront his family, that it was time to speak up, that it was time to let the entire world know the kind of people they were and all the things and damage they had caused to him and sunhee. but the problem about the young seokyung was very clear: he underestimated his father and his power. to avoid the young boy from speaking up (and of course, to punish him for almost ruining their reputation), his father shipped him off to a private school in spain.
and then, there he was, alone, in another continent, another country, unfamiliar with the language and the culture shock hitting him like a bunch of rocks stuffed in a bag. so he cried every night, he wrote letters to sunhee, letting her know he would be back someday and that he’d make sure to get her out of there. he promised to give her the life both of them deserved, and he was confident in his promise.
overall, the teachers were good and kind people who did their best to teach him spanish and help him adapt, but even then, they noticed how hard it was for him to socialize, how hard it was for him to approach others. there was only one thing seokyung liked about being away from home and that was a girl in his class. she was pretty, smart and funny (or so he assumed because everyone laughed at her jokes). but he never dared to approach her, because every time he thought about it, he felt like passing out.
but there was one thing he did know about that girl: she loved dancing. he knew because that was the extracurricular she took everyday. of course, when his teachers approached him and suggested he should look into extracurricular activities so he could distract himself more and adapt to others? he didn’t think about it twice and signed up for the dance club.
he’s awkward at first, he feels like he moves terribly and has two left feet, but also because he’s the only boy in the club. the girls find it fascinating, but the rest of the kids never miss an opportunity to bully him about it. it’s fine, he always told himself, he had gone through worse. this time, at least, he can dance in the back and admire the girl, the way she moves, so graciously, so perfectly, and he wants to be at her level. so he didn’t half-ass it, he practiced and practiced a lot.
there’s one side, the one who has him learning spanish, sometimes messing up, sometimes doing really well, and it’s just enough to push him by through school life. there’s the kids hiding his things, the kids pushing him around, the kids calling him derogatory names, giving him a taste of another form of cruelty towards him. but it’s fine, he told himself, because one day he’d be old enough to leave this place.
then there’s the other side, the one where he shuts everyone out at night and he writes. he wrote stories, he wrote poems, he wrote music. sometimes inspired by melancholy, sometimes inspired by his feelings for the girl. there’s him getting good grades, there’s him excelling and looking his best at every dance class, there’s him triumphing everyday, and he was loving the rhythm. it had been slow at first, but he started to progress.
but as usual, his family won’t let him have that.
his father decided spending three years in a foreign country should be enough to learn your lesson, so he takes him back home and seokyung had to say goodbye to school, to his progress, to dancing and to her. but at least he’ll be able to see sunhee, and hopefully now, things at home will be way better than how they were when he left.
but he’s wrong.
the version of sunhee that he met was a different one. the smile on his sister’s face is no longer there and his jokes didn’t work anymore. his sister is haunted and there’s no feeling in the world that can explain how he felt, how angry it made him. that was when he decided he had to do something, he had to get him, but mostly her, out of that place. although seokyung doesn’t deem himself as a very talented kid, he thinks his moves are average and that could possibly give him a ticket to the freedom he was looking for.
getting permission from his parents to audition wasn’t a hard task whatsoever. if anything? they were glad because keeping him away would take a lot of weight off their shoulders. his dad, with his fake-interest and all, even took the young teen to the audition. it was convenient for him to stay, it was convenient for everyone. maybe if he got what he wanted? seokyung would stop nagging them about his problems.
and then there he was, at msg entertainment. getting a spot there wasn’t easy at all, especially when you’re up against a bunch of kids he thought were extremely talented. but he gets signed because as usually, he didn’t half-ass his audition, he went in, did his best and got the opportunity.
this allowed him to stay away from his family. he preferred spending hours upon hours training to perfect his craft than be at home and be berated for whatever reason. he was having the time of his life despite his exhaustion and despite his frustration when something didn’t go well during practice.
so okay, he can dance, but what else could he do? this was the first time he was being encouraged to learn something new, the first time he was encouraged to work on his abilities, to just get better. his parents never did, they couldn’t care less about him getting better at anything. sure, he knew what it entailed to be here and that was why he was training. but nevertheless, he had to put on a lot of effort, not only physical, but emotional as well.
when they found out he could speak spanish, they absolutely loved it. he loved bragging about it to the other trainees and to ‘demonstrate’ how good he was, he would speak long, quick sentences. if he could do that in a foreign language, could he do the same thing in his native tongue? to test that out, they soon had him putting special focus on his rapping. clumsy at first, because there’s a big difference between one and the other, but if they wanted him to try and put this special “talent” of his to work? then, he had no choice but to make it work.
so he spent years working hard on his skills, getting better at each thing as much as he could. not only that, but the fact he was so smart and so well-spoken was clearly something the executives just loved about him. they knew there was still a lot of work to do, but so far? so good. they felt very confident on his abilities and knew that, if he kept up his hard work, he could be a big star.
it was still not easy, no matter the amount of talent he had and certainly lacked in other areas, trying to be ‘perfect’ wasn’t possible and he knew. he was, only human, after all. he wasn’t the best singer and he sometimes had trouble coordinating an ability with another. but he always told himself that his best had to be his best or else, he’d never be able to provide himself and sunhee of the life they truly deserved.
the tears, the exhaustion, the constant battles in his head worked in his favor eventually, because everything lead him to 1nferno, finally earning the ticket him and his sister needed to move on from their parents. he knew, though, that she would have to wait, that she would have to be patient, just a bit more. if she waited all those years, then she surely would be able to wait a few more.
he presents seokyung to the world, a different version to the real kyo seokyung, but everyone believes the fantasy he’s created of himself because he’s good at pretending. and how could he not be when all his life he had to pretend? when his family taught him that pretending was the best way you could do something in life?
when asked about his family, seokyung simply smiled and let everyone know his schedule barely allows him to see them, but wishes they are doing well.
this is a lie.
eventually, sunhee stops answering his letters, stops talking to him but before that, she tells him ‘you abandoned me’. he didn’t, he explains himself, but she doesn’t believe it. there’s nothing more he wants than to speak up, than to tell the entire world about his family, about his past. but he can’t, and he won’t. he has an image to uphold, his calm-centered and gentle one. he’s the one who likes answering questions, he’s the one who uses his poise and looks to almost-look-perfect. he can’t speak up because he would lose all of that.
he can’t speak up because people would realize that behind that face, there’s a life filled with torment, with pain, with lies, with mistreatment. he can’t allow anyone to see the scars beyond his smile. he can’t let anyone see the real him, not as long as he can help it. so he keeps being 1nferno’s seokyung, the boy who loves his group mates (although they might exasperate him if they’re too loud), the boy who loves and appreciates their fans, because they love him unconditionally. the boy who doesn’t take it easy, who works hard, who tries his best for his image to be close to impeccable. the boy who trains harder everyday, who will protect his friends from harm.
but he can’t show the real him to the world, the off-camera one, the one who’s not as warm as he shows himself to be, the one who’s quiet, the one who’s reserved, who barely cracks a joke. the one who reads, who writes, who pours his heart out using pen and paper. he can’t let them see the hate, the one he feels for his family, and himself. the one with the sharp tongue, who will fight anyone who messes with him but who will also use his voice to stand up for others.
it’s too bad, too bad he can’t stand up for himself.
so he keeps writing to sunhee, even if he never receives anything back but he hopes she’ll be able to forgive him one of these days. that she’ll be able to forgive him for finding a way to escape, for finding a way out. it wasn’t easy and maybe, just maybe, she will see that someday.