beyond the sandy shores there’s a storm brewing, and SEO YEONGHYE ‘DARLENE’ (she/her), a twenty-three year old FLORIST has walked right into it. perhaps they aren’t aware of it now, but the KIM YERIM ‘YERI’ ( red velvet ) look-alike is in for quite the memorable experience. will our beloved TOWNIE be able to enjoy their stay?
be careful where you step SEO YONGHYE ‘DARLENE’, for ALIENS seem to be a little less welcomed here. and remember, here at ilsang, things aren’t always what they seem.
"this has been, where in the world is darlene? if you're not already yet subscribed, hit that button and the bell notification so that you'll be alerted when i post my next video! thanks for watching and as always, xoxo!"
darlene counts five whole seconds before she unfreezes from her pose to lean forward and clicks on the camera to stop recording. it had already been a few months and her following on youtube had grown exponentially. at least, quite larger than she could have ever expected.
but it paid to be pretty, cute, and pretty. pretty twice, for extra measure on just how important that was in the vlogging industry when it came to catching people's attention.
darlene was cute and she knew how to look even cuter with the help of makeup, fashion, and hair styling. it was all a girl really needed to get by with after all. especially in a small town like ilsangdo. and especially for someone like darlene who wouldn't be able to leave town no matter the circumstances.
she sits at the new vanity in her room, tapping the mirror to turn on the bright lights before she pulls out the newest peripera lipgloss and retouches her lips. once she's satisfied, she takes a good look in the mirror and flashes her pearly whites before grabbing her little white purse and heading out.
seo yeonghye had always been a quiet girl. a little shy on the outside and in. one who kept more to books when it came to reading and had no confidence in herself - personality and appearance wise. darlene on the otherhand, was everything but. she loved the glitz and glamor she saw in dramas. she loved the colorful clothes advertised in tv commercials. and most important of all, as soon as she realized that yeonghye was kind of cute she had to take advantage of everything she could!
as someone with ambitious dreams of becoming a world-renowned writer, yeonghye had been to scared to trade the comforting life she knew for the scary big city of seoul. instead, settling for small community classes at daeseong university until she graduated with a mediocre writing degree. and even then, the timid yeonghye never did go far with what she truly wished to acheive. creative writing was where she wanted to go but with a push from her mother, she took her first dip into the working world with an intern position at the ilsang ilbo. however, that quickly fell through when yeonghye realized she would never be able to do what she wanted there. never be able to flourish and write what she wanted to if she ever wanted to do more.
with no hope, yeonghye thinks it's the end of the line. and it kind of is when she accidentally wanders a bit too close to the town bunker trying to find a place to read the newest novel she'd just ordered from online. because that's when everything changes.
whenever anyone gets surprised seeing how different yeonghye is now, darlene simply reasons it to 'growing into herself' or 'discovering her confidence'. darlene can't feel, but she supposes if she were yeonghye she'd be happy. after all, ever since darlene had taken over her body, her life had been ten times better. darlene wonders if this is what yeonghye might have secretly wanted considering how easy it was for darlene to take full control of her body.
either way, darlene was now living her best life and there were moments when things got tricky to navigate, but she always made it work. somehow. for now, her biggest issue was making sure to establish her dominance as the best girl in town. and sure, maybe it took calling herself the town's representative sunflower for people to begin acknowledging this title. but it was catching on and in all honesty, if it meant that she was better than lucy who had snatched the mayor's daughter up before darlene could, well, it would be considered a win her books.
beyond the sandy shores there’s a storm brewing, and NA CHAERI (she/her), a twenty-two year old ACTRESS has walked right into it. perhaps they aren’t aware of it now, but the CHOI YENA ( soloist ) look-alike is in for quite the memorable experience. will our beloved TOURIST be able to enjoy their stay?
be careful where you step, NA CHAERI, for HUMANS seem to be a little less welcomed here. and remember, here at ilsang, things aren’t always what they seem.
did na chaeri lie about her name too?
posted by u/unidentifiedfryingobject2389
throwaway so i don’t get sued by A***N ent lol be safe guys. so everyone knows there’s nothing she didn’t lie about, but it turns out even her name is fake?
since she isn’t actually a ‘00 liner, na chaeri (?) was in the class of ‘17 at ****** girls high, right? my friend from college is from ****** girls high too and she thinks she knew na chaeri before, but she has a good reason why she didn’t recognize her at first… proofs are posted at the end! (edit: more proof in my comment)
so, do you want to see her graduation photo?
[image.jpg]
does this even look like the same person? but if you look carefully, you can see that it really is her. the point is the name, though. her name was actually shin chunja. total hillbilly name, lol!
it’s 95% certain that na chaeri totally changed her face and her name. so even aside from her birthday, she also lied about her name. i bet she changed it to hide that she was shin ceo’s daughter? there’s no way she would have debuted with her skills and even got the main role if she wasn’t the daughter of the ceo. na chaeri is completely shameless if she tries to come back from wherever she ran off to now
[ READ MORE ]
1.7k Comments
u/unidentifiedfryingobject2389 [OP] | 1 day ago
my friend sent me more proof that it’s indeed the same person… if you look at her hairline and ear shape, its really undeniable!
[image.jpg]
╰ u/colorofcherry99 | 45min ago
aren’t u obsessed with her? how do u know what her ears look like?
╰ u/colorofcherry99 | edited 43min ago
why are u posting a picture of someone else n claiming that it’s her? take this down!
╰ u/paranormalpenguins | 37min ago
omg did anyone see the unedited comment
is the con artist herself making an appearance?
u/area51stormed | 1 day ago
wow… her transformation is freaking impressive, can her face even be considered human after all that surgery?
╰ u/colorofcherry99 | 15min ago
look in the mirror, can u be considered human? anyway, i heard she only touched her eyes n nose, that’s natural these days for idols!
u/abominablesnowman | 1 day ago
Not a cherrypop but isn’t changing ur name common practice? Ur acting like she committed a crime but that’s just a stage name
╰ u/colorofcherry99 | 35min ago
that’s what i’m saying! i don’t believe this ‘proof’ but even if she did, so what? there are so many idols who use fake names!
╰ u/paranormalpenguins | 32min ago
you’re working hard~~
A* E* company interns~~ i hope you get your bonus~~
u/colorofcherry99 | 31min ago
ur working soooo hard to tear someone innocent down. she apologized for decisions her COMPANY made n even went into hiding when she did nothing wrong, chaeri is seriously pitiful… even if u hate her, she’ll definitely go viral when she makes her comeback, kkk
╰ u/area51stormed | 27min ago
it’s a fact that she pretended to be an underdog when she’s actually freaking old and only debuted through connections, though? flop idol lol
╰ u/colorofcherry99 | 26min ago
she only changed her age by one month!!!!!!!!!!!
u/aliensoty | 20min ago
@mods can user colorofcherry99 be banned? she’s obviously a plant. just like her industry plant idol
╰ u/colorofcherry99 | 17min ago
u just want to hate on na chaeri because she’s prettier than ur idol, ur obviously an idiot! just like ur stupid idol!
You have been temporarily suspended from r/nachaeriexposed. You will not be able to message the moderators of r/nachaeriexposed for 28 days.
beyond the sandy shores there’s a storm brewing, and HWANG MINHO (he/him), a twenty-three year old BARISTA has walked right into it. perhaps they aren’t aware of it now, but the CHOI YEONJUN ( txt ) look-alike is in for quite the memorable experience. will our beloved TOWNIE be able to enjoy their stay?
be careful where you step HWANG MINHO, for HUMANS seem to be a little less welcomed here. and remember, here at ilsang, things aren’t always what they seem.
LOG #1 2132h 12052005
HYPOTHESIS: dad’s been abducted by aliens.
it’s in the way they argue. it begins as it always does: dad soils the timber flooring with his trousers soiled in mud and mom’s screaming in his ear. she hates it when it’s dirty, and he knows that she hates it when it’s dirty, so how could he do this to her when he knows that it’s something she hates. her father paid to have this timber flooring done—this one good thing in this rundown house—and now she tells him he’s ungrateful. now he’s inconsiderate. now she’s chewing him out about that one time on their wedding day when she was puking her guts out on the aisle and he didn’t try to shield her from the guests and their rolling cameras.
why it’s strange: dad doesn’t fight back like he usually does. minho’s got a lego castle he has to build but he’s too watching his dad. somewhere, dad stares back, emotionless. five seconds. ten seconds. dad looks away, but it’s too late. minho’s caught on.
CONCLUSION: plausible. more observation required.
─ ･
LOG #2 1307h 21082007
HYPOTHESIS: mom’s also been abducted by aliens.
mom doesn’t take to being a divorcee very well. when dad had served her the papers, she’d been inconsolable. said something about her life being over. it’s against the rules of the bible, grandpa spits out. the only way out of marriage is infidelity or death. minho doesn’t remember if mom ever stopped crying. he hears that the custody battle was brutal—talk of the town in a small place like ilsang, where everyone knows everyone—and mom spends all of grandpa’s savings trying to win minho over just to leave him on the floor of her parents’ living room with a box of lego while she bawls her eyes out in her room upstairs.
then she meets kim chanwoo. he’s taller than dad, clean-shaven, and he doesn’t smell like saltwater and dead fish. god is so good to us, grandpa says, he’s forgiven you for your sins and even brought along a good man.
minho suspects his mom was abducted that day. she stops crying like she usually does, drops minho off at dad’s without all the fuss she usually kicks up and when he catches her eyes through chanwoo’s car window, he can even see her smiling. she never usually smiles on drop off mornings when she’s forced to meet dad. strange.
CONCLUSION: likely. experiments to commence.
─ ･
LOG #3 0821h 12112008
HYPOTHESIS: aliens are afraid of water.
in hindsight, he could’ve planned this better. but he’d read some post on the internet claiming that aliens could not keep up their disguise when exposed to cold water, and there was really no other way for him to get a bucket of it in his day-to-day other than on mom’s wedding day. there are buckets of ice and water for the white wine here, when all he’d ever had before was a miserable cup. mom walks by in her wedding dress and he splashes it on her and she screams like he remembers her to.
his next mistake was not running.
he’s dropped off at dad’s. it’s not time for dad to have him yet, but they say they can’t have him running around and ruining mom’s big day. she bans her own son from her wedding, but he doesn’t fuss about it because he knows he’s got her.
CONCLUSION: likely, not fully certain only because there was a potential confounding variable.
─ ･
LOG #4 0215h 06012011
HYPOTHESIS: aliens need to bask in the full moon to recharge their life force.
this one takes a little more digging. he’s gone down a rabbit hole of sorts, clicking hyperlink after hyperlink and he can hardly sleep with all this adrenaline. it’s 3am and he’s shivering under the covers on a winter night, scrolling through a forum about aliens. 12pm and he’s at recess in school, peering at the phone he hides in his sleeve. until someone rips the phone from him and he looks up and realises it’s fucking joohyuk. video proof: aliens recharging with moonlight, joohyuk reads out in a mocking tone and clicks his tongue, you’re such a fucking weirdo, minho. minho demands for his phone back, but he hasn’t hit his growth spurt yet. not unlike asshole joohyuk who’s only popular for his height, he’ll bet. he’s jumping for his phone and joohyuk pushes him mid-air and earns him a gash on his elbow.
whatever.
now it’s past midnight and he’s staring at the full moon as he camps by dad’s bedroom door. he knows his dad hasn’t been the same since he left mom, but ever since he met sooyoung, he’s gotten worse. she yells at him like mom does but he never says anything back. tells him that minho should be back at his mom’s place and dad just carries him away and does as he’s told. his dad was never like this. his dad always stood up for him.
the door opens and minho rushes to his feet. minho, what are you doing up? it’s a school night, dad says. are you here to… to bask in the moon? his dad pauses, poses the …what? but it’s interrupted when minho raises his fists and thrashes wildly against his torso. he repeats his question and begs for the alien to give him his dad back. he doesn’t remember what happens next, only that he’s back in his bed by morning, waking up to the ringing alarm.
CONCLUSION: inconclusive. experiment interrupted.
─ ･
LOG #5 1811h 23072014
HYPOTHESIS: aliens can’t leave the town lines.
he’s running on an open road. there’s the wind in his hair and the fire in his lungs, but he’s never felt so free. dad screams for him to get back, tells him it’s dangerous, and he almost likes it because it’s the most reaction he’s gotten from his dad in a long time. cross the town line, then!, minho dares, if you want me, you’ll have to come get me. prove to me that you’re really my dad. that you’re not some fucking imposter. because i know my dad would never have abandoned me the way you fucking did.
dad stands by the fringes of ilsang. minho’s just out of reach. he watches dad’s expression fall, watches him feel all the guilt and all the hurt all at once. dad takes a step forth, closes the distance between them so they’re both out of ilsang, and he pulls minho into a hug. minho cries into his shoulder. let’s go home, son, dad whispers. minho doesn’t fight it.
beyond the sandy shores there’s a storm brewing, and KANG SEOJUN (he/him), a twenty-four year old SOFTWARE DEVELOPER has walked right into it. perhaps they aren’t aware of it now, but the JEON JUNGKOOK ( bts ) look-alike is in for quite the memorable experience. will our beloved TOWNIE be able to enjoy their stay?
be careful where you step KANG SEOJUN, for HUMANS seem to be a little less welcomed here. and remember, here at ilsang, things aren’t always what they seem.
tw: abuse? financial and verbal, toxic relationship
I. BOUND BY BLOOD
In this world, there was no Kang Seojun without his father, Kang Sangjun. The eldest and only son of a multi-millionaire, Seojun was nothing but a shadow in his father’s presence– forever tethered to the man who has ruined his life.
He couldn’t remember a time when he had actually enjoyed being around his father. Since birth, his father made it clear that he only married Seojun’s mom to keep the public quiet about Seojun nearly being born out of wedlock. And, well, Seojun was a carbon copy of his mother, so if there was no love for his mother then there was no love for Seojun.
Sometimes he wished the pictures of his family in the news articles smiling were something more than fanservice. Often times he’d stay over at his friend’s houses just to see what a real family looked like and wondered if someday his family could be like this too. Then, other times, he would press his ear against the cold walls of his bedroom to remind himself that his dreams were far out of his reach.
“He’s just a kid! Why can’t you just be supportive of him? Just this once?”
“He’s going to have to grow up eventually! In the real world, there’s no one there to pat your back when you fail to win first place. No one will be there at the end of the race to hand you a participation trophy–”
“You’re his father! It’s your job to–”
“It’s my job to raise him right. And my son isn’t going to be raised to accept some plastic medal like some fucking loser– god…fuck! Because of you, my son will grow up to be a punk bitch. But as long as he gets a fucking participation trophy, right?”
As a kid, Seojun would listen to his parents fight so much it became white noise for when he fell asleep. And when his birthday rolled around each year, his one wish would be that his family would be a real family the next year.
That never happened.
II. PLAYING THE GAME
His father set the rules, and, in order the keep his family together, Seojun played fairly. If his father wanted straight A’s on a report card, Seojun would return home with not one red mark in sight. If his father wanted Seojun to ‘be more of a man’, Seojun would take all of his emotions and bottle them up deep inside himself. And if Seojun’s father needed Seojun to cover up his drunken mess for him to hide the dark truths of his own actions– well– Seojun would spend the entire night cleaning up the broken wine glass and articles of women’s clothing from the back of his dad’s car. He would do anything to please his dad, only if it meant keeping his own mother happy and safe.
“I’m home!” Seojun’s mother shouted from the hallways, “Do I smell kalguksu? You guys made dinner already?”
Before Seojun’s father could even say anything to make his mother walk out the door again, Seojun interjected.
“Yeah, dad made it all by himself.”
“He did? That doesn’t sound like him…”
“Well, I just wanted to make it up to you, I know we haven’t been seeing eye to eye lately…so…this is your favorite, right? You should eat, I’m sure traveling tired you out.”
All you could hear was the clanking sound of dinnerware as the tension in the room began to suffocate them all.
“Did you guys have fun this weekend without me? You guys got along well?”
“Well, I–”
“Yeah, dad and I went golfing. It was fun.”
“Oh..that’s nice. I’m glad you two were able to bond this week.”
He hated lying to her, but he would be a fool to break the rules of the game. If he wasn’t his father’s perfect puppet, then what was he good for? If he couldn’t protect his mother’s heart, what kind of son would that make him?
III. WE CRY TOGETHER
She wasn’t supposed to come home from her trip to Busan early. In fact, both Seojun and his dad thought she was supposed to return the following week.
“I can’t stand you!” His mom screamed, “How could you? I trusted you! And around our son too? Does Seojun know about your little affairs?”
Seojun wasn’t sure of the exact scenario that was occurring in the living room, but he didn’t need a visual to know that his father’s back was against the wall.
“I-”
“No. No more! I’m packing my things and leaving. You can keep this fucking house– God, I should have never come back to begin with! You’re disgusting and–”
“Well you aren’t so perfect either! Do you think I’m happy to even have you as a wife? You were a fucking mistake to begin with. You and that god awful son of yours–”
“Don’t you dare talk about our son like that!”
“May as well! He looks like you– acts like you too! A bitch–”
“That’s enough! I’m leaving– and..I’m taking him with me!”
“Go ahead! But you’ll see, you need me.”
All Seojun could hear were the breaths of his two parents.
“Yeah, that’s right. You two need me. Go ahead, leave! Run to your mother’s house. I’m sure she’ll send you crawling right back when she realizes how much debt you all will have once Seojun’s college loans roll in. Oh, and I’ll be sending a bill too– for all the shit I bought for the two of you. Let’s see who wants to fucking leave then.”
That night Seojun’s mom came to his room with her eyes full of tears. The pain in Seojun’s chest was too much to bear, but what more could he do than to be brave for her? He had to keep being the light in her life; he had to keep being strong.
“I love you so much, Seojunnie. You know that?” His mother sniffled, resting her head on his shoulder as the two embraced.
“Of course. I love you too.”
“Never leave my side, promise you’ll never leave me.”
“I promise.”
IV. UNTIL I FOUND YOU
Seojun didn’t believe in love until he found Jia.
“...And, you see, Ohms law tells us that the electric current– so I – is directly proportional to the voltage– so V–...”
She wasn’t listening, and part of him didn’t care. He enjoyed watching her hair fall to her cheeks as she tried to pretend to care about what he was saying. Seeing the way her eyes sparkled looking into his, he wanted to suppress his emotions, but this time he couldn’t. With his heart racing uncontrollably, it was hard to even focus on preparing her for her next physics exam. Every fiber of his being wanted her, and so, for the first time in his entire life, he took a chance for his own happiness.
And, before he could even move on to the next step of the equation, he found his lips crashed against hers– his hands gently cupping the soft skin on her cheeks as if his lips weren’t ten steps ahead of them.
V. THE UNTETHERING
“I want to marry her– I want to marry Jia.” Seojun proclaimed at the dinner table, which was unpleasantly met with silence. His mother, although very approving of their relationship, avoided his gaze in order to keep the peace.
“No.” His father answered sternly.
“No?”
“No, she’s not good for you.”
“Not good for me? What does that even mean? What has she ever done to you?”
“Well, I’m not saying she’s ever done anything to me, but, well– you know how the articles would spin it– ‘heir of multi-millionaire, Kang Sangjun, finds love through boring university girl’...is that the kind of image you want? Someone who settles for less?”
“Less?”
“Yeah, less. I mean– what does she really bring to the table?”
“She loves me, that should be enough.”
“What can love buy you?”
Seojun doesn’t remember much more about that night; in fact, he tried his best to forget it all.
All he remembers is one minute he was at the dinner table and, the next, he packed his own bags, getting ready to tell Jia his elaborate plan for their escape from their families.
“Let’s run away.”
“Seojun, it’s 3 AM.”
“No, no. Listen. I love you so much, you know that, right? I love you so much, and I’d be stupid to waste my whole life waiting for the right moment to tell you this. I know I’m a coward, and I’m not one to take many chances, but this time I’m ready. I’m ready to take the leap, Jia, please.”
“What are you talking about–”
“Xu Jiali, will you marry me?”
“What?”
“Let’s get out of here, just you and me. I’m serious, Jia. I love you more than anything. There's not one day that goes by that I'm not grateful that our lives crossed paths. And, truthfully, if one day I woke up and you weren't there, I wouldn't know what I'd do...So what do you say?”
“Yes.”
Her answer liberated him. He no longer cared what if father thought; nothing else mattered as long as he had her. No matter where they ended up, Seojun was just happy that he would be spending the rest of his life with the one person who truly loved all of him, the good and the ugly. And, with their suitcases packed and a flier that read 'ILSANG! YOUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME!' he drove off to start his new life with Jia.
beyond the sandy shores there’s a storm brewing, and XU JIALI ‘JIA’ (she/her), a twenty-three year old NURSE has walked right into it. perhaps they aren’t aware of it now, but the SHEN XIAOTING ( kepler ) look-alike is in for quite the memorable experience. will our beloved TOWNIE be able to enjoy their stay?
be careful where you step XU JIALI, for ALIENS seem to be a little less welcomed here. and remember, here at ilsang, things aren’t always what they seem.
when xu jia told her fiance that she was willing to run away with him so that they could be together, she never imagined it would end up like this.
of course, that isn’t to say she regrets anything about her engagement. she was ecstatic to marry a man whom she had truly loved. it was much better than having to live under a roof with her own family: a narcissistic mother who wanted her to be the perfect and ideal daughter, a father who agreed with whatever his wife said because he believed it’d be beneficial for the family, and siblings who were also manipulated by the same woman and turned into a different version of themselves that jia herself could barely recognize. it felt like she and her little brother were the only ones who didn’t fall for that woman’s tricks.
sure, she feels guilty over the fact that she will not be able to save him from that cruel woman. all she could hope for when it came to him is that he would be let off easier. maybe she wouldn’t be as harsh on him as she was on her youngest daughter.
she made a promise to her little brother that she would keep in contact with him even after her and her fiance had moved into ilsang. and she had kept it for the first few weeks since she had moved into the town.
it’s all thanks to her misfortune that she had obtained since she had moved in that put her “life update” messages for him to a halt.
she doesn’t know how to explain when this strange feeling had started. for the first few weeks since moving into ilsang, she felt relaxed and excited for what was to come in the future for her and seojun. but all of a sudden, she began to feel… uneasy. almost as though she didn’t feel completely like herself. at times, it felt like she herself was just a conscience to her own mind. one moment, she felt as though she was able to act on her own. but next minute, she finds herself unable to act on her own terms. it was frustrating. it felt dehumanizing. almost as if… she was just someone’s marionette doll.
she didn’t want to be controlled like this. she thought she was done having to become someone she was not. but now, she was aware of it… and there was no way she could stop it.
beyond the sandy shores there’s a storm brewing, and JUNG RISAN (he/him), a twenty-three year old UNIVERSITY STUDENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT has walked right into it. perhaps they aren’t aware of it now, but the PARK SEONGHWA ( ateez ) look-alike is in for quite the memorable experience. will our beloved TOWNIE be able to enjoy their stay?
be careful where you step JUNG RISAN, for HUMANS seem to be a little less welcomed here. and remember, here at ilsang, things aren’t always what they seem.
Some truths are bound to remain the same.
The sky will always be blue; his mother cooked the best rice porridge on a rainy day; and Jung Risan was probably never fucking going to get out of Ilsang-do. The first doesn’t bug him (he could give a shit less if the sky was purple), the second he misses (she’s moved closer to the city for his little sibling’s school), and the third stresses him out to the core. But he’s working on it! He’s got ... somewhat of a plan going on in the works.
Jung family roots dig deep in Ilsang’s soil, a longline of farmers that owned a hefty lot of land where the juiciest fruit and the ripest vegetables grew. Most of the farm cut its losses after Risan’s grandpa passed away, and his daughter (his mother, Hong Yeona, Ilsang’s selfproclaimed beauty and rager teenager) refused to take over the business. [It’s said at this point in the argument, she screamed she wanted to do something respectable instead, like being a dentist] It didn’t die out - with his aunt taking over and doing her part in keeping the family tradition alive, but the harvest season becomes less bountiful and the inactive half of the farm becomes overtaken by wildlife.
His dad is in the picture early on; from a town next to Ilsang who had been an amateur kid sleuth turned actual private eye. The sound of his name around town earned both swoons and sighs, the former from the tales of his whirlwind romance with his mother and the latter from the stories of Risan’s grandfather chasing him out after. He swore that he’d only break his daughter’s heart in the end - and he did. Their marriage fizzles out some years into Risan’s existence, with his other officially moving out a few months after his tenth birthday. [She couldn’t quite accept marrying someone who put work above love] His father never recovers from the loss, but eagerly melts away time in the arms of comfortable strangers and cold liquor bottles.
It’s around this time two things happen that change Risan’s world: 1) His neighbors began to take care of him; first with places to do his homework and eventually shifting to weekly dinners, and 2) He learned that his father responds when Risan is doing the following: swearing in the classroom, skipping class to stay at the playgrounds longer, and [his personal best] kicking the shit out of Na Woorim’s [the class bully] shin when he didn’t give his soccerball back. It’s a cycle that follows him into most of his youth. His mother visits briefly - enough to be around as her son grew up, but eventually a man accompanies her, then a set of twins. It’s odd seeing her life continue on while his father does anything but, stuck in the loopholes of the past; regret in everything he didn’t quite do and what he couldn’t quite amount to as a husband and father. However, there was another truth to life [at least Jung Risan’s]: Hong Yeona and Jung Rahyun would always end up back together, and they did. [It’s complicated, a constant on and off thing that’s been happening since they were teenagers, a soulmate situationship that’s kept Ilsang-do on their toes]
-
Since highschool, Jung Risan’s life has almost become a routine.
Breakfast, school [and skip last period], get lost in nature, go home. Rinse and repeat. A few times a couple of other things would be sprinkled into his routine: leave soccerclub early to walk a pretty girl home, eat dinner later to smoke with his friends, head to the grocery store to pick up a can of soda and bag of chips, drop off kimchi to his neighbor. Rinse and repeat; and same truths he’s known his entire life remain the same.
beyond the sandy shores there’s a storm brewing, and LEE JIHYUN (she/her), a twenty-three year old NURSE has walked right into it. perhaps they aren’t aware of it now, but the CHOI YEWON ‘arin’ ( oh my girl ) look-alike is in for quite the memorable experience. will our beloved TOWNIE be able to enjoy their stay?
be careful where you step LEE JIHYUN, for HUMANS seem to be a little less welcomed here. and remember, here at ilsang, things aren’t always what they seem.
Life is full of lessons:
LESSON #1: THERE’S AN ORDER TO THINGS.
Birth, life, death & all that’s in-between— there’s a certain sequence to things in the in-betweens.
4 legs in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and 3 in the evening. Kindergarten, elementary, middle, high school and university. Date for a respectable amount of time, get married, have kids and work until you can’t.
That’s just how it’s done, isn’t it?
That’s how Jihyun’s parents try to do it, anyway. Register their marriage at the courthouse, before Seona starts to show, and Gihoon makes a respectable(-ish) woman out of her and keeps the neighbourhood aunties’ gossip to a minimum. Mind, they still talk— of course they do!— but their families are slightly less embarrassed.
It could be worse. At least they’re both adults and can raise a baby.
LESSON #2: JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD.
Just because you can fit your entire fist into your mouth, doesn’t mean you should. (Wise words from Han Seona, as she sits with a wailing Jihyun in Choi’s Clinic and Pharmacy. Mother knows best.)
Just because you can get divorced easily in the 21st century, doesn’t mean you should. (Mother doesn’t always know best, Jihyun realises. She used to hate when Grandma nagged Mom for it, but honestly? Grandma’s right. She gets older and realises that her parents were just as stupid in their 20s as she currently is. She watches her parents as a teenager, and swears to never turn out as stupidly prideful as they both are. She realises, at 24, she’s worse.)
Just because you can hit Chang Seojun in the face for flipping up your skirt, doesn’t mean you should. (Girls are not ‘supposed’ to be violent.)
LESSON #3: BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.
Fuck Chang Seojun, that fucking bastard with nothing between his ears.
Your only regret is not hitting him with a thicker workbook.
LESSON #4: GIVE IT YOUR ALL, SO YOU DON’T HAVE ANY REGRETS.
You live your life well enough.
You study hard & get grades good enough you can go to Seoul for uni.
You party hard, and study even harder.
You work really fucking hard in the few months you spend in Seoul, because you’re on-track to living the life you want! Your Switzerland savings account is 3/4s full, and you’re going to ask for your paid 2 weeks off in August.
LESSON #5: SHIT DOESN’T ALWAYS WORK OUT.
Come August, you’re back in Ilsangdo.
Dad’s Stage 2. Mom says you don’t have to move back— “It’s only Stage 2, Jihyun! Korea’s got the best treatment for stomach cancer! Really, you’re overreacting.”
You do, anyway.
Get a job at the local clinic, and tag-team with Mom when driving him to appointments in Seoul. Move back into your childhood bedroom, and wait for your apartment to be completed.
Wake up. Work. Eat. Work. Home. Sleep.
Rinse, repeat.
LESSON #0: ALL OF THE ABOVE REALLY MEANS FUCK ALL.
beyond the sandy shores there’s a storm brewing, and PARK SUNGHYUN (he/him), a thirty-two year old REPORTER has walked right into it. perhaps they aren’t aware of it now, but the STEVE SANGHYUN NOH ( actor ) look-alike is in for quite the memorable experience. will our beloved TOWNIE be able to enjoy their stay?
be careful where you step PARK SUNGHYUN, for HUMANS seem to be a little less welcomed here. and remember, here at ilsang, things aren’t always what they seem.
a scrapbook is placed half haphazardly into a storage bin, the front of the book has “the park family” written in faded golden lettering. a few old yearbooks, some old medals, and a tacky snowglobe with a miniature tokyo sit alongside the scrapbook.
polaroid of a young couple, no older than teenagers, posing in front of an arcade game. the girl is wearing a baggy jean jacket, her permed hair framing her huge smile. the boy has his arm thrown over her shoulder, he’s wearing an oversized t-shirt tucked into high wasted jeans.
scrawled underneath the photo in neat handwriting is mikyung and junho’s first date 1988.
on the next page, a photo of the same girl, mikyung, only this time she’s sitting in a hospital bed, her hair has been straightened, her smile subdued and a baby tucked carefully in her arms. the same boy junho,sits beside her bed, his eyes a bit red as he smiles towards the camera.
scrawled underneath in the same neat handwriting is sunghyun’s birthday, 1990
a toddler dressed in hogeon sits in the middle of various objects; he’s clutching a toy stethoscope in his hand.
sunghyun’s doljabi ceremony, 1991.
the next page has various photos of the young couple — the first being junho wearing a cap and gown, holding a diploma, with mikyung beside him carrying a boy who seems to be around 3 years old.
junho’s graduation, 1994.
the second photo on the page is of mikyung, her hair tied neatly into the bun, posing by a makeup counter, two other women are beside her.
mikyung’s first day at the department store, 1996.
the following page has a photo of the young boy sunghyun, now around 6 years old, smiling with a tooth missing, he’s holding up a small gold ribbon with an older woman, with graying hair and smile lines standing beside him. her nose looks vaguely similar to junho’s.
sport’s day at sunghyun’s school, with grandma 2002.
the next page features another hospital photo, mikyung lays in the bed smiling at sunghyun who is now around 12 years old, carrying a baby. he’s wearing a school uniform and smiling proudly at the camera, as he shows off the baby in his arms.
sunghyun meeting hyunmi for the first time, 2002.
beside it, is a photo of hyunmi, sitting in a high chair. sunghyun’s back is facing the camera, but his hands are in frame, as he holds up a spoon of rice towards hyunmi.
below in much messier handwriting, hyunmi and sunghyun, 2003
the next page has a photo of hyunmi, now around 5 years old, her hair tied in pigtails ( though one is lopsided ) with junho and mikyung behind her. but she is clinging onto sunghyun,now a teenager, who is kneeled beside her, her eyes watery.
the same messy handwriting as before, minnie’s first day of school, 2005, and a heart sticker beside the caption.
a photo of hyunmi laying in a hospital bed, her smile forced as she looks up at the camera. mulitple stuffed animals litter her bedside table, and sunghyun sits beside her, holding balloons. his dark circles are apparent even through the photo.
minnie’s successful surgery, 2007
tucked in the corner of the page is a picture of sunghyun, posing alone with a diploma in hand.
sunghyun’s high school graduation
the next page features multiple photos of sunghyun and a group of young adults. the one in the center is sunghyun with his arm wrapped around the waist of a young woman wearing a scarf.
Study aboard trip in tokyo, 2010
another graduation photo, this time sunghyun is centered in the photo dressed in a cap and gown, holding up his dilopma. hyunmi now a teenager, is beside him her smile wide. mikyung and junho stand on the other side of him, now middle-aged.
uni school graduation, 2011
a photo id of sunghyun, titled “press pass” and the name of the newspaper underneath it.
on the last page of the scrapbook, there are multiple pictures missing; only a caption remains.
sunghyun’s wedding, 2019
the last photo is of sunghyun, his clothes are ruffled and multiple manila folders are present, his smile strained as he throws a peace sign at the camera. his wedding ring is missing.
