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𝗘𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗔𝗘𝗛𝗬𝗨𝗡 🐰 엄태현
Word Count: 5,755

（ ❪ 🐰 BIRTH NAME 　 ➜ Eom Tae Hyun ❪ 엄태현 ❫.
（ ❪ 🐰 NAME MEANING 　 ꜜ

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 EOM ⋮ family name ━ an uncommon Korean family name of Chinese origins ❪ 嚴 ❫, meaning "strict, rigorous; solemn, majestic".
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 TAEHYUN ⋮ first name ━ a hanja name with over 20 options for each syllable; in TAEHYUN's case, the hanja chosen ❪ 太炫 ❫ stand for "most, utmost" and "to show off; to shine, to dazzle" respectively, ultimately leading the full name meaning "to shine the most" or "the most dazzling/shining".

（ ❪ 🐰 NICKNAMES 　 ꜜ

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 BIDULGI-SSI ❪ 비둘기씨 ❫, MR.PIGEON, MR. COO COO ⋮ coined by JEON MINHYUN ━ All these nicknames have to do with pigeons, poking fun at TAEHYUN's hobby to feed said birds; along with that, MINHYUN also thinks his face looks like a pigeon's head, but you didn't hear that from me...
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 TYUN, TAETAE ━ Both used by many of his friends as well as his sister, these are simply some affectionate nicknames that come from his first name and that he really likes.
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 HALBAE ❪ 할배 ❫, GRAMPS, GRANDPA TAEHYUN ⋮ coined by OH YUNCHAE ━ Despite being older than him ❪ she was born in February 2004 ❫, YUNCHAE keeps pestering him with these nicknames due to him being not only digitally incompetent, but also because of his short-term memory and his overall demeanor; not so secretly, he actually likes being called like that ❪ not by strangers or people he's not close to, though ❫.

（ ❪ 🐰 BIRTH DATE 　 ➜ May 5, 2004.
（ ❪ 🐰 ZODIAC SIGN 　 ➜ Virgo.
（ ❪ 🐰 CHINESE ZODIAC 　 ꜜ
　 ━ 　 ANIMAL ⋮ Monkey.
　 ━ 　 YIN/YANG ⋮ Yang.
　 ━ 　 ELEMENT ⋮ Wood.

（ ❪ 🐰 ETHNICITY 　 ➜ Korean ❪ 🇰🇷 ❫.
（ ❪ 🐰 NATIONALITY 　 ➜ South Korean ❪ 🇰🇷 ❫.

（ ❪ 🐰 BIRTHPLACE 　 ➜ ULSAN, South Korea.
（ ❪ 🐰 RESIDENCES 　 ꜜ
　 ━ 　 ULSAN, South Korea ⋮ birth-2023.
　 ━ 　 SEOUL, South Korea ⋮ 2023-present.
（ ❪ 🐰 OTHER RELEVANT LOCATIONS 　 ꜜ
　 ━ 　 LOS ANGELES, CA, United States ⋮ 2019; 2022-23.
　 ━ 　 BEIJING, China ⋮ 2022.

（ ❪ 🐰 LANGUAGES 　 ꜜ
rated on the Babel scale.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 KOREAN ❪ standard ❫ ⋮ native. Although hints of Southeastern Korean occasionally slip while conversing with people from his same area and the fact that he has learnt the local variant throughout his childhood, it is rare for TAEHYUN to favor it consciously over the standard Korean spoken in Seoul; especially since moving to the capital to pursue his dreams of fame, he has always done his best to conceal his natural accent. It seems to have worked in his favor as he doesn't get teased over his pronunciation at all.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 ENGLISH ❪ mixed dialects ❫ ⋮ professional. Despite English classes in South Korea not leading to optimal results for most students, TAEHYUN was able to learn the language on his own through a mix of different methods developing just as many different aspects; the main method was finding snail mail penpals, which is also how he managed to learn other languages, but with English specifically he went a step further by finding travel companions and engaging in anglophone media. His English has various influences due to the different media consumed and the different people he's talked to, so it can't be strictly classified into a specific dialect.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 MANDARIN ❪ standard ❫ ⋮ advanced. As expected of an external learner, TAEHYUN speaks, for the most part, a strictly standard Mandarin; because of his penpals being of different ages, origins and residing in different areas, however, he has picked up on a few expressions and linguistic alterations used by the people in question ❪ for the most part, though, his knowledge is limited to the standard variant; he wouldn't be able to understand, say, Sichuanese even if he tried ❫.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 RUSSIAN ❪ standard ❫ ⋮ advanced. Many of his penpals coincidentally ended up being of Russian origin, whether they actually lived in the country or not, so he has naturally picked it up without originally having any intention to do so. Now, whether he became friends with any of them or not is a different story ❪ spoiler: he hates a huge majority of his Russian penpals ❫, but the linguistic knowledge has been pretty useful so far, especially for studying. Who would've thought?

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 JAPANESE ❪ standard ❫ ⋮ intermediate. He hasn't had as many occasions to practice Japanese, nor has he ever gone really far with studies on his own, but he can understand Japanese to some extent. He's much better at understanding it than writing or speaking, and his oral comprehension specifically is way superior to his reading.

（ ❪ 🐰 PHYSICAL APPEARANCE 　 ꜜ

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 FACECLAIM ⋮ Yoo Seungeon ❪ EVNNE ❫.
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 HEIGHT ⋮ 179 cm.
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 NATURAL EYE COLOR ⋮ dark brown.
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 NATURAL HAIR COLOR ⋮ dark brown.
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 BODY MODIFICATIONS ⋮ none.

（ ❪ 🐰 MEDICAL HISTORY 　 ➜ TAEHYUN's mental and physical health is in great condition.

（ ❪ 🐰 GENDER IDENTITY 　 ➜ cisgender male.
（ ❪ 🐰 PRONOUNS 　 ➜ he/him.
（ ❪ 🐰 SEXUAL ORIENTATION 　 ➜ unlabeled ❪ he doesn't really care about labels, but he has been attracted to both genders at some point in his life ❫.
（ ❪ 🐰 RELATIONSHIP STATUS 　 ➜ "single", he said...
（ ❪ 🐰 SIGNIFICANT OTHER 　 ➜ ... 😁.

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（ ❪ 🐰 PERSONALITY 　 ➜ Depending on who you ask, TAEHYUN can appear either as a friendly person who knows his self-worth and can stand his ground, or an energy vampire; don't get me wrong, he's not the type to bring others down for the sake of appearing superior, but he does indeed place himself a tiny bit higher than everyone else, which can drain his interlocutors' energies and make them feel like they're being looked down upon in the long run. Truth is, TAEHYUN is rather insecure and lives only thanks to others' appreciation, which he tries to earn by exaggerating his achievements and stories ━ he doesn't go as far as lying, however; if anything, he's an extremely honest person, to the point it may cause disagreements or, ironically, lead to misunderstandings when he deals with the wrong people. Despite his boisterous persona, however, it is also worth mentioning TAEHYUN is naturally kind-hearted and a person with very solid principles such as living true to oneself and accepting others' diversities. He is particularly loud about fighting against misogyny, for he's seen how it impacts his close ones' lives and he refuses to partake in such a destructive mindset.

（ ❪ 🐰 BACKGROUND 　 ➜ TAEHYUN was born and raised in a rather normal and mostly functional household, the second and last child to a couple so deeply in love that not even the physical distance could tear their relationship apart ━ and thank God for that! Who knows what might've happened to the two Eom siblings had they been a dysfunctional couple?

TAEHYUN was mostly raised by a sentimental yet strong woman ━ two characteristics that can be easily seen in him nowadays ━ and her just as strong mother while having much fewer interactions with his father due to his line of work; young TAEHYUN already knew and understood his reasons to be away for so long, and yet he couldn't help but feel his absence. It was only normal for him to turn out the way he did.

For the most part, though, TAEHYUN was a rather happy child, one to get along with almost everyone and not let almost anything ruin his mood; what's more, it's not like his father never came home, and every time he did he spoiled his son in whatever way he could. He has plenty of core memories that include him, too. His school years have been rather peaceful, with TAEHYUN slowly building his smaller circle of friends while keeping a fairly good relationship with everyone else as well.

He's had his bad moments too, of course: dating life, for example, has always been rather rocky due to his perceived emotional unavailability ━ which is what I'd say it's more about people, and teens specifically, being unable to accept a partner who doesn't fully feed into their delusions. As TAEHYUN saw his individuality being slowly sucked out of him during the course of his 'teenage flings', he eventually realized he's simply not made for romantic relationships at all; it explains why his current arrangement with a certain someone is still unclear as of now despite the two being smitten with each other.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 MY SUGAR-RUSH! ⋮ Written by ⋮ In which sugar creators vote and 'produce' a boy group from a pool of 30 trainees. TAEHYUN has always dreamt of becoming famous in a way or another. He's pretty confident in his charisma and he thinks he can easily become a good vocalist if he works hard enough, so why not? He loves making new experiences after all, and if this means he could possibly achieve his dream of fame he's more than willing to try it out.

Truth is, he actually got an external push by two people whose opinion he really cares about, both of them being pen pals he's talked to with the intention of making a name for himself in a rather unconventional way. One of his closest pen pals in particular, VALERIYA, has recommended him the idol path due to their shared interest for K-Pop, but also her gut feeling telling her he'd make an amazing idol. She might be right... Who knows!

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（ ❪ 🐰 FAMILY 　 ➜ Since his early childhood, TAEHYUN has lived in a pretty much all-female household due to his father's job having him travel abroad all year long. While this physical distance definitely got in the way of a proper father-son relationship, however, TAEHYUN wouldn't say he's had an unhappy childhood at all: first of all, the rest of the family made up for that absence pretty well, but TAEHYUN also acknowledges this is exclusively for his and his family's own good. And hey, at least dad comes and visits from time to time!

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 GO HEE KYUNG ╱ 고희경 ❪ January 3, 1972 in Ulsan, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by N/A ⋮ TAEHYUN's mother. Despite the hardships of being the only adult in the household for a long time, she managed to bring up both of her children without going insane somehow; it sure helps that her mother, TAEHYUN's granny, has actively helped her raising the two Eom siblings, but TAEHYUN is still incredibly grateful to his mother for what she's done to raise both him and his sister.

She's a woman of a very strong character, independent and fierce yet loving, open-minded and witty at the same time; no wonder her son turned out like that too. She doesn't get into other people's business, nor does she care about others' opinion of her; all HEEKYUNG wants to do is to lead a simple life and staying true to her few but solid principles. TAEHYUN really looks up to her.

She currently works as a postal service clerk.

★

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 EOM JI HYUN ╱ 엄지현 ❪ July 8, 1997 in Ulsan, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by YUBIN, OH MY GIRL ⋮ TAEHYUN's older sister. Although a bit of a bully undercover, she gets along with her little brother really well. Instead of fulfilling the traditional older sister role, she has always been pretty much of an individualist, leading TAEHYUN to care for himself after reaching a certain age; most guys in his place would find this annoying or unfair ━ and admittedly he thought the same as a kid ━ but he is actually grateful for being taught to take care of himself instead of being over reliant on other people, especially if this means subjecting women to society's expectations.

JIHYUN is, despite appearances, extremely protective of her younger brother: knowing him better than most, she's well aware he's basically defenseless in the real world, whether because of his habit to stir drama without even meaning to ━ likely due to his honesty, often leaning more into bluntness ━ or his gullibility; nevertheless, as long as he doesn't endanger himself by dealing with the wrong people, she knows it will be fine and that almost nothing can perturb him.

She currently lives in a shared apartment with two friends in Seoul, where she works as an elementary school teacher.

★

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 EOM KI WOO ╱ 엄기우 ❪ April 26, 1972 in Ulsan, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by N/A ⋮ TAEHYUN's father. One would think that with KIWOO being abroad most of the time, their relationship would be quite strained by this point, but this couldn't be further from the truth: father and son get along very well. The distance has actually helped KIWOO be more impartial towards TAEHYUN whenever the latter needs advice or a honest opinion from him, and it has contributed to creating a rather healthy dynamic against all odds.

KIWOO is, unlike pretty much the rest of the family, a rather socially awkward man, whose clumsiness has transferred to his son as well. He's meek and easy to manipulate, but both thanks to his age and because of his wife he is slowly learning to be less gullible and more conscious of his strong points.

He has been working as an airline pilot for several years as of 2024.

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（ ❪ 🐰 FRIENDSHIPS 　 ➜ profiles are shown in chronological order.

　 𝓲. IRL Friends
　 𝓲𝓲. Pen Pals
　 𝓲𝓲𝓲. MY SUGAR-RUSH!

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ONE ✱ IRL Friends

━━ ━ GENERAL OVERVIEW ➜ TAEHYUN is a rather friendly person who gets along well with pretty much everyone, especially girls ━ many people say he has a feminine feel to him, both because of his interests but also his sensibility which seems to resonate much better with girls. That being said, despite knowing many people, only a few selected ones are considered close friends by TAEHYUN; everyone else is quickly forgotten, at least name wise.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 JEON MIN HYUN ╱ 전민현 ❪ September 9, 2004 in Seoul, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by KIM GYUVIN, ZEROBASEONE ⋮ These two have first met each other in primary school, with MINHYUN arriving just a few weeks earlier from the capital to his mother's hometown after his parents' divorce. At the time, the young and impressionable MINHYUN had a weird bias against Ulsan locals, but he quickly warmed up to a few people ━ first one being TAEHYUN himself after becoming his seatmate on the very first day of school. Growing up, the two have become an inseparable duo, often teasing each other but also playing pranks on other people together; but more than being a pair of troublemakers, these two are ultimately each other's safe place, with barely any secret between them and no obstacle hard enough to get in their way.

MINHYUN currently works at his mother's restaurant.

★

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 OH YUN SEO ╱ 오윤서 ❪ October 18, 2002 in Ulsan, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by SION, GEENIUS ⋮ YUNSEO first met TAEHYUN ❪ and, by extension, MINHYUN ❫ during their middle school years as she spotted her father, TAEHYUN and MINHYUN's homeroom teacher at the time, talking to the latter two right at the end of the school day; after that first encounter, she's taken on the task to be their "middle school guide" and to help them out with their tough subjects ❪ she wasn't one of the top students for nothing, after all ❫. Even if she can be as overbearing as a mother sometimes, TAEHYUN cherishes her a lot ━ and he must admit he's even had a crush for her at some point, only for her to "break his heart" ❪ she got herself a boyfriend... ❫; the friendship remains unchanged despite this, though, because TAEHYUN CAN take a no! Men all over the world, take notes.

YUNSEO's current whereabouts are unknown.

★

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 OH YUN CHAE ╱ 오윤채 ❪ February 29, 2004 in Ulsan, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by YEONSU, ADYA ⋮ YUNSEO's younger sister. One would think she'd befriend TAEHYUN and MINHYUN first considering she had been classmates with them throughout both primary and middle school, but she only got the courage to start talking to them after her older sister introduced her to them; even nowadays she sometimes feels as if the only reason why she's in this friend group in the first place is out of respect from TAEHYUN and MINHYUN towards YUNSEO, but that couldn't be further from the truth. She's very shy when you first talk to her, but it doesn't take long for her to warm up to people and show her more energetic side ━ which TAEHYUN considers quite endearing, honestly speaking.

YUNCHAE's current whereabouts are unknown.

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TWO ✱ Pen pals

━━ ━ GENERAL OVERVIEW ➜ With a postal service clerk as your mother and a dream to be well known all over the world, it is quite easy for you to be redirected towards pen pal services by your own family. In TAEHYUN's case, his interest mostly came from his mother's own stories and his wish to experience them himself; little did he know, this would quickly turn into both the best and the worst choice of his life depending on the people he had to deal with.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 RICHARD WU ╱ WU RUI QIAN ╱ 吳睿謙 ❪ February 1, 2004 in Shanghai, China ❫ Portrayed by RICKY, ZEROBASEONE ⋮ TAEHYUN's very first pen pal, these two have been exchanging each other letters ever since 2011 at the tender age of 7 and are still going at it despite being in the digital age: they just feel it's more authentic this way. They mainly communicate in English, as RICHARD had moved in the United States at a rather young age and could only speak that language well, but they've been on a Mandarin-learning journey together for a while now ━ both for RICHARD to better reconnect with his roots, but also for TAEHYUN to learn more himself.

The two have met up two times, both of them in RICHARD's residence in the United States: their first meeting ever was in 2019, and also TAEHYUN's first flight ever ❪ accompanied by his mother, of course ❫ ━ an experience that has truly had an impact on him; they later spent New Year's together between 2022 and 2023, with TAEHYUN flying alone for the first time. Their relationship took a weirdly awkward turn around this time, with RICHARD realizing his attraction to men and TAEHYUN being unsure as to what he wanted them to be; while it took a bit for them to get back to their original relationship, they are still great friends as of 2024 and both have moved on since then.

First Letter Sent ◌ TAEHYUN's first letter to RICHARD was written in red glitter ink on very light pink paper, his favorite colors at the time. The pen was bought specifically for this letter after begging his mother on his knees, and ever since then he's made it his ritual to use it exclusively for his letters to RICHARD ❪ even if after the first letter, he moved on to only write the greetings with it and the rest in standard black ink due to the other's complaints of being unable to read most of the text ❫. There's not much to it content wise, just an introduction to himself in extremely awkward English, a few photos ━ this despite his mother's complaints ━ and a few ugly doodles. RICHARD still keeps this letter as one of his most precious possessions to this day.

First Letter Received ◌ RICHARD's first letter to TAEHYUN, although written in much better English, looked more like a primary school writing assignment rather than a heartfelt letter sent to a potential pen pal. Don't get him wrong, he was actually very excited to talk to TAEHYUN at the time, but he didn't know how to express it as well as the other did: he only learnt how to open up to others as he grew up, which is also thanks to TAEHYUN pushing him to be more honest with himself and others. TAEHYUN keeps the letter in a specific folder dedicated to RICHARD.

★

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 WANG LING FENG ╱ 王玲鳳 ❪ August 19, 1990 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China ❫ Portrayed by N/A ⋮ TAEHYUN and LINGFENG have had quite the curious start, and their relationship continues to be quite unstable as of 2024; the former attributes the reason behind this dynamic to LINGFENG's personality ❪ I mean, what woman in her 30s would fight a kid who has just turned 20 this year? ❫, while the latter blames it on the younger being an asshole to her ❪ she has yet to explain what has he done to make her feel wronged, though... ❫. Despite this, they keep their correspondence going, fighting every single time... I guess it is fun to have someone to insult or fight with while keeping a solid friendship, isn't it?

First Letter Sent ◌ LINGFENG doesn't remember the contents of the letter as she lost it ❪ she's quite the messy person I fear... ❫, nor does she actually care about stuff like that. With this approach, no wonder she doesn't get along with TAEHYUN very well...

First Letter Received ◌ As with all his other penpals, TAEHYUN saved LINGFENG's first letter to him in a specific folder dedicated to her along with the others. The letter in itself wasn't very long or meaningful ━ just a short greeting, a photo of the view from her balcony and a few icebreaker questions ━ yet it holds a meaning to TAEHYUN for some reason.

★

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 FYOKLA VALERIYA YAKOVLEVA ╱ Фёкла Валерия Яковлева ❪ June 2, 1996 in Poronaysk, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia ❫ Portrayed by LANA, SOLOIST ⋮ Mostly referred to as VALERIYA or just VALERI, she gets on pretty well with TAEHYUN despite the age gap due to the various common interests they have and their similar personalities; the latter is also cause of fights at times, but they make up fast as they're able to understand each other very well. Along with CHAOYANG, she's always been encouraging him to chase his dreams of fame in a more direct way, eventually recommending him performing arts ❪ it seemed the most obvious option given their shared interest for K-Pop ❫. She's recently moved in Seoul with her Korean boyfriend, and has met up with TAEHYUN once as well.

First Letter Sent ◌ With VALERIYA being TAEHYUN's first Russian-speaking penpal, his first letter to her was in English ━ by this point a language he was greatly comfortable in. Aside from the usual greetings, knowing about her interest in K-Pop, TAEHYUN asked her about her favorite artists and whether she had some music recommendations from her home country. The letter was written with dark blue ink on clean white paper that has since turned yellow with the passing of time. VALERIYA keeps it in a drawer next to her side of the bed.

First Letter Received ◌ What TAEHYUN didn't expect at the time was for VALERIYA to reply in Korean, although very awkwardly. Instead of a typical introduction, she mentioned having visited South Korea a few times already because of work and her favorite sights from her last trip; the letter also had a few photos of the places mentioned, including TAEHYUN's beloved Ulsan, and the envelope also contained a sachet emanating a faint yet sweet scent which he has yet to figure out. He still keeps the letter in a specific folder dedicated to VALERIYA.

★

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 WU CHAO YANG ╱ 吴朝陽 ❪ March 21, 1938 ━ April 3, 2022 in Beijing, China ❫ Portrayed by N/A ⋮ Although rather rough in his ways, CHAOYANG has had an important role in TAEHYUN's life until the end of their correspondence due to his death ━ and vice versa. Even with the large age gap between them, the two have forged a meaningful friendship that has helped them grow as people ❪ yes, even an old man can learn something from a bratty teenager like TAEHYUN at the time ❫; needless to say that CHAOYANG's death has left TAEHYUN with a huge wound, and he regrets not visiting the older more often when he could have. It is even sadder when you consider that aside from TAEHYUN, CHAOYANG didn't really have anyone who would hear him out of genuine interest.

First Letter Sent ◌ Not expecting much out of an old Chinese man in his 80s, TAEHYUN opted to write in Mandarin, black ink on white paper with minimal decorations just to give it a slight custom touch without overdoing it; an old man likely wouldn't be interested in silly doodles like the ones he'd make for other people, after all ❪ or that's what TAEHYUN thought ❫. A bit more awkward than most other letters he's written, he ended the letter by asking what reason led him to talk with someone that young and whose interests would likely be different from his. CHAOYANG's son still keeps the letter to this day, as he respects the value it had for his father.

First Letter Received ◌ Surprisingly enough, CHAOYANG wrote a few sentences in Korean ━ probably to boast about his ❪ minimal ❫ knowledge of the language. Similarly to TAEHYUN, he also wanted to know what led someone that young to start a correspondence with him, a "worthless old man with not long to live". The letter was very short and pretty much meaningless from beginning to end, yet TAEHYUN holds it dear to this day and keeps it in a folder dedicated to him.

★

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 MIZUSHIMA KOKORO ╱ 水島心 ❪ February 14, 2004 in Kyoto, Japan ❫ Portrayed by MIIHI, NIZIU ⋮ Living up to her birth name, KOKORO's selling point is her golden heart: she'd help even someone who just tried to kill her out of pure benevolence, as she truly believes she was born to give love; she wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks to TAEHYUN, though, she's learned that it's OK to prioritize herself at times; in turn, he's learned to prioritize himself a bit less. Unlike what happened with many of his closer penpals, TAEHYUN and KOKORO have never really had the chance to meet due to the former being unable to travel for the time being ❪ I mean... He's in a survival show, after all ❫ and the latter being simply too busy to breathe, let alone move to South Korea even just for a short trip.

First Letter Sent ◌ After writing a simple "こんにちは", TAEHYUN has decided he won't get into writing in Japanese. Ever. ❪ Kanji are the hardest part, they said... Kana are easy, they said... Whoever lied to TAEHYUN like that needs to be jailed ❫. The rest of his first letter was written completely in English, if we exclude the greetings, and decorated with small doodles in glittery ink of different colors. Since TAEHYUN first wrote to KOKORO just a few days after moving to Seoul, he took the chance to describe the big changes from his fairly peaceful life down in Ulsan to the more chaotic environment of the big city. She keeps the letter in an envelope glued to the end page of her scrapbook, although it is now crumpled and there's a missing piece after her pet dog ate it...

First Letter Received ◌ If there's one thing that stuck with TAEHYUN about KOKORO's very first letter to him, the blinding mess of colors and hand-drawn kaomojis would be on top of an absurdly long list; the 5 pages long letter, containing the most random assortment of info ❪ he has yet to understand how she went from her initial greeting to gossiping about the boys in her class and concluding with the craziest story about almost being stabbed on her way back home from school... ❫. It is a very funny letter he holds close, in a specific folder dedicated to KOKORO just like he does for all his other penpals.

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THREE ✱ MY SUGAR-RUSH!

━━ ━ GENERAL OVERVIEW ➜ TAEHYUN's journey in MY SUGAR-RUSH! is far from over, so his relationships as of now are quite fickle and won't necessarily stick until the very end; there are, however, some trainees he has bonded with in the studio... And one in particular who has captured his heart. I wonder who that could be...?

⚠️ For those who have just started/have yet to start reading MY SUGAR-RUSH!, there are a few spoilers ahead.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 KANG JAE HYUN ╱ 강재현 ❪ June 6, 2004 in Seoul, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by MINSEO, DRIPPIN ⋮ Written by RUNE ⋮ TAEHYUN's little paw ━ his лапушечка, if you will ━ the relationship between these two is rather ambiguous ❪ they're so close you might think they're dating, and it doesn't help they don't clarify what they are either ❫. This has caused a few tensions here and there ━ notably during the second team mission because of a certain someone ━ but it doesn't matter whether the rest approves of their closeness or not as long as they have each other. Seeing how JAEHYUN has finally joined the show, TAEHYUN really, really, really hopes they can debut together.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 SHIN KI TAE ╱ 신기태 ╱ KRISTOPHER SHIN ❪ January 1, 2001 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ❫ Portrayed by KEEHO, P1HARMONY ⋮ Written by ASIA ⋮ One of the very first people TAEHYUN met on studio ❪ especially as they entered the competition together with BEOMJU and DOHYUN ❫, he really admires him. We don't talk about the fact TAEHYUN has yet to call him by his proper name ❪ and especially not Kitten or Kelp... ❫, but putting that aside the two seem to get along pretty much well.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 SEO YOUNG HOON ╱ 서영훈 ╱ NATHAN SEO ❪ August 31, 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada ❫ Portrayed by INTAK, P1HARMONY ⋮ Written by JIA ⋮ The #1 victim of TAEHYUN's horrible name memory, he has been called by so many nicknames in just three episodes: NASA, Neon, Neopolitan, Nascar, Feven's boyfrien- I mean what? I didn't say that. Stop lying. You must be imagining things. Haha. Nicknames aside, TAEHYUN really respects him for his dedication but also for how he doesn't take shit from anyone: someone who can speak earnestly without fearing others' reactions is, to him, a person that deserves respect.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 CHO KI HA ╱ 조기하 ❪ March 19, 2004 in Seoul, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by BAEKSEUNG, EPEX ⋮ Written by MAK ⋮ Although not much has been shown on screen, the two have worked together in the first team mission as co-leaders for the 무궁화 team ━ with whom he performed KINGDOM's unreleased single Last Flower. Despite the hardships and the rest of the team doing pretty much nothing, KIHA has given his all to the performance until the very end ━ something TAEHYUN will eternally be thankful for.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 JERRIE TRAN ╱ TRẦN CHÍ CƯỜNG ❪ January 21, 2000 in Buffalo, New York, USA ❫ Portrayed by HANBIN, TEMPEST ⋮ Written by SAM ⋮ Originally destined to be remembered as that one dude named Cherry Can and to be forgotten forever, that changed as the two ended up on the same team in the second team mission; sure, before that JERRIE had already become the Sour Building center ━ which is no small feat at all ━ but it's not like they had any chance to interact prior to that. TAEHYUN doesn't have anything but praise for him: he's hardworking ━ you'd think it should be the norm in a survival show, but people can surprise you ━ and definitely an opponent to keep an eye on.

　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 CHOI KWANG HO ╱ 최광호 ╱ CHOI NEO ❪ June 25, 2001 in Jeju, South Korea ❫ Portrayed by THEO, P1HARMONY ⋮ Written by MIMI ⋮ Not much has been shown on screen yet, and the two haven't really worked on any mission together, but who wouldn't know NEO when he's one of the most iconic trainees in the competition? TAEHYUN might have accidentally elevated him to the level of fully-fledged celebrity by mistakenly thinking NEO stood for his association to NCT and not his first name ❪ he's still convinced NEO's name is Nevin, mind you... ❫, so if you ever fell for that hoax... You know who to blame.

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（ ❪ 🐰 HABITS AND MANNERISMS 　 ➜ nicknaming people by accident ❪ trust him to get your name WRONG even if it's something as simple as Kevin or Nathan... ❫, gesturing while speaking, clinging to people he's close to.

（ ❪ 🐰 LIKES 　 ➜ pigeons, sweets of all kinds ❪ he's weak for strawberry-based treats in particular ❫, writing letters, jazz fusion, shibuya-kei, language learning, being at the center of attention, being complimented, going on long walks, shōjo manga ❪ his favorite right now is Ikoku Nikki ❫, the smell of coffee, car rides at night, honest people, collecting stationery.

（ ❪ 🐰 DISLIKES 　 ➜ handling electronic devices, controlling people, videogames ❪ not all of them, but a great majority ❫, being ignored, spicy food ❪ he has a high tolerance, he just doesn't like it ❫, alcoholic beverages, autumn, cold weather in general ━ even if likes winter as an aesthetic.

（ ❪ 🐰 FAVORITES 　 ꜜ
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 ANIMALS ⋮ pigeons.
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 ARTISTS ⋮ Red Velvet, Casiopea.
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 COLORS ⋮ pink, orange.
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 EMOJI ⋮ 🦅🤭💤
　 ♡⃕ ◡̈ ˚　 FOOD ⋮ strawberry parfait.

（ ❪ 🐰 PERSONAL PLAYLIST 　 ➜ 　 𝓲. 白昼夢, Lamp 　 𝓲𝓲. Small Talk, eureka! 　 𝓲𝓲𝓲. Space Road, Casiopea 　 𝓲𝓿. AN INSATIABLE HIGH, Masayoshi Takanaka 　 𝓿. Automatic, Red Velvet 　 𝓿𝓲. Classified, OH MY GIRL 　 𝓿𝓲𝓲. snowflake like a chiffon, dahlia 　 𝓿𝓲𝓲𝓲. Umpah Umpah, Red Velvet 　 𝓲𝔁. Girl Friend, Strawberry Machine 　 𝔁. ラビットパニック, Serani Poji 　 𝔁𝓲. Vast, eureka!

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（ ❪ 🐰 YOHA'S NOTES 　 ➜ Hello everyone! I've decided to start with TAEHYUN, one of my favorite survival show OCs as he's getting written in a way I'm pretty much satisfied with ❪ if there's one thing I hate, that would be applyfic authors who clearly don't read the forms they receive while writing... ❫. I made him when EVNNE wasn't even a thing and I was still grieving over not seeing Seungeon get in the ZEROBASEONE lineup... Hard times, my guys. I was insufferable when this happened. Since then, though, we've gotten much more media and I'm excited to see what the group has in store for us even if... We're losing them quite soon... UGHHHH.

Don't mind the fact that I have two OCs with Gyuvin as faceclaim ❪ at least I'm only focusing on one of the two... Which you'll see very soon! ❫, nor that the OC with Ricky as his faceclaim is named Richard. I know it feels obvious, but it was too fitting... And Rune said that too so if you disagree you disagree with her too and you should die. ❪ I am joking. I love you all <3 ❫

My biggest inspiration while creating him was, well, myself... I self-projected a lot, even in some aspects that don't show properly here; I avoided getting into his dating history, for example, although I do have a clear idea as to how it went, but you got to know at least the basics from his background section. Another more subtle but funny inspiration was one of my older cousins... I remembered about her fear of pigeons the day one got into my house and the rest is history. Just like Chen with hens...

What do you think of this layout, by the way? It's more or less what I will use for niveau seuil with a few tweaks here and there ▬ mostly elements I reprised from my profiles for Earth Defense Club ▬ so I hope you like it! I kept the symbol combos pretty simple to make this readable enough, even if seeing all these huge blocks of text is making my head spin 😵‍💫

Small hint for the next OC: she's red, but you can make her blue. Who could she be...? :o

🆕 ❪ 031124 ❫ I reposted this solely to update the initial graphic without losing the inlines for comments. How does it look? Surely better than the original, right? Considering that was screenrecorded from my phone...

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SPECIAL THANKS TO... ㅤ ᯓ★

RUNE ➜ for allowing me to use Seungeon as a faceclaim despite him having close to zero media at the time... For allowing homosexuality in your survival show... For basically everything, actually!

JIA ➜ for helping me out with Chinese names for TAEHYUN's pen pals and creating that snack known as NATHA- 🔫

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