໒꒱ . DATE LOTTERY # 2024 _ THE DECISION 、

BUBBLEGUM LI.LI     ୨୧     @lgchyuk / lili loves games.

but these games, they’re not quite her speed — a little too carefree, a little too slow; results pending rather than immediate, the easygoing nature a far cry from the devil’s advocate propositions she plays in  her daily life. and yet, here she is, pretty little thumbs twiddling the joystick of the nintendo switch joy con as she makes her character — some villager with neon teal hair and pink eyes who the staff had aptly named after herself — run after hyuk with a net. 

and … she may be having a little too much fun — all shown through the way she smiles and laughs, hand hitting his shoulder each time she’s able to hit him with a net. but enough of that — the real joy has yet to come, “okay, so we have to shake trees to get special items. it could be like money or furniture, or like the pink fruits we saw earlier.” she sets her controller down as she explains, pointing out the basic map layout where the trees were all huddled towards the horizon; her character inching a little farther back as she urges him to move forward. “so, go on — just shake them, press ‘a’.”

“you have a point there,” she murmurs quietly, fingers tapping mindlessly at the desk they were seated at.

“don’t forget there’s also to, too and two. oh! and complement and compliment. it’s honestly insane.” her english as a second language class had been hell growing up; if she had been asami’s shoes, she would have thrown her hands up and called it a day but alas, here they both were, suffering through english. fortunate for lili, she liked learning languages; unfortunately for lili, it was fueled by her need to succeed and to prove others wrong for doubting her and her lovely intellect. 

“english is full of things that sound the same but are spelled different, it’s dumb but … it’s english.” she says as if that would help asami's predicament at all. it didn't but lili truly didn't know what else to say, "you know what you need is a break! should we go for lattes?"

Asami smiles satisfied with herself for pulling that reaction out of Lili. She shrugs, "As far as you know, I might only be able to count up to ten and know how to ask for directions to the bathroom. When I got to Korea, that was all I knew for like a month. Oh, and also colors!" Asami points her finger up like she made a discovery at the addition of that last piece of information.

She could feel her head starting to hum with the foreshadow of a headache. Learning new things that didn't require her moving often left that little impression in her. "It makes no sense. The best way to keep us from saying idiotic things is by not being able to say them at all," she says with a little pout and a sigh, but then she deflates, "I understand how this is important, since it's a easier language for most people to follow abroad, but doesn't change the fact that is so confusing," Asami points at the screen where she is seeing interesting language facts where the words 'they’re, their and there' are all side by side, "These all sound exactly the same."

having already had the go around earlier in the day, lili finds herself coming through the halls once again on a whim. would the cards have changed by then or was it a daily thing rather than an hourly rotation? her collection of ‘drink me’, ‘eat me’, and ‘open me’s were as provocative as they come but didn’t really answer the question that was looming in everyone’s minds:

why?

why did the pranks this year seem so tame? — was there more to the picture? — was there something they were all missing? were they all just lying in wait for the better, more out-of-this-world prank of all pranks to happen? 

surely, this had everyone on the edge of their seats and that was more than enough reason for lili to try her hand at the cards again. perhaps getting more would change her odds for whatever this was all leading up to.

but, as it turns out, from the lack of collections, maybe the cards were really that hard to come by. “huh, i would have thought they’d added more by now. there was a ton earlier.” 

pulling out a stack of the cards she had commandeered earlier, she looks at the words scrawled across them. “i’ve gotten a drink me, eat me and open me — but not a take me. want to trade for one of them?” lili didn’t know what any of them meant but maybe if she was able to collect them all, it’d somehow give them better meaning. “it’s definitely very alice-esque, don’t you think? with the eat me and drink me, maybe it’s a hint to their costumes this year? maybe we’ll see some naughty caterpillars for halloween?”

two of hearts.

⇢ starter for @lgclili

" take me ... " areum reads. after taking so long to find one of the playing cards ( they really didn't need to hide the cards as well as they had ) she couldn't help but be a little bit confused as to what the card meant. with a quick glance around, areum approaches one of the people beside her – were they as unlucky as herself, to get such a vague card ? " did you find one of these too ? " she asks, holding the card up to show the other woman. " because i ... really don't understand what this is supposed to mean ... " areum chuckles meekly. " does yours say something similar ? "

" they're usually pranks of some sort ... " she comments, recalling previous years. " should it be fishy they didn't do that again ? or are these cards some sort of an elaborate prank ? " she wonders, examining her own card a moment longer. " i don't really know – and the motif is cute, but what does this have to do with nintendo ? " she hums, frowning. " i don't know, i'm stumped ... this isn't any kind of puzzle i know how to solve. what about you ? "

her thumb slides from the capture button to the left — engaging her camera’s burst mode as she immediately steps back at the sight of seunghyun’s hands, trying to angle her phone to the best of her ability in every which way to get the best possible picture of seunghyun in all his purple glory.

oh, and a glory it was to see.

clad in his purple get-up as a character lili can vaguely recall, she finds it absolutely horrendous and it only makes it all the more hilarious — doubled-down by his horror to get his picture taken from the current circumstance, lili had thought today’s party would be a bore.

boy, was she wrong.

the moment he lunges forward, lili dodges to her right, side stepping the toppled over snacks in her need to escape. “in your dreams, seunghyunie ~” she nearly cackles, “this is the perfect early christmas gift to me,” and with that she makes a dash for it — immediately beelining it out of his clutches. 

It was almost as if when Seunghyun woke up this morning the clouds rolled back, and a higher power bellowed from the heavens and said - Get wrecked.

He can name a solid 137 ( 138 if you include the model manager he'd been avoiding after hearing word of a group Agency photo ) people he'd rather see on the Halloween of his discontent and unfortunately Lili did not even make the short list.

"Don't - !" The first step out of a stolen box is always a doozy. For a moment it looks as if Seunghyun's head is about to pop right through one side - Though he manages to catch himself and awkwardly roll from beneath it. "Don't you dare!"

Alas, the deed is done. His eye twitches with each subsequent flash, holding up a hand to shield as much of his face as possible. The costume was egregious enough without someone bearing witness to photographic evidence of his horribly drawn on mustache.

"Delete them. All of them." A bit difficult to be intimidating in a Waluigi costume of all things. Even on his feet towering over the trainee now, it's rather comedic. "Right now! Give me that -" he lunges forward, making a grab for it only to stumble a bit and jostle the table to their left, sending a few Nintendo themed finger foods onto the floor.

໒꒱ . BLACK BANQUET # REFLECTION 、

when asked to reflect — inquiries under the pretense of theory and hypothesis — lili feels this is legacy’s own way of leashing them. a toxic reminder that the wrong attitude could land you on the wrong side of the public masses all wrapped up in a situational ‘what if’ of an interview. 

so, lili sprinkles a little truth in each answer — but not too much, even if her own thoughts on the matter were of little concern. 

“it doesn’t really matter to me — i was just in the background, but it is kind of annoying that they’ll have to reshoot a bunch of stuff though. i’m sure the production staff must be exhausted, and i feel sorry for them. it’s a pricy mess, too.”  

truthfully, if lili had been a little more committed to the project, she probably would be frustrated. but since she wasn’t —

“what type of scandal?” she teases, before shrugging her shoulders — her face flattening to its default blankness as she thinks about it. “i'd probably do the opposite of what han sohee did.” she fanned the flames of her own  demise, really. 

didn’t she know the general public loved a tragedy — tearing down a blinded-by-love starlet was probably their afternoon snack in between their boring 9-to-5 and 5-to-9. 

“it would have blown over if she had just put the phone down,” and unilaterally kept her head down. ugh, the thought of it makes lili want to scoff. if it had been a man — he would have been praised for his blatant display of genuine love. but since it was a woman — lili tries not to frown. “people forget in time, or when another piece as equally — or better yet — more interesting drops.”  

from a realistic standpoint, lili thinks it’ll only be a matter of time before she’s accused of having an attitude problem — standing at the pinnacle of a misogynistic society does that to a person, especially if said person was a woman. she wouldn’t be surprised if she was prosecuted for even less than what han sohee had embroiled herself into. 

where they differed was that lili would never sacrifice career and face over a man — not when such a man did nothing to shield her from the backlash. god, reading the headlines the weeks before nearly had her gagging. such a waste, she thinks.

it’s easy enough to say it’ll never happen to her — but no one really knows the future, and lili was a time bomb ready to explode at the most minor inconvenience. “there’s really no avoiding a scandal — people try to make the most smallest of things into something newsworthy, it’s just the truth. getting in front of such a situation would probably be the smartest.” hiding things that should be kept hidden could only work so well — and for the filthy rich — but lili liked to think realistically, and while she liked to think she didn’t have anything to hide, there were some things she knew — about herself, her life, through experience — that could quickly turn from her sweetest advantage to the professional-fatal knife in her back. “that or being a nice person but no one is a perfect saint.”

most especially, lili.

“it’s okay,” she pipes up, appearing as happy as one could be given the circumstances, “that’s what you have me for, right?”

they’re lines straight out of a drama. of the thousands she’s been fed over her teenage years, lili knows how to play the role: of some love-smitten girl, gently brushed by the fate of a first love. that’s what the producers want, right? an innocent love to be hailed and rallied for over the netizen forums — lili can only hope that the bite of minkyu’s fans isn’t too cruel once this episode airs.

the magic words leave his lips and for the first time that day, lili’s smile turns genuine — for the one thing to truly brighten her day would be those four words. lili was far from a simple girl — but the moment those words reach her ears, she can feel the tips of them burn red, suddenly flustered, as if not expecting them.

( because, really, they were far from what she thought she’d be hearing that day )

“save the flattery for later, romeo. i haven’t gotten you down the hill yet.” she laughs, beaming when her helmet gets fitted snugly beneath her chin. 

they pass the first hurdle — safely getting onto the chair lift — with flying colors. 

if lili was honest, she had been nervous, and lili was seldom nervous. but she had been, for this : having seen others fail getting on the chair lift catastrophically over the years, she had prayed that today would not end up like so and thankfully her worries went unanswered.

now seated, sailing in the air on the lift — feet dangling from several feet above the ground — she felt a weight was lifted. that was possibly the hardest part of the mountain, in her opinion. learning and teaching couldn’t be so bad in comparison, at least that is what lili thinks. 

“you’re not afraid of heights, are you?”  her hand, gently grasped in his, gives it a light squeeze as she points to the the tiny slope they were nearing, “our stop is almost here!” 

Oh. Oh.

He can already hear it — the soft, romantic music the production team will overlay the moment this scene airs. The moment she pulls him back, the moment their eyes meet as she carefully places the helmet on his head; it’s straight out of a romance anime, he’s sure of it.

He barely registers the soft click of the security snap before he realizes he’s been holding his breath. His lips part, and there’s a flicker of bashfulness in his smile. “Ah, thank you. I guess it’s pretty obvious I’ve never skied before.”

His laugh is as soft as his smile, warm despite the cold. And then, before he can think too hard about it, he reaches for her helmet in return. His fingers graze her jaw as he secures the straps beneath her chin, and his touch lingers for just a second longer than necessary.

“You look really pretty, by the way.” The words leave him easily, without hesitation, entirely sincere when he brushes a strand gently out of her face. He grins then, eyes crinkling at the corners, and reaches up to gently push her goggles to rest on top of her helmet before doing the same with his own.

“We’re ready now, right?” This time, when he extends his hand toward her, he doesn’t just offer it — he takes hers, his gloved fingers wrapping around her own with quiet confidence. “Let's go, let's go! I need to see the ski princess in action.”

A BITTER TREAT. sometimes the sweetest treats are made bitter, black banquet filming site — @hyunsoolgc

lili was bored. 

sure, this may have been her first time on a film set — but the glitz and the glamour of it all had worn off the second she had stepped off the car and entered the wardrobe truck. it was no different than a day in the life of her famous grandmother. all politics and circumstance, all frazzled nobodies running around as if their heads had gotten cut off in search of their master ( read: the famous starlets that would lead this snazzy film ) — for lili, the rose-tinted glasses of film were quick to wear off.

but it was fun — being away from practices and demanding coaches for a while.

it also helped that these snazzy film starlets had such devoted fans who bought and hired yummy coffee trucks that catered to the film staff. and since, today lili happened to be one of said film staff — even if she was a nameless nobody with no lines and her face was completely covered by a masquerade mask — and that was all that she needed to exchange her pretty, pearly smile for an ice hazelnut latte. yum.

now, to thank the snazzy film starlet whose fans were dedicated enough to allot an atrocious amount of money for some parasocial relationship that would never be. she turns the cup around and almost feels her jaw drop in shock before her teeth begin to gnaw at the straw. 

how annoying. heading straight to the source, she hands him his own drink — “thanks for the coffee, i hope you thanked your precious fans for it.” 

thank god it’s not the ugly burger outfits she had seen during the briefing. it was the least they could do — hitting rock bottom in terms of stage outfits shouldn’t be a given, not when they were already putting their vocal chords on the line with the atrocitious catallena screech.

( honestly the sound alone had begun to haunt her in her sleep )

she steps towards the selections, cycling through the arrangements with a pursed lip — fingers flipping through the outfits with an discerning eye, noticing that the names had, in fact, been hung alongside the attires. oh, it was as bad as she had feared. 

“i hate to be the bearer of bad news.” she didn’t, it was probably one of her favorite things to do — but this was maylin, and lili couldn’t help but have a soft spot for the girl. so, she chooses to ease her into the burn — if one could call it that. “but — alright,” turning away from where she had spotted their name tags alongside the outfits, she takes maylin by the hand and corners her attentions.

“would you rather be a tuna nigiri or a salmon maki?”

 not that it would matter, but wasn’t it more fun to build the suspense?

the silence came rolling in, along with the carts of hats that stared back at the girls. maylin could have sworn she saw sparkles for a split second. while the others were giddy and filled with excitement to wear such clothes and perform on a stage that would be broadcast to the public, maylin could feel her blood temperature drop for a second.

talk about the digital footprint.

the brunette's arms dropped to her side in sudden disbelief. she figured this round of costumes would be a bit more unique and different, though, this was as unique as it got and with how significant it was for the actual song - there was no avoiding her fate. "i truly can't believe i will have to talk about this exact moment when we all debut. we'll never live this down." dramatically, yes, but every word that came out was true.

"do you think we get to pick out which outfit we want? that would at least allow me to not feel so burned."

FLY WITH ME. wanna fly with you in my arms ; hangang citizen’s park, seoul — @lgcminkyu

lili hadn’t thought much about the date lottery when the option had been placed on the table. it had been more or less a throw-away decision, sign her up there, hear about it later — sort of thing. 

however, when news came of her actually participating — and worse, having to be the one to plan the whole date — lili had her reservations. 

she had never been one to care about such things but what if her date sucked? and what if her date hated what she planned — what if netizens thought it was boring? ugh, this was the type of stress that imprinted permanent wrinkles to the forehead.

said wrinkles are ironed out as she eases herself into a sense of zen ; rolling her mystery date’s hint between her fingertips —  an adorable kuromi plushie that makes her wish she had chosen a my melody counterpart rather than the jellycat snake she had been eyeing for ages — as she waits at the corner of the entrance of hangang citizen’s park. all the cherry blossoms had finally departed from their blooms and all was left were their fallen petals, skirting around her heels.

she tries hard to keep her face from falling into a look of anxiousness as she pretends the camera currently zooming into her face from several steps away isn’t there, nor is the producer whispering into his headset isn’t inducing an annoying buzz in her ears. from afar, she can already spy the dozen or so kites taking flight ; vibrant colors painting the afternoon sky in their illustrious rainbow. "i hope they like it," she whispers to herself, taking another breath to calm herself.

being on her best behavior makes lili a boring girl.

and the last thing lili was — was boring.

maybe that’s why, when mischief springs into play, lili is like a moth to a flame. following her curiosity — to hell with the cat! —she wanted to find out just why this box was walking and who the fuck was hiding underneath it. there had to be a reason, right? what if there was a special prize involved?

phone in hand, lili forgoes the pictures she had been editing — the photobooth snapshots of her and maylin could wait — and follows behind the box, watching it wobble here and there until it finally stops.

and when it does, lili can only laugh as her shutter goes off with a giant, blinding flash! 

oh — was this her special prize?

“oh my god —”

or was this what they meant by good things come to those who wait? who would have known that all her effort — read: no effort — would pay off in such a way. for in her hands now lay the perfect blackmail:

han seunghyun, in all his scandalized glory, dressed up in what lili can only assume is some kind of mario brother parody — but uglier. 

and she was loving it.

“say cheese, seunghyunnie ~ or mamma mia or whatever your character says.” she laughs, taking her chance to get as many pictures as she can. 

✄ ⸻ 𝚂𝙷𝚄𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁 ;

@lgclili

Han Seunghyun does not get embarrassed.

He does, however, get so terribly humiliated that he finds his way inside a company costume party from the hidden staff entrance and hides out behind one of the abandoned non-alcoholic punch bowls with a ( confiscated - sorry, not sorry Jino ) box over his head for at least a half hour.

Why he felt so compelled to go along with this stupid bet in the first place is beyond him. This whole having morals and sticking to one's word thing was really starting to get old - Shit, footsteps.

Who dared to encroach upon his hiding place? He found it first! While silence would have been the better option, his curiosity truly does get the best of him. A little peek wouldn't hurt. Particularly if it was one of the model managers, he needed at least to know what kind of story he was going to have to concoct to explain away why he was hiding in the first -

"You."