Discussion: Noriko and Kyong

Hi, everyone! 

Welcome to the first week of the blogsary celebration—if you’ve seen the sidebar, then you’d know that this week, we’re going to be delving into Kyong and Lysette’s DNAU counterparts. Instead of posting a short a few times per week, I thought that it would be better for me to do some kind of casual post where I ramble and talk about the characters in focus. This is mostly because I wouldn’t be sure how to connect the Coa-verse to the DNAU-verse, and so that I wouldn’t have too much of a hard time posting come the start of the new semester. 

I’ll be talking more in the post, so feel free to keep reading! 

"This...will be interesting, I guess."

For the first text post, I’ll be talking about the characters of Lee Jin-kyong and Noriko Inoue! Back in the DNAU-verse, Nori was a newer character who gained her own story the more time I spent on her. I had originally meant for her to be an agent right from the start, but eventually, I decided to have her as a model initially before quitting and deciding to go for HQ. Unfortunately, I never created any shorts for her during her time at HQ—if you’d look at her [tag], you’d see that there are only a few posts dedicated to her. 

Comparing the two characters to one another, it seems like Kyong and Nori are pretty similar to one another based on their occupations as well as some other factors, but they’re actually really different. Come Coalesce, I knew I wanted to retain Kyong’s unrequited crush on her best friend, Soo-yeon (who was Naomi Hirano in the DNAU). The two of them were never quite meant to be together; while it was tempting to have Soo-yeon as Kyong’s girlfriend, I felt that it didn’t quite match up with whatever I had in mind back in August 2015. 

Left: Kiko Mizuhara (Kyong, Nori)
Middle: Lee Chae-rin (Soo-yeon, Naomi)

Her feelings for Soo-yeon as well as her occupation as a model is where the similarities end. Looking deeper into Kyong’s character, it’s fair to say that Kyong, at best, is an idealist. She’s idealistic and optimistic at heart; as the youngest out of the nine mains, one can even call her one of the more naive (if not the most) of them all. She’s someone who would always prefer to see the good in people no matter what. Unfortunately, as admirable as a trait this is, it’s one that actually leads to one of her main conflicts in the story. 

The bubblier, brighter Kyong is a big difference from Nori—based on what I can remember as well as on the unposted shorts I have in my laptop, Nori was definitely on the colder side of the spectrum. Nori was colder, arguably more practical; she was also stubborn to a fault. She leaves Seiko Design after deciding that she doesn’t want to adopt the hole that Naomi left behind. This is different from Kyong, who stays and continues working for Tulle Agencies despite her grief and feelings about the situation. 

When it comes to Kyong’s character, something I’ve been hinting at is how she might have not fully known who Soo-yeon was. And that's pretty normal, to be honest; we don't really know everyone a hundred percent, even if it's our own best friend. 

However, in Kyong's case--there's the hint that Soo-yeon was not who she believed her to be. And as early as now, I can confirm that. 

I mentioned earlier that one of Kyong's greater flaws is her inability to see the bad in anyone, regardless of who they are and what they've done. Sadly, this trait of hers gets in the way when it comes to recognizing that Soo-yeon may not have been the best of friends--hell, the best of people. Combining that flaw with her feelings for Soo-yeon, it's escalated to the point of her idealizing Soo-yeon and believing her to be a kind of person that she isn't. 

(And, well. Soo-yeon may or may not have taken advantage of it. But that's for another time!) 

In all honesty, Kyong is one of the more 'distanced' in the main nine. Soo-yeon's death drags her closer to the rest of the central characters--and if not for that, then I doubt that she would play such a huge role in the story. And as cruel as it may sound, her presence is one that is very much needed considering all that's going to happen. She's just as vital as the rest of the mains despite her situation being different from the others'; and I'm looking forward to showing all of you how exactly that's going to be! 

That's it for my first ramble. I hope you like it, and that it gave a bit more insight into Kyong's character. :') She's one that I have yet to dedicate more time to, and I hope that I'll get the chance to very soon! 

This marks the end of Kyong and Nori's three days. Please do look forward to the next segment! 💓