Face Claim: Junhyung Kim (Junji)
Raein is 5'11" (181 cm) and weighs 140 lbs (63.5 kg). He likes to keep his hair no shorter than shoulder length, and frequently keeps it loose, except for when he's working (ponytail), or back when he worked in his family's restaurant (bun), or when it gets very, very hot. His hair is naturally black, but he usually dyes it very light brown to blond. He has thin, almond shaped eyes that are dark brown. His skin usually tans quite significantly in the summer. His style of dress is somewhere between all-flannels-only-flannels and more popular city styles - he's still in the process of cleaning up his wardrobe. He currently has no piercings or tattoos, but he’s been getting interested in both.

Raein is someone who was very clearly born in the countryside. He’s probably also one of the few in Gen Z who get confused with technology. He’s naive while simultaneously guarded - he’s been bullied all his life, so he finds it hard to trust people. He still has a lot to learn about living in a city. He loves going to Seattle, but it also stresses him out because he’s still very rarely been around that many people and cars.

He likes exploring and hiking - it was pretty much the only thing he could do to keep from dying of boredom. He also was in cross-country for most of middle and all of high school. He enjoys nature, but at this point has grown to prefer small cities over his hometown. He also loves any time that he gets to spend with his grandparents, especially now that they’re getting older.

He dislikes racism - he’s faced it all his life, and he has a no tolerance policy for it. He also dislikes guns, they’re loud and are known for killing things, and his father and brother love going hunting. On that note, he hates knowing where his food is coming from. Yes, he cares about sustainability, and he knows full well if he buys, say, pork or chicken, what animal it came from, but he really didn’t like growing up and seeing his dad and brother gutting and skinning their kills for dinner. He also doesn’t like homophobia, he faced enough of that by preferring to keep his hair long, but he’s always been worried about his safety, so it’s something he’s still learning to speak up against. He also dislikes technology, though once his friends got him a smart phone and he learned how to work it, he’s been pretty much obsessed with the internet.

He would consider his Korean skills a strength. He’s better than his older brother at it, and even occasionally better than his dad. He’s also a very good cook, though after his friends made him cook for them in exchange for rent-free living in Olympia, he’s pretty tired of doing so.

His weakness is being surrounded by people. His hometown only recently made it over the 300 mark for population, and now he’s been in cities with well over ten times as many people. Being surrounded by people makes him stress out a bit, though it’s never gone as far as having a panic attack. Another weakness would be seeing dead animals, or viewing the process of turning animals into food. This did, however, get him used to vegetables very early on in life. He’s also still learning to be technologically savvy… It’s a work in progress. Finally, he’s quite wary and naive about exploring in a city, and doesn’t tend to explore places without suggestions from someone he’s familiar with first.

MOTHER
Name: Boyeon Kim (金甫娟)
Birth Year: 1962
Occupation: Manages family restaurant
Feelings Toward: Fairly close. His mother was always very pleased he learned Korean, and they would spend a lot of time together cooking, either just for the family or for the restaurant. If he ever came out to his family, he’d come out to her first.

FATHER
Name: Hoon Kong (姜纁)
Birth Year: 1962
Occupation: Manages family restaurant
Feelings Toward: Not close. His father never seemed to be satisfied with anything Raein did. His dad was excited to have two boys, but then was disappointed when Raein wasn’t interested in going fishing or hunting. He’s made some snide comments about Raein keeping his hair long.

OLDER BROTHER
Name: Roger Raesung Kong (姜來成)
Birth Year: Late 1984
Occupation: Assistant manager to family restaurant
Feelings Toward: They were never close. His brother was already 14 when he was born and was completely uninterested in getting a younger sibling. If he ever cared for Raein, it was before Raein’s first memories.

PATERNAL GRANDFATHER
Name: Youngho Kong (姜泳浩)
Birth Year: 1939
Occupation: Retired
Feelings Toward: Loves him and misses him greatly. Practically raised him when he was a toddler and misses seeing him around the house.

PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER
Name: Kyungja Lee (李敬子)
Birth Year: 1940
Occupation: Retired
Feelings Toward: Loves her and misses her greatly. Practically raised him when he was a toddler and misses seeing her around the house. He talks to her weekly.

Raein was born in Canada due to that being the closest hospital, so he and his brother technically have dual citizenship. His parents lived in a tiny, unincorporated town known as Pinewood, with the nearest bigger town being Curlew, another unincorporated town about 10 miles west of Pinewood. The nearest big city was Spokane, but it was 2.5 hours away. It was here, for some unknown reason, his paternal grandparents decided to settle and make a life. They opened a Chinese Buffet mostly consisting of Korean-Chinese dishes, some Chinese-American dishes, and much later, a small selection of Vietnamese and Thai dishes.

His earliest memory is spending time with his grandparents as a toddler, and they are the reason he’s so comfortable in Korean. His grandparents gave his father full ownership of the restaurant around this time, and so they would watch Raein while his parents and older brother took care of the restaurant.

Raein went to school in Curlew, in a school that ranged from Pre-K to 12th grade. The most students he’d ever had in his class year was seventh grade at 15 students, when an exchange student from China, for some unfortunate reason, was shipped to study abroad here of all places. And of course, it had to be an exchange student with the same last name and spelling of Raein’s, so the other students were even more confused about how and why they weren’t related. (He had to tell his class probably at least once a day he was not Chinese, but Korean. At one point, he even pulled out a map. It didn't help.)

Throughout school, except for when Raein was in kindergarten, and the exchange student in 7th grade, he was the only Asian in the entire school. Because of that, he got teased mercilessly, and it only took until about second grade for him to become numb to racist remarks of his classmates. He’d do his best to ignore his classmates during the school day, and then after school he’d go to his parent’s restaurant and do homework and then help with the restaurant. He did have a couple friends in the school itself, both other persons of color (one hispanic boy and one black girl). It was around 7th grade he decided to join cross-country (with the joke that maybe one day he’d be able to just… Run away from this place).

Around high school, Raein decided he liked having his hair long after going too long without cutting it, and his classmates honed in on that and started with the homophobic remarks. He knew, by this point, that he was gay, but he was terrified of what could happen to him if a single soul in his small town found out. Even though the physical bullying never got past the point of a school nurse’s visit, the homophobia shook him deeply and made him afraid to come out. His only solace was a teacher who would let him eat lunch and spend recesses in her room, and she was the reason he decided to be a teacher. It was clear she did not approve of the bullying, and possibly had spoken up about to her supervisors before, but nothing was done, so she took matters into her own hands and helped when she could. Raein wasn’t sure if she suspected his sexuality, or was queer herself, but he noticed around the beginning of his junior year, she had a small rainbow magnet with “Love is Love” in small writing on the corner of the whiteboard usually hidden by her desk. She’s also the one who gave him a sticker he now keeps on his cell phone case of a small rainbow that says “great!” under it. It was near the end of high school that his grandparents decided to retire at a 55+ apartment complex in Spokane, and he only seen them in person once since.

For college, Raein was asked to stay nearby so he could help with the restaurant, and since he wanted to save some money before escaping this small town forever, he agreed, and found an online program through Western Governors University, ending up spending a lot of time at the Curlew public library in order to use their internet (his home had dial-up). He was getting close to his pre-clinical experience when his father had a, thankfully non-lethal, stroke, and was hospitalized for six months. Raein quickly switched his major to the BA Educational Studies, which didn’t require in-field experience, and graduated fairly quietly, his diploma coming in the mail on one of the days he was once again at the restaurant all day.

His dad recovered well, but it took almost a full year before he was well enough to return to work. Raein told his parents he’d be going to school for a master’s degree, and would also be moving in with some friends he’d made during his cross-country days, all the way in Olympia. His parents were reluctant to let him go, but with the promise he’d call them often, they finally let him go. Finally, he was free from the small town, free from the bullying, free from his past and mundane days of working at the restaurant. Olympia was still small, but it was definitely bigger than where he’d come from. His friends, all the only Asians on their respective teams, teased him about the way he dressed, and his flip phone, and other things, but it was definitely a different feeling from the bullying he faced back home. Plus, his friends actually helped him fix it. They’d also take him into Seattle for day trips, and would help him calm down when… everything in the city became too much. His friends didn’t make him pay rent, but after one too many mishaps in the kitchen, the group designated Raein as chef and maid.

Despite his bad experiences with Seattle when he first moved, he actually really liked it on the west side of the state. So, when he graduated and it was time to apply for jobs, he applied in all the places surrounding Seattle. Eventually, Cedar Beach Middle School gave him a job, and he bid his friends goodbye and spent time in a cheap motel (‘Extreme deal!! $350/week!’ the sign advertised) that was quickly cutting into his meager savings. He began looking for a cheap room or roommate to split an apartment with almost as soon as he moved into the motel, and that is how he met Wooram. Despite finding each other via Craigslist, it's turned out to be an good combination. (Maybe too good...)

Hello! My name is Redeim!
I was born in 1989.
My pronouns are he/him.