Face Claim: Hyunjin Hwang
Julin is 5'10" (178 cm) and weighs about 150 lbs (68 kg). He likes his hair bleached blonde, occasionally letting it fade back to black before he re-dyes it, and likes it long enough to pull back or play with. He has light skin with some scars mostly from being a kid, but he's pretty sure some of them are from being in North Korea. He has dark eyes, and big lips. He still looks somewhat lanky, but he's growing into himself slowly. His style tends to be dark clothes, most of them are fairly old but not necessarily in the obvious, falling apart kind of way, though they definitely look worn. He does have an amazing smile when someone can get it out of him (or when he's working, though it tends to be a somewhat less sincere smile).

Julin is relatively introverted and keeps to himself. There are a lot of things he's still fighting his knee-jerk reactions to, most of them being based in a culture he doesn't even fully remember. He's not in the closet about being gay, but he never came out to his parents and tends to be hesitant about coming out immediately to people. He gets tired quickly in crowds, but once he makes a friend, they stop counting as people and he loves spending time with them. He's more hesitant to disclose he's from North Korea than he is that he's gay. He's fairly unsure of where his PTSD ends and his personality begins, but he's working on that with his therapist.

He likes Chinese pastries, tea, cats, Korean food, Chinese food, languages, keeping up his Chinese, wandering downtown Seattle, and other animals.

He dislikes his PTSD, not remembering anything from before he was 10, thinking about his parents, being alone, and the news.

He initially wanted to become a social worker, and give back to the community what it gave to him. During his time being homeless, he was very thankful for the help he received. But after he was offered a chance to become the next manager of the Chinese bakery, he switched his major to business.

MOTHER
Name: Soljoo Moon
Birth Year: deceased at 37 (2019)
Occupation: N/A
Feelings Toward: Misses her. She would give the world for him and he wishes he could have repaid that debt before she committed suicide.

FATHER
Name: Jinsu Woo
Birth Year: deceased at 38 (2019)
Occupation: N/A
Feelings Toward: Misses him. His dad always seemed very strong and protective over him and his mom.

Julin was born in Songrim, North Korea. He has no memories from North Korea, but does have enough PTSD to know it was terrible. When he was 8, his parents fled the country after his uncle was considered a traitor to the country and the family was at risk of being put into an internment camp. They made it into China and stayed there for a few months, and then they moved to America. While in China, Julin got fairly comfortable in Chinese and even managed to make some friends in the neighborhood his family moved to, but he couldn't go to school and his family were paranoid every time any sort of official looking figure came into the neighborhood. They decided to leave China, knowing the chance was too high if they got caught that they would be deported back to North Korea. They traveled by foot for days, occasionally managing to catch public transit for part of the way, until they got to Vietnam, and managed to find someone to forge passports so they could get a flight to America. As soon as they arrived, they asked for refugee status.

All of this excitement happened before Julin even turned nine. He went into fifth grade at a school in Everett, which was where his parents had settled. By the end of the first year of school, Julin had unofficially adopted Julian as his English name because people kept saying his name wrong. He had a lot of trouble adjusting to American life, and spent the first couple years of school getting tested for various behavioral issues before he was diagnosed with C-PTSD in his first year of middle school. His parents couldn't afford to treat him, and also didn't really understand the diagnosis he was given (nor did they seem to realize they more than likely also had the same diagnosis), so his behavioral issues almost went completely untreated. Somehow, he managed to get through school and do well. He did eventually get used to life in America, but it took until nearly the end of high school for him to get a proper friend group.

Less than a week after his high school graduation, Julin's parents committed a double suicide while he was out with friends. On top of feeling guilty about not being there for his parents, Julin immediately lost the apartment and didn't get enough money in the will to get him further than a few weeks in a hotel. Even though he'd been accepted into UW, he hadn't intended to stay in the dorms, and by that point it was too late. Even if it wasn't too late, he would have had to wait until the end of summer to move in. He finally went to his first therapist after his parents died, and spent a month in a psychiatric ward after his therapist noticed his severe depression. When he was released, he was given a guidance counselor who also worked at a Buddhist Temple in Cedar Beach. Julin spent time in and out of homeless shelters until he managed to get a job at the Xiao Mao Bing Chinese Bakery. His guidance counselor mentioned the Buddhist Temple enough, and it was a familiar enough religion that Julin eventually got curious enough to visit, and it ended up being a place he went to frequently to help him grieve and get through the loss of his parents.

Around the same time that he started school, he finally managed to land an apartment in Cedar Beach. Even though the commute to UW is a bit of a nuisance, the area is cheap and his one bedroom works. Although he no longer has his guidance counselor as a counselor, the older man still checks in with him frequently to make sure he's doing okay, and Julin still sees a therapist weekly. He's majoring in social welfare and minoring in Gender, Women, and Sexuality studies, hoping that one day he can present the same kind of help he received. During the pandemic, the owners of the Chinese Bakery assisted Julin in getting a driver's license so they could have him double a delivery boy/cashier. After being offered the chance to become the next manager of the bakery, Julin switched his major to business so he'd know how to run the place once it was passed down to him.

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