GET INTO IT, ♡.

full name: jang jihoon. nicknames: ji, jj (former stage name, does not like being called this.) birthdate: 26 april, 1996. birthplace: los angeles, ca. current residence: a small apartment in seoul, south korea. zodiac: taurus sun, leo moon, virgo rising. gender: cis man. pronouns: he/him. sexual orientation: bisexual. romantic orientation: biromantic. relationship status: single.

occupation: waiter at a kbbq restaurant, also a casual content creator. note: jihoon is a FORMER idol; he was active from 2016-2019. education: high school graduate. financial status: comes from a middle class family but as an individual, he's struggling. family: his parents sadly passed away from a terrible car accident when he was 10, at which point he was raised by his grandparents.

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face & voice claim: lee dongmin (cha eunwoo). height: 6'0, 183 cm. build: canon to fc. hair: black. eyes: deep brown, hazel reflects. sometimes wears colored contacts. tattoos: coming soon ( he hopes ). piercings: three on his left ear and two on his right.

likes: matcha, lazy afternoons, playing video games late at night, headphones in to tune the world out, cold weather and overcast skies. dislikes: cheesy romantic comedies with annoyingly happy endings, country music. vices: drugs: occasionally. alcohol: yes. cigarettes: not really, but he might have one after a long night of drinking. ailments: really struggles with insomnia, depression & anxiety. strengths: exceptional and versatile dance skills, can sing really well, just overall very musically-inclined.

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i. introvert who likes being alone and doesn't actively seek social situations/gatherings. that doesn't mean you'll never find him at a party or at the club, it just means he probably will want to go home earlier than everyone else. when it comes to hanging out, he tends to be the last one to arrive and the first one to leave.

ii. he has a lot of trouble opening up to people and talking about his past experience in the idol industry. he went to therapy after the disbandment of his group and 'fell off the face of the earth' for a few months while he tried to cope with everything that happened.

iii. starting in late 2020, after accepting his career was over, he dropped his former stage name and started posting dance covers on tiktok and youtube, eventually getting comfortable enough to post his own choreography.

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iv. despite his group never quite fully making it out of the nugu status, he does still have fans that have remained loyal and eager to see his next move. every once in a while he'll get recognized from his idol days and it's always a bittersweet feeling since it's associated with so much negativity. he hates any reminder of his connection to that company and luckily with how quickly people move on, most of it is old news.

v. his dreams withered away and he started working as a waiter to cover the expenses of.. well, life. he's not the best employee but he knows he has to pay his dues.

iii. he's miserable, to say the least. constantly exhausted, but he does his best to hide it under sarcastic humor and even built a habit of suppressing his emotions.

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DON'T LOOK BACK, ♡.

tw: mentions of physical abuse.

the stage was where he belonged; his mother was a dancer before him and the talent would earn him plenty of praise throughout his life. and music was always a passion of his, with his father was a musician, growing up his house was always filled with music. he continued dancing even after the untimely death of his parents, finding it as a good way to honor his mother as well as cope with the devastating loss as well. however, becoming an idol wasn't always something he planned for; he just knew he wanted to dance and the year 2013 was one of opportunity. a scout for a small south korean entertainment company invited him to audition and with flying colors, he passed. while this helped him realize his dreams of being on stage and entertaining audiences, awakening the performer in him, what he believed would be lifechanging in the most exciting of ways would turn out to be a living nightmare.

at first, he didn't see it coming. he was blinded by the excitement of it all; granted, he was sad to part from his grandparents and everything he'd ever known in los angeles to move across the world on his own. in seoul, he would come to face tough living conditions in the dorms he would be placed into- he understood though, he understood this wasn't a company that would be able to offer him any sort of luxury lifestyle, at least not yet. they promised him fame and fortune and he was wide-eyed and naïve. it started off slow and steady, the training would be strenuous as he expected; he knew enough about the idol life to know that was coming. vocal lessons were new to him, but something he picked up fairly easily. granted, as singing was a skill he was learning from the ground up, there was a lot of room for improvement and anytime he faltered, his mentors were not shy to express their harsh criticism.

then the harsh criticism started to occur with his dancing too, anytime he'd make a mistake because his body was growing tired from overexertion. just as the trainees were getting familiar with the program, the staff was getting comfortable with controlling and disciplining them and sometimes their methods were rather uncalled for. it wasn't until he watched as a fellow trainee got slapped across the face after forgetting the lyrics to a song that he finally realized how intense the pressure was to be perfect. and while it was initially shocking, jihoon ( or jj, which would be the stage name they gave him ) thought; maybe this is how it always is. how could he know? he's never known anyone personally in the industry. he's gotten some smacks from his grandparents throughout the years for bad behavior, so what.

but it didn't take long for it to get worse. a lot worse. it was decided jihoon would be the leader for the boy group that the company planned to debut and the pressure reached new heights and the brunt of the burden was indefinitely on his shoulders. he would get punished for what felt like everything. being even just a minute late to practice, not following his diet, if the other members messed up- and he felt like he was being watched like a hawk, like they were waiting for him to mess up just so they could have an excuse to hit him. jabs at the head, hair pulling, pushing & shoving and not to mention the amount of times he'd get cursed out, belittled, absolutely torn apart with no regard for his mental health.

suddenly training felt like prison. but he couldn't get out. he tried running away and was beaten to the ground when he was found. he didn't know what to do. he kept thinking to himself, maybe this is how it always is, until his mindset finally settled on: this is how it's going to be. he didn't want to worry his elderly grandparents and he knew that if he succeeded, this career path could provide him with enough financial security to pay them back for all the care they've given him throughout his life. so he braved it for the following years until the group debuted in 2016.

for the lack of a better word, it was a total flop. the company was over its head in debt and did not have the proper promotional material and their debut was not well received by the public. they were deemed good but nothing special, which wasn't the members' fault: it was poor choices in concept and the song was, in jihoon's opinion, just a lot of noise and it was difficult to rise from that, especially considering how badly they were treated behind the scenes. their follow-up was better, enough to keep them afloat but garnering a solid fanbase was a tedious uphill battle. but jihoon and his fellow members did everything in their power to try to make it work.

and it started to, about two years into their career. 2018 seemed like it was going to be their time to shine as they started to gain some traction on the charts and significantly build up their fanbase, but having to push back comebacks and cancel schedules due to quote-unquote "sudden injuries and health reasons" would become the start of their downfall. then scandals regarding their ceo's gambling habits would start leaking their way into the press. and then, in 2019, the truth was revealed. article after article was released about the company's irrecoverable bankruptcy as well as the extent of abuse towards their idols, leading to the disbandment of the group and the company's overall demise.

and though the truth set him free, it also meant losing everything.

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